Title: Title Bump
Author: Cathy Miller (cam7192003@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG-13, a little language and little fooling around
Timeline: Takes place after ‘Night Five’ then goes AU
Disclaimer: They are not mine; I make nothing from them
Feedback: May I have some, please?
Previously, on the West Wing:
JOSH
He offered you money?
DONNA
Yeah.
JOSH
Well, all I can offfer you is a title bump.
DONNA
Like what?
JOSH
Senior Assistance to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning.
DONNA
That's my title now.
JOSH
Then I can't offer you a title bump. Get the sugar subsidy editorial and the facebook,
okay?
”Ummm, no.” Donna replied quietly but confidently.
“No what?” Josh asked offhandedly.
“No to the sugar subsidy, no to the facebook…No. It’s a one word complete
sentence.”
“It’s actually part of your job; you can’t say ‘no’.”
“Sure I can…No.” Donna started to gather her things to leave. “And tomorrow? I’m
taking a personal day.”
“A personal….we don’t take personal days. We have a busy schedule tomorrow.”
“How would you know? You don’t have a clue what your schedule is unless I tell you.”
“I think you may be ‘overstating things a bit’. Besides, I’m pretty sure you need to
submit requests for personal days ahead of time to have them approved, so you will
not be taking a personal day tomorrow.” Josh smirks and crosses his arms in front of
him.
“Ginger?” Donna stops Ginger as she was passing by. “Do I look flushed to you? I
think I may be coming down with something.”
“Your eyes DO look a little glassy.” Ginger says as she peers into Donna’s eyes.
“They do NOT!” Josh insists.
“I’d better go home before I infect everyone in the West Wing.” Donna puts on her
coat as she turns to go. “I doubt if I’ll be well enough to come in tomorrow. I’d call for
a temp now if I were you.”
“Call me if you need anything.” Ginger offers.
“She does NOT need anything; she’s not sick.” Josh tried to convince Ginger.
“That’s very sweet, Ginger, thanks, but I’ll be fine. I’ll stay home rest, and check out
stuff on the internet…maybe capitolscoop.com will provide some educational
entertainment.” And with that Donna breezes out of the bull pen and leaves for the
night leaving a shocked Josh Lyman in her wake.
“Too late.” Ginger adds. “Looks like you already caught whatever bug is going
around; you’re all pale and you look shaky. You should go home, Josh.”
“Yeah, I guess I should.” He manages.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Donna!” Josh bellows before remembering that Donna is nowhere within hearing
distance.
“Did you need something, Mr. Lyman? Because if you did, you could use the
intercom and call for assistance.” Mrs. Bauman informed him. Mrs. Bauman was the
temp filling in for the day. At least Josh hoped it was only for the day. What is Donna’
s ‘illness’ lingered through tomorrow…or through the week?
He still couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. What had set her off? His request
for the editorial and the face book wasn’t unusual in any way. Was this about the
other job offer? Did she seriously want a title bump? A different job? What was so
great about capitalscoop.com? Yeah, he checked it out. It wasn’t altogether awful,
but it wasn’t like serving the President of the United States. So what was the great
draw? The regular hours, personal recognition, big salary? Big deal. His Donna
would never choose those material things over working for the greater good of the
country.
Wait a second. Did he just think ‘his Donna’? Yeah, but it didn’t mean anything. Not
really. Back to reality.
“I need the file on HR 254.” He tells Mrs. Bauman. She merely stands in his doorway
with her arms folded over her chest, tapping her foot.
“What’s the magic word?” she cues him when he continues to stare at her.
“Are you kidding me? This is the White House not the Romper Room. Get the damn
file.” His patience, what little there is of it, is spent.
“I don’t get paid enough to put up with this insulting behavior of yours Mr. Lyman.
Find yourself another temp!” She exits with the demeanor of Queen Elizabeth
holding court.
“The hell?” Josh’s head drops into his hands as Sam comes into his office.
“What happened? Mrs. Bauman looked pretty pissed.” Sam notes.
“You know Mrs. Emily Post over there?”
