The Day my LIfe Began

"Are you excited?"

I jump about 10 feet when I hear the voice.

"Excuse me, CJ?"

"I just asked if you were excited."

"About...?"

"Tonight. Duh!"

I smile. This isn't any smile, this is my Josh smile, my biggest smile. "Yeah, really excited."

CJ smiles back, with full knowing in her eyes. "I would be too. An entire year. I can't imagine myself being in the same relationship for a year with someone else who works in the White House. Especially if I worked so closely with that someone."

"I couldn't imagine myself being with anyone besides Josh."

Smiling again, "Well, you tell me how it turns out tomorrow. Where he took you, what you did, how he made you feel. Even though I know the answer to all three."

That's the one thing I hate about tonight...Josh won't tell me where we're going. he just said to come the way I am. "The way I am" would be a pair of light gray dress pants, a light blue tank top, and a white collared shirt that's unbuttoned. "You know where he's taking me?? Tell me!"

CJ starts to laugh. "I can't, or else he would have my head."

Suddenly Josh steps out of his office, and without words, he takes my hand and CJ follows us as I realize that we are going to...

"the press room?"

The podium is gone and CJ stands where it would normally be. "I know this all seems a little strange," as the press begin to gather. "but instead of giving a briefing right now, I'm gonna let the Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman up here and he'll give you all something to write about tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be a happy something."

I give Josh a look and he just smiles back at me as he leads me up on the stage. Something makes me turn my head around and I see what looks like the entire West Wing. Leo, Toby, Sam, CJ, Charlie...almost everyone I work with. When I turn back to look at Josh, he isn't there.

"Hey, down here"

Josh is on bended knee, looking at me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on anyone.

"Alright, so today is our one year anniversary. On this day, one year ago, I told you that I loved you and that I wanted to be with you forever."

"Josh--"

"Donna, I gotta get this out. If I don't I'm gonna explode, and it will be all your fault for killing me. That, and me knee is starting to hurt. So no talking until I'm done."

I don't know how its possible, but Josh looks hopeful, nervous, and oddly smug all at the same time. My mouth promptly closes...but not before I stick my tongue out at him. He just laughs.

"Donna, I have been wanting to do this for so long, but I never knew how, when, or where. I've had this in my pocket for the past three months."

My mouth opens back up as I realize what "this" is. It's an engagement ring.

"I never knew...until this morning. It hit me like a flash of lightning, Donna that I wanted whoever is watching this to know that I love Donna Moss. To know that I love the way she smiles, the way she talks to me, the way she kisses me, the way she keeps me sane. I want people to know that I love the feel of your arms around me, keeping me safe and making all the bad things in my head go away. I want...no need people to know that someone like you exists. You took care for me when I was hurt, you were there for me when no one else could be. You have been the one constant...the one good constant in life for the past four years. You have been my best friend, my lover, and now I want you as my fiance, and to be my wife in the future. I'm asking to be the father of your kids, to be the one who catches you when you fall, to be the one that will love and worhsip you until the day you die. Donnatella, will you marry me?"

I feel myself tear up as I let Josh's words sink into my head. I feel everything and everyone in the room still as they wait for what I'm about to say. But I can't say anything, because Josh has actually left me speechless for the first time ever.

Josh gets this look of panic. "Donna?"

All I can do is nod my head up and down. He immediately grins.

"Yes?"

After taking a few breaths, I smile. "Yes."

It wasn't when Josh first told me he loved me, it wasn't when he hired me to be his assistant. It was when he let myself, everyone in the room, and anyone who was watching the briefing know what he had been really thinking for the past three months. Then and there was the day my life began.