WW Fic: A Decade on Interstate Five
Title: A Decade on Interstate Five
Fandom: West Wing
Summary: Josh doesn't enjoy being stuck in traffic.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Totally Sorkin's.
Notes: Thanks to simplelyric for betaing. Set pre-S1, during the first campaign. andrealyn requested West Wing, Josh/Sam, using a tried and true Futurama quote: "Is desire to mate a feeling?" I managed the quote, but it's only slashy if you squint.




A Decade on Interstate Five

Campaigning, Josh was starting to learn, was tiring, difficult, exhausting, but oddly fun. Being stuck in traffic on the campaign bus was all of those things, without the fun part. He started counting the number of blue cars he could see stuck in the gridlock around them and wondered if he could walk across California before the bus got there.

"Is desire to mate a feeling?"

Josh stared at Sam, who was sitting beside him and reading National Geographic. It was the only magazine on this bus that they hadn't already read, scouring for political information. "What the hell?"

"Is desire to mate a feeling?" Sam repeated, tapping the glossy page. "They write about it as if it's an emotion. I would have thought of it as an urge. A primal need."

"Really?" Josh contemplated banging his head on the glass window. There was a chance he'd knock himself out and be able to sleep through this conversation.

Sam's eyes lit up, the way they always did when he discovered something he believed to be interesting. "It's a need, isn't it? It's a dynamic biological imperative. It's not like caring about someone or envying them. It's like hunger. It's not an emotion. It's a driving force."

"Speaking of driving forces..." Josh muttered under his breath as Sam continued.

"Here, they're clearly talking about something that is necessary to the panda's continued existence, and yet, they don't treat it with the seriousness that it deserves--"

"Is there any way we can make this bus move?" Josh called out over the seats. "I'm willing to push, if I have to!"

"It isn't broken down," CJ replied. "We're stuck in traffic. Pushing won't help."

"I'm still willing to try," Josh replied loudly.

"Josh, be quiet," Leo replied firmly. "Or next time, you're traveling with the baggage."

"About the panda thing," Sam started, and Josh decided to test Leo's patience.

"Can I go sit with the baggage now?"

Leo stood up, glaring at him over the seats. "What?"

"I'm stuck with Discovery Channel Boy. If it's not the otters, it's the pandas, or the tigers, or the whales. I'm a well-educated man, Leo. I don't need to know why the rainforests are being destroyed. I just need to know not to go out there without a guide."

"You are so lucky Governor Bartlet didn't just hear that," CJ warned him quietly.

"Sam?" Toby asked.

Sam twisted around in his seat to see Toby. "Yeah?"

"Did you fix up the latest draft?"

"I was going to do that at the hotel."

"Well, since we've been stuck sitting in this bus for," Toby paused dramatically, "oh, I don't know, a decade? It might be a good idea to do it now."

"Sure." Sam reached for his laptop and glared at Josh.

"Look on the bright side," Josh said quietly as the laptop hummed to life. "Now, you can play Solitaire, and no one will notice."

Sam's face broke into a somewhat devious grin. "I hadn't thought of that."

"That's because you're a writer, and I'm a mastermind," Josh replied with a smirk.

Sam just snorted.