Taking Care... of Life

by: Jaye Reid

Character(s): Josh, Donna
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna
Category(s): Romance
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: Owned by the brilliant Sorkin and WB. Not mine, never will be. I have no money, therefore I'm not worth suing. Borrowed for my own amusement.
Summary: "...the circumference of life cannot be rightly drawn until the center is set." Benjamin E. Mays (1895 - 1984)
Spoiler: Season 1 - 4
Author's Note: I started writing this waaaayyy long ago, and of course, cannon has taken widely different paths to the way I was headed. I do however like to include cannon in my work, so you will see, although the timeline of this story is 2 -3 years ahead of what we see on the show, I have woven a bit of cannon into my timeline. It's just a bit further down the track! I have the next story in the series already partly written and I know the exact direction it will be taking. It will be out in a much shorter time than this one compared to the previous. My sincere thanks to everyone who has emailed me privately, hassled me in JDchats for the next installment and to all those who voted "Taking Care..." as most Outstanding WIP & Series in this years Golden Coffee Cup awards. Last but not least my highest recognition to three amazing women. Baby D who endures my addiction and Aim and Bridget whose talents I live in awe.

"We won't have to sedate you this time will we Donna," the First lady quipped.

"Mrs. Bartlet..."

"Sedate you? Donna..." Josh sat up further in his hospital bed. He hadn't wanted to get into bed. It seemed bizarre to feel well yet be stuck in a bed wearing a hospital gown.

"Okay... I just put my foot in it?" She questioned to Donna.

"You weren't to know Ma'am."

"Donna... what? Sedate you... When?"

"The first time around Josh," supplied Mrs. B. "And on that note, I think I should go."

Thanks for taking the time to call by Ma'am," smiled Donna, although she wasn't looking forward to the obvious discussion that would take place after the First Lady left.

"Joshua, the surgeon's are the best we have in this country," she stated before pressing her lips into his cheek. "We'll see you up and around in no time."

"Thank you Mrs. B."

After Abbey Bartlet left, silence descended. Surprisingly it was Donna who broke it.

"It was fourteen hours of surgery Josh. Fourteen hours when we didn't know if you'd make it and then another 2 days before you were off the critical list. We just didn't know."

"And when you say 'we' did anyone else require medical intervention during..."

"No. No, just me."

"So when you say 'we'..."

"I was a mess Josh."

"You thought I might not make it?"

"Do we have to talk about this now Josh? Really is it the time and place..."

"Donna..."

"Okay," she sighed. "The doctors weren't giving us any guarantees."

"Do you really think I'd leave you?" he asked softly.

"Josh... you were shot. You had a bullet lodged inside you and it took a team of the most skilled surgeons there were, fourteen hours to remove it and repair the damage it caused... I really don't think you had a lot of say as to whether you made it or not."

"Did you know I had dreams... I'm certain I did. While I was under... you were in them."

Donna shook her slowly and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I remembered when you sat in my office after trying to hire yourself and you told me I might find you 'valuable.' At the time I kept thinking you were so pretty and there was no way you'd be able to put up with my crap... that when you found out this guy trying to run a political campaign was an egotistical lunatic, obviously an escapee from some asylum, you'd run off home or go work for Sam or CJ."

"Yet here I am."

"Yes... and I will never understand my total good fortune at this."

"Josh..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me it was that bad for you?" Josh clarified.

"I was having enough trouble understanding it myself Josh. I'd tried to convince myself for so long that what we had was merely a close working relationship and nothing more."

"I wish you had told me, that's all."

"It wasn't the sort of conversation topic to bring up Josh. You were recovering. I couldn't just, you know, slip in 'while you were in life saving surgery I was so distraught they had to sedate me'."

"Donna, you have to believe I would never have left you. I'm not going to leave you now either. This is a walk in the park apparently compared to last time."

"Mr. Lyman?" an orderly and a nurse appeared in the doorway.

"Yes. Time to get the show on the road?" Josh quipped.

"Something like that," the nurse smiled as she checked his identification bracelet.