“She temped for Cathy a couple times. She bakes great brownies…You didn’t make
her quit did you?”
“I didn’t make her do anything.” Josh replies. “What does it matter anyway? The day’
s almost over.”
“Uh-huh.” Sam starts backing out of Josh’s office. “About that? Donna called my
office. Apparently no one answered your phone, so she called mine. She sounded
awful, and she doesn’t think she’ll be in the rest of the week.” Sam ducked out of the
office as Josh’s head hit the center of his desk.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“You were right, I was wrong…Do you hear me Donna?” Josh waited for her to pick
up the phone before continuing his pre-written speech. “I didn’t give you the
appreciation you deserved, you have earned a title bump and you had every right to
be tempted to look at other employment options.” Josh rolled his eyes at this point of
the speech that Sam had written for him, but dutifully read it as written, just like he’d
promised. It had been two full days since Donna got ‘sick’ and Josh was absolutely
miserable. So was the temp pool…
“Donna, if you’re there, please pick up…I’ll even come by and grovel in person…I
can’t work like this anymore…(Josh wandered off script) You should see my office!
Much more of this ‘flu’ and it will turn into a black hole!” Josh took a deep breath.
“Look, just call me when you get this.”
Josh hung up the phone and powered up his lap top. He could send a follow-up
email to her personal account, or instant message her if she was online. But several
minutes later, neither idea bore any fruit. Out of boredom and frustration, he
brought up Capitalscoop.com on his computer and almost fell on the floor when he
saw an editorial on the front page with Donna’s byline on it. What the hell? He
skimmed it with interest and saw immediately that it was a well written analysis of the
Taiwanese Government. Shit, it’s good. She’s good. Now what?
Josh didn’t even hope to see Donna on Thursday. He walked into his office resigned
to the fact that his day was going to suck.
“Mr. Lyman, I’m Meredith, from the temp pool?”
“Yeah, okay, whatever. Use the desk right there and get me a call sheet for the
morning.”
“I did, sir, here it is. Would you like me to get you some coffee while you look at it
and you daily schedule?” Josh’s head tilts up.
“Coffee?” Josh repeated. “Sure, coffee would be great…thanks.” He watched
suspiciously as Meredith went to get his coffee. His phone rang and he picked it up.
“Josh Lyman.”
“Hey, you wanna give me a quote about an interesting editorial written by Donna
Moss?” Danny Concannon asked his old friend.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. Right after I go invite some Republican
Congressman to lunch.”
“So that’s a ‘no’?” Danny guessed as he chuckled.
“How did you pick up this story so fast?”
“I have other White House sources.” Danny played coy.” Seriously, what the hell is
going on over there?”
“Donna is out sick. That’s all the information I have presently.”
“Okay…how about you and Amy and CJ and I have drinks tonight?”
“CJ will never go for it, and even if she did, I’m pretty sure Amy won’t.”
“Josh, this may be a new record for you. How did you screw it up this time?”
“She overreacted, that’s all. Once she peels herself off the ceiling, things will be
fine.”
“I’ve got to hear this. What happened?”
“I invited her over for dinner, which was accompanied by a very nice white wine,
which was when she started complaining.”
“Why was she complaining about the wine?”
“She said she didn’t like white wine and that I must have mistaken her for someone
else. I told her I wasn’t dating anyone else and she laughed at me, but not in a nice
way. Then I suggested putting on a movie, but she tried to turn my laptop off and I
slapped her hand and then it got ugly.”
“Excuse me?”
“She told me to put work away for the night, and started to close my laptop. I
stopped her-“
“By slapping her hand?” Danny interjected.
“It wasn’t a hard slap or anything. I was afraid she’d log me off Yahoo Messenger
and then I wouldn’t get an alert if Donna came on line.” Josh defended himself.
“You told the woman you were with, the woman you’re sleeping with, not to log you
off Yahoo Messenger because you had to know the instant Donna logged on? Oh,
pal, you are so screwed. I’m surprised she didn’t put YOU on the ceiling.”
“Donna has been avoiding my calls and faking sick and I need to discuss this with
her or she’ll end up at Capitalscoop.com permanently!” Josh finished with a flourish
as Meredith returned with his coffee.
