Spoilers: Up through "The Stackhouse Filibuster"

Archive: Let me know where and please give me credit.

Summary: This is an interim story that falls in with my other stories. (Sorry, I can't call it a series yet cause I don't know if it will continue until I sprout a "plot bunny" (thanks for that, Lacy!) If you haven't read the previous stories, you shouldn't be totally lost, but some things may make more sense. Previous stories are:

"The Good Part"

"The Good Part-Part 2"

"Longitude and Latitude"

"Buccaneer on the Senate Floor" 

Girl Talk

By Mary

To: DMoss@w…

From: Sgault@max…

Date: March 12, 2001

Subject: Meeting Request

Donna,

Hope the subject looks official enough since I'm emailing you at work.

You know when I was in town a month or so ago, you promised me a girl talk night? Well, I think we need to make good on that! I'm on Spring Break, so I've got time. Any chance we can do it this week?

Let me know,

Steph

* * * * * * * * * * *

To: Sgault@max…

From: DMoss@w…

Date: March 12, 2001

Subject: Re: Meeting Request

Steph,

Per your request–seriously, it's no big deal to email me here. Just don't send anything that you wouldn't share with your grandmother, if you catch my drift. J

As for our girl talk, I do remember promising you some explanations regarding my state of affairs, as it were. While I'm not on Spring Break, I have it on good authority that there are ways of distracting my boss in such a way that I might be able to bail out of here "early" one night.

How does Thursday sound? 8:30? If your number is still the same, I'll call you, okay? This started because I've got something to tell. Make sure you have your wine ready and I'll call you then!

Looking forward to it,

Donna

* * * * * * * * * *

I walked into Josh's office Thursday evening around 7:00 p.m. and asked, "Is there anything special going on tonight?"

"Not that I know of, but then you keep my schedule, so…" he answered, head buried in the newspaper he was reading.

"Okay. Then can I get outta here by 7:30?" I asked casually.

Josh looked up and grinned at me as I moved around his office, sorting and moving folders off his cluttered desk. "Do we have something going on tonight?"

"No."

"I'm sorry, that was an incomplete answer. Please try again," he smart-mouthed.

"No, you and I do not have something going on tonight," I answered, hands on hips.

"Donna…" Josh whined. And he looked at me with those puppy-dog eyes. I can never resist those eyes.

"Remember when Stephanie was here last month? She was supposed to stay longer and we were going to have the time to sit down and have some serious girl talk before she left. Well, that didn't happen, so we promised that we'd do it by phone. She's on spring break and asked if we could do it tonight."

"Girl talk? Donna, really…" Josh scoffed. He went back to his newspaper, before slowly looking back up at me, cocking his head to one side. "Why do I get an uneasy feeling that I may be a topic of this girl talk?"

"Please, Josh! Sometimes the size of your ego can be staggering. It won't be long before we need to build a whole new wing solely for your ego--The Ego Wing." I busied myself moving around the office again so that he couldn’t see the grin on my face.

"Donna, come on. What is this all about?"

"The night Steph was here and we walked her out to her car, she asked if you and I were seeing each other. At the time it had only been a couple of weeks and nobody knew yet. I asked her if it was that obvious. She said it might not be to the casual observer, but she knows me too well. I promised that night that we would talk sometime soon," I finished.

"Ah-ha! So you are going to talk about me! I knew it!" Sometimes he was so smug when he knew he was right.

"Your name may come up," I admitted.

"So I can't come over tonight?" Josh pouted.

"You're not ready to leave yet. Call me when you're ready to leave here, okay?" I smiled slyly at him.

"Okay," he answered reluctantly. Standing up from his desk, he said, "Are you ready to go? I'll walk you out to your car."

* * * * * * * * * *

I grabbed my things and we fell into step walking out to the parking lot. We had discovered that the employee parking area was well protected from view. I'm sure that there are cameras monitoring the area and that we probably give some security guards a thrill. And no, we're not doing THAT on the White House grounds.

