"Santos button? It's free," a teenage Santos campaign volunteer standing outside the convention hall offered as Donna walked by.

Yeah, sure, why the hell not? She thought to herself, taking one of the buttons. She fingered it for a moment, fighting the temptation to put it on. Finally she stuffed it in her purse as she left the convention hall. She walked a few blocks to the hotel where she knew Josh and the Santos campaign were staying. She needed to talk to him. She had been planning on trying to work things out with him after the convention, when they weren't both so crazed, but right then she felt lonelier than she had in a long time. The Vice President hadn't hesitated for even a moment before leaking the hospital records. Will didn't appear to have an ounce of remorse over the type of campaign he was running, nor could he understand why it bothered her. She needed a friend. She needed Josh.

"Josh Lyman's room, please," she asked the clerk at the front desk. She suddenly hoped he wasn't staying under an alias.

"I'll give him a call. Your name?"

"Donna Moss." She felt herself tense slightly. What if he wouldn't even see her?

The clerk spoke on the phone for a moment, and then turned to her.

"Room 510."

Donna took the elevator up. As she got off on the fifth floor and walked down the hall, she noticed a Secret Service agent stationed outside of what she assumed was the hotel suite of Congressman Santos and his wife, one door down from Josh's room.

She knocked on his door, and he answered within seconds.

"What's going on?" His face was a mixture of worry and curiosity.

"I need to talk to you," she told him as she walked into the room. She noticed the TV was turned to CNN, where they were discussing the revelation about Baker's wife.

"Couldn't this get you in trouble?" Josh asked. "Cavorting with the enemy like this?"

"If Will wants to fire me, he can be my guest." She sat down on one of the chairs.

Josh raised his eyebrows and sat down in the chair next to her. "Trouble in Russell-land?"

"Nothing that I want to talk about," she sighed. Confiding in him on a personal level was one thing, but as frustrated as she was with Will and the Vice President, she wasn't willing to air their dirty laundry to Josh.

Josh nodded in understanding.

"So Santos has Secret Service protection already?" she asked curiously. She vaguely remembered hearing something about that in the news a few weeks ago, but she hadn't paid much attention.

Josh nodded. "He tried to hold off on it as long as he could. He said he didn't want to live in a bubble – which I guess when you're running for President is probably a vain hope – but after those videotape rumors surfaced…there wasn't a choice anymore."

She felt sick. "The threats against him increased after that?"

"Through the roof." A look of disgust crossed Josh's face. "You wouldn't believe it. Against him, his family, his kids for God's sake – I'll never understand how people can hate like that."

Donna closed her eyes. Would Will have participated in spreading the rumors if he'd known they were actually putting the Santos family in physical danger? Probably, she realized glumly. He'd probably say we're not responsible for a bunch of nutcases sending threats, and that's what the Secret Service is for.

"So the stuff about Baker's wife," Josh gestured toward the TV. "That come from you guys?"

"No comment," Donna responded flatly. She wondered if the Santos campaign had received the same fax they had. She supposed they probably had – whoever had sent it out would have had no reason to send it only to the Russell campaign. And she didn't harbor any illusion that Josh wouldn't have used it, just as Will had – so it must have been Santos who had vetoed the idea. He'd said no, even though he'd known it could cost him the nomination.

What the hell am I doing on Russell's side in this thing, anyway? She asked herself for about the thousandth time.

She took a deep breath. "Anyway, I didn't come here to talk politics."

Josh nodded. "I figured."

"I came here because there's something I've been wanting to say to you ever since…" she paused for a moment. "I want to tell you I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving my job the way I did. For not giving you two weeks' notice, or any notice. For not even really saying goodbye."

Josh let out a long breath. "Didn't really matter, I guess. It's not like I stayed at the White House much longer than you did."

"That's not the point. I mean, I know it was crappy to leave you without an assistant, but that's not what's been tearing me up inside."

He looked at her in surprise. "It's been…tearing you up inside?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Josh, after everything we'd been through together, the bond we had – I know I just walked away from that. I acted like it didn't matter, or like it hadn't even existed in the first place. You were my best friend, and I just … I'm so sorry. I know you must have felt like it was because of you."

He was quiet for a minute. "Donna, come on. Of course it was because of me."

