Donna woke a couple hours later to the sound of voices in the living room. Josh was talking to someone. She listened to the hushed tones for a moment as she allowed herself to wake fully. That sounded like...that couldn’t be who it sounded like.

She got up and wandered lazily to the bedroom door, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She cracked open the door and there he was, big as life. She stepped out into the hall. “Hi.”

“Marhaba, Donnatella,” Karim greeted, showing his perfect teeth with his trademark grin.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, genuinely astounded.

“I came to say hello.”

“Hello?”

“A standard form of greeting used between two individuals. We did it just a moment ago. Did I throw you with the Arabic?” Karim  teased.

“No, I just...,” she exhaled at a bit of a loss for words. “Hi.”

Karim laughed. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too.” And it really was.

“Is this one behaving and letting you get your rest?” Karim hooked a thumb at Josh, who was leaning against the wall by the door, a bemused expression on his face.

“He is,” she said solemnly. “He has even given me the weekend off.”

“Do you suppose something’s wrong with him?” Karim said with mock concern.

“For a quite some time now,” Donna said. “But I never look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“You guys see me standing right here, don’t you? Speaking of gift horses,” Josh motioned at the packages on the dining table.

“I hope you had lunch today, so you may enjoy this without your scolding,” Karim joked.

“What is all that?” Donna padded over to the packages.

“A little of everything, including two ‘usuals,’” Karim said. “And red velvet cake, which I expect you to eat. I don’t care if you are watching your sweets. I’m told you’ve skipped your share of meals this weekend, so this will make up for it.”

Donna cut her eyes at Josh. “Thanks, Karim. This smells...incredible. As always.”

“Good. Enjoy it. I’ve got to go,” Karim said.

“You’re not gonna stay and eat with us?”

“No, I’ve got to get back to the store,” Karim said. “Sheila’s filling in for me, and I don’t want to leave her too long, since she’s going to fill in for me tomorrow afternoon as well.”

“What have you got going on tomorrow afternoon?” Donna asked as she poked through the packages.

Karim glanced at Josh. “The memorial service.”

Donna stopped and looked at him. “For...for Fred?”

“He was one of my regulars,” Karim nodded.

“Oh,” Donna said, a little misty-eyed. They’d talked about so many things Friday, but Karim hadn’t come up.

“Actually,” Josh pushed himself away from the wall with his foot. “We haven’t really had the chance to talk about it, but you should know that Karim was really one of the major reasons we figured out where you were. When you didn’t come back for your take-out order and Fred didn’t come in like he usually did, he started to wonder about you and called the office. He was the one who suspected something unusual was going on at the bank. We started comparing notes, which eventually led to me calling Linden.”

Donna looked at Karim, who was now shifting uncomfortably in his place. Without a word, she took a big step forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him on the cheek as she leaned up. “I should have known the two of you would look out for me somehow,” she said in his ear.

“Josh did it,” Karim whispered in her ear. “You have no idea how much that boy cares about you.”

“I do,” she said reflexively.

Karim pulled back and looked at her, wearing what was obviously one of Josh’s sweatshirts, in his apartment, oblivious to the watchful eye Josh was keeping her under, even here, where they were safe. He knew that kind of look. He’d seen it in the mirror when he’d fallen for Sheila nearly two decades ago. He grinned a little and shook his head slightly. “No, you don’t,” he said in a normal tone. “I suppose, one of these days, I’ll end up explaining it to you both.”

“Explaining what?” Josh asked as he popped an onion ring in his mouth.

Karim gave him an appraising look. “That’s a lesson for another day, children. I will take my leave of you now, before my wife’s cooking drives away all my customers.”

Josh walked him to the door. “We’ll see you tomorrow.” Karim nodded and Josh closed the door.

“Get out of my onion rings!” he yelled when he came back.

“No, no, these are my onion rings,” Donna retorted. “It’s my present.”

“It’s our present, Donna. There’s enough food here for two people. Actually,” he continued to rifle through the bags. “There’s enough food for two dozen.”

