A/N: Eight reviews on that last chapter? Okay. You're all forgiven :) I'm glad you liked it. Or, maybe not 'liked.' I'm aware some of you found it gut wrenching. Sorry.

Either way, I'm so thankful for all of your feedback, gang. It means the world to me.

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After some discussion, my new cohort and I decide that the first step in our master plan is to get Donna to stop repressing thoughts of Josh, and instead start remembering all the positives of their relationship. (Or, rather, I inform him that this is this best place to start, and he shrugs his accord).

He tells me that he can handle this step on his own.

I furrow my brow. "You're sure?"

He appears pale and a little queasy. "Yeah."

"What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about it. You've got a meeting here on Thursday, yeah?"

"Yeah, in policy."

"Stop by here, and then make some excuse to leave. I'll talk to her."

Come Thursday, I do as directed. Donna and I have a successful meeting with the policy wonks, and on the way back to the lobby, I ask her if she'll show me the bullpen.

"Why?"

"Because, that's where you used to work, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"I want to see it."

She shrugs, trying and failing to appear nonchalant. "Okay."

She really hadn't fought me hard on that one, I note. We walk into the bullpen, and I see him almost immediately, walking out of his office and holding a file. "Adrian, this isn't what I asked you to - Oh. Hi."

"Hi." We chorus.

"What are you doing here?" He feigns. I conceal a smile.

I allow her to explain. "We had a meeting in policy."

"And you're in the bullpen because...?"

"Because Alan wanted-"

"No, I see. You're dying to see me. I get it."

"Yeah, right. Didn't even know you'd be here."

"Here... Where my office is?"

"You could've been taking a day off." She teases.

He grins. "Just got back from a week's vacation, actually."

"Oh, yeah? Somewhere nice?"

"Hawaii."

"You don't look tan."

"You caught me. Want to come in?" He gestures to his office behind him.

"Yeah, sure." I answer for both of us. As we're heading in, I pause. "Actually, you know what? The congresswoman wanted me to give Toby a message. I'll be right back."

"Wait, what?"

"You stay here, I'll be back in a minute."

She looks from me to him, already inside his office, pretending to be distracted by the file in his hand, and back to me, trying my best to employ the acting skills I'd learned in my high school theater class. Her gaze comes to rest on him. "Okay. I'll be here."

I grin. "Bye." Before I've left the bullpen, I hear the door snap shut behind me.

Later, after I've wandered around aimlessly for about fifteen minutes, I finally decide to wait in the bullpen. Once she emerges, I could stand, and pretend I was poised to knock on the door. A flawed plan? Perhaps. But I don't want to interrupt.

When she finally emerges, dazed, I stand. "Hey, I was-"

Josh follows her out the door, grinning widely. He makes eye contact with me, and his expression clearly says, Nailed it. Donna is blushing profusely.

"I'll see you later, Donnatella."

"See you." She says hurriedly, and heads for the exit.

"Bye, Alan."

"Bye, Josh." I say before jogging after her curiously. I catch her in the lobby, her hands on a pillar. "Donna. What's up?"

At my words, she leans forward and knocks her forehead into the pillar. Once, twice, before I grab her shoulder. "Donna, hey! What the hell?"

"This is bad, Alan."

"What is?"

"I just called him babe."

"You... What?"

"We were in the middle of a conversation, and it just... Slipped out."

"You called your ex-boyfriend 'babe'?"

"Yes."

"That's really not so bad." What's more, she seems to agree with me. She's smiling.

"I know, it's just..."

"What?"

She doesn't finish her sentence. Her eyes eventually focus on mine. "Alan?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm ready to talk about him."

I'm floored. So floored, in fact, that I'm several steps behind her when she heads for the door. "You... Are?"

We pass security and head into the open air. "Yes."

What had he done in there? "Okay."

"It's just... His stupid smile."

"His smile?"

"I can't believe I haven't kissed him in nine months." She says softly, almost to herself. She's glowing.

I do some quick math. "Wait... Hold on."

