Roommates together forever
By Heidi and Lisa
 
Disclaimers-These are not my characters and I am 
making no money off of them.
 
Ratings-Sam/Donna, Sam moves into Donna’s 
apartment and the senior staff finds out about their new 
living arrangements
 
Special Thanks-Lisa for being my co-author and 
giving me wonderful ideas for this series.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sam was glad and not so glad to be home.  He was 
happy that the memo on the newest Environment 
Bill was finally finished.  Sam knew that it was 
going to be another long weekend at his place.  The 
new neighbors loved to party and their parties 
lasted from Friday night to Sunday afternoon.  Sam 
saw all of the cars in the parking lot of his 
building and just dreaded going into the building.  
Sam opened the doors and was almost knocked over 
by the powerful smell of alcohol and pot.  He 
made his way up the stairs through the throngs of 
people.  When he got to his own apartment, he could 
feel the music pounding the walls. 
 
He took a quick shower and got into bed.  Sam 
knew that he wouldn’t sleep because of the music and 
the noise, so he just laid there.
 
A knock on the door had him getting out of bed to 
see who it was.  It was just the neighbors 
wanting to see if he wanted a beer.  He politely 
declined and headed back to bed.  Fifteen minutes 
later, Sam heard another knock at the door.  It was 
the neighbors again, wanting to know if he wanted 
to come over and join the party. He politely 
declined and headed back to bed.  Every fifteen 
minutes on the dot, the neighbors would come knock on 
the door.  This went on for over an hour and Sam 
was fed up with it.  He thought about where he 
could crash.  Toby’s was out because Toby and Andi 
were getting back together and he didn’t want to 
rain on their evening.  CJ was with a new 
boyfriend, so her place was out.  Josh was in Connecticut 
for the weekend, visiting his mother, so that was 
out.  Sam knew that Donna was home, probably 
doing homework and he was sure that she wouldn’t mind 
letting him stay over.  Sam felt funny about 
calling a girl that he worked with and asking if he 
could come spend the night, but after another 
knock on the front door, he had his mind made up and 
picked up the phone.
 
 
Donna was sitting on the couch reviewing her 
latest speech assignment.  She had to interview 
someone that she admired greatly and Donna immediately 
thought of Sam.  He had supported her so much 
when she wanted to go back to school and helped her 
write a speech that bothered him.  Sam was truly 
a great friend and someone who she cared for very 
deeply.  Donna was concentrating so hard on 
writing the steps of a speech that Sam had taught her 
to do that she almost didn’t hear the ring of the 
phone.
 
                               “Hello?”  Donna said as she snapped back to 
reality with the ringing phone.
 
                               “Hey, it’s me.”  Sam said rather loudly.
 
                               “Hi, why are you talking so loudly?”  Donna 
asked, as she held the phone away from her ear a 
little bit.
 
                               “What?”  Sam yelled into the phone.
 
                               “Why are you talking so loudly?”  Donna said, 
raising her voice to match his.
 
                               “My neighbors are throwing another party next 
door and I can barely hear myself think.  I’m 
getting a headache and I can’t sleep because every 15 
minutes, someone comes and knocks on the door and 
invites me over to party.”  Sam said, rubbing his 
head.
 
                               “Oh, I see.”  Donna said, a little confused as 
to why he would be calling her at 11:30 p.m. on a 
Friday night.
 
                               “Listen, I was wondering if I could, uh, come 
over and sleep at your place tonight.”  Sam said 
feeling a little shy and awkward.
 
                               “Yeah, that would be fine.  I have to ask you 
something anyway.”  Donna said with a smile that 
Sam couldn’t see.
 
                               “What?”  Sam yelled again.
 
                               “I said that it would be fine and I have to ask 
you something anyway.”  Donna said raising her 
voice even louder and hoping not to irritate the 
neighbors.
 
                               “Thanks alot.  I’ll be over in about a half and 
hour.  What was it that you wanted to ask me?”  
Sam said, intrigued.
 
