Josh Lyman's Apartment: One Year Earlier
"Okay, careful and slowly," Josh ordered mildly, as he helped Donna up the steps to his apartment door. He'd offered to carry her there from the car but the biting look she gave him told him he might have been pushing it a bit far. Instead he was helping her by wrapping his arm around her waist and having her lean against him as she walked. "Just carefully and slowly, those are our two new favorite words. Carefully and slowly."
"Joshua," Donna said sweetly, turning her head to him."
"Watch that step," he cautioned before turning to her with a smile. "Yeah?"
"If you don't shut up right now," Donna warned him in the same sweet tone, "and I mean, 'right now', I'm going to hurt you in a way that will make having any more children physically impossible for you. Okay?" She grinned at the dumbfounded expression on his face and continued on slowly, using the rail for support to show that she could. He followed right behind her and promptly tripped over his feet. "Watch that step," she mocked from her place at the doorway.
Josh looked up from where he was sprawled awkwardly on the wooden steps. "You know, this relationship was a lot easier when you couldn't talk," he informed her as he got up and joined her, pulling his house keys from his pocket.
"Oh poor baby," she moaned sarcastically. "Josh fell down and got a boo- boo. Now he's all cranky and mean to Donna."
"I just want you to take it easy," Josh told her seriously, as he fit the key in the lock. "You got out of the hospital, like two hours ago, after being there for two months and now all of sudden, you're acting like you wanna run the Boston Marathon. Can you just slow it down a notch, for me?" he pleaded with her.
"Well I suppose," she conceded, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his face close to hers. She kissed his left cheek, then his right. She placed a kiss on his nose, his forehead, and meticulously worked her way down to his neck while his hands dropped her bags and found there way to her waist. "You know," she mumbled against the skin of his Adam's apple, "if I had the proper incentive, I might be inclined to just lie in bed all day for a few weeks. Whaddya think of that idea?" she asked in a breathy voice before meeting his lips with her own, kissing him with all her might.
"I," he muttered in between kisses. "Am all." Kiss. "For this." Kiss. "Idea of yours." He probed his tongue into her mouth to steal a quick taste of her before gathering his willpower and pulling away. "In exactly four more weeks," he added when backed away.
"Urgh!" Donna exclaimed keeping her arms around him and throwing her head back. "Why are you doing this to me?" she whined in a voice that reminded him much of the way Emma was when she got cranky. "I almost died, you'd think people would be willing to give me what I want."
"And under normal circumstances," he replied smiling at her, "I'd have no problem giving you exactly what you want. In fact, I'd probably end up giving it to you several times," he said with a suggestive leer, which caused her to roll her eyes at him. "Unfortunately," he continued, getting serious again. "You've got a doctor who wants you to get all of your strength back before resuming a sexual relationship. And since I've got him and the First Lady watching my every move, I'm afraid I'm going to have to respectively decline your offer to have your way with me at this time."
She giggled, in spite of her deflated hopes. "Fine," she sighed. "We'll wait a month if it'll make you less scared of getting yelled at."
"Thank you. Hey!" Josh protested. "I'm a grown man, I'm not afraid of."
"Shh," Donna shushed him, placing a finger on his lips. "It's okay. Just remember this," she said huskily, removing her finger and pulling him down for one more drugging kiss. She looked at him with desire-filled eyes. "I fully expect you to make this wait worth my while," she told him seductively watching him groan in anticipation, reaching to turn the doorknob and open the door to his apartment. She walked in and was instantly blanketed in darkness. "What the hell?" she questioned.
"Oh yeah," Josh said from the hallway, gathering her things. "Can you flick the lights on? I turned them off when I left," he continued using a stage shout that he directed into the apartment door.
"Sure," she groped for the light switch until she felt it and flipped it on. When she did, she saw that the apartment was decorated for a party. A homemade banner that read, "Welcome Home Donna & Emma" hung over the fireplace and balloons were attached to pretty much anything standing still. Presents lined the wall near the bookcase and Donna could see an assortment of appetizers lying on trays atop the kitchen counter. The only things the party setting was lacking were guests.
"Oh my God," she recovered, her eyes welling up with tears for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"What the hell? I told them six o'clock!" Josh cried in frustration from behind her. He dropped her bags over to the side near his coat rack and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. "I swear to God, these people supposedly run the government. You'd think they'd remember."
"Josh?" Donna went over to him and took his phone from him. "Did you arrange a surprise, homecoming party for me and my daughter?"
"Yeah," he admitted distractedly, going over to grab his cordless, not noticing the weepy tone her voice had taken on. "And I told them to be here, at six o'clock, when I got home with you. But did they listen to me? No, they did not. And now."
"Joshua Elijah Lyman," she went back to him and tossed the cordless onto the table. "You are, without a doubt, the worst planner of surprises I've ever known. And I adore you for it." She placed a kiss on his lips and hugged him to her. They stayed like that for a moment, just kind of swaying there with one another to a silent music only they could hear. "Besides," Donna added breaking the silence but not moving away from him, "they probably were here at six. It's almost six forty-five right now."
"Six forty-five?" Josh asked flabbergasted, lifting his wristwatch so he could see it. "How the hell.?"
"You're watch sucks, remember," Donna informed him lightly.
"Ah yes. Now I remember."
"What would you do without me?" she asked him, giggling.
