Title: Because You Loved me (3/4)

Author: Cheryl A

Rating: TEEN

Category: post episode for Transition

Spoiler Info: Everything up to Transition

Disclaimer: WB, NBC, John Wells, Aaron Sorkin etc and Celine Dion for use of her song title.I have no money and get no profit out of this.

E-mail address for feedback: permission: Sure

Notes: This is my very first fan fic. I wanted to do something different in this chapter and hope you guys like it. Please continue to give me feedback, it makes me happy 

Chapter 3:

Washington DC, transition office 7:20am

"See what did I tell you Donnatella? We are not late on our first day back." Josh grinned smugly at Donna's earlier insistence they were going to be tardy to work.

"That's only because I practically threw you out of bed and into the shower. If you had your way we would still be naked lying in your bed" Donna urged as Josh shrugged his shoulders feigning ignorance to her accusation.

"Plus you basically ran 3 red lights and blew pass 2 stop signs on your way here. It's amazing that we got here in one piece at all. If that is how you drive on a normal basis I might be safer seeking alternate forms of transportation to work." Donna stopped talking as they entered into the Transition offices to see all their friends waiting for them with eager grins.

"Welcome back!" shouted Ronna enthusiastically as everybody applauded to welcome their boss home.

Donna smiled, while Josh took this opportunity to place a joke on his staff. He put on his best somber face and screamed, "What I leave for 7 days and suddenly all of you think you think you can just stop working? We have an administration to run!"

Everybody stopped in their tracks shocked by Josh's statement, not knowing how to react to his outburst. Ronna took a step back while Otto dropped his donut on the floor, both of them scared and confused by his behavior.

Josh then broke out into a big grin, "Gotcha!"

Sighs of relief were heard throughout the office as people began to get back to their jobs not wanting to test Josh any further even if he was just joking.

"No, wait! Seriously people I want to say something" Josh said in a now serious tone, as everybody once stopped again what they were doing to listen to him.

"I really want to thank you guys for the warm welcome back, it means a lot to me and I'm glad to see you all again. I know I've been a prick towards many of you for the past few weeks. Actually, I'm sure all of you can come up with much better expletives to describe my poor behavior, but we won't get into that now. I'm really sorry to those I may have offended or hurt. I know I didn't say this much in the campaign, but I genuinely want to thank each and every one of you for your dedication to the campaign, and our successes are a direct result of all of your hard work and contribution."

Donna was very proud of Josh as she looked on and saw the grins on each of the staffer's faces, as their feelings and hard work was finally being validated by the one man whose perception they cared the most about.

"Now with that said, you can now get back to work. It's going to be a busy period but I have confidence that we can handle it together."

With that said, the staffers scrambled back to work, eager to please their newly compassionate boss, while Josh turned to face Donna and it dawns on him that he forgot to make the biggest announcement of all..

"Actually everybody wait, don't go anywhere, I have one last announcement." Josh grabbed Donna's hand and intertwined it with his while the staffers froze in their tracks yet again and the room fell silent.

"I wanted you all of you to be the first to know, that our very beautiful and talented campaign spokeswoman Donna Moss, has not only accepted the prestigious position as the First Lady-Elect's Chief of Staff, which I know she will be very successful in. But she has also accepted what many would see as even tougher position, when she agreed to be my future wife." Josh wrapped his arms lovingly around Donna's waist as Donna flashed her beautiful engagement ring to the staffer's view to further illustrate the point to those still in shock.

The announcement was met with roaring applause and the room erupted in whispers as staffers exchanged gossip. Josh stood idly by as he just observed everybody's reaction and faintly heard staffers saying things along the lines of, "I told you so", "I knew they were so doing it" "Didn't you see the way they looked at each other during the campaign?" He also swore he also heard staffers discuss bets to be paid up, as he was amazed that people cared this much about his love life that they actually placed wagers on it.

Donna meanwhile was swamped with female staffers, particularly Ronna and Edie who were busily admiring the gorgeous ring and pressing Donna for details about the proposal. Josh took this opportunity to slip out for his meeting with Senior Staff, the President-Elect and Barry Goodwin knowing that Donna was going to be tied up for awhile. He waited to catch Donna's attention and mouthed "I'll call you later, I love you". She smiled back to acknowledge Josh before returning back to recounting her romantic tale to the very jealous female staffers.

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7:35am President Elect's office.

"Sorry I'm late" Josh said embarrassingly as he entered the office as Sam, Lou, Barry and Santos were already waiting for him.

