Chapter 2

(dedicated to SarcasticEnigma-for giving me several pushes to get this done. This one's for you, my friend!)

The sun streamed through the windows into the White House Deputy Chief of Staff's office. Josh sat on his chair rubbing his face. He was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to keep his feelings for the president's daughter a secret, but on the other, he also wanted to shout it from the Truman Balcony...before the Secret Service got to him. He had denied that there was anything between them for a long time...or he had tried to. But somehow things always came back to her, whether he wanted them to or not.

Josh dug through the top drawer of his desk until he pulled a piece of cardstock from the campaign. It was the sign that had been taped to many office doors or windows, that had originated in the New Hampshire Bartlet for America headquarters. He smiled. While his name had been printed onto the paper, it was scribbled on with Sharpie and the whiteout was beginning to peel off in places. He could have easily had a new sign printed, but he had kept it and used it the entire campaign...because of Emily.

~*~ Bartlet Campaign Headquarters, New Hampshire~*~

Josh walked into his office at the Bartlet For America headquarters in New Hampshire, polling data piled in his hands. He tore his eyes away from the papers and came to a jerky halt. He blinked slowly when he spotted someone sitting in his chair. The only person who should be sitting in his chair was him. "Can I help you?" he asked, annoyance clearly evident in his tone.

A young woman wearing a winter cap looked up from the desk. She looked at him pointedly with her bright blue eyes, eyes that Josh could recognize anywhere. He had seen them often enough. The woman was Emily Bartlet, but something was different about her. He couldn't help but stare at her with his jaw dropped, much to her annoyance. It took Josh a moment to figure out what was different about her. Her hair was no longer a mess of curls. "What did you do to…" Josh made a long hair gesture.

"I straightened it." Her tone was rather clipped, as if the response should be obvious to him. But he was in no way an expert when it came to what women did with their hair.

"Huh. It looks nice." Josh smiled at her as a sort of peace offering.

Emily ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously before she stuck a pen behind her ear and stood up. She took a few steps closer to Josh and rested her hands on her hips, looking up at him, due to the seven-inch height difference, scrutinizing him as he had done to her earlier. "I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic or genuine. I tend to lean toward the former with you but sometimes there's a chance you're being both."

Josh chuckled, glancing down at her. "I uh-was actually being genuine that time."

"That's a first," Emily scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"It's been known to happen." Josh just shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he set the polling data down on his desk. He then turned toward her once more. "Now, what the hell are you doing in my office?" Josh eyed her curiously and Emily eyed him right back. She wasn't one to back down from him and he sure enjoyed egging her on in the process. It was often the highlight of his day, not that he would ever admit to such a thing.

Em approached him and leaned against his desk, almost sitting on it...had she been taller, she would have been. She looked up at him, her arm brushing against his. "I thought we should think of it as our office." She smiled sweetly at him and she gently patted his arm, like one would a child.

With his brow furrowed, Josh thought on it for a moment. He then walked outside his office and pointed to the sign outside the door and then walked back inside. "I don't see Emily Bartlet anywhere on that sign. It says, Josh Lyman. And only Josh Lyman. There's no Emily Bartlet to be seen." He tapped the window each time he said his name.

Raising her eyebrow as if he had just given her a challenge, she grabbed a Sharpie from his desk drawer and hid it behind her back as she walked closer to Josh. Josh looked at her curiously. Emily just smiled at him and slipped by. The sign on the window was just a piece of paper with Josh's name on it, so Emily started to write on it with the Sharpie.

It took Josh a few seconds to figure out what she was doing. When he did, he reached to grab her. "Hey!" Josh shouted.

Emily squealed and pulled the sign of the window before she took off in a sprint. Josh shook his head and chased after her. It probably wasn't the most mature or best use of his time, but with all the grueling work, he had to find fun somewhere...and that normally involved Emily. Or drinking. Emily or drinking. Emily and drinking also made for some fun...outside of work, of course. Not that he made a habit of it. Only a time or two.

Thankfully, she had worn her sneakers because she never would have been able to run like this in boots, flats, or heels. Emily rounded the corner away from Josh's office and ran up the stairs to the copy room. Volunteers were busy making copies and stuffing envelopes. Emily managed to avoid running into them. But Josh barrelled into one of the volunteers carrying a rather large stack of mailings. There was an explosion of paper and it almost looked like it was snowing in the copy room.

Hoping Josh was distracted, Emily ran toward the stairs, still holding onto the sign. After picking up only a few papers, Josh growled under his breath and took off after Emily again. He knew that it was rather pointless to do so. He could easily reprint another sign. But Josh was bound and determined to finish what was started. Besides, sometimes one caved to their inner child's demands. Something had happened more often with Emily than it did with others. Not that he necessarily qualified as an old man, but being in his thirties it was exhilarating to indulge his inner child and not be completely chastised.

