A/N: Sorry so many of you are so distraught over this story. And if you have issue with my writing, I am sorry. I understand that many of you just like a sweet, happy J/D story...I do too at times. I love these characters to pieces. I feel that I am doing real-life situations justice. If you think that I am being a butcher, I am sorry. Butchering is not my intent. This is for entertainment only. I don't feel that I've written myself in a corner and I do know exactly where I am going with the story. Happiness doesn't always follow a linear path. I wish sometimes that it did. Usually there are many missed opportunities and chance encounters that shape our lives and that is what I try to portray when I write. In this story, Josh drinks at times to deal with his pain. I have never said he's an alcoholic. Many people drink for many reasons and do not need rehab. And many children of alcoholics grow up to be alcoholics so just because he saw Leo's problems doesn't mean that would prevent him from abusing liquor at all. Also, people rebound quickly to people they deem saviors all the time. I've seen it multiple times myself. You can think you love someone and in fact you can love someone for all the wrong reasons. Soulmates don't always get together when you want them to. Happy ending aren't always pretty. Usually they're marred with a lot of ugliness along the way. I honestly think that I am doing my story justice and I intend to finish for those that are enjoying it. As I said in the beginning of this rant here, I am sorry that so many of you seem upset. It wasn't my intention at all. And now...onto the story! Nicole


The kiss started out slow and tentative. They were just feeling each other out again. But, quickly their lips fell into familiar patterns and Donna allowed herself to be swept away by Josh's charms. Josh couldn't believe that he was doing this. He couldn't believe that Donna was letting him. He couldn't believe how much he'd missed her. He couldn't exactly pinpoint exactly how much until that precise moment when her arms wrapped tighter around his neck. After all they'd been through and everything that had happened, she was still his Donna. Nothing could take that away when they were in such a perfect little world – away from their friends, their families, their jobs and their responsibilities. Right here, right now, they were just Josh and Donna. But nothing lasts forever.

Suddenly Donna pulled away and raised a hand to her swollen lips. "We shouldn't do that," she murmured.

"Why?" he asked.

"Your wife," she sighed.

"Yeah," he agreed as he moved out of the kitchen and sat on the couch in the living room. "Lynne..."

"I'm actually starting to not hate her," Donna smiled.

Josh laughed. "She's fond of you, too. Who'd have thunk it?"

"What do you want Josh? I can't keep doing this. I can't keep being first choice, then second. I can't handle it. I can be your friend and Lynne can be your wife or I could be more than a friend and Lynne can't be your wife. But you need to be the one to decide things Josh. You need to be the grownup in this relationship for once. You need to act your age and think about how your decisions affect others," she lectured.

"You sound like my Mother," he smirked.

"She's a smart lady," Donna told him. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant as one," Josh assured her.

Both Josh and Donna stared at the wall for a bit and then Donna turned and smiled at him. "How's the election looking?" she asked.

"Our guy's gonna win it, I think," Josh smiled. "We've avoided enough controversy in the last year or so."

"How's it gonna look for you after?" she asked. "Job-wise," she clarified.

"I dodged a few bullets this past year thanks to a certain blond," he smirked and picked up a picture of Olivia from the end table and smiled at it. "I don't know if it was worth what it accomplished," he sighed looking squarely at Donna's big blue eyes. "But I think I'll do okay. I'm considering working for Sam as his new CoS," he smiled. "That way when he runs, I'm in," he laughed.

"You'd be in no matter what," she told him. "You know that."

"Who knows how well I'll be liked when I start taking my daughter out in public and people put two and two together?" he asked. "We got lucky that an amateur broke the story and that Newsweek got like no collaborating quotes. I think CJ dumped it with the Trash."

"You're a good guy, Josh," Donna said smiling at him. "You may be stupid a lot of the time, but you're really a good guy."

"Coming from you, Miss Moss," Josh smiled. "That means a lot."

"I call them like I see them," she said with a sappy smile. "What about that dinner?" she asked. "Still hungry?

"Let's go see what we can salvage," he said and they headed for the kitchen.

---- Back in DC ----

"He loves her," Lynne sighed to CJ as they ate salads in the Food Court.

"He loves you, too," CJ reasoned.

"I know," Lynne smiled. "But it's different. I'm safe love. I'm obligation love. Donna is crazy love. She's over-the-moon kind of love. She's dangerous love."

"Lynne," CJ sighed shaking her head.

"He's scared to admit how much he loves Donna because he can't bare the thought of losing her again," Lynne smiled. "He barely got through it the first time and now he's saddled with me."

