Donna is trying to work, trying being the operative word. From the other room, she can hear Josh replaying the clip of his disastrous television appearance over and over. Between the whirring noise of the rewind function, she hears his voice through the speakers.
"Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud!"
She can't help but chuckle a little. The remark, though catastrophic, was so very Josh Lyman. When your relationship is secret, as theirs had been for just about a year, sometimes it's hard to separate real from not-real. But that moment on Capitol Beat was real, unadulterated Josh. The Josh she was in love with. Of course, it was also the Josh that could very well be getting fired.
Realizing that this mess had left her completely unable to focus on work, she got up and fabricated a reason to enter his office. Josh wouldn't care if she walked in unannounced, she knew, but the pretense of a cup of coffee gave her comfort that none of their coworkers would find anything suspicious in her interruption. No one really seemed to pay Josh and Donna any mind, but Donna was all too aware, especially today, of the drastic consequences that might come about if they began to pay attention. Donna opened the door to Josh's office slowly, stepping in quietly as he rewound the tape again.
"You shouldn't have worn that tie on television," she reminds him gently. "It bleeds." She says, wanting to say so much more, but needing this small, assistant-like warning to act as a greater comfort than it truly could.
"I don't think it was the tie that got me in trouble," Josh scoffs.
"No, but I've told you a zillion times." Donna reminds him, flashing back to bright mornings in his apartment, him getting dressed and leaving her in bed so they didn't show up together and arouse suspicion, but still she tied his tie.
"What's that?" Josh asks, bringing Donna back to the present-day as he gestured to the mug in her hands with his chin.
"It's coffee." She admits.
"Thought so." Josh catches her.
"I brought you some coffee." Donna re-states.
"Close the door," Josh says, and Donna gives him a look as she does. She wanted to comfort him, so badly she wanted to comfort him, but not at the risk of his already precariously-standing political credibility. "Donnatella Moss," he says, and Donna shudders a little. Her full name is special to him, to them. He rarely calls her that here, in the White House. "When did you start working for me?"
"Uh, during the campaign." She answers, a little surprised he was using the closed door for a Q&A session.
"And how long have you been my assistant?"
"A year and a half."
"And when was the last time you brought me a cup of coffee?" Oh. Now she sees the problem. "It was never. You've never brought me a cup of coffee." He answers for her.
"Well, if you're going to make a big deal of it," she starts, but Josh cuts her off.
"Donna, if I get fired, I get fired. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?" He asks, reaching forward and taking her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. Donna hates herself for it, but for a second, she hopes that Josh does get fired. That the man who gave her more than she had ever dreamed of would lose all of it, that he'd take some teaching job he'd probably hate in Boston or Georgetown, that she'd follow him and finish her degree and they could live their lives as two normal, private-class citizens in love. She hates herself for dreaming of it.
"Do you think he'll do it?" Donna asks, looking up at Josh's face.
"No." He answers, more confident than he's feeling, for her sake.
They hear a knock on the door and separate instantly, breathing out a tiny sigh of relief when they realize it's just Toby. Donna stands up, preparing to leave his office, but not before reminding him.
"You won that election for him. You and Leo, and C.J., and Sam," Donna starts, and when Toby's knocking grew more persistent, she adds, quietly. "And him." She opens the door, and on her way out, Josh calls out to her.
"Thanks for the coffee," He says, and they both know he's thanking her for a hell of a lot more than the coffee.
"You're welcome," She calls back, and Toby gives Josh a look.
"Donna brought you coffee?" Toby asks, and Donna calls for him to shut up from her desk.
Later that night, Donna went home at Josh's orders, and while she ordered him to go home as well, she wasn't surprised to find him face-down at his desk the next morning. She put the cup of coffee she'd brought for him on the corner of his desk and hung the fresh suit on the back of his office door. Gently, she shook him awake, and after peering into the empty bullpen, decided to risk a quick kiss to rouse him. It worked, and he picked his head up to follow her when she attempted to pull away from him. After a moment, he let her go.
"I thought I sent you home," He murmured quietly, his eyes still not open.
"You did. The difference between the two of us is that I actually listen to you. It's morning now, Josh," she said quietly, running a hand through his hair.
