Love's Labor Lost

This is the first story in the Drea universe and it was written in response to the ER episode that Bradley Whitford guest-starred on years ago by the same name. NBC reran the ER ep last March and it got me thinking "What if Josh were Mr. O'Brien - the character that Brad played on ER"... Well, this is my version of an answer.

xxxxx

"Everybody ready?" President Josiah Bartlet called to his fellow groomsmen.

"Yeah, let's get going before Josh spontaneously combusts," Sam Seaborn commented, fixing his tuxedo tie for the last time

"Oh, so funny. I've waited for almost nine months, I think I can wait five more minutes," Josh Lyman replied to his friend. "Are you guys ready yet?"

Laughing, Jed led the way to the door that would lead them to the altar.

Toby Ziegler, Sam, Leo McGarry and, eventually Josh, followed Jed through the door.

"Hey Josh," Jed whispered quietly to his young colleague, "you nervous?"

Josh met his eyes, "Yeah."

"She loves you."

Josh grinned, "Yeah."

"It'll be good."

Josh's grin widened, "yeah."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm here for you when it's not. Our job can be really hard and it'll put a lot of strain on your marriage, but we're all here for you."

"Thanks, sir. Thanks a lot." Josh nodded to his boss as Jed put his arm around Josh's shoulders.

xxxxx

Most of the ceremony was a complete blur to Josh. Once Felicity Stidham, his amazingly wonderful bride-to-be, began to walk down the aisle, all intelligent thoughts flew out of his head.

He had met her two years before, during Bartlet's third year in office. The whole senior staff was swamped with re-election business, so no one really minded when Bartlet told them that they were all going to the Kennedy Center one night to hear the Metropolitan Opera's performance of the Mozart Requiem. Little did any of them know that Josh would leave the building completely in love with the alto soloist.

After dropping the President's name quite a few times, Josh had forced his way back into the dressing room of Felicity O'Brien. Among the many things that he discovered was that O'Brien was only her stage name; she was really Felicity Stidham. He asked her out for coffee and they had spent nearly three hours that night talking about everything and nothing.

The man that walked into Josh's office the next morning was completely different than the one who had walked out the night before. Donna's first indication was that he was whistling.

"Hey, Josh," Donna had said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, my dear Donnatella?" He had responded.

"Everything good?"

"Donna," Josh paused at her desk, "have you ever spent time with someone you just met and feel as though you've known them your whole life? Because I did last night and let me tell you, it's amazing!"

"Joshua, are you drunk?"

"Drunk!" Josh laughed, "Absolutely not, Donna! This is simply my day of jubilee."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes. "You've got Ann Stark at 10 and senior staff in five."

"Thus ends my day of jubilee."

Donna smiled, but she knew that he was telling the truth. He only acted this giddy when he was drunk or when they had just done something right, like pass a bill or win an election.

"Well, it's about time," Ginger commented from behind her.

"What?"

"Josh Lyman finally got himself a woman."

Truer words had never been spoken. Josh had gotten himself a woman. But, if truth be told, the woman had really gotten him.

Josh smiled at the woman in his arms as the glided across the dance floor. "We did it."

Her green eyes danced at him, "Yeah."

"You going to sing for me every night now, right?"

"No."

He laughed, "Marriage is all about compromise."

"Well, if I sang for you all of the time, I wouldn't have a voice left and then, well.." Felicity trailed of, grinning impishly.

"But then you could stay home all day and raise babies."

"Who said anything about babies?"

"Ok, so not babies. Would you like to raise guinea pigs?"

Felicity Lyman laughed out loud, "Yes, my love. If you want me to raise guinea pigs, I will raise guinea pigs."

"I'd rather have you raise babies that look like you," he murmured, as his pressed his lips to hers.

"Are the babies that important?" She asked as the kiss broke.

He frowned slightly and weighed his words carefully. "I've always wanted kids, but no, they're not that important. Why?"

"It's just that, well, women in my family have traditionally had a hard time conceiving."

"Well," he pointed out, "one of them must have been successful if I have you."

"I'm just saying it might take a while," Felicity commented.

"I'm a patient man."

"No, you're not."

"As long as the waiting is with you, Liss, I'll wait forever."

Felicity's eyes welled with tears and she pulled her husband closer. "I love you."

Speaking the words into her hair, he responded, "I love you, too."

"Do you see them?" Abbey Bartlet said to her husband as they, too, glided across the dance floor of the White House Ballroom. "I've never seen Josh this happy."

Jed smiled, "Women do funny things to men, Abigail. I've looked like that for years."

Kissing him for the compliment, Abbey continued, "Did you ever think that he'd marry a musician?"

"After the ATVA guy's diagnosis? The thought never occurred to me," the President admitted.

"Life's funny like that, eh?"

"Yes, my dear, life is funny indeed."

xxxxx

BE-E-E-EP

Josh checked his pager. "Who could be paging me? It's one am and I'm on Air Force One en route to London."

0511

His anniversary

"What's Lis doing up now?" he mumbled softly, hoping not to wake the sleeping President across the aisle.

Yanking out his cell phone, he hastily pressed the speed dial button for his house.

"Lyman's."

"Lis, what's wrong?"

"Did I wake you up," he could almost see her brow puckering in concern.

"Felicity, it's one am."

"Sorry, I forgot about the time change. It's only 9 p.m. here."

