The Stories Never Told: West Wing OneShots

The Diary: Josh/Donna

SPOILERS: from 'Two Cathedrals' to the end, specifically War Crimes

Fluff// rated general audiences

Setting: Josh and Donna meet Cliff Calley to give him Donna's Diary. Cliff returns after he reads the diary.
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Josh POV

We sit on the bench for what feels like ages, I can only imagine what Donna's going through, what Cliff is reading. He's going through her private thoughts, and there's nothing I can do about it. There's movement out of the corner of my eye, Cliff emerges from the shadows and I squeeze Donna's hand and walk up to collect the diary. "Any problems?" I ask as I reach for the diary.

"No," he replies. "Hey, you look out for her okay?" I give him a puzzling look, isn't that what I'm doing now? He clears his throat. "In the diary-" I cut him off.

"I don't want to know what's in her diary Cliff. That's private," Cliff nods in understanding and hands me the diary.

"Just- just know you're mentioned, okay? She cares about you, and you care about her too. Don't let it slip through your fingers," he looks sincere as he peers over me to look at Donna, I turn and look as she fidgets with her nails, a nervous habit of hers. A small smile creeps onto my face. "Josh?" Cliff gets my attention.

"Yeah." I say, turning towards him. "Look.
Just-thanks. Really." Cliff nods and turns away. As I walk towards Donna, I realized he's right. I can't let her slip through my fingers. I walk up and hand Donna her diary. She's beautiful in this light, in any light really. I must be staring because she smiles and grabs my hand.

"Let's go Josh." We start to walk back to the White House, and I realize just how lucky I am.
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Donna's POV

Having Cliff read my diary was mortifying, and the things he read, oh God, it's horrible. He knows things I can barely admit to myself. He and Josh talked for a while too...no. Josh wouldn't do that, he wouldn't invade my privacy like that. Still, Cliff knows how I feel about Josh, and how I felt this way while I was with Cliff. I look up at Josh as we walk hand in hand, I stop and turn towards him. "Josh?" He hums a response. "What were you and Cliff talking about when you got my diary back." He shifts back and forth, he doesn't want to tell me. "Josh?" He nods.

"Donna.." He trails off, what did Cliff say? "He just told me..." all the sudden he stops, he's looking at me now, his eyes soften. He musters a whisper, "he said not to let you slip through my fingers." I stare at him, confused and scared. He reaches his hand out to brush the hair out of my face.

"Josh?" I ask wearily. He leans in, I don't stop him, then there we are. It happens so quickly, his lips are on mine and he's tender and weary, still unsure whether he did the right thing, I kiss back and lean into him. I wrap my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. We've been holding this in for too long, and our tongues tango for dominance. His hands are on my waist, as we stand there in our own world for minutes. I break the kiss first, sheepish and smiling, we stand there  for a while, I don't know how long, but we're happy. I'm happy. We know it's just this moment, because I'm his assistant and he's Deputy Chief of Staff, and that's how it has to be. It's okay though, because right now is enough, because Josh is here right now, and that's all I need.