Chapter 4
Disclaimer and Other info : See Chapter 1
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"Donna, I'm done. We can go home now."
"Oh, could you wait a little while. I'm almost done with this report. I just want to make it flawless." I say, not looking up from the computer.
"Woah, are you imitating me?" Josh mocks me.
"No. There's just a little left, go play with Sam." I snap.
"Oh, aren't we touchy? It's almost midnight. Sam and everyone else have gone home. If you'd look up from your computer screen, you would've noticed that too."
"Fine." I surrender to Josh's request.
"What's with the sudden desire to drown yourself with work?" Josh asks as he helps me put on my coat.
"Well, I've just been lagging behind a little bit and I wanted to catch up. Oh, I found a dress by the way." We start heading out of the building.
"Really? That's great! Can I see it?" Is he kidding me?
"No way! Josh, the groom is not supposed to see the gown until the wedding day, at the alter." I slap him lightly across his back.
"No, the groom is not supposed to see his bride in the dress. I just want to see a picture of it, not even the actual dress by itself."
"No Josh, I don't want you to have any clue as to how the dress is going to be. I want you to be blown away by it."
"Well, if that happens, you'll only have ashes left to get married to." I roll my eyes at his lame attempt to make a joke.
~~~~~~~~~~
I've been waiting for the past three days to get a call from Paulette but unfortunately I didn't receive it. I should stop being so paranoid.
"Donna, has Josh left yet?"
"Yes, just about a minute ago. Don't worry, I made sure he was on time." I'm guessing CJ is worried that Josh would be late for his appearance on Capitol Beat.
"Oh good. The last thing we need is White House DCOS late for a television appearance." CJ says, as I expected.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Toby has known Paulette for a long time since his sister and Paulette were in college together. They were all pretty good friends apparently. That bastard kept this a secret for so long." I laugh at the way CJ addresses Toby.
"Wow, that's interesting. I cannot believe Toby hid this fact from all of us for this long! I mean he should pay for this!" I exaggerate to mock CJ.
"Funny girl. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you." With that, CJ leaves.
I go to Josh's office to re-file all the folders I just updated.
"Hello.. I'm looking for Josh Lyman." I turn to find a lady standing at the Josh's office door.
"I'm sorry he's not here at the moment. Do you have an appointment?" I highly doubt that considering I'm the one who manages his schedule.
"Oh no. I just thought I would stop by to say hi. I was just at the east wing." The lady says. She is a rather attractive brunette.
"Okay, do you want me to pass him any message?"
"No, that's quiet alright...do you mind if I take a look at his office. I've actually never been in here. J said he'll take me on a tour but we never got around to it." J? Who the hell is this woman?
The phone starts ringing. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" I say as I pick up the phone.
"Josh Lyman's office."
"Hi, Donna darling. It's Paulette here." Ah, finally.
"Oh, Paulette! So nice to here from you. Do you have any update?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, the dress will be here tomorrow. Could you come over like say, around 3pm?" Yes!!! I'm going to see my wedding dress tomorrow!
"I won't be able to get off work till about 6pm tomorrow." Despite it being a Saturday!
"That would be fine dear, I'll be around. You have the address right?"
"Yes I do. Thank you so much for calling. I'll see you at 6.30 tomorrow evening."
"Alright then. Bye." I put down the phone.
I almost forgot that someone else is standing in Josh's office.
"So, how do you know Josh?" I ask as I see her looking at Josh's framed certificates on the wall.
"Oh, we have a very long history together. I'm Amy Gardner by the way." Oh. Okay.
She sticks out her hand. Somehow I manage to shake it. What does she mean by long history?
Wow, she is good looking and there's a really sexy manner about her.
"Donna Moss. I'm Josh's.. assistant." I utter.
"Nice to meet you." Okay, she sounds like she hasn't heard of me. Wouldn't she know I'm about to be married to Josh? Didn't Josh mention me at all?
"I think I have a nicer office than his." She says with a little laugh. I smile politely.
