Summary: What happens after the election.

Disclaimer: They are not mine, just taking them out for a spin.

Category: Alternate Universe

Pairing: Josh and Donna

Here it is Inaguration Day 2006. The weather is cold, just as it should be in January, but none the less the sun is shining. I'm standing here watching Congressman Matthew Santos be sworn in as President. The smile on my face is unbelieveable, I couldn't be happier. Of course I'm not the one who got him here, no it was Josh all the way. Sure I worked on the campaign as Leo's Press Secretary, so it was Leo who hired me, although I'm sure that Josh wanted me for his office. From what I heard there was a heated discussion and Leo won but Josh still somehow managed to always keep me around his office. After a while the banter came back and we were able to communicate like the past 6 months had not happened. It was hard at first being so close and yet so far away at the same time, but I handled it just like CJ would have because that is the person that I am. I had to be to survive at shooting at the President and Josh's recovery, a scandal, a Congressional Centure and being the only survior of a car bomb. Still I'm here and Josh is standing right next to me, its funny watching him he can barely control his excitement as he watches the event taking place right in front of him. I think that he can't believe that he has gotten not one but two amazing candidates the White House. So for the past 8 years and the next 4 hopefully 8 years, you can blame Josh Lyman, I won't mind it will help deflate his ego. I can tell you though that most of the White House is happy, most of the bullpen and half of communications gets to stay, but as the saying goes the White House reinvents itself with every President and this time that saying still holds true.

We started actually moving in yesterday, its nice taking over for President Bartlett but it has its disadvantages. CJ told Josh that he had to wait to throw Gail out of her office until after the oath was taken, something about breaking a tradition. So Josh moved the furniture around, but left Gail on the shelf until CJ wants to move her home. I don't think Josh will admit it but I think he likes having Gail in his office. I caught him talking to her yesterday, but he doesn't know that so that's our secret. Josh however will not get used to these new changes, just like CJ the door connecting his office to the oval has rarely been used and all times it was used by President Santos. Amazing for 7 years he knew that door went to the Oval, but still can't imagine being the one to use it. Well thats not the only change, yesterday I heard Will throw Josh out of his office at least twice, for some reason having Will move Communications threw Josh for a loop and he wandered back to it several times. Yeah Will is on board, hes the Communications Director, Josh did offer it to Toby, but Toby wants to spend time with Huck and Molly and take some time off. Will already has both Toby's home, cell and pager programed into his speed dial, but I don't think that he will ever use them. As his deputy Will chose one of the Lauren's, which one I'm not sure, but he has one of them as his Deputy. Josh's deputy is none other than Charlie. Apparently Charlie did such a good job under CJ that Josh thought him worthy to take his place. For a while I think the idea of keeping Cliff on staff had crossed his mind, but the idea of having a Republican in the White House made Josh sick. So Charlie moved into Sam's old office and I took Toby's. I wanted CJ's but that wasn't going to happen, Will needed his Deputy close so that he could barge in and tell her what was wrong with something just like Toby had done to him. But my office isn't so bad, I'm exactly 25 feet from Josh's office and I couldn't be happier.

As for the assistants Will convinced Ginger to stay on, I'm not sure how but he did. Josh tried for two weeks straight to keep Margaret in his office, but her loyalty to Leo was unsurpassed and she went quietly to the O.E.O.B. Leo set up a portable crib with anything else she might need for the baby, but his new title brought some perks like she could leave at 6 no matter what. When Leo said that Margaret made sure that every week no matter what she would go to the store and get things for the baby, she knew Leo too well. Since Margaret went with Leo, Josh brought Ronna in from the campaign. I took her to lunch yesterday and told her to never bring him coffee and no matter what when he bellows just ignore him. Ronna will do very well in the White House I can feel it. It took a lot of bribery but President Santos convinced Debbie to stay on, his thinking was anyone who could keep Bartlett in check could keep him in check. I took Carol from CJ, after all that had happened CJ decided to take a year or two off and Carol knows how to run the gaggle so I had no problem having her around. Charlie was assigned someone from the pool to be his assistant. Her name is Michelle and she is a ball of fire, but she already has Charlie's appointments through March organized and notes for most are in order waiting to be used. Somehow I have a feeling that those two will get along just fine.

