XIV

Josh, come back. Please come back. Please come back.

She was beginning to have flashbacks to a week ago, when she'd been praying for Josh's safe return after he'd disappeared in the wake of the lost vote. Only this time, it was her own sanity she was worried about.

This was a nightmare. She'd hoped that the impressive nature of their surroundings would at least cow her family into being better behaved, but apparently it wasn't so.

"Donna, we worry about you." Her mother was giving her the guilt-voice. Hah, and Josh thought she was good at laying it on. "Out here all alone, no family-"

"I have friends here, mom," she insisted, vaguely indicating the rest of the West Wing. "These people; they're my friends."

"Donna, why won't you come back to Wisconsin?" her mother continued, relentless. "I know you want your independence-" she made it sound like a dirty word - "but we can find you another job, and you can be close to home. And that nice Alec Johnson was asking about you just the other day; remember when you used to date him?"

"Mom, that was high school!" Donna rolled her eyes. Alec was a vaguely remembered blob in her memory, a few dates - nothing hellish, nothing incredibly spectacular either. And she wasn't anywhere near the wide-eyed and innocent young girl she'd been back then, believing that any boy who'd look twice had to be better than none at all.

The phone at her desk rang, rescuing her for a few precious moments. She diverted the caller, and looked up to see her mother shaking her head. "So this is the 'vitally important' job you do all day? You answer the phones?"

Oh how she wished that had been the Vice President or Nancy McNally or somebody equally important, instead of some nobody Congressional aide.

"Mom, I do a lot more for Josh than that."

"Oh, of course you do." Mike leered at her, and she entertained briefly a fantasy of the look on her mother's face if she leaped across the desk and punched him in the centre of his ratty little smirk.

Of course, she'd probably get dragged away by the Secret Service.

Talking of... She was suddenly aware of a certain dark-suited presence in the bullpen, and then-

"Ah, Donna!"

"Mr. President!" Donna flew to her feet as her family suddenly gaped. "If you're looking for Josh, he's in a meeting with-"

"No, actually, I just came by to see you," he waved her away.

"Sir?"

He smiled at her. "Am I given to understand that today would happen to be your birthday?"

"It would," she admitted, smiling shyly. "How did you know?"

"Would you believe I remembered from last year?" he tried.

"In a word, sir? No." President Bartlet's inability to remember dates was only surpassed by his legendary lack of success with names.

He laughed. "Okay, okay, Leo told me." He pointed sharply. "And I'll have you know he didn't remember either, it was Josh who reminded him."

"And he only knows because I bugged him for a week." Donna rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "It amazes me they let you people run a country."

"I often think so," he agreed dryly.

"Sir, you didn't come all the way down here just to wish me a happy birthday?" she asked disbelievingly. She'd grown a lot more comfortable being in the presence of their great leader over the last few years, but even so...

"I did," he nodded. "In fact, I was thinking of ordering the bullpen to give you a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday'..."

"Oh no." She buried her face in her hands.

The president smirked at her. "They have to do what I tell them, you know."

"Sir, I could still tell the First Lady how you threw away all your vegetables last time we were on Air Force One," Donna told him.

He gave her a mock-angry glare, and nudged the Secret Service agent beside him. "She's threatening me here, aren't you supposed to do something about that?" The agent remained impassive, and Donna smiled. The president rolled his eyes, then turned to her flabbergasted family. "Ah, you must be Mrs. Moss?" He shook her mother's hand enthusiastically. "It's an honour to meet you, you've raised a fine young lady here. I can't imagine what we'd do without her."

Her mother, for once, appeared to be mercifully speechless. Oblivious, the president turned to Joletta. "And you must be Donna's sister. What's your name, young lady?"

"Joletta, Mr. President," she said shyly, blushing furiously. Mike immediately pushed in front of her.

"And I'm her husband, Michael Vincent," he said, puffing out his chest. The president gave him a look as if he was trying quite hard not to laugh at him.

"Yes, yes, nice to meet you," he said dismissively, turning back to Donna's sister. "Joletta, is it? That's a beautiful name. It means violet, doesn't it?"

"Yes sir," she said, still blushing. Donna smiled at him.

"Sir, is there anything you don't know?"

The president looked shifty. "Maybe one or two things, but don't let it get around."

She laughed, as Charlie came into the bullpen. "Ah, Mr. President, there you are. You have a meeting with the Swedish Ambassador in the Oval Office in four minutes."

"Thank you, Charlie," he nodded. He turned back to Donna and patted her on the arm. "Well, Donna, you have a great day now. And tell Josh I gave you the power to fire him if he misbehaves."

"Yes sir," she smiled as he left the bullpen, his Secret Service escort trailing after him.

She turned back to her open-mouthed mother, and gave her a slight smile. "I'm sorry, mom, what were you saying-?"

Her mother worked her jaw silently for a moment, and then finally gathered enough momentum to speak. At that point Josh appeared, followed by a trio of Congressmen. "Donna!"

"Joshua." She efficiently fell into step beside him as he crossed the bullpen.

"Happy birthday, Donna," said one of the Congressmen, and the others all chimed in with their good wishes. They'd all had plenty of dealings with her in the course of their work with Josh.

"Thank you. Josh?" She looked at her boss expectantly.

"Okay, I need-" She handed him a folder. "Thanks. And the notes on-" She added a sheaf of paper on top of that. "And you included-?"

"Page fifteen." He quickly flipped to it, scanned it and nodded.

"When's my next meeting?"

"Twenty minutes. Mural room. And Cal Robinson wants to talk to you."

He looked at her. "Can you take that?"

Normally she'd argue about getting dumped in at the deep end, but with her family looking on? Hell no. "Sure."

"If he starts blowing steam, threaten to choke off his funding."

"I'm on it."

"Great." Josh headed towards his office, nodding at her mother in passing. "Oh, hi, Mrs. Moss. You'll have to excuse me. Matters of national importance."

Professional cool still fixed in place, Donna rotated on her heels to face her family. "Okay, mom? I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to show you guys out. I have to take a meeting."

Her mother's gape, Mike's bulging eyes, and Joletta's look of delighted wonder made this whole morning seem more than worth it.

It was a considerably more subdued Clan Moss that Donna led out of the White House. On their way, Sam fell in beside her. "Hey there, Donna."

"Hey, Sam." She turned to her mother. "Mom, Joletta, Mike? This is Sam Seaborn, the Deputy Communications Director for the White House."

"Pleased to meet you," he said cheerfully, shaking hands with all of them.

Her mother recovered a little more of her equilibrium, and ran an appraising eye over the neatly-turned out Sam. "You're a friend of Donna's?"

"Yes ma'am," he said politely. "And may I just say that it's honestly a great pleasure to work with your daughter."

"Well, aren't you a charming young man?" she observed. "Are you single?" she asked sharply.

"Mom!" Donna went bright red with embarrassment, but Sam just laughed.

"Sadly, no," he admitted with a grin.

"Hmm, pity," tutted her mother. She looked at Donna. "You could do worse."

"Okay, mom, I'm really gonna have to leave you here now," she laughed. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief after her family were finally out of earshot. Disaster averted.

Donna turned back to Sam as they walked, and fixed him with a determined look. "Okay, Samuel 'I'm Not Single', spill your guts," she commanded.

Sam smiled slightly, and ran a hand through his hair. "You know, I seem to have been having this conversation a lot, lately..."