1.

"Josh."

Josh jerks his head up from his desk to see Helen Santos poke her head into his office.

"Mrs. Santos," he says, starting to stand to greet her. She rolls her eyes at his formality and waves him off.

"Helen," she reminds him. "Please, sit."

"Did you need something?" he asks, as he's pretty sure the president already left for the day. He glances down at his desk, trying to figure out if he was supposed to meet with her about something. His assistant is already gone for the day, so he frowns, puzzled.

"Go home, Josh," she tells him. "Donna clocked out an hour ago."

"Oh," Josh stammers, glancing at the clock then back at his desk before briefly meeting Helen's eyes and then looking back down to his desk again. "I'm just-"

"Hiding?" Helen teases, eyes shining in amusement and revealing that she knows too much.

"I'm not hiding," he insists stubbornly. "I'm… working."

"Matt is on his way to the residence now," she informs him. "He promised Peter he'd throw the ball around with him before it got dark."

"I'm just-" Josh begins.

"Hiding," Helen finishes again. "Go home, Josh. She's not going to be any less mad at you if you hide out here all night."

"I'm not hiding," he insists again.

Helen smirks. "I know we haven't known each other that long in the scheme of things, but the past year and a half has been such an intense whirlwind that I think it counts for a lot. I know you. You're hiding. Go home."

With that she leaves him to ponder his thoughts, gently shutting the door behind her. He looks at the clock again – it's early, by White House standards, but the Santos White House is a lot different than the Bartlet White House was. They don't work as many late nights – maybe, because a lot of them have priorities outside of work now: the Santoses with young children, Sam with a fiancée at home, Josh who has Donna. Sure, the sit room keeps them late (a lot, lately). It's a new administration and they're still finding their footing. Even though many of them have been here before, it's an entirely different experience with a different president and different staff. There are late nights when they're working hard trying to get something through Congress. But it's not as unusual as it would've been in the Bartlet era to get home at a somewhat reasonable hour sometimes.

Donna's mad at Josh about several things – at least two of which, he's not sure – but hiding in his office (working, he reminds himself – not hiding) is probably not the best way to solve the problem.

So, he arrives home and Donna looks up at him from the couch in surprise. She may have clocked out early, but she's got her laptop on her lap and she's clearly working on something for work given the look of intensity on her face.

"You're home early," she notes, her tone even. He can't tell if it's surprise or disdain in her voice.

"Yeah," he says, clearing his throat. "You're mad at me."

She quirks her eyebrows at him. "That Ivy League education wasn't for naught," she deadpans.

"So, y'know, I figured – I should come home?" he asks it almost as if it's a question, as if he needs assurance this was the right thing to do.

Donna is somewhat amused now, but she isn't going to let him know it. Sometimes she gets a kick out of how new he is to all this. How in the past he'd probably just avoided facing a conflict with a girlfriend and instead let a few days pass and never mention it again, hoping the conflict had simply dissipated. Now he's stuck though – because he lives with her and, God help him, he's actually trying.

"To fight?" she asks, more to confuse him than anything.

"To apologize?" he clarifies, holding out the bag of food he's picked up on the way home which, she knows, is maximum effort given his security detail.

"Okay," she says. "I'll give you points for coming home instead of hiding at work, and points for bringing food."

"So, I'm forgiven?"

She smirks. "Let me see what you brought, first."

He hands the bag over to her, and she grins. It's her favorite Chinese place and he definitely gets points for that. She also has to give him points for knowing her order, right down to the spring rolls she likes. This is still sort of new for her, too, and she hasn't realized he's been paying that close attention to her (though, really, hasn't he always?).

2.

"Hey. I'm going home," Donna says over the phone after Josh's assistant puts her through.

"Huh?" he says, suddenly distracted from the briefing memo he'd been skimming when she called. "What? Why?"

"I think I'm getting sick," she informs him and he can hear the congestion in her tone. "I have a sore throat, my head is killing me, and I don't want to get anyone sick. Helen has Miranda here today."

"Oh," Josh says, sitting up straight and removing the phone from between his ear and shoulder to hold it properly, trying to recall if Donna had seemed sick at all that morning.

"So… I'll see you later," she says and hangs up the phone while he's busy lost in his thoughts trying to figure out if he should have noticed she wasn't feeling well that morning before they came to work.

He has a meeting at 3 but it ends earlier than he expected and he's back in his office by 4 where Sam is briefing him about his meeting on the Hill.

