Chapter Text
The sun is just beginning to peek through the blinds when Josh wakes up, blinking against the new brightness. He yawns heavily, and turns over to take a glance at the clock. Just past six. Just a few hours more until the inauguration ceremony.
He feels Donna’s hand on his back, and can’t help but let his lips quirk up at her touch. He rolls over to face her, one hand reaching out to embrace her arm. “Morning,” he says softly, his hand drifting up towards her hair, still soft and beautiful even after a night of sleep.
“Good morning,” she whispers back.
“You know what today is?”
“It’s only been circled on my calendar since November,” Donna says. “Today is the day you’ve officially made a man President.”
“Well, we did that,” he replies, affection filling his voice. “Couldn’t have done it without you. But that’s not what I meant.”
Donna frowns, puzzled. “What did you mean?”
“We got married a year ago today.”
She shifts upward, blinking rapidly. “What?”
“January 20th,” he repeats with a grin. “Our wedding anniversary.” He takes her hand in his, running his finger over the heirloom wedding ring he gave her. It was meant to be Joanie’s, originally, but Josh felt that if Joanie could not wear it, Donna should.
She gives him a blank stare. “Oh my god, how did I forget that?”
“It’s been a long year.”
“Yeah, but I…”
He too sits up, kissing her softly. Her lips are chapped from the January chill, and his are too, but he has no complaints. He never has any complaints about kissing Donna. “Don’t worry about it,” he says. “I never forget anniversaries.”
“I shouldn’t forget our wedding anniversary though,” Donna says. “God, I feel so stupid, I didn’t….”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Josh says. “Anyway, it’s kind of a weird anniversary. We also have the one in April and the one in July, so you have a couple more chances this year.”
Donna puts a hand to her head. “Did we really get married on Inauguration day?”
“Didn’t even try and yet…”
She laughs a little bit, before pushing the covers off. “Just watch, we’ll accidentally have a baby on Election Day. Wouldn’t that be typical?”
Josh’s eyes widen. They haven’t really talked about kids; typically, it’s something to discuss before marriage, but of course this marriage has been anything but typical. Josh had never been quite sure if it was something Donna wanted, and he is only beginning to realize that it is something he wants. “Donna… are you… trying to tell me something?”
“How long does a baby gestate?” Donna asks with a laugh. “If I was pregnant today, in which case I wouldn’t know, that would still be a very late baby. And if I were to be pregnant, I’m not interested in going over 40 weeks.”
Josh blushes a little bit, but nods. “But I mean… in the future? What do you think? Are you saying you…”
“Let me get started on this massive, overwhelming job first,” Donna says with a chuckle. “But in a year or two… I think an election day baby would be a fantastic gift.”
Josh rolls over to get off of Donna’s side of the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her shoulder softly. “I agree,” he tells her, his chin still resting on her.
“We should get ready,” Donna says. “I know we’re not going to the mass, but noon will come…”
Josh backs up a little bit. “Yeah,” he says. “By the way, President Bartlet asked to see us today.”
“You and me?”
Josh nods.
“What for?”
He shrugs, pulling on an undershirt before going over to the closet to take out a brand new suit that Donna picked out for him, insisting he needed something new for the inauguration. “Not sure,” he says.
“The President is leaving directly after the ceremony, right?”
“Right.”
Donna gives him a puzzled look. “He wants us to come see him in the Oval? On his very last day as President?”
“What else does he have to do?” Josh asks. “Sign pardons or whatever. Although he has threatened to sign an executive order declaring the supremacy of New Hampshire maple syrup over all other kinds.”
“What time?”
“Nine,” Josh says.
“Guess we better get ready then,” Donna says. “I do have a few things in the transition office I want to take care of before we move in today.” She turns to Josh, who is giving her a slack jawed grin, his eyes trained on her. “What?” she asks, upon seeing his expression.
He manages to pull himself together. “Nothing,” He says. “You’re just hot when you’re like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you,” he says. “Sure we don’t have any time for some extracurricular activities this morning?”
“Don’t distract me,” she replies. “But tonight… I think tonight is going to be good. You, me, after nine inaugural balls…”
“Think we can sneak out after the third one? If we claim it’s our anniversary, maybe we can…”
“We don’t have to claim it,” Donna replies. “It is our anniversary.”
“Oh, yeah,” Josh says, trying to keep his grin from becoming even more exceedingly stupid. “Right.”
Donna reaches forward to straighten his tie, and pulls him into a kiss without a thought. “Will that hold you over?”
