"Sam." I knocked lightly on the ajar door. "Still working on the victory speech?"

"Hey." Sam answered without turning around on the couch, where he had been working for the last three hours. "Just a little more polishing. What does Toby want?"

"Nothing. He and CJ went back to their rooms a while ago."

"Is it that late already?" He looked up at me with a bit of suprise.

"Well, it's half past two, so it would depend on your definition of late." Closing the door behind me, I walked across the hotel room and flopped down next to Sam.

"How's everyone else doing out there?" He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"We're all set. Leo told everyone to rest up for a few hours tonight." The past couple of weeks had been hell, as we all worked our collective asses off on the last leg of the presidential campaign, to pull in those voters who were still undecided. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Sam nodded, eyes looking at the computer screen without focusing on it. His fingers were absent-mindedly rubbing small circles around his temple. He did that only when he had a headache.

"You know, I think you could really use some Josh right now."

He looked up at me for a moment, then let out a sigh and turned off his Powerbook. "I suppose I can always use some Josh."

"Of course you do. Come here." I pulled Sam towards myself, until he was lying on the couch with his head resting on my lap. I kissed him lightly on his temple.

"There, better?"

"Yeah, much better." Sam answered with a small endearing smile.

We sat there in silence. Sam reached over and took hold of my hand that was resting on his chest. He enfolded my hand between his and tangled his fingers with mine, a simple little gesture that felt oddly intimate.

"So this is it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. This is it, in less than six hours." I ran my free hand through his soft dark hair. It was an old habit of mine, started way back when Sam-the-student's hair was even longer than now, and kept falling into his eyes all the time.

"Tomorrow, if we win, a lot of things will change."

"Yeah. We'll be working in the White House..."

"For inhumanly long hours, under a lot of stress, we'll have different views on issues and will probably have fights about them, not to mention the press is going to watch our every move, try to dig out every little detail about us and turn them into scandals to tell the whole country..."

"And we get to work for the president of the United States."

"And that is what you have always wanted."

"Yes, that is what I've worked so hard for." I looked down into his eyes, and asked not for the first time. "Is this what you've wanted?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Sam said after a thoughtful pause. "But I would like to give it a try. I believe he's the real thing."

There was another long moment of silence.

"Think we're ready for all that?" He said quietly.

"We've made it this far, Sam, and I am not about to waste all those efforts of courting you."

I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but now that we were finally together, I'd make damn sure that we stayed that way. "We'll deal with whatever comes our way."

"Sounds like a Josh Lyman plan to me." He smiled, and pressed a kiss on my knuckles. "I suppose, since our relationship survived your courtship, we'll manage everything else just fine."

"Hey, I am perfectly proficient in my courting ability."

"Josh, nothing personal, but you don't have any proficiency in your courting ability."

"Fine, so I'm not very good at courting. Whatever."

"So Leo told us to go to bed, huh?" Sam spoke again after a while. "To get ready for tomorrow."

"Well, technically, it's today now. But Yeah."

"Shouldn't we be going to bed then?"

"I suppose."

"But I don't want to go to sleep yet."

"Neither do I."

"Can we stay like this for a while longer?"

"'kay. But just for a while, my legs are going numb."

"OK. You know, you can always lie down with me..."

"'Kay."

And so we lay together and indulged ourselves in these precious moments of simple stillness.