Josh looked at Donna, her eyes glazed with unshed tears. "Hey, come here," he motioned, pulling her into a hug. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm not going to leave you," he whispered into her ear before she straighten up and stood.

"I know," she nodded, wiping the spilt tears from her cheeks.

"Would you like to walk down to theatre with us?" the nurse asked.

"I..."

"Donna?" came Sam's voice from behind the hospital staff.

"Sam my man," Josh sing-songed with a flourish. Take this woman somewhere and feed her for me."

Donna looked from Sam to Josh. "You organized Sam to come down here and get me?"

"Yes. Because I know you won't leave this damn place otherwise," he replied as the orderly moved around the bed, releasing the brakes from the wheels. "After the surgery I'm going to be out of it for awhile still. I don't think I'll be much into conversation."

"But I want to be here..."

"You want to be here and they will have to sedate you again? No way. Go. Sam my friend, take her to the Mall or somewhere there are girly shops after breakfast for me please."

"You expect me to go girly shopping with Donna? I don't even go girly shopping with Joey," Sam complained good-naturedly.

"I find that almost impossible to believe," Josh grinned back. "But if you expect to be my best man, you need to be able to do this for me."

"Best man? Josh are you and Donna..."

"No," chuckled Donna.

"Mr. Lyman, we really need to move you down to surgery."

"Please, can we have just a minute?" Josh asked. The staff looked at each other and nodded. "Okay Mr. Lyman, but then we really need to move you," the nurse instructed as they left the room.

Josh grabbed Donna's hand once they had left the room. "Donna, marry me?"

"Excuse me?" she stuttered in surprise.

"Um, please?"

"No... I mean yes... I mean I wasn't asking you to use manners and say please, I mean... Josh, was that a proposal?"

"Candlelight and a fancy restaurant would have killed you Josh?" came the laugh from Sam.

"I'm not that kinda guy," he replied before looking up at Donna again. "Donna?"

"Okay... yes, yes... you... yes," she nodded happily.

"Good... this is, this is just wow. I can't believe how much I've stressed over how I was going to do this and I just did it."

"You've stressed over this?"

"Some."

"You've stressed over asking me to marry you? Josh..."

"I wanted to find a time when you weren't pissed at me about something and work wasn't being a total drag. I thought about doing it New Years Eve at the party but..."

"Yeah... didn't turn out to be a good time for us."

"I love you," he stated earnestly.

"I love you too."

"I really don't think I need to be subjected to this, best man or not," Sam mused.

"We really need to get Mr. Lyman down to theatre," interrupted the orderly returning to the room.

"Make her eat," instructed Josh as the orderly locked the door open to move the bed through it.

"Will do buddy," Sam replied as he patted Josh on the shoulder as he was wheeled passed.

"You don't want me to walk to theatre with you?" Donna asked.

"No... no, go with Sam. Love you."

Donna gave him a soft smile and a wave, "Love you too."

Donna and Sam stood in the hallway as they watched Josh disappear out of sight.

"He'll be fine," Sam reassured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah... I know," she sniffed. "I just... Sam? I just got engaged." She smiled.

"I know, I was there. Congratulations," he grinned.

"Thanks."

"You know, this was probably the best way for him to do it." Sam suggested as they walked down the hallway towards the exit.

"Because?"

"Well this way, because he wasn't planning on it, you get to pick the ring," Sam replied. "I went shopping with him for your graduation present. The guy has no experience in shopping for jewelry."

*****

Sam leaned back in his chair to allow the waiter to remove the empty coffee cups and plates from in front of him.

"Before we go back to the hospital, do you think you could help me with something?" he questioned to Donna.

"Uh... okay. It won't take too long will it?" she answered, standing and pushing her chair back into the table. She wanted to get back to the hospital as soon as she could.

"It's just that... I believe I have incredibly good taste in jewelry, however I would appreciate a woman's perspective," he offered as he pushed the door open and headed out into the cool air.

"You're buying Joey a Valentines Day gift? Jewelry, you know that is fairly serious Sam. What did you have in mind? Pendant, bracelet..."