“Not enough to keep me from looking at you like this all day,” Josh replies, and she laughs before stepping back to get herself dressed for one of the biggest days of her life.
While their first six months of marriage were odd, to say the least, the next six months have not been easy by any stretch of the imagination. The media interest had died down, and no one had really made much of Donna being immediately hired onto the Santos campaign, but she had spent most of her time at the DC office while Josh had been traveling around the country with the campaign. While their emotional distance had changed drastically for the better, the physical distance was a new challenge to cope with in what was already an unconventional marriage. While they had both been trying to heal, it was difficult to be so far apart.
The campaign had been long and challenging and close, and while they pulled it out in the end, losing Leo made that victory bittersweet. That, coupled with utter exhaustion and perhaps years of delayed mental health treatment led Josh to nearly have a breakdown, with only Sam’s interference and insistence that Josh take a vacation preventing a spiral that could have gotten much worse.
Sam only suggested a vacation, a week off, but Josh took Donna to Hawaii, just as he had promised he would do, for pleasure and for pleasure only.
The rest of the transition has been better, with Josh feeling more focused and calm and Donna starting to feel like she fits into her new role. She’s not sure she’ll ever feel entirely qualified, but she and Helen have developed a rapport and she has been hired as Chief of Staff for the First Lady, a job she never thought she would hold.
Donna never really moved out of Josh’s apartment; while her lease is about to be up, she has no interest in renewing. His apartment has been her home since that night he persuaded her to stay. It’s neater now than it used to be, and Donna has finally convinced Josh to buy a new duvet (and a new mattress has been ordered for both of their sakes). She has reorganized his closet to make room for all of her clothes, and they have settled into a domestic routine that somehow abides through all the ups and downs of the transition.
Josh makes her coffee and brings it to her as she finishes doing her makeup, placing it on the vanity. He wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head. “I’m going to go,” he says. “Talk to CJ.”
“A last ditch attempt to get her to join you?”
“Can you blame me for trying?”
Donna chuckles. “No, I can’t,” she says, “although I find it hard to imagine you’ll get anywhere.”
“I do too, but it’s still… I need to see her before she leaves and I take over her job.”
Donna nods and leans back to kiss the side of his jaw. “I’ll meet you outside the Oval, then? For whatever the President wants from us?”
“Yeah,” Josh replies. “See you soon.”
It is strange to walk through an emptying White House, with so many desks cleared, with so many walls empty. Josh knows that soon enough the chaos will be back, and he will be the one in charge of it all, but right now the White House feels so wrong without the people who made it his home for so many years.
His meeting with CJ doesn’t really go anywhere, not that he expected it to. It is still nice to talk to CJ as she imparts some last-minute advice to him about the role that has now been both of theirs, about the life that they alone understand.
“You’re going to be just fine,” CJ tells him after Margaret knocks on her door and tells her she has another meeting. She stands up and envelops Josh in a hug. “No one else I’d want to see running this country.”
“Are you sure?” Josh jokes. “Because after everything I put you through when you were Press Secretary I think…”
CJ shakes her head. “You have Donna to keep you in line now,” she says, “and I’m certain she will. Give her my love and tell her that if she’s ever out in California and doesn’t come to see me, I will personally kill you.”
“Why me and not her?”
“Never really needed a reason,” CJ replies flippantly, but she gives him a friendly pat on the back. “Good luck. You’ve been preparing for this your whole life, and if you need anything, just pick up the phone.”
“Thanks, Ceej,” Josh whispers, pulling her back into the hug briefly and burying his face in her shoulder. “Hey, I’ve got to go meet with the President— President Bartlet.”
CJ nods. “Yes, he’s very eager to do it.”
“I wonder why,” Josh mutters, waving goodbye as he heads towards the outer office. Donna is there, and he lets his face break into a broad grin at the sight of her. “Is he ready for us?”
“Yes,” Debbie Fiderer says. “Mind you, don’t take too much of his time. He’s got a ticking clock. Three more hours of his Presidency.”
“We won’t,” Josh replies, resting his hand behind Donna’s back and guiding her into the Oval. “Mr. President!”
President Bartlet takes off his glasses and stands up. “Josh, Donna! So good of you to come in.”
“So good of you to have us,” Josh says. “Sir… you didn’t really give a reason for this meeting.”
Bartlet shrugs and moves to the chair in the center of the room. “Never really needed a reason.”
“No,” Josh says, “but this is the last few hours of your presidency, and surely…”
“I think now is a good time to set a date for your wedding,” President Bartlet says firmly.
