A/N: Here's the next chapter! It's a little long, but this'll be the first chapter with two "episodes". Let me know how you like the format and if there's anything I should or could change. I hope you enjoy, please read and review!
Chapter 2: Help!; Holiday Forgiveness
When Ellie had first met Donna Moss in the pelting rain of the town square, she had felt an immediate need to help her. After all, people had jumped to help her and her dad when they were new to town. It was time to return the favor. She had taken Donna over to the inn and gotten Josh to give her a room, free of charge.
The next morning, Josh, Margaret, and Sam were talking in the lobby, careful not to linger where their newest guest might hear them.
"So you really have no idea who she is?" Margaret questioned Josh firmly.
"I've never seen her before in my life." Josh said.
"She just got off a bus somewhere, Ellie brings her by, and suddenly she's got free room and board?"
"Who said she's got free room and board?"
"You did." Sam pointed out. "You know, you probably did it because it was Ellie who brought her to you."
"No, I didn't!" Josh snapped. "She's-she's a carbon copy of what I was when I first showed up in Liberty, do you remember that?" At Sam and Margaret's blank stares, he sighed. "Of course you don't, you weren't here."
"Only difference is without a baby." Margaret pointed out. Just then, Donna came down the stairs. Casting a glance at the three of them, she smiled softly. "Good-good morning." she said, rather haltingly. Josh could tell she thought that they were about to kick her to the curb.
"Morning." Josh greeted. "Did you sleep all right?"
"Yes, thank you." Donna replied. "Um, do you have breakfast here? I'm kind of hungry." Josh couldn't help but notice that her hand drifted to her abdomen, almost...protectively.
"No, but there's a diner in the town square where you were last night. Just tell the owner you're with the Presidential Inn, and she'll fix you right up." Sam explained.
"Oh, okay. Thank you." Donna said. She began to slip out, but then turned back. "I'll be out of your hair by tonight." And then, unconsciously pulling down her shirt, she was gone.
As soon as the front door to the inn clicked shut, Margaret let out a gasp. "She's pregnant!"
Josh did a double-take. "What?"
"Did you see the way her hands kept going to her stomach? It's definitely rounded out. And my sister's had three kids, I know morning sickness when I see it."
Josh's eyes bugged out. "Are you sure?"
Suddenly, Josh felt a sharp blow to the back of the head as Margaret smacked him. "Positive. Not that either of you men would know the difference."
…
Meanwhile, Ellie was packing up her locker. She would leave only the necessities needed to get through the next few days. The next Monday, she would transfer to a new school.
She was on her way down the hall when her books slipped out of her hands-she was many things, but graceful was not one of them. As she gathered her books, she was startled by a teenage boy who was just standing there watching her.
"God, you're just standing there like Boo Radley! Say something next time!"
"You've seen To Kill A Mockingbird?" she heard an uncertain voice ask.
She looked up to meet the eyes of a young African-American teenage boy staring skeptically at her.
"Yeah." Ellie said, surprised.
"1962. Gregory Peck. You've got good taste."
"Thanks. I think." The boy looked somewhat familiar, like she had seen him before but couldn't quite place him.
"Are you moving?"
"Nope, just my books are."
"I just moved here. I got bumped to another foster family."
Suddenly, Ellie remembered where she had seen him. "You're living with the Bartlets!" Suddenly, her face grew red, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that out loud."
"No. Don't worry about it." He said noncommittally. The truth was, he wasn't that embarrassed about being a foster kid. He had built a wall around himself to avoid just that. But this girl...this girl seemed sweet, and it didn't hurt that she was cute. "I'm Charlie."
"Oh. Ellie. I mean, that's me. I'm Ellie. Elizabeth, actually. I live next door to the Bartlets. Me and my dad. No mom. I mean, I have a mom, she's the one who named me after Elizabeth Blackwell-you know the first female doctor? I have her name, too-Amelia. Elizabeth Amelia Lyman." Ellie paused to take a breath. "I never talk this much."
Charlie looked bewildered.
"And now I've just scared you off, right?"
