A/N: I'm sure it will come as a shock to everyone to discover that I don't own any of the characters from "The West Wing".
A/N: Rating will go up to T in future chapters, mainly due to some descriptions of violence and sensitive subject matter.
A/N: Don't know if this deserves a note or not, but there is some discussion of religion in this story. It's not meant in any way to be offensive or controversial, but if it's not your cup of tea, you can skip over it and understand the rest of the story just fine
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"Do you, Joshua Lyman, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for all the days of your life?"
"I do."
"Do you, Donnatella Moss, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for all the days of your life?"
"I do."
"The rings, please."
Sam, Josh's best man, and Ainsley, Donna's maid of honor, stepped forward, and each presented one of the rings to the pastor, who held them out to the couple.
"Josh, put Donna's ring on and repeat after me: I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine," he said as he placed the ring on Donna's finger, gazing at her tenderly.
"Donna, put Josh's ring on and repeat after me: I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine," she struggled to keep her voice steady, tears brimming in her eyes as she placed the ring on Josh's finger.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Josh lost no time in doing so as the guests applauded. Then the Rabbi placed a wine glass, wrapped in a decorative purple pouch, at Josh's feet. Josh smashed it firmly with his shoe. He could clearly make out Toby's voice among several others in the audience yelling "Mazel Tov!"
Josh looked out at the guests in attendance. In the front row, his mother and Donna's parents were accompanied by the First Family and former First Family: President Santos, Helen Santos, their children Miranda and Peter, along with former President Bartlet, Abbey Bartlet, Zoey and Charlie, who had been married the previous year, Ellie and Vic, and Elizabeth, who had recently divorced Doug after she'd caught him having yet another affair. Numerous other friends were also in attendance.
The format of the ceremony had been a source of much discussion between him and Donna. What was the wedding of a Jewish man and a Protestant woman supposed to look like? Since neither he nor Donna had been particularly devout in their respective faiths for quite some time, they had initially considered a secular ceremony, but that hadn't felt right to either of them. Finally, they'd settled on an interfaith service. Donna's pastor from her home church in Wisconsin, and the Rabbi from the Temple in Connecticut that Josh had grown up in, had agreed to co-officiate. They had decided to hold both the wedding and the reception at the Hilton Garden Inn, and the service had combined traditional aspects of both Jewish and Christian wedding ceremonies. Josh felt that the service had turned out beautifully. He could tell that Donna felt the same way, as he watched her wipe happy tears from her eyes as their guests filed out of the room and made their way toward the reception hall.
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"So, was it everything you imagined your wedding would be when you were a little girl?" Josh asked as he and Donna danced at the reception.
She smiled. "Well, I never imagined my parents would have to go through a Secret Service screening just to get into my wedding. Then again, I never imagined there would be two Presidents at my wedding. But other than that-" she paused and touched Josh's cheek. "It's better. Mainly because of the guy I got to marry."
"Really? I heard he could be kind of a jerk sometimes."
"He can be. But he's my jerk." She smiled and pulled him closer, resting her head on his shoulder as they swayed together to the music.
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Later in the evening, President Bartlet came up to Josh and gave him a hug. "Congratulations, Josh."
"Thank you, sir."
"And here I thought now that I'd served my eight years in the White House, and left office and moved back to New Hampshire, I might finally get my first name back."
Josh grinned. "No such luck."
"Do you know even Charlie still calls me sir? He's my son in law now, for heaven's sake, and he still won't address me by my first name."
"I can imagine."
"Although maybe there's something to be said for all sons in law addressing their fathers in law as 'sir'. It might just make the world a better place."
"Yes, sir."
Jed chuckled and shook his head. "Anyway, I think I see Abbey waving at me. Congratulations again, Josh."
"Thank you, sir."
Sam walked up and joined Josh. "So how does it feel to be a married man?"
"I think I could get used to it," Josh smiled. "Thanks for the toast."
