A/N: Everybody is so sweet. Thank you for the reviews. And a special thanks to those of you who review me regularly. I know who you are and I would mail you presents if only I knew your addresses.

Thanks to Holly…I would never post anything without you. And I probably would have done a lot worse in my first year of college.

Thank you again to everyone for your patience. I have been assured that the pace is not too slow, but I hope that none of you are getting bored with this yet. I assure you that this is nowhere near over yet…I think…and that there are a few more plot twists before its done. That being said, I now need to figure out what to do with my next chapter.

I hope you enjoy!!!

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as he walked through the door, he threw himself down on the sofa. Things had been so hectic lately and it really showed no signs of stopping.

Not that Josh was complaining…well, yes he was. He didn't have to deal with Amy anymore, but he realized that he missed a romantic relationship that would help distract him from other things. Mainly the office.

As of late he would get up and go to work, work, come home from work and do work, go to bed and think about work until he fell asleep where he would dream about work. Repeat daily.

With a sigh he turned on CSPAN. The vote was Thursday. He felt confident, but this was only Tuesday. A lot can go wrong in that length of time, as it had in the past. At the moment, he felt he had a lock on the vote, but all the time congressmen were coming up with riders and he knew that within the next couple of days that the amount would triple. He didn't mind-Hell, he expected it. He just wanted to make damn sure that come the time they reach the end he was the one holding the trophy.

But aside from work, he had other matters on his mind. He would admit that he found his mind trailing to the proverbial gutter more and more and figured that a good romp in the sack would ease a little tension. A small part of him wished that he had waited to break off with Amy for that reason alone.

That and she was making his life a living hell. Most of the bogus amendments being placed on the bill were due to her conniving efforts. Half were out of spite and the others out of her true beliefs. All Josh knew was that if he was still dating her, he would be happy on many levels.

Then there was another issue that was on his mind that he knew a woman could help him cure-Donna. He was worried about her. The past few days-more like weeks, he thought to himself-she had not been acting like Donnatella. She had been tired and moody, not to mention distant with him. The coffee sent off red flags, but he really didn't know what to do about it. When he questioned her doctor's visit, she made it clear that there was nothing for him to be concerned about. So he tried to do just that.

But it was hopeless. Ever since his mind trailed to her right after he broke up with Amy, he noticed that she kept making her way into his thoughts all the time. It was frightening. Donna was his secretary. And his friend. She was the person who knew him better than he knew himself. It was uncanny how she could practically read his thoughts or find items in his apartment over the phone.

There was no way he would mess that up by bringing romance into the picture. No way.


"Please," Dawn begged into the phone. "I wanna, I wanna."

"Geez, Dawnie. You're killing me here," Sam said with a grin as he laid back in his chair.

"I want to," she pouted again. "And if you're too busy then why can't Donna take me?"

"Can we wait until after the vote? Believe it or not, I have just a little more to do than press a button."

"Donna says that the night before the vote should be fun. But…if not then, how 'bout Thursday?"

"Right after the vote?"

"C'mon! If you guys win then you can be there celebrating and if you guys lose…then you can be there sulking."

"It's a good thing that this is one of those issues that I am agreeing with the White House on."

"I know," she said with an eye-roll. "You don't have to give me another speech about the merits of disaster relief. Trust me."

Sam winced. He didn't know how many times in the past few days he had used his girlfriend as a test dummy for particular statements. She was always sweet and understanding about it, but he finally realized that she was most likely annoyed with the sound of his voice. "Sorry."

She sighed. "No…that's not what I meant." A pause. "Well, that was kinda what I meant."

"Okay. You win. Thursday night I will take you on a White House tour. Win or lose."

"Yay!" she whooped as she jumped off her bed to do a victory dance. Dawn would be the first to admit that she was a dork. She was excited and looking forward to making a couple of her childhood friends bitterly jealous by getting not only a tour, but a behind the scenes look with one of Bartlet's senior staff members.

"You know hon, I'm not really a member of the administration anymore. I gave that up when I became the Representative for the California 47th."

"Psh," she replied with a flip of the hand. "They still think of you like that and so can I. Eat your heart out, Willow!"

