Title: When Abner Met Bambi (21/?)
Disclaimer: They’re ours now. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. So there.
Time: Bartlet for America I campaign, pre-White House years
Authors: Anne Marie Flynn, Cathy Miller, Jennifer Erland and Rick
Yunker
A/N 2: This is my last Abner chapter. I hope you have had HALF as much fun reading it as I
have had writing it with my dear friends.
Donna’s POV:
This can’t be happening. It just can’t be happening. We only had to make it one more day
and we would have told everyone ourselves. Why did Mandy have to follow us, and why did
she feel compelled to share our news with everyone, making a beautiful thing feel sordid?
The look I send Josh must have panic written all over it because he runs his hand down my
back in a soothing motion.
“Relax.” He whispers to me as he reaches under my collar and pulls out the chain that holds
my wedding ring. He doesn't even fumble with the latch and easily removes the ring before
sliding it on my finger. “We got married earlier this week." He announces as he repeats the
process with his ring. I am literally shaking. I look around the room to see the reactions of the
rest of our team. Mostly, they are just dumbstruck, with the exception of Leo. He breaks the
silence first.
“Then I guess congratulations are in order.” Leo announces and leans forward to kiss my
cheek. “It escapes me why anyone would voluntarily shackle themselves to this one for life,
but if that’s what makes you happy Donna…”
I can see the others gaping at us as Leo moves to Josh next and embraces him.
“You done good, kid.” Leo tells him.
“Thanks, Leo.” Josh answers.
“When did this happen, and why wasn’t I invited!” Governor Bartlet demanded.
“It was a spur of the moment thing, Governor.” Josh explained. “I just couldn’t wait another
minute to marry her, but no one else was there. We didn’t want to disrupt the final hours of
the campaign. We were hoping to make our announcement tomorrow night, after we had the
election results.”
I notice my husband is too wise to say ‘when you’re elected President’ in front of Toby. Toby
Ziegler is extremely superstitious about that kind of thing.
“Well, since your surprise has been ruined,” Jed Bartlet threw a dirty look at Mandy. “May I
kiss the bride, Joshua?”
“Certainly, sir.” Josh offers me up like a turkey at Thanksgiving.
“Best wishes, Donnatella.” He tells me while he kisses my cheek. “It’s quite a feat to get Josh
to concentrate on something besides the Presidential election he’s working on. Wait until
Abby hears about this.” The Governor looks absolutely thrilled at the prospect of knowing a
juicy bit of news that his wife does not. “Joshua, take good care of this young lady or you’ll be
answering to me.”
Josh accepts the Governor’s handshake. “I’ll be taking very good care of her, sir. I know how
lucky I am to have her.” Okay, that was very sweet.
Next, John Hoynes approaches us and gives me a strange look before offering his hand to
Josh.
“Congratulations, Josh.” He says.
“Thanks, Senator.” Josh accepted the handshake. “I mean that sincerely. It was you that
inspired me to marry Donna.”
Some sort of silent communication passes between Josh and Hoynes. I’m not sure what that
was all about, but you can bet I’ll be finding out later.
The rest of the group gathers around us to offer us good wishes, except for one. Sam takes
two steps backward and exits the suite we’ve been using as a war room.
“I’ll be right back.” I whisper to Josh and follow Sam.
“Sam? Wait up!” I call out as he’s waiting for the elevator. He tips his head back and sighs.
“I’ve got to get some…stuff from my room.” Sam says not meeting my eyes.
“Sam?” I hold onto his arm and prevent him from getting on the elevator.
“What?” He asks impatiently when the elevator doors close again.
“Are you angry with us?” I ask point blank.
“Angry? Why would I be angry? My best friend found the woman he wanted to marry and
married her. Luckily, I think his taste has improved dramatically of late.” He turns and hits the
elevator button again. “You should be in there with your husband.”
“Sam, we didn’t tell anyone. This wasn’t about you. We just wanted to keep things quiet until
after the election. Josh values your friendship very much.” I explain.
“Yeah, I can tell.” This time he gets on the elevator. “Congratulations, Donna.” He tells me as
the doors close. I turn back to return to the war room and see Josh walking towards me.
“We’re not even married 24 hours, and you’re already ditching me?” Josh teases but my
sadness must show on my face because he’s immediately at my side, tipping my face up to
look directly at him. “What’s wrong, Donnatella?”
“I think we really hurt Sam.” I confess. Josh sighs.
“I was in such a hurry for us to get married that I didn’t think about the repercussions much.”