"Well…" Charlie was stunned by her beauty and apparent intelligence but was reluctant to open up. "I better go."
"I'll see you around." Ellie called after him as he left. "I mean, if we're gonna be living next door to each other, we'll see a lot of each other, right?"
Charlie turned around ever so slightly. "Maybe." Then he was gone.
…
Donna had gone to the town square to find the diner for breakfast and had met CJ, the diner owner, who seemed very accommodating. In fact, all the people she had met in this town had seemed to go out of their way to make her feel welcome. Where had people like this been all her life?
She wandered around the town square, finding somewhere to eat her lunch-or really, her leftover breakfast. She hadn't been able to eat much for breakfast-the morning sickness had taken care of that in a hurry, which hadn't dissipated despite being nearly four months along. She sat down on a bench, where she saw an older man with a dour expression staring down at her.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"You. I've met all the people in Liberty, and I don't recall ever having seen you before. Are you new?"
"Do you always give this badgering to new people in town? What if I was a tourist?"
"But you're not a tourist: I can tell because you seem entirely too comfortable in the town square. So, I repeat, who are you?"
"I'm Donna Moss, who are you?"
"Toby Ziegler, Lieutenant Mayor." He said with a misplaced sense of importance. The truth was, he wanted his job to sound more important than it was. He had served under Jed Bartlet for years, and was waiting for the day when he might be able to take over. Until then, he would serve his town with a sharp eye on their day-to-day proceedings. When he wasn't approaching teenage rebels in the square (Ellie Lyman the only exception), he was questioning the new arrivals and trying to maintain law and order in the town, often bickering with CJ on her muted enthusiasm for town events.
"Where are you from?"
"I don't know if I feel comfortable answering that question."
"It's a simple question. From where did you get off of a bus, which I assume you did because I don't see a car?"
She looked up and realized he wasn't going to leave her alone unless she answered his questions. "Madison, Wisconsin."
He snorted. "Long way from Wisconsin. What, did your boyfriend break up with you?"
Donna's eyes widened. That had been the exact question that Josh Lyman had asked the night before when his daughter Ellie had brought her to the inn. And she had the same answer-the answer that she would keep telling people because the truth was just too painful for her to admit at the moment. Because it was easier for her to say that she dumped her no-good boyfriend in a move for independence than what really happened.
"What makes you think he broke up with me?"
Toby nodded sagely, having the good sense to stop being so harsh on the young woman. "Ah. I see. Are you passing through, or are you staying here?"
Donna looked up, surprised. "I-I don't know yet."
"You don't know yet?" Toby asked incredulously.
"Toby, lay off!" said a commanding voice from behind him. Donna looked around Toby to see CJ striding towards him, a determined look on her face. "She walked out of her life with bare-minimum savings and everything she owned, and she's pregnant on top of it. Don't make her feel worse."
Toby's head whipped around. "She's-you're pregnant?"
Donna nodded slightly. "About four months." She stood up-CJ's defense of her made her feel more empowered. "Mr. Ziegler, I make no apology for wanting to make a fresh start. And the people I have met already in this community have been nothing but kind, and welcoming, and warm-hearted. I can honestly think of no other place I would want to raise my child."
Toby said nothing at first. Then, he said, "So, you're here to stay, I presume?"
"I mean, I hadn't really thought about it, but...yeah." For the first time that day, Donna's face lit up with a full-watt grin. "I want to stay here."
"But you don't have a job, do you? I mean, well-meaning as this community is, you cannot live on credit alone. A baby cannot live on credit alone."
"Tobias!" CJ cut in. Toby, to his credit, shut up and looked at least a little remorseful. "She has a job."
"She does?" Toby asked.
"I do?" Donna asked, flabbergasted.
CJ nodded. "I've been thinking, I need a waitress. Someone to wait tables, close up, and help me out around the restaurant. And if you need a place to live, I've got a spare room in my loft apartment, and you can pay off the rent by working for me." She crossed the grass and sat down next to Donna on the bench. "So, what do you say, Donna? You want to come work for me?"
