Fantasy8-12TEASER

Author: Liza C.

ack to:

Fantasy Eight

EPISODE 8.1

URGENCE

TEASER

INT. JOSH'S OFFICE

"Burning the midnight oil?"

"Mr. President." Josh jumped to his feet as soon as he realized Santos had entered his

office. "Is there anything you need, Sir?"

"No… no…" Santos waved him off, but at the same time, walked into the room. He

was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, and his hands were shoved into his

pockets in a relaxed manner as he wandered about the room his eyes fixed on the

carpet. "You're here late."

Josh glanced at his watch hurriedly, then sighed with relief when he saw the time.

"It's just 10:30."

"Yes, but you usually take your work home unless we have a crisis."

"Usually, I have a reason to go home." Josh checked his watch for the second time

in just a few seconds-- still 10:30. "Actually, I should head out soon. Donna's

supposed to call at midnight, but I need to be home in case she calls earlier."

"Right." Santos bobbed his head a couple of times before mumbling, "Must be nice."

"Sir?" Josh furrowed his brow in slight confusion.

"Uh, nothing. So… um…you and Donna… you're a couple… did you two talk, you

know, a lot this weekend?"

"About twice a day." Josh said the words slowly, as he wasn't quite sure where the

President was going with the personal sounding question.

"And everything is good? I mean the trip is good, things are uh… going well?"

"Yeah… yes." They'd had a full briefing of the activities in Amiir that morning so

Josh wasn't sure what he was asking. "You've seen the video; the First Lady is doing

a bang-up job and I've got to hand it to Arnold Vinick he's working a miracle over

there. President Heile wants to welcome us with open arms and the Amiiri

Parliament will vote in the next couple of hours to agree to look at plans for a base

on their soil. Once it passes, it will just be about money."

"No, yes, I know… I meant has Donna mentioned whether Helen is doing okay. I

mean from Donna's perspective; after all, it's her first trip abroad. I mean Helen's first

trip abroad as First Lady, of course she's been out of the country before, but this is

the first time in any sort of official capacity… so, uh, I'm curious how that's going."

"Uh…" Josh wasn't sure what exactly the other man was asking. "From what

Donna's said, everything is going very well. She sounds… enthusiastic about the First

Lady's handling of everything."

"Good." The President's answer and accompanying head bob were overly nonchalant.

Josh studied him quizzically. "Is anything wrong, Sir? Anything I can do…"

"Oh… no, nothing." Santos quickly brushed off the question and changed the

subject. "Not that I don't want you out of here long before midnight if possible, but

won't Donna call your cell? Why do you need to be home?"

"Because don't ask me how, but if I'm here… somehow she'll know." Josh's lips

quirked lightly. "She may be a witch… or mystical sorceress of some sort."

Santos chuckled at that. "What happens if she catches you here?"

"Uh…" Josh shrugged casually. "Nothing."

Santos just raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.

Josh grimaced before admitting, "There might be scolding, an admonishment that her

being out of town is not a license to sleep at my desk."

Santos smiled widely as he suppressed a laugh. "You are so whipped."

"Mr. President, that is patently not true," Josh replied, but the corners of his lips

tugged upwards.

CUT TO:

EXT. – KAMROY HEALTH CLINIC, OUTSIDE ZAYTUN, AMIIR

"We are thrilled to have you here, Mrs. Santos," an interpreter intoned as Helen was

greeted outside the Kamroy Health Clinic by a throng of smiling medical staff and

what she could only assume were some of the healthier patients of the clinic and

even some locals. "You do us a great honor by your visit."

"Thank you; it's my pleasure to meet all of you." Helen smiled warmly and shook the

hand of the head of the clinic, then continued down the line. As she moved, she

turned to the man on her right, Dr. Manal Bashir. Dr. Bashir was the top health

official in Amiir and had accompanied them on all their visits during the trip. "I've

been overwhelmed by the welcome I've received in your country."

"Dr. Bartlet took many overseas trips, but we were never fortunate enough to play

host to her. As you can see, your visit has caused great excitement… and hope."

Helen started at that comment. She'd never imagined that just her mere presence

somewhere could cause an entire country to hope. It was thought-provoking, but

quite overwhelming as well. So overwhelming it was too much to digest at the

current moment, so she pushed it aside and continued smiling warmly as she shook

the hand of every single person who lined up to meet her. When she had made her

way down the line, she gestured to the structure around which the greeting

committee was assembled. "What are we looking at?"

