| O N E H O L I D A Y P L A N |
E-mail address: liza_cameron@yahoo.com Title: One Holiday Plan
I like this particular grin. It's a grin that says that three days ago, we declared that we were thankful for each other. It's been hard to stop smiling ever since, for either one of us. Unfortunately, though, we've been working almost nonstop since Friday. Those pesky blizzards did turn into a logistics nightmare and we've been monitoring the situation closely all weekend. "Yes…" As you might guess, I'm wearing a similarly bright smile. "Tonight." "Uh huh." "I was thinking we could go back to my place." "Your place?" I feign confusion. "Yes, my place. You know the place with the big bathtub you like so much and half a turkey still in the fridge." "What would we do at your place?" That was me being coy. "Stuff." He waggles his eyebrows at me when he says it. "Like what stuff? I'm going to need specifics. Stuff could include a lot of things." He shrugs, but his eyes are twinkling. "Watch Sunday night football." "I don't want to watch Sunday night football." "Me either…" he adds quickly. "But… stuff could include eating leftovers or… bathing. We could take a bath." "We?" He thinks he's so smooth. "Sure." He's drawing his fingers up and down my arm. It's not a bad sensation; maybe he's smoother than I thought. "You look dirty." "I do?" I crinkle my forehead at him. That doesn't really seem like a compliment. But it's hard to concentrate with the way he's now rubbing gentle circles on my forearm. "Very." "Well, if I'm dirty, then we will have to do something about that..." "Something that involves bubbles and hot water?" He's looking at me hopefully. "Sounds good to me." I smile seductively at him. Or I smile what I think is a seductive smile at him, in reality it might be more goofy than seductive, but Josh doesn't seem to care. "So… Back to my place later?" "Yeah, back to your place." As I agree, he gently squeezes the arm he's been caressing and then passes by me and out the partially open door of his office. Now that may have seemed like an intimate exchange, but I'll have you know that we've been the picture of professionalism all weekend. Mostly. In any case, based on our behavior, no one that didn't already suspect something would guess that anything has changed between us over the last couple of days. But once we get back to his place tonight… all bets are off! *** I've been flipping through a chart of Congresspeople and studying who voted for what in the last Legislative session. I'm actually amazing myself with how well I already know the voting patterns of many Representatives. Either they are painfully predictable, or I might have soaked up quite a bit of knowledge during the last few years. Even though we've been very busy this weekend, yesterday I sat down with Leo. It's all set. I'm moving to the Legislative Liaison's office in early January. It's a title bump and more money. Which, believe me, I'm very excited about. I already know the exact Coach briefcase I'm going buy in celebration of my new job. And after talking to Leo, I feel confident that Josh isn't just promoting me so that we can… you know. This job really does seem like it's going to be right up my alley. And the best part is that my direct supervisor is not anyone named Joshua Lyman. Which is good on many, many levels. Of course, my direct supervisor answers to a guy named Joshua Lyman, but at this point I'm choosing to believe that's not going to be a problem. And while Leo didn't come out and say that he knew things had changed between Josh and me, he said enough to make me believe that he knows. "You busy?" A voice from above my desk breaks me out of my thoughts. I look up to find CJ standing over me, a smirk on her face. "Hmmm… oh, hi, CJ. Not really." "Soooooo…" She nods her head a couple of times as she says the word. I know what she's doing; she's trying to elicit information from me with one word and a head bob. She's good, but she's not that good. "So," I shoot her an unassuming smile, as I close the file on voting records I was reading. My promotion hasn't been announced yet. And even though I obviously consider CJ a friend, I'd prefer that this announcement came from the top. "Thanksgiving was fun." She casually taps her hand against my desk. "Yes, I had a great time." "Eventful." CJ does the one eyebrow arched upward maneuver. Who is she kidding with this? "Yes, it was." "Lots of surprises." "I know! I couldn't believe it. It was quite a shocking, but welcome, development." "A-ha!" CJ points her index finger at me triumphantly. Startled, I freeze and dart my eyes one way and the next, before asking, "A-ha, what?" "A-ha. you're admitting it." "Admitting what?" "Admitting that there was a shocking, but welcome, development on Thanksgiving." "Well, sure, CJ. Sam