25 Random Things About...
I never did that Facebook “25 (or 27 depending on who you ask) Things About Me” thing. For one thing, I still refuse to have a Facebook account. Secondly, I’m not sure my list would be all that interesting…. Until I realized I could make it fandom related.
I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
1. Josh and Donna eloped.
2. It took being apart from Josh for Donna to realize the depth of her feelings. Josh already knew. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
3. Josh couldn’t be Jed Bartlet’s chief of staff, because they were too alike. That’s why Josh was fine with being passed over for CJ. He thought he was wrong for the job.
4. Donna never suffered from PSTD… and she never recovered her memories from immediately before the explosion. When she tries, all she can remember is vaugue memory of Admiral Fitzwallace laughing.
5. It’s not that *we* see Donna as different. She was. She there when the Bartlet campaign was still a long shot. She and Margaret were the only two assistants who worked in the West Wing that had been on the campaign trail since the very beginning. (Mrs. Landingham is in a category all by herself.) The group was small during the early days, so Donna got close to everyone, not just Josh, in ways that the others never had to opportunity. Even in Season 1 canon, we see the assistants look to Donna to inform Senior Staff who they thought the leak could have been.
6. Margaret stayed on as Josh’s assistant. Working with Josh was a way for her to stay close to Leo. She never forgave herself for staying behind to work for CJ, even though she knows that it was the right decision and that Leo would have kicked her ass if she had turned down the opportunity.
7. It was Leo who brought Donna on staff and was the one that signed her performance evaluations, even though Josh was her immediate supervisor. Cause Leo ALWAYS knew that there was a chance Josh and Donna would happen someday and he didn’t want some idiot to try to use their past professional relationship as a way to score a cheap shot.
8. Leo knew that Josh and Donna were all, but officially happening and he was delighted. For a long time, he was the only one on the Santos campaign who had a clue anything was going on.
9. Josh gets both his love of politics and his compulsive need to fix things from his mom. When Josh mentioned in Election Day that his mom had mobilized her friends to get out the vote, I just took it as further proof.
10. Donna doesn’t get along with her parents. They love each other, but they just can’t seem to be in the same room without arguing about stupid things.
11. CJ and Danny adopted their two daughters. Danny would have been fine with just one child, but CJ thought it was important to have siblings.
12. No matter where their lives took them, Toby and CJ always stayed close.
13. While CJ could be happy with a great many potential partners, Toby really can only be happy with CJ.
14. Andy blames Toby totally for the failure of their marriage, for everything, because it saves her from admitting that she was as much to blame. That in the end, she failed him more profoundly than he could ever fail her. (Yes, I’ve never forgiven her for her “You’re sad, Toby.” I don’t care if she was in labor.)
15. This one is sad and rather angsty for me… but I choose to believe that Leo and Jordan never broke up. She died, quite unexpectedly. Part of the reason that Leo was such a robot for the latter half of season 5 was because he was grief stricken. He literally wasn’t himself.
16. Will privately thinks the moment he lost his way was when Elise left him. They had a big falling out over him working for Russell and they didn’t speak to each other for a long time. She called him after the DNC convention and they slowly rebuilt their friendship. Will sometimes sees the parallels between Josh and Donna’s relationship and his own with Elise, but after Josh and Donna got married, he tried to ignore it. Elise is his step-sister, after all, and he just can't bring himself to believe that they could be anything else to each other.
17. Mandy left shortly after Rossyln. Nobody blamed her… nobody, but Mandy herself. The extremely guilt she felt was probably why she left the world of politics completely. She now works for a publishing house in Manhattan and is much happier that she ever imagined she could be. She still votes in every election (for whoever is the most closely affiliated with Jed Bartlet), but that’s all that’s left of her old life.
18. Abby had a miscarriage in between Elizabeth and Ellie. (Which would account for why there is, or at least should be, an age gap.) It was a little boy.
19. Jed does not have a favorite, but if he did, it would be Ellie.
20. Elizabeth was pregnant when she got married. When Ellie got married Jed and Abbey, to a lesser extent, felt like history was repeating itself, despite the fact that Ellie was much older and clearly knew what she was doing. Her husband won them over. Ellie clearly wasn’t going to be repeating her sister’s mistakes.
21. Zoey entered politics and would ultimately serve as a Senator. She never had her eyes on the White House, though many hoped that she would run.
22. Charlie and Zoey got married shortly after the Santos Administration.
23. Charlie came to work for Josh after he graduated from Law School. He had a long successful career as a lawyer.
24. Josh and Charlie regularly go to Nationals games together. (Charlie had been waiting for DC baseball literally his whole life and now is a rabid Nats fan.) Donna loves to go with them, but she refuses to go to any more Mets vs. Nats games. You can probably imagine why. They’re even worse when Toby joins them.
