"Hello?"
"Hey Josh."
"Hey Zoey! How are you?"
"I'm good."
"Why haven't you come to visit me?"
"I didn't know you wanted me to ."
"Of course I do! I've been stuck inside for forever. I'm really an outdoorsman, you know."
"You are not an outdoorsman, Josh. You got lost in the orchard at the farm."
"Well if Donna would let me out, I could be an outdoorsman. . . . But since I'm stuck inside, you could come over here. You could bring your homework. I could help you."
"I'm in college. I don't really need help with my homework."
"Okay. Then you could could come over and we could talk about the Super String Theory."
"Josh, have you talked to Charlie?"
"Uh, no."
"He seems . . . . I don't know. He hasn't been himself. He snapped at my Dad."
"Charlie?!" Charlie never loses his cool. This isn't good at all.
"Yeah. I think he feels responsible."
"For the shooting?"
"Yeah, I've tried to talk him down, but he's not out of it yet."
"It's not his fault."
"I know that. It might help if he heard it from you."
"Do you think you can get him to come visit me?"
"Because you're bored?"
"No. Because I know a thing or two about feeling guilty even though something wasn't your fault."
"Okay, then. I'll try."
. . . . .
"Hey, Josh."
"Hello, Mr. President."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm good, sir, but no one seems to want to let me participate in this election."
"I know what you mean! Have you heard of Elliot Roush?"
"You beat him in your first Congressional Campaign, didn't you?"
"Yes! And now he's running for the Board of Education in Manchester. He's polling at 46%."
"Well, that's not okay. Not okay at all."
"Precisely. So here's what I'm thinking. You could call up Danny and tell him I'd be willing to go on the record if he were to write a story about this."
Well, that's such an incredibly bad idea, I don't even know where to start. He must be giving CJ fits.
"No, you can't do that, Sir. But I can make some calls to some operatives in New Hampshire. See what we can do."
"Thanks, Josh. So how's Donna?"
"She's good, sir."
I look across the room into the kitchen where Donna and Mom are making Matzah Ball Soup. Donna looks up and gives me a big grin. She's glowing. God, I love her so much.
"When's the next Doctor's Appointment?"
"Next week, sir."
"Okay then, you keep us posted. And Josh, thanks for making those calls."
. . . . . .
"I'm glad you're the one undressing and putting a gown on for a change!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It's about time I got to check out your cute little backside."
I wiggle my eyebrows and imagine her bare bottom peeking out of a gown. I find myself reacting to the image and try to tamp it down. My body is definitely interested in resuming sexual activity. My brain never stopped. It's getting harder to wait on the green light from the doctor. I really hope it's soon, because eventually a red light isn't going to stop me.
"Josh. I hate to break it to you, but I don't have to put on a gown."
"You don't?"
"No." She teases me, "is there even any point in you going?"
She rubs her hand over the very slight bump in her abdomen. I can't believe she's almost halfway through the pregnancy and she's still hardly showing. I bet we could have kept it a secret a lot longer if we'd wanted to. But CJ's plan worked flawlessly, so I can't really complain. I wrap my arms around Donna and put my hand next to hers. Our baby is in here.
"Yes, of course, I want to go." I tell her, even though I know it was a rhetorical question. "We get to find out if it's a boy or a girl, right?"
"Yes, and we get to stop call her it."
"I think he's a boy."
It really doesn't matter whether it's a boy or a girl, but I like to tease Donna. And I can't shake the dream I had right after she told me about the baby. I think it's a sign that we are having a boy and he's going to have curly blonde hair, and blue-green eyes, and we're going to name him Noah James after his grandfathers.
"We'll see." Donna responds coyly, giving me a small smirk. Yes, A little girl would be incredible too. A tiny version of Donna, who I can spoil to my heart's content. I'm perfectly fine with that. Maybe we can have another kid after this one and we'll get one of each. A little Norman Rockwell, picture perfect family. We could buy a house.
"Earth to Josh!"
"Yeah?"
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go."
. . . . . .
Donna's in Downward-facing Dog position. And I have to say I'm enjoying the view. When the physical therapist suggested yoga, he really did me a favor.
As we follow the video, Donna moves seamlessly from Big Toe Pose to a High Lunge and then into a Low Lunge with her hands over her head. I struggle to keep up. This isn't nearly as easy as it looked when I was just watching her.
In Garland pose, I find myself sweating profusely. The physical therapist is evil. I'm pretty sure he's a sadist.
The phone rings. "Please God. Let it be for me," I mumble to myself as Donna answers it.
"Hi Leo. Yeah, he's available."
God Bless Leo.
As she hands me the phone Donna whispers, "I'll go do my kegels while you are talking to Leo and we'll finish the video when you're done."
Oh man. I wonder how long I can keep Leo talking?
When we're done delivering the bad news about Tom Jordan to Sam, I try to think of something else.
"Hey Leo, you know there's something called the Super String Theory, which at its most basic level says that the universe consists of these tiny loops of string that vibrate at different frequencies."
"How did that bullet not kill you?" Leo asks gruffly, in disbelief at the change of topics.
"Just lucky I guess."
