Chapter Text
Doris was knitting what appeared to be the beginnings of a scarf when Donna walked back into the main office.
“Oh hello, dear, is something wrong with the room?”
“Oh no, not at all,” Donna reassured her. “Everything is great. It’s just that my…husband… is Jewish and I completely lost track of the fact that It was the first night of Hanukkah. I was wondering if by any chance, you had anything Hanukkah related lying around?”
Doris’ eyes brightened. “As a matter of fact, I do! My late husband, bless his heart, was Jewish. That’s how I ended up with the last name Freedman.”
Donna made the appropriate expression to indicate this was new information, when in fact she had already guessed and made it a crucial element of her plot.
“Follow me,” Doris beckoned towards a door that Donna guessed led to a basement of some kind, and she followed behind while the other woman continued to talk.
“I don’t really do much with it anymore – it doesn’t feel right to celebrate without my Jack, and we don’t often have guests ask about it. I suppose they’re usually already with their family during the holiday instead of here with us. But I always kept it safe just in case.”
Doris led Donna down the stairs and into the basement, where they came upon rows of shelving units – all full of miscellaneous items hotel guests might need. They walked all the way to the last row of shelves, where a plastic storage container sat.
Doris opened it up and began handing items to Donna. First came Hanukkah candles, then two small drawstring bags – one with dreidels and another with chocolate gelt. Hanukkah-themed plates followed with matching napkins.
Donna already had her arms full when Doris carefully pulled out a box from the bottom, removing the lid to reveal a beautiful menorah nestled in its case. It was silver, and looked hand made. It was clearly loved, but still in great condition.
“Doris, this is beautiful,” Donna breathed. “Are you sure it’s okay if we use this?”
“Oh sure,” Doris said. “It deserves to be used and loved. Just keep an eye on the candles of course. I’ll grab matches from upstairs, and a placemat you can put it on so the wax doesn’t get on the table.”
She walked upstairs with the menorah while Donna followed behind with all of their other goodies, still slightly dumbstruck. This was way more than she had hoped for.
In the office Doris picked up a box of matches from her desk drawer, and a plastic placemat from the little coffee station. They went back into Josh and Donna’s room and deposited everything on the desk.
“Thank you so much, Doris,” Donna said, giving the older woman a quick hug. “I should get all of this set up before Josh gets back with our food.”
“Oh yes of course I’ll get out of your hair! You two have a lovely evening,” Doris gave her a quick wink as she left, which Donna couldn’t even begin to process. She quickly got to work, setting up the menorah and putting one candle in the middle of the menorah, with the other on what she hoped was the spot for the first night. She spread the gelt and dreidels around the desk and kept the plates and napkins on the side for their food.
She was still fidgeting with everything when Josh walked in, carrying a large pizza box and looking a bit like the abominable snowman. He set the box down on the part of the desk Donna had kept clear and took off his hat, running a hand over his face.
“Donna, I swear this better be the best pizza I’ve ever had because it’s like the freaking artic out there. And I am eating at most one slice of that disgusting spinach because I...” Josh trailed off as he took in the sight in front of him. “What is this?”
“Ta da,” Donna said nervously, gesturing towards her bounty with a flourish. “I know you said it was okay but I felt really bad that you weren’t celebrating and so I asked Doris for a few things and –” now it was her turn to get cut off as Josh suddenly wrapped him in a giant hug.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice slightly muffled against her sweater. “No one’s ever done something like this for me before.”
Donna just held him tight, enjoying the closeness while she could. “You’re welcome,” she finally said. “Hey Josh?”
“Yeah.”
“Your jacket’s still on and it’s covered in snow.”
“Right, sorry,” Josh broke away and shrugged his jacket off, hanging on one of the coat hooks by the door. Donna should be more annoyed that he had gotten her sweater wet, but she honestly couldn’t bring herself to be upset about anything that involved her hugging Josh. Still, she was slightly uncomfortable, and she grabbed a sweatshirt and leggings from her bag before heading to the bathroom.
“I’m going to change real quick,” she called back to him. “There are some plates and napkins for the pizza – we should eat it before it gets cold.”
When she emerged, Josh was sitting on the bed, already halfway done with a slice of bacon pizza. She noticed another plate sitting next him with one slice each of bacon and spinach. Josh glanced up at her quickly and smiled, returning to his pizza for a moment before whipping his head back up to look at her again.
“What?” She asked, suddenly self-conscious. “Do I have something on my face?”
“Isn’t that my sweatshirt?” Josh responded, and Donna glanced down like she only just now realized what she was wearing. Yes, in fact, it was his old Harvard sweatshirt, faded so only about half the letters were actually legible. She had stolen it from him back when he was recovering after Rosslyn – she wore it around his apartment all the time and then never actually gave it back. Instead she brought it home, and it was her favorite cozy sweatshirt. She brought it because she knew it would be cold in New Hampshire but she forgot she hadn’t actually worn it around Josh since he recovered.