"You know I haven't really spoken to him after so long and I just..shall I say, rekindled with him recently. I have to say he hasn't changed a bit...well, except that he's a much better dancer that he was in college." Dancer? What the hell is she talking about?
"Dancer?"
"Yeah, we went out to this nightclub about..yeah, exactly a week ago. Let me tell you, your boss has all the right moves and holds a woman in all the right places."
Breathe Donna, just breathe.
"Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. You probably wouldn't want to picture your boss in that manner." She laughs.
"Yeah.." I can barely get a word out. I think I'm completely flushed.
"He's one brilliant guy. Arguing is such an entertaining sport-like event for him. He's been that way since college. He could never resist an equally brilliant woman keeping him on his toes. Some things never change." She says with her back facing me, as she looks at the photographs on the wall.
"Yeah.." This is a nightmare. It has to be. There's no other way to explain it.
"Anyway, I should get going. Could you tell Josh I'll meet him soon and we could pick up where we left off?"
I'm completely paralyzed. I just cannot respond.
"Nice meeting you, Donna." She leaves Josh's office.
I cannot believe what she just said. There's just too much to comprehend. Am I jumping to conclusion? Did they go dancing? Was Josh rubbing against her? Oh god. I feel like I'm going to throw up. I really think I am.
"Donna, did you watch Josh? He was great! That jack-ass Republican political advisor didn't know what hit him!" I hear the words Sam is saying but nothing sounds logical to me anymore.
"Donna? Are you okay?" He asks as he enters into Josh's office. I manage to nod my head slightly.
"No, you're not. What's the matter? Are you feeling ill?" Sam walks towards me and places his arm on my shoulder.
"No, I'm fine. Really." That was undoubtedly the worse lie ever.
"I just ate something bad I think. I'll be fine."
"Sit down, I'll get you some ginger ale. Don't move." Sam brings me to Josh's chair and sits me down. I don't think ginger ale is going to make me feel any better.
Okay Donna. Try to think.You could be completely off base here. Talk to Josh, and then your head will be clear. Think logically. Would Josh ever betray you? Did he ever give any indication that he would do such a thing? Is Josh that kind of man?
"Here you go, Donna." Sam brings me a can of ginger ale.
"Thanks a lot Sam. I'm really fine. You go back to your work now." I take a sip of the drink. You know, it really does make me feel a little less dizzy.
"Are you sure?" Sam has such a gentle and sweet soul.
"I'm sure Sam."
"Okay, just ask me if you need anything. Josh would slaughter me if anything happens to you." I smile at that.
He's right. Josh would do anything for me. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm still sitting on Josh's chair. I can't concentrate much on anything.
"Donna! Did you see me?! I kicked ass! I'm so 'da man!" Oh, I'm so not ready to see him right now.
"Donna? Come on, tell me I was great!!"
"I didn't watch."
"What?! What were you doing?!" He looks at me stunned.
"I had to organize some stuff in here. Don't worry I'm sure I can watch a tape of it." Look at me, trying to make him feel better when I'm a wreck.
"Donna? What's the matter?" Shit, why can he read me like a book?
"Nothing. You've got the meeting with Leo and the Russian delegates in five minutes Josh. Read over these. I need to go to the copy room." I place some files on the middle of his desk and leave as normally as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~
I tried not to go out of my mind for the whole day. I feel more exhausted now than when I work overnight while traveling!
Josh and I are in the car on our way back to the apartment. I just can't bring myself to say anything right now. I need to talk to him when we are at home.
"Donna, now tell me what's going on with you. You barely said more than two words to me."
I take off my coat and shoes and sit down on the couch. Josh follows me and joins me on the couch. He places his hand on mine.
"Donna?" I just have to gather my courage and spit it out.
"Josh, Amy Gardner came over today to see you when you were on Capitol Beat." I finally meet his eyes. He looks kind of taken aback.
"That's odd. She knows I'm on the show. We even had a discussion about it." That is odd.
