CHAPTER 6

~Josh's POV~

I woke up to a gentle tap on my bedroom door.

"Josh, you should probably get up. It's 7am and our first meeting is at 8:30. I'm done in the bathroom already so it's all yours," Donna says gently through the door.

I stretch and rub my hands across my eyes. I've never been a morning person and Donna realized this on about day 1 so she's made a habit of calling to wake me up most mornings. A habit I've grown to thoroughly appreciate. Even when I was dating Amy, it was hearing Donna's voice in the morning was the catalyst to start my day. (Much to Amy's displeasure.) It was nice to hear her voice wake me without the distortion of the phone. I wonder how it would be to wake to her whispering in my ear, I think to myself. I throw the covers off me and slowly get out of bed. This bed is ridiculously comfortable. I wouldn't mind curling back up in it for the rest of the day. I would mind it even less if a certain blond were to join me.

I shake these thoughts from my head and begin searching for the t-shirt I know I tossed somewhere last night. I usually end up sleeping in just my boxers when I'm alone but think it's probably best if I don a shirt this morning too. Sure, Donna has seen me shirtless. She did take care of me after Rosslyn; even changed the bandages over the now somewhat faded scar that runs down my chest. But we agreed to do this right and for me, that necessitates as many physical barriers between our naked bodies as possible until the time is right. I don't trust myself.

I go over to my suitcase and am starting to collect my clothes for the morning meetings when I hear, "Hey, sleepyhead, time to get up. Don't make me pour water over your head!"

"I'm up, I'm up, come on in. I'm just getting my stuff together." At that, the bedroom door inches open and I see Donna poke her head in through the crack.

"Are you actually going to come in or are you going to just leer from behind the door?"

"I didn't know if you were decent." She comes gliding in to the room dressed and ready for the day. Her hair is pulled up in a loose ponytail and she's wearing a red blouse and black, knee length skirt. How she can be so put together already is beyond me. What time did she get up? She walks over and inspects the clothes I have gathered on the bed.

"Uh, uh. Joshua, are you color blind? This tie and shirt don't match at all. What suit were you planning on wearing?" Honestly, I didn't even look at my clothes, just grabbed whatever was on top.

"Um, I brought the dark grey one and the blue one. Either/or I guess."

She rolls her eyes and grabs my shirt, tie, and socks, leaving only my boxer briefs, before heading back over to my suitcase and rummaging through it.

"Well, at least you trust me to pick out my own underpants."

"Joshua, no one will be seeing your underpants. At least I hope not. So it doesn't matter what color they are. And when did you switch from boxers to boxer briefs anyway?"

"Ugh, just before Sam left I guess. He noticed me struggling to tuck my boxers in to my pants sufficiently after we went to the gym one day and suggested I try the boxer briefs instead. No way was I going the tighty whitey route, but these things are pretty comfortable and require much less, you know, finagling." They are pretty comfy. And as an important and powerful man, spending those extra seconds adjusting my boxers so they wouldn't bunch up was not an efficient use of my precious time.

She eyes me suspiciously for a second before dropping her gaze south. She gives me an appreciative glare for a moment before I realize that I've still got a little of that morning thing that men tend to get, and the problem is only exacerbated by Donna eyeing me. I quickly grab a pillow off the bed and hold it against my front, feeling my face turn red. She remains calm and cool, though.

She finally looks back up and meets my eyes, shrugs, and simply says with a tight grin, "I gotta say, the boxer briefs are pretty hot, Joshua. The tighter fit definitely… enhances… your physique."

What?! Holy shit! She just blatantly stared at my junk in all my morning wood glory and then some, and that's her reaction? Don't get me wrong; I'm pretty sure I'm wearing a very proud smile right now. But this is more dangerous than I thought. Her little comment is only serving to make these boxer briefs even tighter. Remind me to thank Sam for the recommendation later.

We're still staring at each other with a crackle in the air when Donna looks down shyly. I think she must have just realized she said that out loud. She quickly turns around and goes back to the task of finding me something appropriate to wear. I am thankful for her attentions being averted and take a moment to try and calm down. Toby in a swimsuit. Toby in a swimsuit. Toby in a swimsuit. There, that helped. Once I finally have things under control, Donna is walking over to me with a light blue dress shirt, dark blue tie, and black socks.

"Here," she says as she hands me the clothes. "And wear the grey suit. I assume you only brought your black shoes which luckily will go with either suit so you should be good to go. Better make it quick in the shower if you want breakfast before our meetings."

"Okay thanks," I say turning to head toward the bathroom. "I'll be out in a few." Time for a quick, cold shower.

~Donna's POV~ –

Shit! I can't believe I said that out loud! And I can't believe I so obviously was staring at Josh's… package! Not that I didn't enjoy the view. Oh I enjoyed it very much. But I was just eyeing him like a piece of meat. And besides a little bit of embarrassment, he didn't seem to have a huge problem with the situation either. In fact, he looked pretty smug after my offhanded compliment. Let's just say it's been a while for me and I'm a bit on edge. But that's no excuse. Jesus Christ, what was I thinking?