Josh admits. “I’ll talk to him.”
“You have to get down to the Maple room to do spin on Nightline in 20 minutes. Maybe after
that?” I suggest.
“Yeah, okay.” Josh pulls me close to him and kisses me. “It will be okay, Donna.”
“I hope so. I need to get the note cards for your Nightline segment.”
“I’ll come with.” Josh offers, but I stop him with a hand gesture.
“Oh, no. You need to get back in the war room.” I tell him. “Besides, you tend to get distracted
when we’re in a hotel room alone.”
“You can’t blame me, Donnatella. I have a very attractive new wife.” He leers.
“Go to work, Joshua. We have to get the Governor elected tomorrow.” I chastise him.
“You’re hot when you’re all bossy, you know that?” He teases and gets one more kiss in
before I push him away from me. “All right, all right, I’m going. But you’re going to pay for that
later.”
‘I certainly hope so’ I think to myself as I watch him swagger away from me. He’s wearing a suit
without the jacket, so nothing obstructs my view of his very fine butt.
“And stop looking at my butt, Donnatella.” He shouts back without turning to look at me. I
blush even though he’s not looking at me. I guess he’s tuned to me, too.
Josh’s POV:
I try to listen to the next inane question I get shot at me, but I’m losing my patience; not that I
had a lot to begin with. I’m getting hot and sweaty under these bright lights, and I really didn’t
think this was the circumstance in which I’d be getting hot and sweaty tonight. Shit. I
completely lost the end of that question. I fake an earpiece problem.
“I’m sorry. I lost the feed at the end there. Can you repeat that?” Oh, yeah, I can cover.
“No, our internals are showing the momentum swinging our way. I’m very confident that when
the votes are counted tomorrow, Governor Bartlet will be the victor.”
Another question? Can’t I be done already?
“I’m not sure what any of our roles will be, should we be fortunate enough to win tomorrow.
Talk to me after the election is called….You’re welcome, thanks for the invitation.” I pull the
earpiece out of my ear and hand it to the tech who’d given it to me ages ago. I walk past the
glaring lights and see Donna waiting for me.
“Sam is wrapping up his segment next door. Then, you have 30 minutes before Leo wants
you upstairs.” She rattles off the details, but I lose my concentration the moment I touch her.
“That means we could have 25 minutes to ourselves before I have to see Leo…make that 28
minutes. I can get to Leo in 2 minutes from our room.” I attempt to persuade her. “Do you
know what I can accomplish in 28 minutes?”
“Sam first.” She insists, although she does give me a quick kiss before slipping away from me
with a wink. I’m afraid that’s going to have to hold me for awhile. Initially, I was pissed at the
way Mandy broke our news, but there is one advantage, we don’t have to hide anything
anymore.
I walk over to watch Sam wrap up his interview and realize how much he’s grown over the
course of this campaign. We’ve been friends for years, and sometimes, when you’ve been
friends that long, you still view them the way you did when you first met them. He’s a
phenomenal writer, and consummate idealist, and his loyalty knows no bounds. It hurts me to
think that I hurt him, however inadvertently, by getting married without telling him.
He finishes up and shakes hands with the technical crew; he’s such a boy scout. He’s smiling
and laughing until he catches sight of me.
“Nice job, Samuel Norman.” I compliment him.
“Thanks. Do you need me somewhere else?” He asks pointedly.
“Yeah, in the restaurant with me for some coffee before I have to go see Leo.” I propose.
“Josh, I really don’t have time-“
“Yes, you do; come on.” I insist and he reluctantly follows me and takes a seat at a table while
I get our coffees. I have the feeling I’ll be drinking lots of this for the next 36 hours. I take a
seat across from Sam and hand him the coffee.
“I think in my haste to marry Donna, I might have given you the impression that I didn’t trust
you with that valuable information. That wasn’t the case, I swear. I didn’t even tell Donna
where we were going this morning until we were on our way there.”
“Uh-huh.” Sam takes a sip of his coffee and looks around the restaurant before his gaze
lands on my wedding ring.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I really am.” I try again.
“You’re a big boy, Josh. You don’t need my permission or my forgiveness to elope with
someone.” Sam finally looks at me but his face is flat; there’s no emotion there.
“We thought, when all this is over, we could do the wedding thing over. So we could have our
friends and family there. I always imagined when I got married you’d be there at my side. We
could do that then. It was just the circumstances, Sam.”