"Engagement ring," Sam interrupted with a smile.

Donna stopped walking and stared wide-eyed at him.

"Close your mouth Donna or the bugs will fly in," he said quietly, nudging her arm with his shoulder.

"Serious?"

"Yes," Sam nodded. "I love her and I'm going to do it. I just wish..."

"You wish what Sam?"

"I wish you and Josh... you've been crazy about each other for so long... but the chances... Josh only proposed a few hours ago, but the chances of you announcing that in the public arena are..."

"Sam... Josh and I are really happy that you and Joey are together. We don't begrudge you... Josh and I are going to spend our lives together. With any luck and good management that will be a long, long time. The time left at the White House is short compared to what we have ahead of us. I'm really happy for you Sam, so lets go look at rings."

*

"Sam, this is the third store," Donna complained as they entered another jewelers. The novelty of the shopping trip with Sam was beginning to wear off. "Please, I just want to get back to the hospital."

"I know, I'm sorry, but there wasn't anything I liked in the other two, and I promised Josh to keep you occupied," he remarked as he began to scan through the glass cases.

"I thought the ring set with diamonds and emeralds at the last one would have been perfect," Donna said with a shrug as she looked over his shoulder.

"I know, it was nice... but it didn't say 'Joey' to me," Sam replied.

"Sam, if they start talking to you, then you've been stressing over this wayyy too much," Donna chuckled.

"I know it's just..."

"Just what?" Donna questioned.

"That one," Sam said, pointing to a pillow of several rings.

"Okay... ohhh they're all nice, which one?"

"Second row, third ring... what do you think?"

"I think it's amazing," Donna replied, nodding.

Sam motioned to the assistant to open the case for them.

"It's a very exquisite ring," the sales assistant gushed.

"Yes it is," Sam agreed. "Donna, is it the one?"

"It's a beautiful ring, Sam. I think it's the one," Donna agreed, with a smile. "I think I might just cry. This is so wonderful."

"Yes, I'll take that one. I need it in a size 6."

"I'll check it for you, Sir."

The assistant placed the ring on a sizing gauge, sliding along the markings. "It will need to be resized, Sir."

"That's fine," Sam turned to Donna with a grin. "It's definitely the one."

*

"Do you think you can wait until Valentines Day to give it to her?" Donna quizzed as they traveled back to the hospital.

"I'm going to try. "I'll need to hire myself out for a little legal work to pay off my now huge credit card debt!"

"Did you charge Josh for the legal work you did for him the other week?" Donna questioned.

"Which legal work?" came the seemingly baffled reply.

"Don't play coy with me Sam. Josh told me last week that the townhouse is mine if anything ever happened to him. Along with some other things apparently. He wouldn't have any other lawyer handle the paperwork."

"He told you? I thought he wasn't going to."

"I think the stress of worrying about *me* worrying got to him."

"Well when you guys get together officially, what's his is yours anyway," Sam returned with a shrug.

"That... well, not necessarily bugs me," Donna began. "But..."

"What?" Sam questioned.

"Well yes, I won't have to worry about anything. What's his will be mine, but... but what can I really offer in return?"

"What can you... Donna..."

"I know, I know... you probably think it sounds stupid... but really..."

"Donna, answer me honestly... do you love Josh?"

"Sam... of course I do... you know that."

"And Josh loves you. Please realize that is all Josh needs from you."

****

Donna gently ran her fingers across Josh's brow as he continued to gain consciousness.

"I'm okay?" he questioned hoarsely, blinking against the light.

"Hey.... how are you feeling?"

"Steam roller... run over."

"They said everything went okay," Donna replied with a smile. "You know this time it will get better. You're going to be okay. Someone will come in and talk to you when you're more awake."

"Am awake. Still... feel... shit."

"Yeah, sure you're awake. You rest, I'm going to go call Leo so he can let everyone know you're okay."

"Hmm..." he mumbled as he drifted back to sleep.

****

Over the next few days, Donna divided her time between the hospital and the White House. She edited the information she passed to Josh each day, knowing the full story of certain events would make him want to climb out of his bed and cause physical harm to certain individuals.