Emily made her way to the bullpen where most of the desks were located, in the front of the office building. They were all out in the open, not single offices like the one Josh had. Not that Josh was the only one with an office. Leo McGarry also had one. As did her father. But the majority of the workers and volunteers were located in the front bullpen.

Sam Seaborn looked at Emily with uncertainty as she ran toward him. He knew she was up to something. He was never quite sure when it came to Emily Bartlet and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sam sighed and picked up the polling data from his desk as Emily wheeled herself behind him.

"Sam, can I borrow your back for a second?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, sure," Sam responded with a shrug as he continued to look at the new polling data. Emily then set the piece of paper on his back. "Can I ask what you're doing? Although, if it's a crime, I wouldn't tell me. It's not a crime is it?" Sam kept trying to turn his head to see what Emily was doing. "Is it?" Sam's tone sounded a little worried. "Emily?"

Josh finally showed up, panting for breath. "Sam!" he groaned, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Sam's head snapped toward Josh when his name was called. After seeing his friend's expression, he whispered over his shoulder to Emily. "On second thought, if we're messing with Josh, I don't care if it's a crime, I got you covered if you need a lawyer."

Emily laughed as she wrote on the paper on Sam's back. Sam couldn't help but wiggle his shoulders because the writing tickled a bit.

"You know that I heard that," Josh stated as he tried to reach around Sam to grab the paper, but Sam slapped Josh's arm down while still managing to hold onto the polling data. "Hey!" Josh yelped, withdrawing his right hand, holding it in his left hand like it was an injured wing.

"So, what exactly am I getting in the middle of?" Sam asked curiously, raising an eyebrow and then looking between Josh and Emily.

"A custody dispute," Emily said, looking at Josh and smirking at him over Sam's shoulder.

Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head. "For my office," he argued, pointing at himself with both his hands.

"You mean the office you wouldn't let me share with you?" Sam questioned. "That you said I could share with you and then later said we couldn't fit two desks in there so I had to come out here?"

Josh nodded his head reluctantly.

Sam folded his arms across his chest. "Then I'm taking Em's side on this one...out of spite."

"But she doesn't even work here!" Josh argued. Emily arched an eyebrow at him, so he quickly redirected his argument before she could. "You're a volunteer. Volunteers don't get offices."

"But I'm the President's future daughter," Emily retorted. Her brow then furrowed. Her words didn't quite make sense for what she was arguing. "That came out wrong."

"Yeah it did," Josh scoffed, his tone was teasing, biting back some witty retort about her supposedly being good with words trying to be an author and all. But no one else in the office, as far as he knew, knew that about Emily. He wasn't going to be the one to divulge her secret. That was her business, not his.

Emily blushed at Josh's words before she muttered, "You know what I meant."

Josh folded his arms across his chest and nodded his head. "Yeah." There was a moment of silence before he extended his hand toward Sam and Emily. "Now, hand over the sign and no one gets hurt."

"Are you threatening the boss's daughter?" Emily questioned with a quizzical brow, cocking her head out from behind Sam.

"Maybe I am."

"And what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"Well, for starters…"

Josh swung his arms dramatically toward his office to make a point. Only he didn't see Toby approaching with a cup of coffee. Josh's hand struck Toby's coffee cup, dumping the entire contents of Toby's cup down the front of his shirt. Time seemed to freeze in the room. Josh stood there with his arm still extended and a shocked expression on his face, waiting for the eruption about to come from Toby.

"What the hell is going on here? Are we running a zoo in here now?" Toby hissed attempting to mop up the spilled coffee from his shirt but failing miserably. He was soaking wet and seething. Not the greatest combination.

Josh stood there too stunned to move. Emily tried to hide the laughter that threatened to escape. Toby grumbled to himself as he walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled a Bartlet for America t-shirt out. He then pointed at Josh. "I want an explanation when I get back." He then walked away to change his shirt in the bathroom.

"Someone's in trouble," Emily said, her voice in a sing-song tone.

"You started all this!" Josh shot back, swinging his arm again. He quickly recoiled and turned to make sure Toby wasn't there...again.

Emily shook her head. "I was just fixing our sign. You're the one that spilled Toby's coffee and awakened the beast. You did that one all on your own."

"She makes a fair point," Sam said, leaning against a desk with his arms folded across his chest. "You're the one that dragged Toby into this."

"Shut up, Sam!" was all Josh could manage as a comeback before Toby returned.

Toby looked peeved and even more so at Josh. He skulked back to his desk and sat down before grabbing the bagel on his desk. He took a bite and then narrowed his eyes at Josh. "You owe me a new shirt."

