Author's Notes: Thanks to all who have read this. It has been a joy to write. This will be the ending chapter. Expect to see another story from me in the future, I already have a couple ideas in the works. Thanks for reading and please review! This chapter is very much longer than the others and was my favorite to write. This is set approx. 4 weeks after the previous chapter. So in the time scale, it's approx. 2 weeks after the election. I decided to switch things up a bit – half of it is in Donna's POV and half of it is in Josh's POV. And as always, The West Wing, etc. belongs to NBC et all… I just use them for fun!
Chapter 7 – When You've Only Got 100 Years To Live
+Donna POV+
You know, I've always enjoyed long airplane rides. I remember once with President Bartlet traveling to Russia and I got lucky and was allowed to go with Josh. Part of the ride I spent just sitting by a window, watching the world below go by. You just have this opportunity to sit and enjoy what you have. And right now, I can't be happier with what I have.
Here I am, sitting on a plane, watching the nightlife soar below us as we cross the continental United States. Where am I going, you might ask? I'm off to paradise, one of my favorite states in the union, Hawaii. Why am I going there, you also might ask? Well, that's the best part. Josh is taking me to Hawaii for 5 days. In reality it's only three and a half if you include the airplane rides, but I think they are just as apart of the vacation as the destination itself.
As I mentioned before, it's nighttime, and Josh is sitting in the seat beside me passed out. I don't blame him; he hasn't had a vacation or day off in over a year. He's aged so much in the eight years I've known him; I've noticed it more and more in these past couple of months. I often ask him when he's planning on taking a break from the madness and he replies with a 'whenever I'm too old'. To that I can never reply.
The captain comes over the speaker to announce that we'll be flying over California soon and then be over water for the rest of our journey. I peer down to the ground and see the bright lights in the distance – we must be coming upon one of the big cities. I glance around the cabin for the nth time, making sure there's no one I know on the flight with us. It's not that Josh and I have been exactly quiet about our relationship, we haven't exactly stood on a roof and told the entire world yet. We've both talked about it on several occasions and agreed that until the dust settles from the election and inauguration that we should keep it pretty quiet. Alas, flying to Hawaii for five days on vacation isn't the most subtle thing we could be doing, but we needed it. He needed it.
Election Day, now, that's one memory I can't get out of my head…
+Flashback+
TVs were on all over the place, I had staked out in front of five of them watching every newscaster's single move. It was close so far, Vinick was ahead by 15 electoral votes after the first east coast results. We still had a lot of states to go, but per usual, my stomach was flip-flopping every other second.
I saw him across the room, yelling at some poor volunteer who obviously hadn't been briefed on Josh's Election Day attitude. I couldn't help but laugh at him, he had that funny hair thing going on, and he always looked so cute when he was upset. I turned back to the TVs, watching every result.
I noticed Leo, or should I say now, Mr. McGarry, was coming over to where I standing. He had a grin on his face, so I was unsure how to take his expression.
"Hey Donna," he said, standing next to me and my array of televisions.
"What's your smile for? Good news?" I asked him.
"I think we won Illinois," he told me.
I turned to directly face him and wanted to jump up and down right there, in that spot. Instead I replied with, "Well, that's good! That's great!"
"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something," he started.
"About what?" I replied, turning my eyes back on the screens in front of me.
"Not here, let's go in the conference room," he said as he led me to the room.
After shutting the door, he took a seat at one of the chairs and gestured for me to do the same. I sat down at the one across from him and was very uneasy about what was going on.
"So, I've been meaning to talk to you for a couple of weeks now, but I haven't really had the time, and since we have some time on our hands until the next results are in…"
"What is it Leo?" I spat out.
"I wanted to tell you how happy I am for you and Josh finally getting a clue," he said, while I tilted my head downward and smiled. "Seriously, I've known Josh a long time and I've never seen him as happy as when he is with you. Just promise me one thing, you gotta take care of him. You know as much as I do that he sometimes tries to do too much. I don't want it to kill him or anything."
"You have my word on that."
"Good. He tells me he's taking you to Hawaii after this is all said and done."
I couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, I told him he better start planning."
He started to stand back up, "I don't know how good of a vacation you'll have then if he's planning it."
I joined him as we started exiting, "Don't worry, I'll be the one who ends up doing everything."
"Good. Make sure to send me a postcard."
"I promise! Listen, I probably should get back to watching…" I trailed on.
"Yeah, I'll keep ya posted if I hear anything else."
"K, thanks," I replied.
+End of Flashback+
It was not until that moment that I knew how much Leo cared for Josh. In some respects, it was not until that moment that I knew how great of a person Leo really was. At that point, I couldn't have been prouder to be working for him.
I felt him shift in his seat; I glanced over to see he was waking from his slumber. He had been asleep for at least two hours, while I had gazed out the windows and watched the ground below us.
+Josh POV+
I knew this feeling, I've experienced it many times before. Waking up in an airplane seat, disoriented about where I am and where I am going. But then reality sets in and I remember.
This time I liked what I remembered. I looked over and saw her blonde hair and knew this wasn't a dream. I was indeed on a flight to Hawaii with Donna, my shining star. She was awake and was smiling at me.
"Enjoy you rest?" she asked me.
"Yes, yes I did," I told her. I placed my right hand in her left one, gently caressing her beautiful fingers. Everything about her was beautiful, right down to her fingers.
"Good, because we have lots of things planned for our three days," she informs me.
I rub my free hand through my probably mess head of hair and glance back at her. I proceed to do the whining voice that I know she can't resist. "But Donna, this is supposed to be a vacation."
"Are you twelve or something? These things I have planned may not involve us leaving our room," she tells me, quietly while using her seductive voice that I can not resist.
