Three years after "Getting Back There."
Someday
How the hell did we wind up like this?
Why weren't we able, to see the signs that we missed
And try turn the tables
Nothings wrong, just as long as
You know that someday I will
(Present)
"We're loosing in California." Ainsley looked at the map with Josh like intensity.
"Ainsley it's January." Toby rubbed his face and looked at his beer.
"Yes. And we're loosing California."
"I'm from California." Sam said looking up from his laptop in surprise.
"Very good Spanky. Someone should get you elected president." CJ muttered from behind her pile of files. "Idiot."
"What's with her?" Sam asked.
"I'm forty four years old, ten weeks pregnant and running an election that is losing California. What the hell do you think is wrong with me?"
Sam starred at her wordlessly for a moment before turning back towards Deanna and Charlie who were sitting by the door.
"Still nothing from Josh?" He asked. Charlie shook his head.
"Where's Josh?" Ainsley asked.
"Trying to calm the Israelis down." Deanna told her remorsefully.
"What's wrong with the Israelis?" CJ asked turning towards her husband .
"They're tearing apart Gaza looking for a captured solider."
"So, 'Mr. We need to kill them' is trying to save Gaza?" She blinked.
"Yeah." Sam sighed looking at his watch. It was three am. Charlie stood up and walked into the kitchen.
"He's in the sit-room?" CJ shivered remembering how much she hated the situation room.
"Yeah." Sam mumbled holding out his hand as Charlie walked back in and dropped an ibuprofen into it.
"He's going to be a pain in the ass when he gets back." Toby moaned looking around the Lyman's cluttered Dinning room. "Where's Donna?"
"Propped against the wall of the situation room?" Ainsley guessed her fingers tracing over California.
"Yeah." Toby sighed.
I wish you'd unclench your fists, and unpack your suitcase
Lately there's been too much of this
But don't think it's too late
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it all right but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it all right but not right now
I know you're wondering when
Donna stood up when the Secret Service radio crackled, bracing her self against the wall. As the Secretary of Defense filed out with the President.
Josh was still staring at the map of Gaza. She watched him smash down what was left of his hair with his palm before grabbing his backpack and turning around.
He froze when he saw her standing there, her lower lip caught firmly between her front teeth. They silently held there positions as everyone filled out and up the stairs. He looked at her as she stepped forward. Donna pulled him to her, feeling the weight of his bag slide down his arm to the floor.
"You get him out?" She whispered feeling him nod against her shoulder as his arms snaked up her back and wound around her tightly. "You okay?"
"It's hard to forget it exists when they keep bombing it." He murmured pulling back to look at her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Joshua." She told him, drawing his hand down her chest to her thigh and holding it there. "I'm fine."
He pressed back into her, she rubbed his head with her fingers as he closed his eyes and tried to block out the reminding mantra he'd been chanting in his head.
Don't bomb Gaza don't bomb Gaza don't bomb Gaza.
Well I'd hope that since we're here anyway
That we could end up saying
Things we've always needed to say
So we could end up staying
Now the story's played out like this
Just like a paperback novel
Let's rewrite an ending that fits
Instead of a Hollywood horror
(three years earlier)
"..I thought she was dead when I saw her."
Josh watched the woman wipe her eyes, pressing pause as the picture changed. He studied the new image. His wife lying in the twisted metal. Secret Service running. Andi screaming, the woman from the last clip holding her back. Donna was lying there, and that son of a bitch Heathcliff was taking pictures. Son of a Bitch.
The phone rang and he answered it without looking away from the screen. He knew who it would be. He knew that it was airing now in LA.
"CJ." It was CJ who was there with him. CJ who had reached out to him when he found out she was in the car.
"Oh my God Josh." He was certain she was shaking her head.
"Yeah." He breathed.
"She's okay?" Nope not at all. He thought.
"She's having nightmares." Josh rubbed the back of his neck.
"I can't believe you let her watch it." His friend sighed.
"She was pretty damn persuasive CJ." He growled.
"Sorry." She whispered.
"No.. I-. You're right. I almost played the pregnancy card. I should have played the-." He let his voice trail off.
"Josh?" She sounded like she'd just realized something profound. "It's one thirty there."
"Yeah."
"You're not going in tomorrow morning?"
"Nah, not till noon."
"Why are you up?"
"I.. I recorded it." He admitted reluctantly.
"So you're sitting in the dark torturing yourself with it?"
"Pretty much." He raised his eyebrows at her deduction.
"Go to bed Josh." She ordered.
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Tell her we love her?" CJ almost sounded like she was pleading.
"I will. Goodnight CJ."
"Night Josh." He hung up the phone and looked at the screen before backing up the disk again.
"All I could think was they were dead." Andi claps her hand over her mouth for a second and shakes her head. "They were my colleges. Donna Moss was a friend. And they were dead."
The picture changes to the other woman. The caption beneath her says Janis Myer: Personal aid to Senator Delmore.
"The car was almost unrecognizable. You couldn't have told someone what it looked like. Everyone inside was clearly dead. But then you saw her. She was just lying there, half in and half out of the car, completely still. I thought she was dead when I saw her."
He hears Andi screaming on the secret service tape. He recognizes her voice over the rest of the noise, hears her calling Donna's name at the top of her lungs.
He hears the panicked voices of the always calm agents and he remembers Roslyn. They were panicked at Roslyn. After the shooting stopped and procedure had been followed...
His brain returned to the screen. The image of Donna has faded. He followed several clips until he sees himself frantically running through the airport flashing his white house ID.
He knew he looked like hell. He remembered the way it felt. Rushing to her, pleading, praying and having to get there.
"I remember talking to him. Trying to get him through security as fast as possible. He was glazed over. He had no idea I was even there. I wasn't surprised at all when they got married." The airport employee laughs. "He was clearly a man in love."
Her soft cry from the bedroom got his attention and he turned off the DVR and hurried to her.
"Shh.." He soothed sitting on the edge of the bed and taking her face in his hands. "Donnatella, open your eyes." His voice was calmer than he felt. She'd done this numerous times for him. This was the first night he'd ever returned the favor.
"Don't get in the car." She cried as her eyes shoot open and she jolts into his arms. "Josh! Don't get-."
"You're safe." He told her for the third time that night. "We're safe. There's no car."
"I shouldn't have watched it." She cried, pressing her body into his. "I shouldn't have-."
"Shh.. It's over now. It's over. You're okay."
"I want to forget."
He wanted to tell her she would, but he knew it was a lie.
"So do I. I want to forget the whole damn region even exists." He felt her grin against his shoulder. "I am the second most powerful man in the world you know. I could probably mandate something."
"Mandate the nonexistence of Gaza?" She rolls her eyes pulling back from him.
"Sure." He kissed her forehead.
"Get on that will you?" She tells him taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"Remind me on Monday."
Nothing's wrong, just as long as Someday, somehow
You know that someday I will
I'm gonna make it all right but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
(Present)
"I need sleep." He muttered.
Our house is headquarters for Seaborn for President." She reminded him.
"Let's sleep in my office." the words were muffled from her shoulder.
"Mines bigger." She teased.
"Sure kick me while I'm down." He smirked.
"I could call them and tell them to go home." She suggested knowing his reply.
"Nah. We're loosing California." He picked up his backpack before taking her hand in his and starting up the stairs.
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
I know you're wondering when