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PART 3/5

The vote on the Family Wellness Act was supposed to take pace at noon on Friday, so we were all caught off guard when Senator Stackhouse took the floor in order to filibuster. Nobody had taken his threat to hold up the vote seriously. Nobody thought he'd go through with anything. Senator Howard Stackhouse was not a young man and he was suffering from a cold, but there he stood. He started out by reading the local paper, then moved on to a recipe book. Later he read from 'David Copperfield', before moving on to the rules of card games. He had held the floor for more than 8 hours at this point and people were getting anxious.

This was our first filibuster, so there was a lot of talk and questions going on around the west wing. People weren't quite sure what the rules were or what we should be doing while it was in progress. Of course, this was a topic where Josh had the market cornered in the trivia department. Not only did he know the rules, but he also knew the history of the rules as well as the origin of the word filibuster. "It comes from the Dutch vrijbuiter, which literally translates to freebooter, but better translates to pirate or buccaneer," he explained to anyone who asked.

All the senior staffers had plans for the weekend and were watching their flight times come and go as we waited. Sam was headed for the Hamptons, Toby was off to Telluride, CJ was winging to the west coast to meet her family in Napa and celebrate her father's 70th birthday, and Josh was going to the New York Mets spring training camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida. CJ wouldn't let the others leave because as soon as the filibuster ended, assuming it would end, there would be a vote and then she would need her "spin boys" to deal with the press.

I had been trying to reschedule Josh's flight to Florida when my attention was caught by the back-story that was being broadcast as Senator Stackhouse continued to speak. They showed footage from his last two campaigns with his family on the podium with him. They mentioned he had seven grandchildren, but both events had only shown six grandchildren on the platform with the senator. I asked somebody to get me a copy of the stories so I could verify what I thought I was seeing.

Josh came cruising through the bullpen and I presented him with his latest travel options.

"You're booked tomorrow morning 8:55 United direct to West Palm Beach."

"Which gets in at."

"12:58," I answered.

"It's still a 70 mile drive to Port St. Lucie. I'll miss the game," Josh whined.

"I thought they weren't playing yet?" I asked as I followed him into his office.

"It's an exhibition game," Josh admitted.

"You're flying to Florida to see the Mets play another team in a game that doesn't count?"

"Actually, it's an intra-squad game."

"You're flying to Florida to see the Mets play each other in a game that doesn't count?" I asked incredulously. I suppose there was some testosterone-related reason why I couldn't understand his need to fly to Florida to watch a baseball team play itself.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Continental out of Dulles 7:00 a.m. You change planes in Newark."

"I've got to fly to New Jersey to get to West Palm Beach? Whatever. Just make sure that tomorrow morning."

".Mike Piazza calls you dude," I finished.

"Yes," he answered.

He turned around to look at me. In a low voice he said, "Donna, you know I had this trip planned before we.before we were.us, right? I don't want to be away from you, but this is something that I've dreamed about since I was a kid."

"Josh, I know you've had these plans because I made them for you-remember? Do you also remember that since you were going to be gone for the weekend, thus giving me a rare weekend off," I paused to give him a little bit of the evil eye, "that I was going to pamper myself with a day of beauty?"

He dropped into his chair and asked, "And just what does that involve?"

"Well, I've got a head to toe, pore-cleansing mud bath, full body massage, manicure and pedicure, haircut and style and makeup consultation scheduled." I took in his bewildered look and continued, "And then I figured I'd do a little shopping."

He looked at me with his big puppy dog eyes and said, "You're telling me this to punish me, aren't you? You're doing all these things and will be relaxed and glowing and feeling like a million dollars and I won't be here to get to enjoy it."

"Well," I began, "since I had to change your fight plans anyway, I also booked you on an earlier flight on Sunday-morning instead of afternoon."

He grinned at me, his dimples making my knees weak. "Now, if Mike Piazza calls me 'dude' and then I can come home to.what you just implied." he trailed off.

I blushed as I watched him roll his chair in front of his computer monitor and pull out the keyboard tray.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm writing an email to my mother," he answered, somewhat awkwardly.

"Why?" This wasn't something that he did very often.

"To thank her for a pair of shoes she sent me," he admitted quietly.

"Your mother sent you shoes?" I gushed.

Josh dropped his head into his hand. "Donna, please try and keep it."

"That is the sweetest thing."

"Donna."

"Okay."

I needed to look at that videotape and see if I was right about the senator's grandchildren. I was almost out the door when I remembered that I wanted to ask him something else. "Josh-why is your coat dirty on one side?"

He rested his hands on the desktop, sighed heavily and said, "When I went to see Stackhouse, I had on my new shoes and they were slick. I slipped and fell in a hallway in the Capitol."

"Oh. Okay." I waited until I was out of his office to smile quietly to myself.

TBC