“Gotta love Karim,” she said around a mouthful of onion rings. “That really was very sweet of him.”

Josh stared for a second. “I see your appetite is still on the rebound,” he said with a little smirk.

She nodded, mouth too full to respond properly.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about Karim coming by,” he said. “I thought maybe it might, you know, bring up...” he rolled his hand a little instead of finishing the sentence. “But I took a chance anyway. He was pretty anxious to see you.”

“And for making a wise decision, I will share with you my present,” she said as she handed him a foil-wrapped package that could only be a Capitol Sub.

They watched CNN and went over the next day’s schedule, and discussed the final steps that would need to be taken that week to implement Phase 2 for Charlie’s teachers after the vote on Tuesday.

Donna finally started yawning around 11, and Josh insisted she turn in. “We’ve got a big week, and I have no plans of taking it easy on your ass,” he said with a smile as he came out of the kitchen with a Vicodin. “Last time for this.”

“Thank God,” Donna groaned as she threw the pill back with some water. “Abbey was right, it did make it easier, especially with it as sore as it was this morning, but I’ll be glad to be done with it.”

Josh looked at her for a second. “You big hypocrite.”

“Excuse me?”

“How many times did you act like I was being completely unreasonable because I didn’t want to take all that mind-altering crap? It was like pulling teeth to get you to take it for two days! And I was on stuff a lot stronger than that, Donna, for a lot longer. You’re a hypocrite, is what I’m saying!”

“I am not a hypocrite,” she stood up and handed the water glass to him. “Your injuries were A LOT more serious than mine, and that stuff wasn’t that much stronger. What was giving you so much trouble was your sensitive sys—”

“Donna, I forbid you to finish that sentence.”

“System.”

“Cute.”

“Indeed, I am.”

“Oh, God,” Josh rolled his eyes. “Just go to bed already, would you? Take my stolen sweatshirt and go to bed.”

Donna shook her head. “I’m gonna stay out here tonight. I want you to take the bed.”

“Donna, you can’t sleep on the couch—”

“You’re not sleeping on this couch tonight, Josh. Your back’s been bothering you all day. You’re not going to be able to walk tomorrow if you do that another night. You take the bed.”

“No.”

“Well, then, it isn’t going to get slept in,” Donna said. “I’ll just sleep right here on the floor if you insist on taking the couch.”

“You are not going to sleep on the floor,” Josh moaned tiredly.

“Sure I am,” she said as she struggled to get down to the carpet, still straining a bit against her stiff muscles. “No, no, you’re right, it’s kinda cold down here. I’ll just sleep on the coffee table, then.” She moved to sweep everything off the table.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Josh said.

“I know, it’s insane,” she said, wide-eyed. “But apparently, the crazy guy who lives here is going to be sleeping on the couch, and the bed thing is not gonna happen, so...”

“I wouldn’t feel right about it,” he said finally, tilting his chin down and raising his eyebrows. “OK? I just wouldn’t feel right about it knowing you were out here.”

“Since when are you the least bit chivalrous?”

“That’s not what it is,” he said, rubbing at his eye and turning away from her. “Donna, please, I want to turn in, too, just don’t fight me on this. Just go in there, and...and you can make up for it by bringing me coffee in the morning.”

“Oh, God, the situation is more dire than I thought,” she said, tapping her index finger against her chin. “OK. I propose a compromise.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’ll take the bed,” she started carefully.

“OK...”

She thought her heart was going to stop. “And so will you?” Oops. She hadn’t meant that to come out as a question.

“What?!?” his voice was at least three octaves higher. “Absolutely not!” He turned away from her and started pacing around the living room, shaking his head and waving his arms. “CJ would kill, well, both of us, but first she’d kill me. Slowly, publicly, painfully.”

“When exactly did CJ become the personification of all evil?”

Josh stopped. “OK, have you met CJ?”

