Hold Me Now
Part One
Josh sat back up against the counter, eating his cereal while he watched Donna run around the place with her phone to her ear. It was actually quite amusing to watch her get ready for the day while also barking out orders to her staff. He watched as she poured a glass of orange juice, then packed her briefcase while still never missing a beat on the phone. She was the queen of multitasking.
She was his queen. That thought brought a huge smile to his face.
He looked down at the simple gold band that adorned his left hand before looking back at her. They ended up getting married in August during the Congressional Recess. Their one year wedding anniversary was last month and things in their relationship were good between them. They still argued and had moments where they were frustrated with each other—usually about topics concerning work. But they always worked it out.
They were now over a year and a half into President Bartlet's second term. She was still working as the First Lady's Chief of Staff and was doing an amazing job. Thanks to her, the First Lady's office had been the catalyst for real, positive change in policy and initiatives. The First Lady was becoming known as a real activist for change all thanks to Donna's stewardship. Donna had really come into her own working for the First Lady. She was more confident and self-assured. He was very proud of her and tried to make sure she always knew that.
"No." Donna sighed. "We aren't moving on that yet…probably not until next week at the earliest…I'll need a meeting with the directors for and Blood:Water. We need to make sure they are coming to the conference next month…Set it up immediately. I want the first open spot they have in their calendars. And get the briefings from our last meetings with them so I can review them. I'll be in the office in a little bit."
She put the phone down on the counter and sighed before smiling at him. He handed her the glass of orange juice she poured earlier and she took a sip of it.
"It's going to be a busy day." She laughed. "I can already tell."
He put down his cereal bowl and closed the gap between them. "Can I just say that I love watching you walk around the room, commanding people to do your bidding?"
"Oh really?" She grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Really." He winked, leaning in for a kiss. "It's very sexy."
"I wish I had time to explore that thought more thoroughly but I do have to get to the office." She groaned. "Rain check?"
"Of course."
"Are you ready to go too?" She asked. "I was thinking we could go in together."
"Yeah." He went over and rinsed his bowl in the sink. "Let's go."
"What do you have on your agenda today?" She asked as they walked out of their place.
"Some meetings with Senators about the defense bill." He replied. "And probably twenty other problems that will pop up out of nowhere."
"Well if anyone can take care of those problems, it's you." She smiled at him.
"Or you." He reminded her. "You're on fire right now with the First Lady. Did you know her approval rating is higher than the President's right now?"
"Of course I know that." She grinned. "It's a good thing it isn't a contest to see whose boss is more popular."
"Yeah. You would win almost every time." He chuckled. "So what's next on this list of yours?"
"You still think I'm going to tell you what's next?" She laughed. "That's so cute. But you know the rules. I'm not giving you an advance scoop on what the First Lady wants to do."
"You can't blame a guy for trying."
Josh walked into Leo's office. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. Close the door." Leo instructed.
Josh closed the door and then walked to the front of Leo's desk. "What's up?"
"The President doesn't want the First Lady to keep pursuing this Clean Water Initiative anymore."
"Ok." He wasn't sure how that involved him. "So has he told her that?"
"No." Leo shook his head. "He doesn't want it to cause any issues with their relationship. So he's having you go tell her."
Josh laughed until he saw that Leo was serious. "What? Why do I have to go tell her that?"
"Because the President is asking you to and you serve at the pleasure of the President." Leo reminded him. "Do you need a better reason?"
"No." He sighed. "Is there at least a reason I could give the First Lady?"
"There are growing tensions with Libya. Specifically there are terrorist cells making chatter about not liking the U.S. inserting themselves into Libyan affairs."
"Like the Clean Water Initiative." It was starting to make sense to him. "How much chatter?"
"Enough for the chatter to reach the President. And you know if it reaches the President's desk then it isn't good." Leo explained. "Of course you can't tell the First Lady any of that. The President doesn't want to spook her. Just make something up to get her to drop it for now. She can revisit it once the heat dies down."
"Ok." He was not looking forward to this.
Donna came back into her office after rushing off to the bathroom, relieved that no one else was in there. The last thing she needed was someone seeing her throw up and start rumors. Fortunately she wasn't getting sick very often so it was easy to hide right now.
She looked at her watch and realized she still had four hours until her doctor's appointment. She didn't expect the doctor to tell her anything different than the three tests she took a few days ago. But she wanted to be absolutely certain before she told Josh the news.
There was never a point where they sat down and said if they wanted to have kids. She knew that he wasn't the most kid-friendly person in the world, but he also never came out and said he didn't want any either. She never brought it up because she was a little wary of his opinions and she wasn't sure if it was something that would fit into their lives.
It wasn't something she thought about often or craved. Sure she thought about it from time to time, but her biological clock wasn't ringing any alarm bells or alerting her to any secret emergency desires for motherhood.
So when she took the pregnancy tests and they all confirmed her suspicions it came as a shock. But if she wanted to be completely honest, she was thrilled at the opportunity to have a mini Josh running around with the same unruly mop of hair and dimples. Still, was now the right time? And what would Josh's reaction be?