"Oh, c'mon, Toby," Josh groaned. "It wasn't that bad."

Toby arched an eyebrow, daring Josh to argue him on it. Instead, Josh changed gears. "It was Emily's fault. She took down my sign and…won't give it back." Josh finished rather lamely, realizing how immature the whole thing sounded. Emily smirked when Josh met her eyes. He grumbled under his breath upon a rather incredulous look from Toby.

"Good for you," Toby said turning to Emily. "Don't give him a damn thing. Ever. He deserves what he gets."

Emily nodded before she beamed at Josh, who shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe what was coming from Toby's mouth. Josh raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I can understand Sam being on Team Emily. But you, Toby? You?"

"She brings me bagels and good coffee," Toby said with a shrug. He lifted the bagel he was eating toward Josh before he took another bite.

Josh rolled his eyes. "Because she's trying to suck up to you."

Toby looked down at his bagel and then at Emily. She smiled. "You might want to try it because it looks like what she's doing is working," he said before taking another bite. "Besides you spilled my coffee."

Josh turned to stare at Toby incredulously. Toby just ignored Josh. Josh shook his head and turned back toward Emily, who was still hiding behind Sam. "It's my name on the window."

"Technically, your name is off the window because it's in my hand," Emily argued. She then looked at the sign, in her hand and glanced at Josh once more. "And if we're getting really technical, while your name is on here...mine is too."

Emily held the poster up over Sam's shoulder for Josh to see. Her name had been added in Sharpie below Josh's. Despite having been written on Sam's back, her name was written in beautiful cursive. Emily offered a sly smile.

"That's not official," Josh argued pointing at it.

"I can make it official," C.J. said, walking into the room and joining the conversation. She snatched the paper from Emily and walked over to her desk. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a roll of stickers for the campaign. C.J. stuck a sticker on the paper and handed it back to Emily. "There. Bartlet approved."

Josh's lower jaw dropped and he looked between Emily and C.J. incredulously. He then zeroed in on Emily. "When did you turn C.J. against me?"

Emily grinned and shrugged her shoulders, looking to C.J. for support.

"I've always been Team Emily, Joshua." C.J. reached over and high-fived Emily. "You've just been too full of yourself to notice it."

"You've got to be kidding me," Josh groaned as he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Is there anyone here who actually likes me better?" Josh said rather dramatically, with hand gestures motioning toward everyone in the room. Silence. "Anyone?" he repeated in disbelief.

Emily came out from her hiding spot behind Sam and gently patted Josh's shoulder. "Ah, the keen sting of rejection," she told him. Josh shrugged her hand off, which made her chuckle. "Only because I don't want to be considered egotistical, I can like you better." Her words were meant in jest, but she quickly realized their double meaning and ferociously blushed.

Thankfully, if Josh noticed, he didn't say anything. But when Emily caught C.J.'s eyes, she could have sworn C.J. winked at her. Emily quickly looked away and nervously ran her fingers through her straightened hair. A staffer came into the bullpen and told Josh that he had a call on line one.

"This isn't over," Josh said pointing at Emily before he briskly walked back toward his office.

Emily chuckled to herself as she watched him walk away. While she really enjoyed the group of people they had collected thus far at the office, she was probably closest to Josh. He was also the reason she had come in this morning. There was something she wanted to talk to him about. So after everyone went back to their scheduled work, Emily made her way back to Josh's office again.

He noticed her the moment she was in his doorway. Josh was sitting at his desk with the phone up to his ear. He made a "shoot me" motion with his hand along with a face of annoyance as he continued to talk to whoever was on the line. Emily grabbed the tape from his desk and put the sign back up on his window. He made no motion to stop her. He just smiled and shook his head.

Emily sat down on a chair opposite his on the other side of his desk. She pulled her legs up, so that she sat criss-cross applesauce, and she waited for his conversation to end. When Josh finally hung up the phone he looked at her curiously. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

Nervously, Emily tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. She then pulled her satchel bag onto her lap and opened it. She looked down and took a deep breath before she glanced at Josh. Then, out of her bag, she pulled a stack of paper.

"Please don't tell me that's more polling data. I've had it up to here with Sam and the polling data today," Josh said gesturing to his head.

"No," Emily sighed. "It's something a little more personal to me than polling data." She then dropped the pages on his desk. It was her book. "I finished it," Emily said without making eye contact with Josh.

"Congrats," he said earnestly flipping through a few pages without reading it. "I know how hard you were working on that."

She nodded her head. "Yeah, well, you're the only one who knows."

"Still?" Josh asked incredulously. He flipped a few more pages of the book and then looked back at Emily. "You haven't told anyone yet?"

She squirmed uncomfortably from where she sat across from him. "No."

"Why not?"

