At last…
My love has come along.
My lonely days are over.
And life is like a song.
Oh yeah, at last.
The skies above are blue.
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you.
I found a dream
That I could speak to.
A dream that I can call my own.
I found a thrill
To press my cheek to.
A thrill that I've never known.
You smiled, you smiled.
Oh and then the spell was cast.
And here we are, in heaven.
For you are mine…
At last.
Josh and Donna lovingly gazed into each other's eyes as the spun gracefully around the dance floor, surrounded by hundreds of people but each feeling that the other was the only person in the room. All of their friends and most of their family surrounded them as the all celebrated this momentous day. Donna took her eyes off her man for a bit to take in the atmosphere and the people with them.
CJ and Leo were with them on the dance floor, Leo looking debonair in a classic black tux and CJ towering over him in her teal gown and high heels. Also with them was Toby and Nicole, who were dancing suspiciously close to each other for two people who were just mere acquaintances. 'I'll have to talk to her about that later,' she thought to herself. Looking to her left, she grinned at the site of her daughter dancing happily on Charlie's toes as Zoey took a spin around the dance floor with first Ed who promptly twirled her into Larry, her engagement ring glistening on her finger. As she and Josh swayed to the beat of the music, the President and her grandmother came into her line of vision, chatting quietly at one of the tables. They looked to be enjoying each other's company and Donna decided not to think about that one too much. They were older and had lived their lives for everyone else already. If they wanted to find comfort with one another, who was she to stop them.
"So how you feeling?" Josh asked her, bringing her attention back to him.
"I feel amazing," she grinned at him, leaning up a little to place a kiss on his lips.
"You sure you're ankles aren't bothering you at all?" he questioned apprehensively, glancing down at her stocking feet that weren't placed in shoes. "What about you're back, is it still bothering you from this morning? Or are you cold, do you need the shawl? Maybe…"
"Joshua, I'm perfectly fine and comfortable," she lightly scolded. "Or at least as comfortable as I'm gonna get for nine months pregnant and five days past my due date," gesturing to her enormous bulge. "Stop worrying, just enjoy yourself, this is probably the last night of freedom we'll have before we deal with the trappings that this little one is going to bring with her."
"Him," Josh corrected smugly, continuing the argument they'd had since the beginning of her pregnancy. "And I'm sure the trappings aren't that bad compared to the blessings."
"Oh," Donna moaned sweetly, running her fingers through the curls at the base of his neck. "You are such a complete and total sap, Mr. Lyman."
"I beg to differ, Mrs. Lyman," his grin nearly cracking his face as it often did whenever he called her that, which he'd been doing since they got married almost six months ago.
"Mommy!" Emma shouted as she ran up to the. Josh and Donna stopped dancing as he scooped the little girl into his arms. "Daddy! Baby!" she said to her soon-to-be-born brother or sister, "they're coming right now!" Right after she said that, a voice broke through on the PA system
"Ladies and gentlemen," the President said from the stage. "It is my honor to introduce to you T.J. and Eleanor Moss." The crowd broke into thunderous applause and the brass band on stage broke into a rendition of "Here Comes the Bride" as the happy pair entered the room, holding each other's hands and greeting their guests as the made their way inside. Behind them was most of the wedding party, which had included Ellie's sister, Elizabeth, as maid of honor, and T.J.'s photography buddy, Sam Edwards, as his best man.
When they got close to the stage, the President stepped down and gave his middle daughter a kiss on her cheek and his newest son-in-law a firm handshake before the couple made their way onto the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife, to the tune of "My Funny Valentine".
"They look very happy together," Nicole commented to Donna as she joined her sister and her family, minus Toby though Nicole's eyes were definitely following him as he went to the restroom.
"What's up with you two?" Donna inquired quietly, nodding to where Toby was. "I thought you and Toby were only casual acquaintances with one another."
"We are." Nicole paused as a sly grin appeared on her face. "We just have a few added benefits as well."