"What did she want?" Josh sounds a little annoyed.
"It's just...she said..she implied..."Argh! I look away from him again. How do I start?
"What did that woman say to you? I'll kill her Donna if she upset you in any way!" Upset? I think I have gone way beyond that.
Josh looks really pissed off. She might have been making all that up. Maybe she has some evil vendetta of her own.
"Josh, what is your relationship with her?"
"What?! What do you mean by that?" Now he's really mad.
"Did you have a crush on her in college?"
"College? Donna, that was like a whole lifetime ago. Maybe I did, I don't even remember. What's this really about?" Is HE mad at me? Hey, I'm the only one who's allowed to be mad here!
"She said you two have a long history together and you rekindled recently. She said you went out dancing last Friday night and you held her in all the right places. She said that in college you couldn't resist a woman of your brilliance who could constantly argue with you and you STILL can't resist a woman like that. She said she'd like to meet you soon, so you both could pick up where you left off!!" I blurt it all out even though I didn't plan to say it this way.
Josh's eyes are as wide as saucers.
"I'm going to kill her... Donna, you don't believe her do you?" He asks like it would be ridiculous.
"I don't know Josh. I don't really know what she was getting at. Did you go dancing with her that night?"
Josh is silent but looks straight into my eyes.
"Donna, the music was getting really loud and I was just about to leave. She dragged me into the dance floor and we ended up between a large crowd of people. I couldn't even turn. She was dancing very close to me. She was all over me actually. Donna, I should have been honest with you. She did come on to me from the beginning. I thought I was imagining things at first but then at the dance floor she said that she wanted me. Donna, I'm so, so sorry I didn't tell you this earlier. I didn't want to upset you for no reason."
Okay, this is a little too much to take in at one go.
"You didn't tell me all this? Josh, how could you not tell me this? And you expect me to completely not fall for what she was telling me?"
"I know Donna. I don't know what else I could say to make this better."
We sit there in silence for a while.
"So, how did she start it all? Did she just start saying 'you fiancé did this and that'?" Josh breaks the silence.
Huh?
"She didn't know who I was Josh."
"What? You didn't introduce yourself?"
"I did. I told her my name and that I was your assistant. She had no idea I was your fiancé. She just kept talking about you as if we were some long time girlfriends."
"Oh, that manipulative bitch. She knows very well who you are Donna. She even knows you didn't finish college and about my former girlfriends. I don't know how, but I do know Amy does her homework. She knew I was going to be on Capitol Beat and that's why she came by..to stir things between us." Josh's voice get harsher by the word.
"Wow. Why would she bother to do that?" Doesn't this woman have better things to do with her time?
"Well, Amy is the sort of person who always gets what she wants. She doesn't accept rejection or failure of any kind." Hmm, that's the same thing CJ said about her.
"Does she really have such strong feelings for you?"
"I doubt it. She probably hasn't been rejected by someone before. It's all a new territory for her. I could just.argh!!" I jump up a bit as Josh shoves all the things off the coffee table.
Maybe Josh isn't at fault here. I'm sure he didn't do anything to provoke this situation but that doesn't excuse him for not telling me what's been going on.
We don't say a word for a while and I can hear Josh breathing heavily.
"I'm sorry." Josh finally whispers as he squats down on the floor to pick up the mug and papers he pushed down.
"You still should have told me Josh. About everything. You made it sound like there was nothing going on except that Amy was giving a hard time about the treaty." I should let him cool off but I just had to say it.
"I know. I promise I would never do that again.ever. It's just that with our wedding approaching, you needn't worry about this." When will he ever learn?
"Josh, this is getting old! You trying to protect me all the time! I'm.I'm so sick of you trying to shield me from everything. Putting all the burden on yourself. After everything we've been through! After all that we've learnt from keeping secrets from each other.. haven't you gotten a clue yet?!" I haven't raised my voice this much in such a long time.
He keeps quiet. Oh, come on! Be a man! I want to argue with you. Are you claiming defeat this quick?!
