Work Text:
Today is going to be a great day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are in bloom.
Washington is beautiful this time of year.
And the flowers do not aggravate Josh's allergies. He just says that to be contentious.
Josh Lyman, the only man I know who would pick a fight with Mother Nature.
This is spring cleaning time, and I have a project. I am going to make order out of the chaos that is the deputy chief of staff's area. Today is a perfect day to start such a project, for several reasons.
Reason number one: Josh will be involved in the preparations for the president's appearance at the Newseum this evening. Oh, sure, he expects me to be at some of those meetings with him, but I can delegate much of the organizing to the rest of our staff before Josh gets in this morning.
I love delegating. Makes me positively drunk with power. Spring time in DC will do that to you.
Reason number two: my friend Curtis, who has a small furniture repair business, came by this morning and hauled away Josh's chair.
The Bartlet administration, you know, is in favor of helping the small businessman.
Reason number three (and this, I freely admit, is the one that counts): Joey Lucas is gone.
Let's take a moment, shall we? Let's take a moment to savor that. Let's take a moment to taste the sound of those words on our tongues: Joey Lucas is gone.
Put those words to music and I'll dance.
It's not that I dislike Joey Lucas. As I've said all along, I'm sure she's a very nice person. I never did get to know her that well myself, but I have no reason to dislike her. Some people might question the ethics of a woman who sends out very clear signals to one man (and I know she sent those signals cause I was at that fundraiser and I saw her do it) while she is sleeping with another. The ethical thing to do would have been to break up with man number one before she started coming on to man number two, who had his heart broken (or at least bruised) unnecessarily.
Not that I'm judging. Relationships can get complicated, after all, and everyone makes mistakes. I'm just saying, as a friend of man number two, that it was a cruel thing to do.
But I'm sure she's a very nice woman.
I'm just really glad she's gone.
Now, I'm no fool. I realize she could come back. Two days ago, I made a discreet inquiry. I asked Kenny the interpreter whether they would be here long enough to consider moving out of their hotel. Besides having a small furniture repair business, Curtis owns rental properties. I could always throw some more business his way.
At that time, Kenny didn't know what Joey's long-term plans were. He said, rather cryptically, that it would depend "on personal developments." I remember that it was two days ago because that was the evening I stopped at Ben & Jerry's on the way home and bought the economy size container of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. Not that these two events are in any way related.
Yesterday, however -- glorious, glorious yesterday -- Kenny and Joey packed up all their things and left. Gone are her laptop computer, her clock, her family photos. The only thing she left behind was a White House coffee mug.
I discreetly asked Kenny when we would be seeing them again. He told me that they had no plans to return in the foreseeable future.
And so this morning, as I let that coffee mug fall to the floor (it made the most satisfying crash as it shattered into little tiny bits), I rejoiced. It's my own personal day of jubilee. Joey Lucas is gone, and once more there is peace in the kingdom.
This is going to be a great day.
I repeat that I am not a fool. The fact that Joey Lucas has left only makes my relationship with Josh slightly less complicated. It doesn't mean that he loves me. Hell, it doesn't even mean he's noticed that I'm, you know, female. And even if he had, well, there are huge complications. The employer/employee thing, for one. Scandal, PR disaster, Leo would get pissed, yadda yadda.
I'm just going to have to get over this obsession with Josh that I've developed in the last few months. Hormones. It's all just hormones. I'm a grown woman. I can deal with it and move on.
After all, suppose that nothing else ever develops between Josh and me. Suppose we go on being exactly the way we've always been together? Suppose we just keep working and bantering and teasing like always? What would be so bad about that? How many people have any kind of relationship that is this much fun? I'm still ahead of the game.
The Joey Lucas-less game.
Peace in the kingdom, I tell you.
I'm standing by his office window now, and I see him walking toward the West Wing. Oh, he's looking good today. And happy. He must be planning to fight with someone. And he doesn't have the hunched-shoulders, depressed-guy-Josh look he had after our California encounter with Joey Lucas either. No broken heart this time. Not even bruised.
I'll say it again: This is going to be a good day.
Mark this one down on your calendars: May 17, 2000. This may turn out to be one of the best days of my life.
THE END
09.28.00
*Coming next: War and Friggin' Peace (aka Winning Strategy)