By Lacy

Leo must have bells on his toes, because when the President and I reach the Situation Room, the rest of the senior staff is already assembled. As soon as I walk in the door Sam Seaborn is shaking my hand and slapping me on the back. Apparently, CJ decided to let the cat out of the bag.

Toby Ziegler offers his congratulations as well, though in a much more subdued manner than Sam. He even manages to crack a smile.

"Margaret called Ainsley," Leo tells the President. "She's on her way up."

"Ainsley? Is that the Republican I hired that raked Sam over the coals on Capital Beat?"

"That's the one, sir," Sam says, sheepishly.

"Do you think we really need White House Counsel in on this?" I ask nervously.

"We need to be sure to cover all the bases," Leo asserts.

The President takes a seat at the head of the table, and the rest follow suit locating different chairs.

"CJ, I assume you've been briefed?" the President asks.

"Yes, Mr. President. I've had my eye on the situation for a while now."

"What?" I am incredulous.

"So, is there a plan of attack?"

"I've considered the options and I think the best course of action would be to make an official announcement at the 8 a.m. briefing on Monday morning. We can then follow that up with a reception and photo op for Josh and Donna. I'm thinking -- in the Mural Room."

"Very nice," the President responds. "Tasteful."

"Okay, CJ," I say, "But print media only, for now."

"That's fine," she replies.

"I've starting working up some remarks for you, Mr. President," Sam jumps in.

"When will I get a chance to look at them?"

"After I've read over them, trashed them, and made him start again," replies Toby.

Just then, Ainsley Hayes -- Lone Republican -- sticks her head through the door, her face clearly asking if she is in the right room.

"I hope you don't mind, kid," Leo approaches her, "but we started without you."

"That's all right, Leo," she replies. "Started what?"

Leo offers Ainsley the chair next to his and across the table from Sam Seaborn. Ainsley does not sit, however, as she notices she is in the same room with the President of the United States.

"You must be Ainsley," the President says, as he offers his hand. "I'm hearing good things about you."

Ainsley ecstatically takes the hand he offers. "Yes, Mr. President. I mean...thank you, Mr. President. It's such a great honor to finally meet you in person, sir. When Leo told me you asked him to hire me, I was...well, I was shocked, sir. Of course, I mean that in a good way. It's just that it's been my dream for as long as I can remember to work for the White House. Of course, I never in a million years expected to work for a Democratic White House, but I guess--"

"Ainsley, you're rambling," Leo interrupts.

"Yes, sir. I mean, Leo. I'm sorry, Mr. President."

The President stares at her throughout her entire discourse, unable to conceive of someone saying so much without taking a breath. He smiles at her. It is just too funny to watch her go on and on.

"That's quite all right, Ainsley."

"Thank for saying so, sir." The President is discovering, as we all have in the months since she began her job, that it is very difficult to get the last word in with Ainsley Hayes. If for no other reason that she will continue rambling on long after we have stopped caring.

"Anyway, back to business," the President declares.

Ainsley takes her seat next to Leo, while leaning over to whisper to him, "What's going on?"

"Josh and Donna are coming out the closet and they want to go public," Leo says, in an attempt to sum up the situation.

"Coming out of the...?" The stunned expression on Ainsley's face nearly brings me tears. I am busting a gut trying not to laugh.

"Let me rephrase that," Leo rolls his eyes. "Josh and Donna's relationship has become...let's say...more than professional."

For everyone in the room that has known me and Donna since the beginnings of the Bartlet Campaign, the idea of our relationship becoming personal is something to celebrate. This is a fact I still find difficult to accept. But for Ainsley Hayes, a staunchly conservative Republican, who has only been working for the Administration for a few months, the idea might not be as acceptable. I could feel the entire room hold its breath as Leo explained the situation to the newcomer.

"Josh and Donna?" she asks. I could almost hear a gasp of anticipation from the room. "Josh finally woke up and got a whiff of the java?"

Sam bursts into laughter, quickly followed by CJ and Leo. I can only collapse against my chair in relief. I had expected Ainsley to object merely on principle, but it seems that she is being a little more open minded than I expected.

"Do you have any idea how many times she came down to my office looking like her dog just died? Ainsley asks. "I would talk to her for a while and I usually discovered that it would lead back to you."

"I have a lot of making up to do," I say.

"Yes, you do," she responds sternly.

"While I find this conversation to be...not at all endearing, can we get back to the situation at hand?" Toby is reaching a point of critical mass.

"Ainsley?" the President asks. "Is this situation going to cause any problems legally?"

"Is anyone being fired?"

"NO!" Everyone answers in unison.

"Then legally speaking, there shouldn't be a problem. Not as long as Josh and Donna have received your...well...for lack of a better word...blessing, Mr. President."

"So, we don't have to worry about this turning into a sexual harassment thing?" CJ asks.

