Title: A Friend In Need
Disclaimers, etc. - As in Part 1
Part 5 of 9
**
Sunday Morning
Donna emerged from her room after showering and dressing to find Josh making sandwiches, as promised, in the kitchen.
"Do you need a hand?"
Josh turned around. "No, it's okay, I've got it covered. There's toast and coffee on the table for you though." He motioned to the table and Donna sat down. She ate her breakfast while watching what Josh was putting in the sandwiches. There were a variety of fillings; salad, cheese, beef - something for them both.
"You got enough sandwiches there, Josh?" she chuckled, indicating the mound of food on the counter.
"Yeah, but what would you like me to make for you?" he grinned; Donna couldn't help laughing. Josh packed the sandwiches into a coolbox, added some sodas and potato chips and sealed it up. Once they both had their jackets on, they headed for the car.
*
The drive to Shenandoah didn't take too long, the roads were surprisingly quiet. Much to Donna's surprise, Josh had even played cd's during the journey, rather than listening to NPR. They drove a few miles down 'Skyline Drive' until they found a stunning overlook. Josh pulled the car into the parking lot and switched off the engine.
"What do you think, Donna? Will this do?" He looked at her and then out at the view.
"Josh, it's beautiful."
"Yeah. It looks like there's a place to sit out there." He pointed towards a grassy banking that was slightly hidden from the road and parking lot due to its steepness. Josh got out of the car and moved to the passenger side to help Donna. He then grabbed a couple of sodas, leaving the rest of the picnic in the car. They both had backpacks with them and Josh carried Donna's, as well as his, over to a spot on the grass.
"C'mere and sit down, Donna."
"Isn't the ground wet?" she queried hesitantly.
"No, not really, but I brought a rug anyway." Josh lifted the rug out of his backpack and unfolded it onto the ground. He then ran back to the car for something while Donna sat herself down on the right side of the rug, facing the mountain view. When Josh re-appeared he placed a cushion under Donna's right foot and she smiled at him gratefully. She then let out a yawn.
"Are you tired?" he asked with concern.
"A little, I didn't sleep all that well last night," Donna admitted. Josh's brow creased, indicating his worry.
"Well, why don't you try to get some sleep now?" He placed a pillow behind her head, the other thing he had just collected from the car, and pushed her down so her head was resting on it. He then sat down beside her.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"Huh? Oh, I brought the stuff that I need to read. Go to sleep." Donna closed her eyes and they both fell silent. However, Josh was soon fidgeting beside her, preventing her from sleeping.
"Josh, what's wrong?" she asked through another yawn.
"Nothing." She arched an eyebrow to show she didn't believe him. "I can't really get comfortable," he admitted.
"Well, why don't you lie down to read?"
"Can't; I only brought one pillow. I laid two out but only remembered to lift one from the apartment." Donna sat up and pulled the pillow from behind her head, offering it to Josh. He shook his head.
"No, it's okay, Donna. You use it and get some sleep. I'll be okay."
"Look, why don't we share?" she asked, placing the pillow between them. Josh nodded and they both lay back, however, their shoulders immediately collided and neither of them was comfortable. Josh sat up again, followed by Donna.
"Okay, new plan. I get the pillow…" Donna shot him a look. "Before you complain, let me finish. I was going to say, I get the pillow and you get me!"
"Huh?" Confusion was on Donna's face.
"Here." Josh placed the pillow behind his head and lay down. He then pulled Donna down so that her head was resting on his chest, her long legs stretched out beside his. "Better?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Good, get some sleep."
Donna closed her eyes again and Josh picked up the papers he'd been reading. Their new positions meant that he had to bring his right arm around Donna's shoulders to hold the edge of the papers and she instinctively moved a little further down his body so that his arm was now free. Josh felt Donna relax and heard her breathing change, indicating she was asleep; he smiled to himself and continued reading. A little while later Donna moved in her sleep, throwing her right leg on top of Josh's left one. He knew she would experience pain if she stayed like that, due to her ankle hitting his leg whenever he moved even slightly so, instead of pushing her leg away, he simply parted his legs a little, allowing Donna's right foot to fall into the gap.
*
Donna awoke about a half-hour later and realized the position in which she and Josh were now lying. She immediately rolled onto her back, so that her right leg was no longer over Josh, and she placed her right hand onto his chest to push herself up a little. Josh turned to look at her.
