Author: Liza C. Title: The Orbit of Celestial Bodies Beta'ed: By Kim Post ep: Election Day 1 NOTE:  A little post-ep even though I didn't love this episode. I'm hoping part 2 will connect all the dots, but as a stand alone I was shocked that they wrote Donna as such a robotic cold fish.  How do Josh & Donna go from the hottest kiss on TV to an awkward, unsexy nude scene?   So this is a SILLY post-ep where Josh tries to figure out where he went wrong, with the help of someone who is entirely ill-equipped to advise him.  Oh and before this story is over, J/D WILL touch.  That, my friends, is a promise.                  ~~~~ 3:15am CST~~~~~ The buzzing of his cell phone woke him from a sound sleep.  He answered with a muffled and groggy, "'Lo?" "Did you see this Reuters story?  Vinick took a shot at Santos’ ability to deal with Kazakhstan." "What time is it?" "Does it matter? It's Election Day." "Josh, its 4:15 in the morning!" "It's only 3:15 here." "Thanks for that lesson in time zones. Why are you calling me?" "To see if you'd seen the story on Reuters." "No, I must have missed that one in the course of it being the middle of the night.  I'm sleeping!  Which, coincidentally, is what you should be doing. You have a big day tomorrow. What's going on?" "Donna was… uh… just… uh… here… in my room… um… no good reason… uh… checking the news sites and then she left and told me to check Reuters.  It's a good thing because they're reporting-" Picking up on Josh's awkwardness, Toby interrupted, "You were with Donna in the middle of the night?" "Yeah." As Toby became more awake he began processing the information. "Are you calling to tell me that Donna was in your room and left at 3:15- "More like five after three." "Okay, are you calling to tell me that you were with Donna at five after three in the morning or are you calling to tell me that in a shocking turn of events your opposition said something to try and get himself elected, something you anticipated he would say, and are fully prepared to respond to?" "Um…" "What… "The opposition thing." "What was Donna doing in your room at four… excuse me, three in the morning?" "We were… uh… just working." "You guys are all about the work," Toby replied slowly and not without confusion. "Yeah… yeah… we are all about the work. Thanks, Toby. I've got another call coming in. Don't forget to vote." With that Josh hung up the phone. Toby sat, shaking his head at his cell phone for a moment, before he set it back on the nightstand and turned over to try and get some more sleep.                                       ***                      ~~~~ 6:38am CST~~~~~ "Hello." "I took your advice. I don't think it worked." "What? What advice?" "Have you voted yet?"  Josh questioned, changing the subject he'd introduced. "It’s only half past seven my time." "That's practically mid-day!" "I was just getting ready to go. Getting in the car as we speak.  So are you ready?" "I'm on my way to the war room to ask that very question." Josh's voice belied the tension he felt. "Yeah," Toby replied knowingly and then after a beat added, "Remember Election Day on the first campaign? We were a little…" "Hyped up?" "That's one way to put it. I remember that I almost threw Sam out a window when I found him with that floor plan of the West Wing, trying to pick out an office." "Yeah."  Josh smiled at the memory, before sighing, "I remember that Leo looked a lot calmer than I feel." "That's Leo." "Yeah." "So what advice did I give you that didn't work?" "Oh… uh… the work thing." "Huh?" "That we're all about work. I don't think it… uh… worked." Toby shook his head as he steered his car through DC traffic. "I have no idea what we're talking about." "Donna and work." "Okay, I don't remember giving you any advice last night… except maybe not to call me at four in the morning unless your hair is—and this is important-- actually on fire." "You said nothing of the sort, but the advice you did give me, didn't work." "Okay, help me out here; what advice did I give you?" "Work." "I need more to go on then that." "Last night you told me that Donna and I are all about the work. So that's what I did.  I worked, but now I don't know what the hell is happening." "It goes against ever fiber of my being to say this, but I think you're going to need to start from the beginning." Josh was silent for several seconds.  "Last night…" "Yeah?" "Donna…" "Okay." Josh took a deep breath, "Before I called you, we had just… you know." "You know?" "Yeah, *you* know." "Really?"  A surprised chuckle rang through Toby's response. "Yes."  Josh's voice was equal parts sheepish and proud. "Wow.  That's great. That's great, isn't it?  