Author: Kathleen
Characters: Josh, Donna, the moms and a smattering of others
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna
Category(s): Romance, Post Season 6
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, but thank God to Aaron Sorkin for creating them. My life would not have been the same without them.
Summary: Post convention - what happens after Josh and Donna's first dinner following the DNC!
Spoiler: None
Author's Notes: New series, which I have dubbed the "Song" Series since my titles, thus far, have all been the titles of songs (the other two being "Always Something There to Remind Me" and "Back to You" – make sure you read those first before starting in on this one!). Enjoy!
He was having the greatest dream. He wasn't real sure where he was, but he knew it wasn't DC. He was laying on a blanket, feeling the warmest feeling he had ever felt in his life. For some reason, he was reading "The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing". Strange as it seemed, he was thoroughly enjoying the book and the feeling he was experiencing at the same time.
He came out of the dream when he felt his blanket start to stir, which ended up not being so much a blanket as it was Donna Moss. He cracked his eyes to see her rub the back of her hand across her eyes. She looked up at him a giggled.
"Something funny Miss Moss?"
"Yeah… I guess this whole pretending there's nothing there thing we've had going on for the last eight years is pretty much shot to hell right about now, huh?"
"Pretty much. What time is it?"
She pushed herself up on her elbow to look at the clock. "5:30."
"Yeah, alright, we are going back to sleep."
He shut his eyes and went to wrap himself around her again when he noticed she was pushing her way out of bed.
"Ditching me already?" he said with his eyes closed.
He heard her giggle. "Have to pee."
He waved her on and turned over on his side to get comfortable again. A few minutes later, in his sleep induced haze, he heard her walk back through the room and get into bed behind him, wrapping her arm around his waist. They both fell back asleep at about the same time.
The next time they woke up was to a ringing phone. Both of them were very much asleep when it rang. Josh started to grumble under his breath as Donna turned over onto her back and grabbed the phone with her left hand – a routine she had mastered on the road, answering the phone without waking up.
"Donna Moss."
Silence on the other end of the phone met Donna's voice. "Excuse me?"
"Donna Moss."
She heard giggling, which started to wake her up ever so slightly. "Umm… Donna?"
"This is her!"
"Donna, honey, can you wake up and tell me why you are answering my son's phone half asleep?"
That question was better than a shot of caffeine for Donna. She shot straight up in bed, completely awake. "What… Anna… yeah… umm…"
"Donna, you awake?"
"Yeah… ummm…"
"Donna, you realize you and my son are, like, adults, right?"
"Well, yeah, I am, but I'm not sure about him, but if you say so…"
That made Anna laugh. "Can I talk to him?"
Donna started to poke Josh on the shoulder. "Josh."
"Take a message" he mumbled to her.
"Josh."
"Tell him I'm in a meeting."
"Josh."
"I'm at lunch."
'Idiot!' she thought to herself. She leaned down right above his ear and took a deep breath. "JOSH!"
She quickly pulled back as he shot straight up and looked at her.
"God bless, Donnatella, you trying to make me deaf or something!" he said while rubbing his ear.
"Well, yeah… anyway, I just thought you would want to answer your mom's question about why I'm answering your phone half asleep." With that, she tossed the phone at him and headed toward the bathroom.
He stared at the phone wide-eyed for a second before picking it up, only to hear his mother and someone else in the background laughing hysterically.
"Mom."
Still laughing at him and Donna, he got no response.
"Mom."
Still laughing.
"MOM!"
Finally he got a response. "Oh good God… that was hysterical. It's good for me to laugh like that every once in a while!"
He plopped back down on his pillow. "Glad I could keep you entertained this morning, Mother! Did you need something?"
"Well, actually, Julianne was looking for Donna and got no response at the hotel or on her cell, so I thought that you might know where she was." Even over the phone, he knew she had that stupid-ass Lyman smirk on her face.
"Oh, God, Mother, knock it off."
"Just wanted to check."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah. You're wearing your tux Wednesday night, right? So I need to get that kind of dressy dress, right?"
All of a sudden, inspiration hit. "Yeah, absolutely… tell Julianne to buy one too."
"Why?"
"You all are coming to New York Wednesday night. Special guests of the campaign manager."
He heard his mother starting to talk to Julianne Moss. "Yeah, apparently now you and your daughter are invited."
He heard Julianne give a whoop in the background. "Yeah, I think she's in" Anna responded to her son.
"Great. Did you all just get there?"
"Yeah, we just walked off the train."
"What time are you all going to back?"
"We are shooting to leave at about 5 or so, so we can all grab a late dinner, like 8?"
"Yeah, that works. Mom, what time is it?"
"About 9:30."
"Yeah, OK, see you tonight!"
He disconnected with the call as Donna came back into the bedroom. She sat on the bed Indian style diagonal from him as he pushed himself back into a sitting position.
"Where are all your good dresses?"
"What?"
"Dresses, you know, dresses. Are they at Carol's or…"
"No, the majority of my dresses are at the hotel, hopefully cleaned by now."
"You need to pick one to wear – you are coming to New York on Wednesday night for the fundraiser. Our moms are in as well."
She just smiled. "Really, you sure?"
He smiled back. "Positive. I have to fly up early with the Congressman, but you all can take the train and meet me there. I'll call Ronna and have her get extra rooms and you all can come back Thursday. I have to fly out to Iowa on Thursday with the staff, but… I just thought… well, it's been awhile since I've…. I guess…" he was getting flustered, she could tell.
"Just spit it out, Joshua. Remember, this whole pretending-misdirection-thing is over."
