The Other Woman
By Misha

Disclaimer- These characters are the property of NBC, Aaron Sorkin, or whoever. I am not writing this for profit in any way, shape, or form, but because I have a lot of spare time on my hands.

Author's Notes- I have no idea what possessed me to write another sympathetic Amy piece, but I couldn't help it. I still don't like her, but I've accepted that she's not going anywhere. Unfortunately. Anyway, this is short and reflective. It's set sometime after Bartlett's second term and has only a tiny bit of J/D, mostly it's slanted in the Josh/Amy, Sam/Donna direction, though there's no real shipperness. Just some details here and there. Well, that's all, enjoy!

Rating- PG

Spoilers- Up to "Posse Commitus".


Amy wondered if she would ever grow comfortable around Donna.

When they had first met, she had barely noticed her.

Then, she hadn't been able to help it.

Donna's presence in Josh's life wasn't exactly a quiet one. All you had to do was be around them for five minutes and you'd understand why there were so many rumours. Yet, Amy knew that rumours was all there had ever been.

Yet, she could never really get used to the other woman's presence. Even when she became Sam's wife and Amy was married to Josh.

Amy looked across the room at where Josh and Donna were talking.

She knew that there had been a tense period after Sam and Donna had begun dating, but that was long gone. In fact, Josh and Donna were as close as they had always been.

Well, not quite. Things had changed between them. Between everyone. But the two of them still had a special connection.

Amy was willing to bet that there were people who looked at the two of them and asked themselves "why didn't they ever get together?"

Sometimes, Amy had to wonder that herself. They were so obviously apart of one another, why hadn't they ever taken that extra step?

She usually came back to the fact that they hadn't wanted to risk it. That they hadn't wanted to possibly ruin the bond they shared, by becoming more than friends.

Still, Amy was sure that at times, each had thought about it.

But nothing had ever come of it. Josh had married her and Donna had married Sam. That was the end. They had each taken a different path.

Amy knew that friendship was all that existed between them now, neither of them was the unfaithful type.

Yet, the idea of her husband having such a close bond with another woman, did bother her.

She knew that Josh loved her, that they were happy together, but she also knew she'd never know him as well as Donna did.

Donna was Josh's best friend, even more so than Sam. Donna had been there through some of the worst moments of his life and that had created something special between the two of them.

Amy looked at Sam and wished that she could be like him. She knew that he too saw the bond that Josh and Donna shared, but unlike her, he didn't appear to be at all bothered by it.

But then, he had witnessed it longer than her, and understood it better.

Amy was always aware that in a way she would always be an outsider. She would never fit into the inner sanctum of what had been Josiah Bartlett's senior staff.

She hadn't fought the war with them and she would never understand everything that had held them together. Donna did. Donna had been there. Donna had shared the blood, sweat, and tears of Bartlett's two terms in a way that Amy hadn't been able to.

Even after she had gotten a job as the First Lady's chief of staff, replacing Lily Mays who had decided to stay home with her children, she had still not really understood the dimension that bonded those in the West Wing together.

She never experienced anything like it herself.

Maybe that was one of the reasons that she would never really like Donna. Because the other woman belonged where she herself did not.

Still, Amy tried to push those feelings aside. Whether she liked it or not, Donna was part of her life and Josh's. There was no getting around that.

So, she tried to her thoughts aside and learn to like Donna.

She really was a great person.

But in the end, Amy knew that she would probably never be comfortable with her. And in a way, she'd always think of her as the other woman.

Even though it was kind of absurd, but that's how she felt.

The End