So there you are the staff of President Matthew Santos, who as we speak is finishing his oath of office. From here its a ride back to the White House with President and Mrs. Bartlett where we are all attending a brunch before departing to get ready for all 9 inagural balls that we are attending tonight. I can't wait. Last time I missed the first one because Josh was mad about me lying for Jack, this time I'm attending all that I can. I have a dress a hair appointment and a new manicure. I have a plan. Trust me when you find out what it is you will die. Josh is so excited in the car I practically have to sit on top of him to get him to stay still. All morning long he has has this goofy smile and can't stand still. He's hiding something and I want to know what it is, but knowing Josh he will tell me when the time is right. So here we are riding back to the White House getting ready to have brunch with two Presidents, one day I will tell my grandchildren about this and they will not believe me. Of course I can hardly believe all the history that I have witnessed in the past 9 years. Brunch was amazing but leave it to the President to bring a lesson in trivia.

"Did you all know that the tradition of the Presidential breakfast began with..."

"With all due respect Mr. President you are no longer in that Oval room in the West Wing and we don't have to be forced to listen to the trivia anymore."

"Leo my old pal, how can you betray me like that?"

"Because I'm you're oldest friend and all these people still have to get ready for the inagural balls tonight."

"Take away my fun, but the next time I have my staff in a room together be prepared."

"Oh Jed shut up."

The room burst into laughter leave it to Mrs. B to bring the smack down to the President of the United States. The two were leaving within the hour to Manchester. I believe the President has a plan to sleep for a month to make up for the 8 years of sleep he didn't get. The girls are coming out in a few weeks and all of them are going to talk about whats next in the Bartlett family. I have the feeling that Charlie will be apart of that meeting, he's asking Zoey tonight to marry him. He already got the Presidents blessing, it took a lot of work but he got it. I can only figure that he must really love Zoey otherwise he wouldn't have dared to ask. We all say our goodbyes, the Bartletts leave for what is the last time on Marine One and take it to Air Force Two to take them home. Helen has arranged for our gowns to come to the White House and has literally kicked all the guys out of the residence so that we may all get ready. Even managed to have the stylist come here, today is a day of pampering for the women of the West Wing for all the hard work that we did during the campaign. Already Helen Santos is someone that I admire. She knows exactly how to take care of those who take care of her. A room full of women who are in Politics by one way or another is a funny sight. The Secret Service has a hard time conceling their laughs at the conversations that we are having. I started thinking about my plan for the night when Helen caught me off gaurd.

"So Donna, what's going on between you and Josh?"

"Nothing for the moment, but I really want to change that, no offense mam, but I can't wait another 8 years to express my feelings."

"Understandable. If I had to wait one more week for Matt I would have proposed to him."

"I'm not ready to propose, but we do have like somewhere around 9 years of unresolved tension that we need to work out."

"Why don't you just cross that line?"

"Let me see we had the shooting, then the MS, then the Censure, Zoey's kidnapping, the car bomb, and the election. Between recoving and Congress we never had the time to cross that line and everytime that we got close to it something always stopped us."

"Well let me tell you this, as long as Matt and I are in this White House both you and Josh have a job, no matter what the reporters say."

"Thank you mam."

"Helen please."

"Sorry...some habits are hard to break."

