Choices Chapter 7:
A/N: Last chapter folks! Hope you liked it. HUGE thanks to Amy S. for
her wonderful job editing and for feeding me lines when I got stuck or
started meandering too much!
Chapter 7
Donna woke amazingly refreshed and relaxed when her alarm went off at 7.
She stretched slowly, knowing she didn't need to be at work for
another hour. There were definitely perks since she longer worked
directly for Josh, she thought. Josh! Oh, Lord. Was he still here? Not
unless he overslept. Senior Staff would be starting right now. She
cocked her head to the side and listened for any kind of sound coming
from the rest of the apartment. Silence.
Good, he was gone. She was glad he was gone. Really, really glad. Now
she could get ready for work in peace and put on a professional demeanor
before she had to face Josh Lyman again. Although honestly, that
probably wouldn't be an issue. He usually avoided her just fine on
his own. Today she would bury herself in work and pretend Josh Lyman
didn't exist. She would never make a fool of herself for him again.
***********************************************
Josh left senior staff with determination in his step. Donna should be
there any minute and he was going to ask her to lunch, someplace away
from the White House, and they were going to talk; about where they had
been and where they were going. They both had some choices to make, both
professionally and personally and they were going to start making them
today.
He stopped in the bull pen to get his messages from Barb and glanced at
the television. Congressman Santos was talking about a health care bill
he was co-sponsoring, with a Republican no less, and Josh found himself
shaking his head sadly. Santos had flat out refused to run for
re-election when Josh had personally asked him to reconsider. Just
listening to Santos depressed him now.
He got pulled away from the set by an unexpected phone call from Senator
Dawson who wanted to know if Josh had made a decision yet. Josh asked
for more time and the Senator reluctantly agreed. Josh couldn't get
off the phone fast enough. Now that he'd made a decision, he was
anxious to find Donna. When he got to her office, Bonnie told him she
was taking a meeting with Toby in the Roosevelt room. He passed by the
clear windows of the Roosevelt room several times but couldn't get
her attention and didn't want to interrupt.
As the meeting was breaking up, Toby leaned over to Donna.
"I think there's a Deputy Chief of Staff looking for you."
"You think?" Donna tried not to let Toby see how Josh's
obvious pacing affected her. "He's just babysitting; making sure
I don't have another nutty in the office that he has to rescue me
from."
"I'm just saying you might want to talk him down off the ledge
before security takes him away."
"It's not my job to take care of Josh Lyman anymore, Toby.
I'll put these notes together and work with Ed and Larry on new
language for you to look at." Donna dumped her notes in the bag
she'd attached to the side of her wheelchair and maneuvered herself
out of the room. She'd barely cleared the door when Josh came by
making another pass past the room. He caught sight of Donna and called
her name. Donna pretended not to hear him and kept rolling along the
corridor.
"Donna, wait up. Damn, you're getting fast in this thing. Here,
let me push."
"No thanks, the exercise is good for me."
"How are you feeling today?"
"Great. Fine. You were right, I was pretty overwrought yesterday.
Talking to Stanley and a good night's sleep made all the difference.
I'm a new woman today." Donna was careful not to meet his eyes
and kept moving toward her office.
"Overwought?" Josh laughed. "What, are you in Pride and
Prejudice now?"
"I should never have talked you into watching that movie with
me." Donna muttered.
"You're the only person on the planet who could've talked me
into watching that movie, Donna."
"Whatever. I'm fine now, so you can go about your business. I
promise you won't have to come to my rescue again today."
"I wasn't thinking so much about rescuing as I was thinking
about eating."
"What?"
"Lunch. I thought we could have lunch; somewhere off campus where we
won't get interrupted every 5 seconds."
"No thanks, Josh." Josh blinked in surprise and pulled her chair
to a stop, standing in front of her.
"Donnatella Moss is turning down free lunch away from the White
House? I no longer believe you're feeling alright today." Josh
teased.
"Please stop, Josh. I can't…I need to get back to work."
Josh didn't move a muscle. He just stared at her. "I can't
get to my office when you're standing in front of me."
"I thought we could talk over lunch. I don't want to leave
things the way they ended last night." He said in a lowered voice.
"I wanted a chance to explain things."
