Brotherly Emotion 5

Mmk…here's the deal with the Donna meets Kate thing. Last year, I didn't watch the West Wing. At all. Because it was bad. Thanks to everyone who told me that they had already met—willing suspension of disbelief for everyone else.

Will and Kate left, waving and looking between Josh and Donna uneasily. "I'm going too," said Matt, staring at his shoes, "And just so you know, if I were to make a comment about sexual tension right now, I'd be talking about you two."

They stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Donna, tired and at the end of her rope with Josh finally broke the silence. "Well?" she demanded.

Startled, he shoved his hands into his pockets and attempted to look blasé, "Well what?"

"You're unbelievable!" she said, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"Well," he acknowledged, smirking.

"No," she said, stabbing him in the chest with her finger, "Don't do that, Josh. You've been a complete and total asshole to me, this entire campaign. You clearly don't think I'm qualified for my job, and you've spent the past forty eight hours obsessing about a relationship that I don't have with Will! You don't get to smirk and try to bring the banter now. It's not that easy."

"What do you want from me?" he asked, throwing his hands in the air.

"An apology would be nice."

"Fine," he said tightly, "I'm sorry that I've been treating you like my assistant. I assure you, it hasn't been intentional. I'm tired and strung out, and as you may have noticed, you're not the only one I yell at right now."

"No," she interrupted, "I'm not, but I'm the first one you yell at."

"Right," he conceded, "Should I continue?"

"Please," she said, a small smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.

He took a deep breath, started to speak, and blew it out in a sigh. "Donna," he said abruptly, running his hands through his hair in frustration, "If we're playing true confessions and I'm going to apologize for everything I've ever done to you, could we sit down somewhere? I'm tired, and you probably are too."

"Yeah," she said, her gaze softening, "Come on, Lou's office has a couch."

"Lead the way," he said, gesturing her forward.

"Harvard and Cookie Monster are on the move," the Secret Service agent standing near the door said as they passed. Donna paused mid-step to glare at him, "Am I ever going to get a code name that makes sense?" she demanded.

Josh snickered when the guard didn't answer her, making her turn the glare on him. "I'm still mad at you, Joshua," she said.

Donna flopped on a desk chair as soon as they entered the office, motioning Josh over to the couch, "You were saying something about true confessions?"

"You sure you want to do this?" Josh asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, "Because once this is all out there, Donna, we can't take it back."

"We can't keep going like this, Josh," she said, sighing.

"Fine," he stood abruptly, "I'm in love with you. I have been for quite some time now, and yeah, I didn't want you to leave me, Donna, but not for the reasons you think. I just…couldn't deal with you leaving me. There was always something, you know? There was never an action-free moment when I could sit down, look at my future without you and not see myself collapsing. So it's out there now, Donna, and I can't take it back," turning and looking at her, pale and trembling in the half-light, he smiled a little at her obvious shock, "How's that for a change of topic?"

Donna stood on trembling legs and walked to him, silent on the couch, heart in his hands, "It's a nice change of topic, Josh," she said, sitting beside him," It so happens that I'm in love with you, too."

"Donna?" he said, turning her head to face him, "I'm going to kiss you now, and then I'd really like to leave this office, and not return for about twelve hours."

"Okay," she smiled, "But we're going to be late for work tomorrow."

"Ask me if I care," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her. It was a nice kiss, soft and deep, and Josh tried to remember when he had felt better in his life. Maybe not ever, he mused, as a lack of oxygen forced him to break the kiss, and he rested his forehead against Donna's. Smiling, Donna got up from the couch and held out a hand to him. He grinned up at her, dimples flashing as he took her hand and followed her home.

"Where's Josh?" Matt yawned as he threw himself into a chair the next morning.

"Don't know, don't care," Lou answered, breezing into the room and setting a folder down in front of him, "But I'm thinking that it's no coincidence that I can't find Donna this morning, either."

Annabeth was laughing uproariously as she and Leo strolled in. "Hold on a sec, Josh," Leo said into his cell phone, "I think that Matt and Lou should hear this too." He pushed the speaker button and set the phone down on the middle of the table.

"Aww, come on, Leo," Josh whined through the static, "Do I really have to do this again?"

"Josh," said Leo, wheezing as he laughed, "Really, everyone should hear this."

"Fine," Josh said petulantly, "Donna and I won't be in to work today. We have food poisoning."

"I don't know, Josh," said Matt, smirking at Leo, "You sound healthy enough to me."

"What are you people, doctors?" Josh barked into the phone.

"Josh," said Leo, wiping tears of laughter off his face, "Repeat for Matt and Lou exactly what you told me this morning."

"Leo," Josh pleaded.

"Oh for God sakes, Josh," they heard Donna say in the background.

"Fine," said Josh, "But you should all know I'm only doing this because Donna's not wearing much right now."

"Josh!" Donna screeched.

"Yeah," he snickered, "If I go, you go. Here's the deal: We're not coming in today. On the record, we have food poisoning, and off the record, I talked Donna into playing hooky because, really, eight years? It's ridiculous, I know, but I spent eight years being in love with Donna and having to be completely hands off. Goodbye."

They heard the phone click off, and Leo broke the silence, finally managing to gasp out, "It was funnier the first time, mainly because Josh kept on trailing off midsentence—Donna was being, distracting, shall we say?"

"Eight years," Matt whistled, "Yeah, I think we can give them the day. Lou, start the meeting."

THE END