"Mm?"

"You broke up a year ago."

"Right."

"But you kissed him in... February?"

She freezes, her eyes widening. "Oh, well. You know how breakups are."

"Enlighten me."

"We broke up, but... There may have been a brief moment of weakness."

"On your part or his?"

"Both."

"Okay, Donna, if you're going to talk about him, can we please start with this story?"

She considers this. "Well. Alright."

"Really?"

"I guess it goes back to the inaugural ball."

"You kissed him at the inaugural ball?" Finally, I was getting to the bottom of this infamous story. Despite my inquiry, Josh had never divulged what went down the night Bartlet was sworn into his second term.

"No. That was two weeks before the kiss. But, the story informs that one."

"Then, by all means. Tell it."

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January, 2003

Josh's stomach had been hurting for going on two months by the time the inaugural ball rolled around. Since that fateful November night, she'd cleared her things out of his apartment. She'd taken Toby with her. If they happened across each other in the halls of the White House or Capitol Hill, she avoided eye contact and hurried past. He'd taken the photo of her off his desk, finally, and shoved it in a drawer he rarely opened. He could've thrown it away - he didn't know what was stopping him. Hope, maybe.

He slept at the office most nights. It was too hard to go home - because it wasn't home anymore. When you plan on waking up next to the same person for the rest of your life, getting out of bed suddenly doesn't seem worth it when they're not beside you.

He couldn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't do anything but chug caffeine and will his body to make it through the day.

He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand not talking to her, not being able to tell her anything, or tell her everything, like he used to. He couldn't stand the idea that she might still think him guilty of jumping into bed with someone else a week after they'd broken up.

But worse than that, he couldn't stand the fact that she thought this was what he wanted.

And so, leading up to the big night, he had mixed feelings. He wanted to see her. It didn't matter that it hurt; the times that he saw were the only times he felt real.

But, he didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see her across the room, casting those wounded glances at him as if he'd been the one who'd done wrong. Well... Maybe he had.

Or, worse, he feared seeing her there with someone else. She might come with someone else, and he'd be alone in a corner, drinking himself into a stupor as he watched her dance and laugh with some other guy who'd have the guts to tell her she was the best goddamn thing he'd ever had. The thought was enough to consider skipping the ball altogether.

He goes anyway. Because the President has just sent troops to Kundu, and he has to be where the staff is. He drinks, his stomach balled tightly, he dances with CJ and the First Lady and a few others, but mostly he talks to Leo, and he works, and he looks for her. Eventually he sees her, around ten, out of the corner of his eye, and she is predictably stunning.

She is wearing navy blue, and her hair is curled. Outside, snow is falling. And, as he is prone to doing as of late, he can't help but see the moment as it might've been, had they still been together.

He would've already messed up her hair, and her makeup, probably. They would've been late, because she would've hit him with a snowball, and he would've pinned her against the cab and-

Some guy is talking to her. He recognizes him. He's congressman Jackson's Chief of Staff, and the way he's looking at her is so obvious. He forces himself to look away. He closes his eyes for a split second, listening to the music, and resumes his vision of an alternate universe.

They would've been dancing, probably. She would've dragged him onto the floor, and they would've spun and twirled and laughed until that slow song came on, and then they would've come together, that look passing between them. They would've felt like the only two on the floor, and he would've murmured 'Have I mentioned how amazing you look?' for the tenth time that night, and-

She looks uncomfortable. He's not imagining it, is he? She'd been smiling a moment previously, but now looks tense. Jackson's Chief of Staff doesn't seem to have noticed, and is still practically drooling. Her eyes are up there, pal, he's tempted to yell across the room. He closes his eyes again, for a split second.

He wouldn't have been talking to Leo so much. When he was pulled away, he would've smiled at her apologetically, and he would've kissed her, and she would've kissed him back even though she wasn't one for PDA, and-

His hand is on her arm. His hand is on her arm, and she definitely looks uncomfortable. He's not imagining it. He abandons his fantasy and makes a beeline across the room.

