Working away diligently through a briefing book, Josh was sitting in his office with his feet propped up in a relaxed away on the desk. It was mid-morning and he was prepping for an upcoming meeting. With a pen in his mouth he looked up from his work and sighed. He pulled his feet back from the desk and leaned forward, causing the chair to make a sharp squeaking sound. Pulling his arms over his head he let out a groan as he stretched his limbs upwards. He'd been sitting in the same position for close to 45 minutes.

As he leaned back to stretch, he noticed a book sitting on the corner of his desk. There was a stream of sunlight filtering through the window leading directly to the book. Josh's brow furrowed slightly and he reached forward to grab it. The cover read "What to Expect When You're Expecting".

He opened the book and bent back both sides to try and break in the binding a little bit. He did promise Donna he'd read one of these books.

So far, Josh had felt largely calm throughout Donna's pregnancy, which surprised even him. He was nervous of course, but excited. He felt that with Donna by his side, nothing couldn't be done. It also warmed him to know how excited his mother was by the news. He felt like he was finally giving her something valuable. After years of begging Josh for a grandchild, she'd mostly given up. Josh had always enjoyed kids and being around them, but after a while he just figured he'd missed the train on them. Then he met Donna.

He sniffed and began flipping through the book at random. It didn't take long for him to realize he had the wrong book. The book Donna had told him about was for him as an expectant father. The book he had in his hands was definitely for an expectant mother. Something could still be learned from this book though surely? He continued flipping through, perhaps he could impress Donna with some trivia like knowledge.

He came to a sudden stop when he came to a page with an extremely graphic photo of childbirth and he very nearly dropped the book.

"How," he muttered to himself. He turned the page. This one described the dangers of preeclampsia. Another described the process of a C-section. Josh found another section that described all the things that could go wrong during childbirth and had to actually close the book. He placed it back on the desk and then pushed it to the very edge so he wouldn't have to be close to it.

Had Donna read this stuff yet? Was she panicking? Josh took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. They were just about 5 months in now, so they still had a long way to go. So far they'd experienced no complications, and now that Josh had read through this book, he realized how thankful he was for that.

His heart rate picking up and his breathing quickening, Josh abruptly stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. Without another thought, he made his way straight to Donna's office.

"Hi, Mr. Lyman", her assistant Jack said politely as he walked up to the desk impatiently.

"Is she in?" Josh asked, trying not to let his fear show.

"No." Josh sighed and looked down, hands in pockets.

"I'm going to wait in there for her," Josh announced after a few moments of silence. his face was drawn and tight.

Jack would have nodded, but Josh didn't wait for an answer. He whipped open the door to Donna's office and stormed inside. Running an impatient hand through his hair, he quickly made his way to Donna's desk and collapsed in her chair, putting his head in his hands. The enormity of what was happening suddenly all came crashing down on him at once. What if something did go wrong? What if he couldn't protect his kid from whatever challenges they would come to face? He lifted his head and propped it up on a closed fist, staring straight ahead at a single spot on the floor.

Suddenly, he realized that this desk and entire office, smelt like Donna. He took a moment to sit back and focused on that sense of familiarity and felt a wave of calm rush over him. His eyes strayed over the desk and he smiled at the pile of sticky notes, the different colored pens. Then his eyes fell upon the sonogram photo Donna had taped to the bottom of her computer screen. Josh gently pulled it away from the screen and held it up to his nose to examine it. This photo had given him nothing but joy over the past handful of months, but now when he looked at it all he could see were the gruesome graphics and words of Donna's pregnancy book. All he could think about were the things that could go wrong.

He moved over to the sofa situated across the room, sonogram in hand and momentarily felt some bitterness over just how large Donna's office was. Why wasn't his office this big? He sprawled out on the sofa and held the sonogram straight up with both hands above his face. The wavy lines on the black and white picture were all too familiar now, but Josh couldn't help but stare at it, looking for something that was wrong.

The door started to open and Josh heard Donna's voice filter in from her outer office where she was talking with Jack. She signed a piece of paper Jack was holding out for her and then entered her office fully. Josh's eyes immediately fell to the soft curve of her belly. She was properly showing now, maternity pants and all. In spite of himself, Josh found himself smiling again.

"Hey," Donna said happily when she spotted him. "Jack said you would be here."

"Wow an assistant who actually warns you about people in your office? Must be nice," Josh quipped. Donna gave him a smile with a quirk of the head but said nothing. She immediately started rifling through papers on her desk.

Josh moved from the sofa to one of Donna's visiting chairs, watching her work away behind her desk. Donna paused when she noticed Josh not propping his feet up on the desk.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, looking up from her task. Josh hadn't said word, but his eyebrows shot up at her question.

"What do you mean?"

"Something's wrong," Donna said simply.

"How would you-"

"Josh," Donna said plainly.

"I-" Josh stopped before continuing and changed directions. "Have you felt the baby kick today?"

Donna laughed and began nodding.

"Oh yeah," she chuckled, placing her right hand against her belly gently.

"Yeah?" Josh replied quickly. Donna paused and looked up at him. She heard the over eagerness in his voice.

"What's going on?" she asked again. Josh sat back and tried to shrug nonchalantly. He failed.

"Josh," Donna said seriously. Josh looked up at her for a brief moment, but then let his eyes drop after a few seconds of eye contact.

"It's nothing."

Donna sighed quietly to herself and then moved around the desk to grab Josh's hand and pull him towards the sofa. They both sat and Donna moved Josh's hand to the side of her belly.

Immediately Josh's eyes lit up with wonder as he felt the baby kick against his hand.

"That's like an actual kick this time! I felt that!" he said excitedly. He moved his other hand to join the first and Donna's face lit up at Josh's infectious enthusiasm. She'd started to feel the baby kick a week or so ago, but every time Josh had tried to feel, the kicks were never strong enough.

