A/N: Oh wow it's been over three months since I last updated! What can I say, that sweet little baby girl of mine takes up a lot of my time (not that I mind AT ALL). I do have a lot written for the next two chapters, so there won't be another three month gap in the near future.

Chapter Thirty Four: Mr. Secretary

The last five days of the semester had been a grind- a whirlwind of studying, naps, coffee, and exams. Josh found himself struggling to study, wishing instead to stay in bed with Donna all day and explore her beautiful body. Despite their ability to distract one another, they pushed themselves to study, the reward being a weekend of sex, laziness, and naked naps.

And they had done just that. The minute Josh turned his Con Law final in, he was out of that classroom faster than an attorney could say "OBJECTION YOUR HONOR!" He was home within five minutes, huffing and puffing, but managed to strip all his clothes off from the time he had locked his apartment door to entering his bedroom, finding Donna on his bed in nothing but his Yale Law T-Shirt. They didn't leave the apartment the entire weekend.

Donna still worked a couple of shifts at Cabbot's during the week. So a few days before Christmas during one of her shifts, Josh surprised Donna with a small Christmas tree in his living room, Christmas Stockings, and some garland. She had walked in after her shift to the scent of warm cookies and pine. "Did I do it right Donna? Christmas, I mean? Is it Christmas-ee? Did I decorate-" Before he could finish that sentence she was kissing him, happy tears falling from her eyes.

"Josh! It's perfect!"

"I brought Christmas to you, Donnatella."

They spent the night watching "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story", eating Josh's cookies and sipping hot cocoa. The next day they found themselves in downtown Westport buying their first ornament together: a guy and a girl wearing winter clothes and a yellow lab with a scarf, labeled appropriately: "Josh, Donna, and Buster: Our First Christmas Together December 1991".

Donna was surprised on Christmas morning when she and Josh woke up to a knock on his apartment door. She couldn't help the grin on her face when Noah walked in dressed head to toe in a Santa costume, a sack of presents and all. Buster of course, had a red nose and Miriam matched Noah in her Mrs. Claus outfit. The Lymans really went all out for their first Christmas. Donna couldn't believe that Josh had found the time to track down an old edition of her favorite book, Jane Eyre. She felt tears welling in her eyes as she read Josh's inscription and found herself sniffling as Josh gathered her in his arms, "I meant every word I wrote in there. I love you so much Donnatella, Merry Christmas." Miriam's hand found Noah's as they watched the scene in front of them unfold. Their son's happiness meant the world to them.

Josh was elated when he unwrapped his gift, a picture of Buster wearing a Mets hat that of course had been painted by Donna, and attached to the back of the canvas were two Mets tickets for a Saturday in April. Everyone added a few more ornaments that Noah and Miriam had bought for the tree, and the day was spent watching Christmas movies and eating Christmas cookies. That evening, Josh and Donna followed Noah and Miriam back to Westport for Christmas dinner and stayed there for awhile. And rather than going to "Kevin's Kegger" on New Years Eve, they brought in the new year With Miriam, Noah, and Buster; drinking Prosecco and eating Chinese food. Instead of going for the appropriate peck on the lips at New Years in front of his parents, Josh couldn't help but wrap his arms around Donna and hold her close as they shared an all consuming kiss. When they finally came up for air, flushed with tingling lips, Josh smiled, "Happy New Year Donna, it's going to be a great one!" His words were met with unanimous agreement as everyone toasted and finished off their glasses.

The following morning, Josh and Donna woke up later than usual. Well rested and bright eyed, Josh began rubbing small circles on Donna's stomach.

"Good morning Blue Eyes."

"Mmm, good morning Mr. Lyman." Donna felt Josh rock against her, eager for their new morning routine. She had been feeling great these past few weeks to the point where she didn't feel the need to take her medicine first thing.

"Did you sleep well?" His hand made its way up the front of Donna's shirt.

"Someone's enthusiastic this morning." Donna turned to face Josh, her lips finding his.

"Mmmhmm, but it doesn't seem to be an issue with the other party involved." Josh's voice was husky and low as his fingers found the top of Donna's underwear and pushed them down her smooth legs.

Donna responded by pressing herself against Josh and tugging on his boxers, their legs tangling together as Josh rolled Donna on top of him. And just as things were starting to get hot and heavy, a knock on the door caused them to freeze.