being in town was definitely shocking and welcome. It was so great to see him." If she wants info, she's going to have to come out and ask. I'm not volunteering anything. And even then, she still might get nothing. She scowls slightly. "Sam. yes, Sam was shocking." She pauses for a moment as if to reorganize her thoughts and then eyes me with what looks like sympathy. "He was sorry he didn't get to say goodbye to you on Thursday. I was sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, either." Hmmm… well-played, my friend. By bringing up the fact that I was asleep, possibly in a compromising position with Josh on the couch when she left, she puts me on the defensive and in the situation to make a guilty admission. Thankfully, I wasn't born yesterday. "Oh yeah, sorry about falling asleep, I was just so tired from all the cooking. It's a lot of work putting on a Thanksgiving dinner." That's right, I just used guilt. And sounded a bit like a martyr. Now it's official, I'm turning into my mother; but I had to do something, because she had me. I did fall asleep while I still had guests. Or rather, while Josh still had guests. And while I don't know what it looked like when I fell asleep, I do know what it looked like when I woke up, it was… rather incriminating. "Oh, of course it is and no one blames you that you fell asleep. Sam was just disappointed he couldn't say goodbye. But we didn't want to wake you; you looked so peaceful on Josh's shoulder." I blush slightly, but maintain my composure; I should have known I wasn't dealing with an amateur here. "Oh, no worries, I got to say goodbye to Sam. He took me to breakfast on Friday morning, before it got so crazy here." "Oh right." She nods. "Just you and Sam have breakfast on Friday?" I suppose you're wondering why I am so determined not to tell her about Josh and me. Maybe it's because this thing with us is so new and special and I don't feel like sharing it with anyone who might have something negative to say about it. Even if she is just doing her job and even if her potential concerns might be legitimate. The fact is that I don't think anyone cares about my sex life or Josh's, but I know CJ thinks they would. So it might be best if she doesn't know until my promotion has been announced and I'm no longer Josh's assistant. "Um.,, nope… I guess Josh was there, too." I knit my brow as if in concentration. "Interesting that it was just the three of you." "Why? Did you want to come? I'm sure you could have. Sam wanted to thank me for Thanksgiving. And while I did do the cooking, Josh was the one who generously invited us all into his home, so Sam wanted to thank him, too. That's why it was the three of us." "Of course, just like Samuel; he's the picture of manners, that one. So what do you guys have planned for the rest of the day?" CJ asks with a shrewd smile. "Not much." If you call going back to Josh's place and taking a bath together, not much. Is it time to go yet? I'm afraid I may be turning pink at the thought, so I busy myself with some papers on my desk that just don't seem to want to straighten. And then out of the blue, she just asks me the question. "Are you sleeping with your boss, Donna?" As the words hit me, I stop fiddling with the papers on the desk and feel the blood drain out of me. Because when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so good, does it? It takes me a few seconds, but I regroup and actually meet her questioning gaze. "No… I am not sleeping with my boss, CJ." My eyes narrow slightly as I speak and my voice is tight. Who in the hell does she think she is? And I'm not lying to her. Well, it depends on what she means by sleep. If she means sex, then it's not a lie, and I assume she does. But it you take the literal meaning of the words, well, we have technically slept, together, on the same furniture, at the same time, while touching. "Okay." She must have taken the hint that I wasn't pleased with her line of questioning, from my tone, because she waves her hands apologetically. "Sorry to have to ask, but after Thanksgiving, I thought maybe something... anyway, it's just better for me to know these things than for me to be blindsided with them in the press room. I'll talk to you later." And with that, she takes off down the hall. Now, to get back to why I wasn't lying to the White House Press Secretary or to my friend CJ just then. Well, on Thanksgiving, we just sort of laid around all night. There was a lot of kissing and not a little touching. And since I spent much of the night draped over Josh, it was apparent that he wanted to. I did too, for that matter. But we didn't. It was nice. We talked and cuddled and neither one of us pushed it. And the last two days have just been crazy busy with these blizzards. It was unspoken, but