Summary: AU. After becoming the odd man out thanks to Carrick, Josh didn't think he had anything more to lose by giving Hoynes a second chance. Josh/Donna.

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Disclaimer: The West Wing is the creation of Aaron Sorkin and property of NBC, used without permission or intent to profit.

Is it wrong that it bothers me that my fingers can type a disclaimer almost instinctively as long as I fill in the source material and owners?

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"The Penitent Man"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Only the Penitent Man shall pass..."
- Dr. Henry Jones, Sr.,
'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.

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Two men walked into a bar. Well, actually, only one man walked into the bar, the other was already there, sitting on a stool at the bar itself as the second one entered and walked up beside them. Without turning to look at the newcomer, the now former-Vice President John Hoynes looked at the glass of water sitting on the bar in front of him.

Then he spoke, "They say that you can't survive in Washington if you make mistakes, you know that, Josh?"

"Yes, Mr. Vice President," the White House Deputy Chief-of-Staff, though in title only at the moment, didn't ask how the other man knew it was him, he just sat down on the next stool, "I've heard that."

Hoynes' lip twitched at Josh's use of the title he hadn't held in almost three years, "I've been thinking about it; if you never make mistakes, how do you know what not to do next time? Somebody's got to make them so everybody else can avoid them, don't they?"

"Respectfully, sir, have you been drinking?"

"Thinking, Josh, not drinking. It's water," Hoynes answered, "Tell me something... Where did we start getting the idea that people who work in politics have to be perfect?"

"Probably from the voters," Josh admitted.

"You want to know something? I'm really starting to hate it."

"You want me to be honest? That makes two of us."

"Out of curiousity, do you know how many people in the party are actually glad Carrick's finally telling the truth about where he stands?"

"Not enough in the right places," Josh answered, taking the glass from in front of Hoynes and taking a sip, learning that it was, in fact, water, and part of him regretting that fact.

"Enough that I've heard rumors."

Josh scoffed, "This is Washington, there's always rumors."

"I know..." Hoynes admitted, "But I think there might actually be something to this one; There's talk of a shake-up coming in the party, a lot of members aren't happy with the way the party leadership has been operating these last few years... Crucifying you over Carrick is looking to be it, the thing that finally pushes people over the edge and a change in leadership means that a lot of Leo's old buddies that he's relied on, who've in turn been keeping him alive in politics aren't going to be in power any longer. It's going to be younger men and women, ones who want people in power that aren't part of the old 'D.C. Boy's Club'..."

Josh looked at Hoynes and his eyes widened a fraction, "What are you saying, sir?"

"What am I saying?" Hoynes' mouth twitched up in a faint smile, "I'm saying that if you're tired of taking Leo's crap for doing your job, I need a good man for my campaign. The job's yours, if you want it."

"Sir, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Hoynes smiled slightly, "You know what they say, Josh, 'In Washington, all roads lead to the White House'."

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The sound of three loud knocks on her door, followed by the shouting of her name pulled Donna Moss out of the book she was happily reading.

"Donna!" Another three knocks and, "Donnatella Moss!"

With a sigh, Donna laid her book down, got up, went to and opened the door to look her boss in the face, "Josh, have you been drinking again?"

"No, Donnatella," Josh announced, carefully pushing past her into her apartment, "I've had more important things to do tonight than drink."

"Are you sure?" Donna asked as she followed him into her living room, "Because you're talking like you do when you've been drinking."

"More important things, Donna!" Josh took off his overcoat with a flourish and tossed it onto the couch, "Things that will chart a course for the future!"

"Josh, I'm serious - let me smell your breath."

"If you insist, Donnatella," Josh half-shrugged before putting his hands against her cheeks and pressing his lips to her's.

When Josh pulled away after a moment, Donna groaned, "Oh, God, Josh... what did you do?"

If anything, Josh's grin grew, "You're gonna love this."

-o0o-

"Are you sure about this, Josh?" Donna asked from her couch as Josh paced her apartment's living room, waiting on a response almost an hour later, "You know it's going to hurt the President, you know how highly he thinks of you."

"I know, Donna, and I respect President Bartlett more than any other man alive... honestly, maybe more than I do Leo, now... but he's tired. Fighting the Republicans and foreign heads of state was one thing, but over the past few years he's had to fight his family, his friends... his own senior staff..." Josh stopped pacing and looked at her, "I know Hoynes might not be the President's chosen successor, but I think he's ready for it. Seven, eight years ago, maybe not. Knowing then what I know now, I probably would've still joined Bartlett For America for the first campaign... but I think it's Hoynes' time now, Donna."

"John Hoynes isn't a popular person in Washington right now, Josh," Donna pointed out, referring to the events not that long ago - for Washington memories - involving Hoynes' having an affair and the woman he was having it with writing a book using everything he'd ever mentioned as pillow talk.

Josh just shrugged, "Neither am I, I've heard."

"That's because you don't 'play the game', Joshua," which was a nice way for her to put it considering that he barely 'played well with others'. She'd certainly sent enough flowers, fruit baskets and other apologies over the years because of it.

"See," Josh began gesturing as he talked, "That's the problem! We're not here to 'play the game', we're here to run the country, we're here to try to make things better for the American people and we're here to get the job done and maybe if more people in Washington would remember that, there'd be no 'game' to 'play'."

The blonde woman was surprised at the passion in his voice, something that hadn't been there for too long, "So you're leaving the White House to go work for Hoynes and manage his campaign? All in hopes that you'll come back to the White House with his administration? Doesn't that strike you as a little bit weird, Josh?"

"He offered me the Campaign Manager position... I told him that I had someone better in mind to run things and I'd take back my old place as political advisor," Josh smirked, ignoring the 'weird' comment, "How 'bout it, Donna? Think we can get a penitent man elected?"

Donna smiled at the gleam in his eye that had been missing since long before Carrick's switch and Josh's subsequent 'demotion', since before the inauguration and even the second campaign, missing for too long. Now that she thought about it, it had disappeared sometime during the second year of the first administration; maybe about the time that Leo had ignored his objections and made him hire Mandy Hampton as a 'Media Consultant' and it had backfired in all of their faces. There was really only one thing Donna could say in response to Josh with that gleam...

"You bet your ass."