"I don't know," Josh said gravely looking right at her. "But promise me that I'll never have to find out." Donna was so taken aback by emotion that all she could do was merely nod. He leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss that was as enduringly sweet as it was painfully passionate.
"Mommy?" The two of them heard from the doorway as they broke apart. Donna turned and saw her daughter standing there with Nicole and a few shopping bags. Nicole in turn was carrying Emma's luggage from her trip. "Mommy!" Donna crouched down to her and Emma made a beeline for her mother, her purchases thrown to the wayside in her haste to greet her mother.
"Hi, baby," Donna told her engulfing her in her arms. She smoothed her hand over Emma's head over and over, rocking her back and forth, and kissing her face, all at the same time. "Oh, I missed you so much, honey. Three weeks is much too long for Mommy."
"I missed you too, Mommy. I was so, so lonesome in Madison," Emma sighed, still clinging to Donna.
"Read that as," her aunt said from the doorway, carrying a trio of heavy luggage, which Josh went to help her with, "did you get me any new presents while I was gone?"
"Nuh-uh," Emma responded, a little unconvincingly. "Though I'd be very grat.gratefa.happy if you did. I just really missed you when I was gone. But now that I'm here, I get to live with you and Josh, right Mommy?"
"Well, you better be living with us," Josh said, leaning down to untangle her from Donna's grasp and give her a hug of his own. "Otherwise, I'm not sure why we're having a party right now for you, with all these new presents that have your name on them," gesturing to the pile of brightly wrapped gifts in the living room.
"Presents!" she shouted for everyone in the building to hear, wiggling out of Josh's arms and running full-throttle for the gifts.
"Only one right now," Donna instructed her loudly. "The rest are for after dinner, young lady."
Donna and Josh's first decision after getting engaged had been about Emma. They immediately decided, after speaking with both her and Mena, that Emma was going to move to Washington to finally live with her mother after all these years. She had just returned from Madison, accompanied by her aunt, where she had to get her things from her great-grandmother's home and to say good-bye to all her friends. Emma was going to start at her new school the following Monday and, for the time being, Donna was going to be a stay- at-home mom with her while she was still recovering.
"I thought this party was for Donna, Josh?" Nicole questioned with humor, coming into the room, dropping the luggage and giving her sister a hug.
"Well, it is technically," Josh explained kissing his future sister-in-law on the cheek, then going over to the kitchen and opening his fridge to rummage around for a beer. "I just figured, that this being Emma's homecoming as well, we might as well kill two birds with one stone."
"In other words," his fiancée clarified, settling onto the couch, "it was another opportunity for him to spoil Emma rotten so he took advantage of it."
"Excuse me, I happened to have not have had the opportunity to spoil her rotten for five years as you guys have. I'm merely catching up on lost time," he countered having come up empty handed for beer, his eyes softening as they were going over to rest on the figure of the little girl who was busily tearing off the wrapping paper from the largest box she found.
"Hey, are we late?" Sam asked hustling in while trying to remove his coat and balance an extravagantly large cake box in his hands. CJ and Toby followed close behind, each carrying a grocery bag in their hands. They set them down in the kitchen and returned to the group. The three of them took their time to greet both Donna and her sister, and to try to say hello to Emma, who was too engrossed in the job of tearing off Scotch tape from flimsy paper to be concerned with little things like greeting company.
"Where the hell where you guys? It's almost seven and I specifically told you six o'clock, not once, but rather several hundred times over the course of the past two days. And where's everyone else?" he cried, looking behind them to see if any other guests were there.
"No beer and you forgot to pick up the cake, so we went food shopping," Toby replied, in his gruff voice while lifting up a six-pack from one of the bags. "Plus everyone else figured you wouldn't be able to pull this off by yourself, like you insisted on doing, so they're throwing Donna a surprise party next week. Hope you don't mind," he said to her, removing the cap off a bottle of Sam Adams and going to sit on the couch with the rest of the group.
"Dollhouse! Emma shrieked happily from near the box that she'd finally managed to unwrap, disturbing the adults. "A dollhouse, a dollhouse, a really real dollhouse!" She bounced up a down and ran over to Josh, practically choking him in the hug she gave him.
"How'd you know she'd like that?" CJ asked suspiciously. "You know nothing about the female species."
"Well maybe I'm just more in tuned with Emma's wants and needs than you guys give me credit for," Josh answered smugly. Everyone in the room, excluding Emma, stared at him with raised eyebrows. He coughed and continued sheepishly, "You know, Emma, you really shouldn't be thanking me. You should really be thanking my mother, who called me last night and ordered me what to buy for you. So Nicole, have you had any luck finding space here for your company?" he said hurriedly finished, quickly changing the topic.
"Well I found this one great piece of property to lease," Nicole told them all. "It's got a lot of storage space, it's big enough for me and about ten staffers, plus it's got this fabulous view of the Potomac. Only problem is it looks like I'm going to have to outbid two other buyers to get it. It's gonna cost me but it'll be worth it to be near my sister and favorite niece again." Nicole had decided that she was going to re-locate the main offices of her burgeoning interior decorating business, Moss Designs, to D.C. so she could be closer to Donna and Emma, especially when Donna was first recovering. She was also staying with them for the time being, until she could find time to go back to Seattle and settle things with the sale of her home.