“No, Josh. It wasn’t just about circumstances; it’s about trust. Did you think I would run and tell
someone? Or try to talk you out of it? Donna’s a sweetheart and it’s pretty obvious to
everyone around you that she’s very good for you.”
“Of course it wasn’t about trust!” I protest, but he just gives me a disbelieving look.
“That’s not how it looks from over here. I trusted you so much, that when you came and told
me you’d found the real thing, I left my high paying job, my home, and my fiancé behind to
follow you. I guess it’s just a one way street for you.” Sam accuses.
“Look, I’m trying to apologize.” I tell him, and I can feel the tension building inside me.
“Do us both a favor, and save it for someone who cares.” Sam shoots back.
“Fine, I will.” I get up from the table and make a nice 3 point shot with my coffee cup into a
nearby wastebasket. “You know me better than anyone else, Sam. You know I plow ahead
without thinking through the consequences. I screwed up. I’m sorry. But I never felt as much
urgency about anything as I did about marrying Donna, and if you can’t understand that, I
guess that’s your problem.” I walk away without looking back.
Sam’s POV:
I watch Josh strut through the restaurant; what an arrogant son of a bitch! Unfortunately, he’s
got plenty of reasons to be arrogant. This campaign has taken off since he signed on, and it’
s not the only improbable candidate he’s taken from obscurity to victory. He’s right. too; he
sucks at the interpersonal stuff. Frankly, I’m amazed that he’s kept it together long enough to
marry Donna. I meant what I said before. This isn’t about Donna. I think they’re perfect for
each other; I really do. It’s that he didn’t trust me to tell me their plans. I wanted to stand by
him when he made that commitment. I always assumed that I would, and it hurt a lot; not only
wasn’t I there, but he didn’t tell me about it beforehand or afterwards.
I toss my cup on top of Josh’s and head upstairs to check in on things. When I enter the war
room, everyone is working busily on last minute details. It seriously looks like everyone is on
speed. Then I spot her. She’s got a pile of papers that she’s organizing into that incoherent
system she has. Her lips are moving like she’s talking to herself. Every once in a while,
someone stops and asks her something, and she responds with a quick reply, but she never
breaks her concentration on what she’s working on. When she finishes, she blows out a
breath and finally looks up. Our eyes meet and hers go quickly downward again. She looks
sad and hurt. That’s not right. Yes, I’m angry with Josh, but she doesn’t deserve to get hit with
the fallout. I approach her before she can move out of sight.
“Donna?”
“Hi, Sam. You did a great job on TV.” She gives me a half smile.
“Well, your note cards were invaluable to me.” I try to suck up a little, but her smile still
doesn’t reach her eyes. “Donna, I’m sorry I was rude to you before. I was upset with Josh and
I took it out on you.” That makes her jaw drop and her eyes widen. “Will you forgive me?”
“Oh Sam, of course I will.” She says and pulls me into a hug. Josh is so lucky to have this
woman. “Josh loves you like a brother, Sam.”
“I love him like a brother, too. That’s why this hurt me so much.” I explain. She nods her
understanding.
“This has been a lot of stress for him; the campaign, working with Mandy, and especially
having to deal John Hoynes. I guess I should have told Josh right away about Hoynes. He
said anyone who’s worked in politics would know how to get him to back off, and I could have
been spared that whole ordeal.”
Now, I can’t meet HER eyes. I knew, or at least suspected, what was happening. Was I any
kind of friend to either of them in this? In a desperate attempt to distract her from that line of
thought, I switch the conversation back to Josh.
“If Josh and I are like brothers, then that makes you my new sister-in-law.” I tell her. “Welcome
to the family, fair Donnatella. You and Josh are going to do great things together.” I kiss her
cheek and tears fall gently down her face.
“Thank you, Sam.” She whispers and hugs me again.
Josh’s POV:
I’m a little early to meet with Leo, but my conversation with Sam really upset me, and I don’t
want Donna to see me like this. She’ll just worry, and there’s nothing she can do anyway. So,
I decide to wait for Leo in his suite. I have a key card, and I let myself in…on the third try.
Where is Donna when I need her?
I’m pacing Leo’s suite like a caged tiger. I have all this pent up anxiety and anger and
nowhere to channel them right now.
There’s a knock at the door before a secret service agent walks in and checks out the suite;
giving me a formal head nod. When he’s convinced it’s safe, he opens the door again, and
pulls it wide to allow Senator John Hoynes to enter. This is just perfect…
“Josh, I wasn’t expecting you here. I was told that Leo wanted to talk about strategy for
tomorrow.” He tells me.