"Hey," he said softly. "Enjoy your sleep?"
"Yeah. Are you finished reading yet?"
"Yep, finished a few minutes ago. Just been sitting here looking at the view." He omitted the part about watching Donna sleep and listening to her breathing. Donna reached for her backpack and placed it on her lap.
"What are you doing?" Josh asked.
"I'm going to call my niece and see how her date went," she replied as she took out her cellphone. Josh watched her intently as she first spoke to her sister, asking her how Emily was. When Emily came on the phone, Donna started beaming and Josh suddenly felt guilty again about keeping Donna away from home as much. What made him feel more guilty was the realization that he often made her work because he wanted her around, not because he actually needed her to be there. Donna chatted to her niece for a few more minutes and then hung up the phone.
"Well, how did the date go?" Josh inquired, bouncing around on the ground next to Donna.
"I don't think I should tell you," she replied.
"Aha, I was right; he is a gomer." A smug look came over Josh's face.
"Actually, he's not. He asked her to the dance on Wednesday."
"Really? Hmm, she must be fit to pass the public test then."
"For your information, Joshua," Donna said warningly, poking a finger in Josh's chest as she spoke, "he took her bowling last night and his friends were on another lane nearby, which he knew about in advance."
"You know why he did that though, don't you?" Josh was grinning.
"I'm sure you're about to enlighten me."
"It was so that if he didn't like her he could say 'oh, hey, there's some of my friends, let's invite them to join us'."
Donna rolled her eyes. "Once again, Josh, he hasn't been to the Lyman School of Dating so I'm sure it was nothing like that."
"Hey, believe what you want, Donna, but I know the truth."
"Whatever!"
"Mature Donna."
"Shut Up!"
"Okay," he smiled. "Hey, while you were asleep someone stopped to take a photo of the overlook. He said there's a place not far from here that has picnic tables and stuff. Do you want to go there to eat?"
"I didn't hear anyone stop."
"That's because you were sound asleep, well, sound except for the snoring."
"I don't snore!"
"Again, believe what you want…" Josh was grinning again. "Anyway, do you want to go there?"
"As long as it's not too far, we don't want to have too long a drive home."
"He said it's only about 20mins away, come on." Josh stood up and offered Donna his hand. She stayed where she was.
"You want to go now?" Donna was incredulous, they hadn't really been there that long and it was still quite early in the day.
"Yeah, I'm hungry."
"Unbelievable!" muttered Donna as she took Josh's hand to stand up. Josh quickly packed up the car and they drove to the picnic spot.
*
They chatted amiably while they ate lunch, with Donna catching Josh up on all the latest gossip concerning their co-workers. Of course, if anyone in the office asked Josh about the gossip, he would deny all knowledge.
Josh had brought his camera with him to photograph the scenery – he figured he could use it to prove he'd been there. When another couple sat at a table nearby, Josh asked them to take a photo of him and Donna. He pulled her close beside him and put his arms around her waist, clasping his hands on her abdomen and resting his head on her shoulder. Donna looked at him and he smiled warmly; she was in the middle of returning the smile when the photograph was taken.
They returned to Josh's apartment around 6pm, after having driven a little further down Skyline Drive before turning back. Josh headed to the kitchen to unpack the coolbox – even he hadn't been able to eat all the food he'd prepared – and Donna headed to her room to change. They spent the rest of the evening watching TV, catching up on the day's news. Josh heated up a couple of microwave meals for their dinner and they sat side-by-side on the couch, with Donna filling Josh in on the events of her niece's date.
*
Monday
The Senior Staff meeting that morning was held in the Oval Office, so that they could go over some of the newsworthy weekend events with the President. It had been a fairly uneventful weekend and the meeting was short. This gave the President the opening he was looking for and he cast a mischievous glance at Leo.
"Now that the main business part of the meeting is done, I want to move on to something that is bothering me, i.e. some of my key members of staff disobeying me," the President stated in a grave tone. Four heads immediately whipped up and started looking around at each other. Leo, meanwhile, was staring at his shoes trying to hide the grin on his face. Josh finally decided to break the silence.
"What exactly do you mean, Sir?"
