Title: Yours
Rating: PG-13

A/N: Just a little J/D fluff. I was inspired by Lauren's request for
resolution to King Corn. This story is un-betaed, so I apologize in
advance for any mistakes.

Feedback: Only after I wrote and posted my first story ("None of your
business"), did I truly discover the sweetness of feedback. If you
haven't written anything yet, do so. Then you'll get your first
feedback, and you'll be addicted for life.

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. In fact, I hardly do them
justice, and I'm aware of that.

Josh stood by his hotel room door with a distinct feeling that he was being watched. He wondered if Donna had seen him coming when she got the envelope that was outside her door. Turning his head slightly, almost as if to try to hear something, he waited a couple of beats. 'What am I doing? She probably doesn't even know I'm out here'.

He missed her. After taking a shower, he lied on his bed and contemplated how ironic it was that they were within such proximity, and yet they remained so far apart. 'I wonder what she's doing right now.' Josh couldn't sleep. He was extremely tired, an knew he had to get up early the next morning, but the thought of Donna a few yards away kept his stomach churning and his eyes open.

"Ok, this is ridiculous; I gotta talk to her." He jumped from the bed and opened the door out of the hotel room, only to turn back and get his key card. It didn't matter that he was only wearing an undershirt and a pair of boxers. He was going to talk to her. He was going to sort things out.

Coming out of his room, the 3 steps to her door felt like miles. Before he could turn around in fear, he willed his hand to turn into a fist, and knocked lightly on the door. Silence. Could Donna be sleeping so heavily that she wouldn't hear him knocking?

"Donna, open up, it's me."

Silence.

"Donna, I swear to god, I'm going to stay here at your door until you open. I'll sleep out here, if I have to."

Exhausted, he turned with his back to the door, and sat down on the floor, resting against the door. To call her attention once more, he knocked his head lightly against the door three times. Josh was proud of himself for staying strong within his resolve to talk to her. The last time his head rested against the door, his eyes closed.

Donna woke up two minutes before her wake up call. She thought it was strange, since she had been so tired the night before.

Then she remembered who was in the room next across from hers. "Josh," she sighed. Getting up, she started about her morning routine. After brushing her teeth and making coffee, she remembered that she had requested a copy of the post to be delivered to her room in the early morning.

Absent mindedly, she opened the door to feel something heavy pushing it open. As she looked down at the invasion, her heart raced when she recognized the unconscious man at her feet.

"Josh, Josh, are you alright? Wake up, Josh!" Her nervousness showed by the way her hands were shaking when she touched his neck to find a pulse. So many thoughts were rushing through her head at that moment. 'Is he dead? But why would he die by my door? Oh, thank God he's not dead. Then he must be drunk! How dare he get drunk and make such a spectacle of himself in a hotel full of campaign personnel?'

"Josh, wake up now!" no answer.

Donna stood up, grabbed a white foam cup from the bathroom counter, filled it with cold water, and poured the water onto Josh's face.

"What, No, No no no no NO! What's going on? Donna? Why did you throw water on me? Oh, man…"

After glaring at him for two seconds, just to let him know that she is upset, Donna disappeared into the bathroom, and came back with a towel. He took it from her gratefully, drying his face while he groaned with discomfort.

"Josh, why did you get drunk last night?"

"Wha… No! I didn't drink! I was…"

"Actually, this isn't my business anymore, so I really have no interest in knowing what you were doing sleeping on my door. So if you'll just get up and go back to your room, we'll just go back to our routines and pretend this never happened."

"But Donna, I still want to talk to you."

"Still? When exactly did you try to talk to me before, Joshua?"

"Last night. Last night I couldn't sleep, so I came to your door and called for you. You never answered, so I just thought I'd sit there for a while and wait."

Donna felt butterflies in her stomach after hearing that last part. 'Damn It, I can't go back to feeling like this every time he does something sweet,' "I can't Josh, I just can't."

Josh stood up to face her, "you can't what? I hadn't asked you anything."

Donna decided it was better to end this sooner than to drag it any longer. Looking straight into his eyes, she took one long and deep sigh, "I can't go back to the way things were before, Josh. I know I learned a lot from you, and I generally enjoyed our time working together, but I can't be your faithful beck and call girl anymore. I need more Joshua, professionally and personally. I've needed more since the first time I realized I had feelings for you, and that was a long time ago. I spent the first 4 years fighting those feelings and the 4 years after that trying to hide them." Donna kept on talking, but at this point Josh's hearing became one strong buzz of emotions, making him unable to concentrate on what she was saying. 'She has feelings for me,' He reached for her hand and held it in his. Donna kept on talking, like she had rehearsed it many times, and she had to get it all out before he interrupted her again, or before she lost the courage she had just built up: "and when you came to Germany to see me I thought you had done it because you loved me, but then later I wasn't so sure, and we came back to DC and went back to acting just like we had before. Josh I don't know how you feel, but"

"I love you." Josh inhaled deeply with courage while tears came to Donna's eyes.

"You do?" Donna asked as if she could never believe it possible that Josh would actually love her.

"Donna, I know I'm kind of socially inept for these things, but I thought you of all people would be able to read me better than that!" Josh was smiling curiously at the idea that Donna was so off when it came to knowing his feelings for her.

Donna remained serious, looking back at him. Her hand in his, while she stood there awkwardly.

"My Donnatella, I've loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You smiled at me when I gave you my campaign card, and I knew then I was a goner."

