Adeste Fideles

Adeste Fideles:
Act III

Kasey

ACT III EXT. White House - Night CUT TO: INT. Toby's office - Night TOBY sits at his desk, writing on a legal pad. SAM enters. SAM: I wrote the official statement on the thing with the women. TOBY: Okay. SAM: Gave it to CJ. TOBY: Yeah. SAM: What are you working on? I thought we were pretty much done for, y'know, the holiday season. TOBY: Getting a jump on something. SAM: On what? They are interrupted by JOSH sticking his head in the door. JOSH: Listen, Toby, when you write the part about vouchers…don't step on it too hard. TOBY: It's part of our policy, Josh- JOSH: Yeah, but it's not something the Democrats like and since, y'know, we don't need to cosy up to the Republicans anymore 'cause we won re-election…don't put in too much about- TOBY: Since when do you write speeches? JOSH: Fair point. JOSH leaves. SAM: (Stares at Toby) What speech about vouchers? TOBY: The one next month. SAM: I'm sorry? TOBY: At the National Teachers Conference. SAM: He's speaking? TOBY: Yeah. SAM: How come I didn't know about this? TOBY: I honestly don't know, I told CJ and apparently Josh knows, I figured… SAM: That I had been told. TOBY: Yeah. SAM: So this time it wasn't that I was left OUT of the loop so much as it was that everyone else forgot I was IN the loop. TOBY: Don't make this a thing. SAM: And to top it off he's talking about vouchers? TOBY: Yeah. SAM: We haven't, y'know, by some miracle, changed our policy again? TOBY: Nope, we're pretty much still in favour of them. SAM: Toby- TOBY: What? SAM: (Beat) Lemme see the draft so far. TOBY hands it over and SAM reads it. SAM: Hang on - this line looks very familiar… TOBY: It is. SAM: How? TOBY: You wrote it. SAM: What do you mean, I wrote it? I didn't even know he was addressing the damn group, Toby, let alone that vouchers would be in the speech, and now you're telling me I wrote the line? TOBY: You did. SAM: When? TOBY: In an op-ed report…about three years ago. SAM stares at him for a moment, silent, then turns and leaves. FLASHBACK TO: INT. The Apartment we saw in the first flashback of the episode - Night SAM is standing in the middle of the room, still in his coat and looking like he hasn't been home long. LISA stands across from him and we get a very cross-fire feel. LISA: I've had enough! Do you understand that, Sam? This is never the life I wanted! SAM: It's been all of a month we've been married… LISA: Yeah, 'cause we postponed the wedding until after the elections- SAM: That's over and done with, Lisa, not much you can do to change it now. LISA: This isn't the life I wanted, Sam, I wanted you to actually be AROUND from time to time- SAM: It's a transition period, Lisa, we're interviewing people for jobs and doing background checks and working on figuring out who's going to be appointed to the Cabinet, it'll be over in less than a month… LISA: No it won't. SAM: Yes, it will, Hon, listen to me- LISA: It won't be over, it won't EVER be over, it'll keep going like- FLASH TO PRESENT INT. Hallway - Night SAM walking through the hallway looking freaked. FLASHBACK TO: INT. Sam and Lisa's Apartment - Night SAM paces insanely through the living room, looking like he's about to go mad. He spots the phone on the end table, pauses a moment before he goes to it. With shaking hands, he picks it up and dials… CUT TO: INT. The Bedroom of Josh Lyman - Night JOSH is asleep, tangled among blankets and sheets, when he hears the phone ring. Slowly he sort of wakes up and fumbles for the receiver. SEAMLESS FLASH TO PRESENT INT. Josh's Office - Night JOSH picks up his ringing phone. JOSH: Josh Lyman. (Beat) Yeah. (Beat) Yeah, okay. He hangs up and SAM storms into his office. JOSH: Hey- SAM: What the hell is going on around here? JOSH: I don't know what you're referring to. SAM: I've apparently spent so much time out of the loop that people have forgotten I'm EVER in the loop, or so it seems- JOSH: The teacher thing? SAM: Yeah, "the teacher thing", Josh. JOSH: It was an…oversight. SAM: An oversight. JOSH: Yeah. SAM: What you mean is everyone forgot to tell me. JOSH: It wasn't like- SAM: Hey - It's all okay, it's not like this time you purposely didn't tell me, so I s'pose I'm moving up on the ladder. JOSH: Sam, listen- SAM: No, YOU listen! I gave up exactly the same as everyone else for this job and this president and getting