"No. It wasn't."

"Bull."

"Josh…"

"Donna, if you'd just decided you wanted a different job, you would have quit like a normal person. You would have given me notice – and I'd have been upset, really upset, but I would have understood. Honest to God, I would have. I'd have thrown you the biggest going-away party you'd ever seen. But for you to just announce, 'Oh by the way, Josh, I quit, there'll be a temp in your office tomorrow' – you're not that irresponsible. You even let me think you were joking, until the next morning, of course, when there was someone else at your desk. There's no way you would have done that unless it was me you wanted to leave, not the job."

Tears filled her eyes. "That's not true."

"Do you know how much time I've spent trying to figure out what I did?" he continued, hurt and anger evident in his voice. "I've gone over and over every conversation we had since you…trying to figure out if I said or did something that upset you so much you decided you couldn't work with me anymore."

"No."

"And then I thought maybe I freaked you out by going to Germany – maybe you felt that was…inappropriate."

"Josh, I was so glad you were there. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Then what?" his voice sounded choked. "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything."

"Donna-"

"You didn't do anything, that's the problem." She hadn't expected to get angry with him, but she found herself doing so. "You knew I wanted to grow in my career. Did you ever even try to help me with that? Give me any kind of push? Like the President did with Charlie? No. You were happy to keep me as your little assistant, answering your phones for the rest of my life."

"I figured you were an adult, you could make your own career decisions."

"Charlie's an adult too."

"Yeah, well, the President's a better man than I am, I've never disputed that." He sighed. "You're right. As much as he loved Charlie, he told him to quit as soon as he thought it was in his best interest. I don't think I could ever have told you to quit, Donna. I just couldn't have."

"Well…" she sighed. "If you had, I probably would have told you you weren't my damn father. I didn't want you to tell me to quit, Josh. I just…I guess I just needed…wanted… I wanted to think you saw me as capable, and smart…someone who had the ability to do more than just answer phones. I kept hoping you would eventually see me that way, but you never did."

"I did too…how can you say I never saw you as …"

"Then why didn't you give me more opportunities for advancement?"

"That's what I thought I was doing when I sent you to…" his voice broke off. He looked at her for a tense moment, and then buried his face in his hands.

"I know," Donna's voice was nearly a whisper.

"If that's why you're really mad at me, I understand." Josh said after a minute. He was staring straight ahead, his voice strained.

Her heart dropped. "Josh, no."

"You wanted to go on a trip to Brussels, not on a delegation to a goddamn war zone."

"Josh-"

"I just threw it at you. I didn't even give you a chance to say no."

"I didn't want to say no." Tears filled her eyes. She knew Josh well enough not to be surprised that he had been blaming himself for the attack. But that he could actually think she blamed him as well? "It meant the world to me that you sent me on that trip. I learned so much. And I never-" her voice broke off. "I never blamed you for what happened. Not for one second. How could you ever think I would blame you for something like that?"

"I don't know. I guess..." He took a deep breath and changed the subject. "But you're right, I could have done more. I should have. I knew you wanted to grow in your career, and believe me, I knew how capable you were. Don't think for a minute that I didn't. I just – I didn't want to lose you, that's what it boiled down to. I know that's selfish."

She sighed. "Well, what you said is true. I'm an adult. My career is my responsibility, not yours."

"Still."

She sighed. "And maybe…I guess you're right, in a way I did need to leave you. For awhile anyway. You know, so many of the stupid things I've done in my life were because I was subordinating my own best interest for a man. Like when I dropped out of college to support my boyfriend through medical school. And when I told everyone I'd been the one who leaked those remarks to the press in order to cover for Jack. And my job at the White House – well, my job was basically to take care of you. Not that I'm complaining," she added quickly. "It was a wonderful job, and I'm so grateful to have had it."

"So you're comparing me to Dr. Free Ride."

She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "No, not at all. But I guess I just needed to see what I could do on my own, without my whole purpose being to be at the service of a guy. Does that make any sense?"

He nodded and gave her a smile. "Yeah."

