Donna didn’t even remember what she’d packed last night, but CJ must have been a big help, because she had a pretty decent variety of things to wear. She hung up a suit that had been packed and dressed in khakis and a black turtleneck sweater. She’d hurt her shoulder so badly trying to get into the sweater that she’d yelped out loud, and when she moved certain ways it rubbed against the bandage and hurt a little, but she didn’t want to wear something where the bandage was easily visible. The turtleneck worked great and the sleeves were kind of long, so they covered her wrists well. She’d just rather not have to go through the explanation over and over again.

She kept digging in the duffle bag and smiled when she found a cosmetics bag packed with the essentials. She dabbed on a little makeup and found she felt almost normal.

Josh had insisted she take his “good coat” again, the long black one she wore last night. They’d stopped at the Starbucks on Pennsylvania for more coffee, and Josh forced a muffin on her against her will, saying her “arguably” one piece of French toast wasn’t enough to eat. She promised to work on eating it at the White House and pretended not to see his concerned face at her lack of appetite.

The Northwest Lobby was pretty empty at lunchtime on a Saturday. Donna had gotten a little agitated when the Secret Service had insisted she be signed in as a guest without her White House ID, even though Ron had met her at the security desk himself to issue her temporary credentials. The gate had phoned ahead and said Josh and Donna had arrived. She’d let go of her anger altogether when he, very simply, told her that he was relieved to see that she had come through the incident so well.

The bullpen was mostly empty, but there had been the expected impromptu round of well wishes from the people who were there, which included Ryan, much to the astonishment of both Donna and Josh. After they’d gotten that out of the way and Donna no longer felt her face burning, Josh had gone into his office and Donna had started flipping through her planner, which she’d left on her desk. The nagging feeling that she was forgetting something wouldn’t go away. No appointments. None for her, none for Josh. Hmm.

“What are you doing?” Josh had come out of his office and was peering over her shoulder.

“I keep thinking there was something going on that we forgot. That I forgot. But there’s nothing on the calendar, nothing we didn’t do anyway,” she said, flipping back to Friday and forward to Sunday.

“Told you.”

“Yes, you did. You’re very smart,” she supplied.

“I…yes. I am very smart. What —”

“What time do they wanna do the thing tomorrow?” Donna asked, looking at Sunday in the date book.

“The...Linden? About 1,” Josh said.

Donna nodded and made a note. She was dreading it, but there was something kind of nice about knowing that by tomorrow night, the worst of it would be over.

“What are you doing right now?” Josh asked.

“Nothing at the moment, I was gonna check my e-mail—”

“’Kay, let me rephrase the question. What are you not doing?”

“What am I…not doing?” she asked.

“What are you not doing right now?”

Donna just looked at him.

“That you’re supposed to be doing?”

“You said I didn’t have to work, and I’m holding you to it,” Donna countered.

“That you promised you’d do?” he prompted again.

She stared at him for another two seconds before it clicked.

“Oh. I’m not eating my muffin that I didn’t want in the first place,” she remembered.

“Yes, ma’am.” He pulled the muffin from behind his back and held it in front of him.

“You’re a control freak, Josh. Do you know that you’re a tremendous control freak?” she accused, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face at his attentiveness.

“Yes, I do, and I like me that way. I’m gonna go meet with Leo. You're gonna talk to CJ?” he said, backing out of her cubicle.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I’m not gonna be in with him that long, I just wanna catch him up on a couple things,” Josh said, still backing up. “No working, Donna, I mean it. Go see CJ and eat your muffin.”

“All right, already!”

“OK, fine,” he said, turning at his usual faster-than-light speed, and completely trampling Leo as he came around the corner.

“You’re like an out-of-control freight train, you know that?” Leo told him after he’d managed to untangle himself from Josh. “You’re just the kind of person who has chaos in their wake. You walk by and people fall down.”

“I was just on my way to your office,” he said.

“Yeah, well, I’m not there,” Leo said.

“Yeah, I can see that. What did you need?” Josh asked.

“Nothing,” Leo said.

“Nothing?” Josh acted as if the word weren’t English.

“Nah.”

“You were just...passing through?” Josh asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Well I wanted to update you on the—”

“Oh, and I wanted to tell you that you’re completely demented and that I ought to fire you, but instead I’m just going to hold you down and offer Donna the opportunity to kick you in the head repeatedly,” Leo interrupted.

“What the hell?”