tonight was going to be the night. But now it's clear to me. As much as I want Josh, I can't have him; at least not that way, and at least not until I'm no longer his assistant. That kind of throws off our bathing plans for tonight, doesn't it? *** "Hi." Josh grins at me as he opens the door. He's changed into sweats and from the look on his face I can tell he's excited for the bath… and other activities. Breaking this to him is not going to be fun. "Hi," I reply as I step in the door and start to remove my coat. But before I'm all the way in, he grabs my hand and pulls me into his apartment, shutting the door and pushing me against it in one impressively fluid motion. Suddenly, his mouth is on mine and he's kissing me like we haven't seen each other for weeks, when really it's only been about 23 minutes. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. We've only been doing this for a couple of days and the feel of his warm lips on mine is enough to make my stomach drop to my knees and my legs feel like I'm standing on air. Even though this is the fourth day of kissing, we've been so busy the last two days that we haven't had that much of a chance to get used to this. We have a strict no- kissing rule when we are in the White House. And I'll have you know that over the course of the weekend we managed to break that rule only three and a half times. Don't ask about the half. It involved the Mural Room and Toby threatening to wash his eyes out with soap. It wasn't pretty. But thankfully it was Toby that almost saw something... For whatever reason, Josh didn't seem to be concerned about him. It's not until I feel Josh's hand on my bare back that I realize he's managed to unbutton my shirt… all the way. I guess I was distracted by the way his tongue was dueling with mine. It's quite exquisite, I assure you. I must admit he's a really fantastic kisser, because he just did it again. He distracted me with a sucking-on-the- lower-lip thing and I didn't notice that he'd unhooked my bra. You'd think that would be something I'd realize when it happened, wouldn't you? He runs his hand underneath my shirt and up my spine, which is bare now thanks to the unhooked bra, and I shiver. An honest to goodness, the-man-I-love-is- touching-me kind of shiver. I could stand here forever, if it meant being kissed by him. But the second I feel his hand move around and his thumb graze the underside of my breast, I know it's time to stop. "Wait!" I pull my lips from his and step back. I'm not my lips' favorite person right now; they really enjoyed where they were and what they were doing. "What?" He's panting slightly. How cute it that? Kissing me makes him pant. "We can't." I look down as I wrap my unbuttoned shirt around my torso. The last thing we need while we're trying to have this conversation is for anything to pop out of my loose bra. That might be one distraction we can't overcome. "We can't what?" He looks confused. "What you were about to do." "Divest you of all your clothing?" "Yeah… that… we can't do that." He raises an eyebrow at me. "Well, we can't take a bath with all of your clothes on." "We can't do that, either." I sounded very mouse like when I said that, my voice all high and squeaky. See what talking about taking a bath with Josh does to me? Because I'd forgotten about the bath. Me, Josh, his deep cavernous tub filled with hot water and bubble bath… and because it's too important not to state twice, me and Josh. There are jets. Have I mentioned the jets before? Or the Jacuzzi bubbles? It's a really nice tub. We would have had a really nice time in that tub tonight. It's almost enough to make a girl re-analyze her moral prerogatives. Almost. "We can't take a bath?" His face twists into a smirk. "That's okay. You're probably right. Our first time shouldn't be in a bath. We don't want to make it more complicated than necessary with slippery floors and the possibility of drowning if we get too rambunctious. Our first time should be in a bed." His eyes are drilling into mine. "Where I can make love to you properly." Make love to me properly? He wants to make love to me properly? How am I supposed to function now? I just overheated to the point of melting. He grabs my hand and starts dragging me towards his bedroom. You know, the one with the king-size bed. This is getting out of control and pretty soon I'm not going to be able to stay in control. "We can't," I once again squeak. He stops and looks back at me, while not letting go of my hand. After several seconds, he nods. "You're right. Where are my manners? I should let you come in first. Hang up your coat." He walks the several steps back to the door and picks up my coat off the floor where I dropped it when I came in. "And offer you something to drink and eat. Turkey sandwich?" I take a