Thanks as always to my betas, HarmonyLover and chai4anne.
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"I told you I was fine," Josh commented with a note of smugness as he and Donna walked down the hall. He'd been examined by a doctor and been given an EKG before being cleared to leave. Then they'd stopped by Ronna's room and found her groggy but otherwise recovering well from her surgery. Now they were getting ready to go back to the hotel.
"Yes, how foolish of me, thinking that just because you'd stormed out of the hospital against the doctors' advice, it might be a good idea to get checked out."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Uh oh." Donna stopped short as they arrived at the front entrance to the hospital. Through the glass doors, they could see a multitude of news vans. Donna had brought Josh in through the Emergency Department entrance, so they'd gone undetected. But apparently they weren't going to be that lucky twice. Several reporters had obviously already spotted them together through the doors.
"What do we do?" Donna asked.
Josh shrugged. "Face them, I suppose."
"We could try to find a back door to sneak out of."
"No." He shook his head. "It'd just prolong the inevitable."
"What do you want to tell them?"
He met her eyes for a moment. There was only one possible answer. "The truth."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I don't really think keeping this a secret would work out very well for anyone in the long run, do you?"
She thought for a moment, and then shook her head. "No."
They walked out the front entrance together.
"Josh, any comment on reports that you were at the courthouse when Donna Moss was arraigned?"
They exchanged glances. Then Josh turned back to the reporter. "Yes, I was there."
"What does the Santos campaign think about-"
"The Santos campaign has nothing to do with any of this. I was there on my own, in a personal capacity. I didn't discuss it with the congressman beforehand. I worked with Donna for seven years in the White House, and she was in trouble. That's why I went."
"Josh, what is your relationship with Donna Moss?"
He looked at her again and took a deep breath. "We're a couple."
That set off a flurry of commotion among the gathered reporters. "How long have you and Donna been in a relationship?'
Josh glanced at his watch. "For a few hours now, I guess."
"Donna," another reporter called out. "Can you tell us anything about what happened last night, when you were arrested?"
She decided to honor her lawyer's insistence that she not talk to the media about the case. "I'm not going to discuss that this time."
"Donna, there's an anonymous source saying it's likely that you'll be making a self-defense case regarding the charges against you. Can you comment?"
She and Josh exchanged surprised glances. She turned to the reporter. "Like I said, I'm not discussing the case."
"Why would it be self-defense? Did the Vice President attack you?"
"Like I said, I'm not going to comment."
"Donna-"
"Josh-"
"No more questions," Josh insisted. He and Donna made their way through the crowd and got into a waiting taxi.
"It's going to be a huge distraction. That little impromptu press conference," Donna observed on the ride back to the hotel.
"Maybe, but it can't be helped," Josh responded with a shrug.
"Do you think it'll hurt the campaign?"
"I hope not, but it is what it is."
She bit her lip and glanced downward. "I'm sorry."
He looked at her in surprise. "For what?"
"For...for everything. For this. I just seem to be causing you nothing but trouble lately, don't I?"
"Not even close." He pulled her face toward his and kissed her lightly. "Do you know how long I've fantasized about being able to introduce you as my girlfriend?"
She smiled, but the knot of guilt in her stomach remained. He didn't know the half of it, she reminded herself.
She changed the subject. "Who do you think their anonymous source is? About the self-defense case?" Self-defense had been the direction her lawyers had been leaning toward in the event the case went to trial, but she hadn't told anyone else about it. "The lawyers wouldn't have…"
"Attorney-client confidentiality. They wouldn't have done that."
She glanced at him sideways. "It wasn't you, was it?"
Josh chuckled shortly. "No, although I was almost wishing I'd thought of it. I mean, that reporter just asked you on live television if the Vice President attacked you. If Russell wasn't ready to make all this go away before, he should be now."
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"I saw you on TV," Matt commented as Josh entered the congressman's hotel suite. Donna had gone straight to Josh's room. Since she wasn't actually a part of the campaign, she'd figured it would be best if she wasn't around for their meetings.
