Rating: PG-13
Category: romance, J/D
Summary: A beautiful day, cherry blossoms, and Donna.  What more could one want?
Archive: written for the April SotU challenge, so they can take it.
Disclaimer: you’re kidding, right?  Not mine, not mine, not mine. *sigh*
Author’s Note: my choice was either continue this story (thereby getting beyond the kissing to the good stuff) or write my paper...sorry guys, but I pay much money to go to school and receive no money for writing.  Maybe next time...
 
 
 

 It was the perfect lazy Sunday morning, made better yet by the fact that he didn’t have to go to the office that day.  Actually, he was fairly certain that security was under orders to toss any and all senior staffers they saw off the premises.  Not that it mattered, though, because work was far from his mind.   Josh hadn’t felt this good in weeks, and he was determined to share it.  The only problem was his total lack of a plan.  Sam was out of town, CJ and Toby had both claimed they’d be busy, so the next logical candidate was Donna.  She just didn’t know it yet.

 The phone rang three times before there was an answer, and a sleep filled one at that.  “Yeah?”

 “Donnatella!  How are you this fine day?”

 There was some incoherent grumbling, a few random noises he couldn’t make out, and then a loud, annoyed groan.  “Go away Josh, she’s not here.”

 “Becca?”

 “Apparently.”

 “Oh.  Where’s Donna?”

 “Not telling.”

 “But –”

 “No.  Good bye.”

 He sighed.  This wasn’t going so well.  “Come on, Becca, I –”

 “You work the poor girl to death.  No way.”

 “It’s not for work.”

 “It’s not?”

 “Nope.  I’m at home.”

 “Not at work?”

 “No.”

 “But you’re going in later.”

 “No.”

 “Seriously?”

 “Today is a work free day, I swear.  Now where’s Donna?”

 She sighed, debating.  “She said to ignore you if you called.  And not to tell you where she went because there is no way she’s working today.”

 “But...what if there was a national emergency?”

 “Is there a national emergency?”

 “Well, no.  But what if there was?”

 “Then maybe, just maybe, I’d tell you.”

 “So tell.”

 “But there’s not.”

 “There could be.”

 “Josh, I’m hanging up now.”

 “Please!  I’m not dragging her in to work, I’m trying to be nice.”

 She snorted.

 “No, really.  I am.”

 “I don’t know, Josh...”

 “She won’t be mad, I swear.  Please?”

 “I’m not getting blamed for anything.”

 “Okay.”

 “I’m placing all blame on you.”

 “Isn’t that what you usually do?”

 “You usually deserve it.  And I can still hang up.”

 “I’m being nice.  No work, remember?”

 “Fine.  It’s peak cherry blossom time; she got up at some unbearably early time to appreciate nature.”

 “Oh.  Not a nature fan, Becca?”

 “Enough to get up on a Sunday morning?”

 “Right.  She have any specific plans?”

 Becca sighed.  “I really don’t keep track of these things.  I’m going back to bed now, can I trust you not to call again?”

 “Sure.  Thanks, Becca.”

 “Yeah, whatever.  Good night, Josh.”

 He laughed.  “Good night.”

 Looked like he was going for a walk.  Josh grabbed his sneakers and a sweatshirt, and set off to find Donna.

*****

 Not surprisingly, he found her near the Washington monument.  Undisturbed by the crowds of tourists, she had spread a blanket under one of the cherry trees and was reading a book.  She looked beautiful.

 He almost hated to disturb her, but much as he enjoyed watching Donna his non-existent plans for the day did not include stalking.  She didn’t notice him approach, so he just dropped to the blanket beside her.  She looked up, startled, and he grinned.  “Hi.”

 She glared.  “Go away, Joshua.”

 “Now Donna, is that any way to greet –”

 “You promised.  You said ‘no work.’  I haven’t had a day off in...forever.  Whatever it is, you can do it without me.”

 “But –”

 “No.  No excuses.  Go away.”  She waved at him dismissively.

 He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.  “You know, I’ve done this already today.  Can’t anyone believe that I’m a nice guy?”

 Donna raised an eyebrow.  “Why would anyone think that?”

 “Maybe because I am?”

 She didn’t answer.

 “I’m not making you come in to work today.”

 She looked at him skeptically.  “You’re not?”

 He shook his head.

 “Then what are you doing here?”

 “I’m an outdoorsman, Donna.  I have come to enjoy the outdoors.”

 “I thought we proved a while ago that you aren’t an outdoorsman.”

 “I may not be Davey Crockett, but I’m not Toby, either.”

 “Okay, I’ll give you that much.”