"Don't worry about it Josh, it sounded like you got a hero's welcome back, as I could hear the commotion through the office walls. I don't even get that level of excitement when I enter the room and I'm the future president." Santos smirked.

"With all due respect, I don't think it was my homecoming that they were cheering for."

Santos shot Josh a confused look and Josh realized they did not yet know the details of his announcement.

"There is something I need to tell you Sir, actually something I need to tell all of you." Josh said as he looked around the room and composed himself for his revelation.

"As you know Sir, your wife has offered Donna Moss the position of the First Lady's Chief of Staff, which she accepted."

"Yes Josh, Helen did mention that. Although I think she would have made an excellent addition to our team as she is a very talented and capable woman."

Josh smiled, proud that Santos thought she highly of his fiancée as he continued.

"As you are probably also aware, I was not alone on my vacation to the Big Island, I brought Donna with me."

It was Santos' turn to break into a smile, "Well Helen and I did notice she was also suspiciously absent for the past 7 days as well."

"Well during that time, I did a lot of thinking to clear my head, which I really believe has better prepared me for our long journey ahead and that I really owe Sam for insisting that I go, as it definitely a life-changing experience." Josh began to meander throughout the room, unable to keep still.

"Time away made me realize that there is more to life than politics, that I shouldn't let this consume my life as I have let it have for as long as I can remember. That I want to be remembered not as the guy who went in for the kill and passed the bill, but the guy that somebody loved." as he shot a sympathetic look towards Lou, who actually looked moved by his words.

"Sir, as I mentioned before, Sam is getting married and now so am I" Josh breathed a sigh of relief as he got the last part of his sentence out and everybody seemed to gasp in surprise, as he grinned and said in a softer voice, "Donna and I are getting married."

It didn't take long for Sam to congratulate Josh with a large bear hug, "Congratulations buddy"

Santos took his turn next to give his congratulations as he smirked, "If you think campaigning is tough and challenging, marriage is a whole different ride!"

Josh smiled back at him before turning his attention to Lou.

"I think you need to get your ears clean, I told you that you needed to get a life, not get a wife Joshua", as Lou took her turn to give Josh a hug, "Seriously congratulations. But I swear if you hurt her, I'll kill you. Donna is my girl and I got her back."

"I'll do my best, besides if I screw up, Donna has threatened to release very incriminating photos of myself that for the sake of any future bill we want to pass I hope never see the light of day outside my apartment"

Lou shot Josh a look, "I really don't want to know about any kinky photos the two of you may have and they better stay out of my press room."

"It's not like that…" Josh's attempt at an explanation was interrupted by Ronna letting them know that Arnold Vinick was in the lobbing waiting and that he also told her to tell the president-elect he has reached a decision about the position offered to him yesterday.

Josh shot a confused look, and in his classic Josh tone screamed, "We offered a position to VINICK? What in the hell did I miss?"

Sam felt a wave of nostalgia come over him as he looked over at Josh and knew the top-notch political mind was definitely back.

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8:30am

"Good Morning, I brought breakfast" Donna walked into CJ's office and placed the tray of coffee and bag of blueberry scones on CJ's desk.

"Great! I'm starved, but before we eat, you my friend have some explaining to do."

Donna just smiled at CJ as she continued her interrogation of the details of Donna's absence.

"First I come home all ready to dish some major girl talk with my best gal roommate only to find a note on my refrigerator door, 'Be back in a week, explain later, aloha!' Then when I showed up to work the next morning looking for Josh, where I find Sam in his office instead who informed me that Josh is coincidently missing for the week as well. You know Sam's never been able to lie to me and it doesn't take a genius to figure you guys were missing together, so don't try to feed me a line that the Josh thing isn't happening, because it's all out in the open sister, so spill".

There was no denying it now, even if she wanted to, as Donna began to dish out the details of her relationship with Josh. She started from the beginning and described to CJ the "odd-moment" Josh and her had shared the morning the polls numbers were released and that she described as they talked in the corridor of the West Wing, was actually their first kiss and then went on to describe her election day adventures in bed with Josh, and finally how Josh impulsively whisked her away to a romantic Hawaiian vacation.

"I'll be damned, I never thought this day would happen and the two of you would finally get your act together. But really Donna, I'm mad at you."

"Why? Do you think we are still wrong for each other? Things have changed CJ" Donna insisted.

" No honey that isn't it at all, it's because you could have confided in me weeks ago, I know may have not always been supportive of your feelings for Josh and I'm sorry but we both could have been having so much more fun if we were just honest with each other."

