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    "Josh?"  Marjorie was surprised when she opened the
    door at his insistent knock. "I didn't know you were
    coming over this…" She glanced down at her watch.  "I
    guess it's technically still morning."

    "Um… yeah… I didn't tell Donna I was coming.  
    Something… um… came up that I needed to talk to her
    about." Josh bounced on his toes, in the manner of
    either someone whose pants were full of ants, or who'd
    just had twelve double espressos in a row.  Josh,
    however, had neither of those excuses.

    "Oh."  Donna's mother looked him up and down.  Her
    mom-ESP told her that something was up.  It wasn't odd
    for Josh to stop by unannounced; on the contrary, he
    seemed to spend every free moment there, but he
    seemed nervous today, edgy. "You know, she had
    physical therapy this morning."

    "Right…" His voice held anxiety. "How'd it go?"  

    "Tough, very tough."  She lowered her voice, even
    though there was no visible evidence from the doorway
    that Donna, or anyone else, was within earshot.  "Don't
    tell her I told you-- she'd be mortified-- but there were
    some tears."

    "She cried?"  Josh's voice squeaked with concern and his
    brow furrowed.

    "Shhh." Marjorie put her finger to her lips and then
    continued in a low voice. "I think the frustration and the
    pain just got the best of her."

    "Is she okay?"  He asked urgently.

    "Yes, I think she's fine now."

    In the last few months he'd had to get used to Donna
    being in excruciating pain.  Sadly, it was a fact of life,
    and came with the territory of recovering from such
    extensive injuries.  But it never failed to get to him; his
    gut twisted itself into a pretzel whenever he thought
    about what she was going through.

    She studied him intently for a moment.  "Are you out of
    breath?"

    "What? No."  He panted slightly, giving himself away.
    "Well, I might have jogged from my parking spot around
    the block."

    "I see."

    "It was hot; I needed to… uh… get out of the heat
    quickly."

    "So you thought running would facilitate keeping you
    cool?"   Marjorie asked with barely-concealed
    amusement.  "Come in, come in.  Get out of the heat.  
    Actually, I was going to go out myself this afternoon.  I
    thought I'd take in a museum, but I didn't want to leave
    Donna alone after that physical therapy session."

    "I can stay for awhile. You should go," Josh offered
    instantly, hoping it wasn't obvious that he wanted her
    out of the house.  Although, unfortunately, it seemed
    like today was shaping up to be another one of those
    not-perfect-for-declaring-his-love days.

    "You don't have to get back?"

    "Nancy cleared my schedule until 2:30."  He'd run out of
    the office without a thought for his meetings that
    morning.  By the time he got to his car, he’d
    remembered that he, you know, had a job. With
    responsibilities.  When he'd called Nancy, his temp, he'd
    found that CJ had already talked to her, taking one of
    his meetings herself and having Nancy push back the
    others.  Josh owed her one.

    She looked at him curiously, but she knew better than
    to pry.  "Okay. I'm sure seeing you will cheer her up
    considerably, and then I won't worry about her being
    alone when you have to leave.  I can only handle a
    couple of hours of sightseeing at a time, anyway."

    "Great!"  Oops. Josh realized that might have come out
    a little too overenthusiastic. Backpedaling, he tried to
    clarify, "I mean, not great that you're leaving, just that
    you're getting a chance to go to the museum and see
    the… planes… dinosaur bones… Fonzie's jacket… which
    one are you going to again?"

    "The East Wing of the American Museum of Art."

    "Art! Excellent!"  Josh exclaimed.  Marjorie shook her
    head and fought the smirk that was threatening to mar
    her features.  She didn't want to laugh at the poor boy.  
    "You know how to get there?" he asked earnestly.

    He was also actually surprisingly sweet, at least when it
    came to Donna; something Marjorie had learned quickly,
    both in Germany and during the weeks she'd been
    staying in Washington.  At first she'd been shocked at
    how much he appeared to care for her daughter.  It
    seemed to go against every preconceived notion she had
    about him... of course, those had mostly been formed by
    newspaper articles and his appearances on television.
    She had gathered from the little hints that Donna had
    dropped over the years that the two were close, but
    nothing had prepared her for his loyalty to her daughter
    after the explosion.  It was very comforting to know that
    Donna had such a good "friend."  

