Title: What We Do
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimers: Wells and Sorkin….blah blah blah
Spoilers: Anything in season 5 is fair game.
Summary: Amy visits the White House and that means war.
Feedback: LOVE IT – jengwilson9@cs.com
Author's Notes: I would love to see this scene actually take
place this coming season


I've been so busy today that I didn't see her approach my
desk until it was too late. "Donna, hello."

When I looked up, my face must have shown my surprise. I mean, I
haven't seen her, or even heard her name, since last October. She
left the First Lady's office, and then there was the whole
Carrick mess, then the shutdown, and then…Gaza. This was the last
thing I expected, or hoped for, on a typical Wednesday. Of course,
the look on my face betrays my emotions. "Amy. How are you?"

Amy looks me over and gives a plastic smile. "Donna, I was so
sorry to hear about your accident. I see you're still not up to
par," she says triumphantly, glancing at the walker in the corner
of my cubicle.

"Actually, I'm doing much better, thanks for asking.
That's just here for the occasional bad day," I have to grit
my teeth to smile back. I hate that I still have to use that walker,
and probably will for a few more months. I hate the fact that Josh
and I have all but stopped our walk and talks. I hate that I have
three scars on my right leg where bone has torn through skin. But
mostly, I hate that Amy is here, in front of me, on a perfectly good
Wednesday, rubbing it all in.

"You've been back a while then?"

"This is my first week back in the office, but I've been home
from the hospital for six weeks."

"Germany must have been a nightmare. I know Josh was lost without
you at your desk." Oh, Amy. You've made a tactical error. You
want me to think you've spoken with Josh. We both know that's
not true.

"Germany wasn't that bad, not with Josh and my mom both
there." Score one for Moss. The look in her eyes right now is
priceless; suddenly I'm not so upset that she's here. Of
course, I don't mention that Josh was only there for the first
week. Omission is not a lie. This is getting fun. She's trying to
recover. I could save her by saying something else, but I'm just
going to let her suffer.

"Well, you know Josh. He likes to be the hero." That must
have killed her. "There's nothing men like more than a damsel
in distress. It gives them the chance to be brave."

A damsel in distress, I guess. "Brave, Josh? You should have seen
him squirm around the needles. It was a sight to see."

She laughs. Damn it. Score one for Gardner. "So, he was pretty
much useless, huh?"

With my best nonchalant voice, I say, "He didn't have to do
anything to be helpful. He hates hospitals, but he was there; that
alone was helpful. He takes care of me; I take care of him.
That's what we do." Score one for Moss. She wants to throw my
walker across the room, I can tell.

"So, your first week back in the office. Are you catching up
ok?" Weak move, Gardner. My work abilities can never be called
into question. You know better than that.

"Just fine, thanks. Actually, I've been working from home for
a few weeks. Josh isn't very good with temps." In other
words, Josh can't really live without me.

"He made you work while you were recovering? I bet the messenger
service was going crazy bringing things to you."

"No, Josh brought me work when he finished in the office each
night, but I think he just did it so he'd have an excuse to check
up on me. He might like being a hero, but he doesn't want anyone
to know it." By the look on her face, I'd say I just scored
again.

"Hey Donna, I need that memo…Amy. What are you doing
here?" Finally, where have you been? I've been stuck out here
with your witch of an ex for at least three minutes. It's felt
like an eternity.

"Hey J. How are you?" Man I hate that. Why can't she call
him Josh? Is it too hard to remember?

"Busy." Hi honey, I've missed you for the last 10 months.

I'll give her this. She doesn't even flinch at his tone or
dismissal of her. "I need a few minutes."

"No. I have a meeting to go to on the Hill. Speaking of which,
Donna, I need the memo."

"Here you go. By the way, his aide called. He needs to postpone
for ten minutes. He's stuck in traffic and will be ten minutes
late getting back to his office."

"Good, then you can meet with me for ten minutes," says Amy,
as though she's won.

"Donna, do I have anything I need to do before I go?"
He's pleading with me. I can see it in his eyes. I could come up
with something, but she'd just come back. Let's get it done.

"No. You can meet with Amy." His eyes are bugging out of his
head.

"Fine. You get five minutes. Wait in my office." She walks to
his office, purposely brushing against him on her way. I know the
move; I've used it on numerous occasions, although never with
Josh. He leans back to get out of her way. Apparently, he knows the
move as well.

His back is to her, but I can see her standing in the doorway,
watching us. I look at Josh. "Do you need anything else?"

He leans in close and whispers. "Why didn't you save me?"

I lean in a little closer, just because I can see steam coming from
her ears, and whisper back. "It's only five minutes. If you
don't finish it now, she'll just come back when you have more
time."

He sighs and turns around. Amy is still standing in his office door
watching us. He keeps walking but turns his head to me. "Good
point. Come and get me in five minutes. Not a second longer."
Then he walks past her, purposely avoiding brushing against her, and
goes into his office.

**********

Ok, let's think this through. When the five minutes is up, and I
only plan on giving it about four, I have to get Josh out of the
meeting from hell. These are my options:

Option A: I should call Josh on his intercom and tell him it's
time to go. We've been working with the intercom system for the
last three days. He hasn't learned to use it, but he has learned
to answer it. The purpose, of course is to keep me off my feet as
much as possible. The problem with this option is Amy. She knows
that we aren't intercom people. If I intercom him, she'll
know why.

Option B: I could use my walker to go in and tell him. This shows
that I'm walking; I'm improving. It also shows that I'm
still weak and that I need the walker more than I let on earlier.

Option C: I could use the cane that's under my desk. I'm
really only supposed to use it to get to the walker, but Josh's
office isn't that far away. I could make it there and back. This
shows that I'm really getting better. I could possibly black out
from the pain when I finally get back here, but I could live with
that. Of course, Josh might yell at me in front of her for pushing
myself too hard, but I could play that off as Josh being over
protective, which he is.

Option D: I could try to walk to the office with no cane and no
walker. I'd probably fall half way there and would then have to
call for Josh to come out and help me up, whereas Amy would think I
was absolutely pathetic, and quite frankly, she'd be right.

I think we'll go with Option C. I like it. It says, `yes, I
was injured in a major accident, but I'm getting better, and
I'm strong willed, so leave me the hell alone, or I just might
beat you over the head with my cane.' Option C, good choice.

**********

Josh is looking down at the memo for his meeting with Hamilton when
I hobble in on my cane. He's obviously not paying much attention
to Amy, who's rambling on about incentives for companies with
daycare centers on campus.

"Josh, it's been five minutes. You need to get going."
Amy looks at her watch. I think she's on to me. I look her right
in the eye and smile. When did this become war?

He mumbles what I think is `thank God' under his breath and
then without looking up, says, "Listen Amy, I told you when you
came in here, I agree with your position. But I've never cut
corners for you and I'm not starting now. If you want to get
something done, go through the proper channels."

After shoving the file in his book bag, he stands up to leave and
that's when he sees me. "Donna, what the hell are you
doing?" He looks like he's about to jump over his desk to
save me from falling. It's kind of nice.

Ok, don't panic. I knew this could happen. I give him pleading
eyes, begging him to understand, and then I glance at Amy, who's
looking at me like I'm about to be busted for something.
"Nothing, just telling you it's time to go," I say with
my most innocent voice.

He looks at me, glances at Amy, then looks back at me. Work with me
Josh. Hesitantly, he says, "Ok. Stay right there, I need to talk
to you about something before I go."

"You're going to be late." Please don't yell at me
after she leaves.

"I still have five minute, remember? Amy, you can see yourself
out." Score one for Lyman. I didn't even know he was playing.

She tries to smile, but she doesn't really do a good job of
it. "Sure, no problem. I'll see you soon." She walks out
of the office and turns to me. "I'm glad you're feeling
better."

Josh follows her to the door and waits till she's out of sight
before turning back to me. "What the hell are you doing without
your walker?"

"Nothing. I just…I felt strong enough. It's only fifteen
feet, Josh." I'm trying to sound like its no big deal, but the
truth is, it is a big deal. It hurts really badly, and I knew it
would, but it was worth it.

"You don't have to act stronger than you are. You were in an
explosion Donna," he says as he walks into my cubicle and brings
me my walker.

"I know. I just…she acts so smug. She…"

"What?"

I sigh. "She called me a damsel in distress." He takes the
cane and I prop myself up on my walker.

"Did she call herself the wicked witch of the east?"

I can't help but laugh a little, picturing Amy on a broom with a
black cape and pointy hat. "No."

"Well, then. She obviously has no idea what she's talking
about. Why don't you go rest in CJ's office while I'm on
the Hill? When I get back, we'll finish up, order Chinese and
pick it up on the way to your place."

"I don't need to rest, Josh. I'm fine." I start
walking with Josh behind me carrying the cane.

"What if I said I need you to rest?"

"Josh…"

"Donna, I'll feel better if you let me take care of you. So,
in turn, you'll be taking care of me."

I stop and look up at him and he puts his hand on top of mine on the
walker. He takes care of me and I take care of him. I smile. "And
that's what we do."

He smiles back at me, showing me his dimples. "That's what
we'll always do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh left me in CJ's office with the research for the arts in
education bill, my blue note cards, and a bottle of water. He also
moved my walker to the other side of the room so I couldn't get
up and "get into trouble" as he put it. Hopefully the water
doesn't make me have to use the restroom, because I'm
basically trapped on this couch.

He left for his meeting on the Hill with strict instructions that I
be able to brief him when he returns so we can, and let me quote him
again, "get the hell out of here at a decent hour for once in our
lives." I chose not to mention that he wasn't leaving for
said meeting until 6:30. I didn't want to burst his bubble.

