Title: Three More
Author: pleaseexplain.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: See part one. They still aren't mine!
Feedback: makes me smile. morning she had been offered a job in the Vice
President's office. Press Secretary.
"I'm supposed to be getting ready for the balls this
evening. But I seem to have a... problem." He paused
for a moment to gauge her reaction. "Two problems, as
a matter of fact."
"I need...Donna, I don't have a date for this evening,
and the Congressman--President Santos..."
"You know, my wife and I are supposed to be the second
couple on the dance floor at the White House ball."
"Donnatella, will you marry me?"
"Yes."
Three Questions (2?)
Far too soon after her heart had finally stopped
pounding against her chest, Donna felt Josh pulling
out of their hug. It occurred to her that there were
other things happening in the world during their
embrace, but she thought about it for a moment, and
for once in her life she didn't care. But now Josh was
pulling away, and for a moment she could feel herself
worrying again, about loosing him. About never being
able to hear his voice, see his grin. Never being able
to touch him. And then a new though occurred to her.
And her heart leapt and her smile grew so wide it hurt
her cheeks. Still holding Josh's hand, she realized
that now she had a few questions.
"Josh?" He turned to face her, but his eyes were
avoiding her face. The tears shining in those eyes
were what finally made Donna realize that this was
real, not some kind of fantasy, an adrenaline induced
dream. "Josh?"
"Hm?" After a few seconds he did look at her. Their
eyes met and his smile mirrored hers, but with the
addition of his dimples. "Yes?" He drawled, before
beginning to lean in, ever so gently, to kiss his
fiancee. But she wouldn't let him.
"Josh." Her tone was more firm now, more controlling,
but it hadn't lost its good-natured happiness.
"Yes, Donnatella?" He knew she was just playing with
him now, that this was to be part of his life every
day, forever. The tiny frown that had overcome his
features when she had turned away from his kiss was
firmly back in place, simply because he had decided to
play along with her.
"It's my turn."
"What?"
"It's my turn." Seeing the still clueless expression
on the face of the man whose hand she was holding, she
decided to be kind to him and elaborate. "Now I have
some questions." And there it was. Josh's smile was
firmly back in place. He sat back down on one of the
folding chairs and motioned with his free hand for her
to do the same.
"Shoot."
Donna took her place in the chair next to him,
blinked her eyes, and stood up again, all without
letting go of his hand. She could still feel the faint
bitter taste that the adrenaline was leaving in her
mouth. "First: what was in the other box?"
Josh grinned, and she was reminded of his 'I'm da
man' expression. She was silent for a moment as she
remembered a time when he shared that expression with
his best friend, with his boss, and later with the
President of the United States. Donna loved his 'I'm
da man' expression. After a moment Josh replied to her
query. "I can't tell you." She could tell from his
eyes that he was teasing. This was Josh, her Josh. She
knew when he was teasing her and when he was being
serious. But for the first time in the fifteen minutes
or so since she had accepted his offer, Donna realized
what a bad idea it might be to marry him. What if he
kept things from her for real? There was a time in her
past when she would have married him on the spot, no
questions asked. But she had grown since then. She had
her own career now, away from him. And he had been
right, it was important. She needed to tell herself to
calm down several times before she finally did regain
enough self control to be able to ask him to explain
himself.
"Josh?" She was sure he could hear the tremor in her
voice. Donna went on, this time clearly and calmly.
"You're not gonna do that after..." She broke off when
her voice started to falter, finally letting go of his
hand and pacing slowly in front of him.
Clearly Josh could not stand the loss of contact with
her, as he immediately jumped out of his seat and
grabbed her hand again, once again allowing their
fingers to intertwine, and beginning to rub circles on
the back of her hand with his thumb. She looked at him
and registered the shock that was suddenly masking his
features. Donna looked away, studying the footprints
left in the ground from people who had come to watch
that morning's ceremony.