 “So here I am, enjoying the cherry blossoms and your company.  That’s all I ask of today.”

 “Sam’s not around, is he.”

 “No, he’s not. But that’s not the point.”

 “Why don’t I believe that one?”

 “That, I do not know.”

 “Perhaps it’s because you are Josh Lyman and Josh Lyman doesn’t know how to relax.”

 “Hey, I know how to relax, I just...never have the time to do it.”

 “Right.”

 “So.”

 “Yes?”

 “Are you still going to send me away or do I get to stay?”

 She rolled her eyes.  “You can stay.”

 “Excellent.”  He stood.  “I’ll be right back.”

 “Hold on...you ask to stay and then you leave?”

 “Well, this is the day without a plan.  You have a book, I have nothing.  I’m going to remedy the situation.”

 “Ah.  Newspaper?”

 “Yeah.  Not that I don’t already know everything that’s in it, but...”

 She nodded, reaching for her discarded book as Josh went in search of a newspaper.

*****

 Donna looked up a second before the newspapers landed on the blanket beside her.  Several magazines soon joined the pile.  “You planning on being here a while?”

 “A little help, Donna?”

 It was only then that she noticed Josh struggling with two containers of coffee and a bakery bag, one newspaper still tucked under his arm.  She reached up to take the coffee as he sat down.  “They the same?”

 “I got you that hazelnut stuff you like.”

 “Ooo, thank you.”

 “Told you I’m nice.”

 “You might be...what’s in the bag?”

 He handed it to her and she opened it eagerly.  “I didn’t know if you had had breakfast yet, so...”

 There were muffins and a large container of cut fruit – strawberries, melon, grapes.  She handed Josh a blueberry muffin, taking a lemon poppy seed for herself.

 The spent the morning reading.  Josh worked his way through both the Sunday New York Times and the Washington Post, then started on the magazines.  Newsweek and Time had been predictable purchases, but he had bought some “stupid girly magazines” on a whim.

 “Your purse is like a lover: How to find the right one for you.”

 Donna snorted, putting down her book.  “What are you reading?”

 “Cosmo.”

 “What possessed you to buy Cosmo?”

 “I’ve got Vogue and In Style, too.”

 “And the why...?”

 He shrugged.  “Because.”

 “Nothing better to do?” she surmised.

 “That, plus they’ve got all those insightful quizzes.”

 “I see, you wanted a laugh.”

 “You must admit, they are pretty silly.”

 Donna stood, stretching.  “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

 “A walk?”

 “We haven’t moved in like four hours, let’s go.”

 “Fine.”  He helped her fold the blanket and they walked over to where Donna had left her car, putting it and Josh’s reading materials in the back seat.

 “Where to?”

 “You’re the one that wanted to go for a walk, you tell me.”

 She shrugged.

 “Okay...left or right?”

 “Left.”

 “Excellent choice.”

*****

 After a while they stopped at a café for lunch, then spent the remainder of the afternoon doing nothing.  They walked around the Mall, they talked about all manner of random subjects, they went shopping – or, more precisely, Donna dragged a mildly protesting Josh into a number of stores; they got ice cream, they played tourist.  Donna joked that they should take a White House tour, but Josh reminded her of the President’s threats regarding security and the staff and they decided it was best not to chance it.

 Eventually they were back roughly where they started from.  They wandered aimlessly among the trees, keeping up a steady stream of conversation, Donna gathering fallen blossoms which she said she would dry and press.

 One of the multitude of tourists asked Josh to take a picture of him with his grandchildren and he obliged, snapping a few photos by the trees and some with views of the Washington Monument and the Reflecting pool.  They thanked him profusely, telling him that it was their first trip to DC.  He recommended a few attractions and then sent them on their way, turning to find where Donna had wandered off to.

 Donna was doing her own part to help the invaders, giving directions to a young couple who looked hopelessly lost.  He stopped a few feet away, watching her.  She had stolen his sweatshirt earlier in the day to use as a pillow but was wearing it now.  She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear as she laughed, shaking her head and repeating her directions.  The couple thanked her and left, but Josh hesitated to rejoin her.  She looked so beautiful, radiant under the soft coloring of the cherry blossoms, and the smile on her face combined with the strange thrill he felt seeing her in his clothes was giving him vaguely illegal thoughts.

 She turned, catching sight of him watching her, and blushed.  Screw vaguely illegal.  She had taken his breath away and he knew, suddenly, that he wanted nothing more than to kiss her senseless, thrown her down upon the carpet of new grass and fallen cherry blossoms, and have his way with her.  The only things stopping him – aside from the technical illegality of it all – were the crowd of tourists milling about and the realization that he sounded like a trashy romance novel.