25. Josh is a MAJOR Beatles fan.
I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.
I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
1. Josh and Donna eloped.
2. It took being apart from Josh for Donna to realize the depth of her feelings. Josh already knew. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
3. Josh couldn’t be Jed Bartlet’s chief of staff, because they were too alike. That’s why Josh was fine with being passed over for CJ. He thought he was wrong for the job.
4. Donna never suffered from PSTD… and she never recovered her memories from immediately before the explosion. When she tries, all she can remember is vaugue memory of Admiral Fitzwallace laughing.
5. It’s not that *we* see Donna as different. She was. She there when the Bartlet campaign was still a long shot. She and Margaret were the only two assistants who worked in the West Wing that had been on the campaign trail since the very beginning. (Mrs. Landingham is in a category all by herself.) The group was small during the early days, so Donna got close to everyone, not just Josh, in ways that the others never had to opportunity. Even in Season 1 canon, we see the assistants look to Donna to inform Senior Staff who they thought the leak could have been.
6. Margaret stayed on as Josh’s assistant. Working with Josh was a way for her to stay close to Leo. She never forgave herself for staying behind to work for CJ, even though she knows that it was the right decision and that Leo would have kicked her ass if she had turned down the opportunity.
7. It was Leo who brought Donna on staff and was the one that signed her performance evaluations, even though Josh was her immediate supervisor. Cause Leo ALWAYS knew that there was a chance Josh and Donna would happen someday and he didn’t want some idiot to try to use their past professional relationship as a way to score a cheap shot.
8. Leo knew that Josh and Donna were all, but officially happening and he was delighted. For a long time, he was the only one on the Santos campaign who had a clue anything was going on.
9. Josh gets both his love of politics and his compulsive need to fix things from his mom. When Josh mentioned in Election Day that his mom had mobilized her friends to get out the vote, I just took it as further proof.
10. Donna doesn’t get along with her parents. They love each other, but they just can’t seem to be in the same room without arguing about stupid things.
11. CJ and Danny adopted their two daughters. Danny would have been fine with just one child, but CJ thought it was important to have siblings.
12. No matter where their lives took them, Toby and CJ always stayed close.
13. While CJ could be happy with a great many potential partners, Toby really can only be happy with CJ.
14. Andy blames Toby totally for the failure of their marriage, for everything, because it saves her from admitting that she was as much to blame. That in the end, she failed him more profoundly than he could ever fail her. (Yes, I’ve never forgiven her for her “You’re sad, Toby.” I don’t care if she was in labor.)
15. This one is sad and rather angsty for me… but I choose to believe that Leo and Jordan never broke up. She died, quite unexpectedly. Part of the reason that Leo was such a robot for the latter half of season 5 was because he was grief stricken. He literally wasn’t himself.
16. Will privately thinks the moment he lost his way was when Elise left him. They had a big falling out over him working for Russell and they didn’t speak to each other for a long time. She called him after the DNC convention and they slowly rebuilt their friendship. Will sometimes sees the parallels between Josh and Donna’s relationship and his own with Elise, but after Josh and Donna got married, he tried to ignore it. Elise is his step-sister, after all, and he just can't bring himself to believe that they could be anything else to each other.
17. Mandy left shortly after Rossyln. Nobody blamed her… nobody, but Mandy herself. The extremely guilt she felt was probably why she left the world of politics completely. She now works for a publishing house in Manhattan and is much happier that she ever imagined she could be. She still votes in every election (for whoever is the most closely affiliated with Jed Bartlet), but that’s all that’s left of her old life.
18. Abby had a miscarriage in between Elizabeth and Ellie. (Which would account for why there is, or at least should be, an age gap.) It was a little boy.
19. Jed does not have a favorite, but if he did, it would be Ellie.
20. Elizabeth was pregnant when she got married. When Ellie got married Jed and Abbey, to a lesser extent, felt like history was repeating itself, despite the fact that Ellie was much older and clearly knew what she was doing. Her husband won them over. Ellie clearly wasn’t going to be repeating her sister’s mistakes.
21. Zoey entered politics and would ultimately serve as a Senator. She never had her eyes on the White House, though many hoped that she would run.
22. Charlie and Zoey got married shortly after the Santos Administration.
23. Charlie came to work for Josh after he graduated from Law School. He had a long successful career as a lawyer.
24. Josh and Charlie regularly go to Nationals games together. (Charlie had been waiting for DC baseball literally his whole life and now is a rabid Nats fan.) Donna loves to go with them, but she refuses to go to any more Mets vs. Nats games. You can probably imagine why. They’re even worse when Toby joins them.
25. Josh is a MAJOR Beatles fan.
I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.