The Perk [Sunday morning]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

It was Sunday morning, which meant that Josh was out at a coffee shop (the Perk, rather than his usual DC neighborhood one) with a giant mug of black coffee in one hand and a copy of the Sunday New York Times in the other.

And the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune, the Times of London and Le Monde (though he didn't speak French) in a pile on the table in front of him.

Shut up. He didn't have a problem. He was just trying to be informed.

And also he had a problem.

[Open!]

Comments

[not_a_whiner]

"Worried you're not going to be able to keep up?"

Normally Kaidan wouldn't bug anyone on their morning coffee run - he tended to like his solitary, too. But that huge an amount of papers kind of demanded to be commented on with barely-detectable snark.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Everyone I know does the same thing on Sundays," Josh replied.

Because everyone Josh knew was also insane.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan chuckled. Then paused, as it occurred to him Josh wasn't joking. "...Really?"

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh shrugged. "They might be overachievers."

Not him, though. Really.

[not_a_whiner]

"You picked a weird place to follow in their footsteps," Kaidan said. The island didn't exactly need overachievers.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"It's twenty years of habit, really," Josh replied. "I'm used to being able to answer questions on any number of completely insane subjects."

[not_a_whiner]

"Journalist?" Kaidan guessed. First thing he could think of.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Political operative," Josh replied. "I was the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States until just before Christmas."

[not_a_whiner]

"...Huh."

Yep. 'Huh.'

Well, okay, Kaidan'd also sit down now. "That's a new one."

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Someone being a political operative, or there being a President of the United States?" Josh asked. He smiled as he took a sip from his coffee. "My teaching buddy is a talking pink pony, so I'll accept either answer."

[not_a_whiner]

"The Chief of Staff to the President thing," Kaidan offered. "Though it's the United North American States where I'm from, but hey."

He should probably be less surprised. He personally knew the human councillor.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"In my time, we wear Canada like a jaunty hat," Josh told him. "I'm Josh. Nice to meet you."

[not_a_whiner]

"Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko," Kaidan said wryly. "Canadian."

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"So you're Canadian but there's still a government of North America?" Josh asked. "How does that work?"

[not_a_whiner]

"Kind of like a more intensive European Union," Kaidan said, taking a sip of his coffee. "I mean, technically I'm a North American citizen. But I'm also from Vancouver, you know?"

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh nodded. "I'm from Connecticut," he offered, "which I've been told is not nearly as nice as Vancouver."

[not_a_whiner]

"Never been there to check," Kaidan admitted. "Sorry." He took another sip, and said, "So what're you teaching?"

The shift in gears made sense in his head.

[ihaveavideoblog.livejournal.com]

Sure, there was coffee at home, but Lizzie was trying to do that whole, leave your house, actually meet people thing. Not that she wasn't intending to just ... you know. Sit in the corner and drink coffee and watch people. Which hardly counted.

But she stopped short when she noticed the guy with the huge pile of newspapers.

"Whoa," she said. "That is an impressive amount of news."

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"It's because I'm an impressive person," Josh said with a grin. "Hi there."

[ihaveavideoblog.livejournal.com]

"Well, obviously," Lizzie laughed. "That's what really struck my attention. The newspapers were secondary, at best."

She offered a hand across the table. "Lizzie Bennet."

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Josh Lyman," Josh replied, shaking her hand. "Former Chief of Staff to the President of the United States."

See? Impressive!

[ihaveavideoblog.livejournal.com]

And there, that was totally an impressed face. More so than the news.

"Are you serious?" she said. "Wow. Which President?"

It had to be fairly recent. This guy barely looked old enough for a position that high as it was.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Matt Santos," Josh said. "I was the deputy chief of staff for President Bartlet before him, too."

[ihaveavideoblog.livejournal.com]

And now, Lizzie was frowning. Santos ... and Bartlet.

"This is one of those other-world things, isn't it?" she said. "Because I'm pretty sure we've never had a President Santos."

Bartlet was possible, if one of the early ones you didn't hear much about -- somewhere pre-Lincoln. But in that case, this guy would probably have ridiculous sideburns and be talking a lot fancier, and not looking quite so late-20th century.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"You would have heard about it," Josh said. "He's our first Latino president."