W.W. –Thursday afternoon

"Toby, he's ready for you now." Charlie Young held open the door leading into the Oval Office.

"Thanks, Charlie. Good afternoon Mr. President."

The President didn't get up from his desk, but he waved Toby to a seat. "I take it you've seen this?" He held a thick briefing memo in his hand.

"Yes, Mr. President. Leo asked me to review the language, but I've also been looking into the paper itself."

"So you see the problem?"

"Yes, Mr. President. I take it you have a solution in mind?"

"I do. Or rather Leo does. He's working a few angles with Josh's staff now. Is she here yet?"

"Shortly, sir." Toby rubbed a thumb thoughtfully along his scalp over his right eye, regarding the President. "You know she doesn't actually work for Josh, sir."

"That had not escaped us, Toby." The President frowned at him. "Were you stashing this poor girl on your payroll all this time, just in case our dear friend Josh should ever pull his head out of his …"

The door opened. It was Charlie, and the President could see a very serious C.J. behind him, along with a representative from State and two other women.

"Are you ready for them now, Mr. President?" Charlie asked smoothly. At the President's quick nod, C.J. led the other three in.

"Good afternoon, Mr. President," C.J. said formally. Behind her was Ron Taliaferro from State, Donna Moss looking pale and rather tentative, and another woman who Toby had not met before.

"Take a seat everybody. This is going to take a few minutes." The President came out from behind his desk and shook Taliaferro's hand. "Nice to see you again, Ron. Leo McGarry's going to be here shortly, and will have some questions for you."

"Of course, Mr. President."

C.J. turned to indicate the other woman, a somewhat apple-cheeked and pleasantly smiling woman in her late fifties or early sixties, with a wind-burned nose that spoke of outdoor recreation and huge glasses that spoke just as loudly of too much time buried in books and in front of computer screens.

"Mr. President, Doctor Christensen, whom I'm told you spoke with previously?"

"Yes, excellent. Thanks for coming on such short notice, Doctor. Do sit down." The President turned and looked towards the door. "And you? Get over here, you."

Donna, who had hugged the wall and placed herself to make mental notes for Josh, wishing for a stack of index cards, looked at Charlie, then back at the President. "Me, sir?"

"Yes, we need to have a little talk, you and I, Miss Moss. But first, I would like you to answer a couple of questions for us about this." And with this, he held up a copy of the briefing memo she had written.

"Sir? I mean, I'm sorry, Mr. President, that was just a preliminary draft sir. I was planning on polishing it this weekend." She took a half step forward, but she wouldn't cross onto the area defined by the chairs and love seats where the President and his other guests were seated.

"First of all, you wrote this brief in response to the assignment Toby gave you this week?" The President was still looking directly at her. It was very disconcerting.

"Yes, Mr. President."

"You didn't have help from Josh or Toby's staff, or from Josh on your trip?"

"No, sir. If there are any mistakes, sir, it wasn't anyone's work but mine. I did have some of the other assistants pull research files for me, but I included an index and made sure they only gave me what I'd asked for." She looked at the others, briefly, and then looked back at the President, who was looking at her very seriously.

"Donna," Toby said, with his hangdog eyes regarding her from under his bushy eyebrows, "in the second section, you indicate the scope of your research, and then immediately follow with a summary that expands considerably on the research you quoted."

"Yes?"

"Speak up, Miss Moss," said the President.

"Yes, sir. Toby, I noted the sources, and I also included my summary of the whole issue from what I'd found. That's how Josh likes my research summaries. Or rather, that's how I like to prepare information for him. Is that a problem?"

C.J. sighed. "I imagine he does like summaries this way. It's a lot easier to do planning if research comes with this level of analysis."

"Miss Moss," said Ron Toliaferro, then he looked at the President, "If I may, sir?"

"Of course, Ron."

"Miss Moss," the young man began again, "you provided quite a bit of analysis of the interactions of NGOs and U.S. foreign relations policy. Is there a reason you did not look at the effects on domestic programs?"