He looked her straight in the eye. "It would be nice to have a date to dance with at this thing."
She started to blush and smiled even bigger. "So you decided to bring a harem with you so you could choose once you got there?"
"Funny, Moss."
She watched as he started to crawl toward her. "I've been known to bring the funny, Lyman."
He was about to kiss her when she quickly covered his mouth with her hand. "No way, morning breath, go brush your teeth."
He moaned and gave her a peck on the cheek and headed toward the bathroom.
They spent the day not doing much of anything, but they did it together. Josh called and got everything squared away for his mom and the Moss women to attend the fundraiser in New York. They did a picnic lunch on the Mall like they saw tourists do every day when they worked at the White House. Donna insisted on seeing the new exhibit at the Smithsonian, so Josh did something he hadn't done in years – he acted like a tourist in DC.
At about 3, they started to head home, with just one quick detour.
"Now, why am I driving around a college campus in the middle of summer?"
"I told you, Josh, I'm not sure where the graduate housing is and I want to check it out to see just how far from classes I am going to be!"
Josh just smirked at her and followed the signs to the graduate student housing at Georgetown. He pulled up to the curb of a seemingly dilapidated building and got out. Donna followed.
He looked at her, reading dismay on her face.
"Well, maybe it will be better on the inside."
"Seriously, Donna, it's a dorm, graduate or otherwise. I know it's been awhile, but you remember what dorms are like right. Graduate dorms just mean you don't have to deal with a roommate!"
She sighed – "No kidding. And I'm like a mile from the government building. I'm going to have to leave like 45 minutes before class just to get there in time. I'll bet your townhouse is closer to the government building than these dorms are."
He leaned up against his car and smirked at her. She looked him up and down and gave him a quizzical look. "What?"
"As a matter of fact, the townhouse is closer to the government building than these dorms are. I think the night I did the Q and A over there it was like a 15 minute walk."
Donna looked back at the building. "Yeah, yeah, yeah…" and then she looked back at him. "What are you doing living that close to a college building anyway."
He just smiled. "Well, you know my affinity for college co-eds…" he said, looking her up and down, making sure she didn't miss the double meaning. The smile on her face lead him to believe that she didn't.
She came and leaned back against the car, mirroring his position.
"I was thinking, Donnatella…"
"Never a good thing, usually winds up with me stalking some poor guy at a function."
"Funny lady! I had an idea, if you are interested."
"And that would be?"
He turned and looked at her. "I think you should live in the townhouse."
Her eyes got wide and she stood straight up. "What did you just say?"
"Hear me out. I'm barely going to be around this fall, with the election and everything. We're basically living on the road till November. It would be nice to know that someone was here, taking care of the place, watering the plants…"
"You don't have any plants."
"Yeah, but if I knew that there was someone there to water them, I could get plants. Plus, you'd be a lot closer to classes!"
He could tell she was pondering this point. He decided to continue. "Mom basically furnished the guest room, so there's furniture and stuff. Just think about it – a nice big kitchen to cook real meals in, not having to wear flip-flops when you take a shower, a real bed to sleep in a night."
"Your townhouse does have its perks" she said. He could see she was about convinced.
"C'mon Donna. You've already got a key. I would fee better if you stayed there instead of here."
She smiled at that last statement. "Yeah, alright, but just for the fall semester. I'll have to figure something else out for the spring."
"Yeah, we'll see." He pushed himself off the car and started to walk around to the driver side.
"Josh… seriously, what did you just say?"
"Get in the car. The mom's will be back soon."
"Josh…"
He pointed to the car. "Get in or walk. We've already decided it's quite a hike!"
She quickly got in the car, not wanting to have to walk back to his townhouse.
"What did you mean by that… yeah, we'll see."
He just smirked at her. "Nothing at all, Donnatella, nothing at all."
She just smiled back at him as he did a quick u-turn and headed back to the brownstone.
Anna and Julianne recounted their day minute by minute, not that either child had asked. Julianne was so excited to attend her very first political fundraiser that, by the time the entrees came, both Josh and Donna knew exactly what her dress looked like. Anna tried to pry Donna's dress information out of her, but Donna just winked at Josh and said "yeah, I have a good idea of what I'm wearing" but she wouldn't divulge anymore info.
All four exited the restaurant together. Donna was heading back to the hotel with her mother, so for the first time since Donna showed up at his townhouse for dinner, they were about to be separated. Neither one of them were warming to the idea. Josh and Donna walked to the small parking lot, each intending to pick their respective mother's up to head home. As they reach the cars, somehow parked side by side, Josh grabbed Donna and planted the mother of all kisses on her. Finally, when he needed air, he broke the kiss, but not before he had her backed against the rental her mom had gotten from the airport.
"I'm so not looking forward to sleeping alone tonight."
She smiled at him and started kissing his neck. He gave her a little moan and pulled her closer to him. He finally pulled back when things started progressing a lot further than he was planning on exploring in public, standing against a car.
"We need to go get our moms."
"Yeah."
"Donna…"
"Josh, I appreciate everything… with the townhouse, but you don't have to let me… I'll be fine in the dorms…"
He put his index finger over her mouth. "Yeah, but I won't be fine with you in the dorms. Humor me, please."
She smiled from behind his finger and shook her head yes. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and opened the driver side door of the rental. He watched her pull off and got in his car.
He rounded the corner as Julianne and Donna pulled away. His mother walked around the car and gave her son a quick glance out of the corner of her eye.
"Everything alright, Joshua?"
He turned and gave her a wide smile, one she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Absolutely, mother, perfect" and for the first time in a long time, he knew that he was being honest with himself and others.
TBC…