"Joshua Lyman as I live and breathe."

Josh looks up from his desk where he's rifling through a drawer, pulling out items and tossing others in the trashcan beside his desk. He sees the first lady and immediately stands to greet her, but Helen rolls her eyes good naturedly and gestures for him to sit.

"How many times have we been over this?" she teases and he shrugs as he sits down again.

Josh grins sheepishly. "About as many times as you've told Donna to stop calling you ma'am." At this, Helen laughs and Josh smiles. "Did you need something, Mrs. Santos? The president already headed up to the residence but I -"

"No," she interrupts him and takes a seat on the empty chair across from his desk. "I came to see you."

"Oh?" Josh's eyebrows shoot up in question, surprised.

"Christmas Eve, 2005," Helen begins, leaning back in the chair as if she's settling in for a long story. "I thought that you were absolutely insane," she muses. "Just marched right up to our house in Houston and told Matt to run for president with your – what was it? Ten-point plan?"

Josh smirks, those days seeming so long ago. "It was nine. He added the tenth point."

Helen continues regardless. "I thought this man is absolutely insane, just coming in here and suggesting my husband run for president as if he's suggesting we run out and get some pizza." She laughs to herself and gestures around them to demonstrate where they are. "And yet, here we are."

Josh knows, has always known, that he pulled Helen along for this ride. She was hesitant at first – both on the campaign and when she stepped into the role of first lady. He can't say he really blames her. She married an air force pilot who never had ambitions of running for president. Though he had been mayor and in Congress, she remained fairly unknown: many people don't even recognize their mayor or their representatives, let alone their spouses. Then she went from an ordinary, average citizen to one of the most recognizable faces in the country and a public figure in less than a year. Now she will forever be recognized wherever she goes, have Secret Service following her for life, and will always be a political figure with her face showing up in history books for all eternity.

Once she got her feet under her and adjusted to the situation, she became a remarkable first lady that the public really loves. She's also gotten a lot of legislation through which is something he hadn't really expected of her (though looking back now he has no idea why). A lot of that is Donna's doing, Josh thinks with pride – though he might be slightly biased.

"You still resent me for it?" he jokes, pulling a few scraps of paper from his desk and glancing at them, throwing them in the trash can – a lunch order from the last time he and Donna had lunch, a receipt from the muffin stand outside, a memo from his assistant to call Sam.

She laughs. "No."

Josh quirks an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Well, I most definitely never imagined myself here," she notes. "That's for sure, and I have to admit that I do miss having some semblance of privacy. But no. This is an honor and a privilege and Matt is doing a lot of good things for this country."

"So are you," Josh informs her honestly.

"Thanks to my chief of staff," Helen says with a smirk. "Who I do believe you taught a lot of what she knows."

Josh chuckles. "Nah." He goes back his drawer and teases, "Don't let her hear you say that."

"She knows," Helen assures him. "She knows where she came from. She knows you gave her a chance in the beginning. She always tells me how she used to ask you all these questions about policy and everything because she wanted to understand and you always explained it to her. And from what I've seen of politics, Josh, not a lot of bosses would do that with their assistants."

He remembers. He'd been somewhat obtuse and clueless when it came to Donna's career. Looking back, he should've known she wanted to do more. Maybe he just refused to admit it, then, afraid to lose her. He remembers making an offhand comment about elections being about the voters as she and Toby sat with him in Indiana and then he remembers her throwing it at him in New Hampshire on the campaign trail. She was always listening and absorbing information even when he didn't realize it.

"Well, I was also in love with her for most of those years, so there's that," he jokes.

Helen continues anyway. "And sometimes when I hear her talking to a senator or congressman I just," Helen laughs. "Goodness, Josh, she sounds like you. Some of them are scared of her, you know."

Josh knows. He's heard the stories. "You have no idea how proud that makes me," he teases but Helen knows that there's truth to his words: he is extremely proud of Donna.

Helen seems to be in his thoughts. "I do, actually."

"Y'know," Josh reminisces with a small laugh. "Those early days – I thought you were going to singlehandedly off me."

This seems to really make Helen laugh. "The Ethanol pledge," she recalls.

"Among other things."

Helen shrugs casually. "What can I say? We had to get to know each other. You're a good man."

Josh feels himself blush a little at her words. "Thank you."

