Author's Note: Howdy guys. Ok there is a lot of stuff going on in this chapter. Tons of revelations. I hope you like it. Thank you so much for all the feed back. I don't think this is my best work and it's wonderful to hear (read) that people are enjoying it.

EVENING

Leo was beyond livid with Josh and Will refused to speak to the offending person. Leo's anger was filled with threats, "I swear to God if you ever speak to her like that again, I will crush your soul." Josh looked at Leo with doubt, "First I will call CJ, then Toby, followed by Abby and Jed. When you are getting for mercy I will call Sam and when you want to die, I'll call your mother."

Josh heart dropped to his stomach, "She would kill me! My mother LOVES Donna!"

"At least one of you does." Will jeered under his breath. He was furious for a much different reason. Three years ago he would have asked Donna out, but three years ago it was obvious her heart and soul belonged to another. Besides, for nearly two and a half years he had been working on a speech. The speech was handed down to him from Sam, who started it back on the Bartlet for America Campaign about two months after Donna returned from her hiatus. Toby had put his own elements into the speech over the years. The greatest speech written by the three best speech writers in the country would never be heard. Sam was supposed to read it at the Lyman Moss wedding.

Will comment make Josh body stop functioning. No one had ever been so blatant or honest about his relationship or lack there of with Donna. No one had ever said those words aloud, and it killed Josh that it was a Sam rip off who did it.

Will waved to who Josh thought, was Helen Santos, she was the only blond he know that could stand so poised and confident in an evening gown and talk on her cell phone at the same time. But when she turned around, it was a vision so familiar and yet alien. It was Donna. She was wearing a light blue evening gown and she seemed to glow, apparently it was a new dress. He wanted to study the vision that was twenty feet away. Try to find the features he had once memorized and known by heart. Donna had aged, no that's not the right word, matured. She was no longer the sweet innocent girl who hired herself. She was different and Josh wasn't sure how it felt about it.

"J!" Amy called out to him across the hobby of the hotel. He flinched and would rather be talking to, looking at, being with Donna. But it was too late; Amy had leeched herself to his arm. "I haven't seen you much today. Busy?"

"I was trying to convince Santos to stay way from Bill 473 and reading campaign plans."

"Really? Did you read any for Mrs. Santos?" Her voice was smooth like silk as she searched for a compliment.

"Yeah I read two, one was close to perfection and the other was amateurish."

Amy put her hand to her mouth, "Oh, you know Donna did write one, that's probably hers."

Josh peered down at Amy, hoping she would squirm or at least realize her fatal flaw. "Um, I don't know. But the one about Getting to the White House without Killing your Husband was really innovative."

Amy didn't even bat an eye, "I worked really hard on that." Josh simply smiled and led her out the hotel door into the limo.

Of course Amy's second fatal flaw was that Donna, Will and Ronna were all within ear shot. Will and Ronna wanted to launch an attack that would rival America's attack on Japan, but Donna held them back.

"It isn't sporting to fight Amy." Donna said as if she had all the wisdom in the world. "You never need to fight her, she always self destructs."

The fundraiser was in middle swing when the guests of honor arrived. The members of the crowd often wondered what the people said to each other as their faces were plastered with smiles and their hands were busy clapping.

Will applauded until his hands hurt, and with a huge grin he whispered to Donna, "Look, Usher is a modern day poet, he states quite eloquently what all men are thinking and wanting: 'A lady in the street and a freak in the bed.'"

Donna with an equal smile, "this is why I am not calling Kate for you."

On the far side of the stage Josh's plastic smile was about to crack, it had been a rough day, and before he could control the words he whispered to Amy, "You're looking awful sluttly tonight." He knew at the moment there was every little she could do to react.

"Go to Hell."

"You first."

Mathew Santos kissed his wife on the cheek and waved to the crowd, "When did Chevy Chase stop being funny?"

'This is the stuff you think about? You do know you are running for President of the United States? Right?" Her smile growing wider, as the father of her children took the podium.

