"Sam?" Elise moved into his office. "Josh Lyman's here."
"What?" He cocked his head to the side. "Did you say-?"
"Did I stutter?" She growled.
"I can fire you." His tone was calm as always.
"Sam I already gave you my resignation." She remineded.
"Yeah." He shook his head. "Why are you in here again?"
"Josh?" She rolled her eyes.
"Oh.. yeah.." He gestured wildly towards the door.
"Did you want me to let him in, or slide into second base? " She said sharply.
"You're going to miss me." He told her.
"No." She grinned holding the door open.
"You're brothers not as nice as me."
"Yes he is."
"Oregon is rainy." He told her.
"So!" She pointed Josh towards Sam's door.
"Josh?" He looked like absolute hell in a rumpled suite.
"That's Will's sister?" He said absently, his red eyes opened too wide.
"Yeah. Josh?"
"I.. um..." His best friend looked around the room. "This is nice."
"I'm going to miss it." He told him.
"I'm sorry.. about your campaign."
"Ah." He waved his hand away. "You won yours that's what really matters."
"So." His eyes shot from the window to the ceiling to the floor.
"Josh is everything alright? Is Donna alright?" Josh let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
"Helen Santos wants her to be her COS." If possible, Sam thought his friend's eyes gotten even wider. He drew his hand across his mouth and down his chin. "She.. doesn't know if she's going to.. she.. wants me to.. do something.."
"Josh?"
"I need you to come back, Sam. I need you to come back and be my Deputy."
Sam took a step back.
"I have a life here." He said after a few minutes.
"You lost your election Sam."
"But not my life Josh, just my job. They're separate things"
"Have you been talking to Donna?" Sam was worried now. There was no alarm in his voice, no suspicion. Just utter exhaustion.
"I have a job waiting for me at Ainsley's firm. I have Ainsley."
"Hey I'm glad you mentioned that. Santos is thinking about letting Republican's live in DC." He mumbled the sarcasim seemed to deflate him and he slipped into a chair by Sam's desk. "Maybe she could be a test subject."
"She has a life here." He told him.
"You keep saying that." Josh whispered.
"What?" He was rapidly becoming more and more concerned. He reached into his pocket and cupped his phone. He was moments away from telling Elise that he needed to get Josh to a hospital. He was seconds away from calling Donna.
"Life." His best friend told him.
"Josh. What happened with Donna?"
"She's leaving." Josh swallowed hard. "She's leaving me again. They say the third times a charm."
"What happened? Josh just sat there. "Did she take that job with Lauren McCullen?"
"McCullen the Senator?"
"Yeah.. she got an offer."
"She told you about some job offer?"
"No.. she told.." He looked towards the door. "I heard it through the grapevine."
Josh muttered something about the assistants web being a scary thing. Sam let him blame Margaret.
"She said I have four weeks." He looked at Sam. "Until she leaves."
"Four weeks to change her mind?"
He nodded.
"So why the hell are you in California instead of DC changing her mind?"
"I can't." His heart was failing right here in front of Sam and Josh didn't even know it.
"Josh don't be stupid." Sam spoke slowly and clearly. "It's Donna."
"I.. can't.. I can't be who she wants me to be." Josh was in a haze.
"She wants you to be you." How could he think Donna would want anything else? "Do you even remember who that is?"
"I'm the chief of staff for the president elect."
"No. You're Josh Lyman. Son of Noah and Patrica. The smart ass pit bull who's loyal to a fault. You're the man in love with Donna Moss." Josh lifted his eyes to look at his friend Sam saw the utter fear in them. "Don't be Leo."
He watched the tears pool now as his friends hands shook slowly.
"Sam don't bring up.."
"He'd tell you the same thing Josh and you know it." He did. "Don't be Leo. Don't leave her waiting." He walked over and sat on his desk in front of him. "Don't mess it up. Go all out. Get the string quartet. Josh, it's Donna."
Tears slipped out of his eyes now and he brushed them angrily away.
"Don't be Leo. You don't want that.You're loosing yourself in this. That's not what you want, to die alone on the bathroom floor of a hotel suite. Alone. Without Donna." Josh met his eyes again. "Get the string quartet Josh."
They starred at each other for a long time before Josh's expression sobered.
"I need you to be my Deputy Sam. I need you there. More than last time." They both sat remembering last time.
"I have a job, I'm getting married." Sam remained firm.
"You had those things last time." Josh moaned.
"Yeah and look how well that turned out." He shook his head.
"I need you Sam." Sam knew he did, more than Josh even knew he did.
"I... I'll think about it." He shook his head at his friend. "I can't promise you a damn thing."
Josh nodded wandering aimlessly out of the office.
"Elise, get me Ainsley now." He yelled after Josh was gone. "Then get then get me the grapevine on the phone."
He sat in the car for a few minutes before making up his mind.
"Georgetown." He croaked.
String quartet. String quartet.
Can they play Yoyo Ma?
Don't be Leo.
Dead alone on the floor.
Without Donna.
With-out-Donna.
With-out-Donna.
He couldn't breath when they pulled up. He tried to swallow as he staggered up the steps and into the town house. Somehow he knew she wasn't going to be there. Somehow he knew she'd be gone already.
"Donna?"
She wasn't there. Her boxes still sat unpacked stacked neatly by the door. Each marked for content by purple sharpie in her crazy handwriting. But she was gone. Her note was on the table where he knew it would be.
Joshua.
I'm giving you space. I haven't gone far, I promise. There is food in the refrigerator. Eat something green, take a pill and go to bed. Don't try going to the West Wing tonight because I had Dr. Bartlet tell the President to order the Secret Service to 'take you down' if you tried. Sam left me a message. He thinks you're dying. If you are call Margaret and she'll take you to GW. I made her promise not to stop for red lights. Eat something green.
I love you. I do. I love you so much.
Your Donnatella
He sniffed back the onslaught of tears, holding onto the note as he wandered to the fridge pulling out her chicken and broccoli concoction. No beer, just water with a post it note that said 'FLUIDS'. He stopped trying to hold it in and let himself sob. He was clutching the note and considering throwing the casserole dish across the room. But it was a piece of Donna. It was the dinner she'd left him. It was what she needed him to eat because she was worried about him. He ate it, took a pill and went to bed. Her note still in his grip, through it all.