Josh reached the nurses' station breathlessly. "I'm Josh Lyman, I was paged," he gasped.
The nurse nodded and pointed, "Dr. Hathaway is the one who had you paged."
Josh turned around to see Donna's doctor. He quickly approached. He heard Abbey, Toby, Sam and Mallory approach from behind. He kept his attention focused on Dr. Hathaway.
"Doc, what's going on?" Josh asked.
"Josh, take a deep breath for me. I don't want to have to admit you too."
"I'm fine, what's going on?"
"Right now both the baby and Donna are stable but they're not out of the woods. Donna lost a lot of blood and the labor was highly stressed for the baby."
"What does this mean?" he asked hysterically.
"Josh," Abbey's soothed. "Let the doctor speak."
"Donna is in intensive care right now. I have high hopes that she's going to be just fine, but there are couple of things we have to wait for before I'll feel comfortable putting her into full recovery. Now the baby, she's fine for right now. She's on oxygen, obviously she was very premature, but her vitals are holding strong."
"She's a girl?" Josh asked quietly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, forgive me, I forgot that you and your wife didn't know, not many parents do that anymore. Yes, a baby girl, 3 pounds 6 ounces. She's big for how premature she was, which means that she was going to be a big baby. That's good. Josh, I'm very hopeful for your family. Now you can see the baby girl and I'll let you see Donna in an hour or so."
Josh nodded.
Dr. Hathaway looked behind Josh. "I don't want a crowd but you can take someone with you if you need to. The nurse will take you when you're ready, I'm going to go check on Donna."
Josh turned around to face his friends. "Dr. Bartlett, would you please come and see my baby girl with me?"
Abbey nodded and wrapped her arms around Josh as they followed the nurse behind the swinging doors. Josh stepped timidly into the room. His baby girl was in the corner of the room in a large incubator. Josh felt his chest tighten and his breath caught in his throat.
He looked down at the small bundle of pink sleeping soundly in the incubator. "My baby girl," Josh whispered.

"Have you heard from Josh?" Danny asked as he leaned in C.J.'s office door.
"No, but Sam called a little bit ago and said that Josh went in to see the baby and that they'll get to see Donna in about an hour. There is hope that both of them are going to be okay."
"Hey, that's good news," Danny replied.
"It is, but there is not such good news for us," C.J. said standing up and leaning against her desk.
"You got the test results back?"
"That's right."
"What's going on?"
"It turns out that there is something wrong with me, that's why we're having so much trouble getting pregnant. I have an appointment to see the doctor next week to talk about what our options are. She said that it's not completely hopeless."
Danny nodded stiffly. "I'm sorry, babe. But it sounds like we have some options."
C.J. stared down at the ground looking forlorn. "I just really wanted to start a family with you."
Danny wrapped his arms around her, holding her why she sobbed. "Claudia, everything is going to be just fine. We'll have a family one way or another. I promise you."
"C.J.?" Carol knocked on the door.
"Yeah, Carol," C.J. called pulling away from Danny wiping her eyes.
"Leo's office called, he needs to see you right away."
C.J. nodded, "Tell them on my way." She turned back to Danny. "I'm sorry, we'll talk about this tonight, since we're not going over to Josh and Donna's for dinner tonight."
"You got it."
She gave him a quick kiss and headed out of the office.
"Hi, Charlie." Zoey stood in front of Charlie's desk with a big smile.
"Hey, Zoey, we haven't seen you for a long time. How have things been?"
"Things are better. How are things with you?"
"Good, things are good."
Zoey smiled.
"Let me see if your father is available."
"No, Charlie, actually I came here to see you. I had breakfast with my father earlier."
"You're here to see me?"
"That's right."
"What can I do for?"
"Have dinner with me? I okayed it with my father earlier. Do you want to have dinner with me?"
Charlie smirked, "Do I want to have dinner with you? Sure, I'll have dinner with you. When?"
"How about dinnertime?"
"Yeah."
"I'll pick you up in a couple of hours."
Charlie watched as Zoey strutted down the hall. He smiled and shook his head. "Okay."
"She's beautiful, Josh," commented Abigail Bartlett.
"Thanks for coming back here with me, Dr. Bartlett."
"Oh, Josh, call me Abbey."
"It just means a lot for you to be here right now. I know this sounds silly but I wanted someone who was more..."
Abbey smiled, "Mother like?"
"Yeah."
"I understand."
"Did you and Donna have names picked out?"
"You know Donna, we decided that we would name the baby once we met him or her. We figured naming her before we met her would be a mistake. We were going to decide together."
"You guys are really made for each other you know that?" Abbey chuckled.
"Why Donna and why this baby? This baby girl hasn't done anything to this world and here she lies fighting for her life. My wife has to be one of the most caring individuals I've ever met and she's sitting in a room down the hall fighting for her life. I do not understand why things work the way they do."
"No one does, Josh, I totally understand how you feel. My husband is a good man, he is loyal to his faith and good to his wife and kids and he serves his country as faithfully as he can and he has MS and he gets shot not to mention his youngest daughter was kidnapped. Things are just the way they are. It isn't some personal vendetta against you or Jed, it's just the way it is."
Josh looked back down at his baby girl. "She's beautiful."
"She's a Lyman I can tell, she's going to be just fine." Abbey rubbed his back. "I'm going to give you a few minutes alone. I'll be right outside."