                               “I’ll tell you when you get here.  I’ll see you 
in a little while.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Yeah, see you soon.”  Sam said hanging up the 
phone.
 
He packed an overnight bag that held all of his 
necessities and work clothes.
 
Donna smiled to herself.  She was not only not 
going to be alone, but now she would be able to get 
the interview she needed for class.  She got her 
notes ready and left them on the living room 
table.  Donna knew that Sam wouldn’t be able to sleep 
and would hopefully be in the mood to talk.  She 
passed by the table and sorted the bills.  She 
already had three marked final notice.  It was 
getting to be crunch time with the roommate 
situation.  The last three people were just plain weird 
and made her feel uncomfortable in her own home.
 
Sam was happy that he had a different place to 
stay.  As he walked down the stairs of his 
building, three different people had offered beer, pot, 
and free sex to him.  He desperately needed to 
move out now while he still had his sanity.
 
Donna was watching out the window for Sam to pull 
up and buzzed him in.  She met him at the door 
with a smile.
 
                               “So, you weren’t in the party mood, huh?”  
Donna asked with a smile.
 
                               “Not after working on the Environment Bill 
memo.”  Sam said with a smile too.
 
                               “Why don’t you go throw your stuff in the 
bedroom and come have a cup of tea.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Thanks.  I’ll be out in a few minutes.”  Sam 
said and disappeared into the empty bedroom.
 
 
Sam hung up his work clothes in the empty closet 
and left the rest of his stuff in the bag.  He 
went back into the kitchen and found Donna sitting 
at the table looking at papers.
 
                               “What assignment are you working on on a Friday 
night?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “I have to interview someone that I greatly 
admire for communications class.”  Donna said.
 
                               “What did you want to ask me about when I 
called earlier?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “Well, I wanted to know if I could interview 
you.  You have supported me through going back to 
school and helping me write that speech.”  Donna 
said.
 
                               “Of course you can interview me, but wouldn’t 
you want to like interview the President or Josh.  
They are a lot more interesting than I am.”  Sam 
said.
 
                               “Nonsense.  The President would probably try to 
tell me all about Georgetown trivia and I would 
never get the assignment done.  Josh has a big 
enough ego and I don’t want to inflate it anymore.  
You have been here with me every step of the way, 
no matter what.  You are the person that I 
greatly admire.”  Donna said.
 

Sam couldn’t believe that Donna was saying this
about him.  He had done those things for her 
because she was a friend.  He had never expected any 
payback, but he was glad and surprised that she 
admired him.
 
 
                               “The first thing I need from you is the basic 
information.  Where you are from?”  Donna said 
reading from the sheet in front of her.
 
                               “You know that I am from Southern California.”  
Sam said, sipping his tea.
 
                               “So, are your parents proud of your 
accomplishments?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “I would like to think that my mother is.”  Sam 
said, as he continued to sip his tea.
 
                               “What about your father?”  Donna asked, not 
realizing what she had said until after the words 
were out of her mouth.
 

Sam didn’t answer.  He just stared down at his
cup of tea and sighed.
 
                               “I am so sorry, Sam.  I didn’t even realize 
that I had said that.  Please forgive me.”  Donna 
said as she laid a hand on top of his.
 
Sam looked up into Donna’s face and saw the 
pleading, sad look on her face.
 
                               “It’s okay.  I know that you are just doing the 
work for your class.”  Sam tried to smile, but 
was unsuccessful.
 
Donna knew that she had hit a sore subject and 
that Sam didn’t really want to dwell on the things 
that had happened in his own family.  Donna knew 
the feeling.  Her family was still bugging her 
over the choice she made to drop out of college and 
then to go back and get a degree in her late 
twenties.  It was something that would take time to 
come to terms with and be able to deal with it.  
She moved onto questions that would surely get him 
focused on something else.
 
                               “Why did you choose this career?”  Donna said.
 
