Donna is sitting at Josh's desk, twenty-two pages of mind-numbing blathering on the subject of natural gas reserves spread before her, when Josh himself ambles into his office, looking pensive. He closes the door behind himself and leans against it for a moment, staring at the floor with a fixed frown.
"What's up?" Donna asks, and Josh looks up, almost surprised to find her with him.
"Oh," he says, reluctantly, "I just talked to Leo."
It's not his intent, of course, but there are few words in the English language capable of garnering the kind of instant anxiety those call up in Donna's stomach. There are a nearly infinite variety of ways in which a conversation with Leo McGarry can portend doom, anything from scolding to staffing changes to that most horrifying, their own outing. The expression on Josh's face is nearly inscrutable, totally unhelpful. "Is everything alright?" she asks. The texture of paper under her fingers is suddenly too much. She folds her hands in her lap.
Josh pulls a face that only makes the knot of fear tighter and more sour, and then he sidles over to the other door and shuts that, too, compounding the anxiety.
"There's an opening in Legislation," Josh begins, leaning on the point of his shoulder, with his hands rammed into his trouser pockets. Everything about his body language is screaming "unhappy, uncomfortable," and it makes Donna feel a little sick. "Cindy decided not to come back after her leave was up, I guess. Leo wants you to take it."
"There's-Cindy's job?" Donna echoes, feeling suddenly dizzy and winded. "Cindy Woodford?"
"Yep," Josh confirms.
"She was-"
"Head of Research for Legislative Affairs," Josh finishes for her.
Donna stares at her boyfriend for a long moment, at his slumped shoulders and nervous posture, and she can guess why he's acting so awkward but frankly she's a little more focused on the buzzing sound in her ears. "I'm not qualified," she says, almost blankly. "They wouldn't hire me, I never even finished college."
"The Chief of Staff tapped you, Donnatella," Josh reminds her, and he's getting a little humor back in his face. "Plus, I'm prepared to write you a pretty glowing recommendation if you need it, which you won't."
"Wait," Donna says, holding up a hand. A glorious idea steals over her, and she can feel herself starting to grin. "If I took this job I'd be answering to Ed, right?"
"Yeah." Josh doesn't look overwhelmingly happy about the idea.
"So, not you," she suggests, pushing back the chair and standing, moving slowly, almost languorously. Savoring the look in Josh's eyes as he watches her.
Opportunities to be together are thin on the ground these days, even more so than in the immediate aftermath of the MS scandal. Since they won reelection, there's been a lot less convenient hotel-sharing, and the deprivation is starting to wear on them both, again. At least for the first few years, they hadn't known what they were missing. Now, the memory is a constantly taunting shadow, every time they say goodnight at the White House gates.
"Not me," Josh echoes, but she can tell he wasn't really listening, even to himself.
"You wouldn't be my boss, anymore," Donna paraphrases, more leadingly.
"No," Josh agrees, and then he gets it, the seed of a smile taking sudden root. "In fact," he says, "You'd basically be in a whole different department."
"I wouldn't answer to you at all," Donna agrees, and she just about prowls around the desk, tilting her head and biting her bottom lip.
"There wouldn't be any conflict of interest to speak of," Josh extrapolates, now genuinely smiling at her. He takes a step forward to meet her, pull her against his body, and there follows a breathless moment of nearly incandescent anticipation, before Donna rocks up on her toes and kisses him, open-mouthed and deep.
It never gets old, kissing Josh. His lips are amazing, soft and flexible, and he kisses not just with his lips but with his whole body. While her mouth is occupied with his, hot and wet and incredible, every other part of him is focused on her, from the tilt of his shoulders to the press of his hips, to the way his hand stroke her cheeks and cradle her hips. The tip of his tongue flickers over the roof of her mouth, and Donna giggles into the kiss.
By the time they break apart, she's nearly trembling, and Josh is dark-eyed and serious, and they have to take a moment to gather themselves before they can stand to let go, return to their professional roles.
"You'd have to start going home at a reasonable hour," Donna tells him, tremulously, with her head pressed against his shoulder.
"Look who's talking," Josh points out, with a fond smile. "Do you want to go to Leo, or do you want me to do it?"
"I want to," Donna decides, and she feels something she hasn't for a while, something that once motivated her to beat every other flautist in seating auditions, that had driven her to study just that little bit harder, to knock Monica Jordan out of the top ten at graduation. The same feeling that drove her across the Midwest, twice, something that made her brazen her way into a job working for the next leader of the free world. Something that had allowed her to run Josh's department nearly single-handedly for two months.
She's always felt challenge as a fire in her gut, making her stronger and more determined.
Taking this job will move her away from Josh in one sense, true, but it'll also open a whole new world with him. A world of not going home alone anymore, of getting to be seen with him, of dinner dates and movie nights and maybe, when these four years are up, of marriage and children.
And in so doing, she'll have a whole new world of other responsibility, of things to learn. Instead of helping Josh herd Congresspeople with a whip and chair, she'll get to immerse herself in the nitty-gritty of laws. Her opinions will shape policy, which would probably be more of a dizzying thought if she weren't so incredibly excited about it.
"You should go grab him before his next meeting," Josh tells her, nodding the general direction of the Oval. "Let him know he can call of the hunt."
"Yeah," Donna agrees, but first she steps into his body, wraps her arms around him, and squeezes. Josh makes a show of groaning and wheezing breathlessly, and buried his face in her neck.
"I love you, Josh," she tells him softly.
"I am so proud of you, Donnatella," he murmurs, and damned if the words don't bring tears to her eyes. "You're gonna be fantastic."