"Josh?"

"Uh, yeah Dad?"

"You awake? Stupid question, of course you are."

"Uh-huh . . ." Donna giggled into Josh's chest as she saw him struggling to maintain a normal tone.

"We have a guest coming over later this morning. Just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Heads up," Donna whispered to Josh with mirth, and he couldn't let that go without tickling her, causing Noah to hear nothing but a burst of giggling on the other side of the door.

"Okay, we'll get up and get ready," Josh cringed as he realized what he said. He looked at Donna and laughed, "Okay no sass from you on my word choice."

"Sure thing Mr. 760 Verbal."

"Okay. Your mom's making pancakes."

"We'll be down soon."

0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o

"Oh are they awake yet?" Miriam asked as she happily began to add the buttermilk to the pancake mixture.

"Yeah they are."

"Oh great. Were they getting ready to come downstairs? If so I can start the first batch of pancakes.

"Uhh no, not quite."

"Well what were they doing? Oh, Donna likes to read in the morning. Maybe Josh is doing that now too." Miriam continued to stir the pancake batter.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure they were having sex," Noah said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?" Miriam froze, shocked at Noah's words.

"I said, I'm pretty sure they were having sex . . ." Noah leaned against the cabinets and took a sip of coffee, clearly trying to get a rise out of his wife.

"I know what you said. I'm just shocked you said it."

"Well, what did you want me to do, lie? I mean they're young and in love, and they've been here for a week so I'm sure they've done it a few times."

"NOAH BENJAMIN LYMAN," Miriam whisper shouted, but followed up with nothing else.

"Well look at it this way, when it comes time for them to give us grandkids, they'll know how to get the job done," Noah shrugged as he took another sip of coffee. Miriam couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't sure why the information shocked her, Josh was 23 years old, he's an adult and so is Donna.

"Well, that's true."

"Hey what are you two laughing about?" Josh asked as he and Donna came into the kitchen hand in hand. Noah and Miriam just stood there silently before they burst into laughter again, then waving Josh off and telling him that they were laughing at nothing, nothing at all.

Josh just shrugged, "Ahh-kay."

During their pancake breakfast, Noah and Miriam pushed an envelope in Josh's direction- his first semester law school grades had arrived. He stood up and tore the letter open, letting out a breath that he never knew he was holding when he saw that he had A's across the board, landing him in the top ten percent of his class. And seeing how proud his parents were of him, how proud Donna was, made his day.

"You're on your way to being invited to the Yale Law Journal, Son. I'm so proud of you, keep up the good work," Noah whispered as he put his hands on his son's shoulders, gently patting his back before grabbing another cup of coffee.

"My man, so smart," Donna wrapped her arms around Josh's neck, kissing him deeply. "Congratulations, Josh."

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you, Donnatella."

"Aww sure you could Josh."

"Yeah, probably, but I wouldn't want to. Now I just need to do it again next semester." He lightly kissed her lips, his arms pulling her closer as he swayed them back and forth.

"You will."

"I guess I will just have to keep studying every night at Cabbot's, that seems to be working well."

"You just want something from the carb convention."

"Maybe . . . Or maybe ya know I just want to stare at my beautiful girlfriend all night."

"Okay if you stare at me, you won't get any studying done, Josh."

"I can do both. I'm an excellent multi-tasker, Donnatella. I multi-task."

"Carbs and coffee- the secret recipe for Law School success."

"Carbs, coffee, and Donna Moss, that's the secret recipe for law school success. Speaking of success, you wanna call your parents, find out how you did? If my grades were in the mail, yours might have arrived too."

Despite her letter having to travel all the way to Madison, it did arrive in the mail that same day. Donna called her parents and her mother delivered her grades over the phone. Even with a forty hour work week, an extra class in her schedule, and continuing to recover from her accident, Donna finished her first semester at Yale with three A's one A- and one B+. Her mom gave her a hard time about the B+, claiming that if she were at UWI she would have had A's across the board. The phone call ended without so much as a 'Good job' or 'I'm proud of you' from Lucy Moss. Donna quietly hung up the phone, biting her lip and letting out a sigh. She leaned back against Josh as she stayed put in his lap, trying to process the phone call she just had. Josh had heard the whole conversation and he knew Donna's parents meant well, but he couldn't help the anger that was brewing in him. Didn't her mom remember the terrible accident she was in? Didn't she realize that Donna was working a full-time job and had an extra class in her schedule? And regardless, a 3.8 GPA was incredible. He was proud of her and after Donna got off the phone he made sure that she knew just how proud he was.

