Meanwhile at the other end of the airport Donna sat at her gate waiting for the boarding call to begin. She felt so hollow inside. She felt so betrayed by a fate that would allow her to get so close to Josh only to have their chance to be together, even if only as co-workers, ripped away.
She tried to recount the night before but it always left her feeling nauseous. She would start with the joy of the campaign event. She remembered feeling proud for Josh that he had accomplished so much with his "magnificent seven"- the seven that he had invited her to be a part of, the seven that was now breaking up. She remembered overlooking the convention hallway from the office and the way her heart and quickened and her breath caught in her chest just at the sight of Josh and his "I'm da man" strut.
Then she remembered Rona. Poor Rona had almost had her head ripped off last night for no reason- but as it turns out Donna had gotten that honor instead. In the stairwell Donna had been so jealous of Rona that she couldn't see straight. It wasn't until Rona admitted that she thought Josh was old and crazy that Donna knew the girl was no threat; the hope of being with Josh was still out there, it was still a possibility. Donna remembered rushing down the steps to find the man she knew she wanted to be with, if only to console him as a friend.
What had happened next caused the tightening in her stomach to increase ten fold. She remembered his body draped over the guardrail. She remembered approaching with the full intention of comforting Josh but as he turned to face her she did not see a hurt that he needed her to help him through, she saw anger and a face covered with the sting of betrayal. Josh thought she was sleeping with Will, and apparently a secret service agent named Derrick.
Donna stopped recalling the night's events momentarily as she placed her face in her hands, rubbing her eyes with her palms and breathing a deep sigh of release. "Sleeping with Will?" She said the question quietly to herself as she straightened back up in her chair and shook her head disbelievingly. She was angry, and rightfully so, as she let her thoughts drifted to being home and far away from Josh Lyman.
At that very moment Josh was engaged in a hysterical dialogue with the desk staff of Continental Air. It had been a while since he'd flown commercial and Josh had become accustomed to having the Senator fly him around out of smaller and less regulated airports. At this point in the conversation Josh was trying to find the cheapest ticket he could purchase to get himself through the security gate in order to see if he could find Donna because the desk staff was unwilling to divulge any passenger information. He was also dangerously close to being carted off by security and at one point had been questioned about the large stain on the crotch of his jeans. The dark glasses were no help. He was not a happy man.
The security line was long, but not unbearable; that is not unbearable to anyone who isn't trying to track down the love of their life to apologize for accusing them of sleeping with someone else. To that type of person it is excruciating. The guards didn't like that he had no baggage. They found Josh's mannerisms to be skittish, they had been radioed about the dark glasses and stain. The straw that broke the camels' back, however, was when Josh showed his boarding pass, a ticket to Nantucket that left in 8 hours, and then promptly asked for the gates flying to Wisconsin. It took less then 20 seconds for him to be surrounded by guards and be ushered into a small room to the side of the security station. He had considered sprinting but thought better of it after recalling a time that Toby was taken down by a secret service agent with one swift, possibly judo move. He was instead grabbed on either side right in his armpits and slightly lifted off the slick tile floor so that only his toes drug along the ground as the security men led him off.
"No, guys, you don't understand. I have to find Donna. I am here because of Donna!"
The security guards did not find Josh too threatening after his slightly incoherent ramblings on a woman named Donna who apparently DOES NOT work for him and IS NOT sleeping with Will.
Recognizing a fellow man probably so far in the doghouse that there was no return, the security guards did a little research. They reported back with sorrow that there were several flights that had already left for Wisconsin that day, none of which they could give him the passenger information on. To make matters worse, there were two flights leaving in less than an hour on opposite sides of the airport for this very state! Josh hung his head in defeat realizing that first off he wasn't even sure she was going to Wisconsin and secondly he would probably never make it to the proper gate on time.
"What's the deal with all the Wisconsin flights?" he asked dejected as he filed from the room.
In all seriousness the guard replied that, "This month is national cheese appreciation month and people flock to the cheese mecca".
Josh laughed bitterly to himself as he knew for certain that Donna would have known that type of information. He looked up to see a wall of security cameras spanning the foyer of the security room and it was in less than a second that his eyes fell on Donna sitting straight up in an airport chair rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache. He froze in his tracks, bringing his hand to his mouth before pointing eagerly to the screen.
"That's her! That's my Donna! Where is that?"
"Gate 26 A" one guard announced just in time to see Josh sprint from the office and down the crowded corridor to the A wing tram. His heart was racing faster than Josh thought possible.