"I'm sorry I made you cry earlier. I shouldn't have yelled." I try to make my voice as contrite as possible even though I am still freaking out about her coding.

I've just finished my meeting on the Hill with Stackhouse and one of his lackeys and I'm relieved to find Donna camped out in my office, eyes still puffy from crying earlier, but bearing lunch for both of us.

Donna shakes her head, "It wasn't about that."

She pauses, opening bags and boxes to sort out our food and I take that as my opportunity to assuage my guilt by continuing, "I am an asshole, I was upset over the thought of someone getting wind of that and making this into something tawdry when it's not." I'm prepared to keep going, but she cuts me off.

"Josh, you are a very powerful man screwing your assistant. Their assumption may be right about our relationship, but not because of the schedule. I was joking earlier."

"Huh?" I pick up the schedule from under the take-out salad container she got me and look at it again. "Donna there is s which was clearly for sex and c for- well I didn't realize I was that generous, but..." I stop when I see Donna is now raising an eyebrow at me.

"You're not." She says flatly. "S for senate and c for congress you idiot."

"You didn't? You really were just joking?"

"Oh my God yes, I track big votes and committee meetings each week so I know when to prep for you to be crazy."

"So, you weren't actually….?"

"No, I mean the dates probably do look familiar. When you are amped up about an errant congressman or big victory, that is one of the best ways to calm you down."

I let out a breath. "I can't believe you let me think that."

"It was getting pretty funny watching you try to figure out what method Leo would want to use to castrate you. I thought the pack of wild dogs was a good one."

I've always known Donna could read my mind, but now I am really impressed. It's then that we both go silent because the same realization has dawned on both of us at the same time. There's going to be no way to hide Donna's pregnancy from Leo. He's gonna castrate me anyway.

"If you were messing with me then why did you start crying? You love getting me worked up."

"I don't really know. I think as I was watching you realize what would happen when this became public knowledge and it all just suddenly became overwhelming. I realized what I had to do and it just, it was my turn to freak out."

I look at her confused. Usually we can read each other's minds, right now I am not sure we are speaking the same language.

"What you have to do?"

"I meant I have to," she takes a shaky breath and I can see tears start to form in her eyes. "You know, take care of it."
"Huh? Take care of it how?"

"You don't?" She pauses and takes another deep breath and I can just tell this is hard for her. She starts again. "You don't want me to get rid of it?" Her words end in a whisper as if she can't believe she is even proposing the idea.

"What?! No!" Once again, the words just fly out of my mouth with no regard to how they'll be perceived by the recipient. It's an illness, really. It's not that I am anti-abortion, it's just, this is my kid.

"I would never ask you to do that. Besides, this might be my only chance to have a kid after Leo is done with me."

She smiles through new tears and I feel my heart constrict. I am sure what I am saying surprises her, frankly it surprises me, but I keep going.

"I mean I have serious concerns about raising a child with my genes, and you know, argumentative nature, but my mom survived and frankly bachelors who pass the family trust fund on to charity because they can't figure it out with a woman are just pathetic." Donna cocks her head at me and I realize I have never mentioned a trust fund before. Thankfully she lets it go.

"I've looked at the inter-office dating policy," she says. "This isn't against the rules as long as I am a willing participant and it doesn't affect our job performance or create a conflict of interest."

Of course, I know this, I technically manage hundreds of employees including Donna, inter-office dating happens, when you are here as many hours as we are usually here it's probably easier to have an inter-office relationship, but that's not really our issue.

"They can't fire us for this, but that doesn't stop the media from making us a sideshow distraction and they certainly can fire us for being a distraction," I remind her calmly.

"Oh God, the media," she says like she hasn't thought about it before. Which I guess is good because I have thought about it enough for the both of us. I can't tell you how many times I have looked over my shoulder as we've walked into my house together at night, I have actually been dreaming about camera flashes for months.

"They're going to call me an opportunistic whore." She says with a horrified look on her face. "That I slept my way into a position above my experience and education level."

"Well you just insinuated you were a willing participant." I tease as I take a bite of salad. I hate salad and she knows it, but suddenly I have a reason other than continuing to have energetic sex with my assistant to want to avoid putting a strain on my heart. She gives me an exasperated look. Once again, my mouth is batting 1000.

"How can you possibly joke about that Josh? I didn't intend to get pregnant and ruin our careers." She is indignant.
I sigh. "Our careers aren't necessarily at risk. Like you said, what we did isn't technically against policy, we can't be fired for starting a family." Donna has a visible reaction when I say the word family and I am hoping it's a good one so I continue. "The way I see it we have a few options."

"We do?"

"Sure, let's start with the one I like the least first." Donna nods and takes a bite of her sandwich. I am momentarily distracted by the fact that I am happy she's eating.

