All characters belong to Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros., & NBC. The title's from Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. Standard disclaimers apply. Please send feedback.
Because The Night
Violet
Because they are drunk.
Because the legions of WTO protesters had been completely ineffective, except that they managed to close down several critical streets, so he had given up driving and parked about a million miles from the White House.
Because she'd spent the day learning things about maps she'd never wanted to know, and her mind was full of distorted geography.
Because she wasn't sure which way was up anymore.
Because the walk back to his car had been quiet, once they'd left Sam and Josh and Donna singing and swaying in each other's arms. But it had been a communal and peaceful quiet without any awkwardness in it, for once.
Because he had been shocked for an instant when she made the joke about making out, but he'd sent it right back at her, and the temperature in the room had gone up ten degrees just from his voice.
Because she wondered what everyone else in the room had been thinking about while Leo attempted again to talk about cheese.
Because they had both been thinking the same thing.
Because, several hours later, she is pressed against the wall just inside his front door, and he kisses her throat as he moves inside her.
Because they stood on the street by his car for twenty minutes, arguing mildly over which of them was too drunk to drive and freezing in the night air.
Because in the end she trusted him, that if he said he could drive, it was safe. And it was, because they got to his apartment without dying or crashing or getting arrested, and that was good enough.
Because tomorrow will be Saturday, and they can sleep in, though he knows he will get up early, curse at the sunlight, drink some stale coffee and go to shul.
Because he is already wondering if she will still be there when he gets back.
Because he left a window cracked open that morning, and the wall feels like ice where it touches her skin, but his hand is burning against her thigh.
Because it's cold out.
Because they are hot.
Because he failed her spectacularly in January, with the breakfast fiasco. And he never apologized, but his contrition was there every time they spoke, even after her anger was gone.
Because he's just about the only person who has never called her by her full name, not even just to play with the sounds. And she has never asked whether it is short for Tobias, for which he will always be grateful.
Because the arguments and the mockery are part of their relationship, and yet she puts more stock in his opinion of her work than she probably should.
Because he generally thinks in terms of the middle of next week, and she finds herself dealing with fallout from three days back.
Because she looks past his shoulder at his living room, and can't help laughing that they didn't even make it a couple yards to the couch or at least the carpet, though she suspects that sometime later, they will.
Because she started trembling during the drive to his place, and wasn't sure whether it was the chill or the alcohol or the desire.
Because they were perfectly composed walking from his car to his door, and yet they slammed into each other the minute it closed behind them.
Because she knows she can be petulant or silly, and he knows he can be unfair or unkind, yet over the years their tolerance for each other has grown very high.
Because what they are doing feels incredible, feels exhilarating and exhausting and right.
Because this is one of those nights when he can't stop touching her.
Because when they share a bed, she always falls asleep before he does, but sometimes she wakes up first. She likes winning those moments from him, before he starts constructing the walls that are part of his waking hours.
Because other mornings, she gets up and stumbles automatically into the shower, and doesn't wake up until the water hits her, and he laughs when she steps out, dripping and disoriented.
Because he spent an hour making fun of her for getting caught up in the map meeting, but she knows the protesters got to him, too.
Because it was Big Block of Cheese Day.
Because they elected a good man together, and they have learned to compromise, and they have heard gunshots ring out above them. They have known each other so long, and so well.
Because she makes him remember things he doesn't want to, makes him think about things like the ring that is still on his left hand.
Because he keeps secrets, and she lets him.
Because there are still times that she worries about whether she's living the right life, whether she should have gotten married and had children years ago, though she knows that most of the time, she is happy.
Because while their bodies are straining and tangling together, her heart is doing something a hundred times more guarded and complicated, with a much less certain ending.
Because he has mentally drawn a line in the sand, and she comes closer to crossing it every day.
Because that night she saw the concern he had for his friend. It showed on his face, though he did not say much about it, and that was exactly what Sam needed from him.
Because if they do go into work tomorrow, Josh will look at them knowingly and maybe crack a joke. She will be cool and unfazed, and he will shake his head sternly and look down to hide his amusement.
Because they bounce off each other every day with words, and they are done talking tonight.
Because neither of them has enough time or energy to be in love.
Because he is proud of her.
Because they both work for the President of the United States, and share a shy belief in something they call America.
Because she hears the sounds they make together, and his breathing, and the pounding of her own blood, and feels beautiful.
Because he does think she is beautiful, though he never says so without a touch of irony, and now his senses are filled with her, and he does not want that to end.
Because, logically, it has to end.
Because they are intoxicated.
Because they are still ridiculously vertical, though neither of them is paying attention to that just now.
This is why.
This is why they are dizzy. This is why they are on dangerous ground together. This is why they have started to wonder about each other, more and more. This is why it happens naturally, but nothing is as simple as it seems.
Because they are who they are, and what they are, there is no other choice. This is why they are good together, but it is also why it will never be easy.
This is why they hold on to each other as if they are drowning, until the tide comes in and lifts them up and out.
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