"Josh? I'm leaving now," Donna announced quietly from just inside his office doorway.

"All right," he answered in a tired voice. It was after eleven and they'd been in the office since seven. Even through his exhaustion, though, he remembered that she'd been having trouble with her car and asked, "You ok getting home?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Margaret picked me up this morning, but I'm going to catch the metro home."

"You're sure?" He stood up and reached for his jacket before she could answer. He always worried about her when they left late at night, especially when she didn't have her car. Tonight was no exception. "Maybe I should drive you."

She smiled at him as he gathered up some papers and stuffed them in his backpack. "You really don't have to. I'll be fine."

"I want to," he replied as he smiled back at her. "And anyhow, you've seen the current crime stats. What if someone on the metro tried to attack you?"

"They won't," she insisted. " But even if someone does approach me, I've been taking those self-defense classes at my gym. I could totally kick his ass."

He snorted his disbelief.

"I could! Just last week we practiced how to take a man down with a well-placed kick."

"To the groin?" he guessed. "Donna, no guy would be careless enough to leave that portion of his anatomy unprotected. It's the first place women aim. You wouldn't have a chance."

"I would. And it isn't a kick to the groin, though that is the most effective method of self-defense," she informed him. "No, it's a kick guaranteed to knock a man off his feet."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Ok." He set his backpack and jacket back down on the desk, rolled up his sleeves and stood before her. "Show me."

"You want me to kick you?"

"Yeah." While he didn't really want to prove her wrong, he did want to keep her safe. He wasn't entirely sure she could do it � she was at least forty pounds lighter than him and her frame was slim, not muscular. It was highly unlikely that she could take him down. He'd let her try to best him and when it didn't work, he'd safely escort her home.

"Ok."

Without giving him any time to prepare, she quickly swept her leg behind his knees and knocked him off balance. He grasped at the air, trying to find something to hold onto that would keep him upright but found nothing more substantial to grab than Donna. His hands settled somewhere around her ribcage and he latched onto the soft knit fabric of her shirt, his fingers digging into her tender flesh. He held tight but couldn't keep himself from falling to the ground.

Donna, caught firmly in his grasp, tumbled after him and landed in an ungraceful heap across his chest.

"Ooomph!"

Josh just lay there at first, too stunned to do anything more than inhale a few shallow breaths and take a mental inventory to make sure that nothing was broken. Then, as the initial shock of her expertly executed kick wore off, he started to notice how soft and warm Donna's body felt on top of his. It felt better than he had imagined.

He let go of Donna's sweater, his hands gently massaging her bruised skin through the knit fabric. She winced a little, but didn't pull away immediately.

He took this as a good sign and, giving in to every impulse he had denied in the past five years, he snaked his arms around her waist and held her in place when she would have tried to rise.

She looked down at him, thoroughly confused. "Josh?"

"Donnatella." He smiled up at her and, unable to resist the temptation, reached a hand up to draw her to him for a kiss.

The kiss was slow and tentative at first, but the hesitancy of it did nothing to diminish the passion. It was hot and electric, making Josh forget everything but the beautiful woman in his arms. When Donna didn't protest, in fact pressed even closer to him, he deepened the kiss, his tongue rasping against her lips, seeking entrance to her mouth. She parted them and he plunged inside, tasting her. Her own tongue slid against his as she responded in kind.

They remained locked together for several minutes until, finally breaking apart for air, Josh uttered the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'm sorry."

He'd meant that he was sorry he had doubted her ability to take care of herself, possibly that he was sorry to have kissed her so unexpectedly. He was far from sorry that he had kissed her, though. That one heart-stopping kiss, and Donna's enthusiastic response, was all the encouragement he needed. There would be no more gomers or harpies in their futures. He decided that from now on there would just be Josh and Donna. Together.

Donna, however, seemed to have other ideas. With expressive blue eyes, she stared down at him. "Oh my God! I can't believe you!" She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth then jumped to her feet and ran from the room.

He scrambled up and raced after her as she fled through the lobby and out of the building. "Donna! Wait!"

She didn't slow down and he quickened his pace, trying to catch up to her long strides. "Donna! Stop. Please!"

The pleading tone of his voice must have gotten through to her because she slowed to a halt and turned. She didn't say anything but her eyes were full of anger and recrimination as she glared at him.

He slowed his pace to a walk as he approached her, his hands held out pleadingly. "I'm so sorry."

He lightly grasped her elbow and led her over to the side of the building they had stopped before. It was only slightly more private than the middle of the sidewalk but, given her current anger, he doubted he could convince her to go back to his office to conduct this conversation. Luckily it was late enough at night that very few people were around.

She yanked her arm away from him and continued to glare. "You kissed me!"

"Yes, I did. And I'm sorry. I got carried away and it won't happen again," he promised. He didn�t know how he would manage to never kiss her again, but she looked so angry, he'd have said anything to stop her from looking at him the way she was at this moment.

"You kissed me!" she repeated, glowering at him.

Obviously, he had misread the situation completely. Not only had she not welcomed the kiss, but she was furious at him for doing it. He needed to fix this and fix it fast. He tried falling back on a mixture of humor and sarcasm. "I think we've already established that. But seriously, Donna, I shouldn't have done it and I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" she raged. "You kissed me and you're *sorry*?"

His brows crinkled and he stared at her in confusion. "Yes?"

"Exactly! You're sorry. I've been waiting months for you to make a move, ever since Inaugural night, and when you finally do, you say you're sorry!"

She'd been advancing menacingly towards him as she ranted and now she stood directly in front of him. He was so distracted by her close proximity and the feel of her warm breath against his face as she yelled that it took a moment for the words to register. When they did, his eyes widened in bewilderment and his voice rose.

"You were waiting for me to make a move?" he shouted in astonishment. "Then why the hell did you run?"

"Because� because� it wasn't supposed to happen like that! It was supposed to be romantic, during a walk on the Mall or a quiet dinner in your office. But no! You did it just as I was showing you that I could take care of myself. Effectively proving that I couldn't." Some of her anger dissipated and she frowned at him in consternation.

"Donna, I *never* thought you couldn't take care of yourself. I know that if it were any other guy you were using that move on, you would have followed the kick with a couple of body shots." He grinned lopsidedly. "Thanks for not doing that, by the way."

Her frown disappeared, and he thought he might have seen the beginnings of a smile.

"That kiss in no way undermined your authority over the situation," he continued. "You kicked my ass back there."

He noted a satisfied grin forming on her delectable lips as she boasted, "I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," he agreed. Thank goodness, he thought as they appeared to settle back into familiar territory. He felt the need to ask, though, just to make sure. "We're good on the kiss? You're not going to kick me again?"

"That depends," she smirked at him.

"On?"

"Will you kiss me again?"

He smirked back at her. "I don't know, Donna. You sounded like you had a plan back there. Something about dinner and a walk on the Mall? I think I should hold out until you ask me on a proper date."

"You're kidding me."

"I would never kid with you," he replied. "After all, you've just proven how effectively you can take me down."

"You bet your sweet ass I did!" she said proudly.

"'Sweet ass', Donna?" he mocked as he took a half step forward and put his hands on her hips. "Don't you think there's something you should ask me before you start talking about my sweet ass?"

Sighing dramatically, she looked up at him with merriment in her eyes, wound her arms around his neck and asked, "Will you have dinner with me, Mr. Lyman?"

"Absolutely," he replied, mere seconds before his mouth descended to hers for another thoroughly satisfying kiss.

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