A/N: Thank you everybody for being patient with me. Thanks again to everyone who has read/reviewed/commented. Thank you to Holly for all the many suggestions that I took her up on in this chapter. The 'red flag' and all of the Biblical suggestions all came from you. Hope everyone enjoys.

And just to make things annoyingly clear, GO JOHN KERRY!!!!! (And yes, Nicole, Obama rocks!)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dawn tiptoed inside early Sunday morning. Since the sun had only barely begun to rise over Washington, she felt the need to try her hardest not to disturb her roommate.

Running a tired hand through her hair, she made her way over to the refrigerator to find something to eat. Satisfied with the pizza box she discovered, she grabbed a cold slice and took a couple ravished bites. Then she made way toward her room, stopping briefly to glance inside Donna's.

But the bed was empty. And made.

At six in the morning.

On a Sunday.

Due to recent events, Dawn refused to take the situation lightly. She immediately ran to the phone and dialed the number for the White House office. When no answer came, she hung up and dialed Donna's cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello! Donna!"

"Dawnie! Is everything okay?"

"Fine. I just got home. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm fine. Actually you must have just missed me. I decided to get up and go for a morning jog. I had planned on doing that then eating breakfast here. But I'll come back home."

"No," Dawn reassured. "Do that. I am just going to call Sam and then go to bed."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

After that she dialed her boyfriend's number. A sleepy Sam answered the phone.

"Hi," Dawn said shyly as she twisted the cord in her hand. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm home."

"I'm on my way over."

"Sam—" But he had already hung up.

She giggled as she put the phone on the hook and made her way to her bedroom. From there she grabbed clothes and headed to the shower. Adjusted the water, she had just begun to undress when the phone rang. Figuring that it was Sam asking about breakfast she dashed out half dressed.

"Bacon and eggs, thank you."

A pause. "Dawn?"

Another pause. "Josh?"

"I thought you were in New York."

"I was." Immediately thinking of work, she responded, "Is everything all right? Do you need Donna to get to the office?"

"No. No. I was…I was just calling to see if she wanted to have breakfast. We hadn't really talked since Friday and I was just wanting to talk to her now that we both…you know."

"Oh, yeah." She had absolutely no clue. "She actually isn't here. She went out for a jog and breakfast at the park."

"Great. Thanks."

With a shrug she put the dead receiver back on the cradle and made her way back to the running water.


Donna was relishing her early morning outing. After getting off the phone, she had traveled the rest of the way to the park and then settled herself up for a long jog.

She was pleased that it took her a good hour of paced walking and jogging before she decided that water must be found. Quickly spotting the fountain she had been eyeing all morning,she made her way there and then to a bench close by.

Contentness filled her. Things in her life seemed to be finally reaching a bit of clarity. Josh now knew about the baby and she could safely admit that her plan was really bad. She and Josh had "talked," but more importantly, she and Josh had finally made peace with one another. They were on the road to true friendship and companionship again.

That and her baby were the two greatest gifts she could ask for.

And then came the banana muffin. Right in her lap.

With a start, she looked up. "Josh?"

"Hey," he said,taking a sip of his coffee. When he read the confusion on her face, he explained. "I called your apartment to see if you wanted to get some breakfast. Dawn said that you were here."

She smiled and assumed the rest. He knew that she wasn't going to eat and then go for a run so he decided to bring breakfast to her. "Thank you," she said tearing into the carbohydrated delight.

He settled beside her and handed her a bottle of water, which she graciously accepted as well. "I was up most of last night thinking…all of yesterday to be exact."

"I was doing a lot of thinking,too."

"This is going to be quite a challenge."

She struggled to swallow her bite of muffin. With strained effort she succeeded. "Yeah," she choked out.

Still looking ahead, Josh added, "But I'm up for the fight."

She laid her head upon his shoulder. "So am I." With a sigh of relief she reiterated, "So am I."

They sat in content silence for several minutes and watched people bustle around them—some jogging, some going for morning walks, and others going out to play with their children an a guaranteed day off.

And all was well.


Dawn rushed to the pounding door in a towel, knowing that it was about to be kicked open. She answered to find a near-distraught Sam before her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked as he pulled her into his arms.