Leo clears his throat. "Yeah. We're all lucky. Are you following Donna's rules?"
"Mostly."
"Well, I've been following her rule about not yelling at you for months now. So if the rules are suspended, you let me know."
"What have you got to yell at me about, Leo?" I ask, just to avoid rule number 1, following doctor's orders, a bit longer.
"Are you kidding me? On the day that you hired her, what did I tell you about inappropriate behavior with your assistant?"
Oh. That. Well, I guess it's time to get this over with.
"It wasn't inappropriate, Leo. I love her. I married her."
"Yeah." I admits without enthusiasm. But since he admitted it I decide to push my luck a little.
"Are you going to transfer her? You know she's the one that keeps me in line, right?"
"No. I'm not going to transfer her. CJ's plan pretty much ties my hands. We can't change the arrangement and still claim we weren't doing anything wrong all along."
I really do need to buy CJ a gift. She's brilliant.
"And," Leo continues, "I do know that Donna's the one who runs your office. There's really no reason to shoot myself in the foot now, is there?"
"I'm sorry, Leo." I offer, then clarify, "Not that I married Donna. But I should have told you."
The apology is apparently just what Leo needed, and his tone softens. "Yeah, well. Water under the bridge now. Just don't screw it up like I did, okay? You take care of Donna, and your baby."
"I will."
"You done okay, kid. Your Dad would be proud."
I can barely croak out a thanks before Leo hangs up. Neither of us really like the emotional displays. I doubt he'd have ever told me that to my face, but man does it feel good.
. . . . .
It's election day and I'm crawling out of my skin. Toby, CJ and Sam are coming over after the polls close, and I've finally convinced Donna that I can go outside for a few minutes. I think it helped that Mom isn't here anymore for them to tag team me.
Having Mom here for two and a half months was incredible. She took care of Donna through the worst of the morning sickness, and took care of me at the same time. She's an amazing lady. But eventually, we were all ready to get back to our own lives, especially once the doctor cleared Donna and I to resume sex, even though it is within certain limits.
I was kind of sad that Mom missed celebrating our birthdays with us, but it's probably a good thing given the gift she gave us. A new king bed. I can't help but grinning as I think about how Donna and I had our own little party.
When the doorbell rings at 7pm, I'm a little surprised. I wasn't expecting anyone until after 9. Donna's out getting beer and party supplies. We're breaking all the rules tonight!
I get up and make my way over to the door. I'm not up to full speed yet, but I really am getting much stronger.
After I look through the peephole, I throw the door open. "Zoey! Charlie! Come in." I'm so glad to see them.
"Hey Josh. How are you doing?"
"I'm good!" She gives me a gentle hug. I've noticed that everyone is treating me a lot more carefully than before. I miss bear hugs.
"Hey Charlie- howya doin'?" I ask giving him a little clap on the shoulder. I'm really glad Zoey brought him over. I really want to talk to him. But, I'm not sure if I should bring up the shooting or not.
"So . . . . what are you guys up to?"
"We just got back from voting."
"That's good. The others will be here after the polls close."
"Oh we can't stay that long. My Dad is going to need someone to comfort him after Elliot Roush gets elected to the school board." Zoey quips.
"Well I'm glad you stopped by. I've missed you guys."
"Really?" Charlie asks, looking a bit hopeful.
"Of course! The two of you are like the younger siblings I never had!"
"You're not mad at me?"
"Charlie. You didn't shoot me. And it's not your fault that some sickos used your relationship with Zoey as an excuse to shoot at all of us. If they'd only wanted to take you out, they would have done it one day on your way home from work. They wanted to do something big, to make history, and they didn't care who they shot. They weren't aiming for you. They were aiming for what you stand for- freedom, equality, and love. If I gotta get shot, at least I got shot because I'm on the right side of things."
"Yeah, okay." Charlie nods slowly, and I can tell he's still feeling a little guilt, but hopefully we'll get through to him.
. . . . .
I can't even believe what Sam's reporting. I rub my eyes in frustration. "After four months and 400 million dollars, everything stayed the same."
"Yup." Sam responds without any enthusiasm.
"Tell me democracy doesn't have a sense of humor. We sit here, we drink this beer out here on the stoop, in violation of about 47 city ordinances. I don't know, Toby, it's election night. What do you say about a government that goes out of its way to protect even citizens that try to destroy it?"
Toby looks thoughtful for a moment. "God bless America."
We all look at each other and echo him. This is what we've dedicated our lives to. I'm glad we are remembering just how precious the ideal is. We clink our bottles together and then take a swig.
Suddenly CJ lights up. "Hey! Didn't you guys have your ultrasound last week?"
Donna beams back at her. "Yes, we did and baby is doing great! Everything's on track."
"Well. . . " CJ asks expectantly, and everyone else leans forward in anticipation. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
I look at Donna for confirmation. She grins at me. Then I look back at the group.
"We're not telling. We've decided to keep it a secret."
. . . . .
FIN.
. . . . .
Okay, actually, I've been persuaded to continue this universe a little longer. I'm going to jump ahead a few years and do a post-ep story for S5 E16 Eppur Si Mouve. It'll be sort of an epilogue to this story. Watch for it sometime this summer.