Title: Hunted (1/?)
Disclaimer: We claim these characters in the name of Waldorf and Statler, however we sadly do not make any money off of them.
Authors: The writing team of Waldorf and Statler... doesn't really matter who's who.
Rating: R
Time: Picks up with Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Category: Angsty AU that's bordering on suspense

A/N: Speaking of Rick, we'd like to thank him for beta-ing this for us. (I know! We have a beta! We really needed one.)



1.

"DONNA!"

"Oh, they're playing my song..." I sigh in the bullpen to no one in particular. I get up from my chair and make my way to Josh's office where he's rummaging through his desk.

"I can't find the..."

"It's right on the corner." I say pointing to a blue folder. He stops and blows out a breath as he sees it right in front of his face.

"It's like they have invisibility shields around them or something." He picks up the file and opens it up to review it for the first of many meetings this afternoon. This is going to be a long day. I've already canceled my tentative plans for tonight in anticipation. I know he's going to need me at the polling bank.

"I think you're just trying to figure out reasons to call me in here." I smile and bounce around his desk a bit. He pushes the chair back and sighs in frustration.

"What the hell is wrong with this thing?"

"It wobbles."

"Yes, thank you. Are you going to call someone for it?"

"You were serious about that?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Yes, I will call someone for it." I reply.

"Listen, I think I'm going to need you to..." he starts.

"Yes, I already figured that. I canceled my plans tonight."

"How do you keep doing that?!"

"I'm tuned to you."

"You're creepy sometimes." He says. "When's Joey starting the poll?"

"Tonight. Thus, my foresight in having to stay for it." I sit down at the end of his desk and look over at him.

"Did Toby find a guy yet?"

"Nope. But he's working on it."

"Okay. Let me know when CJ starts talking about that drug memo."

"Okay."

"What are you still doing here?" he smiles after a moment when I don't leave.

"I'm just waiting to see how else I can improve upon your day." I shrug. Sometimes I just like to get flirty and mess with him...which usually ends up confusing one or both of us, but it doesn't seem to stop either one of us.

He leans forward on his hands and is inches from my face. I feel very warm now. "You improve all of my days simply by being a part of my life."

Damn, that was a good one.

But he hasn't moved yet. In fact, he's getting closer. Weird moment! Weird moment!

He's kissing me.

Damn, it's nice. It's not deep or long, just a sweet kiss on the lips that lasts a little longer than it should between a boss and his assistant.

Wait a minute. That doesn't sound right. Bosses don't generally kiss their assistants on the lips, so yeah...this is out of ordinary. He pulls away smiling and resumes his position before dropping down and sighing over his wobbly chair.

Okay. Odd. We just kissed a little bit there and he doesn't seem all that phased by it. He has kissed me before. He kissed me on the cheek when we won the election and after the President was sworn in, and he's kissed me on the forehead when I've given up working on a dark and uncomfortable campaign bus in favor of going to sleep on his shoulder.

So yes, while that kind of behavior is odd for most every other boss and assistant, it's not for us. So you can see why I'm still confused.

Look what happened to me! I used to be a coherent person until Josh did that!

"Mike Casper called." I croak, suddenly remembering that I had a message for him.

"What'd he want?"

"It was weird. He just left a message and all it is is a name."

"What's the name?"

"Aribert Reiger."

Josh freezes momentarily and when he looks back up, something's different about him. "Are you sure you got that right?"

"Yeah, he spelled it and everything. Who's Aribert Reiger?"

"Uh, I don't know. I guess that's why I'm heading over to Justice to find out."

"What?" He moves over to his safe, which I've NEVER seen him open. I can't see inside, but he pulls out a leather bound folder and puts it in his backpack.

"Clear my schedule. I'm going to be at Justice all afternoon."

Holy crap! He's serious!

"Josh! You can't do that today. You have to meet with Hooper and Strom. The poll is tonight. Leo will implode."

"This is more important, Donna." He says in all seriousness.

"Greetings, mi compadres!" CJ sings as she comes into the office bearing a newspaper. If she notices Josh's stone face and my look of astonishment, she doesn't pick up on it.

"I swear, sometimes I think you two should date. Look how adorable you are." She drops a newspaper onto Josh's desk and we both lean over to look. It's an article on the dinner the other night and there's a picture of Josh and I there. It's a very nice picture outside the hotel we were at and under the caption, it says, 'Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman and Guest,' which is crap because I was working, but I like that they made that mistake.

"Yes, well, I can make even Josh look good." I chuckle, but the memory of that kiss is still fresh and I'm left wistfully thinking that one day soon I will be his 'guest' at one of these things.

Josh, however, hasn't said a word. He seems rooted to his spot and is staring at the picture. Finally, he clears his throat. "CJ, can you excuse us? I'm heading out for the afternoon and I have to go over a few things with Donna before I go."

"Uh...sure." CJ says. She seems a little confused about what he might have to say to me that she can't hear. I'm right there with you, sister.

CJ leaves the room and closes the door behind her. To my surprise, Josh adds the newspaper to the contents of his backpack.

"Listen," he says softly and turns to me. "I'm really sorry about before with the..." he doesn't say kiss, but waves his finger between our faces. "It was out of line and I promise it won't happen again."

"I don't know." I smile. "It didn't seem so bad."

"I'm really sorry, Donna." He says again. And I can tell by the look in his eyes, he truly means it. It really saddens him to say this. It's almost like he really wanted it, too. "It won't happen ever again. I'll call you when I'm on my way back."

He throws his backpack over his shoulder and strides right out of the office. I'm left there wondering just what the hell happened here.

I roll over the events of last few minutes in my head. This makes no sense. With one cryptic call from Mike Casper, he cancels his whole day? Someone's going to have to pay for all this in blood, and who do you think is going to be fed to the lions? Me. I'm always the one that has to take the punches from his off the cuff decisions like that.

"Hey, Donna." Leo says entering the office. "Did I just see Josh leave?"

"Uh...yeah." I say trying to pull myself back to the realm of those with a clue. "He's having me cancel his afternoon. Something came up."

"Cancel his...what the hell for!?" Leo barks. See? See Donna get thrown under the train.

"I don't know." I shrug. "Mike Casper called. He left a weird message and Josh canceled his day."

"Mike Casper?" Leo asks sharply. "What was the message?"

"Aribert Reiger." I say immediately. What the hell is going on? Now Leo looks like he's turning to stone.

"You're sure about that?" Leo says in a clipped voice and I nod hopelessly. "Thanks, Donna." He nods and leaves the office.

What the hell is going on?

2.

More than a little high off the nine point bump that CJ just announced, I take stock in my very own merry band here. Sam seems to have gotten over having his picture with a call girl plastered all over the paper. CJ is bubbling over with ideas on how to play the nine point bump and where we should take it legislatively. Toby, I may be mistaken, but I believe Toby is smiling! Joey, and her sidekick Kenny, are actively involved in the discussion. It was a great idea bringing her on board. Then my gaze falls on my Deputy.

He's making a good show of things. He tried to goad Joey into a debate on English as the national language and somebody else might miss the signs, but my Deputy is phoning it in. He could debate this topic in his sleep and it looks like he is. There! Another yawn!

First, Josh disappears for hours with some concocted story about going to Justice. Then, after a brief appearance at work, he's gone again until staff this morning and he's barely able to stay awake. Please! Does he think I'm stupid? Donna's joined us and she's giving Josh odd looks too. This can be nothing but trouble.

I strategically step between them and speak to Josh in a lowered voice.

"Late night?" I ask and Josh doesn't even flinch.

"Had some trouble sleeping." He admits. Yes, you're always supposed to keep your lies as close to the truth as possible. Well done.

"Whatever could be the cause of that do you think?" I press. Don't do this, Josh. Don't put me in this position with you.

"Could be almost anything." Josh smiles. "I'm always thinking, you know." He quips.

"...about the Mets maybe." Donna mutters next to me. This woman picks up on everything, I swear.

"Let me save you some emotional heartbreak, Josh. The Mets don't have a shot." I shoot back. Obviously, now is not the time to go into this. Damn it.

"You know me, Leo, ever the optimist." Josh's eyes hold mine for a few seconds and I get the underlying meaning to his words. I shake my head sadly.

"And one day, you're going to pay for that." I tell him honestly. "Go home and get some sleep." I order. "This party is breaking up anyway." I nod at where the rest of our group has risen and started to wander out.

"Yes, sir." Josh salutes and with a hand on Donna's back, leaves me alone with the President. For the love of God, Josh, don't do something stupid.

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I rap twice quickly and walk into Josh's office to find him on his cell. His feet drop off the desk and he looks angrily at me.

"Damn it, Donna, I'm on the phone." He snaps.

"Sorry, I didn't know that." I back out the door and close it again with a little more force than might be actually necessary to, you know, shut a door. He's been impossible for days. I thought it was concern over the President's climbing negatives, but we got new numbers a few days ago and he's up nine points. Everyone else around here is on cloud nine. What the hell is the matter with Josh?

I give him a few minutes to finish his call and then try again. I have to get him moving or he's going to be late for his meeting in the Roosevelt room. I open the door cautiously, ready in case he takes my head off again. But to my surprise, he's leaning against the window, just staring outside. One doesn't get the opportunity to see Josh Lyman still like this very often. He looks contemplative or reflective. Usually Josh does that out loud...with me.

"Josh?" His head swivels around to me.

"Langton?" he sighs.

"Yeah, five minutes in the Roosevelt room." I remind him and he nods.

"Are you okay?"

Josh smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I snap at you and you're concerned about my well being?"

"That's not you." I explain. "Not unless it's teasing. Who was on the phone, your mom?"

He looks puzzled now. "No...just a personal call."

"Well, tell her to stop keeping you up so late. At your age, you need decent sleep to keep up your cognitive abilities." I tease. He predictably rolls his eyes.

"Right." He says sarcastically, but offers no more information. Shit. Okay, I was fishing. Something is keeping him up nights and I was thinking that it might be a woman, but if it was a woman, he'd be strutting around more wouldn't he? It's just that ever since that kiss, I can't stop thinking about kissing him again. "I blew it."

Subject change! "Blew it with what?"

"With the VP meeting. Leo's pissed." He admits and sits on the edge of his desk.

"I thought you got the VP on board?"

"I did."

"Then why is Leo pissed?"

"It was the way I did it. Leo says there's a way to be a person and I --" Josh stopped mid sentence. "It doesn't matter. I was tired and wasn't thinking clearly or I wouldn't have made such a boneheaded mistake. Now Leo's pissed."

"He can't be too pissed. You got the VP on board. You had the meeting with Leo and you still have all your fingers." I reason.

"What the hell?"

"He didn't cut anything else off, did he?" I try to tease it out of him and sit next to him on the desk; hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder. But he doesn't look at me.

"Some days, I wonder what the hell I'm doing here." He sighs. This is very bad. Josh ALWAYS knows what we're doing here. He's usually the one that reminds everybody else.

"Okay, that's enough." I tell him. "You just need some sleep and you'll get your perspective back. Are you going to be able to make it through the town hall tonight?"

"With you by my side, anything is possible." He smiles at me and I see a hint of what I saw the other day just before he kissed me. Maybe he was worried that he was taking advantage of me before and that's why he backed off? Maybe if I made it clear...

"I'll always be at your side." I promise and his eyes soften.

"That's what the Government pays you the big bucks for, right?" He jokes.

"Nope." I shake my head no. Then because I can't help it, I add, "That's what your MOTHER pays me the big bucks for." This makes him chuckle.

"No doubt." He agrees. "We spend so much time together my mother is convinced you're her best shot at grandchildren."

Now it's my turn to chuckle. It might be the tiniest bit self-conscious.

"Roosevelt room?" He confirms as he stands up.

"He's waiting for you." I tell him and hand him the appropriate file.

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I literally have to shake myself a couple times to stay awake for this meeting. Langton is dull under the best circumstances, and these are not the best circumstances. This is just one of the reasons it's probably a bad idea to pursue this, but...

"...and I'll tell the President so." Langton finishes up.

"Let me bring him this information first, Congressman. We may be able to find a compromise here, okay?"

"I'm serious here, Josh."

"Believe me when I say I know that, sir. It won't be today, we're prepping for the town hall, but I'll take it to him tomorrow, first thing. Thanks for coming by." I quickly rise and shake his hand before he thinks of 'one more thing' to tell the President. I need to get out of here and take a walk for a few minutes.

When I get out to the sidewalk, I pull out my cell and call a number I know by heart.

"What do you know?" I ask

"Exactly what I knew when I spoke to you an hour and a half ago." He snarks at me.

"I can change the course of the country in an hour and a half. You guys must move much slower over there." I snark back.

"Yeah, we're kind of hamstrung by the laws and company rules and such."

"Come on. Throw me a bone here."

"When I have one, I'll toss it straight to you. Didn't I before?"

"Yeah..."

"Then get me the stuff you promised me so I can get some results for you." And he hangs up on me. I get no respect around here.

I walk back into my office to find Charlie and Zoey fighting in my office. What the hell? Just what I do not need today.

"I'm sorry, we were just using your office for a minute." Charlie apologizes.

"You can keep fighting in just a second. I just need to find something." I explain and sit down to rifle through my desk. Only there's no chair and my ass falls straight to the floor. Shit.

"DONNA!"

"We should get something temporary so that doesn't happen."

"Thanks." I get up off the floor to see Charlie and Zoey leaving my office in all due haste. I find the envelope I left earlier and stick Mike Casper's name on it. I set it to the side and look for the remote control so I can watch C.J.'s briefing. I get so absorbed in it that I almost miss Donna picking up the envelope for Mike.

"Give that back!" I shout and she jumps.

"I was just going to have it messengered over for you."

"You don't know where it's supposed to go." I object, still holding my hand out for it.

"Well, I dropped out of college, that's true, but I can read an envelope and this one says Mike Casper on it so I'm GUESSING that means it's going to Mike Casper at his F.B.I. office." She drawls.

"No!"

"No, it's not going to Mike? Because then I have to question YOUR skills in this area, Joshua, because this is certainly your handwriting here."

"I mean, yes, it's going to Mike, but it's not going by messenger." I explain. "I'm delivering it to him after the thing at the Newseum tonight."

"It will be, like, ten o'clock , Josh!" She points out. She has to pick NOW to be logical. After a whole thing with her friend Curtis and the wheel of my chair?

"Justice doesn't keep bankers hours, Donna, give me the damn envelope!" I snap.

She hands it to me like it's a ticking time bomb. "There you go. Everything okay now?"

"I'm not melting down. It's just that it's urgent he get this before tomorrow and it's sensitive, so I want to hand it to him personally." I calm my body and voice down.

"Okay. You only had to say so." She's still looking at me funny. "You really need some sleep, Josh."

"I know." I reply and tilt my head back on my temporary chair only to discover it doesn't have a head rest. Lovely. "I'll get some sleep tonight. After the thing in Rosslyn."

"You promise?" She asks.

"Swear to God." I affirm holding the envelope to my chest. Maybe if I just close my eyes for awhile....

I must have drifted out because the next thing I know, Donna's shaking me awake.

"Josh? The President wants you for a final run through before the motorcade leaves for the Newseum. Something about the answer on children's healthcare?"

"Shit!" I jump up. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"A couple hours." She answers.

"A couple hours?!" I shout.

"You needed the rest; it's going to be a long night tonight. You had nothing pressing, relax." She pats my arm. "Now go see the President."