TBC......
Disclaimer and Other info : See Chapter 1
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"Donna, I'm done. We can go home now."
"Oh, could you wait a little while. I'm almost done with this report. I just want to make it flawless." I say, not looking up from the computer.
"Woah, are you imitating me?" Josh mocks me.
"No. There's just a little left, go play with Sam." I snap.
"Oh, aren't we touchy? It's almost midnight. Sam and everyone else have gone home. If you'd look up from your computer screen, you would've noticed that too."
"Fine." I surrender to Josh's request.
"What's with the sudden desire to drown yourself with work?" Josh asks as he helps me put on my coat.
"Well, I've just been lagging behind a little bit and I wanted to catch up. Oh, I found a dress by the way." We start heading out of the building.
"Really? That's great! Can I see it?" Is he kidding me?
"No way! Josh, the groom is not supposed to see the gown until the wedding day, at the alter." I slap him lightly across his back.
"No, the groom is not supposed to see his bride in the dress. I just want to see a picture of it, not even the actual dress by itself."
"No Josh, I don't want you to have any clue as to how the dress is going to be. I want you to be blown away by it."
"Well, if that happens, you'll only have ashes left to get married to." I roll my eyes at his lame attempt to make a joke.
~~~~~~~~~~
I've been waiting for the past three days to get a call from Paulette but unfortunately I didn't receive it. I should stop being so paranoid.
"Donna, has Josh left yet?"
"Yes, just about a minute ago. Don't worry, I made sure he was on time." I'm guessing CJ is worried that Josh would be late for his appearance on Capitol Beat.
"Oh good. The last thing we need is White House DCOS late for a television appearance." CJ says, as I expected.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Toby has known Paulette for a long time since his sister and Paulette were in college together. They were all pretty good friends apparently. That bastard kept this a secret for so long." I laugh at the way CJ addresses Toby.
"Wow, that's interesting. I cannot believe Toby hid this fact from all of us for this long! I mean he should pay for this!" I exaggerate to mock CJ.
"Funny girl. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you." With that, CJ leaves.
I go to Josh's office to re-file all the folders I just updated.
"Hello.. I'm looking for Josh Lyman." I turn to find a lady standing at the Josh's office door.
"I'm sorry he's not here at the moment. Do you have an appointment?" I highly doubt that considering I'm the one who manages his schedule.
"Oh no. I just thought I would stop by to say hi. I was just at the east wing." The lady says. She is a rather attractive brunette.
"Okay, do you want me to pass him any message?"
"No, that's quiet alright...do you mind if I take a look at his office. I've actually never been in here. J said he'll take me on a tour but we never got around to it." J? Who the hell is this woman?
The phone starts ringing. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" I say as I pick up the phone.
"Josh Lyman's office."
"Hi, Donna darling. It's Paulette here." Ah, finally.
"Oh, Paulette! So nice to here from you. Do you have any update?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, the dress will be here tomorrow. Could you come over like say, around 3pm?" Yes!!! I'm going to see my wedding dress tomorrow!
"I won't be able to get off work till about 6pm tomorrow." Despite it being a Saturday!
"That would be fine dear, I'll be around. You have the address right?"
"Yes I do. Thank you so much for calling. I'll see you at 6.30 tomorrow evening."
"Alright then. Bye." I put down the phone.
I almost forgot that someone else is standing in Josh's office.
"So, how do you know Josh?" I ask as I see her looking at Josh's framed certificates on the wall.
"Oh, we have a very long history together. I'm Amy Gardner by the way." Oh. Okay.
She sticks out her hand. Somehow I manage to shake it. What does she mean by long history?
Wow, she is good looking and there's a really sexy manner about her.
"Donna Moss. I'm Josh's.. assistant." I utter.
"Nice to meet you." Okay, she sounds like she hasn't heard of me. Wouldn't she know I'm about to be married to Josh? Didn't Josh mention me at all?
"I think I have a nicer office than his." She says with a little laugh. I smile politely.
