“Becca, can I see him for a minute?” Donna asked Josh’s new assistant.
“You have walk in privileges, my dear, go right in.” Donna adored Becca. She
was easy going, had a great sense of humor, and was about the same age as
Josh’s mother.
Donna knocked quickly and went in. Josh was meeting with his deputies and
staffing out assignments. One look at Donna’s somber face and he asked them
to give him the room. Once they’d cleared out, she approached his desk and sat
across from him.
“The President would like you to make a phone call for him.”
“Okay.” Josh agreed, curious why the President didn’t mention it himself instead
of sending Donna to him. “Is there a problem on the hill?”
“No, in the residence.” Donna replied. “The President needs to meet with Stanley
Keyworth, but we’d rather not have that call being made from the Oval office.”
“Donna, is-“ she shook him off.
“He’s not sleeping. Leo has convinced him to talk to Stanley, but he wants you to
set it up…like he’s coming to see you.”
“Since my cat is out of the bag already?”
“I’m afraid so. It won’t send any signals if you set it up and bring him to the White
House.”
“When does he want me to set it up for?”
“As soon as possible.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“The President said to tell you thanks for doing this.”
“I’d appreciate a personal token of thanks more than a verbal one.” Josh smirked.
“Josh…”
“One kiss.”
“We have a rule about not doing that in the office.” Donna reminded him but she
didn’t move as Josh got up and walked toward her.
“Come on Donna; one kiss. It will fulfill years of fantasies. Just one kiss in the
office we worked together in for so long.” Donna felt herself weakening and
leaned toward him. His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her just like he’d
imagined doing since they first moved into the White House. He picked her up
and sat her on his desk as he concentrated on his task. He felt more than heard
her small moan and it affected him more than he imagined a simple kiss would.
Then the door burst open.
“Oh, for God’s sake!” Toby exclaimed. “Now someone is going to have to poke
my eyes out.” Josh and Donna broke their kiss, but made no attempt to move
away from each other; Donna because she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her,
Josh because he felt turning toward Toby might reveal a little more than he was
comfortable revealing.
“Go away.” Josh said wearily and rested his forehead against Donna. Donna,
who could feel the reason he wasn’t moving away from her, smiled at his dilemma.
“I need to talk to you.” Toby argued. “And she doesn’t work her anymore. She
should go back to her desk. And isn’t there a rule about-“
“Okay!” Josh quickly turned away from Donna and sat down behind his desk.
Donna sauntered out of the office greatly amused. “What is so important?”
“I think I broke the President.”
“What?” Josh looked at him like Toby had lost his mind.
“We had a discussion a few nights ago. I wasn’t trying to mess him up or
anything; I just wanted to talk strategy.” Toby was now pacing within the small
confines of Josh’s office. “Now Leo tells me he isn’t sleeping and the President
still isn’t speaking to me.”
“What the hell did you say to him?” Josh demanded.
“It was campaign stuff, Josh. We have a pretty important re-election campaign
approaching, maybe you didn’t realize?”
“The President usually just blows off campaign advice he doesn’t like. Why would
he stop talking to you? And why would campaign strategy keep him from
sleeping?” Josh was perplexed.
“I may have…suggested…that because his father used to hit him…perhaps he
was trying to get people to like him by pulling his punches instead of
demonstrating his intelligence and engagement in the issues.” Josh’s eyebrows
went up.
“So just routine campaign advice…”
“Yeah…” Toby agreed sarcastically. “But now he’s not speaking to me, which
although problematic for me, really doesn’t affect the country all that much. The
real problem is that he’s not sleeping.”
“Yeah, Donna just passed on a request from the President to meet with Stanley
Keyworth.” Josh admitted.
“The guy from the thing?” Toby asked. “The one who helped you?”
“Yeah.”
“Holy shit.” Toby sank into Josh’s visitor chair. “I have one conversation with the
man and he goes to the American Trauma Victims Association?”
“You’re always telling me the power and importance of words.” Josh argued.
“Could you please try to be, you know, supportive at this point? Surely Donna
has taught you how to at least pretend you care about other things by now!”
“Not successfully.” Josh replied, amused by Toby’s meltdown. “Look, Stanley is
really good. I’m sure that after a few months of therapy with the President..”
“AHHHH!” Toby exploded. “I don’t know why I expected…actual help from you.”