“10 minutes until staff.” She whispered and he nodded in response.
“That sounds pretty dire. The office must be a mess without her, huh?”
“It has been, but the temp today is showing promise so far.”
“Well, that’s good. Maybe this new temp will work out and then you won’t be so
desperate to talk to Donna that you completely ruin your chances of ever sleeping
with Amy again.”
“The stuff with Donna isn’t about work. It’s-“ Josh stopped mid-sentence.
“Uh-huh…Maybe you should call Donna, ask HER if she wants to meet us for drinks
later. If, you know, she’s feeling better.” Danny suggested.
“Maybe.” Josh replied, still reeling from the light bulb moment he just experienced. “I’
ll call you back about that.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, Josh.” Danny hung up the phone, hoping he gave his
friend a little something to think about.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When Donna got back from Wisconsin on Sunday, she found Josh Lyman sitting on
her stoop.
“Hey, how was your trip to Wisconsin?” Josh asked her.
“Fine.” Donna approached him warily towing her suitcase behind her.
“Nothing like your Mom taking care of you when you’re sick is there?” he grinned
and Donna returned it in kind. “Can I come up for a minute? I’d like to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to fight anymore, Joshua.” The grin faded.
“Me either. Let me come upstairs with you, Donnatella.” Donna agreed with a nod
and began pulling her bag upstairs. Josh took it from her and followed her up to her
apartment. Once inside, they looked at each other awkwardly.
“How were things with Meredith?”
“I wanted to tell you how good your editorial was.” They said at the same time and
laughed self-consciously. “You first.” Josh insisted and sat down on her couch.
“I was just asking how things went with Meredith.” Donna inquired without making
eye contact with Josh.
“She did okay. She catches on quick…even brought me coffee. That was your idea,
wasn’t it?”
“She said she didn’t mind, and I thought it might ease the tension a bit.”
“You’re not coming back are you?” he asked quietly.
“I am, but just temporarily, to serve out my notice.” She answered equally sedate.
Josh nodded and looked up at her.
“Your editorial was really good. Even the President said so.”
“Really?” Donna asked finally making eye contact with him.
“Really. You researched the topic very well; big surprise, and you had a nice style
through the whole thing. You should be proud of yourself…I am…proud of you I
mean.”
“Thanks.” Donna replied, bewildered by this side of Josh Lyman. “How did you know
I was in Wisconsin and when I was coming back?” Josh shrugged and became pre-
occupied with his shoes.
“Joshua Lyman you did NOT ask Mike Casper to use FBI resources to check up on
me!”
‘He offered!” Josh insisted. “You have clearance at the White House and no one had
talked to you for days! It could have been a kidnapping or…something.” Josh lost
steam as he saw by Donna’s expression that she was not buying this. “Will you re-
consider about the job? I promise not to take you for granted anymore. I can even
finagle a title bump!” he offered.
“It’s not about the title, Josh, it’s about the job. I need a new challenge. I need to try
something on my own. I’ll work with Meredith over the next two weeks. By then things
at the office will run so smoothly you won’t even notice I’m gone.” She gave him a
weak smile.
“It’s not about the office, Donna!” Josh got up to walk around and wave his arms a
bit. “I figured that out when I was telling Danny how I pissed off Amy in my desperate
attempt to get in touch with you.”
“You pissed off Amy? Oh Josh. That was fast. I’m going to need to give Meredith the
numbers for the florist and your credit card. When did this happen? Meredith should
send them right away, or Amy will never forgive you.” Donna gets up to reach for the
phone but Josh stops her.
“I don’t want her to forgive me…no, that came out wrong. It doesn’t matter if she
forgives me. It was a mistake to get involved with her in the first place. She and I are
done; completely.” Josh took a breath and tried again. “When I was talking to Danny,
I realized it wasn’t my assistant that I was so desperate to talk to; it was Donnatella,
my best friend. Yes, of course I missed you at the office, but one of the reasons we
work so well together is that we connected right from the start.” He quit pacing and
turned to look at her.
