"Donna? Is everything alright?" Edith Lyman had to admit- seeing Donna Moss show up at this time of night unannounced made her a little nervous. Especially after receiving a call from Leo two weeks ago that shook her entire world.

"Everything's fine," Donna assured her quickly. "Josh is fine."

Edie let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "I'm sorry. Come in," she opened the door and stepped out of Donna's way. "I thought you would be with Joshua."

Donna walked in and sat a small duffel bag down in the entryway. "I was. But he practically shooed me out of his room," Donna chuckled a bit. "He said I needed some rest. I would have fought him but he double teamed me with Abbey Bartlet and I think I was about 2 minutes away from secret service intervention."

Edith laughed. She was sure that it took a lot of convincing to get Donna to leave.

"So Sam agreed to stay the night with Josh," Donna continued. "And I thought you could use some rest too. So I came over to stay with Audrey."

Edith pulled her into a hug. "You're so good to us, Donna. What would we do without you?"

Donna embraced her as well. The last two weeks, since that fated night at Rosslyn, had been an emotional rollercoaster. She loved these people. They were her family now. "Let me make you a cup of tea before you go," Donna offered. She knew she needed to talk to Edie.

Edith didn't refuse, working with Donna in the kitchen as they quietly poured hot water into their mugs and grabbed the tea bags that Donna kept in Josh's cupboard and slid into chairs in his dining room.

"How are you doing, Edith?" Donna reached out and took the older woman's hand. Her concern was genuine.

"Oh, just fine dear." It was a standard response and Donna knew it. Edith's eyes were still puffy from tears and she'd never seen the older woman look so exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes and her shaking hands told a different tale.

"Edie..." Donna gave her a look. "I think we're past that.

Edie sighed. "It's been hard, Donna. Not that I need to tell you that." Edie wiped her eyes.

Donna gave her hand a squeeze and nodded solemnly.

"I just don't know what I would have done if-" Edith couldn't even finish the sentence. But Donna knew what she meant. Her stomach churned at the very thought. "I'm just so tired, Donna. And the thought of coming that close to losing him- After Joanie and Noah I just don't think I could go on if-"

"Edith? We're friends. You can be honest with me- do you need a little break?" Donna didn't want to overstep but she knew someone had to take control of this situation. They were far from back to normal.

"I'm just so tired, Donna."

"Josh mentioned a few weeks ago that you were thinking about looking for a place in Florida?"

"Well, I was. But I just don't know now. I mean, I wasn't sure about moving away from Josh and Audrey to begin with but now I really don't think I should leave."

"Edith, you need to take care of yourself. These were supposed to be your retirement years. You deserve some relaxation. You need to take the time and do these things. I love Audrey too, and I understand why you're doing what you are. But we can't have you burning yourself out either. What if something happened? I don't even want to think about what that would do to Audrey and Josh. And me," she admitted, hoping Edith knew that Donna truly loved her like a mother.

Edie nodded slowly. She couldn't argue with Donna's logic.

"Edith, whatever you need- if you need to take some time. A few days or however long you need- just to kind of reset and get some good sleep or take a vacation..."

"But what about-"

"Edith." Donna met her gaze. "I'm not going to let anything happen to them."

Edie smiled hesitantly. "I know. You're right."

"I have some vacation days saved up and Leo has been more than accommodating with my schedule. I can easily stay here and make sure they're both taken care of when he gets home. We can come up with a schedule or whatever you're the most comfortable with."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course." Donna didn't hesitate.

"Well... yes. Okay. Maybe you're right. Maybe I do just need a little bit of time."

"We'll work out the logistics and talk to Josh tomorrow. Just get some sleep tonight." Donna gave her a hug goodbye and locked up, placing their mugs in the dishwasher and wandering down the hall, peeking in to check on a still sleeping Audrey as she passed her open door.

Exhausted and in need of a hot shower, Donna let herself into Josh's master bathroom and stood under the running water. She'd held herself together for the most part over the last few weeks but now she was alone and the tears began to fall. She allowed herself a few moments of emotional purge before pulling herself back together and stepping out of the shower. She dried off, changing into a pair of comfortable pajamas and making one last pass through his apartment before she turned in for the night.

She stood in the kitchen, rooting around in the pantry for a late night snack of some sort. Her meals were all off schedule that week.

"Daddy?"

Donna stilled her motions at the sound of the soft voice and peeked her head around the corner.

As soon as Audrey saw Donna her face lit up. "Daddy?" She asked again. Because in her world, where there was 'Donna' there was usually Daddy, too.

"No, Sweet Pea. It's just me," Donna walked over to Audrey who stood planted where she was in the hallway, clutching her bunny, Walter, and whimpering softly. It killed Donna to see how much Audrey missed Josh.

Donna scooped her up and held her tight as Audrey cried. She kissed her forehead and reassured her that everything was okay as she swayed her back and forth in the dimly lit room. Audrey held on to Donna for dear life, eventually dozing off.

Donna, who didn't care what the optics were, crawled into Josh's unmade bed. He'd likely left it that way in a hurry to get out the door for work two weeks ago. She could still smell a hint of his aftershave on his pillow. She pulled Audrey close and listened to the steady rhythm of her breathing and eventually drifted off to sleep herself.

OoOoOoOoO

It had been a rough morning. Audrey wasn't listening to a word that Donna said, but Donna couldn't be too hard on the the little girl. Her world had been turned upside down in the last few weeks, too.

