tTitle: Gravitation is Not Responsible (36/36)
Author: Aerial312
Rating: PG-13
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)
Spoiler Info: Post Rosslyn.
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N:. Visit my archive: http://aerial312. .

"Hello?" Donna mumbled sleepily into the phone.

"Hey…"

"What time is it?" She sat up and looked at the clock. 1:34.

"I don't know."

"Josh, its 1:30."

"Oh."

"You need to go to bed. You've got work in the morning."

"Yeah…"

"What?"

"I can't sleep."

"No?"

"I…tried…I just…its…"

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Silence.

"Josh?" Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah."

"It's way too early to stay up for the rest of the night."

"Well—"

"Josh—"

"I'll never fall back asleep."

"You will. You do."

"Not…" he sighed, "Never mind."

"What?"

"No—"

"Not alone?"

"I—"

"It's okay to say that, you know?"

"Yeah, well…" he trailed off into silence.

"Josh?"

"Will you just talk to me for a while?"

"Yeah?"

"Might help."

"If you think it—"

"Actually, probably not. Never mind. I don't want to keep you up."

"Josh—"

He hung up. Donna jabbed his number back into her phone as she climbed out of bed.

"Yeah?"

"What the hell was that about?"

"I don't want to keep you up."

"You hung up on me."

"No—"

"Yes."

"Well, goodnight then. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Josh—"

"I don't need to talk your ear off. Get some sleep '

"You honestly think I'll be able to fall back asleep at this point?"

"No…"

"You want me to come over?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You have a big day tomorrow. You need to go back to sleep. So if that means I come over, that's what's gonna happen."

"Thank you."

Half an hour later, Donna let herself into Josh's dark apartment, and walked down the hall to the bedroom. He was staring at the TV which blared a Christmas tune against the wall. Donna tossed her bag onto the bureau, and kicked off her shoes. She climbed onto the bed and rubbed his back with her left hand.

Josh turned to her, startled. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Obviously."

"Can you believe they're playing Christmas movies already? It's not even Thanksgiving."

"How'd you find that?"

"Just flipping through. I wasn't really watching."

"Just staring off into space."

"Yeah…"

Donna took the remote from his hand and turned the TV off.

"Sleep time."

"Ha."

"You're going to sleep."

"Eventually."

He flopped back against his pillow. "Why can't I just sleep through the night? Alone."

She patted his arm.

"It's not that I don't like being lulled back to sleep…"

"I know."

"It's just—you know? We—this—we—"

"Can't"

"Yeah."

"It's okay."

"Hmph."

"Hmm?"

"It's not."

"What?"

"It's not okay."

"No?"

"This…this…is comforting. It just pisses me off that we—that you can't come over as my friend and just hold me—lull me to sleep, you know? Because of appearances. Because it's not fair to make you—"

"You're not making me do anything."

"No?"

"I want to help you."

"Yeah?"

"You know that."

"Yeah. Makes it almost worse."

"You think so?"

"It's out of our hands. Because of where we work, it—it's—I don't know what to say."

He leaned forward, his head in his hands. Donna spun herself around to face him, tucking her knees under herself. She leaned on her hand on the other side of his legs. Tenderly, she reached up and stroked his shoulder. He looked up, and smiled at the concern in her eyes. Leaning in, he rest his forehead against hers. She rubbed his shoulders mindlessly.

"Mmm…"

"That's right. Relax."

He sighed into her touch, and began to stroke her arms with his fingertips.

"Mmm…"

He slide his hands up her arms, drawing one into her hair, and grasping her chin with the other. Slowly, they moved together, the pace changing instantly as their lips met. Her hands flew up from his back into his hair, running her fingers through his messy curls, closing the distance. He wrapped his arm around her waist, forcing her to scramble up to her knees to be close enough. He pulled her hard against him, and they lost their balance, falling backwards onto the pillow, Donna's knees on either side of his, her body flush against his torso.

He ran his hand up and down her back, and as she groaned, he rolled himself on top of her. She kissed along his jaw line, and slid her hand underneath his shirt, along the muscles of his back. He shivered, and ground his hips against hers involuntarily. This continued for several minutes, until Josh rolled to her other side, pulling her with him.

"Ow!"

"What's wrong?" Donna asked, out of breath, scurrying to sit up and look at him.

"I…I'm fine…I—" He sat up with some effort.

"Something hurt."

Josh was still breathing heavily. "I forgot I can't lay on that side." He hung his head, not looking up at her.

"You okay now?"

"Yeah…I…startled myself. I, uh—we, uh—probably a good thing I…"

"Yeah."

"Uh…nice…really, but—"

"We can't."

"No."

"Yeah."

"And that's the reason for the other."

"The not sleeping here?"

"Yeah."

"We…"

"Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm…okay, yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"This—it's gonna be weird—in general, that is—to go back to work tomorrow—"

"Today."

He smiled softly. "Today. It's weird to go back. We've—I've been…playing by very different rules for the last three months, and now—"

"Back to normal."

"For us."

"Huh?"

"Normal for us. We're not exactly normal."

"Right."

"I—god, this is hard."

"You'll get back to work, and you'll be so busy. It'll get a lot easier."

"You think?"

"Of course, right now it seems hard—"

Josh chuckled.

Donna grinned. "That was a bit of a double entendre, huh?"

"Just a little."

"It's working…"

"It certainly is. If I hadn't cried out…?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think?"

"Probably. Yeah."

"A shame."

"It's for the best."

"Yeah?"

"We can't."

"We can't…will…will you still stay?"

Donna nodded. "You ready to sleep?"

"I think so." He climbed over her, and lay on his customary side.

"You want me in here?"

"Last time."

"Yeah."

"Lay down."

Donna lay down beside him. He reached out, and pulled her against his chest.

"Big day."

"Mmm." Josh's mouth was buried against her head.

"You still have to take it easy."

"I will."

"Uh huh."

"You think I'm ready?"

"You're ready. You just have to be careful."

"You'll still keep an eye on me?"

"Always do."

"Yeah."

"By tomorrow, you'll consider it nagging again."

"Nah."

"No?"

"Give me at least till the end of the week."

Donna laughed. "It's nearly 3. We need to sleep."

"Yes, ma'am." Josh closed his eyes.

"Oh, you like to be nagged." She curled closer and shut her eyes.

"Yeah, I do."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love" – Albert Einstein

FIN

Look for the sequel "A Glimpse of the Possibility" in the next few days!