The next day, Donna walked into the Russell campaign office to what could only be described as a party atmosphere.

"There you are! Where have you been?" Will ran up to her.

"What's going on?"

"Santos is speaking to the convention today. And rumor has it…" he grinned. "and it's a credible rumor, that he's dropping out of the race."

Donna's heart dropped. She did her best to look happy, but between knowing in her heart that Santos was the best candidate, and trying to imagine how anguished Josh must be right then…

She was happy. This was the moment they'd been working for. And despite her recent differences with Will, she still liked and respected him, and she was proud of what they'd accomplished together.

"Well, let's not get too excited yet," a staffer warned. "We don't know who he's going to endorse."

"Please. You think he's going to endorse Baker? He's gotta be as pissed off as we are that Baker could just come into this and walk away with the nomination without doing any of the work to earn it. Plus, with the thing with his wife, he'd be going into the general election already damaged. I know-" Will caught Donna's look. "Watch that overconfidence thing. Right."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was a tense day of calling delegates, trying to work out the contingencies. Who would support them if Santos endorsed Baker? Who would flip to them if he endorsed Russell?

"Any luck getting anything out of the Santos campaign?" Donna asked Will.

He shook his head. "They won't confirm or deny anything. When I tried to ask who they were endorsing, all they would say is Matt Santos."

Donna nodded and returned to her call list. She lobbied the delegates as she was expected to, but there was a knot in the pit of her stomach. The mood of everyone around her was one of cautious exuberance, and yet she couldn't fully join them in their celebration.

A little after 8:30 that evening, Donna, Will, the Vice President, and a number of staffers gathered in front of the television as Matt Santos was introduced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the great state of Texas, Congressman Matthew Santos!"

Donna took a deep, apprehensive breath as Congressman Santos began to speak.

"…I have been asked by people that I respect to take this opportunity to support one of the other fine candidates who have made this race with me…"

She felt tears sting her eyes. Whether they were tears of sadness or happiness – or both – she wasn't quite sure.

"But I can't do that."

An audible gasp went up in the room. Donna heard Will start cursing under his breath. She put her hand over her mouth, listening intently.

"…There's been a great deal made today of Governor Baker's decision not to disclose his wife's minor medical condition. Many people believe that he should have. But I don't believe Governor Baker failed to disclose it because he was ashamed or embarrassed. I think he didn't disclose it because we're the hypocrites, not the Bakers."

Donna found herself holding her breath in awe. Why hadn't she followed her heart and joined this man's campaign after the stem cell bill?

"Because we're all broken, every single one of us, and yet we pretend that we're not."

At that, Donna broke down. The tears that had formed in her eyes started running down her cheeks. Thoughts and images started flooding her mind. The disastrous way she'd walked out on her job and her relationship with Josh…her inability to follow her convictions when she'd realized she was on the wrong campaign…the depth of the hurt she'd seen on Josh's face the previous night, which she knew came not only from her leaving but also from emotional scars from his past…Will, who she knew was a good man, spreading cruel rumors he knew to be false and leaking information about Baker's wife, because he wanted so much for the candidate he served to be successful. Matt Santos was right. They were all broken.

Will glanced over at her and put an arm around her shoulders, misinterpreting her tears. "I know. Damn him."

She pulled away from him and walked over to a desk, putting her head in her hands. She was glad the convention was nearly over, because she knew she could no longer campaign against Congressman Santos in good conscience. Not because of any anger toward Will or the Vice President, but because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Matt Santos was the leader she wanted for her country.

Santos' speech wrapped up, and the applause from the crowd – from the delegates who would decide the race – was deafening.

Will walked over and sat down next to her, looking stunned and more than a little shaken by the speech and the response from the delegates.

"This isn't over," he told her quietly.

"Yes it is, Will." She patted his hand gently. "It's over."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It didn't take long for Donna's words to come true. Within minutes of the speech, Russell states and Baker states started falling into Matt Santos' column. Soon they learned that President Bartlet was going to lean on Ernie Gambelli from the New York Teachers' Union to endorse Santos. Within hours, the delegates had made a decision.

Matthew Santos was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Donna was walking the halls of the arena, deep in thought, when she nearly ran into Josh, who was jogging in the other direction.

"Hey!" she smiled at him. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be somewhere getting champagne poured on you or something?"

"I had some business to take care of," he told her, looking happier than she'd seen him in a long time.

"Congratulations, Josh. Really."

