Part 21
I'm a happy and content man. Life cannot get any better. Donna moved in over the weekend. She didn't have much stuff as her apartment was fully furnished, so I just rented a van for the day. Kimmy was fine with the moving as she was planning to live with her boyfriend as well. She actually didn't want to move into her boyfriend's place as it was too small. So her boyfriend decided to move in with her, therefore Donna doesn't need to pay rent anymore. Kimmy and her boyfriend wanted the extra bedroom anyway. So basically everything turned out fine so we decided that Donna should move out right away. Which is of course more than fine with me.
We haven't told anyone else about our current living situation mainly because it all happened rather quick. So I'm in the oval office right now for senior staff on this Monday morning, and I just can't stop grinning. I think it's because of another incredibly amazing love making session last night. I'm trying hard to wipe the grin off my face but it seems impossible. I really hope I'm not projecting that I'm a man who got laid last night.
"Okay. That's all for today. So if Josh would tell us why he's grinning like a fool, you all can go." Ooops. The President noticed it. I didn't think he would. What do I say? What the heck do I say?
"Sorry Sir."
"Don't apologize. It's nice to know someone's putting on big smile around here. I don't get to see this often. So if you'd share your newfound blissfulness to the class, we would very much appreciate it."
I think he knows I got laid. I think he knows I had rounds of raunchy love making. Say something you nincompoop!
"Donna moved in with me." Well, I had to say something. The President definitely wouldn't let it go.
"Oh, that's great!!" I turn to see Sam beaming away.
"That's wonderful Josh." CJ says. Toby and Leo were smiling as well and gave me a little nod.
"All right then. You all can leave." All of us thanked the President and start leaving.
"Josh, could you stay back a while."
"Sure Mr. President."
"So, you're committing the sin of living together, eh?" Maybe the raunchy love making session would have been the way to go.
"Ummm….well.." Aaaaaah!!!
"Don't worry Josh. I'm not going to impose my values on anyone else. It's my values, not yours." Was that a trick? Is he trying to make me feel immoral? What is he trying to pull?
"Okay sir." Well, what else can I say?
"But I was just wondering, just out of curiosity, why live together when you can get married?" WHAT?!
"Sir, if this looks bad to the administration, I assure you….."
"No, no. This has nothing to do with that, believe me. I was just thinking what an incredibly meant to be couple you two are. I mean you've been in love with her for years."
"Sir, we've only been dating for a few months and some of them have been pretty rough for both of us. It's best if we take things slow."
"Slow? You maybe dating her for a short while but we both know how long you two have loved each other. You spend practically every second together since Donna started working for you. I bet you have spent more time together than any other regular married couple. If you two haven't drove each other crazy by now, you never will. Of course when I say 'crazy' I mean it in the bad way. Josh, do you see yourself with anyone else in your lifetime?"
"No!" Of course not! Is he kidding?
"Do you wish to spend every waking hour with her?" I look down and whisper a yes.
I start studying the floor . "Do you see your unborn children in her eyes?" I snap my head and look directly at him.
"Quoting Bryan Adams, Mr. President?"
"I'm just saying do you really just want to move in with her. Think about it Josh and be true to yourself. Will you do that for me?" I nodded at him.
"Is that all Mr. President?"
"Yes. You can go now."
"Thank you sir."
He doesn't know what he's talking about. Sure he's the President and all but that doesn't mean he's an expert in relationships. Especially not Donna's and mine. We've been through a whole lot more than he can imagine.
"So, are you going to ask her?"
"What?" It's Charlie at his desk.
"Ask Donna to marry you."
"Don't you have anything else to do but eavesdrop?" I can't believe he heard that!! He's so not letting this go.
"Well, the door was open and I thought the meeting was over. I wanted to pass him a report. It was all really innocent."
"Oh, I'm sure it was. Listen, please don't mention this to anyone else."
"Okay, don't worry about it." Thank god.
"Great then."
"So how about it?"
"Could we also not talk about this?"
"Well, no. When are you going to ask her?"
"Charlie!! Don't you have something to give the President?"
"Alright. But just an input, women like their proposals big." What?