“I’m helping. I’m using my personal PTSD diagnosis to get Stanley Keyworth here
under the radar and fix whatever you broke with the President.”
“Thanks.” Toby replied as he walked out all worried and frustrated.
*****************************************************
“Have you seen Donna?” Josh asked Sam.
“Earlier…in the bullpen. She looked SO good.”
“Excuse me?”
“I meant that in a completely ‘envious of my best friend’ sort of way.”
“Uh-huh. Well I can’t find her and I need to find her right away.”
“Calm down, I’m sure she’ll be here soon. What the big deal anyway? It’s the First
Lady’s Birthday party. Everyone’s relaxed and laid back.” Sam observed. “You
look like you’re about to jump of your skin.”
“That’s probably because I am.” Josh muttered. “Where the hell is she?”
“Have a glass of champagne and relax.” Sam advised him as Toby joined them.
“I can’t relax!” Josh practically shouted.
“Because you can’t find Donna?” Sam asked incredulously.
“Because I’m ready to propose, only I’ve got no one to propose to because I can’
t find Donna!”
“No shit?” Sam asked smiling.
“No shit.” Josh pulled out the ring box and flipped it to him. “I thought I would take
her out to the balcony with the music and all the decorations and it would
be…special.”
“You know what you’re going to say to her? Words are very important and
powerful, you know.” Toby chided.
“I planned something out; wrote a few things down so I wouldn’t forget.” Josh
defended himself. Toby broke into a wide grin and then started laughing
uproariously.
“What?” Josh’s nerves increased tenfold.
“Nothing.” Toby continued to laugh. “I’m sure whatever you wrote will be fine.”
“Toby!” Josh complained, “I’m about to ask a woman to marry me. You could
pretend what I wrote is great.”
“Payback’s a bitch isn’t it?” he asked as he moved toward C.J. and Leo. Josh
sent a panicked look at Sam.
“You want me to take a look at it?” Sam offered.
“Right now, I’d like you to actually do it.” Josh exclaimed as he handed Sam the
note card he had written out.
“I can’t do it.” Sam replied as he put an arm around Josh’s shoulder and led him
off to the side of the room while he read the card.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because Donna isn’t in love with me, she’s in love with you.” Sam reminded him.
That sentence seemed to calm Josh considerably. Until the next sentence came
out of Sam’s mouth. “Yeah, this is really awful. Mind if I take a pass at it?”
“Knock yourself out.” Josh responded. “I can’t find my potential fiancé anyway.”
Josh continued his search as Sam pulled out a pen and began making changes.
Josh made his way around the room twice, and no one had seen or heard from
Donna. It was on his second pass that Amy Gardner attached herself to his arm.
“Hey, J. All alone this evening? Where’s your girl Friday?”
“Donna is running a little late. She has a lot of responsibilities as personal
assistant to the President.” Josh pointed out.
“And they seem to have left you here alone…even though the President and the
First Lady arrived over an hour ago.” She said pointedly.
“Amy, I think we’ve moved past subtlety.” Josh was on edge enough to get blunt.
“We need to be able to work together to get our mutual goals accomplished and
you’re a smart, attractive woman, but I’m not interested in a personal
relationship, nor will I be interested in the future. Are we clear?”
“Crystal, J.” Amy replied snottily and turned away from him. He grabbed her arm
and pulled her back.
“And don’t call me “J” anymore. I hate it.” He added before leaving to find the
woman he was interested in personally.
It was nearly another hour later that he found her playing solitaire at his desk.
“Donna, what the hell are you doing?” he didn’t know whether to be relieved that
he found her or angry that she was still here playing a card game.
“Playing solitaire. I won last time and I only had to cheat twice.”
“I don’t think you can technically win, if you cheated, but that’s not what I was
asking.”
“There’s a problem with my clearance and Secret Service won’t let me in to the
party.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re the personal assistant to the President. What could
possibly be the issue?”
“I don’t know but when men with weapons who are trained to kill, tell me to stay
put, I stay put. It’s a self-defense mechanism, I guess.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Without looking up from her cards, Donna picks up Josh’s cell phone from where
he had left it on his desk and tossed it to him. “You might want to check your
messages.”
“Shit. Sorry. I guess I forgot it. Come back with me to the party, they’ll be serving
cake soon.”
“Not until the secret service clears up whatever they need to clear up.”
