Chapter 1

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman paced the space in front of his desk for the thousandth time that morning. It seemed like his West Wing office had suddenly gotten a lot smaller in the last few days. He couldn't bring himself to focus on his job, a very important job too. His thoughts were preoccupied. He ran his fingers through his hair. How the hell had this happened? How had he allowed this to happen? Hadn't he given himself one rule to abide by since the campaign? Under absolutely no circumstances was he to fall for the president's daughter. One rule. One. And he had screwed the pooch on that one.

Emily Bartlet, second daughter of President Josiah Bartlet, his boss, had somehow managed to make him completely disregard his only rule and throw caution to the wind. To make matters worse, he just couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about her. Her eyes. Her smile. Her laugh. The way she looked at him. To say that he was infatuated would have been an understatement. He felt like a teenage girl in love for the first time-of which he was neither. He was a grown man, but these strong feelings for her were completely new territory for him to trek. He had had girlfriends before...several actually, but now looking back on things, the feelings he had for any of them paled in comparison to his feelings now. There was just something about Emily Bartlet.

Josh glanced at one of the pictures on his wall and smiled fondly. It was a newspaper clipping titled Joshua Lyman to Join Bartlet for America the accompanying picture had been taken in Nashua, New Hampshire after a speech given at the VFW. It was a picture of him seated at a table with Emily, then Candidate Bartlet and Leo behind them. Josh smiled. Not only was that the night he had decided to join the campaign, but it was the night he had his first encounter with Emily. A life-changing encounter at that.

13 weeks before the 1998 New Hampshire Primary. . .

The fallen leaves rustled and danced in the bitter wind that swept through the darkness as a twenty-something woman crossed the streets of Nashua. Her shadow cast against the street from the shine of the street light. She tucked her curly dishwater-blonde hair behind her ear before shoving her hands in her jeans pockets and burying her nose below the collar of her dark blue Yale sweatshirt. She should have remembered to wear a jacket, but apparently, she had forgotten how chilly New Hampshire could be at this time of the year. Having grown up just down the road in Manchester, she really should have known better.

Reluctantly, Emily pulled her right arm from her pocket to check a silver wristwatch. She was late. Dinner had started five minutes ago. Emily knew better than to be late for an event and make a scene, but the traffic had been terrible coming up from New Haven. In her defense, she hadn't even missed the speech yet, just the start of dinner, nothing catastrophic. Emily then shoved her hand back in her pocket and ascended the stairs in a bit of a run.

There was an older gentleman dressed in a brown leather jacket with a plaid shirt underneath, holding the door open for her. Emily muttered her thanks before she entered the warm building. When the warm air hit her cheeks, she sighed in contentment before she followed the sound of people talking and forks and knives clanking against plates. Going to these types of events wasn't her favorite thing in the world, but for her dad, she would suffer through. The look of surprise on his face would be reason enough. He didn't know she was coming nor that was she was spending the weekend at home.

When she entered the room, she spotted Leo McGarry, a good friend of her father's who had encouraged her to attend the event, talking to a gentleman at one of the tables toward the front of the room. Leo nodded his head and Emily gave a quick wave before she looked for an empty seat at the back of the room. There was a table in the back on the right side of the room with a guy more focused on a newspaper than his dinner. Emily quickly headed toward that table as to not draw too much attention to herself. She kept her head down and made sure that her hair covered her face from the crowd. While outside of politics, she wasn't noticed often due to her status as the governor's daughter, but tonight was a completely different story.

As she approached the table with the lone man, Emily thought that he looked vaguely familiar. She couldn't place where she had seen him before, but there was something about him that she recognized. She had met so many different people through college and her father's political career, it was impossible to keep track of them all. If he acted as she should know him, she would just smile, nod, and pretend she knew him like she usually did.

Emily stopped behind an empty chair to the man's right. He glanced over at her for a moment before he set his newspaper down before he picked up his fork and turned his attention to his meal. Emily was baffled by his response. She wasn't used to being ignored, especially not at a political shindig.

After chewing her lip, Emily quietly asked, "Is this seat taken?"

The man had just stuffed a rather large piece of chicken in his mouth while she was asking. He recognized that she was trying to talk with him because his head flung up. But he looked at her through squinted eyes, clearly confused and unsure of what she had said. He quickly chewed his food and swallowed it hard. "What?" he asked before taking a sip of his water.