“My taking another job doesn’t change that, Josh. We’re still best friends.”
“I was thinking, was that we could discuss a title bump.”
“Josh, I told you, it’s not the title I need, it’s the challenge and independence of the
work.”
“No, I don’t mean a title bump at work. I mean a personal title bump.”
“To what exactly?” Donna asked cautiously. Her heart began to hammer in her
chest, but she gave nothing away in her expression in case she was reading this
wrong.
“I’m not sure exactly. That would have to be worked out and agreed to by both
parties.” Josh walked over and stood in front of her. He cupped her chin in his hand
and lifted her face up to meet his. He slowly leaned into her, giving her time to back
away, but she leaned in to meet him instead.
Their kiss was hesitant as first, but quickly heated up as they each realized the other
was a full participant. Finally, Donna pulled back a moment to catch her breath.
“Umm,,,what kind of title are you thinking of exactly.” She asked as Josh busied
himself running his hands up her body.
“I was thinking maybe girlfriend when I got here, but now I’m going to need to bump it
up to lover.” Josh dipped his head for another taste of her. “Ask me to stay Donna.”
He commanded huskily.
“Stay, Joshua.” She repeated mindlessly. “Please stay.” She tugged him back to the
bedroom as their bodies fused together in a desperate attempt to make up for lost
time. When he began undressing her, she giggled.
“That’s really not helping things here, Donna. Men do not appreciate being laughed
at while they’re…doing what we’re doing.”
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking about my conversation with my Mother.” At that
comment Josh threw up his hands and backed off.
“Okay, that’s it. I can’t work under these conditions.” Donna pulled him back toward
her with so much force that they fell onto her bed.
“I just got done telling my Mother this afternoon, that is was time to move to a
different job because you were never going to realize how I felt about you, let alone
return any of those feelings, and here we are, a few hours later…” Josh reluctantly
smiled.
“Yes, here we are. And while we are here, can we not talk about mothers in general
or either of our mothers specifically?” Donna answered him with a searing kiss.
“Are you sure you need to leave the White House?” Josh tried to persuade her as
he moved over her body.
“I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I’m pretty persuasive, Donna.”
“You’re telling me.” Donna agreed as Josh worked his magic.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Donna? Josh wants to speak with you, do have time for him?” Meredith inquired
and Donna could hear the tension through the phone line.
“I think I can give him a few minutes, Meredith. How’s it going over there?”
“It was going fine until he looked at your site. Do you think you could give me a
heads up when it’s going to send him into orbit? That way I can at least be out of the
room.”
“Sure, but that might be more often than you’d like.” Donna mused. “Put him
through.” There was a click, a pause, and another click.
“Donnatella Moss. What the hell are you thinking over there? I want to lodge a
formal complaint.”
“All complaints are handled by our Issues Director, Donna Moss. Would you like to
leave her a message?” Donna quipped.
“I’ve got a message for her alright. Overreaching? You accuse me of overreaching?”
“You don’t need to take this personally, Joshua. I didn’t write that you were
overreaching, I wrote that the administration was overreaching. I was trying to help
you out; give you some solid advice.”
“Yeah, well please don’t help out anymore, particularly on the World Wide Web. I
started getting shit about it from the President of the United States during my
briefing with him this morning and it hasn’t let up since.”
“Ohhhh, I’m sorry. I know how you hate that. Tell you what. I’ll take you to dinner
tonight to make up for it. I can give you some more helpful advice over a 3 course
dinner at the restaurant of your choice.”
“Uh-huh. You’ve gotten pretty cocky in the 2 months since you went over to the dark
side.”
“I learned from the master. Can you get out by 8?”
“With the right motivation, I could probably swing that.”
“I’ll meet you at Marcel’s at 8, then we can go back to your place to continue oral
arguments in private?”
“That sounds…motivating.” Josh nearly hangs up. “Hey Director Moss?”
“Yes.?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to call you by your new title once; see how it sounds. It
sounds pretty good.”
“Yeah, but I like the title you gave me better.” They are both smiling as they hang
up, anticipating the titles that are yet to come.
