Donna looked at herself in the mirror, closely inspecting her appearance. Her hair and makeup turned out as she'd intended, but she still had to do a double take when she saw herself. 5 years changes a person- she was sometimes surprised by how she looked. It wasn't every day that you met the President and she wanted to make sure everything went well today. Josh had assured her it was just a casual hello, and that everyone was relaxed on Sundays but still- it was a big deal to Donna. She wanted to do things right for herself and for him. Straightening her sundress again she decided that she was pleased with how she looked and grabbed her cardigan to join Josh in the kitchen.

Walking up behind him she was somewhat surprised to see him in jeans and a light sweater. She'd become used to his rumpled, ill fitting suits and his pajamas but rarely had she seen him wear anything between the two. He looked great, she decided, staring at him. He had an extremely nice body... stop it, Donna, she scolded herself. He's your boss. And your friend. And the third most powerful man in the country. Don't be stupid.

"Hey," she pulled his attention from the copy of The Post he was reading.

"Hey yourself," he stood up. "You look great!"

She blushed. Why was he having such an effect on her lately?

"I thought we could get something to eat on the way in," he offered. "There's a great little bistro you've always liked and it's a nice morning."

"I'd love to," she supplied and they were on the way.

Just a few minutes later they were sitting in a corner table enjoying a light meal and some easy conversation when Donna noticed Josh make eye contact with 3 men in business suits. He nodded, acknowledging them, but when they stood to approach the table he held his stare and the men didn't walk over. Curious, Donna thought. Will had mentioned the other night that people didn't cross Josh Lyman but Donna hadn't seen it in person until now.

They continued their morning until Donna heard a voice that she wasn't sure of. She couldn't tell if it was full of nerves or excitement.

She couldn't see the person as the click clack of heels approached their table, she was hidden by a decorate tree.

"Is Donna here? Where's Donna? I was told she was coming in."

Josh looked at his breakfast companion.

"I'm right here," Donna stated.

The red headed woman peeked her head around the corner.

"I'm Margaret," she said seriously. "Margaret Hooper." And then she leaned down and gave Donna the most sincere hug. "I'm glad you're eating before you come in. I think the muffins in the mess have a misleading calorie count," she told Donna. It's so great to have you back. And not just because I'm at the end of my rope with this one," she indicated towards Josh. "Anyway, I have to get Leo's breakfast back to him," she leaned in and gave Donna another hug before scurrying off.

Donna looked at Josh. "That was..."

"That was Margaret," Josh laughed. "Enough said."

OoooooooooO

Donna had to practically run to keep up with Josh. She couldn't believe how fast he walked. She kept her eyes peeled, taking in her surroundings. She couldn't believe she was walking around the White House.

"Here we are," Josh stood in front of the door to a large office. "That's your desk," he nodded to a glass cubicle near where he stood, motioning for her to go over. She stared at it, begging it to trigger something inside of her, but nothing came to mind.

"Who sits here now," she asked him.

"You do, of course," he told her.

"But who's stuff is this?" Obviously he had someone else working for him, their personal belongings were spread around. She didn't want to rifle through their things. Clearly someone spent a lot of time here. With Josh.

"It's yours, Donna," he explained softly. She nodded her head, touching the sweater on the back of the chair and looking at the Bartlet for America coffee mug. She briefly opened the top drawer to see the kind of chapstick she'd always used and her favorite strawberry candies. It really was all of her stuff. She noticed a framed picture of a group of people smiling happily back at her. It appeared to be taken the same night as the group shot from Josh's house. Sam, CJ and Toby, with Josh's arm draped over Donna's shoulders. Everyone was smiling and looking at the camera except for Josh- he was looking at her.

"You... you saved me a place? You kept my desk?"

"Of course I did," he told her. "Come on, let's wait in my office. Charlie will come get us when he's ready."

She followed him through the doorway and was unable to suppress her reaction to the state of his office. "Good grief, Josh, how do you get anything done in this mess?"

