Title: Turn Back Time (2?)

Author: Cheryl A

Rating: Teen

Genre: Angst/Romance (A/U)

Feedback: ; I love it and love to hear what other's think of my story 

Special Thanks to my beta Elizabeth who has helped me so much with this story!

-------------

With only a minute to spare, Josh took a moment to catch his breath from his brief sprint over to the OMB Building and knocked on office 3807. But to his surprise, a man he had never met before answered the door with a confused look on his face.

"Can I help you, sir?" the young man asked.

"Umm.. I was looking for Congressman Jackson, I have a meeting with him." Josh said growing increasingly frustrated that Donna appeared to send him to the wrong location.

"I'm sorry, but this floor is for aides only. I believe their temporary offices are somewhere on the 13th floor."

Josh muttered a quick thanks before the man closed the door and Josh sprinted over to the elevator while he pulled out the phone to get a hold of Donna.

"Beep… beep" the sound of the busy signal resonated in his ear as Josh impatiently tapped the up button in an effort to force the elevator down from its current location on the 9th floor.

Josh slammed his phone shut as he thought to himself whomever it was that Donna was on the phone with better be important and started to curse quietly to himself, not wanting to cause a scene. He couldn't understand how Donna had given him the wrong location; she had never once given him wrong information about where his meetings were. She was the most organized person he knew, or at least she used to be.

Not being able to afford to wait any long for the elevator he reluctantly headed for the stairs as he started to dial Margaret's number.

"Hey Margaret, it's Josh, I need a favor. Can you connect me with Congressman Jackson's office?"

Margaret agrees without saying a word and patches him directly to the Congressman's assistant, Meghan.

"Congressman Jackson's office" she answered in a perky voice.

"Hi Meghan, it's Josh, I'm in a bit of a dilemma," Josh said as he stopped to catch his breath on the seventh floor. He definitely wasn't in the shape he used to be in and made a mental to note that he needed to start visiting the gym again soon.

"Mr. Lyman, aren't you supposed to meeting with the Congressman right now?" She asked curiously as she looked at her clock and distinctly remembered that the meeting was to have started almost 10 minutes ago.

"Yes I am, and believe me I have every intention of meeting with him. There just was a slight mix-up and need the location of the room we are meeting in"

"It's OMB 13801"

"Thanks so much for your help"

"You're welcome and hurry sir, the Congressman hates when people are late"

With that Josh pushed open the stairwell door to the thirteenth floor and ran down the hall to finally arrive at room 13801.

He took another deep breath; his heart was racing both from his cardiovascular activity on the stairs and worry over the repercussions of being late to the meeting. He knocked on the door and to his dismay he was greeted by Congressman Jackson with a marked look of impatience and annoyance.

"You're late Mr. Lyman," The Congressman tersely remarked as he closed the door to the office.

"I sincerely apologize for being late, but there was a mix-up with the location information." Josh said hoping to smooth things over as the meeting had definitely had a rocky start, as he opened up his backpack and hurriedly tried to get organized.

"Well Josh you've wasted enough of our time as it is, so why don't we just get on with it. Tell us how much will the passage of this bill cost our government over a ten year period? How much of a tax increase are we looking at?"

Josh opened the red folder, containing all the figures that he had Donna compiled.

"We're looking at an increase of fifteen thousand…." Josh trailed off as he couldn't believe what was in front of him.

'$15,000 rental fee for the D.C Mariott

$6.500 Vera Wang Designer Wedding Gown

$1,600 ice sculpture

$750 Male Wedding Band……'

Josh was outraged and closed the folder abruptly. These were certainly not his briefing memos but rather what seemed to be Donna's wedding estimates. He was furious, how could she give him the wrong information, was this a joke? In the entire time she had worked for him she had never screwed up like she had this morning, normally she was the epitome of perfection. What was he supposed to do now? Has she had she even done the estimates like he asked he wondered.

The Congressman interrupted his thoughts and brought him back to the grim reality of the situation. "Mr. Lyman you were saying, something fifteen thousand… we find ourselves waiting once again for you"

"Umm… "Josh stuttered trying desperately hard to think on his feet. "During the re-election campaign we did a nationwide poll of about 15,000 people and they all agreed that health care reform is something important to them and that the President should address early on in the campaign."

"Well that's very nice, to hear what our constituencies have to say, but what I care about today is how much more those people are going to have to pay a year in taxes so that you can launch your ideas into practice. Now do you have those figures for us right now, or has this entire meeting been a colossal waste of our time. My patience is wearing thin Mr. Lyman"

Not wanting to lie and not wanting to attempt to make up figure estimates that would most definitely wrong, Josh did the only thing he could and told the truth.

"I know how this looks Sir, and I can't begin to tell you again how sorry I am. But my assistant seems to have given me the wrong information, a horrible error on her part that I will definitely be addressing with her. At this point and time I don't have the figures you requested but I assure you the proper research has been done and I can return later this afternoon with copies of all of our estimates for all of you to read and review."

The Congressman did not look amused; he expected more from the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President. "I'm sorry Josh, but if you didn't take the time to properly prepare for this meeting which is evident in you arriving late and your inability to produce for us any relevant figures then maybe this bill isn't as important to the President as we have all been made to believe."

Josh interrupts him, "It is Sir, I assure you. This bill is one of his highest priorities and healthcare reform is an issue he really cares about. Please don't hold him accountable for my mistakes; I was the one who screwed up today and not him."

"Yes Mr. Lyman, you did. This meeting is over and if the President wants to continue the discussion about this bill, I want him to personally call me to discuss the details. You would think after four years in your position, you would be better at your job."