The fundraiser went as expected, people laughed, handed over their wallets and so forth. At one point Josh crossed a crowded room to speak to Donna, she however avoided his eyes.

He placed his hand on her back and she moved from the touch. Josh pulled back instantly realizing, never in eight years had she ever done that. She couldn't even look at him, infuriated by every event of the day. He pulled his hand away and leaned in, "quick question for you. Did you write a campaign plan for Santos?"

Their eye met for in instant before she answered, "No, I wrote one for Mrs. Santos but you would probably find it droll and common." The ice of her words clung to the air as she turned away to speak to a stock investor.

Something was wrong, Donna could feel it. Someone, who should have been here, wasn't, but she couldn't place the name or face. If someone was missing that meant something was happening. And if something was happening it was happening in the District of Columbia. Donna kept scanning the faces hoping something would click, but it didn't. The laughing and the alcohol was getting to be too much, to many instant visions, blends of recognizable and familiar with the alien and new. She nodded to what the male investor comments, giggled at his jokes, her mind was on about twenty other things, and honestly, and she didn't even notice his hand on her shoulder.

Josh did.

Josh walked through two circles of people to be by Donna's side. "Donna, the congressmen needs to speak to you."

Donna blinked at Josh a few times; unsure of whom she was looking at. He had done this for her before, he had run interference, pushed off some sleazy guy, tons of times. This was the first time he couldn't hide his anger in doing so. Donna looked back at the investor, "Um, if you will excuse me."

It wasn't until she walked away and she felt the other man's hand pull away from her shoulder that she understood by Josh was livid. She felt like she should have said something to Josh, anything, from "go to Hell I can take care of myself," to "thanks." But instead she said what was really bugging her, "Doesn't it feel like someone's missing from this event?"

Josh shook his head, "no I don't think so." But he started surfing the crowd with his eyes. Shortly they were joined by Will who shared Josh's outrage of a misplace hand and Donna's concern about who ever was MIA. Will added, "I think its Levin."

Josh disagreed, "no I saw him here."

"Gledhill?"

Donna thought for a second, "his assistant is here."

Josh started at her, "but not him."

By the time Santos had made his way over to the crew, Josh was already on his cell phone asking Ned, who was stuck, on baby sitting duties. "Ned, turn on the Red Sox game, I need to watch it for a few minutes. No I don't want the score, tell me if there is an empty seat behind home plate." Josh started pacing. "DAMN IT!" Three pairs of eyes watched Josh, "Livingston has season tickets for the Red Socks and he isn't there either."

"Aren't they on the committee for Bill 473?" Santos questioned.

Josh glared but didn't respond. Will observed, "If they are moving on this tonight we need to know."

Before Josh could finish saying, "I'll call Toby or someone," Donna had her phone out.

"Cliff? It's Donna Hi!" She smiled and fawned on the phone, she couldn't bare to look at Josh as she sold herself. Will tugged at her arm, his eyes begging her not to do this. She shook it off. Cliff would know what was happening, and he was the only one who would tell her. Problem was, there would be a price. "So I have a quick question for you." She giggle at his pathetic joke, "no, silly." She cringed as she said it. "Do you know if congress is trying to push Bill 473 through tonight?"

There was silence on the other end of the line then: "Donna you know I can't answer that."

She closed her eyes and placed her palm to her forehead and tried a different tactic. "You know what? Never mind. So what would you say if I asked you to dinner?" Josh nearly dropped his cell phone, which she didn't see, since her back was still to him.

Silence again. Donna prayed Cliff knew the code.

Finally an answer. "Yes."

"Great!" She sounded too eager. "I'll give you a call when I get into DC. I'm looking forward to it." She hung up the phone and turned back to the men. "Congress is making a move tonight. Congressman, if you want to kill this bill, it has to be now."

Santos nodded. "Ok round up the troops, we sent half of us working on this and the other half works the party, and we switch every five minutes. Nice job Donna."