I take off at a half run, slipping on my suit jacket. I have to slap my cheeks a bit and I stop briefly to get a cold cup of water from the dispenser.

Now, I'm ready for the President. The rehearsal goes well with the new answers and we get into the motorcade with high spirits. I just can't shake the feeling that I'm forgetting something....

3.

Sigh.

You know, he really is hopeless without me. Sitting right there on his desk is this urgent envelope for Mike Casper.

I pick it up and head over to the Press Room. Carol's outside. "Are they done?" I ask her.

"No, they're taking forever." Carol says rolling her eyes. "It's looking like they're going to go right up until they have to leave."

"I need Josh." I say.

"Well, it's his turn with the President." Carol said. "I have strict instructions not to disturb them unless something explodes."

"Shit." I sigh and blow out a breath.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"It's just that he's got this package that needs to go over to Mike Casper at Justice and he forgot it. He said it absolutely has to be there tonight."

"So have a messenger do it." She shrugs.

"He said he didn't want it messengered. He said it's sensitive and he wanted to do it himself."

"Well, that ship has sailed." Carol says. "Why don't you just bring it over?"

"Well, I'm supposed to go to the town hall thing." I say looking at my watch. "It would be close, but I might be able to make it. I don't know though. He seemed pretty adamant that he do it."

"Donna, he trusts you with absolutely everything in his life." Carol reminds me. "I'm sure he won't completely freak out that you delivered an envelope for him. I mean, it's not like it's got launch codes in it."

"True." I say.

"And you'll get to see cute Agent Casper." Carol smiles.

"This is also true." I smile back. Mike's adorable.

"Maybe that's his problem." Carol chuckles. "Maybe he's afraid Agent Casper is going to ask you out."

"Please." I scoff. "Josh doesn't care who I date. He's made it very obvious that he has no interest in, and I quote, 'the revolving door of local gomers I date.' I doubt he'd be upset if Mike asked me out."

"For someone who knows her boss so well, Donna, you sure miss a lot of clues." Carol says.

"What's that mean?" I ask.

"Nothing." She says shaking her head. "You better get going if you have any hope of getting back here in time."

Damn. She just blew me off. "All right. I'll see you later at the thing."

I move quickly back to the bullpen and grab my tote bag, sliding the envelope in and then head out through security. I wonder what the hell is in here that's so important? This is the part of my job I absolutely hate. The confidential part. I'm a natural gossip and so having something like this in my hot little hands and not opening it makes me nuts. Not nuts enough to put my job on the line, but still...

I check my watch as I step out onto the sidewalk and see that I have time to walk over. I have next to no cash on me, so I'm not really inclined to hail a cab. They can't go in front of the White House anyway.

It's a nice night for a walk though. I love this time of year in D.C. The promise of summer, the anticipation of the vacation that in reality I'll never get to take. I'm so lost in thought that I'm surprised when I come upon Justice.

"Ah, government never closes, huh?" the security guard smiles at me.

"No, sir." I smile back. "I'm here for Mike Casper."

"Is he expecting you?"

"Not me specifically. I have something for him from Josh Lyman." I explain.

"I'll buzz him down." The Guard says as he waves me through the metal detectors to wait on the other side.

It only takes Mike a few short minutes to appear. "Uh...hi, Donna, what's up?"

"Oh hi, Mike." I smile brightly. "I've got something here for you from Josh."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No." I say and hand him the envelope.

"He gave this to you to bring over!?"

"No." I say shaking my head. "He wanted to do it himself but forgot it before the thing, so I brought it."

What is IN that thing?

"You guys are acting weird. Are there launch codes in there or something?" I laugh nervously.

"No." Mike says simply. "I'm just surprised is all."

"Okay. Well, it got here in one piece." I snap. "The government trusts me, so I think you two can take a freaking pill already."

My cell phone rings and Josh's name scrolls across the screen. "It's himself, Mike. Have a good night."

"Wait, Donna..." Mike starts to say, but I flip the phone open and before I can tout my efficiency to Josh, he lays right into me.

"Where the hell are you?" He demands abruptly. "You missed the motorcade!"

"You left that envelope you needed to get to Mike on your desk. I brought it over." I explain, leaving Justice.

Silence.

"I REALLY wish you hadn't done that, Donna." He says evenly.

"Josh, it's my job." I reply.

"Not that."

"Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?" I counter. "You didn't say it wasn't work related you went on and on about how sensitive it was. I've handled 'sensitive' stuff before, Josh. If the government and the NSA trust me, I think I can handle walking an envelope over to Justice and delivering it to the FBI."

"You walked!?"

What is the matter with him? I would have thought that nap in his office earlier would have set him on a bit of a better course.

"Yeah." I say slowly.

"Hail a cab."

"What?"

"Donna, walk to the street and hail a cab." He insists again. "Get off the street."

"Josh, I..."

"Would you just put your fucking hand up and hail a God damn cab!?"

I'm speechless at how frantic he sounds. Why I placate him when he'd never be the wiser, I don't know, but I walk to the curb and stick my hand out for an approaching cab. "You're giving me the money for this, you psycho."

"Whatever." He says. "Are you in a cab?"

"Yes." I say as I close the car door and give the driver my address.

"Maybe you should go to the White House." Josh says sounding visibly relieved.

"I'm going home, Joshua, where I'm going to drink and try to forget about you acting like a maniac."

I turn my head and look back to the sidewalk where I was standing merely five seconds ago as the cab pulls away. There's a man standing there in a dark coat and hat, staring right at me in the cab. If it hadn't moved, he could have opened the door and gotten in with me and he doesn't look like he'd be a pleasant traveling companion.

"Ew, who's that guy?"

4.

I'm paranoid, right? That must be it. Not that I haven't had reasons in the past to be paranoid, but nothing has happened RECENTLY to incite such fear in me. But it's DONNA. If anything happened to Donna because of me...

But it didn't. She's home safe and sound; no harm, no foul. Mike has what he needs and everything is fine. Now I can concentrate on the town hall. The President is in fine form tonight. He's going to kick ass at the Newseum and he's finally stopped giving me the strange looks that started when I was swearing at Donna about getting a cab. All we need now is good news on Toby's brother in the shuttle and it will be JACKPOT time.

We get that good news when the President is almost through with the town hall. Life is looking up, people! Leo gives the President the signal and I slip out to call Donna on the way out as the President is making his closing remarks. I was an ass to her earlier and I'm thinking if I offer to bring some late night food over she might forgive me. I mean, I know that my motivation was to protect Donna, but SHE doesn't know that. I can eat a little crow here; especially if it looks like Kung Pao chicken with egg rolls.

I try twice and she doesn't answer. Come on, Donna. I'm trying to make up here. Finally, the President exits and I'm forced to leave a quick message before the motorcade leaves without me.

"Donna, I know you're there, pick up please? I'm sorry about before. I just...you shouldn't be walking around there alone at night...I was...concerned about your safety. Anyway, I might have overreacted a bit there and I wanted to say I'm sorry. Then I thought that nothing says I'm sorry like Chinese food, so as soon as we get back to the White House, I'm going to get in my car, make a pit stop at Mr. Wong's and bring over some food, okay? Since you're not answering, I can only assume your silence is complicit agreement. See how I spun that? And yes, I'll get extra egg rolls."

I hang up the phone, my mood lighter than it's been in days. Overall, it's been a good day and it's going to end with some fiery debate and Chinese food with one of my favorite people in the world.

Shit! They're almost to the limo, I've got to catch up...

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Extra egg rolls? Is he implying that I eat too many egg rolls? He better not be. I'm already pissed at the way he yelled at me tonight. He better not be going there.

Okay, the apology was sweet. Nothing says sorry like Chinese food? Typical Josh. Let's see, by the time they get back to the White House, he picks up his car (and my food) and gets over here...probably a half hour. I change my clothes quick. What? I was in ratty old comfort clothes that have holes in them and stuff. It's not like I put on a dress! Although I do have this red one I'd like him to see...

My clock is just chiming ten, so I decide to turn on the local news to see how they're covering the town hall...and maybe get a glimpse of some of the people I work with. I know LOTS of people staffing the President. I could see ANY of them.

They've got a live picture and the crowd is going wild. I smile watching the President working the rope line. He LOVES working the rope line. When we were campaigning for President, we were always running late because he insisted on shaking every hand along the rope line. I decide to open some wine while I'm waiting for Josh and move into the kitchen. Then I hear it; gunfire.

I bolt back into the living room and scan the screen for a visual clue on who is shooting and who they are shooting at. This is insane. I can't see anyone in particular, just waves of people running and screaming. Within seconds, the President's limo tears out of its parking spot. Thank God, at least the President is safe.

I grab for my cell phone and call Josh but get sent directly to his voice mail. He's probably trying to call me. I hold the phone in my lap, willing it to ring, while a reporter at the Newseum describes the scene.

Soon, ambulances and emergency medical staff are swarming all over the crowd. Reporters are getting first hand accounts from witnesses that say everything from nobody was hit, to several people were hit by bullets. Can nobody get their stories straight?

I try Josh, but it again goes straight to voice mail. I don't know what to do. I know from Secret Service training that they'll lock down the White House, so it's pointless to go there. I need to talk to Josh. I should be with Josh right now.

The minutes are interminable and just when I think my blood pressure is leveling out, they have breaking news. The President of the United States has been shot and is being taken to GW. That's it. That's where Josh will be going, so that's where I'm going too.

Glad now that I changed clothes earlier, I simply grab my purse and take a cab as close as it can get to the hospital. I run the rest of the way unsure why I feel speed is urgent right now, but simply feeling that it is.

It eats up valuable minutes trying to get by security. I forgot my badge in my haste to get down here so I have to find an agent who knows me and then I have to find where they've sequestered senior staff. Hold on, Josh, I'm almost there.

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"I should have never taken that stupid envelope." I murmur.

"What's that, dear?" Mrs. Landingham asks me.

I just shake my head. This is completely surreal. I had to tell Josh's mom the latest update while she was driving here. Well, her friend was driving, which was good since I thought Sarah would break down when I told her. I know I almost did. I just knew what Josh needed most was for me to hold it together so I could help Sarah hold it together. That poor woman has already lost her daughter and her husband. She can't lose Josh too. Neither of us can.

Let me tell you something interesting about a life and death struggles; the real life and death type struggles. They have a way of solidifying your thoughts and feelings and insist on an immediate re-prioritization of EVERYTHING.

For instance, I recall perfectly that I was pissed at Josh about something earlier this evening, but for the life of me, I have NO idea what it was. Nor do I care what it was. I simply want Josh to wake up from surgery long enough for me to tell him that I'm in love with him...and then probably hand over my resignation, but that's not the point.

That was one of those solidification of my feelings moments. When Toby said that Josh was in surgery and that it was critical, I had a moment to consider what my life would be without Josh in it and it broke my heart. My life would be dull and colorless. I wouldn't want to get out of bed in the morning. I CERTAINLY couldn't stay at the White House. Every aspect of my life would be changed forever and not in a good way. But the worst part of it, the absolute worst, would be that I would lose Josh without ever telling him how I feel. He may not feel the same way about me and he may get a restraining order of some kind, but once he wakes up from surgery, and he WILL wake up from surgery, I am going to take that risk. I have to.

"When are they going to come give us another update on Josh?" I ask Sam who's just come back to the waiting room with coffee.

"The doctor is out there with the First Lady right now." He motions with his thumb.

I drop Mrs. Landingham's hand like it's a hot poker and dash for the hallway. I pick up a little of the conversation as I approach them.

"...it's complicated by his previous gunshot wound." The doctor was explaining. Previous gunshot wound? What the hell is he talking about? "And the damage this time has really concentrated on his heart. We're preparing to do bypass while we attempt to repair it but as you know, it's a very complicated surgery and he's not in the best of health to start with."

Dr. Bartlet nods her head and I want to scream 'no'. He's already making excuses and he needs to just...go back in there and fix it! Unfortunately, my feet are cemented to the floor and my throat is frozen.

"I understand." Dr. Bartlet told him. "Thanks for the update. I'll be personally responsible for his medical decisions until his mother arrives."

"No!" I finally find my voice. "No, I am." I object and move forward to Dr. Bartlet's surprise.

"Donna?" She puts a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me or I don't know, bring back my sanity, but although I'm a little panicked, I am absolutely sane.

"I have his medical power of attorney." I report and then inexcusably start digging through my purse until I realize I don't carry it in my wallet. "It's at the White House. I can have someone there fax it over. Josh signed it. We both signed it. Just in case....just in case." I finish lamely.

The doctor looks between the First Lady and me until the First Lady decides to believe me. "If Donna says she has it, then she has it." Dr. Bartlet vouches for me and that's good enough for the doctor.

"There's an observation area for the operating theater if you'd like to--"

"Yes!" I accept before he can finish his sentence.

"Can you give us a minute, Jim?" Dr. Bartlet requests and the doctor nods and walks away. "Donna? Are you sure you want to do that? Seeing anyone's chest cracked open for surgery is...unsettling. Seeing open heart surgery performed on someone you know--"

"Will you take me there now, please, Dr. Bartlet?" I interrupt. We're wasting valuable time here. She must see the determination in my eyes because she puts her arm around my shoulder and leads me to the observation area.

At first, when I see him, I think I'm going to vomit. This can't be right. Dr. Bartlet must sense my reaction because she moves the trash basket in front of me.

"Donna, if you change your mind about staying here..."

"I won't." I shake my head and force myself to look back down at Josh. My hands reach out and rest on the glass in front of me as if by their own volition. Then something occurs to me.

"Oh my God, I didn't even ask about the President." I turn to the First Lady in horror.

"He's going to be just fine, Donna. Don't worry. The bullet seems to have gone out of its way not to cause any permanent damage." She smiles at me kindly to reassure me that she's not mad I didn't ask before this.

"I'm so glad." I tell her honestly. "Josh will be so relieved to hear that." I turn back to the operating table.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

"How long now?" Donna asks me and I consult my watch, just like I have done every time she's asked me in the roughly six hours I've been sitting with her in the observation area. I can't watch like she can though. I told Dr. Bartlet when she asked me to do this, I'm glad to sit with Donna and help her in any way I can, but I can't watch what they're doing to my best friend below us. I wouldn't even be here right now, if he hadn't come to tell me he'd found the real thing.

"He's been in surgery 7 hours and 23 minutes."

"Halfway done then." She reports in a monotone voice. Josh's mom arrived a couple hours ago and that was another scene I'd like to never have witnessed. Two women fearing that they're going to lose a man they love is way too much emotion for a mere mortal to take in. And if there was any doubt in my head before that Donna had...more than professional feelings for her boss, those doubts have been wiped out about now.

"Yeah, maybe I should set my stopwatch function to clock the time that's left." I suggest.

"You could." She replies. "You have an excellent watch. Josh's watch is a piece of shit. When he's done with surgery, I'm going to buy him a decent watch." I'm really getting concerned about Donna's state of mind.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." I muse. "But then you'll rob him of the excuse to come out to your desk and ask you the time all day long." I smile at my friend's transparent excuse.

"That would be bad." Donna agrees. "But he really needs a new watch. Does Westport have a seedy part of town?"

I nearly spit coffee all over myself. "There isn't even a semi-seedy part of Westport. It's extremely affluent. Why?"

"The doctor before said Josh had a previous gunshot wound and he's never said anything to me about being shot so I wondered if maybe it happened when he was young and living in Westport."