And he was being difficult enough with the hospital staff.

On the fourth day when Donna dropped by, Josh was in a mood. Donna knew he was progressing well in his recovery and luckily there had been no complications from the surgery. All being well it was looking like an 8 to 10 day stay in hospital before the arduous 6-week home recovery. Thankfully it was looking like his mother was coming to the rescue with that one.

"Okay, I'm not going to play guessing games with you. What's wrong, Josh?" she questioned defensively crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, why don't you tell me?" he asked sharply. "I didn't think you wanted there to be secrets between us?"

"Josh, I have no idea what..."

"Leo called by," Josh interrupted. "Said he was glad I didn't get all worked up over the trash they printed in the Enquisitor yesterday. But you see..."

"Josh..."

"But you see Donna, it's very difficult to get worked up over something when you don't know about it."

"Did he..."

"No, he didn't tell me what said, only that it had been dealt with."

Donna sat on the edge of his bed and took his hand. "I didn't want you to get upset," she shrugged.

"Well, I'm upset. So, tell me what happened?"

"You remember the horrible trash written last Valentine's Day?" Donna began.

"How can I forget? Please don't tell me that poor excuse for a human being has reared his ugly head again?"

"Uh..."

"Yes? It was?"

"Yes. And he insinuated..."

"What?"

Donna sighed. "He insinuated I was working my way through the senior staff."

"HE DID WHAT!"

"Josh, please..."

"No! No, I will not... jeez, where the hell does this guy get off... How can he just make up..."

"Josh, he saw Sam and I..."

"You and Sam? He saw you and Sam? What? Where?"

"Josh... Calm down."

"Calm down? This moron saw you and Sam and he got the impression you were working your way through the senior staff? What the hell were you and Sam doing?"

"Joshua Lyman! Don't you ever, I mean EVER take that tone with me! Sam is your best friend and I'm... you asked me to marry you and now you are suggesting I would..." she pleaded angrily.

Josh collapsed back into his pillows and closed his eyes. "No... no. I'm not... I love you. I trust you. I trust Sam. I'm just... I want to know things. I don't want to be kept out of the loop. I truly, honestly love you and I want to protect you from this sort of crap. I can't protect you if I don't know about it."

Donna reached forward and ran her fingers over the worry lines on Josh's forehead. He opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"I'm a big girl Josh. I can look after myself. I'm not the naïve, gullible woman who stumbled into your office all those years ago."

"Donna, I never thought of you as naïve or gullible. You were full of ideas and ideals. You were a breath of fresh air to all of us. You still are."

"You don't have to protect me to show how much you love me Josh. I know that you do."

"Tell me what happened?" Josh asked, calmer.

"It was after breakfast on the day of your surgery. Sam told me, and I know he would prefer to tell you himself, but under the circumstances, that's not going to happen."

"Sam? He hasn't been in. I thought he might have called by but..."

"He's in California. He had to go see Joey."

"Why?"

"Because Sam told me he was going to ask Joey to marry him. He was planning to propose on Valentines Day. He'd been looking for a ring and since you told him to keep me occupied he decided to get my opinion."

"Sam and Joey? That's great. Buy why couldn't he have told me?"

"Josh, you'd just proposed to me and we both know we can't do anything until were out of the White House. Sam can and he feels bad that me have to wait and he doesn't."

"He shouldn't feel like that," Josh frowned and then grimaced as he tried to shift his body up the bed to make himself more comfortable. "He and Joey, I'm really happy for them."

"I know. I told him that. But you know Sam, sometimes I think he has a bigger guilt complex than you."

"I don't have..." Josh began before stopping after the pointed look from Donna. "Okay, okay... What was reported?"

Donna snorted. "Reported is a fairly loose term for what was in the tabloid. Basically Sam and I were seen in the jewelers and it was inferred he was buying the ring for me. Of course, it stated, that I was apparently working my way through the senior staff. CJ and I were joking that we had better be careful not to be seen out in public in future."

"I'm glad you can joke about it," scoffed Josh.

