Fic: Rock'n'Roll
Title: Rock'n'Roll
Genre: TWW (J/D)
Rating: PG
Prompt: 04.13
Spoilers/Note: They are not mine. I claim the right to spoil through the end of the series. Deal with it.
During the first campaign, no one really pays attention to her except Josh. Sam says "Please" and "Thank you." CJ and Leo look at her questioningly when she anticipates what documents Josh will need in a meeting and rushes into closed-door meetings to thrust them into his hands just as everyone is sitting down. Toby pretends he doesn't notice her and Donna pretends he doesn't end up sitting in her corner of the office when he's blocked and wants to smack his head against the wall because the words just won't come to him.
By the time they make it to the White House, the President has given his approval in the form of a copy of Democracy in America, and Leo leaves a copy of a Mozart CD on the pile of stuff he knows is Josh's with a post-it on it that says "Donna - try and stay sane."
By the time the midterms hit, people know her a little better. She only drinks coffee when she's working on 10 hours of sleep over the last three days. Interns and aides alike scatter when they see her running through the bullpen towards loud noises (inevitably from Josh causing trouble) or away from the Oval Office (usually towards ominous silence in the Deputy Chief of Staff's office). She plays Mozart in the morning before anyone else is there and the window above her desk features snapshots of an overly blonde family and the raucous family she's inherited since she moved to DC.
People learn to play Donna to get what they want from Josh - and it hurts the first few times she realizes what's happened. But she's tough. Josh finds her sitting at her desk one evening, wearing a stunning red dress and asks her what's wrong? She says the lobbyist who asked her out a week ago canceled their date when Josh bumped his meeting with the guy because of more pressing issues. The weight of his hand on her shoulder is comforting and she misses the look of fierce, protective anger on his face as he quietly strokes her back once before turning back towards his office, already plotting his revenge.
By the time Danny leaves for good and Sam's internal clock is back on California time, Donna's become such an institution in the White House that Abbey Bartlett hears through the grapevine on the rare occasion Donna misses work and calls over to the microscopic apartment in Logan Circle to see if Donna would like some chicken soup. When Mozart is replaced with a Kiss CD, no one notices because Donna only plays music between 6 and 8 AM when only a few people are at work and even fewer are in her immediate vicinity.
But Josh notices. And Leo notices. And on some level only the Sisterhood understands, CJ and Margaret and Carol notice too. Kate Harper asks her if she's okay and she brushes her off. CJ tries but Donna is still furious about too much. Josh notices but is still covering up so many different levels of his own pain that he can't unwrap another bandaid. Leo is too far away in a hospital bed and then a hotel bed and he knows but he's not sure what to do about it.
The closer they get to Christmas, the louder "I wanna rock and roll all night" gets every morning. Then one morning, Donna makes a crack about peppermint candy and Josh feels like he was slapped in the face. He notices that the pictures have been whittled down to a select few on her window and her filing cabinet that used to house extra clothes, a toothbrush and a range of energy bars is bar. Suddenly, she's gone.
The bullpen is quiet when he walks in the next morning. He never thought he'd miss the sound of KISS at 6 AM.
Genre: TWW (J/D)
Rating: PG
Prompt: 04.13
Spoilers/Note: They are not mine. I claim the right to spoil through the end of the series. Deal with it.
During the first campaign, no one really pays attention to her except Josh. Sam says "Please" and "Thank you." CJ and Leo look at her questioningly when she anticipates what documents Josh will need in a meeting and rushes into closed-door meetings to thrust them into his hands just as everyone is sitting down. Toby pretends he doesn't notice her and Donna pretends he doesn't end up sitting in her corner of the office when he's blocked and wants to smack his head against the wall because the words just won't come to him.
By the time they make it to the White House, the President has given his approval in the form of a copy of Democracy in America, and Leo leaves a copy of a Mozart CD on the pile of stuff he knows is Josh's with a post-it on it that says "Donna - try and stay sane."
By the time the midterms hit, people know her a little better. She only drinks coffee when she's working on 10 hours of sleep over the last three days. Interns and aides alike scatter when they see her running through the bullpen towards loud noises (inevitably from Josh causing trouble) or away from the Oval Office (usually towards ominous silence in the Deputy Chief of Staff's office). She plays Mozart in the morning before anyone else is there and the window above her desk features snapshots of an overly blonde family and the raucous family she's inherited since she moved to DC.
People learn to play Donna to get what they want from Josh - and it hurts the first few times she realizes what's happened. But she's tough. Josh finds her sitting at her desk one evening, wearing a stunning red dress and asks her what's wrong? She says the lobbyist who asked her out a week ago canceled their date when Josh bumped his meeting with the guy because of more pressing issues. The weight of his hand on her shoulder is comforting and she misses the look of fierce, protective anger on his face as he quietly strokes her back once before turning back towards his office, already plotting his revenge.
By the time Danny leaves for good and Sam's internal clock is back on California time, Donna's become such an institution in the White House that Abbey Bartlett hears through the grapevine on the rare occasion Donna misses work and calls over to the microscopic apartment in Logan Circle to see if Donna would like some chicken soup. When Mozart is replaced with a Kiss CD, no one notices because Donna only plays music between 6 and 8 AM when only a few people are at work and even fewer are in her immediate vicinity.
But Josh notices. And Leo notices. And on some level only the Sisterhood understands, CJ and Margaret and Carol notice too. Kate Harper asks her if she's okay and she brushes her off. CJ tries but Donna is still furious about too much. Josh notices but is still covering up so many different levels of his own pain that he can't unwrap another bandaid. Leo is too far away in a hospital bed and then a hotel bed and he knows but he's not sure what to do about it.
The closer they get to Christmas, the louder "I wanna rock and roll all night" gets every morning. Then one morning, Donna makes a crack about peppermint candy and Josh feels like he was slapped in the face. He notices that the pictures have been whittled down to a select few on her window and her filing cabinet that used to house extra clothes, a toothbrush and a range of energy bars is bar. Suddenly, she's gone.
The bullpen is quiet when he walks in the next morning. He never thought he'd miss the sound of KISS at 6 AM.