Author's note: Ok two chapters left, after this one! AHHH! Will Donna tell Josh? Won't she? How will it all end? By the way isn't anyone impressed that my stories keep getting shorter? Huh? No more 44 chapter stories any more. The point of this chapter is that everyone is caught up in the moment, so there won't be any flashbacks. (You'll get the WHOLE story next chapter) Same deal with the last chapter, there's smut at the end and if you want it, I'll e-mail it to you. By the way there's a lot of Poker reference in this story. Curse you Celerbity Poker Showdown and your highly addictive qualities!

Thank you for all the feedback, I love you guys!

Donna's POV

He wakes me with kisses on my neck. I'll admit there are worse ways to wake up. He pulls me closer to him as I give a small moan to inform I'm no longer sleeping. I roll ever so slightly into his body and smile up at him, "Morning."

"Morning." He kisses my forehead. "Did you sleep ok?"

"Never better." I nuzzle into his chest.

"Me too." He arms wrap around tighter, "Wanna hear my game plan?"

"Sure."

"It's called…"

"You named it?"

"Sure, what's a plan without a name? Anyway it's called, "Try to keep Donna naked and in bed for as long as possible." Sound good?" He smirks and his dimples make their first appearance of the day.

I kiss him on the lips quickly, "Sound good, but there are some flaws."

"Such as?"

"You have a poker game today."

"Who cares?"

"I'm going to an art auction."

"Who cares? Stay here with me."

"You're going to have to do better than that." I cross my arms around my bare chest. He takes this as a cue to start moving his hands around my body, my waist and my legs. Meanwhile his mouth is furiously kisses and sucks on my breasts. I start to feel waves of heat crash over my body.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I swear to God I'm going to kill who's at that door.

Josh looks up at me with a similar sentiment, "I swear to God I'm going to kill who's at that door." He starts to search for his boxers and pants and tells me to stay put; we're sticking to the plan.

Josh flings open the door, "The ship had better have crashed into an iceberg or something."

Jefferson blinks at Josh for a second, "An iceberg in the middle of the Caribbean sea?"

"Yeah, hence the emergency of the situation." Josh bites back. "What do you want?"

Jefferson rolls his eyes, "You know I've got my black belt in four different martial arts. I'm capable of being a lot more than just a messenger." He really does, he could mess Josh up if he really wanted to.

Josh is bouncing a little; his impatience is starting to show. "What is it?"

"Sam wants to know if you are going back to the island to help him pick out a wedding gift for Ainsley." Josh groaned for a second as if he remembered something and looks back at me, eyes filled with disappointment. I give him an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, I'll go with him."

Jefferson nodded and handed Josh a small canvas bag, "Here, this is for Donna." He looks past Josh's shoulder and smiles at me, "so she doesn't have to do the walk of shame back to her room. Took my advice huh?" He calls to me.

I laugh back at him. "It was the only advice I liked."

Josh looks at me confused and then turns back to the agent. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, your cell phone rang like seven times last night and I want to come with you when you go shopping."

Josh runs his fingers through his hair, "could I stop you if I really wanted to?"

"Nope." Jefferson shakes his head.

"Welcome aboard, I'll see you at 10:30." He shuts the door and heads back towards me with the bag in hand.

"I guess there was a change in plans?" I pull at his hands and he sits on the bed looking guilty.

"I'm sorry, I forgot I promised Sam. And I need to go shopping for Santos. He needs a gift for Helen, you know, a "Please don't kill me, but I'm going to run for President and I really need your support and here I got you this really pretty necklace" gift." I watch him as his eyes stray towards his backpack where is cell phone is most likely hiding.

I sit from the bed and start to grab my bag, he looks at me wide eyed and horrified, "Where do you think you're going?"

I point to the bathroom, "I was going to take a shower."

He shakes his head violently, "No we had a plan. We're sticking to that plan until it's time for me to leave."

I pout a little, "but you already broke the plan, besides I smell like funk."

"I thought that was me." He smiles shyly.

"Well you do too."

"New plan, you take a shower, I'll order us breakfast, then I'll take a shower, and after we are clean, neither of us will leave the bed until its time for me to leave. Deal."

"Someone's going to have to open the door for the room service."

"Fine, I'll do that, but you can't put clothes back on until five minutes before its time to leave. Deal?"

"We'll see." I call to him as I head into the bathroom.