She sat down at her desk and took a deep breath before diving back into the reports on her desk. A few minutes later there was knock on the door. "Come in!"
She looked up and saw her husband standing there. A smile formed on her face. "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"Um, I just needed to talk to you about something." He shrugged, coming in to the office and sitting down.
"Everything ok?" She asked.
"Yeah, of course." He nodded. "I'm just going to need you to convince the First Lady to drop her Clean Water Initiative—at least for now."
She laughed until she saw he was serious. "No way. The First Lady believes very strongly about the right for all people to have access to clean water and quite frankly so do I. She isn't going to just drop it."
"I understand that but this is coming from the President himself."
"Then the President needs to have that conversation with the First Lady. I'm not going to." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
"The President has been very encouraging about all of the First Lady's projects and initiatives. He's even asked for some of them to be worked into his own policies. But this one is one that he needs to go away for now."
"Why?" She couldn't help but wonder why now all of a sudden the President had a problem with this initiative. They had been working on it for months and making great progress. The worldwide conference was scheduled for next month in Canada. They had already begun drafting preliminary bills to shop around to Senators proposing federal relief aid go to the organizations working around the world.
"What do you mean, why?" He stammered.
"This is a pretty big ask." She explained. "So if you want me to do it, I need to know why the President wants this done."
"It's just…can you please help me out with this?"
She could tell that he was keeping something from her and was determined to find out what it was. "Josh, I need to know why."
"I can't tell you why." He sighed.
"Then I can't help you." She sighed. "Do you know what the First Lady will say if I approach her about this? She will say hell no."
"What will I say hell no to?" Abbey asked.
Donna looked over and stood up. "Ma'am, I didn't see you there."
"Good morning Mrs. Bartlet." Josh said, standing up.
"I am extremely curious now, Joshua." Abbey smiled. "What will I say hell no about?"
"Josh, do you want to fill in the First Lady?" She asked as she sat back down.
"Not really." He mumbled. "But the President is hoping you would be willing to put a pin in your clean water initiative for a little while."
"Why?" Abbey asked.
"That's the million dollar question that I can't get him to answer." She interjected.
"Well if there is no good reason being given, then hell no." Abbey smirked. "And Joshua, would you mind telling the President that he's a gigantic chicken for sending his Deputy Chief of Staff to ask me instead of asking me himself?"
"Of course." Josh nodded. "Nothing would make me happier than stepping deeper into your marriage."
"That's all, Joshua." Abbey spoke. "You're dismissed."
Josh left without another word and she almost felt bad for him. The president shouldn't have put him in that position. But he was a big boy and could handle it. She looked over at the First Lady. "He knows more than he's letting on but he wouldn't tell me anything."
"I'll see if I can get more of an answer out of Jed later. But rest assured we aren't scraping the clean water initiative." Abbey remarked. "How are we doing with the conference?"
"Things are shaping up nicely now that we have Canada agreeing to host it." She answered. "I'm setting up meetings with some of the organizations that haven't agreed to come yet. I'm confident I can get them to change their minds. No one likes to be left out of the party."
"That's a good angle to use with them. Good job. Keep me up to date."
Donna nervously paced around the kitchen, waiting for Josh to get home with their takeout order. On the counter was a white box. After her doctor's appointment she went straight to the mall. At the time she thought her idea to tell Josh about the pregnancy was genius. Now though, as the time was approaching, she worried about it.
The door opened and Josh appeared with a huge grin on his face.
"I have come baring food and sustenance to my kingdom!"
She smiled and watched as he put the food down on the counter.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the box.
"Um…it's just something I picked up today."
He laughed. "When did you have time to go shopping? I thought you had a busy day."
"I did." She nodded. "But I got out for a moment to go to lunch and saw this."
"Ok."
He seemed to let it go easily and headed to get the plates. While he did that, she picked up the boxes out of the bag and sat them on the counter. "Did you get me extra…"
"Yes." He interrupted, kissing her on the cheek. "I made sure they gave you extra bacon."
"Thank you."
Dinner felt like it took forever. She didn't want to start such a serious conversation while they were eating. Finally Josh pushed his plate away from him—a sign that he was done with his food.
"Ok. What is going on with you tonight?" He asked, staring at her.
"What do you mean?"
"You have this look on your face that seems to be a cross between excitement and panic."
She couldn't help but laugh. "That's actually a good way to describe it."
"So what's going on?" He asked again, this time looking concerned. "Are you ok? Are we ok?"
"Everything is fine." She assured him. "But I do have something I need to discuss with you."
"Alright." He nodded. "Go ahead."
She was about to start when his cell phone went off.
He looked apologetic as he answered the phone. "Josh Lyman…Really?...Yeah, no of course. I'll be right there."
Of course he would have to go back to work now of all times. She tried to plaster a fake smile on her face.
"I'm so sorry." He apologized as he stood up.
"You can't help it." She stood up too and went over to give him a kiss.
"I'll try to be home at a decent hour but you might not want to wait up for me." He cautioned.
"Ok." She nodded.
"We'll talk about whatever it is you wanted to talk about soon. I promise."
"It's fine." She told him.
"Love you." He said, giving her another kiss.
"Love you too." She said before he left.