God Only Knows

Author: Kathleen

Characters: Josh, Donna, the Santos Staff

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: Josh and Donna post convention, post season 6. Next chapter in the "Song Series".
Spoiler: Just about anything is fair game, but it's nothing that hasn't been written about before!

Author's Notes: This title is courtesy of the Beach Boys. And for the kids out there who maybe don't recognize the title, it's the song at the end of "Love Actually".

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The pacing was something that had always grated his nerves, even more so now than in the past. In the past, he could always order him out of his office and pretend like he wasn't there. Here, in this crowded plane on their way back to DC, it was more than difficult to pretend that he wasn't there. Donna had managed to make a few visits over the last few months – just when he was becoming completely unbearable. Ronna had made a couple of calls and he knew that, once, Matt had paid for a plane ticket so that she could come to Arizona that one weekend. But, the last four weeks had been hard. She was in the middle of midterms and hadn't been able to leave DC for the last month or so. She had gotten a part-time job in the Government department, answering phones and what-not, just to make a couple of bucks. It's not like she needed it – Josh had insisted on leaving her his cards and the pin to his checking account. But, because of the job and mid-terms and a paper her independent study was expecting in the next two weeks, they hadn't gotten to see each other or talk, other than messages left on voice mails and answering machines. They were 30 minutes out of Andrews and Josh was about to have a fit and everyone on the plane was trying to figure out the best way to throw him out the door without causing the plane to crash land. He couldn't take any more.

He got out of his chair and grabbed Josh by the back of the neck and forced him into a seat.

"Put your seatbelt on. Get out of that chair before we land and I'm going to shove this briefing memo up your ass!"

Josh smirked. "Leo, I don't think the state department would appreciate you doing that with their hard work."

"Shut up and just sit there. Don't you have some work to do?"

Josh smiled. "Nope, finished it all. I've only got three days and I didn't want anything to distract me from…"

Leo groaned. "I beg you to not finish that sentence."

"You asked!"

"Didn't realize Donna motivated you that much. If I had known…" Leo stopped short. He always knew there was something between the two of them, but, as Chief of Staff, he choose to ignore it or pretend it was really nothing.

Josh noticed the look on Leo's face. "Leo, you know, even if you had put a big sign in my office, I still would have ignored it. It wasn't your fault. We weren't ready till now."

Leo just smiled at the younger man. Seeing this transformation in Josh over the last three months had been wonderful to see. Hell, he had gotten stuck giving weekly reports to Anna over email about how he was doing. Even though Donna wasn't around every day, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He was more dedicated and driven, but not to the point of crazy, like he had been back in the White House. Finally, it seemed that Josh had found a happy medium and it seemed that his former assistant was the catalyst.

"I know Josh, but sometimes…"

"Yeah."

And like a dad talking to a son, that was all that needed to be said. They just smiled at each other across the aisle. Leo went back to reading his memo and Josh laid his head back on the seat and closed his eyes, counting the minutes till they hit the ground in DC.

Just as the pilot announced their descent into Andrews, Josh, who had been sitting peacefully for the last 20 minutes, starting bouncing his leg.

"Josh…"

"Leo…"

Leo glared over at Josh and then glanced down to his leg. "Knock it off."

Josh smiled sheepishly and sat quietly, till they hit the ground. At that point, he was like a man just set free from prison.

"God, how long could it possibly take to stop this plane?"

Leo rubbed his temples. "Josh…."

"Seriously, are they dropping me off in Georgetown?"

"Josh…"

"Cause that would be some seriously good service."

"JOSH!" This came from Matt and Helen Santos, who were sitting behind Leo.

Josh just ignored them and looked out the window, trying to figure out how much longer before they finally stopped.

Leo just looked at him and sighed. "God only knows how that girl has managed to tolerate him all these years."

Matt nodded his head in agreement. "She must be an angel…"

"Or a saint!" Helen chimed in.

The plane finally came to a stop and Josh let out a loud whoop from his seat and immediately shot up, gathering his things so that he could be one of the first people off the plane.

By the time Helen, Matt and Leo made their way toward the door Josh was standing in front of it, tapping his foot.

Helen tapped him on the shoulder. "You really think that's going to make it open any quicker?"

"Well, I mean… what in the hell is taking so long? I've got places to be…"

"And believe me, we can't wait to be rid of you" Helen mumbled under her breath.

"What?" He looked at her, perplexed.

"Nothing."

Josh looked back at the door. "I mean, for the love, what could they possibly be doing up there? Can they not just…"

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR BEFORE I HAVE ONE OF THE AGENTS SHOOT HIM!" Matt roared from the back of the plane. With that, one of the flight crew quickly opened the door to the plane, but not before giving Josh several nasty glances.

"Get off my plane, Mr. Lyman."

He smiled at her sheepishly, but she was not amused.

"You spit in my soup, didn't you?"

