Disclaimer – I do not own these characters – they are the property of NBC, John Wells and the fabulous Aaron Sorkin. I do own Emma Lyman and any other characters I invent, but please feel free to borrow them. Just let me know what you're doing with them!

Rating – PG-13

Spoilers – this is a sequel to That Which Time Cannot Erase

Pairings – Sam/Donna, Josh/Ellie

Summary – Sam and Donna's wedding goes off without a hitch – yeah right, come on, how much fun would THAT be????

A/N - Special thanks, as with each chapter, to Bartlegg for proofing my work and adding such wonderful...sometimes touching, sometimes utterly hilarious scenes and lines, and for pushing me to make this story better!

The West Wing was a flurry of activity that afternoon, especially considering the limited number of staff persons who'd been allowed back into the building following the lockdown. Both C.J. and Toby had left the building without telling anyone where they were going, although Toby mumbled something to Ginger about having left something at Starbucks.

Donna sat at her desk, tapping her pencil on the wood while waiting for an update on Jenny Davenport's condition. Sam rounded the corner of her cubicle and poked his head inside.

"Hi," he said somewhat distractedly.

"Hi," Donna repeated, offering him a soft smile.

"You're very beautiful when you do that, you know?" Sam replied, finding himself lost in her eyes as a smile took over his own face.

Donna blushed and hung her head down, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and hiding her flushed face. "I thought I was beautiful all of the time?" she asked quietly.

Sam leaned in close to Donna's sultry face. "You are."

Donna smiled knowingly, letting the phone slide slightly to her shoulder, tugging on Sam's tie until his face was centimeters from her own. "Then kiss me."

Sam puckered up, lost in euphoric office lust, when for a split second he looked out the window of the cubicle. All of the nearby assistants and interns peered through the glass, eagerly watching the display. Sam took the embarrassment in stride as he stood up. "I feel bad," he said loudly so all of the onlookers could hear him, "they must be desperate."

Donna spun around, purposely avoiding a glance outside of the cubicle. "You can't kiss me in public? What are you going to do at our wedding?"

Sam relaxed as everyone pretended to go back to work. "I'll figure something out."

Donna rolled her eyes in dismay. "So what did you need?"

"Have you seen Toby or C.J.?" he inquired.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "have you seen Josh?"

"Not in the last couple of hours," Sam frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Is it just me or is everyone acting…"

Donna held up her finger to indicate that someone had finally come onto the line. "Yes, my name is Donna Moss, and I'm calling on behalf of the White House. Is Jenny Davenport out of surgery yet?"

Donna listened for a moment; then answered, "Yes, that's wonderful news, thank you very much. Would you please let the Ambassador and his wife know that I called?"

She replaced the phone in the cradle and turned back to Sam, not missing a beat. "Jenny is out of surgery and the doctors expect a full recovery. And as for your earlier question, yes, everyone is acting very strange," she replied, finishing his sentence for him.

"What do you think is going on?" he asked curiously.

Donna glanced around furtively and momentarily put a finger to her lips, talking in a whisper. "I think- I think we're dreaming…"

"Really?" Sam replied, "Both of us…the same dream?"

Like a mousetrap Donna slapped her fiancé lovingly across the back of the head. "Don't you ever call me ditzy ever again, Samuel Stupefied Seaborn."

Sam smiled. "It's been a long day. So tell me honestly."

"Honestly?" Donna asked, receiving a nod from her fiancé, "I think it's because everyone feels guilty about the wedding."

"Oh," was all Sam could think to say.
Charlie hurried down the halls of the West Wing, dodging the Communications bullpen to avoid Sam and attempting to avoid Josh's office. The President was waiting on the list in his hand – a list of judges to call about Sam and Donna's wedding. He could see them by Donna's desk, engrossed in conversation. He sped up, hoping to get past them without being seen…

"Charlie!" Donna called from her desk.

"Damn," Charlie thought, whipping around to face both Donna and Sam.

Donna crossed her arms over her chest and Charlie tried his best to look relaxed, turning the sheet in his hand from view. "Do you know where Josh is?" she demanded.