“She only beats up on you because you do stupid things. And this is not a stupid thing, Josh. We’re being practical. We both need to sleep in a bed tonight, and there is a bed available to us, one big enough to accommodate both of us with plenty of room in-between...for God’s sake we’ll call CJ if that’s what you’re so worried about and she can sleep between us, it’s a king-sized bed.”

“We are not calling CJ.” Josh’s voice was low and a little uneven.

“It’s not sordid, Josh. I’m not asking you to take me to bed. OK, technically, I am asking that, but—”

“Donna, I need us to not go there, OK?” Josh said quickly.

Donna put her hands on her hips. “Can we be adult about this? It’s practical. Am I sleeping in a bed or am I sleeping on the balcony?”

“When did this escalate to you sleeping on the balcony?”

“Just then.”

Josh exhaled. This was bad. This was so very bad. And stupid. On the other hand...it could be very, very good. Oh, God. CJ. CJ would see to it that he died.

“CJ—”

“Will never know unless you tell her,” Donna said pointedly.

Josh scrubbed his face with his hands and exhaled slowly. “OK. When she finds out, and my life ends prematurely...when I die too young because this happened and you said no one would ever know, I want you to remember this, this moment right now,” he motioned between them. “And remember that I foretold the sequence of events that will, eventually, unfold.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” she said as she headed toward the bedroom, satisfied with her victory. “The only way she has a right to be mad is if something were going on, and it’s perfectly innocent.”

Maybe for you, Donna, he thought as he followed her to the bedroom. You didn’t realize you’re madly in love with me in the last 24 hours.

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

Donna waited as long as she could stand it before she reached over and nudged Josh gently in the back. He was on his side with his back to her, all the way at the edge of the mattress, and while she had to admit it wasn’t the worst view on the world, she was going nuts.

“What.” It was not a question.

“Are you asleep?”

“If I was I’m sure as hell not now, am I, Donna?”

“I can’t sleep,” Donna said.

“Stop fighting the Vicodin,” Josh said through a yawn.

“I think I’ve built up a tolerance.”

Josh snorted. “You have not built up a tolerance in three days.”

“Maybe not. But I have slept an inordinately large portion of the day. That’s gotta be it.”

“Go. To. Sleep.”

“I think I’m gonna go heat up some of those leftovers—” Donna started.

With a loud sigh and a great deal of theatrics, Josh rolled onto his back and rearranged the covers, eventually folding his arms over his stomach with a flourish. “What.”

“What?” Uncomfortable leaning on her left side, Donna was on her back as well, but her head was turned toward him.

“What do you want to talk about? Let’s just do it. Let’s just get it out there and we can go to sleep.”

Donna eyes got wide. “I didn’t want to talk about anything.”

“Oh, please, Donna.”

“I didn’t. Not anything in particular. I just couldn’t sleep.”

“That is not an ‘I-couldn’t-sleep-let’s-talk-about-anything-under-the-sun’ look. That’s an ‘I-have-something-I-want-to-talk-about-but-I’m-still-working-up-my-courage’ look. Spill it.”

“I wanted to talk about this comforter. I want to talk about what was running through your head when you bought it. It concerns me endlessly, Josh. I think you require supervision while shopping.”

“Donna.”

Donna sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Promise you won’t get mad.”

“Why would I get mad? What the hell are you about to accuse me of?” Josh said.

“Nothing,” Donna said. “Just promise.”

Josh looked at her for a second. “Fine.”

“Did you...did you and Sam watch me give my statement this afternoon?”

For a split-second he considered lying. But he knew she’d be able to tell. “Yeah.” She turned her head to look at him. Time to own up. “Yeah, we did.”

She looked back at the ceiling. “OK.”

“I’m sorry, Donna. I’m sorry if you didn’t want us to. But we didn’t think you’d ever tell us everything otherwise, and we...” he trailed off. Time to let Sam off the hook. “I felt like you’d never tell us everything. And I didn’t know how to help you if I didn’t know. We didn’t do it to...to invade your privacy or anything.”

