Chapter Text
Chapter 3
This Christmas
10 Days To Go
Donna
It had been a long two weeks for Congresswoman-Elect Donna Moss.
For someone who wasn’t even supposed to win the election, who had gotten out of a bad relationship only to pursue her lifelong dream of politics, this was a dream come true.
And the people she met hadn’t been so bad, either. Especially not Josh Lyman.
One night, Annabeth convinced Donna to go for a drink at Old Ebbitt’s.
“You haven’t been out since the campaign started,” Annabeth said. “Come out with me. Meet some people, get out of your head for a night.”
Little did Donna know that she had an ulterior motive. She had talked to CJ Cregg, and CJ agreed to bring Josh over. This was a setup. They had both seen the way they looked at each other at the reception.
Donna and Annabeth walked into Old Ebbitt’s, laughing about something that had happened on the campaign trail. Just then, they saw Josh and CJ walking towards them.
“Well, well,” Josh said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Donna smiled. “Mr. Lyman.”
“Why don’t I get us all some drinks?” CJ smiled. “Annabeth, why don’t you come with me?”
Suddenly, they were left alone. Donna laughed.
“Well, you have to know what happened here.”
“What?” Josh asked, brow furrowing in confusion.
“We’ve been set up.”
“How did that happen?”
“I guess someone noticed something at the reception.”
“I guess so.”
“Honestly? It’s just fine by me, because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
“Really?” Josh said.
“But I don’t date co-workers.”
“Hard to get, huh?”
“You do what works.”
Just then, CJ returned. “How are we doing?”
“Good,” Josh shrugged. “Just talking.”
Annabeth was right behind them with their drinks.
“Oh, shoot,” CJ said. “They forgot my grasshopper.”
“I’ll go get it, CJ,” Donna volunteered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I want to see them make it.”
She left, and CJ turned to Josh. “So…what’d you think?”
“CJ, I don’t need your help to get a girl.”
“Joshua, of course you do. Otherwise, you would’ve met someone already.”
“You know, you may be younger than me by three years, but you really act like my big sister sometimes.”
“You know it. Someone’s gotta keep you in check.”
Josh was about to open his mouth to retort when he saw something going on by the bar.
“Josh?” CJ asked.
“One sec.”
Josh rushed over to where he could see Donna talking to another guy. And it wasn’t the other guy that bothered him. It was the fact that she looked nervous, like she couldn’t get out of it.
“How we doing?” Josh said as he walked up.
“And you are-” The guy said.
“None of your business. But she has some donors to talk to over here.”
“Oh, okay. Some other time, then?”
“Maybe,” Donna said.
As the guy walked away, Josh got in front of her. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. We were just talking, Mr. Lyman. But…” She took a breath. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”
Josh smiled. “No trouble.”
If nothing else, that night proved that they were starting to fall for each other.
…
Dmitri
Dmitri sat in the Roosevelt Room, ready for his next English lesson. had come from Russia as a teenager to attend American college. He was on a visa and had signed up for these free English lessons through Georgetown. Although ambivalent at first, he now looked forward to coming to the White House three times a week. And it was because of her.
He stared at an English book-Charles Dickens. He couldn’t read it yet, but Stevie had told him it was one of her favorites. She thought it would help him learn English if he learned to read it. Dickens was the best author of all.
He opened it and started to sound it out.
“M-Ma-Mar-ley…” He sounded out, grinning to himself when he got it right. “Marley.”
He then continued. “Marley…was…dead…to…begin…with…”
Stevie walked in.
Dmitri looked up. “Who…who is Marley, and why he dead?”
“Old age, I guess,” Stevie shrugged. “He never says.”
“Who?”
“Charles Dickens. Keep reading, it’s a good book.” Stevie smiled. “You sounded really good.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Shall we get to our lesson?”
Dmitri nodded. Stevie sat down and got out some newspapers for Dmitri to practice with.
“Stevie?” Dmitri asked.
“Yes.”
“How do you say in English that you…you care for someone?”
Stevie looked up, stunned. She felt her face grow pink.
“Well, there are a lot of different ways. You can say you like them, or even love them.”
“Okay.”
As Stevie went back to the lesson, Dmitri thought to himself in Russian, I’m going to learn. I’m going to learn how to say this in English. Because I want her to know how much I like her.
Little did he know, Stevie was also thinking, How do you say I love you in Russian?
…
Kate
Tonight was the night. Tonight, Kate was going on her first date in years.
It had always been hard for her to get dates. From the time she was a child, her weight was always an issue. Then her dad died, and she became so closed off, blaming herself for his death, that she never got out and met anyone. Finally, she realized that she had to do something about her weight or something would happen to her. So she joined the support group. Then…everything else happened.
Her mother had been diagnosed with dementia. Half the time she thought Kate’s twin brother Kevin was her dad, Jack. And Kevin had his own problems: he was addicted to alcohol and painkillers, in and out of rehab all the time. And her adopted brother Randall, he was caring for his dying birth father and letting his anxiety get the better of him.
But tonight she was going to forget about that, and go out with Toby, who she had been watching from afar at the weight loss support group for months.
There was a knock at the door. Kate checked her reflection one more time, then walked toward the door and answered. She had to do a double take.
Toby was wearing a tuxedo and had his car parked out front. A red ribbon was rolled out in front to resemble a red carpet. He wielded a camera.
“Kate Pearson! Can I get your picture, Kate?”
Kate burst out laughing. “What is this?”
“A red-carpet evening for you.”
“What?”
“You deserve to be treated like a queen.”
Kate smiled. “Thanks.”
Toby walked over and opened the car door. “Your ride, madame.”
Kate walked over and got in the car.