The End.
Author: Cathy Miller (cam7192003@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG-13, a little language and little fooling around
Timeline: Takes place after ‘Night Five’ then goes AU
Disclaimer: They are not mine; I make nothing from them
Feedback: May I have some, please?
Previously, on the West Wing:
JOSH
He offered you money?
DONNA
Yeah.
JOSH
Well, all I can offfer you is a title bump.
DONNA
Like what?
JOSH
Senior Assistance to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning.
DONNA
That's my title now.
JOSH
Then I can't offer you a title bump. Get the sugar subsidy editorial and the facebook,
okay?
”Ummm, no.” Donna replied quietly but confidently.
“No what?” Josh asked offhandedly.
“No to the sugar subsidy, no to the facebook…No. It’s a one word complete
sentence.”
“It’s actually part of your job; you can’t say ‘no’.”
“Sure I can…No.” Donna started to gather her things to leave. “And tomorrow? I’m
taking a personal day.”
“A personal….we don’t take personal days. We have a busy schedule tomorrow.”
“How would you know? You don’t have a clue what your schedule is unless I tell you.”
“I think you may be ‘overstating things a bit’. Besides, I’m pretty sure you need to
submit requests for personal days ahead of time to have them approved, so you will
not be taking a personal day tomorrow.” Josh smirks and crosses his arms in front of
him.
“Ginger?” Donna stops Ginger as she was passing by. “Do I look flushed to you? I
think I may be coming down with something.”
“Your eyes DO look a little glassy.” Ginger says as she peers into Donna’s eyes.
“They do NOT!” Josh insists.
“I’d better go home before I infect everyone in the West Wing.” Donna puts on her
coat as she turns to go. “I doubt if I’ll be well enough to come in tomorrow. I’d call for
a temp now if I were you.”
“Call me if you need anything.” Ginger offers.
“She does NOT need anything; she’s not sick.” Josh tried to convince Ginger.
“That’s very sweet, Ginger, thanks, but I’ll be fine. I’ll stay home rest, and check out
stuff on the internet…maybe capitolscoop.com will provide some educational
entertainment.” And with that Donna breezes out of the bull pen and leaves for the
night leaving a shocked Josh Lyman in her wake.
“Too late.” Ginger adds. “Looks like you already caught whatever bug is going
around; you’re all pale and you look shaky. You should go home, Josh.”
“Yeah, I guess I should.” He manages.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Donna!” Josh bellows before remembering that Donna is nowhere within hearing
distance.
“Did you need something, Mr. Lyman? Because if you did, you could use the
intercom and call for assistance.” Mrs. Bauman informed him. Mrs. Bauman was the
temp filling in for the day. At least Josh hoped it was only for the day. What is Donna’
s ‘illness’ lingered through tomorrow…or through the week?
He still couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. What had set her off? His request
for the editorial and the face book wasn’t unusual in any way. Was this about the
other job offer? Did she seriously want a title bump? A different job? What was so
great about capitalscoop.com? Yeah, he checked it out. It wasn’t altogether awful,
but it wasn’t like serving the President of the United States. So what was the great
draw? The regular hours, personal recognition, big salary? Big deal. His Donna
would never choose those material things over working for the greater good of the
country.
Wait a second. Did he just think ‘his Donna’? Yeah, but it didn’t mean anything. Not
really. Back to reality.
“I need the file on HR 254.” He tells Mrs. Bauman. She merely stands in his doorway
with her arms folded over her chest, tapping her foot.
“What’s the magic word?” she cues him when he continues to stare at her.
“Are you kidding me? This is the White House not the Romper Room. Get the damn
file.” His patience, what little there is of it, is spent.
“I don’t get paid enough to put up with this insulting behavior of yours Mr. Lyman.
Find yourself another temp!” She exits with the demeanor of Queen Elizabeth
holding court.
“The hell?” Josh’s head drops into his hands as Sam comes into his office.
“What happened? Mrs. Bauman looked pretty pissed.” Sam notes.
“You know Mrs. Emily Post over there?”
“She temped for Cathy a couple times. She bakes great brownies…You didn’t make
her quit did you?”
