Josh saw a flash of a blonde hair zoom by his office door. He lifted his head from the memo he was previously absorbed in to try and see what was happening.

"Donna?"

She appeared in his doorway, balancing against the frame as she slipped on a pair of black stilettos. Her hair was falling down around her shoulders, loose from the professional way she'd had it pinned up all morning and she'd removed the blazer she'd worn over her dress to reveal... well, considerably more than she could show at work.

"You bellowed," she asked, stepping into his office to apply some shiny lip gloss in using the reflection of herself in his framed law school diploma.

Josh raised his eyebrows when he realized what she was doing.

"That's my law school diploma," he stated. "From Yale. Where I studied for three years. It's a good school, Donna."

She stilled her motions and turned slowly to face him. "Well now someone's finally getting some use out of it," she quipped, returning to focus her concentration on her lip gloss.

"Everybody's a comedian," he mumbled. "Why are you so dressed up tonight anyway, Gilda?"

"I," she softly smacked her lips together. "Have a date."

"A date?!" His voice increased in pitch several octaves.

She turned to look at him again, leaning her hip on her desk. "You know... two people, meeting for drinks and dinner and, lord willing, other things."

He gulped, taking in the vision of her in a little black dress. He forced himself to look away. She was his assistant. It wouldn't be appropriate. His young, beautiful assistant... and so much more, his brain screamed. But he silenced that part of his mind.

"You can't!"

She raised her eyebrows at him in surprise.

"I mean..." he recoiled, trying to think of a reason for her to stay. Wasn't he supposed to be able to think on his feet? "I'm not done with the... bill."

She narrowed her gaze. "What bill?"

"The..." he looked around his office. "The..." Come ON, Lyman, he prodded himself. "The... uh... electric pencil sharpener subsidy." What?!

She blinked twice, an unamused expression on her face.

"It's for the kids, Donna," he mentally kicked himself. He swore he was even starting to sweat under her scrutiny. "Education reform?" It came out as a question.

She rolled her eyes at him, gathering a few file folders and placing them neatly into his backpack. "Im not staying late tonight and neither are you. You need to leave now to pick up Audrey. There's construction on Virginia Ave so give yourself a few extra minutes to get to her art class."

Damn, he thought. He couldn't even invent a reason to make her stay at work. "What's the class theme tonight?"

"Macaroni art," Donna supplied, having memorized the schedule. "So take your tie off before you go or you'll end up glued to something."

"You're sure you don't want to join us?" He made a habit of leaving Audrey out of it but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Tempting," she smiled, grabbing her things and walking with him to exit the building. "But I think I'll pass just this once."

"Suit yourself," he smirked, parting ways with her and hating himself for letting her walk away.

OoOoOoOoO

Josh shuffled over to his front door, recognizing the familiar rhythm of the knock but not expecting any company. He was clad in sweats watching the end of the Mets game with Audrey who was already in her little pink polka dot jammies and bunny slippers.

"Hi," Donna appeared to be a little nervous.

"Hi," he looked her up and down, quickly assuring himself that she was alright. "I thought you had a date?" He'd tried his best to sabotage it but Donna had gone anyway. Dinner with someone Josh had immediately deemed a waste of her time, though he wasn't going to allow himself to acknowledge just exactly why her date bothered him to begin with.

Donna just shrugged her shoulders. "I did. It's finished."

"Didn't go well?"

"Would I be standing outside your door at 8:25 if it did?"

Josh let out a little laugh. "No, I don't suppose you would be."

"So are you going to let me in?"

He stood aside as she breezed through and hung her sweater up, removed her heels and made herself at home while Josh locked up behind her.

Audrey hopped down from where she was curled up on the couch and hurried over to Donna, who immediately picked her up. "Hi, Sweet Pea," Donna kissed the top of her head.

"Hi Donna." She threw her arms around Donna's neck and rest her head on her shoulder with a small smile.

"So what's in the bag?" Josh peered into the white sack.

"Dinner," Donna announced, picking it up and carrying it, and Audrey, into the kitchen.

Josh looked a little confused.

"He ordered for me," Donna began. "Insisted that I have the steak. Wouldn't take no for an answer."

