A/N: Hey everybody! I've got a little Thanksgiving fic for you guys. I'm late, I know, but what else is new? It's set during season four (post-ep for Arctic Radar), I hope you enjoy!
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"So, what is everyone thankful for this year?"
A collective groan rises from the table. "CJ, c'mon." Josh whines.
"You're not really going to make us do that, are you?" Toby asks incredulously.
CJ simply smiles at him over her glass. They'd long since polished off the wine and moved on to the whiskey Toby had brought as a holiday offering. "I thought it would be nice."
"CJ. We're spending thanksgiving with our coworkers, and, well, Will." Toby points out. CJ had thought that the least they could do for poor Will, after Toby had drawn him away from his vacation, was to invite him to their meager 'friendsgiving.' "Let's not get any Courier & Ives delusions of what's going on here, okay?"
"Don't demean our Thanksgiving. You chose to be here, Toby, so don't pretend otherwise."
"Like I could've gone to Andy's, with the pregnancy and all that mess? Her family hated me before, and I certainly haven't done myself any favors by knocking her up out of wedlock."
"Is it still out of wedlock if you've been... Wedlocked... Before?" Josh inquires, amused.
"Yes. It's even worse because it appears as though I divorced her for the sheer purpose of knocking her up out of wedlock."
"She divorced you."
"Thank you for reminding me. You're right, I have so much to be grateful for."
"You saw family last Thanksgiving. Why not this year?"
"My brother's at his in laws, my sister's too far, it's... Whatever."
"I'm sorry we're the best you could do this year, Toby." CJ mock-simpers.
"I am too."
CJ chuckles. "Anyway! I still want to do it."
Another, louder groan erupts from the table. Will is looking somewhere between amused and regretful, likely because he's here and not in a castle in Nice.
"C'mon! We did it last year."
"I wasn't here last year." Toby reminds her.
"Me either." Josh adds. He'd had to schlep down to the hell hole that is Florida.
"Right. Well, it was Sam, Donna, Carol, Ed, Larry, and I-"
"Ed and Larry got invited last year?"
"You guys were gone! My two favorite men up and took leave of me, what's a girl to do?" She says defensively.
"I don't know, cancel Thanksgivinng?" Josh suggests reasonably.
CJ rolls her eyes. "Anyway, Donna made us do it. And I was skeptical at first, but it was... Sweet."
"She did?" Josh perks up at this. He smiles slightly. "Of course she did. That's just like her."
"Of course it went well for you guys. Sam, Donna... You had the sensitive crowd. Now you've got a couple of cynical Jews." Toby mumbles.
"Speaking of which, she should be here." Josh says, obviously still on Donna. He takes a sip of whiskey and shifts irritably.
CJ gives him a look. "Not this again."
"I'm just saying, you say you're going to have dinner with some people-"
"She had dinner with us!"
"-and she leaves right after, for what, some guy she barely knows? It's thanksgiving, you're supposed to spend it with... Well..."
"It's a new thing, she's excited! Their first date went well, they wanted to see each other again. Leave the poor girl alone, she barely gets any time to herself."
"And definitely not enough time away from you." Toby agrees.
Josh pouts. "I'm just sayin'..."
CJ shakes her head. "Anyway," she slaps a hand down on the table, "we're doing this."
"Doing what?"
"The thankfulness thing! Jesus Christ, at this rate, I'm most thankful you'll be leaving soon."
Toby harrumphs. "Okay. If it'll make you happy-"
"It will."
"-then we'll do it."
"Thank you."
"So that we can get back to our drinking, uninterrupted."
She rolls her eyes. "Would you like to start?"
"Would you?"
She takes another sip of whiskey. "I'll tell you what I'm thankful for. Because I don't struggle with these things, you know? Unlike some people. I'm self-aware. I can self reflect. I'm in touch with myself and all... That."
"I'm happy for you."
"I'm thankful for my job."
Toby and Josh simultaneously tap their glasses on the table, making Will jolt. "Here, here!"
"I'm thankful that Jed Bartlet is President."
"Here, here!"
"I'm thankful for the people that I work with, even you two insufferable fools-"
"Here, here!"
She smiles. "Especially you two insufferable fools, actually. I'm thankful for good friends, good food, and good booze."
"Here, here!"
"I'm thankful for my family, and for my education. For all the things that have been provided to me, and all the things I've worked for. This place-" she gestures broadly around her apartment, "-and, oh! All my shoes. Who's next?"
The three men present laugh.
"Will?" CJ prompts the man on her immediate left.
Will starts. He hadn't thought he was obliged to participate in this exercise. "Oh. Oh, me?" They all stare at him. "I'm thankful I won my race. Um. I'd be a little more thankful if I was on a beach in Nice right now, but... I'm thankful Sam stepped up. And I'm even thankful he sent me here. I'm glad I'm doing this."
Toby sips his whiskey. "Better be," he mutters.
CJ tosses her napkin at him. "And you, Tobias? I believe you're next."