"I meant every word." Sam nodded. "I'm just glad all my 'best man' nightmares are over. I didn't lose the ring, or do anything else for that matter to make a fool of myself."
"I'm sure all the late-night comics wish you had. They'd have had material for weeks."
Sam laughed, and then shook his head. "Who'd have thought that of the two of us, you'd be the one getting married first?"
Josh's smile faded. Sam and his fiancée had broken up about six months ago after an extended and rocky engagement. He suddenly hoped it hadn't been too hard on Sam, being a part of a wedding that wasn't his.
Sam himself seemed to suddenly realize what he'd said. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to – I had a great time today. I'm so happy for you and Donna."
"Thanks." Josh patted his shoulder. "And I know you'll find the right woman."
"That's what people say."
"Hey, if Donna hadn't walked into the Bartlet campaign headquarters eleven years ago and pretended she already had a job there, I'm pretty sure I'd have stayed a bachelor my whole life."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better about my own prospects?"
"Well, you're better with women than I am. You should have no problem."
"So far I'm at two failed engagements and counting. How do you figure?"
Josh was about to answer when the music changed. Ainsley walked up and extended a hand to Sam. "May I have this dance?"
"Sure," he smiled and took her in his arms as they began dancing to the music.
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"I don't believe this," Donna declared with a laugh as she picked up a copy of People magazine at the airport. She and Josh were returning from their honeymoon in Hawaii to the discovery that a wedding picture of the two of them graced the cover of the new issue of People magazine.
"Apparently we're 'America's Favorite Power Couple' now," Josh observed, reading the headline in bold print on the front of the magazine.
"At least they picked a good picture," Donna remarked as she brought the magazine to the counter and paid for it. She and Josh headed out of the airport, along with their Secret Service agents, and got into the car that was waiting for them.
"Just as long as they don't try to 'smoosh' our names," Josh commented. "I mean, to what? Jonna? Or Doshua?"
"Joshatella!" Donna giggled.
"Oh, God, please don't let that stick."
Donna laughed as she began flipping through the magazine.
"Apparently, not only are we America's favorite power couple, but we're also role models for interfaith couples everywhere," she observed. In addition to the feature story with lots of wedding photos and juicy tidbits about their relationship, there was a side article about the interfaith nature of their wedding. The article detailed the ceremony and discussed the challenges couples often faced in interfaith marriages. Progressive Jewish and Christian leaders, as well as several couples in interfaith marriages, were quoted as applauding their interfaith wedding ceremony as helping to promote religious acceptance and inclusiveness. More traditional religious leaders from both faith traditions, however, bemoaned the ceremony, accusing them of having diluted both religions, and questioned the advisability of couples entering into interfaith marriages at all.
Donna sighed. Maybe she and Josh should have gone with a secular service after all. The truth was, she'd never really thought of the two of them as an "interfaith couple", and the label felt strange to her now. She wasn't sure she was thrilled with the idea of them becoming the country's interfaith marriage poster couple. She had always considered herself Christian, but she hadn't been a regular church attender in quite some time. The pat several years, it had been rare for her to go even on Easter or Christmas Eve. She wasn't necessarily sure what she believed about God or Jesus. As for Josh, she knew his Jewish identity was important to him, but he rarely discussed it, and he'd never really talked to her in any depth about the spiritual aspects of his religion – what he believed about God. Maybe because of that, she'd never seen their different religious backgrounds as any big deal. But apparently to many people, it was a big deal.
The car drove past the White House on the way to the condo they'd purchased together.
"Back to work tomorrow," Donna sighed.
Josh nodded. "The new congress gets sworn in next week. What'll that be like? Democrats controlling the House, Senate, and the White House. The President's approval ratings are topping 60%. All the stuff we wanted to do under President Bartlet and never could because of the Republican congress – we might actually be able to do some of it now."
"I think it's going to be a good year," Donna smiled and squeezed Josh's hand as the car pulled into the parking lot of their condo.