“I didn’t make her do anything.” Josh replies. “What does it matter anyway? The day’
s almost over.”
“Uh-huh.” Sam starts backing out of Josh’s office. “About that? Donna called my
office. Apparently no one answered your phone, so she called mine. She sounded
awful, and she doesn’t think she’ll be in the rest of the week.” Sam ducked out of the
office as Josh’s head hit the center of his desk.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“You were right, I was wrong…Do you hear me Donna?” Josh waited for her to pick
up the phone before continuing his pre-written speech. “I didn’t give you the
appreciation you deserved, you have earned a title bump and you had every right to
be tempted to look at other employment options.” Josh rolled his eyes at this point of
the speech that Sam had written for him, but dutifully read it as written, just like he’d
promised. It had been two full days since Donna got ‘sick’ and Josh was absolutely
miserable. So was the temp pool…
“Donna, if you’re there, please pick up…I’ll even come by and grovel in person…I
can’t work like this anymore…(Josh wandered off script) You should see my office!
Much more of this ‘flu’ and it will turn into a black hole!” Josh took a deep breath.
“Look, just call me when you get this.”
Josh hung up the phone and powered up his lap top. He could send a follow-up
email to her personal account, or instant message her if she was online. But several
minutes later, neither idea bore any fruit. Out of boredom and frustration, he
brought up Capitalscoop.com on his computer and almost fell on the floor when he
saw an editorial on the front page with Donna’s byline on it. What the hell? He
skimmed it with interest and saw immediately that it was a well written analysis of the
Taiwanese Government. Shit, it’s good. She’s good. Now what?
Josh didn’t even hope to see Donna on Thursday. He walked into his office resigned
to the fact that his day was going to suck.
“Mr. Lyman, I’m Meredith, from the temp pool?”
“Yeah, okay, whatever. Use the desk right there and get me a call sheet for the
morning.”
“I did, sir, here it is. Would you like me to get you some coffee while you look at it
and you daily schedule?” Josh’s head tilts up.
“Coffee?” Josh repeated. “Sure, coffee would be great…thanks.” He watched
suspiciously as Meredith went to get his coffee. His phone rang and he picked it up.
“Josh Lyman.”
“Hey, you wanna give me a quote about an interesting editorial written by Donna
Moss?” Danny Concannon asked his old friend.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. Right after I go invite some Republican
Congressman to lunch.”
“So that’s a ‘no’?” Danny guessed as he chuckled.
“How did you pick up this story so fast?”
“I have other White House sources.” Danny played coy.” Seriously, what the hell is
going on over there?”
“Donna is out sick. That’s all the information I have presently.”
“Okay…how about you and Amy and CJ and I have drinks tonight?”
“CJ will never go for it, and even if she did, I’m pretty sure Amy won’t.”
“Josh, this may be a new record for you. How did you screw it up this time?”
“She overreacted, that’s all. Once she peels herself off the ceiling, things will be
fine.”
“I’ve got to hear this. What happened?”
“I invited her over for dinner, which was accompanied by a very nice white wine,
which was when she started complaining.”
“Why was she complaining about the wine?”
“She said she didn’t like white wine and that I must have mistaken her for someone
else. I told her I wasn’t dating anyone else and she laughed at me, but not in a nice
way. Then I suggested putting on a movie, but she tried to turn my laptop off and I
slapped her hand and then it got ugly.”
“Excuse me?”
“She told me to put work away for the night, and started to close my laptop. I
stopped her-“
“By slapping her hand?” Danny interjected.
“It wasn’t a hard slap or anything. I was afraid she’d log me off Yahoo Messenger
and then I wouldn’t get an alert if Donna came on line.” Josh defended himself.
“You told the woman you were with, the woman you’re sleeping with, not to log you
off Yahoo Messenger because you had to know the instant Donna logged on? Oh,
pal, you are so screwed. I’m surprised she didn’t put YOU on the ceiling.”
“Donna has been avoiding my calls and faking sick and I need to discuss this with
her or she’ll end up at Capitalscoop.com permanently!” Josh finished with a flourish
as Meredith returned with his coffee.