"Donna, I would never--"
"Yeah," She interrupted, embarrassed that she had
even had to ask. "Yeah, sorry, I... I know." She
returned her gaze to his face, but still avoided
looking into his warm, brown eyes. "I'm sorry, its
just..."
"I hated having to keep things from you, you know
that, right?" She smiled a little and nodded her head.
"I hated having to keep secrets from you. And I won't,
never again, okay? I promise." Donna was crying again,
but she hardly even noticed. Tears were falling from
her eyes but not clouding her vision, and it wasn't
until Josh brought his free hand up to wipe them off
her cheeks that she realized that they were there at
all. Josh smiled, and playfully continued. "I'm not
going to tell you what's in the box, though, cause its
a good secret, and it'll make you happy. And Donna? I
really want to spend the rest of my life making you
happy." Donna regained control of herself and put on a
little frown. She knew how much Josh hated to see her
unhappy, and she wanted to know what was in that box.
"You'll find out soon, I swear!" Josh defended, partly
to make her smile again and partly to keep his first
promise.
Donna smiled. She knew he was trying to keep his
secret and make her happy at the same time, and she
wasn't making it easier for him. "Okay."
"Really, its not..."
"Josh, its okay, I believe you. Its a surprise?"
"Yes."
"Good. I like surprises."
"Good." It occurred to Donna how much she had missed
conversations like this with him. Conversations in
which they could talk, really talk. And banter. She
had never missed anything so much in her life as she
had missed being able to banter with him as they
walked through the busy corridors of the West Wing.
"That it? No more questions?"
"No, there are more. You got to ask three, now I get
to ask three."
"You've asked more than that, though. You asked me
what was in the box, if I was going to keep secrets
from you after we were, you know, you asked if it was
a surprise..."
"Yeah, but those questions all fall under the larger
umbrella of the 'what's in the box' question, so I
still have two more."
"Oh, is that so, Donnatella?"
"Yes, that is so, Joshua."
"Ahkay." The smile that broke out over Donna's face
during this conversation was, to say the least,
radiant. That was it. That was what she had been
missing. And if there was anything, anything at all
that she could do to insure that she could have a
conversation like that every day until the end of
time, she would do it.
"Josh, why is Justice Lang here? The ceremony ended
almost," She paused, looking down at her wrist to see
the time. Then, remembering her watch sitting on her
night stand, she lifted their joined hands and looked
at Josh's watch. "Josh, your watch sucks. The ceremony
ended probably close to an hour ago. What's she still
doing here?"
Josh paused. "She's here because I asked her to stick
around for awhile. She's doing me a favor, and I
really should get up there and, you know, have her
actually do the favor and not just wait around for me
all day. Sooo," He dragged out the word playfully, and
she smiled, "Question three?"
"Josh! You didn't answer the last question. What's
the favor she is going to do for you?"
Josh smiled again at her persistence. "You'll find
that out when you find out what's in the other box.
Donna, really, she's up there waiting for us, it would
probably be a good idea to hurry up a little. So
what's question three?"
"Jo-sh!" Donna whined, affectionately.
Josh was now beginning to get anxious about making
Chief Justice Lang wait for him. "Donna, what was
question three?"
"Ah, yes. question three." She paused a moment and
took a breath. "When?"
"When what?"
Donna extracted her hand from his, held up her left
ring finger and looked at it pointedly. "My finger is
getting a little cold here, with nothing covering it."
Before Josh had started holding her hand, Donna had
regretted not having worn gloves to the January
ceremony, but now she was glad she hadn't.
"Well, it wouldn't have been cold if you hadn't taken
it away from my warm one, would it?"
"Josh!" It wasn't until this point that Josh
remembered the engagement ring in his pocket, and
brought the box back out, this time again checking for
the ring before he took it out and gently, carefully
slipping it onto her finger.
"So what was your question again?"
"When?" After asking this, Donna proceeded to stare
at him with curiosity in her eyes. It took several
long seconds before it dawned on Josh what, exactly,
she was talking about. And Donna once again witnessed
the 'I'm da man' grin.
"As soon as is humanly possible."
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