"I'll win! I always do." He calls back but I ignore him. I put on my brave face for him, but the truth is I only have a small window of time left with him. Is it so wrong to want to spend it alone, naked on his bed? Logic says I should tell him, it would be like a band aid, rip it off fast, the stinging goes away soon enough. If I tell him, he'll understand why I don't want him to go. Why I want, no need, to be selfish about this. Of course if I tell him about Hoynes and the truth, well, he'll know. I'll be able to tell in his eyes, he'll see me differently, weak and pitiful. So I take the coward's way out and decide to tell him at the very last second. We debark at ship at 9:00, I'll tell him at 8:59. Perfect!

Sort of.

Josh POV

I hear the water running, splashing on her skin and suddenly I miss her. I order breakfast; Donna seems like a French toast and some fruit salad kinda girl. Taking advantage of these few minutes I have by myself, (honestly the only reason why I'm not in the shower with her is because the showers are freakishly small), I check my cell phone for messages.

1 from my mom hoping I'm having a good time. – If she only knew.

4 from Amber reminding me about sunscreen and various meetings I have when I get back.

1 from Matt Skinner asking me to pick up a shot glass for his collection.

The last one is the only one I return. He picks up on the third ring, "Hey Boss."

"Hi Josh. How's the trip?"

I look at the bathroom door, "best one of my life."

"The boys miss you terribly; they won't stop talking about your souvenir. You'll never guess what it is."

"Is it that Mickey Mouse hat with ears and the name "Uncle Josh" embroidered on it?"

Silence, then finally, "Act surprised. Hey, since Helen's sister lives thirty minutes away from the terminal, the family decided to pick you and Sam up tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Gee, nothing sounds more fun then flying back to DC with your boss, his wife and his two kids still buzzed about meeting Daffy Duck."

"Donald Duck."

"Whatever."

"Josh did you pick up Helen's "Please don't kill me gift" yet?"

"Not yet." The shower stops. Awwww! She's drying off and I'm missing it!

"Amber packed some pictures of jewelry I think Helen would like. Be sure to bring those with you."

"Yes, Congressmen."

"What about you? Are you bringing home any souvenirs for yourself?" Donna walks out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, her hair stringy and wet, his skin still pink from the hot shower.

"Yes, sir. I think I am. See you tomorrow." I hang up the phone and head over to her, kissing her lightly. She must have brushed her teeth while she was in there.

She sits on the bed and pouts, "Josh I'm getting cold."

I take my cue and wrap my body around hers; she's getting the sheets wet but I don't mind.

I look at her for a second and something about the way the light and the water reflects a line on her forehead. A scar. "Donna where did you get the scar?" It must be new, I don't remember seeing it at the Ball, on the other hand I was quite drunk.

She touches her forehead for a second and looks up at me with a smile, "street fight, I had to kick some Republican ass."

"That's my girl!" We talk for a few minutes while we look at the jewelry selection provided by Amber and Santos. Donna and I both agree on the ruby and diamond necklace, it was the least hideous out of the group. She asks about Amber. "Amber's my assistant, and she's quite insane, really. She stuck by me when no one else would. I don't know if is loyalty or out of fear of the unknown but year after year she hangs in my doorway yelling at me and making sure I'm on time for all my meetings."

"You think she might me in love with you?" Donna bats her blue eyes at me.

I can't help but laugh, "No, you're more her type then I am."

"Oh."

"Yep."

Breakfast comes and we talk and eat while sitting on the bed. Conversations that once felt so strained with Amy become uninhibited with Donna. We talk about kids, not ours or anything, but the idea of children. For brief seconds I imagine what our children would look like. I should be terrified but strangely I'm not. She forces me to take a shower. I can't blame her, I do sort of stink. When I come back out she's curled up on the bed, surrounded by the down comforter. Everything about her is light; alabaster skin, blond hair. The only aspect of her that is dark is her blue eyes that follow me as I enter the bed.

At one point I should mention how totally comfortable I am around her, being naked or clothed, it makes no differences as long as she's near.

She teases me as I try to seduce her. Tick tock, we really don't have a lot of time. I smirk at her and before I can stop the words coming flying out of my mouth, "I could make an honest woman out of you."

She freezes, then eyes me up and down, trying to figure if I'm joking. Honestly, I'm not sure myself.

She shakes her head, "Nope, I can't. I promised myself my next wedding wouldn't be rushed or happenstance. I want a wedding album, flowers and a white dress." I start to smirk a little she rolls her eyes, "Off white than."

"Are you saying your first wedding wasn't planned?"

