"I don't believe we won all 50 states," Josh commented for the umpteenth time that night. He and Donna had just returned to his apartment after an election night party at the Baker campaign headquarters. Josh had been released from the hospital a few days ago. His recovery was going well so far, better than the doctors had expected, in fact, but the process still felt excruciatingly slow. Having his arm in a sling was a source of constant frustration to him.

Still, at the moment he was in an excellent mood. In addition to the historic election victory, he'd had a meeting with Rabbi Kline the previous day. Tentative plans were now in place to open the Center for Reconciliation sometime in November. Zoey Bartlet had expressed an interest in being a part of it. Charlie would be starting Georgetown Law in the fall, and he was already talking about volunteering at least part time once it opened, possibly providing legal assistance to complement his coursework. Josh was excited about the way things seemed to be coming together.

"Well, what did you expect?" Donna asked in response to his comment, sitting down on his sofa.

"Utah. We even won Utah. I never thought I'd see the day a Democrat would carry Utah."

"Who else were people going to vote for?"

"True."

Ray Sullivan's arrest, and his arraignment on charges of participating in the assassinations of Matthew Santos and Arnold Vinick, and the plot against Ainsley, had stunned the nation and horrified everyone on his campaign. It had also thrown the Republican Party into disarray. The RNC had held an emergency convention and had withdrawn Sullivan's nomination, choosing Glenn Allen Walken to take his place, but the gesture had been largely meaningless. Sullivan's name had remained on the ballot in all 50 states; there was no way it could have been removed that close to the election. The best the RNC could do was pledge to ask its electors to vote for Walken when the Electoral College met, but it couldn't legally compel them to do so, and it was far from certain that all the Republican electors would have agreed to fall in line behind Walken. A number of states had laws on the books mandating their electors to vote for the winner of the state's popular vote, which, if the Republican candidate had won in any of those states, would have required those electors to vote for Sullivan. And given the confusion, it would only have taken a few rogue electors launching campaigns for their own favored candidates to turn a hypothetical meeting of a GOP-majority Electoral College into a free-for-all.

The prospect of a chaotic and unpredictable Electoral College deciding a presidential election had been unsettling even to the most hard-core Republican party loyalists. Turnout among Republicans had been historically low. Third party conservative-leaning candidates had made far-better-than-expected showings, often breaking into the double digits, but none had garnered enough support to actually be competitive.

"You really were wonderful on the campaign," Josh told Donna, sitting next to her on the sofa and wrapping his good arm around her.

"Thank you." She turned and kissed him.

"Baker had better have a great job lined up for you in the administration."

"Actually, I had a conversation with CJ this afternoon. She asked me if I'd like to be her Chief of Staff once she's confirmed as Vice President."

"Really? Wow. That's amazing. That's wonderful, Donna."

"I told her I was incredibly flattered. Then I asked if she'd consider me for a deputy legislative director position."

Josh blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I thought that would be better."

"You…asked for a demotion?"

"I guess that's one way of looking at it."

"How else would you look at it?"

Donna drew in a deep breath and turned to him. "Being CJ's Chief of Staff would have been a huge honor. But it would also have meant I'd have to be on call for her pretty much 24 hours a day. And…I've decided to go back and finish my degree. After that, I think I want to go for a master's in public policy. So I suppose working in legislative affairs would probably be better training for that than being CoS would, anyway."

Josh tousled her hair. "Degree or not, you know you're more competent than 99% of the people in this city with their fancy educations, right?"

"That's nice of you to say, but it's not really true." She paused for a moment. "Last November, after you suggested the deputy press secretary position to me, I did some research and looked at the other people you'd hired for comparable-level positions. Not only did pretty much all of them have years and in some cases decades more experience than me, but I would have been the only person at even close to that level without a college degree, one of only a few without a graduate degree."

"Yeah, but…" Josh thought for a moment. "It's not like that in every administration, you know. I know it was under Bartlet, and…would have been under Santos, but it's not always. I mean, McConnell, who was Deputy CoS before me – he never finished college."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, and how many times have I listened to you rant about the incompetence and anti-intellectualism of that administration?"

Josh just shrugged, not really able to argue that point.

"You couldn't have hired me as deputy press secretary, not really. You know perfectly well what the media would have said: that you'd used your position to get your girlfriend a job she was underqualified for."

"Then they'd have been full of crap as usual. Donna, I promise you, I never would have suggested the position to you if I didn't think you were up to the job. I figured…you know, I figured if you'd taken it, we could have set it up so that you reported only to Lou."

