My Office
1:30 p.m.

"Donna Moss."

"Am I speaking to the Princess of the People, the Eminence of the Electorate, the Bigwig of the Big Money, the..."

"Hi Josh," I laugh. God, he’s a spaz when he’s in a good mood. "How’s my Little Engine That Could? Did you send Santos to go print his own bumper stickers or did you find some dropout teenagers to make some for you by hand?"

"Ah you’ve learned well my little grasshopper." Josh’s voice mocks some eastern Zen-like guru.

I can’t help but laugh, he’s in such a good mood nowadays. You wouldn’t think so, considering we’ve both left our jobs at the White House, work for opposing candidates and only see each other three or four nights a week.

Did you catch that? Yeah, three or four nights a week. Some things really do change, and some things change for the better. If anyone walks in now they are going to wonder why I’ve got a monster smile plastered across my face.

"Hey Donna, you still there?"

"Oh! Yeah. Yes, Josh, I’m here." Gotta work on that "flustered out-of-breath because I'm thinking about my hot ex-boss boyfriend voice.

"Tell me this exact instant what you were just thinking about."

"Three to four nights a week." Yeah, that just fell right out of my mouth.

Silence. I can tell he’ trying to do math in his head. I smother a laugh, waiting for him to catch on. "Hey, I really like three to four nights a week."

"Yeah," I demure, "I’m a big fan."

"You know, once this election business gets serious that number is gonna diminish. You know, traveling the country, speeches, number crunching, I’ll be gone for weeks at a time. Why don’t you ditch Bingo Bob and come work with us?"

"Nice try, Josh. Lest you forget, I’ll be on the road as well. I will be gone raising the dough, crunching the numbers and you know, getting my own candidate elected. I must say, it’s rather optimistic of you to think that your guy is gonna come up out of the depths to knock off a sitting Vice President."

"Hey, late nights on the campaign bus, stealing food from my plate, yelling at my new assistant about the ties he puts on me when I go on TV, rolling over and waking me up instead of calling my cell phone, how can you resist?"

"Wow, when you put it like that," I’m trying as hard as I can for that deadpan delivery I do so well.

"Save a lot of money on cell phone bills," his voice is making that 'Don’t you think this is a great idea?' thing.

"I’ll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, we get in around 9. I’ll be to your place by 10."

"So 11 then?" I grin into the phone. He doesn’t do as well getting places on time without me. He does okay, just not as well as he did. What’s funny is he has an even tougher time getting to places he needs to be on time after he’s been with me. Yeah, we are really having fun.

"Will you tell me who you are courting at the Women’s Caucus if I get there by 10:30?"

Is he serious?

"What do you think?" It’s time to turn on my serious, flat voice. He tries to get these tidbits from me once in awhile.

"Fair enough." He sighs dramatically but I can hear him smiling at me.

"Be good, Josh. I miss you and I’ll see you soon."

"All right. Kiss and hug the kids for me, tell them their daddy loves them very much."

"Josh, stop talking about my breasts as if they are your children." God, he’s a child. "And for your information, if you ever convince me to go to the dark side, you will be the one rolling over and waking me up in the morning."

"God, I love you."

"You can’t help it. I’ll see you tonight."

"Bye," he’s laughing as he hangs up the phone.

Smiling, I hang up my phone. I’ve known Josh for years and one thing I know for sure is that he does not throw love around lightly, not real love anyway. It’s an amazing thing to be on the receiving end of a loving, confident, energetic Josh Lyman.

My office is quiet again. Josh seems to take up the whole room, even when he’s just on the phone. I don’t notice it until I’m alone again. I like being on my own. I like hearing my own voice in my head instead of his bellowing through my ears. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an amazing man and I love him to death, but I’ve got to say I’m liking my new job.

I stretch the kinks in my neck and my eyes land on the pile from the White House teetering precariously on my desk. The big manila envelope perched on top grabs my attention. It is decorated with a crayon drawing of the White House. Ah, a new care package from my niece, Ella Grace, has arrived. Every envelope arrives decorated in some fashion. This one is no less artistic. It appears Ella has drawn me on the White House front lawn, smiling. Since I’ve taken my new job, the care packages have arrived more frequently. Her mother, my older sister Grace, has her convinced that poor Aunt Donna works all day long and doesn’t get to have any fun, ever. Ella Grace has taken it upon herself to make sure I get fun mail once in awhile.