"We tell no one you're pregnant. In fact, we pretend you aren't pregnant, that everything is normal and keep your profile very low, no traveling unless absolutely necessary, no outings with senior staff. When the pregnancy becomes public knowledge, either because you start showing or someone at your doctor's office leaks it, we go with the standard The White House doesn't comment on the personal lives of its staff non-comment. We never confirm who the father is or even that you are pregnant in the hope that the media doesn't ever figure it out or gives up and lets it blow over."

Donna nods, "That doesn't sound so bad."

"Here's why it won't work."

"Ok, it if won't work then why are we discussing it?"

"Because it's an option. On the surface it sounds good, and I want it to help put the other options in perspective."

"Ok? Go on."

"First, to really pull that off you have to move back into your apartment and you can't get caught seeing me in an…extracurricular fashion…or it will blow the whole thing."

"Second, it's going to get out anyway. Once people know you're pregnant and not married or seriously dating someone the conservative press is going to say I am the father."

"Which of course isn't a lie." She throws out.

"People will say things, sell their story. Probably your roommate first, she knows you've been all but living with me for, well I don't even know when, but it's been a while."

"She won't do that!"

"For enough money, she will."

"The other assistants may resent you for making them a spectacle without warning them or at least explaining yourself beforehand and trusting their confidence. And the thing that actually bothers me the most, well aside from the fact that I pretty much won't be able to see you outside of work, is that any financial support I provide would look like I am buying your silence. And all this goes just until the baby is born and you list me on the birth certificate."

I finish and take a breath. Donna looks at me and I can tell she's nonplussed. "Ok drama boy, what's next?"

"You don't believe me?"

"Josh, the press could give two shits about me."

"Don't swear in front of the baby!"

"It's not a baby it's a bundle of cells."

"Ok, it's unbecoming. And you're right, the White House press corps knows you and while it's likely they will care, it's not likely they will write about it. It's the gossip columnists who will as spurred on the many enemies I have had the pleasure of creating in this fair town."

Donna huffs and blows her hair out of her face. "Ok, enough of that option, what's next?"

"We quickly find you a new job. Preferably a promotion and preferably in the private sector. If anyone gets wind of the pregnancy, we make a joint announcement that when we decided to pursue a romantic relationship, you took a new position so there wouldn't be any perceived conflict of interest. We are now happily planning the arrival of our first child and thank everyone for respecting our privacy."

"Well besides the obvious issue with me getting a new job and you slowly going crazy without my considerable supervision, a bigger salary doesn't sound bad. Doesn't this still leave you open to criticism? You still screwed your secretary and then got rid of her."

I nod while choking down another bite of lettuce. "Yes, but if we're living together I didn't really get rid of you. It's less of a media storm, protects your job entirely and gives me a better chance at keeping mine, although without you I am more likely to get fired just simply because I am left to my own devices to screw things up."

"Any other options?"

I pause, searching her face. Here goes. "There's the oldest option in the book. Donna Moss, how do you fancy a shotgun wedding?" Her eyes get as wide as saucers.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Well if I didn't already know what a knife to the heart felt like, I know now, but I don't dwell on it, it's a good plan so I charge on.

"No. Come on, we are already living together, already know everything about each other, you take better care of me than my own mother. You cook better than her, too."

She rolls her eyes, "I don't think marriage should be so lightly undertaken for political expediency."

"Donna look me in the face and tell me you've never thought about being married to me."

She doesn't look at me. She knows I am right, I didn't read the diary, but she told me what was in there.

"Children need stability, marriage can be a good foundation for that."

"Who turned you into a secret republican? You're prolife, pro marriage? What next?"

"Oh, stop it."

"I don't feel prepared to make this decision right now," she says dropping her head in her hands dramatically. I don't say anything, I just watch her. "Oh, come on I don't see you on one knee with a ring," she says when I don't have a follow up.

I sigh, "That's because it's in the safety deposit box being well, safely kept."

Her eyes are pleading now. "No, Josh, seriously we cannot decide this now, or today or maybe even this month. And shouldn't we be talking to CJ about this?"

"Oh, we will, but we need a plan before we do, and I want a little longer with my kneecaps."

"How long can we think this over?"

"Depends, this is the doctor you've been seeing for years, right? All your annual exams?"

Donna nods.

"Well that might buy us a little more time than we'd had if it had been a new doctor. We really need to have a plan in place before it leaks, and if we are getting married, we need to do so as quickly as possible. The longer we are married before the announcement the better."

"You want me to grill my doctor on how she will prevent her staff from violating HIPPA?"

"It couldn't hurt."

"Josh, no!" She says tossing the empty lunch containers in the trash can, except that hers really isn't empty, which kind of worries me.

"We're not talking about this anymore. I have work to do and you have a country to run." She says as she leaves my office.

Well that went well. Like I said before. One of THOSE days.