"Thanks again, CJ," Donna told her in somewhat of a rush. "I'll only be a few minutes. If you need anything just call Margaret and-"

"Oh my God, Donna. Not the first time I've been alone with a child. Not even the first time I've been alone with THIS child." CJ gave her friend a strange look, wondering if Donna was going to completely unspool in her office. "Go do your thing," CJ waived her off. "C'mere Audrey! Let's have a snack and catch up. And then we can go find Uncle Toby when he's out of his meeting in a few minutes."

"Bye, Sweet Pea," Donna crouched down to Audrey's level and gave her a kiss on the cheek, immediately rubbing the lip gloss off of the toddlers face. "Have fun with Aunt CJ and listen to what she says. I'll be right back."

Audrey made her way to CJ, who pulled her onto her lap and reached into her side drawer to pull out some gold fish. "So what's new, Miss Lyman?"

"Ummmm..." Audrey thought about it between gold fish. She'd certainly adopted Donna's ability to chitchat and all of the senior staff knew that if you asked this little girl a question, you'd get an answer. "Daddy is home from the doctor now," she told CJ. "But he can't play with me yet. And he has to eat his vegetables."

CJ smiled at the candid response.

"...and Donna lives at my house now!" Audrey grinned from ear to ear when she said it.

"Yeah," CJ agreed. "For right now. Do you like having Donna there?"

Audrey nodded emphatically. "I love Donna."

CJ smiled softly at the sentiment. "I know you do. And Donna loves you too. I bet it's fun to have her there. It's like a sleepover, huh?" She was trying to find the best in the situation.

Audrey shrugged her shoulders. "Donna sleeps with Daddy," she said casually, taking another goldfish from the pile on CJs desk.

CJ's reaction was anything but nonchalant. She practically spit coffee out of her nose screeching, "She what?!"

Audrey blinked a few times, staring at CJ due to her outburst. "Donna sleeps in Daddy's bed," she repeated, unsure what CJ didn't understand.

CJ attempted to suppress her natural reaction and remember where she was.

"She... does?"

Audrey nodded her head. "And I sleep in my big girl bed." CJ remembered Donna telling her they'd converted Audrey's crib to a toddler bed a while ago, and stopping by a home furnishings store to pick up a tiny bedding set to match Audrey's lavender walled room. But that wasn't the point right now. She'd do a little more digging the next time she saw Donna. Or maybe she and Toby would just pop in to check things out for themselves.

"So, CJ," switched gears. "I hear you're going to start preschool soon, young lady…"

CJ and Audrey played for a while, stopping over to say hi to Sam and Ginger.

Just under an hour later, Donna arrived back at the White House from her errand, squared her shoulders, walked through the staff entrance and headed straight to CJs office. Earlier, she'd had a difficult conversation with Leo. Everything was just proving to be too much for her to handle on her own. Between Josh's care and watching Audrey, she couldn't balance her job responsibilities too. As hard as it had been, she'd met with Leo and requested a leave of absence from her job at the White House.

She'd thought that if she could get Audrey into preschool, maybe she could have managed. They had found a great preschool, but they wouldn't haven an opening for at least 6 weeks. There was no way she'd settle for a second rate school for Audrey, so Donna had to find another way to make things work.

She'd ended up on the phone to Edith in Florida the prior night, hoping that some advice and perhaps a bit of help would work things out. But Josh's mother had found a condo, and Donna couldn't believe how well she was doing in Palm Beach.

"You guys will have so much fun down here," Edith had told her enthusiastically. "I can't wait for you to visit. There's a playground for Audrey right behind my unit, and Joshua will have access to 5 golf courses within a 15 minute drive and oh Donna you'll just love the views of the ocean. It's so peaceful. And I'll have to take you to a little cafe down the block"

Edith sounded so happy, and in such a better mental place than when she left that Donna couldn't bear to bring her down by asking her to come back to DC and lend a hand yet again. And it was nice to think about Josh and Audrey's future including a great place to visit. So she'd stuffed away her concerns about how she's going to handle everything on her plate right now, and encouraged Edith.

"That sounds fantastic. We are all great here," Donna made sure her voice held a smile. "Josh is recovering so quickly, and Audrey will be starting preschool soon. I'm sure they will want to visit as soon as possible." And with that the call had turned to chatter about daily life before Audrey commandeered the phone.

