This story is another one from the Never Have I Ever trope challenge I posted on Tumblr, where I was asked "fake dating or bed sharing." I haven't really done either of those before, so here's one for the Bed Sharing trope. Hope you enjoy, feedback is love!

…...

"Are you fucking serious?" Ginger asked nobody in particular, staring at the squalid little hotel room with amazed disgust. "This has got to be some kind of joke."

Margaret elbowed past her to get through the door, dropping her overnight case next to a television that had been new when Ford was president. "Don't look at me, your boss made the arrangements. So if anything, I'm going to blame you because you should've known better."

"At least it wasn't Josh," Donna added helpfully, squeezing in through the space Margaret had made. "We'd probably be booked into a youth hostel or something because I don't think he knows the difference." She stuck her head into the bathroom and immediately pulled it back out again. "Well, they've got the little soaps," she observed with an attempt at brightness. "And I've got a scented candle in my bag."

"Didn't you learn your lesson about candles after Belarus?" Margaret asked. "I mean, I think there was some kind of presidential order involved..."

"It's a Yankee Candle, all right?" Donna retorted, her pale cheeks blushing a bright pink. "I got it in Richmond, I think the bomb dogs will be okay with it this time." Both women began unpacking their overnight cases with the efficiency of seasoned travelers.

Ginger was still standing in the doorway. "There's one bed!" she observed loudly, disbelievingly. "All three of us are assigned to the same room and there's one bed!"

"At least it's a big bed," Margaret pointed out. "I doubt this would work at all if it were a double. But I can't sleep in the middle, I have restless legs and I usually need to get up and urinate around two-thirty."

"Dibs on not-middle," Donna added immediately. "Josh will probably call at... oh, speak of the devil." Because Ginger was still blocking the doorway, the door was open to allow any passing curious Deputy Chief of Staff to peek inside.

"Hey Donna, I need the- wait, are all three of you sharing this room?" Josh asked, peering inside as Ginger cleared out of the way with a disgruntled huff. "With one bed? Man, that's like a setup for a-"

"A sexual harassment lawsuit that would allow me to spend the rest of my life in a style to which I'd like to become accustomed?" Donna asked sweetly, interposing herself between Josh and the room. It was for his own good, really. Ginger looked like she was ready to resort to violence and she might not wait to find Toby.

Josh arranged his face into appropriately sober lines. "Anyway, I need the stuff for the thing with State tomorrow. I'm gonna need you to call up Ed and Larry and-"

She cut him off again. "In case you haven't noticed, it is nearly 11pm here in Chicago, which means it is midnight in DC. Ed and Larry have gone home. Everyone in Legislative Affairs is sleeping. Everyone at the State Department is sleeping, with the exception of a few unlucky staffers making sure there's no nuclear war. Toby and Sam are sleeping. You should be sleeping. And I need to prepare for the lingerie pillow fight we're about to have in here, so goodnight, Josh."

Donna closed the door on his stunned face, turned around and counted three. "DONNA!" came the strangled yelp through the door. Giggling, she threw the chain on and went to find her scented candle.

…

"This is the worst night of my life. And I grew up in South Jersey, so that's saying something."

"Oh my god, Ginger, just go to sleep." Donna put the pillow over her head. "We have to be up in five hours."

"Easy for you to say," Ginger muttered, "you're not sleeping next to Adam Vinatieri over here." On Ginger's other side Margaret was sleeping obliviously, mask over her eyes and headphones over her ears.

"You could sleep on the bus," Donna suggested. "It's not so bad, I used to do it all the time."

"Yeah, next time I want to get ax-murdered I'll definitely try that." Ginger punched her pillow. "Senior staffers all got their own rooms on this trip. I'm going to kill Toby slowly as soon as I see him again. Gruesomely. I know guys, Donna. Guys with connections."

"I actually think Toby may be more mobbed up than you are, even if you did grow up in New Jersey," Donna pointed out with a yawn.

"I'm a desperate and angry woman, that counts for a lot." Ginger rolled over and bumped into Donna's side, then made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl. "Hey, I know! Why don't you go sleep in Josh's room?"

Donna lifted the pillow enough to peek out. "Josh's room only has one bed, too."