"CJ, I know a way I want to make it up to you"

"How?"

"By being my maid of honor" Donna suggested as she whipped out her left hand and showed CJ her beautiful engagement ring to her surprise.

"The last part of my fairy tale story is how Josh asked me to marry him over a romantic moonlit private cruise on our last night in paradise."

CJ was touched and went over and gave her friend a huge hug. "Oh My Gosh, I want you to know that I'm so happy for you and of course, I would be honored to be your maid of honor."

As she pulled away from the hug, CJ continued, "Donna, there something I want to tell you too. I haven't been completely honest with you either" as she prepared to spill about her relationship with Danny and the two continued their girl-talk about the men in their lives that they had waited weeks to have, no longer embarrassed to dish out the dirty details of their newly revived love lives.

11:00am

Donna phone rang and she smiled as she looked on the caller ID, to see it was Josh's cell, which she immediately answered.

"I was just calling to tell you how much I love you." Donna smiled as she thought to herself that there is no way she will ever getting tired of hearing those words come from Josh.

"And I love you" she returned.

"What do you think if you and your new boss come to meet me and the President Elect for lunch? He wants to treat us to a feast in light of our big announcement."

"That sounds lovely, I can't wait to see you, I think I'm suffering from Josh withdrawal"

It was Josh's turn to smile into the phone, as it was true that this was the first time they were apart in a week.

"Well I think a nice smack high of some pure 100 Lyman love can be arranged," Donna giggled at how cheesy he could be at times, as he continued.

"Come meet me at office at around 12:30 and for the sake of everything holy you have to promise not to be late as I have a meeting with Satan herself at 12:15 and desperately need my beautiful fiancée to save me before I promise to staff the remaining cabinet positions with feminist activists just to get her the hell out of my office" Josh pleaded as his voice slightly cracked.

"Well when you put it that way, how I can resist an opportunity to be your hero and save you from that evil new Legislative Director."

Donna thought for a moment before continuing, "It's amazing how things have changed huh Josh?"

"For the better right?" Josh asked.

"I would say so," Donna smiled as she stared at her engagement ring. "I'll let The First Lady-Elect know our plans and I will see you soon."

12:25pm

"You're late" Josh said as Amy sauntered into his office.

"Well I figured since you didn't return any of the 15 calls I left you this week I'd figured that punctuality isn't important to you, so let's just say are even." Amy said as she took off her jacket to reveal a sleeveless red silk top.

Josh just gritted his teeth together, and placed his hand to his forehead. He was not in the mood for any of Amy's games and wanted to get this meeting over as soon as possible so that he can attend to his lunch with Donna and the First Couple.

"Alright you wanted to discuss whom again and for what god-forsaken position?"

"We will get to that in a sec J, I want you to first tell me why you've ignored all contact with me for the past week. I would like to know what did I do again to piss you off?"

"Nothing yet Amy, but just keep working on it and I'm sure you'll succeed."

Amy shot him a look, and he knew she was not going to let this go.

"If you must know, I was in Hawaii on a vacation."

"Seriously J, Vacation? You? I didn't think it was possible. Were you alone?"

"Of course not Amy, I went with my girlfriend where we had civilized conversation and great sex."

"Good for you, for once you took my advice. I didn't know you and Sara were at that point already."

Josh was quick to correct her, "Were not, I haven't spoken to her in ages, I don't need her, I already have somebody else."

Amy looked at Josh with a confused look, "Then who the hell did you take?"

As if on cue Donna walked into Josh's office, and Amy didn't need any further explanation as it all made sense to her now.

"Are you ready to go?" Donna asked completely ignoring Amy as she brushed right past her.

Josh smiled, as Amy struggled to contain her anger as she had put all the pieces together.

"You took her huh, J?" Amy said as she shot Donna an evil glare, as the jealously in her continued to grow

"Why yes I did." Josh admitted, not ashamed at all.

"You took your secretary on vacation, how sleazy is that?"

"Actually I took my girlfriend to Hawaii with me." Josh said confidently as he got up off her his chair to meet Donna with a kiss on the cheek as she came closer to his desk.

Amy rolled her eyes and also stood up and looked straight at Donna, she may not want Josh anymore but after all these years she was not going to let Donna, a nobody, win. She knew what to do and exactly how to play on Donna's insecurities.

"Fine, whatever you say now J. But you just wait Donna he'll get tired of you, you don't share the sophistication and knowledge that we Ivy League woman have, you're not even close to being on our same level."

