Author: TheGeekGirl
Feedback: Pretty please to joshbunny@btopenworld.com
Disclaimer: Sadly, these aren't mine :) Damn.
Rating: PG-13 - I think.
Category: J/D
Summary: Snowballing turns out to be a dangerous pastime for J & D.
Spoilers: None
Archiving: Just drop me an email first.
Notes: Urm, just a little bit of silliness really ! Still new to this so please bear with me. Oh and don't go looking for a plot anywhere....this is fluff :)


~*~*~*~ Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow ~*~*~*~


"Can my life get any worse?" Donna thought. It was late on a Saturday afternoon and they were stuck in the office. "Once upon a time, I had a life..." she muttered, trying to resist the urge to bang her head against the desk.

Josh looked up from the file he was reading. "Did you say something?" He looked relaxed in a pair of faded jeans and a worn dark green sweater with a white t-shirt beneath it.

She shook her head slightly and instead lent across to snatch the last piece of sweet and sour pork from Sam's takeout carton. He didn't notice her transgression immediately, absorbed as he was in his work. It was only when he reached for the carton a minute or so later, he realised that he'd been robbed.

"Hey! Who stole...." Donna didn't look up from her notes but just pointed with her pen at Josh.

"Me?" Josh spluttered. She looked up and gave him a stern look along with a raised eyebrow. However her eyes danced with amusement. His eyes narrowed but his retort was cut short as CJ swung her head around the office doorway. She was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, like the rest of them. Her coat was draped over one arm.

"Do you people have no life?" she asked teasingly.

"Yes, CJ, we do. That is why we are in here working on P3817 on a Saturday night," Josh said, heavy sarcasm lacing his voice.

"P3817 is an honourable cause, Josh," CJ admonished, a small smile tugging at her lips as she entered the office.

"Yeah, cause ensuring that goldfish have rights is high on my list of 'things to do ocne we got into office'" he griped, returning to reading the file in front of him.

P3817 was a proposed change to the animal rights legislation and despite Josh's gruff exterior, he did really believe in tightening up the animal welfare legislation. He just placed it slightly lower on his list of priorities.

"Well, being a goldfish owner, I am firmly in favour of P3817." CJ answered.

"CJ, your goldfish are in the White House. I doubt they are top of the abused list," he replied dryly.

"Unlike the staff here...." Donna muttered under her breath.

CJ grinned. "So which one of you pissed off Leo this time?" The three of them automatically all pointed at each other without looking up.

Sam sighed and took his glasses off and turned to face the tall Press Secretary. "CJ, did you come in here for any other reason other than to gloat?"

She gave him a huge smile. "Of course!" She gestured out of the office window where huge flakes of snow were drifting down lazily from a darkening dusk sky. "First snow of the year."

There was complete silence for a second and then all chaos broke loose.


*****************************


The tradition had started back when they were on the campaign trail, following a breakdown of the bus and a couple of shared beers while they waited for the breakdown service. Ever since then, they had celebrated the first full snowfall of every year in the same way. Which meant spending half an hour regressing back to their childhoods, as well as getting cold wet hands and feet.

Although Leo frowned on it the frivolity of it, the President thought it was a great tradition. And being a great tradition it should be celebrated with, in his own words, "great gusto." So there was very little anyone else could do about it.

The four of them sped down the deserted corridor, shrugging into their respective coats. Donna encountered a slight logistical problem in attempting to turn while trying to find the other arm in her coat. Josh snickered and motored past her, smirking. There was a distinct tactical advantage in being the first outside.

On hearing what sounded like a school outing come barreling down the corridor, Leo stuck his head out of his office door. "Just what in God's name...." he yelled as he saw three of his senior staff and Donna steaming towards him. Sam tried to use Leo's appearance as a distraction to get by CJ but she was wise to the move and blocked him with a well-placed elbow. Leo bellowed again, "I said, what in God's name...."

"Snow...Leo." Josh said rather breathlessly as they sped past. Leo rolled his eyes and retreated to his office, slamming the door shut. Damn whimsical Presidential orders.


*****************************


Josh was the first outside, quickly followed by CJ and then Sam and Donna. The snow was at least four inches on the ground he noted as he scouted about for cover. He looked back at CJ, who always seemed to do well at this, and realised that she had already secured her base of operations. Josh suspected that she had had the Secret Service do a quick recon sweep for her beforehand.

