Title: Gravitation is Not Responsible (6?)
Author: Aerial312
Rating: PG-13
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)
Spoiler Info: Post Rosslyn.
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I created an archive of all of my stories, including the full version of "Path". Find it at: http/aerial312. then Daddy caught me, just as I was about to re-wrap the present. He didn't say anything, but he gave me this look. Sort of a 'if you put that away now, I won't tell mom'. And for the rest of that Christmas season, I didn't open any other presents, until I was supposed to."

As Donna finished her story, she looked over at Josh. He was now sound asleep. She smiled and kissed his cheek, before settling back into the chair with her book. She glared at the clock. 11:30pm. She'd been talking for almost two hours straight. Every other time she tried to stop, he'd open his eyes and ask her to continue. So she did. She wasn't sure how much he'd actually heard, but she'd told him about begging for her first cat for her 6h birthday, her tomboy phase at 7, her oldest sister getting married when she was 9, and other exploits of her childhood. Donna doubted he'd heard much of it, but he wanted her to talk, and talk she did.

Donna pulled the itchy, rough-knit blanket up around her legs, and turned her attention to the large book. She'd been reading it since March, with the little free time she had. She just gotten caught up in it when a noise from Josh startled her. She dropped the book, without bothering to mark her page, as she stood up.

"Run! Run! Don't stay in there!" Josh yelled, thrashing around in the bed. "No! Noooo! Get out! Get out!"

"Shhh….shhh. It's okay honey." Donna stroked his forehead.

"Just get out of there! Run! Come on!" He kicked out his legs.

Donna caught his left arm, and tried to hold it down, to keep him from pulling on his wound. He struggled against her.

"Josh, Josh. Listen to me. Listen to me, swee—"

"You've got to get out of there! Joanie!—"

"Josh!" Donna grabbed his chin. "Wake up. Wake up."

"Just get out of there, Joanie! Jo—" He sat up straight, very quickly.

"Oww!" Josh was breathing very hard, but it seemed that the pain had startled him out of his nightmare.

Donna released his hand, and rubbed his back vigorously. "Okay, sweetie, okay. You're awake now. Calm down. Shhh…shhh…"

Josh began to cough violently. Donna turned and grabbed a basin, holding it in front of him. He leaned over suddenly, and threw up.

"It's okay…breathe…breathe…"

The nurse poked into the room. "Is everything okay?"

"He had a nightmare. He woke up startled and started to cough, and that made him sick," she handed over the basin. "I think he's okay now."

"I'd like to look at his incision."

"Could I have five minutes to talk to him?"

"How's three?"

"It'll do."

Donna nodded, and turned her attention back to Josh, who was still sitting up, breathing heavily. She ran her hand up and down his back for a few moments before saying anything.

"Why don't you lay back--?"

"No."

Josh remained hunched over.

"Do you need the basin aga—?"

"No."

"Do you want me to get the nur—?"

"No…just stay."

"I'm here…I'm here," she spoke softly, as she stroked the side of his neck. "What do you need?"

"I…I don't know."

"You were having a nightmare."

"Yeah…"

"Do you remember it?"

"It was the fire, wasn't it?"

"It was."

"Why the fire? You'd think that this would make me stop having nightmares about the fire!"

Donna lowered the rail on his bed, and sat beside him, facing him. "Do you have nightmares about the fire a lot?" She knew he did, after all the time she spent sharing a bed with him on the campaign trail, she just wanted to keep him talking.

He nodded. "Once or twice a week. Sometimes more."

"When?"

"When its close to the anniversary. When Mom mentions it. When something vio—"

"And you were shot, so—"

"But why not nightmares about getting shot?"

"Josh—I don't know, honey."

"You'd think I'd be reliving the shooting—"

"Do you actually remember the shooting?"

Josh looked up at her. "No, not really. Do you think that's it?"

"I can only guess."

"It's so frustrating. I'm left here drenched with sweat, I threw up, I probably pulled some stitches—"

"Yeah, the nurse is coming back any time now."

"I end up all tense, and there's no chance I'll get any sleep tonight—"

"They can give you something for that. Like they did last night."

"I don't want to be drugged," Josh sighed, and tipped to his left to lean his head on Donna's shoulder.

She pulled him as close to her as she could. He wrapped his arms around her waist while nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck. Donna sighed. It was nice to just hold him, even if he was upset. The door opened and the nurse came in.

"How are we doing, Mr. Lyman?" She set about prepping the supplies she needed to change his bandage.

"Enh."

"Bad nightmare?"

"Mmm."

"Okay, I'm going to have to ask you to let go now. I need to take a look at this incision."

