The West Wing characters belong to Aaron Sorkin. The original characters
created for the fic are mine, as is the fic. Please ask me before
archiving - I'll probably say yes, but I like to know where it's going.
This arose from a story I wrote called "Six Viewpoints Before (And
After) Lunch." I decided to play with an idea from that a little more.
A credit here to Isabellecat. I said to her that from the moment I first
saw him, Toby Zeigler had reminded me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
She mailed me back to say that if Toby was Eeyore, then Josh was Tigger.
I used that here. The Tigger idea also separately occurred to Mary Dell,
who put it in a story, and after I heard that and shared my Eeyore
thoughts, the Josh/Donna list descended into a very enjoyable discussion
of the Hundred Acre Wood (some great suggestions, especially Lacy's
contention that Sam is the vulnerable Piglet.)<g>. (And I've since
learned the same idea occured a while back to Tara Patterson in a fic,
and Katrina McDonnell speculated on it...a lot of great minds on this
one...)
Written 12 April 2001, posted 18th April 2001. I haven't seen season two
yet, so apologies if this isn't quite consistent. This story is set
after "The Portland Trip", and is just a brief bit of post-episode
discussion.
Catseye.
by Michelle Hiley.
cat@hiley.demon.co.uk
Hi. I'm Amenti, and I'll be your commentator tonight. I live with Cassie
Johnson, and Donna Moss, and I'll be telling you about their lives,
because frankly mine is none of your goddam business.
I'm green-eyed, and black all over, and I'm a long-haired cat, unlike
the others, which means Donna and Cassie have to groom me. I admit, I
like that part. Lying on Donna's lap, which she runs a brush over
me.....that's a wonderful feeling. Technically, Cassie claims
responsibility for us, but in practice, Donna cares for us as well,
especially when Cassie's at work. And Donna likes to sit and talk to us,
which suits us fine, if we get stroked at the same time.
Amenti. Unusual name, huh? Cassie called me that. Apparently, in
Egyptian legend, Amenti is the Underworld, and as Donna put it 'that cat
came straight from Hell.'
Charming. Shred one tiny little shirt with your claws, and they never
let you live it down. Hey, I was bored, OK?
I guess I should introduce them properly. This is Cassie. She's a
short-haired, dark-eyed brunette, and she works at a legal firm doing
something, I forget what. She's been going steady with a lawyer there
called Bart, who smells of cheap aftershave, and who I don't like.
Despite this, she keeps dating him, maybe because she's desperate and
thinks if she doesn't get a man soon, she's gonna end up alone. Then
there's her room-mate, Donna. She's blonde, and she works at the White
House. She sees a succession of guys, all of them losers, because the
one she actually wants is her boss, and she's too scared to ask him out.
I'm not quite sure which one I think is more pathetic, Cassie or Donna,
but when I figure it out, I'll let you know. Still, I like living with
them. They're OK. They just need more training is all, to start bringing
home the right guys. Guys who buy them salmon for example. That'd do.
Pizza agrees with me on the salmon part. Pizza lives with us as well.
Cassie and Donna call her that because she's splotched with different
colours, and she spends most of her time eating whatever's edible, and a
few things that frankly aren't. Now me, I'm a delicate eater. Fussy, as
a cat should be. Pizza however eats whatever they give her, which annoys
me, because she's just spoiling them by being so co-operative.
Then there's Tigger. Oh God. He was hyperactive as a kitten, but sheesh,
you'd think he'd have grown out of it by now. He's two years old.
Bounce, bounce, bounce. Donna and Cassie think it's cute. I think it's
annoying, especially when I'm trying to sleep. I've tried beating the
crap out of Tigger, but it doesn't seem to have any effect, so instead I
sleep in the closet where he can't reach me. Tigger's ginger striped,
and looks like some character from a kid's book or something. I just
wish he *was* fictional.
It was Tigger who bounced up to Donna when she came home. She picked him
up, petting him, but her mind was clearly far away. She had this sort of
happy, wistful little smile on her face. And she was wearing a very nice
red dress. Very nice. I'd been asleep when she went out, so I hadn't had
a chance to show her how much I liked it, but I made up for it now,
rubbing against her legs and shedding black hair all over it. She didn't
even pull away, or get mad, which kinda took the fun out of it for me,
so I retreated to the couch.
Cassie looked up from the book she was reading, curious. "Hi. How did
the date go?"
"Terrible," Donna said, still with the happy little smile on her face.
OK. Even I could tell that wasn't right. The woman had finally lost her
mind. Personally, I'd seen it coming for a long time. I wondered who
Cassie would get as a new room-mate, when they carted Donna away to the
nuthouse. Maybe I could get them to take Tigger as well.
"Oh," Cassie said, clearly at a loss. "You don't seem upset about that."
"He was a loser," Donna told her. I wondered why this suddenly mattered,
given that it didn't seem to have stopped her dating the last half dozen
guys, but I was fast losing interest. Then I heard my name mentioned,
and looked up again.
Cassie was fussing, brushing at Donna's dress. "Amenti's shed on this.
You'll need to brush it before you take it back to the store."
"It's not going back." Donna's face became radiant. "He said I looked
good in it."
"Why do you care? I thought he was a loser?"
