Title: The Luckiest

Author: j/d_freak

Rating PG-13 (just to be safe.)

Pairing: Josh & Donna (Fluffy romance alert!!!)

Spoilers: Anything through Season 4 is up for grabs. Oh yeah, and there's that usual 'In the Shadow of Two Gunmen' spoiler like always. (Or so it seems.)

Feedback: I LUUUUUURVE IT!!! Please, please please give me feedback!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, or the lovely characters that I so love to play with, if I did, would I be posting FANfic? Hmm? Obviously they are the intellectual property of Aaron Sorkin and his buddies and they are the tangible property of NBC. Oh yeah, I don't own 'The Wedding Singer' (owned by somebody, I'm sure, I just don't know who.) or "The Luckiest" (owned by Ben Folds, musical genius extraordinaire) either. And if you have never heard this song, you MUST go find it somewhere, because it is THE most beautiful song ever.

~~*~~*~~

I don't get many things right the first time

In fact, I am told that a lot

Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls

Brought me here

~~*~~*~~

"...Josh..."

It's 6:24 in the morning, and I am woken from my hard-earned sleep by a murmur from my left shoulder...

wait... shoulders can't talk...

neither can they breathe of their own volition...

oh yeah! It's Donna!

She's curled up in my arms, sleeping peacefully with that perfect smile playing across her face...

the one I know means she's dreaming about me...

the one that's now mirrored on my own face...

It's strange how even though this is the most perfect relationship, and *everything* has come to us completely naturally, as if we've been together for all our lives, I still wake up confused and awestruck when she's there next to me. It's like it's too good to be true... I do a double-take several times a day, unsure of whether the vision in front of me is real, or just in my head again...

This was a scenario played out over and over again in my mind for so long... five and a half years almost... She shifts in my embrace again, proving to me once more that she is in fact very real, as is our child growing inside her, who is at this moment making deep sleep rather impossible for her, and therefore for me.

I reach my hand around to her abdomen to soothe them both back to sleep, and...

Wow. I'll never get used to the feeling of those tiny feet kicking away from inside her... and judging from Donna's cringing face, neither will she.

How we ever managed to get to this point, I will never know... God only knows I've messed up so many times in my life, but somehow...

I think I got this one right.

~~*~~*~~

And where was I before the day

That I first saw your lovely face?

~~*~~*~~

Dozing together in the morning sunlight, my mind drifts away into playback mode, replaying my history with My Donnatella...

those five years where we were lost and confused...

now that I think of it though, I had always felt lost until I met her...it was just confusion and longing that I felt for that period of time...

~~*~~*~~

Now I see it every day

~~*~~*~~

I remember the night we finally came to our senses... we were so overjoyed that Zoey was safe, we got lost in the moment and found ourselves in each other's arms, and then it just happened. It just clicked. I've always wondered if something had happened to wake Donna up the way Commander Wonderful had done for me...

I should really write that guy a thank you note... or maybe just a birth announcement.

~~*~~*~~

And I know

That I am

I am

I am

The luckiest

~~*~~*~~

"...I love you, my Donnatella..." I unconsciously whisper as we both fall back into a light sleep with my hand wrapped protectively around her slightly rounded waist.

~~*~~*~~

What if I'd been born fifty years before you

In a house on a street where you lived?

Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike

Would I know?

~~*~~*~~

Sometimes, when I get to thinking like this, I wonder what would have happened if she hadn't dumped Dr. Freeride. Twice. Or if my father hadn't died. Or if I hadn't been shot. Or if we hadn't been re-elected. I've never been the guy to play the Destiny card... I guess I've been dealt too many bad hands over the years...

And I have a really bad poker face.

But sometimes, I think that fate must have anted up somewhere in the game... several times actually. So much of our relationship developed by chance... if *one* thing had been different, we may have...

I don't even want to finish that thought. It scares me too badly. I pull Donna a little closer and count my blessings once more.

~~*~~*~~

And in a white sea of eyes

I see one pair that I recognize

~~*~~*~~

I feel bad sometimes, for the people who haven't found their soulmates... there's truly something almost magical in the love you feel when you've found the one...

I never thought I had this romantic, loving, sappy alter-ego in me, but Donna held the key to unlock his cage. She must have been feeding him through the bars all those years to keep him alive until I opened my eyes and saw what was right in front of me.

~~*~~*~~

And I know

That I am

I am

I am

The luckiest

~~*~~*~~

My crazy zoo analogy is interrupted by Donna's voice, "Josh, *your* kid is keeping *me* awake. AGAIN." She moans.

"Oh well, I'll be sure to give *you* all the credit when *our* kid becomes a world-class professional soccer player." In my mind, I'm glad to see our bantering is alive and kicking (heh) this morning...

"Very funny, Joshua." I swear she can read my mind sometimes...

I scoot down to the middle of the bed, lie on my side, and commence to participate in my new most favorite activity in the whole world...

...talking to my baby.

Now, from an outsider's point of view, it would appear that I am holding a deep, meaningful conversation with my wife's navel, and one would think that a call to a certain man named Stanley would be in order... but this is my favorite part of our morning routine.

And my favorite afternoon pasttime.

And my favorite way to fall asleep at night. And even though she won't admit it, I know Donna loves it just as much as I do.

"Hey there, Joey! How come you won't sleep at *night* when you're supposed to, huh?"

I am rewarded with a resounding "thump!"

"We'll have to do something to remedy this situation, or else your mommy gets very cranky."

"Hey!" Donna squeals in mock offense. "Cranky, Joshua? You'd better watch the way you talk about me with *my* child, or you'll find the true meaning of cranky on the couch! And what's this new 'Joey' business? We never talked about that name..."

"Well..." I reply a little cautiously, "I was just thinking the other day about how kangaroos carry their babies in much the same way as humans... and baby kangaroos are called Joeys... and Joey could be a girl's name or a boy's name... and I hate having to refer to my own child as an 'it'... so I thought that would be a good nickname to use for now?" I ramble on, trying to avoid retaliation for comparing my wife to a hairy mammal that kicks...

"Josh! You're calling me a *kangaroo*?!? That's not going to win you any favors in this house!" But her eyes give her away, and she knows it, and begins to giggle. Her giggling escalates to a squeal and becomes contagious as I tickle my way up to her nose, making sure to hit the most ticklish spot underneath her collarbone. As I plant a kiss on the tip of her nose, she smiles and says "Joey. I like that. Maybe not for forever, but at least for now." And she giggles again as I pull her into my arms once more. My God, I love the sound of her laughter.

~~*~~*~~

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties

And one day passed away in his sleep

And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days

And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong

~~*~~*~~

I must have that dopey look on my face that I get whenever I fall in love with Donna all over again, because suddenly, her demeanor changes, and she's virtually glowing up at me, with the beginnings of tears in her eyes... so I pull her closer, wrapping her up completely in my arms, and I have never felt more at home.

I quietly hum that song she loves from the end of "The Wedding Singer," you know, the one where they're in the airplane, with Billy Idol, and Adam Sandler's made up that song... the one about growing old together and sharing the remote control... that's Donna's favorite part. She cries *every* time.

Including right now. But she's giggling again too. She'll claim that's because my unshaven face tickles her cheek as I kiss her tears away, but I still think she finds my attempts at singing to be hilarious. The freaky ESP thing kicks in again, and she murmurs "I love it when you sing to me... and I'm sure Joey will too. He *or* she is one lucky kid." And as we melt into each other and get ready to face the new day together, all I can think is that *I'm* the most lucky of all.

~~*~~*~~

That I know

That I am

I am

I am

The luckiest

~~*~~*~~