Chapter 10

When the orderlies came for Elizabeth at six, Josh and Donna had a plan. During her tests, they would shower and have breakfast, then check their e-mail and check in at the office. They could do all that and be back by 7:30 or 8:00, when Elizabeth was brought back to her room. Then, they would stay with her until Marjorie and Gary arrived around ten, and be ready to go directly to sleep, for the maximum rest time.

They headed upstairs and showered; Donna first, so she could dry her hair while Josh showered, and by 7:00, they were eating cereal and fruit in the cafeteria, where the hospital was equipped with wireless internet. Donna checked her e-mail while Josh called Matt Skinner about the Federal Highway Road Construction bill. It was being held up in committee, and Josh was sure Matt would know why.

"They want the states to individually hire crews."

"States can't decide where interstates run, they won't match up state to state," Josh said.

"Construction crews, not designers. They want to keep jobs state wide," Matt replied.

"Why?"

"Why send a crew from California to build a highway in Tennessee? Let them hire locally; it'll save on housing costs and create jobs in each state."

Josh thought for a minute and couldn't think of a reason not to give it to them. Damn republicans having good ideas. "And if we give them this, it'll get out of committee?"

"Not only that, they'll help push it."

"Fine. Have them draft it and e-mail it to me. I'm in Palm Beach, but I'll look over it and get it to Leo."

"Good." Matt paused, not sure if he should ask. "How's your mom?"

"The swelling's down, but she's still unconscious," Josh said a bit quieter.

"You doing ok?" They were friends, but not great friends, and Matt felt kind of funny asking.

"I'm alright."

"Ok, I'll talk to them. Tell Donna I said hi."

"I will." Josh started to hang up and then suddenly said, "Wait."

"What?"

"How'd you know Donna was here?" Josh asked curiously. Matt just laughed at him and hung up.

"What about me?" she asked, reading an e-mail.

"Oh, nothing," he said, staring at the phone. Drawing his attention back to her, he asked, "Any good e-mails?"

"Margaret has a blind date tonight," she answered absentmindedly.

"Anything, you know, work related?"

"Not really," she said, looking up. "Nothing you haven't already talked to Leo or Toby about."

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They got back to Elizabeth's room around 8:00, clean and fed, but both a little tired. Elizabeth was brought back a few minutes later, and Dr. Bomboy came in the room around 8:30am.

Josh stood up and shook her hand, and Donna followed. "Good morning, doctor."

"Mr. and Mrs. Lyman," the woman said with a smile. "The swelling's down from yesterday."

Josh took and exhaled a deep breath and put his hand on his mother's arm. "How about everything else?"

"Pulse and blood pressure are still good, the incisions from the surgery are good, the EEG showed brain function. Her heart rate's a little weak, we're monitoring it."

Donna and Josh both smiled. Good news two days in a row, now if she'd just wake-up. "Thank you, doctor," Josh said.

"I didn't do much," she said, smiling. "The new medication seems to be working better, hopefully that will continue. I'll be back to check on her this afternoon," she said, and left the room.

"Hear that, Mom," said Josh. "You're getting better. It's time to wake-up and argue with me." He looked at Donna, who had a smile on her face, and pulled her into a hug. After a minute, they broke apart and settled down into their usual places next to the bed.

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Gary and Marjorie Driscoll arrived at ten o'clock on the nose with a tin of Rice Krispie treats and a book of crosswords. Without so much as a hello, Marjorie walked over to Donna and gave her a large hug. After brief hellos and an order to sleep for at least six hours, Josh and Donna went upstairs to their room.

Josh called Leo to check in when they got to the room, and when he hung up, Donna was asleep on top of the bed, fully clothed, including shoes. "Donna," he whispered, rubbing her back lightly as she lay there. "Come on Donna, let's get into bed." She moaned and rolled onto her side, but didn't wake-up. Josh shook his head and smiled, then carefully took off her sandals and tossed them to the corner of the room. She still didn't wake-up, so he pulled back the covers on one side of the bed and tried again. "Donnatella, roll over and get under the covers, you're gonna get cold."

"Kay," she said in a childlike voice, and rolled towards Josh. He pulled the covers up over her and walked to the other side of the bed and got in next to her. They were on their sides, facing each other, and Josh lay still, watching her sleep.

"Donna," he whispered, a few minutes later. She stirred a bit, but didn't answer. "Donna," he whispered again. "I look at you like that all the time, I'm just usually better at hiding it."

