Author: Michelle K. (CageyGrl@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG

Archive: If you want it, you may have it. Just tell me
first, please.

Summary: A cancelled visit, a drunken stumble, and
mistletoe.

Disclaimer: Characters from "The West Wing" don't
belong to me. Instead, they are the sole property of
Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers Television and NBC. No
copyright infringement is intended and I am making no
money from this story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 22, 2000
7:32 p.m.

"Joshua!" Donna said in horror. "What are you doing?"

Josh stared at his assistant as if she had gone
insane. "Well, Donna," he said slowly, as if speaking
to a child. "I'm using this ladle to pour myself some
eggnog."

"You can't, Josh. Don't forget your sensitive system."
She handily snatched the cup away from him.

"It's a party, Donna. I'm allowed to drink."

"It's a *Christmas* party. That means spreading cheer,
not promoting self abuse."

"Self abuse? It's one cup of eggnog, not a medieval
torture device."

"But if I let you have one, the downward spiral will
begin. You will become drunk. Well, I won't let that
happen. Not on my watch!"

"When did you become a cop from the 1930's?" Josh
asked quizzically.

"About three hours ago," Donna replied nonchalantly.

"Okay. Hey, aren't you going to the airport in a
little while to pick up your brother?"

"Yes."

"Well, how are you going to stop me from drinking when
you're not here?" he countered triumphantly.

"I gave Sam five bucks to keep an eye on you."

"What? Sam!" Josh called over to his best friend, who
was having a heated debate with Toby.

Since he was losing, he was quick to excuse himself
and hurry over to Josh. "What is it?"

"You sold me out," Josh accused.

"Yes," Sam replied calmly.

"You sold me out for five dollars."

"Yes."

"What kind of friend are you?" Josh said with
irritation.

"I would've done it for a buck fifty, but Donna
started at five."

"If I'd have known he was so easy to pay off, I
would've started off much lower," Donna pointed out.

"I would never sell you out," Josh said petulantly.

"It's for your own good, Josh. When you get drunk, you
embarrass yourself. I was just trying to *save* you
embarrassment."

"Good man Sam," Donna said, happy to have Sam readily
agree with her. Donna looked at her watch. "Oh my God.
It's almost eight. I have to get to the airport by
nine...and the traffic is horrible," she said without
stopping for air.

"You have to bring your brother right here," Josh
ordered. "I need to quiz him on your childhood.
Especially the embarrassing parts."

"Oh won't get anything out of him. Jeff is a rock."
She grabbed her coat and her bag and moved swiftly
away. "See you guys later."

"I'm a rock breaker!" Josh declared defiantly to her
back.

"Rock breaker?" Sam asked, barely suppressing a laugh.

"Shut up, Aldrich Ames."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:04 p.m.

Donna pulled into the airport's parking lot. It was
not a simple task finding a parking space. Everyone in
D.C. seemed to be dropping off or picking up a loved
one.

She rushed into the airport, and rushed to the gate
her that Jeff and his wife, Sarah, were supposed to be
at. People flooded past her and met up with their
loved ones. And soon, there was no one left. And Jeff
and Sarah hadn't yet arrived.

"Oh, damn. What's going on?" Then, her cell phone
rang. "Hello," she answered.

"Hi, Donna," Celia, her roommate said.

"Could you make it quick?" Donna asked. "I'm going
through a confusing crisis right now."

"Sure. I have a message from your brother. He said
Sarah has the flu, which he believes he's coming down
with, so he decided not to come."

Donna sighed heavily, exasperated. "You couldn't have
told me this *before* I left for the airport?"

"Excuse me. Do you think I only have your problems to
think about? My mother..."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," Donna said, not in the mood
to listen to another tirade on Celia's horrible
family. "I was just really looking forward to my
brother visiting. I haven't seen him since I came to
D.C."

"It's okay," Celia replied. "I understand. I'm sorry,
too, for causing you unnecessary stress."

"Forgiven. Listen, I'll see you later. I'm going to go
back to the Christmas party at the White House. Make
sure Josh hasn't gotten himself into trouble."

"Must you always think about that boss of yours?"

"I don't always think about him," she said weakly,
knowing thoughts of Josh did dominate her mind at
times. "Look, Celia. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11:03 p.m.