“10 minutes until staff.” She whispered and he nodded in response.
“That sounds pretty dire. The office must be a mess without her, huh?”
“It has been, but the temp today is showing promise so far.”
“Well, that’s good. Maybe this new temp will work out and then you won’t be so
desperate to talk to Donna that you completely ruin your chances of ever sleeping
with Amy again.”
“The stuff with Donna isn’t about work. It’s-“ Josh stopped mid-sentence.
“Uh-huh…Maybe you should call Donna, ask HER if she wants to meet us for drinks
later. If, you know, she’s feeling better.” Danny suggested.
“Maybe.” Josh replied, still reeling from the light bulb moment he just experienced. “I’
ll call you back about that.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, Josh.” Danny hung up the phone, hoping he gave his
friend a little something to think about.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When Donna got back from Wisconsin on Sunday, she found Josh Lyman sitting on
her stoop.
“Hey, how was your trip to Wisconsin?” Josh asked her.
“Fine.” Donna approached him warily towing her suitcase behind her.
“Nothing like your Mom taking care of you when you’re sick is there?” he grinned
and Donna returned it in kind. “Can I come up for a minute? I’d like to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to fight anymore, Joshua.” The grin faded.
“Me either. Let me come upstairs with you, Donnatella.” Donna agreed with a nod
and began pulling her bag upstairs. Josh took it from her and followed her up to her
apartment. Once inside, they looked at each other awkwardly.
“How were things with Meredith?”
“I wanted to tell you how good your editorial was.” They said at the same time and
laughed self-consciously. “You first.” Josh insisted and sat down on her couch.
“I was just asking how things went with Meredith.” Donna inquired without making
eye contact with Josh.
“She did okay. She catches on quick…even brought me coffee. That was your idea,
wasn’t it?”
“She said she didn’t mind, and I thought it might ease the tension a bit.”
“You’re not coming back are you?” he asked quietly.
“I am, but just temporarily, to serve out my notice.” She answered equally sedate.
Josh nodded and looked up at her.
“Your editorial was really good. Even the President said so.”
“Really?” Donna asked finally making eye contact with him.
“Really. You researched the topic very well; big surprise, and you had a nice style
through the whole thing. You should be proud of yourself…I am…proud of you I
mean.”
“Thanks.” Donna replied, bewildered by this side of Josh Lyman. “How did you know
I was in Wisconsin and when I was coming back?” Josh shrugged and became pre-
occupied with his shoes.
“Joshua Lyman you did NOT ask Mike Casper to use FBI resources to check up on
me!”
‘He offered!” Josh insisted. “You have clearance at the White House and no one had
talked to you for days! It could have been a kidnapping or…something.” Josh lost
steam as he saw by Donna’s expression that she was not buying this. “Will you re-
consider about the job? I promise not to take you for granted anymore. I can even
finagle a title bump!” he offered.
“It’s not about the title, Josh, it’s about the job. I need a new challenge. I need to try
something on my own. I’ll work with Meredith over the next two weeks. By then things
at the office will run so smoothly you won’t even notice I’m gone.” She gave him a
weak smile.
“It’s not about the office, Donna!” Josh got up to walk around and wave his arms a
bit. “I figured that out when I was telling Danny how I pissed off Amy in my desperate
attempt to get in touch with you.”
“You pissed off Amy? Oh Josh. That was fast. I’m going to need to give Meredith the
numbers for the florist and your credit card. When did this happen? Meredith should
send them right away, or Amy will never forgive you.” Donna gets up to reach for the
phone but Josh stops her.
“I don’t want her to forgive me…no, that came out wrong. It doesn’t matter if she
forgives me. It was a mistake to get involved with her in the first place. She and I are
done; completely.” Josh took a breath and tried again. “When I was talking to Danny,
I realized it wasn’t my assistant that I was so desperate to talk to; it was Donnatella,
my best friend. Yes, of course I missed you at the office, but one of the reasons we
work so well together is that we connected right from the start.” He quit pacing and
turned to look at her.