0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o

The doorbell rang while Josh and Donna were flipping through Josh's Senior Yearbook in the living room. "I got it!" Josh announced as he jumped up from the couch and looked through the spyhole.

"Oh my God, no way!" Josh's excitement radiated off of him as he opened the front door. "Mr. Secretary! Welcome to our humble abode," he smiled as he shook Leo McGarry's hand and welcomed him inside.

"Seriously Josh, Leo's fine, you know that," Leo couldn't help but grin as he put his hand on Josh's shoulder.

"Well it's fun saying Mr. Secretary . . . and I want you to meet someone," Josh smiled in Donna's direction as she walked over.

"Leo, I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Donna Moss. Donna, this is Leo McGarry, the Secretary of Labor."

"So this is THE Leo McGarry I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. McGarry."

"Oh Donna please if I'm letting this guy call me Leo, of course you can. It's lovely to meet you, I hope Josh isn't giving you too much trouble," Leo gave Donna his cheeky grin as he shook her hand.

"Hey is that my old law firm partner I hear?!" Noah glided through the living room with Miriam, Buster wasn't far behind.

"Those were the days. Hey is that gyros restaurant still there?"

"Open 5am-11am and 2pm-5pm daily!" Noah chuckled as he hugged his old friend. "You look good, Leo."

"Really, still? That place always had the oddest hours. For the life of me, I will never understand why they're closed during the lunch rush. To each their own, I guess. Miriam, you look great, Jenny and Mal say hello of course. And Mr. Buster, you know I didn't come empty handed." Leo fished out a few dog treats from his suit jacket and tossed them at Buster, then gave Miriam a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Leo, come on you're not working today. What's with the suit, huh?" Noah asked, a smile still adorned on his face.

"I got a lot of suits, what can I say."

"Don't tell me you wore a suit the whole time you and Jenny were in New York visiting Mal," Miriam playfully chided.

"I did, much to their dismay."

"Leo the only time I haven't seen you in a suit is at the D&P family picnics and like one time when you came over to help my Dad with the roof. And for the record, neither of you knew what you were doing."

"For the record, Josh, I recall you not knowing what you were doing either."

"Hey I was 14."

"Well do you know how to do those repairs now?" Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Err, no . . ."

"See, my point exactly. Oh I know, maybe next summer you can help your dad with the gutters, and learn a few things Josh."

"Oh that's a great idea!" Noah chimed in.

"Okay this conversation isn't going the way I expected," Josh huffed as everyone made their way into the kitchen.

0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o

"Watch this," Leo mouthed silently to Noah later that afternoon during lunch. Noah, well aware of his old friend's sense of humor, sat back and waited for the "show" to start.

"Ya know at first when I was appointed Secretary of Labor, I wasn't planning to take it. I mean I wasn't too crazy about working for a republican president, ya know?" Leo paused and gauged the reaction of everyone at the table, Josh especially.

"But then, he kind of grew on me." Josh's eyebrows instantly shot up at Leo's admission.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really like some of his policy initiatives. As a whole, we really need to seriously consider his tax plan . . ." Leo looked over at Josh again, whose body was now frozen in place, fork in hand, eyes on his food. "Basically, we need to cut taxes. I know that's blunt, but there really is no other way to say it. I'm really hoping that his most recent bill with the capital gains tax rider passes . . . " Leo paused again, Josh's hands were now aggressively scrubbing his face, his foot rapidly bouncing off the floor. "Oh and the administration's push to pass the bill to increase defense spending for the military is something I'm on board with. We can just pull money from education, there's enough there . . ." That last bit did Josh in.

"OKAY! That's it, I've heard enough!" Josh announced as he stood up at the table and began pacing. "WHAT do you mean we need to CUT taxes?!" With his hands now scrubbing at the sides of his head and eyes on the floor, Josh was unable to see how Noah and Leo were trying to contain their laughter. Miriam just winked at Donna with a smile, letting her know that they were all in for a very Josh-esque lecture.