"Audrey?" Donna sat down on the edge of the couch but Audrey didn't look up as she stood at the coffee table and continued to color, PBS playing in the background.

"Audrey," she began again, "I want to talk to you about Daddy."

Audrey immediately stopped coloring and looked up to Donna, wide eyed and listening intently.

"Did Bubbe tell you that Daddy... umm, doesn't feel good?"

Audrey, completely captivated with the conversation, nodded her head in an animated yes. "He has a owie," she told Donna softly. "On his heart," she pointed to her own chest.

"That's right, Sweet Pea," Donna tried to remain emotionally stable. She didn't want to scare her. "But I know he misses you. And you miss him too, don't you."

"Uh-huh," Audrey nodded again.

"Okay. Well, I'm sure he'd like to see you. So why don't we get dressed and go visit him."

Audrey popped up quickly, leaving her coloring where it was and thinking the news was too good to be true.

"Come on, let's get you out of your jammies and take a bath."

Audrey instead ran to the front door. "Now."

"As soon as you're ready we can go."

Donna picked her up and toted her down the hall, dressing her in a little sundress with strawberries on it that Josh loved and fixing her hair with a bow.

She loaded her into the back seat of Josh's car and made the quick trip to GW, walking Audrey to the elevator and pausing upon arrival on Josh's floor. Donna crouched down to Audrey's eye level and took a soft tone one again. "Okay. We're going to see Daddy now but do you remember what we talked about? About Daddy's heart?"

Audrey, wide eyed and uncertain of her surroundings, gawked at a group of passing nurses.

"Audrey, look at me please." Donna stroked her little cheek, drawing her attention back in. "We need to be careful around Daddy, okay? No jumping or climbing on him. Okay?"

"Okay." Her voice was soft and reserved. Her dad has always wanted to play and crawl around with her. What had changed.

Donna picked her up, preventing any running or over excitement, and peeked in to Josh's room. They'd timed it perfectly. He had just finished with his therapist and had a little break before anyone would be in to prod and him again.

"Knock Knock," she announced them.

Josh glanced up, a smile on his face the second he heard her voice. It broke in to a full dimpled grin when he saw Audrey in her arms.

"Surprise! You have a visitor," she announced.

"Daddy!" Audrey practically lunged out of Donna's arms to reach Josh.

"Hi, baby girl!" Josh was clearly elated as Donna sat Audrey carefully on the non injury side of his hospital bed.

Audrey threw her arms around his neck and though Josh cringed he looked happier than Donna had seen him since their day together at the pool.

Josh pulled his daughter close with his uninsured arm and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you," he told Donna softly, meeting her gaze. And when he did, Donna saw the building emotion in his eyes, causing her to shed a few tears herself as she reached out to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Of course," she whispered softly.

Josh swallowed hard, unashamed to have Donna witness the tender reunion, and closed his eyes, holding on to Audrey as long as she'd let him.

Eventually she squirmed around in Josh's grasp and sat up on his bed but it was clear that he wanted her to remain close by.

Josh asked Audrey about her morning, searching desperately for a since of normalcy. "Have you been good for Bubbe and Donna?" He reflexively smoothed her little curls.

"Uh huh," Audrey nodded eagerly. "I ate a 'nana for breakfast." She then proceeded to explain, in excruciating detail, the episode of Sesame Street she'd watched while Donna did a load of laundry.

Josh, who determined he would need another dose of morphine to get through the rest of the details of Big Bird's most recent adventure, gave Donna a pleasdng look.

"Why don't we show Daddy what you made for him during art hour last week."

Audrey's attention did a 180 as Donna pulled out a finger painting and Audrey proudly showed it off. "Great job, Shortcake," Josh told her. "Is this for me?"

Audrey told him that it was and Donna grabbed a piece of tape from the nurses station to hang it up by his bed.

After an hour of Josh and Audrey spending some quiet time together reading books and lounging around together, Donna glanced at her watch and announced that it was time to go. Both Josh and Audrey's faces immediately fell.

Donna reached for Audrey, ready to assure her they'd be back to visit soon. The last hour had done so much good for all three of their souls.

But as she came closer, Audrey shrinked away from Donna for the first time in her life as large tears formed in her eyes and her chin began to quiver. "NO! DONNA, NO! GO AWAY!"

Donna's eyes immediately filled with tears, her heart breaking. She worried that bringing Audrey here had been a mistake. Josh needed his rest, and it was almost Audrey's nap time, too. In fact, she'd probably fall asleep in the car. She tried to steel herself against the pain, after all this is what parenting was- sometimes you have to enforce the rules even when it breaks your heart. Josh pulled his daughter close and whispered something in her ear that immediately soothed her panic.

After a moment, Donna reached for Audrey again, but this time it was Josh who protested. "Please? Just a few more minutes." The look of desperation on his face almost broke Donna in half.

Donna quickly relented. "Okay. One more story." She pulled Audrey's favorite book out of her oversized bag but when Josh reached for it, she simply shook her head.

"Why don't you close your eyes for a minute? I'll read it."

Josh tightened his arm around his baby, and smoothed her curls with his other hand.

After a few minutes of listening to Donna's gentle voice, they were both fast asleep, side by side. And Donna Moss knew she'd do anything for either of them.