She shrinks a little and rests her head on my chest, hoping to play the cute angle. It works. "Kevin and I were in Vegas and he had just won a lot of money; we were drunk and had been living together for about a year. It made sense at the time."

What a jackass. I truly hate this guy. But I turn my attention to more pressing matters, "So all you need is a white dress, a photographer and some flowers? I'm sure all of that can be arranged." I'm trending on dangerous ground here.

"I need my mother too." She says with certainty.

"Sounds fair, my mom would kill me where I stand if I got married and didn't tell her. Although she could make peace with it as long as it wasn't Amy." Donna scrunches up her face, disgusted. She really doesn't like Amy.

Donna rests her head on my shoulder and draws small circles on my chest as she changes the conversation from my marriage proposal to Santos. She asks me about my winning strategy. I tell her it starts with a year of fundraising before heading into the primaries. She smiles at me, encouraging me to speak, ramble on. We argue over tiny flaws in my plan. (Which, by the way, she's right about. But I can't let her know that) my cell phone beeps.

Donna reaches for it, "I set it. We have to get dressed now." Cell phones have alarms? Who knew?

I squeeze her tight and whine, "Nooo."

"You want your boy elected right?"

Again I whine, "Yes."

"Well, he can't do that if his wife kills him first, right?"

"Right." I admit defeat, as she reaches out of the bed and throws my boxers at me. Getting dressed is considerably less fun the undressing.

Sam and Jefferson knock at the door as Donna is putting her shoes on, and I'm buckling my belt. I give her a quick kiss, but she lingers for a second touching my arm, not wanting to break any sort of connection. Sam tells her Toby will need her to edit Bartlet's inauguration speech. They never give her a break, do they?

We leave the ship one more time and head through the fake streets. The cruise line has taken great strides to make its passengers think that the island was once inhabited by a great and forgotten race. The company also wants us to buy as much crap as we can.

Jefferson tags along, not saying much. He's trying to work up the courage to ask me something. Something Donna related most likely. "Mr. Lyman…"

"Josh." I correct him again; here's my clue that something's up. Normally when people call me "Mr. Lyman" they're going to ask me something uncomfortable.

"Josh, can I ask you some questions?"

"I couldn't stop you if I tried."

"When did you know Hoynes was a bad guy?" Jefferson's voice was low and unsteady, not the cocky guy I met earlier.

I stop to think over the answer, "When we got into the office, it took me six months to get the whole picture." I look around at the passing tourist, "but you knew sooner didn't you?"

He doesn't answer, just kicked a rock a few feet a head of him. "You didn't have any inklings before than?"

Sam catches my eye; he's asked the question before but never got a straight answer. It's hard for me to admit the truth about Hoynes but I do it anyway. "I missed my father's funeral because Bartlet won the Ohio Primaries and Hoynes wanted me to rework the campaign strategy."

Sam looks away, confirming his long suspicion. After all, he made it to my father's funeral and I didn't. Neither of us says anything for a while until Jefferson continues his questions.

"Did you do all the things they said you did after you got fired?"

I shake my head violently, "First of all I quit; I wasn't fired. Second, it wasn't like I wasn't expecting the mud throwing. It's the first rule of politics, "Blame the other guy." It goes double if you are doing something you don't want anyone else to know."

Jefferson looks at me confused, "I thought the first rule was, "Don't shit where you eat."

"There's a lot of Rule Number Ones. But to answer your question, I didn't give the President false information about Kundo or China or any of the other places he sent or didn't send troops. I didn't sleep with the Brazilian Ambassadors daughter, I'm not that lucky." Damn she was HOT! Sam chuckles a little. "I did screw up the gun control bill and I didn't get the right guy on the Supreme Court's bench. But out of nearly six months of bad mouthing me, I figured they would make up more then what they did."

"But they ruined you in politics!"

I shrug, "I'm like Tigger I'm good at bouncing back." Clearly Matt's kids have had an influenced my life more than I thought.

"You must have known about the other women? What made her so special? Did you quit because she was on Bartlet's staff?" Jefferson eyes me up.

It wasn't because it was CJ. I shake my head and start becoming more honest with myself and others, "No, it wasn't because she was on Bartlet's staff, it was because Hoynes bragged about it." Sam stops and stares at me. He's not used to me talking so freely about Hoynes and a part of him is probably disappointed I didn't tell him first.

In a hushed and anger filled voice Sam whispers, "He bragged about it?"