"I know. I'm sorry about that." Josh eased himself into a chair, setting his crutches down beside him. "Well no, actually. I'm not really sorry. But I know it wasn't great for the campaign, and I'll understand if you want me to resign."
Matt looked at him as if he'd grown another head. "I don't want you to resign, Josh. I thought you were great."
"We were getting all this free publicity because of the crash. This just cuts right into that. It changes the story when that's the absolute last thing we want to do. All of a sudden, instead of the rescue and your brilliant press conference, the public sees your crazy campaign manager making a fool of himself."
Matt was quiet for a minute, gazing thoughtfully at Josh. "I'll tell you what the public sees – at least, if they're anything like me. They see someone who had a concussion after a plane crash and still went hiking through the woods in the snow to get help for an injured passenger. They see someone who left the hospital on crutches before dawn to be with a friend who was in trouble. They see him standing by that friend even when it's not politically convenient." There was a new respect on Matt's face as he looked at Josh. "I don't think it'll hurt my image too much to be associated with someone like that."
Josh flushed slightly, touched by the praise. "Thanks."
Matt sat down in a chair across from him. "Josh, look. I know I haven't exactly been the easiest candidate to work with."
Josh shrugged. "Yeah, well I didn't get in this because I thought it'd be easy."
"Helen likes to tell me there's a fine line between standing by my principles and just being a stubborn, egotistical son of a bitch."
Josh smirked. "Frankly, sir, if I didn't think you had the capacity to be a stubborn, egotistical son of a bitch, I never would have wanted you to run."
"That's what it takes, huh?"
"Sometimes, yeah."
Matt let out a breath. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sure we haven't had the last of our disagreements, but there's no one I'd rather have running this campaign. On a professional level or a personal level. And I wanted you to know that."
"Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me," Josh responded sincerely.
They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Ned walked in, visibly excited. His voice shook slightly as he spoke. "CNN is out with a flash poll putting the congressman in the lead nationally for the Democratic nomination."
"Don't get too crazed about that," Josh cautioned immediately, reminding himself as much as Ned or the congressman. "Those numbers are soft. People are reacting to the plane crash, that's all. I mean, President Bartlet's approval rating was 76% right after Zoey was kidnapped, and I think we all know how long that lasted."
"How long did it last?" Ned asked earnestly. Josh cringed inwardly. Ned was a nice guy, but he still sometimes seemed out of his depth on the campaign trail.
After an awkward silence, Ned continued. "Also, our internet fundraising is through the roof. We've raised at least three times as much in the last 12 hours as we did during the rest of the campaign combined."
"So about 30 bucks, then?" Josh quipped. But when Ned handed him a sheet of paper with the numbers on it, even he was impressed.
"Anyway," Matt took a deep breath. "It's been a long 24 hours for all of us. Why don't we all get some sleep? We can start fresh in the morning."
Josh nodded in agreement. But as he left the suite and headed for his room, sleep was the last thing on his mind.
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Two hours later, Josh and Donna lay contentedly in each other's arms. Donna let out a soft sigh and ran her hand along the lines of his bare chest. Making love to Josh had been something she'd dreamed about for years, and the reality had been even better than the fantasy. The occasional awkwardness that his cast had presented hadn't detracted from the experience in the least. Or at least it wouldn't have, if she'd been able to turn off the voice in her head that kept reminding her that he was in that cast because of her.
He shifted slightly in the bed and met her eyes. "Not too bad for a guy with a broken leg, huh?" he asked, his dimples making an appearance.
"Your leg wasn't the part of your body I was most interested in."
"Oh, really?" Josh raised his eyebrows, his dimples deepening.
She smiled and sat up slightly in the bed. The television, which had been sitting unnoticed on mute for the last few hours, caught her attention. She could see they were talking about Peter Burton. She reached for the remote and turned up the volume.