"That wouldn't have been good enough. You'd have been Lou's boss, after all. It would have meant there'd be a mini-scandal…or not so mini, depending on how good a job the Republicans did of spinning it…right out of the gate. It would have been bad for you, bad for me, and bad for the new administration. And you knew, that, didn't you? That's why it took you so long to offer me the position. And you only brought it up after you knew I already had another offer."

"That wasn't…" Josh began to protest, but he couldn't entirely deny it. "It wasn't the only reason. You'd earned a job in the administration. I wasn't about to not offer you one because of whatever was or wasn't happening with us. I was just…confused, I guess. About a lot of things."

Donna was quiet for a minute. "The truth is, I think I've been underqualified for every position I've been hired for ever since I went into this business. I had no credentials whatsoever when you gave me the job on the Bartlet campaign. Then once we won, you could have had your pick of any number of executive assistants, people with years of Washington experience, but you hired me, with my eight months or so of campaign work that included me flaking out on you to go running back to my boyfriend. I really wasn't necessarily qualified for as high-level of a position as Will gave me on the Russell campaign; I think he was just so thrilled that someone – anyone – from the Bartlet administration was signing on with Russell that he didn't care. And I was definitely underqualified to be Helen's Chief of Staff. I did try to tell her that. I mean, I certainly didn't want to take advantage of the fact that, by her own admission, she wasn't even really sure what a First Lady's Chief of Staff did – but she insisted."

Josh had begun gently rubbing Donna's back as she spoke. "Every opportunity you've been given, you've risen to the challenge and then some. That's what matters." He paused. "But I think going back to college is a wonderful idea."

Donna nodded. "I've already started filling out my application to Georgetown."

"Well, if you need any letters of recommendation from any former bosses…"

"I'll be sure to let Will know," she teased.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well, I might have a hard time convincing them that your letter of recommendation was objective anyway, given…you know…" she smiled and played with the ring on her finger.

"Right." He paused, and a teasing smile formed on his lips. "Just one thing."

"What's that?"

"You're not allowed to get better grades than I did."

She grinned, slapping him playfully. "Oh, you're on."

"And another thing."

"I'm afraid to ask."

His face turned serious. "I want to pay for your tuition."

She smiled. "That's sweet, but I'm going to be making a good salary working for CJ. I can afford the tuition."

"I know you can. That's not the point. It's just that you…deserve it."

The smile faded from her face. "Josh-"

"You've had to put up with so much crap from men in your life…me included, God knows. I mean, it just makes me so mad to think of that son of a bitch letting you give up your education and taking your money to pay for his medical school when he didn't even…he obviously didn't even care about you, much less know how to treat a woman…"

Her face darkened. "You're not him, Josh. You're not responsible for…what he did. You don't have to try and fix it."

"I know that. But I'm going to be your husband. I should be taking care of you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me." Her voice suddenly had an edge to it.

"I know. I know. That came out wrong, I guess. It's just that I…want to…take care of you, is what I think I'm trying to say."

Her heart melted at the look of tenderness and sincerity on his face. She leaned in to him and gave him a kiss. "I want to take care of you, too."

He smiled, looking slightly relieved. "I guess it's a good thing we're getting married, then."

"I guess so." She ran a finger through his hair. "I can't let you pay for my college, though. Okay? It just wouldn't be a good idea."

He sighed slightly. "Okay."

"But it means the world to me that you would want to. Really."

Josh responded by bringing his mouth to hers and pulling her into a long, tender kiss.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Danny and I have an announcement," CJ began, touching Danny's hand as the two of them sat at a small, round table in the East Room of the White House with Josh, Donna, Sam, and Ainsley, who had accepted the position of White House Counsel in the Baker administration. It was a week until Eric Baker's inauguration. President Sellner was holding a celebration to honor those who had served in the White House over the last several months, and also to welcome the incoming administration.

"What announcement?" Donna asked, although she had a feeling she knew the answer.

In response, CJ held up her left hand, which bore a stunningly beautiful diamond ring.

"CJ!" Donna squealed, pulling her friend's hand closer to get a better look at the ring.

"When did this happen?" Ainsley asked.

"Last night. Danny took me out to dinner and proposed over dessert," CJ explained. "You know, I figured since I'm going to be Vice President, as a single woman, it probably wouldn't look good to have my boyfriend hanging around the Naval Observatory at all hours of the day and night, so we might as well make it legal."

"Oh, really?" Danny arched an eyebrow. "So you only said 'yes' to avoid bad publicity, then?"

"Of course. What did you think?" CJ tried to keep a straight face, but her eyes twinkled teasingly.

"I'm so happy for you," Donna got up from her seat and gave CJ a hug.