"Big?"
"You know, huge and creative. Like using sky writings or neon lights on billboards. Something they can't possibly say no to. Also, they like something not done before unlike sky writings and billboards." Huh.
"Okay, I'm leaving now."
"You'll let me know how you're going to propose before you do it right? I don't want you ruining it for Donna." Oh, he's so smug. Like I can't pull of a hugely creative one of a kind proposal. My proposal is going to be in the world's greatest proposals. Okay, did I say 'my proposal is going to be' ?
"I'm leaving." Ah, why did the President have to bring this up? I've been having one of the best days. Carefree with a perfect life. Now he's making me think. Just as everything is settling down and Donna and I were going to start this new life together.
And what's with the whole 'do you see your unborn children in her eyes'. How lame is that? I mean I guess I can imagine our kids….. My daughter would be a little Donna. Blond and big sparkly blue eyes. Oh, she would get away with anything with that pout and that puppy dog look. Maybe she'll have a little of me as well. She'd be the smartest in her class. Way more advanced that other kids. She's going to go to Harvard or Yale and graduate at the top of her class. She's going to make a huge difference in this country and the world. A whole lot more than I ever could.
"Josh? Are you with me?" Huh? I'm at my office. When did I get to my office? Donna's standing at my door. I could never get over how beautiful she looks, how she always manages to take my breath away, how she makes me know for certain that she is the only one for me.
"Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"
"What's the matter? Is everything alright? Did something happen in senior staff?"
Yes Donna, something did happen in there. I just realized I'm going to take the biggest leap of my life.
"Nah, nothing much. Leo said we'll have to hand in the farming bill earlier. So, could you make an appointment with John Whitman's senior staff as soon as possible?" Hey, I did manage to listen to something during the meeting.
"Sure. Anything else?"
"No. That's all." I'm going to ask Donna to marry me. I'm going to ask her to be my bride and spend our lives together for eternity! Now, all I have to do is cook up the most outstanding proposal so Donna will have no choice but to say yes. It all should take two to three days tops.
Alright, it's been a week and I've got zilch, nil, nada, zip, NOTHING!!! I was sure it would take about three days. Boy, was I wrong.
However, I did come to a conclusion. I need help. As Charlie is the only person who has any clue about the possibility of me proposing to Donna, I think I'm going to ask him. Plus, he is the one who told me that the proposal should be extraordinary. Which is why, I'm hanging around outside the Oval Office waiting for Charlie.
"Hey Charlie, how's it going man?" I think he suspects something. He's looking at me with his eyebrows crunched up.
"It's going okay."
"Do you have a few minutes?"
"Yes, what can I do for you?"
"Come, take a walk with me." I nod my head towards the corridor and start walking. Charlie follows me.
"Okay, remember few days ago you said a marriage proposal should be huge and unique?" He breaks into a big grin. An annoying grin I should add.
"So, you're going to ask Donna?"
"I didn't say that. I was just pondering something." Way to go Josh. He'll believe you.
"Sure. Well, hypothetically, assuming you are going to ask her, I just want you to know how happy I would be." I smile at him. I guess he's not such an annoying guy after all.
"I just wanted to ask you some possible ideas."
"What ideas?"
"Those great proposals that have to be done?"
"You want ideas on how to propose?" I nodded at him.
"Well, I don't know any." He says.
"What, come on! I've been racking my brain for a whole damn week because of what you said and now you're telling me you have nothing?!" Okay, I should try to lower the sound of my voice.
"Yeah. It's not like I spend my days thinking about marriage proposals, Josh." Argh…. Alright, I should calm down.
"I know…I just…You've got to give me something Charlie."
"I wish I could help. Look, the only thing I can say is that you have to show her you mean it. Show her you want to truly be married to her and spend your whole life together so she knows this is not a phase or something out of the blue or spur the moment. A marriage is the most sacred thing, Josh." Wow, Charlie is pretty profound for his young age.
"Yeah, I know. Thanks you."
"Sure…I'm going to go see the President now. And don't worry, this conversation will stay between us." I give him a grateful smile.
