Title:
The Path Which Has Led to the Present (22/30?)
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: Does anyone remember who was Bartlet's Republican opponent in the first election? I can't seem to find it in the transcripts.
Donna sat on her bed, painting her toenails. Yellow. Despite have a salary now, Donna had no time to find a dress that made her feel as gorgeous as the one Mrs. Lyman had lent her.
The door opened, and Ginger came tumbling into the room, carrying several large bags.
"Shopping?"
"I needed a new dress. I've never been to anything like this. Have you?"
Donna nodded. "A few weeks ago, in New York."
"Do you get a new dress for all of them?"
"No, I didn't have time. And I really like the one I have."
"How does it go at these things? What do we do?"
"It depends. Margaret gets to fully enjoy them as a party, though sometimes I think Leo ends up regretting not making her work. She has a tendency for saying the wrong things to the wrong people."
"Oh."
"I work."
"That sucks."
"Its not as bad as it sounds. I keep Josh in line. He has a hard time behaving himself too."
"I get that impression. He scares me a little."
"Really?"
"He's just so loud and arrogant…he never scared you?"
"Never. I just give it right back. He gets snarky, I get snarky back. I put his attitude in place."
"That's good. Sam was saying that before you, Josh couldn't manage to keep a volunteer as an assistant for more than an afternoon."
"That's what I've heard too."
"I like Sam. He's nice. Toby scares me too, though."
"Yeah, Sam's great. Toby used to scare me, but I got used to him."
"How long did that take?"
Donna laughed. "It was, like, a month ago."
"And you've been on the campaign?—"
"Since February."
"Great."
"He'll warm up to you. That kind of has to happen before he becomes less scary."
Ginger laughed, and turned to face Donna. "Can I ask you a kind of weird favor?"
"Okay…"
"Now, I know I'm not in a great position to ask this, after what happened in Texas, but I, uh, was wondering….um…"
"You need the room tonight?"
"If its okay. Is it okay? I mean, you seem like you have somewhere else you can stay, or I wouldn't even be asking…the nights that you don't come back, and all…"
"Yeah," Donna smiled to herself. She'd been trying to keep those to a minimum, so that people weren't asking why she still spent the night in Josh's room on occasion.
"Is it okay?" Ginger asked hopefully.
"Yeah, its fine. I'll…uh, thanks for asking."
"Sorry I didn't before."
"Its okay."
"I was so embarrassed."
"So was I."
Ginger pulled her dress out of the bag. It was a rich blue color.
"That's pretty."
"Thanks. What's yours look like?"
"I should actually start hurrying up into it. Josh is going to be here any minute looking for the files on the people he has to schmooze with tonight."
Donna pulled her dress out of the closet.
"Wow. Where is that from?"
"Its…uh…an antique. A hand me down. Older than I am. But its gorgeous."
"It really is."
"Was it your mom's?"
"No…uh…actually, it was Josh's mom's."
"Really? How'd you come to borrow it?"
"It's a long story, but Leo made me go with Josh to visit his mom, because he didn't want Josh to drive…I wasn't going to go to a fundraiser because I didn't have a dress or money—"
"And she lent you a dress?"
"Yeah. She's really sweet."
Donna crossed into the bathroom and changed into her dress. When she emerged, Ginger was also in her dress.
"Can I ask you a question that you don't have to answer?"
Donna raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."
"Where do you stay when you're not here?"
The way she asked, Donna was pretty sure that she knew. "You've heard Sam comment."
"Yeah."
"I stay with Josh. He took me in when I was making nothing, made sure I had a place to stay."
"Are you sleeping with him?"
There it was. The question it seemed everyone had.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"People assume…no, we're not."
"It's not weird to share a room with your boss? I mean, I don't think I could share a room with Sam and not sleep with him."
Donna laughed. "It's not weird. I can't explain it. It just never has been. We've become good friends."
A persistent knock on the door ended the conversation abruptly.
"He arrives on cue."
"Josh?"
"Only Josh would continue to bang on the door till I open it."
Donna walked over to the door and flung it open.
"Took you long enough."
"Shut up."
"I let you have a whole half hour off to get ready—"
"Gee, aren't you generous."
"Do you have the files on the idiots I have to talk to tonight?"
Ginger cracked up.
"They are idiots."
"Come on," Donna tugged on his arm. "We'll go over them in the conference room, before heading to the ballroom, so Ginger can get ready in peace. See you downstairs."
They headed into the hallway.
"So that's Ginger."
"You've met Ginger."
"I could never remember which one she was."
"You've heard Sam talk about her. Good at what she does, but really brassy."
"Oh yeah. And you walked in on her fuck—"
"Right. Oh, I'm staying with you tonight."
"You are, are you?" he grinned. That delicious, dimpled grin.
"Yes, definitely."
"What makes you think I'm going to agree to that?"
"Oh, shut up."
"Did she actually ask you to give her the room tonight?"
"Yeah."
"After what happened in Texas?"
"Yeah. She asked very nicely, pointing out that sometimes I don't come home—"
"Oh."
"And asking if tonight could be one of those nights."
"Does she know you stay with me?"
"Yeah, Sam has a big mouth."
Josh nodded, and sat on the conference room table. "Let's see these files."
Donna handed them over and leaned against the table beside him.
"You have my mom's dress on again."
"Yeah."
"I thought women didn't wear dresses more than once."
"When they have no time, and not a lot of money they do. And when the dress is this beautiful."
Josh turned to look at her. "It is beautiful." He looked her up and down. There was no mistaking it.
Donna felt herself beginning to blush.
"It looks great on you, Donna."
"Thank you," she answered softly, looking at the ground.
He was still watching her, and the blush was intensifying. Josh reached up and pulled a stray hair out of her face. They were standing very close together. In the conference room. This was bad. After a moment, Josh seemed to catch onto how bad this could look, and turned back to the folders, but not before he pressed a kiss onto Donna's forehead. The touch was electric.
"So, Senator Beecher, the asshole who won't back our environmental plan is first on my hit list. What does he look like again? Donna?"
Donna snapped back to reality.
"Hmmm?"
Josh smiled. "What does Senator Beecher look like?"
"There's a picture of him in there from his website."
"Ah…fat and balding. These are the guys I like to drag you to talk to."
"Maybe I'll—"
"No, I think you'll stick with me all night. Now, next on Leo's list…Congresswoman Loy, more or less backs us. She's hot, isn't she?"
Donna smacked him. "Again, there's a picture in the file. I don't get to talk to hot businessmen—"
"Yup she's hot."
"But you get to talk to hot Congresswomen?"
"She's on Leo's list."
"But do you have to drag me to all of them?"
"I'm not going to hit on her…much. I'm just saying that her being hot is her main identifying characteristic. I have to be able to pick these people out of the crowd."
"Yeah, yeah."
"We should head down. Come on, after about an hour of this god awful schmoozing we can get drunk."
Donna laughed. "But not too drunk. We don't want you embarrassing the campaign."
"Me?" She jumped out of the way of his playful swat.
"Yes, you."
"I can hold my liquor."
"You cannot—"
"The last time I was drunk I could function perfectly—"
"The last time you were drunk we—" Almost kissed, she finished the sentence silently.
"But there were no memory gaps."
"No?"
"None."
He gave her a look that told her he had known exactly what she meant.