The Congressman's harsh words stung Josh to his core. He slowly got up out of the chair, swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the office. As he waited for the elevator, he took his fist and slammed it against the wall in frustration before wincing in pain.

The pain continued as he dejectedly walked back to the White House in defeat. He continued to question how Donna could do this to him. Didn't she know how important this bill was to him and this Administration?

As he entered the West Wing and walked towards his office, he noticed that Donna was not at her desk. He looked around in an effort to find her as he was eager to pull her into his office and make it crystal clear to her the consequences of her actions this morning.

Instead he was greeted with a note on his desk,

"Josh,

I was able to secure a last minute appointment for the fitting of my wedding dress. Leo said it was ok for me to go, I'll be back this afternoon and will make up the hours I miss this evening since I don't have plans until later. Margaret offered to help you if need something when I'm gone.

-Donna"

The note only aggravated Josh more, as he thought to himself, 'Can't she think of anything else, but her damn wedding?'

He crumpled the note and attempted to throw it across the room into the trash, but he missed it by a good foot.

"Nice shot!" CJ stated as she bent down to pick up the paper ball and deposit it in the trash.

Josh just scowled at her before muttering he was not in the mood and what the hell does she need? He is a busy man having quite possibly one of the worst days of his life.

CJ, as well as everybody in the West Wing, was used to receiving this treatment from him. Josh hasn't been the same for months since Donna started dating Jack and has been in a particularly foul mood since Donna announced she was engaged. CJ looked over at Josh and how miserable he looked and she pitied him. Part of her just wants to take Josh with all his stubbornness and shake him around until he realizes that the reason he's been so upset was because he cared about Donna in a way he would never admit to himself.

For years everybody could see the seemingly unrequited love grow between these two staffers, with each of them thinking that it was impossible for the other to be feeling what they were feeling. She cared about both of them deeply, but realized it's not her place to say anything to Josh. By the way he's been acting he'd probably snap her in two if she even insinuated his recent rash behavior was fueled by jealously over his unspoken love for his blonde assistant.

"Josh, I came by to ask you if you have you heard anything about the latest beet farming figures.

"No, can't say that I have." Josh said, his disinterest in their discussion evident as he flipped through some papers on his desk not even taking the time to look up at CJ.

"Even though it sounds like a stupid question, I hate surprises in the press room. This new reporter from Times blindsided me with that random question about the nation's consumption levels over the last 4 year period that President Barlet has been in office and that some random comment the President made in one of the early primaries which accounted for the decline. Anyways, if you anything further about this matter you'll let me know right?"

"Sure" he muttered back as he continued to read the documents in front of him.

"Oh by the way, how did the meeting go?" she asked curiously, remembering that Josh had that meeting with Congressman Jackson this morning and knows that it will probably come up in her next briefing.

"Don't even get me started." Josh snapped back as he shut the folder he was reading and slammed his fist on the desk and got up and turned his back on CJ as he stared out his window.

His behavior both startled and worried CJ, she knew how important this meeting was and if it did not go well it was going to mean a wealth of problems for the newly re-elected Administration.

He continued, "If we can't get this bill on the floor, it will all be Donna's fault, so go bitch at her and leave me the hell alone."

"I'm sure you are over-exaggerating matters Josh, how could Donna lose us a bill? I think you are being too hard on her."

"No I'll tell you how CJ." Josh said curtly as he turned around and started to approach CJ listing each and every one of Donna's screw-ups this unlucky morning.

"First off she didn't have my briefing memos prepared this morning when I asked her for them. Secondly, she sent me to the completely wrong room for my meeting, causing me to be late. Then, I couldn't reach her to find out where the correct location was because her damn line was busy and I had to call Margaret instead. But most importantly I discover that in the course of one of the most important meetings of my life, instead of handing me our estimate figures on how much this bill is going to cost tax payers over a ten-year period, I find I've been given the estimates of the Moss-Reese wedding extraordinaire!"

CJ couldn't believe this was true, Donna's always been an excellent assistant to Josh and was floored that she screwed up like this. But in any case, everybody is entitled to make a mistake or two, Lord knows she'd made them herself and Josh had made plenty of mistakes as well and he's still around. It wasn't fair to blame Donna entirely for the meeting's outcome since Josh could have looked over the notes himself and been more prepared.

"I'm sorry Josh, but give her a break. It was a terrible mistake, but we've all made them. Donna has always been a great assistant to you and puts up with a lot more than others would tolerate so give her a break."

"No she used to be a great assistant, now she's constantly late, distracted at work, and unreliable. Ever since she's been seeing Jack she has changed. I regret the day I introduced the two of them to each other"

CJ thought about discussing the true reasons why Josh had a large problem with Donna since she started dating Jack and how it had nothing to do with her work habits, but she once again didn't want to overstep her bounds.

"She's a woman in love, who made one mistake and doesn't deserve to be crucified for that."

Josh just rolled his eyes and opened his folder and resumed his reading, as CJ continued.

"She deserves happiness Josh, and in light of our working conditions I'm just glad that somebody on the staff has found an opportunity to experience it."

Josh crinkled his face in disgust, "Well sorry C.J, if some of us are more concerned with running the country. Governing doesn't usually allow time for romantic sentimental stuff like love and romance."

With that CJ walked out of the office knowing it was no use to argue with him any further. After CJ walked out, Josh stopped what he was doing and thought about what he had just said. He admitted to himself that it wasn't entirely true.

His thoughts began to drift back to a moment that he would rather forget. A moment when he let go of his defenses, stopped worrying what others thought of him, and really opened his heart to feel love and affection for the first time. His thoughts brought him back to his apartment, about seven months ago and he smiled slightly and his heart swelled as he relived one of the greatest moments of his life, the moment when he kissed Donna Moss for the very first time.