Josh and Donna: Big Block of Cheese Day

Disclaimer: I don't own West Wing

A/N: Just to clarify my timeline. Josh and Donna met in Nashua just like in the series, but were engaged around the time of the DNC, and married in Dec. before Bartlett was sworn in for his first term. Sam and Ainsley met the same way they did in the series, except the it happened during the primaries. They got engaged and married a year into Bartlett's first term (I'll write those stories some day..haha).

A/N 2: Josh and Amy never dated, they were just aviaries but the press speculated more (again, I'll write that story someday :P).

The senior staff plus their assistants all sat around the table in the Roosevelt room, waiting for the arrival of Leo.

"Are we really doing this again?" groaned Josh

"You know how Leo feels about This particular pet office policy." said Margaret.

"Easy for you to say you don't have to sit through them." said Toby

"Guys, it's really not that bad. I mean we make fun of them and yeah their boring but some of them are funny." said the every optimist Sam.

"That's the right attitude Sam." said Donna, rubbing Sam's arm affectionately, earning Sam a glare from Josh.

"Josh. Really. She married you. I married Ainsley. Why do you still glare?" Sam asked his best friend.

"Ignore him. It's a reflex." said Donna

"Hey!" said Josh

"Must you two bicker like children." grumbled Toby

"Toby, don't be a gloomy guss." interjected CJ

"Alright Children that's enough." said Leo, walking into the room. "Please remember I am making a mental list of all those snickering who will receive suitable retribution." said Leo, giving the room a stern but playful look.

"In his White House, President Andrew Jackson kept a big block of cheese-"

"Leo. This is our 6th year in the White House. We know the story, let's get on with it." interrupted Josh

"And Josh goes on the list."

"Finally!" laughed Sam, who one way or another always ended up on Leo's list.

"You two Sam."

"What did I do?" asked an indignant Sam.

"You made fun of Josh."

"Well then those two should be on a permanent list." said Toby

"Ah! Toby just got himself added to the list." said Leo. Donna, Margret, CJ, Kathy, and Ginger couldn't contains their laughter anymore.

"We should start calling them the 3 stooges shouldn't we ladies." said Leo, causing the women to laugh harder.

"Why aren't they on the list?" asked Josh and Sam at the same time.

"Because I like them more than you three. As I was saying, Andrew Jackson kept a big block of cheese in the White House. . ."

00000000000000000000

"Who'd you guys get?" asked Josh, jogging to catch up with Sam.

"Some organization that wants to build a fence in the ocean to keep wales from beaching." said Sam. Josh gave him a confused look, typical of the staff on big block of chess day. "Who did you and Donna get?"

"Women for social equality and the protection of sea turtles." said Josh

"I don't know which one of us has the weirder appointment..." said Sam

"Yeah me neither. Hey I gotta go. See you later Sam." said Josh, giving Sam a pat on the back and rushed off to the operations bullpen.

"Donna!" he called as he entered the bullpen.

"Your office!" called Donna. Josh walked into his office to find Donna leaving some files and notes on his desk

"Hey. What's all this?" he asked.

"When we're done with our cheese appointment you've got an appointment on the hill with the majority leader to talk about compromise on the education bill." Josh groaned.

"When is our cheese appointment?" asked Josh.

"One hour. Press room." said Donna

"Why the press room? Aren't I still banned?"

"Because that's where there was room and you're only banned when the press is in there which they won't be." said Donna.

"Ok. I'm gonna start on all this." said Josh

"Ok. I'll come get you when it's time."

"Thanks babe." said Josh, sinking down into his chair and As Donna went back to her desk.

00000000000000000000

"Josh! It's time!" Donna called from where she was standing at her desk. Josh walked out of his office, shrugging on his suit coat.

"Alright let's get this over with." said Josh.

"Josh." said Donna, picking up her notebook and following him down the hall.

"I'll be nice. I promise." said Josh. Donna shook her head as the walked in the briefing room.

"Hi, I'm Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff. This is my assistant, Donna." said Josh, shaking hands with the representative.

"Hi. I'm Sarah Lane. These are some of my co-workers, Hannah Paris and Tammy Janeway."

"Nice to meet you all, let's get started." said Josh, sitting down in the front row of the press room, Donna sitting down next to him to take notes.

"Well, as you know we are Women for equality, and one of our side projects is protection of sea turtles."

Josh slumped down in his chair, one ankle resting on his knee, one hand partially covering his mouth as he supported his face on his elbow, and rested his other arm on the back of Donna's seat. As he listened to the presentation, he couldn't help but notice one of the representatives, Hannah, he thought was her name, look at him and Donna funny.