"They are both adults, and they're both consenting, are they not?" Ainsley asks.

"Both consenting," I reply. "One hundred percent consenting."

The President narrows his eyes and looks down his nose at Ainsley, in that inquiring manner of his. "We don't have any laws on the books about workplace relationships?"

"None we can't fly by under the radar, sir." Ainsley smiles, conspiratorially. "But, even if there were, Mr. President, it wouldn't matter because--"

"The White House and Congress are exempt from any workplace laws they pass!" The excitement of the discovery has driven me out of my chair, my arms raised in absolute victory. "God, that's a thing of beauty," I say, as I retake my seat.

"He's absolutely correct, sir," Ainsley concurs.

"Thank you, Ainsley," the President says.

"You're entirely welcome, Mr. President."

I survey the room and find myself unsurprised to see broad smiles on everyone's faces. The meeting continues as everyone begins to throw out ideas and suggestions. Some of them are rejected immediately while others are mulled over for a bit. I stare in awe as these people. My friends -- our friends -- who rally behind us to fight for our right to love each no matter the difficulty it may cause. I am truly blessed.

"Josh," CJ interrupts my musings. "I know how you feel about this but I've made up a list of questions--"

"CJ!"

"I just think it would behoove you to look them over. You know, to prepare yourself."

"Fine," I say. CJ slides the stapled document across the table to me. I pick it up and flip through it to determine its length.

"You did this in two hours?" I ask.

She merely shrugs at my question.

"Oh, and Josh?" Sam asks. "I've taken the liberty of writing a little something for you, as well." He slides the prepared remarks to me. I can do nothing but catch them as they fly by.

This is not what I want. From the very beginning I only wanted to stand up and say, 'I love Donnatella Moss, and if you don't like it, then that's just tough!' Instead, I get a team of spin-doctors who want to control every word that comes out of my mouth. They want to measure the impact that my love life will have on the man who sits at the head of this table. They want....

And then it suddenly occurs to me -- as I look into their faces. That is not what they want. They do not want to diminish my emotions in any way. They do not even want to hold me back. They simply want to have some small part in this -- to be able to say they played a role in this drama that is my personal life.

I listen as they continue to plan and orchestrate. They tweek concepts and laugh at how unbelievable it all is.

"Mr. President," I say at last. "If it would be okay with you, I really would like to get back to the hospital. Donna's probably worried herself silly, wondering what's been going on."

"Of course, Josh," Bartlet replies. "Wish her well, for me."

"I will, sir. Thank you." I stand, now that I have his permission to leave, and nod at the others. I want to thank them, but words do not seem like enough. "Thank you," I say, anyway. I am determined to find a better way to tell them how much I appreciate their support.

****

Donna is sitting straight up in the bed, her legs crossed in Indian style when I walk through the door of her room. She is holding the remote control in one hand and a little bowl of Jello in the other. The IV tube has been removed from her arm. Her eyes are riveted to C-SPAN.

"Washington Today?" I ask. "You couldn't find anything less dull?"

"Josh!" she cries, a wide smile crossing her face. She looks a thousand times better than she did less than twenty four hours ago. "I've been watching anything that will keep my mind occupied."

I toss my coat onto the visitor's chair and then sit next to her on the bed.

"You look tired," she observes. "I'm afraid to ask how it went."

"You've lost faith in me so quickly?"

"It went well?" I grin at her question. "It went well," she decides.

"It went very well. I found out a lot of things tonight."

"Like what?"

"Like...we have really great friends who want to stand behind us one hundred percent. We got our Presidential Blessing."

"Really? What about Leo?"

"Leo was a pushover. The biggest teddy bear of them all."

"So, what's next?"

"Everything is being prepared. An announcement at the Monday morning briefing, a reception and photo op in the Mural Room. All you have to do is get well, and show up. Are you scared?"

She considers my question for a moment. "No," she says. "Everything's going to work out. I was only worried about how Leo would take it. So, I'm not being reassigned?"

"Not a chance."

"So...a reception? With actual people?"

"Just the Press Corps. You know all of them. You have nothing to be worried about."

"But they're going to ask questions and....questions!" The look on her face is so adorable that I cannot help but kiss her.

"Mmmm," she sighs, and breaks away. "Josh?"

"No more talking," I say. "Only kissing."

"But Josh--"

"Donnatella," I take her worried face in my hands. "Everything is being taken care of. We have nothing to worry about. If all goes well, by Tuesday morning, everyone in the country will know how we feel about each other. It's okay, Donna. The President is thrilled. Leo is thrilled. Even Ainsley is thrilled."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay," she smiles. "Commence kissing."

"Yes, ma'am," I say, as I lock my lips on to hers.

Her lips feel so good on mine that all thoughts of anything but her leave my mind. All thoughts, but one.

Please, God. Let everything go well.

The End