Ghosts in the Smoke Part 43

Disclaimer: I don't own these lovely characters, Aaron Sorkin and his friends do.
Sam and Josh are caught in a hotel fire.

Spoilers: Everything up through The Leadership Breakfast (set two days later)

Archive: Anywhere you want, just please e-mail me Partnrpal@aol.com

Ghosts in the Smoke

By Mer

Part 43

The Oval Office

“I trust you had a reason to be that harsh with Donna.” Leo said once Donna left.

“Hi Leo. Did ya miss me?” Mandy asked ignoring his question.

“Mandy, what a surprise to see you here.” Leo said in a fake shocked voice.

“I know you’ve missed me haven’t you?” Mandy asked.

“So to what do we owe this pleasure?” Leo asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“I heard that there might be a job opening or two.” Mandy replied.

“You are already trying to score Josh’s job? Mandy I can’t believe you. No wonder Donna was so upset.” Leo replied.

“I didn’t say anything to her that wasn’t true.” Mandy defended.

“And that makes it okay? Mandy if you want your job back you are going to have to work on your people skills. Donna is a very vital part of this administration.” Leo scolded.

“You mean Josh thinks that she is a very vital part of this administration.” Mandy snickered.

“No, I mean she is. She helped to keep Josh’s office running smoothly while he was recovering from the shooting. She’s wonderful under pressure and rarely misses a day of work.” Leo replied.

“So cry me a river. Leo I really don’t care about Josh’s assistant.” Mandy stated coldly.

“I had forgotten all about hatred for her. She’s much better for Josh than you ever were.” Leo quipped.

“That’s all well and good but I honestly didn’t come here to talk about Donna. I came here to see if you wanted me to fill in for Sam while he’s out.” Mandy replied.

“You want Sam’s job?” Leo choked out.

“Yes, I think I would be good at it. And after all it is only temporary.” Mandy pointed out.

Leo pondered her offer for a minute. He seriously thought she was going to ask for Josh’s job. But he damn sure wasn’t going to do that. Josh would kill him once he got better. But Sam didn’t have quite as much of a dislike for her, so his anger wouldn’t be near as bad as Josh’s. Still it wasn’t his decision.

“It’s not up to me. You did leave during one of the worst times in this administration and repeatedly refused to come back. What made you change your mind?” Leo questioned.

“I decided that I missed everyone. I missed my hectic life that I had here. I know that I resigned at a bad time but I didn’t feel as if I belonged here.” Mandy replied.

“But you feel differently about it now?” Leo asked.

“Yes.” Mandy replied.

“I don’t know if I will be able to convince him to let you come back. And I’m not sure that I want to after the performance I saw here today with Donna.” Leo warned.

“I promise you that I will go and apologize to her. And maybe I’ll even try and play nice.” Mandy assured him, though it was hard to tell if she was telling the truth or not.

“Very well then why don’t you go and apologize to her while I go and find the President.” Leo suggested.

Mandy excused herself and Leo walked slowly towards the door himself. Hiring a replacement would mean that he would have to accept that it might be awhile before either one of them is able to go back to work. And hiring Mandy would be sure to cause a little bit of trouble between Toby and C.J.

“What’s wrong my dear friend?” Jed asked as he bumped into Leo in front of Charlie’s desk.

“Mandy wants to be Sam’s temporary replacement.” Leo replied with a shrug.

“Yeah I know. I saw how angrily Donna reacted to it to.” Jed replied, his eyes lighting up.

“You aren’t seriously considering it are you?” Leo asked as they walked back into the office.

“Toby needs help finishing the State of the Union. And there are some other speeches before then that he needs to finish. I’m sure it would go a lot smoother if Mandy helped him.” Jed answered.

“Yeah but Mandy? Are we sure that is the right choice? Isn’t she going to cause more harm than good?” Leo asked.

“Maybe. But seriously Leo she’s already been vetted once so she’s the most logical choice.” Jed replied slowly.

“I guess I should consider trying to find a temporary replacement for Josh too.” Leo replied.

“Leo, that might be a good idea.” Jed said gently.

“Why what happened?” Leo asked.

“ I just got off the phone with Abbey, and they don’t think they got to the poison in time.” Jed stated slowly.

“Meaning what?” Leo asked.

“Meaning that they probably will need more than temporary replacements.” Jed replied quietly.

Just outside Georgetown Hospital

“C.J. do you realize how cold it is out here?” Toby asked as he shivered a little bit.

“Toby how long do you think they will wait until they hire replacements?” C.J. asked brushing snow off a bench before sitting down.

“I don’t know. I’m going to be swamped but I think I can handle it. Tomorrow I have to go back to work on writing the State of the Union. At least Sam’s desk is neatly organized. But why do you want to know?” Toby asked.

“Right now is too vital of a time to be without either one of them.” C.J. stated quietly.

“Josh wasn’t replaced after he was shot. What makes you think that they will be replaced now?” Toby asked.

“Because Toby it was hard without Josh. The load got shifted to the three of us and now both of them could be out for awhile and it’s just too much.” C.J. replied.

“C.J. what are you really worried about?” Toby asked.

“Carol paged me and her message said that Mandy has been snooping around.” C.J. replied.

“Mandy Hampton?” Toby exclaimed.

“The one and only.” C.J. murmured.

“They aren’t going to give her Josh’s job are they? He’s going to be pissed.” Toby exclaimed.

“I don’t know. Hopefully, she doesn’t get Sam’s.” C.J. replied.

“She’s not a speechwriter C.J.” Toby stated bluntly as his pager went off.

“What?” C.J. asked.

“It’s nothing just a message from Ginger telling me about Mandy.” Toby replied.

“I never thought I would have to see her again.” C.J. mumbled.

“Yeah I know. Did you hear what happened when Sam caught her trying to sneak into Josh’s hospital room?” Toby asked.

“No what happened?” C.J. asked.

“Sam, gave her the riot act for quitting when they needed her the most and for not going to see Josh until a week after it happened. She mumbled something in response but didn’t go in and see him.” Toby smiled.

“Donna would’ve kicked her out anyway.” C.J. assured him.

“Speaking of Donna have you talked to her since this morning? I mean I apologized to her but I wonder if things are cool between us.” Toby stated absently.

“No, I haven’t seen her since you blew up at her.” C.J. replied.

“Will you help me try and become a better friend?” Toby asked.

“I will try, but Toby it’s going to be hard for you to lose your Oscar image.” C.J. replied.

“Well, I think I’m at least going to get a bigger garbage can.” Toby replied with a smile.

“We might need it to shove Mandy into.” C.J. quipped as both of their pagers went off.

“Leo needs us to get back.” Toby replied as he read his first.

“Just promise me that you will try and restrain yourself from killing Mandy if she’s there.” C.J. begged.

“Only if you’ll promise to do the same.” Toby replied.

“I guess she’s a dead woman then.” C.J. replied as they both began to walk to their cars.

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