After that, he doesn't really have anything pressing to do. He frowns and wonders if maybe he should… go home early? He does have some things he could get started on to make tomorrow a little smoother but… if his fiancée is at home sick, shouldn't he go home?

He steps into the Oval and explains to the president that Donna's sick and he wants to go home and check on her. Matt grins and give him his approval, a look on his face of pride as if Josh has finally gotten something.

Donna's asleep when he gets home, so he wonders if maybe it was silly to come home and check on her. He doesn't want to wake her up, so he putters around the apartment quietly, not even daring to turn on the TV to check CNN. Instead, he opts to read through the briefing memo from his office that he still hadn't gotten through.

"How long did I sleep?" Donna asks from the doorway to their bedroom a little while later, blinking sleepily and startling him from his thoughts. "What time is it?" she frowns, looking around. If Josh is home, it must be later than it seems, but she can't imagine she slept that many hours.

"It's only 5:30," Josh informs her, putting down his briefing memo again.

"What are you doing home at 5:30?" Donna wonders.

"You're sick."

It dawns on her that he came home to check on her and she grins. "You didn't have to do that."

"I was worried about you."

She smiles again. "You shouldn't be here. I'm contagious. This is probably the one time you should've stayed at work," she laments, the practical side coming out.

"Do you want soup?" he asks, ignoring her, getting up and going to the kitchen to rummage through the cabinets. "I think we have the canned stuff. You know, I should get my mother to send her homemade chicken soup recipe."

She's amused now. "You think you can cook homemade chicken soup?" She has to admit, she'd been surprised that he can actually cook – simple things, like pasta or eggs. But she thinks homemade chicken soup might be a bit outside his comfort zone.

"Sure, can't be that hard, right?"

She laughs because she can see he's totally serious and sits down on the couch with her blanket wrapped around her. "I love you."

3.

"It's not a big deal, Josh," Donna insists as she pops in an earring and glances at herself in the mirror before looking for her shoes.

"If it's not a big deal, then why are you going?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I'm the one getting the degree. And Annabeth is practically forcing me to take the day off and go because she thinks it's good press that the first lady encourages her staff to further their education and supports them in such endeavors."

"It is a big deal, though," Josh whines, standing up from the foot of the bed and pulling her to him, putting a hand on her hip. "You've waited for this for years."

Donna shrugs. "It's an online school, I've never met any of these people I'm going to see today, I honestly wouldn't even want to attend if Annabeth hadn't talked me into it. I get the degree one way or another."

"What are all those people going to think when your husband isn't even there?"

She rolls her eyes. "The people that I don't even know, who don't even know I have a husband who isn't there?"

"But-"

"I'll just let them know he's the second most powerful man in the country and he's got more important things to do today."

"Donna."

"Josh," she mimics, kissing him gently. "I love that you care, really. It's no big deal. We'll celebrate tonight," she adds, raising an eyebrow.

An hour later, Josh is sitting in his office staring at the clock. He keeps hearing Donna's words from the morning in his mind on a loop. "I'll just let them know he's the second most powerful man in the country and he's got more important things to do today."

He calls for his assistant to get him Sam on the phone.

"Can you cover my meeting with Douglass today?"

Sam is floored. "What?"

"Douglass. I have that meeting about the education bill-"

"The meeting you've been trying to arrange for months."

"Yes."

"The meeting you spent all week last week preparing for."

"Yes."

"The meeting you were so busy preparing for you fell asleep in your office last week and Donna was pissed at you because you didn't call her."

"Yes," Josh says again. "Can you cover it?"

"Yeah, I can cover it," Sam says nervously. "You can't reschedule?"

"No, his schedule is jampacked. He could barely give me this hour today, he's off to Michigan this afternoon for some sporting event. If we don't meet with him today it'll never happen in our timeframe."

Sam finally asks, "Is everything okay?"

"I just have somewhere more important to be."

Sam raises his eyebrows. "Josh?"

"Donna's graduating today," he finally tells him and he hears Sam let out a breath of understanding. "That's more important."

"Yeah," Sam finally agrees. "Yeah, it is."

Josh rushes to the event center and slides in just in time to catch the presentation of the graduates. Secret service is very unhappy with him for this last-minute change of plans in a busy event center and Josh's insistence that they rush there, but they make it work (especially since they had already vetted the venue for Donna).

Afterwards he spies Donna talking to someone so he makes his way up to her and slides an arm around her waist, surprising her. She jumps momentarily and then see its him and he sees the absolute disbelief on her face.