That phrase made Josh a little queasy and more than a little grateful that Donna was safe and sound in his apartment. If this guy wouldn't let her say no to a steak who knows what else he wouldn't have taken no as an answer to. He shook his head, pulling himself from the dark direction in which his mind wandered, and listened to what she was saying.

"Anyway, so he ordered me the steak and I asked them to burn the life out of it. And then I didn't eat it." She popped the container into the microwave for a minute and looked back to Josh. "And since I'm assuming you scarfed down a bowl of Cheerios over the sink after you fed her, I figured you could use a real dinner." The microwave dinged and she pulled the container out and handed it to him.

"Thanks," Josh muttered. This woman never ceased to amaze him. She could anticipate his every need, he swore. "But what are you eating?"

"I had a salad at the restaurant."

"A side salad?" He eyed her skeptically as she moved through his kitchen as though she lived there. "Donna, you have to eat more than a side salad for dinner. You have to-"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to shoot him a glare, Audrey still on her hip. "Really? Now YOU'RE going to tell me what I have to eat? Do you really think that's a good idea right now, Joshua?"

"No," he gulped.

"Save your parenting for Audrey, I can take care of myself," she snapped a little more than she meant to.

"Okay," he held his hands up in surrender, looking a little sheepish. If only he knew how far from parental his thoughts about here really were. Picking up his plate and the utensils she'd handed him and heading back to the couch as the game came back from commercial.

Donna went back to what she was doing and spoke a little softer, turning her attention to Audrey. "You and I are going to have a little treat, too." Donna grabbed the smaller second box from the bag. "Restaurant dessert, Audrey Lyman, is a necessity in every girl's life."

Audrey, bright eyed and completely enthralled, hung on to every word Donna said, as she always did.

Donna put Audrey down and grabbed a spoon and a napkin. "Go sit on the couch by Daddy," she instructed her. "I'm right behind you."

Donna wandered out of the kitchen, slowing as she walked by Josh.

"I didn't mean to snap at you," she admitted softly from behind him, her hand gently grazing his shoulders and dragging lightly across the back of his neck as she walked by in a tactile apology. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay," he muttered, unable to take his eyes off of her. He swore his whole body was tingling at the sensation from her touch. He shook his head a little bit, clearing his throat and focusing on the baseball game.

Donna sat down at the opposite end of the couch and gave Audrey a bite of the cheesecake. "Never let a man order for you. Or order you around," she told her. "If he won't let you choose your own meal he's not going to let you be your own woman in any other capacity either." Audrey stared at Donna, not understanding her dating advice but smiling every time Donna gave her a bite. "Keep your standards high, Audrey," she gave her another bite of cheesecake. "And don't settle."

"Okay," Audrey agreed, squirming around to settle into a more comfortable position on Donna's lap, considerably more interested in dessert than figuring out what Donna was saying to her.

Josh listened carefully, not interrupting, completely unsure of what to say. He hoped Donna knew that advice applied to her as well.

"Thanks for dinner," he told Donna. "Time for bed, kiddo."

Donna stood up and walked Audrey down the hall to her room, Josh trailing behind.

"Pick out your story," he told Audrey. "Just one tonight since we had dessert with Donna."

Audrey immediately grabbed her favorite book as Donna pulled the blankets back and she crawled into bed with her little stuffed bunny. Donna lay down on top of the covers, curling her legs up to fit on the small toddler bed as Audrey snuggled in closer to her and Josh sat down against the headboard with the book. Audrey clutched her bunny and shifted her attention to her father, who began to read through then book that he practically had memorized, using different silly voices for each barnyard animal character.

They were only a few pages in when Audrey's eyes fluttered closed and before they knew it she was asleep.

"Goodnight, Sweet Pea," Donna kissed her forehead and gently rolled off of the bed.

"Sweet dreams," Josh added, repeating the same process and pulling covers up around her before double checking the nightlight and quietly leaving the room.

They both walked softly back to his living room before speaking again.

"We need to go over the most recent education report," Donna stated, getting down to business.

"Kay," he agreed, grabbing a beer for them to split and flopping down on the couch. "Let's get to work."

If all of her dates ended like this, Josh thought, maybe that would be alright with him.