"That's amazing," Josh muttered quietly.

"What was wrong before?" Donna asked after silence fell between them. Josh's hand never left her stomach. He looked down and shook his head slightly.

"Josh," Donna prompted softly.

"I read one of the uh, baby book things," Josh began. He pulled his hand away.

Donna could see where this was going.

"Donna, there are SO many things that can go wrong," Josh continued, looking up into her eyes. Donna could see the vulnerable fear etched all over Josh's face.

"What if you get preeclampsia or something? What if you-" Josh stood up and started pacing.

"What if something happens that I can't fix or what if the baby is born and it gets hurt or what if the kid needs something and I don't know what to do?" Donna pulled at his hand as he walked past her. He stopped to look at her, his eyes wide.

"I'll be there too you know."

"There are so many things we can't control," Josh said quietly, his voice thick with emotion.

"I know." Donna tugged on his hand and got him to sit down so they were sitting side by side.

"How are we supposed to handle that?" Josh asked her. He turned his head sideways to look at her and rested it against the back of the sofa.

"Together," Donna smiled. Josh gave a small smile back and placed his hand on her belly again, looking down at it.

"You know I was starting to worry," Donna said.

"About what?"

"About you," she was watching his hand as if traced circles around her naval.

Josh sat up a little straighter. "What about me?"

"You have been entirely too calm this entire pregnancy," Donna said. Josh's mouth opened.

"Are you saying me staying calm isn't normal?" he asked her, feeling offended.

Donna shrugged slightly.

"When I talked to CJ last week she asked me if you were freaking out yet and was shocked when I told her no."

Josh frowned.

"You make me sound like a nutcase."

"It's a big change!"

"So was getting married!" Josh argued. "I didn't panic about that!"

"No," Donna said with a smile. "That's true. Maybe you're growing up." Josh pulled his hand away again and crossed his arms with a look that was dangerously close to a pout.

"Maybe not," Donna said, trying not to laugh.

"I just want things to be okay," Josh said after a moment. "I don't want any of my bad luck to extend to the kid."

Donna brushed a thumb over Josh's eyebrow affectionately.

"The baby has a dad who cares about it this much? I think that's a pretty lucky baby." Josh gave her an appreciative look.

"Are we sure we don't wanna find out if its a boy or girl? Calling the baby "it" all the time feels so... dehumanizing."

Donna slouched down on the sofa a little bit and Josh followed suit til they were resting against each other's shoulder.

"We could give it a nickname," Donna suggested. She had both hands resting on her bump.

"I guess," Josh answered.

"Bean?" Donna suggested. Her head shifted slightly as she looked up at Josh's reaction. He was scowling.

"Nah."

"Why not?"

"You really want to think of the baby as something that'll sprout roots and a beanstalk inside of you?"

Donna grimaced. "Fine."

"Peanut?" Josh bobbed his head side to side for a moment before shaking his head again.

"Too generic. We've gotta be more creative than that." Donna rolled her eyes.

"Kicking again," she said, moving Josh's hand to where she could feel the baby. Josh's eyes lit up just as brightly as they had the first time. "Been kicking all day long."

"Let's call it "Roo"." Donna's eyebrows rose in question.

"Like a kangaroo! Cause it won't stop kicking you!" Donna laughed out loud at Josh's sincerity. When she quieted down she looked into Josh's expectant eyes and chuckled out a "fine". Josh looked extremely pleased.

"And you're like the mom kangaroo carrying the baby around in her little, uh, pouch thing," Josh continued, his hand flicking at the wrist as he spoke. Donna laughed.

"You promise you'll tell me if something feels wrong?" Josh asked her, a seriousness taking over his tone.

"Of course," Donna told him honestly.

"I mean like, anything, Donna." Josh continued. "There's nothing too small for you to tell me about. I wanna help."

"You are helping," Donna said kindly. Josh snuggled closer into her side. They sat in silence for a while, both taking comfort in being with each other.

"You wanna help me?" Donna said after a while.

"Yes."

Donna tried to sit up a little straighter.

"Help me off this sofa so I can go pee for the 8th time today," Donna said as sweetly as possible. Without hesitation, Josh stood up and held out both hands for Donna to grab. Donna groaned slightly as she made her way into a standing position.

"God, if this is already a struggle what am I supposed to do when I can't see my feet anymore?" Donna asked Josh seriously as she straightened up.

"You call me," Josh said with a smile. There was a knock at the door and Jack stuck his head in the room.

"Mr. Lyman, Margaret has called three times and has started threatening me. You're last meeting was supposed to start 20 minutes ago."

Donna pinched him. "Go do your job, would you?"

Josh gave her a long-suffering look, but then hooked his arm through hers. "Come on, I'll drop you off at the bathroom on the way. You and Roo."

"My hero," Donna said sarcastically, but she smiled at the use of the baby's nickname.

"I do what I can," Josh smiled back. They slowly made their way to the women's room, which luckily wasn't far from Donna's office. As he made to leave Josh held her gaze steadily.

"Remember what I said okay? Anything you and Roo need. Call me."

"So we're for sure sticking with Roo then?" Donna asked.

"Oh absolutely, no turning back now," Josh said happily. He turned to leave and gave one last look to Donna. "Love you."

"Love you too," she said back. "Roo does too."

She didn't miss the way Josh's eyes softened at her using the nickname.

"Okay," Josh said happily as he began to walk away.

"And Josh?"

He looked back.

"You're doing everything you can. Don't stress yourself out over what could go wrong, okay?"

Josh nodded unconvincingly.

"Josh?" Donna said again for emphasis. Josh nodded.

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good," Donna smiled. "Now go get to your meeting."

Josh smiled back and returned to the frenzy of another White House day.