They got up to eat dinner then and afterwards, the adults were conversing in the living room while they watched Emma open up some more of her gifts. They ranged from stuffed animals and dolls, [CJ], to a child's archeology set, [Sam], to the book, Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Untied States: A Study in American Politics, [Toby]. "If the kid's gonna end up being a Lyman, we might as well get her started early," was his explanation. Everything was going fine, until about nine o'clock, when the subject of politics and the upcoming election came up. The White House staffers told Nicole some stories from the first campaign that had them all cracking up and Emma looking at them all like they had three heads. That is, until Nicole asked what should have been a normally harmless question.
"What about you guys?" she asked Sam, Toby, and CJ. "When do you hit the campaign trail again?"
The three of them looked at one another carefully before looking at Josh, who was busy helping Emma to get another piece of chocolate cake. He sensed their eyes on him and immediately looked up at them questioningly.
"What?" he asked them, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What's going on?"
Toby, who was getting good at delivering bad news to Josh, decided to answer him. "With the EEA passing," Toby began explaining, more for Nicole and Donna's benefit than for Josh's, "the President's got a shot in some Southern states that were previously too close to call. Leo wants us to set up some stump speeches and some town hall discussions and since it's only about six more weeks until the election."
"Oh, come on," Josh bemoaned from his place in the kitchen. "He can't be serious about this!"
"Who can't be serious?" Emma asked, glancing at Josh.
Josh looked down at her sweet face and his heart clenched at the thought of what he was certain was going to happen. "You know what, Em, it's been a long day," he said, lifting her off the counter and setting her on the floor. "Why don't we get your pajamas on and get into bed. And tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we'll come open some more of these presents. Deal?"
"Deal," she nodded. "I'll race you!" she cried as she took off from the kitchen to her new bedroom. "I'm gonna beat you!"
"No you don't, I'm gonna catch you!" Josh countered, following her at a substantially slower pace. He kept going after her until they both disappeared into her room.
"I don't get it," Nicole stated puzzled, once Emma was out of earshot. "How does this affect Josh?"
Donna closed her eyes and leaned her elbow on the back of the sofa, laying her forehead in her hand. "It means that Josh is going to have to go on a campaign swing in the South," Donna clarified, disappointed that he was going to have to go away so soon. "For what, a week? Two weeks?"
"Three and half weeks," Sam informed her, sorry for her. "There's some meetings with district captains and some of our local people that the President needs Josh to take. I swear, the President and Leo wouldn't be asking him this unless it was vital to the campaign."
"Yeah," Donna nodded, not looking at him.
"I don't believe it!" Nicole declared angrily, not fully understanding why this was happening. "Donna just got out of the hospital after nearly dying, Emma has just moved here from the only home she's ever known, and they need Josh here right now. How can you guys let this.?"
"It's not up to us, it's up to the President of the United States," Toby responded to her calmly. "And when President Bartlet tells you to jump, the only words that come out of your mouth are, 'How high, Sir?'."
Nicole shook her head and took another sip from her glass of red wine. "It's just so unfair."
"Well, welcome to the club," CJ said, raising her glass to Nicole. "We've got tee-shirts and everything." CJ looked over to see Donna rubbing her eyes and hiding a yawn of fatigue. "Hey, it's late," she said, getting up and going for her coat. "We should get out of here."
"When does he leave?" Donna asked them, exhaustion from the past twenty- four hours clouding her eyes.
"In six days, on Friday," Sam answered her. He went over and hugged her gently. "It's good to have you back."
Donna smiled in spite of her mood. "It's good to be back," she said, hugging him back. "I'll see you guys later." The three of them paid their good-byes to both Donna and Nicole and were on their way a few minutes later, leaving the two sisters alone in the living room. Nicole craned her neck and patted Donna on the knee sympathetically.
"I'll clean up out here," she said, getting up. "Go say good-night to your daughter."
Donna slowly lifted herself from the sofa and shuffled her way down the hall towards Emma's room. She knocked lightly on the closed door and entered to find Emma tucked in, being read a story by Josh, who was sitting with her on the bed. The sight brought a smile to her face.
"Hey," she said softly, not wanting to disturb them. "Mind if I join you guys?"
"Well, it's a little cramped in here," Josh teased, looking at Emma, "but I think we can make some room for her. What do you think?"
"Sure," the child answered, snuggling closer to one side to make room for Donna to sit on the other side of the bed, with Emma sandwiched between the grown-ups. Donna wrapped her arms around her daughter from behind and pulled her closer to her.
"So what piece of literature are we indulging in tonight?" Donna asked, happy to finally be spending some quality time with her daughter and her fiancé.
"The modern American classic, The Big Purple Monster in the Closet," Josh told her. He turned back to the page he'd dog-eared. "Shall we continue?"
"This is pretty," Emma said, fingering the engagement ring her mother wore of her hand. "Where'd you get this?"
"This," Donna said, holding out her hand in front of her, "is from Josh. He gave it to me when we decided to get married."
"Why'd he give it to you?"
"Because that's what men do when they ask women to marry them," Josh replied. "That way, when other people see us together and see your Mommy's ring, they'll know we're getting married. And when we get married, we'll both wear rings so everyone will know that we are married."
"Oh," Emma said, reaching for her mother's hand and pulling it closer to examine the ring. "Where'd it come from?"
"Well," started Josh, putting the book aside for the night. "My grandparents, my father's Mommy and Daddy, lived in a country called Poland a long time ago before I was born. They had my father and his brothers and sisters and they all lived there until." he paused as he tried to come up with a way to explain the Holocaust without explaining it. "Until my grandparents decided that my father and my aunts and uncles should come live in America where they could have a better life. It was kind of like when your mommy decided that you needed to live with Mena, because your life would be better right then if you were with her. Do you get it?"