"Is this seat taken?" Emily asked again pointing at the chair to his right.

He shook his head before he took another bite of his chicken. Emily shook her head and chuckled to herself at the man's actions as she pulled the chair out and took a seat, dropping her backpack to the floor. One of the staff must have noticed her tardy entrance because she had barely sat down when a plate was placed in front of her.

Emily smiled up at the blushing man. She thanked him and he stood just stood there smiling at her. It wasn't until one of his coworkers hissed his name that he quickly scurried off. Emily giggled. There was always someone like that. It was a reality she had to accept being the daughter of a public figure. She was about to explain that to the guy next to her, but he seemed to be completely oblivious. Emily wasn't sure why, but that frustrated her. She didn't usually enjoy being the center of attention, but she also didn't like being ignored.

Knowing that this guy could be one of her father's constituents, Emily felt that she had to engage him in conversation somehow. So, she quietly observed him as she cut her chicken into bite-size pieces. Emily quickly noticed that he was without a wedding ring leading her to believe that he was either one of those perpetually single guys or else had a fear of committing the rest of his life to someone. Potentially could be both. Hard to say without actually knowing him. His hair was a little disheveled, his coat wrinkled, and his tie was loosened. This was probably the end of a very long day for him. He kept looking at his watch meaning he was either on some sort of time crunch or he had other, maybe better, places to be.

Suddenly, she found his brown eyes staring at her quizzically. Emily blushed and averted her eyes. He knew she had been staring at him...although, not for the reasons he probably believed. Ugh. This was embarrassing, not at all what she wanted to deal with tonight of all nights.

Trying to avoid further embarrassment from having watched him so closely, Emily glanced at the newspaper he had placed on the table with the crossword facing up. Emily softly smiled to herself. She had done that crossword before she left New Haven. Well, all of it but eight across. She couldn't help but see that this guy had number eight across filled in. 1969 World Series Winners. N-E-W-Y-O-R-K-M-E-T-S Emily made a mental note to fill that in her paper later. She hadn't had time to scour around to find World Series records before she left

Emily took several bites of her chicken, before glancing at his crossword again. She spotted a mistake. She took slower bites as she decided whether or not to point it out to him. When she realized that it would hopefully change the subject so that he might forget her staring at him, she decided to go for it. Emily took a sip of her water to soothe her dry throat and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear before she said, "Number twelve down is wrong."

Again, she had caught him at a bad time. He had just taken an unusually large bite of his salad. "What?" he asked.

Emily took a deep breath and repeated herself. "Number twelve down is wrong. Adam and Eve's grandson."

The man shook his head. "I'm no biblical scholar, but I know a thing or two, and you see, most people don't know this, but Cain had a son with that name."

"Well, I must not be your average person then because I've heard of Enoch. My problem is that his name doesn't end with a k as it does on your explains why you can't get fourteen across. You're looking for Enos, E-N-O-S, Seth's son, which puts an s as the first letter of fourteen across, a domestic, hairless cat breed so that you get the word…"

"Sphynx," he interrupted. "S-P-H-Y-N-X"

"Yeah," Emily said, her tone somewhat deflated. That wasn't exactly how she expected things to go, but then again, she wasn't sure what she expected. She blushed, realizing his gaze was still on her. This certainly wasn't going to win her father a supporter. Emily was thankful when he picked up his newspaper and pen, taking his gaze from her.

Normally she was not this awkward with people. But it seemed like for whatever reason, this guy brought out her most awkward side. She tried to focus on eating her mashed potatoes while he scribbled on his newspaper. Emily had just taken a rather large bite of potatoes when the guy turned to her, shook his head and said, "So, you're one of those people?"

She swallowed hard. "One of what people?"

He looked at her rather pointedly, despite the smile on this face. "One of those people who can't help but do other people's crosswords for them."

Emily arched an eyebrow at him. "I'd like to think of it as helping people do their crosswords."

There was a moment of silence before he chuckled. "Touche."

She gave a slight sigh of relief before she smiled sweetly at him and introduced herself. "I'm Emily, by the way."

"Josh."

Emily went to extend her right hand toward him, accidentally knocking her glass of water onto the table and Josh's lap. Her eyes widened in horror. She quickly removed the napkin from her lap to clean it up. Josh then reached for an unused cloth napkin at the empty place setting, but when he was pulling the napkin back toward him, he bumped his glass of water, spilling it over the table and Emily.