"Definitely not." I shut that down. "You must have misheard the doctor."

"Misheard the doctor say what?" Sarah Lyman asks when she rejoins us.

"I thought he said something about a previous gunshot wound, but I was so shaken that maybe I just misheard him." Donna explained.

"I'm sure that was it." Sarah agreed. "If Josh had been shot before, I'd certainly know it."

"See?" I say to Donna. "You're exhausted and upset and mishearing things. I wish you'd stretch out on the couch here for awhile. I swear I'll wake you if we get any new information."

"Thanks, Sam, that's sweet, but I just couldn't sleep right now." Donna admits and Sarah takes her hand again. They've both taken up a kind of vigil at the observation window like guardian angels. I wish I could draw because they make quite the impression standing there watching over Josh.

I don't know how they're going to make it for the rest of the 14 hour surgery. I don't know how they'll make it if Josh doesn't.

What a shitty night.

5.

You'd think by now seeing a devastated Sarah Lyman would be old hat for me; that's not the case.

"Sarah." I say softly touching her shoulder.

"Leo." She smiles through her tears and turns to hug me. My eyes are, of course, drawn to Josh's sleeping form in bed.

"Where's Donna?"

"Crying in the bathroom." She says. "She's taken to doing that because she thinks I won't hear her in there."

"She's a good girl." I nod.

"You don't have to tell me." She smiles. "The sun rises and sets on his Donnatella."

"Yeah, I've noticed that." I mutter.

"He deserves her, Leo." Sarah says with a certain amount of warning in her voice.

"Oh, I agree. But as long as he's tangled up in this crap, he'll never do anything about it."

"Tangled up...Leo..." she whispers. I get where's she's coming from. I was under the same impression.

"Does the name Aribert Reiger mean anything to you?" I ask her bluntly. "Ever hear it before from Noah?"

"He was a medical doctor, or so they called him, with the SS at Birkenau. He was recruited by Mengele himself." She says after a moment.

"Yeah, well, it appears Justice is going after him." I reply.

She pauses a minute before she looks down at her son. The tears start to fall and she shakes her head. NO ONE can break your heart like Sarah Lyman, I promise you that.

"No Leo." She says definitively. "YOU promised me after the last time you'd put a stop to this."

"I didn't even realize he was still working with Justice." I fess up. "I thought he had stopped."

"How's the President?" she asks almost as an afterthought. "He was in here before. Is he feeling any better?"

"He's asleep." I nod.

"What can you tell me about what happened?" she asks picking up her son's hand.

"Well, we have the guy on the ground in custody now. What we've got so far is it wasn't an assassination attempt on the President. It's an organization called West Virginia White Pride, they're --"

"I've heard of them." She says hollowly. Of course she has.

"At first they were claiming it was a hit on Charlie for dating Zoey, but after a little creative interrogating by the secret service..." I trail off and look from her to Josh and back at her.

She sucks her breath in mortified. "They were coming after Josh?"

"Apparently, he's in deeper than I had imagined."

"This can't be happening again." She says, scrubbing her hand down her face and shaking her head. "I barely lived through it the first time."

"AGAIN?" comes a third stunned voice to the conversation.

Damn. Now why couldn't I remember Donna was still around?

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I'm stopped cold by what I hear.

"I don't understand." I say walking to the bed. "Sarah, you said I misheard the doctor. You said Josh had never been shot before."

Sarah and Leo exchange looks then look back at me. "Well, he has." Leo says, clearly trying to figure out what to tell me right now. "It wasn't as bad; it was in his upper chest and it was about seven years ago."

"He told me that was a small pox vaccination." I drone. "I saw it once when he was going running."

"Well, that was creative." Leo mutters. "Though I find that a ridiculous excuse since smallpox vaccinations are given in the arm and NO ONE gets a vaccination in the chest."

I don't get into that. I obviously WANTED to believe what he told me.

"Why is someone trying to kill him?" I ask.

"Donna..." Leo starts. I look down at Josh and run my fingers gently through his hair as I watch him sleep. I close my eyes tightly and shake my head. None of this is making sense.

"No, Leo." I say adamantly popping my head back up and letting the tears come. "I just stood over 14 hours of surgery, three hours in recovery and not to mention what kind of therapy is coming in the near future for him. I deserve to know what's going on! He'd want me to, Leo."

"Okay. Well, that last part's just not true. He'd take me out to the woodshed for telling you any of this." Leo says and I fall silent.

"Leo..." Sarah says.

"Sarah, YOU knew. I'm not going to tell her everything; that's up to Josh. But didn't you feel better once you knew?"

"No, because that's when the nightmare really started." She snaps viciously at Leo.

"Well, I'm not blind, Sarah." Leo says. "Donna's not going anywhere and if she's going to be around him now, she needs to know."

"PLEASE stop talking around me." I plead desperately. I gently sit on the bed next to Josh and look at his mother and mentor.

"You're going to ask questions that I'm not going to answer, Donna." Leo says. "Some stuff is classified; but most is really up to Josh to tell you, and quite frankly, I wasn't entirely in the loop, which is something Agent Casper and I are going to have a little discussion about."

"Does this have anything to do with that envelope that Josh had a fit over?" I ask.

"Yes." Leo says. "That envelope contained information on a notorious Nazi war criminal that Justice is investigating."

"Oookaaay." I drawl. "Justice does that all the time. What's the big secret?"

"Josh." Leo says, gesturing to the bed. "Josh is the secret. HE goes after these guys with Justice."

This. Makes. No. Sense.

"Josh is the Deputy Chief of Staff."

"He also does this." Leo says dryly.

"Since when?"

"Since too long." Sarah says vaguely.

"I don't understand." I say. I am so lost right now. Josh is a Nazi hunter? How could I not know this? How could he hide this from me? "Why does somebody want him dead?"

"Donna!" Leo laughs. "A LOT of someones want him dead. He's responsible for the capture of over 200 of these guys."

My eyes widen and my jaw drops open. Josh? My Josh? Josh isn't stealthy enough to lead a double life. Not the Josh I know.

But then it hits me like a freight train.

I obviously don't know Josh very well.

6.

The reassuring beep of Josh's heart monitor along with the horrible lack of sleep causes me to doze off over and over, but never for long because of the horrible dreams that assault me as soon as I drift off.

Sarah Lyman is even more upset than I am, if that's possible. I don't think she's even sat down since Leo told us...what he told us. I'm honestly not sure that I didn't hallucinate the whole thing...except that there are an inordinate amount of Secret Service agents surrounding us. You'd think Josh was the President.

I'm in the middle of a disturbing dream where I'm in a train headed for a concentration camp when the sound of voices arguing wakes me up.

"I mean it, Michael, get out of here right this minute." Sarah is threatening. What the hell?

"I just wanted to see how he was doing, Mrs. L."

"He's barely alive is how he's doing. Are you happy now?"

"Of course I'm not." Mike Casper shoots back and I sit up to clear the sleep from my eyes. "I thought we'd covered all the bases."

"Well you were obviously wrong, weren't you? So having already failed at the most important part of your job, Agent Casper, I'd like you to get the hell out of my son's critical care unit before you bring more trouble down on his head."

"That's not fair." Mike says quietly.

"Neither is that!" Sarah whisper shouts and points dramatically at Josh's bed.

"Hold on." I step between them. "Wait. Mike, what are you doing here?"

"My best friend was shot and nearly killed what do you think I'm --"

"Because of you!" Sarah broke in.

"Please!" I beg them both. "The last thing he needs right now is to listen to the two of you fighting. Sarah, why don't you go get something to eat...or drink..? You must be exhausted."

"I'm not leaving my son with HIM in the room." Sarah says obstinately and turns her back on all of us as if it's beneath her to even look at Mike.

"Fine, I'll go." Mike agrees and with one last look over at Josh, he turns and leaves the room.

I only hesitate a moment before I follow him. I've tried to talk to Sarah about all this but she has refused to give me any additional information stating it's for my own good.

"Mike! Wait!" I call after him and every Secret Service agent in the place whips around to face me. I hold my hands up instinctively. These guys are really freaking me out. "I...I just need to talk to Agent Casper." I explain.

Mike has stopped and turned to face me but he doesn't look happy about it.

"I just wanted to ask you--"

"Not out here, Donna." Mike shakes his head and takes me by the hand down the hall to where another two Secret Service agents are standing guard outside another door. Mike flashes his badge and they let us through. It looks like a conference room of some kind and there are several men and one woman all checking their computers and speaking in some kind of code. This is surreal.

"Sarah is just exhausted and worried sick." I tell him. "I'm sure once she calms down and Josh wakes up..." Mike gives me a sardonic grin.

"I don't think it's quite that simple, Donna, but thanks." Mike tells me.

"Can you tell me..." I send a nervous look at the other occupants in the room. "Can you tell me what's being done to find the people who did this to Josh?"

"The two that fired the shots are dead; Secret Service had them down in seconds. The guy on the ground, who gave the shooters the signal, is in custody."

"Oh, that's incredible!" I let out a sigh. "See? Once I tell Sarah they're all either dead or in custody--" I break off as someone laughs behind me and I turn to see who it is.

The guy in question sends me an apologetic shrug.

"Donna...this wasn't a three person operation." Mike tells me. "It's not limited to the West Virginia White Pride. There is- It's much bigger than that and much more menacing." He explains and pulls me further into a corner for a little more privacy. "The people Josh has spent years searching for and prosecuting are very rich and powerful people who do not have any scruples about taking out anyone who is a threat to them and anyone they might be close to."

I know I'm very tired, and this gamut of unbelievable information has been thrown at me over the last 12 hours, but I feel like he's trying to tell me something and I'm missing it. I can't possibly process any more information or be expected to read between the lines anymore so I just ask him straight out. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You can't leave here without a security escort. You can't leave this FLOOR without a security escort. You're too close to Josh and Josh is under fire, literally."

"But...I need to go to Josh's place and get some things for him and get some things from my place too." I protest.

"Yeah...no, that won't be happening. Make a list of whatever you think the two of you will be needing for the next few days and we'll send someone to get it for you."

"I understand, sort of, what you're saying about Josh, and he needs to be protected, but I'm nothing, nobody. And I don't want some strangers going through my place, Mike."

"Donna..." He throws a look over my shoulder at the other agents. "What I'm telling you is that strangers have already been through your place.'

"Your agents have--"

"No...not our agents..." Mike interrupts me and finally the shoe drops.

"Those...those people have been in my apartment?" I ask incredulously and feel my knees buckle.

"Our people found listening devices planted there and it's safe to assume they searched your place for anything to do with Josh. At the very least, we can assume they're keeping a close eye on you. It's not safe for you to go back there."

I sit down heavily in the closest chair as all the implications sink in. "Where do I go then? What do I do?"

"For now you stay put. This is really the safest place to be at the moment." Mike tells me as he sits next to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. "We've cleared the rooms next to Josh for you and Mrs. Lyman so have you have some space to sleep and have some privacy."

"Sarah! Somebody needs to talk to her about--"

"She understands, Donna, she's been through this before." Mike notes.

"What? When?" I ask.

"You should ask her...or Josh...when he wakes up." Mike looks away. He doesn't say out loud what we both fear the most. What if Josh takes a turn for the worst and doesn't wake up? The cardiologist said these things can turn on a dime; his heart was severely damaged. We won't even go into the post-surgical complications, they made my head spin and my stomach churn.

Josh is in critical condition and some very dangerous people want to kill him. I can't go home and I don't what to do. The tears come fast and furious. Mike awkwardly puts an arm around my shoulder and rubs my arm.

"Go back and sit with Josh. If anyone can coax him to open his eyes, it's you." He advises me. "Tell him I'll be in to see him when I can."

I wipe my face with my sleeve and stand up to leave. The other agents are looking at me with this kind of pity on their faces and that makes me angry.

"I'll leave you to your important work now." I snark on the way out. "Maybe you can do better protecting Josh this time."

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

This feels worse than the last time...way worse than the last time. I recognize the drug induced haze and moan. The last thing I remember, I was leaving a message for Donna...then Toby came...there was an ambulance...DONNA! I try to sit up in my panic and instantly regret it.

"Josh? It's okay. You're safe at GW Hospital." I hear Donna tell me gently. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

Of course I can. I blink furiously against the bright light.

"The light's too bright for him. Will you draw the shades, Sarah?"

My mom is here? Of course she is. She is going to be SO pissed at me. Good thing Donna is here to protect me. The light dims behind my eyelids and I gingerly open them again.

"Why are you crying?" I ask Donna in my whisper thin, raspy voice.

"Oh, no reason, just hormonal I guess." She half laughs. She is SO beautiful.

"Joshua Lyman." That's really all my mother has to say.

"Later, Mom." I flick my eyes between her and Donna hoping that she'll catch my drift.

"Too late. Leo told Donna all about it." Yeah, she's punishing me already here. I throw a panicked look at Donna.

"You have to leave here. Right now." I squeeze Donna's hand as tight as I can to try to convey how important this is.

"And miss this sleepover party? Your mom and I are going to do each other's nails and talk about all the cute guys posted outside your door, down the hall, and throughout the hospital." Donna tells me.

"You can use my account and get a ticket to...Hawaii or something." I croak.

"I'm not leaving you." She starts crying again. "I almost lost you once already. I'm not taking that chance again."

Mom is sniffing on the other side of me and I can't look at her; I know the disappointment I'll see there and I can't face it right now. The pain is getting worse, and I didn't think that was possible. Some of it must show on my face because Donna picks something up and places it gently in my hands.

"Morphine. Press the button when you need--"

I start pressing the button before she finishes the sentence. The relief is immediate; like a warm wave of water spreading through my body and numbing it as it rolls through. I close my eyes and try to gather my scattered thoughts.

"Mike was here checking on you." Donna says softly and I hear Mom hurumph. Yeah, I'm thinking Mike is persona non grata around here with my mother even though she knows Mike didn't lead me into this. This was my decision. Still, I'm guessing it's easier to be pissed at the guy standing there in one piece than the guy lying in the hospital bed.

"I want...to see him." I request and see Donna check with my mother who shakes her head 'no'. "Mom..."

"You need to recover first." She insists.

"How bad?" Mom rattles off the list of injuries and possible complications. Good thing I'm pumped full of morphine or I'd be scared shitless. This does sound bad. Maybe going after this one last guy wasn't as brilliant as I originally thought, but here's the thing: If I'd known that I might be able to help put this guy away for good and didn't do it? I wouldn't be able to sleep nights.

"Get...Mike." I instruct Donna and she nods solemnly before leaving me with my mother.

"Josh, how could you?" Mom cries quietly. I muster the courage to meet her eyes.

"It's Reiger, Mom... How could I not?" I wince at the pain just a few short sentences cause me.

Mom runs her hand down my cheek and then kisses my forehead. "When you get back on your feet? I'm going to kick your ass down to Florida."

"Florida?" I repeat.

"We're going to move down there, you and I. We're going to live someplace warm where nobody knows us and we can forget all the horrible...You can bring Donna if you like. She loves you so much." Mom says this slowly to me like I'm cognitively impaired.

"Mom...she's my...assistant." I protest weakly. Here's the downside of Morphine; it makes you very tired.

"Tell me another one." Mom drawls. "I was your father's assistant once, you know."

"I...know..." I close my eyes for just a minute. Then I hear Mike's voice.

"Hey..." I open my eyes and see Mike and Donna standing next to me on one side of my bed. Mom is gone and again Donna reads my mind.