I say nothing but nod. Sam does that thing he does when he's pissed, but doesn't speak. We head into the jewelry store. We all go to different corners of the store to focus on different items. I spot Helen's gift, something for my mom, and Amber likes dolphins so I'll buy her that dolphin pendent thing. Oh Hello! Well, this is nice.

The sales clerk goes over to Jefferson who's looking at diamond rings. "Can I help you sir?"

Jefferson looks up nervously, "Um I'm looking for an engagement ring." The clerk immediately shows him to the most expensive and over priced rings they have. Poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance.

I walk over to Jefferson, throw my arm around him and smile, "couple of quick questions for you…Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Will she be there when times are tough?"

"She's been with me through the toughest." He says with certainty. I smile at him then at the sales guy and glance at his name tag, Guy, his name is Guy. "Hello, Guy, I was wondering how you could help my good friend Jefferson out. See if you're willing to give him an excellent deal on this ring right here, I'll make sure you get the commission from the four items I'm going to purchase and whatever my friend Sam buys as well." The sales clerk becomes flustered. Sucker.

Donna's POV

CJ and I are milling around the art work, admiring the masterpieces and originals. I rub my arms, still chilled by my earlier encounter. I'm staring at a Charles Lee on canvas when Jefferson comes bounding up to me. "Hi Donna, look what I got!" He takes out the black velvet box and hands it to me. He's got great taste; square cut one caret with two side stones.

I nod with approval, "Tessa will love it."

"Josh picked it out, and he got Guy to sell it to me below cost." Wow Josh picked it out. Damn he does have good taste. Jackson stands behind me, checking out the ring. It must be our combined body language that makes Jefferson ask, "What happened?"

I look around the room, half expecting Josh and Sam to show up any second. Jefferson tells me they went back to their rooms to drop off their recently purchased items. It gives me a few minutes. As I open my mouth Jackson speaks, "She got recognized."

Jefferson rubs his head and sighs, "I just don't get it, and I didn't even recognize you when you dyed your hair! Was everything ok?"

I nod, "yeah it was an elderly couple from the Midwest. They said they supported me during the investigation and admired my courage. Still, I would rather go back to being a nobody any day of the week."

Jefferson and Jackson both understand. CJ points out that Sam and Josh are back and the conversation is quickly dropped. Josh waves at me; my stomach flips in the way only he can make it flip. He struts a little bit with a cocky smile, the "I know you're checking me out "sort of smile. He watches Jackson out of the corner of his eye as he gives me a quick kiss. He tells us Toby's already set up the table and he's waiting for the others to come to register. He looks at me asking if I really want him to go. I don't think he really wants to play poker either and he's looking to me for an out. I really don't want to be one of those clingy girls after sex, so I tell him to beware of pocket Jacks, they've always burned me in the past. He blinks at me and agrees, clearly not expecting me to know as much about Poker as I do. I wish him luck and he says it's in the bag.

The boys leave and CJ, Gina and I take our seats. The auctioneer informs us about the rules, why it's better to buy at sea, why Parkwest can give its customers the best values, blah blah blah. I check my watch, like five times, and my foot doesn't seem to want to stop tapping.

Gina leans over to me, "Hey, Donna, you planning on buying anything?"

"Nope."

"I'm assuming you haven't told Josh the truth yet. Right?"

"Yep."

"And you still haven't figured out if you're going to continue this relationship once you leave the ship, right?"

"Yep."

"So you have sixteen hours until we leave, right? What the hell are you doing here listening to some British chippy talking about artists that aren't even going to die any time soon?"

CJ and I make eye contact for a second and I bolt out of the art auction.

Josh POV

Seven hands, and I'm down by twenty dollars and Jackson the chip leader. For a second, eyes leave the cards and the chip stacks as a new presence comes behind me. I sense her before I feel her fingers scratching at my hair. I look up at her, "Hi Donna."

She beams down at me, "Hi, you getting lucky?"

Toby scoffs, "subtle, Donna."

I reach up and touch her arm, "I'm trying."

"Smooth, Lyman." Jefferson says as he raises.

"What's up, Donna?" Sam asks as he calls Jefferson.

"I'm bored." Her pout could be used as a weapon, then a coy smile, "Do you want me to tell you all of Toby's tells?"

"DONNA!" Toby yells.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you do that," frowns the dealer.

She huffs. Jackson is the one who suggest she plays Rolette with his money. So the bets go as such.

Jackson: $20 on red

Sam: $20 on evens

Toby: $20 on Zero

Jefferson $ 20 on the 18-36

Me: $20 on seven. (It would be our seventh date-I'm counting this morning as date number six) She beams at me.

