Title:
The Path Which Has Led to the Present (19?)
Author:
Aerial312
Rating: PG-13.
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance
(a little of everything)
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.
Disclaimer:
I own nothing…I just borrow.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated.
Sure. Just let me know where its
going.
A/N: I will admit, I've borrowed liberally from my story "Welcome to Washington" which was originally done in first person Donna, for the last part. This is probably going to be the last chapter till Monday. I'm in tech for my show this weekend, and I'll be very busy…I may surprise myself, but I'm going to say Monday to be safe.
"Your office here is nicer."
"I guess."
"There's a window." The window really made all the difference.
"With a tight view of the building next door."
"I have a cubicle."
"Your own cubicle."
"Cubicles are sad."
Josh laughed. "We'll hardly ever be here."
"Still…"
"It's a step up. Its your own space."
"No, those don't go there!"
Josh gave Donna a perplexed look. So adorable. "There's plenty of room!"
"They need to go in the filing cabinet, with the other newspaper clippings. There."
She took the pile from his hands, and put it away.
"There was more room—"
"And you have five more boxes of briefing reports coming from Manchester to fill that bookcase."
"Oh."
"My filing system makes sense."
"Only to you."
"No!"
"I still don't get it."
"Well, you've mostly been dealing with the fileboxes."
"I get those. I don't get the strange shelves and drawers bit. I was alone for three weeks and I couldn't find a damn thing."
He hadn't meant it as a dig, she could tell, but it still hurt. "You couldn't find anything before I organized you either."
"Yes, I could—"
"No, you couldn't."
Donna finished the box she was working on, and sat on his desk.
"Decided you're done working for the day?" He grinned, bearing the dimples that made her melt.
"Are we?" she smiled, kicking him.
"Soon."
"I want to explore DC."
Josh looked amusedly at her. "Have you ever been to DC before today?"
"Once, a long time ago. With my family, when I was in second grade, to see the pandas."
"We had the pandas already when you were in second grade?"
"We had the pandas before she was born, is my guess," Leo laughed from the door way.
Donna nodded.
"God," Josh sighed.
"Getting older there, Josh."
"I know. I know."
"I think my daughter's older than Donna."
"How old is Mal?"
"She just turned 28."
"Yup, she's older."
"Wow. I'm 10 years older than Mallory?"
"Yeah, and I'm old enough—"
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm heading out. We're in good shape. You kids should go enjoy yourselves."
"I haven't seen my apartment in—"
"I've barely seen my wife in months"
"Yikes. I hope you're doing something nice."
"A very nice dinner, yes."
"You all set for tonight, kiddo?"
"Uh…yeah…" Truth be told, she didn't know. She looked to Josh.
"Yeah. I have a guest room," Josh answered quickly.
Leo nodded. "See you tomorrow." He left.
"Sorry to make that weird in front of Leo."
"No, its okay. He…he didn't seem to care that you're staying in my apartment."
"No…"
"Of course, he knew we shared a room last night at least. Hell, Leo's probably known all along. Especially because CJ knew."
"I'm surprised its not a problem."
Josh shrugged.
"Can we go see the monuments now?"
"You're going to drag me—"
"Please?"
"Let's wait a bit."
"Joooosh!" Donna whined.
He snickered. "You'll be happier if we wait."
"Why?"
"They're prettier at night."
"But—"
"We've still got an hour now that we can go see the Smithsonian—"
"Oooh!"
"and get dinner. Which—?"
"American History."
"You want to see the ruby slippers," Josh smirked.
Donna blushed. He was right.
"Aww," He grinned at her, and she turned away from him as the dimples came out. "You're turning red."
"Shut up."
"It's cute."
"Shut up."
"What's your problem with being cute?"
"You're making fun of me."
"No…" she raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay. I am. But only because its adorable when you're embarrassed."
What did that mean? "I am?"
"Definitely."
Donna felt herself blushing even more. "I love The Wizard of Oz."
"Of course you do. You grew up in the Midwest. I bet you always wished you could be Dorothy."
Donna nodded sheepishly. "Do you like The Wizard of Oz?"
"I haven't seen it in a long, long time…my sister used to love it."
"Yeah?" It was rare that he talked about his sister.
"Yeah," he answered softly. "I probably saw it once a week when I was little."
"Awww."
"Because at that age, whatever Joanie liked, I liked."
"You probably know the movie by heart."
Josh shrugged, and sat down in his chair. "Its been what? 30…oh god, it has been 30 years since…I've seen it…I didn't realize…oh…" He leaned onto his desk, his head resting in his hands.
Donna crossed around the desk, unsure of what to do. Gingerly, she reached out and lay her hand on his back, stroking gently.
Josh sighed and took a deep breath. "Sorry."
"No…don't be…are you all right?"
"I'll be fine in a minute."
"Is…has it been 30 years since…uh…?"
"Yeah. Joanie did 30 years ago. I hadn't realized that it was exactly 30 years between her and dad. A father shouldn't out-survive—"
Josh lowered his head deeper into his arms. Donna continued to rub his back. After a moment, he sat up.
"Let's get out of here."
"We don't have to go to—"
"I'll be fine."
"You're sure?"
"Come on."
"It's dark out."
"I noticed."
"So now we can go see the monuments."
"I guess"
"You promised."
"Did I?"
"Yes."
"Did I sign anything?"
"Josh! You promised. Museum. Dinner. And then the monuments."
"Come on," he smiled, and pulled her down the street toward the Washington Monument.
"Why do you hate the monuments?"
"I don't hate the monuments. I've just seen them a million times. And it's a lot of walking."
"You just hate the outdoors in general."
Josh laughed.
They walked over to the side of the monument, and we stopped. He was right about the Monument being gorgeous when lit at night. Josh let Donna take in the sight in silence, watching her reaction closely. After a minute, he took her by my shoulders and spun her. And there was the Lincoln Memorial, light up, and shining in the Reflecting Pool. His hands remained on her shoulders.
"Can we walk closer?"
"First, I want to show you one more. We're not going to walk all the way to this one. Much too far, even in good weather."
"The Jefferson?"
"Yeah."
"Wimp."
"Looks better from across the water anyways."
They walked to the edge of the tidal basin and there was the Jefferson Memorial.
"They're all so pretty."
Josh nodded.
"You say this one's not worth the walk?"
"Maybe in nice weather it is. There are some nice quotes." Josh looked toward the Memorial. "I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Donna giggled. Of course he knew the quotations by heart.
"What?"
"You're a dork."
"So are you," he smiled. With the dimples. And as usual, she melted a bit. "Do you want to walk closer?"
"Huh?" Donna snapped out of her reverie.
"I was asking if you wanted to walk closer to the Lincoln Memorial, and see the Vietnam Memorial."
Donna nodded. He laced his hand into hers and led her back across the Mall.
"Can we get a good look at that from the front later? On the way back to your apartment?"
"The White House?"
"Yeah."
"With any luck, we'll be seeing plenty of the White House."
"Yeah," Donna stared off at it. "Me too?"
Josh turned to her. "Of course. If we win, you're coming with me, no question."
"Thank you."
"It's not some favor, some chance anymore…you know that, right?"
Donna nodded. She was pretty sure that was the case, but it was always hard to be sure.
"You have proved that my taking a chance on you was the right choice."
She smiled broadly at him, and squeezed his hand.
"Of course we can look at it tonight if you want. I've seen it all before. This is all about you."
Donna laughed. "I'm going to remember you said that."