"Hey Donna," CJ said as she walked in and saw that Josh had
forced me to take over her office.

"Sorry CJ, I can't seem to stop him." This has happened
for at least an hour all three days that I've been back to work.

"That's ok, what happened this time?" CJ's been
extremely nice to me since I made it back to the states. We both
know why; we both choose not to mention it. And let me just say the
conversation was not 100% her fault. I could have and should have
handled it differently. I could have told her it was none of her
business, I could have told her that I'd rather wait for the
right guy than sleep with the wrong one, I could have said, `yes,
I'm madly in love with my workaholic boss, what should I do?'
I could have chosen not to attack her relationship with that guy she
was seeing. Instead, I chose to let it sit there for an hour and a
half while the two of us sat in silence. What was that guy's name
anyway?

"He freaked out because I used my cane to go to his office
instead of my walker. What're you working on?"

She looks up from her computer screen. "Nothing. I'm playing
solitaire. I've been on the same game for three days. I can't
give it up. It's a disorder I have."

"I've never known you to have a disorder like that."

"It's new. I gave up an old disorder. This one's
replacing it."

"I see." I've missed these conversations with CJ, where
we just hang out. The two of us sit there and talk about nothing at
all for a few more minutes until she gives up her game for the night
and leans back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling.

"So, why'd you use the cane instead of the walker?"

I think about the answer I want to give. I don't, let me
reiterate that, don't want to discuss any personal feelings I may
or may not have about Josh. Ok, fine, have. Still, CJ hates Amy as
much as I do. We've discussed several times our opinion that
Amy's role in the sisterhood is as saboteur. Maybe she'll
understand.
"Amy was here."

"Gardner?"

"Yes."

"Didn't she get permanently banned from the building?"

"I wish."

"There's got to be someone we can talk to about that."
She actually takes out her planner and makes a note. "What'd
she want?"

"She wanted me to think that she and Josh have been seeing each
other or at least talking again."

This got CJ's attention. She popped back up in her chair and
looked at me. "You don't thing she wants to…not
again?"

"I don't know. CJ…" I pause. CJ and I can't get
personal about Josh.

"What?"

Can I say this to her? I do need a second opinion. "Can I say
something? Something you might find appalling?"

"You've already mentioned Amy, how much more appalling can it
get?"

I have to laugh; sometimes I forget I'm not the only one whose
life was hell while Josh dated Amy. "Good point. Here goes. The
only thing I can figure is…CJ, he must be absolutely incredible in
bed. I can find no other explanation for it."

She scrunches up her face, as if disgusted. "That is
appalling." She spends a full minute contemplating what I've
said, then turns back to me. "Appalling, but correct. I think
you're right. There's no other explanation." We sit in
silence for a minute. "Hmm…Josh Lyman, good in the sack,
who'd of
thought?"

Me, but I'm not going to say that out loud. "It seems at odd
with the universe, I know." She and I both know she didn't buy
that, but we have to keep up pretenses.

"So, Amy was here, flaunting her non-existent relationship with
Josh, and you didn't want to look weak in front of her.
Correct?"

"She called me a damsel in distress, CJ. I couldn't let that
go unanswered."

"You were wise my friend. She's like a tiger. She smells
fear; she seeks out the weak. You had to defend yourself and your
territory; you had no choice. What else did you do?"

"I made a point of mentioning that Josh was in Germany, but
didn't mention that it was only one of three weeks."

"Omission is not a lie. The point is that he dropped everything
and went." See, sometimes she and I are so alike that it's
scary.

"That was my reasoning. I also told her that Josh brought me work
at home every night once I got back so he could check up on me."

"That's not a lie at all, that is why he brought you
work." Ok, why isn't CJ giving me the `you and Josh
can't date' lecture? Here we are, discussing the very thing
we never discuss, and she's telling me I was right to fight for my
territory. We'll just overlook the fact that Josh isn't
technically
my territory to fight for.

"I know, but I made a point of making sure she knew. Then, they
had a short meeting and I had to go in and get him when it was time
to leave. I used my cane instead of my walker."

"So you got exiled to my office while he's on the Hill?"

"Yes."

"He's just worried."

"I know."

She looks at me for a long moment. We're talking a good thirty
seconds. Then she gets up and closes her door. "I mean it Donna.
He went into some sort of shock when I told him about the explosion.
He couldn't even speak. He didn't ask anything about the
explosion at all, he just whispered your name, like a question. When
Andi called, all he cared about was whether you were ok, then he
freaked out while we were waiting to meet with the President."

"He worries about me; I worry about him. That's what we do.
It's no big deal." It's actually a very big deal, and we
both know it.

"Donna…" She's waiting for me to reply, but I don't
want her to bring up what she's about to bring up, so I just look
down at my research.

"Donna…it occurs to me that when we were locked in here in
May, I might have…"

"CJ…"

"It occurs to me that it might have sounded like I thought any
feelings…of a…that I thought those feelings were
one-sided."

"CJ, we don't need to talk about this. We shouldn't talk
about this."

"I just want you to know that I didn't think they were
one-sided then, and I certainly don't think that now."

"Ok."

"I just wanted you to know that."

"Ok."

"Of course, it's none of my damn business anyway."

I look up at her and smile. "Well, you're a woman. We stick
our noses into other people's business; it's what separates us
from men. I did that too, you know."

"I know. You were right."

"You weren't."

"I wasn't? How can that be?" She laughs. I start
laughing too.

"The one night stand thing."

"Bad idea?"

"Have you ever had good sex that was bad?"

"Bad good sex?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"When the act is good, but it's bad because you want it to be
with someone else, and you feel like your cheating the whole time,
even though your not…"

"Bad good sex?"

"Yes, because you are cheating. Not on him, but on yourself."

"So what do you do?"

"Well, if the guy's hot and has a British accent, and
you're in another country where sex doesn't count as real
sex, so you go ahead and suffer through the orgasm. Then, you wait
till he goes to sleep, have a stiff drink and e-mail your boss."

"I see."

"That, my friend is bad good sex."

"Well, like you said, it's a foreign country, it can't
come back to bite you in the end."

"Unless, of course, the bad good sex watches you blow up and
flies to Germany to make sure you're ok."

"No?" She looks as shocked as I felt when Collin walked in
that door.

"Oh, yes."

"And so…"

"They met."

"Wow."

"Yes."

"Well, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

"I thought for sure the two of you would be engaged by the time
you got back here."

I try to hide my shock at that statement. "That wouldn't be
very convenient for the administration now, would it?"

"The administration would deal."

"Really?"

"Just put that in the back of your mind for anything that might
come up in the future."

"Uh, ok."

"So you know what that means, don't you?"

"What what means?"

"There's no other explanation for a flight to Germany. You
must be absolutely incredible in bed."

"Well, that's a given."

"And if he's incredible and you're incredible…"

"Yes, I know."

Well, that meeting was productive. Senator Hamilton saw the truth in
my message. We discussed the nuances of the bill; I pointed out the
positives, which greatly out weigh the negatives, and so forth.
Basically, I got my way, so I'm pretty happy.

Now, I must get back to the White House before Donna starts racing
people through the west wing. She came hopping into my office earlier
as if she didn't nearly DIE in an explosion a mere ten weeks ago,
as if her leg doesn't have a METAL ROD going through it. And to go
off topic for just a second, I feel the need to mention that she sets
off the metal detector now when we come into the building. It's
pretty entertaining. Security was of course informed of her
situation, but they still have to wand her down. I, being the
sensitive man that I am, have refrained as much as possible from
making fun of her for this. Not completely, but as much as possible.

So, anyway, I was understandably alarmed when I saw her standing,
with only her cane, in the doorway to my office, which is at least
what, a half mile from her desk? The cane is to be used the two steps
it takes her to get to the walker and no more. I should know;
I've spoken with the doctors. Repeatedly.

Immediately, I felt the need to calmly discuss with Donna what her
doctors have been telling her about pushing herself. That's why I
started out by saying, "What the hell are you doing?" in that
voice of mine that shows I mean business. You know; I yelled. But
then, I saw her face, and I don't know how I knew, but I knew she
didn't want to have the conversation in front of Amy. Speaking of
Amy, what the hell is she doing in the Capitol at 7:55 on a Wednesday
night?

"Hello again J. How was your meeting?" Why can't she just
call me Josh? It's not hard to remember.

"What are you doing here?" She didn't follow me here, did
she? I can see the headlines now. Deputy Chief of Staff Stalked By
Psychotic Ex-Girlfriend.

"John asked me to stop by. He's hoping we can start seeing
each other again."

Oh, yes. John Tandy. The one she dumped so she could make my life
hell for a year. Why would he date her again, once he got rid of her?
Oh, never mind. "Well, good luck with that." I say as I
practically run down the hall to get away from her.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Away from you.

"Back to the office." I keep walking. Why is she following me?

"In a hurry?" Obviously.

"Yes. Donna's waiting on me."

"That's her job, J." I hate that. I absolutely hate the
way she diminishes Donna. I stop and look at her.

"Actually, her job is to assist me, among other things, but you
already know that." You bitch.

"Of course. Donna's amazing at her job," she says
sarcastically. "I've heard it all before. I'm just
saying, she's not going anywhere without you."

"No she's not, I'm her ride," I say dismissively and
start walking again.

"Her ride?"

Can't you see I'm trying to get away from you? "Yes, her
ride. You might not have noticed, but she's injured. She can't
drive."

"So you have to play chauffer?"

"No, I volunteered."

"And how long do you have to be at her beck and call?"