Is that a… uh… normal occurrence?" "Normal? Well, we weren't hanging off of any chandeliers, but-" "No!" Toby commanded.  "Stop right there. I meant regular. Is it a regular occurrence?" "I hope so." Josh's voice squeaked by the time he got to the word 'so.' "Doesn't really answer my question." "Last night was the…" Josh swallowed hard, "…the first." "Oh."  Toby sounded surprised.   "Well… uh… congratulations?" "Thanks," Josh said, not entirely sure of the proper reply when someone was congratulating you for having sex. "So if you and Donna were…" Toby let the words hang in the air a moment before finishing, "Why were you calling last night?" "I needed advice." "Has it been so long that you didn't remember how?" Toby asked with humor in his voice, something that had been absent for quite some time. "I called you after she left.  That's when I needed advice, after, not before. I remembered just fine..."    "You're calling me?" Toby asked with genuine surprise.   "An indicted man, with an ex-wife who is barely speaking to him and children who are so disconnected from me…" He coughed before continuing, "…that they actually wear Orioles uniforms… for advice?" "Yes." "Why?" "Because… that's an excellent question. I don't know.   Do you not have time to talk?" "Well, after I vote I have a big day of CNN, cnn.com and Suduko planned, but I guess I could clear a few minutes.  What's the problem?"   "She left." "The problem is she left?" "Yes, last night, right before I called you and then took your advice about the work." "So before she left…" Toby prodded. "We were lying there in bed and-" "No details!"  Toby commanded gruffly. "Oh, right.  Uh… she left," Josh finished dumbly. "So it wasn't good?" "You just said you didn't want details." "Vague details, painted with broad strokes." "It was good, it was great. It was Donna, how could it be anything but great…. but after…" "Yeah?" "Well, I didn't know what the hell was happening. I mean, I was in bed with Donna.  Donna Moss. My Donna.  Well, not my Donna, but you know.  Anyway after the good stuff, I'm hugging my side of the bed, she's hugging hers, we're like strangers pretending to sleep, a gulf between us… and the next thing I know, she's up at 3am putting on a sweater and trying to sneak out." "Hmmm… I don’t think that's a good sign," Toby said matter-of-factly. "Exactly." "What did you do?" "I followed her into the bathroom and accused her of sneaking out." "Smooth." "I know.  She claimed she wasn't sneaking out, just checking the news sites, but I don't know… I don't think I believe her, because she sidestepped every attempt I made at talking about it and then she did leave." Toby sighed thoughtfully, giving Josh's problem sincere attention.  "What did you guys decide before you embarked upon this adventure?" "Decide?" "Yeah, didn't you talk about something, anything, changing your relationship, that type of thing?" "Uh… there wasn't a lot of talking.  There was some Scotch, and some flirty… uh… banter that led to bed, but once we got upstairs, no talking." "Let me get this straight, you jumped into bed with a woman you've known nine years… one of your closest friends in the world and someone you work intimately with on a day-to-day basis, with not a word exchanged about what the hell the two of you were doing?" "That about sums it up." "Okay, then," Toby grunted, knowing his limits.  "You need lots of advice. Far more than I can give you.  In fact, you need more advice than even Dr. Phil could give you." "Who?" Josh asked curiously. "Uh, nobody."  Toby shook his head quickly, realizing he was on the verge of revealing more than he wanted about how he’d spent his days since the indictment. "I'm just saying you need a lot of advice." "I know." Josh actually sounded a bit sad, which made Toby take pity on him.  After a few silent beats, Toby relented. "So what advice do you think I gave you about work after this fiasco and what happened." "You think it's a fiasco?"  Josh's voice hit a high note. "Uh… sorry, bad choice of words. What happened after this… non-disastrous chain of events?" "Like I said, Donna left to get coffee for us." "The reason Donna left was to get you coffee?" "Yes." "Hmm.  I'm not sure, but I don't think women go get coffee after sex if they're totally repulsed.  Maybe it's not an unsalvageable fiasco. Continue." "So before she returned, I called you, you said that 'we're all about the work' and so that's what I did." "You've lost me." "That phone call that came in while I was talking to you last night-" "I have no recollection of any such phone call, but go ahead." "That's because you were half asleep. But there was a phone call and it was one of my staffers, Ronna, calling to see if I'd seen Reuters, and the next thing I knew I'd sort of turned my room into an impromptu war room. Work.  