She smiled at the approval but still felt dirty. Will didn't even look at her and Josh appeared to be staring through his shoes.

The plan was set and Donna went to tell the rest of the troops.

Twenty minutes and four staff switches Santos was left with the following facts:

The bill was going through

The Republicans green lighted it when the democratic Presidential Candidate spoke out against.

The only way to stop it is if he could wrangle up more people who didn't support the plan.

Pulling the same stunt as Operation Sleepover wasn't going to cut it.

They needed time and it wasn't something they had.

No one knew when Chevy Chase stopped being funny.

Josh had been cold calling every ally he had made over the last 10 years. Will called all of Josh's too, he didn't have any of his own. Ronna had shift had ended and it was Donna's turn to call.

The idea popped into Donna's head five minutes ago. She tossed it off at first, but the more she thought about it, it was the only choice the campaign had to put an end to the bill. They needed time and a filibuster was the only way to get it. She felt sick thinking about the call and before it happened she needed to be sure she was doing this for the right reasons.

"Josh?" She peered deep into his eye, searching for a truth that can only be found there.

He covered the mouth piece of his phone. "Yeah?"

"Is Santos a good man?"

"Yeah."

"Is he the real thing?"

A tiny proud smile crossed Josh's lips. "Yeah."

"Does he want this for the right reasons?"

"Yeah."

"How much time do we need?"

"An hour maybe two."

Donna nodded and took a deep breath in, "I can get that." Josh and Will looked at her confused. Santos and Leo walked into the out cove that had been set up as the head quarters as Donna picked up the phone.

The phone rang twice before someone picked up. "Andi?" Donna questioned and waited for the response, "Hi! Its Donna. Just calling to give you a quick hello. How's Huck and Molly? Pre School? Wow they're getting so big."

Leo pointed to Donna and questioned Josh, "What is she doing?"

Josh watched her intently, "I don't know."

"Hey, I've got a favor I need to call in." Donna rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke. "I need you to run to some interference with a Bill 473, right now." Donna waited for Andi to stop yelling at her.

Sure Andi was pissed, it was 8:30 she just got the kids to bed, it was going to be her first night without work for a while. A bath, bubbles and a trashy novel, were all in the works and nothing was going to tear Andi away from this, as she violently told Donna.

"You owe me this. We switched SUV in CODEL. You were sick of the driver hitting on you. Half way through the first day you asked me to switch."

Josh's entire world came crashing down, and seemed to land on his chest. She wasn't even supposed to be in the SUV. It was supposed to be Andi. The blood drained from his face and concentrated in his feet.

"Andi, I went through three months of physical theory and you got to watch your children go to pre school today. You owe me this."

Andi agreed and gave up her bath. Donna closed her cell phone and turned to Santos. "You've got your time, use it wisely." Dumbstruck he only nodded.

She wanted to, no, she needed to leave. The horror filled look on Josh face, Leo and Will's disbelief, all of this was making it hard to breath. She turned back to the party.

Josh pulled on her arm, "Donna." One word, after eight years, one word was all he could say. Honestly there were too many words jamming up his brain now, causing a back up, and her name was the only one could make its way into his mouth. He squeeze her arm, he wanted to pull her in. But she pulled away.

She gazed at his sadly, "not now." He wanted to talk, she knew he did. She wasn't ready, and after avoiding the subject for nearly a year, didn't want to talk about it right now. "You have work to do." She let her hand fall to her side.

A part of Josh died as he watched her walk into the crowd. This blond, this woman, was not his Donna. This Donna used her near death experience to gain political leverage. She was different, stronger. And very much like someone else. Amy. His Donna had died in CODEL and resurrected as Amy.

Two hours into trying to take down this insane bill, Josh finally admitted a level of defeat. This is not entirely true, he knew he had lost when Donna got off the phone with Andi. He knew it he just wasn't ready to aspect it. To make matters worse, it was Amy's shift.