The President looked directly at him. "I was under the impression that everyone was to take this weekend off, so that we would all be refreshed for the week of the State Dinner." The President's gaze moved from Josh, to Sam and then Toby. CJ smiled as she felt a wave of relief pass over her.
"Is there a problem, Sir?" asked Josh.
"You could say that, Josh. I had the security logs checked this morning to see if my order had been obeyed and I found that you, Toby and Sam were all in the building over the weekend." He looked pointedly at each of them.
"Well, that doesn't mean we were actually working; we're here all week but I wouldn't say we work all that time," Josh smirked.
"Oh, you wouldn't, Josh? Well, would you care to tell the taxpayers that?" Leo asked sternly, hiding his grin well. Josh looked down at his shoes.
"I want to know what you were all doing here, so I'm going to ask you all what you did for the weekend; think of it as some nice co-worker chat." The President had a wicked grin on his face. "CJ, what did you do this weekend?"
"I spent it shopping and catching up on sleep, Sir."
"Splendid. Leo, what about you?"
"I took Mallory away for the weekend, Sir, as you suggested."
"Good, good, someone who obeys me. Sam?"
"Uh, well, I spent Friday night at Josh's place with CJ and Toby, then on Saturday I went to Baltimore with Toby to hear a speech – not a political one though," he quickly added.
"Okay, and Sunday?" The President forced Sam to hold his gaze.
"Toby called me into the office to go over the speech for the State Dinner." Sam looked at Toby, who shot him an 'I'll get you for that later' look.
"Ah, so this is Toby's fault?"
"Well, he is my boss, Sir, I couldn't exactly refuse."
"And Toby's order supersedes mine, does it?" Sam just looked guilty and the President decided to move on.
"Well, Toby? I know you were with Sam on Friday night and Saturday so what about yesterday, why were you in the office?" Toby attempted to stare the President down as he spoke.
"I had to re-write some of Sam's part of the speech. I don't want you to have sub-standard work on Thursday night, Sir."
"Hmm. I'm sure it could have waited, but I'll let you pass, Toby. Now, Josh; care to explain yourself? You are the worst culprit of all."
"How do you figure that one, Mr President?" Josh asked, dreading the answer.
"A couple of reasons; Sam and Toby were only in for about three hours yesterday, whereas you were in for nearly six on Saturday. Secondly, you brought Donna with you; she should have been resting her ankle."
"With all due respect, Sir, we had to come in because you made us leave early on Friday night."
"So, you're trying to blame me?" The President's voice was menacing and Josh started to fidget and look down at his shoes again.
"Uh no, Sir. I did have work to do and Donna is my assistant, I needed her to assist me."
"Hmm, I'm not happy with your answer, Josh. I'm sure you could have left Donna at home."
"I did make it up to her yesterday, Sir."
"Really? How?"
"I took her to Shenandoah," Josh replied in a boastful tone.
"Really? Good. That reminds me, we never did take that Staff field trip there. Did you enjoy it, Josh?"
"Yes, I did. We drove a little way down the Skyline Drive, since Donna's not able to walk around much, and then we sat and had a picnic."
"And does Donna feel that is good enough to make up for her working on Saturday?"
"I think so."
"Okay. Well, if she's forgiven you I guess I should as well. Just make sure you don't work her too hard Josh. You can all go." They each said their thank you's and trudged out of the office.
*
CJ caught up with Josh on the way back to his office.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure, your place or mine?" Josh asked with a smirk.
"Yours will do." CJ walked into Josh's office, waited for him to enter and then closed the door behind them.
"What's up?" he queried.
"I just want to make sure that you are intending to give Donna Thursday night off."
"Huh?"
"Thursday night, the State Dinner," CJ explained.
"I know what's happening on Thursday night, CJ. I just don't understand why you think I'd be giving Donna the night off when there is a State Dinner on."
"Josh, you'll be wandering around schmoozing people and you'll need Donna to follow you around to make sure you don't piss anybody off."
"What's your point, CJ?"
"My point is, Donna's not able to walk around at the moment, Josh. She is supposed to be resting her ankle so, I don't think you should make her go."
"I know, CJ, but as you just pointed out, I need her there."
"You could just try not to piss anybody off," she stated.
"Yeah, 'cos that's worked so many times before," he said wryly.
"Okay, but Josh, there is another reason Donna shouldn't be there." Josh just looked at her. "She won't have anything to wear." Josh snorted.