"I talked her into going next door for some sleep." She assures me with a small smile. "I think I'll go lie down too as long as Mike is here with you."

This is Donna's way of giving us privacy. She's so amazing.

"Donna?" I call and she stops her departure to instantly move to my side.

"What do you need?"

"After you sleep...we'll talk?" I manage and she nods solemnly.

"I'd like that very much." She admits and after the briefest hesitation, kisses me softly on the mouth. "Not too long, Mike, he needs his rest."

"I promise, Donna." Mike tells her and we both watch as she walks out of the room. "You lucky bastard."

"It doesn't...feel like it...right now." I reply.

"It feels like it to all of us." Mike tells me. "If that bullet had been an inch in the other direction, a single inch--"

"Please." I try to hold up a hand to ward off this conversational direction. "The documents?"

"Copied and in three separate locations; one of which is the Director's safe." He explains. "It looks like you were right about a South American connection."

I twirl my finger in the air in 'celebration'.

"I knew you'd be pleased. A couple more days and we'll have enough to file for extradition and once we have his assistant in custody..." Mike shrugs.

"The key...is the map." I remind him.

"After all these years, you don't think I know how to follow the money?"

"Not without...me there...to point the way."

"Well...let's see if I can muddle through this one without you for awhile. Just until you're back on your feet." Mike suggests.

"I want in...on the interview...once we have him."

"I guess that's going to depend on how fast you recover here." Mike shrugs again. "Between the interview and the very lovely Donnatella Moss, I'd say you have ample incentive to get better fast." He teases.

"How do you know...Donnatella?" I ask in confusion. I don't remember ever using Donna's full name in front of Mike. That's something I usually just keep between me and Donna.

"You were waxing on about it once when you were drunk." Mike tells me but I don't believe him; I don't get drunk. I fake it, sure, but I don't get drunk. The disbelieving look I give him relays my doubts without my having to say a word. "All right, I went over her file."

"Mike!" I protest as loud as I can manage.

"Hey! You're my best friend and it's my job so just...shut up." Mike states forcefully. "Look what happens when I screw up."

"This wasn't...your screw-up." I tell him simply.

"It sure doesn't feel that way." Mike mutters. "Get some sleep. If you need me, let Donna know." And my guilt ridden friend leaves me alone in my hospital room. I really don't like this feeling of being alone right now. I'm about to buzz for the nurse just to see another face when Donna peeks in the doorway.

"I can't sleep." She pouts. "Can I come stay with you?"

I nod gratefully and within seconds, she's perched in the chair next to my bed her head resting on my good arm. Yeah, this is much better...

7.

I wake up to Josh's finger lightly stroking my cheek. I lift my head and stretch out my achy back. He smiles at me as I yawn and stretch in what I can only assume looks to be very unladylike. Not like Josh cares.

"Hey." He smiles.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"Nothing. I was awake." He shrugs. He has his color back and he finally seems pretty coherent. Took him long enough. I've been waiting a week and a half to have our talk.

"Oh, so since you were awake and bored, you figured I should suffer with you?" I arch a brow at him.

"Isn't that the way it normally works?" he shoots back and I pounce on my opening.

"I don't think I really know what normal is." I say.

The spark leaves his eyes and he cocks his head to the side on the pillow. "You hate me, don't you?" he whispers.

"Hate you?" I reply. "Joshua, do I even know you?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know what's true about you."

He presses his palms to his eyes and groans. "Like all of it."

"Like?"

"Well, some stuff is a cover."

"Like what?"

"Donna, I don't..."

"Why don't I ask some questions and you answer them and we'll muddle through the rest?" I suggest.

"Donna, there's stuff I really can't tell you."

"That's crap, Josh."

"You could be in danger right now."

"I am in danger right now; Mike's tech guys say that my apartment's been bugged. Half those eight guys outside this door are for me!"

He drops his head back onto the pillow and closes his eyes. "God dammit." He whispers.

"So, I think I get to know some stuff." I say with finality and he nods.

"How long have you been involved in this Nazi hunting?"

"Since college."

"Your mom says Mike got you all wrapped up in it."

"My father did and she knows that. My mom likes to believe that it's Mike who keeps dragging me back into it, but I'm the one that brought it all to him when he started with the Bureau."

"Leo and your mom thought you gave it up."

"I did. But when Mike told me they had a real lead on Reiger, I HAD to take it, Donna. I had to."

"Josh, I just..." I start and shake my head. The tears I was praying wouldn't come finally show up and he takes my hand.

"Donnatella, all of our moments have been ours. I went to Harvard and Yale. I am a Mets fan. I do hate everything the Republican party stands for. I am a politician. It's just this one other thing that I did...do."

"Josh! Leo says you've caught over 200 of these guys!" I yelp. "How?"

"Well, when it first started, it was just learning to follow the paper trail, but once I got Mike involved and started working more closely with Justice, I got training and..."

"What kind of training?"

"Training through the FBI and CIA."

"To do what?"

"Whatever I need to." He shrugs. "I can shoot. I'm trained in cryptanalysis. I can hack into secured computers."

"You can't work your email!"

"No, I can." He says sheepishly. "I can actually hold my alcohol extremely well, too."

"Oh God." I cover my mouth with my hand and shake my head crying. He sits up a bit and grabs my other hand.

"Donna, you know everything that's important." He says earnestly.

"Yeah? Like this isn't the first time you've been shot?"

"Everything that's important to ME." He insists.

"How is the fact that you've been shot not important?" I shoot back.

He sighs, finally seeming defeated. "Donna, there's a lot to tell you, but I can't do it all in one conversation. I never wanted any of this to touch you. That's why I stopped. I stopped when I met you. They've tried to kill me several times and when that wasn't good enough, they tried and sometimes succeeded in killing people close to me. I could never forgive myself if they did anything to you. I'm beating myself up now over you crying about this! Donna, you mean so much to me, and I thought I could just walk away from it, but I was stupid. I can't. I can't until Reiger is dead or rotting in prison. He's the reason I started this and Donna, even if I DID walk away, he'd come for me. At this point, he knows I have certain things in my possession. Things that he wants, and will stop at nothing to get. I couldn't walk away now if I wanted to."

"Who IS Aribert Reiger?"

"A doctor with the S.S. at Birkenau."

"Where your grandfather was." I whisper and he nods.

"Reiger was tried in absentia and my grandfather testified against him." Josh says. "In addition to the many, many, many atrocities he committed at Birkenau in the name of 'medical research,' he stole millions upon millions of dollars worth of jewels, relics, gold, art, religious artifacts from the Jewish people. Mike and I think that either Reiger, or his treasure, is in South America."

"How?"

"I cracked a cipher that we got our hands on."

"HOW?"

"'Cuz I can." He shrugs.

"You can crack a cipher?" I'm stunned. The guy can't tell you what day of the week it is on any given day, but he can crack a cipher?

"I can decode many ciphers." He says.

Interesting.

"Can you teach me?"

"I can..." he starts, but then catches what I said. "Sure."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He smiles.

"Is it hard?"

"Yes." He nods.

"Too hard for me?"

"If it's not too hard for me, it sure as hell isn't too hard for you." He smiles. "You're way smarter than me anyway."

"I can't crack ciphers."

"You'll be able to when I'm done with you."

I blush and look down. That actually sounded kinda dirty. Josh and I have always walked that fine line, but ever since Rosslyn, I seem to have fallen right into the role of...I don't know, not girlfriend, significant other? Partner? I'm not really sure. It seems unspoken, but very much there.

He sighs and releases one of my hands in favor of lifting it to my cheek. "I'm so sorry, Donna." He says softly. I cover his hand with mine and smile. "I never wanted you to get dragged into this."

"It was inevitable, Joshua, I belong by your side." I reply and he smiles. "It's really your dumb ass fault for not seeing that sooner."

He smiles and slides his hand from my face to the back of my neck and gently pulls me towards him. He's regaining his strength, but he's not remotely where he should be. I know what he wants by the look in his eye though. I feel a tingling in my stomach as my lips connect with his. Nothing big, the man had a collapsed lung not too long ago, but it's soft and sweet.

When he pulls away, he looks incredibly serious. "You promise me you'll do absolutely everything those four agents tell you to."

"What's wrong?" I ask confused by the sudden change in his demeanor.

"Promise me, Donna." He says again. "You have no idea how ruthless, creative, cunning, and downright barbaric these people are. They will stop at nothing. Promise me."

"Of course." I nod.

He tugs me down until my head is on his shoulder. His other arm comes across my shoulders and he rests his cheek on my head. "Thank you."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Donna has absolutely no concept of the danger she's in. When I think about it, I want to take her and escape to Alaska or Saskatchewan, but they'll find us there. That's my problem. She can't not be by me now. If she's not with me, she's not safe. On the other hand, she's also in danger because of me. I'm only making it worse by giving in to my feelings for her, but I stayed away so she wouldn't get wrapped up in all this and she did anyway.

"I need your help with something." I say when she sits up and I push some hair behind her ear.

"What?"

"I need the Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing."

"What?"

"The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing." I say again. "The book I gave you for Christmas, I need it."

"I know what you're talking about. I just can't believe you remember the title." She says surprised.

"I do." I say simply. OF COURSE I remember the title. That book has only been in my family for about 45 years now. But she doesn't know that and I'm afraid to tell her now. "Do you know where it is?"

"It's on my desk at work."

I blink at her in surprise. "It's at the White House?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you brought it home."

"No. I leave it on my desk so when you're being insufferable, I can open it up and remember why it is I still work for you." She says matter-of-factly.

What on Earth did I do to deserve this woman?

"Okay...well...I need it."

"Why?"

"It's got something in there I need." I reply.

"What?"

"I'll show you when you get it. It's a little hard to explain." I say.

"Josh, I have four armed guards. I don't think they're going to let me go wandering around."

"You're not wandering around. You're going to the White House."

"What are people at the White House going to say when I show up with four armed guards? Josh, has it escaped your notice that other than your mother, Leo, me and Mike, NO ONE has come to see you or called? It's not because they don't want to; it's because they can't get through." I point out.

"Shit." I say. "You're right. I'll figure something else out."

Dammit.

Of all the crappy ass times for me to be laid up.

I need that book.

8.

"Leo's here." I tell him when I gently shake his shoulder. He fell asleep almost immediately after he got done with therapy. His strength is improving but he still gets wiped out pretty easily.

He rouses slowly and I see him blink his eyes into focus. "Leo?"

"He says he needs to talk to us." I rub his arm as he carefully sits up. "I asked him for a minute, he's waiting in the hall. I'll let him in?"

He nods and reaches for the bottle of water that I keep by the bed for him. I open the door for Leo and he gives me a brief hug.

"How ya doing kid?" he asks.

"Fine." I keep it brief. How do you encapsulate all that's going on around us right now? Mike is over a couple times a day with updates. Our 'security' pre-plans every move we make and although they're keeping it a little more low key now and while other people might not realize that the orderlies in the hallway are agents, I know it and it makes me nervous. Josh is getting better but I can tell he's frustrated with the slow progress of his recovery. The only real silver lining has been the alone time we've been able to share. Sarah made good on her threat to go to Florida, but she too, only went with security watching her back.

"Sorry to wake you, Josh, but I just have a little time before I need to be back in the West Wing and I need to talk to you both first." Leo sit next to the hospital bed, I join Josh on the bed so we're both facing Leo.

"You don't have your happy face on, Leo." Josh notes.

"We've been revisiting the rehab facility issues." Leo begins. "We've decided to move you to a facility in Virginia instead. Your security detail feels more comfortable with the set up there since it's part of the Farm." The Farm? Security is better on a farm than in a D.C. hospital?

"Isn't that going to be problematic in terms of keeping up on my workload in Operations?" Josh asks.

"Yeah, that's the other issue. You're going to take a leave of absence. Both of you are." Leo announces.

"We are?" I ask. What now?

"You're going back to Wisconsin to spend time with family after this difficult time and Josh is going to head to Florida to join his mother and think about whether he wants to return to the White House." Leo continues.

"Wait a second, I am NOT going to Wisconsin, Leo, I --" Josh puts a hand on my leg to silence me.

"What's the team thinking, Leo?" Josh asks.

"We're thinking that for now, your German friends think that their cover story is holding; that we believe this was simply white supremacists taking shots at the black boyfriend of the white First Daughter. As long as they believe that we believe that, you're in less danger from them. We'd like to keep it that way." My head is spinning. Who's on first?

"If we move you out of here with the security we think you're going to need to keep you safe, it's going to raise red flags all over the place. The press is going to want to know why so many resources are protecting you when you were only collateral damage in the shooting. Your colleagues are going to want to know why access to you is so limited and why Donna is still with you. They'll want to know why she isn't back at her place once you leave the hospital." Leo explains. "We can't afford those kinds of questions and frankly, neither can either of you."

"Hence the farm." Josh adds.

"I'm not going to Wisconsin, but I'm going to a farm in Virginia?" I ask trying desperately to catch up.

"The Farm is a nickname for a CIA training facility in Virginia." Josh tells me. "It's like its own little city; completely self contained. It has living quarters, stores, and most importantly...medical facilities."

"So you could get the therapy and treatment you need there without anyone knowing you're there and still have heavy security?" Josh nods at my summary. Hmmmm. Keeping Josh safe has topped my priority list of late.

"Sending you both on leaves of absence makes for a perfect explanation for your disappearance from Washington. Who wouldn't understand that both of you need some time away after all you've been through?" Leo suggests. Okay, I get the logic of this but...

"What does that mean in the long term? At what point do we come back from our leave of absence?" I ask.

Josh and Leo share a look before Josh answers. "Whether or not we go back to the White House is going to depend a lot on how things play out with Reiger." Leo nods. Oh.

"Is Donna's cover story going to put anyone in Wisconsin in harm's way?" Josh asks. I hadn't even thought of that!

"We don't think so, but just to be safe, she can take a trip away with some friends after her double arrives in Madison." Leo shares.

"My double?"

"They're watching you, Donna. Someone looking very much like you is going to have to fly to Wisconsin to throw them off. Our strong belief is that once you're there, they're going to lose interest in you pretty fast. Your only value to them right now lies in your proximity to Josh."

"Slow down, Leo, you're freaking her out." Josh mutters.

"I think that horse has left the barn, Josh." I mention and roll my eyes.

"I'm going to keep you safe, I promise." The look he gives me is so intense. I feel protected just sitting next to him. I give him a smile to relay confidence that I am not close to feeling.

"Being from Wisconsin, I'll totally fit in on a farm." I tease.

"Condo." Is Josh's one word reply. We visited my family when the campaign went through Wisconsin. He was a little surprised to find that my tales of growing up on a farm might have been...overstating things a bit. When we got to my parents' condo, even though they explained I grew up in a more rural area, all his farm girl fantasies hit the skids. Poor Josh.

"Right." Leo responds even though it's very clear that he doesn't understand what the last exchange was about. "Then it's settled. Tomorrow, when you're discharged from here, you'll head to the farm."

"Yeah, that seems to be our best option." Josh agreed and then belatedly remembered to ask me. "You're okay with this plan? If you're not, this would be the time to split up."

"I'm sticking with you." I agree and he smirks. He'll be giving me shit about this later, I can tell.