"The conclusions for domestic policy were much less clear-cut than for foreign policy, Mr. Taliaferro. I suppose you could extend the idea but you'd have to take a lot more things into account, and I'm not sure how useful the conclusions would be then."

"You see that, Doctor?" The President grinned. "Specificity, definition of scope and applicability. What do you make of that?"

Doctor Christensen took her glasses off and absently wiped them on the hem of her jacket, with a lack of self-consciousness that said the gesture was a very familiar one.

"Exceptional. From her paper it's obvious she brings a great deal of perception to the work, and her bibliography shows several unconventional choices that all support her position clearly. Remarkable, considering her previous body of work."

"My previous…?" Donna was obviously confused but was also not about to let Josh or the President down.

"Okay, Charlie," the President gestured, and Charlie waved in the still photographer.

"Donna, will you step over here by me, please?" The President held out his hand, and Donna crossed to him.

W.W.

Donna wished she'd worn flats. With her heels on she was taller than the President. That was okay with Josh or Toby, but she felt like she should duck down a bit standing next to the President.

"Donna, let me introduce you to Doctor Chandra Christensen. She's the one for whom we asked you to put together that paper."

Donna reached out and shook her hand, and hoped she was saying something nice on autopilot. She had run out of nervous an hour ago on the plane and had moved on to scared. She worried the fright stink was rolling off her like bad cologne.

"Very impressive work, Miss Moss." Doctor Christensen held up the paper, and Donna could see her copy had notes it what might be Leo McGarry's spidery blue pen all along the margins. "Do you mind if I keep this copy?"

"Not at all, doctor, if it's allowed?" She looked at Toby and at C.J. who nodded firmly, grinning.

Toby was grinning too, which was really scary. "I'm keeping mine, Donna."

The President threw one arm around Donna and moved her to one side slightly, lining up for a photo. "I think the good doctor has something in trade for you, Donna." He smiled, his big campaign smile, his chili-cooking smile.

C.J. handed Doctor Christensen a folio, from which the doctor pulled a rolled up piece of paper, tied with a deep blue ribbon.

"Donnatella Moss, in consideration of your academic achievement, and credit for work with and for the current administration in your position of-" Christensen paused, and arched an eye at C.J. "Deputy, Deputy Chief of Staff?"

"That's right, Doctor Christensen," C.J. stated blandly.

"In my capacity as a representative of the executive board's undergraduate affairs committee, the University of Wisconsin at Madison is proud to award you this…"

She handed Donna the very stiff piece of paper, a tight tube of parchment that seemed oddly warm in Donna's hand.

"For satisfactorily completing your Bachelors of Science degree in Political Science. Congratulations."

There was a rush of voices, and a flash went off that blinded her, and just as well might have knocked her over if it wasn't for the President's arm around her.

After a round of pictures and another of explanations, Donna was finally convinced that she really had just become a college graduate. It nearly took an executive order for her to stop saying, "Really?" every few minutes, but she eventually reined it in.

After the last picture was taken, and Doctor Christensen had been led out, Leo McGarry stepped forward. He'd arrived during the previous hoopla and Donna just now realized he was speaking to her.

"Donna, we need to have a talk. Can you step into my office for a few minutes?"

"Of course." She looked to the President, who nodded solemnly. "Thank you again, Mr. President."

When they went in to Leo's office, he closed the door. He sat down, and he looked tired. Donna wondered if he was getting enough rest, and if not, where he might ever make up the difference. Impossible.

"Donna, I have to ask you a couple of questions, about you and your relationship Josh Lyman."

She had known for six years this conversation was coming, from the first day Josh had hung his campaign ID around her neck. It was still a shock.

"Yes, Mr. McGarry."

He frowned. "You've always managed to call me Leo before, Donna."

"Well, sir, you haven't wanted to ask me questions about my relationship with Josh Lyman, sir."

"I suppose not. Now, you don't have to answer anything, but I hope you'll trust me when I tell you that I have your interests in mind, as well as Josh's, and the administration's."

