Disclaimer - I still don't own these characters. They are still the property of Josh Wells, NBC and the fabulous Aaron Sorkin.

Rating - PG.

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 held tightly to his wife's left leg as she bore down to push again. His daughter's head was crowning, or so he was being told. He had absolutely no desire to look anywhere below Ellie's waist.

"Come on, Ellie," Doctor Nicholas encouraged, "One more big push and we'll have the shoulders."

"Bite me," she yelled back, sweat pouring down her forehead. She turned to Josh, her eyes pleading. "I can't do this anymore."

"You can, Honey," he answered tenderly, "Come on, just one more push."

"One more to get the shoulders out, you moron!" she spat out. "Then another for the rest of her. God, I'm never doing this again!"

"Come on, Rosie," Curtis echoed from his spot near Dr. Nicholas, "one more big push."

"Have I mentioned in the last thirty seconds that I seriously hate all of you?"

"Ellie, let's go," Dr. Nicholas said with an excited nod. Ellie braced herself, holding tight to Josh's hand and pushed again. "That's it, that's it...stop!"

Dr. Nicholas gently pulled Emma out and held her up for Josh and Ellie to see. Josh blanched at the sight of his daughter covered in blood and some weird white gunk, and Ellie laughed weakly. "They are going to clean her off," she whispered.

"I know," he answered as Dr. Nicholas looked up at him.

"Do you and Curtis want to cut the cord?" she asked.

Curtis began nodding furiously and Josh swallowed hard. "Well, if he's gonna, I better too," he surmised aloud. He took the scissors from Dr. Nicholas and made the first snip on Emma's umbilical cord; then handed them to Curtis, who freed the connection between mother and daughter.

Dr. Nicholas handed Emma to one of the nurses who carried her over to a warming table to clean her off.

"She's beautiful," Curtis cooed, carrying the video camera over to the table, preserving Emma's first few moments of life for posterity.

"She will be beautiful," Josh joked, kissing Ellie gently. "When they get all that crap off her."

Ellie laughed again weakly and rested her face against Josh's hand. "Now we wait," she said wistfully.

"Yeah," he responded.

"Her hair is red!" Curtis said excitedly, turning back to them. "Red and curly."

"What a shock," Ellie answered sarcastically. The nurse wrapped Emma in a blanket and placed a small pink stocking cap on her head. She carried Emma over to Ellie and laid the baby in Ellie's waiting arms.

"Look at what we did," she cooed, wiping the tears away from her eyes with her free hand. "She's gorgeous."

"What a shock," Josh teased, stroking Emma's soft cheek. "She has you for a mother."

Ellie smiled brightly and tilted her face up to her husband. "I love you so much."

Josh was overcome with emotion as he watched his wife and baby daughter. Happy tears began spilling out of his eyes and he was helpless to stop the flow. He leaned down, kissing Ellie first, then Emma. At that moment, the results of the paternity test couldn't have been more insignificant. Ellie would always be his wife and Emma would always be his daughter.

Ellie was still cradling Emma in her arms when Dr. Nicholas arrived two hours and twenty-one minutes later with the results of the paternity test. Josh was sitting on the bed beside them and Curtis was in one of the recliners in the room. Ellie had kicked her parents and siblings, Josh's mother and Leo out of the room at the two-hour mark, anticipating Dr. Nicholas' arrival.

"Sorry for the delay," she apologized as she made her way into the room. She stepped over to Ellie and Emma and stroked the sleeping baby's cheek. "You guys do good work," she said, "Emma is gorgeous."

"What does is say?" Josh asked quietly.

"I haven't looked at it," Dr. Nicholas answered. She handed the envelope to Ellie, who stared at it like it was a bomb.

"Open it," Josh encouraged, his voice weak and cracking with emotion. Ellie handed Emma to Josh, who held his daughter to his heart while Ellie gingerly removed the contents of the envelope. Curtis sat on the edge of his seat, clasping his hands in front of him.

"I'll step out now," Dr. Nicholas said, patting Eleanor's leg before making her exit.

Ellie unfolded the paper and quickly read the results. Relief visibly washed over her face and Josh brought his lips down onto his daughter's curly red hair. She was his. His daughter – their daughter. He'd never been happier in all his life as he was at that very moment.

Curtis hung his head down and wiped the tears from his eyes. Josh glanced over at him – his eyes filled with sympathy for the man he'd been at odds with for so long. It may have been the best day of Josh's life, but it was the worst day of Curtis's. He stood from the recliner and made his way over to them, stroking Emma's hair with his fingertip.

Ellie took his hand in her own. "Curt," she began.

He leaned down and quickly kissed her on the cheek. "She's beautiful," he said quietly, a tiny, weak smile forming on his lips. He stood and held his hand out to Josh. Josh took his hand and shook it. "Take care of our girls, okay?" Curtis asked.

"Always," Josh responded.

Curtis nodded and made his way over to the door, opening it and stepping out without another word. Seconds later, Josh and Ellie's family flooded into the room, all crying with joy and relief. Josh's mother Clara reached over and took a sleeping Emma from her father's arms, cradling her granddaughter and pressing light kisses on her forehead.

"She's yours Mom," Josh told her, resting his chin on his mother's shoulder.

Clara Lyman titled her head against her son's. "She would have been mine anyway," she answered, gently handing Emma back to Ellie.

"Why don't we let them get some sleep?" Leo suggested, already taking Clara by the arm and leading everyone out of the room.

"Thanks, Leo," Josh responded, crawling back onto the bed with Ellie and Emma.

"She's ours," Ellie marveled, stroking Emma's cheek with her fingertips. "She's really and truly all ours."

"There was never a doubt in my mind," Josh lied playfully, eliciting a soft swat on the arm from his wife. He snuggled in beside them, placing his arm right below Ellie's so that they could hold Emma together. "It's the law of averages, Ellie," he explained, quite seriously, "We made love, what, six times that night? You and Curtis did it once. So the odds were in my favor all along."

"Well, I'm just glad it wasn't an upset," she answered with a sleepy grin.

"Me too," he answered softly, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. He tightened his grip on his wife and daughter and close his eyes, letting the most happy, contented, peaceful sleep of his life finally claim him.

Just one more chapter left...