"Yeah," Emma nodded. "But where'd the pretty ring come from?" she asked impatiently.
Josh laughed at her eager expression. "The ring was my grandmother's ring," he continued. "It had been given to people in her family for hundreds of years. She gave it to my father, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to me and I gave it to your Mommy."
"That's a super nice story," Emma commented, putting her mother's hand down and giving them both a thousand-watt smile.
"Yeah, it is," Donna agreed, reaching over to squeeze Josh's hand, touched by the loving gesture of him giving her something that was so much apart of his family. She looked down at her daughter, whose eyes were beginning to droop lower. "You think you wanna try to go to sleep now, baby?" she asked her daughter as she slowly rose from the bed with Josh following suit.
"No," she feebly shook her head as her eyes fully closed. "I'm not sleepy yet."
"Okay, well why don't we just get under these covers for when you do get sleepy," Donna said, lifting the pink down comforter over her daughter's form. Josh, in turn, went to switch on the nightlight by her bedside so the entire room was illuminated in a soft gold light.
"But I'm not sleepy yet," Emma protested weakly as her head hit the pillow. Almost as soon as they did, her eyes shot open as if she'd just remembered something vitally important. "What about Petey, Mommy? He needs to be with me otherwise he'll get real scared!" she declared frantically.
"Petey, Petey, where is Petey?" Donna started looking around the area of Emma's bed for the elusive Petey.
"Could this be him?" Josh asked from his place, holding up a battered looking brown stuffed dog with a patch of fur missing and only one button eye.
"Petey!" Emma quietly cried, reaching out with her hands for the stuffed animal that she'd had since she was a baby. She held him close to her heart and kissed his forehead. "I would've.I mean 'he' would've been so scared if he wasn't with me at nighttime," she informed them.
"All right, well why don't you and Petey settle down for bed now," Donna told her daughter, getting her nestled back into the blankets. She bent forward and placed a loving kiss on Emma's forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mommy. I love you, Josh."
"That," Josh said, reaching down to give her a kiss of her own, "goes for me too, kid." He walked around the bed and headed for the door but stopped when he realized that Donna wasn't with him. He shook his head and went back to forcibly move her away from the bed. "Come on, time for you to go to bed as well," he kindly ordered, steering her out of the room.
"Emma, we're right across the hallway if you need us at all, alright?" Donna told her daughter worriedly. "If you get scared or your tummy hurts or you just need a glass of water or anything."
"Mommy," she sighed in an exaggerated tone. "I'm perfectly fine here. Now you go to bed right now," she ordered with a wag of her finger.
"You got it," Josh smiled at her as he reached for the light switch on her wall. "You. Sleep. Now."
"Goodnight, baby," Donna said even as Josh was gently shutting the door. She put her head in her hands as the door closed. "Oh God, I'm such a wreck."
"You're not a wreck, you're just not used to this yet," Josh assured her, as he led them into the master bedroom.
"But she's my daughter, I shouldn't be stressing out this much about something like bedtime," Donna complained as she took off her clothes and threw on a nightgown before she flopped down onto the bed. "Besides, I've wanted her to live with me for so long, but now that it's happened.I don't know, Josh. What if." she stopped as if she didn't know how to go on.
"What?" he asked her from the adjoining bathroom where he was getting changed. "What is it?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Yes you do," Josh urged her as he came out to sit with her on the bed. "Tell me what's bothering you."
She looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. "What if I mess this up?" she asked him in a frightened voice. "What if I mess her up? What if I don't do it as well as Mena's been doing it?"
"Donna you're her mother," Josh said, astounded that she was feeling this way. "Who else in this world could possibly love her more or raise her better than you?"
"But what if."
"Donna," he gently cut in, coming over to her and putting a finger on her lips to stifle her protests. "Was there ever a day that went by in the past four years were you didn't want Emma here with you more than anything in the world? When you didn't miss her so much you thought you couldn't stand it anymore?"
Donna sighed and shook her head. "No."
"Then everything's going to be okay," Josh promised her. He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled her forward. "We love her, so we've already got the important part covered. The rest we'll just figure it out as we go." Josh felt her relaxing against him and by the change in her breathing, determined that she'd fallen asleep. He bent forward to pull the blankets back from the bed and repositioned her so she was underneath them. He tucked her back in and was about to leave the room to go set himself up on the couch when he felt Donna's hand grasp his own and pull him back towards her.
"Where are you going?" she asked her voice husky with sleep, her eyes half- open. "Stay here with me."
"Are you sure?" he asked, hesitant to push her too far, too fast. "I can sleep on the couch if you're more comfortable."
"No, please stay," she begged, her eyes still partially closed as she squeezed his hand, silently letting him know that it was okay. He let go of her hand to walk to the other side of the bed and gingerly got in, being careful not to jostle her too much. Once he was settled in, Donna took his hand and pulled it in front of her, forcing him to turn so he and Donna were spooned up against each other.
"This is nice," she whispered drowsily.
"You can say that again," he answered, leaning his head into her shoulder to take in her scent. His body instantly began to shut down, facing the rigors of the day for the first time. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard Donna mumble something. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked her.
"Why are you so good to me?" was her question.
Josh smiled to himself and leaned up to kiss her temple before he responded, "Just returning the favor."