"Why didn't you ever tell me anything?" She was still sad, although she didn't know whether to remain sad, or to embrace the fact that he was there, telling her what she had fantasized about hearing for so long.

"Because I was a jerk. I'm still a jerk. I was too afraid to scare you. I was your boss, and aside from knowing that approaching you in that way would be completely inappropriate, I also feared that you'd think I was some kind of pervert. Donna, I was so lost when you left me, but now that we're here, and we don't work together, you'd make me the happiest man in the world if you'd let me kiss you."

Donna smiled nervously and squeezed his hand once. "Josh, you don't have to ask."

Josh leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips. Their eyes met and he smiled. "I've wanted to do this for so long, Donna."

Donna could hardly breathe from nervous anticipation. "I know, me too."

Josh backed off, still smiling. "Stay right here, don't move. I'll be right back. Turning around he walked away from her, and out of her room, leaving the door open. Donna just stood there, shaking with nervousness and disappointment. 'He was going to kiss me! Why didn't he? God, this man is complicated!'

Deciding she couldn't wait any longer, Donna walked out to the hotel corridor, and then into Josh's room.

"Josh, I'm a woman in her prime, you know, you can't keep me waiting like this!" She couldn't see him, but she heard he was in the bathroom. Judging by the sounds he was making, she realized he was brushing his teeth. She was pleased with the idea that he wanted their first kiss to be perfect. She wanted it too.

Donna ran back to her room, looking for her cosmetic pouch. She looked at herself in the mirror, and realized she had dark circles under her eyes. She quickly applied some concealer on the dark areas, reaching next for her lipstick.

"What are you doing? You moved." Josh was staring at her amusedly from the bathroom door.

"I wanted to look pretty for this." She smiled genuinely as he approached her.

"You always look amazing Donna, you don't need all this crap." He put both his hands on her hips and touched his forehead to hers. She could smell the mint from his freshly brushed teeth, and that just made her want to kiss him even more than she wanted before.

"So are you going to stand there all day or were you planning on kissing me any time soon, because I'm a woman in her prime, Joshua, and I can't, hummm" He quickly captured her lips in his, not letting her finish the sentence.

All rational thought rushed from her mind as she tasted Joshua Lyman for the first time, after all the years of secretly lusting after him, and imagining a myriad scenarios in which such a kiss would happen. She could stay in his arms for ever, she thought. His arms were wrapped tightly around her upper body. Their kiss deepened until both had extensively explored each other's mouths and tongues. Donna broke the kiss, but continued to kiss every little spot on his jaw and cheek, leading up to his ear.

"Oh, Donna, what are you doing to me?" Josh moaned and panted when she took his earlobe into her lips.

"I love you, Joshua." She continued to explore his neck with her lips and tongue.

"I love you, Donnatella. So much, oh" Josh was losing control of his own body. He just wanted to push Donna onto the floor of her bathroom and make love to her. But something in his mind told him that would eventually be uncomfortable. He bent down slightly, scooped up Donna's legs, and carried her to the bed.

One hour later, Josh and Donna lay peacefully on the hotel bed, comfortably embraced in each other.

"Oh, I have to be at staff in 15 minutes." Donna complained.

"Take the day off?" Josh asked with a smirk.

"What about you? Don't you have to work?"

"I can delegate. Today is special, and we have cause to celebrate."

"I know, I should call."

They reluctantly let go of each other. Josh fished through his puddle of clothes on the floor until he found his cell phone. Donna found hers placed neatly on top of the bedside table. Donna called Will, and Josh called Ronna. Both were able to take that day off without problems, because of a light campaign schedule. It would be the last day off they'd have for a while. Getting back under the covers, Josh pulled Donna in a tight embrace, and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"So what happens now?" He asked her.

"We'll work for our respective campaigns, we'll play fair, and when one of them wins the primaries, I'll hire you to my campaign staff." Donna smiled as she said that last part.

"You mean, I'll hire you." He kissed her between words.

"Don't flatter yourself, Lyman." Neither were taking each other very seriously, although they knew they needed to set the terms now, if they wanted to make this work.

"What about us?"

"Us?" Donna responded with a hopeful smile. "I want there to be an 'us'. And I don't think we should keep it a secret. I think we should make it known that we are each other's and that no matter what happens in the race, we'll still be together."

"Sounds like you're getting territorial there, Donnatella." He laughs as he says this. He knows there is no other woman he'd rather be with, and if she wants to make their relationship public, this would be the best time to do so, since they are not working together.

"Put that in this pretty little head of yours: you're mine! You hear me, Joshua? And you'd better make it clear to the world."

"The world already knows I'm yours!" He laughs at the absurdity of it. The fact that all his close friends from the Bartlett Administration already knew he was hopelessly in love with Donna, even though he had never himself declared it.

She tackles him down with soft tickling, and he responds by rolling them onto the other side of the bed.

After a long passionate kiss, Josh feels completely loved. "God, Donna, look how much time we wasted. I should have told you I love you the moment I realized you had truly quit!"

"You should have. But since you didn't, I had to tell you first. You'd better remember that Joshua!"

"I love you." Josh looked deep into Donna's eyes, and then it became clear that not only was he hers, she was his as well. And he also knew that there was no way they could back paddle out of this. Josh and Donna together like this would become a force to be reckoned with. They would give each other strength and emotional support to go through the up and downs of the democratic campaigns, and the next administration.

"I love you too, Joshua, now come here." Donna pulled him down for another of the countless passionate kisses that would happen in their lives.