"Just once" said the older woman before turning on her heel and making her way back to where she had come from. Josh hung his head, only for a moment, but then jetted off the plane.

Josh shot off the plane and down the steps before he started scanning the cars at the back of the tarmac. He stopped short when he saw her – how she managed to have this effect on him every time he saw her after being separated, he would never understand, but there she was, leaning against his car, smiling as brightly as he had ever seen her smile.

He was smiling at her stupidly when Helen stopped next to him. She just looked at him and shook her head.

"Oh sure, NOW you're quiet!"

He looked at her. "Ma'am?"

"I swear to God, if you don't get away from me right now, I'm going to kill you with my bare hands."

Josh needed no other encouragement. He jogged over to Donna and dropped his bag next to the car and enveloped her in a mind-blowing kiss.

Once the need for oxygen pervaded all his other sense, he broke the kiss and took a step back and smiled her.

"Evening, Donna."

"Evening yourself, there, Joshua."

They stood there, just smiling at each other, when Josh saw Ronna coming past them out of the corner of his eye.

"Have a good break Ronna. See you in a few days."

She stopped and glared at him. "Yeah, cause I'm REALLY looking forward to that! Donna, you must be the most patient woman in the world. God only knows how he's survived this long!"

With that, she stalked off. Josh, smiling, turned back to look at Donna, who had a very stern look on her face.

"Joshua…"

"Donnatella…"

"Why is everyone giving you evil glares?"

"Jealous, I guess. I mean, look at me, I'm quite da man!"

"Seriously."

"Seriously? What, I'm not quite da man? Is that what you are saying?"

"You've been at it again, haven't you?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Donna noticed Matt walking behind them. "Congressman…"

He turned backwards, making sure to give himself some distance between his bare hands and his campaign manager. "Take him home Donna before things get ugly. If I see him anytime in the next three days, one of my agents will shoot him. Seriously, I've had volunteers." With that, Matt turned back around and jogged off toward his kids.

Donna looked back at Josh, who was still smiling at her stupidly.

"You didn't hear a word he said, did you?"

"Absolutely. I heard him tell you to take me home. That's an idea I can definitely get on board with!" With that, he released his grip on Donna, retrieved his bag from the ground and made his way around the car.

"Josh…"

"Donna, please, I'm starving, among other things…"

"JOSHUA!"

"And all I really want to do is go home and lock the door and not come out till very late tomorrow morning. You okay with that?"

He broke out the dimples while saying all that, so she was putty in his hands.

"Get in the car, Joshua."

He smiled at her and got in the passenger side. She slide into the driver's seat and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before heading out toward Georgetown.

"What's for dinner?"

"I've got turkey in the oven at home."

Her referring to his apartment as home made his stomach flip flop. He loved that feeling and he knew there was no way he could let her leave at the end of the semester. A plan started formulating in his head.

"Sounds fabulous. Home made?"

She just gave him a stupid look and turned back toward the road. He laughed and watched her watching the road.

Josh dropped his bag by the couch as Donna went in to the kitchen to check on the food. He followed her and took a big whiff of the turkey currently warming in the oven.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his nose in the back of her hair. "I didn't even realize that thing worked."

She just giggled and let her head lolled back onto his shoulder so that he could have completely access to her neck. He hit the spot behind her ear and she whipped around and assaulted his mouth with hers.

As she worked her way down his neck, he finally managed to ask what he had been thinking – "how long will the turkey hold?"

"As… long… as…needed" she said between long kisses on his neck.

Without another word, he bent down and pulled her up into his arms. She continued her assault on his neck as he carried them back toward the bedroom.

It was 8:30 before they finally ate the food. Donna, in a pair of Josh's boxers and his dress shirt, carried a tray with turkey, bread, green beans, and beer back into the bedroom. They ate communally, forgoing separate plates. Josh told her all that had happened in the last month. Donna told Josh about her new job and the associate professor who kept trying to talk her into going out with him, which in turn had Josh lunging for his phone to have CJ sic the FBI or IRS on him. Donna was only able to talk him down by telling him how she just 'happened' to mention who she was currently dating. Apparently this professor was friends with several aides on the hill and knew all about the Lyman wrath for trying to go after his assistant, so the invitations to dinner quickly stopped after that last conversation. This made Josh smile.

They spent the night lounging in bed, yelling at Bruno on CNN, yelling at Haffley on MSNBC and watching the current chick flick that TBS was showing over and over again.

As they settled in for the night, Donna molded herself to Josh's side, tucking one arm under his shoulder and throwing the other over his stomach. She seemed to fall asleep as soon as the lights went off, so Josh had time to enjoy just being with her. It didn't seem fair that he only got this for three days, but he knew that the election was in a month and then… well, then he planned on having this every night and waking up just like this every morning, cause God only knows how he managed to live so long without living with her like this.

TBC…