He mumbles something into his drink before sighing. He sits forward. "Okay. Okay, alright. I'm thankful for my kids. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my insane ex-wife, even if we're... Whatever. I'm thankful I've got an okay last resort to spend thanksgiving with." (Josh knocks his glass against Toby's, "Here, here!"). "I'm not thankful that Sam is a traitor who abandoned me in my hour of need. But, I suppose I'm grateful he sent me a backup."
"Aw, geez." Will mutters with a smirk. Twenty-fours in, he's already starting to acclimate to his new writing partner's demeanor.
"Acceptable." CJ nods, and turns to her right. "And you, idiot boy? You're up."
Josh raises his eyebrows in mild alarm. He'd been zoning out a little. The alcohol is just starting to reach his head, and he gets contemplative when he's tipsy. That's normally why he heads straight for drunk. In the warm, sleepy room, he finds himself stumbling inadvertently onto the truth. "I'm thankful for Donna."
CJ and Toby both immediately groan and/or wince, and Will looks up in confusion. "Oh, God, are we really doing this right now?"
"No, no, it's not like that." Josh immediately tries to backpedal. "It's just that she's, you know, I owe a lot to her, I couldn't do my job without her, and she has to put up with a lot from me, and..." He trails off, running a hand through his hair. "She makes my life bearable." He winces. "Oh god. Yeah, I heard it that time."
"Josh, I know you're in a mood tonight because it's a holiday, and you want her here with you, and you're a little jealous of her and Commander whatever, but we're simply not going to indulge your pathetic and unproductive crush on your assistant, okay? Not tonight. We both know you're not going to do anything about it except make yourself and her miserable."
"It's not like that!" He protests. "I've been thinking... I don't know. Something that happened yesterday kind of got me thinking about it."
"What?"
He looks down, reluctant to tell the story. He knows what it'll sound like. "She asked me to um, you know, mention her to Jack, right? Commander Wonderful? Just to scope out the situation, or whatever."
"Oh, God." CJ knows where this is going. She'll also be having a little talk with Donna later about purposefully doing things to prod Josh (she could've just as easily asked CJ to be her wing woman, which would've frankly been much more successful), but that's a discussion for another day.
"And I just... I don't know. I guess I gave him the wrong impression, because later he said some things about not wanting to 'get in between anything,' and I guess... I got carried away. Talking about her, I mean. I told some of my favorite stories about her, and..."
"And the way you told them led Jack to think you were in love with her?"
Josh shrugs sheepishly. "Maybe?"
Will feels it relevant to add, "Well, he's not alone. It took me a while to get the fact that she was your assistant. When you guys came in, I thought you were together." What else was he to think? They arrived together, he took her coat and then followed her in with a hand on her back, and then they announced "we brought pie," as if they came as a unit. Josh had been introduced as the deputy chief of staff, and Donna had smiled and said "And I'm like his deputy!" and Will had assumed it was some sort of joke. Frankly, they were cute together.
"You're not the only one, Will. You and most of Washington." CJ assures him.
Josh looks torn between smugness and shame. "But that's not it. That's not what's been bugging me."
"Oh, so it doesn't bother you that you create the illusion that you have an inappropriate relationship with your assistant?" Toby says dryly. "Go on."
Josh shoots him a glare. "It's just... They were good stories, you know? She thought they made her sound crazy, but, I love them. Because, I love her." He winces again. "Oh god. This is getting worse and worse, isn't it?"
"You love her?" CJ gapes.
"Not like that! I just meant, she's entertaining, and it's endearing, really, and she makes everything better, right? She makes it a good time. I'm always having a better time with her, and I can't even begin to imagine what my life would be like if it weren't for ohmygod. What I'm describing sounds a lot like love, doesn't it?" He looks around, panicked.
"It does, mi amor."
"But it's not! She's just such a big part of my life, and what we have is... I don't know, I do love her, just not like..." He rests his forehead on the table with a resounding thunk. "Oh, God." He groans.
CJ reaches out a hand and tenderly touches his shoulder. "Josh. You know we're not the ones you should be telling this to, right?"
He looks up at her tentatively. "What?"
"Josh. She deserves to hear all this. Before she's in too deep with Jack, or before you shove all this down and start denying it again, because you're too afraid, or... You get my point."
"You're serious?"
"Have some balls." Toby concurs. "I'll even make 'Team Josh' hats."
"You guys..."
"Josh, it's thanksgiving. And even without everything else... She deserves to hear how thankful you are for her. You know she does."
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Twenty minutes later, egged on by his coworkers, Josh finds himself sitting on the steps outside Donna's apartment building. No one had answered when he buzzed, so evidently she isn't back from her date yet. It's pretty cold outside, and he has to admit, this idea had seemed a lot better back in the warmth of CJ's apartment. Now that he's here, he's strikingly sober and a little afraid. But, he does want to see her. So he stays rooted to the spot.
He wonders how long a goddamn second date could take. She'd left CJ's over three hours ago, what's taking her so long?
Just then, a horrible thought occurs to him. What if she doesn't come back tonight? What if she stays over with Commander Wonderful? Or, worse, what if they both return here, stumbling out of the cab giggling and amorous?