"…Police were led to Burton after a surveillance camera that the airfield had, unbeknownst to their employees, recently installed, captured him tampering with the Santos plane shortly before it took off," the news anchor was saying. "Authorities believe his death was what's known as 'suicide by cop.' In other words, he pulled out that gun knowing it would force police to shoot him. Burton posted a long, rambling blog entry – he called it a 'manifesto' – on his website shortly before his death. In it, he once again confesses to sabotaging the plane flown by presidential candidate Matthew Santos. He says he'd come up with the plans for how to bring down the airplane weeks ago, but only decided to go through with it that morning, after he claims he was visited by Democratic operatives who urged him to become more visible in the presidential race. The DNC and the state Democratic Party have both issued statements saying they have no knowledge of anyone affiliated with them visiting this man's home."
"Of course, it could have been anyone," another anchor chimed in, responding to the report. "Anyone could have stopped by this man's house claiming to be from the Democratic Party."
"Of course. And frankly, we have no reason to believe he didn't just imagine it, or make it up. He was obviously a deeply disturbed individual."
By the time the report was done, Donna had gotten up and walked to the corner of the room, facing the wall. She felt sick. It was confirmed: Burton had done what he'd done because of her. Josh had nearly died because of her.
She had to tell him. As much as she dreaded the thought of it, she couldn't keep something like this a secret from him. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. But before she could turn around, Josh spoke, commenting on the news report.
"Yeah. Democratic operatives went to that lunatic's house and courted him. Good God." His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Donna's heart dropped. Josh continued. "I mean, why the hell is anyone even dignifying that idiot's ravings with on-the-record denials? Give me a break."
That pushed her over the edge. Tears formed in her eyes and quickly started running down her cheeks. She pressed a hand against her eyes.
"Donna?" She heard Josh's voice behind her again. "Are you okay?"
She took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to compose herself. Then she wiped the tears from her face and turned around, slowly walking over to the bed.
Josh's eyes widened when he saw her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You're crying."
"It's nothing. I'm just tired." She paused and added, "I don't want to talk about it." There was no way she could tell him now. She'd do it later.
"Is it…" he paused, and she saw him swallow hard. "Is it about Russell?"
She blinked in confusion. "What?"
He was quiet for a moment. "You never really told me what he did in that hotel room."
"Yes, I did."
"I mean, before…before he grabbed your arm. What happened? I mean, did he…do anything to you? Or…try to do anything?"
"Oh Josh, no," she reassured him immediately. Was that what he thought had happened? "Russell's a jerk, but he's not…like that. At least not as far as I know."
She could see the relief on his face. "Good." Then he touched her cheek. "So what is it, then?"
"I told you I don't want to talk about it." There was a sharpness in her voice that she hadn't quite intended. The look of hurt that briefly flashed across his face did nothing to alleviate her guilt.
They were both startled by Donna's phone ringing. She took a deep breath and went over to her purse to retrieve it, grateful for the distraction.
A few minutes later she hung up and turned to Josh, her mind swimming. She repeated what the person on the other end of the line had said, nearly verbatim. "Apparently the Vice President wants me to meet with him and his campaign manager first thing tomorrow morning. No lawyers. The guy on the phone said something about wanting to resolve this 'misunderstanding.'"
Josh's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to go?"
"I think I probably should."
"Alone?"
"Will will be there. It should be fine."
"I'm going with you."
"You're sleeping in tomorrow, Josh. The doctor's orders were for you to take it easy for the next few weeks."
"You didn't really think that was going to happen, did you?"
"Josh."
"Donna, if you think I'm going to let you face down that asshole by yourself…" He paused. "It's awfully suspicious that he doesn't want any lawyers there, don't you think?"
"Yes, I do think so, but I still think I'd better go."
"Well, you're not going alone."
She sighed and looked at him for a moment. She knew she wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it, and the truth was she was relieved by the prospect of having him there with her. "Okay."
He reached over and tousled her hair. She lay back on the bed and rested her head against his chest, trying to forget about everything but his nearness.