"So let me get this straight." said Josh, interrupting the presentation "You want government funding so that you can have teams of people guarding the nests of sea turtles on the beach and then the turtles as the make their way to the ocean?"

"Yes." said Sarah

"And how much is this going to cost?" asked Josh

"Well since this is one of our side projects, we would of course have it sponsored privately. But in order to really get some private support, we want the White House to get on board. We think it should be at least partially funded by taxpayers, since we inhabit the earth. So our estimated cost to the tax payers is 900 billion dollars."

Josh started laughing.

"Ok, seriously? There's no way that will get approved." said Josh

"And what do you propose we spend that money one?" demanded Tammy

"Uhh. Education. Paying off the national debt, funding for social welfare programs-"

"I knew this was a waste of time!" interrupted Hannah.

"Hannah…" warned Sarah

"No. The White House doesn't care about the effect of humanity on the environment; and HE especially hates our organization!"

"Excuse me?" said an indignant Josh, standing up.

"You got Amy fired. And you made your wife take your last name!" Hannah turned her attention to Donna, who had risen to stand beside Josh, the same indignant look on her own face.

"Hannah, that's enough. I think it's time we tell the Mr. Lyman why we're really here." said Sarah, she turned back to Josh and Donna "We're really here to discuss a new bill we would like to be introduced into Congress."

Josh crossed his arms "And the turtles?"

"Do you really think we would come here to propose something so ridiculous? We're a serious organization!"

"Of crazies.." Mumbled Donna, Josh grinned when he heard her, but the other three women didn't hear.

"We want to propose that incentives be given to women who do not take their husband's last name." said Tammy.

"Yes," said Sarah "It's a ridiculous enough expectation in society, that a woman be expected to be legally bonded to a man, but even more insulting that she have to assimilate herself by taking his last name. "

Josh and Donna glanced at each other.

"Ok, ladies, I'm all for women's rights but-"

"What he means to say" interrupted Donna "Is that women's right's are very important in the Bartlett White House, both to the President and the First Lady. But this is pretty extreme and not something we could support. Marriage isn't just a expectation, it's a deeply rooted in many of the religious cultures in our nation." said Donna

"The White House can't just go around telling people how to live their lives." said Josh "This bill you propose would seriously mess with religious and personal freedoms."

"Well. I see you've made up your minds. I'm disappointed. Come ladies." said Hannah. The three gathered picked up their bags and were out the door before Josh or Donna could register a coherent thought. The stood in silence for a few moments.

"That was weird." said Donna, breaking the silence.

"Big Block of Cheese Day never fails to be." said Josh as they exited the room.

"I must say, we make a pretty good team, Mrs. Lyman." said Josh, resting an arm around her waist as the walked. Donna laughed.

"You so would have lost without me." said Donna, playfully nudging him with her hip. They ran into Sam and Ainsley as they entered the operations bullpen.

"Hey wanna grab lunch?" asked Sam

"Sure." said Josh. "We've got a great story to tell you."

"Your cheese appointment?" asked Sam as they entered the mess.

"Yeah. Which how was yours before we tell you our saga?" asked Donna

"Eerily reminiscent of the Wolf's only highway CJ got pitched the last time we did this. I swear it was the exact same plan, except of course it was a fence in the ocean and not a highway along border." said Sam. Donna and Ainsley laughed.

"So what happened in your meeting?" asked Sam.

"It a a group affiliated the WLC, we found out. They came in and proposed we spend 900 billon dollars on paying groups of people to guard turtle nests and then the turtles as they made their way to the ocean after they hatched. But it turns out it was a ruse. They were pissed at me because Amy got fired over the marriage incentives, and wanted to introduce this bill into congress where women who didn't take their husband's last names got some type of incentives. They left in a huff before they told us what they were. Basically they are anti marriage." said Josh

"I totally saved Josh's ass when they started to argue with them." said Donna. Sam and Ainsley laughed as Josh laid an arm over the back of Donna's chair and playfully glared at her.

"Ya'lls day makes working for the White House Council sound so boring." said Ainsley.

"We'll be sure to call you and have you sit in on some of the meetings next time." said Sam. Josh groaned.

"First thing on my agenda tomorrow is trying to convince Leo to end Big Block of Cheese Day."

The other three laughed, knowing he didn't stand a chance.

-End-

A/N: R&R! Hope you enjoyed!