God of War:
Part 2


Lynn Jepsen


"Get your hands off those fries!" Rachel grabs the plate off my desk and
spirits them out the room, ignoring my protests. When she reappears,
she's holding vegetables. This is completely unfair. "Orders, Josh. I'm
supposed to keep you healthy." They were just french fries! Potatoes are
a vegetable! She shakes her head at me, and grabs the phone off my desk
as it starts to ring.

"Josh Lyman's office..... Uh-huh..... Of course....I'm going to transfer
you to the Treasury Department..... Okay." Who was that? "Abramsen. He
wanted to know when the Secret Service was going to survey the hall." I
nod in her direction then, and ask for the staff to be sent in as soon as
they get here. I want a chance to talk to them before Sam gets back from
the residence. "CJ took Joe upstairs, but Toby's outside." Okay, Diana's
here somewhere. Find them and send them in.

"What did we do this time?" Good to see you too, Toby. We didn't do
anything, but it does appear that The Wrath of God sank an aircraft
carrier in the Red Sea. Toby runs a hand over his beard and sinks into a
chair. "The Wrath of God, they're Israeli?" Palestinian. He nods, and
leans back in the chair, waiting as first Diana and then Lily trickle in.
I wait until Carol and Ramon join us before repeating myself, and when CJ
sneaks in, I pick up the military reports and start briefing them. We've
just finished when Rachel sticks her head in and tells us the President
is ready to see us.

It's almost three am by the time Wallace tracks down all his local
commanders in the region. We're running scared, and that's not the most
comforting thing to keep taking back to the President. "Joshua, you
realize how scary this is?" What, going to war? Yeah. Lisa shakes her
head sadly then, and sinks into my guest chair. "No, you and Sam writing
our foreign policy." Thanks. Love you too. Not. "What are our options?"
Come on, Lisa. You've been sitting next to Sam all night. You've heard
everything the military's had to say, everything State's had to say, and
everything I've had to say. "No, I haven't heard everything you've all
had to say, I've heard what you've had to say to Sam." Ah, splitting
hairs. Alright, you've got a point.

We can declare war on a country that doesn't exist, in a region that
can't keep the peace, with no allies, few advantages, and a squeamish
public, or we can back down, and lose another few thousand men in a month
or two, or we can retaliate. That's got it's own problems - military and
PR. Lisa nods, her expression unreadable. "It's nice to hear the bottom
line once in a while." She stands up to leave, and I watch her go,
shaking my head.

Rachel enters as Lisa leaves. "General Wallace in on line four."

*

Diana?

Cracking open her office door, I struggle to suppress a grin. She's
fallen asleep on her laptop. Well, since Toby's upstairs with Joe, that
explains why this side of the building's been so quiet. Ginger's typing
something in the bullpen, but most of the staff won't be in for another
hour or so. Crossing the office, I clear off the top of her desk, and
readjust her head, so that it rests on her arms instead of her computer
keyboard. I grab a chair from against the wall and park it next to her.
Resting a hand against her back, I grab my briefing book and start
reading - the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It might as
well be war and peace.

I've almost finished reading the material when I feel her shifting, and
softly stretching. "Josh?" Hmmm. It's me. "Did we declare peace?" No, no
such luck. She twists in the chair then, settling her feet on the floor,
and brushes her hand against my arm. "Don't you have a country to run?"
Don't you have a speech to write? "It's finished." Has he seen it? "He's
been in conference with State all morning. I'll walk it over after Toby
takes a final glance at it." Okay. "Are we still going to...." Yeah.
We're going to do the thing. No need to panic the public.

I'm sure there's more I should be saying right now, but CJ knocks on the
door, and gestures for me to join her in the hall. "I've been on the
phone with the leadership. They'll support us if we...." No. Don't tell
me that right now, CJ. I want to take this meeting on it's merits. "Fine.
Twenty minutes?" Talk to Rachel. I don't care about the politics of this
right now.

Sam is already sitting in the Situation room when Wallace and I take our
places. Brutus is pacing the room slowly. Ramon thinks he's got
arthritis. Whatever it is, he's less scary and more cranky now. He's more
protective too, especially of the kids. I'm surprised he's not up in the
residence - either that or with Lisa. She and Lily took a lunch meeting
at the Israeli embassy. There are so many ways that could go wrong it's
not even funny. I guess Sam sent them hoping cooler heads would prevail.

God of War: Part 3

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