Sitting down feels nice. I’ve been on my feet all day and relaxing for a few minutes is a godsend. I open the envelope carefully and dump its contents onto my desk. Let’s see… sparkly unicorn and rainbow stickers. Good, need those. Ah, a Starbucks gift card! It seems my sister helped with this care package. Next is a copy of Ella’s spelling words with a big 'Perfect!' written across the top with a gold star. Smiling, I set the spelling words aside gently. What else do we have? What is this? It looks to be a crayon picture of a woman with brown hair burning up in a campfire. The woman has a witch’s hat on and a skimpy black dress. There are actually stick figure people sitting in lawn chairs around this Campfire of Death and they are smiling. One of the people has long blonde hair, one has crazy brown hair, and the other one looks like the President. I can tell because she’s drawn what look like two Secret Service agents on either side of the man’s chair. I’m assuming they are Secret Service. They are huge, wearing black suits and sunglasses and big frowns.

What’s this supposed to mean? Oh, there’s a note on the back. 'Donna, apparently Ella saw Amy Gardner on some talk show and drew you this picture. She says it’s supposed to be Amy burning up like the Wicked Witch of the East. Apparently you, Josh, and the President are watching this sacrifice and enjoying it. I have to tell you, Ella was adamant that I put this in. Do you have any idea what this is all about? What do you and your niece talk about on the phone?' Oh God, how did Ella remember that conversation? It was just a few weeks ago…

**********

Two Weeks Earlier
My Apartment
8pm

"Josh," I push halfheartedly against his chest. I really don’t want him to go too far away from me. He’s got my back pushed up against the counter and I’ve got a wooden spoon in my hand. It’s challenging to cook dinner and make out with him at the same time. I’ve burnt more dinners this way then I ever did in Home Economics in high school.

"Donna, I just can’t figure out why you are still working for Bingo Bob. He’s so, so, God, I can’t even describe how ridiculous he is." Josh has his arms wrapped around me and he’s nuzzling the ridge of my collarbone with tiny kisses. "How can you be raising money for that gomer? You are too good for him, you know that don’t you? On your skills alone, you could get Santos the resources to outpace the rest of the competition in key states." How Josh can seduce me while making fun of my new boss is something I’ll never understand.

Last I checked, I could play this game. Leaning forward into his kisses I whisper in his ear. "Josh, I’m not going to tell you our strategy, our plans, our contacts or our schedule." I’ve got that low husky sexy thing going in my voice. "Now I know that makes you sad. Will you feel better if I tell you that I thought about you today eight times in an inappropriate manner?"

Josh doesn’t answer verbally.

Making out with Josh is not a silly saccharine experience. It’s delicious like hot cocoa, fuzzy scarves, and Christmas cookies. Ok, maybe it’s more like being together at midnight wrapped up in each other on blankets in front of a fireplace in the middle of a blizzard. Not that we’ve found ourselves in front of a roaring fire in the middle of a blizzard yet, but my imagination finds us there, oh, two or three times a day. I’ve gotta say he’s got great non-verbal skills.

Oh crap. The phone.

"Josh, phone." I nuzzle my cheek against his soft sweater. God, I love this sweater. I could just rest my head here all day breathing him in.

Crap, still ringing.

"It’s ringing," I murmur into the warmth of his chest.

"What is?"

"The thing. Over there. The thing." I wave my free hand in the general direction of the telephone.

Whatever that response was I don’t understand it.

"Come on, Josh, move over. I’ve gotta get that. Will said he’d call sometime tonight."

Josh leans back and looks at me. God his eyes. They are twelve kinds of beautiful. Maybe I’ll let the machine get it.

"Aunt Donna? Are you there? It’s me Ella Grace. I’m just calling to say hi. Um, is Josh there? Cause I didn’t get to talk to him last time I called and..." a little voice starts rambling on my answering machine.

