A/N: Looks like this story is overdue for an update! :) Thank you so much for all of the wonderful feedback. I can't wait to get this story rolling.

Just so you know, this chapter is kind of a rough ride. Sorry in advance.

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"Do I look fat to you?"

Now, Will Bailey isn't exactly an expert when it comes to women, but even he knows that there's no good way for this conversation to end. "Um, what?"

"I asked if I look fat." Donna repeats distractedly, staring down at her stomach. Thankfully, her eyes aren't boring into his, so it appears she's mostly just thinking out loud and isn't too invested in his answer.

"Of course not. I... Of course not." He says reflexively. He watches as she pulls at her lavender sweater. Since she'd told him about the pregnancy a week or so ago, he'd been on the lookout for evidence of it. While he's had plenty as far as limited caffeine and fatigue went, he hadn't seen any evidence of her physical expansion yet. But then, this sweater is a bit tighter than her usual ones, and he has to admit... "I mean, you are..." He glances around the office surreptitiously. "Pregnant," he whispers.

She rolls her eyes. "I know that. But aside from you, no one else in this building knows, so they can't tell. I'm in the awkward 'is she fat or is she pregnant?' stage, and let me tell you, right now, I'd be leaning toward fat."

"You don't look fat." He repeats, now seriously looking around for an escape route. "Or pregnant." He adds for good measure.

"Well, I guess it was bound to happen sometime." She mutters.

"Right." He tries not to think selfishly of the press's reaction when his unmarried spokeswoman starts to balloon up.

She smiles suddenly. "You know, I was talking to him yesterday - the father - on the phone, and he asked when I'd start showing."

"Oh?" Will says, too loud. She's talking to the father? She told him?

"I told him I already was, a little, but you can only really tell without clothes on." She shakes her head, smiling. "He asked to see."

"That's, um... Obnoxious." Will tries.

"Oh, I don't know. It is his baby. And it's nothing he hasn't seen before, right?" She jokes. She seems unbothered by the request, unlike Will.

"Right." Will clears his throat delicately. "So, you told him?"

"What?"

"The father. You told him?"

She furrows her brow. "Didn't I tell you about that?"

"No."

"I really thought I did." She pinches the bridge of her nose. "I think it's a little early for me to blame this on pregnancy brain. I don't know, it's been a chaotic few days, you know..."

"Of course." Will immediately allows. "Of course, I understand."

"I told him earlier this week." She clarifies.

"Oh. How did he... Take it?" Obviously pretty well, if they're joking around on the phone.

"Really well." She can't help but smile. He realizes now that her change in mood this week was likely due to that. "I mean, when I first told him, he looked like he'd been hit over the head with something, of course."

"Of course." Will agrees.

"I told him he didn't have to be involved or anything. That I didn't want his time, his money, anything. I gave him my whole prepared spiel." She'd shared a little of this spiel with Will last week, trying to calm her nerves. "And I gave him time to think it over... But by the end of the day, he was calling me, telling me that he's all in. He wants to be a part of this." She shrugs happily. "I have to admit, I'm kind of relieved."

Will isn't. "I'll bet."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I really did mean to. You've been so great about all of this, and helpful, and I do want to be above board about everything-"

He waves a hand. "Don't worry about it, Donna. Even as your boss, it's none of my business."

She shrugs again. "As my friend, it is."

That puts him in slightly better spirits. "So, you and him..."

"I'm meeting him for coffee on Friday. To talk about it. I haven't seen him since I told him." She misinterprets the direction of his question.

"That's good."

"I think so."

"Think you'll show him your stomach?"

She smiles at his playful jab. "I seriously, seriously doubt it."

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Friday

The room is spinning. Her head is spinning. She's possibly going to throw up. Or faint. And this chai latte is not. Cutting. It.

"Donna?" Josh prompts from across the table, concerned.

She holds up one hand to ward him off, the other on her forehead. She closes her eyes, shutting out the very offensive velvet box on the table between them.

"You heard me, right?"

"Oh, I heard you!" She manages to spit out. It comes out somewhere between a manic laugh and a cry.

"So, will you-"

"No! Jesus Christ, no! Of course I won't marry you, what the fuck were you thinking?"

Things had started out pretty innocuously. He seemed elated to see her, if a little nervous. But then, who could blame him? How else should a guy act when faced with his ex... Assistant? Best friend? Lover? And the current mother of his child.

He'd bought her not-coffee, they'd sat at a corner table, and everything was going fine. They joked about baby names, they talked about the next appointment and whether they wanted to find out the gender or be surprised. When suddenly, from his pocket, or possibly from the depths of hell, he procured...

Josh splutters. "I was thinking - well-"

"Oh my god." She moans.

"What's so wrong about this? I don't understand."

"You're just doing this because I'm pregnant!" She snaps, beyond irritated that he could be so clueless.

"So?" He asks, nonplussed.

Appalled, she finally opens her eyes to stare at him. "So... This isn't a real proposal! It's not like we're together, or you love me-"

"But I do love you."

She buries her head in her hands again, and goes back to moaning, "Oh my god."

"What? I do."

"No you don't, Josh! Oh my god."

"Of course I love you. I've loved you for years."

"I can't believe this is happening." She says numbly.

"I mean, it wasn't exactly supposed to happen like this, but this is the ending I've always-"

"Please. Stop. Talking." She says forcefully. She takes a few deep breaths to collect herself before raising her head. "You don't love me."