Which lead her to her morning meeting. Leo had been as accommodating as possible, but in the end, she'd had no choice. She was out of vacation time. She'd had to take a leave for 30 days. Unpaid.

Which is why, after no hesitation on her part, Donna sold her car to make ends meet. She slipped the cash into her pocket and vowed not to say anything to anyone. The last thing she needed was the unsolicited opinions of people who didn't know what they were talking about.

Donna gathered Audrey's bag and they said their goodbyes to their friends in the West Wing before heading to pick Josh up from his morning's appointment with the physical therapist.

Once they'd settled back into the apartment Donna tried her best to persuade Josh to take a warm bath and relax his muscles after his most strenuous appointment to date. But Josh declined, opting instead for a nap.

Donna sat in Audrey's room near the miniature kitchen play set watching the little girl pretend to make dinner while the pair played baby dolls.

Audrey stirred the empty plastic pot with a purple spoon and hummed a little tune, Donna biting a smirk back as she watched so many little traits of Josh's shine through. She rambled on about what she was cooking for Donna and dug though the little oven for a piece of pretend toast to put on a tiny pink plate.

Audrey handed Donna a doll to hold and then turned to do something else but stopped. She slowly turned back to Donna and tilted her head a bit, a sure fire sign that she was thinking something though.

"Donna?"

"Yeah, Sweet Pea?"

"Can I have a baby brother?"

Donna's eyes widened to the size of saucers. It shouldn't have been that big of a surprise, she told herself. After all, Audrey's best friend in her dance and movement class was about to become a big sister, and Elsie's mom was visibly pregnant. But still… how was she supposed to answer that? "Ummm..."

"Because I really, really want a baby brother."

"Well," Donna tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to figure out how to go about this conversation. "Maybe someday," she told her.

"When?" Audrey didn't seem interested in dropping the topic.

"Well, I… don't know," Donna continued. Talk about a hard question to answer, she thought. "But that's a big decision..." she was quickly losing control of the topic and she knew it. "...So your Daddy-"

Audrey giggled.

"What?" Donna smiled, hoping that the topic was about to change.

"Daddy's don't have babies. Mommies do."

"Well that's… true..." Donna tread carefully.

"So can you give me a baby brother now, Donna?"

Donna knew she was doing her best impression of a gold fish, her mouth agape as she searched for an answer.

"Please," Audrey tried again, climbing onto Donna's lap.

Donna pulled her close. "I love you, Audrey. But I'm sorry, I can't give you a baby brother."

Audrey's shoulders slumped in defeat and she leaned into Donna who kissed the top of her head.

Truth be told, she'd love to give Audrey a little brother but she knew that Josh didn't see her that way, and she had to stop dreaming about it.

Besides, Donna had this sweet little girl in her life and she didn't think her heart could be any more full.

Josh let out a silent sigh from outside the doorway as he held the snack he'd grabbed from the kitchen. He hadn't meant to stick Donna with the hard questions but frankly, he wasn't sure he could have answered that any better himself. As Audrey aged he knew she'd have more questions like that- some even more difficult about her mother- that he just wasn't sure how to answer. But at the end of every day Audrey knew that she was loved unconditionally by Donna, and Josh couldn't have dreamed for more than that.

As he heard Audrey laugh again, he pad quietly back down the hall to do a little thinking and perhaps finally get some rest.

Josh woke just before dinner time, almost unable to believe how sore he was. It was a chore to sit up and once he did he knew he was in deep trouble.

"Donna?" It wasn't so much a bellow as a plea. She appeared from practically nowhere and Josh hated the worried look on her face as she stood in front of him.

"You're sore," she told him softly. He was grateful that the statement didn't come with an I told you so or a lecture on taking warm baths after PT. Donna simply grabbed Josh a muscle relaxer and a glass of water and rubbed his back for a minute. "Do you want to lay back down?"

Josh shook his head no. He was so sick of laying in bed. He at least wanted to have dinner with Donna and Audrey on the couch.

"Okay," she told him, helping him up and walking slowly down the hallway with her hand around his waist. "But just take it easy tonight, okay? I'll get your plate."