It’s Saturday night and I’m having a rather delicious appetizer, namely my barefoot-in-jeans-and-my-favorite-black-sweater boyfriend and I’ve got a call from my nine-year old niece, Ella Grace.

Ella Grace loves her Aunt Donna. So much so, she’s convinced her mother that she should be allowed to call me long distance once in awhile. Until I started dating Josh, she called maybe once a month. Now, it’s once a week. I’ve come to understand that although I am cool, and she’ll always love me, I am not, and never will be her Boyfriend Josh. Ella adores Josh. She thinks he’s the funniest guy. He doesn’t really try to be funny, but you know, he just is and Ella sees it.

Now, Ella’s has been hearing about Josh for years. She heard about him from me, when she asked me about my job. She heard about him from my sister, when she’d hear Grace and I talking about him on the phone. She heard about him from her dad, whenever he started venting about "Bartlet and that crazy Lyman guy your insane sister works for..." Josh and I may be new to the world of couplehood but we’ve been a part of each other’s lives forever.

I pick up the phone, effectively stopping the answering machine. "Hi Ella! How are you sweetie?"

"I’m good Aunt Donna. It’s cold and mom says snow is in the air, so that’s another good thing. Um, is Josh there?" Never fails. Ever. If I can ever get him to go to Wisconsin for more than, you know, three hours he’ll have an ally in his corner.

So I hit the button for the speakerphone and nudge Josh toward the phone. He smiles as he leans over it. We both love hearing Ella’s energetic voice so we usually put her on speakerphone. She thinks we’re silly for it, but she usually forgets by the end of the call.

"Ella! My Dairy Princess, how are you?"

"Josh!" Ella whines, "I am not a dairy princess! You’ve got to get a better joke. You tell me that one every time I call."

"Oh that’s right, you are too smart to be a princess. I always forget. So your mom says you are going in next week to get your head carved in butter."

"Josh!" Ella admonishes.

"Oh, that’s right. It wasn’t butter, it was cheese."

"Josh, Aunt Donna says you are a snob about Wisconsin." Ella’s got that teenager attitude going on a little early.

"Well, that’s probably true, but let’s not tell her."

"Guess who I saw on TV?"

"Who?"

"That woman. The one my mom calls a witch."

"What were you watching, Ella?"

"C-SPAN." Ella sounds exasperated. Ever since she found out I would be on from time to time, she keeps a vigil over it. She likes to tell her friends that I’m on TV.

"Good girl. Now how did you see a witch on C-SPAN?"

"That lady you used to date. The one who got fired all the time."

"Amy Gardner?"

"She the one who got fired all the time?"

"I guess." Josh’s face was a mixture of awe, embarrassment and amusement. I could tell he was wondering how a 9 year-old girl in Madison, Wisconsin had any idea who or what Amy Gardner had been in our lives.

"Well, mom calls her a witch."

"Why?"

"Because she made Aunt Donna’s job harder." Ella’s voice was filled with a ‘well duh!’ quality. Josh covers the speakerphone with his hand to laugh and direct a question at me.

"So, Donna, why does your 9 year-old niece call my ex-girlfriend a witch?"

"She did make my job harder, Josh."

"Yeah? Lots of people, including me, made your job harder."

"Well, yeah. And you know." I wave my hand around in the air between us.

"Uh huh. We’ll discuss 'you know' later, after dinner and perhaps on the couch, or in the bedroom. If you are lucky, the kitchen." He’s got that look on his face.

"Josh!" I hiss. "You’ve got a 9 year-old girl on hold to tell me you wanna have sex in the kitchen?!"

"Donna, I’ve got my hand over the phone!"

I turn back to stirring the soup when he goes back to his conversation with Ella. She hasn’t stopped talking since he put his finger over the speakerphone.

"You know that lady was a witch, right? Mom says Aunt Donna says she must have been a witch cause you were under some dumb spell or something and couldn’t escape her. Mom says Aunt Donna thought you were not very happy when you went out with her. Is that true?"