Josh has always liked to walk me to my car after dark. Before it was completely innocent. Now we may spend a few minutes talking, a few minutes kissing, but nothing more than that. Besides, we figured that much bigger secrets had been kept at the White House before Josh and I started dating. Leo even agreed with us about that. No, we did not go to him and ask his opinion on our goodnight techniques. He happened to catch us that night. The man who never goes home happened to leave while Josh and I were playing tonsil hockey leaning against my car.

Color me embarrassed! We were caught totally off-guard when Leo walked up and said, "Oh, for God's sake. Do you two have to do that here? Don't you have homes? Places with doors and locks so that other people don't have to see this?" Josh and I stopped kissing, but I remained in his arms as he leaned against my car.

Leo looked around to see who else might be able to see us. Josh noticed this and said, "We did a little testing and determined that this location is not visible from outside the grounds."

Leo smirked a little and said, "I hope you realize that you're probably giving some security guard a little thrill. There's probably some poor guy sitting in the basement somewhere watching security monitors and hoping that you two get carried away some night." Shaking his head, he muttered, "Why did I have to say that? Now I've given you two ideas and I've got a mental picture that I really didn't need ."

"Leo, really, this is the extent of our semi-public displays of affection. We may be dumb and in love, but we're not stupid," I explained, gazing at my adorably cute boyfriend. In my big girl pumps, we were about the same height.

"Whatever," Leo said as he walked away. Josh pulled me into a hug. As I looked over his shoulder, I caught Leo turning back to smile wistfully at us. He caught my eye and smiled broader, letting me know how he really felt about our relationship. I waited until he was in his car before I kissed Josh again.

We finally separated and he opened my car door for me. I started the engine and rolled down the window. Josh stuck his head in the window and I kissed him once more and told him how much I love him.

He said, "I'll call you later. I'll try not to work too late. And say nice things about me to Stephanie."

"I can't portray you as too nice a guy. I don't want to have to fight a friend for you."

"There's no fighting to be done. You're stuck with me. Get used to it," he grinned.

"Such a fate is mine…" I sighed as I backed out of my parking spot. As I drove away I could see him standing on the sidewalk watching until I rounded the curve and then he was no longer in my mirror.

* * * * * * * * *

Josh and I had eaten at the office like we typically do, so I wasn't hungry when I got home. I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 8:25 and I had promised Steph I'd call her at 8:30. I quickly changed from my work slacks and pumps into comfortable sweats and one of Josh's old Harvard sweatshirts that I had confiscated during his recovery. Actually, he had given it to me one night when I was cold and told me I could "hang on to it for a while." We never defined what that meant, but I still had it and though it didn't smell like him anymore, I still loved wearing it.

I was pouring my glass of wine and hitting the power button on the stereo as I dialed Stephanie's number.

"Hello?" Stephanie answered.

"Hey, girlfriend. I hope you're ready for a long talk!" I teased.

"You bet! I've got my wine all ready and I'm good to go!" Steph confirmed.

"Before we get started…" I trailed off. "Steph–how's your father doing?" I asked quietly.

Steph's voice was small when she spoke. "Not well, Donna. Not well. They're still giving him treatments, but he's on a lot of pain medication so he's not really all there. I'm not going to give up until the very end, but it's really been wearing me down, too. Please tell Sam how much it meant to him that the White House even considered putting my grandfather on the pardon list. It really lifted something off my father's shoulders."

"I'll do that, Steph," I answered. Someday, maybe she'll know the truth about her grandfather, but for now, it just wasn't as important as a lot of other things in her life. I still felt bad that there was something that she didn't know, but then I work at the White House. There are a lot of things that I know that the average citizen doesn't know.

I hear Steph sniff a little, and then she says, "Okay. We've talked about the sad thing that we needed to. Now, I want to get on to the real reason for this call. Dish, Donna! Tell me what's going on."

I couldn’t help but giggle a little. I really hadn't talked to anybody else about my relationship with Josh. He and I talk about it, but I hadn't really shared anything with a girlfriend yet.

"So," Steph prodded. "How did this get started and how long ago did it start? I mean, I'd met Josh before, but I thought he was just your boss. Little did I know! You never said anything about him that would indicate anything other than…work!"

"Oh, Steph. Do you want the long story or the short one?" I asked.

"Long, of course," she practically squealed. "I want to hear all the good parts."

