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I. Before The Cold
It was new, the two of them eating lunch together.
Well - it actually really wasn’t; they had eaten lunch together (and breakfast, and dinner) practically every day for the past six years. But it was new for this new version of them - this tentative, distant version as they try to relearn how to interact with each other. Too polite, too professional.
They’d gotten better at actually working together on campaign duties, but they still didn’t know how to talk to each other, how to just exist together.
But one day as they were all hunched over their laptops, Josh plopped down a salad in front of Donna and then sat down with a charred burger for himself, all without a word. Silently, she took the lid off the plastic container and began eating, barely even chancing a look at him. And it was just a salad, it really was, but it felt a little bit like ice was thawing.
A few days later, she walked into his office with wraps from the good place they found down the street from their hotel, and so it went. Whenever they were in the same city - which wasn’t a given - whoever was less busy at that particular moment would grab lunch for both of them and they’d eat it in Josh’s office or somewhere semi private, and they even eventually added words to the conversation.
One day, a low-level staffer went to find Josh to get his approval on a media buy, and wandered to the back of the campaign bus to find him and Donna huddled in a corner, sharing a pizza and speaking softly to each other. The staffer halted in her tracks, feeling like she was intruding on something. She slowly retreated to join the others, and made a mental note to tell everyone not to bother Josh or Donna during lunch.
II. Between The Cold and Election Day
After the failed key debacle in DC, Josh didn’t even lay an eye on Donna for nearly two weeks. The two of them always seemed to be on opposite sides of the country - Josh with the candidate and Donna with Leo, or Donna with the candidate and Josh back at HQ.
Josh barely had a moment to breathe, but any thought he had to spare immediately went to Donna. His brain flashed back to that early morning kiss without warning or permission, how her hands felt wrapped around him, how her lips felt like coming home. He was getting a man elected to the presidency, damn it, and it was truly his first priority, but Donna lingered in his mind - hovering just behind whatever actual important matter he was trying to focus on.
Then, one glorious morning, Josh ambled off the bus to check on the set-up for Santos’ speech in Oregon, when he caught a glimpse of blonde hair that he could recognize anywhere. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Otto come up beside him and casually asked - he hoped - “Donna’s with us for this stop?”
“Yeah,” the speechwriter replied, flipping through his papers. “Mrs. Santos asked her to join her for this stop to work on some interview prep and Lou wanted to go over some of the radio schedules for Election Day anyway. Why?”
“No reason,” Josh said, looking in about five different directions before very abruptly walking away. Otto cocked his head in confusion but just shrugged and went back to his work.
An hour later, Santos and his wife were on stage at a community college gymnasium, saying the same words they had a thousand times, when Josh walked over to Donna backstage and grabbed her arm, pulling her down the hall and into a random classroom.
“What on Earth is going on?” Donna asked.
But now that Josh had her alone, he didn’t really know what to do. Instead he just stared at her with an easy smile, eventually managing a “Hey.”
“Hi,” she replied, her own smile spreading on her face. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. You look great,” he said.
“You look awful,” Donna said, and he laughed. “Are you getting any sleep at all?”
“Oh yeah, a full 40 minutes,” he quipped, and they giggled like teenagers who just learned how to flirt.
“So-” they both started at the same time.
“No, you go,” Donna said.
“I’ve…missed you,” Josh said slowly, hoping she’d catch that she meant the last six weeks but also the many months before that.
“Yeah,” she answered, and he knew she understood. “I’ve missed you too.”
Josh cautioned a half step closer to her, and they really hadn’t been standing all that far apart to begin with. He caught her eye, and found himself unable to look away. Slowly, he leaned in. It was the exact opposite of their first kiss. This time it was like he was afraid she would disappear.
But she didn’t, and eventually she got tired of his incremental pace and closed the distance herself. It was every bit as amazing as their first kiss was except better somehow, because now they had experienced it before and had been aching for it for days. Josh was close to losing any sense of awareness about where he was when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
They sprung apart, and Josh called out a “Yeah?”
“Josh?” Cindy’s voice carried through the door. “They’re almost done up there. And if you know where Donna is, I have Mrs. Santos’ updated schedule for next week.”
Josh pulled open the door, revealing the two of them standing there with what he hoped to God were unassuming expressions. “You found her!” he said, just a half a pitch too high. “We were just talking about the updating talking points for the…energy plan. See ya!”
With that, he ambled off, leaving Cindy to look at Donna with one eyebrow raised.
“So, how’s Ronna?” Donna countered with a preemptive strike and a raised eyebrow of her own.
“Shut up,” Cindy replied, smiling and rolling her eyes, before handing over the documents and getting back to work.
III. After Election Day
The day after Leo’s funeral, Donna made some excuse about the woman from Treasury being out of town so she was going back to her place for the night - partially so she could go to Josh’s and partially because CJ was doing a terrible job about pretending she wasn’t wanting to invite Danny over.
