Disclaimer: The characters from the show aren’t mine, they belong to others. No copyright infringement intended. Any characters you don’t recognise are mine. Again, if someone’s used the name(s) or storyline(s) elsewhere, the same applies.

Category: Sam/Josh Fluff fic

Rating: NC-17 – Sam and Josh are a couple (and have cute nicknames for each other

Characters: Er, Sam, Josh y’know

Series: No

Spoilers: None

Summary: Working in the White House has its advantages.

Archive: Just tell me where it’s going.

Additional ‘stuff’: WARNING: Don’t ready this if the idea of Josh n Sam as a couple squicks you. I wrote this in response to a request for Sam n Josh fluff on another site. There is no plot, and my knowledge of elevator mechanics is limited.

Title: Calling in the darkness

Sam got in the elevator and pressed the button for their floor. Although he no longer thought about it so often, it was definitely ‘their’ floor. Their apartment on their floor in their block. He was smiling just thinking about Josh, stuck in a late-night strategy meeting with CJ, Leo, and Bartlet. Neither he nor Toby had been required, so Toby suggested they both go home. Sam wasn’t going to argue. Leaving early gave him the perfect excuse to cook a meal for them both to enjoy when Josh, eventually, came home.

The elevator shuddered a little and Sam tensed, relaxing again as the movement stopped. It was several seconds before he realised that the reason the movement had stopped was that the elevator had stopped. The doors wouldn’t open, and Sam forced himself to remain calm while he opened the small metal door at the side of the floor buttons and pressed the emergency bell. The picked up the telephone and waited to be connected. ‘Acme Elevators, can I help you?’

‘I’m stuck. The doors won’t open.’

The woman’s voice was uninterested. ‘Hold please.’

Sam felt his clothes begin to stick as he sweated while he waited to be connected. ‘Maintenance.’

‘I’m stuck in the elevator in my building.’

‘Address?’

Sam gave his address and asked how long the engineer would be.

‘Around two hours. We’re kinda busy right now.’

‘Two hours! You mean I could be stuck here two hours!’

‘Hey, could be longer. Depends on how quick we can get through the jobs before you son. Don’t worry. There’s plenty of air. We’ll get to you as soon as we can.’

The line clicked, and Sam dropped to the floor of the elevator, pulling his briefcase onto his ribcage, stretching his arms around it. Moments later, the light above his head went out.

‘Josh Lyman.’

‘JL, I’m stuck in the elevator. And the light’s not working.’

‘Sam, calm down. Where are you?’

‘At home.’

‘Okay. Did you press the emergency alarm?’

‘Yeah. The engineer said they could be two hours.’

The other three people in the room stopped talking and listened to Josh’s one-sided call.

‘Okay, don’t worry. Call 911. Tell ‘em you’ve got a heart condition or something and they’ll come.’

‘Okay.’

‘And call me back.’

‘Yeah.’

Sam ignored the edge to Sam’s voice which indicated he was close to tears.

‘Hang up and call right now Sam, okay.’

‘Okay.’

‘Josh?’

Josh looked at Bartlet. ‘Sam’s stuck in the elevator.’

‘Where?’

‘Our place.’

‘Is he okay?’

‘He hates small spaces. And the dark.’

‘Go.’

‘What?’

‘Go.’

Josh looked at Leo. The other senior staff were tolerant of his relationship with Sam. But Leo never commented, and he had no idea how the Chief of Staff actually felt. So he waited for Leo’s reaction.

‘Get outta here.’

As he got up, Josh’s cell phone rang again. ‘Josh Ly…’

‘JL, they say they won’t come unless the engineers can’t get it open.’

‘Okay Sam. Just relax and talk to me, okay.’

********

Running home, he made it in just under fifteen minutes and arrived, breathless, as the building Superintendent was trying to explain to another tenant that the elevator was out of action.

‘Mr Lyman, Mr Seaborn is stuck in elevator. I call Acme. They say one hour. I say ‘too long’. I tell them Mr Seaborn very important in White House. They come soon.’

‘Okay.’ Josh lifted the handset of his cell phone out of his pocket. ‘Lit, I’m here now. Which floor are you on?’

Sam’s voice was softer than earlier, the fear obvious in his tone. ‘Fourth, I think.’

‘Okay, I’m coming up. How you holding up?’

‘I’m scared.’

‘It’s okay, I’m here now. Mr Wallenski’s called the elevator company and we’ll see if we can’t hurry them up, okay?’