After making her way through an obscene amount of
traffic, Donna arrived back at the White House. She
was depressed and tired.

<Why did I come back here?> she asked herself. <Oh
yes. Because I needed to make sure my boss didn't
damage his sensitive system. Why? Because I'm in love
with him. Maybe. Maybe I'm not in love with him. I
just like him a lot! That's it!>

"I'm such a loser," Donna scolded herself out loud.
She shook her head and entered the building.

By the time she arrived, the party had already
disbanded. Some of them had gone home, some of them
had returned to their offices to do more work. Donna
assumed Josh was still there. He usually was.

Donna walked towards Josh's office. The door was
closed, but she could hear boisterous laughing. She
had a feeling Josh's system had been harmed. "I'm
going to kill you, Sam," Donna said under her breath.

She opened the door to see Josh and Sam sitting on the
floor, giggling like schoolgirls.

"How did this happen?" she said accusingly in Sam's
direction.

They stopped laughing for a moment. "Well, I was
having a glass of eggnog," Sam began. "And Josh said
it wasn't fair that I was drinking eggnog and he
wasn't. So, I thought one little cup couldn't hurt
him. Then I thought a couple more would be okay..."

"I told you I was a rock breaker," Josh declared.

Josh and Sam started to laugh again.

"How is that funny?" Donna asked, perplexedly.

"I don't know," Josh said. They started cracking up
again.

"Do you two smoke something?"

They found that even funnier. "No, Mom," Sam said.

"Mom! That's hilarious!" Josh yelled as he clutched
his stomach.

Donna rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Donnatella," Josh said, his words beginning to
slur. "Where's your brother?"

"He couldn't make it." She turned her attentions to
Sam. "I'm very disappointed in you. Not only are you
stinking drunk, but you've comprised Josh's sensitive
system."

"I'm sorry, Mom," Sam said.

"Mom! It's even funnier the second time!" Josh
declared.

"I'm driving you home," Donna said. "You're in no
condition to drive. And I'm going to tell CJ to call
you a cab." She pointed a finger at Sam.

Sam pouted. "Why do I need a cab? Why can't you drive
me home?"

"Because you're not my boss."

"What if I hired you?"

"Cab, Sam. And I want my five bucks back." She held
out her hand expectantly. Sam gave her back the money.


"It's not my fault," Sam protested weakly.

"C'mon, Josh," Donna said. "I'll help you up."

"I can get up by myself, thank you very much." Josh
tried to get up, but began to wobble. "Okay, you can
help me."

"Sam," Donna called back to him as they were leaving,
"if he's vomits on me, you get the dry cleaning bill."

Sam sighed. "Damn Josh and his rock breaking," he
muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11:33 p.m.

Donna helped Josh get into his apartment, then sat him
down on his couch. "Here you are," Donna said. As she
turned to leave, Josh said--

"Where are you going, Donnatella?" His tone of voice
was sad and endearing. She found it sexy despite the
drunken edge.

"I was going home."

"Why don't you sit a while?"

She debated it for a moment. "Sure," she said finally.
"Why not?" She sat down next to Josh.

"Donnatella? Where's your brother?"

"I told you he's not coming."

"Oh? I don't remember that."

She sighed. "I told you, you have a sensitive system."

"My system is so insensitive it makes prison inmates
cry!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What is what supposed to mean?" he asked in
confusion.

Donna smiled. "Really, Josh. I have to go."

"You can't. Mistletoe."

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Mistletoe. I have it hanging on my doorframe."

Donna looked up. It certainly was. "Your love life is
so bad you have to force women to kiss you?" she said
with a smile

"I have to do know such things. I'm just being
festive."

"Okay."

"Well, you passed under it with me, so according to
the rules..."

"I will do know such thing!" Donna said in horror,
despite the fact the idea was rather attractive to
her. "You have alcohol breath."

"Well, why don't you see for yourself?"

Josh pulled Donna close to him, putting his mouth on
hers. For a moment, Donna forced herself not to
respond. But she couldn't do that for long.

She pressed her mouth harder on his, deepening the
kiss. She didn't know she was doing. At the very
least, taking advantage of a drunken man. But she
didn't care. She just kept on kissing him.

And followed him to the bedroom...

End Part 1/3