                               “I wanted to be a lawyer to help people, but 
working as Deputy Communications Director is cool 
too.  I get to hire and fire people and I am in 
the paper a lot.”  Sam said with a smile when Donna 
looked at him.
 
                               “How did you fall off the boat?”  Donna asked 
with a knowing smile.
 
                               “Josh should learn how to shut up when he is 
ahead.  I am not going to tell you that.”  Sam said 
with a smile.
 
                               “What do you see yourself doing in five years?  
Where do you plan to be at in your life?”  Donna 
asked.
 
                               “Hopefully married with children.  Most likely 
working in a law office.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Really?  I didn’t think that you were the type 
to want to get married.”  Donna said.
 
                               “I was engaged before I joined the campaign.  I 
want to and will have a life eventually.”  Sam 
said, finishing his cup of tea.
 
                               “Thanks for doing this.  I have plenty to get 
started on the speech.”  Donna said, cleaning up 
the papers on the table.
 
                               “Well, I am going to go crash on the sofa then.  
I am so tired I can barely stay awake.  Goodnight 
Donna.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Good night to you Sam.  I will see you in the 
morning.”  Donna said as she walked into her 
bedroom.
 
Donna lay in bed thinking about what it was like 
to have another body in the apartment.  She felt 
safe.  There was someone there to protect her if 
need be.  Donna had someone else to talk to and 
someone who would talk to her.  She was starting 
to go stir crazy once she realized that the people 
she regularly talked to were from work.  She 
didn’t have any friends outside work because of the 
crazy schedule that she kept.  Sam and the rest of 
her friends knew that she was looking for a new 
roommate, but they didn’t know that Cheryl had 
moved out because Donna wasn’t “there” for her as a 
roommate should be.
 
 
Sam lay on the couch thinking about this evening.  
The situation at his apartment was reaching 
critical mass.  The whole thing with the pot, alcohol, 
and free sex was the last nerve.  He knew that 
his lease was up on Saturday and he had no place to 
go.  Sam knew that he wouldn’t sign up for 
another six months of what had been going on for the 
last three.  He also knew that Donna felt bad about 
hitting the nerve with his father.  Sam knew that 
she hadn’t meant to bring up the bad memories and 
he hoped that he had reassured her enough that he 
wasn’t mad or upset with her.  Sam also didn’t 
tell Donna that he had noticed the three bills on 
the table marked final notice and he knew that she 
was in a tough spot, but determined to make it on 
her own.
 
 
 
                               “Good morning sunshine.”  Donna said as Sam 
came into the kitchen.
 
                               “Good morning.  I got the best night’s sleep 
I’ve had in a long time.”  Sam said as he poured 
himself a cup of coffee.
 
                               “I am glad that you got some sleep.”  Donna 
said with a smile.
 
                               “Did Josh leave you a long list of things for 
you to do this weekend while he is out of town ?”  
Sam asked.
 
                               “No, today I get the pleasure of cleaning out 
the files while you and Toby get to deal with the 
Christian Collective.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Please don’t remind me.  That will be a joy.”  
Sam said as he made a face.
 
                               “Well, we don’t want to be late, so let’s get a 
move on.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Okay, I’m ready to go.”  Sam said as he went 
to retrieve his overnight bag from the hallway.
 
 
Donna locked the door and they both headed for 
their cars and went to work.
 
 
 
Tuesday at 
lunchtime..............................................
 
 
Donna was just putting the finishing touches on a 
memo when Sam came strolling across the bullpen 
and headed for her desk.
 
                               “Hey, Sam.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Hey.  What are you doing for lunch?”  Sam 
asked.
 
                               “Probably just getting something out of the 
vending machine.”  Donna said.  Since she was 
conserving on money, that also meant cutting back on 
trivial expenses like lunches out.
 
                               “Then come with me to Lasalles.  It’s my 
treat.”  Sam said.  He knew that she was cutting her 
expenses and was almost sure to be worrying about 
the price of lunch.
 