The ice water shocked Emily so much that she froze. Both of them sat there frozen for a few seconds before they both burst into laughter, standing up to shake the water off. So much for being low-key; all eyes were on her and this Josh guy. People at nearby tables were talking and laughing. A nearby reporter even snapped a picture. That picture would definitely be a keeper.

"I think we're gonna need some more water at that table," Josiah Bartlet said from the podium with a smile on his face, looking at the scene his daughter was making.

Emily looked up at her father and offered him a sympathetic smile only to see him trying to hold back his laughter. Not exactly how she planned on surprising him, but he looked happy to see her nonetheless. She had no doubt that he would bring the incident up after his speech. Probably something about stealing the spotlight, which she knew would be said in jest. But still. She was already embarrassed enough as it was, she didn't need the torture to be endless.

The staff came to their aid. They changed the tablecloth and switched the chairs for dry ones. Once that was done, they placed their plates along with new glasses of water on the table. As they took their seats, a few people clapped, including her father.

"That was the comedic relief for the evening," Josiah Bartlet said in a teasing tone. "Now onto business." He then delved into the speech prepared for the evening.

No longer hungry, Emily carefully pushed her plate away. She chuckled at one of her dad's lame jokes. Josh looked at her and leaned a little closer, whispering, "I'm sorry, I have to ask. Did you actually go to Yale or are you one of those people who wear another college's apparel even though you didn't actually go there to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are?"

Emily arched an eyebrow and looked up at him. Talk about blunt. "If you must know, I currently attend Yale. I'm in my last semester of law school."

He almost looked impressed. "Huh. I went to Yale for law."

Emily just nodded her head. She did find it interesting that he'd attended the same law school, but she was also trying to listen to her father speak. He was most likely going to ask her about the speech later and she wanted to be able to respond honestly. But apparently, Josh's curiosity got the better of him.

He leaned over again and whispered. "So, you're going to be a lawyer then."

Emily shook her head, her eyes still on her father. "No."

Josh frowned. "Something with politics?"

"Nope."

"Academia?"

"No."

"Consultant?"

"No."

"Lobbyist?" Clearly, he was getting desperate.

Emily chuckled thinking of herself as a lobbyist before she responded, "Nope."

"Uhh...good God, I'm out of ideas." Josh chuckled uncomfortably, scratching his head. "Then why go to law school?"

Emily smirked and turned toward him. "Because I thought it would be really cool to say that I went to law school."

Josh blinked slowly several times, the smile on his face nearly vanishing. "Are you serious?"

"No," she chuckled, shaking her head. "This time last year, I had every intention of being a lawyer. But things change."

"Then why keep going to law school?"

Emily arched an eyebrow and whispered, "For someone you've just met, you're awfully curious." Josh just smiled and gave her a look that had probably gotten him his way hundreds of times. He still wanted her to answer the question. Emily folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

"I set out to attend law school and I'm sure as hell gonna finish law school. So, I don't become a lawyer or have a job related to law. It's not the end of the world. I accomplished what I set out to do, my dream just changed. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I came here to listen to him speak." Emily pointed toward the stage. "And you should too."

Josh nodded his head and picked up his newspaper again, attempting to finish the crossword puzzle. Emily tried to listen to her father, but she had a nagging feeling in her gut. All the questions. What if she recognized this guy earlier because he was a reporter and she had just divulged her secret plan to him. Even her parents didn't know that she wasn't pursuing law. That was what she was considering telling them this weekend, but she would probably back out of doing that somehow. But if the press somehow got a hold of that story...

Emily turned toward him, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, and asked, "You're not a reporter, are you?"

He blinked slowly several times before he chuckled. "God, no."

"Oh, thank goodness," Emily breathed a sigh of relief and ran her fingers through her hair.

Josh smiled, showing his dimples and pointed up at the speaker "Now if you wouldn't mind, I came here to listen to Bartlet speak." The fact that he used her very words against her wasn't missed by Emily. His teasing words even helped her feel a little better, even if he did return his attention to his crossword rather than watch her father.

After Josiah Bartlet's prepared marks, he switched gears for the Q&A portion of the evening. While she hadn't heard much of the short speech, Emily thought her father had done well, but his team that sat in the opposite corner of the room looked nervous. Well, all of them except one, whose name was currently escaping her. She was pretty sure it began with a T. Tommy? Emily shrugged her shoulders. She would worry about learning people's names when she joined the campaign after graduation.