“Ron told me Donna had signed in under a temporary pass and I told him he was crazy,” Leo started. “No way in hell was she in here after I’d sent your intern over to your apartment and told you that you could work from home today. No way did you drag her ass in here. But here you are, and I see that in fact, Ron was right and I owe him an apology. But before I go do that, I’m gonna hold you down while Donna KICKS YOU IN THE HEAD!”

“Leo!” Josh shouted.

“Repeatedly.”

At her desk, Donna giggled. Leo kept a straight face as he turned to her.

“You wanna do it here or should I drag him outside where it’s nice and cold?” he asked, hooking a thumb at Josh. “Oh, are those steel-toed shoes? Because that’s really what I’d recommend.”

“I’m not working,” Donna said appreciatively.

“Then why are you here?” Leo spread his arms.

“Tired of me, Leo?”

“Nah, but I was depending on you to keep him outta my hair for the day,” Leo said as he stepped closer. “How ya doing, kid?”

“I’m good,” she nodded. “I’m fine.”

“You look OK,” Leo said.

“I feel OK,” Donna replied.

“OK,” Leo said with a smile. “Josh said you had a little thing with a ...” he motioned at his shoulder.

“Yeah.”

“Ouch,” Leo said sympathetically.

“Yeah, it’s pretty stiff today, but it’s OK,” she said. “And he’s not making me work, in fact, he tried to get me to stay and take it easy, but I was getting a bit of cabin fever. He’s actually been very sweet.”

“Who?” Leo asked.

“Okay, you know what—” Josh piped up behind him.

“Really, he made me promise not to work, he’s been force feeding me breakfast foods all day,” Donna said, waggling the muffin at Leo. “I’m just gonna talk to CJ about the press thing and hang out for a while.”

“I’m sorry about the press,” Leo said. “They got the name from the police reports and made short work of it from there. We didn’t think they’d get it this fast, but CJ will be able to keep them off of you for the most part.”

“Hey, there was nothing you guys could have done about it,” Donna said. “If it hadn’t been for everybody at the hospital last night, I would have had to deal with it then.”

“Okay. Well, CJ’s gonna take care of you on that, so don’t worry too much about it. Did you call your folks?” Leo asked.

“Yeah,” Donna said wearily. “I honestly don’t know which was worse, last night or this morning,” she joked lamely.

“When you’re a parent, Donna, you’ll understand,” Leo said, touching her elbow lightly. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do. I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks, Leo.”

“You want to tell me about Hooper?” Leo asked as he walked back by Josh.

Josh fell into step with him, “You know, I’m perfectly nice. I can be nice.”

“Since when?” Leo asked as they passed through the double doors on the way back to his office.

**************

Donna began to make her way over to CJ’s office, but was stopped by several people along the way who wanted to ask how she was. She was already tired of answering the questions, but, truth be told, it was nice to know people cared so much.

Ginger was working in the communications bullpen when she walked through.

“Hey,” she said when she looked up and saw Donna approaching. “You OK?”

“Other than having answered that question 50 times, I’m fine,” Donna said, leaning against the edge of the desk.

“Sorry,” Ginger winced. “I thought NOT mentioning it would be just...weird.”

“It’s OK, I just...it’s awkward, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Ginger replied sympathetically. “Give it a few days, it’ll die down.”

“Not before it hits the papers, though,” Donna moaned.

“The media have a 30-second memory, Donna,” Ginger said. “By Monday morning you’ll be old news.”

“Somehow I don’t think it’ll be quite that fast, but I’m looking forward to that time.”

“Did you call your mom?”

“Yeah.”

“And how did that go?”

Donna scrunched her nose up and shook her head a little.

“Sorry. Give her some time, she’ll calm down,” Ginger said.

“I just don’t know why I’ve gotta be the one with the crazy mother,” Donna said, only half kidding.

“Donna, I don’t know a single person with a mother who isn’t crazy.”

“Josh’s mom isn’t.”

“Well, that’s just because Josh is crazy. He inherited all her craziness and somehow left her normal.”

“No argument there. Where’s Sam?” Donna said, noticing the light in his office was off.

“He had an errand, I think.”

“Police station?”

“I didn’t know if you knew,” Ginger said.

“Josh told me. I’m gonna go talk to CJ.”

“OK. You get any good drugs at the hospital?” Ginger joked as Donna walked away.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Cool.”

Toby was obviously in “composing” mode in his office so she didn’t stop in, but she waved a little as she walked by his window, and he gave her a look that almost passed for a little smile before going back to squinting at his legal pad.