“Yes, yes, it is,” she said with more confidence than she felt.
“Were you ever going to tell me that you stole it?” Josh asked with a smirk.
“Well given that you haven’t noticed this entire time, I’d say you haven’t particularly missed it, and it’s very happy in its new home now.” Then Donna felt a flash of uncertainty – she had literally stolen a piece of clothing from her boss, after all. “I mean if you want it back you can-” she pulled on the bottom, ready to take it off there and then when Josh held out a hand.
“Relax, I’m just kidding,” he said. “Looks better on you anyway.” Donna’s cheeks turned roughly the same color as her crimson sweatshirt and she looked away from him, picking up her pizza and diving in. She clicked on the TV and hunted around until she found CNN, and they silently ate while watching the latest news.
Of course, that turned into arguing about the latest news, all while Donna informed Josh in no uncertain terms that he was to eat one of the spinach slices or he couldn’t have any Hanukkah gelt. At which point Josh whined like a child and then proceeded to eat said slice of pizza.
Once they were all finished, Donna clapped her hands. “Okay, Hanukkah time! We have to light the menorah.”
They walked over to the desk and Josh silently switched the candle from the leftmost spot to the rightmost spot. “It actually goes from right to left,” he explained, “the same way you read Hebrew.”
Donna nodded and handed him the matches. “What now?”
“Now we light this center candle – it’s called the shamash – and we use that to light the other candles, in this case just the one. And we, you know, say the prayer. I’ll just say it in my head quickly.”
“Not a chance, Joshua Lyman” Donna shook her head. “I want to hear the prayer! What would your mother say?”
Josh rolled his eyes but smiled and nodded, as he ignited one of the matches lighting the shamash before shaking the match to put it out. He lifted up the candle and began the prayer. “Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b-mitzvotav, v-tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Hanukkah.”
As he spoke, he lit the single candle before replacing the shamash back to its place.
“That was beautiful Josh,” Donna said.
“Thanks – yeah some things are just ingrained in you,” Josh responded. “Okay now for the fun part – dreidels!”
He explained the rules of the game to Donna and soon they began playing their own, two-person version of the game, which basically involved them trading the same few pieces of gelt back and forth. Once that novelty had worn off, Josh declared that he knew how to spin the dreidels upside down – and then failed four times in a row.
“It’s okay, Josh we can play the normal way.”
“No, I can do it I swear! You just have to get the right angle...”
Eventually Josh did manage it, and then taught Donna who caught on annoyingly quickly. They spent the next few hours talking, playing and laughing. At one point Josh checked in with the rest of the team, consulting with Sam on the remarks and briefing the president. Donna realized she had slightly forgotten about everyone else, but Josh revealed he had already called from the car when he went to get the pizza.
Eventually, they were both exhausted and there was really nothing else to do but go to bed. They could hear that the howling wind outside had calmed, so hopefully the roads would be in okay shape by the morning.
Josh went to the bathroom first to change and brush his teeth, while Donna paced around. When her turn came, she took way too long than necessary, slowly going through her skincare routine. She kept the sweatshirt and leggings on because they were basically pajamas anyway.
When she couldn’t put it off anymore, she emerged. Josh was already under the covers, and she noticed immediately he was on the left. He usually sleeps on the right, but Donna used to make him move because she liked the right too. Smiling slightly, she gingerly got into bed, keeping herself as far on her side as she possibly could.
“Did you set a wakeup call?” Josh asked.
“Josh, this is a motel in a small town in New Hampshire,” Donna said. “I don’t really think they do that. There’s an alarm clock here, I’ll set it.”
“Right, yeah, okay,” Josh said. Maybe he felt as awkward as she did. He had every reason too – in the early stages of her staying with him after Rosslyn, he was mostly unconscious and probably doesn’t remember it as much. Meanwhile she remembered it all.
She finished setting the alarm and turned off the light near her side of the bed. “Goodnight, Josh.”
“Goodnight,” he replied.
Donna settled around, trying to get comfortable. While moving her legs around her foot brushed against Josh’s. She immediately froze, and felt Josh do the same. But neither of them moved, and they fell asleep completely on their own sides of the bed, except for their ankles interlocked in the middle.
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Donna awoke slowly, light creeping in from the sides of the blinds. She felt more rested than she’s been in…months probably, given the nature of her job. Something was different though, and it took her a minute in her drowsy state to register the arm tucked around her and the fact that her own arm was wrapped against something solid in turn.
She blinked her eyes open and realized she was now lying on her left side, facing Josh with her face pressed against his chest. His right arm was tucked under his head with his left arm holding her – and she was doing the same.
Donna slowly lifted her head for a moment and realized the two of them had moved from their respective sides of the bed into the middle, finding each other in the process.
Wasn’t that just a metaphor for their lives, she thought. Somehow, despite wildly different starts, their life journeys had collided together – in this very state actually – and they found each other.