Between questions, Josh leaned toward Emily again and whispered, "You're a Bartlet fan, I take it."

Emily smiled and shrugged. "Most days."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because I'd rather not be disowned," she joked, which wasn't completely far from the truth and was better than flat out saying because he's my dad. Josh chuckled, seemingly accepting her answer before looking at that goddamn crossword again.

Emily's brow furrowed. Why was he even here? He seemed more interested in her or his crossword than the candidate. Strange. He hardly seemed to be paying any attention to her father. Maybe he was one of those people who came for the free meal. But that didn't quite feel right. She eyed him curiously, but he was too preoccupied with his crossword to notice this time.

But she brushed it off and focused on her father. Emily rested her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in her hands to watch her father answer questions. They were answers she had heard him give time and time again, but he had a knack for making it sound like it was the first time. He was a captivating public speaker.

She couldn't help but smile, as her father, ever the economics professor, tried to explain to a woman that she was paying more in taxes just for being married. While Emily understood where her father was coming from, having heard the argument before, his explanation sort of went over the woman's head. That was what amused her. He just couldn't help himself sometimes, which she knew from experience growing up.

Her father moved onto the next, and final question, from a man at a table a few rows in front of her. "Governor Bartlet, when you were a member of Congress, you voted against the New England Dairy Farming Compact. That vote hurt me, sir," the man said.

Emily could see the men in the corner shift uncomfortably and glare that the one whose name she couldn't remember. Tony?

But the man continued, "I'm a businessman. That vote hurt me to the tune of maybe, 10 cents a gallon. I voted for you three times for Congress. I voted for you twice for Governor. And I'm here sir, and I'd like to ask you for an explanation."

She held her breath for a moment, waiting for her father to respond as he took a moment to compose himself. He took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, I screwed you on that one."

In the corner of her eye, Emily saw Josh's head slowly lift and look at her father. His expression was one of surprise. She couldn't help but watch Josh as her father finished the exchange with the man.

"I'm sorry?" the questioner responded.

"I screwed you. You got hosed," Bartlet's response was firm. Josh still hadn't lost interest. In fact, he looked more interested in Jed Bartlet than he had all evening. He even set his newspaper back down on the table.

"Sir, I…"

"And not just you. A lot of my constituents. I put the hammer to farms in Concord, Salem,
Laconia, and Elem."

Emily smiled at just how shocked Josh looked. After having seen this look a time or two, she had come to recognize what it meant. Josiah Bartlet was winning them over and right now he was winning over Josh.

"You guys got rogered but good."

The man questioning her father sat down, but Josiah Bartlet wasn't finished with his explanation. "Today, for the first time in history, one in five Americans living in poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, backbreaking, gut-wrenching
, poverty, one in five, and they're children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says "We shall give our children better than we ourselves had.'"

A member of the staff began placing bowls of jello down at the table in front of them, blocking Josh's view. But he leaned closer toward Emily so that he could still keep his eyes on the Bartlet that was speaking. Emily couldn't help but notice that he didn't seem to notice how close he was to her. He was nearly on top of her. Emily slightly leaned away from him until the staff moved and the view from his chair was unobstructed.

"I voted against the bill 'cause I didn't want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that, but if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else. Thanks very much. Hope you enjoyed the chicken."

A round of applause began to sound as Josiah Bartlet stepped off the stage. Even Josh, who had once looked bored out of his mind was applauding. Emily grinned as she clapped too. Josiah Bartlet walked around the room, waving at his constituents until he stopped at the table where Josh and Emily were seated. He looked at his daughter and shook his head.

"You always did know how to make an entrance, even as a little girl," he laughed. "Isn't that right, Leo?"

"Yes, sir," Leo said with a grin on his face as he approached the table too.

"Thanks, Dad," Emily groaned as her father bent down and placed a kiss on the top of her head before resting a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and patted her dad's hand.

"Dad?" Josh uttered in disbelief, blinking slowly.

Leo laughed and slapped Josh on the shoulder. "Josh, I'd like you to meet Jed Bartlet and it appears you've already met his daughter Emily."

"It-it's pleasure to meet you, sir," Josh said, awkwardly getting to his feet and extending his right hand toward Candidate Bartlet.

Bartelt smiled his smile for the public and shook Josh's hand when a reporter approached them. "Could I get a picture?" the man asked.

