January 20th, 1:17PM

Donna

"Thief!" Josh Lyman bellows as he walks into my new office. My assistant, Bridget, is trailing after him. I wave her off. I had been expecting this.

"Hello there, honey. How's your first day?" I ask him sweetly.

"Oh-ho-ho. Donnatella Moss, I'm not playing into your little game. I cannot be distracted. You're a thief!" Josh is loud but the twinkle of amusement in his eyes make my heart flutter.

"My day is going just wonderfully. I'm in this wonderful new office- it might be bigger than yours, you know." I watch as Josh takes a second to look around. He purses his lips for a second then I see the side of the his lips twitch. And then he's beaming at me.

"You've come along way, Miss Moss." He says this in an uncharacteristic Josh low volume. I get up from behind my desk and soon we're in one another's arms. I'd been waiting for this moment. We'd had a nice few seconds in bed this morning but it'd been broken by an NSC official knocking on the door with Josh's morning briefing. From there, Josh was in work mode. I couldn't blame him. It was an exciting day. Sure, we had the quiet moments together watching Santos be sworn in but that was rather public. We'd also walked into the White House together but that had been with Sam and Annabeth. And we'd split off without much recognition of each other. I was okay with that- we weren't boyfriend and girlfriend here. (Truthfully, the terms felt more juvenile than what we have but significant other sounds too formal.) But now in this private moment, in my office, we could be those people. I knew we wouldn't do this in Josh's office- it felt too much like Leo's still. We wouldn't do this where other people were around- even if it was just Sam or Annabeth. But here, in my office, in the expanse of space between my conference table and my desk, we could stand and hold each other and that was more than enough.

"I'm proud of you. I don't know if that's condescending but I want you to know that I'm proud of you and I think you're going to be amazing." Josh whispers in my ear. I feel tears prick at my eyes and try to blink them away. Even now, Josh Lyman could not deal with me crying.

"Thank you. It means a lot." I whisper back to him once I've regained control over my voice. We pull apart and smile at each other. I didn't think we'd be these lovesick fools- yet, here we stand.

"Donna, Donna, Donnatella."

"Joshua, Josh, Josh, Josh." I peck him on the lips between the words for punctuation.

"No, no, no. I told you. I can't be distracted by your feminine wiles! You stole Margaret from me." He accuses me. I smile at him innocently.

"I merely presented her with an opportunity for upward mobility, Joshua. She's been assistant to the Chief of Staff for eight years. You can find someone else for your typing and filing." He groans, knowing he can't say much on this topic without digging a bit of a hole.

"But now I have to interview people for it! On top of all the other interviews I have to do!" He complains, flopping down into one of the conference table chairs.

"Poor thing." I tell him unsympathetically.

"What do ya have her doing anyways?"

"She's the Director of Special Projects and Policy for the First Lady." I inform him. "Ya know, you could ask that Jack kid from campaign advance."

"Who? Oh, that guy. He's… Huh. That's an okay idea…" I can see the wheels turning in his head.

"Where are you supposed to be right now?" I ask him.

"Trying to get rid of me?" He grins up at me.

"No, of course not. It's just that you're such an important and powerful man that I'm sure there's something you should be doing other than hounding your girlfriend about her staff choices." I smile at him too so he knows I'm not actually bothered.

"I'm good til the President is back from the parade. Then Sam, Lou and I are meeting him in the Oval. We're gonna make all the senior staff and junior staff stuff official. And go over what our daily meetings entail." He informs me.

"They should be back within the next twenty five minutes… I was going to talk to you about senior staff and meetings actually."

"Yeah? Are we making this an actual chief of staffs meeting now?"

"Chiefs of staff actually. And yes. I think that's a good idea."

"We could just make out."

"Joshua."

"Ah-kay."

I go back over to my desk and he follows, sitting in the chair next to my desk. I pull out my notebook.

"So ya know how Dr. Bartlet's staff functioned basically separately from the West Wing? Like she had a large staff." I began.

"Uh huh."

"And she had her own policy initiatives. I don't think Helen is Abbey Bartlet. But she's not Lady Bird Johnson either. I want to find a middle ground. I'm going to keep our staff here small and work more closely with your staff."

"Sounds good to me. I can keep an eye on you."

"Funny man. Now stop flirting, I'm being serious."

"Yes ma'am… What exactly does your staff do? How many people are you thinking?"

"I want my own speechwriters- Annabeth and I are hiring them. Annabeth will function as our press secretary, as you know, but she'll also technically be our director of communications. But I want to feed our communications and policy stuff through you guys mostly. Margaret will work as the event planner basically for any specific First Lady special projects and initiatives. Nancy is coming over here to be the First Lady's executive assistant. So Margaret will make the event happen, Annabeth will make sure Helen sounds and looks good, and Nancy will make sure she's there."

"And what are you doin'?"

"I'm working on policy stuff in collaboration with you all. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. The morning senior staff meeting, I want in."

"Oh, sure. Yeah. Bartlet kept it just to me, CJ, Toby and Sam and Leo but I think we're going to broaden it a bit. Basically have a rep from each department. So obviously Sam and I- then Lou for communications, whoever we end up getting for press secretary, Edie and Amy for political and legislative affairs. Ainsley for legal advice then Baker's chief of staff when he's confirmed and of course, you. Which my only problem with is you'll be distracting but I'll get over it."

"I thought I told you to stop flirting." The impact of this statement is lessened by the fact I can't stop smiling. He's so cute. And I love this job already.

"Well, we both need to repeat some stuff. I know I said it but I am proud of you. Not just because your office is bigger than mine. But I like watching your mind work with this. And I know you didn't want to work under me again but I'm really glad we're still going to be working together."

Oh, screw professionalism. I'm going to make out with my boyfriend in my new big office for the next ten minutes.