Disclaimer: Despite all my efforts, they continue to not be mine.

Author's Notes: First, allow me to get on my knees and beg forgiveness for taking so long to write this chapter. I had various "life" stuff to deal with, even though I'd much rather have been doing this. Allow me also to beg forgiveness for making you wait six hundred years for a chapter that is so very, very short. I contemplated not putting it in at all, but I thought there were some loose ends that needed tying up. So, enjoy the cheese, and stay tuned for some more important notes at the end of the story.

When I come into work on Monday morning, Donna is at her desk, tapping a pen against her knee and listening intently to someone on the other end of the phone. For reasons too obvious to mention, I gave her the weekend off, and she looks wonderful. She smiles when she sees me and quickly wraps up her conversation.

"Good morning Donna," I say.

She grins at the unforced cheerfulness in my greeting and inclines her head, "Joshua."

Donna gets to her feet using the desk as leverage, and withdraws her crutches from the space between her desk and file cabinet. I raise one eyebrow, "You using those things again?"

"I am, yes." Donna replies, with a timid bob of her head, "I, uh, went off of them sooner than I should have."

I nod, "I thought so."

We stare at each other for a minute before I head into my office. I hang up my coat and dump my backpack on the floor beside the desk, then head back out into the bullpen. I almost collide with Donna, who had apparently started to follow me. She squeaks in surprise and comes alarmingly close to tripping over her crutches before I catch her elbow to steady her.

"Sorry. I'm a little rusty." Donna says trying to regain her composure, "Um… right, that was Governor Wilde on the phone. He wants to meet you for lunch. I told him that was…."

"Can't." I interrupt.

Donna frowns, "I'm sorry?"

"I can't have lunch with him."

"Oka-a-ay…why?"

I shrug as though this should be perfectly obvious and say "Because I'm having lunch with someone else today."

Arching one eyebrow, Donna looks mildly annoyed, "You're supposed to tell me these things. Now I have to phone and cancel." She shakes her head, and looks up at me, curiosity replacing irritation "Who are you having lunch with?"

"My assistant."

"Your..." Donna pauses and looks thoroughly bemused, "Oh."

I smirk at the flustered expression that's come over her face, "I figured it's the least I can do."

Donna grins, "Got that right buster."

"But, really, if I were to attempt to repay you in lunch dates, I'd be taking you out for the next forty years." I say, returning the grin.

"Only forty, huh?"

"With maybe an all expenses paid trip to Maui thrown in."

"Yes."

"Possibly a new car and a ski lodge in the Alps…"

"Okay Josh," Donna says, waving a hand to stop me. She laughs and I realize that it's been a long time since I heard that sound, "I get the idea."

I smile at her and shake my head, "No you don't." Donna tilts her head to one side, questioning me. "You have no idea. I could do a million things and you'd never understand how grateful I am to have you. So I figured we'd just start with lunch."

Donna gives a tiny nod and smile back at me; "Lunch sounds great." Still smiling, she turns to head back to her desk.

"Hey Don?" I call before she gets too far. She turns and I hesitate a moment until she raises both eyebrows at me expectantly. "You, uh… Back at your apartment, you said you couldn't think of anyone stronger than me."

Donna's face colours slightly and she nods, "I, yeah… yeah, I said that."

I nod and hold her gaze with mine, "I can think of someone."

For a moment, she looks puzzled, then realization dawn and she blinks in surprise. Donna opens her mouth to say something but I shake my head, "Better get moving Gimpy, you're impeding traffic."

Donna laughs, rolls her eyes and turns away from me. I watch her for a minute or two, smiling to myself, before ducking back into my office, closing the door, and getting ready to face the day.

END

Notes Cont'd: I just want to thank each and every person who read and reviewed this, or even read but didn't review. You have no idea how much it means to me, this being my very first "published" - so to speak - piece of fan fiction. All the lovely comments made my day. Special thanks to multiple reviewers – you know who you are.

Oh yeah, and just...uh... pretend that everything that's happened so farthis season either happened after the events of this fic, or didn't happen at all because...well... If you ask me, they should have done it my way.

Ciao!