“And you thought this would be a discussion to have without the political director of strategic
planning for the campaign?” I’m really just yanking his chain now. I had no idea what this
meeting was about or who else might be here.
“You’re a very talented political director, Josh. I thought so when I hired you. It’s not your
talent I question, but your loyalty.” He replies.
“You’re going to question MY loyalty? Seriously?” I choke out a laugh. “How loyal have you
been to your wife, Senator?”
“That has nothing to do with my job.” Hoynes shoots back, and I move closer to him.
“It has everything to do with your job. Politics is perception. The voters judge their elected
officials on their ability to keep their word. If you can’t even keep your word to your wife, why
would they believe you’ll keep your word to them?”
“My track record has been pretty clear.”
“Crystal clear. That’s why you lost the nomination, John. People don’t trust you. You’re more
concerned about staying in the shallow water where your feet can safely touch bottom, than
you are in swimming in a different direction and being a leader.” I tell him.
“It’s Senator Hoynes, and tomorrow it’s going to be Vice-President elect, so watch your tone
with me, and show a little respect.”
“Respect is earned, John.” I call him by his first name again, knowing it’s going to piss him off.
“You are something, Josh Lyman. You might go pretty far in this business if you can learn to
control your temper. You really should have taken Erica up on her offer. We could’ve done
great things together.”
“Leave her out of this.” I snap.
“Oh, she’s out of it all right; completely out of it. I fired her when she failed in her assigned
objective.”
I shake my head in disgust. “That sounds just like you. Lure her into your bed, make
promises about power and position, and then when through no fault of her own, she can’t get
me on board with you, you fire her. You’re a real prince, you know that?”
“No, you’re the prince, Josh. Rescuing fair mid-western damsels from evil politicians by
marrying them in hastily put together weddings. Are you a jealous husband, Josh?”
“Damn right, I am. You want to how much? Just lay your eyes on my wife, and you’ll get a
front row seat.” I threaten.
“I’ve already had more than my eyes on your wife, Josh. There’s nothing like getting them
straight off the farm, is there?” he taunts me.
Let me just say that at this point, I can hardly be blamed for what happens next. As I’ve said
before, we know how to push each others buttons very well. It’s already been a very
emotional day, and this is just too much. I have literally reached my tipping point.
I lunge for him and push him up against the wall. My left forearm is across his neck, partially
choking him, while my right hand delivers a punch to the gut. If it wasn’t for the element of
surprise, I’m not sure I would have the advantage right now. Plus, if he could call out, the
Secret Service would be on me in no time flat.
“Don’t you ever talk about my wife like that again, you son of a bitch.” He’s trying to move my
arm from his neck, but I am seeing red and my ears are buzzing with anger which seems to
have pumped up my adrenaline. He’s not moving me an inch.
At that moment, the door opens and I look over to see Leo walks in. This distraction gives
Hoynes the opportunity to shake me loose and lands a blow to the left side of my face. I pull
back my arm to punch back when Leo steps between us and the Secret Service agents rush
into the room checking the Senator for injury, asking if he needs an ambulance. What a wuss!
“What the hell is going on here?” Leo demands and silence reigns for a good 30 seconds.
“We had a difference of opinion, that’s all.” I explain. My face hurts like hell, but there’s no
way I’m saying anything in front of Hoynes.
“What?!” Leo asks again and this time directs it at Hoynes.
“It was a disagreement.” Hoynes agrees. I guess he doesn’t want to explain to Leo and the
Secret Service what led up to our disagreement. That works for me.
“From now on keep your disagreements verbal, understand?” Leo looks from me, to Hoynes,
and back. We both nod. “John, go back to your room. I’ll come by in a bit to go over last
minute schedule changes with you.”
The Secret Service agents give me their ‘intimidation’ look, then flank the Senator as he
leaves Leo’s suite.
“Josh, what the hell?!” He shouts as soon as we’re alone.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I say through gritted teeth.
“You’re going to have to, son.” Leo insists and goes over to the desk. There is an ice bucket
there. He wraps a few cubes in a washcloth and hands it to me. “Put this on before you get a
black eye, and your face swells up.”
I take it gratefully and place it where the pain is greatest. Leo disappears for a minute and
returns with some Motrin and a bottle of water.
“I’d offer you some whiskey, but I asked them not to stock alcohol in my room.” He jokes. “This
was about Donna, wasn’t it?”