Leo gets up to leave. "One more thing...Charlie's outside." Josh groans. He's done everything include fake sleeping to avoid talking to Charlie. Josh understands that they have to stick with the story that Charlie was the target of the attacks, but he knows very well what this storyline is doing to Charlie in terms of guilt. He doesn't want to face that head on, and I understand that. But by avoiding Charlie, I believe it's only increased the guilt Charlie must be feeling because now Charlie thinks Josh doesn't even want to look at him. We've 'discussed' this issue a lot in the last few days. It's time to face the music. From the expression on Josh's face he knows it too.

"The kid needs some closure Josh. He looks up to you, for some unfathomable reason. I'm sending him in now, okay?" Leo asks, but it's really a statement.

"Yeah." Josh nods and I take his hand in mine. We'll deal with this together. Leo gives Josh an awkward and careful hug and kisses my cheek before he leaves to send Charlie in.

"Hey, Charlie." Josh beams a smile at him. I think he figures that relieving some of Charlie's guilt is the least he can do.

"Look at you, up and around." Charlie smiles back a bit and seems relieved that Josh looks better than he'd expected. "You look good."

"I'm feeling better every day." Josh says honestly. "Donna keeps cracking the whip on the physical therapy."

"She's the only one who can keep you in line, I'm thinking," Charlie answers, as I give him a smile.

"It's been tough. You know how stubborn he is." I point out. "We've really tried to keep the visitors down so he can rest between sessions." I explain.

"I understand." Charlie says, but I'm not sure that he does. "I brought over some of your fan mail." He holds up a bag that looks to be laden with letters and more than a few stuffed animals.

"Thanks. I'll have plenty of time to sort through it while I'm on leave." Josh throws out. He's already laying the ground work. He's good at this.

"You're taking a leave of absence?" Charlie repeats.

"I'm going to need some more time before I'm physically ready for work and I promised mom I'd spend some time with her." Josh explains.

"Sure, that makes sense." Charlie hesitates. "Listen, man, I just wanted to say...you know...I'm really sorry about what happened to you. Who knew standing near me would be more dangerous than standing by the President?" He tries to pass it off as a joke, but I can hear the pain in his voice.

"Don't you EVER apologize for those racist bigots again. Do you hear me, Charlie?" Charlie's head snaps up to meet Josh's eyes when he hears the steel in Josh's tone. "What happened there had NOTHING to do with you and EVERYTHING to do with ignorant assholes who think they can eliminate their problems by shooting people." Wow. "If I ever hear you saying something like that again, I'm going to be pissed and you know what happens to people I get pissed at."

Charlie blinks and he clearly doesn't know how to respond.

"Nobody blames you, Charlie. Nobody." I add. I can see the tears gather in Charlie's eyes and I know from growing up with three brothers that guys don't like to cry in front of other guys; especially not their professional mentors and personal friends.

"I do." Charlie admits. "I blame me."

"Then you're not nearly as smart as I took you for." Josh continues with the tough love. Why can't he just give the poor guy a hug? "And you're playing into their narrative; that the black guy's to blame for them doing something evil and stupid. You gonna let them play that card?"

"No." Charlie replies instantly and loudly.

"Then we're done talking about this, okay? I'm going to be fine and before long, I'll be back on the basketball court kicking your ass again." Josh states and Charlie laughs.

"Man, you have never kicked my ass on the basketball court." He objects.

"Maybe not, but after all this physical therapy, I'm going to be in primo shape."

"Maybe, but you're still going to be very old. Therapy can't do anything about that." Charlie scoffs. Okay, they're into a pissing match about basketball; crisis averted.

By the time Charlie leaves, everyone is in better spirits.

"You did good with him." I tell Josh while I give him a hug as a reward.

"Be honest. You wanted me to hug him and have an Oprah moment or something." He laughs in my ear.

"Maybe for a minute there, but you pulled it off with room to spare." I acknowledge and his hands on my back move a little differently...slower and more purposeful.

"You know PT alone isn't going to get me ready to kick ass in basketball." He notes. Where the hell is he going with this? "Cardiovascular exercise is a vital part of training."

"You are NOT using a line about cardiovascular exercise to proposition me for sex, are you?" I give him a disapproving look, but his damn dimples have popped out, and I'm lost and he knows it.

"Not sex. Making love." He corrects me and kisses me so thoroughly that it's the guy who's recovering from major surgery who's holding me up. Damn.

"Unfortunately for you, your doctors haven't cleared you for either sex or making love." I point out, but actually, I'm thinking its unfortunate for me. He's good at this too. We've been dancing on this line all week. Okay, we've been dancing on it a lot longer than a week, but we've been dancing on it PHSYICALLY for a week. The kisses and the touches have become bolder and bolder with each passing day and we've both been secure in the knowledge that it can't go further than that right now, so we've just been exploring this, playfully.

I'm a big proponent of exploration.

"You're a killjoy, Donna." He moans.

"Not me, the doctors." I correct him. "If you think I like the cold showers..."

He pulls back from me a second and looks into my eyes. "Soon." He promises and it makes me shiver.

"Soon." I agree.

<><><><><><><><>

"Why can't you just substitute one letter for another letter in the code?" Donna asks me. I'm attempting to relieve the boredom we're both feeling in the rehab facility by teaching her how to crack codes.

"Because they're too easy to crack." I explain. "We know that the most frequently occurring letters in the English language are E, then T, then A and O. Then anyone who wants to break the code finds the most frequent letter and assumes it's E, the second most frequent letter and assumes it's T. Then you start playing around with the rest of the alphabet until you hit something that makes words when you finish the substitutions."

"So it's simply a matter of running the letters until you find the ones that work."

"Right, and with 26 letters, the combinations are hardly infinite. Using the Caesar substitute method takes it up a notch."

"And that's what this is?"

"Yep." I agree. "See how long it takes you."

She's faster than I anticipated and within the hour she shouts, "The Mets win the world series? This is what I've been slaving over for the past hour?"

"It's just for practice. Were you expecting some classified material?"

"A girl can hope." Donna pouts. "Give me another one."

"Let's take it up another notch. This is called the bifid cipher. We make five rows and five columns with the letters and then we have a two number combination that represents each letter." I demonstrate while Donna soaks it all up like a sponge. We try a couple examples together before I come up with another message for Donna to decode. This time it's less than 45 minutes before she had it decoded. Granted it wasn't agent level decoding, but I'm proud of how quickly she's picking it up.

"You look beautiful in green?" She asks holding up the paper to verify the message.

"You do." I maintain and run my eyes down her body again. The green blouse she's wearing shows off every curve and makes her blue eyes even brighter; I didn't know that was possible. I'm not the only one who thinks so either. The number of male CIA operatives who've 'dropped by' to check on my recovery since we arrived at the Farm is disgusting.

"You haven't seen another female besides me since we got here." Donna protests. "You have no basis for comparison."

"I see women on TV." Josh countered. "I like looking at you better. I love watching you while you're trying to puzzle these codes out. I can see the wheels spin in your head."

"And that's good?" She asks.

"It makes me hot." I admit and she smirks. She sets down her pencil and papers and saunters over to me.

"Your reading glasses make me hot." She tells me and flips them down from their perch on my head so they're in front of my eyes. "You look all smart and professorial."

"We're going to have to talk about this thing you have for professors." I tell her.

"Do we have to...talk?" She asks just before her lips touch mine.

"Talking can be overrated." I acknowledge and slip my tongue into her mouth rendering speech impossible. I slip my hands under her blouse just as there's a quick knock at our door. Sometimes, the choice to come here and live in a compound with a bunch of testosterone saturated guys seems like a big mistake.

9.

Josh rolls his eyes as the door closes behind this round of agents. He's unamused at how many CIA agents have drifted in to "see to our welfare." Josh thinks they're coming to talk to me. While they all HAVE taken an interest in me, I think they're trying to figure out what the hell exactly the President's Deputy Chief of Staff is doing at Camp Peary.

I haven't seen too much of Josh and Leo's "Farm." I'm not allowed. It seems that it's a CIA training base and Josh spent a lot of time here training. They all seem to know him and he pretty much gets to come and go as he pleases. I have to have an escort and I'm only allowed to go to specific places.

From what I've gathered though, it's a really, really big place. There's, like, an entire town here and a runway for planes and fields and all kinds of stuff. What I've seen, which again hasn't been much, has been pretty wild. Josh says that a lot of international prisoners are funneled through here and aren't considered to have stepped on American soil. I'm not sure how that works because we're in Virginia, but that's what I'm told.

"Josh?" I ask.

"Hmm? Yeah?" he replies looking up from this "map" of his and Mike's. It's actually got a lot of writing in German on it and a bunch of ciphers that Josh and Mike think are addresses and other information that will explain either Reiger's whereabouts or what I've taken to calling his "plunder."

"Why are they calling you Brick?"

"It's my codename."

"Your codename is Harvard."

"That's my secret service codename. The CIA and the FBI call me something else." He says.

"Why Brick?"

"Hmm?" he was looking right at me that time.

"Why do they call you Brick? How'd you get that particular name?"

"Well..." he starts like he's trying to figure out what to say. "Back when I did all this training, this was like 15 years ago, and I was built like a brick wall."

"Really?" I ask sizing him up. It's not that he was out of shape or anything, I mean his arms are cut, I'm just trying to imagine him better toned than he is now.

"Why would I make that up?" he asks quickly.

"Um...I didn't think you made it up." I say.

"Oh, sorry." He says and returns to his map. "Okay. Look. I can't do this without the book."

"What?"

"The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing. I need it." He says again.

"How am I going to get it? I'm supposed to be on a leave of absence. Can someone bring it over?"

"I'm supposed to be in Florida." He says as Mike comes in.

"What's going on?"

"I need the Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing." Josh says to Mike and he pauses.

"Is it at Donna's?" Mike asks Josh. How does Mike know about that book?

"No. Donna's got it on her desk at work." Josh supplies and Mike's eyes go real wide.

"Well, I guess that was certainly a safe place for it."

"I also want my watch."

"Okay, well, I have that in my purse, but why you want it back, I have no clue. Your watch sucks Josh." I say.

"Yeah." Josh says and holds his hand out. "Can I have it?"

Odd. I pick up my purse, dig through and hand him his crappy watch when I retrieve it. He just puts it on his wrist.

"How are we going to get to the book?" Josh asks Mike.

"Well, I could talk to the Director and see if he'll let Donna go get it." Mike suggests. "We could say that she's just picking up some personal stuff to keep at home while she's out. That's normal."

"Can you call him?" Josh asks.

"Yeah." Mike nods and leaves the room.

Josh pushes the map aside and comes over to where I'm sitting on the couch. We've got something of a suite. It's got two bedrooms in it, but we're...um...pretty much using one. Of course, Josh still hasn't been cleared for...making love... but we're having a lot of fun doing other stuff!

"You're still trying to figure out that cipher?" He smiles, pulling the notebook I had in my hand away and dropping it on the floor as he moves above me.

"Well, I WAS." I reply, shimmying underneath him.

"I want to do this now." He whispers kissing my neck.

"What about Mike? He's going to be coming back."

"I'll put a sock on the door."

"Jos --" My protest dies in my throat as he kisses me deeply. His hands waste no time in slipping under my shirt. I still have a hard time believing any of this is happening. I can't even call my parents from here, though I'm told the President has called them. And the physical side of things with Josh...well, I never really thought it would happen. It's strange to go from nothing but friendship and a professional relationship to near death to living together. We sort of skipped, you know, the whole dating thing. But the living together thing wasn't my idea.

The door swings open and Josh groans and pushes himself off of me. I sigh and sit up.

"Is that all you two do?" Mike asks scrunching up his face.

"Well it's not like there's a happening night life around here." I mutter getting more comfortable on the couch.

"Though there's also not lack of potential dates." Josh mutters. There's the Josh I know!

"Good news." Mike says. "The Director approved Donna's trip over to the White House. He said she can just say she's leaving for Wisconsin in a few days. Nobody was given a departure date for her."

"Fantastic!" Josh says with a clap of his hands.

Looks like I'm going on a road trip.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Hi, Donna!"

"Hey, Donna! How are you?"

"Donna! It's great to see you!"

I smile noncommittally as I pass all these well wishers in the corridors. It feels very strange to be here without Josh. In fact, if feels eerie. He's one of 1300 people that work in this building, but he is such a huge part of day to day life here that his lack of presence is glaring.

I'm also not in the mood to talk to anyone either because it took about two hours to get here.

I head to my desk where I'm greeted again by half the bullpen and I toss a glance over to Josh's office. The door is closed, and from what I've been told, locked. Nobody finds that weird?

I pull out various things from my drawers and toss them into my tote bag. It's not like I need any of this, but it looks good. I finally pick up the Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing. I smile gently as I open the book and read the inscription I have memorized. Josh still hasn't said exactly what he needs this for, but I hope I get it back in one piece. It may be a ratty old book to some, but it's worth its weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.

"Hi, Donna."

I jump a little bit when I hear Toby's voice.

"Oh, Toby! Hi." I smile putting my hand over my heart. Toby can do stealthy pretty well.

"I thought you were in Wisconsin?"

"Oh, not yet." I rattle off my line. "Day after tomorrow. I'm just picking up some personal stuff."

"How's Josh?"

"I'm told he's doing well." I lie. "Making his mom nuts."

"Everything okay with you?" Toby asks cocking his head to the side and studying me. I love Toby to death. His prickly demeanor has always been a little more blunted with me. But he's always so damn perceptive! He's the one person I was hoping I wouldn't bump into.

"Yeah." I nod. "I just...I don't know. I have to rethink things, you know?"

"You're thinking of staying with Josh?"

"I'm sorry?"

"If Josh doesn't come back, are you thinking of leaving with him?"

"Oh." I say. Interesting question. "We haven't really talked about that. It wasn't really... I mean, I don't think the decision was dependent on..." Dammit!

"What's that there?" he asks gesturing to my book.

"Oh, Josh gave this to me last year for Christmas." I smile looking down at the book. "It's kind of an inside joke, but he wrote something real nice to me in it and so it's kinda sentimental to me. I didn't want anything to happen to it while I was out." Thank God for small truths.

I look down at the book and spin through the pages with my thumb. Something on the back inside cover catches my attention and I open it up.

I'll be damned.

There's a bunch of seemingly non-sensical letters filling the back jacket.

It's a cipher.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I pace the sitting room of mine and Donna's suite restlessly. I hate that she's, like, out there right now, but I need that book. I can't go on with this without it. The book and the watch are nothing without each other.

As soon as she was out of my sight, I got nervous. Why couldn't we just have Leo nick the book at night? Why didn't I think of that? Leo comes and goes here and he comes and goes at the White House. He could have just walked down the hall and picked up the book. But everyone agreed it would look better if it were Donna. Let everyone see her in a familiar setting, keep the red flags down to a minimum. It seemed like a good course of action at the time, but now I'm unable to stop pacing, which is bad because I'm going to have no strength left for therapy.

This is ridiculous. I don't need to stay in here. I've got free reign of this place. I'm going to go out for a walk to burn off some of this nervous energy.

I open my door and step out into the hall. "Hi, Brick." A CIA agent says as I pass.

"Hi." I reply absently. I don't know that guy but they all know me. Apparently, I'm some kind of legend now after that...brick thing.

I head out of the building and down the front steps and look around. I know this place like the back of my hand, but it's enormous and I don't want to get too far out and not be able to get back because I'm too tired.

When I finally decide on a short course, I get all of one step when a town car squeals to a stop in front of me and Mike hops out.

"Josh!" he says quickly striding up to me. "We have a problem."

Oh God. I don't like how he said that.