Josh waited until the First Lady had left the room. He turned back to his daughter. "Hi, there. You may not remember me, but I'm your father. We've had a few chats. Well mostly I did the chatting. Your mom is in the other room. She'll be along eventually. She's recovering too. But I know she loves you very much, just like I do, and it's very important that you stay strong. There's a big world out there for you to discover. I know we've talked about President of the United States, but you can be a scientist, a vet, a carpenter, a senator...even congresswoman if you really want but the point is you have to stay with us." Josh wiped the tears that streamed down his face. "Your Mom isn't even here to help me name you, so you have to stay with us. I can't lose you too," he sobbed.
"Hey, Charlie. C.J." Sam greeted them as they entered the waiting room.
"Hi," C.J. kissed Mallory and Sam on the cheek. "Where's Josh?"
"He's in with the baby," Mallory replied.
"Is the baby and Donna okay? We're a little behind on news," asked Charlie.
"They're both stabilized right now but it is still hairy. The doctor said that Josh can see Donna in a little bit, but right now he's in seeing the baby. It's a baby girl, just a little over three pounds," Mallory stated.
C.J. covered her mouth, "That's so small."
Sam wrapped his arm around C.J.'s shoulder. Toby stood up when Josh came around the corner into the waiting room.
Josh looked around at all of them and managed a weak smile. "She's beautiful." He took a deep breath, "When did you guys get here?" Josh asked as C.J. hugged him.
"Just a few minutes ago," Charlie replied.
"Where's Mrs. Bartlett?"
"I went to get coffee for everyone, but it turns out there are more people here than when I left," she said from behind everyone.
"Josh?"
He turned around and saw Dr. Hathaway standing in the doorway of the waiting room.
"Dr. Hathaway?"
"I'll let you see Donna now if you would like."
Josh didn't hesitate. He set his cup of coffee down and followed the doctor. Once inside he had a flash of déjà vu. He approached Donna's side feeling sick to his stomach. She looked pale and so small. Even in Germany she hadn't looked this small. Josh pulled up and chair and sat by her side.
"She comes and goes out of consciousness, she's still having trouble clotting, but for right now she's doing fine," Dr. Hathaway stated as she slowly backed out of the room.
Donna's eyes fluttered open and she smiled weakly at Josh. "My man has come back to me," she whispered.
"I was always here. Next time I ask you if you need me to come to the doctor's appointment with you, you say 'yes' you hear me?"
Donna smiled. "You think you could've prevented this had you been there?"
"No, but I have to be angry at something, and I have to feel like had the situation been different my wife and child would not have been put in danger," he growled.
"Have you seen her?"
"She's beautiful. She looks just like me," Josh smirked.
"Let's just hope that she's as stubborn as you are," Donna murmured.
"Me, you're the stubborn one." Josh lightly stroked his wife's pale blonde hair out of her face. "You're beautiful, you know that?"
"I do in fact know that."
"What about me, aren't I beautiful?" he asked sarcastically.
"Not so much, no." Donna kissed his hand. "We really have to stop meeting this way. And no way is our kid going to follow in our footsteps with the love of being in the hospital. I don't think your blood pressure nor mine could take it at this point."
Josh nodded his head, "Unfortunately, if she's like either one of us we're not going to be able to tell her what to do."
"I don't know how but somehow I'm going to find a way to blame this on Republicans."
Donna chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry if we scared you," she whispered.
"If you didn't keep me on my toes, then who would?"
Darkness fell over Washington D.C. and Josh was left alone in the hospital room with his wife. He had been in to check on their baby many times. Donna was getting more color and was finally able to eat something substantial. She had finally drifted back off to sleep. Josh decided to take a walk around. He was feeling antsy.
He called Leo's office once he breeched to the outside. He wasn't surprised when Leo answered.
"Hi, boss!"
"Josh, my boy, how is Donna and the baby?"
"They're doing okay."
"Good, good. What are you doing calling me so late?"
"I just wanted to make sure everything was going okay," Josh replied as he paced in front of the building.
"Everything is fine, as hard as it might be to believe we can survive a few days with out you, son."
"I know."
"What's troubling you?"
"Leo, I'm a father and already I can't protect her," Josh let out a painful sob.
"Josh, believe it or not there are few things in this world that you can protect her from. All you can do is raise her and hope that she makes the right decisions. What happened to Donna and her, there was nothing you could've done to prevent that. And you won't be able to prevent what happens to her next. She's going to skin her knees, bang her head and get hurt by the people in her life. That's just how it works. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel right now," Leo replied.
"I can't stand feeling like this, Leo. It sucks."
"That's what happens when you love someone. Now you love two people more than you've ever loved anyone in your entire life...this is why some people can't make it work. It's too much."
Josh stood still for a moment in silence.
"Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"Go sit with your wife, you'll feel better," Leo instructed.
"Thanks for listening," Josh replied.
"You call me anytime, son."
Donna laid quietly in the silence. She wanted to cry but her body was exhausted. She wanted her baby in her arms and Josh by her side. She didn't think that was too much to ask, and yet here she was sitting in a hospital bed, once again, waiting for a miracle.
She heard the door open and she saw Josh creep inside quietly. She didn't let him know that she was awake right away. She watched him sit down in his chair and lean his head back. He looked so tired. She wanted to yell at him because she knew that he wasn't eating right or getting any sleep.
She hadn't seen him look this ragged since they had been on the first campaign or the second one for that matter. She hated that he had to suffer like this. Knowing that there was a good chance that if things had gone slightly to the left he could've lost his family...again.
She couldn't help it anymore. They hadn't even been married a year and she still couldn't keep her hands off of him. She reached out her hand and laid it over his. He stirred a little. He opened his hand and held hers and then rolled his head back.
Donna felt better having some small contact with him. She closed her eyes.
Soon they were both drifting off into a dreamless sleep.