Lisa's TWW Fan Fic Archive Home
Post Ep | Romance | General | Drama
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Writer's Block
He stared at the blank piece of paper. Where to start, where to start.
What to start with? He scribbled something down, took a look at it, and
dumped it in the garbage, this time not lighting it on fire first. He had
it. He had it bad. Ever since Sam left, Toby just couldn't think of
anything that made sense to write down.
"You're still here," CJ asked as she walked by his office.
"Yeah. Why?" He asked gruffly.
"Well, it's 10:30. Don't you think you should get some sleep?"
"When I write something down, then I'll get some sleep." He looked up at
her.
"All right. Well, night."
"Night." He watched her leave and then tried to get back to work.
He crumpled another piece of paper up and dumped it into the trash. It was
starting to get pretty full. He ignored it and got back to the next blank
piece of paper in front of him.
"Toby?"
He looked up. "Hey, Donna." He smiled a little, liking the fact that he
wasn't the only one left in the building. "What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I was typing up a memo for Josh. What are you still doing here?" She
walked into his office and sat down on the couch.
"Trying to write a speech, but nothing's coming. I haven't been able to
write since..."
"Since Sam left," she finished.
"Yeah. Since Sam left." He sighed.
"He'll be back in a week, remember?"
He nodded, "Yeah, but who knows for how long. I mean, he has to run in that
special election in California."
She looked closely at him. "You miss him, don't you?"
"What? No..."
"Toby, you can admit it. It's not like I'm going to bite your head off if
you tell me."
He nodded, "Okay, I miss him...a lot. I never thought I would. I mean, I
never thought he would actually..." He shook his head and looked at the
paper again. "You know, it used to be he would come in here and give me a
rough copy of a speech and I would mark off places where there were mistakes
and whatnot. Now..."
"There's no one to do that to."
"Yeah."
She got up and sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Want me to
write something?"
"What?"
"So you can mark off places where I made mistakes. Then you will have
something to do instead of just staring at that paper."
He laughed softly. "Thanks, but I don't know what good that will do."
"Well, it might jog your thoughts." She cocked her head to the side. "You
really can't think of anything to write, can you?"
"You just noticed?"
She shrugged. "Sorry. I just thought it was one of those brain-freeze
things."
"Brain-freeze things?" He gave her an odd look. "Isn't that something that
happens when you eat ice cream too quickly?"
"I don't know, I guess."
"Okay." He got back to looking at the piece of paper.
"Toby, you look a little nervous."
He looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"Just what I said. You look nervous."
He rested his chin in his hand and looked at her. "How can you tell?"
"You're not yelling at me." She smiled.
He nodded a little. "Guilty."
"What's on your mind?"
"Sam tried to play matchmaker with me and the guy from California."
"Will Bailey?"
"Yeah. And it's not like I don't like the guy. He's all right, I guess.
He is just not Sam. He doesn't bug me enough."
"Aha." She narrowed her eyes a little. "Spill it."
"Excuse me?"
"Spill it. There's something else bothering you; I can tell. So spill it."
He sighed. "I'm a little nervous about becoming a dad."
"I knew it!" She then put on a serious face. "I mean, that's what I
thought."
"What if I'm no good? I mean, what if I can't change a diaper, or get them
to school on time, or..."
"Whoa, slow down there. You're getting way ahead of yourself. Andy hasn't
even really began to show and you're worried about that stuff already?"
"Well...yeah."
"That's so sweet."
"Huh?"
"You're just a big bear, aren't you? A big huggable bear. I could give you
a big hug right now." She laughed a little.
"I think you have been working for Josh for too long of a time."
"Yeah, that's what I was beginning to think too." She looked around the
room for a moment. "So what's the speech on?"
"The President's inauguration."
"Well that should be easy. You've done it before."
"Yeah but Sam was helping me with it. Now he's going to have to read his
own...sort of. If he wins."
"Well, what do you want to say in the speech?"
He sighed, "What his goals are for the next four years, how he will go about
making them happen, what he wants to change. Stuff like that."
"Then write it down."
"It's not that easy, Donna. There is a very big thought process that goes
through before one is able to write down what they think is good."
"Well, what do you think is a good idea to write?"
He shrugged. "That's where I keep getting stuck. I know what I want to
write, I just don't know how to go about doing it."
"It'll come to you." She looked at her watch. "Wow, I have got to get
going. Listen, if you can't come up with anything, it's only 7:30 in
California. I'm sure Sam wouldn't mind helping you one more time."
"I wish. He's been too busy with his own stuff lately."
"Yeah...well think about what I said. And Toby?"
"Yeah?"
"You're going to be a great dad." She smiled. "Goodnight." She walked out
of his office.
"Night." He thought for a moment then smiled. Maybe she was right. He
took a deep breath and started to write what he thought sounded good on the
paper. He smiled a little as he wrote, knowing what Donna said was
completely right.
END