"What the hell happened?" I ask. I can feel the blood leave my head and the familiar anxious feeling gather in my chest and stomach.

"It's Donna..." he starts and takes a deep breath.

"What. Happened?"

"They got her."

"What the fuck does that mean, they GOT her?" I demand. I can feel myself flying into a rage. Why didn't I pull out my cell phone and call her fucking escorts and tell them to turn the hell around!? "Is she dead?!"

"We don't think so, but we don't have her anymore."

"She had FOUR fucking agents with her!" I shout.

"Yeah, well, it turns out one of them wasn't ours."

My eyes widen and my knees give out and I sit down on the wall along the steps.

"God, they've got her?"

"And the book."

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE BOOK; I GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HER!" I explode.

"Yeah, I know that, but later you're going to care that they got the book, too." He says. "Her other three agents are dead."

"This happened at the White House?"

"On the way back." Mike said.

This is it. This is my nightmare. These fuckers finally got Donna. And I have no idea where in the world they're going to take her and if she'll be alive when they get there.

10.

"Mr. President, we've got a situation." I begin. "Donna Moss was abducted on her way back to the Farm. Three of the agents with her have been found dead."

"Leo, I was assured by no less than the CIA Director and the FBI Director that she and Josh would be safe in their custody." Jed Bartlet rants.

"They'll be here shortly for your briefing." I tell him. "Sir, I think it's time to move to our contingency plan now and bring Sarah Lyman to the White House."

Jed closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Do it now." He orders. "If she wants to speak to me personally, I'm available."

"I don't think she's going to be interested in that, sir." I reply. "I'll get right on it."

"They still have my Deputy Chief of Staff, right? They haven't lost him, too?"

"No, sir, but with Donna taken, I don't imagine he'd be any good to you...or anybody else for that matter."

"No. I'm going to want to talk to him, too."

"Yes, sir." I reply. I do not want to be part of that call.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Josh is pacing like a caged tiger. I don't think I've ever seen him like this. The thing about Josh is that he's always the cool one in a crisis. His ability to evaluate a situation and come up with the appropriate strategy while juggling ten other items is what has made him so successful in politics...and this avocation of his. I'm seeing none of that now.

"This is fucking ridiculous!" He's been on a tear for the past 20 minutes ever since I brought him the news about Jacobs being the double agent. It's been nearly eight hours since we lost Donna. "Right under our Goddamn noses? This guy was here all along?"

"Jacobs' been a solid agent for over ten years. You know what kind of testing and background checks go into getting someone onto this property." McNulty reminds him. Big. Mistake.

"Really? Then explain how we've got three men down and a valuable asset taken hostage? Spell it out for me, McNulty!" Josh turns his rage on the man who's been on our extraction team for years. It jars me to hear Josh refer to Donna as an asset but I think he's trying to put some emotional distance on this...it doesn't seem to be working.

"Agents do turn on occasion, Josh, and when you're looking at something of this magnitude and involves this amount of treasure...this much raw wealth..." McNulty is trying to reel Josh in and we exchange a look of, 'what do we do now'?

"I know what's involved here." Josh barks.

"So. Do. I." This is McNulty calling Josh out; telling him he realizes that this case is personal for Josh in every conceivable way. Josh deflates a bit and then looks over at me with desperation.

"There's nothing you found in your South American travels that would lead you to believe he'd take her there?"

I shake my head slowly. "I showed you what I got for my trouble there. More hints, more rumors, and many people afraid to talk, but even when I greased the wheels there wasn't much they could tell me. It was an old lead and it went cold. He's not there anymore. My best guess is he went back to Europe. We've always believed the loot was there somewhere. He'd want to see it for himself and I think he'd be feeling secure enough to attempt a return trip."

"Or he was...until I started digging around again." Josh slammed his palm against the wall. "Damn it!"

"Mike!" Kieffer comes running in. "We've got a lead!"

"Convince me and you're my new best friend." I offer.

"One of Jacobs' back up ID's was used to secure a private plane out of Maryland." Kieffer reports. "Their time of departure was less than 30 minutes from the time of the abduction."

"And for the big money...where was their plane headed?" Josh asked.

"Their flight plan turned out to be bogus, but through some creative investigative skills and serious interrogation efforts-"

"KIEFFER!" Josh and I shout together.

"France. They just landed in France. Orly airport." Josh grabs him by the shoulders. "If I weren't a committed heterosexual, I'd kiss you right on the mouth." Keiffer looks scared.

"McNulty, we're going to need an extraction team." Josh turns to the man in question.

"I'm on it."

"I think you're forgetting an important piece of the operation." I remind them. "We need permission."

"We'll ask after we get back. It works out better that way." Josh notes.

"It...really doesn't." Kieffer counters.

"And I thought we had bonded here, Kieffer." Josh scoffs. "How soon can we head out?"

"Two hours." McNulty offers.

"One. They've already got eight hours on us." Josh moves to get whatever he thinks he might need for this trip.

"Josh...we've been given a lot of latitude in the past since you're, you know, you, but we have to run this through channels."

"We don't have time for channels." Josh shoots back. "Donna doesn't have time for channels. Eight hours they've had her already!"

"That was flight time Josh. They're not going to touch her on the flight."

"And now we've got flight time. Though if we take the Concord we can cut that in half." Josh muses out loud.

"Do you know what it costs to get five guys tickets on the Concord?" I ask more out of form than for a real answer. Money isn't going to get in Josh Lyman's way at this point.

"I'm thinking six guys and I'm bringing my Gold card." Josh answers.

"You can't." I object and want to throw up.

"Yes, I can." Josh counters. I seriously can't believe this guy is a master debater sometimes.

"No, I mean, you could, but you can't. Any card with your name on it is going to get WAY more attention from friends and foes alike than we can safely manage." I point out.

"Shit." Josh grins. "I guess we'll have to use your card then." How did I not see that coming? "I'll use one of my alternate passports. Pack it up, Michael, we're out of here in 57 minutes." And to think I used to worry about Josh's rule bound nature...

***Flashback***

"Are you kidding me?" I ask him. "Everything we need is right on the other side of this door. What the hell do we care about warrants at this point?"

"It has to be a clean search, or we lose the evidence and the guy walks." Josh insists. "It won't be long now. I'll get the call on the warrant any minute."

"And if the guy rabbits while we're waiting oh so politely for our warrant?"

"He won't go far." Josh assures me. "Everything HE needs is right on the other side of this door too. We can't take our eyes off the prize now, Mike. Didn't they teach you this stuff in F.B.I. school?"

"This guy, he's a war criminal." I state.

"Yes." Josh agrees.

"He committed horrible atrocities against hundreds, maybe thousands of people."

"Yes."

"And the last pieces of evidence we need to nail him for said crimes, lie on the other side of this door."

"Yes." Josh sighs.

"Let's go get it." I suggest. "One solid kick and we are in!"

"No."

"Why not?!" Okay, maybe seeing the evidence of what this animal did to innocent people, children, has pushed me over the edge a bit. But this injustice...it's worse than any other injustice I have ever seen or heard of and I don't care anymore about how we get the guy I just want to take him out.

"We're not above the law." Josh says simply. "That's what happened to these guys. Suddenly, rules and laws, moral and constitutional, didn't apply to them anymore. We're better than that. In fact, we're so good that we can take them down with the very laws they treated with such disdain." Josh's pager goes off and he looks down to read it. When he looks back up, he has a wicked grin on his face and both dimples pop out.

"We got it. Show me how you fancy F.B.I. guys kick down a door, Agent Casper."

I oblige and within minutes we're gathering the last pieces of the puzzle we need to get a conviction and when the asshole comes back to his apartment, just as Josh predicted he would, it's a clean bust with not a scratch on anyone.

*** Present***

That's when I realized this guy was a force to be reckoned with....and decided to hitch my wagon to his star.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"I just need a thing." I explain to the agent on duty. "Why can't you open the door for one damn minute?!"

"Mr. Ziegler, while Mr. Lyman is on leave, we've been asked to keep his office locked at all times."

"He's got information in there that I need to get Wyman on board for 802." I am desperate now. Josh always makes this look so easy...and fun. It's miserable and these members of Congress are nothing but self-centered babies that need their hand held and their egos coddled. I know Josh needs time to recover, but if he doesn't get back soon, I will not be responsible for my actions. "One little file, probably right where he left it in the middle of his desk. It will take me 30 seconds to get in and out."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ziegler--"

"Don't be sorry. Don't be stupid. Just open the damn door!"

"Can I help you Mr. Ziegler?" I hear Ron Butterfield's voice behind me.

"I need Josh's file on 802, it's in his office and nobody seems to be able to unlock it."

"I can help you with that Mr. Ziegler." Ron takes out his ring of keys and after a moment of study, finds a red key and uses it to unlock the door. Then he stands there while I rifle through Josh's desk to find the file on 802. I see it in the middle drawer and pull it out in triumph. I open it to check to make sure everything is there that I need; it is. Thank God for Donna. That's when I notice a piece of paper flutter to the floor. I pick it up to shove it back in the desk when I notice the name and it rings a bell: Reiger. Where the hell do I know that name from? I absently return the paper to the desk drawer, but now it's really bugging me. Ron is still standing sentry at the door; he is on paranoid guy, but after Rosslyn, I promised myself I wouldn't question what he did or why anymore.

"Thanks Ron. This is going to save my ass." I tell him.

"Glad I could help Mr. Ziegler. You'll let me know if you need anything else?"

"Yeah..." I wave him off and see him re-lock the door out of my peripheral vision. What the hell?

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Mike looks upset, which is puzzling to me since he didn't have to break out his American Express card. I'm not sure what McNulty did, but I owe him several dozen favors for getting a green light on an extraction team and the plane he's currently flying to France. They might not be very comfortable, and there's no in-flight movie, but I love military transports for one reason; no damn flight attendants telling you to sit down, put on your seat belt, or put your tray in the upright position. I get to stand up and pace.

I can't remember ever being this anxious before, so to relieve some of my anxiety I decide to pick on Mike. It's okay. He understands me.

"Maybe you should have given up your seat for someone who has some decent interrogation techniques." I poke.

"Maybe you should have given up yours for someone who wasn't on medical leave, BRICK." See? He totally understands me.

"It's taking too long."

"It's taking the exact amount of time it takes to cross an ocean." He moans.

"No, I mean for them to contact me." I contradict him. "They should have contacted me by now."

"Maybe." He allows. "I think they want to get comfortably settled in their new hole first. Make sure they've covered their tracks."

"What if that's not it? What if they think Donna knows something?" I speak my biggest fear out loud. If they're just holding her to get me out in the open, she should be okay. She's no good to them wounded or...But if they think they can get what they need from her then we're screwed.

"Unlikely." Mike tells me and damn it, I can't tell if he's telling the truth or trying to reassure me. "Reiger wants you as badly as you want him. If he thinks Donna will bring that about, he'll take very good care of her. And who knows, besides a very few, that Donna is anything more than your assistant?"

"Our people on the ground there are tracking them?"

"They're following leads on the transportation from the airport." Mike confirms.

"Brick! They're patching a call through to you." Kieffer yells to me and I hustle up front to the communications area. "It went through the White House and then they had to route it to Florida."

"What?" Mike shouts.

"Everyone thinks I'm in Florida." I fill in.

"Right. You're on a beach." Kieffer confirms and hands me a phone.

"Josh Lyman." I answer.

"How is your tan?" A voice muffled by a voice changer asks me.

"Who the hell is this?"

"Someone who wants to help you get your assistant back."

"Back? She's in Wisconsin. Who IS this?"

"No, not Wisconsin. Luckily, she had her passport with her when we...bumped into her. We understand that she's very valuable to you." I take a deep breath.

"You've made a big mistake. The President is going to bring the power of the United States Government down on your head. Where is she?"

"She is safe, for the moment. But the minute you bring your boss into this, she is so very dead."

"What do you want?"

"We want the item your father gave you and the cipher that contains the directions." The voice explained. "You'll bring them to my colleague in D.C. Once he confirms delivery, Miss Moss will be released."

Fucking bastard isn't going to tell me she'll be released on another continent. As if...

"No, I don't think so." I argue. "Any exchange will be made in person and I'll need proof of life."

"That's not possible."

"Then this conversation is over." I bluff.

"Wait. She is no longer in the US. If you require an in person, exchange you'll have to come to us."

"Come to you where?" I play dumb.

"Get on a plane to Paris. But you'd better have the items with you or Miss Moss will never live to see the City of Lights. You have ten hours. We'll contact you on your cell once you arrive."

"I can't get there in ten hours. I have to get the items in D.C. first." I tell him. "I'll need more time."

"You want us to believe you don't keep these items close at all times?"

"For what? In case I happen upon a Nazi code that needs deciphering? I need to get the items in D.C." I insist.

"The items are not in D.C." He says in a tone that's all too confident. They must have trashed my place looking for it. "Miss Moss has ten hours for you to get to Paris. Take the Concord. I'm sure you can afford it."

"I want to talk to Donna first." I demand.

"When you arrive here."

"Screw you. I talk to her now or I torch the cipher." What the hell. In for a penny, in for a pound. There's what might possibly be the longest pause in my life, and then I hear her.

"Josh?" She sounds like she's been crying. Son of a bitch.

"I'm coming, Donna. Are you okay?"

"A little sick. They gave me a shot of something when they grabbed me but--"

"Donna?!" I shout into the phone but her voice is gone.

"Ten Hours." And the line goes dead. I look over at Mike who along with the rest of our team had been listening in on the conversation. I can feel my hands shaking. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"We have a couple advantages." Kieffer breaks the silence. "They don't know we're already on our way there, and they don't know we're tracking them." I nod.

"Three advantages." Mike chimes in. "They have no idea how smart Donna Moss is."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath and try to hang on to that thought.

11.

"Sarah?"

I turn around at the President's voice. I want so badly to blame him right now for all this, but I can't. First of all, Josh would never forgive me; secondly, it's just not his fault.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, did I wake you?" I ask pushing myself off the large picture window in the sitting room of the Residence I was standing near. I'd been staring out it for a while now.

"No." he waves me off. "I sleep very little as it is and I'm used to being woken up anyway. Can I get you some tea?"

"You're going to make it?" I reply, hiking my eyebrows up.

"Sure." He says. "I am a man of many talents."

"Of that, I have no doubt, sir." I smile weakly. "I'd love some."

He gestures for me to follow him and we move into the private kitchen of the Residence. Josh would be mortified right now over my accepting the President's invitation to make me tea. He'd say I should politely refuse, but he's half way across the Atlantic right now, I'm pissed off at him, and who in their right mind anyway would refuse to have the Leader of the Free World do something as mundane as make you tea?

He invites me to sit down at the large wooden table in the kitchen. The President of the United States and I, sitting in the kitchen of the White House, making tea in our pajamas.

I always said Joshua would keep my life interesting.

"I can't begin to fathom what you feel right now." He starts.

"I can't imagine what Donna's parents are going through." I reply hollowly.

"I've talked to them. There are armed agents with them." He says.

"This has been my nightmare, Mr. President." I say softly. "Ever since Noah got wrapped up in all this..."

"I'm a pretty good secret keeper if you want to relieve your burden." He offers.

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." He smiles. "And if I didn't, I'd make it because everyone around here does what I say." I smile at his candor. "And I admit I'm dying to hear this story. I've read Josh's FBI file. It's all very compelling. I had no idea my deputy was capable of any of this."