"I have to say that this should be interesting."


"I'm so excited."

"Stop."

"And I just can't hide it."

"I mean it," Donna stated as she looked over a file.

"I know, I know, I know I want to. I want to."

The blonde women's eyes narrowed further. "You do remember that I work here, right?"

"Sorry." Dawn focused on her hands as she tried to contain her excitement for the bustle going on around her. "But you have to admit that this is really amazing for someone when hasn't ever been in here before."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Luckily we won tonight or Toby would kill you if he heard singing."

"Toby's the bald guy that I never met?"

"To say the least," CJ chuckled as she came up behind them. "It's nice to see you again, Dawn."

"Nice to see you too," she said with a grin.

"Here for the vote?"

"Actually a tour."

"Interesting timing." CJ cast a glance to Donna. "Will Josh give you enough time?"

The woman in question shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, we're waiting on Sam. Apparently Dawn wanted to be given the tour by him."

"But Sam--"

"She knows."

Dawn blushed. "I know that Sam isn't very good on the White House's history, but when we started talking about it, I realized that I wanted him to give it. Especially after the amazing stories he told me about working here."

"Who?" Josh said coming out from the unofficial 'victory room'.

"Sam," Donna answered.

"What amazing stories about him? I didn't know that there were any amazing stories about him." Donna in a need to protect the integrity of her friend, reached over and slapped his shoulder. "Hey!"

Donna didn't want Josh to get into the embarrassing Sam stories-numerous in quantity- that he might or might not had already told his girlfriend. "Just shut up, will ya?"

The small group gave her a look. Josh in particular didn't know why she was getting so testy. They had been friends forever and she seemed close to this new roommate. He really didn't see what a few little Sam anecdotes would hurt. But he could tell she meant business. "Sorry." He continued to rub his arm for several minutes before he finally took his gaze away from the moody little blonde under his immediate employment.

She shared his stare as well and could feel that there were a few sparks that lit up between them. When she turned her head away she was thankful that the rest of the room seemed not to pay it any mind.

So the timing was perfect; enter Sam Seaborn. "Hi," he stated awkwardly as he saw all eyes come on him.

"Hey," was the general response.

His first personal statement was directed to Josh. "Things went better than expected tonight."

"Haffley pulled seven over."

"Yes, but we pulled over the majority so it doesn't really matter in the end." He shrugged after the glare he was given in response. "So it is, but I would like a small moment to bask in our happiness."

Josh gave a cheeky smirk and a pat on the back. "Go bask. I have a couple calls to make."

"And I have a tour to give." He finally turned his eyes over to his girlfriend and friend. "Ladies, shall we?"

"Wondered how long it would take before you'd notice I was in the building," Dawn muttered as they walked off toward the Mural Room.

"Trust me. There was no way I could not notice."

Donna hid a smile as she gave an eye roll. "Let's see what Mr. Seaborn will tell us about the history of this building."

"In 1933 a heated indoor pool was created for President Roosevelt. Nixon turned the area into the White House pressroom during his first term in office."

"And Sam wanted to change it back," Donna snickered.

"What can I say? The Democrats had the right idea and the Republicans came and messed it all up."

Dawn was fascinated. "Anything else?"

"Well, in 1942 a cloakroom in the East Wing was converted into a movie theater."

"Have you ever been in it? And saw a movie?"

"Well, sure. The President has a movie night about once a month. I'm sure that you can get in with Donna or maybe even me if I get the chance to stop by."

Dawn was in utter awe.

The three of them approached a door. Sam was looking quite proud of himself. "This is the East Room." As he opened the door they all took a moment to appreciate the décor. "As you can see, the furnishings and ambiance are of French influence. James Hoban is the principle architect and he was particularly proud of this oval shaped room. If you look around you can see the eight original pieces that have remained throughout the time that this has bee a reception hall." He gestured at the room. "Including the bergerè and armchair."

Donna didn't know what to say. This man once told that the Roosevelt Room was named after Franklin as he stood under the six foot painting of Teddy. She was impressed. "What's a bergerè?"