"You know I haven't really spoken to him after so long and I just..shall I say, rekindled with him recently. I have to say he hasn't changed a bit...well, except that he's a much better dancer that he was in college." Dancer? What the hell is she talking about?
"Dancer?"
"Yeah, we went out to this nightclub about..yeah, exactly a week ago. Let me tell you, your boss has all the right moves and holds a woman in all the right places."
Breathe Donna, just breathe.
"Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. You probably wouldn't want to picture your boss in that manner." She laughs.
"Yeah.." I can barely get a word out. I think I'm completely flushed.
"He's one brilliant guy. Arguing is such an entertaining sport-like event for him. He's been that way since college. He could never resist an equally brilliant woman keeping him on his toes. Some things never change." She says with her back facing me, as she looks at the photographs on the wall.
"Yeah.." This is a nightmare. It has to be. There's no other way to explain it.
"Anyway, I should get going. Could you tell Josh I'll meet him soon and we could pick up where we left off?"
I'm completely paralyzed. I just cannot respond.
"Nice meeting you, Donna." She leaves Josh's office.
I cannot believe what she just said. There's just too much to comprehend. Am I jumping to conclusion? Did they go dancing? Was Josh rubbing against her? Oh god. I feel like I'm going to throw up. I really think I am.
"Donna, did you watch Josh? He was great! That jack-ass Republican political advisor didn't know what hit him!" I hear the words Sam is saying but nothing sounds logical to me anymore.
"Donna? Are you okay?" He asks as he enters into Josh's office. I manage to nod my head slightly.
"No, you're not. What's the matter? Are you feeling ill?" Sam walks towards me and places his arm on my shoulder.
"No, I'm fine. Really." That was undoubtedly the worse lie ever.
"I just ate something bad I think. I'll be fine."
"Sit down, I'll get you some ginger ale. Don't move." Sam brings me to Josh's chair and sits me down. I don't think ginger ale is going to make me feel any better.
Okay Donna. Try to think.You could be completely off base here. Talk to Josh, and then your head will be clear. Think logically. Would Josh ever betray you? Did he ever give any indication that he would do such a thing? Is Josh that kind of man?
"Here you go, Donna." Sam brings me a can of ginger ale.
"Thanks a lot Sam. I'm really fine. You go back to your work now." I take a sip of the drink. You know, it really does make me feel a little less dizzy.
"Are you sure?" Sam has such a gentle and sweet soul.
"I'm sure Sam."
"Okay, just ask me if you need anything. Josh would slaughter me if anything happens to you." I smile at that.
He's right. Josh would do anything for me. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm still sitting on Josh's chair. I can't concentrate much on anything.
"Donna! Did you see me?! I kicked ass! I'm so 'da man!" Oh, I'm so not ready to see him right now.
"Donna? Come on, tell me I was great!!"
"I didn't watch."
"What?! What were you doing?!" He looks at me stunned.
"I had to organize some stuff in here. Don't worry I'm sure I can watch a tape of it." Look at me, trying to make him feel better when I'm a wreck.
"Donna? What's the matter?" Shit, why can he read me like a book?
"Nothing. You've got the meeting with Leo and the Russian delegates in five minutes Josh. Read over these. I need to go to the copy room." I place some files on the middle of his desk and leave as normally as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~
I tried not to go out of my mind for the whole day. I feel more exhausted now than when I work overnight while traveling!
Josh and I are in the car on our way back to the apartment. I just can't bring myself to say anything right now. I need to talk to him when we are at home.
"Donna, now tell me what's going on with you. You barely said more than two words to me."
I take off my coat and shoes and sit down on the couch. Josh follows me and joins me on the couch. He places his hand on mine.
"Donna?" I just have to gather my courage and spit it out.
"Josh, Amy Gardner came over today to see you when you were on Capitol Beat." I finally meet his eyes. He looks kind of taken aback.
"That's odd. She knows I'm on the show. We even had a discussion about it." That is odd.
"What did she want?" Josh sounds a little annoyed.