Leo told him that he could. Josh sat back down in his chair and scooted his chair a little closer to Emily for the shot. Leo stood behind Josh and Jed stood behind his daughter. They all smiled and the camera quickly flashed. He then took a second photo, just in case.

"Josh, I'm thinking we need to have a quick talk," Leo said grinning at Josh.

"Yes, Mr. Secretary," Josh responded.

"Josh," Leo groaned.

"Sorry. Yes, Leo."

"There we go," Leo chuckled, gently slapping Josh's back. He then looked at Emily and smiled. "It was good to see you, kid. We'll talk more in a bit. I want to hear all about how your last semester is going."

Emily nodded her head as she watched Josh pick a backpack from the floor and follow Leo. Several people came over and shook her father's hand before he took the seat where Josh had been sitting. "Who's your friend? The one that just left."

"His name is Josh and I just met him."

Her father eyed her curiously. "You looked awfully comfortable with him for someone you just met."

Emily rolled her eyes as another constituent approached her father. She smiled at the woman who approached him. Her father told the woman to wait just a moment before he whispered in his daughter's ear. "Hang around, Em. I'm assuming you're here for the weekend and i want to ride home with you."

"Oh, joy," Emily responded sarcastically.

Jed arched an eyebrow. "For that, we're taking the long way home."

Emily chuckled and watched her father walk away to go talk with his constituents. He never could resist talking with people. And while it often annoyed her, it showed how great his leadership skills truly were-he listened to the people. Not all politicians did that.

She sighed and reached down for her backpack. Her brow furrowed when she saw it wasn't where she had left it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her backpack on the other side of the chair where Josh had been sitting. It must have accidentally gotten moved. WIth her foot, Emily managed to hook the strap on her foot and she slid it toward her. She was about to grab something out of it when a girl tapped on her shoulder. The girl was dressed in the same outfit as the wait staff.

"We have cake that was left over from the function last night and we wanted to know if you'd like to have some with us."

Emily smiled. "Hell, yes. I'm not one to pass up on cake." She slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed the girl into the kitchen.

Most of the staff was in college, so Emily felt right at home talking with them and eating cake. This was the part of public life that she enjoyed. She liked getting to talk with people and getting to know them, maybe even help them solve some of the problems they were facing. And doing it over a piece of cake made it completely non-threatening. Emily talked for so long that this time it was her father waiting on her, rather than the other way around. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, with his arms across his chest and a smile on his face.

"You about done?" he asked Emily. His tone was teasing. He didn't mind having to wait for her, it was just strange that the tables for once had been turned.

Emily nodded her head and scooped the last bit of frosting off her plate before shoving it in her mouth. She said her goodbyes to the college folk before she headed for the door with her father.

"Why don't you give me your keys and we'll have one of the guys drive it home," her father said. Emily nodded her head and swung her backpack around to the front so that she could dig in it for her keys as she walked. But when Emily opened the backpack, she stopped in her tracks.

"No, no, no," she muttered to herself as she dug through a backpack filled with men's clothing, papers, and a name badge for Senator Hoynes' office with the name Joshua Lyman. She was too concerned about her lost things to care about the mystery of why a guy from Hoynes' office was spying on her father. Her backpack had something very precious to her in it.

Her father's brow furrowed. "Lose your keys?"

"More like lost my backpack," Emily muttered as she ran a hand through her hair. She looked around for Leo, the last person she had seen with Josh. "Leo! Leo! Leo!" Emily frantically called.

Leo turned around and saw a frantic Emily running toward him. "What?"

"Where's Josh?" she asked, gasping for breath.

Leo shrugged his shoulder. "He's probably waiting for his bus. I think it leaves soon though."

"I'll be back!" Emily called as she ran out the door. She was outside no more than a few seconds before she ran back inside. "I don't have my keys. Can someone drive me to the transit station? I really don't wanna run two miles."

Leo and her father laughed. Her father wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulder as they stepped outside and the car was pulled around. "Get in," her father said. "I need some fresh air. So, Leo and I will be waiting here for you. If you don't come back we might freeze to death."

Emily shook her head and kissed her father's cheek before she hopped in the car and told the driver to take her to the transit station. When they came to a stop, Emily practically bolted from the car and ran into the station in search of Josh Lyman. It didn't take her long to find him. The station was quite empty and he was sitting near the gate for Boston.