“John Hoynes-“
“Will be our next Vice-President, God willing.” Leo responded. “This is about Donna, isn’t it?”
“In a manner of speaking.” I hedge.
“Josh, you know I’m happy for you, right? I wouldn’t have helped you arrange the wedding if I’
d thought it was a bad idea.”
“I figured…” I trail off, nervous about what may come next.
“If we win tomorrow…we’re going to have to have a conversation, you and I, about whether or
not you and Donna can work together in the White House.”
“Leo!” I stand up and shout in protest. “There is no reason-“
“Yes, there is, and you know it.” Leo made me meet his eyes. “Donna is a liability to you now.”
“Leo!” I began to pace.
“She is your Achilles heel.” Leo must have thought he was losing me in this line of
conversation and stood up to walk to me in an attempt to regain my attention. “You know it’s
true, Josh. Having her in your office is going to provide your opponents a handy target when
they want to get to you.”
“Screw them!” I shot back.
“Do you want to put Donna in that position? We can find another place for her in the White
House. She does terrific work! You’ll be in the same building. Be reasonable.”
“I swear to you, Leo. You move Donna somewhere else in the White House, you won’t have to
worry about me being reasonable, because I won’t be working there. I will not accept any
position there if Donna’s not working with me.”
Leo sees the truth in my eyes and lets out a deep breath. “Look, your emotions must be
running pretty high today, and with the election tomorrow, that’s not going to change anytime
soon. Let’s see what tomorrow brings, and then we’ll take another look at the options.”
“I won’t change my mind, Leo.” I remain steadfast. Leo sighs again as I sit down again to talk
through last minute preparations for Election Day. It goes pretty fast, since there are very few
changes we are making to our original plan. It’s going to be a stressful day. I take the copies
of the daily schedule and start to head for the door. Once I reach it though, one other
thought occurs to me.
“One other thing, Leo. I’d like to bring Erica Lee onto our team.” I tell him.
“Josh…” he rolls his eyes at me. “Don’t you have enough trouble managing Mandy and
Donna in the same place? Don’t you think your wife is going to have something to say about
that?”
“Hoynes fired her. He fired her because of me. She a good operative, and we could use
her….someplace, you know, far away from me.” I suggest.
“I’ll look into it.” Leo promises. “But you have to clear it with Donna.”
“I will.” I assure him. “I know we need Mandy through tomorrow, but the Governor isn’t offering
her anything after Election Day, is he?”
“The Governor puts a pretty high premium on loyalty and teamwork. I think Mandy has shown
she’s not capable of either.” Leo replies.
“So I shouldn’t be concerned about--” Leo interrupts me.
“NO! Go do a job, will you?” he practically shouts at me. “We have an election to win
tomorrow… and keep ice on that; you have to be on camera tomorrow, too.”
I give him a half smile, because a full smile would hurt too much and leave his room.
********************************************
Donna’s POV:
I know, because I keep his schedule, that he had a meeting with Leo, but he should be back
by now. What could they be talking about for 2 hours? As if conjured by my thoughts, my cell
rings and it’s Josh.
“Where are you?” I say by way of a greeting. I can hear him sigh.
“I’m in our room. Can you come down here for a bit?”
I drop my voice to a heated whisper. “We don’t have time for that right now, Joshua.”
“No, I didn’t mean- although that isn’t a bad idea…I need to talk to you privately. Just come
down here, please.”
“Okay, but only because you said please. Things are hopping up here.” I tell him before I
hang up and slip out of the room to join him.
He sounded pretty down. I wonder if Leo gave him some bad news. Usually, Josh is in the
thick of things in the war room. He’s shouting orders and demanding this or that number;
quite honestly it’s very hot to watch. The master politician commanding the troops is quite
compelling.
I let myself into our room (I just love saying that) but I don’t see Josh. There’s only one light
on and it’s hard to see. Finally I spot him in a chair in the corner. His head is leaning on one
hand. I rush over to his side.
“Josh what’s wrong?”
“It’s not a big thing.” He quickly assures me, but he still doesn’t lift his head from his hand and
I can see he’s holding something in his hand. I reach over to see what it is and feel cold.
“Josh, are you hurt?” My fingers make contact with his face and he jerks away from me. I hear
his quick indrawn breath. Not a big thing, my ass. “What happened to you? How could you get
hurt in a meeting with Leo?”
“I ran into something.” He tells me. Even in the dark, even though I can’t see much of his face,
I know he’s lying.