"I listen to you," He argued weakly.
"You listen to me when I inflate your ego." Donna corrected. "I brought you some fresh clothes. Get changed."
"Don't wanna," He whined.
"Josh," She protested.
"No." He answered, more awake now.
"Put it on," She demanded.
"No," He argued stubbornly.
"Put it on!" She asked again.
"No," he repeated, driving her mad.
"You've been wearing the same clothes for 31 hours now, Josh." She pleaded with him.
"I'm not getting spruced up for these people, Donna." He countered.
Using her last bargaining chip, but knowing it would work, she smiled. "All the girls think you look really hot in this shirt."
He takes the shirt from her, grumbling so no one outside would hear. "Don't care about all the girls. Care about this girl."
"Well, this girl just proved her point that you only listen when she inflates your ego."
Taking a moment to realize what she'd done, and then scowling at her, he playfully barked at her to leave and let him change. On his way to the meeting where he'd surely be forced to grovel to the Christian right, she wasn't at her desk, and he found himself disappointed. Shaking it aside, he went to the meeting and made his apologies, but found himself in a daze after that, only half-aware of the rampant anti-semitism that was spewing out around him. He kept thinking about Donna, about what their lives would be like if he did get fired.
She'd stay on here, of course. She was so good here, like she was born to live and breathe politics. Maybe she'd even take his job. Unlikely, because she had no degree, but he had no doubts that she could do it. Hell, he'd even write her a reference. Of course, that opened up a whole new slew of conflict-of-interest issues.
He was distracted from his reverie when he heard CJ say something along the lines of "Lloyd Russell and your girlfriend." Lloyd Russell and Donna? What the hell was Donna doing with Russell? Then, Sam spoke up and he remembered his lunch yesterday with the only woman CJ had ever known as his girlfriend, Mandy Hampton.
"I'll be putting an end to that," Josh said defensively.
Later that night, long after the remainder of the senior staff and their assistants had gone home, Donna and Josh remained, still working diligently at their respective desks. He called out to her and she entered his office.
"You should go home, Donna. Get some sleep."
"You could probably stand to do the same."
"Sure, but if you leave, and I leave, then who's running the country?"
"The country seems to be doing just fine without Leo, Sam, Toby, CJ, Margaret, Mrs. Landingham-"
"Okay, okay, I get it. Even Leo went home?"
"Even Leo." Donna repeated. "How did it go today?"
"Well, I'm still at work, aren't I?"
"Josh." Donna pleaded.
"Donna." He told her in a word that they wouldn't be discussing it any further.
"Fine. Want to address the pictures of you and Mandy cozying up at lunch downtown?" She asked in a tone that let him know that it wasn't optional.
"It was a business lunch." He brushed her off.
"Want to explain why a reporter heard you call her 'incredible?'' She shot back.
"It was a business lunch. I was schmoozing." He told her.
"Look, I'm not mad."
"You sound mad."
"Do you want me to be mad? Because you're getting there awful fast."
"Sorry. But I thought we agreed this was okay? Nothing's going on, Donna, honestly, but if you don't want me to be seeing anyone else-"
"No, Josh. That's what we agreed on. We need to be seen with other people every once in a while. But I'd like to find out from you, not the tabloids. And I'd really love it if it wasn't your ex."
"Oh, Donna, There's nothing there, really."
"Well, you've dated her before, so there's gotta be something, right?"
"Whatever it was, it completely vanished to me the moment I handed you my campaign badge."
"Josh," Donna started.
"There's you, Donna. There's just you. Go home. Get some sleep."
"Will you finish up here and come over? I've hated how hard this has been for you."
"I can't tonight," He said, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. "Reporters are going to be looking for me right now. We need to be a few news cycles separated from this before we take any risks." Donna pouted, and Josh needed to tear her eyes away from his, because he knew he was helpless to not give her anything she wanted when she looked at him like that. "Don't do that to me." He teased gently. When he looked up, she was much closer, and she put her hands on either side of his face to pull him up into a kiss.
"Goodnight, Joshua." She whispered into his ear after pulling away only a fraction of an inch.
"Goodnight, Donnatella."