"It's trash. We all know it's trash and the mainstream reporters all know better."

"So, Sam has gone to see Joey because?"

"Well the article mentioned engagement rings, so he figured before Joey heard about it, or well you know... not *heard* about it, but..."

"Yeah, I understand..."

"Yes, well he's moved the plan forward. He's taking her to dinner tonight."

"So Leo is just letting him go to California to have dinner with Joey?"

"I think they lined up a couple of meetings out there was well. The guy in the 47th District in Orange County is up to his second or third heart attack. It's Sam's old stomping ground and he's considering nominating for the seat at the next election. The Congressman is going to retire at the end of his term - that's if he lasts that long."

"Sam is looking at a Congress seat? That's big."

"I think he's more focused on whether Joey says yes," Donna chuckled. "We're waiting to hear."

"She... she wouldn't turn him down would she? I mean, you've been talking to her..."

"I don't think she'll say no," Donna added with a smile.

"So, the mainstream press? Have they picked up the garbage yet?"

"CJ thinks they have. All being well, CJ should be able to tell them at tomorrow morning's briefing that Sam Seaborn and Joey Lucas are announcing their engagement. Or well, CJ is announcing it for them. This will then allow the softball to be pitched, more than likely from Danny regarding the trash paper report. CJ can laugh it off with the facts, making the Enquisitor, once again look stupid."

"So, this is done?"

"Yes Josh."

"You didn't need my help."

"I know you enjoy these battles, but this was one I could deal with. Admittedly with the help of CJ and Sam, and I figured you needed to focus on getting better so we can get you home."

"I want to go home Donna," Josh whined on cue.

"I know you do," she offered softly, running her fingers down his cheek. "A few more days and you can leave the hospital."

"Have you heard from Mom?" he asked. "Is she still coming?"

"Yes, she's still coming. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Look I know she's getting on, but she wants to do this. It will be nice to spend some time with her."

"She actually mentioned you might like to go away somewhere for a few weeks. Some place in New Jersey."

"New Jersey? Stone Harbor?" he suggested.

"Yes, I think that's where she said, come to think of it."

"We have a house there," Josh replied.

"Really? I haven't heard you mention it before? Is this new?"

"No. We've been going there since I was a kid. Well I haven't been there for a while. It's on the bay. There's a huge deck on the water. We let it out over summer to some friends of Dad's from the firm so this time of year it's just empty. Mom would have moved there instead of Florida but some of her friends moved to Florida and well, I don't think she really misses the cold whether that much."

"So you want to go there? I can give your mother a call?"

"Would you like to come up for a few days?" he asked. "I know it will be really cold and I know you are taking on a huge workload for me while I'm away, but I think you would really like it. I'd really like to spend some time with you away from here."

Donna rewarded him with a huge smile. The thought of spending time with Josh away from Washington was appealing. "Well, if they release you as planned on Tuesday, I'm actually cleared from Wednesday to Sunday. Leo thought you might like me to help you get settled if you're anything like you were last time."

"I wasn't that bad last time," Josh defended.

"No, you were worse," she scoffed.

"So, we can head up there Tuesday?" Josh asked with all the eagerness of a child.

"No, Tuesday you are staying at my place so all your friends can come over for dinner and see that you are actually alive," Donna remarked, standing and then smoothing the bed linen around him. "Now, I'm heading back to the office. I have a meeting with Congressman MacLean about the updated sections to Education bill about the funding for maintenance of government schools and then Ed and Larry along with someone from Senator Shields office about the gridlock they believe will be caused if the changes to the Traffic act are not met with approval. So, depending on how they go I may or may not be back this evening."

"Donna, after the meeting with Senator Shields' minion - go home. Get some rest, you're doing so much," Josh said, reaching and grabbing her hand. He rubbed the back of it with his thumb. "You, Donna Moss, are an amazing woman and I am in awe of the fact that you are willing to be my wife."

"You can be such a... such a..."

"Pain in the ass?" he grinned.

"Yes," she smiled. "And then you are the most incredibly sweet man I know."

"Just don't let that get out..."

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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