    She grabbed her purse from the counter.  "Yes, I take
    the red line to Metro Center and then take either the
    orange or blue to the Smithsonian stop."

    "Good."  He surveyed the small apartment. "Marjorie?"

    "Yes?"

    "The patient is…"  He said with a furtive glance towards
    her regular spot in the living room.

    "In her bedroom.  She took a pain pill after therapy and
    went to lie down.  I just looked in on her a few minutes
    ago and she was asleep, so I won't wake her to tell her
    I'm going.  Let her know where I've gone when she
    wakes up?"  When Josh nodded she continued, "There
    are leftovers in the refrigerator for lunch.  And I have
    my cell phone-- if you need to leave early, just call."

    Once Marjorie was gone, Josh stood edgily in the
    entrance, trying to take control of his jangled nerves. He
    cut himself some slack, though, because it wasn't every
    day he told the love of his life how he felt. It was normal
    to be a little out-of-sorts.  Right?  Maybe he should wait
    until she woke up, she needed her sleep after all.  
    Except he didn't want to wait.  He took several deep
    breaths before turning and striding purposefully down
    the hall towards her room.

    He knocked softly on the partially-open door before
    slowly pushing it open the rest of the way.  He found
    Donna looking drowsy but awake.  "Hey there. How ya
    feeling?"

    "Josh…"  She pushed herself up, and a smile spread
    across her features as he made his way towards the
    bed.  "What are you doing here?"

    "Do you not want me here?" Josh's voice was playful,
    and as he spoke, he helped arrange the pillows behind
    her back so that she could sit up against the headboard.

    "No!  Of course not.  I mean, of course I want you here,”
    she assured him, smiling.  “I'm just surprised.  I thought
    you had a full day.  Didn't you tell me yesterday that
    you had those lunch meetings with Armistead and
    Whitlock over their objection to the land usage rider?"

    "Yes, but I had Nancy push them back."

    "Why? Oh…" Her eyes went wide.  "You didn't come
    home because… Mom didn't call you…"  She was
    mortified at the thought of him racing over because
    she'd lost it in therapy.  She didn't want him to know
    about her weak moments; she wanted him to think she
    was brave and strong.

    "Home?"  He repeated with a shy twinkle in his eye, as
    he sat on the side of her bed.

    She blushed at her gaff.  "Oh… I didn't mean ‘home.’  I
    meant my home, of course.  You didn't come to my
    home… here… because I had a bad physical therapy
    session, did you?"

    "No, your mom didn't call me.  I didn't know you'd had a
    bad session until I got here.  But you could have, you
    know… called me, I mean."  His voice was low and
    tender.  "I would have come if you needed me."  

    "I didn't," she said quickly.  Too quickly.  He honestly
    looked taken aback at how hastily she'd brushed off his
    offer. She smiled at him, to try and undo the damage.  
    "I mean, it was okay... I was okay. I'm sure my mom
    made more of it than it was."

    "What happened?" He brought his right hand up to touch
    her injured leg, gently resting it on the material of her
    sweat pants.

    "Nothing," she answered instantly.  He raised an
    eyebrow at her answer.  Realizing that he wasn’t going
    to accept that, Donna stammered, "It was stupid. It
    was… I just... it hurt."

    "Did Carla push you too hard?"  Josh had met Donna's
    physical therapist on more than one occasion. He knew
    she was tough, but he also knew she had to be.  More
    than anything, he wanted a full recovery for Donna, and
    he knew that meant hard work.

    "No… yes…"  Her strong and brave façade was quickly
    crumbling under his concerned scrutiny.  "She was mean
    to me."  Donna stuck her bottom lip out.

    "What do you mean?"  Josh's lips quirked up slightly.
    Even though he had nothing but sympathy for her, she
    looked about six years old when she made that face.

    "She yelled at me for not doing my exercises.  But I do,
    do them.  I try, anyway."  Donna continued to pout.  

    "I know you do," he said softly. And that was the truth;
    he knew how hard she worked.  "Is that what upset you
    so much?"  He reached over and pushed several strands
    of pale blonde hair out of her eyes. "The yelling?"