"Mrs. Santos," Dr. Bashir began, "access to safe drinking water in this region is the

key to improving health care. Waterborne diseases such as cholera, yellow fever,

hepatitis, diarrhea and typhoid claim the lives of thousands of people each year, not

to mention the problems with parasites. These diseases are the single largest killers

of infants. Our mortality rates are much lower than Ethiopia or Sudan and one reason

is the Clean Water Project that built wells like this one."

Helen looked on with rapt attention. She was flanked on one side by Dr. Jeff Perez

and on the other by Annabeth and Donna. Today was the last day of their visit to

Amiir and was also the first time they'd gone out without a full press contingent.

Today they just had one White House photographer, but of course, still were

accompanied by their large security contingent.

"This clinic is only about 30 kilometers from Zaytun so the situation wasn't as dire

here, but in the more rural areas, the average woman would spend four to six hours

per day on the back breaking task of collecting water from distant and polluted

sources before the wells were built."

"And the wells… they solved the problem? Isn't the water coming from the same

source as the polluted water?" Helen asked curiously as Jeff helped her onto the

platform so she could get a better look.

"The wells work by keeping underground water contained all the way from the

source to the faucet. Parasites and other disease-causing pathogens don't exist in

underground water…"

As the demonstration continued, Donna slipped her hand into her pocket and opened

her phone; she was relieved to see that for the first time all morning she had a signal.

Leaning over to whisper in Annabeth's ear, she excused herself.

Once a respectable distance away from the contingent, she took out her phone and

dialed.

CUT TO:

INT. – JOSH AND DONNA'S APARTMENT

EXT. – KAMROY HEALTH CLINIC

"'Lo"

"Hey Sailor."

"Donna?" Josh asked groggily.

She bit her lip and smiled. "Who else is calling you at 2 in the morning and greeting

you as 'Sailor?'"

"It's 2am?"

Donna felt her heart give a little flutter at how adorable he was when he was sleepy

and disoriented. "Yes, and I know it's late. I'm sorry I woke you."

"You didn't wake me."

At that, Donna snorted softly. "Like you could fool me."

"Okay, you woke me." Josh reached up and rubbed his eyes roughly with his free

hand.

"I'm sorry I missed our call time. Since this is our last day, we came out very early

this morning and I haven't found a signal until now."

"What time is it there again?"

Donna smiled indulgently. He knew very well that it was a seven-hour time

difference-- they'd been living it all weekend-- but he was obviously still groggy. "It's

9 a.m."

Josh paused a second and then blurted, "You called me Sailor."

"Yes, I did."

"Well…"

"Well, what?"

"You don't call me Sailor unless you're feeling…" Josh's voice was husky as it trailed

off.

"Unless I’m feeling what?"

"Sexy."

Donna burst into a soft giggle as she felt a bit of color rush to her cheeks. "It's nine

in the morning!"

"For you, for me it's the middle of the night. And when has time of the day ever

stopped you before?"

"Josh, I'm standing in a dirt lot about fifteen feet away from my boss as we learn

about water parasites!"

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm not in a sexy place right now."

"But I am in a sexy place. And hearing your voice, I'm thinking very sexy thoughts.

As the girlfriend you should help me out with that."

"You want me to have phone sex with you while I'm on a diplomatic mission visiting

a rural health care clinic?"

"You could give it a shot."

Donna laughed again, before suddenly turning suspicious. "Where are you?"

"Donna, its two in the morning here, I'm in our bed. Where else would I be?"

"On the couch, fully clothed, drooling, the remote clutched in your hand."

Chagrined, Josh pushed himself to a sitting position on the couch where he was

indeed fully clothed and drooling. His last laugh was that the remote was on the floor

next to him, not in his hand. "Sometimes I hate you for knowing me so well."

"You love me for knowing you so well."

"Occasionally," Josh grunted as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder so he

could rub both of his eyes with his palms. "Although, I think it's more than knowing

me well. It's scary. I told the President you may be a witch."

"What?!" Donna fairly shrieked.

"Nothing, I was joking," Josh replied quickly. "I did not tell the leader of the free

world that you're a witch," he finished and without missing a beat he changed the

subject. "So how's everything going?"

"Okay…" Donna replied, still suspicious about the witch thing. "Things are going

well today."

Thinking back to his conversation with the President a few hours ago, Josh asked,

"And… uh… how's the First Lady doing… with everything?"