"Well, there's some bad along the way as well," I warn her.

"Does it all end up with the way you two were looking at each other when I was there?"

"Beyond that, my friend. Beyond that," I answer.

"Okay, so, when did you know that you were in love with him?" Steph prompted.

"Well, that's kinda complicated." I took a sip of my wine. "Josh and I fell into this rhythm from the beginning in Manchester. I understood his crazy shorthand and we could accomplish more in a 3-minute walk around the office than most people could accomplish in a 1-hour meeting. We also fell into the banter and the teasing pretty early on. He was dating Mandy Hampton at the time and she did not like me one bit.

"But I couldn't understand why she didn't like me. Here I was, this kid from Wisconsin who was trying to help out and make a difference and figure out who I really was on my own. She was a high-powered political media analyst and she had him. I felt like his kid sister and, at the time, I didn't even want him! But I really wanted everybody to like me–I was still recovering my self-esteem--and knowing that this woman had such little regard for me really hurt. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that one reason she didn't like me was because of the banter and the teasing. She never had that with Josh.

"During the campaign, I also became Josh's personal recovery assistant. His father passed away the night we won the Illinois primary and I was the one who told him. I've never forgotten the look on his face when I had to stop his celebrating and tell him that awful news. I think that might have been the first time that I realized that I had some feelings outside of boss/assistant or just plain friendship for him. I desperately wanted to go with him and hold his hand, but I had to go to California and keep things moving forward.

"Of course, I told myself that I needed to ignore the things I was feeling for Josh. I mean he was my boss! He's 12 years older than I am. And here I was this injured bird, trying to heal my wings so I could fly again. And beside my pitiful emotional state, there was my glaring lack of education especially when compared to his extensive education. What would he ever want with me?

"When he and Mandy broke up, I had to deal with that. It was a good thing that they broke up because they were making each other miserable when they were together, which in turn made everyone around them miserable as well. Josh got to feeling sorry for himself, got really drunk one night and came to my hotel room to spill his guts to me. I listened to him for a while, then called Sam to come help me get him back to his room."

"Man, he kinda sounds like he was a basket case, Donna. I hope that has changed." Stephanie said.

"Oh yeah. He's nothing like he was during the campaign, but there has been a lot of things that have contributed to changing that," I answered. "Did I ever tell you about the inauguration, Steph?"

"No, I don't think you really did," she answered.

"The inauguration was…it was like a dream." I sighed, remembering the first night in my life that I really felt like a princess. "The president and vice president have to make appearances at all the different balls that are going on. But the staff basically stayed at the Democratic party's ball and just had fun. We had worked so hard during the transition period, getting the administration ready to go, picking cabinet members and vetting them all. It was almost worse than the campaign because it all had to happen so fast.

"Inauguration day was crazy up until the actual ceremony. Then everything seemed to move in slow motion and with this beautiful fairy tale haze around it. We weren't involved with any more official things that afternoon, so we just hung around together at CJ's apartment and watched the parade until it was time to go to the ball. We actually ordered pizza and ate that before we put on our gowns and hit the town." I giggled at the memory.

"I can't remember how many pizzas we ordered, but it was a lot. It was senior staff and all the senior assistants, so there were about 10 of us. The guys all went back to the hotel while we all got dressed at CJ's apartment. It was so fun–all of us spread all over the place, doing each other's hair, putting on makeup, etc. The boys sent a limo to pick us up and take us back to the hotel where they were staying which is also where the ball was.

"There were so many people there that it would have been impossible to run into anyone you might know, so we just hung out with each other. I spent the entire evening dancing with Josh, but didn't think anything of it until late in the evening when we'd both had a few drinks and were slow dancing yet again. I told myself that I was wrapped up in the pageantry and the thrill of the day combined with massive sleep deprivation and a few too many glasses of champagne. This was my boss I was dancing with! But the way I felt being in his arms just seemed so right. "

Steph heaved a big sigh. "Donna, normal people don't have lives like this. I am so jealous! And you haven't even gotten to the really good stuff yet. Oh, and you've probably heard this from somebody other than me, but you do know that denial ain't just a river in Egypt, right?" She giggled.