"What are you doing here?!" she gasps. He nods hello to the woman she was talking to. "This is Harriet," Donna tells him. "We took some classes together. We talked a lot online but never met before today!"

"You're the chief of staff to President Santos," Harriet says. "I've seen you on TV."

"Sometimes I also go by Josh," he jokes as shakes her hand.

"My husband," Donna clarifies, beaming with pride.

He kisses her on the cheek and adds, "Who wouldn't be anywhere else today."

Harriet nods and finishes her conversation with Donna before slipping away.

She should be surprised, but this is the same man who flew halfway around the world with the clothes on his back when he heard she was injured and he was just her boss then.

They'd acknowledged to each other years ago that sometimes their jobs would take priority.

"You're here," she says and he can see how much it really does mean to her. "What about the meeting with-"

He pulls her to him and kisses her gently and says, "Nothing, nothing is more important than you."

4.

"Donna's in labor!"

Ronna crashes though the door and the entire Oval Office, including the president, the entire senior staff, and the Ambassador to China, goes quiet.

Josh suddenly scrambles to his feet, searching for his phone in his pockets. "What?!" he asks Ronna as he continues to check his pockets for his phone, which he's had on him at all times, every day, for the past week since Donna went on maternity leave.

Everyone watches him in silence. Ronna, seemingly embarrassed at her entrance, looks down at the note in her hand that she'd intended to casually slip to Josh.

Josh looks to his office off the Oval, door barely cracked open but now remembers seeing his phone clear as day, charging on his desk – what was he thinking? He jumps up to run for it when he realizes where he is and what's happening. Do you run out of a meeting in the Oval Office with the President and the Ambassador to China when your wife is in labor? He feels like labor trumps all that, but then again – he's chief of staff and the Ambassador to China is here. He freezes and looks to the Ambassador, to the President, to Sam for a moment, then back to his phone again before it appears that he's thinking about quietly sitting back down.

Sam's eyes are wide and Lou is gawking at him in shock. He can read her expression, it says something like Dude, what the hell are you doing, get out of here!

"I'm sorry, I-" Josh's not sure what the etiquette is for this situation and looks to the president, who's simply grinning at him.

"I'm sure I speak for us all, including you, Mr. Ambassador?" he asks, gesturing to him with outstretched arms and raised eyebrows in confirmation, "When I say please get out of here."

And Josh is gone.

Later, after Donna yells at him about not answering his phone and then yells at him for the pain she's in, then cries to him about how perfect their little baby girl is, he tells her the story.

She's laughing as she imagines Ronna's entrance into the Oval Office, Josh's paralysis at what to do, she can hear Matt Santos's words clear as day. They all love her, she knows. She gets a little nostalgic thinking of this scene unfolding where she used to stand quietly in the background taking notes for Josh during senior staff. Never would she have imagined when she first stepped into the Oval Office in her twenties, gawking at how beautiful it was, relishing in the history there, taking in how awe-inspiring it was and how she felt she didn't really belong in there – that one day the announcement of her going into labor would become part of its history.

"I never want to go back to work," Josh gushes, running a finger over the baby's small hand, wanting to be with Donna and their daughter every moment of his life.

She laughs. "You know you don't mean that."

5.

It's noon when Josh returns to his office when his assistant stops him. "Josh, Leah's daycare called. She's running a fever."

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to see he has a missed call from the daycare, and three texts from Donna who is stuck in a meeting on the Hill and clearly got the same call as he did and probably snuck away to text him about picking up their child.

He quickly heads to the Oval to ask President Santos if he can take off for the day, even though it's barely noon.

"Of course," President Santos tells him without hesitation.

"We have that meeting with Senator McGill-"

"Sam can cover it," the president says. "He's well versed on that meeting. You go get your little girl."

Fatherhood is important to Matt Santos, and he and Josh had bonded over their shared experience once Josh became a father. Josh is already racked with guilt that his child has been sitting at her daycare, sick, for more than two hours while they try to reach her parents. He knows that Donna is probably a minute away from walking out of her meeting to go get her himself so he stops to text her he's on his way to get her.

"Thank you, Sir," he says to the president. "It's probably another earache and she's probably been miserable all morning. Donna's on the Hill with the first lady. Sometimes I feel like I'm really half-assing this parenting thing." For the most part, it works. They've made this far and Matt and Helen Santos have been extremely supportive in helping to make it work. After Kazakhstan resolved, the late nights in the situation room were far less. Late nights still happened, though, and some days he barely sees his family and he hates it a lot more than he ever thought he would.