‘Okay.’

Josh ran up the stairs two at a time, eventually arriving at the fourth floor landing. He stood in front of the closed elevator doors and shouted: ‘Lit!’

He heard Sam’s voice, muffled but definitely below him. ‘JL?’

‘Yeah, you must be stuck between third and fourth.’

Calmed by Josh’s proximity, Sam relaxed a little. Then he remembered. ‘You had a meeting.’

‘Yeah. I left.’

‘JL, won’t the President…’

‘It’s okay Lit. It was his idea.’

‘What did Leo say?’

‘Get outta here.’

‘He did?’

‘Yeah.’

‘JL?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Thanks for coming.’

‘Hey, no problem. You okay for air and stuff?’

‘Yeah. The notice said that there’s enough air for six people for four hours.’

‘What notice?’

‘The one inside the hatch with the emergency phone.’

‘O-kay. So, what did you do after you left?’

‘I went shopping.’

‘What did you buy?’

‘Groceries.’

‘So if you get hungry, you got stuff in there?’

‘Yeah. Raw meat and potatoes.’

‘Lit?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Don’t eat the meat. I think the potatoes are okay though.’

‘Raw?’

‘Yeah, I mean they’re like carrots, right? They grow under ground and you dig ‘em up. So you can probably eat them raw, like carrots.’

‘JL, it’s been, like, a half hour. I’ll probably not rush to find out.’

‘Okay.’

Josh heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice in the stairwell. ‘You got a elevator stuck?’

‘Yes. I think It’s between third and fourth.’ Josh called out: ‘Sam, the engineer’s here.’

The man opened a box of tools. ‘So what does he do at the White House?’

‘Who?’

‘The guy stuck in the elevator.’

‘He’s Deputy Communications Director.’

‘He work for the President?’

‘We both do. How long will this take?’

The engineer inserted a long rod into a small hole in the elevator door and the doors opened. He looked down. The elevator was only a couple of feet below them. ‘Hey, you in the elevator!’

‘Yeah?’

‘I’m gonna go onto the roof. Give me a coupla minutes, then press the button for the fourth floor. You, you got a cell phone?’

Josh nodded.

‘Call me on this number if the thing moves.’ The man handed Josh a pre-printed card, covered in oily thumbprints.

‘Okay. What if it doesn’t?’

‘Then we call 911.’

‘Okay. Sammy, the guy’s gonna get the elevator to move now, okay?’

‘Yeah.’

The elevator moved slowly upwards and soon Sam appeared in the gap, head, body, legs. Josh reached out his hand and Sam walked unsteadily out of the elevator. By the time Josh had reached into the elevator to pick up the bags of groceries, the engineer had joined them. ‘It’s a little uneven. I’ll have someone come look at it Monday. I’ll tell your janitor not to let anyone in it ‘till then. You okay, son?’

Sam managed a weak smile. ‘Yeah.’

‘Claustrophobia? Next time, take the stairs.’

*********

They ate the steak, fries and cheesecake in the sitting room. Sam was lying on the couch, a blanket covering him, Josh fussing around him. As they were finishing, Josh’s cell phone rang. ‘Josh Lyman…Leo…yeah…yeah. Okay, bye.’

‘Leo sends you a hug.’

Sam spluttered, biscuit crumbs flying from his mouth. ‘He what!?’

‘Actually, he said: ‘Remind Sam we have a meeting at eight.’ But I know he meant to send you a hug too.’

‘JL?’

‘Yeah Lit?’

‘Thanks for coming.’

Josh pulled himself to his feet. ‘You wanna watch TV? National Lampoon’s on.’

‘Which one?’

‘The one with the dead grandma and the dog.’

Sam smiled for the first time in several hours. ‘A classic.’

One hand reaching for the remote Josh settled himself on the couch so Sam was lying with his head in Josh’s lap. As he stared into Josh’s eyes, Sam couldn’t help himself. ‘If Leo could see us now.’

Josh laughed. ‘He’d probably have a heart attack, and we’d feel guilty for the rest of our lives.’

‘JL, d’you think he’ll ever be okay with us?’

‘Sure Lit. He just needs time.’

Apparently reassured, Sam turned onto his side, lifting himself to settle with his head resting on Josh’s chest. Josh put his arm around Sam’s shoulders and they both began to sing, loudly and off-key, as the films’ theme tune started.

End