"Yes I-"

"And you don't want to marry me."

"Actually-"

"You're just doing this because I'm pregnant."

He sits back in his chair, staring at her with something between denial and hurt. "I wouldn't say just-"

"Please. I can't do this with you."

"Why not?"

"Because!" She exclaims, before realizing they're drawing some eyes. "Because," she repeats more quietly, "we agreed. We agreed not to be involved."

"Until after the convention, yeah, I remember. But don't you think circumstances have changed a little?"

She grits her teeth. "That's just it. They shouldn't have. If we couldn't make it work before, but now you want to, you're just proving that the only reason you want this is because of the baby."

"It put kind of a timer on the whole thing, yeah, but I still would've-"

She starts shaking her head before he can finish. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't lie to me. We get involved now because of this pregnancy, we get-" she exhales in frustration, "-married, then in a couple years you'll resent the hell out of me."

"No I won't. You're... You're what I want."

Adamantly, she doesn't look at him. "You're just confused."

"I'm really not. This is one of the few times that I'm not."

"I don't believe you."

"Well what can I do to-"

"Nothing." She's practically shaking with anger. "There is nothing. I'm not going to marry you, Josh."

He looks heartbroken. It doesn't thaw her. "But-"

"This was the most condescending, presumptuous thing you've ever done."

His heartbroken look changes halfway into confusion. "What?"

"Assuming I'd want to marry you! God, all I did was tell you I was pregnant, and you show up expecting I want to spend the rest of my life with you. As if I've just been waiting for you to pop the question." She says scathingly. She leans back in her chair, fuming, and folds her arms. "I can't believe you."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Well, listen, you and everyone else may have thought that I've been waiting for you all this time." He's obviously hit a nerve. "That I've been moping and pining for eight years, waiting for you to waltz in and make an honest woman out of me, but guess what? I haven't. And I'm sure as hell not now."

He's at a loss. "I know that."

"Do you?" She rebukes mutinously. Underneath her fury, she's barely holding it together. Tremulously, she picks up her cup and takes a sip of her unsatisfactory coffee imposter.

"I... I didn't mean... I wasn't thinking-"

"You weren't thinking at all."

"I'm sorry."

"Can you please get that damn thing off the table?"

Meekly, he grabs the ring box and closes it before sliding it back into his pocket. A lump forms in his throat. "Can I... Can I still..."

"You're the father, aren't you?" She anticipates his question. "Of course you can still be involved."

He relaxes in relief. "Thank you."

"With the baby. Not with me." She swills her drink irritably, gazing out the window. "Jackass," she adds in a mutter.

Crushed as he is, the familiarity of the rebuke gives him the smallest bit of hope.

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Will watches as Donna reenters the office mid-afternoon. She'd let him know when she left for her meeting with her baby's father a couple hours prior, and Will had wished her luck. He still wasn't sure if there was any kind of romantic context for the meeting, but he really did want the best for her. She deserved it.

"Donna." He calls as she reaches her desk. He approaches her as she sits down without taking her coat off. "How was it?"

She groans, and thumps her forehead down on her keyboard.

Will laughs, assuming she's exaggerating for comedic effect. "That bad?"

"He proposed."

"He... What?"

"He proposed to me. He asked me to marry him."

"Oh my god."

"Yeah, oh my god is right."

"Well, what did you say?" He can pretty much guess, but he wants to make sure before he says anything stupid.

She helpfully holds up her left hand, which is still unadorned. "Do I look engaged to you?"

"No."

"Well, I'm not."

"Huh." Will leans back against the wall. "He proposed?"

"I'm still in shock."

"But you guys aren't even involved." Will attempts to clarify.

"I know that! You know that! He knows that too! And anyone who knows that would use common sense, and understand that you don't propose to your goddamn one night stand!"

"Well, yeah." He agrees hesitantly.

"But then, he's always been a little lacking in the common sense department." She mutters. She sits up, and Will decides not to tell her that she has the bottom row of her keyboard imprinted on her forehead. "It was so insulting."

"Yeah, I guess it'd have to be. Just assuming you'd want to marry him."

"Exactly!" Donna points at him enthusiastically. "What am I, pathetic? Do I look like someone who'd leap at the chance to marry someone I haven't even been out on a date with?"

"No. No, you don't."

"Thank you." She sniffs primly. "I mean, I am oversimplifying it a little. It's not like we were strangers. We were... I don't know. But, still."

"Still a big leap to take."

She smiles, relieved to have someone in her corner. "Thanks for agreeing with me, Will."

"Hey, I don't want to upset a pregnant woman." He jokes, trying to deflect.

"Fair enough."

"I can't believe he proposed to you."

"Me either." She says numbly. "He said... He said he loved me." She recalls softly. Despite her incredulity, she can't help but replay those words in her head, over and over again.

"Maybe he does." Will says half-heartedly.

She smiles again, shaking her head. "It's stupid. Let's just get back to work, okay?"

"Yeah." He stands up off the wall. "Whatever you want."

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Okay, time to warn you: things are gonna be pretty rough for J/D for a while. There are going to be numerous times in the coming chapters that you're going to want to bang either (or both) of their heads against a wall. Proceed at your own risk ;)

So what do you think? Was Josh's proposal as royally stupid and obnoxious as Donna thinks it was? Is Donna way overreacting?

We'll get more of Josh's side of this in the next chapter :) Thanks for reading!