Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from "The West Wing". There are bits of actual dialogue from the show and descriptions of plot lines from the show incorporated into this story. I don't own those either. Does that cover everything?

Notes: I did my best not to have anything in the story be too incompatible with events as they occurred on the show, but I know it's not perfect. For example, the strain between Josh and Donna early in season 7 might not have made sense if things had happened the way they did in this story. And Santos gets Secret Service protection a little earlier than he appears to on the show.

Also: in this story, states in the Democratic primary award their delegates on a winner-take-all basis, as they appeared to do on The West Wing, even though as everyone knows by now the real Democratic party awards them on a proportional basis.

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"I'm a terrible person," Donna announced, plopping down on a chair next to Will's desk.

"Why's that?" Will asked, barely looking up from his computer screen.

"I'm serious. I'm a terrible person. I'm a bad employee. I'm completely irresponsible. I don't know why you ever wanted to hire me."

"Okay, what's this about?" Will sighed and turned to look at her.

"Josh. I just left him – I mean, the job. I didn't even give him two weeks' notice, for heaven's sakes. I've never left a job without notice, ever. Not even the job I had at Baskin Robbins when I was in high school."

"Josh is a grown-up. I'm sure he'll handle it. Besides, you tried to give him notice. He kept canceling your lunches."

"That's not an excuse. It was the best job I ever had – I mean, until this one, of course, and I treated it like it was nothing. I should have at least stayed around to train my replacement. He's stuck with some temp, who I hear isn't even very good, and when he gets a permanent replacement, who's going to train that person? I mean, I'm pretty sure Josh doesn't even know half of what I did there. I just did it, and he took it for granted that it would be done. How's he supposed to be able to train someone else to do it? As if he even has time to be training a new assistant."

"Oh, get over yourself, Donna."

She blinked, looking slightly hurt. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, no offense. You were a great assistant, no doubt about it. But you're not irreplaceable. There are lots of great assistants out there. And it's a White House job. Do you know how many people would give their right arms to work in the White House? Josh will have his pick of the cream of the crop." Will paused and smiled. "Who knows, he may even find someone better than you were."

"Thanks. You really know how to cheer a girl up."

"Glad to help." Will turned back to his work, but Donna wasn't quite ready to end the conversation.

"So you don't think I-"

"Donna, what's this really about?" Will turned back to her, sounding slightly annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you in love with him?" Will startled her with the question.

"What?"

"Because, just so you know, he's in love with you."

"He told you that?" Donna felt her heart unexpectedly skip a beat.

"No, but any idiot can see it. If there was any doubt, the attack in Gaza cleared it up. From what I hear, he walked around like a zombie, occasionally ranting about killing people – terrorists, I mean," he quickly clarified when he saw Donna's eyes widen, "…until Leo finally gave him permission to fly to Germany and see you."

Donna felt a lump form in her throat. The memory of the attack was still painful. One minute she'd been getting into the car, and the next thing she knew she was waking up in a hospital bed in Germany. She remembered seeing herself talked about on the news. She remembered hearing that people had been killed, people she knew, and wondering how it was that she hadn't been. And Josh – she would never forget his face, filled with tenderness and worry, as he sat by her bedside.

And the memories just intensified her guilt. He was such a good friend to me. And I just abandoned him, like it didn't mean anything. Did I ever even thank him for dropping everything and flying out to Germany to sit by my bed in the middle of an international crisis? I don't remember.

"I'm sorry, Donna." Will interrupted her thoughts. "I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive topic."

"No, it's okay." She took a deep breath and collected herself. "But I don't know why you think it's so strange that this bothers me. Josh was a good boss, and a good friend, and I treated him badly. I think it's perfectly normal for a person with a conscience to feel bad about that."

"So call him and apologize. Put your conscience to rest."

"I think I will." Donna dug her cell phone out of her purse. She punched in Josh's speed dial number, and her finger hovered over the "send" button. It wasn't the first time she'd tried to call him. Why was this hard? It was Josh. They'd known each other for years. Sure, there was bound to be some tension now, but still – this was ridiculous. Why couldn't she even bring herself to talk to him?

"I'll do it later." She muttered, putting her phone away.

"Whatever." Will shrugged, obviously much less interested in the issue than she was. "Now come on. We have work to do."