"You know, Josh," Matt Santos smiles at him with an understanding smile. "They're only young once. I blinked and my kids were preteens with attitudes."

Josh chuckles, knowing it's true – he's watched Peter and Miranda grow up himself. "Don't I know it."

"No one would hold it against you, you know," Matt claps a hand on his shoulder, as if he can read his mind, "if you wanted to step back."

Josh huffs out a breath and looks at the former congressman he had drug out of retirement and into the White House. Now, what? He's just going to leave him here? "I started this."

Matt grins, his eyes shining. "You got us here," Matt corrects, gesturing at the office. "You got us here, and we've accomplished a lot. You've put in your time. You've brought in a strong staff. No one said you had to serve the whole term. Now me on the other hand…" he teases with a laugh.

It's like President Santos is forcing him to face what's been gnawing at his gut lately. He wants to finish out his final years in this administration, he really does.

He just wants to be with his family more.

"Josh, from the minute I found out that that vacation you took to Hawaii with Donna, I knew I'd lose you to her eventually." His eyes show nothing but appreciation and admiration. "And f¬or good reason."

A few more years in the Santos White House would be just that– a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things - and soon they're going to be in that lame duck stage where nothing can get done as they're on their way out. But a few more years being present in his two-year old's life counts for a lot.¬

He knows Donna is in a meeting right now, distracted and worried about her child instead of focused on her meeting and he wants her political career to be the priority, now.

Not to mention if he's going to convince Sam to be president someday, he should try his hand at chief of staff for a while.

It's funny how he'd started out his road to the White House – a campaign staffer with an ambition to work in the White House. He and CJ and Toby and Sam and Donna had grown up together, through the campaign trail to the White House and through the majority of the Bartlet administration. They spent most of their days and lives together focused on their jobs, their jobs being their life and helping each other through. Then he came back with the Santos administration – he and Sam and Donna all more experienced, more grown. With the Santos staff they grew up, too – this time into husbands and wives and parents, a different journey with another found family supporting them along the way. Like now, when Matt Santos can tell what he really wants to do for his family even if it means losing his chief of staff

The first administration, he was in love with his job.

The second administration, he was in love with Donna.

(Okay, maybe that was actually true for both administrations.)

6.

Josh has just arrived in the lecture hall for his 11am class when he gets the phone call from Natalie's school informing him that she's in the nurse's office with a fever.

He hangs up and immediately packs up his things that he's just unpacked, scrawling out a class cancelled notification to put on the door before calling the dean to let him know.

On his way out, two students he recognizes from his class are sitting in the hall reading over notes and they high five when they see the notice.

For a moment, he imagines trying manage something like this at the White House.

Not that they would still be in the White House, anymore, anyway (nor would he want to be any part of this current administration he thinks as he grumbles to himself). But he takes a look at Donna's life and career and schedule and he knows that any life in politics wouldn't allow him to up and walk away in the middle of the day this easily to go pick up his sick child from school.

He knows Donna has a slow day today so on his way to his car he shoots her a text.

Congresswoman, you have two constituents that need a ride home from school today. Please advise if your schedule allows.

He can practically feel her rolling her eyes at him when his phone rings and he explains the situation to her. If she's busy he can always take Natalie to pick up the other two girls, but he figures he doesn't need to drag her around town sick if he doesn't have to.

"Daddy!" Natalie says when she sees him, but he knows she's truly sick by her droopy eyes and the lack of enthusiasm.

"Mr. Lyman," the front office assistant greets him. "Sorry about pulling you away in the middle of the day, but she's got a fever of 101."

"And I threw up!" she announces proudly. "In the trash can."

The assistant nods her confirmation and he grimaces. "Sorry about that," he says to the office staff. "We'll get out of here. Let's go, kiddo."

At seven years old she tries hard to be grown up, but she crumples into Josh's side as he puts his arm around her and whines, "I don't feel good."

"I know, Baby," he agrees. "Let's go home."

+1

His classes are in the mornings Monday through Thursday and his latest class always ends by two, so that he can be available for the girls after school.

A regular day includes picking them up from school, helping with homework, and usually refereeing an argument or two. In between he tries to prepare for his own classes.

Leah's sitting at the kitchen counter working on her homework. It won't be long until they officially have a teenager on their hands, and Josh isn't sure how to take that. She listens to her music through her headphones while she taps her foot in time with the beat while she works on her math homework. She's completely Donna except she has his dark brown hair. Donna always insists that her stubbornness is his, but he (stubbornly) disagrees.