He laughed openly. "Now there's a familiar sounding lecture," he told her, moving a stack of folders in the completely disheveled office. She walked around his desk and took a seat in his chair, turning to watch the world go by out his window.

"You have a pretty good view here, Mister Deputy Chief of Staff," she kid, twirling around in his office chair to face him, leaning forward onto his desk to tease him.

"Sure do," he said, looking straight at her.

"I'm gonna grab CJ," he told her, peeking into the office next door. "She'll want to say hi."

While he bellowed for CJ, Donna looked around a bit. His office was littered with paperwork, briefing folders and legal textbooks. His law and undergraduate degrees both hung on the walls.

Huh. Law school at Yale and undergrad at Harvard. He'd left that little detail out when explaining her now favorite sweatshirt's origin.

"I didn't know you were a lawyer," she remarked, loud enough for him to hear.

"He's not," shouted a staffer passing the open door.

"You're fired, Ed," Josh yelled back.

"I'm Larry," the guy noted.

"Doesn't matter," Josh muttered.

Donna smiled at that, still pretty impressed. What she noticed the most about the office, however, was how many little pieces of her were scattered about. She recognized the scarf her grandmother had knit for her ages ago hanging on his coat rack, the 'I love Wisconsin' pen on his desk, about a dozen post it's in her messy handwriting, but mostly the photo on his desk. A large one, framed, of the two of them dancing in formal wear. Donna couldn't get over how happy they looked. She was fairly certain she'd never seen herself that happy before.

CJ popped over from the adjoining room and greeted her. They chat comfortably for a while until a fourth voice joined them.

"He's ready for you," Charlie announced from the doorway. "Hey Donna. You look great."

"Thanks, Charlie," she shot him a bright smile.

Josh led Donna down the hallway to a small outer office, guiding her gently into the Oval.

"Ah, Donna! Come in, Come in." The president stood and waived her in.

"Good morning, sir," Josh interjected. "Ma'am," he nodded his head to Abbey, who walked over and warmly embraced them both immediately,

"Good Morning, Mr. President," Donna followed his lead. "Good morning, Dr. Bartlet."

Before they could continue the adjoining office's door opened and Leo stepped in. "Hey, kid! You look great!" He gave Donna a hug and the President motioned for everyone to sit down.

"It's great to see you, Donna," the President began. "We were all thrilled to find out you were awake. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you, sir." Donna smiled shyly, suddenly feeling a little under the microscope.

"Well we're all glad to hear it. I want you take all the time you need to feel better, but when you're ready there's always a job for you in my administration. I want to make sure you know that, Donna."

"That means a lot to me, sir. Josh has told me a lot about all that your administration has accomplished and I'm honored to have been a part of it."

"We have plenty more to do, Donna. And you're going to be a part of that too."

She was touched by his words, unsure of what to say.

"Not to mention you're the only one around here with the good sense to appreciate my trivia."

Josh muttered something under his breath.

"What was that, Josh?" President Bartlet questioned, giving him a look.

"Nothing, sir."

"That's what I thought," he sat back in his chair. "So, let's hear it, Donna. I've been waiting months for a piece of your daily trivia," he smiled.

"Oh. Oh, I didn't know..." she looked around the room. They were all looking at her, expecting her to say something. But she hadn't prepped for this... why hadn't Josh warned her? She could have come up with something political and witty. But instead, she had to use the first thing she could think of. "Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart," she stated, somewhat unsure if she was making a fool of herself.

Josh beamed. Little moments like this was when it all felt right again.

"I think that theory works on people, too," Abby told Leo. "Look at those two." Leo nodded slightly, watching the sparkle in Josh's eye as he very carefully watched Donna's every move.

"Very good," President Bartlet told her. "Now Josh, why is it that when I tell you something interesting it's annoying but when Donna does it it's cute?"

"I have a quality, sir," Donna interjected, making a joke.

"Yes," Bartlet laughed. "You certainly do."

They continued to chat for another moment before the President and Leo had to move on to another meeting.