She came closer to Donna as she continued to taunt her, "I'll give you a clue he's only in it for the sex, after all it's a well known fact around the Hill that you are pretty good in the sack and an easy lay for Republicans and Democrats alike." Amy said with a smug smirk as Donna looked like she was about to cry while Josh was about to jump over his desk and sock Amy in the face for having the audacity of disrespecting Donna like that in front of him, but he was beaten by Mrs. Santos who had overheard most of the conversation with Amy as she had prepared to enter the office to join up with him and Donna for their lunch plans.

"Excuse me, I don't care who you think you are, but you do not speak to anybody that way, she deserves some respect." Helen said as she stormed into the office.

"I'm sorry ma'm, but who really cares, it's only Donna, she just Josh's pathetic love-sick secretary, it's not like she's anybody important here." Amy said arrogantly.

"Anybody important? Well Ms. Gardner she happens to be my Chief of Staff, I think that makes her pretty important don't you say? "

Amy was taken back, "Chief of Staff! But she doesn't even have a degree!"

"Well it can't be a very difficult position if you could handle it right? Actually I take it back, you COULDN'T handle it, and you were fired now weren't you." Helen said eager to dish the dirt back at Amy like she deserved.

Josh smiled while Amy was rendered speechless for once. But Helen didn't let up and continued her speech.

"Talk about embarrassing, right? You have no right to speak to Donna or anybody else that way. I have no doubt in my mind that Donna is going to be the best chief of staff that any First Lady has had the pleasure of working with. She is smart, she is well respected, and she has a pure heart whom looks out for other peoples interest, all of which are qualities that you seem to lack and will make her all the more successful person for the position."

Josh looked on and swears he can see the steam coming from Amy's ears as nobody has ever put Amy Gardner in her place as the first Lady-elect was doing right now.

"If I ever hear you disrespecting any member of this administration again, you will regret it. I now want you to apologize to Donna for what you said and sincerely congratulate them on their engagement.

Amy was about to begrudgingly mumble an apology out for the sake of her political career when the last part of the statement finally processed in her brain.

"ENGAGEMENT!" Amy snarled.

Josh felt a self-satisfying grin come over him as he realizes that he had not yet mentioned his announcement Amy and was glad that the first lady took this opportunity to rub it in her smug face. He then looked over at Donna who unlike himself did not seem to be enjoying the Amy beating the First Lady was dispensing but rather looked very hurt and upset. Helen walked over to Donna and proceeded to lift Donna's left hand to show Amy the ring as further testament to her words while Donna continued to be silent and withdrawn.

Amy could not muster anything to say, let alone an apology or congratulations, she just shook her head, picked up her jacket and purse and stormed out while Helen and Josh refocused on Donna who had not said a word or showed any emotion since Amy started on her tirade.

"I'm so sorry about that, she's such a bitch." Josh opened his arms in to try to comfort his jilted fiancée, but instead Donna turned away from him and walked few steps towards the wall unable to face Helen or him.

"Donna, don't let her get to you. There was no truth in any of the lies Amy Gardner was spinning." Helen said in an effort to reassure Donna as well.

Josh walked closer to Donna as he continued to try to wrap his arms around her but only to be meet with her continued resistance until she finally turned around with tears streaming down her face.

"No she was right, and I've been fooling myself all along for thinking this can all be different!" Donna cried as she sobbed uncontrollably. Josh stood there in shock of the entire situation not knowing how to proceed, unable to even shake his head in disagreement. He watched Donna struggle to wiggle her engagement ring off of her left hand as she approached him, his heart breaking.

Donna grew more hysterical, as she shifted her gaze back and forth from Josh and Helen. "I'll never be accepted as your wife or respected as your Chief of Staff, I'll just be one big political joke. I think this all has just been one big mistake." As she placed her ring on Josh's desk, and ran out of his office.

Josh hesitate for a moment, then started to go after her when he was stopped by Helen who whispered, "No, let me, I know where she's coming from." as she chased after Donna instead.

It was at that moment that Santos entered in Josh office, "Sorry I'm late," judging by the serious look on Josh face, he knew something big had just happened.

"What the heck did I miss?" as he stared out of Josh's office to see his wife taking off down the hall in the opposite direction after Donna while Josh continued to stand there with his mouth hung open in disbelief of the entire situation, as he felt his heart continued to break as he held his grandmother's engagement ring tightly in his hand and felt a tear fall slowly down his cheek.