Still Standing

by: Allison

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

The grin had faded somewhat from Josh's face by the time he sat down to wait for his one-thirty appointment. He was rather counting on the fact that Donna wasn't going to react badly in some way - who knew, with her. Speaking of which... he flipped anxiously through the papers on his desk, trying to remember who his one-thirty was actually with. He knew Congressman Barker had cancelled and was sending a substitute...

Someone clearing his or her throat in his doorway made him look up. A pleased smile replaced his worried expression momentarily. "Congresswoman! Nice to see you."

"Call me Andy." Congresswoman Wyatt returned his smile as she slid into a chair. "You forgot I was replacing Barker, didn't you?"

"No," he said unconvincingly.

She laughed. "Where's Donna?"

"Down talking to a Republican lawyer," he said, striving for casual and coming off hasty and nervous instead. "What can I do for you?"

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

"Donna!" Ainsley actually sounded pleased to see her - in the past weeks they'd started to bond a little, although Donna was still a bit disturbed by their uncanny resemblance. "Josh send you down with his questions?"

At that point Ainsley noticed that Donna was not only not answering, she looked positively frozen. "Donna?" she repeated.

"Sorry," Donna replied, shaking herself. "I - I guess I kind of zoned there."

"You haven't come back yet," Ainsley observed dryly. "Something going on up there?"

"No!" Donna replied emphatically. "Nothing's going on. Nothing's going on anywhere."

"Uh-huh." The other woman scrutinized her carefully. "What did Josh say?"

"Nothing!" Donna said quickly. "He didn't say anything! What makes you think he said something?"

Ainsley's eyebrow arched questioningly. "About the EPA? That is why you're here?"

"Oh," Donna exhaled in relief. "That. Yeah, he said -"

"Hang on a second," Ainsley interrupted. "I want to know about the other thing."

"The - other - thing?" Donna stammered.

"Uh-huh." Ainsley leaned over her desk, preparing her attack. "The thing you were so nervous about. The thing Josh 'didn't' do."

"There's nothing he didn't do!" Donna cried before she thought. "I mean - you know what I mean. There are lots of things he didn't do. I mean -"

"What did he say?" Ainsley pressed.

"He didn't *say* anything." Too late Donna realized she'd put the emphasis in the wrong place there.

Like any good lawyer Ainsley jumped on the error. "He didn't say anything - so he did something?"

Donna froze in horror.

"Donna!" Ainsley exclaimed.

"Can we talk about the EPA please?" Donna was practically faint. "Josh has to meet with someone tomorrow..."

"Okay." Ainsley gave her one last suspicious look. "Tell me what he decided..."

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

When Donna returned upstairs - slowly, because she hadn't quite decided what to say or do and was dreading the encounter - she passed Andrea Wyatt on her way out. The women greeted each other briefly, but at least that gave her something concrete to say. Right. Deny everything. That was going to be the strategy. He'd probably meant the kiss in some bizarre Josh friendship way, anyhow. No sense getting all worked up.

Right.

She rapped on the door, waited for his "come in," and entered as calmly as she could manage. "Did you remember Congresswoman Wyatt was coming?" she asked, trying to control the tremble in her voice.

"No, I forgot who was replacing Barker." When he glanced up at her she noticed that he looked a little pale and nervous himself. Hmm. "You knocked," he commented.

She looked confused. "Sorry?"

"You knocked on my door. You never knock. You fling the door open with a complete disregard for my physical safety."

"I have plenty of regard for your physical safety," she replied automatically. The banter was basically a knee-jerk response with them, emotions regardless.

"Sure you do." He observed her nervousness and made a decision. *Here we go. Let's hope she's still anti-litigation.* He got up and very calmly - those acting classes in college really paid off sometimes - walked around her and pushed the door closed.

"How did the meeting go?" she asked, watching him. Her voice sounded weak and strained. He tried not to smile.

"It went fine," he replied, sitting on the edge of his desk about two feet in front of her. "Barker probably doesn't know that Andrea only half agrees with him, but hey, who am I to argue. I agree with Andrea."

"That's good," she commented, not sounding any better. It was painfully obvious that her mind was not on the political conversation, and that both of them knew it.

"That's not what you came in here to talk to me about," he said.

She stared. *Oh God. He wants to talk. This is not good. This is really not good. He thinks I think he meant - wait. Maybe he did mean - no. Oh, this is not good.*

"Donna?"

She realized she'd lost track of time. A lump formed in her throat. "Yes?"

She was so sure he was about to tell her she was delusional that she had to ask him to repeat himself.

Working furiously to keep his smile under control, he repeated slowly, "What did Ainsley say?"

"Oh!" She shook her head for the second time that afternoon, finding her composure from somewhere. "She says you're right. We're fine."

"That's all?"

"There were details." She waved her hand at him. "I have index cards."

"Naturally." His hand brushed hers as he took them from her, and she nearly fainted from the tension and stress.

He furrowed his brow and looked curiously at her. "Donna, you seem a little - disturbed."

"I do?" Her voice hadn't been that high since she'd sung soprano in the church choir.

"Uh-huh."

"I'm not disturbed."

"You look disturbed."

"I'm not disturbed."

"Okay." He stood and closed the distance between them, taking an extra step as she tried to back away and closing his hands on her forearms.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I would think that would be fairly obvious," he replied, stroking her arms with his thumbs without loosening his hold.

Her chest rose and fell in deep breaths. She looked - panicked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"You're sure you're not disturbed?"

"I'm not disturbed," she maintained, although she figured the ship had pretty much sailed on that one.

"Okay then."

She would have thought the earlier one had prepared her for the shock of having his lips suddenly pressed to hers, but as it turned out she wasn't quite desensitized yet. Yet. As if there ever would be a time when she wouldn't be -

And then he actually moved, and took hold of her lower lip between both of his, and she couldn't hold back a little cry of surprise. And then she was kissing him back - enthusiastically - and her hands flew to his back and the back of his head and tried to pull him closer, and the little kiss in her bed on New Year's had nothing on this one.

Josh found his knees about to buckle. His hands slipped around to the back of Donna's neck and her waist, as much to keep both of them standing as for any other reason. *And I thought it would be weird to touch my assistant? Ha!* He admitted to himself - as much as he was capable of rational thought while part of his mind was discovering how her lips clung to his - that this did feel just a little odd. When he forced himself to remember that it was Donna - young, insane, casual, frequently irritating Donna - that he was kissing with such fervor, he did feel a certain surreal quality. But that took a big second to the sensations he was currently enjoying.

It occurred to him, while her mouth moved responsively under his and he tried to pull her even closer, that there were two entirely different kinds of passionate kisses. There was the kind where you'd been flirting with someone for hours or days or weeks and you finally gave in, and the kiss was a tension-breaking desperate fumble, with hands and tongues and wordless sounds intended to communicate the fact that this was working up to sex. Physical passion. Chemistry. Then there was the kind where you really didn't intend to go anywhere near sex just yet, but once you started kissing the emotions ran so high that the kiss got intense fast, where neither of you had any idea where this was leading, neither of you could think about much of anything, and the fierceness and passion came from a gut-wrenching need to be close in any way possible. Passion that came out of deep need and emotion.

This was definitely the second kind.

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

| << Back | Send Feedback | The National Library |