"The typical female response." CJ smacked the back of his head. "Hey!"
"Josh, it's a formal Whitehouse function, you know, tuxedos for the men and evening gowns for the women." Josh still looked clueless, so she continued, "If Donna wears a dress it's going to show off the hugely unflattering bandage around her ankle."
"I'm sure the President will make an exception and let her wear pants."
"Yes, I'm sure he will, but there's another problem. What does she do about shoes?"
"Huh?"
"You do know that she's been wearing loose-fitting sneakers to fit round the bandage on her foot since the accident don't you?" Josh nodded in response. "Well, they're fine for the office, but she can't wear them to a State Dinner!"
"Well, there must be some way round that."
"Maybe, but I think the easier option would be to let her stay home."
"I can't do that, CJ. Anyway, she'd hate being treated differently."
"Okay, well there might be one solution."
"What's that?"
"Let her go shopping."
"What?"
"She is unlikely to have any pants, etc. suitable for a formal Whitehouse function and she certainly won't have shoes that she can wear at the moment. I heard Bonnie and Ginger say that they are going shopping tonight to get themselves something for Thursday, I'm sure Donna could go with them." Josh was silent. "Josh, talk to Donna; if she's okay about going on Thursday, then give her time off to go shopping."
"Okay, I'll talk to her." CJ didn't look convinced. "I promise."
"Alright, but I'll be checking up on you. Goodbye." CJ left the office and Josh sat back in his chair and kicked his feet up onto the desk, trying to process all that CJ had said. A few minutes later, Donna entered the office.
"Hey. Everything okay, Josh?"
He sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you close the door for a minute and take a seat?" Donna did as requested.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No. It's just…you know there's a State Dinner on Thursday, right?" Donna nodded. "Okay, well, I know you probably don't want to go given the problem with your ankle, but I really need you to be there."
"I figured you would, but I don't know how much help I'm gonna be…I'm not gonna be able to walk around with you, Josh."
"I know. Don't worry, if I have to, I'll grab the people I need to talk to as they are passing the table and we can talk to them there, where you can stay seated."
"Okay…don't think that plan will work, but okay."
"Yeah. Anyway, I also wanted to tell you that you don't need to wear a dress."
"What?" Donna was confused.
"On Thursday. If you want to wear pants to hide the bandage, that'll be okay."
"Thanks, but I don't have anything suitable."
"I thought of that too." Donna raised her eyebrows. "Okay, CJ thought of it," he confessed with a wry smile. "She says Bonnie & Ginger are going shopping tonight, so I'm sure you could go with them and get something."
"You're gonna let me leave early?" Donna was skeptical.
"Well, not that early. I mean, the malls are open to nine or something, right?"
"Yeah, but we won't be going to a mall." Josh looked puzzled. "There are a couple of boutiques in the Adams Morgan district that we usually go to. They close at 7pm, which means we'd need to leave here by 5pm."
"You need two hours to shop?!" Josh exclaimed.
"No, but we have to get parked and then try stuff on until we find what we want. We can't just go and buy a tux and a shirt, Josh, we actually have to put some thought into it." Josh raised his hands in submission.
"Alright. You can leave at 5pm, but you'll be back here afterwards, right?"
"If I must. Now, you have a meeting with Toby in the Roosevelt Room in about 5 minutes; the files are on your desk." Josh nodded and Donna left the office.
*
Bonnie knocked on Josh's open office door a few minutes before 5pm. Josh and Donna were going over some research.
"Hey, Donna, are you ready to go? Ginger's bringing the car around." Donna looked at Josh, who nodded that she could go.
"You'll be back by around 7:30?" asked Josh.
"No, we're not coming back here, Josh," Bonnie replied. Josh's head snapped up to look at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Ginger and I figured we'd go out for dinner afterwards. There's a great little Italian place nearby, you know the one, Donna." Josh looked at Donna.
"I didn't know, Josh, I swear."
"Hmm, okay, so you're now saying that, not only are you leaving early, but I'm also going to have to order my own dinner and eat it alone?" Josh said huffily.
"Well, I tell you what, Josh, since you're being nice and letting me leave early, I'll bring you something back," Donna offered.
"What do you mean?"