                               “Okay.  What do I owe the pleasure?”  Donna 
asked, as she pulled out her purse.
 
                               “It is my treat for Friday night.”  Sam said.
 
 
Once they were seated and had ordered, they got 
into talking about the things that were going on 
in their lives.
 
                               “How goes the great roommate search?”  Sam 
asked.
 
                               “It is not going anywhere.  The last three 
people made me feel uncomfortable and no one else has 
responded to the add.”  Donna said.
 
                               “It has to get better sometime.  Maybe the 
perfect roommate will fall into your lap.”  Sam said 
trying to reassure Donna that things would get 
better.
 
                               “I hope so.  The last woman I interviewed 
looked and acted like my older sister.  She started 
telling me how things were going to be and if I 
didn’t like it, too bad.  I had to remind her that 
it was my place and not hers.  She said that the 
apartment was too small and left.”  Donna said 
with a grimace.
 
                               “Just think, you could eventually end up with 
someone who will do everything for you and all you 
have to do is sit back.”  Sam said with a smile.
 
                               “Not very likely.  How are things with your 
neighbors?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “The same old stuff.  Strange people roam the 
buildings at all hours.  If my lease wasn’t up on 
Saturday, I would be subletting.  I just can’t 
stay there anymore...things are just too weird for 
me.”  Sam said.
 
                               “You said your lease was up on Saturday.  Where 
are you going to stay?”  Donna asked, concerned 
about her friend.
 
                               “I will probably stay at a hotel until I find 
something.”  Sam said.
 
 
Sam and Donna finished lunch and had pleasant 
conversation all the way back to work.
 
 
 
Donna got home late that night and thought about 
things.  Her apartment was cold and empty.  She 
had no one to talk to about her day and 
desperately wanted someone there to share things with.  
Donna wanted to be able to see a happy smiling face 
when she got home.  A check of the mail had 
brought another bill that was marked final notice.  
Things didn’t seem to be getting much better.  
Donna was seriously contemplating offering Sam the 
roommate position.  She trusted him and felt 
comfortable around him.  He would be there for her to 
talk to and rant at when she felt down.  He 
wouldn’t be as good as a girl, but he would be there.
 
 
 
 
Wednesday night, 
late...........................................
 
Donna walked across the communications bullpen 
and saw that Sam was still in his office, working 
as usual.  She got up her courage and knocked on 
the half open door.
 
                               “Hey, Donna.  What’s up?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “I needed to talk to you about something.”  
Donna said in a serious tone of voice.
 
                               “What is it?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “You know how we have been talking about our 
living arrangements.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Yeah about how much we hate them.”  Sam said, 
wondering where the conversation was going.
 
                               “Well, I was wondering if you want to move in 
with me.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Move in with you?”  Sam asked, certain he had 
misheard her.
 
                               “Yeah, you would be the perfect roommate.  This 
way, you could move in as soon as your lease is 
done.”  Donna said.
 
                               “I don’t know.  It could be weird.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Why don’t you think about it and let me know 
at lunchtime.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Okay.  I will let you know tomorrow at lunch.”  
Sam said.
 
                               “See ya tomorrow.”  Donna said and walked out 
of his office.
 
 
Sam couldn’t believe that Donna had just asked 
him to move in with her.  Sure, they were friends, 
but living together would be changing their 
friendship and taking it to another whole new level.  
Sam liked the building that she lived in and it 
was affordable and close to work.  He was certain 
that Josh would kill him when he found out, but 
that problem was for another day.  Right now, he 
needed to decide if living with Donna was what he 
wanted to do.  Sam wearily closed the laptop and 
headed for home to do some serious thinking.
 
 
Thursday 
lunchtime........................................................................
 
 
Sam walked up to Donna’s desk where she was 
sipping soda through a straw and typing.
 
                               “What are you doing?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “Hey, Sam.  I am working through lunch, so that 
I can get out of here at a decent hour.”  Donna 
said, continuing to type while talking to him.
 