So she went over to Josh’s and they both went through the motions of pouring a drink and sitting a couch and making small talk about work for about five minutes before jumping each other.
The next morning, Josh was already up and working long before Donna woke up - as per usual. It’s a Saturday, though, so instead of rushing off to get to the office, Donna cracked open her own laptop, and took a seat across the table from Josh.
They worked mostly in silence - largely because ever since the physical part of their relationship began they haven’t been so good at the talking part. But occasionally Donna’s feet would brush Josh’s under the table, and vice versa, until they really weren’t doing it by accident anymore.
Eventually, the part of Donna’s brain that was actually focused on her work grew smaller and smaller. She was really trying her best to act very casual and adult about the whole situation - she was even 85% done with her “we need to figure out what this is” speech - but inside she was losing her mind. This was everything she ever wanted but she was terrified. One of those terrors being that she was increasingly unsure Josh would *live to see inauguration day, let alone beyond.
Anyways, the footsie was just a little much for Donna to handle, and she excused herself to go to the bathroom. While there, her mind was able to clear enough to remember the actual work related question she had been trying to remember.
“Hey Josh,” she called out as walked down the hall to return to the living room, “When do we get the final list of houses for the Santos’ to choose from for the-”
She stopped dead when she saw Josh with a phone to his ear, and his eyes the size of saucers.
“Hey, CJ,” he said in that strained voice that had become all too common lately. “Yeah, that, uh, that was Donna in the background, yes. She swung by to drop off some…papers.”
Donna mentally rolled her eyes at just how bad of a job Josh was doing. Thankfully she and Josh had become so codependent over the years that no one really batted an eye at them spending time together outside of work. It might raise CJ’s radar slightly since she knew how estranged they had gotten, but Donna never did explain that “odd moment” before Election Day so they might be safe.
Then again, it wasn’t even 10am.
Josh spoke to CJ for another minute or so, setting a meeting time to go over inauguration details. Then he chuckled at something CJ had said, and said goodbye.
“What was that?” Donna asked once Josh had hung up the phone.
“CJ said to tell you that she’ll be home all day whenever you want to come back over - but to let her know if that’s not necessary,” he said wryly.
Yeah, Donna should have known she wouldn’t be able to keep it all from CJ for much longer - but she was going to stretch it out as far as she could.
Putting it out of her mind for the moment, she asked, “So, where were we?”
“Oh yeah,” Josh said, “Were you asking me something before?”
Instead, Donna just kissed him.
IV. After Hawaii
By the time they get back from Hawaii, the world’s worst-kept secret of the two of them being together was officially blown out of the water.
When they walked back into the OEOB for the first time, they didn’t know what to expect. In the end, it was both better and worse than Josh imagined - everyone looked up simultaneously, gave them a knowing smile and nod, and carried on with their work. Josh stood still for a moment before Donna grabbed his hand, gave it a confident squeeze and walked him over to his office. She gave him a quick peck before heading off to her own desk.
Meanwhile Josh was so stunned, so incredulous that after so many years he was allowed to just kiss her in the office, that it took him a full ten minutes to actually start getting any work done.
Of course, over the course of the day, Sam, Lou, Ronna, and Bram - in that order - found time to tease Josh about finally getting his head out of his ass. Those, to be fair, were easier to field than the phone calls from those from the Bartlet Administration - especially CJ, who screamed Josh’s ear off while somehow yelling at him and cheering for him at the exact same time.
It was a long day - both because of the constant interruptions and because there was actually quite a lot for Josh to catch up on. Eventually, the sun was long gone and most of the office had cleared out. Josh could see only two sources of light remaining - the lamp on his desk and the one over near Donna’s, who sat just close enough for Josh to be able to glance over once in a while to check on her (translation: once approximately every 15 seconds).
But once of the many conversations the two of them had in Hawaii had to do with work-life balance, so Josh resolutely put his head down and focused on his work, determined to be done by a relatively reasonable hour.
He got so caught up in his work that he didn’t notice Donna gathering up her things, putting on her coat, and turning off her lamp with one hand while grabbing her bag with the other. He didn’t notice when she walked up his office door - already slightly ajar - and leaned on the doorframe, watching him quietly with a smile.
He didn’t notice anything until she softly knocked on the door, causing his head to pop up and a grin to flash across his face.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” she replied. “You almost done?”
“Yeah, I am. Let me just send this last email…” Donna waited for a moment while he finished typing, hitting send before quickly shutting his laptop. “Done.”
“Good,” Donna said, only the slightest hint of surprise in her voice that he wouldn’t *actually be burning the midnight oil.
“Let’s go to dinner,” she suggested while he gathered his things. “I miss the amazing food we had in Hawaii on a molecular level, but I’ve also just really missed a good old fashioned American cheeseburger.”
“Me too,” Josh agreed. “The regular place?”
“Sounds good,” Donna said, and they headed off, arm in arm. It was still weird for Josh, to be able to touch her in public this way - to hold her this way. They weren’t doing anything wrong, but Josh had spent so long holding himself back from doing exactly this that it was almost hard to overcome the muscle memory.
