Chapter Text
The fundraiser in California had been a rousing success, and Josh was pleased - at least, as pleased as he could be, when he had fifteen other things that required his attention. But the President and Mrs. Santos had gone into the bedroom on Air Force One to sleep for a couple of hours (or celebrate - Josh didn’t want the gory details), and it was late. They’d be arriving in Washington at 5AM. Everyone was coming down off the high of the fundraiser and things were quieting down a little. There were still a dozen things for him to do, but the best thing he could do right now was get a little shuteye.
With that in mind, he started looking for Donna. He could sleep without her, and did on occasion, but when he had the chance, he preferred to sleep near her. There was something about her scent that comforted him. Nobody knew that when he had to travel without her, he snitched one of her shirts to take with him to keep in the bed. If she’d ever noticed missing clothing, she’d never remarked.
He found her after a little while of searching, and something in him lightened when he saw her, the way it had for more than ten years. The small aircraft light over her seat that was supposed to illuminate her book illuminated her, and she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life. For the millionth time, he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky.
Plastering on a cocky smile, he dropped into the seat beside her. “Hey there.”
She returned his smile. “Hey, yourself. How are you?”
“I’m jubilant. Everything went ten times better than I expected.”
“This is your jubilant face?”
“Don’t you recognize it?” he asked, grin lopsided.
“I’ll make a note.”
“How about you?” he asked. “Was the First Lady pleased?”
“She was, yes. She likes Sam’s jokes.”
“Everyone likes Sam’s jokes,” Josh said.
“It was good to see CJ and Danny.”
“It was. I was really glad to see them. It’s a lot easier to get along with Danny now that I’m not worried about what he’s going to write.”
“It’s so romantic that he took a demotion to be with CJ.”
Josh gave her a look. “I’m romantic.”
Donna patted his hand patronizingly. “Of course you are.”
“I feel like you’re not giving me the credit I’m due here,” he protested.
“If I swell your head too much, we’ll have to grease you to get you off the plane,” she said, turning the page. “Plus your fangirls might not like you as much if you look like… I forget his name. The one with the big head.”
“Fallkirk?”
“No.”
“Deane?”
“No. He has a little dog. Snoopy.”
“Charlie Brown?”
“That’s the one,” Donna said.
He grinned at her, charmed out of his socks. “How the hell did you forget Charlie Brown?”
“I have been awake for - I don’t even know at this point, and there are a million things in my head. It was a brain fart, okay?”
“A brain fart? Is that the technical term?”
“I’m going to go sit with someone else.”
“No, don’t,” he said, taking her hand and threading their fingers. “Stay with me.”
She smiled at him and he melted, thinking that this was it, this was the limit of how much it was possible for one human to love another. Problem was, every time he thought that, he fell a little deeper.
“Anyway, your fangirls won’t like it if you have a big, fat head.”
“There you go about the fangirls again. Did something happen?”
She wouldn’t meet his gaze and looked careless, but he knew better. “No, nothing happened, it’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
Donna seemed to be debating with herself for a moment, then sighed. “Every time we do a rope line there’s always a certain percentage of women who are there for you, not the President. And I get it. You’re a devastatingly gorgeous man.”
Josh gave her the ol’ smolder. “I am?”
“Shut up. You are, and you know you are. I’m not attracted to homely men.”
“Due respect, I’ve seen some of the men you dated before me…”
“Do not finish that statement.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Anyway, these women are all screaming their heads off for you, making fools of themselves. And that’s one thing, but then at the fundraiser, there were women there who were practically fawning on you…”
Josh got very sincere. “Donna, I need you to believe me when I say that I didn’t even notice them. They don’t even blip on my radar.”
“Well they blip on my radar, Josh, and they make me feel… some kind of way.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do about them.”
She sounded frustrated now. “I’m your girlfriend, Josh, and I have been for the last four years. Which considering our work environment, is a feat in itself. But I don’t want to be another notch in your bedpost. I don’t want to be fungible, which these women seem to think I am.”
“You’re not! How could you ever -“
“I know we’ve got these jobs and they kind of consume our lives and that’s okay. That’s what we chose for ourselves. But we’re not going to have these jobs forever. If the President doesn’t win in November, are we going to look for jobs together? Will we stay a couple? Or are we only together for the duration of the Santos administration?”
“Donna, it’s not like that.”
She turned away. “I need to shut up. I’m running on six hours sleep out of the last forty-eight and it’s making me more emotional. Now is not the time. Let’s take a nap, we have a few hours,” she said, reaching up to turn off the light.
“Now wait, hang on,” he said, reaching up to turn it back on. “This is important. I feel like we’re on the cusp of something here. I know I’m not usually great with the feelings, but talk to me.”
Her eyes were wet and her voice was low when she said, “I want to be the last girlfriend you ever have.”
A smile spread across Josh’s face. “I want that, too.”
Donna’s answering smile was tentative. “You do?”
“Yeah. I do. Let’s do it.”
“Let’s do what?“
“Let’s get married.”
“Oh, Josh, you’re taking the joke too far.”
“I’m not joking in the slightest. I’m a hundred percent serious. Let’s do it. We’ll have a White House wedding, like Ellie Bartlet had.”
“A White House wedding?”
“Yeah. We can do it inside, or if you want to wait for spring, we can do it in the Rose Garden. Whatever you want,.”
“I feel like I should say no. I feel like you’re riding the high of this fundraiser and you feel invincible and you’re making rash decisions. Plus I’ve been whiny and emotional and I’ve pushed you into something you don’t want.”
“Donna, sweetheart, my entire job is making measured, wise decisions. Do you really think I’d do something rash and stupid with my personal life? Do you think I’d hurt you that way? I want this. I think I’ve wanted this for a long time, but it’s been just quietly percolating at the back of my mind. I don’t think I saw it clearly until you said something.”
“Josh…”
“I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow night you and I are going to Mancini’s. I’m leaving my phone at the office, and the only thing I’m bringing with me is the big-ass diamond I’m going to buy. I’m going to conspire with Sam to come up with something heartfelt, then I’m going to forget it and stumble all over myself. But I’m going to ask you to marry me. And you can give me your answer then, alright?”
Donna had tears in her eyes. “Alright.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Josh?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“Make it an oval cut.”
“You got it.”