Chapter Text
May 18th, 2025
Washington, D.C.
Josh
Josh Lyman hasn’t been running this late since his eldest daughter was three years old and he accidentally left her daycare. That was the day he had decided to retire and become a stay at home dad - coincidentally the very reason he hadn’t been late in years. Today though, today, he had taken a flight from Wisconsin to Washington a week earlier than his wife. That had been his first mistake in hindsight, booking a flight without Donna who seemed to know exactly the perfect times that would ensure a seamless transition from airport to traffic. Given the fact that Congress was in recess for another week and he was fairly sure that what he was about to do would take a good amount of convincing, he decided to come back home alone.
Hence, why he was now on his third run around the Dupont Circle. He looked at the clock again. 3:57 PM. His appointment with Sam was at 4:00 PM (and the fact he had to make a appointment to see his best friend to begin with was ridiculous but that’s neither here nor there) and he was still about twenty minutes away from Constitution Avenue. That is if there wasn’t a blockade of Secret Service agents by the White House, something which Josh had learned only happened when you were already having a bad day in this God forsaken town.
He could call Ginger, let her know he was running late, but then she’d make fun of him and reschedule his appointment for a weekend where Donna would just happen to need to be in her district so he decided to take it on the chin and accept that he’d have to sit outside Sam’s office for about three hours before Ginger thought she had punished him enough and let him into see Sam.
When he did finally arrive, it was to the exact glare he was expecting from Ginger who said “Senator’s in a important meeting. He’ll see you when he sees you.”
“Okay,” sighed Josh who knew that the “important meeting” could range from being about Sam winning reelection to the bugs in California.
About ten minutes later though the briefers on whatever the hell left the office and Ginger swooped in. “You’ve got the economic people in ten, a scheduled early dinner with Riley from Georgia and Josh Lyman is waiting outside.”
“Josh? Well why didn’t you let him in earlier, could’ve saved me the trouble of entertaining dumb and dumber.” Said Sam. Ginger started to protest talking about the importance of keeping punctuality but Sam had already stepped outside his office waving Josh in.
“How you doing buddy?” Josh grinned shaking his hand.
Sam smiled back. “I honestly didn’t know if you were gonna make it or not, and seriously man, you don’t need an appointment to see me you’re family.” Josh grinned and said “Okay” deciding to save his comments on his executive secretary being a hardass around scheduling for another day.
Sam sat down gesturing at Josh to do the same. Josh, however, was to nervous to sit.
“So what was so important that you couldn’t wait a week?”
Josh fidgeted a bit before finally gathering the courage to say it. If he didn’t say it now, he wasn’t going to say it ever.
“I’ve got a few old buddies at the DNC and they, uh, they’ve been throwing around a name a lot for next year.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “Another one? Race is already tight isn't it?”
“Yeah but…I think this guy might actually win.” Said Josh. “And you know that I’m pretty good at picking them by now.”
Sam let out a soft chuckle “Yeah, I do. Alright, let’s hear it then.”
“You.”