"As long as she needs me to be." Forever, I hope. Sometimes I
picture Donna and me, 80 years old, bickering over whose turn it is
to get the paper off the front step, bantering about the lack of
social security, me bringing her coffee, her calling for the take-
out. I see the two of us forever, doing what it is we do; it's
comforting. Ok, ok. I'm 80; she's 68.

"She's no idiot, J." Hmm, that's the biggest
compliment Amy's ever given Donna. "She's going to play
the almost died card as long as she gets away with it. If you let her,
she'll always find a reason to need you."

"Well, I'll always need her, so I guess we'll be even.
I've got to go. It was ni…bye."

"Wait, my car's at the White House. I'll share a cab with
you."

What the hell? I stop, turn around and look directly in her eyes so
she's sure to get my message. "No."

"No?"

"You heard me." I turn and start walking again. There's a
cab at the bottom of the steps, so I jump in before I have to hear
her bitch anymore and head off to the White House.

**********

CJ and I are still discussing sex when we hear Josh knock on the door
at 8:25. She looks at me and laughs when he walks in, no doubt trying
to, or maybe trying not to, picture him in bed. I, on the other hand,
am quite used to picturing Josh in bed, so I come across un-phased.

"What's so funny?" he asks me as he looks at her.

"We were just discussing what you must be like in bed." This
only makes CJ laugh harder. Josh looks, I don't know, a cross
between surprised, mortified, and intrigued.

"Really?"

I roll my eyes, you know, to keep up appearances. "No Josh, not
really."

"Oh." Now the poor guy looks disappointed. "Because
I'm quite something." CJ laughs harder.

Again, I have to keep up appearances, so I say sarcastically,
"I'm sure you are. How was your meeting?"

"Great! Well…good anyway." Something happened.

"What happened?"

"Nothing important. How about you? How are the arts in
education?" CJ has somehow managed to calm down and is watching
us now.

"Extremely under-funded."

"Are you ready to brief me?"

I look over at CJ and raise my eyebrows. She laughs again. "Yes,
are we ready to go?"

"I checked in with Leo and got my messages from what's her
name. I'm ready if you are." What's her name is Louise.
She was Josh's temp while I was gone; now she's an added
addition to the operations staff. She's kind of my assistant.
I'm enjoying it.

"Ready. I'll brief you over pizza."

"Ok, let me grab our things. I'll be right back for you,"
he calls over his shoulder as he walks out of CJ's office and
heads down the hall.

As soon as he's gone, CJ looks at me. "I can't believe
you told him what we were talking about!"

I smile. "I thought you'd like that. I do so enjoy making him
wonder. You didn't play it very cool though."

"I couldn't speak. I was afraid I'd laugh again." CJ
and I are on the same page again; the awkwardness is gone. It's
fun being trapped in here with her.

"You did laugh again."

"I know. Imagine how bad it would have been if I'd spoken.
How do you play it so cool?"

"Years of practice."

She nods. "Right."

Josh comes for me a few minutes later. Security let him pull his car
up to the entrance so I don't have to walk so far, but it still
takes a good 5-7 minutes to get me out of the building. Josh carries
all of our things, complaining the whole time that real men don't
carry purses.

On the way to my place I decide to ask again about the
meeting. "Josh, what went wrong in the meeting?"

He looks over at me, confused. "Nothing. The meeting went great.
He was no match for me intellectually, of course. After I explained
the bill in great detail…"

"He got sick of you and finally gave in so you'd leave?"
You know, of course, that I don't mean that stuff. I just have to
keep his ego in check.

"Very funny. You're spending too much time with CJ."

"That's your fault."

"I'm not the one running laps in the west wing."

"Running laps, I guess. You might be exaggerating, just a bit.
Now, what happened in the meeting, Joshua? Back in CJ's office,
you hesitated."

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing. I just ran into Amy on my way out."

"Gardner?"

"The one and only."

"Thank God for that." He laughs. "Why was she there?"
As if I don't know.

"She was meeting with Tandy. Apparently he wants to start seeing
her again." Really?

"Why would someone want to date her twice?" He looks at me
and I stifle a laugh. "Oh, sorry."

"The second time wasn't dating. It was…"

"Sex." I'm still trying not to laugh.

"Yes." See, to a man, that's better. `I wouldn't
date that hussy; I'd just sleep with her.' If a woman said
that, she'd be a slut. Of course, Amy…

"So, what'd she want?"

"What didn't she want?"

"Gross! I meant tonight Joshua!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Oh, yuck! Now I'm picturing…crude." I mean really, I
enjoy picturing him in bed, but not with her.

"Ok, ok, I said I was sorry." He does look sorry, but I'm
not quite ready to let him off the hook.

"You should be. That's just… yuck! I could discuss sex
with Jack. Would you enjoy that?"

"No. No. No. I prefer to think you didn't have sex with
him."

"We dated for two months."

"Still."

"Fine. I won't discuss him; you won't discuss her.
Deal?"

"Deal."

"So, what'd she want? Tonight?"

"I don't know. Just to bug me I guess."

"She wanted you to tell her not to date Tandy."

"She did?"

"Yes. She wanted you to tell her to come back to you instead."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm a woman."

"Well, Tandy can have her."

"If he really wants her."

"If he…you think she was lying?"

I try to sound shocked. "Amy? Never."

"Cute."

"Oh, I know."

"So why was she there if she wasn't really meeting with
Tandy?"

"She followed you there."

"She did?"

"Of course she did."

"Why?"

"To feel out the situation. To see if you were harboring any
feelings for her."

"I think I nipped it."

"Nipped it?"

"Nipped it. In the bud."

"Nipped it in the bud?"

"It's from Andy Griffith."

"Ok. Whatever."

"In Andy Griffith, Barney tells Andy he has to nip it; nip it in
the bud."

"I said ok."

"I'm just saying."

"Ok, got it. Did she say anything about how well I'm
recovering?"

"What?"

"Amy."

"Oh. I didn't pay any attention to her." Ok, what he
actually said was `she said something alright, but I'm not
about to tell you what it was, or you'll commit murder
tonight.' Who does he think he's talking to? I know him
better than he knows himself.

"I see."

"Don't worry about her."

"Josh. Amy hates me, I'm not going to let anything she says
bother me."

"Then why did you walk in on your cane today instead of your
walker."

"Well…"

"You were saying?"

"Ok, so she bothers me a little. I just…she acts so
tough."

"Tough? She wasn't the only survivor of a car bomb ten weeks
ago."

"I know."

"You don't have anything to prove to her."

"I know. She just thinks she's so superior."

"Amy or no Amy, you have to take care of yourself."

"I know."

We sit quietly for a few minutes, until I have to ask, "So,
what'd she say about me?"

"Donna…" He's whining. I secretly love, but I never tell
him that.

"Damsel in distress?"

"No."

"Come on. Tell me. We'll laugh about it." Please, please,
please tell me what she said.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Fine." He pauses and glances at me while he drives. Then he
puts on his best nonchalant voice. "She said if I let you,
you'd always need me."

"Oh." I don't really know what to say to that, so I just
stare out my window and it gets very quiet in the car.

After a good three minutes, when we're stopped at the next light,
Josh quietly and tentatively says, "I told her that I'll
always need you, so that makes us even."

I slowly turn my head and look at him, and then I smile. I know I
look like a sixteen year old who just got asked to the prom by the
star quarterback, when in fact Josh is nothing like a quarterback and
he hasn't asked me out, but I don't care. Because when he
sees me smile, he smiles back, a big dopey smile, and I'm a
sucker for those dimples.

Of course, after a few precious seconds, the light turns green, his
smile turns to a smirk, and he adds, "She also said it's your
job to wait on me."

"Hand and foot I presume."

"Naturally."

"Yeah, well don't hold your breath."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh and I have a thing. Yes, I know; Josh and I have many, many
things, but the thing I'm talking about right now is the
pout/dimple thing. It's well known, but never discussed, that I
am powerless against his dimples. It's also well known, but never
discussed, that he is powerless against my pout. We've both used
it on occasion to get what we want, and no doubt, we'll both use
it again in the future. You know, now that I think about it, it's
a shame neither of us have ever used it to get the other into bed.

Anyway, there's a point to my bringing up the pout/dimple thing,
and this is it. Before Josh's meeting, he said we'd order in
Chinese tonight and work from my place. After his meeting, I told
him I'd brief him over pizza. Well, we've just arrived at my
apartment, and it won't be long before the topic of dinner comes
up. I want pizza. I'm in the mood for extra-cheese thin crust
pizza. That's the way pizza should be. To me, adding other
toppings just ruins a perfect thing. It's like adding sugar to
strawberries; I don't get it.

So what I'm saying is, if he's got his heart set on Chinese,
the pout might have to come into play tonight. I just want to warn
you in advance. It's underhanded and sneaky, but sometimes you do
what you've got to do.

But…back to the story…it takes an indiscernible amount of
time to get from Josh's car up to my apartment. Actually, it
takes about fifteen minutes. It's quite an ordeal. First, Josh
takes everything, including the walker, upstairs and unlocks the
door. Then he comes back for me and the real humiliation begins. To
get up the 30 steps, he has to hold my right leg in the air out in
front of me while I scoot up each step on my butt, using my arms for
leverage. Now trust me, in the seven weeks I've been home,
we've tried countless ways to get me into my apartment, and this,
as ridiculous as it sounds, is the quickest, easiest and least
painful of all those ways Josh doesn't complain about this
process at all. It's very unlike him; the first few times I
worried that he was sick or something, then I thought he was
learning patience; now I think there's a pretty good chance
he's
looking up my skirt.

"I'll order the Chinese while you're changing." Ok,
here goes.

"That's fine," I say with a small, but not obvious pout.