Her eyes widened when she saw a rather large stack of white paper on his lap and he flipped a page. It was a novel that she had been working on for nearly a year. She treated it like it was her child and she had never showed it to anyone before. Sure one day she was planning on showing it to people...after it was published. But not today.

She quickly stormed over there. "Hey! That's my story!" she yelled at him.

"Yeah, I figured," Josh said in a carefree tone as he looked up at a frantic Emily standing in front of him. He smiled at her, which made her blood boil The nerve. How could he just read someone else's stuff like that?

"Then why are you reading it?" Emily snapped.

"Well, you see, I was going to grab something out of my backpack when I realized this wasn't my backpack. Apparently, we have the same taste in backpacks. Anyway, I was going to head back to the VFW and return it, I swear, but I saw this and got curious. Then I started reading and I just got sucked in...and then you came and started yelling at me."

Emily folded her arms across my chest. "I'm not yelling at you."

"Then what would you call it?" He smiled at her with a knowing smile. They both knew he was right, but she wasn't about to admit that. Not to someone she just met.

She chewed her lip for a moment before she responded, "Talking very sternly."

Josh laughed before he closed stack of pages he had been reading. "This is good. I mean it. It's not my genre, but I'm sure middle school girls would go wild for this."

Emily placed her arms on her hips. "How would you know? Are you secretly a middle school girl?"

"No," Josh chuckled. "That would just be weird."

"You think?"

"You should get this published, seriously."

"What do you think I'm trying to do? I'm trying to get it done before graduation so that I can get it sent off to publishers. It will be easier to explain to my parents why I'm not pursuing my law degree that way."

"They don't know?"

"No. Just you. You're the only one I've told.."

Josh's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why? Why tell me."

Emily shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just did. I never thought I'd see you again, so I thought I could trust you."

"You can...trust me, that is."

"Can I?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving Hoynes and joining Bartlet for America."

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you tell me who you were? Why didn't you tell me you were working for Hoynes at the dinner?"

"Pot calling the kettle black much? You didn't tell me you were Bartlet's daughter."

Emily folded her arms across her chest. "I assumed you knew."

"And I assumed you knew."

A moment of silence overtook them. Josh held up one finger to give him a second before he set her book down on the chair next to him. He then stood up and extended his right hand toward her. "Hi, I'm Josh Lyman, formerly of Senator Hoynes office and campaign, currently with Bartlet for America." He looked at her and smiled, his dimples clearly showing.

Emily sighed and shook her head before she extended her hand. "I'm Emily Bartlet, daughter of Candidate Josiah Bartlet, current Yale law student with no current aspirations to do anything with my law degree but has dreams of being an author."

They shook hands when a voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that the bus to Boston had arrived. Josh and Emily dropped hands. "That's my bus," Josh said.

"I suppose you're going to want this then?" Emily held his backpack that had been slung on her shoulder toward him. Josh chuckled and nodded his head as he reached for his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder before he stuffed Emily's book back in her bag and handed it to her.

"What were you going to do, go home with my bag?"

Josh grinned sheepishly. "I was going to give it back once I got back to New Hampshire, I promise."

Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, sure you were."

"I was, I swear. If worse came to worse, I was going to head to campus and hunt you down."

"So, basically you already had a plan formulated to kidnap my book?"

"Basically." He smiled and Emily shook her head.

They called for his bus again. "I'll be seeing you then, I guess," Josh said shifting his stance..

Emily nodded her head and tucked her hair behind her ear, smiling up at him. Josh smiled back and pat Emily on the shoulder before he walked toward his bus. He was almost there when he stopped and looked back at Emily who stood there watching him. She waved. He waved back and got on his bus, not knowing just how important she would become to him….or he to her.

Author's Note: Another one has escaped and I blame BeyondTheHorizonisHope and perfectlystiles (both of whom whose stories you should check out). Thank you to everyone who has supported me while I started this story. I'll confess, I'm nervous because I know most people are Josh/Donna shippers, but I wanted to try this. So, please no hate or complaining. I'd really appreciate it. It's just a character with stories I couldn't shake while watching TWW. Thanks. To those of you who are waiting for another story to be updated, I tried. I did. But my muse for Emily just wouldn't leave.

Thanks to nixdragon for beta-ing this even though she knows absolutely nothing about The West Wing. Oops! haha.

Emily's faceclaim: young Keri Russell

Reviews are always appreciated.