"I knew it when you told us not to risk our financial well-being for the election. Up until then you were ready to walk through fire for that nomination and that stopped me cold in my tracks. I think that was the first moment I got a glimpse of the real Josh. You've been very loyal to Matt. He really respects you, you know."

"The feeling's mutual," Josh agrees.

"You've done a lot of good things for the country. You've become a friend to us both. My kids adore you. We've watched you become a devoted husband and father yourself. We're going to miss you around here," she adds with a bittersweet smile.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily," he teases, trying to keep the nostalgia at bay. "Y'know, I've got your both your chief of staff and your husband's new chief of staff on speed dial. I go way back with both of them, to the Bartlet for America years." He looks down at the desk, rifling through some more papers. "It's Donna's time now."

Helen smiles warmly. "She's very lucky to have you." Josh closes the now empty drawer – the last drawer he needed to clear out in his desk, and sits with his hands folded. "I assume you've got a nine-point plan for Donna's career, too?"

He smirks. "Sure. I've got all kinds of ideas about what Donna could do next," he agrees. "I think she could run campaigns. I think she could help Sam eventually make his way to the Oval Office," Josh says, nodding his head towards the door leading to the Oval, though he still has some convincing of Sam to do on that one. "I think she could run for office herself," he says. "It's up to her to decide, though. She can pick out as many points as she wants and I'm just going to follow them."

Helen nods, warm smile indicating that she respects that. "Thank you for your loyalty to Matt." Josh nods and Helen adds, "And Donna."

"I feel sort of guilty," Josh admits. "I brought you here, upheaved your whole life for you and your kids, pushed your husband into a very demanding job and now I'm leaving so I have more time with my family."

"It's not the same," Helen assures him with a squeeze of his hand. "You're making the right choice."

Just then Donna appears and sees Helen sitting in her husband's office, surprising her. "Oh. Helen?"

"Just giving Josh my best wishes," she says, standing and smiling at Donna as Josh comes around from behind his desk. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around," she tells Josh, leaning forward to give him a hug. She nods to Donna. "See you Monday?"

"See you Monday," she agrees. Helen leaves and Donna smiles at Josh, though her eyes look somewhat glassy. "You… ready?" she asks carefully.

Josh nods. "Yeah," he says, lifting up the box he'd been tossing things into from his desk. "Last box."

Donna raises her eyebrows. "And those?" she asks, nodding at the few boxes on the floor.

Josh grins. "Sam's."

Donna laughs. "Well, someone's certainly eager to take over." She sighs as she looks around at the mostly empty office and thinks of its many inhabitants. First Leo, then CJ, then Josh, and now Sam. "It's going to be so weird to come here without you on Monday."

Josh grins. "You don't need me," he tells her playfully.

"I've never worked in the White House without you," she says softly. "This place it's always been… for me, you're part of it."

He nods in understanding – though the amount of time he'd worked here without her had been minimal, it had felt strange and jarring and probably the push that took him to Houston, Texas.

But this is different.

"It's your turn to run this place, Donna," he teases, kissing her on the head. "And I'll be at home when you get there."

She sighs, looking around the room. "I guess I'm just feeling nostalgic."

Josh nods in understanding and hands the box to her momentarily. She takes it and watches as he steps toward the door connecting the Oval to his office and takes one last look.

He remembers the first time he set foot in the Oval Office under the Bartlet administration, how he'd been floored by the magic of the room then, and all these years later it still held a certain awe. He can't count the number of times he's set foot in the office, the moments he's had there with both President Bartlet and President Santos. There were moments of serious discussions, there were laughs with both men, lots of trivia facts from President Bartlet. He remembers the pride he felt seeing President Santos behind that desk for the first time. There were not so great memories, too, like when he yelled at the president when he was struggling with his PTSD. He recalls courage he had to gather both times to walk in there and resign to two men he really respects, two men who he worked his ass off to get into that office. He recalls the days of Donna standing there, taking notes for him and how nervous she had been in the beginning (but look at her now).

He's sure he'll see this office again – after all, his wife works in the White House.

But never again in this capacity.

"Hey," Donna grins. "Let's take one last lap around the bullpen on our last day working together in the White House."

It's cheesy, but he loves it and he agrees as he takes the box back from her.

It's been one of the greatest honors of his life, serving in the White House and serving two presidents who he truly believes were the real deal.

Until a few years ago, he probably would have said it was the greatest honor of his life.

But now being a father has raced right to the top of the list.