"Yes," she sighed as she returned the embrace. "Everything is fine."

He pulled away to look her in the eyes. "What was it? What happened?"

She smiled and took him by the hand as she led him into the room. "I had already decided that it was time for you to get the full story. But before I start I will tell you that I spent most of the time simply babysitting Zack and Kelly's little kids. I have to admit that I hadn't realized how much I had missed Rosie and William until I got up there and started playing with them."

"So…that's all you did."

"Pretty much. Sadly with all the chaos going on, I played hide-and-go-seek and watched The Princess Diaries."

"The Princess Diaries?" He smirked.

"Yes. I went from adoring the movie the first five times to hating it for times six through fifteen. But then when I watched it the last three I had to give a grudging respect to Disney. It was really cute."

He smiled warmly at his girlfriend. "So what happened?"


Josh had spent the past twenty-four hours worrying about the subject so he figured he was more than entitled to broach the topic.

"We have to decide who we want to tell now and who we want to wait on until after the baby is born."

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to…"

He stared at her in complete horror. "This is my kid, Donna. And I plan on having bragging rights."

"Sorry. Sorry. I just had wanted to make sure that we were on the same page when it came to what we were going to tell."

He cleared his throat and kept his gaze planted upon her face. "I am going to be a father. I am going to have a baby and I am going to have my name on its birth certificate. That kid is going to have my last name."

"Oh really?"

"Yes." And with a turn of his head he closed discussion.

After a minute she shrugged. "Okay."


Sam could do nothing but sit in numb disbelief as Dawn began to describe what had been going on the past few days. More than that, he was disturbed as she began to describe her family and her past.

"Hold on," Sam said shakily raising his hand. "Oh God. You meant…when you talked about demons, I thought you were speaking in metaphor. Oh my God."


A content silence continued through them. Both were enjoying the feel of the warm spring breeze and the sight of the people playing before them.

"I think we need to think about who we should tell and when," Donna pointed out knowing full well he had just made the same suggestion.

"We should probably go with soon on the timeline," he said gesturing toward her pooching stomach. "That's just my suggestion."

"Yeah," she nodded. "Who?" When she noticed that he wasn't responding, she cast his a brief glance a giggled.

He was staring straight ahead at two young boys playing catch in the grass. Neither one looked over the age of ten. His eyes were almost glazing over as a warm grin spread across his face.

"You're already planning the start of your own little minor league team there, aren't ya?"

He came back to reality with a shy smile. "I was just…well kinda." All Donna did in response was laugh so he decided to press on. "With Molly, Huck and the baby we have a good start. From there all we have to do is wait for Sam to start his herd of children. We can throw in a Young and then maybe CJ has a kid before all is said and done and I think that we are well on the way to having our own team."

"You are really something else," she chuckled.

"I know." He then turned to her. "Were you saying something before?"

"Maybe." She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I was saying that if we are planning on getting things out before the baby we need to decide who to tell."

"Yeah." He continued looking at the children. "We should probably make sure all is well with our parents. Have you talked to your mom?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I started, but I kept on getting unnerved."

"Well, after your mom we need to decide who is next on the schedule."

Josh looked at her. "Leo."

She smirked. "Been waiting for that one, haven't you?"

"I decided that first thing. First Leo and then the President. After that I figure that we should start telling the senior staff. Toby, CJ and then Charlie for good measure. Give everyone a chance to do some damage control before slipping it into the press. Hopefully we can do it all in a way that it really comes down as not a big deal."

"Deputy Chief of Staff makes love child with senior assistant. Yeah…that one will blow over real well."

"We'll see," he scolded.

She once again turned to face him. "That's really a good plan you know."

"Yeah?"

"The whole way that you plan on handling it. That's good."

"Thanks."

"Much better than my whole plan that after a few days of reflection I can openly admit to you was really deficient."

"To say the least," he snorted.

Donna waved her muffin wrapper in the air.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"This is my red flag." She waved the wrapper again for good measure. "To prevent things getting out of hand like before, I am imposing a flag rule. We wave flags of warning. But since there are no flags I am having to settle for the wrapper."

"What about me? I have no muffin wrapper."