He barely seemed to hear her. "We won. I can't believe we really won. San-tos! San-tos!" he started mimicking the chants from the crowd. Then suddenly his expression changed. "Oh God, Donna, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I know how beyond miserable it is to wind up on the bad side of an election – I mean, believe me, I know how sick to my stomach I felt a few hours ago when I thought this thing was going to go other way. Go ahead and slap me if I'm being too arrogant."

She giggled. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Josh, in all seriousness," she took his hand and looked at him carefully. "I think the best man won. In fact, I know the best man won."

He looked at her. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

He shook his head. "I knew it! I knew there was no way you could actually prefer Bob Russell to someone like…" his voice broke off. "I'm sorry. I'm being arrogant again, aren't I?"

"You? Arrogant? Never." She teased. Then she gave him a soft smile. "It's true, though. Santos was the better candidate. I've known that for awhile, but I just couldn't…I think I have a new appreciation of what it must have taken for you to leave Hoynes' campaign for Bartlet's eight years ago."

"Yeah."

They both looked up as they saw Matt Santos coming down the hall, accompanied by his wife, several staffers, and a number of Secret Service agents.

"Josh! Where have you been?" Matt hurried toward him.

"Taking care of some stuff. I have some good news about our VP choice."

Matt came up to him, and the two men gave each other a long hug.

"We did it. You did it." Josh shook his head in amazement as he looked at Matt.

"We've come a long way from that office in New Hampshire with that cardboard sign." Matt observed.

Josh put his hand over his eyes, tearing up slightly. "That we have."

"Well I know I haven't always been the easiest candidate to work with…"

"I know I haven't always been the easiest campaign manager to work with…"

Matt looked at him seriously. "But I can never thank you enough, Josh. I owe all of this to you."

Josh shook his head. "No. You owe all of it to you."

"Well, we make a hell of a team, I think."

Josh nodded in agreement.

"So how does it feel to be the Democratic nominee…" Josh's voice broke off as a huge smile crossed his face. "God, I love saying that!"

Matt returned his grin. "It's kind of fun to hear, too."

"Well, get used to it!"

"Hey, I'm sorry for not giving you a heads up on that speech," Matt apologized. "I wasn't sure I was going to go through with it until the last minute, so…plus, I wanted you to have deniability with Leo in case it backfired."

"You mean you just thought I didn't have enough gray hairs yet – thought you'd add a few more." Josh smiled.

"Just trying to keep you on your toes," Matt teased.

"Congressman, that's one thing that's never been a problem working with you."

Donna watched the scene with a smile. She still felt some sadness over Russell's loss – it was impossible to spend all your waking hours for months working toward something without becoming emotionally invested in it – and even more, she found herself wishing she'd joined the Santos campaign in the first place so she could really be a part of this victory celebration. But all her conflicting emotions aside, she knew things had ended the way they were meant to.

"So we're all going out to celebrate," Matt told Josh. "You're coming, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Josh turned to Donna. "Hey, this might sound strange, but do you want to come with us?"

"Yeah," Matt encouraged her. "Please come. We're all Democrats now."

"No," she shook her head. "Thank you, but…I should really spend some time with Will, I think. He's pretty upset. So's the Vice President."

"Bob Russell ran a hell of a campaign," Matt offered graciously. "And you did a hell of a job working for him."

"Thanks." Donna smiled and reached out to shake his hand. "And congratulations, Congressman. I mean it. That speech -- well, the speech was amazing. You're going to give Vinick a run for his money."

"I hope so."

She said goodbye to Josh and watched as the group of them walked down the hall. Then she turned and headed back toward the offices of the Russell campaign.

Her phone rang. She glanced at it, saw it was CJ, and answered.

"Hey, how are you doing?" CJ asked, concern in her voice.

"Okay. I'm happy about the way things turned out. And sad about it, if that makes any sense at all."

"It does," CJ confirmed. "Give Will and the Vice President my best. I know this can't be easy for them."

"I will. Thanks."

CJ was quiet for a minute. "So I guess I steered you wrong when we had our talk earlier."

"First time for everything," Donna said with a smile.

"You know," CJ admitted. "I think I was so consumed with the practicalities of the situation – wanting Russell to have an easy ride to the nomination because I figured he was going to be the nominee no matter what, so it would be best that he didn't get beat up too badly in the primaries, and then worrying so much about party unity – that I have to confess I really didn't spend as much time as I should have actually trying to figure out which candidate would be the best President."

"Well, all of those things are reasonable concerns," Donna acknowledged.

"Yeah, they are, but still. But I will say this for the Democratic party. The old joke may be true – 'I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat' – but I think this time, we managed to get it right."

Donna smiled broadly. "Yes, we did."