"Well… uh… she's doing very well and until today, I think we ably camouflaged our

mission. You know… even though this trip started as a cover, once we got here and

started to dig in, I think she's really enjoyed it." As Donna continued talking, Josh

could hear the excitement build in her voice. "In fact, I think she really likes playing

the role of Goodwill Ambassador. Don't tell the President that; he's still in her

doghouse. But she might not be so adverse to a foreign trip now and again."

Josh felt his chest tighten at the idea of Donna taking more trips. He preferred the

idea of her safe in D.C., in his sight.

"Great," Josh forced out, before grunting and pushing himself to a standing position.

With one hand he started loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt as he walked

down the hall towards the bedroom. "That's great, but when are you coming home? I

miss you."

Donna's face softened considerably, and she turned so that her back was towards the

contingent touring the health clinic. "I miss you, too."

"So when are you coming home?" Josh asked as he entered the bedroom and

haphazardly flung his shirt to the floor.

With that, the more tender moment was gone, and Donna snorted. "Since you

planned the trip, you know that we're leaving this afternoon, which means we'll land

in D.C. Tuesday afternoon."

"Right," he replied as he slumped on the bed. Looking down, he realized he was

only wearing one shoe. He must have gotten one off in the living room before he fell

asleep. With fumbling fingers, he loosened the laces and then kicked the shoe off his

foot towards the closet. He missed.

"What was that?" Donna asked as the loud bang rang through the phone.

"My shoe hitting the closet door."

Donna stifled a laugh. "Exactly how much of a disaster have you managed to make

of the apartment in the last four days?"

"I told you yesterday that Sam came over and watched football."

Donna snickered before replying, "How exactly does that answer my question?"

"I had company. I had to clean up for company."

"It was Sam, which means all you did was brush the stuff off of the couch so you

could sit down in front of the TV."

"Seriously, when you get back I'm sending you to the secret government UFO lab

guys so they can test you for witchly powers."

"I'm not a witch, I just know you're a slob and can make a mess of even the smallest

space in mere minutes."

Josh yawned as he leaned back on the bed. "This is a small space; we should think

about moving to a bigger place."

Instantly, Donna's eyes went wide and she felt her heart begin to beat a little faster.

She brought one hand up to her chest as if trying to still her internal reaction to his

comment. Since she wasn't sure he knew what he was saying, she feigned a casual

demeanor, but asked with a slightly higher-than-normal voice, "A bigger place?"

Now it was Josh's turn for his eyes to pop wide, as if realizing for the first time the

subject he had just broached. All the response he could manage was, "Yeah."

"That would mean you selling your condo and us…"

Josh swallowed hard, but finished for her, "Buying a new place… together."

Donna was silent for a few seconds. "That's kind of a big step."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

Donna exhaled a deep breath and was about to respond, when her attention was

momentarily captured by an increase in activity over by the motorcade. After a few

seconds, Donna averted her eyes and turned her focus back to Josh and the

unexpectedly serious relationship conversation they seemed to be having. "Have you

been thinking about it?"

"Well…" Josh squeezed his eyes shut before answering. "I've been thinking that we

need more living space. What about you? Have… uh… you thought about it?"

"I guess I've thought we could use more space, too… but-"

However, Donna didn't finish her thought. The commotion in front of her had

become unavoidably distracting. Now the Suburbans were being started, Secret

Service agents along with the other security were rushing around, and most

disturbingly, two agents were headed right towards her.

Josh was holding his breath, waiting for her to finish her thought. When he couldn't

stand it anymore, he asked, "But, what?"

She didn't reply.

"Donna?"

"Huh?"

"Are you still there, we were right in the middle of something kinda impor-"

"Something's going on." She interrupted him just as the two men reached her.

"What?" Josh immediately became concerned at her tone. "What do you mean?"

Through the phone, he could hear a male voice. "Ms. Moss, we have to go now."

"Donna, what's going on!?"

"Uh, I don't know-"

And then the line went dead. Josh sat staring at the phone for several beats, willing

her to call him back. She didn't. His heart was in his throat as he began to feel cold

beads of perspiration start to form.

With fumbling fingers, he began to redial her. The phone didn't even ring; he was

immediately directed to voice mail. Fear washed over Josh, and in the silence, he

jumped when his phone trilled loudly several seconds later, followed quickly by the

buzzing of his pager on the nightstand.

"This is Josh Lyman."

"Yes, sir. You're needed back at the White House right away."

Josh's heart stopped and he held his breath for a beat before demanding, "What

happened?"

"An assassination attempt on the President of Amiir."

SMASH CUT TO OPENING CREDITS