A/N: Aaaaaand one more for you! Enjoy!

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Donna frowns as she looks at Josh's monitors, tapping a few things to make sure the numbers are accurate.

"You're frowning." Josh points out. "Why are you frowning? Am I dying?"

Donna shakes her head, trying to neutralize her expression. "You're fine."

He coughs, trying to stifle a wince. "You sure?"

"You're sick." She tells him. "You've got a fever, a cough, you're congested. You have what we doctors might call a cold."

"How am I sick?" He coughs again, and winces painfully. "This is a hospital. Everyone wears gloves, masks. People wash their hands every thirty seconds."

"Unfortunately, hospitals are a congregation spot for viruses and bacteria. The sooner we get you out of here, the better."

"Couldn't agree more."

She watches as he tries to stop his impulse to cough, and his face contracts in pain. She furrows her brow. "Are you in pain?"

"No." He denies adamantly.

"Josh."

"Like you said, I have a cold. That's it. I'm fine."

She folds her arms. "Josh, I'm your doctor. I'm the one you tell."

"Donna, I'm getting better. Trust me. I don't want to go backwards."

"You're not. I'm trying to help you move forward."

Josh still looks reluctant, but he can't seem to deny it any longer when he coughs violently and grips his abdomen in agony. "It hurts." He admits. "My incision. And the, um, inside. It hurts."

Donna frowns again, and starts to move his gown aside to examine his incision. "It's the coughing. You're aggravating the wound."

"I'm trying not to."

"It's not your fault." She says softly. She prods his wound gently, and he winces. "Sorry. You haven't busted a stitch, it's likely you're just straining your internal injuries. I'll get you a cough suppressant and some stronger pain medication, okay?"

He gives her a dubious look. "Okay."

She spares him a sympathetic glance. "You're not going backwards, Josh. I promise."

He looks slightly reassured. He coughs again, closing his eyes against the pain. "Okay. I trust you."

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Donna sits behind the nurses' station closest to Josh's room, working on the write up for another patient. She hears a cough and her head jerks up from the chart, her focus immediately honing in on the sound.

Concerned, Carla leans over her shoulder. "He has a cold, Donna."

Donna taps her pen anxiously. "There could be complications. Infection, bleeding-"

"He's on monitors. You gave him the right medication, and he's only coughed twice in the last hour. You need to calm down, and get your work done."

Donna sighs, once more bending her head over her charts. "You're right, Carla. Of course. Of course you're right. He's fine."

"He's fine." Carla repeats firmly. "Now, you need to go somewhere else. Somewhere away from here, where you can focus."

"But I'm fine here-"

"Go."

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At around nine, Donna stops into Josh's room to find that his mother is falling asleep in her visitor's chair.

Josh looks up at her. "Can you tell her I'm fine? That she can go? She's exhausted."

Ruth's eyes flutter. "Mm?"

"Mrs. Lyman-" Donna starts gently.

"Ruth." Ruth corrects her before her eyes have opened fully. She starts to straighten up in her chair, smoothing down her slacks.

"Ruth," Donna continues, "If I could speak to you for a moment?"

"Of course." Shaking off her drowsiness, Ruth follows Donna into the hallway. She looks at her expectantly as Donna closes the door to Josh's room. "Yes, Dr. Moss?"

"You should really go back to the apartment and get some sleep. I assure you Josh is fine, we've medicated him and he's under monitoring."

"I know that, dear." Ruth says kindly, though there's a slight edge to her voice. "But I worry, you know. That's all it is. A mother's worry. And I know he's in very capable hands, but with this coughing pain today on top of everything else..."

"I understand." Donna says sympathetically. "But you'd do better to get some rest. For yourself, and for Josh. It's the best thing."

Ruth folds her arms, smiling softly. She gazes through the observation window into Josh's room, a contemplative look on her face as she watches her son. "He's all I have left, you know."

"Ma'am?"

"I can be overbearing, and I'm aware of it, but he's really all I have. Since his father died... We're it. And I have a life, friends, you know, but it's not the same. He's my family. I rarely see him, and now this. I've always worried, you know, between the overworking, the stress, but this... My son, he's... He's hurt. And I wasn't there."

Donna watches Ruth carefully, her face creased in a frown. "That's not your fault, Ruth."

"I know that. Logically, I know. I can't protect him from anything anymore. Hardly ever could, you know. Josh was always so stubborn. Just like his father."

Donna smiles slightly. "You know, I'd noticed that."

Ruth chuckles softly, her eyes glistening. "You'll have to forgive him for that. This is hard for him. He's always been so hyperactive. It's always constant motion, one task to the next. He hates this."

"It's hard." Donna agrees stoically.

"But you really are an excellent Doctor, Dr. Moss. He's lucky to have you."

Donna dips her head in recognition. "I'm just doing my job."

"You do it very well."

Donna pauses, gazing at Ruth. "You know, Ruth... I'll be here. I'll be here with him, all night. He's in good hands."

"You really want me out of your hair, don't you?"

"I really want you to take care of yourself." Donna says seriously. "And Josh does too."

Ruth looks back at her son, who has yet to notice their observation. "Do you give all of your patients this level of attention?"

Donna starts, noticing the gleam in Ruth's eye. She understands what Ruth is asking. Covering with a smile, she says, "Only the ones with such charming mothers."

Ruth snorts. "I think I will go get some sleep, after all. Thank you, Dr. Moss."

After Ruth leaves, Donna settles into her vacated visitor's seat with a sigh. Josh looks at her curiously. "You got her to leave. Thank you."