deep breath and try to ignore the mischievous glint in his eye. If I don't, it will be my undoing. "Josh, we can't do any of it. The proper lovemaking, the divesting of clothing, the bath, any of it... Except for the sandwich. We can do the sandwich." "Why?" He looks at me with a sad forehead crinkle, finally realizing what's happening. I raise my hand that is linked with his and flip my wrist so now our fingers our entwined. "Josh, you're still my boss… and even though I knew that this afternoon when I agreed that we could take a bath tonight. I really hadn't thought about what that meant. And then CJ…" "CJ? What does any of this have to do with CJ?" Josh's voice is tense. "Well, she asked me today, jokingly, if I was sleeping with my boss. And I just can't do it, Josh. I just can't sleep with my boss. There's a stigma there. So I'm afraid that we can't do the proper lovemaking tonight… or any night until after December 23rd." I look up at him with sad eyes. "Even though I want to, more than anything." "Then who cares about all that. Nobody has to know." He turns pleading eyes on me. "I'll know, Josh." He scrubs his hand through his hair. "Even after December 23rd, in the chain of command, I'll still technically be your boss. So what difference does it make?" That makes me giggle slightly. "That argument is not helping your case… unless you don't want to have sex with me… ever." "Right." He shakes his head quickly. "Never mind that. That was my ego talking. You know how big my ego is." "I do," I say matter-of-factly and nod once. He glares at me. That might have been a rhetorical question. "Anyway, I definitely won't be your boss anymore after December 23rd." "So, we'll wait until then." He looks at me intently for a minute and tries one last time. "It's a technicality, Donna. The only two people that are standing here, right now, are you and I. Not a boss and assistant, but just a man who happens to be crazy about an amazing woman. I just want to be with you." I swallow hard and blink rapidly, so as to not start bawling. He can be so incredibly sweet when he's trying to get me into bed. I'll have to remember that he's capable of it, in case he starts taking me for granted one day. I squeeze our linked fingers and reach up and cup his face with the other hand. "I want it too, Josh. But it's a block. A mental block I have. I admit it. And if I didn't have this mental block I would have jumped you years ago." He's about to protest when what I just said hits him. He gulps and then smirks slightly. "You would have?" "Sure." I shrug with a casualness I don't feel. Admitting that I've always wanted Josh is not as easy as it sounded in my head right before I said the words. "You wanted to jump me years ago?" His eyes are wide, but the corners of his mouth are twitching upwards. I roll my eyes at him in order to try and keep his ever- inflating ego in check. "I did." "And this sleeping-with-the-boss mental block thing stopped you?" "It did." "I hate that mental block." He says it heatedly and with an air of disgust. Like my mental block is a Republican trying to push a gay-marriage ban. This makes me giggle a little. "Joooosh, it's really not that long." "What do you mean, it's not that long? It's an eternity!" "It's just a couple of weeks and for most of one of those weeks, you'll be in Japan with the President… and the rest will be so busy with holiday parties and shopping…" "Shopping… great." He leads us over to the couch and flops down. I stand there a second before he takes my hand and pulls me down beside him. "So when would you have jumped me?" He asks a few seconds later as he slips an arm around me and my head settles on his shoulder. "Not going to go there, Joshua." "Come on. Just give me one. Don't you think I deserve that since I'm going to have to wait until December 24th?" "Fine." I shake my head at him with annoyance. I should say mock annoyance, because the fact is, he's never been cuter than when he's asking me when I wanted to jump his bones. "Remember when you were a real ass to me that time-" "Oh, this should be good," he interrupts me. "As I was saying, remember when you were a real ass to me when we were stuck in Iowa?" "Really? Then?" "Yup." "Why?" He says it like he's shocked that I would have wanted to touch him after the way he was acting. "Because we got stuck in the rain. I'm a real sucker for wet Josh." "I see. You couldn't resist me. I was just too attractive." "Apparently I could, and did resist you." He ignores my dig. "When was another time?" "Don't push your luck." "Fine." He's silent for a second. "Donna?" "Mmmm?" "Is this one of those times? Right now?" I hesitate, and then smile, realizing I don't have to hide it anymore. "Yes. This is most definitely one of those times." "'Kay. Just making sure." *** "I