Just One Name (2?)

Author: Dana

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rating: PG

See Part One for premise explanation

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Later the same evening...

As the sun slowly set on an emotionally draining day, the lights of the bullpen began to fade. Sitting at her desk, Donna shrugged off a feeling of breathlessness that followed her short but laborious journey from the television monitors back to her area.

The national news stations had been updating the world on Leo's condition. Although all of the staffers knew that he was going to be all right, they took a collective sigh of relief when they heard it announced on t.v. Donna had meant to ask someone to help her back to her desk, but the gathered group of people scattered quickly and for the second time that day, she found herself momentarily stranded in her wheelchair.

After her breathing was under control, she shook off a yawn that signaled her exhaustion. Even while sitting up, she felt her eyes begin to close. Images of soft pillows and warm, fluffy comforters danced through her head, but then she saw other images flash across her mind. Shesaw an image of a man sitting in a notably uncomfortable chair in a hospital room with his feet propped up on another chair.She sawan image of a man who had made politics his entire life but who had flown across the Atlantic with nothing else other than his backpack.She sawan image of Bartlet's pitbull looking at her with warm brown eyes saying, "I'm here as long as I need to be here." Those images of Josh being there to help her through a rough time were enough to make her forget the fatigue that washed over her and get back to work so that she could help him. Those images were also enough to make her lips curve upward in a small, shy smile.

Immediately, she phoned in for take-out for Josh and herself, because she knew it had been hours since he had eaten. In fact, she wondered about the last time that he had eaten anything that wasn't on the top triangle of the food pyramid. She grabbed a memo on education that he would want to read extensively before his lunch meeting with two Congressmen the following day and slowly but surely wheeled herself into his office.

She gasped audibly upon entering his office and thought that her reaction must be what mothers go through when they enter their teenager's bedroom. Styrofoam coffee cups littered the office. Papers were strewn all over the desk and chairs. Binders were lying open on the floor. Take-out containers were on his bookshelf. Joshua, Josh, Josh, she thought to herself. It took a while, but eventually, with the help of Troy, the kind custodian who offered his assistance, Josh's office was more habitable than it had been thirty minutes beforehand. Their take out dinner was sitting on his desk, and Donna was sitting in her wheelchair next to the visitor's chair. She grabbed the education memo and began reading it so that she could be ready to brief him.

There had been complete silence in the car that returned the senior staffers back to the West Wing. CJ, Toby, and Josh returned to the White House around 11:30 P.M. CJ was headed to the briefing room to read a statement from one of Leo's doctors. Toby was off to work on a new speech. Josh slowly treaded through the corridors, never feeling more exhausted in his life.

He spotted a female figure sitting in his office, which made him feel like a complete jerk. He knew that she should be home recuperating and resting, not waiting for her haggard boss to return to work. However, the mere sight of her was enough to relax him. She had that effect on him like no one else he had ever known. It occurred to him that he had been staring at her from the doorway but hadn't actually spoken. He walked into their office and took a seat in the visitor's chair next to Donna.

"Hi," he said softly. She looked up from the memo and gave him a small smile. She glanced at his face that appeared tired but also had a spark of something of an entirely different nature; something had changed in his demeanor since that afternoon.

"Hi, there," she replied equally as softly.

"You're still here," he stated. If the desk lamp hadn't been the only source of light illuminating their office, he would've seen Donna's eyes instantly widen and darken with intensity at his comment.

"Yeah," she said with a coy but genuine smile. "I'm still here." They both retreated in their minds to what had been one of the most memorable moments of their lives.

Donna snapped herself out of the beautiful memory and inquired about Leo's condition. Josh told her the new things that he had learned at the hospital, pausing only slightly to feel nauseated. They ate dinner in their office in silence, deciding against small talk. Josh noted his clean surroundings and wondered what he would ever do without a friend as kind as Donna.

For her part, Donna knew that there was something that Josh wasn't saying; she patiently ate her food in silence. Just as she took a swig of her bottled water, Josh said, out of thin air, "So, the President wants me to take Leo's job. I haven't said anything to anyone else yet about it..." Josh being offered chief of staff was not a shock; in Donna's (and most of D.C.'s) eyes, he was the logical, intelligent, and most brilliant choice for a chief of staff. Hearing that she was the first person that he shared the news with warmed her heart and took her by surprise.

Unfortunately, her reaction was less than graceful. Almost as soon as the water entered her mouth, it went spewing into the air. She stared at him incredulously and was about to speak but he spoke again, having completely ignored her water incident. "He gave me until tomorrow morning to decide. I don't know how I feel about this Donna; it feels like I'm stealing Leo's job out from under him. I know that everyone will talk about what a magnificent career boost this is for me and what a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing but I...I just don't know." Josh paused and detected a playful look in Donna's eyes. "What?"

Donna batted her eyelashes and said in a singsong voice, "Oh, I was just thinking about what a very, very powerful man you will be if you accept the position." At that, Josh laughed out loud for the first time in weeks. He felt the weight that had been placed on his shoulders just a bit lighter with Donna sitting next to him, making him feel like himself again.

She softly reached for his left hand with her right one. Josh immediately stopped laughing and felt his heart rate begin to increase at the contact. Donna laced their fingers together and stared at their joined hands. She looked up at him, straight into his eyes, and said what she knew that he needed to hear.

"Despite my frequent need to keep your ego in check, I am going to tell you that no one deserves the title of Chief of Staff more than you do. You won't be stealing Leo's job away. You'll be helping the president function to the best of his ability. You'll bring even more passion and enthusiasm to being Chief of Staff than you've brought to any other job in politics that you've held in your life. I will not allow you for one second to question your ability to function effectively in this new role, Josh. I won't tell you that this position will make you a power player in politics and all of the other narcissistic comments that infiltrate the lives of regular politicians. We both know that service to the president far outweighs a desire for self advancement. I am going to ask you one thing, though. Is this job what you want?"

It took him a second to reply, because he was so overwhelmed by what she had just said. The power of conviction in her voice was so strong. Donna didn't hand out compliments freely and was by no means without criticism of his political decisions. If she believed in him this strongly, he knew he could do anything, and that included his dream job. In reply to her question, he nodded his head up and down several times and whispered, "Yes."

"Well then, do it, baby!"

To be continued...

I promise that the story will speed up. I just had to get some things established first!

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