                               “Can you take a break?  I really need to talk 
to you and this close to Josh’s office probably 
isn’t the best idea.”  Sam remarked.
 
                               “Sure, let me just save this and we can go 
talk.”  Donna said, punching some buttons on the 
computer and turning in her chair to look at Sam.
 
                               “Why don’t we go outside.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Ok.  Let’s go.”  Donna said, as she stood up 
and followed Sam outside.
 
 
Sam guided them to a bench and turned to look at 
Donna.
 
                               “What did you need to talk to me about?”  Donna 
asked.
 
                               “The living arrangement that you mentioned 
yesterday.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Okay.  Go ahead and talk.”  Donna said.
 
                               “I gave it some serious thought.  I know that 
you desperately need a roommate and I have to get 
out of my building to preserve my sanity and 
possibly my life.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Yes?”  Donna asked, not knowing what was 
coming next.
 
                               “I have given it some serious thought and yes, 
I will move in with you.”  Sam said with a big 
smile.
 
                               “This is going to be so great.”  Donna said 
giving Sam a big hug.
 
                               “It is going to be great for us, but what about 
the rest of our friends.”  Sam said.
 
                               “What do you mean?”  Donna asked, confused.
 
                               “CJ will be pissed that she wasn’t the first 
phone call.  Josh will be mad because we didn’t 
tell him.  Some people won’t care and some will 
think many other things.”  Sam said.
 
                               “I know, but they will get over it.  We are 
grown adults and can make decisions without telling 
everybody we know.”  Donna said and she was not 
going to allow anyone to tell her different.
 
                               “So, we are moving in together.”  Sam said.
 
                              “Yeah, do you want to start moving stuff in 
tomorrow after my class?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “Yeah, that way we won’t have to move it all on 
Saturday and you won’t have to be around all of 
the oddballs at my apartment for a long time.”  
Sam said.
 
                               “Okay.  My class lasts until 9 p.m.  I can 
swing by your place and cart some boxes and things 
over in my car.”  Donna said.
 
                               “That’s fine.  I have already starting packing 
some stuff up, so there really isn’t that much to 
pack up.” Sam said.
 
                               “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night about 9:30 at 
your place.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Yeah.  I’ll see you then.  We’d better get 
back to work.”  Sam said standing up.
 
                               “I gotta get back to typing up that stack of 
memos for Josh.”  Donna said, also standing up.
 
 
Sam and Donna walked back inside the building and 
headed for their desks.
 
 
Donna was so happy that Sam had agreed to move in 
with her.  She finally found the perfect 
roommate-one that she trusted and loved with all of her 
heart as a friend.  There would be someone to talk 
to after work, someone to hang out with, and 
someone there who cared about her and what she was 
going through.  Donna smiled to herself at the 
thought of not having to come up with the whole 
700.00 dollars a month for rent and that she could 
finally pay some of her lesser bills before they 
went to collections.
 
 
Sam thought about his new living arrangements.  
He would be living in a building that didn’t have 
weird neighbors.  Sam was happy that he didn’t 
have to move into a hotel and pay an outrageous sum 
every week.  The 350.00 that Donna was charging 
him was well within his budget and less than what 
he was paying to live in a building that was 
overrun with trash.  It would be a change to have a 
roommate, but this was Donna and it would be fun.  
There were bound to be some odd situations that 
would come up while he was living with a girl, but 
they would get through them.  
 
                               
 
Friday 
Evening.............................................................
 
Donna swung her compact car into the parking lot 
of Sam’s building, narrowly avoiding a crash with 
another car, whose driver wasn’t paying 
attention.  She walked into the building and couldn’t 
believe that Sam lived here.  The stench of pot and 
beer was overwhelming and the pounding music was 
already killing her ears.  She made her way 
upstairs to Sam’s all the while avoiding the strange 
people who were collecting in the hallways.  She 
walked up to the door and knocked, loud and hard.
 