"Cashew chicken?"

"Hmm…"

"Donna, you always get cashew chicken." He's right. I get
cashew chicken, he gets beef and broccoli, we get an order of crab
Rangoon, and we share it all.

"I know, but I was thinking about something different
tonight."

"Something we both like, I hope."

"Something cheesy."

"Cheese in Chinese food?" Come on Josh; work with me here.

"I don't know. I'm just in the mood for cheese. Gooey
cheese." I step up the pout one level. There are five levels to
my pout. I'm on level two.

**********

She thinks I don't know what's going on here, but I do. I
heard her in CJ's office; she wants pizza. `I don't know.
I'm just in the mood for cheese.' Yeah right. I know what
she's getting at. She wants me to suggest pizza. This is her
reasoning: If I suggest pizza, then I think I've gotten what I
want. That way, the next time we disagree, she can say, `but last
time you wanted pizza and that's what we got.' Like I said, I
know the game. I'm a master politician; hell, I invented the game.
Does she really think I'll fall for her tricks? I am a graduate of
Harvard and Yale; I will not be played like a violin. I know exactly
what I'm doing. This game is my game, and she can't beat me
at it. I
stand before you today, telling you that we will be getting Chinese
tonight. And by Chinese, I mean pizza; cheese, thin crust.

Here's the thing; I've got a weapon. My weapon: dimples. She
can't resist them. She knows it, I know it, she knows I know it.
When I flash the dimples, I've got her. But here's the
problem. She has a weapon too. Her weapon: the pout. I can't
resist it. I know it,she knows it, I know she knows it. When she
pouts, she's got me. So in times like this, the winner is whoever
uses their weapon first. And she's using her weapon. Sure, if I
flashed the dimples, I'd win, she couldn't resist them; but
her pout leaves me dimpleless. Once I see the pout, I want what she
wants; it's that simple. My stomach may want Chinese, but my
heart wants pizza. I've lost.

"Gooey cheese, huh? Maybe we should get pizza tonight. We can get
Chinese tomorrow." See, I don't completely lose; I've
already put my order in for dinner with her tomorrow. I know; I'm
very smooth like that.

"Pizza? Can we get thin crust with extra cheese?" She's
just bumped her pout up to level three. There are four pout levels;
at least four that I've seen. There may be more, but if so,
I'm done for. In the past, a level four pout has led me to things
such as giving her an entire weekend off, taking her to the opera,
helping her move, and being her date for a second cousin's
wedding. I even watched "Beaches" with her once. If
there's a level five pout, and she ever uses it on me, I could
easily sign over my condo and give her my job. By the way, please
don't tell anyone about "Beaches."

Don't get me wrong. The dimples have come in handy through the
years. I've gotten numerous late nights at the office, a few foot
massages, the occasional third beer when we're out with our
friends, and a trip to New York to see the Met's play. Once, when
my mother was in town visiting, I even got Donna to take her out
shopping for the entire day so I could watch football with Sam and
Toby. She uses the pout; I use the dimples. It's what we do.

Now don't get me wrong. We use our weapons, and we use them well,
but I wouldn't call it manipulation, exactly. There's a line
we never cross. I never use my weapon to get her to break a date;
she never used hers to get me to end things with Amy. Neither one of
us has ever used our weapon to get the other to compromise our
beliefs or do something they shouldn't do. This is what separates
my relationship with Donna from my relationship with other women
I've dated. I don't abuse the use of my weapon. Well, that
and the fact that I'm…you know…not actually dating Donna.

"Thin crust, extra cheese it is. I'll order it, you
change." This earned me a smile.

I order the pizza, which is really just a waste. I mean, pizza with
no meat? What's up with that? I'm tempted to demand meat on
half, but she's won this round. It's best to just face it and
move on. I will focus my energy elsewhere, on the after-dinner movie.

See, we've developed an after work routine. It started about two
weeks after she got back from Germany, when her mom went back to
Wisconsin. I'd bring work and dinner over every night. We'd
work for a while and then watch a movie or TV. Yes, she's back at
the office now, but she can't work more than 12 or so hours a
day, so we've stuck with the routine. So, while Donna briefs me
on arts in public education over pizza, I'm planning my attack.
"Jaws" is on the movie channel tonight, and I intend to have
my way.

"Isn't `Jaws' scary?"

"You've never seen `Jaws'?"

"Maybe when I was a kid, I don't remember."

"Well, you're going to love it. It's a classic."

"Josh, `An Affair to Remember' is a classic. `Gone
With the Wind' is a classic. I don't think `Jaws' can
be considered a classic."

"No, it is. Really. Very few horror movies can be considered a
classic, I admit. But `Psycho' and `Jaws' are the
exceptions. Really."

"I don't know." She looks skeptical.

Here I go; I'm pulling out the weapon. I give her a half smirk,
half smile, showing the dimples. "Donna, it's a great movie.
They even have a ride at Universal Studios about it. Would they make
a ride out of a dud?" She smiles at me, I've almost got her.

"What if I get scared?"

I step it up to full smirk; we're talking major dimple
action. "Well, if you get scared, you can sit close to me and
I'll protect you."

**********

Sucker. I love "Jaws." I just want an excuse to cuddle with
Josh. He's all warm and soft, and…cuddly. And he has a great
smell.He smells like aftershave and Irish Spring, suave and manly at
the same time. When he goes out jogging, and you add in just a touch
of sweat… Anyway, I've given Josh a chance to use his dimples,
so he thinks he's won. And I have to admit; ego Josh is very sexy.

Josh cleans up after dinner, which is possibly my favorite part
about being incapacitated, and then we go to my room to watch the
movie. Oh yes, you heard me right. My bedroom. See, I have to keep
my leg elevated as much as possible, and the only way to do that on
the couch is to lay down with my feet in Josh's lap. The problem
is that when I first got home, even the slightest movement from Josh
caused me a lot of pain. So, we moved into the bedroom so I could
prop my leg up with pillows and we'd both still have room to sit.
My leg doesn't hurt as much now, but I don't want to mess with
our routine. You don't believe that, do you? I didn't think
so.

Anyway, we turn off the lights and watch "Jaws" from my bed.
What? You can't watch a scary movie with the lights on; it's
not natural. Leave me alone. As I was saying, we turn off the lights
to watch the movie. The first time we see the shark, I scoot a
little closer to him. By the time the second attack has taken place,
my left hand is on his right leg and his right arm is around my
shoulder. Another half hour and we're lying down curled up
together on the bed with my head on his shoulder. Like I said,
he's all cuddly.

**********

I'm startled awake by thunder. The movie is over and there's
an infomercial on the television. Donna is next to me, asleep. I
should get up and go home, but instead I just look at her. She's
on her left side, facing me, and I'm on my right, facing her. Her
right arm is out in from of her and my left arm is out in front of
me, and they're overlapping each other, but other than that, we
aren't touching at all. The only light is from the TV, and it
kind of dances around her face. I could just lie here and watch her
all night. I know what you're thinking, but it's nothing
sexual.It's just…intimate.

There's a crack of lightening, and Donna opens her eyes. We just
look at each other for a few seconds. "What time is it?"

I roll onto my back so I can look at the clock on her
nightstand. "About 3, we must've fallen asleep."

"I didn't get to see the end." She's got this sleepy
voice that makes her sound very innocent. It's soft and a little
higher than her normal voice. I heard it in Germany a lot; I've
missed it.

"They kill the shark."

She smiles and closes her eyes. "Ok."

"I should get going."

I start to sit up, but Donna puts her hand on my chest to stop
me. "Josh, you have to be back here in three and a half
hours." She scoots closer, nudging her head into the area between
my arm and my body, and leaves her hand on my chest. "Just go to
sleep," she whispers.

I stare down at her for a minute, almost afraid to move. My right
hand slowly closes around her and I lightly stroke her hair. I reach
my left hand over to the nightstand, find the remote and turn off
the TV. Then I cover her hand on my chest with my own, and pull her
a little closer. As I'm drifting back to sleep, I can't help
thinking maybe we should add this to our routine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally! I paged him two and a half minutes ago. I pick up the phone
and say, "I have to have her."

"What?"

"I have to have her," I repeat. I should have probably
started with something like…I don't know, hello, but I just
dropped Donna off at physical therapy and I've got to talk about
this. Now.

"Who?"

"Who? Who do you think, who?"

"Donna?"

"Of course, Donna." Who else?

"How is she?"

"She's amazing," I say like some fourteen year-old in
love.

"No, I mean, how is she? After the accident?"

"Oh, she's doing well. She hates physical therapy, of course,
but that's not why I called."

"You have to have her."

"I have to have her. I…we…we slept together last
night."

"What? This is…wow! Congratulations, I mean…wow!"

"Calm down, Sam. We slept together, we didn't have sex."

"What?"

"We fell asleep watching a movie."

"Oh. Well that's…not nearly as exciting."

"Yes it is, Sam. You have no idea. When I woke up this morning,
holding her, it was the most amazing moment of my life."

"You were holding her?"

"We were holding each other. I can't describe it in words. It
was…everything."

"And now you have to have her."

"Yes. I mean, I've always wanted her, loved her; you know
that. But now it's different. It's like…I don't know
how I ever woke up before. Like I can't imagine ever waking up
again, not without her. It's like I breathed last night for the
first time, and now I feel like I'm suffocating without her. Oh
God, I sound like a buffoon."

He chuckles at me. "No, you sound like a man in love."

"I've been in love for years, why do I just sound like this
now? Am I sick?"

"Do you have a fever?"

"Come on, this is serious."

"I'm sorry, I don't do serious at five o'clock in the
morning. I do confused at five o'clock in the morning."