Today has been a great day. I watched as the second candidate I ever supported was sworn in as President of the United States. Donna was right next to me through the whole thing, although I have to say she seemed distracted. This week has been crazy, even though most of my staff is bits and pieces of the Bartlett White House, it was still a crazy mess trying to get us all situated. I keep forgeting that my old office is no longer my office and managed to walk into Will's office 5 times yesterday. Some habits are hard to break. So here we are 4 more years in the White House. It's too bad that I couldn't give Jed Bartlett another 4 but at least this way I have another 4 I'm praying for 8 to help mold the government to what it should be. 4 more years to pass the Education Bill that Cliff couldn't pass. 4 more years to finish what I couldn't before I left. But I digress. I am mostly happy that I have another 4 years to get this thing between me and Donna right. I couldn't really work it out during the campaign, for one thing I was trying to win the election, and for another she worked for Leo. That was the deal Donna was his press secretary for the campaign and I could figure us out but when we won the White House she came on as Press Secretary for Santos. He couldn't say no, he just added a clause. I have until the end of the year to either ask her out and start offically dating, or say that this is not working out. But see I have a plan, and no before you ask it is not a secret plan to fight inflation. No after 9 years I finally know what it is that I want. I want to marry Donnatella Moss. Tonight somewhere between the second and the third ball I'm going to pull her aside get down on one knee and ask her to marry me. What do you think. I know before you ask I already have the permission of her father, my mother, and the both Presidents Bartlett and Santos. I think that President Santos told Helen because she went crazy with this the girls get to be pampered for the day and get all beautified for the balls. She knows I know that she knows, and as long as she doesn't tell Donna it will be great. From what I hear Charlie is also asking Zoey tonight and Will is making his relationship with Kate public knowledge. So tonight is mostly about romance and not about you know celebrating the fact that we beat Vinik the Repubican who was supposedly unbeatable. Which he is, cause you know we're here and he's not.

So here we are me, Will, Charlie, Leo and the President, sitting in the Oval Office having cigars, telling stories. The President feels like being as sneaky as his wife and wants to see the rings that Charlie and I have chosen. Charlie goes first and displays proudly from his pocket. I have to say that he has good taste. Its a two tone set that has a round cut as the center stone accented by an anniversary style shawdow band. It's simple and elegant just like Zoey. Mrs. B went with him to pick it out so you already know that Zoey will like it. I go next and pull out a white gold wedding set. Its a princess cut stone, that is surrounded by an illusion settting and has a matching illusion band to match. I took Toby with me when I went to pick it out, and he agreed that the ring was just like Donna, unique and one of a kind. After I put the ring away we all turned and looked at Will. Immedately he paniked.

"No way guys, just because you two want to walk down the aisle doesn't mean that I do."

"We didn't say anything, but if we did we would say that Kate is one heck of a catch."

"Yeah just don't get locked in a room with her."

"Well maybe we should have locked you and Donna in a room about 5 years ago."

"Nothing would have happened if you did. We weren't ready to cross that line yet."

"Well you must be now Josh, you haven't even kissed yet and you're asking her to marry you on Inaguration night of all nights. This must be love."

"It is Mr. President it is."

I glance at my watch, a quick look tells me that in about 7 hours I'm asking Donnatella Moss to marry me. If only the clock would move just a little bit faster. I would like to have my answer now.

So here I am, in my ball gown wating for Josh and the guys to come upstairs and escort us to the balls. One last glance at the mirror I check my hair and makeup and straighten my dress of the wrinkles I see. Helen keeps telling me that I look great and that Josh will fall over when he sees me I'm still nervous. I chose to wear a champange color dress, it's got a corset style top and a princess style skirt. Ronna says that I look like a bride, I'm trying my best not to tell her that I feel like one. I'm so nervous, I don't know how I'm going to wait until the time is right to tell him, but I know that I have too otherwise my plan will fail. After a few minutes I hear the knock on the door. The President walks in first followed by Leo, then Charlie and Will and finally Josh. He looked perfect, even had his tie tied. I about fell over. I want to know who tied that tie, that's my job and he knows it. But even still looking at him right now I remember that first night in the West Wing that he told me he likes to pull on the ends and untie it like Frank Sinatra and make the girls swoon. He never needed to do that to make me swoon, all he had to do was walk into the room. But please don't tell Josh that we all know that his ego is bigger than Texas when he has his moments. As soon as he sees me he stops and stares, what do I have a stain on my dress I shouldn't I just got done looking at my self checking every detail to make sure. He walks up to me and offers his arm.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you, you look pretty good yourself. Who did you bribe to tie your tie."

"The President saw my messing with it and tied it. I started to tell him that you usually do that, but he informed me that you are not working as my assistant anymore and I need to learn how to tie my own damn tie."

"He's right you do."