want to talk to you about Christmas." What in the heck am I doing? It's only been three days since we declared our thankfulness for each other. You can't talk about a major holiday only a few days after declarations of thankfulness. I busy myself setting a plate with our sandwiches down on the kitchen table before taking a seat. "Christmas?" He tilts back in his chair and arches an eyebrow at me. "Let me guess... You finally want those skis and you think now you've got the leverage to get them." Leaning forward, he brushes his lips across the bridge of my nose. "Well, I certainly won't tell you NOT to get me skis, but that's not what I was getting at." I pause for a second, realizing Josh might take me at my word. And let's face it, I'm over the skiing and I don't want skis from him this Christmas. "On second thought, just so you know, I'm no longer into skis, but I am, however, still into Hawaii." He ignores my gift request and eyes me quizzically. "Then what do you want to talk about?" "Christmas plans." "Okay, what about Christmas plans?" "Do you have any?" "Donna, I'm not sure if it's escaped your notice, but I'm Jewish." "Really, shocking!" "Now you're making fun of me, when you are the one that forgot I'm Jewish." "I really didn't forget. But it's a day we get off from work, so I didn't know if you had plans for that day… or, you know, the day before." "AKA, Christmas Eve?" "Yes." "No, I don't have plans." "Come with me." "Come with you where?" "Home." "Home to your apartment?" "No, home with me to Madison." Aaaand, he's frozen in place. This can't be good, his eyes are wide and his mouth is half open and he's not really moving or speaking. He stays like this for what seems like an eternity, but it's probably more like five seconds. It ends when his mouth starts moving a little, like he wants to speak, but can't. And now, finally, he's stuttering. "Donna, we've been... I don't even know what we've been doing, but…. uh… we've only been doing it for three days. And now, apparently, we're not going to be doing anything more for many, many weeks so, I… um… don't know…" I feel tears sting the back of my eyes. I pushed him too far too fast. What was I thinking? You don't ask a guy to go home with you for Christmas after three days! Even if he did say that out of all things, he was most thankful for you. Although, Josh and I aren't exactly like most couples who've only been-- is dating the word I'm looking for? Because we haven't really been on an official date-- for three days. But official date or no, we may know each other a little bit better than the normal three-day couple. If I'm not careful here, I might really start crying. Partly because I may have just ruined something by freaking Josh out and partly because I'm a little heartbroken he doesn't want to spend Christmas with me. In fact, I should probably turn around so I don't do something stupid, like get emotional in front of him. "That's okay... it was a stupid thought." Feigning nonchalance, I get up and start walking towards the refrigerator. Maybe if I open the door and pretend to look for something, the cold air will keep me from crying. With a neutral voice I say, "Forget I said anything. I just thought… never mind what I thought. It was stupid." Taking a deep breath, I'm about to open the door when I feel two strong arms circle around me and Josh bury his face in my hair. After several long moments he props his chin on my shoulder. "Donna, are you going to be in Wisconsin for Christmas?" I nod slightly, not trusting my voice to speak. "Then if the invitation still stands... that's where I'm going to be, too." "But… I didn't mean to push. It you don't want to, you don't have to… I'll understand." "I know. And I hadn't really thought about going to Wisconsin for Christmas, but I also didn't know you were planning on going." "I wasn't, but then I didn't get home for Thanksgiving…" "Right… And the thought of meeting your family like that is a little overwhelming, but not nearly as overwhelming as the thought of being away from you and not being a part of two days that are so important to you. So I should go. I want to go. I want to be anywhere you are." Again with the sweet; he's just full of surprises. I clear my throat. "Four days." "Hmmm?" "We'll be in Wisconsin for four days, not two days. I was just clearing that up." "Four days!" His voice goes up an octave and he lets go of me. I turn to face him as he asks, "Isn't that kind of a long time?" I shrug. "Not really, not when I haven't seen my family in a year. No Thanksgiving, remember?" "Yeah… I remember." He nods grudgingly and then smiles down at me. "So..." I take a deep breath before meeting his eye. "We've got a holiday plan?" "Yes," he nods before pulling me into a hug. "We've got a holiday plan." The End. |