“My taking another job doesn’t change that, Josh. We’re still best friends.”
“I was thinking, was that we could discuss a title bump.”
“Josh, I told you, it’s not the title I need, it’s the challenge and independence of the
work.”
“No, I don’t mean a title bump at work. I mean a personal title bump.”
“To what exactly?” Donna asked cautiously. Her heart began to hammer in her
chest, but she gave nothing away in her expression in case she was reading this
wrong.
“I’m not sure exactly. That would have to be worked out and agreed to by both
parties.” Josh walked over and stood in front of her. He cupped her chin in his hand
and lifted her face up to meet his. He slowly leaned into her, giving her time to back
away, but she leaned in to meet him instead.
Their kiss was hesitant as first, but quickly heated up as they each realized the other
was a full participant. Finally, Donna pulled back a moment to catch her breath.
“Umm,,,what kind of title are you thinking of exactly.” She asked as Josh busied
himself running his hands up her body.
“I was thinking maybe girlfriend when I got here, but now I’m going to need to bump it
up to lover.” Josh dipped his head for another taste of her. “Ask me to stay Donna.”
He commanded huskily.
“Stay, Joshua.” She repeated mindlessly. “Please stay.” She tugged him back to the
bedroom as their bodies fused together in a desperate attempt to make up for lost
time. When he began undressing her, she giggled.
“That’s really not helping things here, Donna. Men do not appreciate being laughed
at while they’re…doing what we’re doing.”
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking about my conversation with my Mother.” At that
comment Josh threw up his hands and backed off.
“Okay, that’s it. I can’t work under these conditions.” Donna pulled him back toward
her with so much force that they fell onto her bed.
“I just got done telling my Mother this afternoon, that is was time to move to a
different job because you were never going to realize how I felt about you, let alone
return any of those feelings, and here we are, a few hours later…” Josh reluctantly
smiled.
“Yes, here we are. And while we are here, can we not talk about mothers in general
or either of our mothers specifically?” Donna answered him with a searing kiss.
“Are you sure you need to leave the White House?” Josh tried to persuade her as
he moved over her body.
“I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I’m pretty persuasive, Donna.”
“You’re telling me.” Donna agreed as Josh worked his magic.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Donna? Josh wants to speak with you, do have time for him?” Meredith inquired
and Donna could hear the tension through the phone line.
“I think I can give him a few minutes, Meredith. How’s it going over there?”
“It was going fine until he looked at your site. Do you think you could give me a
heads up when it’s going to send him into orbit? That way I can at least be out of the
room.”
“Sure, but that might be more often than you’d like.” Donna mused. “Put him
through.” There was a click, a pause, and another click.
“Donnatella Moss. What the hell are you thinking over there? I want to lodge a
formal complaint.”
“All complaints are handled by our Issues Director, Donna Moss. Would you like to
leave her a message?” Donna quipped.
“I’ve got a message for her alright. Overreaching? You accuse me of overreaching?”
“You don’t need to take this personally, Joshua. I didn’t write that you were
overreaching, I wrote that the administration was overreaching. I was trying to help
you out; give you some solid advice.”
“Yeah, well please don’t help out anymore, particularly on the World Wide Web. I
started getting shit about it from the President of the United States during my
briefing with him this morning and it hasn’t let up since.”
“Ohhhh, I’m sorry. I know how you hate that. Tell you what. I’ll take you to dinner
tonight to make up for it. I can give you some more helpful advice over a 3 course
dinner at the restaurant of your choice.”
“Uh-huh. You’ve gotten pretty cocky in the 2 months since you went over to the dark
side.”
“I learned from the master. Can you get out by 8?”
“With the right motivation, I could probably swing that.”
“I’ll meet you at Marcel’s at 8, then we can go back to your place to continue oral
arguments in private?”
“That sounds…motivating.” Josh nearly hangs up. “Hey Director Moss?”
“Yes.?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to call you by your new title once; see how it sounds. It
sounds pretty good.”
“Yeah, but I like the title you gave me better.” They are both smiling as they hang
up, anticipating the titles that are yet to come.
The End.