"Okay, careful and slowly," Josh ordered mildly, as he helped Donna up the steps to his apartment door. He'd offered to carry her there from the car but the biting look she gave him told him he might have been pushing it a bit far. Instead he was helping her by wrapping his arm around her waist and having her lean against him as she walked. "Just carefully and slowly, those are our two new favorite words. Carefully and slowly."
"Joshua," Donna said sweetly, turning her head to him."
"Watch that step," he cautioned before turning to her with a smile. "Yeah?"
"If you don't shut up right now," Donna warned him in the same sweet tone, "and I mean, 'right now', I'm going to hurt you in a way that will make having any more children physically impossible for you. Okay?" She grinned at the dumbfounded expression on his face and continued on slowly, using the rail for support to show that she could. He followed right behind her and promptly tripped over his feet. "Watch that step," she mocked from her place at the doorway.
Josh looked up from where he was sprawled awkwardly on the wooden steps. "You know, this relationship was a lot easier when you couldn't talk," he informed her as he got up and joined her, pulling his house keys from his pocket.
"Oh poor baby," she moaned sarcastically. "Josh fell down and got a boo- boo. Now he's all cranky and mean to Donna."
"I just want you to take it easy," Josh told her seriously, as he fit the key in the lock. "You got out of the hospital, like two hours ago, after being there for two months and now all of sudden, you're acting like you wanna run the Boston Marathon. Can you just slow it down a notch, for me?" he pleaded with her.
"Well I suppose," she conceded, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his face close to hers. She kissed his left cheek, then his right. She placed a kiss on his nose, his forehead, and meticulously worked her way down to his neck while his hands dropped her bags and found there way to her waist. "You know," she mumbled against the skin of his Adam's apple, "if I had the proper incentive, I might be inclined to just lie in bed all day for a few weeks. Whaddya think of that idea?" she asked in a breathy voice before meeting his lips with her own, kissing him with all her might.
"I," he muttered in between kisses. "Am all." Kiss. "For this." Kiss. "Idea of yours." He probed his tongue into her mouth to steal a quick taste of her before gathering his willpower and pulling away. "In exactly four more weeks," he added when backed away.
"Urgh!" Donna exclaimed keeping her arms around him and throwing her head back. "Why are you doing this to me?" she whined in a voice that reminded him much of the way Emma was when she got cranky. "I almost died, you'd think people would be willing to give me what I want."
"And under normal circumstances," he replied smiling at her, "I'd have no problem giving you exactly what you want. In fact, I'd probably end up giving it to you several times," he said with a suggestive leer, which caused her to roll her eyes at him. "Unfortunately," he continued, getting serious again. "You've got a doctor who wants you to get all of your strength back before resuming a sexual relationship. And since I've got him and the First Lady watching my every move, I'm afraid I'm going to have to respectively decline your offer to have your way with me at this time."
She giggled, in spite of her deflated hopes. "Fine," she sighed. "We'll wait a month if it'll make you less scared of getting yelled at."
"Thank you. Hey!" Josh protested. "I'm a grown man, I'm not afraid of."
"Shh," Donna shushed him, placing a finger on his lips. "It's okay. Just remember this," she said huskily, removing her finger and pulling him down for one more drugging kiss. She looked at him with desire-filled eyes. "I fully expect you to make this wait worth my while," she told him seductively watching him groan in anticipation, reaching to turn the doorknob and open the door to his apartment. She walked in and was instantly blanketed in darkness. "What the hell?" she questioned.
"Oh yeah," Josh said from the hallway, gathering her things. "Can you flick the lights on? I turned them off when I left," he continued using a stage shout that he directed into the apartment door.
"Sure," she groped for the light switch until she felt it and flipped it on. When she did, she saw that the apartment was decorated for a party. A homemade banner that read, "Welcome Home Donna & Emma" hung over the fireplace and balloons were attached to pretty much anything standing still. Presents lined the wall near the bookcase and Donna could see an assortment of appetizers lying on trays atop the kitchen counter. The only things the party setting was lacking were guests.
"Oh my God," she recovered, her eyes welling up with tears for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"What the hell? I told them six o'clock!" Josh cried in frustration from behind her. He dropped her bags over to the side near his coat rack and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. "I swear to God, these people supposedly run the government. You'd think they'd remember."
"Josh?" Donna went over to him and took his phone from him. "Did you arrange a surprise, homecoming party for me and my daughter?"
"Yeah," he admitted distractedly, going over to grab his cordless, not noticing the weepy tone her voice had taken on. "And I told them to be here, at six o'clock, when I got home with you. But did they listen to me? No, they did not. And now."
"Joshua Elijah Lyman," she went back to him and tossed the cordless onto the table. "You are, without a doubt, the worst planner of surprises I've ever known. And I adore you for it." She placed a kiss on his lips and hugged him to her. They stayed like that for a moment, just kind of swaying there with one another to a silent music only they could hear. "Besides," Donna added breaking the silence but not moving away from him, "they probably were here at six. It's almost six forty-five right now."
"Six forty-five?" Josh asked flabbergasted, lifting his wristwatch so he could see it. "How the hell.?"
"You're watch sucks, remember," Donna informed him lightly.
"Ah yes. Now I remember."
"What would you do without me?" she asked him, giggling.
"I don't know," Josh said gravely looking right at her. "But promise me that I'll never have to find out." Donna was so taken aback by emotion that all she could do was merely nod. He leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss that was as enduringly sweet as it was painfully passionate.