She’d peeked warily around the corner as she approached CJ’s office, making sure no members of the press were hanging around outside her door.

Carol’s face softened when she saw Donna coming. “Hey. Don’t let me hurt you,” she said as she reached out to give Donna a hug.

“Just stay to the right,” Donna advised. Carol held on for just a second too long and both women found themselves becoming misty-eyed.

“Your shoulder OK?” Carol asked as she pulled back and blinked a few times to get her tear ducts cooperating again.

“It’s just stiff and sore,” Donna said. “I’d switched to Advil but I think I’m gonna go back to the good stuff when I can take something again.”

“Had enough of the heroics, huh?”

“More than enough.”

“Well, since you’re sore I won’t kick your ass for being the reason I’m in here working on a Saturday,” Carol joked.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t be here anyway,” Donna teased.

“Yeah, but before it would’ve been because I had no life, now it’s because I have to be,” Carol moaned.

“You wanna let them write the stories about you and I’ll assist CJ?” Donna asked with a glint in her eye.

“No deal. Hey, don’t worry about it though. CJ’s already been working the major outlets. They’ll stay pretty much out of your way after the first few days. This’ll die down quick enough,” Carol reassured.

“That’s what everybody keeps saying,” Donna said.

“How did your mom take it?”

“Like my mom.”

Carol grimaced in understanding. “She’ll come around. She always does.”

Donna snorted.

“OK, she hardly ever does, but in a few days, the girls will get you so drunk you won’t care,” Carol said.

“Now that sounds like a plan,” Donna said.

“And CJ’s got plans of her own for dealing with the press. She knows what she’s doing. Trust me, this is not gonna be as bad as you think. You’re one of her own, and she’ll look after you.” Carol said as she picked up the receiver. “You want Donna?” she said into the phone.

CJ got up from behind her desk as Donna opened the door.

“Hey. You look better.”

“Thanks, I feel a little better.”

“I can tell,” CJ said.

After a moment, Donna finally just blurted out, “Still no word on when the awkward silences should subside though.”

CJ laughed in understanding. “It’ll happen. Sit.”

They both took up residence on the couch, Donna wincing a little when she leaned back.

“Shoulder’s pretty sore, huh?”

“Yeah, and it’s starting to shoot up my neck a little. I tried to switch to Advil because I didn’t want to be so out of it, but I think that may have been a little too soon,” Donna said as she turned sideways and leaned her back against the arm of the couch so she didn’t have to turn her neck to look at CJ.

“When will the Advil wear off?”

“Couple hours, I’m going to try to wait until then,” Donna said.

“OK,” CJ forced a smile.

“So…” Donna started.

“So?”

“Josh filled me in on most of it…”

“Oh. Right. The press,” CJ shifted positions a little and flipped a mental switch that turned her back into White House Press Secretary mode. “Steve came to me after the gaggle this morning. The night editor recognized Sam pretty clearly in one of the photos from last night, which was unavoidable unless we’d all donned ski masks.”

CJ froze mid-thought. She hadn’t even thought about the implications of that metaphor until the words had already left her lips. She stared at Donna wide-eyed, unable to say anything else.

Donna rolled her eyes, “For God’s sake CJ, they weren’t wearing ski masks!”

“That was incredibly…I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about—”

“What did I just say?” Donna interrupted her. “It’s fine. It didn’t bother me. Move on.”

CJ let out the breath she’d been holding, but the tension in her body stayed put. “Yeah, um…anyway, after they knew Sam they were able to pick out the partly obscured faces of Josh and me, so they waited on the incident report, and got the names of everyone involved early this morning. They showed the list to Steve and of course, it didn’t take long for your name to jump out at him.”

“Yeah,” Donna said, a hard edge creeping into her voice.

“He didn’t spring it on me, he told me after the gaggle,” CJ said.

“What a prince,” Donna said sarcastically.

CJ took another breath. “Anyway,” she reached behind her and grabbed a file off the corner of her desk. “This is what I’ve come up with.” She handed Donna a piece of paper.