"He'll overcome anything to accomplish what he wants...what he believes in," I whisper. "I don't even know where to begin."

"The beginning's always a nice start."

"You know Josh's grandfather, my father in law, was at Birkenau?"

The President nods.

"He witnessed many atrocities while he was there. He came to America a very beaten and broken man, but he lived 'til the ripe old age of 97."

"Impressive, given what I imagine he went through." The President nods.

"I met Noah when I started working for him at his law firm." I begin, and the President chuckles. "Yes, it is rather ironic, isn't it?" I grin and he nods. "Well, nobody cared what a lawyer and his assistant did back then and certainly not in a law firm. So we did start seeing each other. Noah always had a chip on his shoulder about what his father experienced and rightfully so. His father was a very strong, very quiet man. He never talked about his time in the concentration camp, except when he testified at trial.

"He got pulled into all of this by a colleague. There were times when it absolutely consumed him. I begged him many times over to stop. It was very dangerous. He was good at it and we always got threats. Noah didn't work through the Justice department like Josh does. He did this on his own. When he'd had enough evidence gathered, he brought it to Justice and washed his hands of it.

"But he was good. Very good. So good in fact, that these people tried to kill him and our family on numerous occasions. As it turned out, they were successful in killing our daughter. They would have gotten Joshua, too, but he escaped."

"The house fire." The President says and I nod. I suspect Leo probably mentioned something about it along the way. Josh rarely talks about it or his sister. "Noah stopped then, for a while. We changed our names and moved to Connecticut where he started a new practice. When Josh was in college, he came home unexpectedly from Harvard one weekend and interrupted a conversation between Noah and a colleague of his. They were arguing over the latest lead on this one man that had eluded Noah for years."

"Aribert Reiger." The President concludes and I nod.

"You may have noticed that Joshua is...persistent?"

"Yes. I have seen that particular trait shine through a time or two."

"Well, Josh wouldn't give up until he found out what they were talking about. He'd heard enough of the conversation between Noah and this man to know that his father was involved in something extremely serious and extremely dangerous. Josh is most dangerous to himself when he only has a portion of the information. In spite of my pleading that Noah not get our only child involved in it, Noah told him everything."

"Well, I imagine that went over well." The President says dryly.

"Josh is loyal. He wouldn't let his father stay in this alone so he started helping him. I know he seems very impulsive, and he can be, but he's also extremely patient and methodical when it's something he cares about."

"I know." The President nodded. "I've seen it with Donna. He always takes the time to explain everything to her thoroughly. He's always got time to answer her questions, and she has a lot of questions." He smiles a bit at the end there. "She's a wonderful person, Sarah, and she doesn't deserve this."

"When Leo went to hire Josh away from Hoynes, he made Josh tell him about all the Nazis at large that he was currently researching with Justice.

"So Leo knew he was working on this even then?" the President asks. "I mean, I know he knew, but I figured he found out along the way in the campaign or after we got to the White House."

"He was the colleague that Noah was talking to that day."

"I see." The President says.

"Josh was a little more level headed about it than Noah was." I continue. "He had something that Noah and Leo didn't, a resource much more valuable than just his own wits."

"And that was?"

"Agent Casper." I say and the President nods. "Josh and Mike met at Harvard. When Mike started working for the FBI, Josh dumped it all in his lap. Mike went through the appropriate channels at the FBI and they've been a top team in this ugly business ever since."

"Josh has been shot before?"

"Yes."

"By whom?"

"I don't know exactly. But Reiger was and is much more dangerous than any of the other Nazis that Josh has chased after. He was very high up in the SS and he by far has the largest cache of stolen loot of them all. He could afford to surround himself with very capable people."

"Josh stopped all this for a while though."

"He did." I nod. "He did when he realized he had something much more valuable to lose."

"And what's that?"

"Donna, sir."

"I see." The President says then pauses. "But Josh has been with women before. He dated our media consultant, if I'm up on my office gossip."

"Mandy." I nod. "But he was never as close with anyone, personally or professionally, as he is with Donna. He never trusted anyone like he's trusted her. Donna got under his skin and stayed there. And so when he started working here, he gave it up."

"Until Agent Casper dug up a good lead on Reiger." The President says.

"It's like a blood feud." I say. "My father in law testified at Reiger's trial against him. Reiger was convicted in absentia. Nobody was as personal to Josh and Noah as Reiger."

"Who's now got Donna."

"And so my son, who's not yet fully recovered from another gun shot wound and open heart surgery, has gone to France to save her. This is his worst nightmare, sir. If he can't save her, I don't know what he's going to do."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

The room is spinning as I open my eyes. They take a while to focus on the room I'm in. It's a very elegantly decorated parlor. I wonder how much of this is stolen.

My eyes fall on two occupants at a table near the window. Agent Jacobs and a woman, who I have come to find out is Liesel Reiger, Aribert's daughter.

She's not very nice.

I see that she is pouring over The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing.

"You can't decode it?" Agent Jacobs asks.

"It would not matter if I could." Liesel says in perfect accented English. "It is nothing without the watch. Besides that, I do not think this is the cipher." She must be looking at the back cover. "I do not think that either Lyman or his father would be stupid enough to make it so obvious and visible. I think it is a decoy."

"Will he have the real one with him, do you think?" Agent Jacobs asks.

"He will if he wants to see her alive again." She says and jerks her head over to me. They don't know I'm awake yet. That might have worked to my advantage if I wasn't tied up.

"I thought you were going to kill her anyway?"

"I am." She says. "But if he's got what we need, I might let him see her alive one more time. I like the idea of killing her in front of him."

And that just might kill Josh. I really wish I wasn't awake for this conversation. I mean, I'm not an idiot. As soon as I figured out they were taking me out of the country, I knew I had a very limited amount of time left. I was just praying I'd get to see him again or communicate with him somehow to tell him how much I love him. But if that's what our last meeting is going to be like, then I hope to never see him again. I couldn't bear that...not that I'd have long to agonize over it, it seems.

Liesel puts the book down on the table and looks over at me.

"Ah, you are awake again." She says and I say nothing. "I wonder how much of this he has told you about."

"None of it." I say and she laughs.

"I do not believe you." She says. I shrug and she backhands me. My head is pounding and spinning. "I do not tolerate lies, not to me." I look over at Agent Jacobs, who is merely observing the scene.

"It's the truth." I say.

"It does not matter." She says. "There are ways to make you talk."

"I can't tell you what I don't know. And it wouldn't matter if I did know anything. I would never tell you anything to help you hurt him." I say defiantly. She, of course, hits me again.

"I think you'll be very forthcoming after I cut off the first finger." She hisses. Well, that doesn't sound pleasant. "What do you think the Hunter will think of that? Knowing his Shiksa is being repeatedly tortured and raped for information. I think that might mess with his head a bit, throw him off his game, as you Americans say. It will make him careless."

"Josh and I don't have that kind of relationship. I just work for him."

"You lie." She laughs. "If he does not come with what I need by tonight, we will find out just how many lies you have told and you will lose a finger for each one. You are a very beautiful woman, Donna Moss. Many of the men here have been anxious to spend time with you."

I'm surprised I don't throw up on the spot. I'm also surprised that hasn't happened already, quite frankly.

Liesel laughs and leaves the room and I look over at Agent Jacobs in disdain.

"How could you?" I hiss at Jacobs.

"Well, it's a lot of money." He shrugs.

"It's treason."

"I wouldn't get so high and mighty over there, Donna. I may be a greedy American, but I'm still an American. AND it may interest you that I'm the only reason she hasn't turned you over to her henchmen for a bit of entertainment yet. So you might want to treat me with a little more respect. We wouldn't want to have to drug you again."

Okay, well I definitely don't want that. This is the first time I've been coherent in...I have no idea how long I've been here.

"I thought you were one of the good guys." I say and he merely shrugs.

"We all have our price."

"Not Josh."

"Oh yes he does." Jacobs laughs. "His price is you. You may be able to fool Liesel, and I don't think you did, by the way, but I've been in Washington for ten years now. I've seen Josh around and I've seen you with him. There have been rumors about you two and rumors always have a shred of truth to them. You're his price."

There are loud voices in the hallway and Agent Jacobs looks to the door, which predictably flies open. Three large Nazi thugs enter the room and I see, to my extreme despair, that they have Josh with them.

His eyes search the room until they find me. There is absolutely no reaction to me. I don't know this Josh. I don't know what he's capable of. I just know that when Liesel returns, they're probably going to kill me in front of him.

He looks a little pale to me. It could be that he's dressed head to toe in black, but I really think it's because he's in no physical shape for this. He wasn't cleared for physical exertion before I was kidnapped.

"Well, hello." Liesel says reentering the room.

"Liesel." Josh says.

"Joshua." She nods once. "How quaint. Now the Hunter and the hunted meet face to face. You can take her out of here. We'll bring her back in if we need to use her." Liesel nods in my direction. I throw Josh a panicked look, but he shows no reaction. I don't know how to read this Josh, but my Josh would never let this happen.

"No!" I struggle against the thugs who grab hold of my arms and start to drag me out of the room. Josh takes a step towards me and I feel him grab my hand. I want so much to grab on and hold back, but close my eyes and give into the blackness as soon as I feel the familiar prick and burn of the needle.

12.

"Okay, target one is stationary, main floor, 30 meters from the back exit." McNulty reports. "Target two is on the move." That would be Donna. That makes sense. They let him see her and then removed her. There's nothing worse than IMAGINING what might be happening to someone outside of your field of vision/hearing. Don't take her upstairs. DON'T take her upstairs.

"Target two is moving to the second floor." Shit. Breaking her out of the second floor is a lot more complicated. This place isn't a fort or anything, but the estate is way off the beaten track so any movement from us will give away our position. And according to the heat sensors, Reiger has got this place well staffed. At least Josh was able to pass the tracking sticker off on Donna. That was the biggest gamble of this plan. Would Josh be able to get close enough to Donna to attach the sticker to her without giving everything away? Josh is good, but so are these people.

They may still believe he hasn't had the time to put together a team to help him here. After their call, we put a decoy on a plane to France and he was followed so...

As soon as 'his plane' touched down in Paris, he was contacted and arranged a swap at this estate just outside of Paris. He had to go in alone to personally hand off the items Reiger wants in exchange for Donna. It sounded like a decent plan at the time, but now that he's in there, it's lost some of it's sparkle for me.

"Both targets stationary. Target two is 15 meters from the south wall." McNulty continues.

"Any windows on the south wall?" I ask just for the hell of it. I know already the answer is no.

"No." Kieffer takes my bait. "What's with you and windows, Casper?"

"I like windows. I like being able to see in them and exit out of them." I shoot back.

"We can get in through the windows on the East wall." McNulty continues, ignoring Kieffer and I. "I'm only seeing four warm bodies on the second floor right now. The problem is going to be getting out; eight bodies on the first floor and another six on the grounds."

"One of them is Josh." I remind him pointing to the infrared heat figures on the first floor.

"Even if one of those is 007, that's a tough exit." McNulty replies. "He's a top investigator and a kick ass cryptographer, but Brick is no 007."

"He told us our first priority is getting Moss out and if we could only get one, to get Moss." Kieffer points out.

McNulty and I both give Kieffer a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. "We promised him; gave him our word." Kieffer reminds us.

"Don't worry, Keef, we had our fingers crossed." I tell him and pat his shoulder.

"We may have an additional problem." Dillon pipes up watching the screen carefully. "Target 2 is not moving."

"I don't think she's going to be taking any tours of the estate." I reply.

"No, I mean she is NOT MOVING...AT ALL." We all watch the screen for a minute or so. Donna's infrared pattern doesn't so much a twitch. "I think they've knocked her out."

"Great. No windows and an unconscious victim." Kieffer mutters.

McNulty starts mapping out a plan to the rest of the crew. After a few modifications, we all agree and three of us make the trek inside the zone to get to Donna (I'm sent in this group because we figure a familiar face is what she's going to need about now) while the rest of our team waits for some sign from Josh.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Joshua...what have you brought me?" Liesel asks me. "Men are always bringing me presents."

"I expected to see your father." I reply. "I guess getting old and feeble takes a toll on the operation."

"My father is as sharp as ever. He figured out the angle to ensnare you." She tells me with a snarl. "He taught me men have three weaknesses; money, power, and women. Yours is that woman"

"Mine is anyone who's been victimized by the Reiger family business."

She shrugs and gives me a 'whatever' look. "The items." She holds her hand out. With a show of reluctance I remove the watch from my wrist. It's not worth the cheap metal Dillon used to make it on the way to France, but Donna's not the only one with drama experience.

"We had an agreement about Donna." I remind her.

"So we had." Liesel agrees. "I don't know that our agreement is convenient for me any longer."

"I don't know that I'm going to take you to the cipher any longer." I shoot back. We both know that each item we hold individually is worthless without the cipher giving us the directions to use the items. "Take it all, I no longer give a rat's ass; but Donna goes free and unharmed."

"She must be VERY valuable to you, Joshua. Are assistants so hard to find in the American Government? I think not. I think she's special."

"She's an innocent in this." I contradict her.

"She's not an innocent in anything." Liesel answers. "Just ask Friederich." She motions to one of her henchmen who smiles on cue.

I see red even though I'm almost certain she's trying to mess with me. I share a look with the asshole trying to intimidate me. "You better pray that's not true. Because if Donna tells me you so much as messed up her hair, you've seen your last sunrise." I keep eye contact until asshole blinks. Then I turn back to Liesel.

"A show of good faith." I hold the watch out to her and she takes it from me.

"And the cipher?" I look pointedly at Hans and Franz.

"Not in front of the hired help." I tell her. She motions them to the door with her head and they follow her non-verbal directions. "I'll need the book that Donna was carrying."

With a speculative gleam in her eyes she walks over to the other side of the room and retrieves the book. I've never been so glad to see a book in my life. I open it to the handwritten section in the back. Dad, don't let me down now.

He always taught me to encrypt codes with two possible transpositions. He wouldn't have broken his 1st law of encryption when the takes were this high, right? "Where's your half?" I ask her.

"Safe." She says simply.

"Nuh-uh." I protest. "Cough it up or I don't decode this or show you how to operate the watch."

She leans in to me until we're almost nose to nose. "You'll do that anyway, or I will have my friends bring Miss Moss back down to join us. They've been loooonging to get to know her better. We can watch while they do."

Fucking. Bitch. I sit down and make a show of working the code through. I'm going to have to make this good. I'm sure Reiger taught his only child a few tricks of the trade. "I'll decode it, but nothing else until I see Donna again. I don't know what the hell was in that injection you gave her."

"A mild sedative. She'll be awake and whining for you in no time." Liesel explains. "As for the watch...I can most likely figure it out for myself."

"Right." I laugh with just the right amount of disbelief. One thing all these Nazi bastards have in common? Tremendous egos; I mean, even bigger than mine. Tell them they're not strong enough or smart enough to do something and they can't resist the challenge. They ARE the master race after all. I pretend to ignore the bitch while she retrieves some small tools from the desk.

Within moments, she's got the watch open and is manipulating the works inside. She immediately keys in on a silver disk with several notches in it. Yes, she knew what she was looking for. I told Dillon it had to be close to the real thing. Thank God he's good at his job.