“You ran into something?” I say skeptically.
“Yep.” He confirms.
“Joshua, let me explain something that you might not already know in that brilliant mind of
yours. When you get married, something mystical happens between a husband and wife. We
were tuned to each other before, but now the connection has intensified. I can tell, for
instance, when you’re upset about something. When you need something I know what it is
and when you need it. If you were to lie to me about something, I would know it and it would
hurt me very, very, much.” I pause to let that sink in. “What exactly did you run into?”
“It… might have been John Hoynes fist.” He says quietly.
“JOSH!” I stand up in shock. “John Hoynes hit you? Does Leo know?”
“Yeah, he walked in on it.” He continues.
“Why would the Vice-Presidential candidate hit you, Josh?”
“It might have been because my arm was pushing on his throat.”
I sink down to the floor again. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
I try to take deep breaths while he explains the whole story. I have the feeling that he may be
omitting some of the salient details and embellishing others, but I do believe he’s given me
the most of the story. I turn on the brighter light and can see where his face is a little swollen
and discolored.
“I’m going downstairs to see if I can buy some cover up for your face.” I announce.
“I’m NOT wearing makeup, Donnatella.” He insists.
“Okay. You can just explain to every staffer and every member of the media how you ran into
something. That should work.”
He mulls that over a bit. “Fine. Get the makeup, but if you tell ANYONE that I’m wearing
makeup…” he trails off when he can’t come up with an appropriate threat.
“Josh. I’m your wife. Nobody loves you or cares about you more than I do.” I assure him. “I’m
going to tell this story until we’re both in a nursing home, baby.” I kiss him briefly but he pulls
me back to him for a longer, more intense kiss.
“I was thinking, now that everyone knows about us…maybe we should have a ‘do over’
wedding night.”
“You were?” I ask between questions. “The first one wasn’t good for you?”
“No, no. Let me make that perfectly clear. It was awesome. But we had to sneak around and it
wasn’t quite what we could’ve had if we hadn’t wanted to keep it all a secret. Now we have a
chance to do it all over.” He persuades me; not that I need much persuasion.
“That sounds like a perfect idea.” I give him one last kiss before I disentangle myself and
head out to find some makeup to cover his injury.
After making a careful application to his face, he looks pretty normal. We get through the next
few hours without a hitch. I’ve been begging to get some sleep for the last hour and a half,
but Josh just looks at his watch and shakes his head.
“Josh, it’s after 1 now. Everyone else has gone to bed. Let’s go to bed Josh.” I lean close to
his ear. “It’s our wedding night.” I purr the reminder in his ear and his eyes pop open.
“We should get some sleep.” He agrees. “Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day. We’re going to
need all the energy we can get.” I nod with my tongue in my cheek.
When we get to the door, I pull out my key card, but he stops me.
“Wait!” he insists. He takes the card from me and with all concentration of a surgeon, slips the
key in and out of the slot. His eyes light up like a kid at Christmas when the green light glows.
He pushes the door open slightly, then pauses and turns to me.
“I’ve been told it’s traditional to carry the Bride over the threshold.” My eyes start to tear up
and he picks me up and carries me inside. I’m shocked to see candles and flowers
everywhere. He lays me down on the bed and slips in next to me.
“I know the wedding wasn’t ideal, so I figured the least I could do was make the wedding night
special.” He informs me. He reaches over for a tray that has two glasses, a bottle of
champagne and several pieces of chocolate on it. I help myself to some chocolate while he
pours the champagne. Then he hands me a glass.
“To the start of our lives together.” We clink glasses and drink, then I take his from him and
set both of them on the floor.
“Why don’t we save that for later?” I suggest and begin kissing my way down his body starting
at his forehead. I undo his tie and unbutton his shirt. “I’m so glad we didn’t wait any longer for
this.”
“I know.” He moans. “Even if Leo separates us at the White House, it will be worth it for all
this.”
“What?!” I stop the kissing.
“And on the bright side, he assured me Mandy’s contract would not be extended after
Election Day. So, the only person that we may run into there would be Erica Lee.”
“Joshua!!” I move to sit up and away from him.
“Hey, this is our wedding night. We can talk about it tomorrow; if we even win.” He tells me.
“Tonight is just for us.”
He rolls so he is on top of me and uses his talented mouth to distract me while he removes
his clothes. It feels so incredible and it would be seriously rude to interrupt him. But it’s a
subject that I guarantee you, we will be returning to.
TBC