Okay, I didn't edit this, so excuse all the stupid little mistakes.

I'd like to thank: CAIA, KURSK, MISS JASADIN, SOOZY87, and WWFAN25 for reviewing my last chapter. I appreciate it so much.

And, also, I'd like to give a lovely little shout-out toeveryone who has reviewed this story, ever. You all are amazing for taking the time out to tell me whether or not this thing sucks:)

This was quite a treat, since very rarely did it happen.

Very, very rarely.

Very rarely did Donna ever walk into Josh's apartment --- or her own, for that matter --- and find Josh in bed, asleep. Usually it was the other way around, with Donna leaving earlier than he was, going home, and getting into bed. More often than not they left together, but there were those days where she just couldn't stand to be at work for one more second.

But tonight was different. Tonight was a night where she came wandering in the door at 3:45, and Josh was sound asleep.

She hadn't been out partying, going astray, or doing any work. In fact, she was at home watching TV with Josh when her cell phone rang.

"Whose phone is that?" Josh asked. "Yours or mine?"

Neither of them moved. Today had been a pretty long day, and even the thought of getting off the sofa was excruciating.

"Mine." Donna groaned, but didn't budge. The phone rung two more times.

"Are you going to get that?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's probably just someone calling for you because they couldn't manage to reach you at the office, or on your pager, or on your battery-dead cell phone. So, my cell is next in the line of succession."

"That still doesn't rationalize my getting it."

"Jooooooooosh. I don't want to move."

"Neither do I."

"Well, one of us ought to be adult."

"I can tell you right now it's not going to be me. No one's ever called me adult in my life. I'm more juve---"

"OKAY, enough, enough," Donna said, interrupting his long rant and getting up to walk over to her purse and pull out her phone. She flipped it open without looking at the caller identification.

"Donna Moss," she sighed into the phone, lifting one arm above her head to stretch.

"Oh, hey Ainsley."

Josh immediately sat up and turned his attention to Donna, staring at her. She reciprocated his glance with one that plainly said Yes, I don't know what's up either.

"Oh, really? Okay. No, no, that's fine Ainsley. Yeah, I'm happy to. No, you're not interrupting anything. No, you really aren't. Josh'll forgive you. You're fine. The whole thing's alright, and I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Yes. Just don't --- I don't know, don't drink anything. Don't mess up your thought process or anything like that. Just stay calm. I'm gonna be there in a little while, okay? Okay, see you soon."

Josh was concerned. Ainsley and Sam were supposed to go out on a date that night --- had something happened to Sam? Ainsley? Did the date just go so totally, totally wrong and crush both of their dreams for a life together, house in the suburbs, and their two children, presumably having the names Joshua and Donnatella, since their namesakes had their parents get together?

"What happened?" He asked.

"Ainsley's --- she's ---" Donna was having some trouble articulating the situation at hand. "Ainsley's wigging out, Josh."

"She's what?"

"She's wigging out."

"Over what?"

"Her date with Sam."

"What, did it go really badly?"

"I'm… not quite sure."

"You're not quite sure?"

"I think --- I think it went well. She wasn't speaking coherent English."

"So you're going over there?"

"Yeah. She needs to talk to someone, or else she's going to go insane."

"Should I call Sam?"

"Yes, but he's probably going to try to call you anyway."

"But my phone's not working."

"Yeah, but Sam will follow the order of succession again, but bypass my cell phone because he wants to have a man to man chat without any interference of women."

"What's next in the order?"

"My land line phone."

"How is it that you have devised a monarchy for phone calls?"

"I don't know. It's a good allusion."

Donna walked over to the door to throw on her coat and slip into her shoes.

"I'm not sure when I'm going to be back, so don't wait up for me. Seriously. Sleep. It's good for you."

"Okay."

She grabbed her keys, shut the door, locked it, and started off on her way. Donna couldn't begin to fathom what had made Ainsley act the way she was acting.

Actually, no, she could. The first time she and Josh had actually gone out on a date --- well, Donna freaked out. It had gone perfectly and was simply magical; sweet, innocent, and much like a regular first date should be, albeit they had already had sex. But, that night, it was a simple kiss goodnight at the doorstep, and a See you tomorrow. Then, upon entering her house, Donna broke out into a little happy dance, and left a message on her sister's answering machine, saying that what they referred to as "the thing that we always talk about but really cannot talk about because it's more scandalous than we could ever believe" had happened.

