Josh went back into the room. He was standing there as if he was waiting for divine inspiration or something equally miraculous to happen. He didn't hear the knocking at the door so he was startled when Agent Gary Columbus touched his arm.
"Sir," he called Josh.
"Yes?" Josh asked, coming to.
"I have the First Lady here," the agent said and show at his earpiece. "Would you like to talk to her?"
"Gary, it's not like I have a choice there. You don't say no to the First Lady. Ever," Josh said, suppressing a movement that would have betrayed the fact that a shiver run down his spine. "Okay, is this gonna be as ridiculous as before?" he asked then, not even hoping to get an answer. "Well, patch her through and let the hilarity ensue!" he joked.
"Josh, thanks for reporting back to me about the kids. Are they asleep?"
"They didn't even wake up properly, ma'am," Josh said.
"Thank you, Josh. Can I talk to Donna now? I really do think that---" the agent relayed the first lady's words, but Josh interrupted him.
"Wait a minute! Please, tell her that Donna is not with me. Tell her that I thought she was with her," he told the agent.
There were almost two minutes of silence in which Josh almost felt his hair grow thinner and become greyer.
"I'm sorry, Josh, but she took the midnight train to be at home in the morning. I told her she could ride with me in the helicopter, but she told me she wanted to catch you before you went into work, this day being significant and all," came the first lady's response.
Josh stood there, feeling completely unable to move or to open his mouth. The agent concluded the conversation and then turned to Josh.
"Sir, the First Lady told me to tell you that you shouldn't be worried, Ms Moss is likely on her way here," Gary Columbus told him.
"The thing is, she doesn't have an NSA card," Josh said and a determination appeared in his eyes. He pushed the agent aside and went into the Situation Room.
"What's wrong, Josh?" Romana Gutierrez asked him, immediately spotting the distress on Josh' face.
"Well, the First Lady is safe in a Boston bunker, but it seems that Donna is in our flat at the moment and since she doesn't have an NSA card, she won't be taken here," Josh imparted, trying to sound objective and dispassionate, but the pain in his eyes betrayed him. The Vice President stood up slowly, approached Josh and took his arm, leading him to an unoccupied chair.
"Sit down, Josh," he pushed him down then.
"I don't understand," the HUD Secretary turned to the National Security Advisor. "Why doesn't she have a card?"
"We are not married," Josh whispered.
"I'm sorry, but…" the HUD Secretary said, but Mike Casper interrupted her.
"They are not married and Donna's not classified as an asset," he explained.
"Thanks for pointing that out, Mike," Josh turned to his friend.
"Well, you should have married her and then we wouldn't have this problem," Mike retorted.
"It's my problem, and I'm already working on the solution," Josh told him.
"Well, Josh, it's not like that we can use our collective brainpower for a matter that well, really matters," the Vice President told Josh, "so we will see to it that Donna gets here."
"But, sir… but, sir…" Josh stammered. He was flabbergasted at the Vice President's support. He was never on the same opinion as Josh and he never liked him. Not that the feeling wasn't mutual, although Josh never knew why Vice President Eric Baker hated his guts, he was sure that he never did anything to the man that could have justified the ignoring and condescending that Eric Baker showed towards him.
"You can thank us later, Josh. Okay, we have several lawyers in this room. Try to figure out something," the Vice President ordered. "Josh, you'd be in our way, go back to the mess or wherever you were before. We will call you when we have something."
Josh, still a bit astounded, left the room and entered the corridor. He decided not to go back to the mess but to wander around. He thought he would feel himself useful by charting the structure they were trapped in. After half an hour of disorientated wandering, he found a room with a dozen computers in it. He switched one on and tried to connect to the Internet, although he knew that there is no link to the outside world. After getting the anticipated answer, he searched the hard disk of the computer, randomly giving a search term: "marriage". When he got at least two dozen files as a result to his query, he was shocked. Apparently those computers held the information of… well, of pretty much everything as he later learned when he tried the search terms "Donnatella Moss" and "Apollo 11".
After two hours of doing search terms, he sauntered back into the Situation Room. Upon opening the door, he was confronted with tired-looking faces.
"Josh, we can't circumvent the fact that the two of you are not married," the Vice President told him. "But, if you are willing to take that step, we could make it possible."
"We aren't 100 sure that it's gonna work, but it's all we've got," Mike Casper told him.
"Okay," Josh whispered and nodded. "What can we do?"
"We have a justice of the peace here…" Romana began.
"But we aren't in the DC anymore and Maryland doesn't recognize justices of the peace," Josh told.
"Yeah, but we aren't supposed to know where we are, so let's just assume that we are in the DC. If the Secret Service has a problem with that we could ask them to tell us where the hell we are," the Vice President told Josh. "It sounds dumber than it is, but…"
"Okay, we have a justice of the peace, but we don't have Donna," Josh threw in.
"I know, I know," Eric Baker said impatiently.
"You should be able to order them around, sir," Romana said then.
"I'm only the Vice President, Romana," Mr. Baker said, turning to the National Security Advisor.
"You are a statutory member of the National Security Council, sir, you have a say."
"Frankly, I'm allowed so little that I usually forget that I still have some power up in my sleeves," the Vice President let out a dry laugh. "But I'm still not allowed to override or veto or whatever procedures, so you still have to marry her, Josh."
"Yes, sir," Josh said solemnly.
The Vice President then ordered one of the Secret Service agents in and told him to get hold of Donna Moss and bring her here.
"She cannot enter this building, sir, I'm sorry," the agent told the Vice President.
"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Mr. Baker exclaimed.