Donna shook the thought out of her head and realize she had actually shaken her head while doing so. The movement must have woken Josh up, because she felt him stir beside her. He grunted slightly, still half asleep, and Donna felt his arm hold her tighter.
Well, there was no escaping now. And if her thumb had started to slowly stroke his back, then well that was just instinct wasn’t it.
She looked up at Josh as he opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Good morning,” he said with a groggy voice.
“Good morning,” she answered, with what she knew was way too big of a grin, but she couldn’t help it.
“It’s sunny out,” Josh commented.
“Brilliant observation, Sherlock.”
“I just mean conditions are better, we’ll probably be okay to head out.”
“Right,” Donna said, her smile fading ever so slightly. She didn’t really want to go back to the real world, back to where they were just boss and assistant. But this little escape couldn’t last forever, she supposed.
It seemed like Josh registered her change in expression, because he suddenly said, “Thank you again for…last night.” He blushed when he said it and Donna did too, because they both knew how it sounded.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
“No, really, I don’t know many people who would do that for me, and I know I’m not as observant as Toby but the traditions are still important to me and I just…thank you,” he trailed off.
Donna just smiled at him and kept stroking his back. They were silent for a few seconds, just looking into each other’s eyes. They communicated best this way anyway, just quiet glances that said all the words they couldn’t say out loud.
Josh started to tilt his head down – millimeter by millimeter. Donna’s heart was like a runaway train, but she kept her eyes locked on his, giving permission. He kept going ever so slowly, and eventually Donna decided to help him out by tilting her own head up. They went on like that for an outrageous amount of time, each person giving the other plenty of time to back out.
But no one did, and eventually their eyes closed and their lips met. At first, they stayed still, lips touching but barely pressed together, like they didn’t expect this moment to actually arrive and didn’t know what to do. She’s not sure who actually moved first, but suddenly it turned into a real kiss and then there was no stopping it.
They kissed like it was oxygen, like it was water after months in the desert. Or more specifically, after three years there. Both his arms were around Donna now, taking advantage of the fact that her sweatshirt had hiked up to grip her bare hips. Her right arm roamed his back, while her other hand came up to grip the side of his face. One of Josh’s hands began to slowly travel up her torso and she shivered as it brushed along her stomach. Finally, he reached her breast and she moaned so loud it was probably embarrassing.
Fed up with the limits of their positioning, she gently pushed Josh until he was fully on his back and climbed on top of him. Straddling his hips, she looked down to find him gazing up at her like had the answers to the universe.
“Donna,” he breathed, “I may never allow you to wear anything but my sweatshirt ever again. “But for right now…” he began pulling the bottom up towards her head to take it off, and that’s when –
His phone rang.
The loud, annoying ringtone Josh had assigned to Leo so that he would always hear it if he got a call late at night. Josh dropped his arms down to his side and groaned.
“I hate this country,” he said.
“No, you don’t,” Donna said, giving him a quick peck before rolling off him and grabbing his phone from the nightside to hand to Josh. “Take the phone call.”
Josh flipped open his cell phone so violently Donna honestly thought he might break it. “What? … Yeah, hey … Yeah we’re just – I - I’m just getting up now, and we should be able to hit the road soon. Yeah, we’re less than an hour out so it should be fine. Yeah, we’ll get there way before the Hutchens thing so I’ll be able to prep him. Bye.”
Josh hung up the phone and looked at Donna, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah not a chance, bucko,” she answered, “We really do need to get moving. Hop in the shower and I’ll take a quick one right after.
“You know, we’d save time if we showered together,” Josh pointed out with a smug grin.
“Nice try but that would in fact just make us late. Plus, I’m not going to cause a scandal because you got injured by shower sex, old man.”
Josh’s jaw dropped, and he lightly pushed Donna. “Who are you calling old?” He said, although he did start to get out of bed as he said it. “I’ll have you know I am excellent at shower sex.” Donna didn’t doubt it, and she’d certainly thought about it. But this was not the time or place for this. When they did take that step, she wanted them to have all night.
She got out of bed herself and put a hand on his back guiding him to the bathroom. “Shave and shower,” she said, not stopping until he was in the bathroom and closed the door. Then she flopped back down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling and wondering what just happened.
There were so many times where she convinced herself it was just an unrequited crush. Well, almost convinced herself. There was that tiny spark of hope that refused to be extinguished, and now Donna knew the reason why. It wasn’t just her, and all the odd moments over the past few years weren’t nothing.
God knows what would happen when they met up with everyone in Nashville. CJ would read them like a book and then all hell would probably break loose. But they’ll figure it out. CJ’s actually been hinting at Donna that a position in the press office is opening up. Almost like she knew Donna would maybe like to be in a different department (but still close to Josh).
For crying out loud, Donna didn’t even know what would happen when a towel-clad Josh came back into the room. It’ll be the strongest test yet of her self-restraint. All she knows is they won’t have to tip-toe around this anymore. Thank goodness for snowstorms, and motel owners named Doris.