Donna grinned, still a little shocked at how fast this had all come together. "Yeah, I'd like that. I really would."
…
Later that evening, Ellie was playing basketball out front when she saw Charlie sitting on the porch of the Bartlets' house. Just then, she saw Abbey come out.
"Charlie?" she heard. "Would you like to come in for dinner?"
"I'm not that hungry." Charlie replied.
"Well, maybe you could just come to sit with us." Abbey said brightly.
Suddenly, Charlie stood up. "I'm really tired of you forcing 'family dinner' on me. I'm not your family."
"We would like you to be." Abbey replied, a little quieter. Ellie stood by the fence and listened.
"Well, maybe I'm not ready for that yet." Charlie said.
"All right. Abbey acquiesced. "We'll be here when you are."
Charlie walked past Abbey into the house, briefly stopping to make eye contact with Ellie. Ellie was starting to be confused by Charlie Young's behavior. Did he want to know her or didn't he?
…
The next few months passed quickly. Ellie didn't take long to adjust to her new school. Charlie and Ellie were talking more, but neither one had asked the other out yet. Charlie was still dealing with abandonment issues, while Ellie was trying to give him the space he needed to adjust to life at the Bartlets. Luckily for the Bartlets, Charlie was a complacent foster child, not one to ruffle feathers, but was still taking his time opening up.
Donna and CJ were also getting along famously. Donna loved her job at the diner, and it was also working out well to have Donna and CJ living together at the loft. Donna's pregnancy was also progressing well: she was now seven months along, and Abbey had volunteered to be her doctor for the majority of the pregnancy so she didn't have to find a doctor in Hanover.
One morning, the week before Christmas, Donna was working in the diner when Ellie came in for breakfast. CJ was on the other side of the counter, talking to another customer.
"Hey, Ellie." Donna greeted brightly. Over the past few months, they had developed a sister-type relationship.
"Hey, Donna." Ellie said. "Can I get some hot chocolate?"
"Uh-oh."
"What?"
"You only ever ask for hot chocolate when something's wrong. So, what's going on?"
"My life is over." Ellie sat at the counter and slumped her head into her hands. Donna decided that this called for an extra shot of whipped cream. She set the mug of hot chocolate in front of her. The diner was slow, thankfully, so she had time to talk to the teenager.
"Thanks."
"Why is your life over?"
"You know how the Christmas Ball's coming up?"
"Yeah?" Donna had heard briefly about the town event-mainly from CJ and Toby arguing over putting reindeer in the windows of the diner to advertise ("I'm not a storefront, Toby!" "According to my official town roster, you are.").
"Well...it seems like everyone wants to go, and at my school we're doing a lot of Christmas activities."
"That sounds like fun." Donna said.
"Not if you're Jewish."
"Oh." Donna replied, suddenly understanding. Being surrounded by peer pressure was something that she could completely identify with. "Well, don't let them pressure you to celebrate a certain way."
"But it's not just school, Donna! It's everything...the Christmas Ball, the nativity scene. I don't think I've ever met another Jewish person in this town."
"Do you and your dad celebrate Hanukkah?"
"I mean, sometimes, but most of the time, we just end up observing Christmas because it's easier in town. Sometimes I don't think my dad cares what holiday we celebrate. We didn't end up celebrating it this year."
Donna's heart went out to the young girl. "Then make him care. Tell him that this is important to you."
Ellie looked up. "You really think he'll listen?"
"I do."
"Okay." Ellie said, her face lighting up. "I think I will. Thanks, Donna." She set down her mug and grabbed her bag. "I gotta go catch the bus."
…
Meanwhile, Sam was walking through the town square, on his way to a business meeting with Toby, when he saw her. Ainsley Hayes.
Ainsley Hayes was an attorney who had come to town three years earlier to open her own practice. Although she didn't get much business in the small town, and often spent time in the Hanover court as a public defender, she was in town enough that Sam had noticed her. And he liked what he saw. But when they talked…
"Hey, Sam." Ainsley called out. She had noticed him staring.
