Brotherly Emotion 2

The next morning, everything was back to normal. Annabeth fought with Leo, Leo fought with Josh, Josh fought with Lou who was backed up by Donna, and Matt watched the whole thing with a bemused I-can't-believe-I-hired-these-people look on his face…all in all, back to normal, Josh thought. There was something that he couldn't put his finger on though—something in the air. There was a small smile lurking around the corners of Donna's lips. They settled back into the meeting they had abandoned the previous night, this time with a little more energy. They stayed on task for the first hour, but the wheels came off the wagon at around nine.

"Josh," barked Lou, practically stabbing him with her pen, "You're a complete moron."

"Thanks," he smirked, than turned back to the group, "So you all agree with me?"

A muffled squawk came from the corner in which Leo and Annabeth had sequestered themselves, and Annabeth waved her hand, writing frantically. Leo gave a long suffering sigh and said, "Annabeth would like to speak, once she's finished her thought process. What she would like even more," he looked pointedly at his thigh, "Is to stop clutching my leg like that. Annabeth, the conversations going to continue without you whether you like it or not. My leg is not the conversation brake."

She gave him a withering glare, then turned to the group and said, "Actually, I agree with Lou."

"Me too," said Donna, tapping her pencil on her legal pad.

"What else is new," Josh said snidely, "Matt? Your thoughts?"

"Well," said Matt, grinning and folding his arms across his chest in what had become known as his"pre-long speeches pose", "I'm so glad you asked, Josh."

"God please no," muttered Lou into her folded arms.

A cell phone beeped and they all dove for their phones. "Ha!" said Donna, emerging with a vibrating piece of plastic. Noticing the Congressman's raised eyebrows she said hastily, "I mean, oh know…better get this though. It could be a member of the press telling me that Vinick's been spotted making out with his assistant or something."

"Donna?" Lou said quizzically, "Isn't Vinick's assistant a man?"

"Exactly," Donna smirked, sashaying out of the room.

The meeting broke up fifteen minutes into Matt's pontificating, much to everyone's relief. Leo and Annabeth left to catch a plane, and Matt went to a meeting with his security advisors. Lou gathered her files, told Josh that she was going to go get something to eat, and left. When Josh left the room, he saw that Donna hadn't left. In fact, she was standing by the window at the end of the hall, giggling into her cell phone. "You didn't…oh my God…Will, you are so brave…just went up, right like that?" Noticing Josh, standing and staring at her with a highly attractive glare on his face, she turned and said, "Will, I've got to go. We'll catch up more tonight? See you then," and snapped her phone closed.

"More catching up?" Josh asked mildly.

"Yeah," she said, smiling affectionately, "So much has happened since Will and I last really spoke, you know?"

"It's been what, a month since the Russell Campaign broke up? How much has happened?"

Donna abandoned all attempts to be civil. "Josh," she snapped, yanking her coat on and stuffing her cell phone into her bag, "What is your problem?"

"My problem?" he looked taken aback.

"Yes your problem," she swung her bag over her arm and glared at him, "What do you have against Will. He gave me a job—a good one! He's my friend! What's your problem with me talking to him?"

"I don't have a problem with you talking to him!"

"Then why make snide comments about 'catching up' and thanks so much for bringing up that you won and I lost—again. As if you don't remind me of that enough already."

"Whoa," he said, holding up his hands, "I don't have a problem with you being friends with Will. I also didn't think that you and Will Bailey were on a level where you hugged and held hands and whatever, but far be it for me to judge, and I do not remind you about me winning and you losing all the time!"

"You don't have too!" tears welled in her bright blue eyes, and she took a step back from him, "It's in the way you talk to me, Josh. You yell for me to get you files like I'm still your assistant, and make Bingo Bob jokes every single day. If you want someone's opinion on an issue, you literally ask everyone else in the room before you ask me—even if it's press related! You make it clear, every single day that you think I should still be your assistant, content to type up your notes and organize your desk." A sob tore from her throat, tears skating down her cheeks as he stood shocked and rooted to the spot, "You don't think I should be here, Josh, and you haven't exactly been subtle about it."

"Donna," he said, reaching for her, but she shied away.

"Don't," she said, "I have some calls to make, Josh, and then I'm going to go find Lou." She turned and walked down the hall, leaving him broken and bewildered behind her.

In the wake of all that had happened, Josh found that he couldn't move, couldn't breath, and couldn't stop staring at her back.