This is where Ella has forgotten she’s on speakerphone and that I can hear everything.

"Ella, why do you ask?"

Josh was quiet for awhile, waiting for Ella to answer.

"Ella?" Josh had to ask if she was still on the line.

"Well, if you could be put under her evil spell, it could happen again. And if that happens again Aunt Donna would be sad because she loves you and doesn’t want you under anyone’s spell but hers."

"Where did you hear that? The spell part?" Josh’s voice was full of interest.

Oh crap, did Ella overhear my conversation with Grace? I’m gonna remind her that her 9 year-old can recite plenty of overheard information, given the chance.

In my best attempt to distract him I sneak up behind him and plant tiny kisses on the back of his neck. He’s doing his best to keep me still by swatting at me half-heartedly. I know what he really wants to do and it has nothing to do with stopping me from kissing him anywhere.

"Hey Josh, did you know I got a perfect score on my math test? I beat out everyone in the room."

Leave it to Ella Grace to interrupt, in her own sweet way, just as I was getting my spell on. I swat him on the backside and go back to prepping dinner at the stove.

"Well, your Aunt Donna tells me you are pretty smart."

"She says I’m on my way to being way smarter than you."

"Oh really?" Josh is smiling as he comes up behind me. He wraps a strong arm around my waist and traces circles with his thumb around my bellybutton. With his other hand he sweeps my hair from my neck. He ups the ante by planting kisses along my shoulder. I throw him the 'you are still on the phone with a kid' look and point to the speakerphone. He smiles and wanders off toward the cupboard.

"Yeah. She says I’m so smart I can come work for her to get the Vice President elected."

"You want Bingo Bob to win?" Josh is perched on a barstool near the phone, spinning around. God, why did he con me buying into those?

I look over and see Josh feigning shock and grinning at me. Just for that, we’re eating a salad with dinner.

"Josh?" Ella’s voice gets very quiet.

"Yes?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Uh, okay."

"You promise not to tell Aunt Donna?"

"If I won’t get me in trouble with her, then yes, I’ll keep it secret." Ella likes secrets. She takes them seriously.

I put down the spoon and turn toward the phone. I’ve gotta hear this.

"Mom thinks Mr. Santos is hot."

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Josh laugh like that.

"She does huh?"

"Yep, she says he’s so handsome and tall and smart. She thinks Aunt Donna is working for the wrong guy. Of course mom also said you probably didn’t want Donna to go with you because if Mr. Santos had a handsome brother or something, you’d lose her. But then mom said that she was just kidding and that poor Aunt Donna is doomed to a life with you. I think she was kidding on the doom part, but I’m not sure." Ella's voice is beyond excited. She loves making Josh laugh.

"Well, Ella, you tell your mom she is right, especially about the doom part. You know what? I’m going to let your Aunt Donna talk to you now or she’s gonna whine at me later because she never gets to talk to you when I’m here."

"Hey, um, Josh?" Ella’s trying to sound nonchalant but she’s not doing too well. Her voice has gone soft and quiet.

Josh and I both stop what we are doing and look at each other. It’s not often Ella gets really serious. Apparently, right now, she’s got something on her mind.

"Yes, Ella?" Josh answers her with a warm smile. He’s taking her seriously when he could try and be funny. Instead of running away from her question he wants to help her understand something bigger than what a nine-year-old girl can grasp. Add that to the ever-growing list of reasons why I love him.

"So, no more witches, right?" Ella sounds as if she’s trying to line up the way the world works in her head. I have to smile, apparently Josh staying witch-free is an important factor in whether her world is running, as it should.

Josh and I are still looking at each other as he answers her. His voice is soft and steady. I’m not too sure he’s only talking to my niece.

"Ella, I swear, no more witches."

"Promise?" Ella’s never sounded so serious.

"Absolutely. You know, Ella, it’s a pretty awesome thing to be safe in love. It’s a big deal to know that the one person you trust and love more than anyone else in the entire world feels the same way about you. Your Aunt Donna is that person for me. She fills up all my thinking time, and all my sleeping time and all the spaces in my heart where love needs to go. Do you know how lucky I am to have her in my life?"