Donna gaped at her sister before giggling quietly. "You little slut you," she teased playfully. "Just think it could be you out there next."
"Oh Lord no," Nicole corrected her emphatically. "We've both walked down that aisle before and we have no desire to do it again, no matter who we're with. Besides, shouldn't you guys throw one of these shindigs for yourselves?" Nicole asked, including Josh in the conversation. "I figured you'd want something like this, especially after you guys just up and eloped to Vegas to get married. Maybe after the science experiment is born" Nicole joked, patting her sister's stomach.
"First of all, for the last time, we weren't married in Vegas," Josh told her. "It was Reno. And secondly, maybe after the campaign we'll have a party or something." He noticed Donna glaring at him then. "Or maybe a small ceremony." Another glare from Donna along with Nicole. "Or maybe we'll just fill Madison Square Garden with every piece of wedding paraphernalia imaginable."
Donna couldn't keep it up anymore. "Oh look how cute he gets when he's all flustered and intimidated by women, Nic," she said to her sister. "He even changes colors," noting how red his face was getting.
"So that's how you wanna play it, fine." He turned to his sister-in-law. "Nicole, could you please occupy the child while I take Monstro here for a spin on the dance floor?" He handed Emma off to her aunt and guided Donna back onto the dance floor, where other couples had joined Ellie and T.J. in a slow dance.
"You sure you didn't mind not having the big hoopla?" Josh asked her seriously, resting his hands on her stomach as they danced slowly. "Eloping just made sense with the baby and everything…"
"Josh its fine," Donna reassured him. "All I wanted was to be your wife and we could've done it on the middle of the Jersey Turnpike for all I care. Although it was kind of fun to be married by a Wayne Newton impersonator," she laughed as she remembered their own wedding. It had been during a quick weekend away, with CJ looking after Emma, at the beginning of March. They gambled a little, went to some shows, and capped it off by spontaneously getting hitched at the world famous Little Chapel of Love along with a passionately, hormone-induced round of honeymoon sex in their tacky hotel room. But it had been perfect to them, as if they'd been married at Westminster Abbey. And when they got back, they began working on what Donna had dubbed Langley House, their Connecticut dream. It had taken nearly two months, and a pretty penny, for the place to be finished as quickly as it was. But they were settled in there now, in their mansion, which was also doubling as their campaign headquarters for the moment. Emma was thriving in her new school, her adjustment phase apparently over and now they were waiting for both Josh's senatorial campaign to kick off and their new baby to arrive. Life was being good to them right now for a change.
"So," he interrupted her trip down memory lane, "do you think they'll make it? Ellie and T.J I mean?"
Donna turned her head around to look at where her baby brother and his new were chatting with Mena. "I really hope so," she said honestly. "It just seemed that their time together has been so rushed to me. They weren't even engaged a month before Ellie got pregnant and before that…" she sighed wistfully. "Who knows? Maybe they'll be okay in the long run."
"Well at least if they're not, they could still say they had the social event of the season dedicated to them," Josh joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Although I gotta admit, this day has been pretty close to perfect, for everyone." As soon as he said that, while he and Donna were still dancing and by some ironic, cosmic joke probably being played on them by the former First Lady, Donna felt a rush of water come out from between her legs and splash onto the polished floor. The two of them stopped dancing and stared at the clear puddle.
"Donna?" Josh questioned warily. "Was that…?"
"I guess now we have two reasons to celebrate today," Donna informed him happily.
"You mean…?"
"We're having a baby."
Josh started mildly panicking. "Are you sure? It's not false alarm or…"
"Oh shit!" Donna gritted out as her face contorted and she clutched Josh's hand, evidence that her first real contraction was passing through her.
"Okay definitely not a false alarm," Josh said, now fully panicked. He looked helplessly around the crowded ballroom. "Help!" he shouted pitifully at the same time Donna began screaming in agony.
Six hours, an epidural for Donna, and a finger splint for Josh, later Natalie Philomena Lyman, at last, made her grand entrance into the world.
-FIN-