Sam nodded. "Ainsley. Did you have a chance to look at those slogans?"
"Yeah, I did."
"And?"
"And... I didn't think they were that great."
"Ainsley, it's a law firm. How much publicity do you think you need? Personally, I don't think the slogan matters that much."
"Actually, Sam, I think the slogan matters a great deal. All the TV commercials out there, they make great slogans that draw people to them and not enough to me."
"You know what?" Sam said. " I gave you help. And if you don't want it, that's on you."
"Oh, really?"
"Really."
"Okay, then. Why don't you pitch me some more ideas over dinner?"
"Dinner." Sam repeated. Then, it hit him. "Are you asking me out?"
"Maybe." She said cryptically. "Does tonight work?"
"I can't tonight." Sam replied suddenly. He wanted to go out with her, but he also had the Ball.
"And why not?"
"I have this...thing. It's a town thing, a Christmas Ball."
"Do you have a date for this ball?"
"Well, it's funny you should say that. I actually...don't, no."
"You got one."
"Wait...you?"
"Yeah. You take me out to dinner, and I'll be your date for the Ball. It's a win-win."
"A win-win?" Sam asked, bewildered. He really hadn't expected to come away from this encounter with an actual date.
"Yep. So, 6:00?"
"6:00." Sam confirmed.
"See you then." Then, Ainsley walked away towards her office. Sam stared after her, in awe.
…
CJ was working the dinner shift by herself: Donna had gone upstairs to put her feet up; the ten-hour shift had left her exhausted. CJ had to talk to her about cutting back her hours, she thought as she worked. She looked up and saw Sam and Ainsley eating dinner in the corner. Huh. She thought. When did they become a thing?
Suddenly, a man came in from the blustery cold and sat down. He took a menu, and CJ immediately figured he was new to town. No one but tourists ever took a menu.
He looked up. "Um...what's good here?"
CJ shrugged. "Everything."
"I-I mean, what's your specialty?"
"Taking someone's order and giving it to them." She replied. She wasn't normally this snarky, but sometimes tourists just grated on her nerves.
"Look, just get me some water and chicken parmesan, please."
"Sure thing." She turned to the stove. "Are you from out of town?"
"Yeah, I'm attending a conference up in Hanover, but I've always liked the small-town atmosphere, so I got a room at the local inn outside Hanover. Someone there recommended this diner to me. Told me it was the best food within thirty miles."
"Well, that was very kind of them to say." CJ replied. She poured the water and set it in front of the man. Suddenly, something struck her about the man's face and eyes-they seemed oddly familiar. "So, where are you from?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Wisconsin. Madison."
CJ froze, almost dropping the food she had grabbed from the fridge and heated from the lunch rush and setting them with a clatter in front of the customer. Six pairs of eyes from the rest of the diner's patrons looked up. That was what was so familiar about those eyes, that face. She had seen them before.
They were Donna's eyes.
"Are you all right, ma'am?" He asked.
CJ recovered quickly. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Enjoy your food."
She slipped up the landing to the loft, leaning against the railing. She was almost positive she had just served Donna's father. And he was staying at the Presidential Inn. The trouble was, she didn't know anything about when Donna had left Madison, or if she was on good terms with her parents.
But she had to try.
She walked up the landing and into the living room, where Donna was laying on the couch, watching a cooking show with her swollen feet propped up on a pillow. Donna looked up and paused the program when she saw she wasn't alone.
"Hey."
"Hi. How are you feeling?"
"Better." She answered truthfully.
CJ shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to approach the topic. Then, she decided to bite the bullet. "Donna...I think I just met your father."
Her eyebrows shot up, and her mouth dropped open. She scrambled to sit up. "My-my father? How-how do you know?"
"I just served a guy-from Madison, I might add-that looks a lot like you."
Donna closed her eyes and took a breath. "Blonde hair, mid-fifties, a little stocky?"
"Yeah." CJ said. Donna's description fit the man she had met downstairs perfectly.
"That's him." She said. "Is he still in the diner?"