Josh swallowed his pride, he started thinking about updating his resume, after all once he confessed his idea, and Santos would surely fire him. "Vinick."

Santos, Leo and Amy glared at him. "What?"

"If you want to kill this bill, Vinick is the only way to do it."

"How do you know?" Santos questioned.

Josh didn't answer.

"How do you know?" He repeated.

"He hasn't come out for it because he doesn't believe it."

Santos didn't repeat his question; his icy glare did it for him.

Josh sighed, closed his eyes and continued, "Vinicks' wife. While Preventative medicine might not have saved her life, it would have extended it. But their insurance didn't cover it and she wanted to save money for his re-election campaign. There is no way he personally supports this bill."

Santos didn't speak.

Josh shifted his weight from side to side. "I know I should have told you, but you don't believe in oppositional research."

"His wife?" Santos finally spoke low and hoarse, imagining himself in Vinick's place.

"Yes."

The congressman started to rub his forehead, "you tried to talk me out of it."

The campaign manger admitted, "I know. You have to ask yourself how much you want to this bill dead. If you call Vinick, the bill ends, but I won't let you campaign on it."

Amy bellowed, "Why the Hell not! Vinick might pull the trigger, but we were the ones who line up the shot and loaded the gun. There is no reason why Santos couldn't campaign on it, especially if we win." In case anyone was wondering this was Amy third and final fatal mistake.

Leo spoke evenly, "He shouldn't campaign on it, because it is dirty politics, a man's wife died, and he had probably been spending the entire day figuring out how not betray her memory and not angry his party at the same time."

A horrifying conclusion entered Santos' mind, "Amy, did you know about his wife?"

"I knew she died." Amy waved her hand brushing away the idea.

Santos' mouth barely moved as the words filled with angry left his mouth, "DID. YOU. KNOW?"

Amy looked to Josh for support, it was useless. She looked at Leo and received a similar look. She looked intently at Santos. "Yes."

"Get out of my sight." Santos hissed. Amy returned to the party with the stench of failure clinging to her.

Josh rubbed the back of his head. "Amy's was right, this was your work, but if you call him, I refuse to let you campaign on this. The job is full of sacrifices. This is one of them."

Santos scoffed, "really Josh what you your sacrificed for this life?"

Josh looked out into the crowd, "you have no idea what I have sacrificed and lost." He walked out and was swallowed by the crowd.

Leo placed his hand on Santos' shoulder, "you really won't understand him, until you hear the Epic tale of Josh and Donna. But you have a choice to make and maybe even a phone call."

Five minutes later Amy approach Josh looking remorseful and pitiful. As she opened her mouth, Josh spoke, "Don't even try it Amy. Don't call me J. Don't even attempt to kiss up to me. I don't know if you still have your job, hell I don't know if I have mine. But if it were up to me I would have fired you the instant you took credit for someone else work." He brushed passed her.
Santos finally found his wife and started to dance with her. For half the song neither spoke. For now all he wanted to do was hold her, cling to her, and never let her go.

Helen was the first to speak, "Amy quit."

"Good. I called Vinick." Mathew spoke evenly.

She nodded. "Good."

To the outside observer the following comment might sound out of place. But Helen knew it was haunting his husband's mind. "Did you know Donna was the White House aid that was in the terrorist attack in CODEL?"

"Yes."

"She told me she was in a car accident, but I never thought… Did you know she used to be Josh's assistant?"

"Yeah, Leo told me."

"Did you know Josh flew to Germany to be with her?"

This seemed to shock Helen; Josh Lyman had a human heart? Unbelievable. "That doesn't seem like the Josh I know."

"I spent a lot of time tonight thinking and the only person I would fly half way around the world and miss the first days of a peace talks would be you. And I am never going to sacrifice you. No matter what."

The music had long stopped but Matt continued to dance with his wife. Pangs of jealously hit two on lookers as they watched a life they could never have.