                               “Hi Donna.”  Sam said all out of breath.
 
                               “Hey.  Why are you all out of breath?”  Donna 
asked.
 
                               “I was just finishing up some packing.  Come on 
in, but excuse the mess.”  Sam said.
 
Donna took a double take.  The normally homey 
apartment had been condensed into labeled and 
stacked boxes.
 
                               “I can’t believe that you got this much 
packed.”  Donna said, surveying the scene around her.
 
                               “Some of this stuff has been packed up for a 
while.”  Sam explained to her.
 
                               “What do you want to move first?”  Donna asked, 
looking at the boxes.
 
                               “I want to get the personal items moved first.”  
Sam said as he moved some boxes of a stack.
 
                               “What about your clothes and stuff?”  Donna 
asked.
 
                               “Everything like that is already packed into my 
car.  This is just the stuff I can’t live 
without.”  Sam said with a smile.
 
                               “Okay, then.  Let’s get this stuff packed.”  
Donna said reaching for a box.
 
It took the two of them three trips to fully pack 
Donna’s car.  They ended up making several trips 
from Sam’s place to Donna’s place that got most 
of the stuff over there.
 
                               “Well, there is only a little bit of stuff left 
at my old place.  I was thinking that I could 
move it in the morning.”  Sam said to Donna as she 
helped him unpack boxes.
 
                               “Why don’t you crash on the couch tonight.  
That way you can get started unpacking some of these 
boxes.”  Donna said.
 
                               “I think I will.”  Sam said with a smile as he 
reached for another box.
 
 
 
Donna stayed up with Sam until her eyes would 
barely stay open.  Sam sent her off to bed, but 
stayed up to finish unpacking.  Tomorrow would be a 
long and tiring day.  They had to move his bedroom 
set, exercise equipment, and assorted items of 
furniture that he had no idea what to do with.  Sam 
knew that some of the stuff would be put into 
storage if there was no room for it in the 
apartment.  All of the unpacked stuff was sitting in a 
pile.  He knew that they needed to talk and get 
things situated.  He wanted to put his touch on their 
apartment, but wanted to hear her say that it was 
ok.  Sam finally made it to the couch and fell 
fast asleep.
 
Donna drifted off to sleep hearing the comforting 
noises of another person in the room next door 
moving around.  She was happy that Sam was here.
 
Saturday morning found them both wide awake at 
6:00 a.m.  Donna was already up and making coffee 
when Sam got done with a shower.  He smiled and 
took the cup of coffee she was holding out for him.
 
                               “What are we moving today?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “Furniture.”  Sam replied.
 
                               “What time do you have to make the final walk 
through with the landlord?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “I have to do that at 1:00 p.m., so we’d better 
get started as soon as this coffee is gone.”  Sam 
said.
 
 
Donna and Sam managed to get all of the furniture 
and miscellaneous boxes packed and carted over to 
their place by noon.  They both went back and did 
a final walk through before the landlord showed 
up.
 
                               “I will miss this place.”  Sam said as he 
checked closets and cabinets.
 
                               “Was it a nice place before your neighbors 
moved in?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “Yeah, it was great.  It was always quiet and 
calm.  No one ever bothered me at all.”  Sam said.
 
 
At one o’clock on the dot, the landlord showed 
up.  Donna stood and looked out of the window as 
the men concluded their business.
 
                               “I am sorry to see you go Mr. Seaborn.  You 
were one of the few tenants who respected the 
place.”  Ricky Jackson, the landlord, said.
 
                               “Well, the new tenants were mainly the reason I 
chose not to renew the lease.”  Sam said.
 
                               “If I had a beautiful girl like that, I 
wouldn’t want to stay here either.”  Ricky added with a 
sly smile.
 
                               “No, she’s not my girlfriend.  She’s a 
co-worker who has  a nice place and needed a roommate.”  
Sam said wanting to clear up the misconception.
 