"Mommy?" The two of them heard from the doorway as they broke apart. Donna turned and saw her daughter standing there with Nicole and a few shopping bags. Nicole in turn was carrying Emma's luggage from her trip. "Mommy!" Donna crouched down to her and Emma made a beeline for her mother, her purchases thrown to the wayside in her haste to greet her mother.
"Hi, baby," Donna told her engulfing her in her arms. She smoothed her hand over Emma's head over and over, rocking her back and forth, and kissing her face, all at the same time. "Oh, I missed you so much, honey. Three weeks is much too long for Mommy."
"I missed you too, Mommy. I was so, so lonesome in Madison," Emma sighed, still clinging to Donna.
"Read that as," her aunt said from the doorway, carrying a trio of heavy luggage, which Josh went to help her with, "did you get me any new presents while I was gone?"
"Nuh-uh," Emma responded, a little unconvincingly. "Though I'd be very grat.gratefa.happy if you did. I just really missed you when I was gone. But now that I'm here, I get to live with you and Josh, right Mommy?"
"Well, you better be living with us," Josh said, leaning down to untangle her from Donna's grasp and give her a hug of his own. "Otherwise, I'm not sure why we're having a party right now for you, with all these new presents that have your name on them," gesturing to the pile of brightly wrapped gifts in the living room.
"Presents!" she shouted for everyone in the building to hear, wiggling out of Josh's arms and running full-throttle for the gifts.
"Only one right now," Donna instructed her loudly. "The rest are for after dinner, young lady."
Donna and Josh's first decision after getting engaged had been about Emma. They immediately decided, after speaking with both her and Mena, that Emma was going to move to Washington to finally live with her mother after all these years. She had just returned from Madison, accompanied by her aunt, where she had to get her things from her great-grandmother's home and to say good-bye to all her friends. Emma was going to start at her new school the following Monday and, for the time being, Donna was going to be a stay- at-home mom with her while she was still recovering.
"I thought this party was for Donna, Josh?" Nicole questioned with humor, coming into the room, dropping the luggage and giving her sister a hug.
"Well, it is technically," Josh explained kissing his future sister-in-law on the cheek, then going over to the kitchen and opening his fridge to rummage around for a beer. "I just figured, that this being Emma's homecoming as well, we might as well kill two birds with one stone."
"In other words," his fiancée clarified, settling onto the couch, "it was another opportunity for him to spoil Emma rotten so he took advantage of it."
"Excuse me, I happened to have not have had the opportunity to spoil her rotten for five years as you guys have. I'm merely catching up on lost time," he countered having come up empty handed for beer, his eyes softening as they were going over to rest on the figure of the little girl who was busily tearing off the wrapping paper from the largest box she found.
"Hey, are we late?" Sam asked hustling in while trying to remove his coat and balance an extravagantly large cake box in his hands. CJ and Toby followed close behind, each carrying a grocery bag in their hands. They set them down in the kitchen and returned to the group. The three of them took their time to greet both Donna and her sister, and to try to say hello to Emma, who was too engrossed in the job of tearing off Scotch tape from flimsy paper to be concerned with little things like greeting company.
"Where the hell where you guys? It's almost seven and I specifically told you six o'clock, not once, but rather several hundred times over the course of the past two days. And where's everyone else?" he cried, looking behind them to see if any other guests were there.
"No beer and you forgot to pick up the cake, so we went food shopping," Toby replied, in his gruff voice while lifting up a six-pack from one of the bags. "Plus everyone else figured you wouldn't be able to pull this off by yourself, like you insisted on doing, so they're throwing Donna a surprise party next week. Hope you don't mind," he said to her, removing the cap off a bottle of Sam Adams and going to sit on the couch with the rest of the group.
"Dollhouse! Emma shrieked happily from near the box that she'd finally managed to unwrap, disturbing the adults. "A dollhouse, a dollhouse, a really real dollhouse!" She bounced up a down and ran over to Josh, practically choking him in the hug she gave him.
"How'd you know she'd like that?" CJ asked suspiciously. "You know nothing about the female species."
"Well maybe I'm just more in tuned with Emma's wants and needs than you guys give me credit for," Josh answered smugly. Everyone in the room, excluding Emma, stared at him with raised eyebrows. He coughed and continued sheepishly, "You know, Emma, you really shouldn't be thanking me. You should really be thanking my mother, who called me last night and ordered me what to buy for you. So Nicole, have you had any luck finding space here for your company?" he said hurriedly finished, quickly changing the topic.
"Well I found this one great piece of property to lease," Nicole told them all. "It's got a lot of storage space, it's big enough for me and about ten staffers, plus it's got this fabulous view of the Potomac. Only problem is it looks like I'm going to have to outbid two other buyers to get it. It's gonna cost me but it'll be worth it to be near my sister and favorite niece again." Nicole had decided that she was going to re-locate the main offices of her burgeoning interior decorating business, Moss Designs, to D.C. so she could be closer to Donna and Emma, especially when Donna was first recovering. She was also staying with them for the time being, until she could find time to go back to Seattle and settle things with the sale of her home.
