It had been an extremely long day (extremely), and though Donna had put in many days longer than this in the White House, both under President Bartlet and President Santos, those days and that exhaustion had been nothing compared to this.

Things have quieted down now, on the maternity ward. Visiting hours had just ended, and it's the first peaceful moment their new little family has. She'd given birth in the early hours of the morning, prompting the perfect storm of being exhausted from labor and delivery (not to mention, the missed night's sleep) leading right into a full day's visiting hours. The visitors had been respectful of their time, and her exhaustion, but it had still been a full, busy day. On top of the visitors, her emotions, and her physical exhaustion, she was also mentally trying to adjust to the fact she was a mother now.

Now she's feeling a bit more herself (though, she'd love some sleep) and she's sitting up in her hospital bed, watching Josh who is standing near the window holding their daughter, gently swaying her in his arms.

He's studying her intently, possibly enamored with her, Donna thinks.

"She looks like you," he finally states. When she doesn't respond immediately, he finally tears his eyes off of her to look at his wife.

"She's less then 24 hours old, Josh. She doesn't look like anyone," Donna insists, sipping her water through the straw they had provided for her.

"No. She looks like you. I've spent enough years looking at you to know." She realizes he doesn't intend it to be as touching of a compliment as it really was, as he seemingly brushes his words off nonchalantly. "You'll see."

"You know what's funny," she muses. She momentarily wonders if it's only funny because she's running on about three hours of sleep in the past thirty-six hours, and none of them were consecutive, not to mention she's got all kinds of drugs and painkillers still in her system. "You know how they always ask who was president when you were born? She'll be able to say oh, you know, President Santos, the man my dad got elected."

For his part, Josh chuckles, so her funny thought must have been at least somewhat amusing to others. Either that or he was humoring her, which was entirely possible as well.

She brought up President Santos, who had called earlier in the day to congratulate them, opting for the phone call instead of clearing the entire maternity ward for a visit. Which had been a good thing, because their secret service detail had already sufficiently freaked out a at least a few new mothers. She can see Josh's thought process all too clearly. He's still staring down at the baby, gently running a finger over her tiny fist. She'd called him monomaniacal once, (well, okay, more than once – but once to his face) and she can see it could easily happen again – the tunnel vision. Only now his mind is reeling in the opposite direction, his new position as father fueling him along.

"Y'know maybe I should think about-"

"No," she cuts him off immediately. He looks confused at her interruption and frowns at her. "I know what you're going to say."

"I'm just saying that-"

"I know," she assures him. "Your daughter isn't even a day old. Let's give this some time and see how it plays out first, okay? One step at a time. Don't start thinking about quitting or demoting yourself or whatever it is you've got in your head just yet."

"The hours, Donna, and the unpredictability of it all, it's just… what if I look back and realize I missed the first years of her life because I was working?"

She shook her head. "We'll see how it goes first."

"Okay. Fine. But I'm only dropping this because I don't think I should argue with you on the day you gave birth."

She grins. "Accurate. And thank you."

When she found out she was pregnant, they'd discussed their jobs and he had made it clear that if anyone had to step back, he wanted it to be him. He'd already had years as chief of staff, years as a deputy and a chaotic year running a campaign in between. She made him agree that they would see how they could make it work first. But now that he held their child in his arms, she could see him quickly second guessing his agreement, blinded by the love he had for their daughter after only hours.

For her part, she knew she could keep to her hours. It was Josh's job that required all-nighters in the Sit Room when national security was in danger, it was his job that required him to spend hours working on one crisis or another. It was a lot easier to put down the first lady's agenda and go home at the end of the workday than it was for him to put down a domestic terrorist attack or a burgeoning war in the Middle East. Since he'd taken this job- since Hawaii- she'd seen the effort he'd put into leaving work at work when he could, to bring things home if he had to get them done rather than stay in the office and work on them alone, to find ways to make sure he spent time with her even on his busiest days.

Of course, a baby was a whole new ballgame. She knew there would be some evenings she would be on her own if he couldn't get home. But if he was willing to give up his whole career for her to keep hers going, she could take a few nights on her own.

"Besides," she adds, "If you keep the job, we keep the detail. Safest baby in the United States."

He rolls his eyes playfully. "Now you're bribing me with safety? You know my weaknesses."

"Yes," she laughed. "I do." He'd been annoyed at the detail at first, but then there had been a close call or two and he never complained again.

"Josh?"

"Yeah?" he says softly, looking up from the baby to smile at her lovingly.

"You're going to be a great dad."