He turns away and start leaving. "Any tiny suggestion at all? Throw me a bone here." I had to ask.
"I don't know Josh. Buy her a big house or something. I got to go." Charlie is rather useless for a pretty profound guy.
I should have made him stay and give me suggestions…brainstorm with me. If it wasn't for him I would not even be in this mess. I think I could come up with a peace resolution in the middle-east faster than I could with a proposal. Couldn't Charlie come up with anything besides the 'buy her a house' thing. How dumb is that? I couldn't buy her a house. I mean I could. I do have to the money. But….Hmm…..That's it!!! Charlie's brilliant!! He said I should show her that I'm truly serious about marriage and marrying her. What better way than to buy a big house that we're going to spend our lives together? I'm so going to be 'da man.
It turned out I needed some help with looking for suitable homes in DC. I definitely don't have the time and I would have to make calls from the office which would make Donna suspicious. So I turned to my mom. She was ecstatic with the news. I actually think she likes Donna better than me. I haven't heard her being so happy for so many years. It was just so heartwarming to hear her this way. Anyway, my mom has a real estate friend who has contacts in DC. I told my mom which areas and price range I wanted the house to be. She was also very pleased that I was willing to spend a huge amount on the house. It's really not a big deal as I'm not spending a cent from what I've earned. My mom gave me more than half the money she got from selling our house in Connecticut. I declined it but she refused saying that she's not going to use the money and she wanted me to get a house one day. It was her way to guilt me into having a family soon and giving her grandchildren. I took it to make her happy. The rest of the money is from what I inherited from my dad and grandfather. Being the only son and grandson, I can now buy a very impressive house and send at least three kids to private schools and ivy league colleges. This all is possible even without touching the savings from my own earnings. I guess I haven't touched the money as I've never had the time or reason to.
It has been more than a week since I asked for help from my mom and the real estate agent finally had contacted me. She gave me about seven suitable houses that are available. I don't want to get just a nice big house, but I want the one Donna falls in love with. Which is why I need another accomplice. Yes, I have come to terms with the fact that I can't handle everything by myself. As Charlie wouldn't normally be a person whose looking for a big house, I needed to get someone else. I chose CJ. I haven't talked to her yet, but I worked out how everything's going to work. She's just going to have to agree to it.
"CJ Cregg." I decide to call her on the phone mainly so that I don't have to physically get off my seat and walk to the next room.
"It's me."
"Josh? Aren't you in your office?"
"Yeah."
"And you're calling me on your phone?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, to what do I owe this pleasure to?" I think she's being snarky.
"Could I have lunch with you today?"
"Why?" Women, they always have to be suspicious of everything.
"Just because. Look I need to talk to you about something personal, not work related."
"Oh, alright. I guess I could make it today."
"Okay great. Oh, one more thing. Don't tell Donna about it."
"Josh, what did you do?" Why does she always assume I did something bad?!
"Nothing!!
"Well, don't make me betray the sisterhood coz I'm not gonna." Again with the sisterhood!
"No, never." I say in an overly serious voice. "Just don't say anything alright, I promise it doesn't require betraying the sisterhood. I'll explain everything during lunch alright?"
"Fine. Where are we going?"
"Um, my office?" I wasn't planning to go anywhere else. I told Donna I'm working through lunch so she's going out with the other assistants.
"Oh Josh, you've swept me off my feet. Chicken and mayo with a can of Dr. Pepper."
"Well, could you ask Carol to order your food? Like I said I don't want Donna to know about it."
"Why don't you order it yourself instead of asking Donna?"
"I'm a busy man, CJ. I don't have time to order lunch…especially someone else's" Okay, maybe that was a little much.
"I pity the fool who's gonna marry you. I'll come over with my food at one."
Urgh…I'm getting sick to my stomach. Did she have to say that? Would Donna would be a fool to marry me? I should better talk to CJ before over analyzing this. It would only drive be insane and I can't afford that especially since I have a meeting with a room full of senators at the hill in fifteen minutes.
I'm back from my meeting and Donna's not at her desk anymore. Perfect, she's gone for lunch. Oh, even more perfect, CJ's sitting in my office eating her lunch. Or more like my lunch as well.