    "No, that just put me in a feeling-sorry-for-myself
    mood.  I think she might have been extra hard on me
    because she thought I hadn't been working on my own.  
    So the session was extra strenuous, I was frustrated
    because I couldn't do everything, and she kept pushing.  
    And it hurt.  It just… hurt."  

    "How is it now?"  He ran his hand lightly up and down
    her good leg in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

    "I took a pain pill and it's…"  She forced a smile that
    didn't reach her eyes.  "Better."

    The pitiful look in her eye twisted his heart inside out.  
    Spontaneously, Josh shifted forward and gently gathered
    her towards him into a hug.  He circled his arms around
    her shoulders, and she immediately buried her face in
    his neck, her arms wrapped around his waist.  After
    several seconds, he heard her sniffing.

    "Are you crying now?"  He asked gently as he shifted
    forward toward the head of the bed, so he could hold her
    closer.

    "Maybe…"  The word came out as a sob.

    "Why?" He whispered as he rubbed small soothing circles
    on her back.

    "Because you're being so nice."  

    "Am I sometimes not nice?  Are you so taken by surprise
    when I am nice that you cry?"  He joked, trying to
    lighten her mood as he continued to hold her tightly to
    him.

    "No… I mean… you're always nice to me.  At least,
    lately."  Her voice was muffled in his neck, and her
    qualified praise made him laugh softly.  "I don't know
    why I'm crying now … probably because I'm having a… a
    day.  And because I'm so glad you're here."

    Stroking her hair, he murmured into her ear, "Its okay…
    shhhh… please don't cry…" and anything else he could
    think of that sounded comforting.  

    They sat like that for several more minutes. Finally, she
    pulled away with a sniffle, but studiously avoided eye
    contact with him as she wiped her face.  Her cheeks
    were red; she was certain of it.  Red with
    embarrassment. She knew how silly it was to cry, but
    she couldn’t stop.  At least the crying camouflaged her
    embarrassed flush.  Since she was avoiding his gaze,
    though, she was able to notice his jacket.  "Oh, no."

    "What?"  He asked, his voice fraught with worry.

    "Your suit is wet.  I cried all over your suit."  She
    brushed at his shoulder.

    He squinched his chin to his neck in order to survey the
    damage.  "It's fine.  It's got several hours to dry before I
    have to be back."  He smiled reassuringly at her before
    shrugging out of the jacket and setting it across the foot
    of the bed.

    Donna hated feeling vulnerable, but she did.  Every
    day.  She'd felt it everyday since the day she'd woken up
    in the hospital.   She just wanted to feel normal again.  
    Taking a cleansing breath, she made eye contact,
    determined to be normal.  Or at least look and sound
    normal.  "You never said why you pushed back your
    meetings and came by this morning."

    "Because you had a bad day at therapy and needed
    some company."

    "You said that you didn't know that until you got here."

    "True."  He nodded guiltily, before taking a deep,
    fortifying breath.  Without his permission, his pulse
    started to race, and he was suddenly afraid he was going
    to start sweating again like he did in CJ's office.  "I
    wanted to talk. About something I felt couldn't wait any
    longer."

    "Oh."  Donna swallowed hard.  Talking.  He came over to
    talk. That couldn't be good. She'd been waiting for the
    day when he decided that he couldn’t continue spending
    so much time with her.  She'd grown to depend on him
    so much over the last two months.  He'd been there for
    her at every turn, but she knew she couldn't keep being
    a burden to him.  

    She shook her head and silently chided herself.  He
    comes over to tell her she needs to rely on him less and
    what does she do?  Blubbers all over him.  Great!  Way
    to drive him away even faster.  Good news was that
    she'd pretty much cried herself out of tears.  She hoped.

    The hard part was that it was true.  Bosses didn't owe
    their assistants this kind of time and devotion.  She
    knew she'd allowed herself to rely on him too much over
    the last couple of months.  But it had been easy-- he
    came over almost every day, either dropping by at lunch
    or stopping in on his way back from a meeting on the
    Hill; sometimes he'd bring files and a laptop, sitting and
    working in the big chair in her living room while she
    rested on the couch.  Since Gaza, he'd been there
    through everything.  They'd fallen into an easy pattern,
    but maybe it wasn't so easy for Josh.