"Well, trust me–that was just one night. Every other state dinner or ball that I've been to, I've attended as Josh's assistant. I carry his cell phone and pager and remind him of who the people approaching him are so he can act like he knows them when they talk to him. Sure I get to have a little fun, but it really is work." I stopped for a beat and Steph picked up on it.

"Donna? What is it?" she asked.

"Well, you know I hadn't really thought back through all of this stuff for a while, but…Josh always danced with me anytime we were at an event like that. He always told me how pretty I looked, noticed when I was wearing a new dress rather than recycling an old one, and he always danced with me at least once–usually something inappropriately romantic–where he could hold me close. I never even really noticed. Oh, man…"

"So you've BOTH been in denial for all this time, huh?" Steph chuckled.

I blushed even though I was alone in my apartment. "Yeah, I guess we really were."

"Okay, so you were both crazy about each other but neither of you had a clue. Then what happened?" Stephanie asked.

I thought about it for a minute, took a sip of my wine and a deep breath to steel myself for what came next. "The shooting at Rosslyn."

"Donna, if you don't want to talk about it…" Steph offered.

"I really don't mind talking about it if you don't mind if I cry. It has a very strong effect on me."

"Standard girl talk preparation–I have a box of tissues right here. You?" Steph answered.

"Of course!" I told her, grabbing one out of the box in front of me.

"You weren't there, were you?" Steph asked quietly.

"No, but I could have been. And if I had been, I would have been with Josh…" I trailed off.

"Oh, Donna," Steph sniffed.

"I actually hid in the White House so that he couldn't find me when they were getting ready to leave. Then I went home to relax. I found out on TV." I was trying to make my voice stronger.

"I knew that I had to get to where Josh was because he would need me. There would be things to be done and he would need me to do my job with him where ever he was. I got to the hospital and had to find a secret service agent who knew me to let me in. I was shown to a waiting room and saw Dr. Bartlet, Charlie Young, CJ, Toby and Sam in the room. I asked about the president and was relieved to hear that he was going to be okay–his surgery was over and he was in recovery.

"What I hadn't figured out yet was that Josh was not in the room. It didn't occur to me that he was hurt. I figured he was off with Leo somewhere taking care of things. Until Toby told me that Josh had been hit. I actually asked him 'Hit with what?' because I didn't understand at first.

"I was totally caught off guard. I couldn't even cry. I just sank into a chair in horror. I couldn't believe that he was fighting for his life. That was just wrong." I sniffed and wiped at my eyes with my tissue.

"Dr. Bartlet kept an eye on me because I guess I went into shock. She knew her husband was going to be okay, so she focused on taking care of me. She even got them to let me see Josh while they were doing his surgery. I'll never forget the site of his still body and his open chest. I don't know how I remained standing at that window." I paused to take a deep breath.

"I was the one who called his mother. I had talked to her on the phone many times since I'd worked for Josh, but this call was a horrible one to make. She knew about the shooting but had no idea that her son–her only child–was fighting for his life. I needed something to do, so I arranged for her travel down from Connecticut, for a hotel in DC and for a car to pick her up at the airport and bring her to the hospital.

"Because of the timing, his mother didn’t arrive until the next morning, toward the end of Josh's surgery. I had refused to leave the hospital until Josh was awake. They took him directly to the Intensive Care Unit from the recovery room. The president and Leo had seen him, and Dr. Bartlet made sure that I was allowed to sit with him. I just sat there, holding his hand, praying to anything and everything I could think of to bring him back to me, and listening to the machines beep, letting me know that his heart was beating.

"I was dozing in my chair, still holding his hand when Josh's mother arrived. We'd never met, but we knew each other when she walked in the door. Without a word, we hugged each other tightly for the longest time. She stayed in D. C. while he was in the hospital and left the day that we took him home to his apartment.

"Before she left, she made sure that I understood what a difficult patient he was going to be while he recovered. I told her that I knew better than most people how difficult he was capable of being. I was surprised to learn how much she actually knew about me. Seems Josh had told her well more than I would have thought. Of course, I was too wrapped up in the whole 'Josh almost died' thing to question why he would have told his mother so much about his assistant. I assured her that I would make sure he was taken care of.