Donna leans back in the chair, stretching her legs tiredly in front of her. "She's a very sweet woman, your mother. She cares about you a lot. She's very... Dedicated."

Josh nods. "Yeah. I'm all she has left."

Donna notices that they'd both used the exact same phrase. "I was sorry to hear about your father."

He furrows his brow, growing slightly uncomfortable. "She, uh, told you about him, huh?"

"A little. When did he die?"

"A little over a year ago. The night of the Illinois primary."

"That's terrible." She says softly. "I'm so sorry."

Josh shrugs evasively. "It is what it is."

"And you're her only child?"

"Um." Josh looks away from her again. "No. Well, technically. I, um, had an older sister. She died, when I was eight."

Donna stifles a sharp inhale. She hesitates, unsure what to say. "Oh god, I'm... Again, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Josh waves a hand, and swallows uncomfortably. "It was a long time ago."

"Still."

"Anyway," Josh pushes on, "This is hard for her. Since my dad got sick a few years back, she's been used to me kind of taking care of her. And this is... It's hard."

"For both of you." Donna agrees.

Josh smiles wryly. "Don't you have, uh, any other patients?"

"Oh." It's her turn to look evasive. "No, not really. Nothing urgent."

"Huh."

"I take it you're not in pain anymore?"

He shakes his head blissfully. "This stuff you've got me on is good, Donnatella."

She laughs, the use of her full name never failing to light her up. "I'm glad to hear it."

Just then, Carla sticks her head into the room. "Donna? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure thing." Donna stands and rests her chart in her chair. "I'll be back."

She follows Carla into the hall, and after closing the door, her friend folds her arms and looks at her sternly. "Donna, your shift is over. You got off an hour ago."

Donna looks at her with wide eyes, caught. "Is it... Is it after eight?"

"Donna. He has a cold."

"I'm fine, Carla."

Carla gives her a skeptical look. "I started at ten, so I'm out of here in an hour. You coming with me, or what?"

"I... Don't wait for me."

Carla purses her lips, her irritation evident. "A cold, Donna."

Donna shakes her head, not making eye contact. "I have some paperwork to do. I'll see you later." She brushes past her and opens the door to Josh's room.

Josh looks up at her expectantly. "That was quick."

Donna takes a deep breath, and plasters on a smile. "You wanna try to find a movie or something?"

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"So why did you want to become a doctor?"

Donna looks away from the TV, which is currently playing Sleepless in Seattle. Josh is looking at her with a curious, almost playful expression. She smiles, and shakes her head. "You'll laugh at me."

"No I won't."

"You will. You'll make fun of me."

"What was it? You've wanted it since you were a little girl? Used to bandage your dolls and all that?"

"No, actually. I didn't know until I was twenty-one."

"Huh. That can't have been that long ago."

Donna rolls her eyes. "You promise not to laugh?"

"Cross my heart, and hope to die."

"You better not, after all I've done for you."

"Spill."

"I became a doctor to prove a point to my ex-boyfriend."

Josh looks at her incredulously. "You what?"

"It was like this." She starts, smiling slightly at his expression. "I was kind of aimless my first two years of undergrad. I was dating this guy, Roy, and because I didn't know what I was doing yet, he convinced me to drop out of school to put him through Med school."

"You're kidding me." Josh says flatly.

"But wait. It gets better. I was working full time as a waitress, putting this guy through Med school, right? And he was always complaining about his long days, about how hard it was, and one night I tried to complain about my day, right? And he goes, 'Donna, it's not the same. You wouldn't understand. You couldn't handle Med school.'"

"Now you've got to be kidding me." Josh scoffs. "That guy sounds like a complete asshole."

"You said you wouldn't make fun!"

"Of you. Not of him."

Donna snorts, settling down. "Yeah, well. He was an asshole. It took me a couple months after that, but I left, I went back and got my degree, and I applied to medical school. Harvard medical school."

"Wow." Josh nods, impressed. "That's, um... Pretty far to go to prove a point."

"What can I say? I'm petty."

"It's admirable." Josh tells her, his eyes sparkling. "I think it's admirable."

She blushes. "Thank you."

"What was your major before that?"

A smile tugs at her lips. "You won't believe me."

"Tell me."

"Political science."

He grins. "Hey, no way!"

"Seriously."

"That's... That's..." His eyes drift out of focus. "Donna, I'm..."

"What?" Donna sits forward in her chair, staring at him as he struggles to form more words. "Josh, what's wrong?"

"I'm dizzy." He says faintly, sinking back into his pillows. "I'm getting really, really..."

"Josh, stay with me." Donna says urgently, standing up. "Josh, it's okay, you're-"

"I just..." Josh never finishes the thought, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he loses consciousness. His monitor starts beeping, alerting Donna to the fact that his blood pressure is dropping.

"I need some help in here! Code blue!" Donna shouts through the open door way. She pulls out her pen light, checking for pupil response. In a matter of seconds, she's surrounded by nurses and her resident, Dr. Jenkins, who start assessing the situation. "He's hemorrhaging." Donna tells them with certainty. "He must've ruptured a suture coughing earlier, he wouldn't have felt the pain because I gave him-"

"We've got this from here, Dr. Moss." Jenkins informs her curtly.

She falters, breathing rapidly. "Sir, I don't understand."

The nurses start to wheel Josh out of his room, toward the O.R. "You're dismissed."

"But, sir, I'm his doctor, I really think I should scrub in-"

"No, Dr. Moss." Jenkins maintains. "Nurse Espinosa informed me earlier that you were staying despite being off the clock. You're sleep deprived and you're not prepared to perform surgery, and suggesting otherwise is irresponsible. We will handle this without you."