Josh's POV:
We get to the Sheraton and C.J. goes to the front desk to get an extra
key for her room that Donna can use. Donna is having a hard time with
the crutches and the short trip from the car to the lobby seems to have
worn her out.
"I'm starving. Have you eaten anything for dinner?" I ask
her and she shakes her head but doesn't meet my eyes. Something
happened back at the hospital. I can't quite figure out what, but
something happened and suddenly it feels different between us. C.J.
joins us and hands a key card to Donna which she promptly slips in her
pocket.
"Leo left a message for me to come see him when we got back."
She tells us.
"Me too?" I ask.
"No, you're off the hook. Let me help you upstairs, Donna. Then
I'll go see Leo."
"I'll help her C.J. You go ahead and see Leo." I said as I
help Donna to her feet. C.J. watches us a minute before deciding I might
be up to the task of walking Donna to her room and leaving us alone.
I'm holding her crutches in one hand and holding onto her with the
other. She limps her way to the elevator and we slowly make our way to
C.J.'s room. She expertly opens the door with the key card, a skill
I haven't quite mastered yet and I help her inside.
I help her onto the bed and put a pillow under her injured leg. I reach
into the desk drawer and find the room service menu.
"What sounds good to you?" I ask her as I peruse the menu.
"I don't want anything." She says quietly. "You
don't need to babysit me Josh."
"This isn't babysitting, Donna. It's called eating.
We've eaten together before, but it's been awhile so I'll
refresh your memory. I pick a menu item, and you criticize it as being
an unhealthy food choice. Then I order it anyway and when it comes, you
steal half of it for yourself." She grins at my synopsis of our meal
sharing habits. "Now, what are you going to order and pretend to eat
while you steal my food?"
"Do they have some pasta?" she asks.
"Alfredo and marinara. What's your pleasure?" Okay, that
might have sounded funny `cause her head just shot up to stare at
me.
"Alfredo." She replies. I break eye contact with her and have to
physically turn away from her because I swear the temperature just rose
by 10 degrees.
"Yes, this is room 320. We'd like to order some room
service…Yes, we'd like one order of fettucine alfredo, and one
hamburger with french fries…well done, but when I say `well
done' I really mean burnt…Right, completely black is
great…and 2 bottles of water…that's it, thanks."
I hang up the phone and see Donna shaking her head, but wait and see.
Before she takes her second bite of her pasta, she'll be stealing my
fries.
I go to the mini-frig and pull out a Coke and hold my hand out.
"What?" she asks with an innocent expression on her face. Yeah,
there's that drama major coming out.
"There's no way you left that hospital without pain meds. Hand
them over. You're going to take some now so you can get some
sleep."
"I hate the pain pills, Josh. They make me all goofy." She
complains, but I keep my hand out until she fishes the pills out of the
suitcase she laughingly calls a purse and give them to me. I shake out
two pills and watch as she swallows them with a mouthful of Coke. She
brings on her pout, which both of us have already recognized means
trouble for me.
"Are you happy now?" she asks.
"Not until I get a very burnt burger in my system." I reply and
hop onto the other side of the bed and flip the TV on to CNN. "We
should be getting more coverage for the Governor's speech
tomorrow."
"If you want to see more coverage, turn on the local stations."
She tells me and I give her a look like she's nuts. "Seriously.
The local stations are all over it and the local stations have a much
bigger media share here than CNN or MSNBC."
"What channel?" I ask her.
"Channel's' Joshua. Even in Wisconsin, we have more than
one. But the local news shows don't come on until tomorrow
morning."
"That's the problem with the local stuff; you have to wait for
it."
"Really? I though patience was one of your greatest strengths."
She drawls. God, I have missed her giving me lip. C.J. does it too, I
guess, but it doesn't feel the same.
"I've improved a lot in that area while you've been
gone." I tell her.
"I haven't been gone THAT long."
"It felt like it." I mutter and Donna gives me another sharp
look. I summon the nerve to meet her eyes and something passes between
us again like it did back at the hospital.
"It felt like it to me too." She says in a quiet voice. I feel a
magnetic pull moving me closer to her hypnotic blue eyes. The rational
part of my brain is screaming that this is SO not appropriate; she's
my assistant, she's at a vulnerable point in her life right now,
we're working on a serious Presidential campaign. Another part of my
brain is urging me to kiss her before I can draw another breath. My eyes
flick down to her lips as she bites her bottom lip with her teeth and I
think I moan out loud while I move infinitely closer to her mouth with
mine.
The sound of the door opening, causes both of us to jump apart like
guilty teenagers caught necking in the back seat of our parent's
car. C.J. storms in oblivious to the waves of energy we have to be
giving off. She doesn't bat an eye at the fact we're both lying
on the bed together. All of us make ourselves comfortable in one
another's rooms and space, and Donna and I have taken that even
further. Everyone is used to it.
"The Governor has re-vamped his speech for tomorrow again!" she
complains. "Which means, that I have to completely redo my talking
points."
"Toby must be imploding." Donna notes and I am again amazed at
her acting skills. She doesn't appear rattled at all. I have to put
my arms behind my head because my hands are shaking.
"You aren't kidding." C.J. agrees. "Get out of here so I
can change and get into bed." She directs me.
"I can't! We have food coming up. You can change and get into
bed. I won't look." I tease.
"I love this campaign. Really. It's like traveling with my two
brothers on a cross country car trip." Donna and I exchange amused
glances. C.J. really is something.
A knock comes at the door and I use the excuse to jump out of the bed
and get our room service meal. Crisis averted…at least for tonight.
***********************************
Josh's POV:
We have triumphed in Michigan, now we're heading to Illinois.
Sam's says if we win Illinois we're going to run the table and I
think he's right. What's more, is I think we're going to win
Illinois. We're really picking up momentum and as much as this
excites me it also concerns me on two fronts.
1) Jed Bartlet is still having trouble wrapping his head around the
idea that he could be the next Democratic nominee for President of the
United States. Believe it or not the Governor didn't get into this
to win. Now that it looks like he's going to, he needs to start
working with us instead of in spite of us.
2) Donnatella Moss. Ever since the night we brought her back from the
hospital things have been…weird between us. There's this
electricity and I can't count the number of times I've been
tempted to…test the voltage. Donna is the most interesting,
intelligent, beautiful woman I've met in…as far back as I can
remember, but she's also my assistant. This makes anything between
us impossible; at least as long as we're working the campaign. So
I'd be lying if I said a tiny part of me didn't hope this whole
thing would go belly up.
Since I am exceedingly good at my job, however, it now looks like
there's no stopping Jed Bartlet from capturing the Democratic
nomination; which means I have to be satisfied merely working with
Donna. Is it any wonder then, that my `work hours' have become
longer and longer? If I'm working, you see, I need to have my
assistant working with me. Is that ingenious or what?
I've found other ways to satisfy my need to be close to Donna. We
always get connecting rooms, in order to facilitate our long work hours.
We do a lot of our work on the run, or rather while we walk to various
events, and I take these opportunities to keep my hand on her back.
What? It's very gentlemanly. I have instituted the bus seating rule;
Donna has to be seated next to me on all bus trips because I get motion
sick if I try to read on the bus. Donna needs to sit next to me to read
my material to me. All these individual efforts help, but it's not
quite enough either.
I know it sounds crazy that I'm in the middle of this campaign for
the Presidency and I'm so pre-occupied with a woman, but that's
the truth. On the bright side, once the Governor takes Illinois, it will
be a big celebration for all the staff. If we're all celebrating,
surely I can get away with hugging Donna, right? I can't wait for
the Illinois primary…