Donna was quiet for a moment, then turned her head back toward him. “You guys think I’m pretty far gone, don’t you?” she said quietly.

Josh rolled onto his side to face her, and reached up to squish the pillow under his chin. “You don’t look like you’re going anywhere to me.”

“Don’t make jokes.”

“I don’t think you’re far gone,” he said. “I don’t think Sam thinks you’re far gone. Listen, you’ve gotta cut us a little slack, we had a tough weekend,” he said with a trace of a smile. “We spent most of Friday night scared out of our wits for someone we love and we may just be having a little trouble shaking it is all. It’s just...a little residual fear, you know, that was left over.”

Donna was quiet for a second. “Someone you love?”

Shit. Did I say “I”? No. “We.” I said “we.” Didn’t I? She’s still looking at me. Say something, dumbass. “Someone who, on occasion...rare occasion, but on occasion nonetheless, has been known to do things that some might define as slightly loveable.”

She smiled at that, but then grew serious.” I think I’m that far gone.”

He was a little taken aback at her admission. “Yeah?”

“Josh,” she said strongly. “Yesterday I had a—”

“Yesterday’s over,” Josh cut in. “You can’t keep a tally of this stuff, Donna, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Yesterday’s over. What else you got?”

“I cried about 37 times in an hour while giving my statement today,” she offered.

“You cried. You didn’t lose it, you cried. You think that qualifies you as far gone?”

“I think crying 37 times in an hour, on top of crying for an hour after we got back here, on top of everything else, yes I think it might.”

“What ‘everything else’?” Josh said exasperatedly.

Donna heaved a heavy sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. “Earlier with the...the whole round and round out there, about who was gonna sleep in here? I may have...I didn’t want to sleep alone, OK?”

Josh stared at her, mouth slightly agape.

“I just...I was afraid to spend the night alone.” She looked back up at the ceiling. “Tell me that doesn’t qualify as far gone. I feel...I feel absolutely out of order. Broken, but without the knowledge of how to fix the problem.” She shook her head a little in disgust, and found herself fighting tears yet again.

She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked at Josh. They stared at each other for a moment, before she turned to lie against his side without putting any pressure on her shoulder. He draped an arm around her shoulders and was quiet until he felt her breathing even out.

“First of all,” he said so quietly it was almost a whisper. “Don’t ever feel like you have to trick me into something like that. CJ or no CJ, we’ll do what you need to do until you’re over it. How many nights did you spend in here after Rosslyn?”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“Because I did it so I’d hear you if you needed anything during the night.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You did it because I was afraid to be alone at first. A little.”

Donna turned her head up from his shoulder so she could see his face. “You were?”

Josh nodded. “There was always someone there at the hospital. Then that first night we were back here, I was fine when I went to bed, and you were right out on the couch, but...I had the first dream that night and when I woke up I was a little panicked, and I was too short of breath to call out for you. So I tricked you into thinking it was your idea.”

“OK. As long as we’re telling truths?”

“Yeah.”

“I think I actually tricked you into thinking you tricked me.”

Josh chortled softly. “Alright, we’ll call that even. Except we’re still gonna do this for you this time around, OK?”

Donna smiled, even though she knew Josh couldn’t see it. “OK. Was there a second of all?”

“That was the second of all. It’s your turn. It’s your turn to have a little down time, a little time to regroup. It’s your turn to let somebody take care of things for you while you have the nutty whenever you damn well feel like it. Me, Sam, CJ, Toby, everybody...none of us expect you to just pretend this never happened. If you were able to do that I’d be even more worried, Donna. Just...I know it’s frustrating. Promise me you’ll give it some time before you get too fed up with yourself.”

Silence.

“I don’t hear you promising.”

“Promise,” she mumbled sleepily.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered.

“This comforter is seriously bad, Josh.”

“Ahkay. Go to sleep.”

“’Kay,” she mumbled, and she was out before she had time to realize that he’d cajoled her into silence.