Donna looked down at it, but with all the talk about the press, she was just a little too addled to concentrate. She handed the statement back to CJ. “Just tell me what…”

“It’s simple, short. It confirms that you were, in fact, involved in the incident yesterday because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Explains that your White House connections were coincidence and did not become an issue. I’ll tell them you sustained minor injuries, were treated in the Emergency Room at GW and released the same night. Your right to privacy will prevent me from going into deeper detail on your injuries,” she looked up and Donna nodded. “What else…that you’ll be giving a statement to authorities and working with them in the coming weeks and months but that I obviously can’t comment on an ongoing investigation. I’ll make some snide remark about Josh being a slave driver and that we think we’ll see you Monday, but that doesn’t commit you if you decide you want to take a day or two. The President extends his appreciation to everyone involved who worked—”

“The President?” Donna said stiffly. “CJ, this wasn’t an official thing, I can’t believe we’re even commenting on it in the first place. You don’t have to bring the President into it—”

“I know. He wanted to. He wanted to thank everyone who helped.”

“When did you talk to him about this?” Donna asked curtly.

“Met with him this morning in the Oval. Not just about you, but I told him we’d be making a statement and he said he wanted to extend his thanks, so that’s what we’re going to do,” CJ had tried to be kind but firm with that last part.

“Okay,” Donna said flatly.

“That’s about it,” CJ said. Donna didn’t make an effort to move or avert her glare, so CJ tried to bring the subject back to something more comfortable. “Did you sleep OK last night?”

“Yeah,” Donna tried to soften her tone but it didn’t work very well.

“I…know you might not want to go back to your apartment right away, and anyway, I think it might be nice to be coddled for a few days. Be waited on hand and foot for a little while,” CJ smiled.

“Yeah, it might,” Donna relaxed a little and smiled. “He was really great last night, CJ. I mean, you all were, and thanks for your help with the packing by the way, the makeup just did wonders for my mood. But Josh…I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Told you it scared the hell out of him,” CJ said.

“Yeah,” she said softly. Her left sleeve had worked its way up a little and she was picking at the bandage on her left wrist. “To be honest, I think it kinda scared the hell out of me, too. I mean, a little.”

“Well,” CJ said, trying not to stall too much on that emotional moment. She knew Donna wouldn’t want to break down at work. “If you don’t want to go home, you’ve got a standing invitation over at my place. We’ll give each other pedicures, eat raw cookie dough, call the boys at 3 in the morning. It’ll be like a slumber party.”

Donna giggled, much to CJ’s relief. “Thanks. I haven’t even thought about when I’m going back home, and Josh said I could stay for a while. We packed enough for a few days anyway, so I guess that’s one thing on the to-do list that can wait for a little while.”

Donna hadn’t picked up on the subtext. CJ felt like she shouldn’t push the subject further, but she had major concerns about the image it might project if it came to public light that she was staying at Josh’s place. She’d bring it back up later, had to bring it back up later, but Donna still seemed to be on shaky footing, so she let it go for now.

“And you’ve told everybody that you want to know before I give the statement. Your family and friends?”

“I’ve told my parents, and my dad is going to tell my extended family,” Donna said, still picking at her wrist. “Everyone else can get in line.”

“Well, there’s nothing too alarming in the report, and we make it clear that you’re fine,” CJ said. “You still don’t want to do interviews, I take it?”

Donna shook her head.

“Okay. I’ll put something at the end about respecting your privacy as you move on from this…ordeal and that you don’t wish to say anything else at this time. That should pretty much keep all the outlets that have a rep in the room off your back. You might get the stray question asked here and there from the other outlets or an overzealous jerk at one of the major papers. Just tell them you don’t have anything to say and keep walking. Not ‘no comment,’ that makes you sound like you’re hiding something. Say that you don’t have anything to say to the press. It might not be a bad idea to have someone with you when you’re out and about for the next week or so. They’re a lot less likely to stay on you if you have company than if you’re alone,” CJ advised.

“Okay,” Donna said, tugging her left sleeve back down as Carol opened the door.

“Donna, the First Lady would like to see you in the Residence when you’re done,” Carol said.

Donna smiled ruefully. “Should’ve seen that coming.”

“Yeah,” CJ and Carol replied together. “We’re done,” CJ said. “Go see her.”

“Okay,” Donna accepted the hand CJ offered and to help her up. “Hey, is there anything we’re missing? Anything we haven’t addressed?”

“No, I don’t think so. Why?” CJ asked.

“Nothing, it’s just…I have this feeling I’m forgetting something. I don’t know, I can’t thank what it could be, but I can’t shake the feeling.”

“It’ll come to you eventually,” CJ said. “Go see Abbey.”

“Yeah,” Donna said as she headed out the door. “Hey, thanks for all the…” she gestured at the folder in CJ’s hands.

“Forget about it. Now, shoo.”

Donna waved and headed toward the residence. The theme for the day was quickly becoming, “The sooner you get it started, the sooner it will be over with.”