It had been a long week. Donna sat at her desk trying to muster some enthusiasm for the evening ahead. The President had invited the senior staff and their assistants to attend a chili dinner in the residence in honor of his daughter, Zoey. Normally, an event like this was something that she looked forward to, but not this particular night. 

Josh had been in a glum mood all day, and she didn’t know why. Part of her worried that it had something to do with her. Things had been going well between them since the others had discovered their relationship, but there were still things they needed to discuss. She knew he loved her, but was unclear where their relationship was headed. She had been hoping to discuss it with him tonight when the President had announced his plans.

Margaret stopped by her desk, rousing her from her thoughts.

“It’s time,” she told her. “I heard the President puts no less than ten different spices in his chili. Do you think he uses cumin? I had a bad reaction to cumin once. My eyes puffed up and I got all itchy.”

Donna, familiar with Margaret’s dramatic food stories and distracted by Josh’s moody behavior, barely reacted. “I don’t know, Margaret.” She glanced at the door to Josh’s office. “I’m going to get Josh. I’ll meet up with you at the residence, ok?”

“Ok, but don’t take too long. Leo hates when people show up late and the President wants to give some sort of speech and…”

Margaret was still rambling when Donna opened the office door and quietly shut it behind her. She approached Josh’s desk with a phony smile plastered on her face. “Ok, Deputy Downer, it’s time to go to the residence.”

When he didn’t respond or look up, she frowned in concern and asked, “Josh, what’s going on?”

“Huh?” He shook himself out of his musings and saw Donna standing in front of him. From the look on her face, he suspected that she had been there for a while and that she had been speaking to him.

“You. What’s going on? It’s crackpot day. It’s supposed to be fun. But you’ve been moping around, looking sad and listening to Ave Maria. You even left to go see Stanley. Talk to me, Josh.”

He looked into her tired eyes and tried to ease the worry he saw there. “It’s nothing, Donna. Don’t worry about it.”

”I can’t help it. I worry about you.”

“I’m fine, Donna,” he reassured her as he mustered some false cheer. He got up and walked around to where she stood. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her from the office. “C’mon, we have a Presidential chili party to attend.”

Donna knew he was trying to misdirect her, and she let him, but not before making a small mental note to resume the discussion later.

**********

As soon as they arrived at the residence, Josh left Donna with the other assistants and joined Leo and the President at the back of the room. They were deep in a discussion about the women of the West Wing.

“We just can’t get over these women,” Leo told him in awe. Josh nodded in agreement as he listened to the two men discuss the strengths of all the women they had come to cherish as part of their families. It was when the President began explaining about Mrs. Landingham’s sons that he felt the need to interrupt.

 "I serve at the pleasure of the President, and it's a great privilege,” he began, as he silently handed Leo the NSC card he had been given earlier in the day. "But I can't keep this. I think it's a white flag of surrender.”

He turned to look at Donna, laughing at something CJ had said, and realized that he had made the right decision. These women were more important to him than a safe passage in the event of nuclear attack. All of them, but especially Donna, were the people he wanted to be with. He summed up his thoughts to the President. “I want to be a comfort to my friends in tragedy, and I want to be able to celebrate with them in triumph. And for all the times in between, I just want to be able to look them in the eye. I’m sorry, but I can’t accept the NSC’s directive."

The President put an arm around his shoulders and followed his stare to where Donna sat. “I understand Josh. I would feel that way, too.” He called for the group’s attention and announced that the chili was ready for tasting. Josh excused himself to sit with Donna, and felt the happiest he’d been all day.

**********

“I’m going to take a shower,” he told Donna later that night as they arrived at his apartment. “Feel free to, ya know, whatever…” He started to strip out of his clothes as he walked toward the bathroom, the weight of his decision about the NSC card lightening with each article of clothing he removed.

Once under the steamy spray of the shower, he started to relax. He could feel all the tension of the day dissipate as he stopped worrying about the future and started thinking about the rest of the night with Donna.

He quickly lathered his hair and was rinsing the shampoo away when he felt a cool breeze as the shower curtain was pulled back. He opened his eyes to see a lusciously naked Donna step into the shower with him.

"Thought you might need some help," she offered playfully as she picked up the soap. "Especially in those hard to reach places. Although, it looks like your doing all right without me,” she added as she noticed his thickening erection.

“I was thinking about you,” he apologized, with a sheepish grin.

“And now you can do more than just think.” She stepped closer and gave him a lingering kiss. Her soapy hands came up and massaged his chest, then worked their way down to circle his throbbing cock and balls. Her wet hands slithered enticingly over the hard flesh.

Meanwhile, her mouth moved to lightly suck at his collarbone. Her tender ministrations elicited a tortured groan from him and he pulled her head up to kiss her deeply.

“What happened to getting clean?” he managed to ask her between kisses.

“Oh, we can do that too, but I thought I’d start with some fun stuff.”

“By all means,” he conceded. “But let me get to have some fun too.”

“You’re not having fun?” she pouted.

“Trust me when I say, Donnatella, that I have never had so much fun, but I think it’s my turn to reciprocate now,” he told her.

He poured some fragrant shampoo into his palm and lathered her hair. He ran his hands through the wet golden strands, his fingers gently massaging her scalp. She closed her eyes and moaned in pleasure as he continued combing his fingers through her hair. He rinsed the lather away and watched as the wet bubbles slid down her body. He followed their path with his hands, gently massaging her mound with one hand.

