Chapter 6
It seemed like Monday morning dawned before Sunday night had even ended. Or at least that's how Kelsey felt as she crawled out of bed on Monday. Her mother's flight had been delayed and
was almost two hours late. This didn't put mom in a good mood. They drove around DC with Kelsey showing her mother the sights. Then there was dinner at a nice restaurant where a few
Congressional aides had been dining. Several came over to wish Kelsey good luck at the hearing. By the time they got home, it was after 11 and mom needed her medication. They had
stayed up late talking and Kelsey was prepared to sleep in on Sunday morning. But mom had other ideas and they had spent the day planting a new garden.
So, Monday morning, Kelsey walked into work tired, cranky and sore. She was in no mood for what awaited her at the morning staff meeting. Sitting in Leo's office, she half-listened as Leo,
Josh and Toby fought about who was going to attend a meeting with Congressman Hughmann. The Congressman wanted to tack on a rider to a bill that was set to pass in the House by some
20 votes. The rider was guaranteed to kill it.
Once it was decided that Josh and Sam would handle the meeting, Leo dismissed everyone asking Josh, Toby and Kelsey to stay behind.
"Toby, how's the prep work going for Kelsey's testimony?"
"Fine. We went over everything on Saturday."
"How confident are you?" Leo asked, this time looking directly at Kelsey.
"I'm ready," she replied.
"Good, because the hearing's been moved to today at 3," said Leo and watched as the realization slowly hit Kelsey.
"What?! How can they do this?!" she demanded.
"It's Congress. They can pretty much do what they want," explained Josh.
"No kidding! Thanks for the insight, Josh!" retorted Kelsey.
"Take it easy," Leo remarked, knowing that she was reacting out of fear.
"I'm not ready, Leo."
"Sure you are. You said so yourself."
"I was ready for Friday not today."
"You're ready for this," Toby commented from his corner of the room. "I have complete confidence in you."
Leo and Josh exchanged looks not knowing how to react to Toby saying something nice to one of his co-workers.
"Kelsey, you were ready for this hearing last week when I walked into your office. Now, I want you and Toby to go over your testimony one last time and then head on over to the Hill,"
replied Leo.
She smiled weakly. "Okay."
Once everyone left his office, Leo placed a phone call to Anne Saufl and invited her to watch the proceedings from the comfort of the West Wing. Leo thought it would be a nice surprise for
Anne to waiting for Kelsey when the hearing was over. She agreed, no questions asked.