"You have an outpost, right?" Josh asked. "And it's not that far from here, right? 10 meters or so?"
"Right, sir, but you are not allowed to leave the building and return. You either stay here or leave but once you left you cannot return," the agent told him.
"Can we hold the door open?" Romana Gutierrez asked.
"Yes, ma'am, since we don't have credible fear of a nuclear threat the door can be kept open for 10 minutes," the agent told her.
"That should be more than enough," Romana said with a chuckle.
"Good, then bring Ms Moss here," the Vice President ordered.
"Yes, sir," the agent said and disappeared.
"She is here, sir," the agents reported to the vice president an hour later. Josh was already sent out of the room again because he was driving the others crazy.
"Get Mr. Lyman," the vice president ordered and then left the Situation Room. Everybody followed suit.
But Josh was already in the lobby, waiting for the door to open.
"Open the door," the vice president told the agent and then let Josh step into the doorframe.
For a moment Josh couldn't say anything. He just stood there, looking at Donna, wanting to etch every feature of her face, every loose strand of hair that was flying around her face in the morning wind into his memory.
"Josh, you understood the part with the ten minute window, right?" Romana nudged him into the ribs.
Josh turned around, his eyes still unfocused. He nodded and then turned back to Donna.
"Hi there!" he greeted her and then had to repeat the greeting, because he didn't speak loud enough.
"Hi! I see you've found the place," Donna remarked with a chuckle. After Josh got the card, he told her he had such a bad sense of direction that he would never really find the place anyway.
"They brought me here," Josh said with one of his trademark smiles. "Listen, I want you to come inside but you can't come unless we are married."
"If that was your way to ask me, you have to ask me again, Josh," Donna shouted back.
"Donna!" Josh shouted impatiently. "Okay," he whispered then. "Donnatealla Moss, I would like to marry you, do you want to marry me?"
"Is it because of this thing?" Donna asked.
"Donna, we really don't have the time for this," Josh shouted back, much like he would have in their first years in the West Wing.
"Josh!" Donna cried indignantly, with a hint of impatience in her voice, much like she would have said his name in their first years in the West Wing.
"Okay," Josh whispered again. "I love you, Donna Moss, and I want to spend my life with you," he shouted then.
"Okay!" Donna shouted back.
"Is that a yes?" Josh asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes, that is a yes!" Donna shouted back.
"Good, I have a justice of the peace here," Josh said then and Luis Gutierrez stepped up to Josh. "I have a wedding woe," Josh inserted before Luis could start the ceremony.
"Six minutes, Mr. Lyman," the agent standing next to the door told him.
"Okay, Josh, then let's hear it," Luis told him, after seeing the disappointment on Josh's face.
"Although it will sound ridiculous if I say it shouting," Josh second-guessed himself.
"Is that a good woe?" Luis asked him.
"I showed it to Sam ten days ago and he told me it was good," Josh said shrugging his shoulders.
"Then let's do it," Luis encouraged him.
"Okay then," Josh said and then turned back to Donna.
"We are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the joining together of Josh and Donna in the estate of marriage. Josh, you can say your woe now," Luis told Josh.
"Donna, you are my best friend, the inspiration in my life, you keep me going and I will love you for all eternity. On this special day, in the presence of God and these witnesses I promise to love you, stay by your side, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, through the good times and the bad. I promise to comfort you in times of distress, encourage you to achieve all of your goals, laugh with you and cry with you, always be honest with you, and cherish you 'till death do us apart."
He was only halfway through his woe when the first tears appeared in Donna's eyes. By the time he finished, Donna was shaking and Josh wanted nothing more than to run to her and take her in his arms, but he knew that it would be a very dumb move to make, especially after all everyone did in order to get Donna here and to get her inside the building.
"Will you, Joshua Lyman, take Donnatella Moss to your lawfully wedded wife?" Luis asked, after the agent flanking the door looked down at his watch. "If so, please answer I will."
"I will," Josh answered loud and clear. Donna looked up and a quivering smile appeared in the corner of her mouth.
"Will you, Donnatella Moss, take Joshua Lyman to your lawfully wedded husband?" Luis then asked. "If so, please answer I will."
"I will," Donna shouted.
"Then by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the District of Columbia, I pronounce that you are husband and wife. You may kiss and embrace," he added then with a chuckle because the agents let Donna go and Donna was already running into the open arms of Josh.
"Thank you," Josh mouthed to everyone after he embraced Donna and she buried her head into the nape of his neck.
The others said "Congratulations" almost in unison and then started to disperse. The Secret Service agents returned to their places. Josh was staring at the door, it was already shut and locked again. He murmured a "thank you" under his breath and then looked down at Donna's face.
"I'm so sorry it had to happen this way but I wanted to have you safe in here," he told her.
"Josh, it was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined," Donna told him after she kissed him.
"Yeah, but I know that you wanted to marry in white and that you wanted our friends to be there with us," Josh told her.
"You wanted the same, Josh," Donna said with a chuckle, remembering a conversation she had with Sam about him catching Josh secretly looking at bridal gowns on the Internet.
"But…"
"No 'buts', Josh," Donna said and put her index finger over Josh' lips. "It was beautiful, I only regret that I didn't have a woe," she whispered and kissed Josh again. "Yours was so touching."
"Well, you will have time to come up with a woe," Josh said a smile. "It's not like we could do something useful here."
"What's the problem?" Donna asked.
"We don't have an operational link outside," Josh informed her.
"Okay, let's work on that then," Donna told him and Josh somehow found the energy he lacked before to take up the fight with everyone and everything that might stand in his way to achieve his goals.