Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to get up - FF was not letting me log in for some reason. But alas, here is chapter 4. Thank you again for the all the great reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter and will review again! And of course, none of the characters belong to me – they are the property of NBC, John Wells, etc.\
Chapter 4 – Within a Morning Star
Another flight to another city, another fundraiser and another day. Congressman Santos had assumed a rather heavy campaign schedule for the final four weeks leading up to the election. This of course meant more traveling to and from all locations across the nation. Portland one day and Boston the next, a lavish fundraiser in NYC to a fundraiser on a cow farm in Oklahoma, these were all stops in the elaborate plan to try and win the Presidency. So far, their strategy and plans had been working effectively.
Everyone was upbeat and feeling good about what was happening around them. Everyone but one.
He always sat in the front cabin with the Santos's and some days others had joined them. Some flights he was loud, working outloud and arguing with either the Congressman or some other staffer. Other flights, more of them as of late, he sat in his chair, brooding and quiet the entire flight.
It was an evening flight, they had just finished up some work at the home office in Texas and were headed back to DC for a day full of activities around the capital city. A lot of the senior staff members had made the trip, more than normal. It was getting late and many of them had dozed off.
This was one of those flights that he was brooding and no one could figure out what had him so riled up. He was writing notes for the next couple of days and was showing his frustration in his demeanor.
It had been one week and four days since he had last been with her, and boy, was he trying not to let it show. However, the longer it was becoming the grumpier and unsettled he became.
The Congressman was sitting across from him, watching him and trying to figure out the mystery that lay underneath his shell. He finally had the nerve to ask him what was on his mind.
The Congressman stood up from his seat, stretching out from the work he had been divulged in for two hours. He made his way to an empty seat next to Josh, pushing aside a pile of work that had previously occupied the chair. The Congressman sat in the chair for at least a minute before his staffer realized he was even there.
"Congressman!" he shouted, startled by his boss moving into the chair next to his.
"Hey Josh, how goes it?"
"Fine, I'm just working on preparing some notes for the next couple of days activities…" he said, rubbing his forehead in frustration.
"That's not what I meant. Something's on your mind, you've been brooding, grunting all over your work the entire flight. Is there something going on I should know about?"
Josh paused, looking like a deer in the headlights. He looked away, unsure if he should explain to his boss that his campaign schedule was making him extremely lonely. "Well, it's complicated…"
"We do have some time here. We are on a plane and everyone else is pretty much asleep. So spill, you've been like this for days now and something must have happened."
Josh smiled at the man. At that exact moment, he had this image of her in his head. It wasn't a specific time or place, but the image he always had in his mind of her, complete beauty. He missed looking at her, being with her, and most importantly, talking to her. She was the one person he could tell everything to.
"Josh, are you there?" The Congressman said, tapping Josh on the shoulder.
"Yeah… I'm here," he said, coming out of his "Donna haze" and back into reality.
"So that definitely told me something's going on, so you better spill the beans."
"Well, sir, If I tell you, you have to promise, to you know, not kill me, fire me, or laugh at me."
"I can't assure the laugh at you part, but I'll try my best," the Congressman replied.
Josh rubbed his hands together, almost as a warm-up to the entire story he was about to spill to this man, his boss, his new partner in crime in the political world.
"So… you know Leo's Press Secretary?" he began.
"Chicken fighter? The blonde?"
"Yeah, her. Her name's Donna. Donna Moss. Uh… we used to work together at the White House."
"That's what Ronna said. So, what about her?"
"Well… the entire time we worked together we always had this flirty thing goin' on… and then, well, after the convention… well… we kissed," Josh explained, releasing a large sigh after he got it off his chest.
"Yeah Josh! So, go on! I want to hear all about it," Matt continued.
"I'm glad we're spending our time on important things, like discussing Donna and mine's relationship," Josh sarcastically replied.
"Seriously Josh, I don't get enough time to get to know you, and obviously this has been on your mind a lot recently."
"Alright… well, the truth is, all those years we worked together, we always had this thing between us. It was, I suppose, some sort of vibe, like that we were always meant to be together. Then she left to work with Russell and I realized how much I missed her. And since she's been, well, working for us, we've been seeing each other, in the romantic sense…" he rambled on.
The Congressman gave the classic, "Awwww…" response to his aide's little tale.
"I also can assure you that we have not let it interfere with the work we've been doing."
Matt chuckled a little, trying not to awake his sleeping wife. "Josh, you don't have to worry. I'm happy for you, now stop acting all grumpy. Aren't you going to get to see her soon?"
A large smile peered across Josh's face and he replied, "Yes, sir. I'm counting the minutes as we speak."
"You going to treat her like a princess?"
"I always do."
The Congressman stood up from his seat and nodded his head in agreement. It was a silent agreement among men – an agreement that what they were doing was right. Josh smiled inside and knew at that exact moment that he might just be the luckiest guy on the earth.
By the time they had arrived in Washington it was well past 3am. He was expecting to arrive home this late and wasn't expecting to see her tonight. Leo's staff had arrived back in DC the night prior and he was so jealous of her because of it.
He took a cab back to his apartment and noticed a light on in the window. This had him curious – had he forgotten to turn it off when he left last? Was someone in his apartment he wasn't aware of? He had a nervous feeling in his stomach and was almost afraid to open the door. He slowly and quietly opened the door and peered in. He took two steps to see a sleeping Donna lying peacefully on his couch.
He remembered that she had subleased her apartment during campaign season and had no where else to stay. Of course she still had the key to his apartment, he had never asked for it back and she never returned it. He placed his belongings on the floor by the door and walked over to her sleeping body.
He couldn't believe how lucky he really was. Here was this woman, this woman that had given so much of her mind, body, and soul to him everyday of her life for the past eight years. And now he was blessed to know that he had her beside him during the insanity his life was now becoming. He really didn't know what he was getting into when he hopped on a plane to Houston in December, planning on asking someone he hardly knew to run for President. Maybe it was because she had left him and he was searching for some way to make his life complete again. But until they reunited in August, his life was incomplete and now it's more complete than ever.
He turned on the light next to the couch and slightly touched her lifeless soul. She stirred and her eyes peered open barely, until she realized that he was in front of him, and then they peered wide open.
"Hey there sunshine," he told his sleeping beauty.
"Hi," she barely was able to emit.
"You want to actually sleep in the bed?" he asked her.
"Mmhmm," she muttered. She stood up from the couch and leaned on him while they walked the short distance to the bedroom. He made sure she was in bed and tucked right in.
He placed a polite kiss on her forehead and told her, "Good night my Donnatella."
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