"Mmm…" she mumbled and cuddled in closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

A minute later her eyes snapped open and she pulled away from him a little bit, so she could look at his face. He was still holding her, and he whispered, "I do you know. I can't help it, you're so amazing."

She stared at him, wondering if she was asleep. But when his hand came up to her face and his thumb started caressing her cheekbone, she was pretty sure she'd never had a dream this nice. Still, part of her was afraid. "Josh," she whispered.

Reading her eyes, he softly said to her, "I know I shouldn't have listened and I know my timing sucks. My mother's unconscious one floor down and she wants this nearly as badly as we do, and we've barely slept in four days and we're in a bed together and everyone we meet seems to think we're married, and God knows I need you now more than ever, but please don't be afraid of this, Donna. This isn't about those things, and deep down you know it."

She bit her lower lip and looked at him. "Are you sure? Because I know this is where we're going, but we don't have to get there today, not if you're not ready."

He smiled at her. "Not ready? It's never been about not being ready. It's been about a lot of things, but never not being ready to love you."

Her eyes got big and she smiled back at him. "You love me?"

"Donna," he said, brushing his thumb over her lips. "You have to know that. Please tell me you know that."

She searched his eyes for what felt like an eternity, and then turned her head slightly and kissed his palm. "I do."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Do you know that I love you?"

He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them and looked at her. "Yeah, but hearing you say it… it's like nothing I've ever heard before." With his hand still on her face, he gently pulled her towards him and touched his lips to hers. He could feel her lips trembling beneath his, and pulled back. She opened her eyes and looked at him, questioning his actions. "Are you ok?" he asked. She smiled and a tear slipped from her eyes. Without speaking, she leaned in and kissed him, this time letting it linger.

After several seconds, Josh opened his mouth and let his tongue brush against her bottom lip. She sighed and opened her mouth for him. As they each began exploring the other's mouth, Josh's hand moved from her cheek to her neck, and then down her shoulder and to her waist. When he reached the hem of her shirt, he moved his hand underneath, but stayed on her waist, his thumb making soft deliberate circles on her skin. Her arm draped around his neck, her fingers playing with the hair that curled at his collar line, and their legs slowly became tangled.

Forty-five minutes later, they were both content to simply be in each other's arms. Josh was lying on top of Donna, but both were still fully clothed. His legs straddled one of hers, and he leaned on his right leg, trying to keep from putting all his weight on her. His lips were fused to her neck, which he thought could easily be permanent, and he was exploring every nuance of it, the neck he had so often stared at while he should have been working. She smelled like some sort of fruit he couldn't identify and tasted like a mixture of soap and… something new, Donnaness, he guessed. Her hair was spread out on the pillow like a fan, and he had one hand in it and the other holding himself up a little bit. He had become oddly fascinated with the extremely small strip of skin covered by her spaghetti strap tank top and nudged it over with his nose so he could lightly suck on her there. She made little sounds when he licked or chewed on certain areas, especially the spot directly behind her ear or the dip in her collarbone. He found himself going back to those places over and over trying to memorize the catch in her breath and the sigh from the back of her throat.

Donna, in the meantime, was having her own fun. Her hands were under his shirt on his back, her fingernails lightly drawing patterns in the muscles there. Every time he shifted, a different muscle would flex, and she instinctively went to that spot with her hands. She occasionally lifted her leg that was sandwiched between his, which made him moan in a way she had never heard before.

She had one of his earlobes between her teeth when she attempted to stifle a yawn. He pulled back and looked at her amusingly. "Am I boring you already?"

She lay back on the pillow and smiled, contentedly. "I don't think anyone could call this boring," she said, bringing one hand up to his face and tracing his jaw line.

"You're tired."

She took a deep breath. "Sadly, yes."

He smiled at her. "You should sleep."

"But, I can work quite well off little sleep, I have a very demanding job," she said, leaning up and kissing him full on the mouth. He opened his mouth and let her snake her tongue inside.

They continued kissing for a minute and finally, he pulled away. "Donna," he said, kissing her nose and then her eyelid and finally her forehead, "We have all the time in the world. You need to sleep."

"I know," she pouted. "But, I like doing this better."

He smiled and rolled off of her and onto his back, keeping his arms around her and pulling her half on top of him. "Me too, but we should sleep while we can."

She settled into him, with her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, and he put his hand over hers and brought it to his mouth and kissed her palm. "I love you," she whispered.

"Promise to tell me that everyday for the rest of my life," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"I promise," she mumbled and fell asleep.

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Author's Notes: From here on out, there are two endings. I'm going to post one complete ending before starting to post the other ending. The first ending has two chapters, the other has five.