"I know." I notice that as he glances at his watch that hes nervous about something. He motions his hand towards the door and the President leads the crowd out followed by Leo and Margaret who looks like she never had a kid much less a 6 month old. Then Josh and I are behind them, Will and Kate follow along with Charlie and Zoey. Ronna left early to take care of some personal business but promises to not be late. The limo is crowed between the six of us that are in there, but I don't mind everytime that Josh moves he bumps my leg and at this point in time I have no problem with that. They play Hail to the Cheif when the President walks in, but before he leaves he turns and wispers to Josh that he may never get used to that. We all follow in the same order that we left the residence in. I was so lost in thought that Josh had to stop me when the President and his wife took the floor for the first dance. Leo soon followed with Josh hot on his heels. I was amazed at his dancing ability. I've danced with Josh before, but this time it was different. He had to have been practicing. I look up thinking that I would find him searching the crowd for a Senator or Congressman that he needs to talk, but instead find him looking at me. Tonight everytime I catch him looking at me, he looks as though he is seeing me for the first time. I can't help but admit that I like it. Maybe we should go outside and talk, but it is Januaray so I'm not sure that is a good idea. As the song ends and the next one begins, Josh pulls us away from the floor, now why did he do that, I was comfortable being held in his arms. In the midst of my dissapointment I notice that he is taking me away from the crowd, oh no what happened. I am the Press Secretary and I am the first call. Knowing our luck something bad has happened and he has to tell me and we'll be leaving the balls and I won't be able to follow my plan. I think someone is trying to tell me something. Outside it has to be about 10 degrees and not having much in the way of a jacket I shiver as soon as the first breeze hits me. Josh notices this and takes off his jacket and places it on my shoulders.

"So what's going on Josh?"

"Nothing, there's just something that I wanted to talk to about and I don't want people staring."

"Why would people stare, its not something that would make me hit you is it?"

"No nothing like that, at least I hope not."

"You hope not, Josh what is going on?"

"Well Donnatella Moss you and I have known each other for nine years now, and in those nine years we have survived a lot. At the begining I was thinking that maybe it was just the fact that you were a really good friend and assistant and that's why you stood by me. Then I started to realize that I was the one who was standing by you. I took you for vantage after a while and I was afraid to loose you. I almost did, that was when I realized that I needed you, not just at the office and to keep me in check at state functions, but I needed you. I needed you to talk to, to see you everyday almost as if you held me together. You always knew what I needed before I even asked for it. You are the one person who knows me better than I do, and I love that. I love that you bite your bottom lip when you get nervous, I love that you don't bring me coffee, I love that you can handle members of the press like you handle members of Congress. I love the smell of your shampoo and the way your perfume lingers in the room long after you have left. I love the passion that you show for some things. But most of all I love you, with all my heart. Through the years the one thing that I have noticed is that I would rather have hundread of bad days with you then one great day without you. I need you to breathe, I need you there beside me through thick and thin and I want to be there beside you no matter what happens or life may throw at us. I guess what I am trying to say is that I would be honored if you Donnatella Moss would say yes and be my wife." With that I watched as Josh sank to one knee and pulled out a black velvet box. The ring inside is beautiful, he must have had some help. Then suddenly it hits me that I have not answered him yet. I rub the tear away from my face then start nodding my head.

"Yes Joshua Lyman I will marry you. But I'm still not bringing you coffee."

"You're not my assistant I don't expect you too."

"Oh Josh, I love you more than words, more than you will ever know."

"I love you too Donna, more than life."

"I guess this means that we're getting married."

"Yeah it does."

"How am I gonna spin this?"

"I would say call CJ, she more than likely has a plan that she has handed to Carol incase this happened. But for now lets not worry. Last inaguration you didn't really get to dance so tonight lets dance all night."

"Alright." We start walking back into the ball when I notice something. "Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that we still have never kissed and yet we are engaged right."

"Well before we go back into that room, lets change that." And with that he leaned in and kissed me. It was that kiss of wanting and needing and longing that we had been saving for 9 years. Yes I will admit that I wanted to kiss him when he walked into that office the first day, but I wanted a job so I couldn't really do that. I noticed that the kiss has deepened and I have now decided that we are continuing this conversation later tonight. As Josh leads me back to the main ballroom I notice Charlie and Zoey go to a back room that has been set aside for the staff. I wonder what is going on between those two. I am so happy, this moment can not be ruined no matter what else happens tonight. For right now this moment I am completely happy and nothing will change that.