"But it's got enough room for two people," Ginger suggested with a grin Donna could see in the dark. "I bet he wouldn't say no, and you could solve a couple of problems at once."

"Ginger!" Donna hissed.

"Oh come the hell on, who do you think you're fooling anyway? You two have been flirting like crazy for four years now," Ginger insisted, giving Donna a poke in the ribs. "If I'd just met you I'd guess you were already married from the way you argue. You might as well get some of the bennies too, right?"

Before Donna could answer, Margaret lifted one earphone. "Don't even think about it," she told Donna flatly. "Leo would have a heart attack shortly after killing both of you. It would be extremely bad for our operational efficiency."

"You're awake!" Ginger burst out, losing all interest in Donna. "You've been awake this whole time and you've still been kicking me!"

"I have restless legs," Margaret reminded her primly.

"Restless legs my ass," Ginger muttered, dropping her voice to add something about the restless back of her hand.

"You're more than welcome to sleep on the bus," Margaret told her. "Hardly anyone gets ax-murdered anymore. You're far more likely to be abducted and sold into human trafficking."

"Not helping!" Ginger ostentatiously turned her back on Margaret, securing her blanket more tightly around herself. They'd at least managed to secure three separate blankets, or the situation would've been entirely untenable. "How about I tie your legs together instead?"

"Then I would just be kicking with both legs instead of one at a time," Margaret pointed out reasonably. "I hardly think that would be any better. Have you thought about sleeping in the fetal position, so that your legs are drawn up and out of range? I hear it's amazingly restful for people who can keep their legs still at night."

"I'm not just going to cede the bed to you because you can't keep your legs to yourself!" Ginger insisted, flipping back onto her back and looking about ready to throw down. "Maybe you could sleep with your legs on a chair so you don't hit anybody!"

"That's enough!" Donna sat up abruptly in bed, slipping her shoes onto her feet and throwing her blanket around her shoulders. "I will go sleep on the bus! I've done it a dozen times without getting ax-murdered or human trafficked, and honest to god, at this point that is a risk I am willing to take! I will see you in the morning!" She picked up her purse and swept out, blanket trailing behind her like a cape.

…..

For all Josh tended to resist sleep like a hyperactive toddler at bedtime, when he did finally pass out he was a deep sleeper. It was just as well, then, that Donna had a key to his room. Shivering, she let herself into his room and hurried to the thermostat, turning the temperature up by another five degrees. The heat kicked on with a rattle loud enough to wake the dead, or in this case, the deputy. He looked around blearily. "What are you doing here? It's not six yet, is it?"

"No," she admitted wearily, "It's about two-thirty. I couldn't cope with Margaret and Ginger fighting over the bed anymore so I went to sleep on the bus, but it was too cold."

"Donna!" he exclaimed, sitting up. "We had the conversation about sleeping on the bus already! You could get mugged by a band of roving Republicans looking for campaign secrets! Or freeze to death!"

"I didn't expect it to be quite so cold this late in the year. But I'm just so tired!" She could hear the whine in her voice but was too exhausted to temper it. Josh would just have to cope.

He sighed., which turned into a huge yawn. "All right, come on then." Sliding back down into the bed, he raised the covers to let her in.

She stared in disbelief. "Josh..."

"What?" he asked, blinking at her. "You're exhausted, I'm exhausted, we're both practically fully clothed and we have to be awake in less than four hours. If you don't get any sleep tonight, both of us are going to be useless tomorrow. So get in the damn bed."

Donna actually found that logic difficult to argue with, though she suspected it might be mostly because she was so tired. Whatever the reason, she found herself crossing the room and slipping under the covers next to him. The bed was deliciously warm on her chilly skin, and the pillow smelled pleasantly of Josh's aftershave. "You don't kick, do you?" she mumbled, her eyes already closing.

"Never had any complaints," he assured her, reaching out and smoothing a few silky strands of her hair off his pillow and away from his face. She felt his hand barely ghost along her shoulder. "Go to sleep now."

"Mm-kay." There was a significant chance she would never hear the end of this from Margaret and Ginger, but as she slipped into deep, restful, kickless sleep, Donna thought it might just be worth it.