Almost, but not completely, because now that the invisible shield surrounding her had popped, he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Not that he had been great at that to begin with, but now all bets were off. He kept his arm wrapped around her all the way to the restaurant, where they ordered their usuals and told each other about their days while eating their burgers. One handed, of course, because they couldn’t actually stop holding hands even to eat.
At one point, Donna put down her burger to take a sip of water, and as she glanced behind Josh for a second her eyes suddenly doubled in size.
“What, who’s here?” Josh asked. “Don’t tell me it’s that senator from Maine who keeps thinking he’s gonna get a cabinet spot cause I’m about to-” his voice cut off as he finally turned around, only to lock eyes with Jack Reese who had just walked in the door.
Josh tracked Jack’s eyes as they bounced between Josh, Donna, their joined hands and then back up to Josh, who could see the panic in his eyes as he clearly debated whether or not to bolt. Josh sincerely hoped he would, but of course Jack is too decent of a guy for that, so he walks over and shakes Josh’s hand.
“Hey, Josh, how you doing?” Jack says with a polite smile, before turning to his ex. “Hey Donna.”
“Hi Jack,” Donna said. “Are you back in Washington?”
“No, I’m actually about to start a new assignment in Paris where my fiancé is based,” he answered. “I just had a few weeks of leave and was visiting some military buddies.”
Jack’s eyes once again landed on their hands, which by unspoken agreement both Josh and Donna decided to squeeze just a little harder.
“I see you finally got it together,” Jack said, directed more at their hands to either of them in particular. “Good for you.”
“Thanks, Jack,” Donna said. “And congratulations on your engagement.”
“Thank you,” Jack looked like he was about to walk away, but at the last moment he looked back at Josh. “I have to ask - did you really not know back then?”
Josh thought about it for a second and replied, “I think I always knew, I just didn’t let myself. But you definitely made it harder to deny.”
At that, Jack gave a mini salute. “Glad to be of service,” he said before walking away.
“So all those stories?” Donna asked once Jack was gone.
“Definitely made me like you,” Josh replied with a grin, and they finished their dinner.
V. Year One of the Santos Administration
“Hey do you know where Josh is?”
Josh’s assistant Leah stopped Sam as he passed by on the way back to his desk. “He should be back from his meeting on the Hill by now,” she continued.
“I think he was going to stop by the East Wing on his way back,” Sam replied, giving Leah a knowing look before continuing on his way.
Leah rolled her eyes and took a look at her watch, doing some quick math to figure out how long Josh has probably been done with his meeting, and how long he has until his next one.
Josh Lyman and Donna Moss were the undisputed power couple of the White House staff, running their respective wings with skill and leadership. And as busy as their schedules were, they tried their best to fit in quick lunches (or dinners, or anything) in the office whenever they got the chance.
The problem was, Josh was famously obsessed with his girlfriend. And sometimes, once he went to visit her, he was known for not actually leaving until Donna kicked him out or Leah dragged him back. You couldn’t blame the guy - he was used to working practically an arms length away from her for years. But eventually, the country needed to be run.
So Leah grabbed some files that needed to be run over to the East Wing anyway - so at least she could kill two birds with one stone - and headed over to Donna’s office, where her assistant, Mark, greeted her with a smile.
“Hey, Leah, here to pick him up?”
“Yeah, he has a Kazakhstan briefing in ten minutes. Any indication he was actually headed back anytime soon?” Leah inquired.
“Well about five minutes ago,” Mark said, “I thought I heard Donna say something along the lines of ‘do you need to get back?’ and Josh seemed to agree but no movement since.”
“Of course,” Leah replied, and knocked on Donna’s door quickly, opening it once she heard Donna say it was okay. One time she sort of knocked and opened the door at the same time, and that had particularly awkward consequences that left Leah unable to look either of them in the eye for at least three days.
Poking her head in the door, she had to admit they were cute. Josh had pulled the visitor’s chair so he was sitting as close to Donna has humanly possible, and the two of them were still giving each other obnoxiously adorable looks over their salads.
“Come on, play date’s over,” Leah said, giving her boss her patented look that said “I know I’m not Donna, but you should still be scared of me.”
“Yeah, okay,” Josh said, tossing the remains of his salad in the trash and giving Donna a quick peck on the cheek before packing up his stuff. “We going home together tonight?” he asked her.
“No, the First Lady has that dinner for local teachers - the agents will bring me home after,” Donna reminded him.
“Oh right, well I’ll see you later,” Josh said, continuing to smile at her as Leah all but pushed him away from Donna’s door and down the hallway.
“Sorry about that,” he said to her as they made their way back to the West Wing. “I’m not gonna be late, am I?”
“No, you’re good,” Leah said, double checking her watch one more time. “I know you want to spend time with your girlfriend.”
“Right,” Josh said, thinking about the ring currently buried deep in the back of his closet. “Girlfriend.”