They ended up having a blast that night. They went to a nice restaurant, where Kate’s sides were aching from all the times Toby made her laugh with his impressions. He actually listened to Kate talk about her happy childhood memories from before her dad died. She wouldn’t tell him about her dad dying, though. That was something she never told anyone.
They went back to Kate’s apartment, where they immediately ended up in the bedroom and started to kiss.
“I love how unbelievably calm you are right now,” Toby said.
“Just trying to act cool,” She said.
Toby laughed. “Well, considering my last time was high school, consider me woefully underprepared.”
“Okay. You better not ever stop making me laugh.”
“I won’t. You have my word on that.”
They started to kiss, and soon Toby had Kate up against the wall. Just then, Kate’s cell phone rang. Toby could immediately feel Kate stop responding as her focus shifted back to her cellphone.
“Leave it,” Toby said. “It’ll kill the mood.”
“I have to,” Kate breathed.
Toby backed away as she answered.
“Hello?...Hi, Mom, what’s wrong?...What?...No, Mom, listen to me. Everything’s going to be okay. I’m coming over. I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon.”
Toby deflated as she hung up.
Kate turned. “I’m sorry.”
“You have to leave,” He said, dejected. It wasn’t a question.
“Kevin passed out, and my mom thought it was my dad. So now she’s freaked out.”
“Your dad’s dead.”
“I know that! It’s the stupid dementia, and-” Kate took a deep breath and turned to face Toby. “Toby…I am so sorry. I had a really great time tonight. But my family comes first. It will always come first. So if it’s all the same to you, I think we should pretend this night never happened. Because it’s harder for me to remember it if I can’t be in a relationship right now.”
“Kate-”
“I have to go. I have to go help my mom.”
“Can I drive you?”
“No-yes. Yes, please.”
Toby drove Kate to Rebecca’s house, got Kevin settled in a bedroom, and got her mother calm and lucid again. Toby had to say, Rebecca Pearson was a very nice woman when she wasn’t having a bad time.
He could almost see her being his mother-in-law.
Meanwhile, Kate was grateful to Toby for his help, but knew deep down deep that this had been a mistake.
Why have a relationship with someone who couldn’t reciprocate?
…
Trevor
Private First Class Trevor LeBlanc walked into the bar searching for not just any pretty face, but one face in particular.
Roxy Brooks.
It was the night of the Secret Santa exchange at the bar, and he had drawn her name.
He thought hard about what to get her. He wasn’t sure-all he ever had with her were these awkward encounters. He wasn’t even sure if she liked him, or saw him as anything more than a soldier that came to her bar.
Finally, he thought of something that would remind her of him. Something that would make her smile (hopefully) every time she saw it. In fact, he got her two things.
“Okay!” Roxy said to everyone assembled. “Let’s see who gets what. This should be fun.”
Trevor got his, and when he opened it, he paused at the tag. He recognized the handwriting from the times Roxy would sometimes leave on his check.
He met her eyes and she smiled bashfully. “I hope you like it. I wasn’t sure what to get you.”
Trevor took away the tissue paper and took out a fishing reel.
“You said you liked fishing.”
His lips curled into a slow grin. “I-I do. Thank you.” He nodded to the present on the table still. “I guess I should tell you now. I was your Secret Santa too.”
“You were?” Roxy said bashfully.
He nodded. “Well, don’t just sit there. Open it.”
She smiled shyly, ripping it open to reveal three tool belts. One normal-sized and two child-sized.
Roxy looked up. “I-I don’t understand.”
“So you and I can work together on stuff next time. And those two are for your boys.”
“Oh,” Roxy gasped, tears springing to her eyes. “Thank you.”
She looked at Trevor differently now. She said she would never marry a soldier. But maybe this one was different.
…
Drew:
The intercom on the plane chimed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have touched down in Washington DC. We know you have many choices when you fly, and we are so grateful to you for choosing Air Canada. Enjoy your visit, and welcome to the capital of the United States of America.”
Drew and Eli high-fived each other as they looked out the window.
“Look, Drew,” Eli said, “you can see the Washington Monument from here.”
“Can you see any girls from here?”
“Only stewardesses.”
“They call them flight attendants here.”
“Right.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
As soon as they were allowed, they hopped off the plane. They were unaware of two girls who popped up in the back. Two very familiar girls.
“Do you think they noticed we were here?” Alli Bhandari asked.
“No way,” Clare Edwards replied. “Did you see the look in their eyes? They would never have acted like that if they knew we were here.”
“Come on,” Alli replied. “If we’re going to surprise them, we may as well enjoy ourselves doing it.”
“Yeah. I’ve never been to the States before, let alone in Washington DC.”
“Then let’s go shop until we drop. And maybe see the White House too.”
They hurried off the plane. As they weaved through the airport, they bumped into a well-dressed man.
“Oh!” Clare exclaimed. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“It’s no harm done,” The man said kindly. “Is this your first time in DC?”
“Yes. We’re from Toronto.”
“Oh! Well, then enjoy yourselves.”
“Thank you, Mr….”
“Reagan.”
“Thank you, Mr. Reagan,” Alli smiled.
…
Frank Reagan:
As the two girls from Toronto vanished into the airport, Commissioner Frank Reagan checked his watch. Why Garrett had insisted on him attending this conference, and why this conference was even over the Christmas holidays, was beyond him. But Garrett said he needed to meet with some of the other commissioners on the Eastern Seaboard, the last day of the conference was Christmas Eve, and that was that.
Frank picked up his luggage and walked out to meet his car and temporary detail. While he walked, he picked up his wallet and looked at a photo of his entire family gathered for Christmas last year. Behind that was a photo of him and his wife Mary.
It would be the first time since he had kids that he would spend Christmas away from the family.