"I need you to focus; I'm worried."

"About what?"

"I'm worried that when I see her next, I'm going to…I
don't know. Confess my love, drop to one knee, rip her clothes
off and…you know.

"Would that be so bad?"

"Well, we'll be in the White House the next time I see her,
so…yeah. I don't think it's the place for sex."

"I meant the confession part, not the ripping off her clothes
part."

"Right, of course. Still, confess my love at work?"

"Well, it's certainly not ideal, but if it's going to be
one of the three options you listed above, that's the one I'd
go with."

"You're supposed to be helping!"

"You're supposed to be calling after 7am my time. We have a
deal."

"This is an emergency!"

"This is not a 9-1-1 emergency. You 9-1-1'd me."

"It is!"

"No, this is at best a 7-1-1 emergency. We've been through
this before."

"Seven? It's at least an eight."

"8-1-1 is a work or legal emergency. Personal emergencies are
7-1-1."

"I know the rules, Sam."

"Yet, you 9-1-1'd me."

"Yes, because…."

"Yes?"

"Because…"

"You're stalling."

"You're interrupting. Because…I could get fired for
sleeping with my assistant, and CJ could kill me. That's physical
danger; 9-1-1."

"You're pushing the envelope there."

"That's what I do, now help."

**********

It's a glorious day! I get out of physical therapy where I pay a
woman, or rather my worker's compensation insurance pays a woman,
who forces me to do what she calls exercises for my leg that hurt
like hell. Margaret picks me up from the torture office in her car
that has no air-conditioning, just what you want in mid-August,
announcing that she needs to stop at the drugstore for tampons,
where we ran into Cliff Calley. While walking away from him, after
politely but uncomfortably answering questions about the accident,
my walker gets caught on a rubber band of all things and begins
working like most grocery store shopping carts. In the process of
trying to get it unstuck, I run into a display of at least 500
Hershey's candy bars, all of which fall on the floor. The 16 year
old behind the counter feels the need to do a loud speaker price
check on the tampons, which I'm sure is just a way for he and his
pre-adolescent friends to get their kicks. We finally leave there
and pick up lunch on the way back to the office, where I find that
I'd been given poppy seed dressing instead of light Italian for
my salad. Have you ever had poppy seed dressing? It's not
delicious.


But like I said, it's a glorious day! Why, you ask? How could a
person who's had the day described above be in the mood I'm
in? One simple reason really: I woke up in the arms of Joshua Lyman.
The earth could quake, the oceans could dry up, a satellite could
fall from the sky, and it would still be a glorious day; because for
the first time in my life, I woke up in the arms of the man I'm
destined to spend my life with.

Now, I know what you're thinking. We've known each other for
seven years, traveled extensively together, slept in planes, busses,
trains, and automobiles; we've never woken up in each other's
arms? No, we haven't. Occasionally, I've woken up on his
shoulder, or vice-versa, but never before have we slept wrapped up
in each other the way we did last night. Oh, that's not what you
were thinking? You were thinking we had sex, weren't you?
Pervert. I am injured. I am in no shape to have sex. At least not
amazing, mind-blowing, best sex of my life sex. And with Josh,
that's the kind of sex I want. Please don't point out that
Josh and I aren't dating and therefore I have no reason to think
we're going to have sex; you'll just blow my mood.

I'm telling you, waking up in his arms was like coming home. It
was by far the most intimate thing I've done in my life, and we
were both fully clothed. When I opened my eyes this morning, I was
afraid to move. I didn't want to wake him and end the moment, so
I just lay there, memorizing the very feel of it. My head was just
under his chin, in that area between head and chest, my lips
actually grazing his Adam's apple. We were on our sides, chests
touching. I could literally feel him breathing. His left arm was
around my waist, keeping me close, his hand resting on my lower back
where my shirt had ridden up a bit. My right arm was resting on top
was resting on his hip. His right arm came from underneath the one
pillow we were sharing to the back of my head and his fingers were
in my hair. His left leg was out in front of him a little bit, and
my right leg was draped over both of his at the thigh. I can
honestly say that I've never been as close to someone as I was at
that moment. I've never felt that safe or that loved in my life.
The way we fit together was absolutely incredible.

I'm not sure how long I was awake before I felt him stirring.
I'm guessing it was only a matter of minutes, but it could have
been hours and I wouldn't have noticed. I could tell the moment
he was awake, the moment he realized where he was and who was in his
arms, because he stiffened for just a second. But then, he relaxed
again; his fingers that were in my hair started massaging my scalp
and he pulled me even closer with his other arm. That's when I
knew that it wasn't going to be weird or awkward, and I made a
sigh of contentment and nuzzled into his neck a little more.

Neither one of us spoke for several minutes; we just lay there
holding one another. Finally, we knew we had to get up and get ready
for work, so we slowly peeled away from each other. And when we did,
I felt almost lost; like my body had never been apart from his and
it didn't know quite how to handle it.

We got ready for work while discussing the arts in education bill,
as if it were any other morning. It was nice…just the two of
us…doing what we do.

**********

"Hey, how was it?"

"It was good." It was perfect. It was life altering. It was
amazing.

"Any new exercises to work on?"

"No, she tortured me the same way today that she does
everyday," I say with a huge grin. I can't stop smiling. I
just can't.

"Well, you seem to be in a good mood, considering." I'm
not going to say anything about it, but he can't stop smiling
either. That's a good sign.

"I'm in a wonderful mood, actually."

"Really?"

"Yes," I say matter-of-factly.

"I'm in a really good mood too."

"Really?"

"Yes. I…slept well last night."

I'm smiling even bigger now. How can that be? "Well, a good
night's sleep can do wonders for your outlook."

"Yes, it can. So, are we still on for Chinese tonight?"

I should pretend to contemplate this for a few seconds, but instead
I blurt out, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too."

"Maybe we should stop and pick up a movie on our way home." I
tried to act nonchalant, but I don't think it worked.

"That sounds like a great idea." He turns and heads into his
office. "Oh, I talked to Sam earlier."

"Really, what'd he have to say."?

"Oh…all kinds of stuff."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"`Independence Day'," I announce when I see it at Videos
Galore. I'm sure there are plenty of screaming
-jumping-into-the-arms-of-man-you're-with type of scenes in this
movie.

"Haven't you seen it?"

"No, but I hear it's great. I'll love it."

"You'll love Will Smith, you mean." Well, duh.

"And Harry Connick, Jr."

"Harry Connick, Jr.?"

"The voice, the eyes, the hair, the piano; what girl wouldn't
love him?" I mean really, Harry has it all.

Josh takes the movie and looks over the back of it. "So
you're going to be oohing and aahing all night?" He starts to
put it down on the shelf. I have to do something. This is the
perfect cuddle movie. Well, except for maybe "Sleepless In
Seattle" or "An Affair to Remember", but I'll never
get him to watch those. I got "Beaches" once, but I had the
flu and a level four pout going on.

"Not during the alien parts. I'll be scared then."

He looks up at me and raises his eyebrows. It's not a `you
want me bad' eyebrow raise, it's more of a `well, that
could be interesting' eyebrow raise. "You might need someone
to protect you."

I act coy. It's not really my thing, but the situation calls for
it. "I might."

"`Independence Day' it is then." He snatches the box up
and we head for checkout.

**********

As I'm paying, I start analyzing the situation. Are we pathetic
or are we finally admitting that we need help? Because let's face
it; that's what the movie and Chinese food are, help. Their
entire purpose is to give us a reason to lie on Donna's bed
together, so we can fall asleep together. So, why can't I just
tell her how I feel? Well, for one thing, I'm a chicken shit. I
know, I know, the ego. It doesn't make sense. But this is the one
thing in my life that I simply can't be wrong about. For another
thing, Donna and I walk a fine line, and have walked it for a long
time. I don't really know how to cross that line, so if a movie
can help, I'm all for it. As far as this movie goes, I've seen
it; it will make her jump in my arms, and once she's there, I
might not let go.

Sam gave me some advice this morning that I may or may not take. It
went something like this:
1. Tell her damn it. Stop dancing around it.
2. Don't use the word love for at least a week after the
initial discussion. You'll scare the hell out of her.
3. This is going to be a big step for her. Don't try to get
her into bed right away. Go slow. She's injured for
crying out loud.
4. Get her flowers and taker her to dinner. Dinner in a
restaurant, no take-out while working. And it needs to be a
nice restaurant, not at a diner or a bar, and it doesn't
count if you invite CJ and Toby.
5. Yes, she feels the same way you moron. You're the only
one who doesn't know it.

Here are my problems with Sam's advice.
1. I already mentioned this, but it bears repeating. I don't
really know how to go from dancing to discussing. As far as
discussing goes, I'm not so good at that either.
2. I can't help thinking that once I go into discussion
mode, the word love is going to spill out.
3. Don't try to get her into bed? That's all I want to
do now. It's like my body needs to hold her while I
sleep. I know what he's saying, don't try to have sex
with her. That I can do. I think.
4. If I take his advice about the flowers and dinner she might
have me committed.
5. I've already mentioned this too, but it also bears
repeating. I can't be wrong about this. I think Sam's
right, but what if he's not.

The truth is, and Sam and I discussed this, I can't wait to kiss
her. I literally dream of it. But I know that once I do, I'm
going to want to do a whole lot more, so I'm thinking it might be
safer to wait and kiss her when the whole lot more can be done as
well. Understand? Sam didn't agree. He said that Donna and I have
to gradually work into this. It's been a long time in the making
and we can't go from nothing to everything in one night. My
suggestion was that I just continue to fall asleep at Donna's
until she's healthy enough to move on to the whole lot more. By
then, our sleeping together will be totally normal and all we'll
need to do is add nakedness and sex. And kissing, I'm looking
forward to the kissing. Sam said I don't know what the hell I'm
talking about. He might have a point.