“But you need to come- Okay, I’m going to get into this and get you into the
party. Stay right there. Don’t leave.” He commanded and shaking his head, went
to find Ron Butterfield to discover why the Secret Service was messing with his
proposal plans.
*****************************************
“But that’s ridiculous!” Josh protested.
“It’s routine. When the American/Canadian border was established, it changed
Ms. Moss’s citizenship. Under standard operating procedures, we have to re-
certify her credentials and until we do, she can not go near the President.” Ron
explained. “I know it sounds a little strange…”
“A little?!” Josh argued.
“But there are reasons we do things the way we do. I’m afraid we can’t make an
exception, even for you.” Ron apologized.
“Damn it.” Josh swore softly. “I had this whole ‘woo’ thing going on with candles
and music.”
“I’m sorry?” Ron was perplexed by the seeming change of subject.
“For Donna! I was going to propose out on the balcony with special music and
Sam’s fixing my speech.” Josh was on full rant mode now, so Ron decided to let
him vent.
“That must be frustrating.” He commiserated.
“You think?” Josh retorted.
“Why don’t you do it in your office instead?” he suggested. “Propose to her
there. That could be sentimental and special couldn’t it?”
“She’s currently playing solitaire on my office desk. Maybe I could set the ring
next to the red 10; that would be nice.” There was an uncomfortable silence for a
minute.
“Technically, I should update Ms. Moss on what’s happening with her credentials.
I could take her to Leo’s office for a few minutes to do that and you could ‘set the
stage’ so to speak.”
Josh stopped mid-pace and looked at Ron like he was going to kiss him.
“Brilliant! You are my hero.” Josh got on his cell and put his plan into action. C.J.
would get her CD player from her office and find an appropriate CD to play. Sam
would bring down one of the tabletop bouquets and some candles from the party.
Ron would distract Donna for a few minutes and then bring her back to Josh’s
office where he could finally get this over with!
*****************************************
Donna reluctantly followed Ron Butterfield back to Josh’s office. She really had
hoped that Josh could fix things so they could go to the party together. Attending
formal functions as significant others instead of as boss/assistant was still
relatively new for them and she was very disappointed. He hadn’t even said
anything about her new dress when he had been down earlier. Well, to be fair
she had been sitting behind his desk, so he didn’t even really see it.
When they got to Josh’s closed door, Ron apologized again.
“I’m very sorry to have ruined your evening, Ms. Moss. Mr. Lyman said he’ll be
right down to escort you home.”
“I understand.” Donna answered mechanically. She spotted C.J. down the hall
and called to her.
“Why aren’t you at the party?”
“There was a press question that I had to deal with. Have fun!”
“Have fun? You know I’ve been barred from the party, right?”
“Oh! Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. It’s really not that great. There’s lots of boring
political people and Lord John Marbury getting drunk.” C.J. waved away the
whole thing.
“God knows I’ve seen that before.” Donna muttered. She opened the door to
Josh’s office and found it quite different than when she had left it just 10 minutes
ago. Flowers were on the desk and candles were on the shelves. The lights were
off so it was just candle glow illuminating the room. Soft music played on what
she recognized as C.J.’s CD player in the corner and in the middle of it all was
the love of her life…Josh Lyman.
“Dance with me?” he asked quietly.
“I’d love to.” She answered honestly.
“God, Donna, you look incredible.” He told her as he took her into his arms for
their dance.
“Thanks. I got this dress especially for tonight.”
“The dress is lovely, but I meant you.” Josh whispered in her ear. “I know you’re
disappointed to miss the party, but I’m glad I don’t have to share you with anyone
tonight.”
Donna pulled back from where her chin had rested on his shoulder. “I think that’s
the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.” Josh smiled thinking he hoped
that wouldn’t be true for long.
When the first song ended he left her arms to pour them both a glass of
champagne.
“To new beginnings.” He proposed as he raised his glass in a toast. He thought
Sam’s words were a little corny, but Donna obviously liked them quite a bit.
They drank their champagne and smiled together.
“You know, for a night that started out pretty awful, this is turning out to be one of
the best nights of my life.” She said as she leaned in to kiss him. “Thanks for
bringing the party to me.”
“I love you, Donna. I would do anything to make you happy.”
“I know. I love you too.” She admitted and set down her glass so she could thank
him more enthusiastically. He seemed to be all in favor of that idea, and joined
her in her endeavor, so she was surprised when he disentangled himself from
her a few minutes later.