"The place we're going to does take-out, doesn't it, Bonnie?" She looked to Bonnie, who nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, well, how about I call you as we're leaving and I'll order you some food. If you leave here when I call, you should get to your place around the same time as I do." Donna bit her lip as she made the suggestion, hoping Josh would agree.
"Okay." Josh stood up from his seat and took Donna's jacket off his coat-rack, while Bonnie retrieved her bag from her desk. Bonnie re-appeared as Josh helped Donna on with her jacket.
"See you, Josh."
"Yeah, see you, Bonnie." He turned to face Donna. "See you at home, Donna." They smiled at each other and Bonnie had to dip her head to conceal her grin. "Hey, Donna?" he called just as she was exiting his office; Bonnie left them alone.
"Yeah?"
"Are you…do you need any money?" he asked softly. She gave him a strange look.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're only having to buy new stuff 'cos of your ankle, so it's only fair that I should pay for it."
Donna smiled. "Thanks for the offer, Josh, but I'll be fine."
"You sure?" Donna nodded. "Okay, but remember, you're a cardholder on my credit card account so, if there's anything you want, just charge it to me."
"Thanks, but like I said, I'll be fine. See you later."
*
Josh actually managed to beat Donna home, helped by a line at the take-out counter, and he came down the steps to help her out of Ginger's car when he saw it draw up. As Donna waved goodbye to Bonnie & Ginger and started to make her way up the steps, Josh leaned into the car to retrieve his food and Donna's shopping bags.
"Hey, did Donna get everything she needed and wanted tonight?" he asked Bonnie and Ginger.
"What do you mean, Josh?" Ginger replied.
"Well, I wouldn't like to think she didn't buy something she really liked just because she couldn't afford it or something." Ginger and Bonnie both smiled.
"No, she seemed to get everything alright. However, if you want to buy us something, we won't stop you." Ginger chuckled as Bonnie said this.
"Yeah…won't be taking you up on that offer; thanks for taking Donna out though. Night." Ginger drove off as Josh climbed the steps, reaching the top at the same time as Donna.
*
Josh sat on the couch eating the dinner that Donna had bought him – a beef calzone. Donna hung up her new clothes and then joined him on the couch.
"So, am I going to get to see what you bought?" he asked through a mouthful of food.
"Yes, on Thursday night."
"Well, you know, I should really check that it's appropriate for a State Dinner," he teased.
"Josh! Eat your food."
*
The days leading up the State Dinner passed quickly and Josh had to work late into the evening to cope with his workload. He offered to let Donna go home early on both the Tuesday and Wednesday nights but she said she would stay and help. Although he felt guilty about it, he was also relieved as it meant he would be able to leave slightly earlier if they both worked, rather than him doing it all himself. It was nearing 10pm on the Wednesday night when Donna asked the fateful question.
"What time can we leave tomorrow, Josh?"
"Huh?" He looked up from the briefing he was reading. "Oh, you mean the Dinner. Well, I guess we need to stay until the end since we're representing the White House."
"No, I meant what time can we leave to go home and change before the Dinner?"
Josh looked down at his desk again. "Uh, we can't."
"What do you mean? Josh?" Her tone forced him to meet her eye.
"I'm sorry, Donna, but we have too much to do. We're losing a whole evening due to the Dinner, so we need to work as long as possible before it. I figured we'd just bring our stuff in and change here."
"Josh! I can't do that. I need to shower, do my hair, etc. How am I supposed to do that?" She pointed to her ankle and Josh looked guilty again.
"Umm, well you can use the showers at the gym. They have ones with seats in them for people with disabilities."
"Fine!" Donna said huffily. "So, when can I leave to get ready?"
"Well, the Dinner starts at 7:30, with the President and First Lady due to arrive at 7:45; I guess you can go around 7."
"There's no way that'll be enough time."
"What? How long do you need?"
"At least an hour!"
"No way. You get a half-hour and that's it."
"But, Josh, I take longer at the moment since I can't stand very well." Donna tried the blackmail route.
"Look, I'm sorry, Donna, but there's nothing I can do. I'll be working right up until the Dinner starts; I'm just gonna change in the office." She shot him an angry look, but didn't say anything else. They worked in silence for the rest of the night, finally leaving the office at 11:30pm. Josh apologized once again for not being able to let her leave early the following night and Donna accepted it, but she still hardly spoke to him.
**
TBC