"Hey, that's my fries you're picking on!" I shut the door behind me as I head towards my fries.
"Oh, get over it. What do you want to talk about?"
"Come on Ceej… No hello? How are you?" That just earned me a scary stare from CJ.
"Okay…moving on….Ummm..well….umm." How do I say this?
"Oh, just spill it Josh."
"I'm gonna ask Donna to marry me." Cool, that's just about right.
CJ stopped eating. Her mouth is open and her hand is stuck in place on the way to her mouth with a fry.
"Wha…Oh my god…This is…This is sooo great!!!" She's getting out of her chair and heads towards me.
"I'm so happy! I don't know what to say!" She gives me a big tight hug.
"So, you mean Donna wouldn't be a fool to marry me?"
"What? What are you talking about?" She lets go of me and looks at me.
"Earlier on the phone, you said you'd pity the fool who marries me."
"You idiot!" Ouch, she smacks my head. Note to self, always retain an arms length parameter from CJ Cregg.
"I was kidding."
"Oh, good. Anyway, that's not all. I haven't told anyone about this except my mom from whom I needed some help from and Charlie who well, sort of started me thinking of the marriage thing. Well, technically it's the President who made me start thinking about marriage but he's got no idea that I'm actually going to do it."
"What? I'm lost, how did Charlie and the President make you decide on marriage?"
"Long story and it doesn't really matter anymore. The point it, I wanted to give Donna the most extraordinary proposal and after cracking my head long and hard, I decided I'm going to buy Donna her dream house and propose to her in there. Of course this would all be a complete surprise to her." CJ's got a weird look in her eyes. Are they watery?
"Josh Lyman you are such a romantic. Who would've thought? You can be really sweet sometimes, you know?" Indeed I do know that. Josh Lyman gives the world's greatest proposal.
"Anyway, I asked my mom for help coz she knows this real estate agent and I really don't have the time to look for houses. So basically, the real estate agent just contacted me and found seven houses that fulfilled the criteria I wanted."
"Oh, that's great. Do you want me to come look at them with you?"
"Here's the thing, I want this to be a complete surprise to Donna. And I can't expect her to just like the house I pick because lets face it, I probably don't have the best taste. I want her to pick the house without knowing it."
"And how do you plan to accomplish that?"
"This is where you come is. If you could tell her you're helping your brother pick a house and you want her opinion. See what she thinks about them."
"Why would I be helping my brother pick a house?"
"Because he's a busy man and is away on business now."
"Okay, what about his wife? Wouldn't she be more likely to go house hunting?" I anticipated all CJ's questions. She's so predictable and I'm a man who's the king of strategizing.
"She's recovering from a broken leg and bruised hip." Aren't I brilliant?
"Okaaay…Why is it so important that they find a house at this very moment? Why can't they put it off?" Again, predictable.
"The house they had picked had fell through at the last minute and their lease in their current home is up. Say you're not making the final decision, just narrowing down to about three houses."
"You do think of everything don't you?" I smile back at CJ.
"Yes, I am 'da man."
"That you are. So, don't you care how the house is? Don't you wanna have a say in it? You just want to leave the decision to Donna?"
"CJ, I got it narrowed to seven houses. I did have a say in it. But more than anything, I want Donna to fall in love with the house. Not just think it's a lovely house. I know for sure if she loves it, I would too. I just want her to be blown away. I want to make her as happy as she has made me since the day she walked into my life." CJ's getting watery eyes again.
"Oh Josh. I'll do this for you and Donna. I'll make sure I read her well. It may take a while to get through all the houses, considering my schedule and all." Yes!!! Mission accomplished.
"That's no problem. The real estate agent, Tina Jones, she knows about the whole plan. She's willing to work outside the hours of her regular working days. I'll have her call you."
"Alrighty then. It's all set. I better get back to my office." She clears the package from lunch and gets up.
"Thank you CJ, you don't know how much this means to me. I owe you big."
"Just treat her right and we'll be even."
"I will…oh, and don't mention this to anyone."
"Sure."
TBC….