"It's ok, so did I." Glancing at his watch and then to the clock on the wall, he continued, "The clock on the wall changes automatically."

"Seriously? I didn't know clocks could do that. But, then again, when you're the President, they get you cool gadgets like that. So –"

"Lis," Josh grinned and cut her off quietly, "what's up?" He quietly climbed out of his comfortable position and moved into the next room.

"You know how I didn't feel too well when you left yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I was talking to Mrs. Bartlet –"

"Who really wants you to call her Abbey –"

"- And she," Felicity continued, ignoring her husband's interruption, "told me that I should go get checked out and –" she paused.

"And-"

"I'm pregnant, Josh."

Josh almost dropped the phone from the sheer shock of her statement.

"Joshua, are you there?"

"Felicity, are you serious? That's amazing!"

Her musical laughter filled his ears, "As a heart attack, love. We're going to have a baby."

"But I thought Dr. Magyar decided that you can't, I mean, I thought we were going to have to adopt."

"That's what I thought, too."

He began pacing from the excitement that was building up inside of him. "Lis, this really isn't fair of you."

"To get pregnant?"

"No, to tell me when I'm on a plane with the President and I won't be home for another three days."

"I could catch the Concord."

"On our salaries?"

"I could drop your name."

"Which will get you nowhere."

"Fine, the President's then. I could always have Mrs. B- Abbey call and scare the hell out of the airline," Felicity pointed out.

Josh laughed and shook his head, "Don't you have your thing tonight?"

"You know, you're always telling me about your '760' and yet your vocabulary seems to consists solely of the word 'thing'."

"It's a good word," he pointed out, sheepishly.

She sighed, "Yes, my Joshua, my thing is tonight.

"What is it again?"

"Handel's Messiah at the National Cathedral."

"Aren't you doing that for the President?"

"Well, not single handedly or anything. There are about 125 other people involved."

"Lis –"

"Yeah, we're doing it for the President."

"But he's in London."

"It's just the dress rehearsal. The concert's on Sunday."

"Am I coming?"

"If you want to see your son."

"Oh, it's a son, now, is it."

"Women's intuition."

"You know, you never used to say that until you became friend's with CJ and Donna."

"The whole senior staff is front row, love."

"Are you using O'Brien?"

"My bio says Felicity Lyman."

Josh grinned and checked the clock on the wall, "As much as I could listen to your voice for the rest of the trip,"

"You've got a thing," Felicity interrupted.

"Yeah."

"Ok, I love you, Papa Lyman."

Josh's entire face broke out into a grin, "I love you too, Mama Lyman."

"Can you believe it?" She said quietly.

"Nine months." The serious of the issue at hand was finally working its way into Josh's brain.

"Call me when you have a chance," Felicity responded. She had long ago learned that 'call me when you land' was not always feasible.

"Always. Bye."

"Bye."

Snapping his phone shut, Josh made his way back to his seat, only to find the President up and staring right at him.

"Congratulations, Joshua," Jed said quietly.

"What, sir?" Josh wasn't sure he had heard the man correctly.

"I overheard your conversation with Felicity. Congratulations."

Josh grinned, "Thanks, sir."

"Do you remember what I told you the night of Ellie's thing?"

Josh racked his brain for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"About how there are worst excuses to do things than to do them for your daughter?"

"Yeah."

"Do you understand now?"

Josh thought for a minute, "Except that Lis says we're having a boy."

Jed snorted, "She's, what, three weeks along? Trust me, you want a girl."

"I always thought that men wanted boys," Josh was confused.

Jed shook his head wisely, "Not if they have any sense at all. If you have a girl, there are so many more opportunities that present themselves. Threatening boyfriends, cutting phone privileges, the works."

Josh smiled, remembering President Bartlet's past comments about constructing a dungeon for Zoey.

"You'll become so consumed by this amazing little creature that you've helped create, that you'll want to keep them locked up, so that no one could ever hurt them. Then, one day, some one will. And then, your heart will break. And you'll lash out at them, putting all sorts of restrictions on them, hoping and praying that they'll work. That your precious baby girl won't know the evils of this world." Jed stopped and sighed deeply, the kind of sigh known only to fathers. "And then, one day, you'll wake up and you'll realize that you're walking her down the aisle and streams of that god-awful song, Butterfly Kisses, are streaming through your head and you begin to realize how true they are."

Jed looked over and Josh and put his hand on his shoulder, "Trust me, you want a girl."

"Ok, sir," Josh responded, not sounding too sure.

"Call your mother," Leo said from the doorway.

Josh spun in his seat, "She'll be in bed."

"She won't care."

"Yeah," Josh replied sheepishly, as he once again reached for his cell phone.

Ring

"Hi, Mom? It's me. Yeah, everything's great. Everything ok with you? Good. Listen, I know it's late, but I had to tell you, Felicity and I are going to have a baby."

Jed and Leo laughed as Josh yanked the phone away from his ear suddenly, "Mom! Yeah, I'm sure. Listen, I'm on a plane, so call Lis and she'll fill you in, bye." Josh snapped the phone shut with authority.

"What was that all about?" Leo asked.

"She started screaming and praying at the same time, in Yiddish," Josh made a face.

Jed laughed, "Don't mess with the grandparents."

As the three men made their way to the meeting room on board, Leo patted Josh on the shoulder, "Congratulations, Josh. Ya done good."