"He wanted to marry you," CJ told her.

"I know!" Lynne agreed. "But he wanted to marry me to convince himself that he was completely over Donna. He wanted everything to believe that so that he could try to accept that. I know that. I married him because I love him and he asked and maybe I was hoping that we'd be able to get passed the Donna factor," Lynne shook her head. "But...I don't think that's possible with Josh. He fell for me hard and fast because of circumstance and out of desperation. It took me a while to grasp that and accept it, but now that I have," she smiled a bit. "I see things so much more clearly. I honestly want Josh to be happy and I honestly know that his complete happiness will never be with me. And...and as much as I love him, I deserve someone that loves me just as much as I love him and I'll never get that with Josh."

"Wow," CJ said in awe of her friend's realization. "You're an amazing person."

"I've just grown up," Lynne said with a shrug.

"When's Josh come home?" CJ asked.

"I have no idea," Lynne smiled. "He didn't mention. I guess that depends on how he and Donna get along," she shrugged. "But he'll be back and when he does I'll set him free. We both deserve happiness and staying together will never give us that."

"You're a good person," CJ smiled.

"Not really," Lynne shrugged. "I'm just being selfish. I deserve better."

"Josh is lucky that he met you," CJ told her and got up and they hugged.

"I'm glad he's in my life, too," Lynne smiled through her tears.

---- In Hawaii ----

Josh and Donna ate dinner. They talked about everything that had happened over the past couple of years – why she left, Olivia, Lynne, Sam, Will, CJ and Toby, Leo and Josh's Mother. They each had some things to say about all of the people in their lives. They had some time to consider their actions to certain situations as well as each other's. In short, they managed to fall back into their once typical Josh and Donna banter and it was nice. It was like going home again.

"Thank you," Josh said suddenly after they were finished cleaning up and sitting next to each other on the couch.

"For what?" Donna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For being you, still," Josh smiled. "I've missed it. Since you first left I've missed it."

"You left too," she reminded. "Maybe not literally," she clarified.

"I know," he nodded.

"How're the Mets?" she asked.

He smiled. "They suck," he laughed a bit. "But Livvie's a huge fan!"

"I bet," she giggled.

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

"What do you want, Josh?" she asked suddenly after a half hour of silence.

"Huh?" he asked, startled.

"What do you want?" she asked again.

"I don't know," he admitted, still not ready to look into her imploring eyes.

"Okay," she smiled and touched his face lightly with her hand. "Now you just have to figure that out," she whispered and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to bed. There's a spare room down the hall," she told him. "Get some sleep. Livvie'll be here in the morning and then you can see her before you go."

"I didn't say I was leaving tomorrow," Josh said.

"I did," she smiled. "Get some sleep, Josh."

"Donna," he called out to her as she lazily trudged down the hall.

"Hmmm?" she asked.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Same thing I've wanted for more than eight years," Donna answered him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A political genius with crazy hair and a good heart," she smiled.

"Huh," he laughed. "Tough order to fill."

"It's a one in a million type of guy," she smiled as her eyes filled up. "I thought I lost him for a while," Donna continued. "But I'm thinking that maybe I found him again."

"I'm happy for you," Josh smiled.

"Me too," she whispered. "Now go to sleep."

"As you wish," he obliged her and turned off all the lights and made his way down to the guest room.

---- The next morning ----

Josh woke up feeling oddly rested. It was the first time he'd felt that good in a long while. He smiled and padded down the hallway to the kitchen. He found muffins on the table and a note from Donna:

Hi Josh,
Livvie came home early...she missed me. She's been crazy since 6 and you were still sleeping when we went to the park around 10 this morning. Have a muffin. We're just down the street to the left. Stop by or we'll see you when we get home. I arranged a flight for you this evening. I think of everything. You can thank me later. Donna

He smiled and went to get a shower. He got dressed, grabbed a muffin and ran out the door to go and see Donna and Olivia at the park. They were at the park and he stood back and watched for a bit. Olivia was getting so big and she was playing in the sandbox with a little boy while Donna and the boy's mother looked on from a bench. He approached the ladies from behind the bench. "Thanks for the muffin," he murmured touching her shoulder.

"Josh!" she smiled. "This is Loni," she smiled. "She's Jakob's Mother. He's in the sandbox with Olivia," she said pointing. "Loni," she smiled. "This is Josh. Olivia's father."

"It's lovely to meet you," Loni smiled at Josh and shook his hand. "Olivia is just crazy about you. She gets all excited when she sees your face on television."

