Title: In Bed
Rating: PG
Originally published: Jan. 5, 2007

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You don't remember the last time you were in bed before 10:30. Normally, whenever you have to be at the airport by 5AM you don't bother going to bed; you just stay up and work straight through. But since you handed everything off for the week, all you have to do is set the timer on the coffee machine and you can crawl back into bed with your girlfriend.

Which is exactly what you're about to do when someone knocks on your door. You knew you should have booked the red-eye. You pad over and open it, revealing your Deputy Chief of Staff on the other side. He'd better not be thinking he can crash here while you're gone.

"Hi. Nice boxers. Can I come in?"

"What are you doing here, Sam?"

"I'm sorry. Were you asleep?"

"I would have been in about five minutes. I forgot to set the coffee machine. Why are you here?"

"You didn't answer your phone."

"I left it at the office."

"Oh! Did you want someone to get it for you?"

"Sam, did not you yourself define a vacation as the absence of work? Which leads me to ask you one more time… What are you doing here?"

"I… um… met with Goodwin who has apparently made Amy Gardner his second in command. I need to know every piece of dirt you have on him. And her."

"Damn. Okay. Let me put some pants on first."

"Okay."

You only make it half way across the living room when you realize that you have a shadow.

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to go into my bedroom to put on some clothes. You're going to stay here and wait for me. Okay?"

"Right!"

"Yeesh!"

Donna is still sleeping when you slip back into your room. At some point after you got up, she'd rolled on to her on her stomach and buried her face into your pillow. You left the dresser lamp on low and the light spills onto her shoulders and upper back making her skin glow. You would give anything right at this moment to be able to crawl into bed beside her and to have Sam be somewhere far, far away.

It takes you a minute to realize that this is the first time you have ever found something more appealing that the wheeling and dealing of political strategy. Maybe this whole work/life balance thing will be easier than you're expecting. But, right now, you still have Sam waiting for you in the living room.

" 'Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in'," you grumble as you slip on a pair of jeans.

"Josh?" comes a voice from the bedroom door. "There's a woman sleeping in your bed."

"Shhh! I told you to stay in the living room! What are you? Some kind of Peeping Tom?"

"And her bare back would indicate that she isn't wearing any clothes. Josh, there's a naked woman in your bed!!"

"Will you be quiet?! You're going to wake her! Come on," you coax as you steer him by the shoulders away from the sight of your naked girlfriend. "Back to the living room."

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Sam asks, craning his neck over his shoulder in attempt to get a better look.

"You've met. Now, what happened with Goodwin?"

"We've met?

"Yes. You've met. Ages ago," you clarify and snort in disgust when he still looks perplexed. "Sam, please tell me I didn't just hand the controls over to an imbecile."

"Well… How long ago are we actually talking about?"

"Oh, God in Heaven, help me! Will you just leave it and tell me about Goodwin, for crying out loud!?"

By some miracle, Sam actually listens to you and gets down to business. It takes you about an hour, but you think you can board the plane in the morning without worrying that the government is going to collapse while you and Donna are lying on some beach listening to the ocean. You try to usher Sam towards the door, but he freezes suddenly, looking at a photograph of you and Donna with CJ, Charlie and Toby at some state dinner that must have been taken ages ago. You've always liked that photo. CJ looks radiant (Danny must have been flirting with her right before it was taken), Toby is actually smiling and you can practically hear Charlie thinking "I'd applied for a bike messenger job." But you know that Sam is, perhaps for the first time, focusing on your arm slung around Donna's shoulder.

"Oh my God! Donna!!!" He turns to you with a Cheshire cat grin as if he just discovered the secrets of the world. You roll your eyes. "That was Donna in your bed! That's great!"

"Sam…"

"Right. I'm an idiot for not realizing this straight away, aren't I?"

"Just a little bit."

"Can I blame the jetlag?"

"You can blame anything you like if you do it somewhere other than here."

"Yeah, you were going back to bed, weren't you?" Sam leers. You decide that a leering Sam is just about the most disturbing thing you've ever seen. You're going to have to call Toby to find out to deal with your deputy on a daily basis without turning into… well, Toby.

"Good night, Sam."

"Right. Have a safe flight. I'll see you in a week," he turns to leave only to pause in the doorway. You almost groan in frustration. "Wait! If you left the phone at the office, how am I going to contact you during the week?"

"The President-Elect knows how to get in touch with me."

"What if the President-Elect is the one I'm having problems with?"

"Sam, I'm not going to referee from thousands of miles away. You're just going to have to hold down the fort while I'm gone."

"Right."

"You're going to do fine, Sam," you relent. "I trust you."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this."

"You are. Now, get out of here and let me sleep. Donna won't forgive you if you make us miss our flight."

"Right. Tell her I said hi… and congratulations."

"Thank you."

"I meant, tell Donna congra… You know what? I'll tell her myself when you get back."

You heave a sigh of relief when you finally shut the door. Donna hasn't moved the entire time you've been with Sam, but she rolls onto her side when you enter the bedroom.

"How long did it take Sam to figure out it was me?"

"You were awake? Why didn't you say something?" you query as you kick off you pants and shorts and climb into bed next to her.

"Because being naked in my boss's bed is not exactly how I wanted to greet Sam after all this time."

"What were you doing in Mrs. Santos's bed?"

"Josh!"

"And didn't the President-Elect object? OW!" You rub your wounded shoulder petulantly.

"Behave."

"That's no fun."

"So how long did it take?"

"He figured it out right before he left."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I thought we'd been obvious."

"You'd think, but you know, CJ's jaw dropped when I told her where I was going."

"I thought she had already figured out we were together!"

"She knew that we weren't as blind as we used to be. I think it was just that she couldn't believe things were progressing so fast."

"Well, what did she expect? If we'd kept going at the same pace, we would have had the wedding reception in the old folks home!"

"Wedding reception?"

"Well, that's where this is headed. Right?" You peer at her face, suddenly unsure. Maybe you are pushing things along too fast. You may have known each other for almost a decade, but it's only been a month since the first time you kissed. But your fears are put to rest when she grins at you.

"That's definitely were this is headed. But that better not be my proposal," she says with mock indignation.

"It's not! Even I can do better than that!"

"I know. You can be pretty romantic when you want to be."

"I can?" That's a baffling idea. You've never had a girlfriend call you that before.

"Polling numbers. Moose meat. Campaign badges. You've been courting me for years, haven't you? I just never realized it."

"It wasn't always so… deliberate. It was heartfelt, though!"

"And that's romantic."

As a response, you pull her tighter into your arms and you both agree to try to fall asleep.

"Josh?"

"Yeah."

"We have to be up in four hours. Keep moving your hands like that and we won't be getting any sleep at all."

"Old habits die hard."