A bit later she came back with coffee and we… uh… worked the rest of the night. Or actually, morning." Toby sighed and shook his head. "I'm at my polling place." "Okay, go vote." Josh was silent a beat. "For Santos, right." "Goodbye Josh." "Wait!" "What?" "Do you have any other advice?  Like what I should do now?" "I really don't." "Nothing?"   Toby rolled his eyes, but he wasn't nearly as annoyed as he pretended to be. It was nice to think about something that was, well, nice.  "Its proof you're certifiable that you're even seeking advice from me, you know that right?" "We've been through that and… I know." "Let's see, thinking back to the last time I tried courting a woman-" "You bought her a house. I'm not buying Donna house.   Well, at least not today, I don't have time. Now tomorrow if she wants a house-" "Josh…" "Yeah?" "Do you want advice or not?" "Okay, yeah, I do." "I guess I've found that complimenting a woman is a… place to start.  When, you know, you're trying to get her into bed." "But I've already gotten her into bed." "Maybe that's the problem. You didn't do the things that a man should do before he gets a woman into bed. "Huh."  Josh grunted as he contemplated that idea. "Complimenting, right. Thanks To-" He stopped himself from saying his name out loud. "Thanks." "Yeah," Toby replied gruffly, but there was a bit of a twinkle in his eye as he shut his phone. On Josh's end, he snapped the phone shut and continued down the hall, feeling slightly more confident in light of his new plan.                                     ***                        ~~~~9:30am CST~~~~~ Toby looked at the caller ID on his cell phone and smiled despite himself. "Josh." "Did you vote?  How were the lines?  Any problems at the polling place? Any laws broken? Traffic lights out?   Suspicious roadblocks?" "In DC?"  Toby shook his head, but the corner of his mouth quirked upwards.  "Yes, I voted. The lines were long, but not too bad, considering how early it is.  At least it didn't look like anyone was discouraged with the length of the line and leaving.  There were no problems; I didn't see anyone given any hassle. Traffic and parking were fine." Josh processed all of that information before crinkling his brow and asking, "Why didn't you vote absentee?" "I like pressing the buttons.  It makes me feel part of the process." "Right." "So any developments?" Josh thought for a second before plunging in. "Earlier I saw Donna and I tried the compli-" "I meant with the election," Toby groused. "Oh, uh, no exit polls yet.  It's raining in Boston, but we've got umbrellas." Josh sighed loudly. "It's driving me a bit crazy… the wait…" "I know, the wait is the worst." Both men sat silent for a couple of beats before Toby finally relented and grumbled, "So you complimented her?" "Yes." "And did that work?" "I don't know." "What happened?" "I saw her in the hall shortly after I hung up with you." "Okay." "I said she looked great." "And we're off to the races." "She thanked me and then…" "Yeah…" "Now this is possibly where I didn't quite thread the needle." "Okay." "She said she'd changed her outfit because she didn't want to be in the same clothes as yesterday… and I told her she shouldn’t feel ashamed for… doing the walk of shame." Toby groaned in disgust. "How are you able to tie your own shoelaces?" "It's a mystery. What do I do now?" "Was she upset?" "Well, I don't think she was upset. But she's just so… cool. Just like last night. Totally professional. Totally focused.  I have no idea what the hell is going on and she's all business. It's just not… it's just not how I pictured it would be with us." Toby was silent for a moment as he thought about Josh's quandary with Donna. "Maybe…" "Yeah?"  Josh asked eagerly. "It's a big day… for both of you.  And it's also a big change.  Neither of you have slept in weeks. Maybe she just needs some space?” Josh let that sink in for a minute.  "Space? Hmm… that's not a bad idea.  And if I give her space, I lessen the chances of inevitably screwing this up further." "That is an added bonus." "Alright, I'll try that." Josh paused again. "Hey…" "Yeah…" "Uh… just thanks, for, you know, voting and everything." "Yeah, sure, whatever. Talk to you later." But Toby was smiling when he hung up the phone.                                   ***                           ~~~~ 1:10pm CST~~~~~ "'Good afternoon, Josh." Toby answered his phone with a smirk. "Hey." "The early numbers look good," Toby commented as he sat in his apartment flipping around the news channels. "Yeah, everyone is wildly happy, too happy." Josh paced from one side of his hotel room to the other.  "But things aren't adding up and I'm worried about Minnesota.    Donna thinks the new law prohibiting media and pollsters within a hundred feet of polling places is skewing the numbers. I'm looking at the data right now and she's right. It has Dakota country not only trending Santos but by a high margin." "I thought Dakota County is heavily Republican." "You can see why we're worried." "So, things must be looking up with… uh… Donna if you're fretting over Minnesota numbers together." "In a manner of speaking." "So the space thing worked out?" "I guess." "You guess?" "Well we just… uh… again." "In the middle of the afternoon?" Toby said with surprise. "It has been known to happen." "On Election Day?" "Donna sold it as a de-stressing thing." "She had to sell it?"  Now Toby was audibly laughing. "It didn't take much effort on her part." "I would imagine.  So everything is… okay now?" "Better, I guess…"  Josh sighed loudly as he continued to pace, his calm tone belying the tension that was starting to build in his chest again.  "It's just that…" "What?" "I don't know what the hell is going on.  I guess I thought Donna would be a little… more." "More?" "Yeah… more.  More into the touching and the romance and the cuddle-" "No, no, no, time out!  Do not take me down any path that includes the word 'cuddle.'" "Oh… right, sorry." Both men were silent for several seconds.  Finally Toby mumbled, "But there was improvement?" "Yeah, she didn't leave this time… well, she did, but she had to go do spin on MSNBC so it wasn't an escape thing."  At that Toby glanced down at the remote in his hand and changed the channel to MSNBC.  "And instead of hugging the edge of the bed, we were sort of hovering on our own sides, but it was much more relaxed and the gulf had definitely… lessened.  At least a bit." "Okay…" Toby considered with mock seriousness. "Maybe you're just inching your way towards each other.  By the next election she may even be willing to touch you during sex." "Are you making fun of me?" "Caught that, did you?" Josh paused for a beat as he sat on the end of his bed to tie his shoes and cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear.  "Is it at all possible that she just doesn't find me attractive?" "Anything is possible," Toby replied dryly.  "You know, most men complain about women being too clingy after sex, yet you're complaining that Donna isn't clingy enough?" Running his hand through his hair roughly, Josh tried to stifle his fear that everything was spinning out of his control. "This is Donna.  She's the… she's the sweetest person I know, she's warm and giving and, and… I feel a gravitational pull towards her like she's the sun and I'm a… I don't know… some sort of celestial orbiting body."   He paused to inhale deeply to try and calm the anxiety that threatened to make an appearance. "We used to be very… I guess tactile is the word… with one another. So this distance and complete lack of tangible physical affection-- now that we're actually having sex-- doesn't make sense." Josh's voice rose an octave and became a bit louder than necessary as he finished the sentence. Toby gave him a second before replying, "We're getting into that too much information area again." Josh puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath. "Sorry."   "But that was really… I can't believe I'm going to say this… kind of sweet.  Maybe you should say some of that to her and not to me." "Really?  Because I don't want to scare her away.  It's just that this doesn't feel like how it should be with us." "I'm not sure you can scare her away.  If she scared easily she would have run long and fast about eight and a half years ago." Josh perked up slightly at that thought. "That's true." Toby continued thoughtfully, "Maybe it's an act?' "An act?" "Yeah, she thinks you're going to be all… you… about this, so she's preemptively being you." "Being me?  That makes no sense," Josh replied with a grimace as he loosely tucked in his shirt.  "You're getting rusty with words; you're going to need to find a way to exercise that particular muscle." "It makes perfect sense and my words are just fine," Toby rebutted wryly.  "You do not have an impressive track record in this area.  And as long as it's taken you to get off your heels and pursue this with her, who could blame her for wondering if it's real.  Protecting herself in case you freak out on her and decide the whole thing was a mistake.  You said yourself that you haven't talked to her about anything, so she hasn't had the benefit of hearing you refer to yourself as a celestial orbiting body. She probably has no idea what a sap you are over her."