"No....not him. Josh. He liked it." She actually blushed. "I mean....you
know, he's got good taste in clothes, so if he thinks it looks good,
maybe I ought to keep it...."
Cassie stared at her. "Yeah right. Josh is the world's greatest when it
comes to fashion. Donna, when are you going to do something about this
crush you have?"
"I don't have a crush."
"You do so. Donna - it's really obvious. You're in love with your boss.
It doesn't matter to me, but you know, the people you work with are
going to notice. Either you need to ask the guy out, or you need to do
some serious misdirecting."
Donna's glow faded a little, and she bit her lip. "It's not true."
There was a long silence, while Cassie just looked at her, and finally
Donna sighed. "It is true," she admitted. Tigger stirred in her arms,
and she put him on the floor, and watched him bounce away.
Cassie watched him go. "That's who Josh Lyman reminds me of. Tigger. The
character in Winnie the Pooh. Bounce, bounce, bounce....."
That made Donna giggle. "And Toby is Eeyore," she told her.
"Toby?"
"Someone I work with. Never mind." She turned towards her room. "I
should get to bed...."
Cassie's arm prevented her, firmly. "No you don't. We should talk." She
pushed Donna's shoulders firmly down, making her room-mate sit on the
couch, and completely missing the fact I was sprawled on it. Donna
nearly sat on my head, and I jumped up, protesting, and yowled.
"Sorry 'Menti," Donna said. Menti. Made me sound like a toothpaste.
Offended, I turned my back, but Donna's soft hand came out and stroked
my fur, so I relented and settled on her lap while Cassie sat beside
her.
"'Menti's going to ruin that dress," Cassie warned.
"It'll clean," Donna told her. "It's just cat hair. I'm not taking it
back, not now."
Because Josh likes it. Donna was so hung up on that guy. Well, that was
OK. I'd met Josh Lyman plenty of times. I liked him. He'd yelled at
Tigger when the little rat had bounced on his head, which had earned him
points in my book. I'd been about to sink my claws into the new dress,
but if Josh liked it, I'd spare it. Maybe if Donna landed Josh, Josh
might come round and yell at Tigger some more.
"So you're keeping the dress for him?" Cassie asked.
"I don't think he'll fit in it." Whoa. There was an image I hadn't
needed.
"Donna....." Cassie said in her best Room-mate Warning Voice. Oh yeah,
like you can talk, Mrs. I Wanna Marry Cheap Aftershave Guy. Josh Lyman's
better than anything *you've* brought home in the last year.
"It's a nice dress, Cassie. I look good in it. Besides, Amenti's shed on
it. I can't take it back." She rubbed my fur, making a few more long
black strands fall onto the dress. Hey, don't use me as some convenient
excuse to keep the damn thing.
"Donna, why don't you ask Josh out? Don't you think he feels the same
way you do?"
Donna shuffled, uncomfortable with the question, and I grumbled in my
throat as her lap shifted. Stay still, woman. "I don't know. I haven't
thought about it."
"You haven't thought about how he might feel?" Cassie asked.
"Not really." Liar. She's probably been hanging on his every word,
looking for some clue.
"I don't believe you," Cassie said, echoing my views on it.
Donna looked unhappy. "I don't know how he feels," she confessed, and
this time her voice had the ring of truth in it. "I don't know. I do
know he's my boss, and he's the Deputy Chief of Staff, and there's
probably rules against me dating him. I do know that he's surrounded by
beautiful, clever women."
"And you think you've no chance?"
"I don't know. But right now, since I don't know how he feels...I don't
want to do something that might spoil our working relationship."
Oh please. Not the working relationship excuse. I jumped off her lap, to
show my opinion of such cowardice, but she didn't understand. Tigger
chose that moment to pounce on my tail, so I hit him around the head
until he got the message and went off to play with Pizza instead.
"You could talk to him," Cassie suggested.
"No," Donna said, reluctantly. "I just can't, Cassie. He probably
doesn't feel the same."
"Then start misdirecting, girlfriend. Cover your tracks." Cassie got up,
and returned with a bottle of wine and some glasses. "Here. Have a
drink. We'll talk about it."
They were still there when I came back an hour later. And Donna didn't
look happy like she had done beforehand. More importantly, my foodbowl
was empty, thanks to Pizza, so I let them know.
I wandered into Donna's room later that night, in the hope she might
have just tossed the dress casually onto her bed. She did that
sometimes, and I loved sleeping on the soft, silky, fabrics. But she'd
hung this one up carefully, pressing it smooth first. Her sleeping face
in the moonlight was damp, and it looked like she'd been crying over
whatever decision she and Cassie had reached.
Misdirection. Yeah right. Josh Lyman was gonna figure it out. Donna
might try for a while, but she'd give in and let him know eventually. It
was like trying to hide a fire.
And as I wandered across the bed, she smiled in her sleep, saying Josh's
name and touching her cheek. Like I said, Donna was clearly a nutcase
nowadays. A warm one though, and if Josh Lyman wasn't here for now to
dispute a place in the bed with me, then I'd be the one to cuddle up to
Donna. While I still had the chance.
Curled against her back, I fell asleep, listening to her talk to him in
her dreams.
--
Mich.