She let out a breath. "But the reason I didn't quit…like a normal person – it wasn't because of any of those things. It was because I was scared to death of having to tell you I was leaving. I wanted to move on, I needed to, but the idea of not seeing you every day broke my heart. And I was so scared that we wouldn't be able to stay friends afterward. So I let you keep putting off our talks until…" she sighed. "I know that's not an excuse. But it's the reason. Please believe that, Josh. My plan was never to just walk out on you without explanation the way I did."

Josh nodded quietly. "Okay."

A loud car commercial came on, startling them both, and Josh got up from the chair to turn off the TV. She followed him.

Just so you know, he's in love with you. She remembered what Will had said all those months ago. She knew she had feelings for Josh that went far beyond friendship. And as much as she didn't want to risk the reconciliation that had already taken place between them, if she didn't tell him how she felt now, when would she be able to?

She stood behind him and touched his arm.

"You know, there is one big advantage to me not working for you anymore."

"Yeah, what?"

She walked around so she was facing him. "Well, if we were ever to decide we wanted to…it would make certain things a lot less complicated." She began stroking his arm gently.

A smile played at Josh's lips. "So how's too-sexy-for-his-camera doing, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know." She stepped closer to him.

Before she could say anything else, Josh brought his mouth to hers and kissed her. She felt her heart racing as she returned the kiss, wrapping her arms tightly around him. The kiss deepened, and Donna slipped her hands underneath his shirt, running her fingers along his chest and pulling him gently toward the bed.

"Donna-" Josh gently pulled away from her.

"What's wrong? Concerned about the whole 'sleeping with the enemy' thing?" She smiled teasingly.

"No."

"Then what is it?" She gave him another kiss.

"Don't you think it's…too soon?"

"Too soon? Josh, we've known each other for eight years."

"I know." He sighed and pulled away from her embrace, sitting down on the bed.

"What's wrong?" She sat down beside him.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Is it – aren't you attracted to me?" She asked. "I mean, if you're not, I understand-"

"No, believe me, I am."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just that…" his voice broke off.

"What?"

"It's just…" he sighed, and then finally completed the sentence. "It's just that sex can ruin things between people. And I don't think I could take losing you again."

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "It won't ruin things between us."

He shook his head, taking her hand and stroking her fingers gently. "You don't know that, Donna. We know we work as friends. If we were to try to be something more, and it didn't work out…you know, there's only so many times you can rip my heart out of my chest before I just might not be able to recover."

He smiled as he said those words, but she knew he was serious about them. She felt another wave of guilt as she realized again just how much she'd hurt him by walking out on her job – on him – that December day.

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I understand."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I'm not saying I don't ever want it to happen. Maybe eventually, when I'm not in the middle of a Presidential campaign, and I'm a little more…" he let out a deep breath "…emotionally stable….But right now," he gave her a smile. "Right now, I just want my best friend back, if she'll have me."

Donna squeezed his hand, and they sat in silence for a moment.

She gave him a teasing look. "So does this mean if I meet some guy I like and I introduce you to him, that you won't be jealous?"

"Oh, no, I'll definitely be jealous," he smiled back. "But it'll be a service to you, really. If you want a list of the guy's faults – or even if you don't, actually – I'll be happy to provide one to you, complete and unabridged."

She rolled her eyes, but laughed. "However would I conduct my dating life without you?"

"Good question."

"But you know, whomever I date, he's always going to have one major flaw that I don't know if I'll be able to get past."

"Hmm?"

"He won't be you."

Josh smiled at her, and their eyes met for a moment.

Suddenly they were both startled by Josh's phone ringing. It was sitting on the table across the room, and he got up to answer it.

"Hello? ...Hey Leo, what's up?" There was a pause. "Yeah…sure, we'll be there…I'll see you then. Bye."

"Leo?" She asked when he hung up the phone.

"He wants to meet with the Congressman and me tomorrow, before the convention gets underway." From the deep lines that had formed in Josh's forehead, she could tell he didn't think he was going to like what Leo had to say.

His expression changed as he looked at her, as if he'd suddenly remembered that she worked for his opponent's campaign.

"Josh, you know I have no intention of telling Will I was even here, let alone anything that gets said-"

"I know. I appreciate that. But look, I-"

She nodded in understanding. "I should probably go."

He nodded and walked with her toward the door. "Donna, thanks. Thanks for coming by, really. You don't know how much better I feel."

"Me too." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Josh."