“Hold on.” Josh said reaching into his pocket for the note card Sam had made
the changes on…it wasn’t there. Where the hell was the damn note card? No,
no, no. This could NOT be happening. He had just fixed everything. The whole
deal was going perfectly. Now he was going to fumble on the 1 yard line! He
searched all his pockets fruitlessly as Donna looked on in puzzlement.
“Josh?”
“Wait. Wait just a second. It has to be here someplace.” As he emptied his
pockets, looking for his speech, he dropped the ring box on his desk and Donna
gasped in surprise as she finally understood what this was all leading up to.
“Joshua?” She moved closer to him as he continued his search.
“Just a second, Donna, it has to be here. Sam wrote it all out for me so I wouldn’t
blow it like Toby said I would.” Only Josh could interrupt a marriage proposal to
complain about Toby.
“Josh, you don’t need that. Josh, look at me.” She took his hands in hers to stop
them from continuing their search for the elusive card. “I don’t want any words
from Sam; as mush as I love him, I’m not IN love with him.”
“That’s what he said.” Josh told her. “Right before he told me my speech was
awful.”
“It couldn’t be. There’s absolutely no way it could be.” Donna kept her gaze on
his until he saw the truth there.
“I love you, Donna, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have children
with you and grow old with you.” He paused to kiss her as tears made an
appearance. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“Yes, of course I will.” Donna answered and Josh slipped the ring he had chosen
for her on her finger, and she said yes with her actions as well as her words.
Josh separated from her long enough to lock all his doors, but no longer. So, he
was a little vexed when there was a knock on the door a couple minutes later.
“Go away!” he shouted over Donna’s shoulder and she winced at the volume in
her ear. “Sorry, where were we?”
She was about to remind him, when the knock sounded again.
“Josh!” came the urgent whisper of Sam Seaborn. “You forgot the thing!”
“Uh…that’s okay, Sam. I really don’t need it.” Josh temporized.
“No offense, buddy, but you really do. I’ll just slip it under the door.”
“She already said ‘yes’ Sam.” Josh told him laughingly.
“She did?!” Sam sounded shocked.
Now Donna laughed. “Yes, I did.”
“Well, that’s just great then!” Said Sam through the closed and locked door.
“Congratulations to you both. We should all have some champagne together to
celebrate.”
“Uh…Sam?” Josh called to him.
“Yeah?”
“We’re kind of celebrating on our own right now. Maybe we can do a group thing
another time?” Josh suggested as Donna giggled.
“Oh…OH!” Sam finally got it and turned three shades of red although there was
no one there to see it. “Right. You just…carry on then and we’ll do it another
time…Celebrate! I meant celebrate another time.” Sam began backing away from
the doorway.
“Hey, Sam?” Josh called.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for all the help.” Josh called and Sam could hear the smile in his friend’s
voice.
“Yeah, thanks so much!” Donna chorused. Sam went back to the party to share
the happy news.
**********************************************************
Donna was trying to get her dress back on, which was a more difficult proposition
than it sounded like since Josh insisted on ‘helping’. It was amazing how often the
zipper got ‘stuck’ and he had to use his lips to fix it. Since Donna didn’t mind the
‘help’ and they were in no particular hurry, she just enjoyed the moment. At some
point, though, when they were both semi-presentable, they decided to move their
celebration to their home. Donna knew that Josh drove them there, but she could
have sworn she floated there.
In the morning, they made a couple phone calls that made their families
extremely happy, and then cuddled together in bed. The talked a little about the
details their families had wanted; the when, and where, and how of the wedding,
but for the most part, they simply enjoyed each other and the quiet of their home.
Josh didn’t even once reach for the remote control to see what was being
reported on CNN.
By mid-morning, Ron Butterfield called to let them know that Donna was an
American citizen again, and her clearance had been re-certified. Josh passed on
the news once he had hung up and Donna laughed.
“It’s good to be an American again.” She noted. “Although, all things considered,
I’m glad things turned out the way they did.”
“I did good?” Josh asked fishing for a compliment.
“You did awesome!” Donna contradicted him. “It was a perfectly wonderful night.”
“Yeah?”
“It was so wonderful that I’m going to document every moment of it in my diary.”
She smirked.
“Donna….”
The End.