"Well, I just want to make one thing clear," Danny declared. "I know I've joked about being 'Mr. CJ Cregg,' and I'm fine with that, I really am. But if you think I'm actually going to change my name…"

"No one's expecting that of you, dear," CJ responded.

"Look at that – she's calling me 'dear'. We're already like an old married couple. This is going to work out great."

"So, Donna and me…CJ and Danny…I guess that means you guys are next," Josh commented with a grin, gesturing toward Sam and Ainsley.

"Woah, slow down there," Sam laughed. "We've barely been together a month. One step at a time." But as he gazed at Ainsley, who looked absolutely stunning in her black evening dress, her hair pulled up stylishly, he was pretty sure it wasn't out of the question.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So I guess I'll be getting to see what it's like to be Deputy Chief of Staff after all," Sam commented to Josh. The two men stood together near the back of the room, holding glasses of champagne as the party wound down.

"Baker should have made you Chief of Staff."

"He and Robinson have known each other for ages. He's been Baker's CoS ever since he was elected governor. I can't really blame him for wanting to bring him to over to the White House with him."

"Robinson knows nothing about Washington politics. He's only worked in state government, which isn't the same, believe me. Baker will be wishing he'd picked you within a month."

"Nah. I think it'll work out fine. It's probably for the best, actually" Sam took a sip of his champagne. "I told him when I accepted the Deputy CoS position that I'd give him a year, but after that I have other plans."

Josh looked up in surprise. "What other plans?"

Sam was quiet for a minute. "Senator Stockholm's term is up in two years. He's 82; no one thinks he's going to run for another term. There will be an open Senate seat in California."

"You're going to run?"

"Maybe."

"You'd be great."

"Well, I guess it probably makes me a glutton for punishment, given the way I got whomped in the 47th, but…"

"You lost by six points in one of the most conservative districts in the state. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Except for the fact that a Democrat who was dead had just won that district. A dead guy outperformed me."

"It would have been all wrong for you, anyway – that congressional seat," Josh mused. "A district like that, they'd have tried to push you so far to the right…and you'd have had to either go with the flow or be a one-term congressman."

"Be a phony or a loser: heck of a choice."

"Exactly."

"Do you think I could win?" Sam asked seriously. "If I ran for the Senate?"

"I do." Josh looked intently at his friend, the wheels in his brain turning. "Then you serve a term or two …and after that, well, who knows?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Come on. Don't tell me you haven't thought of it."

"No, I have. I definitely have." Sam paused for a moment. "President Bartlet told me once that I was going to run for President some day. I thought he was crazy. Not because I wouldn't want to, but I just couldn't imagine myself ever getting that far in politics."

"Well, start imagining it."

"What about you?" Sam asked. "You ever think of running for something?"

"Hell, no."

"Why not?"

"It's just…it's not what I do." Josh thought for a moment. "Matt told me once…a long time ago, before I was even working for him…I guess he was trying to console me on being passed over for Chief of Staff – not that I needed consoling. I was fine with it, for the record. But anyway, he told me that the kind of politicking that was my job as Deputy CoS…strong-arming senators, that sort of thing...he said that was what I was good at, and what I loved. I think he even said it was what I was born to do. He barely even knew me at the time, but he was right. I do love it." He paused. "And that's fine, for a guy in my position. But the person who's actually elected to office, whether a congressman, or a senator, or especially a President…they shouldn't love that. They should be driven by ideals, and have a vision for the country…and they need guys like me to turn that vision into reality, but they shouldn't be about raw partisanship." Josh was quiet for a minute. "I know I've sometimes crossed the line, doing what I do, both politically and…sometimes ethically. I don't mean to. It's just not always clear to me in the heat of the moment where the line is. But I've always justified it with the knowledge that I was working for someone great, someone like President Bartlet, whose vision was worth getting my hands dirty for. I guess that's one of the reasons why it's so important for me to work for someone I believe in. It's why I couldn't work for Russell or Hoynes. If I were doing the kinds of things I do for someone who was more crassly political than myself…well, I guess that would make me just another Washington sleaze."

"You could never be that," Sam said sincerely. "And besides, I have a feeling your idealistic side will be getting a workout with the Center for Reconciliation."

"Well, that's probably true," Josh agreed. "Anyway, President Bartlet was right. You're going to run for President some day, Sam. And you're going to win."

Sam's eyes met Josh's. "Then I guess it's a good thing I have a best friend who's smarter than me."

He patted Josh on the shoulder, and then walked across the room toward where Ainsley was standing. Despite the tragedy that had marked the past several months, he felt a renewed sense of optimism at what the future might hold for all of them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has read and/or reviewed this story! It's certainly been quite an experience to write, and your feedback has been wonderful.