And the morning was going so well. I slept the best I have in months. I got up before my alarm refreshed and ready to go. I even had a chance to take my time getting ready, pampering myself more than I usually do during my morning routine. I had everything ready for the day, I just had to get Josh up and ready and we were good to go. Turns out Josh was already "up". I know that's a perfectly normal morning response for men, but I swear what was already an impressive showing grew under my gaze…

Okay, time to get my mind out of the gutter. We have 3 meetings to attend this morning. None of them are rocket science, but I need to be on my game if I'm going to keep Josh on his. The sooner we get through these without any issues, the sooner we can have some time to ourselves and maybe talk about what exactly the hell is going on between us.

I busy myself brewing a pot of coffee in the kitchen area of the suite when Josh emerges from the bathroom dressed except for his shoes and suit coat. He walks over to me and stands beside me as I pour myself some liquid energy.

"Okay, I'm pretty much ready."

"Good. Coffee?"

"Are you really getting me coffee, Donnatella?" he asks with a smug smirk.

"No Joshua, I'm offering you a clean mug and a carafe. The rest is up to you."

"Ah-kay. Hey, I think I saw a little place downstairs. Wanna just grab a bagel to eat on the way since I was a little slow getting up this morning?"

"You got up just fine, Joshua. But it did take you a while to get moving," I reply as he pours his coffee and goes to take a sip, stopping with the mug halfway to his mouth, eyebrows raised.

Shit! I realize my unintended pun too late. And judging by his reaction, he definitely picked up on it. "I mean… ugh yeah, that sounds fine. Bagels. Good plan." I nod and pat him lightly on the shoulder like a coach to a player who just suggested an excellent play, then quickly move past him toward the table where the files I prepared earlier are waiting. Thankfully he says nothing more to further my humiliation. We might need to hurry along the next phase of our relationship before I do something else to embarrass myself.

Josh takes his coffee toward his bedroom and reemerges moments later with his shoes and jacket on, apparently ready to go. He walks across the suite back to the kitchen area as I finish off my coffee and stuff our paperwork in to his backpack. He really needs to upgrade this ratty old thing. Josh chugs the remainder of his coffee and places the dirty mug in the sink before walking back over to me at the table.

"Listen, Donna, let's just focus on getting through these meeting this morning, then we're off the hook until Sunday afternoon. We can concentrate on other things in our down time. I know things are a little tense, but we'll figure it out. What do you say? Political operative mode for the next 3 hours then we forget about our jobs and D.C. for a full 48 hours?"

Wow, I don't know where the real Josh Lyman is, but if this version wants to stick around, I'm all for it. Josh Lyman 2.0 with all new features like improved tact, eloquence, and logic. Not to mention a sweetness that was rarely seen in the former version.

"That sounds wonderful," I say to him softly. He gives me a warm smile and moves to take the backpack from me and sling it over his right shoulder. He nods his head toward the door leading to the hallway and elevator and places his hand on my lower back to guide me from our room.

We get to the elevator and I push the down button. Josh is rocking back and forth on his heels. The coffee must have activated the restless, ball of energy within him because he is fidgeting in place. He watches as the numbers tick higher and higher on the digital readout above the elevator doors, stopping at two floor below ours.

"Come! On!" he says before pushing the down button again repeatedly.

"Relax Josh. Pushing the button over and over is not going to make the elevator arrive any faster."

"I don't want to be late Donna. I just want to get this over with."

"We could take the stairs if you're in such a hurry."

"These shoes are new. My luck, I'd slide on the tile and end up on my ass again like I did yesterday morning at my place."

"You are rather clumsy."

"Hey! Am not! I'll have you know I'm very agile and flexible."

"I've seen no evidence of these claims, Joshua. However, I have seen you slip on ice and fall down stairs, sit in a non-existent chair and end up on the floor, and have heard a story of you slipping in the halls of the Congress and ending up on your ass. The evidence doesn't lie, Josh."

"The ice was at fault yesterday, YOU were the one who took my chair, and as I've said, new shoes can be slippery, thus the stairs being a bad idea today."

"Whatever you say Fred Astaire." Ahh banter… a few rounds of that and we're back to our old selves just in time for the elevator to finally arrive. This we can handle. It's almost as if a switch went off and we went back to Josh and Donna: Deputy and Deputy Deputy Chiefs of Staff instead of Josh and Donna: confused and pining for each other.

We ride the elevator down to the lobby, stop by the small food kiosk and grab a few bagels, and walk out in to the beautiful Californian sun to meet our driver. We both stop and put on our sunglasses before I slide in to the waiting black SUV and Josh slides in beside me. Traffic getting to West Hollywood is not as bad as I expected (at least compared to the nightmare that is the Beltway in D.C.) and we arrive at the office building where our meetings will be held 10 minutes before our first one is to begin. I wipe any crumbs remaining from the bagel off my shirt and skirt before turning and wiping them from Josh's jacket as well.

"Thanks. I was going to get that," he says.

"Can't have you all messy for the SoCal DCCC bigwigs can we?" I kid with a chuckle.

He laughs lightly. "What would I do without you, Donna?"

"Well, hopefully we won't have to find out anytime soon," I reply with a small reference to future conversations.

"Hopefully we'll never have to find out," he replies back. I search his eyes for the double meaning and am both excited and innerved by what I see there. He's dead serious. These meetings better go fast.