His other hand cupped her neck and brought her forward until their faces were inches apart. “Donnatella…” Unable to put his feelings into words, he took her lips in a desperate kiss. His tongue plunged into her mouth, sliding against her teeth. She met him eagerly and their mouths fused, tongues dueling.

He linked his hands with hers and drew them above their heads, then pressed her up against the tiled wall. His erection pressed into her, but he made no effort to join their bodies. He simply continued to kiss her with wild abandon as the water cascaded over them. Finally, he tore his mouth away.

“I need you,” he told her in a husky voice.

She reached around him to turn the water off and then grabbed a fluffy towel off a nearby hook. With an enticing look, she wrapped it around her body. “Then you can have me,” she invited as she pulled the curtain back and stepped out of the shower.

**********

She walked into the bedroom and shed the towel as she kneeled on the edge of the bed. She stretched out on her stomach, her nipples hardening as they skimmed the cool cotton sheets. Josh joined her on the bed and spread her legs wide, his tongue licking at the dampness there as he moved toward her moist center. He reached her core and flicked his tongue against her opening, gently probing inside before moving to lap at her clit. He was rewarded by the sound of his name being sensually moaned.

He worked his way up the crack of her buttocks, pausing to kiss each rounded globe, before tracing a fiery trail up her spine. He swept her blond hair aside and lavished his attention on her sensitive neck.

He pressed her body into the mattress, his cock teasing at the folds between her legs. She clasped her thighs together and trapped him against her. “God, Donnatella, what you do to me…”

“The same things you do to me, Joshua.”

He rose to his knees and she turned over. Her breasts thrust up at him and he dipped his head to take a rosy peak into his mouth. He suckled and nipped at it with his teeth, before moving to the other puckered nipple. Supported himself on one elbow, he used his other hand to reach between her legs and stroke her golden curls. He slid a finger lower, into her hot center, and felt her muscles clench around him as he slowly slipped the finger in and out.

“Josh, don’t. I’ll –“

“Come? I want you to.” He increased the pressure of his hand against her

“No,” she protested. “I want you in me.”

He obeyed her wishes and withdrew his hand from between her thighs. Her hips arched up at him invitingly and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he slipped into her hot, slick passage. Her name became a litany on his lips as he repeatedly plunged into her. “Donnatella. Donna…”

She dug her heals into his backside and urged him deeper and faster. She felt her body begin to spiral into orgasm and tried to hold back, but Josh was relentless. He continued thrusting into her until they were both spent with passion.

**********

He rolled away from her and propped himself against the headboard, panting as he tried to regain his breath. She snuggled into his side, laying her palm against his chest. They lay there silently, the only noise their soft breathing.

Suddenly, he broke the quiet mood. “Move in with me.”

She pulled away from him, not sure what had prompted this idea. It was tempting, but she wanted to agree to it for the right reasons, not on a whim.

He saw the hesitation in her eyes and quickly started listing reasons why it was a good idea. “You’re already here most nights and you’ve got most of your stuff here, anyway. In fact, you have more stuff in the bathroom than I do,” he exclaimed.

“I do not,” she protested.

“Donna, you’ve got your special oatmeal soap. You’ve got your special shampoo. Hell, you’ve got, not just one, but three different conditioners.”

“I need them for my fine hair,” she pouted.

“I’m not saying you don’t,” he corrected. “I’m just saying all that – stuff – makes my bathroom look like the inside of some women’s salon.”

“Fine. But I still don’t think that’s enough of a reason for me to move in with you.”

He looked into her stubborn face and tried again. “You wouldn’t need to leave early in the morning to get fresh clothes at your apartment. We could get rid of your ailing car and just share mine. You could stock fresh veggies in the fridge. Though I can’t guarantee I’ll eat them,” he admitted.

She simply shook her head no.

He made another attempt to get her to agree to his plan. “You wouldn’t have to share an apartment with three cats and a cranky roommate. Ok, well, at least you would get better perks with me as a roommate,” he amended.

“Those are all good reasons, but I’ve made this mistake before. I don’t want to live with you for convenience sake.” She looked at him and tried to figure out why he was suddenly so persistent about her moving in.

“Josh,” she finally questioned, “what really happened today?”

Not wanting to admit the truth yet, he hastily answered, “You know what happened. The crackpots, the President’s chili night.”

“No, something else. Something I don’t know about. You avoided my question earlier. Tell me now. Please.” Her earnest blue eyes begged him to be honest with her and he couldn’t lie, didn’t want to lie, not to her.

He pulled his gaze away from her and focused on the bedside lamp. “There was a card. From the NSC. Telling me where to go and what to do in a national crisis. No one else got one – not Sam, not CJ, not Toby.” He paused briefly and looked into her eyes. “Not you,” he choked out.

She gently kissed his shoulder and hugged him close as understanding dawned. “You sweet, silly man. Of course, not me. If a crisis like that occurs, you won’t need an assistant.”

“No, but I would need you. I always need you, Donnatella.”

“You’ll always have me,” she promised. “But I don’t need to move in with you to prove that.”

“I don’t want you to move in because of the NSC thing. I want you to move in because I love you and I can’t imagine my life without you," he mumbled.

His obvious sincerity convinced her, but she couldn’t help teasing him a little. "Excuse me, what was that?"

“I love you," he mumbled again.

"Can you repeat that, Joshua?" Her grin got wider as she watched his discomfort grow.

"I LOVE YOU!" he repeated loudly. "I may not say it a lot, but I do. Always." 

”Then my answer to your question is yes.”

Return to the Unconventional Universe

Return to Stories