FF: In Bed

Jan. 5th, 2007 10:05 am
quaggy: Elizabeth looking back at Mr. Darcy (Pillow Fight)
[personal profile] quaggy
Title:  In Bed
Category:  Humor, Post-Ep for Transition
Disclaimer: I do not own The West Wing or any West Wing characters.
Rating: PG
Summary: Josh deals with an unwanted guest
Notes:  Yes, I've written a post-ep for Tranisition before.  I'm sure I'll write more in the future.  The episode was so much potential!  Thank you so much to the wonderful [info]caz963 for being my beta once again.



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.”

Date: 2007-01-05 04:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] edgeriffic.livejournal.com
I agree--keep writing post-eps for Transition--there are so many ways to go with it! This is great, Quags. Nice job on Sam. I'm so glad you're following up on your promise to yourself to empty out your unfinished fic file. All to our benefit!

Date: 2007-01-05 04:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rentypoo.livejournal.com
quaggy makes me very, very happy. What a way to start the day, with shmoo Sam (wonderful!) and romantic Josh.

Big renty smooches to you.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

Date: 2007-01-05 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anatolealice.livejournal.com
Loved it twiceover Quaggy :-) Please do keep writing post-transition fics. I love dopey Sam (I can so hear his voice going all high when he sees Donna!),schmooey Josh and actually Donna-ish Donna.

Date: 2007-01-05 05:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rentypoo.livejournal.com
Sorry to post twice, but I have to say, I just re-read the story, and you had me at moose meat.
(deleted comment)

Date: 2007-01-05 06:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kirjava.livejournal.com
Mmm. Better than coffee.
And for the record, you had me at In Bed.

Date: 2007-01-05 06:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dawnitella.livejournal.com
And you, you big bear. C'mere, I'm going to kiss you right on the mouth!

See, who needs to analyze badfic when I can just come and read my Quaggy's brilliance. Sigh. Happy.

Old habits die hard...hehe.

Date: 2007-01-05 07:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zommbie1.livejournal.com
*tihi*

Zomm likes clueless Sam and cute and careing Josh...just one thing...who needs sleep when Josh is touching?':D

Date: 2007-01-05 07:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gatsbyfan.livejournal.com
“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!”
Hee.

I love this story so much. Nervous Sam is perfect; "There’s a woman sleeping in your bed". Oh, Sam. This one definitely goes into the memories (and might be the first entry for Caz's best of 2007.)

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] gatsbyfan.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-01-05 11:23 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2007-01-06 01:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] artlawprod.livejournal.com
Aw Quaggy, you listened to me! I loved this and the little change you made was perfect. I loved that Sam thought he should have picked up on it and the line about handling Sam without turning into Toby was also fabulous.

So glad I checked in, I was crazy with a presentation and disappeared for about 36 hours.

Date: 2007-01-06 03:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] flippet.livejournal.com
Aw, this is great! Sweetfic!

*snif*....I miss our guys. Thanks so much for continuing to fill in the blanks!

Date: 2007-01-07 12:28 am (UTC)
hooloovoo_42: (Smack high)
From: [personal profile] hooloovoo_42
Wow! It's been a pretty good day all round (apart from the manky weather). It started with a delivery of TWW S7 DVDs, which I have mostly been watching, and ended with this. I loved it. Sam definitely deserves a CJ-esque"Wow, are you stupid?"

I love the bit about being in Mrs Santos' bed.

Are we ever going to hear Josh's proposal?

Date: 2007-01-07 01:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] laurenba.livejournal.com
I just wandered over to LJ on a break from the football game and practically sqealed in delight when I saw that you had posted. I personally can't get enopugh of transition fics, so I encourage you to keep 'em coming. I do admit to feeling ripped off that we never got to see much in the way of folks' reactions to Josh and Donna finally getting together after 9 years, so kudos to you for writing Sam's take. It was just the right amount of cluelessness plus excitement.

The comment about being in Mrs. Santos's bed cracked me up.

Also, I would love a proposal fic as well...

Date: 2007-01-07 07:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bingblot.livejournal.com
OH this is fantastic! Just so funny and so very old-school West wing in the combination of politics and humor. Love it!

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.
This is my favorite line ever.

Keep the 'Transition' fics coming! they're awesome!! *adds to memories*

Date: 2007-01-07 07:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crqcici.livejournal.com
aww, I could totally picture Sam going all twitchy "there's a woman in your bed!". thanks for writing this, I'll never ever ever get tired of good Transition post-eps.

Date: 2007-01-07 07:27 pm (UTC)
kathyh: (Kathyh WW JD together)
From: [personal profile] kathyh
Another wonderful fic from you. I'm so grateful to you for feeding my J/D habit :) I really enjoyed this: clueless Sam was adorable and the line about turning into Toby was a classic. The more Transition fics the merrier if they're this good!

Date: 2007-01-08 08:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] malexandra25.livejournal.com
I love this - so light and so them at the same time. Thank you for sharing!

Date: 2007-01-10 09:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 3ofeverything.livejournal.com
your little "fill in the blanks" series has convinced me that the writers of the last few eps of the show are actually fan fic fans and that they left everything so unfinished and undefined so that great writers like you would have plenty of fodder to work with for a long time to come.
Thanks for the continued entertainment.

Date: 2007-01-11 05:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cantbesilent.livejournal.com
I love. One of the great things about Transition is how open ended is (although that can also be uber frustrating, grr), so there can be *so many* different kinds of fic. And I love how you've done this, with just the happy instead of the angst.

Loved your voices, too. Good job!

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] cantbesilent.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-01-13 07:39 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2007-07-06 05:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imperviousness.livejournal.com
Okay, so I'd thought I'd posted on this fic ages ago. I just reread it and caught myself smiling all over again. I've always wondered about how the gang found them out. I've even toyed with the idea, myself.

The dialogue is spot-on. I loved it all. -- Like when Josh is so exasperated with Sam's shock, and when Sam follows him to the bedroom. All of it. Excellent job.

Date: 2007-10-29 03:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cre8tiveye.livejournal.com
How is it that I'm only reading this story now? Seriously. I don't get how I could've missed this. What a cute, believable story, Quaggy! My favorite line:

Donna: “Because being naked in my boss’s bed is not exactly how I wanted to greet Sam after all this time.”

Leave it to Donna to do the sensible thing. If it were reversed and it was Josh in her bed, he'd have pounced into the living room to announce it was him. (Reminds me of when Ainsley asked who'd sent Donna flowers in 17 People, and Josh couldn't keep his mouth shut.) Very well done!

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] cre8tiveye.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-08-23 06:46 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2009-10-04 06:54 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi, my name is TheGoddessPixie (or just Pixie is fine)and I am not a member. Just wanted to tell you I JUST found The National Archive yesterday -- Can you BELIEVE I have been missing out on that fantastic site all these years?--- and I just found this fic this morning and I have to say... I LOVE IT!!!! Thank you so much for the joy you have given me.

~Pix~



Sam telling people

Date: 2010-11-24 04:46 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I'd love to read a sequel about Sam's dealings with Amy (who no doubt thought she would be getting a lot of annoy/flirt with Josh time in with her new job) and Goodwin.

Tamara (grrarrggh@aol.com)

Re: Sam telling people

Date: 2011-02-02 08:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thegoddesspixie.livejournal.com
Amy? There is no Amy since that fortunate Steam-roller accident... Amy went as flat as her hair and personality. She be bye-bye now.

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