Still Standing

by: Allison

Character(s): Josh, Donna
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna
Category(s): Romance
Rating: TEEN
Summary: Sequel to Great Expectations

The phone rang out in the bullpen. He heard Donna answer it, and then he heard a long, long, impossibly long silence. Finally the little red light on his phone flashed and Donna shouted in a suspiciously strained tone, "Congresswoman Keane!"

Frowning in confusion, he picked up the phone. "Congresswoman?"

By the time he'd completed the call and talked his way out of having his next meeting with the Congresswoman over dinner on Friday, he heard pacing sounds outside his office. He got up and opened the door, still confused. "Donna? I need you to pencil in a meeting with Liz Keane."

She dropped into her chair. "Yeah, she asked if you were free for dinner on Friday." She sounded distracted.

He rolled his eyes behind her. "Yeah, that's what she had in mind. I talked her down to four o'clock Thursday if I have the space."

Donna twisted around and looked up at him. "She asked you out and you said you'd meet with her at four on Thursday instead?"

"She didn't ask me out," he retorted.

Donna raised an eyebrow. "How many Congressmen do you meet with over Friday night dinner, Josh?" He opened his mouth to answer and she quickly amended, "Okay, over Friday night dinner that isn't takeout in the White House."

"None," he said finally. He tilted his head to one side, considering. "You think she was asking me out?"

"Wow, Josh," she said flatly. "Your skills of observation are flawless as usual."

And then he got it. The long silence before she called him to the phone, her tone, her defensive posture, everything. Of course Donna would have noticed that Liz Keane was interested in him.

"Oh," he said aloud before he could stop himself.

"Oh?" she repeated.

He decided not to explain that it wasn't 'Oh, she likes me' but rather 'Oh, that's why you hate her.' "Oh," he repeated noncommittally. "Anyway, put her down for Thursday."

She gave him a look he couldn't read. "You're sure?"

*Okay. Good words, good words... got it.* "Donna, I am not interested in dating Congresswoman Keane. Just for your future reference." He coupled this statement with a friendly rub to the back of her neck. "So set it up for four."

Her expression was still enigmatic, but he could swear she leaned into his touch just a little. "Okay," she said, looking up at him.

"Thank you." He headed back into his office.

"Oh, Josh," she called after him. "Margaret came by a minute ago. You need to meet with Leo at twelve."

"What about?"

She frowned. "Something about 502, I think."

He nodded. "Okay. Will I make my one-thirty?"

"Probably, but you'll have to eat in your office 'cause you need to do that thing first."

"What thing?"

"The thing you were going to do before lunch, except now you're meeting with Leo."

"Oh, the EPA thing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." He leaned against the doorway. "I'll order in," he added casually. "Chinese okay with you?"

She looked up from his datebook, surprised. "Sure." He didn't often ask what she wanted, although he did usually assume that she'd be there if he had to work through lunch.

"Okay." She looked back to her computer screen then, so she missed the broad smile that spread across his face.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What did Leo want?"

He shrugged. "He thinks they're going to override the veto."

"We knew that, though, right?"

"Yeah, we were pretty sure." He waved the issue away. "We gave up on that one a while ago, it's just official now. Food come?"

"On your desk."

"Well, come on." He gestured for her to follow him into the office. "You've got to get me up to speed on this EPA thing before I see Liz Keane."

"She's pushing for it?" Donna asked in surprise, fishing the little white cartons out of the delivery bags.

"You wouldn't think so, but she is." He reached behind him for two bottles of iced tea from the refrigerator. "She's up for reelection next year, and the guy gearing up to run against her has the blue-collar vote at the moment."

"Oh," Donna said, understanding. "So if she votes for the new factory emissions controls -"

"Then OSHA would be forced to approve the new reductions policy or wind up with a policy that contradicts the EPA."

"Doesn't that happen all the time anyway?"

He waved a chopstick in her direction. "Daily. But in this case OSHA's hands are tied. Even if they didn't approve the reductions factories would have to follow them anyway."

"Why?"

"Because the chemicals they apply to are used as coolants, which means that it's almost impossible to keep them from getting out into the air and groundwater -"

"So even if OSHA said the old levels were okay, leakage at that level would violate the new EPA rules."

"Exactly."

She considered. "So OSHA's going to approve the reductions just so it doesn't look like the EPA has more control over workplace-related laws?"

"Yes." He slid a container of rice in her direction. "And Liz is going to push for the EPA thing so that the OSHA thing has to happen, and she can tell her constituents that it's thanks to her they're breathing in less of whatever it is."

"So what do you need to know?" she asked.

"You get those notes from Ainsley?"

"Yeah." She gestured toward a stack of papers on the floor by her feet.

"Talk to me about the wording."

She nodded and launched into speech mode. "The EPA has to prove that they're recommending the least taxing measure for businesses while still providing for safety..."

Ten minutes later Donna had exhausted her notes and they had reached the conclusion that Congress shouldn't have consitutional problems with the proposed regulations. Josh sent Donna back to Ainsley to get her take, and she began to gather papers and scrawl notes to herself in the margins.

"Josh," she asked thoughtfully as she swept the last piles together, "you don't think turning her down is going to be a problem, do you?"

He looked at her over a stack of thick books. "You mean, do I think Congresswoman Keane will pull her support for the regulations because I won't go out with her? Doubt it. She's a professional, and those regs are as important to her reelection as to ours."

"Yeah." She shook her head. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Plus she's not exactly a Tad Whitney, if you know what I mean."

She knew. Tad Whitney had become West Wing shorthand for sleazy people who try to use personal connections to further political advancement. Donna might be a little concerned - okay, violently jealous - but she wouldn't put the Congresswoman in that category.

"So you'll tell her all this on Thursday."

"Yup." Josh grinned at her. "I could really have had you tell her for me."

"She's a good-looking woman, Josh."

As long as he lived he might never understand why she kept throwing other women at him, when the thought of him getting involved with someone obviously bothered her. Masochistic tendencies, perhaps? His smile grew wider as he stepped closer to her, thoroughly invading her personal space. "Donna," he asked just a bit below his normal tone and volume, "do I, right now, look like I want to date Elizabeth Keane?" He was inches from her face and one hand had reached out to hold onto her arm so that she couldn't back away.

Her eyes widened considerably and she could feel her face getting hot. *Please, don't let me be reading this wrong,* she prayed. "No," she managed to stammer.

"Good." He leaned forward and kissed her, briefly but hard, and pulled away before she had a chance to respond. He turned her around with his hand on her arm and patted her on the back. "Go see Ainsley."

He stood grinning at her stunned expression as she left the office.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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