                               “If I believed that, I’d believe that you have 
swampland in Arizona that you want to sell me.”  
Ricky said with another sly smile and a glance in 
Donna’s direction.
 
                               “Is everything ok?”  Sam asked wanting to get 
the conversation back on track.
 
                               “All of the papers are signed and the final 
walkthrough is done, so you are all set.  Here is 
the security deposit check for 700.00 dollars and 
the one month’s rent you paid in advance, which is 
another 650.00 dollars.  I hope that you enjoy 
the new place.  Just shut the door when you leave 
and it will lock behind you.”  Ricky said as he 
disappeared out of the door.
 
                               “Ready to go?”  Sam asked Donna.
 
                               “Yeah, let’s go home.”  Donna said with a 
smile.
 
 
Sam gave the apartment a backwards glance and 
shut the door.  He followed Donna down the stairs 
where he would start a new part of his and their 
lives.
 
 
Sam headed for his room to finish unpacking and 
rearrange things.  Donna headed for the kitchen, 
stepping around boxes that were marked kitchen and 
living room.  She finished the morning dishes and 
sat down to pay bills.  Sam was getting fed up 
and walked into the kitchen and started unpacking 
boxes.  He piled his stuff up in a couple of 
places.  Donna knew what he was doing and waited until 
he got the box unpacked before speaking.
 
                               “Sam, this is your place too.  Put your things 
wherever you are comfortable with them.”  Donna 
said with a smile, trying to put Sam at ease.  She 
knew that he still was 100% comfortable with the 
living arrangements.
 
                               “Thanks, Donna.  I didn’t want to encroach on 
your space.”  Sam breathed a sigh of relief.
 
                               “It’s your space now, too.”  Donna said with a 
smile.
 
 
Sam grabbed Donna to help him unpack boxes.  She 
unpacked and he decided where to put things.  By 
the late afternoon, all of the kitchen boxes were 
unpacked and things put away in the cabinets.  
The living room was also unpacked before dinner.  
Sam’s family and personal pictures were now 
mingling with Donna’s pictures and gave the apartment a 
homey feeling that it was missing since Cheryl 
had moved out.  The apartment was also now sporting 
new artwork for the walls that Donna could live 
with.  The new furniture was also a nice addition 
and worked well with the existing furniture that 
Donna had.
 
Sam stood in the doorway of his room and looked 
at it.  The bedroom was big and roomy.  It 
accommodated his bedroom set, exercise equipment, and 
his couch very nicely.  He didn’t have to put 
anything in storage.  
 
A quick dinner of pizza had filled them both up 
and they went into their rooms and fell asleep. 
They were both tired out from the day of moving and 
unpacking and situating.  Sam glanced at the 
stack of papers on his dresser.  They were the change 
of address forms for work.  He would have to have 
Donna help him fill those out, so all of the 
address info was spelled right.
 
 
Sunday....................................................
 
Donna awoke to a pounding noise and jumped out of 
bed.  She opened the curtain and looked out the 
window.  There was a torrential rainstorm going on 
outside.  It was going to be a gloomy gus day.  
Hopefully, there was something good on tv to 
watch.  Donna made her way to the kitchen only to find 
Sam already there making coffee.
 
                               “Good morning.” Sam greeted her.
 
                               “Whatever.” Donna replied.
 
                               “Someone isn’t a morning person.”  Sam 
commented and Donna shot him a dirty look.
 
 
They both read the paper and drank their coffee 
in silence.  Donna headed for the shower after she 
was done with her coffee.
 
When she came back into the living room, she did 
a double take.  The place had been picked up and 
vacuumed.
 
                               “What did you do?”  Donna asked.
 
                               “I cleaned up while you were in the shower.”  
Sam said.
 
                               “You didn’t have to do that.”  Donna said, 
surprised at the sweet gesture.
 
                               “Yes, I did.  I live here now and I should 
clean up.”  Sam said and headed for the shower.
 