"You can use your coffee cup."

"Fine." After a humorous pause he asked. "So we're going with my plan?"

"Unless we can think of anything better."

"Excellent." They went back to their musing over the children. Then Josh asked. "So what about baby names?"


"Are you okay?" Dawn asked when she was more than through telling Sam all that she felt he had a right to know.

"Uh huh," he nodded, though he was still trying to process what was real and what was a very strange dream.

"And before you ask again, no, nobody is going to eat you."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry to be so blasé about it, but can we move on? How was the ball?"

Sam snapped back from the strange universe he was dabbling in. "The ball?"

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"Well I mentioned ball and you squeaked."

He paused for a moment before trying his best to put on a diplomatic face. "Let's just say that things got very…dramatic on Friday night."

"Sam," she said curling up next to him. "What happened?"

"Well…there was a certain incident where Josh upset Donna once again. After that Josh then mentioned to me that he again thought that I was the father of the baby."

"And?"

"And I pulled Josh aside and explained that this couldn't be the case."

"Well, okay. That doesn't sound that bad, honey."

Sam nodded. "But in that explaining I also mention in explicit detail why that couldn't be the case."

"Because you've never been with Donna?"

"'Cause Josh is the father."

"Sam!" She whacked him on the shoulder.

"Sorry. But I assure you that it was appropriate."

"It better be because you just cost me fifty dollars."

"I'm sor—" He looked at her in disgust. "You took bets on whether I would tell?"

She looked away in embarrassment. "If it's any conciliation, I only took the bet because Donna predicted that you would be the first to tell."

"Glad to know that people have faith in me."

Dawn flinched at the pain in his face. "I'm really sorry. But what happened? How bad did it get and is Donna going to murder you when she gets home?"

"It's quite an interesting tale in itself."


"Let me say here and now that we will never take your mother's suggestions."

"Josh, you better have something to back up the insult of my mother. You always have to have substantial evidence to bash a woman's mother."

"One word: Donnatella."

She stopped mid-step to glare at him. "Thank you."

Josh smiled and shrugged as he picked up step down the sidewalk once again. "Though I love your name, I know that many hear it and think that your mother must have forgotten the name of the famous artist…or the Ninja Turtle."

"Har har." She gave another quick dirty look as she caught up. "Well, I have no qualms with your mother. She had very lovely names for her children."

"Thanks."

"Though I won't be using Joshua for a first name. Maybe a middle."

"Deal."

"But maybe we could use Jo—" Her eyes went wide as she processed her words. Of all people in the world, she knew how tender a subject his sister was. And she knew how hard it was for him to speak of her—especially at unexpected times.

"It's okay," he said gently taking her hand. He then softly whispered, "Thank you."

"For w—"

"For understanding. For…being you. And I like Joanie too." Sensing the emotion now, he tried to lighten things up. "Better than Donnatella. Or Leonarda."

"Shut up." Though grinning she decided that it merited enough for a playful smack. They then turned onto her street. "Do you have suggestions for baby names? We'll start with girls."

"Allison."

"Olivia."

"Betsy."

"As in Ross? No. Jordan."

"Maybe. Claudia."

"Maybe. Kira. Or Kyra. I like Kayln too."

"Didn't you just say the same name three times over? And no to all." He caught her look. "Stop pouting. Hannah."

"You like old-fashioned names."

"And you like new-age hippie ones."

"Olivia?"

"Shut up. Next?"

"Aubrey?"

"Aubrey…that's kinda nice. What else?"

"Rachel."

"Me and my traditionalist taste can go for that one too." He held the door open for her as they made way into her building.

"Good," she offered as she walked past. "I was quite panicked as you can tell."

"Where's that muffin wrapper when you need it?"


"So start at the beginning. What happened?"

Sam ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think back on how the events Friday had transpired. "Well…I saw Josh and Donna talking, which was quickly followed by Donna running out of the room."

"I see," Dawn said as she settled on the sofa for a good story. "My guess is after that you went and told off Josh."

A look of annoyance came to him. "Are you wanting to hear the thing or not?"

"Okay."