Donna started to move away, and Josh pulled her back to him, kissing her lips quickly before releasing her. Donna felt herself blushing, as she crossed to the other side of his bed to allow the nurse to access his left side.

"Oh, if you could just step out for 10 minutes or so—"

"No," Josh declared.

"This can be upse—"

"I've sat through this several times already."

"You have?"

"I can deal with it. Kendra found that I was good for keeping him distracted."

Lucy laughed, and began to open Josh's hospital gown. "Wow, you're all sweaty, Mr.Lyman. We should change your gown."

"When can I start wearing real pajamas?"

"Sometime after you move downstairs to a regular room. You can't wear regular pajamas while you've got the chest tube and the catheter—"

"How much longer do I have the catheter?"

"Is it causing you pain or discomfort?"

"It's just weird…I'd like to be able to…wear underwear."

Donna's blush deepened. She'd accidentally seen a lot more than Josh knew she had, while the nurses checked things while he slept.

"Well, it'll probably be in for another day or two. We want you to be comfortable standing before we let you try to urinate."

"Try?"

"Well, Mr. Lyman, sometimes after surgery it can be difficult—"

"Great," Josh growled.

Donna ran her hands through his hair. "You'll be fine."

"The incision isn't looking too bad, Mr. Lyman. Two of the stitches have stretched some. I'll have Dr. Melvin look at it during rounds, but I'm not concerned. Let's get you changed."

Donna looked nervously down at Josh, but he was looking toward the nurse.

Lucy opened a closet, and pulled out a new hospital gown. "Now, Mr. Lyman, can you sit up for me?"

Josh complied, with some effort.

"Donna, could you pull his arm out of the sleeve on the side?"

Donna complied, and soon Josh was sitting bare-chested in front of them.

"Mr. Lyman, do you want new sheets?"

"Nah, that's probably complicated. These are fine."

"Okay."

Another nurse opened the door quickly. "Lucy, code blue in 425, we need you."

"Excuse me. Feel free to finish this without me," Lucy called, as she crossed the doorway. "Just be gentle."

The door closed, and Donna watched Josh for a moment, before grabbing the towel that Lucy had left on the tray table. She gently blotted around his new bandage, and finished drying his chest. Josh leaned forward so that she could dry his back. She completed that, and put the towel back down. Josh looked up at her hesitantly.

"We could wait until she comes back, if you're more comfortable."

Josh shook his head. "You can do it."

"Yeah?"

He nodded.

"Okay…okay—"

"Donna, if you don't want to, don't feel like you have to—"

"No, its okay. This is just a little weird."

"Yeah."

"But we can do this as modestly as possible."

Josh laughed. "That's going to be more difficult than you think…this gown's all I've got on."

Donna blushed furiously. "I…uh…earlier…I…when Kendra was checking…I…uh—"

"You saw--?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Like you said, modesty's hard."

"And they all think that we're—"

"Right, so doing something like that in front of me—"

"Perfectly fine."

"This is awkward."

"If you're uncomfortable—"

"No…no…I'm not. I can't step out—"

"We need to keep up the illusion?"

"I…uh…I think…that I get to do—"

"--a lot more, because they think—"

"--that I'm your girlfriend."

"Right."

"Is that weird?"

Josh looked into her eyes. "Anything that gets you to stay…"

Donna smiled. "I think even your mom is confused."

Josh laughed softly, and squeezed Donna's hands. "Let's get this done. I have a feeling this won't be the last time…"

"Probably not."

"There's probably an awful lot I'm not going to be able to do at first. Things that are going to be awkward…If…if you ever feel too uncomfort—"

"I'll tell you."

"I just need to get used to having help…"

"You will. And as you get stronger, you'll start to do this all yourself again."

He squeezed lightly again, and released her hands. Donna lifted the new gown, and helped Josh put his right arm in, then moved over and repeated on the left.

"Now, take the towel, and…uh…dry—"

Josh took the towel, and complied. He nodded to Donna, and she put it away.

"Now, I'm going to pull the old gown away. Make sure the new one stays put."

"I will."

She did, then turned back to him. He squirmed a bit on the bed.

Uh…Donna…can you tuck it behind me a little? I'm covered in the front, but…"

Donna slid the gown underneath his bottom, and pulled the ends together at his back. "Let me just tie this." She finished, and looked down at Josh. "All done."

"Sit with me." He patted the bed beside him.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Sit with me, and talk to me."

Donna raised the rail back up on his left side, and lowered the right one, sitting beside him. She didn't want to sit where she could bang into his wound. He grasped his hand in hers, as she leaned back against his pillow.

Donna smiled. "Talk, huh?"

"You were telling me something about sneaking a Christmas present…I didn't catch the end of that one."

"Well, Daddy caught me just as I was…"