"It's just...she said..she implied..."Argh! I look away from him again. How do I start?
"What did that woman say to you? I'll kill her Donna if she upset you in any way!" Upset? I think I have gone way beyond that.
Josh looks really pissed off. She might have been making all that up. Maybe she has some evil vendetta of her own.
"Josh, what is your relationship with her?"
"What?! What do you mean by that?" Now he's really mad.
"Did you have a crush on her in college?"
"College? Donna, that was like a whole lifetime ago. Maybe I did, I don't even remember. What's this really about?" Is HE mad at me? Hey, I'm the only one who's allowed to be mad here!
"She said you two have a long history together and you rekindled recently. She said you went out dancing last Friday night and you held her in all the right places. She said that in college you couldn't resist a woman of your brilliance who could constantly argue with you and you STILL can't resist a woman like that. She said she'd like to meet you soon, so you both could pick up where you left off!!" I blurt it all out even though I didn't plan to say it this way.
Josh's eyes are as wide as saucers.
"I'm going to kill her... Donna, you don't believe her do you?" He asks like it would be ridiculous.
"I don't know Josh. I don't really know what she was getting at. Did you go dancing with her that night?"
Josh is silent but looks straight into my eyes.
"Donna, the music was getting really loud and I was just about to leave. She dragged me into the dance floor and we ended up between a large crowd of people. I couldn't even turn. She was dancing very close to me. She was all over me actually. Donna, I should have been honest with you. She did come on to me from the beginning. I thought I was imagining things at first but then at the dance floor she said that she wanted me. Donna, I'm so, so sorry I didn't tell you this earlier. I didn't want to upset you for no reason."
Okay, this is a little too much to take in at one go.
"You didn't tell me all this? Josh, how could you not tell me this? And you expect me to completely not fall for what she was telling me?"
"I know Donna. I don't know what else I could say to make this better."
We sit there in silence for a while.
"So, how did she start it all? Did she just start saying 'you fiancé did this and that'?" Josh breaks the silence.
Huh?
"She didn't know who I was Josh."
"What? You didn't introduce yourself?"
"I did. I told her my name and that I was your assistant. She had no idea I was your fiancé. She just kept talking about you as if we were some long time girlfriends."
"Oh, that manipulative bitch. She knows very well who you are Donna. She even knows you didn't finish college and about my former girlfriends. I don't know how, but I do know Amy does her homework. She knew I was going to be on Capitol Beat and that's why she came by..to stir things between us." Josh's voice get harsher by the word.
"Wow. Why would she bother to do that?" Doesn't this woman have better things to do with her time?
"Well, Amy is the sort of person who always gets what she wants. She doesn't accept rejection or failure of any kind." Hmm, that's the same thing CJ said about her.
"Does she really have such strong feelings for you?"
"I doubt it. She probably hasn't been rejected by someone before. It's all a new territory for her. I could just.argh!!" I jump up a bit as Josh shoves all the things off the coffee table.
Maybe Josh isn't at fault here. I'm sure he didn't do anything to provoke this situation but that doesn't excuse him for not telling me what's been going on.
We don't say a word for a while and I can hear Josh breathing heavily.
"I'm sorry." Josh finally whispers as he squats down on the floor to pick up the mug and papers he pushed down.
"You still should have told me Josh. About everything. You made it sound like there was nothing going on except that Amy was giving a hard time about the treaty." I should let him cool off but I just had to say it.
"I know. I promise I would never do that again.ever. It's just that with our wedding approaching, you needn't worry about this." When will he ever learn?
"Josh, this is getting old! You trying to protect me all the time! I'm.I'm so sick of you trying to shield me from everything. Putting all the burden on yourself. After everything we've been through! After all that we've learnt from keeping secrets from each other.. haven't you gotten a clue yet?!" I haven't raised my voice this much in such a long time.
He keeps quiet. Oh, come on! Be a man! I want to argue with you. Are you claiming defeat this quick?!
TBC......