**********

I love that Josh caters to me while I'm like this. It could be
said that I take advantage of it; that I manage every morning to
make coffee and toast, eat and wash the dishes on my own, but I say
if he's willing, who am I to complain. For instance, he just
propped my foot up on a pillow on my bed and now he's bringing in
our dinner and a beer to share on a tray so we can eat.

And I must say; I do so enjoy eating Chinese food with Josh. It's
definitely one of my favorite things to do with him. I keep waiting
for Letterman to have it on his top ten list: The top ten things
Donna likes to do with Josh. Before last night, number one would
have been banter. Banter has been bumped to number 2 and number one
is waking up in his arms. Anyway, eating Chinese food would
definitely be on the list, probably number four or five. See, when
we eat Chinese at the office, we dish it out onto plates, but when
it's just the two of us at his place or mine, we don't use
dishes. We simply use chopsticks and eat out of the containers. The
difference is never discussed; it's just what we do.

Anyway, we sit and eat for a few minutes, discussing the arts in
education bill, which will no doubt be part of our regular
discussion for the next month or so while the bill is being drafted.
I'm holding some new research I pulled this afternoon as well as
notes from a few of the top arts colleges in the country. "I
think instrumental music is in the worst shape."

"That's because it's the most expensive. We need figures
on the cost of instruments, especially the ones that students
can't afford." He's making notes in the margins of
yesterday's research.

"I can get numbers tomorrow, but they're not fixable. Is
there anymore cashew chicken?" He doesn't even answer me. He
just scoops some out with his chopsticks and puts it in my mouth
while still looking at the notes in his hand. As I'm chewing, I
try to imagine Leo and Margaret doing that. Or Carol and CJ. I mean
really, shouldn't it be weird that my boss just fed me? Because,
I've got to tell you, it didn't feel weird, it felt natural.

After dinner, he takes everything into the kitchen, then puts the
movie in, turns off the lights and settles back down on the bed. At
this point, we're not touching, but he's sitting very close
to me, you know, in case I get scared or something. Oh, shut up.

Before we even see an alien, his phone rings. He looks at the caller
ID, sighs, hits pause on the remote and answers. I can only hear his
side of the conversation, but I've picked up that it's Leo
and that there is going to be a conference call with someone. I
don't know who, but I'm hoping it's tomorrow. Then I hear
the dreaded four words. "I'm on my way."

**********

I hang up and look at her. "I'm sorry. I have to go.
We're having a conference call with the Russian president in a
half hour. It's morning in Moscow."

"It's ok. Do I need to go too?" She looks disappointed. I
know that shouldn't make me happy, but it does, just a little.

"No. I probably won't even say anything; but Leo wants me
there in case. We're going to have to postpone the movie until
tomorrow." I know I sound disappointed too, but I can't help
it. I really wanted to do the accidentally-fell-asleep-with-her
thing again.

"How long will it take?"

"Not long. Fifteen, twenty minutes."

"You could come back." She said it more as a question than a
statement, and I can't help smiling. Is it possible that she
wants me here as much as I want to be here?

"It'll still be pretty late. By the time I get there, we make
the call, and I get back here, that's at least an hour. Then,
there's still two more hours to watch the movie."

"Yeah, you'll probably be tired. You should probably go home
and get some sleep." She's biting her lower lip. I know this
look. It's the `I'm not going to pout look.'

"Of course, the movie's due back tomorrow. If we're going
to watch it…"

"We have to watch it tonight." She sounds excited now, and
neither one of us bothers to mention that we could re-rent it
another time or simply keep it another night and pay the late fee.

"Are you sure you won't be too tired?"

"How about this? If I get tired I'll call your cell and tell
you to go home."

"Deal." Now she's smiling, which makes me smile. I get
up, grab my shoes, and head out. As I'm leaving I call out over
my shoulder, "Stay in bed, you need rest. I'll let myself back
in. And no watching the movie without me."

**********

When I get back to Donna's an hour and a half later, she's
asleep. CNN is on but muted, and I know that I should turn off the
TV and go home. Instead, I walk over to the bed and look down at
her. I can't stay. I know I can't stay. But I can just look
at her for a minute.

I bend down so I'm level with her, and I carefully move some of
her hair out of her face. I know that part of me is hoping she wakes
up, so we can put the movie in, but mostly, I'm just amazed by
her beauty as she sleeps. She's lying on her left side, her right
leg propped up on pillows out in front of her body, and she has a
small smile on her face, like there's nothing wrong in the world.

I watch her for a few minutes, and then stand up to leave. I turn
off the television and walk out into the hall and to the door. But I
can't make myself open it, so I just stand there and stare at it.
Finally, I rest my head on the door, trying to will myself to open
it. Just as I'm about to turn the handle, I feel a hand on my
shoulder.

**********

I wake-up when Josh turns off the TV and watch him leave the room.
I've blown it. I was supposed to stay awake, but I took some pain
medication, which knocks me out completely. I didn't want to take
it, but my leg's been killing me ever since physical therapy this
morning.

I sit up and listen for the door, but I don't hear it open and
close. After a few minutes, I climb out of bed and grab my cane. I
know I should use the walker, but it's squeaky and I don't
want to bother him if he decided to just crash on the couch. I walk
into the hallway and I can barely make him out in the dark. He's
standing at the door with his hand on the knob, but he's not
leaving. Finally, he rests his head against it, and I know. I know he
doesn't want to leave, just like I don't want him to leave. I
quietly walk towards him, hoping he doesn't open the door and go
while I'm on my way. When I get to where he is, I softly reach
out and put my hand on his shoulder. He turns his head and looks at
me, but neither one of us says anything.

We stand like this for a good minute, and then I take his hand and
start walking back down the hall. He whispers, "You're not
supposed to be using that cane," then picks me up and carries me
into the bedroom and lays me on the bed. I lay on my back and watch
as he walks around to the other side, takes off his shoes and crawls
in next to me. I smile at him and then turn onto my left side,
facing away from him and prop my right left back up on the pillows
out in front of me. I close my eyes and after a few seconds, I feel
him roll onto his side put his head next to mine on my pillow.
He's so close that I can feel the heat from his skin through his
shirt, and then his arm comes around me, resting on my stomach, and
he pulls me even closer. I put my right hand on top of his, and he
spreads his fingers so mine fall between them. I lean into him a bit
more, and pretty soon, I drift off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The alarm is going to go off any minute now. I don't know exactly
what time she has it set for, but I know she calls me every morning
at 6:00am, and it's 5:50am now, so any minute now it's going
to go off and wake her up. For these last few moments of silence,
I'm relishing the closeness of her body to mine. We haven't
moved much since we went to bed, but of course that was only four
hours ago. We are, for lack of a better term, spooning; my hand on
her stomach, holding her as close to me as possible. It's also
worth mentioning that her hair smells incredible. She is, to put it
simply, perfect.

"I know you're awake," she whispers groggily.

"Really, and how do you know that?"

"I felt you prop your head up on your hand. Are you
uncomfortable?"

"I could lay like this forever. I just wanted to watch you
sleep."

She rolls over onto her back, forcing me to shift a bit so she can
rest her right leg on top of mine. My hand is still on her stomach,
and her eyes are still closed, but after a few seconds, she slowly
opens them and sees me staring down at her, then she smiles up at
me. "How long have you been awake?"

"Just a few minutes. We have to get up soon."

"We have ten more minutes," she says as she closes her eyes
again. "The clock is fifteen minutes fast."

"Why?"

"So my brain thinks it's later than it is. Did you mean
it?"

"Mean what?"

She opens her eyes and looks at me. "That you could lay like this
forever."

"Yes." I stare at her for a minute before asking, "Would
that be ok with you?"

She smiles and puts her hand on top of mine. "Yes."

"Sam said we're supposed to talk about this."

She smiles. "I think we just did."

I prop my self up a little more and stare at her. "That was the
discussion?"

"Yes."

"Really? That wasn't so hard."

She laughs. "You thought it was going to be hard?"

I let my head fall back to the pillow so I'm close to her face.
"I thought it might be. That's really all we have to say?"

She turns her head so we're looking directly at each other and
smiles at me again. I'm learning to love this smile. "I think
so. Is there anything else you want to say?"

I stare into her beautiful blue eyes and whisper, "Yes, but Sam
said I have to wait a week or I'll scare you."

She looks confused for just a second, and then looks at me
seriously. "Well, when you do say it, I'm going to say it
back. So it shouldn't be that scary for either one of us."

Now it's my turn to smile at her. "Ok."

**********

Josh and I stare at each other for a few more minutes, and then we
pry ourselves off of each other and get up. He's been wearing the
same clothes for two days, so he goes home to get ready. I get
undressed and start to get in the shower, but just then my phone
rings.

"Hello?"

"I didn't kiss you."

"So I noticed."

"You did?" Is he nuts? We were lying there this morning, and
I kept thinking `he'll kiss me any minute.' But he never
did. Then I thought it was ok, because we both would've had
morning breath and although I'm not opposed to morning breath
kissing, I'm not sure it's the right atmosphere for the first
kiss. You know what I mean?

"Josh, I know when I've been kissed and when I
haven't."

"So I blew it already."

What's he talking about? "What do you mean?"

"I should've kissed you and I didn't."

"Ok. For one thing, you're going to blow it much worse than
that, and probably on a regular basis."

"But you'll forgive me?"

"Every time."

"Why?" Because it's inevitable.