 Seeing that he wasn’t coming to her, she went to him.  “You didn’t break their camera, did you?”

 He wasn’t really listening, still trying to figure out how quickly he could get her out of that sweatshirt and whether her skin would be softer than the petals drifting to the ground around her.  “Huh?”

 “Their camera...you didn’t break it, did you?”

 “No.  I, uh...no.”

 “Josh, are you all right?”

 “I....umm.  What?”

 “You okay?”

 “I’m fine...I’m great.”

 “Okay...”  She looked around, trying to figure out just what was distracting Josh to the point of speechlessness but found nothing.  “Hey, it’s been a few hours since you fed me, want to get some dinner?”

 “Dinner.  Yes, perfect.”  A nice meal, giving him time to plan and then execute his seduction.  Donna should be properly wooed.  Other things done properly would follow.  He grinned at the thought.

 “Is there somewhere you want to go or can I pick?”  She looped her arm through his, tugging at a still-distracted Josh until he began to walk with her.

 “Let’s...let’s just go home.”  Home.  That sounded nice.  Going home with Donna where he had a nice big bed and –

 “Your apartment?  Do you even have any food?”

 “Maybe?”

 “So we’d need to go grocery shopping first.  I suppose you’d make me cook, too?”

 Josh was becoming more and more aware that this was a conversation he should be taking part in and he struggled to pay attention – which was difficult considering Donna’s current proximity.  “Yes.  I mean no.  I mean...why don’t we go back there and we’ll see what we have to work with.”

 Donna sighed.  “You’re not trying to be cheap on me here, are you?”

 “No.  I don’t really feel like going out, is all.”

 “All right.  What have I got to lose?”

 “Exactly.”

*****

 Josh did, in fact, have enough food to make a meal.  While Donna ended up with most of the cooking responsibilities, she had to admit that he helped.  After they ate he took their plates and told her to find something on television.  When he emerged from the kitchen, she was sitting shoeless and cross-legged on his couch – still wearing his sweatshirt – and flipping through the channels.

 He leaned against the wall, once more caught up in just watching her.  She looked just as beautiful now as she had all day, and Josh was beginning to come to the conclusion that she was this beautiful all the time.  That she was attractive was not news to him – he did have eyes, after all – but there was something about her that he had never completely noticed.  Thinking back, he realizes that there were always glimpses of this, of her, but now he sees it fully.

 He loves her, and it doesn’t surprise him.  He just spent the entire day with her, happier than he had been in months, and it was because of her presence.  They had read, talked together, walked around the city, done the little things which they never had time for on a normal day and he enjoyed it as much as he did the verbal sparring or the work they did together each day in the west wing.  He stood there, watching her, and he could picture this being his life.

 “Hey Josh,” she called, “there’s nothing – oh.  You’re right there.  There’s nothing on.”

 “That’s okay.”

 She raised an eyebrow.  “You’re giving me that look again...”

 “What look?”

 “I don’t know.  I think I’m pretty much the master of Josh Lyman mood interpretation but I can’t figure that one out.”

 “I realized something today.”

 “You can give me that raise after all?”

 “No, I realized...”  He paused.  Now or never.  The worst that happens is she storms out, quits, and leaves DC.  The best...  “Donna, I love you.”

 She obviously wasn’t expecting that.  “Can you, ummm...can you say that again?”

 “Donnatella Moss, I believe that I was quite foolish not to notice it before but I am completely, totally, incurably in love with you.”

 “I...”  She stopped, still struggling with the meaning of his words.  After a minute she stood, walking over to him.  “Me?”

 “You.”

 “Are you...sure?”

 He laughed.  “What kind of question is that?”

 “I just...I want you to be sure.”

 He reached out, running a finger down her cheek.  “I find you infinitely valuable at work, but in my life...I can’t even begin to tell you how much I need you, how much I want you never to leave, how much you complete me.”

 He gently wiped away the tears that now streaked her face, leaning in close.  “And let’s just say that I came very close to abandoning all reason and making love to you underneath the cherry trees today.”

 She wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering, “what stopped you?”

 “While we do invite everyone to come and enjoy the cherry blossoms, I don’t quite think they’d approve of that much enjoyment.”

 “Probably not.  I, on the other hand, would have.”

 “Oh, really?”

 “Yes.  Because against my better judgement I fell in love with you, too.”

 He grinned.  “I’m irresistible.”

 “Not if you don’t get to the kissing.”

 “You’re expecting a kiss out of this?”

 “Josh!”

 He laughed, leaning in to kiss her even as she pulled him closer.

*****