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.

"Josh?" Aaron McKenzie had been struggling for nearly forty minutes to keep Josh focused. The young man's mind wandered constantly throughout their session and he seemed reluctant to tell the doctor what he was thinking about. He was chewing on a fingernail again, a bad habit he had when he was upset and suppressing his emotions.

"Josh!" he said again, more forcefully. Josh looked over at him with a startled expression. "We were talking about Amy," the doctor reminded him.

"I don't want to talk about Amy," Josh grumbled, abandoning his fingernail and slouching back on the deep burgundy leather sofa.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" McKenzie asked gently.

Josh offered with a lop-sided grin. "Mets Spring Training?"

"Nice try."

"Well, since I'm the one paying you, can't I choose the topic?" he continued.

"No," Aaron echoed Josh's smile. "I'm the one with the title, here. I'll choose what we talk about."

Josh frowned. "I have a title too," he shot back.

"How is work these days?"

"Fine."

"Just fine?"

Josh shrugged. "We're doing fine. We've had a few minor setbacks, but so far we're meeting our goals."

"What about Ellie's healthcare initiative?" the doctor asked curiously. "Did that ever pass?"

Josh rolled his eyes and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Is this your cute little way of bringing her into the conversation?"

"Nope, just asking about the bill," McKenzie lied with a smile.

"It's stuck hopelessly in committee."

"Shame," the doctor said with a shake of his head. "Have you heard from her?"

"Who?" Josh feigned ignorance and was met with a cold, hard stare from his therapist. "No," he finally answered. McKenzie wondered if Josh knew he was chewing on his fingernail again.

"How long has she been gone now?"

"Five months, twenty three days, nine hours and five minutes," Josh rattled off. "Give or take, my watch sucks. Donna says it has something to do with my biorhythms or something. I never can find a watch that actually tells time."

"Is she coming home for Zoey's graduation?"

"That's what I hear," Josh answered irritably.

"Is she bringing Curtis with her?"

"Probably," Josh shrugged.

"How do you feel about that?"

"Are you kidding me?" Josh asked with a grin. "I don't think my vocabulary is that big."

"You still love her?" McKenzie inquired.

Josh slowly blew out a deep breath. "That seems to be Amy's take on it."

"I'm more interested in your take," the doctor clarified.

"I don't know," Josh sighed. "Ellie was right, you know, there at the end? We were making each other miserable. I just never thought that would ever happen. I loved her so much and I know she loved me. I guess I just thought that once we were together, everything else would be easy."

"Relationships aren't easy, Josh," the doctor answered kindly.

"No kidding," Josh answered with another eye-roll. "I closed my eyes to how bad things were getting, until it was too late."

"If you could change things, what would you do?"

Josh stood and crossed over to the window. He leaned against the frame and closed his eyes. "I'd keep my damned mouth shut at that briefing for one."

McKenzie smiled. "You two were cooking long before that, Josh."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "You know, we've never even really discussed it. How and where things went wrong. It was like she just gave up. And worse, I just let her give up."

"Josh, you know that you will never be able to move on with your life until you've worked this thing out with Ellie," McKenzie advised.

"You say that like you don't think there's any hope for us to get back together," Josh said.

The doctor shook his head. "Whether you get back together or whether you find some closure. I don't have the right answer for that, Josh. But you do have to talk to her." McKenzie glanced down at his own watch. "Time's up, Josh."

"Yeah," he answered, crossing the office to grab his backpack off the floor. He opened the door and was about to step out when the doctor called his name again.

"Find some time to talk to her while she's here," he encouraged.

Josh nodded and shut the door behind him. Ellie didn't want to even see him. How was he going to get her alone to talk to her?

TBC....