"So I went over to Josh and asked him if everything was all right. From there he began to again accuse me of sleeping with Donna. Now he accused me of bedding Donna, but not wanting to be with her because of my political career."

"That's ridiculous," she snapped. "It's plain to see that your political career would be way better with her than me, but look where we are." Sam cleared his throat. "Continue."

"So, I decided to do the diplomatic approach—being close friends to both parties—and led him off into the other room in order to discuss things to him in an orderly and non-antagonistic manner."

"Is this where you told him off?"

"Dawnie!"

"Sorry," she proclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"So after a moment of explaining that he was mistaken to no avail, decided that it would be the best approach to simply come forward and admit the truth. So, I said to him," he cleared his throat and deepened his voice. "'Joshua—'"

"You called him Joshua?"

"I am about to give up on the story telling." He stood up to face her in his new production of Josh and Sam Have a Fight.

"Fine. Go on."

"I said, 'Joshua, I must be honest with you. It has been a burden on my heart for some time, and now I must relinquish this truth or my spirit shall surely die.' To this Josh began muttering incoherently." His voice became very high pitched and squeaky to represent his male friend. "I don't understand you, Sam. I will never understand. I am a tremendous dumbass.'"

"Well if you were using that Old English language then I wouldn't get you either."

"That is not Old English." He sighed going back to his deeper voice. "Anyway, I profess, 'Joshua, God knows how painful it has been for me to keep this from you. He has known that everyday I have mourned that I have been chosen as a pawn between my two dearest friends. God knows how I daily battle the conscious that tells me what I believe is best for the child.'"

"You said all this in that booming tone?"

"Silence!"

"Yes Moses," she snickered.

Sam was now too enthralled in his little play to notice the door open. Then too occupied to see the two bodies standing directly behind him. "I said unto Joshua, 'Joshua, you are the father of Donna's baby.' And Josh said back, 'No! I can't I can't. I could never sleep with Donna. I am destined to go through life building up this outrageous sexual tension while never admitting my undying love for her.'"

"Did he really squeak like that?" Dawn couldn't resist as she noted the man in question behind her boyfriend.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe not quite as shrill. But it's Josh." He took a breath to remember his place. "Ah yes. I told him and he denied it."

"Three times?" Dawn asked.

"What?"

"Well I was just thinking that you sounded kinda…yeah. Go on."

"Well he denied it and I finally had to raise my voice to him. I said, 'Joshua! Look at yourself. Look at yourself and what you are doing to this poor child. Look at what you and Donna are doing to yourselves and the poor life you have created. You are living lives of petty selfishness. Shame! Shame be unto you both! At times such as these you should all be thinking of the child. The welfare of the child!'"

Josh couldn't take it anymore. It was either speak or let loose a burst of hysterical laughter. "Can I get an A-men, everybody?"

Sam whipped around to show his burning cheeks to the newest occupants of the room. "Uhhh…hi."

Donna was giggling as she spoke. "Amen, Brother Lyman. And a big round of applause to our guest speaker, Reverend Seaborn."

"Cute guys," he blushed.

"Oh," Josh added with a smirk. "You forgot to mention the part where we talked of building an Ark and filling it with two of every animal right before you took away my Technicolor dreamcoat."

Sam was now fumbling for words. "I just uh…was saying that…we talked and uh…"

"I'm not mad," Josh said coming over to give his friend a pat on the back. "Oh, how I've seen the light! Thank you, Reverend Seaborn for showing me the error of my ways!"

"Yeah…"

"We aren't mad," Donna reassured. "In fact, in some perverse way, we need to thank you. I think we are finally able to start putting our lives together."

"Good." Sam still embarrassed as ever, cast another glance to his best friend. He caught sight of the bruise on his face. "Sorry about that."

"Forget it," he grinned. "Just don't get to pissed when I walk up to you one day and whack you in the jaw."

"Okay."

Donna then spoke. "Since we all seem to be on the path of forgiveness, let us come together and go unto a place of dining. Where we shall congregate and spread the good word of—"

"Shut up," Sam snapped.

"Okay." They all laughed as they headed toward the door.

Dawn just couldn't resist as they made way toward Sam's car. "Did you tell Josh 'cause of your conscience or the burning bush upon the mountaintop?"