him elected twice, I was on the campaign team the same as everyone else so I wanna know when it happened that I became the one ya don't tell for whatever reason. JOSH: It wasn't like- SAM: And I realize that officially you and Toby are on the same level 'cause you both answer to Leo first but shouldn't that theoretically mean that CJ and I are on the same level 'cause we both answer to Toby and therefore we should find out things at about the same time? Or maybe it's better to just tell CJ that way I can find out on CNN. JOSH: (Quiet) Sam. (Double beat) I know you're sorta…stressing right now, it's not- SAM: Oh, what the hell would you possibly know about what's going on in my head? JOSH: Probably a fair amount due to my vast amount of psychotherapy I've had since I lost it two Christmases ago. SAM: That's not even close to being the same thing. JOSH: Then explain it to me. (Beat) Don't you think it's at least a little strange you never told me what happened? SAM: I'm sorry? JOSH: You never…told me what happened…with Lisa. SAM: You were… (It is obvious he's caught off-guard and uncertain how to answer. He speaks very quickly.) You were there, Josh, you were there and basically baby-sat me for the week after she died and I don't think I ever - did I ever thank you for that? If I didn't, then I should, and if I did, I should thank you again- JOSH: Yeah, but how did she die? SAM: I told you at the time. JOSH: No, you didn't, after you called me you didn't say more than a half-dozen words for the next week. None of which had to do with Lisa and almost all of which were monosyllabic. (Silence) What happened to her, Sam? SAM: She just-…It was-… We HEAR sirens quietly in the background. JOSH: Sam? (Silence) Sam? Talk to me… SAM: She… FLASHBACK TO: EXT. A small house typical of the Kennedy Centre area. CUT TO: INT. Sam and Lisa's Apartment - Night We join the argument we saw part of earlier. SAM: Lisa…it won't be like this forever, I promise, it'll just be- LISA: Just four more years or maybe eight. SAM: The late hours won't last so- LISA: Yes they will. SAM: Lisa- LISA: Yes they will! Why do you think Josh can't keep a woman? SAM: Because he's Josh, what does that have to do with- LISA: Because he's Josh and because he works 21 hours a friggin' day. Because his job is priority one and no woman better try to interfere with that. SAM: Okay but I think it's more the first part than- LISA: So now you're making jokes. SAM: I'm sorry. LISA: You're turning into him, y'know. All politician and no more Sam left… SAM: I'm still me, Lise… LISA: How would I know? I never get to see you 'til three a.m. anymore. (Silence) This isn't the life I wanted to lead, Sam… SAM: I'm sorry I've been working so much, it's just- LISA: The life I wanted to lead was what we had in New York- SAM: Because of the money? LISA: God, Sam, of course not because of the money! Because you were THERE. Because I didn't have to stay up and get like two hours of sleep in order to see you at all. Because you were home every night for dinner except in rare cases if you were doing work at the office. THAT'S why I liked us back then. Now, it's… (Sigh) I think I should move out. SAM: Lisa! LISA: I can't do this, Sam, I can't…I can't be married yet so alone all the time, I can't…I won't. SAM: Are you saying you want a- LISA: I think we should separate. SAM: Honey…please…rethink this… LISA: I've been doing nothing BUT rethinking it for the past week, Sam, what more do you want from me? SAM: …Don't do this…I…you can't, Lisa… LISA: I can. SAM: If you…If you send papers I won't sign them. Please…I'm sorry, Lisa, give me another chance…I'm sorry I've been working so late, I won't work so much anymore, I'll talk to Leo, it'll be fine…another chance…please… LISA: It doesn't matter how many more chances I give you, Sam, nothing's gonna be different. Not because I don't believe you can change, but because no matter how much you try…you still love that President-elect more than you could ever love me. She is rapidly crumbling and flees the room. We see her go into the bathroom and slam the door behind her. SAM follows. SAM: (Shouting through the door) That's not true, Lisa, and you know it - you're a liar! With that, he goes to the bedroom and slams that door. FADE TO COMMERCIAL. END ACT III.

Act IV

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