He smiled, ducked behind a large tree and scooped up some snow, packing it into a large ball. Then peering around the trunk, he took aim and threw. The snowball landed with a large splat on Sam's shoulder as the younger man searched for cover. "You snooze, you lose!" Josh yelled out. However his celebrations were cut short as a snowball hit him square on the side of the face. CJ's laughter rang out across the private garden.

Snowballing, especially involving these people, was an exercise in both physical and mental agility. Anything less wouldn't be considered fun. It consisted of shifting alliances, of strategic and logistical approaches.

By now, both Donna and Sam had also found their own little niches of protection and a fully-fledged fight was under way. Small white spherical missiles shot this way and that. Occasionally supplemented by a shout of triumph or a yelp of a target.

To begin with CJ, Sam and Donna had formed a tacit alliance to bombard Josh's position, trying to weaken him. His competitive streak always made him a prime target. However a few minutes into the fight and already Donna was starting to run out of ammunition. All the snow around the bench she had been crouching behind had been scooped up. She needed to move to a new position if she wanted to continue being a major player in this game.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face she decided that she would have to make a run for it. She took a deep breath and scrambled to her feet, racing across the open ground towards a tree. However her path took her into cross fire between CJ and Sam. CJ was slightly slow on the uptake, since her attention was still on Josh. But Sam had been waiting for just such a moment. The barrage of snowballs caused Donna to scream in shock and laughter before diving for the tree.

Josh hearing her scream peered around his tree trunk. He stifled a laugh as he watched what must have been eight or nine snowballs hit her in a couple of seconds. Sam and CJ had now joined together and were trying to eliminate Donna out of the game. The snow around her exploded as snowballs rained down on her position. From his position a few yards away he could see the determination on her face as she began building up her own stash of snowballs, as she hid behind the small tree. However she was aware that she was facing mounting odds against the Cregg-Seaborn offensive.

"Donna!" Josh yelled. She looked up, a snowball in hand, ready to defend herself. "Come over here, I'll cover you!" She gave him a look that blatantly said she didn't believe him. He waved her over and pointed to his large stash of ready-made snowballs. He had the means to beat the Cregg-Seaborn alliance, but he needed another player to help him deliver the killing blow. She hesitated for a couple of seconds before nodding at him.

"Ready?" he called.

"Ready!" Again Donna sprinted out from behind her tree at the same time Josh began pelting Sam and CJ with covering snowballs. He laughed as their curses rang out and CJ jumped up trying to shake snow out from her back. "Who's the man!" he thought triumphantly.

He ducked back behind the tree to retrieve some more snowballs just as Donna came skidding into him. He managed to catch her to stop her overshooting the cover of the tree but her momentum knocked both of them to the ground. She landed on him, her breath puffing out around his face as it was knocked out of her. Josh took a moment to take in his new surroundings as he looked up at the darkening sky and the hypnotic falling snowflakes. Then suddenly became aware that he had Donna lying on top of him as her face filled his vision.

"Hi!" she said softly after finally getting her breath back. Donna pushed herself up on her hands, which were either side of his head, so that she was looking down on him. A loose strand of hair fell forward to tickle his cheek.

"Hi there..." he answered, savouring the sensation of her warmth covering him. Then he winced as his back twinged slightly from the impact with the cold ground.

"Oh!" Donna's hand flew to her mouth before she scrambled off him and then helped him sit up, his back resting against the tree. A lone snowball crashed-landed a foot from her position but she barely noticed it.

"I'm sorry, Josh. Are you hurt?" He smiled at her concerned face, flushed from the cold and their collision, as she knelt next to him.

"It's ok. Nothing broken," he said suddenly acutely aware of her warm presence in the cold evening air. His over-heightened senses noted the way their misty breath mingled in the cold air, the way her knee was touching his leg ever so slightly. She looked away sheepishly, feeling responsible for hurting him and then noticed that their fall has destroyed the supply of snowballs he had been cultivating.

"Oops..." she said turning back to him, gesturing to the pile of snow that had once been his armoury. But whatever else she was going to say died in her throat, as Josh reached up and tucked the stray strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail, behind her ear. Suddenly the atmosphere between them changed, thickening and slowing.

