I've lost count of often I've regretted not starting out with this campaign. As soon as I knew Josh had taken on someone the pangs started, as soon as I met Matt Santos they intensified. Why didn't I leave? I'd done it before. I could have gone back, cap in hand. 'Josh, I'm sorry I was wrong, I'm standing here in my wrongness and being wrong.' Pride - pride comes before a fall, pride is a sin, pride is what makes you hold on to a mistake, pride is what makes you try to prove someone wrong when every fibre of your consciousness is screaming you're wide of the mark. I should have known better. We're holed up in Tampa, Florida, four weeks from the general.

Life is full of 'what ifs' What if I never went to New Hampshire? What if Josh hadn't hired me? What if West Virginia White Pride had struck a few inches higher? What if I hadn't been there that Christmas? What if I'd said to hell with Charlie, Toby, Will and Danny Concannon one night in the snow? What if I'd been sitting where Fitz was? What if?

What if Russell had won the nomination? What if what I was doing had contributed to that? It would have. What if?

"Donna"

"Mrs Santos, Do you need something?"

"No, just stretching my legs, they've just had to release pressure in the auxiliary building. Are you busy?"

"Busy avoiding the press"

"You're good at what you do"

"Avoiding the press?"

"No, briefing, speaking to the press, you're very natural"

"Thank you"

"May I ask you something that's been bothering me?"

"Of course"

"If I'm being to personal…"

"Please…"

"Why is my husband your second choice?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You worked for Russell, why is my husband your second choice?"

"I'm…"

"You worked for Josh. Right?"

"Yes"

"So why Russell?"

"He was the party's frontrunner; I didn't know the congressman was running"

"You knew Josh wasn't supporting him…. Russell I mean"

"Yes"

"Josh told you he was supporting Matt?"

"No, I'd …. gone….before…he…he"

"Josh didn't tell you what he was intending to do?"

"No"

"You were very supportive of Russell"

"Campaigns demand loyalty"

"And you were loyal to Russell"

"My job demanded it"

"Donna, are you planning to give me a straight answer anytime soon?"

"Campaigns demand loyalty Mrs Santos…. J… Someone taught me that… Mine were…mine were divided… especially after I met your husband."

"Really?"

"I heard him discuss stem cell research one evening with a congressman who held a different opinion… he…he inspired me…"

"But you stayed with Russell?"

"The Russell campaign gave me an opportunity, I felt I had to take it at the time and I glad of the opportunity it gave me"

"So you think Russell would have been the stronger candidate?"

"Absolutely not… if experience in the white house teaches us anything it's that we don't know what the next President's going to face. And if we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas, who's connected to other people's lives, and cares about making them better... if we choose someone to inspire us, then we'll be able to face what comes our way and achieve things...'"

"That was beautiful"

"I wish I could say it was mine"

"You're quoting?"

"I am"

"Who?"

"To…An old friend"

"Ah…"

"Mrs Santos, I believe in your husband, I believe in this campaign and I believe your husband will and should be the next president of the United States. I made a mistake, there's an importance in putting a man in the oval office, nothing is more important I should have remembered that and it's my job to convince every vote of that, so that they realise and not take the decision to support a man as lightly as I did in the beginning. I was wrong. We all have regrets; we all have 'What ifs'"

"Does Josh know you feel that way?"

"I don't think so"

"Maybe he should"

"Mrs Santos?"

"And if you take the blanket off that one then maybe you can deal with why since you joined the campaign I've seen Josh Lyman actually laugh with people and why his eyes are drawn to you every time you walk in a room."

"We just know each other well Mrs Santos"

"I'm a perceptive woman Donna, you continue to believe that if you have to"

"We're in the middle of presidential campaign I'm not sure I can get into…"

"A campaign can't be somewhere you can do two things"

"I used to think so"

"If you don't anymore…well… we have been discussing your mistakes"

"Yes Mrs Santos…"

"I'm glad you're with us Donna, my husband sings your praises but I've doubted, I'm sorry about that, I could see us being friends, I'm sorry if I was blunt…"

"There is nothing wrong with bluntness Mrs Santos, just never in front of the press"

"That, Donna is advice I will take on board, I'd better be getting back"

"Hey"

"Oh my good god…. Someone needs to get you a bell Josh"

"No, no, no, no, no, no"

"Why?"

"'Cause I'd miss out on so much information"

"That you get from eavesdropping into other people's conversations?"

Josh just shrugged his shoulders and smirked. Why, oh why oh why do I find that sexy, it's arrogant, it's annoying… it's…. it's… so damn sexy…

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough"

"You're not going to tell me are you?"

"You could torture it out of me?"

"You're not that lucky"

"I do you know"

"What?"

"Smile more when you're around"

"I'm an hysterically funny person"

"And I saw how you used 'an' there properly"

"Josh!"

"Why don't the press pick this up it's been days… weeks…a decade Donnnnaaaaa!"

"Stop whining… It's been a few hours… do I need to tie you to a chair pumpkin patch?"

"Is that an offer?"

"You're not that lucky"

"Shame"

"You'd run a mile"

"I might run further… in your direction of course…"

"Really?"

"Absolutely, I've been waiting for you to proposition me for eight years"

"O.K., well should we, you know, take a walk or something?"

"Umm… Donna… the…"

"Told you"

"You caught me off guard"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah…We could have a campaign fling"

"I've known you eight years Josh, it wouldn't be a fling"

"That's the only reason?"

"What?"

"Only reason that it won't be a fling?"

"Should there be another?"

"Another reason why it won't be a fling?

"Yes"

"There is another reason why it won't be a fling"

"Yes?"

"I'm not telling you that either"

"You know, Josh, there are times when, to put it quite frankly, I hate your breathing guts"

"You've told me that before"

"And I meant it"

"O.K."

"O.K."

"Donna?"

"Yeah"

"I heard the whole thing, I was standing behind that pillar when she walked up to you"

"Oh!"

"Yeah"

"O.K."

"O.K"

"And Donna, the next time you ask me to, you know, take a walk or something.."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to take you up on it"

"O.K. This is getting wierd…Hang On?…Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"You said won't be a fling"

"Yeah?"

"You said won't?"

He's half way down the corridor now, he turns walking backwards and says:

"I did, didn't I? Three times… See ya"