"I think so." CJ replied. "But wait, Donna-you don't have to go down there if you don't want to. I-I mean," she began to backpedal. "I guess you left Madison for a reason."
"I did." Donna admitted. "But it's Christmas, and my parents-they didn't do anything wrong. I just...couldn't tell them where I was going."
"Why not?"
"I just couldn't."
"Donna...your parents don't know you're pregnant, do they?"
Donna shook her head. "No, they don't. I just-I don't know what I'm going to say."
"He's staying at the inn." CJ offered. "You could offer to walk him back. That's a start."
Softly, Donna began to smile. "Yeah." She fumbled with her fingers, obviously nervous, before setting her jaw, standing up from the couch, and heading to the door. "It's time."
She walked down the stairs with purpose, holding her belly nervously. Luckily, Daniel Moss was still sitting at the counter. He looked just as she remembered him.
"Dad?"
Daniel looked up slowly. He would know that voice anywhere. He blinked several times and then realized, yes, she was standing right in front of him. He wasn't dreaming.
"Donna?" He choked out. "I'm-I'm not dreaming? You're really here?"
"Yes." Donna said, coming around the counter.
Daniel moved toward her in a daze. CJ watched from the landing, tears in her eyes. He grabbed Donna's shoulders, and moved a hand to touch her cheek.
"You're here." he breathed. And suddenly, he took in all of her. "And you're…" His eyes drifted to Donna's expanded stomach, question marks in his eyes.
"Pregnant." Donna finished. "Almost seven months."
Daniel was stunned into silence. Then, he said, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I knew you would tell Brian where I was, and I didn't want him to find me."
"Your mother might've done that, but sweetheart, I just wanted you to be okay. To be happy."
"I'm okay, Dad. I have a job, and a place to live, and I have people-good people-looking out for me." She decided to bite the bullet. "Would-would you like me to walk you back to the inn?"
Daniel smiled-another thing CJ realized that Donna had picked up from him. "I'd like that. But only if I can take you out to dinner tomorrow night."
"But tomorrow's Christmas Eve."
"I know, I can get a later flight. You're more important."
"Really?"
"Really." And with that, they left arm in arm, talking quietly.
CJ breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still confused. Then, it hit her. Brian must be her ex, the one she left to go to New Hampshire. Then, it began to dawn on her that their relationship must have been bad if she didn't want to leave a trail for him. What had gone on before she left Madison?
…
The next night, Daniel and Donna went out to dinner and had an honest conversation about everything that had happened before Donna had left. They talked about the baby, and Donna told Daniel that he could tell her mother that he found her. Her parents had both suffered long enough. It was time to make amends with her family.
Meanwhile, Charlie was sitting by the fire, feeling let down. He missed his sister.
He and Deanna had been best pals as kids until their mother died and they were separated in foster care. She would be 11 now. It was one of the reasons he was so down over the holidays, and why he was so afraid to let people in. He was afraid they would be taken from him, too. Unbeknownst to him, Jed and Abbey had been working on a plan.
Abbey walked in. "Hi, Charlie."
"Hey, Abbey." Charlie said.
"I got you a Christmas present."
"Abbey." He said, annoyed. "I already told you I didn't want anything."
"Not even me?" said a voice from the doorway.
Charlie looked up slowly. He knew that voice. There's no way that's-
He turned. Standing in the doorway was an eleven-year-old girl with a face he would never forget.
"Charlie?" She asked carefully.
Charlie broke into a grin. "Deanna?" He crossed the room, crushing her into a hug. "You're really here? You're not a dream?"
"I'm reality." Deanna replied, grinning against his shoulder.
Charlie looked up at Abbey, who was standing in the doorway with Jed watching the reunion. "How did you-"
"It took a lot of asking around." Jed spoke up. "And I may have used my position to get a few answers. But we knew how much you missed her, so…"
"Thank you." Charlie said. "Thank you so much." And for the first time ever, he hugged his foster parents.
"Merry Christmas, Charlie." Abbey said.
"Merry Christmas." He replied.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was long, but I wanted to fit a lot in. Please let me know what you thought!