Once there, he pauses a few feet away from them to observe. Donna's eyes flick to him for the barest second, and, seemingly bolstered by his presence, says, "Could you take your hand off my arm, please?"

He can't help a small smile. She'd said please.

The guy furrows his brow. "And why's that?"

She makes to pull away. "Because, you're making me uncomfortable."

She doesn't pull hard enough. He continues to hold onto her, looking more amused than apologetic. "And here I thought we had a connection."

"I barely know you." She says with a tense smile.

"So let's fix that."

Josh decides it time for him to intervene. He steps up to the pair with a false grin, and he swears she looks relieved. "Hey, how's everybody doing?"

The guy, who's name might've been Mark, turns to look at him in surprise. "Uh..."

"Now, I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure she asked you to let go of her."

Whatshisface looks affronted. "What?"

"She asked you to let go of her."

Much to Josh's relief, Mark Whatever does let go of her, but only to step closer to him. "What's it to you? Who are you?"

"Oh, nobody, really. Just a guy who was around, and saw you being an asshole."

"Josh." Donna interrupts, her eyes wide. He doesn't look at her.

"What did you just say?" The guy asks incredulously.

"You heard me."

"Josh." She pleads. "Don't."

Mark whips around to look at her before turning back to Josh. "You know her, then?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Because whatever it might've looked like, a few minutes ago this bitch wasn't being so - what the fuck?" Mark staggers backward, clutching his nose. Within a few seconds, blood is gushing from between his fingers, and he tilts his head back, struggling to see what was happening.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" The girl gasps.

Mark attempts to reassure the blonde that he was fine, but turns to find her cradling his attacker's hand in hers, gazing into his eyes with concern.

"Josh, are you okay?"

Josh stares, breathing heavily, at the bleeding man in front of him. He can't feel his hand. He can't feel anything.

"Yeah," he mutters. "I'm fine." Better than he'd been in two months.

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"What the hell is the matter with you?"

Josh stares numbly at the wall opposite, his hand covered in ice. "I don't know."

"We're twelve hours into this term, and already you've gone and made us an enemy."

"Sorry."

"You do realize that Jackson was the only Republican on Ways and Means that we had any kind of relationship with, yes?"

"Yes."

"For god's sake, Josh."

Josh doesn't say anything. He'd thought that when Leo had forced a livid Toby and CJ out of the room, he was going to be softer on Josh than either of them. Apparently, he was mistaken.

But then, Leo softens his voice. "You've got to get over her, kid."

"Mm."

"I'm serious. You can't go around punching every guy that gets close to your ex-girlfriend."

"He put his hands on her."

"And?"

"And she asked him to let go."

"And, what did you think, he would've been able to do something to her? In a building swamped by Secret Service agents? Use your head, kid."

"Right."

"I know you really cared about her."

"Mm."

"More than you did for most of 'em, but... It's time to get up off the mat. You've gotta get over her." He repeats.

"Are you over Jenny?" Josh asks suddenly.

Leo seems taken aback by the question. "Well... No. But you don't just get over someone you thought you'd spend the rest of your life with."

"Exactly."

Leo smiles wryly. "Don't compare your year long relationship to my thirty year marriage."

"Right." Because what we had was worth more.

"God, you look so pathetic. What do you want me to do, hit you?"

"That's probably not a good idea, Leo." He attempts a smirk. "As tonight has proven, I've got a pretty good right hook."

Leo chuckles despite himself. "Well, yeah. You really got him good."

"Do I detect a hint of pride?"

"What? No. You broke the nose of one of our vital contact's Chief of Staff. I'd have to be bloody insane to be proud of you."

And yet, there it was. The slightest smile. "I broke his nose?"

"Yeah. You did."

"Huh."

"It gets better, kid." Leo collapses into the seat beside him. "Honestly, it does."

"Right." He says noncommittally.

"You want to know how I know?"

"How?"

"I've been down here before. And I know the way out."

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I couldn't help myself with that last line, guys.

Love you all, hope you're having a great week!