 
Most of the morning was spent just hanging out 
watching Josh and Toby argue with more Christian 
Collective types.  Sam and Donna got a huge kick 
out of them kicking butt and taking names later.
 
Donna made her famous grilled cheese sandwiches 
for lunch.  Then it was onto filling out 
paperwork.
 
                               “Donna, what is the correct address of this 
place?”  Sam asked, looking up from the paper he was 
filling out.
 
                               “Why?”  Donna asked and dried her hands on a 
dish towel.
 
                               “I am filling out these stupid change of 
address forms for my insurance, bank, credit cards, and 
work.”  Sam complained.
 
 
 
Donna preceded to tell him the address and stood 
behind him looking over his shoulder to make sure 
he was filling them out right.  Every so often, 
she caught a mistake and pointed it out to him.  
Sam was glad that Donna was helping him because a 
mistake on these papers could mean huge delays 
and even more paperwork.
 
 
Monday 
morning.................................................................
 
 
Sam wandering into the kitchen, half dressed, and 
was shocked to see Donna sitting at the table 
eating breakfast and fully dressed.
 
                               “How can you manage to look so together at this 
ungodly hour?”  Sam asked, gulping down fresh 
coffee.
 
                               “Thanks for the compliment.  Working for Josh 
for three years has trained me.”  Donna said with 
a smile.
 
                               “Are we going to car pool now?”  Sam asked.
 
                               “No, because I don’t know what time I’ll be off 
and I’d prefer to not get people talking about us 
before they find out about our living 
arrangements.”  Donna said.
 
                               “Then, I’ll probably see you after senior 
staff.”  Sam said and headed out the door.
 
Donna put the dishes in the sink, made sure all 
of the lights were off, grabbed her things, and 
headed out the door to work.  She knew that things 
would be different coming home to after work.
 
 
Sam said hello to his fellow senior staffers as 
they made their way into the oval office for the 
staff meeting.
 
 
                               “Sit down and let’s get this show on the road.”  
the President said coming into the office.
 
                               “Sir, the Peoria Pirates football team is 
declining the invitation to the White House.”  CJ 
said.
 
                               “Why?”  President Bartlett asked.
 
                               “Apparently, they feel you haven’t given enough 
attention to the problems facing small town 
indoor football teams.”  CJ said, reading her notes.
 
                               “That’s because I haven’t given any attention 
to it.  Let it pass, CJ.  What’s next?”  Bartlett 
asked.
 
Nancy walked in without a word and handed the 
president a stack of papers.  Sam had a bad feeling 
about what those papers were.  He waited for the 
bomb to drop.
 
                               “Well, it seems that one of my senior staff 
moved over the weekend without telling anyone.”  
President Bartlett said and looked at Sam.
 
                               “You moved and didn’t tell anyone about it?”  
Josh asked, looking hurt that his best friend 
hadn’t shared that information.
 
                               “It really wasn’t a big deal.”  Sam said 
wanting to get off the subject and fast.
 
                               “So, your new address is...”  President 
Bartlett read the address info off of the paper.
 
                               “You know that address sounds familiar.”  Josh 
said and went into thinking mode.
 
Sam counted the seconds until Josh realized the 
truth and blurted it out to their friends.
 
                               “That’s Donna’s address.  You moved in with 
Donna, my assistant.”  Josh shouted and glared at 
Sam.
 
All of the eyes in the room turned to look at 
Sam.
 
                               “Yes, I am living with Donna.  We are roommates 
and that’s all.”  Sam said.
 
                               “Okay, now that we have cleared up Sam’s living 
arrangements, let’s get back to running the 
country.”  Leo said.
 
 
Josh was mad.  Why was his best friend living 
with his assistant and better yet, why didn’t Sam 
tell anybody anything about.  He would get answers 
after the meeting from somebody.
 
Sam knew that there would be hell to pay when he 
talked to Josh.  He wondered why Josh was having 
such a problem with this.  He and Donna were only 
boss and friends.  He would get his own answers 
after the meeting.
 
 
 

 

 

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