AN: Look at me, completely awesome, what with my TWO updates in ONE day. OK, technically two days here on EST, but whatever. 12:28 still counts as Sunday. I'll be on vacation starting Tuesday, but I'm hoping to update at least once.
She was being stupid.
Donna wasn't even sure why she was letting Josh get to her and really, it wasn't as if it was really anything except Josh being Josh. She should be happy, if anything, that he was demanding coffee and trying to get his way.
Instead she was going to the office and she was crying.
Damn.
She really didn't need this. She would run into CJ or Sam and they would see something was wrong and then the tears would betray her and she would find herself sobbing in the office of the Press Secretary to the Bartlet Administration or the Deputy Communications Director and either way, she would show how pathetic she was and how hopelessly in love with her boss she was.
It was all Josh's fault.
Luckily, she came into the office during Senior Staff and she was able to just smile at a few security guards and other assistants who wouldn't look to closely at smudged mascara.
Most of the phone messages and emails were well-wishes to Josh and a few requests for meetings. Those she could put off and sent off emails saying as much.
She was a pro at this now. She delegated and part of her liked the new responsibility, but not at the cost of her boss, her friend.
She felt the surge of anger that she felt every time she thought about Josh.
Which was more and more with each passing day.
"Hey Donna, how are you?"
She looked up, wondering how long Sam had been standing there and if he could see the tears that were threatening to spill again.
"Hey Sam," she said with obvious fake cheer.
She went back to typing. As much as she hated being rude, she really didn't want to have a breakdown in the bullpen.
"Donna?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you plan on ever answering my question?"
"Oh? Yeah. I'm fine."
"Really?"
"Mhmm."
"How's Josh?"
"Fine."
"What did he do?"
"What makes you think he did anything?"
"You're about to cry and I don't harbor any illusions that Josh isn't a jackass. What did he say?"
"Nothing. It's…nothing, Sam. Thanks, though."
"Anytime. And Donna?"
"Yes?"
"It's going to be ok."
She looked up at Sam, feeling the tears stinging her eyes again. He merely told her to keep in touch and to call him tonight. He had a meeting to go to.
She went into Josh's office, closing and locking the door and hoped that no interns would come and bother her.
She loved that Josh's office still smelled like Josh. She would come in here when he was in the hospital, just to remind herself that he would be ok and that there was still the Josh that would tear this office apart and yell for her and be unable to find a file, that the Josh that was in the hospital was only an aberration that would be remedied soon.
She wanted to swivel around and look for him, she wanted to know that he would be coming back from Congress, triumphant in his quest, ready to pump his fists in the air and request the finest bagels and muffins in the land.
He was going to kill himself. Figures that Josh, despite his obvious intelligence, would try too hard too soon and despite all of her pleas and her wishes, she would end up going to his funeral anyway, because he was just as stubborn as ever and unable to comprehend that he was shot.
Stupid Josh.
She brushed her tears, telling herself that she would see to his exercises and then go home so she could take as many sleeping pills as it would take to make the nightmares go away.
--
Sam's POV
Ever since Josh's leave of absence, Senior Staff had become more frequent and more hectic. Sam never realized how much stuff Josh actually took care of and most of that stuff was being bounced back up the chain of command to Leo.
"Does anyone know how Josh is doing?" the President asked.
"I visited him yesterday, sir. Donna brought him back from the hospital and he seems to be recuperating well. Though I should say that he is a lot more agreeable on pain pills."
The president smiled. "Good."
"OK, everyone, that's it," Leo said.
Sam turned to leave when Leo stopped him. "Come into my office for a minute."
Sam nodded, following the older man into his office.
"What's up, Leo?"
"How's Donna doing?"
Sam stuck his hands in his pockets. "The truth?"
"No, Sam. I want you to lie. Of course, the truth."
"Not so good. I'm afraid that this has really thrown her for a loop and Josh is too…Josh to notice."
Leo nodded. "She's taking care of him at his place, isn't she?"
"As far as I can tell."
"Think they'll realize how crazy they are about each other?"
Sam smirked. "Not unless Josh's beaten over the head with the knowledge, and even then it's a toss up."
"Keep an eye on her, will you? We can't afford to lose both her and Josh."
Sam nodded. "I will."
"Thanks, Sam."
He took a walk through the bullpen and he felt the pang of sadness he usually felt whenever he came through here and didn't hear Josh bellowing for someone, whenever he saw Donna sitting at her desk looking like she just lost everything.
Like she did right now.
He went over to her, the conversation with Leo still fresh in his head.
"Hey Donna," he greeted. "How are you?"
She was biting her lip, concentrating hard on the keyboard. She looked like she was trying not to cry.
"Hey, Sam," she said. Her voice was too high, too controlled to be natural.
He was going to kill Josh for putting her through this and being too stupid to realize this was tearing her up.
She gave him one word answers and eventually he took pity on her and left, making her promise to call him.
But right now, he had to go berate a certain idiot.
"You've screwed up," Sam declared.
"Thanks, Sam. I was a little confused on that. I'm glad that you came along and cleared that up for me."
At least he knew, Sam thought. There was nothing worse than a clueless Josh when it came to what he'd done wrong.
"What the hell did you say to her, anyway? She was walking around here like someone had killed her puppy."
"Donna doesn't have a puppy."
Sam sighed, wondering if it was terrible that he wanted to strangle his injured best friend. "You're an idiot."
"Hey! Exactly whose best friend are you?"
"Right now not yours. Not unless you have a really good reason for being mean to Donna."
"How are you so sure I was the one who was mean to her?"
"Josh, somehow I don't think that it was the sandwich guy at the mess. Now, what did you say to her this morning?"
"She wouldn't let me have coffee."
There was silence.
"Sam?"
"You had her crying in your office over coffee?"
"She was crying?" Josh's voice did that thing where it got really high and panicky.
"Yeah. You want to tell me why?"
"I heard her crying last night."
"Let me guess. You were a jackass and wanted to know if she was crying over a gomer of a boyfriend."
"No. She doesn't know I know."
Sam knew that their particular brand of misdirection towards each other was years worth of practice, though he was occasionally still surprised at their ability to be completely oblivious, even to themselves.
"Look, just let her know you appreciate her, alright? Maybe take her to dinner when you're…"
"Not stumbling around in pain?"
"I was going to say when you were recovered, but yours works too, thought mine is definitely more euphemistic and free from negatives, which only serve to create an awkward cadence," Sam rambled.
"You do know that I stopped listening half way through your sentence, right?"
"I would be surprised if you hadn't."
"Has she left the office yet?"
"Yes. She said something about having to run some errands and then having dinner with you."
Josh smiled. "Good, ok."
"You'll behave yourself?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I will."
"Good. Take her out to dinner or hell, go crazy and invite her to a movie. Just…don't be you."
He got off the phone to his best friend, part of him hoping that at the end of this they would finally see what everyone else did.
But mostly he hoped that Donna would be sane enough to make it there.