So, it really wasn't that far off that Ainsley would call Donna and tell her the news. Especially when it was because of Donna --- and Josh --- that Sam had asked Ainsley out. Plus, Ainsley had to keep the news of their dating somewhat under wraps. If she called any of her other, well, Republican friends, chaos and mass hysteria would ensue. C.J. would be getting hammered at the podium, the administration trashed, and everything that Josh and Donna had accomplished with their relationship would disappear in the blink of an eye.

So, yeah, it was definitely better that Ainsley had called Donna at 2:00 in the morning. It was also a good thing that Josh was swamped with work. On a normal, less tiring night, the two would probably be engaged in a certain activity at that hour, or sleeping after doing that certain activity.

Donna walked over to where Josh's car was parked and got in. It was, quite literally, a two minute drive to Ainsley's apartment, but who in their right mind was actually going to walk down the street at 2:00 AM when they could be safe in a nice car? Plus, Donna didn't get to drive it much. It was a fairly special event.

The streets were actually pretty deserted. Donna figured as much, as very few people stayed up as late as she and the rest of her co-workers did on a week night. It seemed almost eerie to have her neighborhood be this quiet, but the lack of traffic was certainly not a turn off. In record time, she found a parking spot (a miracle in itself), walked to Ainsley's apartment building, and rang the buzzer.

"Hello?" Ainsley said, answering Donna's ring.

"It's Donna. Can you let me in?"

Instead of a reply, the door was buzzed, and Donna walked into the foyer.

Ainsley's apartment building was very nice. It was no where near as pretty as Josh's townhouse, but it had its charm. Compared to Donna's first apartment in D.C. with her two roommates, Ainsley's building was a palace. In comparison to her current living environment, it probably surpassed it by a small margin. The elevator was definitely a nice thing.

Donna pressed the button, and the doors opened instantly. Sam must have been the last person in the elevator, she thought. Otherwise, it would probably be stuck on Ainsley's floor. Donna extended her hand and punched the button for the seventh floor. It was late night gallivants like these that made Donna really wish her own building had an elevator. Well, that, and the fact that they can be wonderful places to make out. She had some experience with that.

The doors opened, and she walked the twenty feet down the hallway to Ainsley's door and knocked quietly. She was sure that the rest of the residents were probably sleeping, and there was no need to wake people up.

She heard Ainsley's footsteps approaching the door, and the door was opened quickly, and Donna was pulled inside.

"Hi," Ainsley giggled.

"Um, hi. Why did you pull me in here?"

"I didn't want to wake up the neighbors. The people next door, they're this really annoying old couple that honestly wakes up with the slightest amount of noise. I couldn't risk you making them get upset outside the apartment when I might just scream for joy in here!"

Donna's eyebrows were raised to the ceiling. What the hell was going on?

"Ainsley, have you had anything to drink?"

"No! No," Ainsley replied, defending herself, "but I did have some wine at dinner. But, no, no, Donna I'm not drunk on alcohol. I'm drunk on something else."

Donna knew what was coming next.

"Oh, my God, no, don't say it."

"Yes. Yes, it's true. I am drunk on something far more potent than any kind of wine. I am drunk on---"

"Ainsley, don't say it!"

"I'm drunk on love! Love, Donna! I'm drunk on it. I've tasted its sweet, sweet nectar, and I'm never going to stop! And you know who it is that has given me this wine?"

"Sam."

"Yes! Sam! And, he probably got some help from the chardonnay that was at the restaurant, but, I'm mostly drunk on love, Donna! Wine could not produce such an effect!"

"Ainsley, you know you sound absolutely ridiculous, don't you?"

"But whatever could love be ridiculed over? It is the most amazing feeling in the whole world. It is the reason for existence! Without love of human kind and nature and laws and NASCAR and beer and life nothing could ever be accomplished!"

"Yes. Yes, I do know that love is important."