"I do, actually," Charlie answered, keeping eye contact with the irritated blonde before him. "He's with Leo."

"No, he's not," Donna corrected, offering Charlie a stern glare, "I already checked. Margaret said that Leo's been on the phone all afternoon and that Josh came in for two seconds, then left."

"Then I amend my previous statement," Charlie answered with a grin, "I have absolutely no idea where Josh is."

"What about C.J. or Toby?" Sam inquired.

Charlie shrugged. "Sorry, it's only my job to keep up with the President, whereby I usually know where Leo is, but other than that…"

"You're absolutely no help," Donna sighed.

"Well, I would have put it a little more tactfully, but yeah," Charlie replied.

"Charlie," Sam began, running a hand through his hair, "is it just us, or is everyone acting strange?"

Charlie laughed. "Sam, this is the weirdest group of people I've ever been around. That being said, am I really the person to ask if everyone's acting strange?"

"Apparently not," Sam replied with a quick eye roll.

Charlie nodded at each of them and made his way down the hall again toward the Oval Office. He knocked quickly and stepped inside; finding Leo and Josh huddled over the desk with the President.

"The list, Charlie, do you have the list?" the President bellowed.

Charlie raised the paper in answer and strode over to Bartlet, quickly handing him the list. Charlie turned his attention to Josh. "Donna's looking for you," he said, "and I have a feeling that if she doesn't find you in the next two minutes, her head's going to explode."

"Okay," Josh sighed, turning to Leo and Jed, who waved him out. Josh wound through the maze of offices back to his own, encountering his assistant, who was standing in the doorway. "I don't think the terrorists want me specifically, Donna," he teased, ducking underneath her arm and into his office. "There's no need to guard my door."

Donna glared at him and spun around to face him, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. "I hear the Nerf bat beating is becoming the stuff of legends. Don't make me give the masses a sequel."

He ignored the comment and opened the candy jar on his desk, tossing a couple of M&M's into his mouth. "Charlie said you were looking for me."

"I am," Donna replied, leaning on his desk with her outstretched palms, "everybody's acting strange today and I want to know why."

"Why do you think people are acting strange?" he questioned.

"C.J. and Toby just bolted, without telling anyone where they were going, Ellie won't answer her cell phone and Charlie's lying through his teeth," she explained, adding with a whine, "and nobody will even so much as look at Sam and I. Well, except when we're…"

"I don't know where C.J. is," Josh lied with a dimpled grin, "Toby forgot some memos at Starbucks; Emma is napping, which explains why Ellie's cell phone is off; and if Charlie is lying to you, it's not some conspiracy."

"There's just too much activity around here for such a small staff," she countered.

"And that couldn't possibly be because 30 people are currently doing the jobs of 300?" he asked with a slight smirk.

"Have I mentioned in the last five minutes that I hate you?" she replied.

Josh glanced down at his watch. "By my calculations it's been six hours, three minutes and 32 seconds," he answered.

She picked up a stress relief ball and threw it at his head. "Ow!" he howled, rubbing the spot where the ball had connected. "I'm really starting to take offense!"

Donna stood and straightened her skirt with her hands. "Looks more like defense to me," she shot back, "At least my stress level has gone down."

"So glad to hear it," Josh said dramatically. His intense sarcasm was not lost on his assistant.

She stepped up to his desk and glared at him. "You're up to something, I can feel it. I'm never wrong about these things, Joshua and I intend to find out what's going on."

"Thanks for the warning," he answered under his breath. She picked up the stress ball again and hurled it at his head again. "Why are you beating on me?" he demanded.

She shrugged. "It started off just being fun. Now, I just honestly think you deserve it."

He pointed at the door. "Get out of my office and get some work done. I'd like to get out of here tonight before midnight." Donna turned on her heels and stalked toward the door. "And shut the door behind you!" he called after her retreating form.

Josh picked up the phone just as his office door slammed shut. He quickly dialed his wife's cell phone number and waited for her to answer. "We may have a problem," he sighed. "Donna's gone psycho and I think she's on to us. I think it's time for drastic measures…"
Ellie zipped through the halls of the West Wing, heading to the Ballroom with two of her Secret Service agents in tow. Ben and Chris usually refused to carry any packages for the First Daughter, but this time they were making an exception.