"If you say so, sir."

"I do say so, damn it, and so does the President." He grimaced. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. You know that Josh has been offered a position outside the administration?"

"I really can't say, sir." She wondered how he'd heard so fast.

He grinned. "You're a good girl, Donna." It was a tired smile, but warm. "I'm not fishing, I know, because Alan Parker called me this morning to see if there was any way I could make Josh consider his offer."

"Yes, Leo. Josh was offered a teaching job, at the University of Central Florida. He pretty much turned it down on the spot. He doesn't want to leave the President."

Leo looked at her, and then rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.

"There isn't an easy way for me to ask you this, and it's technically none of my business, but I need some information to help the President and me make a decision. Are you romantically involved with Josh Lyman?"

W.W.

Josh left the conference room and headed back to his suite. The meeting with Senator Lieber had been easy, the kind of thing he could do in his sleep. He had agreed to recommend an increase in the Amtrak subsidy to cover a non-binding study of extending Autotrain, to be included in the next omnibus budget bill. Lieber had agreed to back the transportation bill without amendment through his committee.

Josh was glad the meeting had been so straightforward. His mind was focused ten per cent on the Lieber meeting and ninety per cent on Donna and what might be going on at the White House. He'd called Leo and gotten a brush off. C.J. was in the briefing room, and he was afraid to call Leo without a plausible reason.

He got back to the suite, and called room service for a burnt cheeseburger and a Heineken. He wrote up his memo from the Lieber meeting and set it aside for faxing when he went back by the desk.

Mostly, he nursed his Heineken for two hours and stared at his phone, waiting for it to ring. He would have liked to drink more, but he planned on taking his own car to the airport to pick up Donna when she got back. Sensitive system jokes aside, he wasn't prepared to put Donna in a car with him at the wheel with anything over one beer under his belt.

At almost 7:30, his phone rang.

"Josh Lyman." He saw her number on the caller ID, but he was never sure if she was on hands-free or not. After an embarrassing banter slip during the North Carolina primary years ago, he always waited till he could tell she was alone.

"Josh, it's me." Her voice was tired, dry. It was the voice you have after a draining day when there aren't any emotions left to put into your voice. It hurt him and scared him, and he felt the scar on his chest itch for a moment.

"Are you okay? Can you talk?" He hoped his voice was soothing, supportive. He didn't want to nag, but he needed to know she was all right. Donna being all right had become supremely important to him in the last few days. Well, six years plus the last few days.

"I'm at the gate, and my plane gets there at 12:55 tonight. I have to go through Atlanta." She knew how much he hated doing that, and was sure she would hate it too. "I can take a shuttle to the hotel."

"Don't worry, I'll come get you."

"It's not too much trouble? How did the thing with Lieber go?" There was finally a hint of 'Donna' in her voice. He could tell she was thinking about him, and about his day, and not thinking about her own.

"Everything's fine here, well, except the obvious."

"Obvious what, Josh?"

"I missed you today. I don't want to do this, us being apart all day." He shrugged, and then realized he was shrugging to a telephone. "I'll come get you, and you can tell me about your day then, okay?"

"Okay. That sounds really good. Oh, they're calling my flight."

"Okay, see you soon. And Donna… Donnatella? You still there?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." There was a long silence. He wondered if she'd heard him, if she was upset. He wondered what had happened at the White House.

"You decide to tell me this now." It wasn't a question. She did that a lot.

"I was going to wait for a time when everything was perfect, you know, but I thought you really should hear me say it now." He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. "Sorry."

"No," she said and he thought she might be crying, "no, now was a good time. You too, Josh. I really have to go. I'll see you soon?"

"Not soon enough. Bye."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone, and looked around the hotel suite. He had a call to make, and he knew he should wait till he talked to Donna, but he wanted this out of the way before she got there. He dialed the phone.

"Margaret, it's Josh. Is Leo still in the office? No, I'll hold."