Natalie and Isabella sit at the dining room table doing their own homework. Natalie is supposed to be doing a writing assignment but at ten years old she's a champion at procrastinating and is trying to master some fad about twirling her pencil. Isabella is supposed to be reading so Josh can sign her reading log, but she's really just been chattering the whole time and hasn't moved past the first page. She's seven years old but reading at a fifth grade reading level, so he doesn't worry too much. Josh is looking at his computer and ignoring the stack of papers he has to grade next to him.

"When's Mama coming home?" Isabella asks.

Josh glances at the clock. "Soon."

"Can we have ice-cream?" she follows up.

"No. I'm going to make dinner soon," Josh assures her.

"Yeah, I have to write about why my parents chose my name for homework," Natalie adds. "So… I can't really do this until Mom gets home. I need to ask her."

"You can ask me, you know –" Josh deadpans. "I was there, too."

"I can wait for Mom," Natalie insists. "I can just go watch TV until-"

"Sit," Josh admonishes her without looking up from his laptop.

"My name has the best story behind it," Leah announces, making it clear she was listening to them the whole time despite the music. "I'm named after three people."

"That's not fair!" Isabella insists with a frown. "Who?"

"My first name is half after Uncle Leo and half after Grandpa Noah. Le-ah. And obviously my middle name is Joan after Aunt Joanie," she says with pride. "Also, the sitting President of the United States held me when I was born."

"Big whoop, me too," Natalie clarifies with a roll of her eyes. "But not Bella," she takes a jab at her sister.

"What? No fair!" Isabella announces again, her indignant attitude clearly inherited from her father, as well as most of her features. She's ready to fight for herself at a moment's notice which probably comes from her being the youngest.

"Alright, alright!" Josh jumps in. "Everybody relax."

"How come the President didn't hold me?" Isabella doesn't relent.

"He held you. He just wasn't the current president anymore when you were born."

"Wait. Are you talking about Tio Matt?" Isabella frowns. "That's it? That's who they're all excited about?" With that everyone laughs and Leah rolls her eyes in amusement.

"Maybe next year when Uncle Sam is president you can ask him to give you a piggy back ride," Leah soothes her baby sister.

"We're not jinxing it," Josh reminds her.

"Everyone working hard in here, I see," Donna teases as she breezes into the kitchen. She grins at Josh and gives him a kiss before plopping a kiss on the heads of the two younger girls. She knows better than to try and plant a kiss on her eldest anymore, so she runs a hand over her arm and gives her shoulder a squeeze in greeting instead and Leah gives her a smile in return.

"Mama, who am I named after?" Isabella demands.

"My grandmother," Donna tells her.

"Hey!" Natalie whines. "This is my assignment, not Bella's."

"Your middle name is after a woman we used to work with in the White House," Josh tells her. "She died in a car accident."

"And Natalie means 'The Lord's Birthday' or 'Christmas,'" Donna adds. "Because it was a turning point for a lot of reasons that Christmas your father went to Houston and-"

"Convinced Matt Santos to run for president," all three girls finish in chorus.

"Do we tell that story too much?" Josh asks.

"I want to be named after grandma," Bella pouts. "Or Grandpa Jed."

Donna explains, "Jewish tradition says you don't name children after people who are still living."

"You know that Jewish religion is passed down through the mother's side," Leah interjects. "You're not Jewish."

"I guess we'll stop celebrating Hanukkah, then," she feigns seriousness and all three girls immediately groan and voice displeasure and Donna smirks, knowing she won the debate, catching eyes with Josh in amusement. "I'm going to make something for dinner," Donna declares.

"I was going to do that," Josh insists.

Donna chuckles as she starts rummaging through a cabinet for pans. "No. Grade your papers. No more procrastinating."

Josh grumbles, Natalie -ever the procrastinator herself – raises her eyebrows at him in understanding and Leah snickers at the exchange as she closes her folder, finished with her homework. "I'll help you, Mom."

"Did anyone feed the dog?" Donna asks.

"I'll do it!" Natalie volunteers, ready to jump up.

"Sit," Josh admonishes again. "Do your homework."

Bella pipes up again. "Daddy, can you come to my play on Friday? I'm a tree."

Without an ounce of hesitation Josh replies, "You bet."

Notes:

Okay, so. I've officially fallen into the girl dad Josh Lyman head canon and there's no going back now.