All characters belong to Aaron Sorkin and ABC. The title's from Tom Waits. Please send feedback.

And A Broken Shoe... I: The Truth Of It
Cinnamon


"Hey."

"In what universe is this easy assembly?"

Natalie stood in the office doorway and clutched her clipboard to her chest. "Dana?"

Dana swatted at her hair. "I'm serious, Natalie. Right here, on the box, it says easy assembly."

"Dana?"

"Does it look like I'm having an easy time with the assembly?"

Natalie considered this. "No."

"No," Dana agreed from the floor. "And do you know why it doesn't look like I'm having an easy time with the assembly?"

"Because you're not?"

Dana nodded. "Because I'm not. I am having a very difficult time with the assembly."

Natalie crossed the room and placed her clipboard on Dana's couch. "Let me see it."

"You won't be able to get it."

She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. "Just let me see it."

Dana shrugged and passed it to Natalie. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when--"

"Got it."

Dana took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Thanks."

"You loosened it up for me," Natalie patted Dana's arm. "So what exactly is this thing?"

"It's a video cassette tower," Dana proclaimed, taking it from Natalie and placing it on the floor behind her desk.

"And you're using it in your office?"

Dana shook her head. "No, I'm using it at home to better store my video cassettes."

Natalie furrowed her brow. "Then why do you have it at the office?"

"I wanted to see if I could put it together."

"You couldn't."

"But you could and you did, and now it's together and I can take it home."

Natalie picked up her clipboard. "You're taking it home like that?"

"I am!" Dana plopped into her chair. "What's the word, hummingbird?"

"Okay, Dana?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't ever say that again."

She opened one of her drawers. "Right."

Natalie sat on the couch. "So how was the meeting?"

"It was good! It was, dare I say, productive."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Dana shrugged. "Well, there was no bloodshed."

"That's a start."

"That it is." She paused. "Did you come in here to talk to me about the meeting?"

"Sort of."

Dana clasped her hands together and placed them on the desk. "It went well, Natalie."

"I'm glad to hear that. Glad, glad, glad." She fingered the hem of her skirt. "I dated J.J."

Dana laughed. "Natalie!" She placed her head on her desk, shoulders shaking. "Oh, Natalie! I thought you said you dated J.J."

"I did."

Dana pulled her head up and looked at Natalie. "You said that?"

"I did."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I dated J.J."

Dana covered her ears. "Don't say it again!"

Natalie sighed. "Dana, come on."

"You dated J.J.? I mean, you dated J.J.?"

"It's not like it was a big deal." Natalie stood from the couch and began pacing around Dana's office. "We only went out three times."

Dana slumped against her chair. "Thank God."

"But we slept together."

She placed a hand to her forehead. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"It was great sex, Dana."

"Natalie, please."

She sat again, this time in the chair across from the desk. "I didn't tell Jeremy that it was great sex. I told Jeremy that it was lousy sex. But it wasn't. It was great sex, Dana."

"Wait a minute, you told Jeremy about this?"

Natalie shrugged. "Yeah."

"What would possess you to do something like that?"

"Jeremy slept with a prostitute."

Dana stared at her. "Natalie, you really have to stop saying these things to me."

"But he did! He slept with a prostitute!"

"Our Jeremy slept with a prostitute?"

"Yes."

Dana looked at Natalie for a moment longer, then began shuffling papers. "You know what? I don't think you should be telling me this. I don't think this is something that I should hear."

Natalie nodded. "Okay." She gazed at the floor, drumming her fingers against her clipboard.

"He slept with a prostitute?" Dana rested on her elbows and leaned across the desk.

"When he was nineteen."

"And he told you this?"

Natalie picked up her chair and moved it closer to Dana. "Last night, we were in bed and he rolled over and said, 'I paid fifteen dollars for a prostitute with too much makeup and a broken shoe.'"

Dana furrowed her brow. "A broken shoe?"

Natalie shrugged. "Apparently, she caught it in a subway grate."

"Okay. And I get the too much makeup because all prostitutes wear too much makeup, but fifteen dollars?" Dana leaned back in her chair. "What would a prostitute even do for fifteen dollars? I mean, I'm not an expert on prostitutes, nor do I really have any idea what sort of prices they can demand, but isn't fifteen dollars a little low? Did he sleep with this woman during the Depression?"

"Maybe she wasn't very good."

"Jeremy slept with a prostitute?"

Natalie nodded. "Yeah."

"That's disturbing."

"Disturbing as all Hell. However, the point is not so much that he slept with a prostitute."

Dana widened her eyes. "Then what is the point?"

"The point is that he told me. The point is that we've adopted a total honesty plan. We're being completely honest about our sexual pasts."

"That's always a good idea." She tossed her hair back. "But you lied to him about how good the sex was. That's not totally honest."

Natalie stood and clutched the clipboard to her chest again. "The plan is about who we've slept with, not what we've done with them. So he told me about the prostitute, and I told him about J.J."

Dana swiveled in her chair. "That makes sense. But why did you tell me about J.J.? What does this total honesty plan have to do with me?"

"Do you want me to be totally honest?"

"I do."

Natalie grinned. "I wanted to freak you out."

"Mission accomplished." Dana slid on her reading glasses. "Hey, Natalie?"

She paused in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"If the sex was so great, why did you stop seeing J.J.?"

Natalie made a face. "Because he's J.J."

Dana smiled. "Fair enough. Don't forget your tower."

"My what?"

Dana stood and handed the tower to Natalie. "Your video cassette tower. I bought it for you. I thought you could use it to better store your video cassettes."

Natalie shifted the tower in her arms. "Well, thanks, Dana."

"I thought about keeping it for myself when you were in the middle of that J.J. story, but I figured since you put it together..." she smiled.

"This was very thoughtful."

Dana squeezed Natalie's arm. "I'm glad you like it. Now, go. You need to talk to Dan and Casey about the Ellen Ferradey segment in the twenties."

"I'm on it." Natalie walked into the hallway. "Thanks, Dana."

Dana made her way back to her desk. "You're welcome."


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