They got up to eat dinner then and afterwards, the adults were conversing in the living room while they watched Emma open up some more of her gifts. They ranged from stuffed animals and dolls, [CJ], to a child's archeology set, [Sam], to the book, Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Untied States: A Study in American Politics, [Toby]. "If the kid's gonna end up being a Lyman, we might as well get her started early," was his explanation. Everything was going fine, until about nine o'clock, when the subject of politics and the upcoming election came up. The White House staffers told Nicole some stories from the first campaign that had them all cracking up and Emma looking at them all like they had three heads. That is, until Nicole asked what should have been a normally harmless question.
"What about you guys?" she asked Sam, Toby, and CJ. "When do you hit the campaign trail again?"
The three of them looked at one another carefully before looking at Josh, who was busy helping Emma to get another piece of chocolate cake. He sensed their eyes on him and immediately looked up at them questioningly.
"What?" he asked them, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What's going on?"
Toby, who was getting good at delivering bad news to Josh, decided to answer him. "With the EEA passing," Toby began explaining, more for Nicole and Donna's benefit than for Josh's, "the President's got a shot in some Southern states that were previously too close to call. Leo wants us to set up some stump speeches and some town hall discussions and since it's only about six more weeks until the election."
"Oh, come on," Josh bemoaned from his place in the kitchen. "He can't be serious about this!"
"Who can't be serious?" Emma asked, glancing at Josh.
Josh looked down at her sweet face and his heart clenched at the thought of what he was certain was going to happen. "You know what, Em, it's been a long day," he said, lifting her off the counter and setting her on the floor. "Why don't we get your pajamas on and get into bed. And tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we'll come open some more of these presents. Deal?"
"Deal," she nodded. "I'll race you!" she cried as she took off from the kitchen to her new bedroom. "I'm gonna beat you!"
"No you don't, I'm gonna catch you!" Josh countered, following her at a substantially slower pace. He kept going after her until they both disappeared into her room.
"I don't get it," Nicole stated puzzled, once Emma was out of earshot. "How does this affect Josh?"
Donna closed her eyes and leaned her elbow on the back of the sofa, laying her forehead in her hand. "It means that Josh is going to have to go on a campaign swing in the South," Donna clarified, disappointed that he was going to have to go away so soon. "For what, a week? Two weeks?"
"Three and half weeks," Sam informed her, sorry for her. "There's some meetings with district captains and some of our local people that the President needs Josh to take. I swear, the President and Leo wouldn't be asking him this unless it was vital to the campaign."
"Yeah," Donna nodded, not looking at him.
"I don't believe it!" Nicole declared angrily, not fully understanding why this was happening. "Donna just got out of the hospital after nearly dying, Emma has just moved here from the only home she's ever known, and they need Josh here right now. How can you guys let this.?"
"It's not up to us, it's up to the President of the United States," Toby responded to her calmly. "And when President Bartlet tells you to jump, the only words that come out of your mouth are, 'How high, Sir?'."
Nicole shook her head and took another sip from her glass of red wine. "It's just so unfair."
"Well, welcome to the club," CJ said, raising her glass to Nicole. "We've got tee-shirts and everything." CJ looked over to see Donna rubbing her eyes and hiding a yawn of fatigue. "Hey, it's late," she said, getting up and going for her coat. "We should get out of here."
"When does he leave?" Donna asked them, exhaustion from the past twenty- four hours clouding her eyes.
"In six days, on Friday," Sam answered her. He went over and hugged her gently. "It's good to have you back."
Donna smiled in spite of her mood. "It's good to be back," she said, hugging him back. "I'll see you guys later." The three of them paid their good-byes to both Donna and Nicole and were on their way a few minutes later, leaving the two sisters alone in the living room. Nicole craned her neck and patted Donna on the knee sympathetically.
"I'll clean up out here," she said, getting up. "Go say good-night to your daughter."
Donna slowly lifted herself from the sofa and shuffled her way down the hall towards Emma's room. She knocked lightly on the closed door and entered to find Emma tucked in, being read a story by Josh, who was sitting with her on the bed. The sight brought a smile to her face.
"Hey," she said softly, not wanting to disturb them. "Mind if I join you guys?"
"Well, it's a little cramped in here," Josh teased, looking at Emma, "but I think we can make some room for her. What do you think?"
"Sure," the child answered, snuggling closer to one side to make room for Donna to sit on the other side of the bed, with Emma sandwiched between the grown-ups. Donna wrapped her arms around her daughter from behind and pulled her closer to her.
"So what piece of literature are we indulging in tonight?" Donna asked, happy to finally be spending some quality time with her daughter and her fiancé.
"The modern American classic, The Big Purple Monster in the Closet," Josh told her. He turned back to the page he'd dog-eared. "Shall we continue?"
"This is pretty," Emma said, fingering the engagement ring her mother wore of her hand. "Where'd you get this?"
"This," Donna said, holding out her hand in front of her, "is from Josh. He gave it to me when we decided to get married."
"Why'd he give it to you?"
"Because that's what men do when they ask women to marry them," Josh replied. "That way, when other people see us together and see your Mommy's ring, they'll know we're getting married. And when we get married, we'll both wear rings so everyone will know that we are married."
"Oh," Emma said, reaching for her mother's hand and pulling it closer to examine the ring. "Where'd it come from?"
"Well," started Josh, putting the book aside for the night. "My grandparents, my father's Mommy and Daddy, lived in a country called Poland a long time ago before I was born. They had my father and his brothers and sisters and they all lived there until." he paused as he tried to come up with a way to explain the Holocaust without explaining it. "Until my grandparents decided that my father and my aunts and uncles should come live in America where they could have a better life. It was kind of like when your mommy decided that you needed to live with Mena, because your life would be better right then if you were with her. Do you get it?"