Josh walked Donna back through the west wing, stopping to say hello to a few of the staff there on a Sunday. She'd been able to pick out all of them and everyone had been extremely kind. Wandering through communications they stopped so Josh could have a quick word with Toby.

After the two began to bicker about the content of the presidents statement later that week, Donna peeked her head around the corner to see what Will was up to. He told her about the speech he was writing and they eventually got side tracked, Will telling her all about California.

"Oh, hey, J."

Donna looked up at the voice. A brunette that Donna didn't recognize walked in to Toby's office and immediately placed her hand on Josh's arm. She was going on and on about something, but Donna couldn't hear them through the glass partition. Just watching their interactions though, Donna could already tell she didn't like this woman. She didn't know what about her it was.

Donna turned her attention away from them when she heard Toby subtly clear his throat from Will's doorway, discretely handing her a small folded piece of paper. Donna unfolded it and read the contents.

Amy Gardner

Democrat

First Lady's CoS

Professional Pain in the Ass

And the entire note was written in a bold red marker. Donna looked up at Toby who's mouth was twitching as though he was fighting a smile. Donna couldn't hold it back, letting out a hearty laugh and flashing the note to Will who joined in.

The distraction allowed Josh to make his get away.

"What's so funny," Josh asked.

"Nothing," they all replied, will crumpling the note in his hand.

Josh shrugged it off and he and Donna made their way out, heading over to the National Mall for some sightseeing.

"So," Josh ventured. "What did you think?"

"He's great. Very nice," she told him, unsure of how to comprehend the fact that she just sat in the Oval Office with the President. Donna slipped her oversized sunglasses onto her face and they strolled along

Josh stopped for two coffees before leading her to the steps of the Lincoln memorial. They sat in their own silence for a while. Josh had hoped that being back in the White House would trigger something for Donna. Unlock a memory and allow the last 5 years to come flooding back, but it hadn't worked like that. Nothing was familiar to her. The doctors continued to hold out hope but the truth was that Josh was beginning to worry. What if those last 5 years were just gone to her forever?

Not wanting to ruin the mood on their afternoon out, Josh began to talk just to fill the silence. She listened intently as Josh told her about his first days in DC. She relaxed a bit, asking him all kinds of questions and enjoying learning more about him. He told her about what was going on at work, so much passion in what he was explaining.

They were mid conversation when Josh began watching someone on the mall. He continued to speak to Donna but was noticeably distracted. It was only a few more minutes before the man was headed directly towards them. He was wearing sunglasses and jogging gear so Donna couldn't pick him out using the congressional information she'd been studying.

"Stay right here," Josh muttered, sitting his coffee down and standing up, meeting the man halfway down the stairs.

Donna could see the man gesturing to her as Josh turned steel faced, placing his hands in his pockets and speaking a very few words. The man's attention shifted back to Josh. The jogger began to move towards Donna again she could see Josh's mouth moving, uttering a single sentence. The man stopped and glared at Josh, hesitating for only a second before he jogged away.

Josh returned to sit next to Donna, making himself comfortable again.

"What was that about," she asked him, not used to seeing him like that. She knew he was a powerful man, but he was just so different with her.

"Nothing."

"Obviously it was something. Who was that?"

Josh turned to look at her. "Cliff Calley. Donna, if he ever approaches you don't speak to him, okay? Make an excuse and get out of there and then call me. Alright?"

Donna was alarmed by the request. "Is he-"

"No, no," Josh didn't mean to scare her. "He wouldn't hurt you. I just-" he sighed. They couldn't do this right now. "There are a few things we need to talk about with him but now isn't the right time. Would you trust me if I just told you that we swam in some dangerous waters with him? And that I'd like to keep it at that." He knew he was supposed to be completely honest with her but he couldn't be, not in this public of a location. Plus, Abby said to keep a few things quiet.

"Yes," she nodded her head. "I trust you."

"Good," he nudged her with his shoulder, lightening the mood again. "Now, where were we?"