Josh and Donna share a look. “Our…” Donna starts. “Sir, you do realize that we are already married, right?”
The President nods. “I do, I do. However, you chose to get married without anyone in attendance, and that I cannot allow. While the law technically prohibits legal marriage twice, there is no reason you could not have a real wedding ceremony with all your family and friends in attendance. So, what date would you like the ceremony to be?”
“Sir… you’re the President of the United States,” Josh points out.
“Only for three more hours, thank God,” Bartlet replies.
“Are you really sure you want to spend those three hours… wedding planning?”
The President grins. “Oh yes, I do. Because it’s going to be awfully hard for the two of you to turn down my offer of hosting the wedding at my farm in New Hampshire while you’re sitting in the Oval Office.”
Donna raises an eyebrow. “He’s got a point there.”
“And if you somehow manage to refuse, I can sign an executive order right here and now compelling you to hold your wedding ceremony, and no one will care about the gross abuse of power because in three hours I will no longer have said powers.”
Josh laughs and grasps Donna’s hand, his fingers gently running over her ring. “Sir, I don’t think you needed to be too worried,” he says. “We’d love to.”
“Good,” the President says. “I was worried I’d have to force your hand. How does June sound? You’ll be out of the first hundred days, we’ll find a time with a Congressional recess so that you could…”
“June sounds great,” Donna says. “Thank you sir.”
“Is he treating you well?” The President asks, using his head to gesture towards Josh.
Donna gives him a broad grin. “He is.”
“Good, because otherwise I’ll kick his ass,” the President says. “Or get the Secret Service to do it.”
“It’s our anniversary,” Josh blurts out, not sure where that came from.
Bartlet smiles. “You two really got married on inauguration day?”
“We weren’t trying to!” Josh protests. “It was just the day that worked out best for us and we were in New Hampshire and…” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t regret it. Not in the least.”
“Happy anniversary,” Bartlet says, standing up. “Now go out there and help get out new President sworn in.”
Josh and Donna take hands and walk out of the Oval Office together.
Who would have thought that their hasty marriage for entirely mercenary reasons a year ago today would have brought them here?
Together, they sit on the dais of the Capitol building and watch a good man become President. Together, they walk back into the White House as Chiefs of Staff. Donna finds a bouquet of flowers on her desk, a note inserted in them telling her that the flowers are for their anniversary. She grins and clutches the note to her chest, wiping back a tear as she looks around her new, huge office.
Together, they dance at three of nine inaugural balls before going home to spend more time with each other. Together, they celebrate an anniversary that they both never expected to be meaningful.
A few days later, Donna realizes that they have not yet completed their official employment paperwork for their White House jobs. She manages to find everything she needs and everything Josh needs to sign to reinstate them as official White House employees. Even if this is the kind of thing that normally would be staffed out to an assistant, Donna thinks that it is important that they fulfill all the obligations of their jobs, including the pre-employment paperwork.
She fills out an emergency contact form (they’re each other’s, as if there was any doubt) and passes Josh his across the table to put in the same information before she looks at the next sheet of paper and has to laugh. “Josh,” she says. “Josh, we have to sign up for health insurance.”
Josh looks up at her and runs a hand through his hair. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. There are… eight pages of paperwork to fill out.”
He shakes his head. “They can’t just… use the same information from the last time we worked for the federal government?”
“Apparently not,” Donna says. “Anyway, since we’re married, we can…”
“Be on the same plan?”
“Yeah,” Donna says.
“But we still need to fill out two versions of the paperwork?”
Donna sighs and nods. “Yeah.”
He groans and takes the paper from her, beginning to write down all sorts of information. “Donna, do you know my RX number?”
“Look at your insurance card,” she says.
“If the US had single-payer healthcare, I wouldn’t have to do all this paperwork every time I want to actually use my healthcare benefits.”
Donna stands up and comes around to the other side of the table, placing her hands flat against his chest, her arms wrapped around his neck. “Good think you’re currently the second-most powerful man in the United States government.”
“Still isn’t gonna happen. Not with Congress the way it is.”
Donna shrugs. “You never know. Still, what did you and the President decide the first major policy push was going to be?”
Josh leans back to look up at her and grins broadly. “Healthcare reform?”
“Yeah,” she says, moving her lips to his. “Although we have our ridiculous system to thank for one thing.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“Us.”
Josh gets up out of his chair and leans against the table to get a better angle to kiss her. By the time they have decided to make their way to the bedroom, the insurance paperwork is scattered all over the kitchen floor.