Whitening Toothpaste
Chapter Five: Sleeping at the Office
By: Eve Karma
Disclaimer: (Just in case you're reading this, Caleb-) Rob Lowe is not a loser! And for the record I don't own the West Wing.
Spoilers: The Fall's Going to Kill You through Two Cathedrals
Other: This chapter is kinda...well it's just there. But I'm warning you the next chapter will probably alter from drama to insanely weird humour at specifically random points. :)
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At 7:30 AM I staggered into my office, sporting dark circles under my eyes. I was surprised to see Sam sitting in my chair, feet up on my desk-he was asleep.
"Sam?" I called out. "Sam?" no response. "SAM!"
"Huh? Whaaa....what?"
"Good morning, sunshine," I quipped. "It's not even eight am and you're already napping?"
"Um...sort of."
Then I noticed that Sam Seaborn was wearing the same exact suit as he was the day before. I was going to ask him if he forgot to do his laundry when it hit me.
"Sam?" I asked him, "Did you...did you sleep here last night??"
He groaned and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Yeah." He mumbled.
I set down the cup of coffee from Starbucks I was holding. "You look like you need this more than I do." Meanwhile I couldn't keep the sleep out of my voice.
He sat up and wrapped his hands around the tall, French vanilla coffee. "Thanks."
"Sure thing. I'll be right back."
I bolted down the hall before he could stop me. I needed to find Donna. I found her standing in her office, rummaging through a file cabinet. "Aha!" She cried triumphantly and held up a blue folder.
"Morning, Donna," I said, raking a hand through my shoulder length dark hair.
She turned around. "Oh, hi Kate!" Well, at least she looked more alert than Sam. "You heard about Mrs. Landingham?" she asked solemnly.
"Yeah." I looked down at my shoes for a moment before speaking again. "She was so nice to me. And she seemed like family to all of you."
"Especially to Mr. Bartlet. It's really a shame."
I nodded. "Um...Donna, can I ask you a really weird question?"
She was back to her old self now. "Shoot."
"Does Josh ever work here overnight?"
"Yeah, every once in a while. Usually makes me stay too." she said, rolling her eyes. "Why?"
"Oh, I just wondered if it happened often. I found Sam sleeping at my desk when I walked in a few minutes ago."
She chuckled softly, then went on. "It happens a lot when something big's going down. Like, Thursday."
"Thursday?"
"The interview with the President, then the press conference. Because of his having MS."
"Isn't Thursday when Mrs. Landingham's funeral is?"
"Yep. It's going to be the day from hell."
I turned to walk out, but Donna stopped me.
"Kate,"
"Yeah?"
"Expect to wake up here on Friday morning."
"Thanks for the warning, Donna. I think I needed it."
On my way back to Sam I ran into CJ.
"CJ, Hi!" I greeted her.
"Oh, hey, Donna, how are you?" She looked me over and didn't wait for an answer. "Hey! Those clothes different from the ones you had on yesterday!"
"Yeah," I said, looking down. I had on black pinstripe pants and a lavender sweater. CJ was wearing a wrinkled black suit. "I take it I was the only one who went home last night?"
"Josh let Donna go home around eleven or so. Other than her, you're the only person on the staff who saw a bed last night." She grumbled.
"Don't worry, it wasn't too much fun for me either, CJ. I spent yesterday afternoon moving into my apartment. And I didn't get too much sleep on my mother's couch." I sighed.
"Well, it sounds like you had a great first day at work." She said
"It'll have to do." I waved and walked on.
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