Lessons

by: Allison

Character(s): Josh, Donna, CJ
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna
Category(s): Romance
Rating: YTEEN
Summary: A friendship provides a basis for dealing with other relationships as well.

Josh beats me to work the next morning, which is weird enough in itself. Not only that, but when I look curiously into his open office he greets me with a blinding smile and a far too cheery "Good morning, Donnatella."

Well. Someone's in a good mood. "Hi, Josh," I reply, sounding rather suspicious.

"How are you?"

I narrow my eyes at him. "Josh, are you drunk?"

He looks wounded. "I'd have to be drunk to ask how you are?"

"At seven in the morning?" I pretend to think. "Yes. You're not even supposed to be here this early. You're supposed to be oversleeping as we speak."

He stands up and comes around the desk toward me. "Is it a problem for you that I'm here? In what I might add is my office?"

I match his stance exactly. "You're keeping me from getting things done."

"In my office?"

"That's what you pay me for. Sort of."

"That's sort of what I pay you for?"

"No, you sort of pay me."

He's moving slowly closer, and I think I'm stepping toward him as well. I've lost track. "What would you need to be doing in my office that you couldn't do if I was here?" he asks.

"That's it, you've uncovered my secret plan to take over the country, starting with the two-month-old memos in your left desk drawer."

"The whole country, huh?"

I notice the vaguely dangerous look in his eyes, but I ignore it. "Margaret's helping, but don't tell Leo."

"You don't think Leo would react well?" His tone has dropped in volume and changed drastically in mood, and he's about seven inches in front of me. Oh, God.

"He didn't react too well to that forging the President's signature thing," I say, taking deep breaths.

"What?" Josh comes to a complete halt. "What forging the President's signature thing?"

Oops. Note to self - bringing up the commission of a federal crime is a good way to break the mood. Whatever mood that was.

"Um - nothing," I stammer nervously. I don't know why I'm nervous - Leo's already heard about it. From, I might add, Margaret herself. Yeah, that was smart.

"You forged the President's signature?"

"Nobody forged the President's signature!" I assure him. This is a bit silly. We're still standing close enough that if I tripped we'd be kissing. "Margaret told Leo that she could."

He frowns. "When did this come up?"

"When the President was unconscious."

"When the - oh." That gives him pause for just a second. "The 25th?"

"Yeah."

"What did Leo say?"

"Something about a coup d'etat."

"You're not saying Leo's actually planning one, are you?" He leans in a fraction of an inch closer. I'd say my face is about the width of my two hands from his - and I have thin hands. If he gets any closer I won't be able to look at him without my eyes crossing. Oh God.

"Yeah, you guessed it. Leo's in on it too. I didn't want him to know that you knew."

"There are some things Leo just does not need to know about." Oh, my God. I can't be hearing this.

Nothing moves but his hand. Out of the corner of my eye I see him lift it and reach painfully slowly for my waist.

"Josh? You in yet?"

I whirl around toward the sound of Sam's voice. Josh can't really put his arm down in time so he tries for the casual look and wraps it quickly around my waist. "Just got here," he says with forced cheerfulness as Sam enters the office.

"I need the file you had on the health insurance legislation? Toby wants to work it into the address for the National Health Care Workers something or other."

Josh is telling him something about how he gave all those files to Leo and Margaret probably has them in a cabinet somewhere, but I'm not really hearing him. Right now my attention is completely focused on the fingertips lightly drawing circles on my hip, just out of Sam's view. I have no idea how we got from abject fear last night to good morning to this, but I'm not sure that I mind.

Apparently Sam wants Josh to follow him somewhere - I'm guessing to see either Leo or Toby, although I've stopped paying attention. Actually I'm more than a little surprised that it didn't strike Sam as odd - you know, that Josh stood with his arm around his assistant throughout that entire conversation. Hey, if it doesn't bother Sam, who am I to complain? As soon as Sam has turned to leave Josh squeezes me toward him too briefly and quickly kisses my cheek before following his friend, leaving me hyperventilating in his office.

Okay. I'm taking that as acknowledgement that if Sam hadn't come in when he did we would have kicked the door shut and probably done something highly unprofessional. Which may or may not have been a good idea.

By the time Josh returns I'm sitting at my computer typing away at memos. I carefully don't look up at him as he passes behind me, but he reaches down and musses my hair on his way by. Without taking my eyes from the screen I smooth my hair back down and frown, but inside I'm doing backflips. All right, we've moved on to the hair mussing. The kissing cannot be far behind. We nearly just did it already. Although it wouldn't hurt if he gave me that look again first. You know the one.

I feel someone else pass behind me and look up just in time to see Sam enter Josh's office and close the door behind him. Hmm. I casually shift my chair just a little closer to the door - which requires that I pull the keyboard along with me. I know. I'm turning into a regular Nancy Drew. This is probably a bad habit to be developing.

Fortunately neither of them is much given to keeping his voice down. "So," Sam says in a voice that sounds teasing, "what was that?"

"What was what?" Josh asks innocently. "With Leo?"

"Yeah, with Leo." Josh's sarcasm has rubbed off on Sam. "With Donna."

"With Donna?" Okay, Josh, when you don't want to make someone suspicious, becoming a soprano is usually not the way to go. "What thing with Donna?"

"Did I say there was a thing with Donna?" Sam asks in that same tone.

"Um - did you?"

I can feel Sam's grin from the other side of the door. "Is there a thing with Donna?"

"No." Josh sounds like a six-year-old denying that he sleeps with a blankie. If that fools Sam for a second we need to get us a smarter Princeton grad. I shift my chair slightly closer.

"You had your arm around her."

"Uh-huh." Good, Josh. Play it cool.

"I don't do that with my assistant."

"There are a lot of things you don't do with your assistant." I smack my forehead in frustration. Of all times for him to pull out the accidental innuendo.

Sam actually laughs out loud. "And what are they?"

"Never mind."

How, how, how does he outtalk senators and diplomats? How?

"Josh." Oh, no. Sam has the sly, insinuating tone going now. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No." There's that pitiful defensive tone again.

"Josh..."

"But if you'd come in thirty seconds later you might have." Okay. Guess we're gonna go with honesty. Interesting decision.

"Josh!" I'm not sure whether Sam sounds shocked or delighted. Possibly both. "How long has this been -"

"It hasn't. It was just about to."

"Well, it's about damn time."

It's all I can do to keep from saying with Josh, "What?"

"Oh, come on," Sam says. "You've had a thing for Donna for ages."

How is it that everyone else noticed this and I didn't?

"I do not have a thing! Have you been talking to CJ?"

"CJ knows?" Sam sounds worried. He must be having flashbacks.

"As a matter of fact, she thinks it's a good idea."

What?

Sam obviously agrees with me. "CJ Cregg - our press secretary, CJ Cregg - thinks it's a good idea for you to date your assistant? Your twenty-year-old assistant who works for you twelve feet from the Oval Office?"

It's a little farther than that, Sam. "She's twenty-six," Josh says in a bristling tone. "And CJ thinks it would be a good idea."

"Why?" He backpedals quickly. "I mean, I like Donna and I'd have to be blind not to see the rampant chemistry that's been flying between you two, but -"

"Because it's not just rampant chemistry," Josh replies a little more quietly. "I love her."

And I nearly fall off my chair.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

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