Josh slowly sat on the couch and in almost no time at all Donna was back in front of him with a plate of lemon pepper chicken with orzo and roasted vegetables.

"It's yummy," Audrey whispered almost conspiratorially to Josh as she pointed to their meals. Neither of the Lyman's were huge fans of vegetables, but they were warming up to the thought of healthy dinners.

But the second Donna tried to sit down there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," she announced as she stood. "You guys eat while its warm."

Donna was surprised to see CJ on the other side of Josh's door. "Hi," she smiled, "Everything okay?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry, didn't mean to alarm you." CJ hoped she didn't look as guilty as she felt. She'd spent most of the day wondering about Audrey's comment about the sleeping arrangements in the Lyman household and by her afternoon briefing her stomach was in knots. Not, she realized, because of the potential for bad press, but because these two were her friends and in her heart CJ knew they were made for each other. "I just wanted to stop by and say hello," CJ admitted.

Donna slipped out into the hallway, pulling the door mostly closed behind her. "I'll be honest with you, Ceej. It's not really a good time. He's in a lot of pain and he just took a few things…"

CJ waived her hands slightly. "No need to explain. I just- I wanted to let you know I'm here if you- any of you- need anything. Leo told me you're going to be out of the office for a while and I just want you to know I think that this whole situation is- above and beyond. You're doing a very selfless thing, Donna. And we all admire you for it. Toby and Sam said they'd like to come over on Thursday, if you're not busy. They can spend a few hours with Josh and Audrey and maybe you and I can go out for dinner?"

CJ's kind words choked Donna up a little bit, but she remained humble. She'd never even considered it that way. She'd just don't it- after all, it was Josh.

CJ gave Donna a friendly hug and Donna eventually let a few tears slip. It had been a rough few weeks and she'd been holding it together. "Thank you," Donna told her. "I'd really like that."

Donna heard the front door squeak on its hinges and looked over to see Audrey peering out into the hallway with wide, curious eyes.

"Daddy!" she yelled as soon as Donna glanced over, a frightened look on her face. "Donna's crying!"

"It's okay, Sweet Pea," Donna said as she crouched down. "I'm okay, I was just talking to Aunt CJ. Don't worry. Go back inside."

"What's wrong?" Josh looked more frantic than Audrey when he appeared behind her, practically throwing the door open. She didn't know how he'd managed to make it to her that quickly but she could tell he was in excruciating pain from doing so. "Ceej?" Josh was now confused.

"Nothings wrong," Donna stood. "CJ just came by to say hi, but she's going to come back on Thursday so she can visit for a while." Donna herded Audrey back inside. "Go back to your dinners, I'm right behind you."

Josh glanced over at CJ to ensure that everything was alright and she gave him a wink of confirmation. "We'll catch up later, Mi Amor," she told him. "I just wanted a quick word with Donna but I have to head out anyway."

Josh nodded slowly and started to shuffle back to the couch. CJ saw first hand the toll that the extended recovery was taking on all of them that night. Giving Donna another quick hug and a sincere 'call us if you need anything,' she was back down the stairs and gone as quickly as she came.

Donna, Audrey and Josh finished their meals and went to bed early that evening, each of them exhausted from a long day.

Josh had just pulled the covers over his battered body while Donna was putting on some lotion in his en suite. Though a scene this domestic wasn't in his day to day routine even two months ago, it all felt so natural to him, but he couldn't exactly pin point the reason.

"So you'll never guess what Audrey asked me for today." Donna began a bit awkwardly, but Josh knew what she was going to say and almost confessed that he overheard the conversation. But Donna began rambling nervously, clearly uncomfortable with the topic that she brought up. "A baby brother! Sorry, the best I could think of to say was maybe someday. I mean, she's too young to understand that it takes a man and a woman, hopefully in love, to make a baby, and that you aren't even dating anyone right now. But maybe someday you'll meet the right woman and she'll get a little brother. She asked me if I could give her one. Me!" Donna let out a nervous laugh. "I obviously couldn't explain to her why that wasn't a possibility but I didn't want to just say that it completely wasn't possible for her." Donna flipped the light off in the bathroom and peeked her head around the corner. "I hope that was okay."

And in that moment, Josh's beautiful picture of a future and a family with Donna, Audrey and a little boy, vanished.