His mind barely registered the fact that CJ and Sam had lost interest in them and were now turning on each other. Their laughter and shouts seemed to dim into nothingness. All he could focus on was the beautiful woman, whose face was inches from his own.

"Donna ?" he breathed the question, not trusting his voice, as his liquid brown eyes met her blue ones. Then the connection was made and it jolted both of them together like an electric shock, before pulling them close. For years they had avoided it, one or the other moving away before anything could happen but it had caught them both unaware this time.

"Hmm.." was the only reply Josh heard, as one of her hands lifted to trace his cheek, seemingly of its own accord.

"We shouldn't be doing this, not here," he thought but the connection had rendered the two of them powerless to reason. Her fingers were icy but left a trail of fire on his skin as they weaved their enchantment.

Donna shifted slightly to bring her other hand up to the other side of his face. She was studying his face intently, as if she were seeing him properly for the first time.

Josh had always imagined that when this moment finally came it would be him that would instigate it, not Donna. Yet looking at her flushed face and her wide eyes, darkening slightly with something he had not seen there before, he realised how wrong he had been. Only she had the courage to take the first step. He wanted to tell her to stop, that Sam and CJ were close by, that they...

"Donna, we shoul...."

Then her soft lips were on his, stealing away his words, leaving him with only one coherent thought - that kissing Donna was amazing. She shifted slightly, so that she was straddling his lap as he sat. The change allowed her to deepen the kiss, eliciting a groan from him. His cold nose pressed into her warm cheek as her mouth moved over his. One of Josh's hands suddenly tangled in her hair, as he claimed back the kiss, exploring her mouth with a passion. The other slid up her leg to circle her waist and pull her closer. Through her fog-hazed brain, Donna came to the realisation that Joshua Lyman was a man of very many talents.

A few moments later, she broke apart. Their breath mingling as they tried to calm down.

"Donnatella..." Josh began softly.

She looked up at him with sad luminous eyes, laced with a retreating desire. Her lips were swollen from his kisses.

"Shush, Joshua" she said softly. "Say nothing." After a heartbeat he nodded, but he did brush the back of her cold hand with his thumb. She refused to meet his gaze, as she tried to slow her breathing. Then she pulled away from him and stood up.

Donna knew what had just happened between them had probably been inevitable at some stage. If it hadn't of happened here, it would have happened somewhere else. But one thing she knew - it couldn't happen again. There was too much at stake. But just once, just once, she had wanted to know what it would have been like. To feel his strong arms around her, to taste his lips. It was a moment of weakness that she would carry as a precious memory. An indulgence of a forbidden fruit.

Josh felt bereft of her warmth as she moved away, watching her with deep eyes. When she finally met his gaze, she gave him a sad little smile and then straightened herself and rounded the tree.

"Truce ! Truce !" she shouted out to CJ and Sam, laughing, her hands raised. It was forced, but only Josh could tell that her voice laced with false humour.

He lent back against the tree and ran a hand through his hair. Things had suddenly just become a lot more complicated. He had a strange sensation forming in his chest in the aftermath of their embrace. He rubbed his eyes and then stood, ignoring the bruise that was forming on his back. After composing himself, he too rounded the tree to join the other three in the traditional shaking of hands, and brushing off of snow.


*****************************


Leo walked into his office to find Jed sitting in one of the chairs, an open book in one hand.

"Good evening, Sir." Leo said formally. "Is everything alright ?"

"Yes Leo," he said standing. "I just came in to say goodnight."

"Yes Sir. Goodnight, Sir."

Jed was reaching for the door. "First snow tonight, Leo."

"So I noticed, Sir."

"Good, good."

"I'll get the gardeners to look at the Rose Garden in the morning, Sir."

"You think I'm whimsical, don't you Leo ?"

"No Sir."

"Yes you do."

"Good night, Sir."

"Good night, Leo."


*****************************


By the time Josh returned to his office, Donna had already left. He sat down heavily in the chair, unaware his soaking jeans and snow filled shoes. He could still taste her kisses, smell her subtle perfume. He could still feel her cold snow-wet fingers twisting through his hair. He didn't know what to do next, but he knew that he wanted to feel it again...and soon.

He sighed and banged his head gently on the table.

God they were screwed.

~ The End ~