Title: The Gift
Author:S A Martin
Synopsis: Christmas gift giving in the White House.
Characters: Josh and Donna
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Post S5, Abu El Banat
DECEMBER 5th
Josh was sat at his desk, his feet propped on a table, flicking through a catalog, occasionally stopping to initial a Post-it note.
"What?" Donna asked from across the desk, where she was completing an order form.
"Umm?"
"You keep sighing. Don't you like my choices?"
"No, they're great."
"Then?"
"Why am I buying gifts for Kat and David? They're my second cousins, I think."
"You think?"
"Well they're my mom's cousin's son and daughter which, I think, makes them my second cousins. Anyway, why am I buying them gifts?"
"Because they're family and it's Christmas."
"We're all Jewish."
"And Chanukah," Donna continued.
"Yeah," Josh conceded. "But I haven't seen them since.... You know I can't remember the last time I saw David. Kat came to my dad's funeral, but I haven't seen her since."
"They're family," Donna repeated, "It's a gesture."
"One that's costing me a fortune," Josh complained.
"There's only seven to buy for, and they always buy you something."
"Yes, but how do you know David's not asking...." he picked up a catalog to check the name, "Yvette, who by the way I've never met, why he's sending me a gift, only to find out it's because I always send him one?"
"Do you want your relatives to think you're a scrooge?"
"Yes, why shouldn't they know the truth?" Josh smiled.
"What's my gift?"
"Slippers," Josh replied. "What, did you think if you just threw it into the conversation I'd let slip?"
"When'd you get it?"
"Thanksgiving, I told you."
"When you went shopping with CJ?"
"Yes. But she was off buying shoes, to go with a dress it had taken two hours to choose, so there's no point in asking her."
"What about your mom?"
"I haven't told her, I'm not that stupid, you talk to her more than I do."
"No, what have you bought her?"
"I'm not telling you?"
Donna smiled, "Because you need me to choose something?"
"No," Josh protested. "It sounds boring, but she's been hinting for months that she wants one."
"Go on."
"A digital camera. She didn't want to get one herself 'cos she doesn't know anything about them."
"And you do?" Donna asked doubtfully.
"I got Charlie to help me," Josh admitted.
"That isn't a boring gift," Donna insisted. "So there's hope for my DVD player?"
"I wouldn't get too excited in that direction if I was you."
"Josh," Leo interrupted. "Busy?"
Josh removed his feet off the desk and sat forward. "No, please save me," he smiled.
Leo sat down in the chair Donna had just vacated and looked at the catalogs on Josh's desk, "Christmas shopping?"
"Yeah and Chanukah," Josh replied nervously, waiting for Leo to reprimand him for wasting government time.
"Margaret's been bugging me all week," Leo sighed. "Keeps leaving catalogs and little lists on my desk, she usually gives up by the middle of the month. She'll leave wrapped gifts to sign the tags the week before Christmas."
Josh smiled, "Donna refuses to wrap mine. What's up?"
"You spoke to Doug?"
"He's pretty pissed; I wouldn't imagine the Bartlet's are having a fun meal up there."
"I don't think the president'll be too bothered about upsetting him," Leo commented.
CHRISTMAS DAY
"Merry Christmas," Josh smiled as he let Donna into his apartment.
"Merry Christmas. I'm first here?"
Josh nodded, he had actually told everyone else to come around 2, he'd told Donna 1. "You want a drink?"
"I have wine," Donna handed Josh a bottle and followed him into the kitchen. "Who's bringing what then?"
"Toby and CJ are on the main course, so that should be some kind of sandwiches," Josh smiled. "Charlie's bringing desert."
"Whatever they had in the only store he could find open last night?" Donna suggested.
"Yes," Josh agreed. "The starters look good though. You been slaving over them all morning?" he grinned knowingly.
"I have. I had to take them out of the freezer and put them in a bag to bring round here. You have to cook them, so we'd better put them in the oven."
"Not yet," Josh smiled a little self consciously, "no one else will be here 'til 2."
"Then why am I here at 1?"
"I wanted to give you your gift before the others arrived."
Donna smiled, "Really? Is it a secret gift?"
Josh just smiled. He wanted Donna to himself for 30 minutes at least and he knew CJ would be early because she always was. He lead Donna back into the living room and handed her a gift wrapped in cheap gaudy paper.
Donna tried not to look too worried as she opened the parcel, she tried to position her features in the traditional gift receiving pose of, 'wow that's just what I wanted'. She slowly unwrapped the paper, well aware that Josh was studying her very closely, and removed a pair of animal slippers, possibly in the shape of a cat, it was hard to tell.
"You like?" Josh asked eagerly.
Donna looked bemused."They're very cute."
"Try them on."
"Now?"
"Yeah, we're inside."
Donna slipped her shoes off and placed the slippers on the feet. She had to admit they were cute, just not what she had expected.
"No cold feet for you this winter." Josh was trying very hard not to laugh at Donna's attempts to look pleased. "Where's mine?" he asked.
"You're like a 7 year old," she scolded. She took a small, tastefully wrapped, package out of her purse and handed it to him.
Josh didn't open it though. "I'll just put the starters in the oven," he told her, placing the gift on the coffee table and going back into the kitchen, leaving Donna studying her slippers and wishing she'd bought him a silly gift instead. "You want another drink?" he asked when he returned with the wine bottle.
"Yes," Donna held her glass out. "What's that?" she asked.
Josh smiled, "You didn't really think I'd got you slippers?"
"You can't have them back now, they're mine."
"So you don't want this then, 'cos I still have the receipt?"
"Give it me," Donna beamed. She took the small box off him. It was the size of a jeweler's box and definitely wasn't wrapped by Josh. "Open yours first."
Josh grinned and carefully unwrapped the present. It was a small painting of the lighthouse at Saybrook. He studied it with a smile, while Donna studied him.
"Your mom mentioned once that you liked it there when you were a kid," she said.
"I still do. Thank you," he smiled. He walked to the front of the room, took a print of a river off the wall and hung the lighthouse in its place. "Looks good," he smiled. "Your turn."
Donna unwrapped the gift and opened the box. Inside was a celtic torque bangle made of white gold. "Wow, that's beautiful," she beamed as she put it on her wrist. "Thank you." She stood and hugged him, resisting the temptation to kiss him, even on the cheek.
"You like it then? I do still have the receipt if you want to change it." He had been tempted to have it engraved, but everything he thought of seemed to express a lot more than friendship. He kept remembering his grandma's bracelet with the Hebrew inscription, 'Ze Dodi Veze Re'ei' but somehow, 'This is my beloved and this is my friend' seemed to be crossing the line he'd drawn after Rosslyn when he knew his feelings were starting to show.
"No, I love it. I lost my old one last summer, I've not been able to find one I liked as much, but this one's perfect," she smiled fingering the bangle. "You like the picture then?"
"Yeah. When I was a kid I use to love going to the beech and to the lighthouses, I had this thing about the sea. Saybrook was my favorite."
"Good. Did your mom like the camera?"
"Yes, in fact," Josh walked over to his computer and opened his email, "she sent me a picture." He showed Donna the attachments, two photographs, one of his mom sat out on her balcony on Christmas morning and one of her and her friend.
Donna grinned, "So that's Tom?"
"Yes."
"You like him?"
"Yeah, he seems okay. She insists he's just a friend, but I'm not convinced."
Donna smiled, from the way Ruth talked about him neither was she. "Look at that sky, in December."
"Yes," Josh agreed, looking across at the gray overcast sky out of his window. "Can't think for a minute why she wanted to move down there," he smiled.