"Leo, if we cut taxes, how on Earth are we going to be able to continue programs like Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps? How will we pay down the national debt? And if anything, we need MORE money for education! We can't "pull" money from education! And don't even talk to me about capital gains . . ."

And Josh's tangent went on like that for a solid 10 minutes. He was pacing around the kitchen island while throwing out random statistics. His hands were gesticulating wildly when he really wanted to drive his point home. His voice elevated when he mentioned a policy initiative that he really didn't care for. And when he spoke passionately about a cause he believed in, Josh said it with determined eyes.

"And that is why, Leo . . . THAT is why the defense spending bill will die in committee!" Josh concluded his argument as he sat back down at the table. Leo McGarry just sat there with a grin on his face. And a moment later, Josh was looking back and forth between Leo and his Dad, before cracking a smile.

"Ahhh-kay, I see what's going on here. You're messing with me, Leo. You haven't really 'turned elephant' on me, have you?" Josh sat back with crossed arms, a grin on his face to match the man sitting across from him.

"You sure you wanna be dating this guy? He's a real piece of work," Leo looked at Donna with his ear to ear grin, just hoping to get more of a rise out of Josh.

"Hey, don't put ideas in her head!"

"Yeah you're right Josh. You need Donna to mellow you out, help you calm down for when you get a little worked up, especially over politics."

"Worked up?! Leo! You started it!"

"See I just wanted to come over here and have a nice afternoon with my good friend and his lovely family," Leo snickered as he looked at Noah.

"I'm not worked up!" Josh, now just a little exasperated ran his hands through his hair and rubbed at his face a few times, only to feel a gentle hand on his lower back. "You made some good points, Pumpkin Patch," Donna whispered as she kissed his cheek. "And it was fun watching you."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm."

"I didn't get too worked up?"

"You got passionate, and I love that about you," Donna whispered with a reassuring smile. Josh couldn't help himself when he leaned over and kissed her. Noah and Leo took the opportunity to rag on Josh just a little longer.

"Noah, he has such a brilliant political mind."

"I know. He's not really going to need it though, ya know when he graduates from law school and joins me at the firm."

"What a shame, he'd be unstoppable in the political arena."

"Wait what? Dad, you KNOW I'm not going to D&P. You KNOW I want to work in politics. I've always wanted to do this."

"Such a shame to see his political talent go to waste," Leo shook his head, feigning disappointment.

"Alright boys, cut it out. You're going to give Joshua an anxiety attack," Miriam seeing Josh start to sweat, stepped up in his defense.

"We're just giving you a hard time, Son. I know you rather go work with Leo and save the world. You know we would never hold you back from your goals, Josh." Noah smiled at his son, a sense of pride washing over him. The way Josh stood his ground and spoke passionately about policy initiatives and wanting to do the right thing reminded him of when he was just starting out as a young attorney with a passion for practicing law. Josh just smiled and nodded, always a good sport when it came to Noah and Leo's mischief, "I wouldn't expect anything different from you and Leo."

0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o

Noah and Leo spent a few more hours in the kitchen catching up. Conversation flowing towards work life: how things were going at the firm and how Leo REALLY felt about working for the current administration. Of course, Leo wanted to hear about Josh and Donna, knowing that he would have to report all the details back to Jenny and Mal. He couldn't go back empty handed, his wife and daughter would never let him hear the end of it. Naturally, Noah was more than happy to share the story. He also shared with Leo that there was a part of him that had always worried that Josh wouldn't make room in his life for anything other than politics, but then much to his surprise on a typical fall Sunday afternoon, Noah watched Josh smile at Donna as he looked on with Buster through a coffee shop window. "I knew at that moment that he was in love, Leo."

After the sun had set and several cups of coffee and chocolate chip cookies had been consumed, Leo and Noah began to make their way out of the kitchen so that Leo could drive back to the city to catch his plane to DC. The two men stopped when they entered the living room, taking in the scene in front of them. Donna had fallen asleep on one of the couches and Josh had taken a seat on the coffee table, where he took a moment to brush Donna's hair back and cover her with a warm blanket. Leo had never seen Josh act as anything other than a ball of energy, but here he was, content to slow down and gently stroke Donna's cheek as she slept. In Leo's mind, that spoke volumes.

"Noah, that's really something."

"Yeah, it is. It really is."

"It looks serious."

"It is. Leo, that's my future daughter-in-law."