Author's Note: I've been avoiding writing this chapter. I've read so many stories that start out well and then flop at the end. Here's hoping that I avoid that. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and favorite this story, I'm grateful and flattered.

Disclaimer: They're very much not mine and they never have been.

Chapter 11

Donna shook her head. This was absolutely going to suck. There was no way around it. A big bottle of whiskey was waiting at Josh's apartment for their return later tonight. They were both going to need very large drinks.

Josh sighed.

They were in a cab on their way to Virginia and the Newseum. She had Stanley on speed dial. She had tried to plan for every eventuality she could think of, but her nerves were still on a knife's edge.

Josh sighed again.

She turned to eye his tense face. "Are you OK?"

"Not really, but I'll be fine."

She didn't know what to do other than nod. He slipped his hand into hers and they both felt the tiniest bit better.

The cab slid to a stop and Josh's hand tightened enough to leave a bruise behind.

"You told me not to let you change your mind."

His eyes flicked to hers. "And I meant it."

"OK. Let's do it."

Josh opened his door and Donna paid the cabby and moved across the seat to follow him out.

Once the cab had returned to the flow of traffic, Donna took Josh's hand again. "Where to?" she asked.

He took a few deep breaths and pulled her up the stairs to where Toby had found him that night. Might as well get it over with.

The sun shone down as she followed him. He stopped and stared at a low cement wall. She watched him as he tried to stay in the present with her and not fall back into his vivid memories. "Josh?"

"I couldn't move," he whispered. His fists were white-knuckled and sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. "I knew I needed to get help, but I just couldn't move. Toby found me."

Donna wrapped her arms around his arm, trying to anchor him, and let him continue.

"It had all happened so fast. One minute everything was just as it should have been and the next—All hell broke loose. People were shouting, gunshots were going off everywhere. I just thought I'd been bumped by someone, because I didn't feel the pain right away. When I finally did… I was so scared, Donna. So scared…."

She laid a hand on his cheek and turned him to face her.

"Thank God for Toby."

He gave her a tiny smile. "Yes. After he found me, it's all a big blur. The next thing I knew, I woke up with the President and Leo standing over me."

"Toby was the one who told me, you know?"

He was shocked. He didn't think he'd ever talked to her about what she'd been through that night. When he'd woken up, she's been completely focused on his recovery and maintaining her strict rules. He was ashamed that he'd never thought of what hell it must have been for her.

"No, I didn't."

She nodded. "I was at home and saw on the news that there were shots fired. I drove to the emergency room, but I had forgotten my ID so I had to find a secret service agent who knew me so they'd let me in. When I found everyone in the waiting room, the surgeon had just come to tell them that the President was going to be fine. I was so relieved, I can't even tell you." She took a deep breath. "That was when Toby told me that you'd been hit. At first I didn't understand, or didn't want to understand, and I said, 'With what?'" She laughed, but it was without any real humor. "He said you'd been shot. I asked him if it was serious and he replied that it was critical. The doctor kept on talking, but I didn't hear anything after that. I was in shock."

Josh wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Oddly, listening to her experience of that night made his own and this place easier to deal with. All he wanted was to comfort her and it distanced him from the memories. He moved her over to the wall so she could sit down.

"I don't know how long I sat there. Mrs. Bartlet tried to get me to go home, but I wouldn't. I couldn't, not until I knew that you were going to be OK. She got the doctor to let me in to observation so I could watch while they worked on you."

"God, Donna. You shouldn't have seen that." He was desperately moved that she'd been there, but he also couldn't believe the strength it took to look on while someone you knew was being cut apart.

"I needed to, Josh! What if it was the last chance I got to see you alive? You'd always needed me before, how could you not have needed me then?"

The sheer heart of this woman who had worked by his side for years astounded him. He took hold of her shoulders and met her eyes straight on. "I did need you. I'll always need you. I'll—" Say it, Lyman. Tell her you love her! She gave you the perfect opening! Grow a set! "I'll always love you."

Her blue eyes got very large at this. "You—you will?"

"Forever."

He watched as the blue was covered in a sheen of tears. A look of panic crossed his face. "Oh God, Donna, please don't cry."

She shoved at his shoulders. "When the man you've been in love with for years tells you he'll love you forever, you're fully allowed to cry, Joshua!"

"You've been in love with me for years?" A dimple appeared.

"Yes, you moron!"

"When did you realize?" he said, looking more and more smug by the moment.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I realized when I was standing in observation for an operating room, faced with the very real possibility of never hearing you shout my name again."

The smugness vanished. He held her close and whispered against her ear. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Donnatella."

She slid her fingers into the curly hair at the base of his neck, as she'd longed to do for years. "You're here now. That's all that matters."

Josh finally moved back just far enough to move his hand up to her cheek. He had talked about "these women" to the President and Leo once and now here she was in his arms. He was the luckiest man in the universe because she loved him. After all the asshole things he had done and everything they'd been through, she still loved him. He leaned in closer and brought his lips to hers in a long overdue kiss.

Donna made a slight hum and fully leaned in to him. He tasted of coffee and the mint he'd sucked on in the cab and something else that was just… Josh.

When they finally broke apart, they smiled at each other and looked around themselves at the scene of one of the worst nights of their lives. They had a new memory that could start to push out the old ones. They were done here. Josh stood up and offered Donna his hand.

"Lunch?" he asked as he pulled her to her feet.

"Mmm, yeah. I'm starving."

"Me too. Are you going to steal all my fries?"

"Of course, Josh. Anyway, you really shouldn't eat them. You should have a salad."

"You know I hate salads."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe you could compromise and have a sandwich with lettuce and tomato on it."

"But I can have fries too?"

"Well, I'm going to eat them."

"Why don't you order your own fries?"

"Because I eat yours."

Josh sighed, but this time there was no tension to it at all. "Donna?" he pulled her to a stop.

"Yeah."

"That night… on your way to the emergency room… did you stop for red lights?"

She smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Nope."

He smiled and kept walking.

She wrapped an arm around his waist and smiled up at him. "So… what's next?"

Author's note: So there it is! I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks for sticking with me.