    "Sure, of course. Let's go into the living room."

    "You sure you're up to moving?"  He looked at her with
    unveiled concern.

    "Yeah…"  Suddenly the intimacy of the bedroom felt
    stifling.  Carefully, she maneuvered to the side of the
    bed.  Josh moved quickly out of the way, but grabbed
    her walker and positioned it for her.  

    He held his hand out to her, but she shook her head.  
    "Carla says I have to do it on my own."

    He bit his bottom lip and stepped back.  Grimacing,
    Donna pulled herself up and gingerly put weight on her
    bad leg.  "Not as bad as I thought," she said to reassure
    him as much as herself.

    Slowly she made her way to the door and out of her
    bedroom.  Josh followed behind her; as her leg loosened
    up, she picked up a bit of speed.  "You want something
    to drink or eat?  Your mom said there are leftovers from
    last night."

    "I'm surprised.  What with you having three helpings at
    dinner."  Her chuckle was bittersweet.  She had a
    sinking feeling that Josh might not be joining them for
    dinners in the future.

    "Your mom makes excellent lasagna,” Josh defended,
    oblivious to Donna's underlying fears.

    "I know."

    "Besides, she made a huge pan and there were only
    three of us eating."

    "True."

    "So you want me to heat some up for you?"

    With the pit that was currently gnawing at Donna's
    stomach, there was no way she could eat anything. "No,
    thanks. But you go ahead."

    "I'm not hungry."  The truth was that he was so nervous
    that food was the last thing on his mind.

    "Where is my mom, by the way?"

    "Museum.  She said she'd only be gone a couple of
    hours."

    "Good."  Donna sighed with relief that her mother wasn't
    there to bear witness to what was about to transpire.  
    Marjorie had grown quite fond of Josh during her stay,
    and Donna wouldn't want anything to jeopardize that.
    Even if he was putting distance between them, she still
    wouldn't want her mom to think badly of him.  "She
    wants to do all of the Smithsonians while she's here."

    She made her way to the couch, and Josh followed her
    dutifully.  Once she was settled, she looked up at him
    expectantly, determined not to show her devastation at
    what he was about to say.  She would not guilt him.  

    Josh started pacing back and forth in the living room.  
    What did he want to say?  So many things.  He took a
    deep breath.  This was it.  The confession of his feelings
    that was so long overdue.  "Did you know that CJ has
    some weird Happy Days fixation?"

    Donna stared at him, dumbfounded.  That's what he
    wanted to talk to her about?  The thing that couldn't
    wait any longer.  The thing he moved important
    appointments for. "Huh?"

    "CJ.  Did you know she has a weird Happy Days thing?"

    Evading.  He always did it when a hard or emotional task
    loomed.  She knew in her heart that he would never
    want to intentionally hurt her, so telling her that he
    needed to back off would be something he would evade.  
    "Yes."  

    "Well, she does… wait, what?"

    "Yes, I know she has a weird Happy Days fixation."

    "You do?"

    Donna nodded her head, not sure whether to be relieved
    or saddened by the temporary reprieve.  "Sure,
    apparently she had a real thing for Fonzie until she
    found out she was at least a half a foot taller than Henry
    Winkler.  She claims it sent her on a two-day downward
    spiral in 1978."

    "Really. Well, that's not at all odd, but it does explain
    her use of Joanie and Chachi-"

    "Josh?"  Donna interrupted, not taking her eyes off of
    him.

    "Yeah?"

    "Did you come all the way over here mid-morning to tell
    me about CJ and her love for everything Happy Days?"  
    What was she doing?  Why was she forcing the issue?  If
    he wanted to talk about Happy Days, she should let
    him.  Hell, she'd be happy to talk about sitcoms from the
    70's all afternoon.

    "Um… no?"  He felt a little dizzy.  Was dizzy normal in a
    situation like this?  Or should he begin preventative
    measures, like putting his head between his knees?

    Patting the seat on the couch next to her, she
    commanded softly, "Sit down." Tentatively, he complied
    and once next to her, she looked at him with sad eyes.
    "Is everything okay?"