"After she left, I kept her up to date on his recovery through regular phone calls and emails. As far as I know, Josh still doesn't know about that. We would talk while he was sleeping, I'd call her from my car driving from the White House to his place, or on my way home from his place at night. She gave me the strength to go back after days when he'd been impossible and mean–days when I wanted to quit and tell him to go to hell. Then the next day, he would apologize to me and give me a window into just how horrible this was for him–both the physical recovery and his frustration in not being able to work.

"It was during this time that we really became friends. We were friends before, but this made us much closer. You can't go through something like this and not have it affect your relationship. By the time he was ready to go back to work, we were in a pattern that was totally different from our work relationship. I would go into the office in the morning, and then I'd go over to his place with lunch and some work around noon. We'd do a little work in the afternoon and I'd keep him up on the goings on at the White House. I'd take notes while he had conference calls with Leo. Then we'd either order in or I'd fix something healthy for dinner, and then we'd watch classic movies on cable while we carefully shared a blanket on his couch. I say carefully because we had to make sure that we didn't cross any of those perceived boundaries."

"Donna–I never knew you were so strong. How did you know to do this–to be this strong?" Steph asked incredulously.

"I don't know, Steph. It just happened. I never even thought about it. He needed me and I didn't hesitate to step up to the task," I continued. "The hardest part for me was when he was ready to go back to the office. To go from being such an integral part of his life back to just being his assistant was really hard for me. And it really affected our relationship. We were both trying so desperately to make things like they were before the shooting that we forgot to be who we had become. We stuffed those people into a box and wrote them off as the 'sick guy' and his 'mothering friend'.

"The first month or so that he was back in the office, I would go home almost every night and cry myself to sleep. I missed him so much it ached. I wanted our relationship to be a continuation of what it had become–not go back to what it had been. You couldn't erase the shooting, so you couldn't erase the things that had changed in our relationship. But we tried.

"This was when I really started to realize how much I loved him. I realized that I wouldn't feel so horrible about this if my feelings for him weren't so intense to start with. I think this is one of the reasons that I was the only person who saw what was happening to him last December. He was getting angrier and angrier for no apparent reason, snapping at everybody, slamming doors. I tried to say something to him a few times, but he wasn't interested in talking about it. I didn't want to betray him, but I finally went to this boss, Leo, and told him about the changes I was seeing.

"Leo got to see it first hand when Josh lost it and screamed at the president in the Oval Office one day. Leo had already contacted the American Trauma Victims Association to come and talk to Josh, but after what he'd seen, he made the appointment for the next day. Then that night, Josh did something to his hand. He said he broke a glass, but I didn't believe that was the real cause.

"Josh spent all day Christmas Eve with the counselor from ATVA. Leo and I talked off and on during the day. I told him that I didn't believe Josh's story about his hand and Leo agreed. We decided that I would take him to the hospital to get it looked at that evening. We later found out that he had put his hand through a window in his apartment."

"Oh, Donna!" Stephanie gasped.

I took another deep breath before I continued. "Josh protested a little, saying he didn't really need a doctor, but finally surrendered. After his hand had been cleaned and properly bandaged, we did something that we hadn't done for months. We didn't even talk about it either. I drove us back to Josh's apartment; we went in and got settled--the super had replaced the glass during the day--we ordered in dinner and we watched old movies on cable. When I left, it was after midnight--Christmas. He hugged me tightly, thanked me for being with him that night, and wished me a Merry Christmas. Then he kissed me lightly on the lips. I'm sure I looked stunned. He blushed a little and told me to pretend that there had been mistletoe above us.

"Then we went right back to stuffing ourselves into those former roles, but Josh was a happier person, which made everyone around him happier by association. We prepared for the State of the Union and all that it entailed. I tried desperately to hook him up with a pollster who flew in from California to help us do some internal polling. He professed he wasn't interested, but I kept pushing him. I just wanted him to be happy."

"Donna, I really can't believe this. It's unreal!" Steph exclaimed.

"I know, but the next stretch gets really good!" I laughed.

