"I can't believe it is almost fall again." Josh was staring out of Donna's window in her living room looking down onto the street.
"How do you think I feel, I've spent the summer in hospitals and a cast?" Donna complained as she took a bite out of the muffin that Josh had brought her for breakfast. "So what did you have in mind for today?"
"Wait a second, I have to have the plan too? It was my idea for us to spend time together and I even brought breakfast, but now I have to figure out what we're going to do today?"
"You're the one who said that we hadn't spent any time together and that we should do something, so I thought that meant you had a plan."
"Donna, how long have you known me?"
"Roughly seven years."
"And have I ever had a plan?"
"Well there was that one time."
"What one time?"
"It was secret plan." Donna's lips curved into an evil smile.
"A secret plan?" Josh looked at her with a clueless expression.
"Something about your secret plan to fight inflation."
Josh just glared at her. "Just for that, I say you have to think of the first thing to do."
"Okay, first I think we should get outside and get some fresh air. Then I think we should go see that movie we've been wanting to see and then I think we should have lunch at that little Mexican place down the street. After that we should come home and relax and talk, followed by dinner with C.J., Danny, Andi, Toby, Charlie and possibly Mallory at Italianos."
"You had a plan?"
"Of course I've had a plan, I've known you for like seven years remember?"
Josh flopped down on the couch next to her. "See this is stuff that Mike doesn't get yet."
"You like Mike, so stop fighting it. You're just mad because he doesn't look like a Victoria Secret model."
"Nah. I've got a more specific type."
"You don't have a type."
"I do too."
"Do you want to connect the lines from Joey Lucas to Amy Gardner please?"
"Not particularly."
"I didn't think so."
"Neither one of the are what I consider my type anyway."
"Really?"
"Enlighten me, Joshua, what is your type?" Donna felt her stomach flutter in anticipation.
"Weren't we going to go for a walk or in your case a roll?"
"Smooth, nice change of subject."
"I'm a brilliant political mind, Donnatella, you don't want to mess with me."
"Josh, I mess with you every day."
"You don't have to remind me." Josh stood up. "Shall we go for that walk?"
A couple of hours later they were sitting in a quaint little Mexican restaurant arguing, laughing and smiling. Donna hadn't felt like this for a long time. She was out with a man that who was attentive, kind, smart, funny and who seemed to completely enjoy her company as much as she enjoyed his. She hadn't felt that since Jack Reece, but even then she felt there was tension between them, maybe because of their jobs and maybe because she talked about Josh a little too much. She couldn't help it sometimes, her job was so much apart of her life and whom was she kidding, she was in love with Josh.
"What's with the group dinner tonight?"
"Toby had an idea to take C.J. out to congratulate her and Danny on their engagement, right before they go public and the press ruins everything."
"Good plan." Josh thought for a moment. "That was Toby's plan."
"We all think Andi had something to say about it, but yeah."
"Wow!"
Donna reached with her fork across the table and stole a bite of his food.
"Hey!"
"That's really good."
"I know that's why I ordered it."
"It's nice to share, Josh."
"I was done anyway."
She quickly stole another bite and smiled. She stifled a yawn.
"We should probably head back to the apartment. You should probably nap before we go out to dinner."
"Thank you, Nurse Lyman."
"Come on, Donna, you're not up to full speed yet and the doctor told you to take it easy."
"How do you know what the doctor told me?"
"Because the doctor told me the same thing after I was shot. You know what else, I had this crazed lunatic of an assistant who made me abide by the doctor's rules, in fact she made up her own crazy rules and I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be as well off as I am today."
Donna stared at him for a long moment. "You're right."
"I'm sorry?"
"I'm not saying it again and I wouldn't get used to hearing it either."
"Are you sure, cause it sounded like I was right?"
"Let's go, Joshua!"
Josh helped Donna into her bed. He sat down next to her once he pulled the covers around her.
"What are you going to do?"
"Actually I was thinking I would take a nap too."