Donna leaves and the hand resumes, Sam wins with a pair of kings. Five more hands are played, Jackson winning two out of the five taking a massive chip lead.

Donna comes back, sheepish. "Hi guys. You lost."

Sam's mouth hangs open, "All of us."

She shakes her head, "No, Josh and I won. Seven, black."

The table is still for a minute. Glares are shooting my way. "So we won."

Donna nods, biting her lip. She moves her hand down to my leg. I'm wearing cargo shorts and she opens the side pocket and places my winnings in it. She kisses the top of my head and states she's going back up to her room, maybe something will be more entertaining there.

I turn my head to watch her leave. I touch the bulge in my pants. No, not that one. Ok, money, lots of money, a plastic room key and something soft and silky. Oh MY GOD! Her underwear. Her underwear is in my pants pocket.

"ALL IN!" I bellow.

The dealer blinks at me, "Sir, I haven't finished dealing yet."

Deal damn you!

Sam smirks at me, "You're blushing Josh, has something changed in the last few minutes?"

"No! Are going to go bet or not?"

Sam frowns and folds. I push all my money in and restate that I'm all in.

I look around with pleading eyes. "Toby, you're going to call me, right?"

"So you can go bang my former assistant. I think not. Besides, you haven't even looked at your cards yet."

Jefferson folds.

Oh shit! It's Jackson. "Keep in mind, Josh, I'm only calling you because I want your money and it's safe to assume when you see the delicate Donna that you will be talking about foreign trade agreements, right?"

"Hell, yeah! Nothing sexy about trade agreements," I nod so fast my head feels like its going to fall off.

Jackson matches my bet and we flip over our cards. Me, a pair of twos hearts and diamonds, him, a pair of aces. YES!

The flop: Seven of hearts, nine of diamonds, ten of spades.

YES, YES,YES! I'm going to see her naked!

The turn: five of clubs.

I can't stop smiling. My leg won't stop shaking.

The flop: two of clubs.

What? Huh? I hear the cries of dismay? Is that me? I won? How the hell is that possible? I turn to the dealer. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

The dealer shakes his head. " No, sir, but really I'm starting to think it's a good idea because she's a lot younger than you are."

Sam and Jefferson start to roar.

Toby bits back his laugher, "Now, Josh don't be that asshole who goes all in for every hand."

The dealer starts dealing and says something kind of odd, "you know she looks like the brunette who was on TV a lot last year."

Jefferson looks at his cards, "yeah, she gets that a lot."

I sink down for a second in my chair. I kind of feel like crying a little. I'm stuck here and I'm chip leader.

Donna's POV

Two hours, what the hell is taking so long? Here I am sitting on my bed, trying to look as cute as possible but my mood is rapidly fading. I pull my eyes away from my book when the door opens.

"What the HELL, JOSH!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sooo sorry." He's pleading with me. His hair looks like he's been running his finger through it for a while. "I kept winning!"

"Didn't it occur to you to lose!"

"I tried, I went all in on a pair of TWO's. Come on, there was no way I could have won. But I did! And I kept winning. Even when Sam went out I asked the dealer if he could switch places with me. He wasn't allowed." He crawls over to the bed.

I find myself smiling, "a pair of twos?"

"Yep. I really tried, honest." I scoot over on the bed so he can join me. "What have you been you to?"

"I've been catching up on my reading. It's a funny book, I was thinking of getting the author to sign it. Do you think Sam would do that?' Josh's eyes grew wide and horrified as he reaches for the book he wrote, but I yank it out of the way.

"Donna, don't read that."

"Why not?" I'm smiling and laughing so much my face is starting to hurt. He flops on top of me and tries to reach the book again.

"Because it's stupid." The book switches hands, just out of his reach.

"No its not, there are tons of little nuggets in there… I didn't know you got a goldfish on the dean's list."

"Yes I am a fascinating man," he sighs and grabs the book out of my hand and throws it across the room.

"Why'd you do that?" I stare at the book.

He strokes my hair and looks serious, "Donna, if there is something you want to know, ask me, don't read about it in a book."

I touch his face and he presses into my hand a little harder. "Deal." Our lips touch. Yep, it's been too long since we did this. "You know, if there was anything you wanted to know about me, you could just ask." Sort of a mood killer, but I wanted to give him a chance. It seems only fair.

He wiggles his eye brows, "are you really not wearing any underwear?"

A coy smile, flirty eyes and in a husky voice, "why not check for yourself?"