Sometimes when Josh opens his heart, I swear time stands still. This is one of those times. He’s looking at me with those eyes and I can feel my heart thumping in my chest.

"Josh, do you tell Aunt Donna that you love her?"

"Every single day."

"Good." Ella’s serious voice gets energetic again. “Hey! Did I tell you mom is taking Tyler and me to a movie tomorrow? I will email you when I get home and tell you how it is."

"Sounds good. Say hi to your dad and brother for me."

"'Kay. Bye Josh."

I take the phone from Josh, turn the speakerphone feature off, and reinforce Josh’s point about no more witches, ever. Our conversation soon turns to the thrills of being nine and looking forward to turning ten. In the Stevenson household, turning ten means getting ears pierced. It’s a thing.

Looking across the room, I can see Josh is setting the table. Funny how inevitable things seem. Here we are, two people who danced around each other for years in fear of, well, everything, and now he’s setting my table and we’re getting ready to share another comfortable, wonderful evening together.

After a quick hello and goodbye with Grace, I turn back to my evening with Josh.

"So my ex-girlfriend is a witch?" Josh is smiling across the table with his eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"Nice defensive tone there, Donnatella. Were you going to fess up to that jealousy of yours or were you just hoping to weave your spell on me."

"I think she was exaggerating, Josh. What nine-year-old wouldn’t? Plus, she has a crush on you. She can’t be thinking clearly." Yeah, this defense is going nowhere. He knows a nine-year-old has busted me. Turning back to the stove I turn off the heat and reach for the bowls.

He’s trying to sneak around behind me. He sucks at sneaking but I’ll let him think he’s Mr. Stealth.

"Donnatella," he’s whispering in a way that he knows gets to me. "Do you know what I thought about all day today?"

"Winning the next presidential election?" Topic Changer, Thy name is Donnatella Moss.

"Hmmmm, well, I thought about that a little." Josh’s voice disappears into mine when he captures my lips with his own…

**********

My Office
1:45pm

I finish going through the care package and put it all back in before moving on with the mail. Old get well cards that had gone astray, cards and letters wishing me luck in my new job are the bulk of the remaining mail. Looking over at my monitor I notice I’ve got an email message waiting. It’s from Josh.

*
Hey Donna, it’s me. I just got an email from your sister, well okay, an email from Ella. Thought I’d pass this along. Figure it would brighten your day, you know working for the wrong guy and all. <g>

See you tonight. Will bring dessert of my choice.
Love,
Josh
*

I open the .pdf attachment and find a picture drawn by Ella. Grace must have scanned it in to send to Josh. It’s a picture of the Oval Office. She drew me sitting behind the desk with Josh standing next to me. He has a notepad in his hand. There’s a kitten sitting in front of the desk. There’s a bald man in a brown suit, my guess is it’s Toby, glaring and pointing at the kitten from his seat on one of the striped couches.

It appears Ella has made a comic strip, of sorts, starring yours truly as the President of the United States.

Rock on sister.

It looks like Josh is writing down things that I’m telling him. Oh I get it; he’s my assistant. Hee. The bubble coming out my mouth says, "Now don’t forget to send lots of candy to Ella!" The bubble coming out of Josh’s mouth says, "Oh I won’t. Ella is too smart to forget if I don’t!" What cracks me up is Toby scolding a kitten. The bubble coming from his mouth says, "You are a bad kitty. Keep your claws to yourself!" I print a copy for my fridge and close down the email.

Leaning back in my chair, I survey all the work I have left to do before I go home tonight. Cracking my neck, I take a deep breath and relax. I like looking out my own window. The sun is going down on another day in my new life. It’s a good life. It doesn’t have the golden sepia-toned feel of my memories in the White House, but it feels right. I just know there are good things ahead, real things, memories to be made. Today’s sun is setting and I can feel it. It’s the end. You know what I mean? The end of the last seven years…like the earth is moving incrementally beneath my feet. I can feel the changes coming and I feel like I belong in it, somewhere. For now, at least, this is where I am supposed to be.

**********
The End