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm feeling very relaxed which is a new thing for me. I never get enough sleep so getting a little extra probably wouldn't hurt anything."
"Probably not, but where are you going to sleep?"
"The couch."
"That's silly."
"Really?"
"I have a queen sized bed, Josh, why don't you just crash over on the other vast side of the bed."
Josh glanced over her form to the gaping hole on the other side of the bed.
"Oh sure you're all hesitant about sleeping in the same bed with me when I'm sober and fully clothed..." she trailed off.
"I guess I'm just a little put off because I don't know where we stand anymore."
"Join the club, but I promise you that we won't figure it out in the next ten minutes and so we should just shut up and go to sleep so we're both pleasantly rested before dinner tonight."
Josh scooted off the bed and head to the other side. He stretched out next to her and put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Donna fell asleep shortly after he did.
Josh woke up feeling fuzzy and warm. He hadn't woken up like that since long before college. He opened his eyes; it took him a moment to figure out where he was. He heard a soft murmur from his left and glanced over to see Donna's form sleeping soundly. He let out a long, heavy yawn and turned on his side to stare at the woman lying next to him.
Her silky blonde hair was slightly mussed from sleep; her soft pink lips were parted. He watched her chest rise and fall as she slept soundly. Then something caught his eye.
Pooled in the center of her collarbone was a chain that he hadn't noticed before and connected to the chain was the ring he had given her before he left Germany. He stared at it for a long time. He finally was able to tear his eyes from her when she started to stir. He quickly turned over and pretended to sleep.
Donna let out a small moan as she stretched her arms above her head. She felt relaxed and sated. She hadn't slept that way in months. She felt the cold metal of the ring against her neck and as she sat up she tucked it under her shirt. She glanced over at Josh who was sleeping soundly. She smiled and lazily she traced a finger over his shoulder to his hand and finally gave up the small connection. He started to stir and she reached for her crutches.
"Morning, Sunshine," Donna called as she stood up.
"What time is it?" He stretched his arms. He looked so adorable with his hair sticking up in every direction; his v-neck sweater was all askew and his eyes were still heavy with sleep.
"It's about five. We've have about an hour to get ready," she said heading into the bathroom.
"Where are Charlie and Mallory?" Donna asked as Josh helped her with the crutches.
"Charlie had to go with the President to Camp David and Mallory had to cancel, something came up," C.J. replied.
Donna and Josh both took note that suddenly it looked like they were out on a triple date. C.J. and Danny were cooing and murmuring sweet nothings to each other, while Andi and Toby were arguing over the latest political disaster and Josh and Donna were just sitting there quietly trying to figure out how to act.
Soon the conversations took over the discomfort between Josh and Donna and everyone was laughing and having a good time.
"Have you guys set a date yet?"
C.J. glanced over at Danny, "We're thinking February 12th."
"Any particular reason?" asked Donna.
"Honestly, we just put a bunch of names in a hat," Danny replied.
The table chuckled.
They ordered dessert and the night became more intimate as C.J. and Danny were feeding each other chocolate cake and Andi and Toby were playfully sword fighting with their forks over their apple crisp.
"No, see, Donnatella, you ordered the cheese cake while I ordered the turtle cheese cake you can't all of the sudden change your mind like you did with your salmon and my steak."
"Fish is better for you."
"I don't care, I ordered the steak and you ordered the salmon there for you have to eat the cheese cake."
"What does the steak and salmon have to do with the cheese cakes?"
"You made me eat half of the fish and you ate half of my steak not to mention most of my mashed potatoes. This piece of turtle cheesecake is mine."
"Joshua, you won't hurt you to share."
"On the contrary, if I don't eat this entire piece of cheese cake sitting in front of me, I could get violent and it would hurt me to hurt you."
Donna glared at him. "They're both cheesecake, couldn't we just split them, we'll have a variety that way."
"This is worse than you not ordering any food at all and then eating all of mine," Josh said putting his arm up as a protective barrier around his cheesecake.
