Invisible String

C.2: one single thread of gold tied me to you

Leo waved back, realising that it was in fact Madison Montgomery standing in the White House, he quickly excused himself from the conversation.

"Maddie," he called out, smiling for the first time in a little while.

"Leo," she smiled, leaning down to hug him.

"What's it been, two years?" she asked once they broke apart.

"Too long." Leo replied. "What brings you home?"

Madison shifted slightly at the mention of home. Her family ancestral property never felt like home to her.

"The allure of a democratic DC finally bring you home?" he asked again.

"Then I wouldn't be here," Madison half joked as the Republicans still held a majority, "I got cheated on," her voice broke as she admitted this, "I didn't have like a yearning to return."

"I heard you applied for the senior advisor post." Leo quickly changed the topic, unable to deal with the emotional fallout.

"Does Connie just want to shout that from the rooftops instead?" Madison half whined, "Yeah, I did and I don't want any special favours."

"I won't be the one interviewing you but you'll get my support."

"Thank you," Madison smiled as Leo then called over his staff, introducing Madison to them.

Truthfully she couldn't remember any of the names as she pretended to be interested in the conversations that they were having around her. She smiled politely each time the conversation pivoted to her, briefly answering their questions about who she was and what it was that she did. Not knowing if anyone of these people would be the ones who were going to be interviewing her tomorrow.

Only recognising Toby from the few days that she helped for during the early days of the Bartlet Campaign, back when Bartlet was still considered as a joke candidate, someone who had next to no hope in Hell in actually winning.

A hand loosely grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away from the people she was talking to who watched incredibly confused as Madison got pulled away mid conversation. She could have shrugged off the faux kidnapping if she wanted, the grip around her forearm was lax enough.

He continued to half pull her almost out of the room and towards a slightly more private section, if there could be a private section in this building. He let her go.

"Oh shit," She swore, out loud, once she realised who it was. The man she went home with two weeks ago, his name she couldn't quite recall.

"Madison," He stood across from her, his arms tightly crossed.

"This is where I admit that I can't remember your name." She spoke, rubbing her hand on the back of her neck. Out of embarrassment if anything.

"Josh Lyman." He introduced himself.

"Madison Montgomery," She introduced herself, knowing that she'd more than likely lied to him about her name, "I never thought that I'd see you again, so if you're confronting me about temporarily misappropriating that twenty, that was on the floor, in my defence, I didn't have the money to get home safely."

Josh cocked his head, trying to take in what Madison's just admitted.

"Also if I'm honest, it didn't get me the whole way home, it got me to my brother's, frankly overcrowded home, where I crashed and then got my mother to come pick me up," She continued speaking without thinking about the consequences and what they'd be, "It'll take me about six to eight weeks to get you the money."