"And, I know I'm drunk, but I've never felt so enlightened in my entire life! And, that's a pretty big deal, you know. I have a law degree from Harvard. I've learned a lot. I've been enlightened on many subjects. But, tonight, tonight I have learned so much more than any school has ever been able to teach me!"

"So, the date went well?"

Ainsley grabbed Donna's hand and ran over to the sofa with her. Donna had been standing in the hallway watching Ainsley dance around explaining the importance of love, and the two had not moved. Now, Ainsley grabbed her hand, and ran into her living room, jumping on to the sofa and crossing her legs, sitting Indian style.

"Donna, have you ever been DANCING?"

"Oh, my God, this is like a bad dream from junior high," Donna muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Oh, yeah, I've been dancing before," Donna recovered.

"No, I mean, have you ever been DANCING?"

"What's DANCING?"

"When a boy sweeps you off your feet dancing at a beautiful Washington, D.C. restaurant."

"Ah, well, I have been to a few Inaugural Balls that were pretty nice."

"That's right, they have a lot of them, don't they?"

"Yeah, and Josh and I went to five back in the day."

"Well, I'm sure those were beautiful, but I got taken DANCING tonight!"

"Sam can dance?"

"Yes. Now, I know what you're thinking, because, Sam's not known for his coordination, but, Donna, let me tell you, that boy can dance."

"Good to know."

"Haven't you ever danced with him?"

"Once or twice, but I really wasn't paying too much attention."

"That's right. At all those formal affairs, it was okay for you and Josh to dance cheek to cheek."

Donna blushed. Ainsley had hit it right on the head.

"Yes, but now we can dance whenever and wherever we want to."

"And that's so good!"

"Yeah, it is," Donna smiled.

"And you know why else it's good, Donna?"

"Why, Ainsley?"

"Because now Sam and I can dance at places together! And we can date, and we can get married, and we can buy a mini-van and a house in the suburbs and have three beautiful children and live happily ever after!"

Ainsley threw herself back against the sofa. Donna sat and stared at her. It was borderline hilarious to see Ainsley a little bit intoxicated and professing her undying love for Sam.

"So, Ains, you okay?"

She sighed. "What?"

"I asked if you were all right. If I could go back home now."

"Well… no. I need to sit with you and talk to you some more. Because, I know that I have to get all my emotions out right now, or else I'll end up telling someone and breaking it before it's supposed to be known and then the cat will be out of the bag and we'll all be screwed. Is that okay? I'm really sorry to do this to you, Donna. But, you're the only one that can know right now."

Donna smiled. Ainsley was right, and, she could last listening to her a little bit longer. Donna loved Ainsley and knew that she had to be there for her, as Ainsley had been when it was Donna having a problem with Josh.

"It's absolutely fine. Let's talk," Donna said. "For starters, how are you going to break it to your dad that you're dating a Democrat?"

---

The two had talked for a while longer, laughing and chatting away about Sam and Josh and life in general. Around twenty minutes to four, Ainsley had finally decided that it was time to let Donna leave, seeing as she had to wake up in about an hour.

And, so, Donna left and came home to see Josh asleep in bed, with CNN on. Clearly he had been trying to stay awake, even though she had told him to sleep. Sweet, but stupid.

She went into the bathroom and got all ready for bed, then walked out and turned off the TV. Josh stirred a little bit, but went on sleeping. Then Donna hopped in bed and snuggled up next to him. A warm, sleepy Josh was always a nice thing.

"Hi," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

He looked pretty confused, and rolled over to check the time.

"You're just getting back now?" He said, rolling over on to his back and hugging her.

"Yeah. Ainsley had a lot to talk about."

"I'd say. What was wrong?"

"Nothing. She was a little bit drunk and a bit too excited."

"A-ha," Josh smiled, "our plan is working."

"Yes," she laughed. "Have you spoken with Sam?"

"No. He didn't call."

"Hm. That's puzzling."

"Isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure he'll call you first thing in the morning."

"Yeah. Right now you and I could definitely use some sleep."

"Yes," Donna said, snuggling up tighter to Josh. "Good night."

"I love you," he said, kissing the top of her head.

---

They drifted off to sleep for fifteen minutes.

Then the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Josh? It's Sam."