`Ah', thought Donna, `that's why he wants to leave the
building for lunch. If we're out of the office, away from our
colleagues and friends, he can explain all the reasons he can't
return my feelings. Keep everything nice and clean so he can still hit
me up for late night work when he needs me.'
"It's really not necessary Josh. I understood things last
night." When he still didn't move, she sighed and did a 180 in
the chair and reversed direction. The hell with her office, she would
settle for anywhere away from Josh Lyman right now.
"Hold on, Donna. I think you misunderstood me." Josh was
following her around the bull pen now as she continued forward, hurrying
to nowhere.
"I really don't want to do this anymore, Josh." She called
back to him.
"Do what anymore? Race around the West Wing?"
"I won't let myself get sucked into thinking you care about me
and get dumped on my ass for my trouble. I have made a decision; I am
moving on with my life. I am concentrating on my career; and if a nice
guy who doesn't know anything about politics should cross my path I
may consider dating him. But I am no longer dating anyone who works in
politics and I am certainly no longer interested in you, so you can just
relax and go about your business as usual." Josh stopped following
right behind her and stood stock still as she gave her little speech.
When she no longer sensed his presence behind her, her Josh radar was
still exceptional, she half turned to see where he was. She saw him
standing in the middle of the corridor about 10 feet behind her, with a
smirk on his face.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear that, Donna." He
said without moving any closer. "But if a choice has to be made, it
has to be made. I'll go give the President my letter of resignation
right now."
"Excuse me?"
"You said you won't date anyone who works in politics so
I'll have to quit my job. I'm not really sure if I have any
qualifications for a job outside politics, though, so you may have to
support us for awhile." Josh took two steps closer, but still stayed
a distance from her.
"Stop teasing, Josh. It's childish and it's mean." Donna
was angry and her words came out clipped and cold. Several heads turned
their way.
"I've never been more serious in my life. I'm in love with
you Donnatella, and if I have to quit my job to be with you, then
that's a small enough price to pay." Now every head in the place
was watching and listening to the drama unfolding in front of them.
"Josh…"
"I've been in love with you for a long time and just never had
the guts to tell you. All the way to Germany, during every moment of
that very long 10 hour flight, I promised any god that would listen to
me that I would tell you how I felt when I saw you again if they would
just make sure you were alright."
"Why didn't you?" Donna asked softly, afraid if she spoke
too loud this whole conversation might disappear like a mirage before
her very eyes.
"At first you were so sick and out of it. Then when you were halfway
lucid, Ayres was there acting all possessive. I thought I waited too
long and it was too late. Is it too late, Donna?"
Donna shook her head no.
"I've been doing all of the talking here, Donna, and that
isn't normal for you and me." Josh looked to his left and then
his right, noting all the people. "We seem to have attracted a bit
of an audience here too, so if you could say something and, you know,
save me from looking like an idiot here, I'd appreciate it."
Josh took the last few steps to her and knelt in front of the
wheelchair. "Donna?"
"I love you, too." She said simply. Josh's grin broke out so
she could see the dimples she loved so very much. She placed her hands
on his face right next to them. "I think you said something about
lunch?"
"Yeah, I did." He agreed.
"Maybe we could do brunch instead?" Donna suggested.
"I can re-arrange things and clear him until 10." Barb called
out from behind them.
"Did I mention I love your new assistant?" Donna asked him.
"She's pretty great; she brings me coffee you know." He
teased. "But it's my former assistant that I love." He
leaned forward and kissed her right there in the bull pen. It was that
more than anything he said that convinced Donna he was serious. Josh had
very strict rules about behavior in the White House, and right now he
was breaking all of them. He would never do that unless he really loved
her.
Catcalls sounded around them and dollar bills exchanged hands as the
`Josh and Donna' wager was finally settled. Donna dipped her red
face down in embarrassment, but she couldn't wipe the smile from it.
"Let's go to brunch. I've been doing some thinking about
making some changes in my life." He told her as he moved behind her
to push her back down the hallway. "I've got some pretty big
decisions to make and I always make better choices after I've talked
to you about them."
"Alright, but I'm not supporting you, so you had better think
about some alternative skill sets, Joshua."
"Oh I am, Donnatella, I am." He told her smiling.
The end.