"Because of that thing we're not supposed to say for a
week."

"Really?"

"Yes. And for another thing, I don't want you to kiss me
because you should. I want you to kiss me because you want to."

"Oh, I want to." I have to stifle a laugh because of the way
he stressed the word `want'.

"Ok."

"I mean, I really, really want to."

This time I can't stifle it, and I just laugh. "I said
ok."

"Desperately want to. I've had entire dreams where we've
done nothing but kiss."

Good to know. "You say that as though you've had entire
dreams where we've done much more…"

"Oh, I have."

"Really? Well, interesting." We're going to have to
discuss those at some point.

"Oh, they're interesting, but we're not going to talk
about them."

"We're not?" Oh, yes we are.

"No, not until you're running at full capacity."

"Full capacity? You think I'm not…"

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant. I just meant you're
not up to par."

"Up to par?" He's digging himself deeper and deeper. This
is fun.

"Mobile?"

"I not mobile?"

"I'm blowing it again, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"But you forgive me?" he asks me tentatively. He's so
cute.

"Yes."

"Because of the thing?"

"Yes."

"The thing I'm not allowed to say for a week?"

"Yes, that thing."

"Maybe Sam's wrong about saying the thing."

"Oh I don't know. He has a point. I mean, you wouldn't
want to say it in an unromantic situation, say…while you're
on the phone. At least not the first time."

"Good point."

"I tend to have those."

"So for now, I'll stick with Sam's plan."

"And does his plan include kissing?"

"It didn't specify."

"I see. I have to go. I'm naked." Let's see what he
has to say about that?

"You're what?" He squeaked. I love it when he squeaks.

"I'm naked. I was getting in the shower."

"Are you wet too?" Still squeaking.

"Are you thinking of some of your dreams." Why is it that
I'm naked in my living room talking on the phone to Josh, and it
doesn't feel weird? It would feel weird if it were some other guy
I was dating. Dating? We never actually defined it.

"Yes."

"Am I at full capacity in those dreams?"

"Oh yeah." Wow, that's not a squeak. That voice was low
and husky and…sexy. I like that voice.

"Well, unfortunately, I won't be at full capacity for several
more months."

"See, when I said full capacity…"

"Yes?"

"What I meant was…"

"Semi-full?"

"Yes."

"But I'm not at semi-full capacity yet either."

"I know. And we should wait to…discuss the dreams…until
you are."

"I agree."

"But…I can still hold you while you sleep, right? Because
I've been very careful." Now he sounds like a kid in a candy
store. `Please, please, please can I have some candy?'

"You have been, and so you may. Anytime you'd like, in fact.
But for now I have to go."

"Because you're naked."

"You remembered."

"It's something I won't soon forget." I'm glad he
can't see me right now, because I'm grinning like an idiot.

"When will you be back to get me for work?"

"An hour."

"Will you have bagels with you?"

"No. Wait…should I have bagels with me?"

"Yes."

"Then I will have bagels with me, because I won't blow it
three times in one day."

Fat chance. "Sure you won't."

"And Donna. When I get there, I'm going to kiss you."

"Not because you should?"

"I think if we asked around, the general consensus wouldn't
be that I should."

"True, but you're going to anyway, right?" I hope I
don't sound like I'm begging.

"Oh Yes. Definitely."

"Good," I say somewhat seductively. "Because my lips are
running at full capacity."

"45 minutes. I can be there in 45 minutes."

"Don't forget the bagels," I say as I hang up.

Well, there you have it. We've been, I don't even know what
to call it, for less than a half hour, and in that time we've
declared our love and talked about sex. It was oddly comforting to
discuss these things the way we discuss everything else. Just the
two of us bantering, because that's what we do.

**********

I hang up the phone and immediately dial CJ. This isn't easy to
do considering the fact that I'm speeding like a maniac through
the streets of DC. What? I'm in a hurry. I have to get home, get
showered and changed, brush my teeth, get bagels and get back to
Donna's in 45 minutes. Or less, less would be even better.

"Hello?"

"Good morning!" I might as well try to get on her good side
now, while I have the chance.

"What?" Uh-oh. She doesn't sound like she's in a
great mood.

"I'm stopping for bagels this morning. Would you like me to
get one for you?"

"What did you do?"

Damn, she knows me well. "What?"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. Nothing." Really, I haven't done anything yet.
I haven't even kissed her. Of course, by the time CJ gets her
bagel, I will have. Kissed Donna I mean.

"Josh?"

"Nothing. I haven't done anything. But I do need to talk to
you and Leo this morning, if you can fit me in."

"Are you going to ruin my day?"

Might as well be honest. "Maybe, but I'm going to bring you a
bagel."

"With herb and garlic cream cheese. I'll have Carol set it
up."

**********

As I step out of the shower, my phone is ringing. He really has to
leave me alone so I can get ready for work. But, as long as he's
calling…

I pick up the phone and seductively say, "Now I'm wet and
naked."

"Donna?"

"CJ?" Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Yes. And you're lucky. What if I had been Toby or Leo?"

Now I'm having mental images of talking to Toby or Leo while
being wet and naked. "Oh, yuck," I groan. She starts laughing
at me. "I'm glad you're enjoying this."

"Oh, I am," she says and continues laughing.

"What exactly can I do for you CJ?"

"Well, I was calling because Josh called me a few minutes ago and
asked for some time with Leo and me this morning, and I was
wondering if you knew what it was about. But, I think I've
figured it out."

"Maybe it's about the arts in education bill," I say
weakly.

"Is that unwritten bill gaining a lot of press attention,
Donna?"

"Maybe?" I meant to say it, but it came out as a question.
She knows. She's no idiot.

"Or maybe, and this is just a shot in the dark, your little naked
and wet comment was meant for Josh, and he needs to talk to Leo and
me because the two of you finally had that incredible sex we were
talking about the other night."

"We DID NOT have incredible sex?"

"What? After all the hype, it wasn't incredible?" She
sounds dumbfounded.

"No CJ, we didn't have sex at all."

"What? No sex? I'm wrong?" Now she sounds disappointed,
which I find humorous. I mean, I'm not disappointed but the press
secretary is?

"CJ, I'm not…" God help me, I'm about to quote Josh.
"At full capacity."

"What?"

"The leg, CJ. Not to mention the collapsed lung and the recent
surgery to repair a pulmonary embolism."

"Oh, right. So, no sex."

"No, but we cuddled." I can't believe I'm trying to
lift her spirits about my sex life.

"Cuddled, huh? That can be nice, I guess."

"It was very nice, in fact, it was absolutely incredible. If we
never have sex, I could just sleep in his arms forever."

"Sleep?"

"All night."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And so you're dating?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, we didn't actually use the word `dating'…"

"What word did you use?"

I go back over the conversation we had in bed this
morning. "Forever."

"Really? Well, that word beats the hell out of the word
`dating'. In my opinion, at least."

"I agree," I say smiling.

"So, you and Josh."

"Me and Josh. It's ok, right. You said the administration
could deal with it."

"Yes, it's fine. But I think I'll let Josh stew a bit
before I let him off the hook."

"I would expect nothing less."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
41 minutes. In 41 minutes, I managed to get home, shower, change
into a clean suit, shave, brush my teeth, get bagels, and get back
here. It might have been a bit presumptuous, but I also packed a
duffel bag with clothes for tomorrow and some bathroom stuff. I'm
just saying, she said I could hold her while she sleeps anytime I
want, so I thought ahead. Now, I just need to find a parking spot
and we can move onto the kissing portion of the day.

Not to put any pressure on myself, but this has got to be some kiss.
Let's face it; I blew it big time this morning. I woke up holding
the love of my life, told her I wanted to be with her forever, then
got up and left. Not smooth; not smooth at all.

To make up for this colossal mistake, I need romance. Not to worry,
I've got a plan. I'm going to take Donna to the little park
down the street from her apartment. It's not big, but there's
a huge willow tree in the center of it, and when you stand under it,
all these limbs surround you and you're basically invisible to
the outside world. I'm going to pick up Donna and take her there,
and then I'm going to kiss the hell out of her under the willow
tree. That's really the best I can do with only 41 minutes of
prep time.

I finally find a parking spot but leave the car running with the air
on, due to the disgustingly hot August weather, and then run up the
three flights to Donna's apartment, taking two to three steps at
a time. I knock when I get to her apartment and I'm almost glad
that it takes her a minute to get to the door, because I'm out of
breath from the running and tripping. Did I mention that I tripped
about half way up the steps and hit my knee really hard? No? Well, I
did and it hurts.

When I hear her turning the lock, my stomach starts to get
butterflies. When she opens the door I lose all ability to think,
and I drop the bagels, push her walker out of the way, grab her
around the waist, pulling her close to me and kiss her. So much for
the willow tree.

**********

Oh, wow. Josh is kissing me. I mean really kissing me. His lips are
soft and strong and ohh…he just licked my bottom lip. That was
nice. Now his tongue is kind of dancing with mine and it's slow
and warm and …amazing. This is the most astonishing kiss of my
life. His hands are, hell I don't know where. I think one is on my
cheek, and mine are… well, I'm not sure about that either. I
can't really feel any part of my body except my lips and tongue
and I'm a bit lightheaded, and I'm hoping this is never going
to end.

Ok, now I feel his hands. They're in my hair and he's kind of
massaging my scalp and running his thumbs over my cheeks. And
he's doing something new with the kiss too. Oh, I like this.
He's sucking on my bottom lip, and using his teeth ever so gently
to kind of chew on me. It's very…man I wish I were running at
full capacity. My hands have found their way to his chest, and I'm
just kind of tugging on his shirt, trying to pull him closer to me.
I've also decided that there is a new number one on the Letterman
list.