Oh, God. He feels his fight or flight response start to take over. Flight definitely seems to be winning out. He shifts on the steps, debating getting the hell out of here, when a cab pulls up to the curb.
He watches anxiously as the door opens, and then breathes out a sigh of relief. Mercifully, she's alone.
"Josh?"
He stands up. "Hi."
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Um."
"How long have you been out here? It's freezing."
"Um."
"Are you drunk? You don't seem drunk."
"That would be because I'm not."
"Hm." She shakes her head, smiling slightly. "Come on. Let's go inside."
"How was your date?" He asks as she pulls out her keys.
She looks at him suspiciously. "Did you come all this way just to harass me?"
"No."
"It was nice." She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear thoughtfully. "Really nice. How was the rest of your night?"
"It was... Good. CJ made us do the thankfulness thing."
"Oh, no, I forgot! I can't believe I missed that part."
"Yeah, she mentioned it was your idea last year."
"So," she prompts as they reach her door, "what are you thankful for?"
He feigns a groan and follows her into the kitchen. "Really? I have to relive this?"
She gives him a dazzling smile and slips off her coat. "Why else would you come over here?"
His expression sobers. "That is actually, um, why I came."
"What? My forced sentimentality?" She fills a kettle without looking at him, presumably to make tea.
"No, I..." He sighs in frustration, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I should've thought this through."
"Thought what through?" She glances over at him curiously, setting the kettle on the stove.
He smiles, trying to mask his nerves and muddled thoughts. "You were the thing."
She furrows her brow. "Josh. We both know I'm good at reading you. But even I-"
"I said I was thankful for you. After dinner. You're the thing I'm thankful for." He takes a deep breath.
She stares at him, momentarily frozen. She falters. "Well. That's sweet."
"Donna..."
She moves on brusquely. "Of course you should be thankful for me, considering everything I do for you, you know, beyond my job description. You know how you could show your appreciation? You could ask Leo for-"
"Donna, I'm serious."
She folds her arms. "What do you mean?"
"I'm thankful you're in my life. You're... I don't know. I can't imagine my life without you. I can honestly say I don't think I would've made it here, so, take that as you will. Here as in, you know, alive, employed, relatively successful... But it's more than that."
Seeing he's obviously struggling, she attempts to intercede before things get too serious. "Josh, it's okay. I know. I'm thankful you're in my life too."
"Will you let me talk?"
"I don't know, are you going to get more coherent?"
He shoots her an irritated smile. "You're infuriating."
"Yeah, but you're thankful for it."
"I am." He says, surprisingly tender. "I am, God, I'm... Like I said, it's more than that. Having you with me every day, is... Well, you make everything better. You... You make my life better."
She feels herself starting to melt. "Joshua..."
"See? That, right there. I hate it when anyone else uses my full name."
"But you don't when I do?"
He nods. "It's the opposite. And, and, all those stories. You know, the ones I told Commander Wonderful?"
A flicker of annoyance crosses her face. "Jack."
"Sure. I'm just saying, I like all those things about you. I'll say it again, they're endearing, okay?" He isn't sure why he sounds strangely defensive. "Those traits, quirks, whatever you want to call 'em, they're what make me..." He has another look of mild horror, like he'd had back at CJ's apartment, and squeezes his eyes shut. He leans back against her kitchen counter. "Oh, God."
She takes a step closer to him, curiosity peaked. "Josh. What were you going to say?"
He keeps his face screwed up, possibly against the mortification of this moment. "Um, I... Adore... You." He frowns. It sounds even worse out loud. "Oh, God."
A wide smile spreads across her face. She can't help it. Leaning against her counter, eyes closed and impossibly embarrassed, he's too adorable for words. "Joshua."
"Mm?"
"Open your eyes."
He does so, tentatively, and finds her standing much closer to him than he remembered. She's smiling up at him, delighted, her arms folded. "Um."
"I adore you too."
His shoulders fall in relief. "I'm really grateful you're in my life. That's all."
"That's all?" She challenges. She rests one hand gently on his shoulder.
"That's not quite all."
She smirks. "I'm grateful you're in my life, too. God, I don't know what my life would be like without my insufferable, over dramatic, clueless other half."
"Did you just say-"
"I prefaced it with a lot of insults, but yes." She shakes her head. "And I'm thankful you came and told me this."
"Hey. Least I could do."
"I don't think I'll be going on a third date with Jack."
"Why's that?"
"I just don't think he adores me properly."
"That could be partially my fault."
"How could it be? You told him all my best stories."
He dips his head and gently presses his lips to hers. She kisses him back, and after a moment, he feels her smile. He smiles too. He can't help it. He's thankful that he won't be running out of stories to tell about her any time soon, because he doesn't intend to miss a moment with her.
"I should tell you that I was hoping you'd get jealous."
"Well, I'm thankful you did it."
"We can drop the whole thankfulness bit now, you know."
"I didn't even do that one on purpose! You did this to me."
"Aw, well I'm thankful that I did."
"I take it all back. I'm leaving."
"No, please! I'd be oh so thankful if you'd stay."
He shakes his head and cuts off her laughter by sealing his lips to hers again.
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Hope you enjoyed! Happy holidays :)