His question seemed perfectly reasonable, but she wasn't sure her answer would make sense to him. Emily took a deep breath and tried to continue. "Because I need to make sure it doesn't completely suck before I tell my parents that I gave up on practicing law to pursue writing." Emily nervously tugged at her hair. "You're the only person I know who has seen this who will give me an honest opinion."

"You want me to read this?" Josh blinked several times in disbelief.

"Please? You're the only one I trust with this. I know you'll give it to me like it is and I was hoping that you'd be willing to help me tweak a few things which is why I thought I could come work in your office while you're working. I won't bother you, I'll just be in the corner working. I just need you to yell at me if I'm getting off track. You won't even know I'm here."

Josh was flabbergasted by her offer. He hadn't expected it. But of course, he had to respond to it in typical Josh fashion. "That's kinda contradictory, isn't it? You want me to yell at you if you're getting off track implies that I will know you're here...or if I don't know you're here, I won't be able to yell at you."

Emily groaned. "Josh, please? I need your help. I hate asking people for help, but I need your help with this. I case you haven't figured it out, I don't do this. I don't ask people for help. So, if it's some sort of bribe you require, I'm not opposed to some sort of arrangement. Also, I sent a few manuscripts out and I put the address here so that my parents don't find out, so I was hoping you could track the rejection notices down for me when they come in."

"Someone will pick it up, Em," Josh said, offering her a smile.

"You don't know that. You haven't even read it!"

"What I have read was good though. Like I said last time, not my genre; but I'm sure there is a generation of middle school girls waiting to read this."

Emily twirled her hair in her fingers and sighed. "Will you help me? Please?"

Josh leaned back in his chair. He had no intention of denying her, but that didn't mean he couldn't have some fun with it. Josh stroked his chin, pretending to ponder the predicament.

"Josh," Emily groaned.

"I'm thinking," he responded.

"Think faster." By this point she was on her feet, leaning against the front of his desk waiting for an answer.

That made him laugh. He eyed her with a small smile on his face. "If I'm gonna do this, I have a few things I'm going to want in return."

Emily nodded her head and released the sigh she had been holding onto. "I said I wasn't opposed to a list of demands as long as they're all legal and within reason."

"Technically, you didn't say that. You just said you weren't opposed to bribery, which in some if not most cases is illegal."

"Josh!" Her eyes were wide and she didn't look amused.

"Okay. Okay." He held his hands up in defense, should she decide to reach across the desk and smack him. "First, you gotta bring me in coffee."

Emily arched an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip. "I already bring you coffee, quite regularly."

Josh nodded. "See? Not too hard if you're already doing it."

She didn't look amused, but she motioned with her head for him to continue.

"Caloric intake will also be necessary."

Again, Emily didn't look amused. She rolled her eyes. "Where do you think the doughnuts come from? You think they just magically appear?" But she knew that he was messing with her. It was more fun to go along with it.

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much." The expression on Emily's face made him laugh. "This last one I'll be serious," he told her. "Most of my help is gonna have to come after work. I gotta get your dad elected. So, it'll probably have to be working dinners or after work is done."

Emily nodded her head. "I assumed as much. Honestly, any help you can give me will be appreciated. And I think I can meet your list of demands. But I have one thing of my own."

Josh's brow furrowed before he looked at her rather curiously. "You're not really in a position to be making demands, are you?"

"Well, I'm gonna do it anyway," Emily retorted. "The sign stays." She pointed to the cause of much havoc a little bit earlier. "This way they know where to put my mail." She looked at Josh rather pointedly, hoping he remembered the fact that she said she told the publishers to send her stuff here.

He slowly nodded his head and stuck his hand out for her to shake. "It can stay, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to complain about it. Because I will. Frequently."

"I wouldn't expect any differently," Emily said before she reached out and shook Josh's hand.

Josh was surprised by how warm and soft her hand was that he accidentally held onto her hand a few seconds longer than what was normal. So, he released her hand and drummed his fingers against his desk. "I-uh-I'll read some of it tonight."

"Thank you, Josh. Really, I mean it. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Die probably," he retorted with a grin on his face.

Emily rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Well, I'll let you get back to work," she said tucking her hair behind her ear again. "Thanks again."

Josh nodded his head and waved her off as she left his office. Little did he know just how much time he would be spending with Emily Bartlet in the coming months. Maybe he could have prepared himself better. Then again, was anyone truly ever prepared to fall in love?

Author's Note: Yeah-it's been a while. Sorry. I'll confess, the positive response overwhelmed me. And then I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to do. But thank you so much to all of you who read this! It means a lot to me. Again, this isn't my best, but it is what it is and most of it has been sitting on my Google Docs for a while. So, hopefully the next chapter will be better.