Her eyes swept the hallways from side to side, looking for any trace of Sam or Donna. Agents had been assigned to discreetly follow the couple, to report their whereabouts at any given time. Supposedly, Sam was holed up in his office, polishing an address for the President; an update on the Syrian bombing her father would deliver in about an hour. Donna was on the phone with Nancy McNally's office, trying to arrange for Jenny Davenport to be transported to a military hospital in Germany.

"Barbie's on her way, Dr. Lyman," Ben said quietly, referring to Donna's Secret Service codename. "She's apparently heard you were back in the building."

"We should speed it up, ma'am," Chris offered.

Ellie stopped in the hallway and dropped the bags she'd been carrying before glaring at both of them. "I am eight and a half months pregnant, running through the halls of the West Wing, which by the way, any doctor worth his salt would advise is a really bad idea and you want me to speed it up?" she demanded. She divided the rest of her bags between the two burly agents. "How 'bout this? You take all the bags and you speed it up. I will stay here and deal with Barbie."

"Yes, ma'am," Ben sighed, motioning for Chris to follow. "Don't move from this spot," he ordered. The two men hurried down the hallway, out of Donna's sight. She rounded the corner and found Ellie casually picking up a newspaper.

"There you are!" Donna called out, striding up to the shorter brunette.

"Were we playing hide and seek and you didn't tell me?" Ellie teased, swatting Donna on the arm.

"You're a riot, El," Donna replied, grabbing Ellie by the elbow before noticing a bag by Ellie's feet. Ellie's eyes followed Donna's down to the large brown bag and she silently cursed herself for being so careless. "What's that?" Donna demanded, pointing at the bag.

"What are you talking about?" Ellie countered coolly.

Donna spun Eleanor around to face the bag. "Something fishy's going on here. Senior Staff is disappearing left and right, not telling anyone where they are going, Josh has been on the phone all afternoon behind closed doors – no body will look Sam or I in the eyes and you're walking around with a bag of CD's…" she sighed in frustration.

"That's not mine," Ellie lied.

Donna gave Ellie her best "I'm not that stupid look" and leaned over to retrieve one of the CD"s from the bag, reading from the small white label attached, "Property of Joshua Lyman."

"See, I told you it wasn't mine."

"Ellie!"

Ellie smiled and patted Donna's arm. "Okay," she answered, leading Donna over to an empty desk and sitting her down in the chair. "You win. You want to know what's going on, I'll tell you. My parents have the Senior Staff planning a party for everyone, sort of an 'I'm sorry you got kicked out of the building and couldn't come to work' party," she lied.

"Really?" Donna asked in disbelief.

"Really," Ellie replied. "And Josh has been on the phone all afternoon working on another surprise for you and Sam."

"Really?" Donna asked again, this time her tone tinged with happiness. "What is it?"

Ellie smoothed a section of her friend's blonde hair. "It wouldn't exactly be a surprise if I told you, would it? You'll find out at the party. But, don't say anything, nobody else knows."

"When's the party?" Donna inquired.

"Starts tomorrow afternoon," Ellie answered, "Mom's still working on a time with the chefs. You know how she is, everything has to be perfect."

"That's so nice," Donna said with a smile.

"It is," Ellie said, standing from the desk, "now if you will excuse me, my mother has enlisted my help for this little shindig, and I have to report to the ballroom." An image of Donna sneaking into the ballroom and offering her services crept into Ellie's head and she spun around to Donna again. "One more thing – the ballroom is off limits. You may know there is a party – but that's all you're going to know – got it?"

"Got it," Donna grinned, rising from the chair, "I wouldn't want to be the one to squash one of the First Lady's surprises."

"Her wrath is overwhelming, definitely," Ellie agreed with a nod. "Bye."

"Bye," Donna replied, waiting for Ellie to get out of ear shot before fishing her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. "Sam," she said excitedly, "you've got to hear this!"

TBC…