"You're unbelievable you know that. It's cheesecake."
"That's right, my cheesecake."
Donna crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Is there a problem, Donna?" Toby asked.
"No."
Toby looked over at Josh who was about to eat his first bite of cheesecake. "What did you do?"
"I refuse to share my cheesecake when she's got her very own dessert in front of her."
Five minutes later Josh and Donna were sharing his turtle cheesecake.
Over cappuccinos and coffee the six friends chatted, when Donna excused herself Andi and C.J. followed to make sure she would be okay. Once they arrived in the lady's room, the girl talk started.
"Okay, now let's see the engagement ring," Andi said turning to C.J.
C.J. held out her hand and the diamond ring glimmered in the florescent light.
"It's beautiful," Donna gushed. "I can't believe you guys are getting married."
"What about you and Tobias?" C.J. asked Andi.
"I don't know. Right now I like the way things are. Ever since Gaza he's been spending more time with the twins and more time with me. I just wonder how long it's going to last."
"Andi, Toby loves you so much and he loves Huck and Molly too. He just cares so much and he's afraid that he's not good enough for you guys." C.J. leaned against the counter.
"I know, I know, but I don't feel like I can take a chance of being with him for real and then have him retreat into himself again. I don't think I can take that kind of heartbreak twice in a life time."
The women nodded in understanding. "What about you and Lyman?" Andi asked.
Donna blushed. "What about us?"
"You two act married, shouldn't you just get married?"
"Andi!"
"It's true, Donna. You guys have always been that way."
"We have not."
"Donna, you were arguing about sharing food, if that isn't a married thing then I don't know what is." Andi smirked.
"We all see the way you look at him, the way he looks at you. You were so close a few months ago, what happened?" C.J. asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. We had a run in with Amy, I got jealous and angry and the next thing I know I'm telling him it's a bad idea and then Gaza happened and now I'm not working for him any longer. Things just keep changing and I'm not sure..."
"What's that?" Andi interrupted.
"What?" Donna looked down at her dress expecting to cheesecake on her dress or something. Andi reached out and that when Donna noticed the ring sticking out of the neck of her dress. "It's nothing." She went to reach for it but Andi tucked it back underneath.
"That's an engagement ring. In fact that's an antique engagement ring," C.J. sputtered.
"It's nothing."
"Donna?" Andi looked at her with questioning eyes.
"He left it in a letter when he left Germany saying that he loved me but he was going to move on and he didn't want to have this ring anymore burning a hole in his pocket so I should have it and do what I want with it," she fumbled through the words quickly. "Now I don't know what to do, because this ring was supposed to be Joanie's, he said that he was going to move on, I don't know if I can ever move and now all I want is to tell him that I love him and I want him back." Tears started to pour down her cheeks.
C.J. and Andi wrapped their arms around the young woman trying to sooth her. Finally C.J. said, "You should just tell him how you feel."
"What if it's too late?"
"What?"
"What if he's moved on?"
"Donna, I promise he hasn't."
"How would you know?"
"Because Sam and I have no secrets," C.J. replied with an evil smile.
"We should get back, otherwise the boys will send a search party," Donna said wiping her tears away.
Josh drove Donna home and walked her up to her apartment and made sure she got in okay. "Thanks for the great day," Donna was leaning on her crutches in the middle of the living room.
"It was a great day. We should do more, more often now that we're not going to see each other as much with not working together anymore."
Donna nodded, "That's a good idea."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely." He walked over a kissed her lightly on the cheek and left without another word.
Josh walked out to his car and feeling good about the day. He and Donna had finally made some progress in getting the relationship back to a comfortable and normal pace. Now he just had to figure out a way for her to come to her senses about them and forever.
Donna was getting ready for bed and as she slipped off her dress it only took her moment to realize that it was gone. Donna searched her apartment from the front door to her bedroom hoping that it fell while she was home, but she knew better.
The ring was gone.