Oh my goodness, I could faint. He's moved away from my lips now,
and at first I was disappointed, but now he's doing that nibbling
thing on my ear and I'm not so steady. Someone is making these
tiny little moans and sighs, and I think it might be me, but I'm
not sure. Now he's moved on to my neck, which is ticklish, and
wait, now he's back to my mouth and the very tip of his tongue is
swirling around mine, and I need to sit down, or maybe just lean
into him a bit more. Yeah, I like the leaning thing.

Finally, yet all too soon, he pulls away. My lips kind of chase
after him and he kisses the corner of my mouth once, twice, and then
his lips are gone. I open my eyes to see my front door wide open and
my eighty-year old upstairs neighbor walking down the stairs shaking
her head and smiling. Come to think of it, I'm smiling too.

"Good morning."

I can't really speak, so I just nod and sigh and he pulls me
close and kisses me again. This is going to be a good day.

**********

It takes several tries to get out of Donna's apartment this
morning. After the first kiss, which is nothing less than
spectacular, I let go of her and find the bagels on the floor and we
go into the kitchen to eat, but once we get in there and she's
facing away from me, I become fascinated with kissing her neck. She
turns towards me and we kiss for quite a while and then we stop
again. This time, we actually get the coffee poured into one of the
coffee mugs, and by we I mean me, before we have to break and kiss
some more. We stop again to notice that we're now running late,
so I let her go and get her stuff and the bagels to take to the car.
I make it all the way to the front door before I have to turn around
and kiss her some more, then I finally leave. When I get back
upstairs to help her down, she's pouting a level one pout and
saying that she missed me. Well, what can I to do? I already told
you I have no power over her pout, so I kiss her again, you know,
for several minutes. We make it down two flights of stairs before we
kiss again, and then to the front step of her building. That kiss
takes a while. When I open up her car door and help her inside,
there are a few quick kisses, but when I get in the car on my side,
there's a good five-minute make-out session. On the way to the
office, we get honked at three separate times for sitting through
lights because we're too busy kissing to notice that they've
turned green. Then, when we get to the White House, there's one
more lingering kiss before she wipes the lipstick off me, we put on
our professional faces and go inside. How am I going to make it
through the day?

**********

When we get into the office, which wasn't as easy as most
mornings, there is a message on my desk from Carol. Josh's
meeting with CJ and Leo is set for 8:30, just before senior staff. I
know that CJ is going to give him a hard time, and I feel like I
should warn him or at lest feel bad for him. However, instead of
feeling bad, I'm just wishing I could be there to watch it. CJ
passes me on her way to Leo's office a few minutes later and
winks. Josh comes out of his office right after her, holding the
bagels.

"I thought you bought those for me." I'm absolutely
amazed that I can speak to him without mauling him right here on my
desk, but somehow I've switched into assistant mode. And as
Josh's assistant, I would never maul him. Now, the second I'm
out of this place… In fact, maybe we should go out for lunch.

"I'm meeting with Leo and CJ and I thought I should bring
bagels." He looks a little nervous.

I, of course, act innocent. "What's the meeting about?"

"It's about…you know." His eyes get big and he waves
his hand between us.

I'm trying hard not to laugh. "What if you don't come
back alive?"

"Well, I've left everything to you, so you're going to
have to take care of my mom," he says, then winks and walks off,
leaving me in shock with my mouth hanging open. He's kidding
right? He doesn't sound like he's kidding, but he must be
kidding. Right?

He takes four or five steps then comes back, pulls a bagel out of
the bag and puts it on my desk before smiling and leaving again.
I'm still sitting in shock. Kidding, right?

**********

I walk into Leo's office, and CJ's already sitting on the
couch waiting for me. I notice right away that the door to the oval
office is open. I'm guessing Leo's going to want to close
that in a minute so he can yell at me.

"Josh, come in. What the hell do you want?" Oh man, he's
in a bad mood too.

I put the bag of bagels on his desk and answer weakly, "I brought
bagels."

"Oh, hell. What did you do?" CJ laughs from her spot on the
couch. Damn, I can't catch a break.

"Nothing. Well, something, but it's nothing really, except
that it's everything and I can't and won't change it now,
so we're going to have to deal with it but it's not going to
be a big deal because CJ's a genius and we're midway into the
second term and no one really gives a shit about me anyway, and
everyone loves her right now because of the accident and she
can't do anything wrong so now's the time to do it when no
one can bash her and therefore they can't bash me and you know my
dad would be thrilled, so as his friend you should be thrilled for
me and we all know she's going to be the boss and run me like she
does here at work, so CJ should be happy too and if you have to
transfer her you can but my work would suffer and you know it and
it's not like anything's changed, I've always felt this
way I've just never told her until now so there's no reason
to think we're going to act any differently at work…" I
finally stop because I'm going to faint if I don't breathe.
Where did all that come from?

Leo looks at CJ and then at me. "Josh, you better not be telling
me what I think you're telling me."

I look to CJ for help, but she's giving me an evil eye. "You
sent me there Leo, you knew."

"I knew how you felt, I didn't know you'd act on it.
Josh, you work for the president!"

"I didn't act on it," I say. Then I add weakly, "not
then."

"Not then?" He's yelling now, just as I suspected. I walk
over to shut the door to the Oval Office, but President Bartlet
walks in before I have the chance. Oh, please no.

"What's going on?" He asks with a smile as CJ stands up
next to me. "Someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Leo looks straight at me and gives me a `you're about to be
killed' smile. "Why don't you tell the president what you
just told us, Josh?"

I'm horrified. Please tell me this isn't happening. I have to
tell the president of the United States that I'm in love with my
assistant? This can't be happening. "I don't think I can.
I was kind of…"

"Rambling like an idiot?" CJ picks now to talk?

"On a roll is what I was going to say, CJ."

"You talked so long your face turned purple."

The president interrupts us. "Someone tell me what's going
on."

Leo looks at me expectantly. I look over at CJ, pleading for help,
but she shakes her head. Finally, I look up at the president and say
in the most casual voice I can manage, "Donna and I have
discovered that we…would like to…what I mean is…I have
feelings, strong feelings, very strong, and she's not totally
unaffected by me either, so we talked because Sam said we had to,
and we would like to, I mean we're going to begin to…outside
of the office of course, we're going to…well we're not
going to…you know…until she's running at semi-full
capacity, but we're going to…see each other in a non
boss-assistant like manner." They're all looking at me like
I've lost my mind, which I can't fault them for considering
how high and fast my voice got at the end.

Finally, the president speaks. "What the hell are you talking
about?" I can't really fault him for that either. What I just
said didn't make any sense at all.

"I'm in love with Donna sir, and she's in love with me.
Well, that won't be confirmed for another week, but I'm
pretty sure."

"What? Never mind. I got the love part. What I didn't get was
the semi-full capacity part." CJ starts coughing when he says that
and Leo looks down at a file on his desk. They obviously know what I
was talking about and are as mortified as I am that I now have to
explain it to the leader of the free world.

"That was, umm…referring to her…current physical
limitations."

"What do her physical limitations have to do with anything?"
he asks.

"Well, Mr. President, I was saying, and I never should have
mentioned it, but I was saying that we aren't going to…" I
can't say this. I can't.

"You're not going to what?"

"Make…please Sir." I'm begging him not to make me say
it.

"Make what?"

I look at the ground. "We aren't going to…make
love…until she's feeling better. That's what I was
saying."

"Now Josh, why would you tell us something like that? That's
none of our business." And then it happens. CJ starts it and the
others join in. They laugh. And they're not just laughing;
they're laughing hysterically. CJ is crying she's laughing so
hard, and Leo is slapping his desk. As for the president, he
doesn't laugh, but he's got that gleam that he gets when he
knows he's won.

I look at them and I know they've got me. I shake my head and
sigh in relief. "Having fun with my humiliation, Mr.
President."

"Don't I always?" CJ's now laughing so hard that
she's holding on to my shoulder so she doesn't fall.

"But…I'm dating Donna. Don't any of you care?"

Leo looks at me and smiles. "No, not really, we just wanted to
make you sweat."

"You don't care?"

"CJ, do we care?" he asks CJ.

"I've got a plan Sir. It's not going to be a
problem."

He seems ready for this answer, but I am dumbfounded. She has a
plan? "You have a plan?"

"Like I didn't know this was going to come up some day? Of
course I have a plan."

"But, you aren't shocked? At all?"

"No."

"No? Leo?"

"No."

"Mr. President?" Surely he's shocked.

"Leo told me about it an hour ago. I just wanted in on the
fun."

"The fun? You call this fun?"

"Yes, don't you?"

"No Sir, this isn't fun at all."

"Really? It's fun for me."

"Me too," adds CJ. Leo just nods.

"Wait a minute. An hour ago? How did you know an hour ago? This
didn't even happen until 5:45 this morning."

"Oh," says CJ. "I called Donna this morning after I
talked to you."

"And she told you?" My voice is doing the octave thing again.
My girlfriend of less than three hours has already sold me out? Not
that I can blame her, I would've done the same thing to her. We
pick on each other; it's what we do. But just three hours after
we…whatever we did?

"Let's just say I did some investigating and found out the
truth."

"I can't believe this is happening."

"Josh," says Leo. "I'd think you'd be happy that
we're ok with this."

"I am. I really am. I just…" I look back at CJ and narrow my
eyes at her. "What do you know?"

"You don't really want to discuss that here, in front of
everybody, do you?" she replies with a smirk.

My rub my face with my hands. "No, I guess not."

"I didn't think so, cuddle boy."

The End

    Source: geocities.com/ww_executive_branch