    He took another deep breath and was about to speak
    when she found she couldn't take it.  Before he’d gotten
    a word out, she interrupted, speaking in a rush. "Before
    you say anything… let me say that I’m sorry…"  

    Josh crinkled his brow in confusion before questioning,
    "Sorry?"

    "Yes… you've done so much for me and I'm sorry that I
    cried in there…"  She nodded to the bedroom.  Before he
    could protest, she quickly continued.  "And that I've
    been a burden.  I know I have to stop being so
    dependent on you.  I promise you, I'll try harder to do
    things on my own.  Mom is leaving soon and I have to
    relearn how to be alone.  I'm… um… looking forward to
    it."  

    She blinked rapidly, trying to stem the tears that
    threatened.  What in the heck was wrong with her
    today?  She was not going to cry again!  She couldn't
    stand to drive him further away. She knew he hated
    when she got overly emotional.  But she couldn't blame
    him; who would want to hang around some emotional,
    weeping woman?

    Josh sat still, staggered by her speech.  She thought she
    was a burden to him?  She wanted to be alone?  Part of
    him screamed to just get up, move, leave, escape; go
    somewhere where she couldn't reject him.  Thankfully it
    was just a small part of him that was doing the
    screaming.  Because the better part of him knew that
    wasn't going to work.  He wasn't going to run this time.  
    He'd run out of places to hide from his feelings, anyway.  


    "Well, Donna, I'm not sure how much help I'm going to
    be with all that."  His gaze was riveted to her and he
    spoke slowly in order to gauge her reaction.

    "I know.  And that's why I promise things will change
    and I will be more independent and stand on my own
    two feet.  What happened in there just now…"  She
    pointed to the bedroom again. "…won't happen again.  
    I'm just having a bad day; I didn't mean to cry all over
    you.  That's why I didn't want to call you after therapy-"

    "Donna." He stopped her as he set his hand over hers on
    her lap, rubbing small circles on her wrist.  "That's not
    what I meant.  I want you to call me anytime, day or
    night, and especially when you've had a bad day…"

    "Huh?"  She wore a bewildered expression.

    "Standing on your own two feet is good and I want that
    for you, but don't ask me to leave you alone… because I
    can't."  He took a deep breath and stared intently into
    her confused blue eyes.  Even tear-stained and
    bloodshot, she was breathtakingly beautiful.  Picking up
    the hand he'd been stroking, he laced his fingers with
    hers.

    "I want you to be able to depend on me, for anything
    you need.  I want to hold you when you cry and be the
    one who comforts you…"  He swallowed and was
    surprised to find a rather large lump in his throat.  
    "…today and everyday.  You could never, ever be a
    burden to me, Donna… because I love you so much that
    if the sky were falling, I wouldn't notice as long as you
    were okay."

    Stunned, she sat silently, watching him with wide eyes.  
    It was as if she were having an out-of-body experience.  
    Did he just tell her he loved her?  And if so, what did
    that mean?    She wasn't sure.  Then everything hit her,
    and once again, tears filled her eyes.  He wasn't here to
    tell her goodbye.  Finally, she found her voice. "Really?"  

    "Really."  Leaning over the coffee table, he grabbed a
    handful of tissues.  He watched her blot her eyes and
    waited for her to finish before he spoke.  "That's what I
    came here to tell you today. I'm in love with you,
    Donnatella Moss."

    "You are?" As his words registered, Donna went from
    despair to shock to euphoria in a matter of heartbeats.  
    Relief flooded over her.  He loved her.  He wasn't
    leaving her.  She'd never been so happy to be wrong in
    her entire life.

    "Yes."

    "Even if I cry on you." She broke out into a wide smile.

    "Especially if you cry on me."  He gently pushed a strand
    of hair behind her ear. "So, I guess the only question is,
    am I out here on this limb by myself?  Or do I have
    some hope for reciprocity?"

    "No."  But she threw her arms around his neck.

    "No?" Josh chuckled slightly, despite the mixed
    messages.

    Donna shivered at the way his breath tickled her ear as
    she hugged him.  "I mean, no, you're not out on the