Disclaimer – I don't own any of these characters – they are the property of NBC, John Wells and the fabulous Aaron Sorkin.

Rating – PG, for now

Pairings – Josh/Ellie, Ellie/OC

Spoilers – None

Summary – Josh Lyman meets Eleanor Bartlet during the campaign and falls in love with the young, married medical student. For the purposes of my story, Ellie is several years older in this story and very different than she is on the show.

I've had this story in my head for years, and have finally forged the courage to begin writing. Here's hoping you enjoy it!!

He didn't even bother going to his apartment that night, knowing he wouldn't find her there. She was angrier than he'd ever seen her. He took a deep breath and knocked on Ellie's front door. She threw open the door, glaring at him. Her eyes were red, her face-tear streaked and her nose runny.

"What do you want?" she demanded, deliberately blocking his entrance.

"Ellie," he began reciting the speech he'd been preparing all afternoon. "I want you to know how incredibly and truly sorry I am for the mistake I made today. It was thoughtless and insensitive and I am going to do everything in my power to repair the damage that I've caused."

Ellie rolled her eyes, her steely expression unchanged from that afternoon. "Nice," she said sarcastically, "how much of it did Sam write?"

"None of it," he answered, growing slightly angry himself. "It's how I truly feel, Ellie."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Josh, but it doesn't change anything. I still don't want to see you," she said coldly.

"That's fine, honey, I completely understand that you're upset, but, if you'd just let me..." Ellie slammed the door in his face, leaving him talking to the cold mahogany wood. Ben stepped up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"As much as I hate playing the Relationship Police, Ellie said that I am to remove you from the premises if you showed up," he explained wearily.

"She asked her Secret Service agent to have me removed?" he asked incredulously.

The brawny agent sighed heavily. "Mr. Lyman, I'm not any happier about this than you are, believe me."

"She asked you to remove me?" he screeched.

"Mr. Lyman, are we going to do this all night, because frankly, I'm tired. Being Ellie's bodyguard, therapist, best girlfriend and relationship counselor can be a little exhausting sometimes," Ben said.

"Okay," Josh answered, his tone defeated. "Will you tell her that I love her and that I'll see her tomorrow?"

"I will do that, Sir," Ben answered.

"Okay," he said, turning to head down the stairs. "Thanks."
Josh collapsed on the couch in C.J.'s office three days later, twiddling his thumbs and tapping his foot nervously.

"I'm still not speaking to you," C.J. announced. She was still sick and looked awful. She'd been told by Leo more than once to go home, but she would answer each time that obviously no one else could be trusted to do her job. She'd been taking it out on Josh for three solid days and had no plans to let up on him anytime soon.

"She's hanging up on me again, C.J.," he complained. "I thought we were past all that crap."

C.J. stopped typing on her computer and glared at him over the top rim of her glasses. "Josh, she's pissed, and she has every right to be."

"While I don't disagree with you," Josh argued. "It's been three days. And she's still hanging up on me. I've spent half my yearly salary on flowers, messengered hand-written letters of apology to everyone on the Committee, including Ellie, and she's still hanging up on me."

"What do you want from me?" C.J. demanded. "You fouled up, and in my mind and I'm sure Eleanor's mind, you haven't paid for it enough yet."

"You're a woman, C.J.," he stated, eliciting a cold, hard stare from the Press Secretary, "what can I do to make this better?"

"Josh, if you did that to me, you wouldn't have to worry about making it better, because I would have killed you three days ago," she answered harshly.

"Really?"

"Yes, Sparky, really," she answered.

"So, there's nothing I can do to fix this?"

"Josh, you undermined three years worth of extremely hard work. You embarrassed the committee, the Bartlet family and the medical community as a whole," she explained. "This isn't something that's going to blow over anytime soon."

"Do you think she'll forgive me by the Inauguration?" he asked.

"I wouldn't count on it, Sparky," she said, resuming her typing. "You'll be going stag with the rest of us."

TBC....