"C'mon. we have more to see." That and Sam wasn't exactly sure.

"I thought you didn't know anything about the White House?" Dawn said as they walked back out to the hallway.

"President Roosevelt broadcasted his fireside chats from the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House during the Great Depression."

"Are we going there?"

"If we have time. Now I'm taking you over to the bullpens. After that, I'm going to show you the Mural Office and Oval Office."

"I-I can go into the Oval Office?"

"If the President isn't in there working still."

Both Sam and Donna laughed out loud as they noticed the younger woman begin to hyperventilate.

"Did you know that during World War One, Wilson kept a flock of sheep right out on the lawn? At its peak, there were eighteen. They saved money on lawn keeping costs and made good charitable donations off of the wool."

Sam continued to impress both women as he guided them through the bullpens and the Mural Room. As they came to the Oval Office, Charlie let them know that Bartlet would be away long enough for them to give Dawn a look around.

"This is amazing," Dawn cooed as she stood in the middle of the room.

"And did you know that the height of the room is eighteen and a half feet?"

"Okay…how the hell do you know all this?" Donna couldn't take it any longer.

Sam shrugged. "Nothing big. Just like I know that the White House acquired the first electric refrigerator in 1926."

"Sam!" The demand drew the young brunette woman's attention.

"What? Can't I know this stuff?"

"No," Donna answered simply.

"Electric vacuum cleaners were used for the first time on White House carpets in 1922."

Dawn was grinning. "You told me just last night that you didn't have clue about anything hear. You had to do something."

Sam blushed and looked down at the floor. He had to admit that he was a little proud that he had retained all this useless information. He had spent over and hour glancing down at the index cards he and Cathy made.

The blonde woman wasn't as amused. She really couldn't figure out how he was doing it and that annoyed her. "Sam…"

"I Googled." His voice was a whisper.

"You what?" Dawn asked.

He met her inquiring gaze. "I Googled for you." She giggled and he elaborated. "I ran a search of the White House and found quite the site by the White House Historical Association."

Now Donna could laugh. She just had to know the catch.

"So, I google over my girlfriend." Dawn blushed. "I will google over you anytime you want if it will make you happy."

Donna arched her brows and Dawn caught the gesture. "I know, I know exactly what you are thinking."

"Don't make out in the middle of the Oval Office," Donna retorted as she walked out of the room. She then headed back over to her desk to get all her stuff ready to go home.

"Hey," Josh said softly as he leaned up against his door.

"Hey." She turned around and gave him a soft smile. They both could sense that they were alone. "I'm…I'm just getting things ready to go home."

"Sam and Dawn seem close." It was idle chat, but he had missed not spending much time talking and especially bantering lately.

Donna nodded. "Yeah. Sam comes over at least twice a week now."

"Really?"

She now giggled. "The hardest part is trying to make him remember that he has actual work to do." Josh's look stemmed more laughter on her part. "What can I say, the boy is a romantic."

They spent a quiet moment looking at one another. Then once she turned to start collecting herself once more, he spoke once more with a gentle tenor. "And how are you, Donna?"

"Huh?" She spun to face him.

"How are you? You've been…off lately. I just want to make sure everything is okay."

"With me or with us?" With all her being she wished she hadn't said that.

He paused a moment. "Both, I guess."

The concern in his eyes was about to bring tears to her own. Josh Lyman wasn't a sentimental man therefore when he had his all too rare moments, she wasn't prepared. With a sigh she answered, "I'm fine." Then a small smile. "We're fine."

"Good." And he meant it. He felt inspired now to step out of the doorway.

A pain crept into her countenance and she tried her best to conceal it. "Josh. You're my best friend." She didn't try to decipher the small look of shock that bestowed him. "I just want you to always remember that."

He couldn't tell if she was reading the thought that he was just having about finally walking up to her and taking her into his arms, but he could tell that she was making things clear to him. They were coworkers. They were friends. They were best friends. They were nothing more. "You're mine too, Donna." His voice was barely a whisper.

Almost shaking Donna came over and hugged him.

If only they knew what the other was thinking at that exact moment.