"Yeah," Emma nodded. "But where'd the pretty ring come from?" she asked impatiently.
Josh laughed at her eager expression. "The ring was my grandmother's ring," he continued. "It had been given to people in her family for hundreds of years. She gave it to my father, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to me and I gave it to your Mommy."
"That's a super nice story," Emma commented, putting her mother's hand down and giving them both a thousand-watt smile.
"Yeah, it is," Donna agreed, reaching over to squeeze Josh's hand, touched by the loving gesture of him giving her something that was so much apart of his family. She looked down at her daughter, whose eyes were beginning to droop lower. "You think you wanna try to go to sleep now, baby?" she asked her daughter as she slowly rose from the bed with Josh following suit.
"No," she feebly shook her head as her eyes fully closed. "I'm not sleepy yet."
"Okay, well why don't we just get under these covers for when you do get sleepy," Donna said, lifting the pink down comforter over her daughter's form. Josh, in turn, went to switch on the nightlight by her bedside so the entire room was illuminated in a soft gold light.
"But I'm not sleepy yet," Emma protested weakly as her head hit the pillow. Almost as soon as they did, her eyes shot open as if she'd just remembered something vitally important. "What about Petey, Mommy? He needs to be with me otherwise he'll get real scared!" she declared frantically.
"Petey, Petey, where is Petey?" Donna started looking around the area of Emma's bed for the elusive Petey.
"Could this be him?" Josh asked from his place, holding up a battered looking brown stuffed dog with a patch of fur missing and only one button eye.
"Petey!" Emma quietly cried, reaching out with her hands for the stuffed animal that she'd had since she was a baby. She held him close to her heart and kissed his forehead. "I would've.I mean 'he' would've been so scared if he wasn't with me at nighttime," she informed them.
"All right, well why don't you and Petey settle down for bed now," Donna told her daughter, getting her nestled back into the blankets. She bent forward and placed a loving kiss on Emma's forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mommy. I love you, Josh."
"That," Josh said, reaching down to give her a kiss of her own, "goes for me too, kid." He walked around the bed and headed for the door but stopped when he realized that Donna wasn't with him. He shook his head and went back to forcibly move her away from the bed. "Come on, time for you to go to bed as well," he kindly ordered, steering her out of the room.
"Emma, we're right across the hallway if you need us at all, alright?" Donna told her daughter worriedly. "If you get scared or your tummy hurts or you just need a glass of water or anything."
"Mommy," she sighed in an exaggerated tone. "I'm perfectly fine here. Now you go to bed right now," she ordered with a wag of her finger.
"You got it," Josh smiled at her as he reached for the light switch on her wall. "You. Sleep. Now."
"Goodnight, baby," Donna said even as Josh was gently shutting the door. She put her head in her hands as the door closed. "Oh God, I'm such a wreck."
"You're not a wreck, you're just not used to this yet," Josh assured her, as he led them into the master bedroom.
"But she's my daughter, I shouldn't be stressing out this much about something like bedtime," Donna complained as she took off her clothes and threw on a nightgown before she flopped down onto the bed. "Besides, I've wanted her to live with me for so long, but now that it's happened.I don't know, Josh. What if." she stopped as if she didn't know how to go on.
"What?" he asked her from the adjoining bathroom where he was getting changed. "What is it?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Yes you do," Josh urged her as he came out to sit with her on the bed. "Tell me what's bothering you."
She looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. "What if I mess this up?" she asked him in a frightened voice. "What if I mess her up? What if I don't do it as well as Mena's been doing it?"
"Donna you're her mother," Josh said, astounded that she was feeling this way. "Who else in this world could possibly love her more or raise her better than you?"
"But what if."
"Donna," he gently cut in, coming over to her and putting a finger on her lips to stifle her protests. "Was there ever a day that went by in the past four years were you didn't want Emma here with you more than anything in the world? When you didn't miss her so much you thought you couldn't stand it anymore?"
Donna sighed and shook her head. "No."
"Then everything's going to be okay," Josh promised her. He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled her forward. "We love her, so we've already got the important part covered. The rest we'll just figure it out as we go." Josh felt her relaxing against him and by the change in her breathing, determined that she'd fallen asleep. He bent forward to pull the blankets back from the bed and repositioned her so she was underneath them. He tucked her back in and was about to leave the room to go set himself up on the couch when he felt Donna's hand grasp his own and pull him back towards her.
"Where are you going?" she asked her voice husky with sleep, her eyes half- open. "Stay here with me."
"Are you sure?" he asked, hesitant to push her too far, too fast. "I can sleep on the couch if you're more comfortable."
"No, please stay," she begged, her eyes still partially closed as she squeezed his hand, silently letting him know that it was okay. He let go of her hand to walk to the other side of the bed and gingerly got in, being careful not to jostle her too much. Once he was settled in, Donna took his hand and pulled it in front of her, forcing him to turn so he and Donna were spooned up against each other.
"This is nice," she whispered drowsily.
"You can say that again," he answered, leaning his head into her shoulder to take in her scent. His body instantly began to shut down, facing the rigors of the day for the first time. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard Donna mumble something. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked her.
"Why are you so good to me?" was her question.
Josh smiled to himself and leaned up to kiss her temple before he responded, "Just returning the favor."