"Are we getting to the good and juicy stuff?" Steph asked, giggling like a schoolgirl.

"We're close," I teased.

"Do continue, please!" she begged.

"Well, one Friday night, Josh and I were hanging around to wait for something to happen at the White House. The president was screening a movie in the theater and asked us to join him, along with some other people who were still there. Josh and I went to the movie so I was sitting in the back of a dark movie theater with my boss who I knew I was hopelessly in love with!!

"The president spoke to Josh during the movie and said something to him about 'when you have a daughter…' Josh sat back down and told me what the president had said, then added, 'I hope she has your eyes.'"

Stephanie squealed with delight. "He said that to you? In the White House? Oh my God!"

"Yep. Totally freaked me out! I had to break eye contact before I planted one on him right then and there in front of the president and everybody. I think when I looked away, he thought that I wasn't interested, so I had to plot to get him to see that I was–interested, that is. I leaned over and told him I was cold, so he would put his arm around me." I giggled at the memory.

"Heavy sigh," Steph said, doing just that. "So…go on!"

"So, after the movie, I told him that I was afraid to go home alone after scary movies--that there might be somebody hiding in my apartment. He offered to come check out my place for me."

"He didn't!" Steph cried. "Was that a sucker play or what? Donnatella, I'm ashamed of you!"

"No that was real–don't you remember my boogey-man fixation? Anyway," I continued over Stephanie's laughter, "he followed me home and checked out my apartment. I thanked him with a hug, but then he kissed me. Not by accident. Not because he was drunk and lonely. He purposefully put his lips on mine. And oh, what nice lips they are! He is a REALLY good kisser, Steph. I'm talking World Class technique here."

"Okay, so we've established that he's a great kisser, and… What else happened that night?" Steph asked.

"Well, that night–nothing. He left after a couple of really great kisses."

"Aw! Come on! You let him leave?? After all the time you guys… After all the frustration!" Stephanie protested.

"I think I was in shock again. Besides, I didn't want to do anything stupid. I mean he is my boss!!" I defended.

"Okay. Okay. I'll wait." I knew she had an evil grin on her innocent little face.

"(Yawning sound)"

"Oh no you don't! Don't even think about telling me that you're tired, Donna Moss! You better keep talking or…or…I don't know what I'll do, but I'll be pissed!!"

I laughed heartily. "I'm just teasing. I wanted to see how you'd react."

"So, the next day, we went to work and acted like nothing happened, until after we wrapped up work on a thing we needed to finish. Josh asked me to go for a walk. We wandered over by the Lincoln Memorial and had a long talk on a park bench. He told me that 2 people had finally pushed him to do what he'd done the night before. One was the pollster chick that I was forcing him at. She told him that I liked him and was trying to get him to date her as a misdirection ploy. Then the president told him how obvious it was to the rest of the world that we loved each other. He told me that these two things finally made him realize that he'd been in love with me for a long time and hadn't really known it. It was just so normal. That night, after dinner and movies at his place–kinda like old times–I slept there."

"Oooooooo," Stephanie teased.

"Don't 'oooooo' me, Stephanie Elizabeth Gault! I said exactly what I meant–I slept there! I had on his sweatpants and a Harvard t-shirt the whole time. He insisted he'd sleep on the couch, but I got him to crawl into his bed with me." I paused and took a deep breath. "Steph, it felt so right, just lying there with him. Like we really are meant for each other. I've never felt like that before; so comfortable in something new--so safe and warm and loved. And waking up the next day in his arms was indescribable.

"We kept a low profile for a couple of weeks before you were here. That night, after you left, we went out with the gang. Josh and I weren't too subtle around our close friends and they figured out what was going on. Josh and I took Sam home and he gave us a little speech about how lucky we were to have each other, to have finally found each other, and to remember that we were friends before we were lovers. He was really sweet."

Steph could sense this was going somewhere. "Yyyyyeeeeeesssss??????" she drawled out.

"So, when we got back to his place, I told him that I wanted to fix it so that Sam wasn't lying cause we hadn't made love yet." I paused to let this sink in.

"And oh Steph! If you thought he was a good kisser from what I said before, you have no idea how good he is at other things! It's the best I've ever had." I assured my friend. We had a point of reference since we had an ex-boyfriend in common.