I perk up and give her hand a squeeze, "Good, I like those types of activities. I hope you have them planned often."
"I'm sure that you won't be disappointed," she says with a wink.
"Have you slept at all?" I ask her, now with the concerned voice.
"Not yet, I've been watching the ground below us."
That's one of Donna's secrets I've been able to figure out on my own. She loves long plane rides and just staring out the window and watching. My secret? I love watching her while she does this. I would often spend minutes on flights to who knows where admiring her, watching her.
"You should get some sleep too; I wouldn't want you to be tired for our planned activities."
"I actually got a full night's sleep last night, so I am feeling quite awake right now. But I might take a nap as soon as we hit the ocean," is her response.
I glance around the plane. I know Donna's probably already looked a billion times to see if there is anyone we might know or who might know us. But, I have to check for myself.
She taps on my shoulder, "I've looked already. Unless someone's undercover and trying to get themselves hurt by me, no one's on here we know."
I resign to the fact that Donna is just way better than I thought she was. I have to tell myself that at least twice a day. "I was looking for a flight attendant, silly. Or should I say, paranoid?"
"Sure you were… anyway, here she comes," she tells me.
I stop the flight attendant and ask her for a glass of water. She quickly leaves and brings it back. I drink it quite quickly and it felt so refreshing. I always feel drained after taking a nap during a flight, but that helped wake me up.
"You know, we need to talk about that," she says.
I try to act dumb, but I know exactly what she's talking about, "About what?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and me, us as a couple," she remarks.
"Yeah. I know. You know what the Congressman said? He honestly didn't care and neither does Leo. Donna, I don't think we should worry about the perception of things if they are going to get in the way of us being happy with one another," I try comforting her.
She smiled, so I think I did well. "Okay, alright. But what happens after the inauguration. I mean, obviously, I was hoping you'd take me."
"Are you kidding? Of course! I figured you'd think it was a given. You don't have to worry, Donna, you are the girl for me and I don't think there's anyone else in the entire world who could make me happier," I tell her.
I think she's starting to tear up a little because she takes her hand out of mine to wipe off her eyes. I take my now free hand and place it on her cheek. "I didn't try to make you cry."
"Oh Joshua, don't worry, these are happy tears," she informs me in between wiping streaming tears off her face.
I decided at that moment a couple of key things. First of all, it was a good thing I had booked us in first class because I wouldn't want random dude sitting next to us during this conversation, and second that I might be the happiest man on the planet, right now, in this moment in time. I just helped get a guy elected President; a guy I hand selected and led from the days which no one knew who we were. In the process, I managed to get the girl I never knew I would be able to get. All in all, I was having a pretty good year.
"You know what? We're both having a pretty good year," I state.
"You could say that again," she replies, tear free and smiles abound.
"Do you have any water activity planned for our Hawaii three day adventure?" I inquire.
"Well, it depends. I personally wanted to parasail, but I wasn't too sure if you would be… well, interested."
Parasailing? Okay, this side of Donna is new to me. But I should get used to it. If all goes my way, I'll get to know every side of Donna for the rest of my life.
"Yeah, that does sound kind of… interesting. I guess I'd have to see how safe it is. Or, if you know, it doesn't result in me losing limbs," I ramble.
"I can assure you that you shouldn't lose any limbs," she tells me.
"Alright, but if I come back without a finger, it's your entire fault," I tease her.
See, this, this is what I missed the most about Donna. It's our bantering. I mean, during the end of the campaign there was some bantering, but it was practically non-existent for months before that.
I catch her trying to hide a yawn and decide that's the last straw. "That's it, you need some sleep. I just caught you yawning."
"Fine, have it your way. But I at least get your blanket."
"Deal," I tell her and hand over my blanket. I watch her as she gets settled in and starts to doze off. I told her I wasn't going to bring any work on this trip, well, I told her I would limit the amount of work I was going to bring on this trip. It was part of the agreement, considering I was taking off five days during the crucial transition period, I had to accomplish something worthwhile.
I pull out my notebook, which currently is over its capacity with papers. Donna keeps nagging me, telling me that now I actually will have to get a new assistant. I told her that she'd have to help me find one that was almost as good as she was. She scribbled out a bunch of names and put them on a piece of paper, which, incidentally, was in the mass of papers encompassing this folder.
The first paper I pull out is the rough draft of the staff list. The Congressman basically told me to hire whomever for whatever position; he knew that for this my judgment was best. I put it to the side; I didn't really want to have to think all that hard about it right now.
I was looking for one paper. I flipped through memos and things to be signed until I finally came across what I was looking for.
It is a letter I have written to Donna, which I am planning on giving to her while we are in Hawaii, and then asking her to marry me. In the letter, I list all the things I love about her in many ways. I think it's the perfect idea.
I turn and face her sleeping body. I pull her blanket over her more and place a gentle kiss on her cheek. So this is what it's supposed to feel like – to be completely content with your life and the world. I can't believe I've been missing out on this feeling all this time. I know one thing – I don't ever want to lose this feeling again.
I can see the great things to come – eight years working for a great man, Matthew Santos. I see Donna working for Leo and enjoying it as much as I will. I can imagine us having a daughter and son; our daughter will be come as beautiful as Donna and our son will hopefully grow up to become a lawyer, just like me.
One thing I knew more than anything that my life was far from over, that it merely had just begun. I had so many things, ideas, moments left in me that I couldn't wait to experience them all.
Donna turned in her seat and faced me, her eyes peeking open and a smile crept over her face. I leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"You know, I love you more than anything in this world," I told her, barely speaking above a whisper.
"I know. I know because I love you too."
Once again, thank you for reading and reviews are greatly appreciated.