Spoilers: This feeds off "The Portland Trip."

Archive: Sure, let me know where and keep my name
attached.


Done (Part 1/1)

He knew the minute he said it he should have kept his mouth shut.

"Because I say so."

That had been Josh's response when Matt Skinner had asked why Josh
had said Donna was out with a guy with whom she had no future.

It would be coming back to haunt him.

It was almost worse that that "Terrible taste in men" diatribe.

Donna would efficiently be calling Matt Skinner's office to follow up
on the meeting. Skinner would speak to Donna because he liked
Donna. Hell, everyone liked Donna. But in this case it meant that
Skinner would talk to Donna himself instead of leaving it to an
assistant. If for no other reason than to share Josh's off-handed
comment.

For which he would be paying.

Dearly.

He could hear Donna at her desk. He refused to walk on eggshells
waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Donna!"

She popped her head in the door. "What?"

Well, she was speaking to him, so she hadn't talked to Skinner yet.
But it was only one word. He stared at her, but couldn't tell if she
was still upset or not.

"Can you find me the file on the Commerce Committee thing?"

"I'll see if I can drag my small sense of self-worth out and locate
it," she said flatly, exiting.

Still mad.

She returned a few minutes later with a file, dropped in on his desk
and left without a word.

He wondered if maybe he should say something. Maybe he should tell
Donna what he'd said to Skinner.

"You're late for a meeting with Leo," she called from her desk.

He looked at his watch and then wondered why he'd bothered. It never
showed the right time. He gathered up some folders. "How late?"

"Five minutes."

"So where were you seven minutes ago?"

"Focusing every ounce of my tiny little brain on locating your file."

"Donna!"

"Josh!"

"Donna!"

"Leo's waiting!"

He headed for Leo's office at a brisk walk. "We're not done!" he
called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered, picking up the phone.


Donna wasn't at her desk when Josh returned. He checked his watch.
Maybe it was lunchtime. He sat down in his chair and consulted his
desk clock. It was only 10:30. He shook his head and fished out the
notes from his meeting.

"Because you say so?"

Josh jumped and dropped his pen. "Donna! You almost scared me to
death! Don't do that."

She shut the door. "I have no future with Todd because you say so?"

"I don't think..."

"That's becoming obvious."

"Hey!"

"I've had it, Josh," she said. "I'm done."

Josh was having problems breathing. It suddenly seemed as if all the
oxygen had left the room.

"Done," she repeated.

"What do you mean?"

"That means we're done with this, Mr. Lyman." She waved her hands
around. "From now on you and I will conduct ourselves in a solely
professional manner. You are my responsibility from 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. with an hour off for lunch. That's Monday through Friday,
I might add. What you do outside that time is your business and it
will not include or affect me."

"Uh..."

"Likewise, what I do outside that time frame will not affect you.
And it will not be commented on by you or influenced by you in any
way."

"Uh..."

"You want to be my boss? You're my boss, Josh...Mr. Lyman. That's
the roll you want? You got it. Those are your hours. I'm done
waiting, Josh. I'm done."

She turned and left, closing the door behind her, before he could
respond.


He didn't know how long he sat with his head in his hands. He'd
screwed up. And evidently this was the straw that broke the camel's
back. Not that he thought of Donna as a camel. He was getting
sidetracked.

The problem was that he didn't want Donna to say out of his personal
life.

The problem was that he didn't want to stay out of Donna's personal
life.

The problem was that he wanted to BE Donna's personal life.

The problem was that he'd been hiding from that fact for years.

"Whatcha' thinking?" Sam asked.

Josh didn't look up. "That I'm in love with Donna and I may have
just lost her."

"Uh, Josh?"

Josh looked up at Sam. "Did I just say that out loud?"

"And very clearly," Sam said. "Clearly enough that I'm sure Donna,
who is standing right behind you, heard very well."

Josh spun around in his chair to find Donna, her arms full of files,
standing by the window behind his desk. Every drop of blood seemed
to have drained from her face.

"Swear to God, I'm going to put a bell on you so you stop sneaking up
on me."

"Yeah, well I think I'm done here. I'd better go," Sam said, but
didn't move.

Josh stared at Donna. "Night, Sam."

Donna stared at Josh. "Night, Sam," she echoed.

"Yeah, right." Sam left, closing the office door behind him.


-END-