"Oh, Donna. I'm so jealous. It sounds just dreamy," Stephanie gushed.

I was startled by a knock on my door. I jumped and squeaked in surprise, startling Steph. "Somebody's here, Steph. What time is it?"

"It's 10:30, Donna–we've been on the phone for 2 solid hours!"

" I bet it's Josh," I said as I headed toward the door.

"Oh, Donna. I should let you go…" Steph started.

"No, hang on a minute. I want to see if he's got anything interesting to say that you might enjoy." I opened the door to my grinning boyfriend. He rolled his eyes when he saw me holding the telephone.

"You're still on the phone. I thought you'd left it off the hook!" he said as he walked in the door. "And where's your cell phone? I called it, too, thinking you might answer it when you saw it was me."

I walked over to my purse and dug around for my cell phone. I found it but it was set on vibrate. I held it up to show Josh, grinning widely.

"Well, now that Josh is here, let me make sure I say something nice about him," I said to Stephanie. "Josh was concerned that we'd be talking about him the whole time and he was afraid that I wasn't going to be nice. I assured him that nothing could be farther from the truth, right?"

Steph giggled. "Sure, Donna. Whatever you say, Donna. You're insane, Donna."

It was all I could do to keep from cracking up.

"Stephanie, would you like to say goodnight to Josh?" I ask.

"Oh yeah! Put him on with me!"

Josh took the phone while I ran to the bathroom. 2 hours of talking and wine will do that to you! Josh said, "How can you guys be on the phone for 2 hours? It's not normal!"

Stephanie explained to him that it was the nature of females to talk and that when they aren't together to talk; they find other ways to satisfy that need.

"Seriously, Josh. I want you to take care of my Donnatella. She's a special girl and she's chosen you to give her heart to. That is a precious gift and you better take good care of it."

"I know, Steph. I love her so much…" he trailed off.

"And you're right, we did talk about you, but you've got nothing to worry about. I was just getting the scoop from your biggest fan." Steph sighed. "Good night, Josh. Maybe you and I should talk some time?"

"Maybe so. Maybe sometime we should talk. We'll see. Bye, Steph," Josh answered.

Josh handed the phone back to me so I could say good night. However, he immediately began distraction techniques. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, then started licking and nipping at my neck.

"Mmmm," I sighed involuntarily into the phone.

"Donna! Good Lord! What are you guys doing? Wait–don't answer that. Just have the decency to get off the phone before you continue!" Steph was almost in hysterics, she was laughing so hard.

"Sorry, Steph. I'm being distracted. I should probably go. We'll have to do this again soon and then it will be your turn to talk, okay?" I asked.

"Okay. I don't have anything to rival tonight, but we should talk more often. I miss you, Donna. I'm so happy for you. Thanks for sharing this with me. You deserve this! This sounds like something that is going to last a long time."

"Oh, I hope so, Steph. Thank you. Good night."

With that, Josh took the phone from my hand and turned it off, dropping it on the couch. He spun me around so we were dancing around the living room, turning off the stereo, and moving toward the lone light in the corner.

After the light was out, he started dancing us back to my bedroom, holding me close and randomly kissing me as we moved.

"Josh," I said quietly. "Thank you."

He looked at me quizzically and asked, "For what?"

"For being you. For everything," I answered.

He still looked confused.

"I realized something while I was talking to Stephanie–something that I'd never really noticed before."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I remembered that you always noticed when I had a new ball gown, that you always told me how beautiful I looked, and that you always danced with me–at least once. If I'd realized then what I know now…" I trailed off.

"I did do that, didn't I?" he grinned shyly. "Unfortunately, I didn't realize it either, even though I made a concerted effort to do those things."

"Well, all that really matters is that we're together now, right? We can't 'what if' our relationship. And if we hadn't been through all the things that we've been through, our relationship wouldn't be the same, either," I finished.

He was silent for a minute, just looking at me before he said, "I love you."

"I love you," I said. I pulled him to me, our lips meshing perfectly in the way that they do.

Sometime later, I broke the kiss and pulled Josh back to the bedroom with me.