Title: Promises and good intentions.

Spoilers: only seen series one over here (deprived) so unless you've never watched any of it, nothing really.

Disclaimer: they belong to the almighty Sorkin and I wouldn't even presume to own them! Well…maybe Josh (in my dreams!! Hehehe)

Notes: An attempt at something that mixes political with J/D angst. I'm English so bare with me on the huge mistakes I will make to do with U.S. law, what I know is from the WW and Encarta. Also, I know extremely little about dealing with cancer and the treatments involved, so I apologise if this is total rubbish.

Monday:

"Is that Coffee I smell?"

"Yep."

"Is it mine?" he asks hopefully, I smile ruefully while still carefully studying my computer screen as he stands behind me leaning against his doorway, I don't have to see him, I know what he's doing.

"Nope"

"Why not?" he whines

"Because, I will never get you coffee, I never have, never will." I say cheerfully

"Do you have to be so peppy?"

"I'm being peppy?"

"Yes."

"You think of me as a dippy cheerleader?" you could almost hear his brain working saying, if I tell her yes then there's no chance of getting a cup of coffee.

"No, but you were talking in a very cheerful voice and I decided to use the word peppy, it was not meant in anyway to be derogatory or to say you are like a cheerleader."

"You should choose your words better, specially with a 180 SAT score baby!" I say doing a not bad impression of him.

"Why do I get the feeling I should never have said that to you."

"Because you shouldn't have, but it's already out there now, so deal."

"Call the cops, it's already out there!" he says his voice getting louder

"So now you're Harry?"

"What?"

"Harry, in when Harry met Sally." I say as if it should be obvious to him what I mean, it is to me!

"Once again Donna you have found yet another way to confuse me beyond all expectations. What does When Harry Met Sally have to do with dealing with your making fun of my SAT scores?" I sigh

"In When Harry Met Sally, Harry makes a pass at Sally when they're driving to New York from Chicago after graduation. She takes it badly so he says he'll take it back. She says he can't take it back because it's already out there. Then…. He says exactly what you said."

"I see. Donna?"

"Yes?"

"You've watched this movie way too many times."

"No, I just pay attention during movies, I don't fall asleep after the opening credits." I turn to give him a sly look.

"That only happened once! Plus I'd had 3 beers already."

"Two more than you can usually manage."

"Hey!"

"Face it you have a delicate system."

"Never!"

"Fine, then next time I'll let you drink as much as you want and in the morning we'll discuss whether you have a delicate system or not." he makes a humph noise and is about to walk back into his office when the phone rings.

"Hello, Joshua Lyman's' office, how can I help you?"

"Uh, hello?"

"Dad?" Dad? But he never rings. My voice must have shown my concern and surprise because Josh stopped in the doorway and came back to my desk.

"Donna? I'm sorry to call you at work…"

"It's ok, what's wrong?"

"It's your mother, now don't go getting in a state, she's had a bit of an episode." I waited for him to go on but he just sat in silence at the other end of the phone, my Dad had never been any good with phones.

"An episode?" I was impatient to hear what he was trying to tell me and could only just hide the irritation in my voice.

"She was at Mickey's, the grocery? Well she was walking up to the check-out and collapsed."

"Oh God." I whispered. I suddenly realised that Josh was standing right next to me and that his eyes were full of concern, I turned back to my computer screen.

"Is she ok?"

"We're at the hospital, they're just being careful, in case she has a concussion. She hit her head pretty hard." I sighed but I still felt tense, nervous in case he said something to remove my short-term relief.

"That's good, better to be safe than sorry," I say trying to sound cheerful

"Yeah." he mumbles back "They're also want to do some tests, see why she collapsed."
"Why?" the tension rising again in my voice

"Well, it's just to be safe, just a precaution the doctor said." he wasn't really talking to her anymore; he was trying to convince himself.

"Do they think it may have been more than her fainting?"

"I don't know, they just said they were going to do a few tests just to make sure. Something about a CAP scan?"

"A CAT scan?" my voice was wavering now, my mom was having a CAT scan? I felt Josh's hand rest on my shoulder, I was glad he was there right then.

"That's it. Look Donna, don't worry. They'll keep her over night for observation and she'll be home tomorrow."

"You get her to call me tomorrow ok?"

"Sure."

"K…I'll see you Dad."

"Yeah, bye."

"Love you, say hi to mom for me."

"I will." and with that he hung up. I slowly pulled the phone back in its cradle as Josh knelt down next to me.

"What's happened?"

"My mom… she had an accident. She collapsed at the store. Hit her head." I sat there, wondering why I was talking in short sentences; it felt like that was all my brain could compute.

"But she's going to be ok?"

"They're going to do some tests, you know just to make sure, and keep her in overnight."

"Well then, don't worry yourself too much. If your mothers anything like you she's a tough cookie and she'll be fine, just with a bit of a bump on her head." I couldn't help but smile and maybe I stared into Josh's eyes for a fraction longer than I should of. No, he didn't mean it like that, and you didn't want him to mean it like that, just forget it, don't start getting ideas.

"Thanks Josh."

"What for?" damn he was cute when he didn't realise he was being noble…no, no, not cute! Josh is not cute, ever, never ever, Josh not cute.

"For being here I guess." he leaned over and gave me a hug.

"That's what kind bosses do for their assistants…especially if it means they might get a cup of coffee?"

"Not a chance." I say smiling again.

"Worth a try." he said as he went back into his office. Josh is right, I thought, she'll be fine. They're just taking precautions, I shouldn't be worried. I returned to the memo I was typing and the rest of the day passed pretty much as normal, well as normal as things ever get in the west wing.