"She's a great little girl," Josh smiled proudly. "She gets that from her Mother," he said, winking at Donna.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Lyman," Donna smiled. "Olivia," she called to her daughter as she got up and approached the sandbox. "Let's go see Daddy."

Donna carried a dirty Olivia over to Josh and Josh grabbed and hugged her tightly.

"Hey kiddo," he said, kissing her cheek. "How's Daddy's little angel?"

Olivia giggled and grabbed his face and kissed him all over. "Daddy, daddy," she cooed.

Loni smiled and picked up Jakob and took him over to the swings to give Josh and Olivia some space and Donna watched from a distance with a happy smile on her face.

"Daddy missed you," Josh told him daughter.

She nodded, "Me, too."

"I love you so much," he told her and hugged her again. "Donna," he called out to her and she came over with a sad grin.

"Yeah?" she asked as he handed Olivia to her.

"Can I get a picture of the two of you? A picture of my girls?" he asked with a lopsided grin that made Donna's heart melt.

"We're both a mess," Donna exclaimed looking down at herself and at Olivia. "Give us a second to run home and clean up."

"Nope," he smiled. "You both look great just like this." He pulled out his camera and captured a picture of them right then and there. He showed them in the display area and Olivia giggled and Donna groaned. Josh just beamed. "You two are beautiful," he murmured and Donna blushed.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked, clearing her throat and changing the subject.

"Yes I did, thanks," Josh said, taking Olivia back and walking down the street with Donna at his side.

"Good. You looked like you could use a good night's sleep," she nodded.

"Yeah," he shook his head. "Thanks for the flight and all," he said, glancing at her. "I didn't say I was going to go tonight, though," he said again.

"Yeah," she nodded, "but I did." She shook her head and smiled. "You, Josh, you need to go home and figure some stuff out."

"I know," he shook his head. "But it's like all that stuff doesn't matter here," he told her.

"I know," she smiled. "It's easy to hide here. That's what I've been doing. But we both can't stick around here with our heads in the sand. One of us needs to face reality."

"Not it!" Josh called.

"Too late," Donna laughed. "I called that before you got up this morning," Donna giggled.

"Damn," he shook his head. "You're tough."

"I know," she smiled. "I'm glad you came though," she smiled.

"Me too," he nodded.

"Come on," she said, jogging ahead of him. "Let's let Olivia show you all her toys. Her donkey collection is growing by leaps and bounds!"

"We're right behind you," Josh laughed as he chased after Donna with a giggling Olivia in his arms.

---- Hours later ----

"Loni's coming over with Jakob to watch Olivia," Donna told Josh as he finished packing his bags in her car and Loni pulled up.

"She's not coming with us to the airport?" he asked.

"No," Donna smiled. "You said your goodbyes to her before she took her nap. Go on and give her a kiss."

Josh went to kiss Olivia and Donna let Loni and Jakob inside. Josh smiled at them on his way out and got into the passenger seat in Donna's car. They drove to the airport in silence. Once they got there and Josh was all checked in, Donna sat wordlessly beside him at the terminal.

"When are you coming home?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she sighed.

"Okay," he nodded. "Fair enough. Will you come for Election Night?"

"Do you want me there?" she asked.

Josh nodded and Donna shrugged her shoulder in agreement.

"I thought about what you said," Josh said after several moments of nothing.

"About what?" she asked.

"You asked me what I wanted," he reminded her.

"Ah," she shook her head. "And?"

"My life back," he told her as they called his flight to board. "I need to be me again."

"Okay," she sighed.

"I think you can help me with that," he told her.

"Maybe I can," she smiled at him, trying to calm herself down by taking deep breaths.

"I'll call you when I get there," he told her as Donna followed him to the gate.

"Don't forget," she told him.

He reached for her hand and he brought the back of her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss on it. "I promise," he told her.

She smiled as he left to go to the plane. He just about disappeared down the tunnel when he came jogging back down to the door. "I almost forgot," he smiled at Donna's shocked expression.

"What?" she asked.

His answer was in the form of a kiss. Not a fierce kiss, but a sweet kiss that made her feel like she was floating through the clouds. He pulled away and rested his forehead on her and together they breathed in silence. "Tell Olivia I love her," he told her.

"Every day," she smiled and opened her eyes to find him staring at her. "Be careful," she told him.

"Always," he smirked and his dimples flashed.

"See ya," he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"See ya," she murmured as he pulled away and jogged toward the plane as his backpack bounced up and down on his shoulder.