Title: Sugar Plums
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. They belong to the very wonderful writers at The West Wing.
Summary: Christmas dreams and merry wishes for Josh and Donna
Notes: post-ep for Holy Night
Donna stood outside the White House, close to the door reading her email from Jack. She shivered.
"This is positively stupid," she muttered.
The email itself wasn't stupid, no, it was more sappy. Cute but sappy. No the stupidity was that she had to stand outside in the cold to read it. She had printed it off at home this morning before leaving for work. However, when she arrived, she realized she couldn't read it at her desk. Josh would instantly be curious and steal it and then she'd never hear the end of it. So, here she stood reading her email from Jack. And shivering.
Suddenly, a hand appeared from behind her and snatched it out of her grasp. She whirled around and saw...
"Josh! Give that back!"
"'When I think of you my heart beats faster and I anticipate our next brief meeting within the halls of the White House.' Ugh, this is disgusting," Josh said as he waved the email above his head, just out of Donna's reach. He smiled, his dimples showing.
"Joshua Lyman, give that back or I'll be forced to beat on you."
"I'm scared Donnatella, real scared."
She chased him out onto the lawn where the snow was falling gently. Bending down she quickly made a snowball and threw it at him. Folding the email and placing it in his jacket, he returned fire. The snowball fight turned into an all-out war. Donna bent down to make another snowball and when she stood up again, Josh had disappeared.
"Where'd he go?" she questioned quietly.
Then she felt icy snow being mashed down her neck. She turned quickly and planted a snowball squarely in his face. He spluttered. She went to make another snowball but was stopped when Josh grabbed both her arms. She looked up at him questioningly. Both of them were breathing hard and they were barely a hair's breadth apart. Josh grinned at her and came closer to her face. And then...
She woke up. In a strange bed. She thought for a moment and then remembered where she was. She was at one of the fanciest hotels she'd ever seen with Jack. A brief snore beside her confirmed the fact. She sat up slightly in bed.
She didn't feel guilty for dreaming about one man while in bed with another. It happened to her all the time. When you spent 12-18 hours day with someone, like she did with Josh, he was bound to follow her into her dreams too. She did feel guilty, however, for not saying goodbye. She hated leaving Josh without giving him any notice but that was what had happened. She also hated feeling guilty about it. She pondered what she could do to make her conscience feel better.
Josh was talking with Toby in his office. He was also trying to tie his bowtie. He hated dressing up for these fundraisers.
"Stupid contraption. Donna. I think we should hang the man who invented these with his own bowtie. Donna! They frustrate me to no end. DONNA!!!"
Toby laughed quietly as Josh turned back to the mirror on the inside of his closet door. Then Toby whistled. Josh heard Donna's voice say, "You rang?"
He came out from behind the door and felt his jaw hit the floor.
"Close your mouth Josh."
Josh obediently did as Donna said but continued to stare.
Toby said, "I better go check on Andrea, make sure she's not driving anyone crazy."
Donna nodded at him.
Josh was still in shock. Donna looked hot. She was wearing a red, silky dress, with a slit right up to above her knee. Not too much that it was inappropriate, but enough that it gave the imagination something to play with. She wore strappy red sandals on her feet. And her hair was twisted up and there were little things with glitter on them all over her head. As she turned to the side to let Toby pass, Josh saw that the back of her dress was made up of many tiny straps criss-crossing across her back. Donna looked hot.
"Staring is rude Josh. Come on, blink, you can do it. There ya go. Now what did you holler at me for?"
Josh swallowed and tried to remember.
"My bowtie," he said hoarsely.
"Aah," she said and walked over to him. As she began fiddling with his bowtie she said, "You know Josh, I should give you lessons on how to tie your bowtie. I won't always be around you know and I doubt all your assistants will be this helpful."
Josh nodded.
She gave his bowtie a last pat and said, "All finished."
She turned to go but Josh grabbed her arms and pulled her closer. There's noses touching, he moved closer. And then...
The phone rang. Josh groaned and rolled over in bed. He cracked his eyes open and looked at the clock on his bedside table. 7:15. He groaned again and pulled the pillow over his head. However, after 15 rings it became obvious that the person on the other end was not going to give up. He picked up the phone.
"Mmm?"
"Good morning to you too, Josh."
"Donna!" Josh sat up in bed, "Everything ok?"
Donna nodded even though Josh couldn't see.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
Josh sighed and then grumbled, "Then why'd you call at this unholy hour? I was sleeping."
"Quit whining Josh. You're already at the office by this time anyway."
"Hmm."
"You know Josh, we must work on your pleasantries. Ever heard of saying 'Good morning Donna, how are you?'"
"Yes, Donna, I know. We've gone over this before. Now why'd you call? Got sick of navy-boy already?"
"His name is Jack and where did that come from?"
"No where, never mind. Why did you call Donna?"
"To apologize."
"Apologize? For what? Were you feeding me decaf yesterday? I knew that coffee didn't taste right. Besides the fact you never bring me coffee."
"Yes, Josh I was secretly feeding you decaf because you were so grumpy and tired."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Wow, those Harvard and Yale degrees really paid off. Of course I'm being sarcastic. You were being an unbelievable pain yesterday morning so I brought you coffee to make you more human. And more endurable."
"Are you saying I'm a pain to put up with if I've had no caffeine?"
"Yes, Josh. I see why they wanted you at the White House. You must be there to ask questions about things that are painfully obvious."
"But I haven't had caffeine yet this morning."
"Case in point."
"Are you saying I'm being a pain?"
"Yes, I called to apologize and you get me completely side-tracked on whether I gave you decaf or not and how much of a pain you are when you haven't had caffeine."
"Right, I'm sorry. You know I love it when you apologize."
"Thanks, Josh. What I wanted to apologize for was not saying goodbye."
"Oh."
"It's just that Leo arranged for me to leave on that helicopter and I barely had time to grab my suitcase before it left. Did Leo tell you I left?"
"Yeah, Leo told me," Josh said. *Bluntly, but he told me* he thought.
"That's good. Anyway, that's what I wanted to call for."
"I see. Well now that you've eased your conscience you better go back to nav... I mean Jack."
"Yeah, I have a feeling he might not like it if he wakes up to find me talking to my boss on Christmas Eve."
"Yeah, he might think I'm planning a conspiracy to keep you away from him."
"Mm-hmm, and you'd never do that."
"Of course not."
"Well, I should go."
"Donna, wait."
"Yeah?" she said hopefully.
"Merry Christmas."
"Yeah, you too Josh, Merry Christmas."