Now, all I have to do is stall and hope my guys have been able to get Donna the hell out of here.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

So far, so good. McNulty took out the guys between our extraction point and Donna. Kieffer was able to get through the locked door with his nimble fingers and magic tool. Now Dillon is giving Donna some kind of cocktail to try and wake her up. We'll carry her out if necessary, but it would be a hell of a lot easier if she could move on her own power. Whatever he gave her seems to be working; Donna's eyelids are fluttering. Before she can scream or make any kind of noise I start talking to her.

"Donna, it's Mike." I tell her. "Open your eyes beautiful. Look at me."

She does as I tell her and I wish for a second she was always is accommodating. "We've got you. You're safe now." Okay, it's a slight exaggeration. We're not at all safe here, but we do have her and if somebody gets her from us now, it's because the rest of us are dead. So all things considered, it's the best guarantee she's likely to get right now.

"Josh?" She asks in a scratchy voice after she looks us all over carefully.

"He's taking care of something else right now. He'll be joining us shortly." I promise and hope I'm telling the truth. "Can you stand up?" She tries and she wobbles a little, but she makes it. "That a girl." I encourage her. I'm worried about sending her down and out the window, but if we can get out that way instead of drawing fire from the rest of these assholes on the first floor, it will be much safer for everyone. "Once we get into the hallway, not a sound. Got it?"

She nods and she honestly looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over. Hang in there, Donna.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Liesel looks over at me with a smug expression on her face, but I'm careful to avoid her gaze. Almost there. She takes the silver disk from the tweezer like instrument and holds it between her fingers. She turns it back and forth looking at it closely, then puts it in her other hand while she reaches for another tool. Boom; it hits her. She literally sways and has to put her hand out to steady herself on the desk or risk keeling over. Dillon said the shit worked fast.

"Problem, Liesel?" I ask solicitously. I'm a gentleman, after all and a lady appears to be feeling...unwell. I can see her trying to focus on me. Dillon said the beauty of the stuff was that while it worked quickly, it wouldn't actually knock her out. I was skeptical at first, but once he told me it was a derivative of the Belladonna plant mixed with DMSO, I was sold; karma.

She nearly falls into me and I grab her around the waist to support her to the nearest chair. I tuck the book into my inside pocket before I turn my attention back to the Fraulein.

"Where's your piece of the puzzle, Liesel?" She just looks at me like she's very confused. "Wo ist Ihr Stück vom Puzzlespiel?"

"Mein... Herz..." She tells me in this stoned voice. 'My heart'? God, if she's got too much of this stuff in her system, it can make her heart race. "Let's take a walk, Liesel." I help her to her feet and lead her to the window. I don't see any sign of her wandering help in the yard, but they're out there. I flip open my cell and tell them I'm on my way out and that I might need cover. Within moments, I catch their signal from the trees at the back edge of the estate. I try to make it look like we're taking a casual stroll outside, or at the very least, like Liesel hasn't been drugged out of her mind. Then I make the mistake of looking over my shoulder and seeing Donna shimmying down the side of the building with Dillon. You've got to be fucking kidding me! They're sitting ducks there!

I pick up my pace, practically dragging the German bitch along the ground. That's when the first shot is fired. I throw us both down to the ground.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

My heart stops when I hear a gunshot. I can hardly hold my head up; there's no way I can avoid getting shot. We're almost to the ground now and when I say 'we' I mean WE. Dillon has kept a death grip on me all the way down, which is why I'm a little shocked when he seems to drop me; on purpose! I land with a whmpf as the air is forced out of my lungs. Dillon lands right on top of me. When I lift my head, I see some of Liesel's men firing up ahead. They haven't even spotted our little party yet. Dillon pushes my head back down.

"Hey!" I object.

"Shut up!" Mike adds and since I'm scared to death, I obey him. There's some return fire from the woods in front of us. It seems to go on for hours before someone is yanking me up by the arm and telling me to "RUN!" Again, I obey. That's when I see Josh up ahead and he's got Liesel with him. He seems to be mostly dragging her with him and I make it my goal in life to catch up to them. They disappear between the trees and when we pass that point too, I see a huge dark van with the side door standing open. Dillon picks me up and practically tosses me inside where Josh, God bless him, catches me with wide open arms. Then the gunfire starts again.

"Go, go, go!" McNulty shouts and the driver starts moving before all the guys are inside. They make running jumps and get pulled inside before shutting the side door. I'm shaking like a leaf. Josh is holding onto to me tightly and rubbing my back with his hand.

"Baby, are you okay?" He asks me softly and the irony of the question makes me start to laugh, and before long, I'm laughing hysterically. I've been abducted, brought to France, beaten, drugged, and rescued amid a gun battle and he asks if I'm okay?

"Donna?" He's pulled me out of his arms enough that he can look into my eyes. I can't stop laughing or shaking. "Dillon!"

"It's just shock, Brick, relax." Dillon shouts. "This one, however..." He indicates Liesel who appears catatonic.

"She said something about her heart earlier." Josh helpfully supplies before turning back to me. "Donna, pull it together now. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly." It takes three tries before I can master the simple task of breathing. "That's it, sweetheart, that's it."

"Josh!" I launch myself into his arms again and I can feel him kiss my head and neck. "I was so scared!"

"I know. I'm so sorry. I can't even tell you how--" He breaks off. "I'm sending you home on the first military transport available. You'll be safe now, I promise."

"No." I object.

"You will. You can stay with my mom in the Residence until we wrap this up."

"No, I'm not going back without you." I explain and kiss his bewildered lips. "We're a team."

"Not in this we aren't." he contradicts me.

"We really are." I counter. "I don't have your training or your expertise and I won't butt in where I shouldn't, but I'm not leaving you here. I've almost lost you twice in a very short period of time. I'm not taking chances again. So if you're ready to go back, then fine, let's go. Otherwise, we're sticking together here."

"Meine...herz..." Liesel moans again.

"Damn it Dillon, give her something to slow her heart back down." Josh orders.

"I did, Brick. Her heart rate's normal now." Dillon reports.

"Meine...herz..." Liesel's eyes roll over to Josh. Just what went on in there after I got dragged out and drugged...again. "Das...puzzlespeil..."

"What is she saying?" I ask.

"She's just repeating what I asked her." Josh tells me. "I asked her about her half of the puzzle. Now she's saying 'the puzzle' and complaining about her heart. She's totally whacked from the drug."

I watch her for a minute and something occurs to me. Liesel is wearing this very high necked blouse and the style just doesn't fit with everything else. I reach over and unbutton the top two unbuttons before reaching around the back of her neck. Low and behold, I pull out a gold link necklace. I keep pulling and at the end, there's a locket, shaped like a heart. I look over at Josh with my eyebrows raised. "It's a woman thing."

"You are amazing, Donnatella Moss." He tells me with pride in his voice and reaches over himself to open the locket. A small piece of silver metal falls out into his hand.

"Now do you see the value in a partner?" I ask.

"You bet your ass I do." He smiles and kisses me thoroughly while the rest of the guys moan and politely request that we save the PDA for another time. It feels very good to be alive.

13.

It's dark when I enter the suite. There's a light on in the corner and so it takes a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. I look around the room. The table tops look like they've been cleared of their contents and not in an orderly manner.

Josh and Donna are on the couch. Donna's sleeping, which I'm not surprised given how much she's been drugged in the past 48 hours. Her head is in Josh's lap and Josh...

Well, let's say he doesn't appear to be in a good head space right now.

He's staring off into the room's darkness, holding a glass of what appears to be Scotch, with his elbow leaning on the side of the couch. His other hand is rhythmically stroking Donna's hair.

He is in full in brood mode.

"You know what I hate about doing this under Justice's budget?" I announce my presence and drop down into a chair at the table and face him. "We have to pick up the tab when the guy from the White House inevitably redecorates the hotel room."

"She needs a hospital." He says quietly, but firmly.

"It's superficial." I say.

"She's SHAKING." He says back.

"It's because she's been drugged. She's going to go through a mild withdrawal, Josh. A hospital can't do anything about that." I try to reason. He's thinking with his heart and not his head right now.

"She has bruises." He continues quietly. "And I am responsible for each one, the very LEAST I can do and get her to a doctor."

"What are you going to do, Josh? Knock on the door of the Embassy?"

"If I have to."

"Don't be an idiot."

"She needs medical attention!" he snaps.

"She NEEDS to stay with us!" I hate fighting with him, but he gets lost in that head of his and the only way to get him back is to get in his face.

"Mike..."

"Reiger's guys will kill her at a hospital, Josh, and you know it!" I snap back. "It's too easy to get her there and the Embassy is not a fortress. The only way to keep her safe is to keep her with us. The bruises are superficial, the effects of the drugs...well, she's going to be sick for a bit, but she'll get past it."

"Then we need to stay put until she does."

"We can't do that either and you know it." I reply, trying to soften my voice. "Do you honestly think I want to put her through this? No. But we have no choice. I don't like it either, but you know how it is. I'm going to go check in with the others and see if the lovely Fraulein has woken up yet." I stand up and walk out of the room. I don't want to leave him like that, but what I said needs to sink in.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Donna finally stirs and slowly sits up. She looks a little green and I just want to hug her, but she probably hates me right now. I can't imagine what she's going through. To have all this just dumped in her lap and then she gets kidnapped, beaten, drugged...and please let that have been all.

"How do you feel?" I ask softly pushing the hair from her face.

"Awful."

"Yeah. Unfortunately, you're going to feel that way for a while."

She nods her head and looks down at her lap.

"Donna, I'm so sorry. It doesn't seem good enough, but I just don't know what else to say."

"I know."

"I won't let them get you, Donna." I promise.

"They DID get me, Josh." She hisses.

"Because you weren't with ME." I snap back. She drops her head and the silent tears start. "I swear to you, Donna, you're safe as long as you're with me. If they get you, it's because I'm dead."

"Kay." She whispers and nods to her lap.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She picks her head up and wipes the tears away. "They said awful things, Josh. They told me they were going to wait until you got there to kill me in front of you. Every time I felt that needle, I was terrified of what was going to happen to me when I was unconscious."

"Well, nobody is better at the mind games than they are."

"I was so happy you hadn't told me anything because I was afraid if they started to torture me, I wouldn't be able to take it. I was afraid I was going to say something to hurt you and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself." She's openly crying now. When I reach for her, she drops into my chest and cries. I hug her as I tightly as I can.

I close my eyes against the images of Donna being tortured; of Donna even being hit just once by one of those people.

"I was afraid you weren't going to be able to find me." She chokes out.

I pick up her head gently to look in her eyes. "I would have looked forever. My life means nothing without you. I love you so much." I whisper before kissing her and thank God she kisses me back.

It gets a little heated, but because of her weakened condition, I hold back. I want nothing more than to touch every inch of her to make sure she's really here again, but despite the desperation of her kissing, I know it's not the right time. When I reluctantly pull away, she drops her head to my chest.

"Donna, Baby, believe me, I hate to ask this right now, but I need you to tell me what happened after you left the White House." I keep my voice as quiet and neutral as possible and even kiss her head.

"I can't." she cries shaking her head.

"Were you drugged then?"

"No."

"Donna..." I say and coax her to sit up and look at me. "I meant what I said, you're safe with me. If something happens to you, it will be over my dead body. I have to know what happened though, Donna. I can't prosecute Jacobs without it." She continues to cry and I rub her back for a few minutes. I hate this part. I hate this feeling that I'm powerless to help her. I can't erase anything that happened to her. "There were two cars, right?" I say softly and she nods against my chest. "You were in one and there was a chase car running escort?" She nods again. "Then what happened?" I ask gently.

"No." she shakes her head again. "Please, Josh."

"Honey, I can't get him without it." I say and stroke her hair. "And I want to make him pay for every tear you've shed. I can't do that if I don't know what happened."

She takes a deep breath and remains in her spot. "It was an ambush. In Virginia. I don't think I saw too much. Two cars surrounded us and forced the chase car off the road. Agent Jacobs shot the driver in our car and the car went off the road. I got out of the car and I tried to run, but..."

She sobs and grabs tightly to my shirt and I let her take a break for a few minutes. I don't want to push her, but I want to get Jacobs. He's someone we trusted and he turned out to be a traitor.

"I was running and then I fell to the ground and I couldn't move and there was so much pain."

"He tazed you?" I choke. That God damn son of a bitch, I will kill him myself with my own bare hands. The visions of her paralyzed and lying on the side of the road...

"Okay." I say quietly. "You don't have to talk about anymore right now."

She clings to me, crying some more until the exhaustion and the effects of the drugs take hold of her again and she falls asleep curled up against my chest. I stay there for a while, letting her sleep on me and stroking her hair. The things she said play over and over in my head like a broken record; the anger mounting until it gets so great that someone must pay for it.

I throw down the rest of my Scotch, gently extricate myself from her and leave the room. I storm down the hall, ignoring the greetings of the agents I see and throw open the door to what we've assigned as the interrogation room. No one seems surprised by my sudden burst into the room, but the door practically busts off the hinges.

I walk right up to where Liesel is looking at me defiantly, handcuffed to the chair.

"Where. Is. He?" I say in a very low, very menacing voice.

"Where is WHO, Joshua?" she replies.

"Your father. Where's Reiger? And don't fuck around with me, Liesel, because I am in no mood to be toyed with. Where is he?"

"Austria." I hear Mike's voice from behind me and turn around. He looks like he got in a fight.

"She told you?" I ask him.

"We don't have Reiger's location yet, but we have the next best thing; the location of the loot. Remember the first rule of investigation. Follow the money, or in this case the bloodstained treasure. Reiger can't be far from it, wherever it is, and once he gets a phone call from his darling daughter..." He says.

"What the hell happened to your face?" I ask as I get a closer look of the black eye and what appears to be nail marks down his cheek.

"The lovely Ms. Reiger and I had a disagreement." He says dryly with a look of disgust at Liesel. "Hence the handcuffs."

I smile, the first smile in days, other than the one I gave Donna in the van. "You got beaten up by a girl?"

"Shut. Up." He glares at me.

"You got your ass handed to you by a girl!"

"I don't hit women!" he defends. "Even vile ones like her who try to high kick you in the fucking temple."

"Do we know exactly where in Austria?" I ask Mike and the other agents in the room.

"No." Mike says. "Just that it's Austria."

I look down at Liesel in disgust. If she's panicking now, she's giving nothing away.

"Looks like we're off the Twin City."

14.

I finish rinsing my mouth out with water and sink back to the floor, my whole body shaking. I think I felt this bad once my freshman year in college when Billy Henderson told me that five shots of Everclear would make me sick but six shots would balance out my system. At least then I had the fun party first.

I hear a noise in the next room. Is it the door? Oh, shit. I only thought I was shaking before. Now my entire body is literally knocking against the bathroom door.

"Donna?" It's Josh. I take a deep gasping breath when I realize in my panic I'd been holding my breath and start crying. "Donna?!" His voice is more urgent now.

"I'm here." I tell him and instantly he's at my side.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I thought you'd be sleeping awhile." He wipes the tears from my face and reaches above us for a washcloth and wets it. "I just wanted to check in with Mike next door. Here, baby, this will help." He places the washcloth gently on my forehead before moving it around to the back of my neck.

"Everything hurts." I whine. I know I'm whining, but I just can't help it. My head is throbbing and my stomach is heaving. I can't remember when I wasn't shaking.

"I know. I'm so sorry." Josh's voice breaks. I know he feels guilty, but I can't do much about that right now. "Dillon said it would help if we could get some food in your system."

The thought of food only makes me cry harder because although I'm starving, just thinking about eating makes my stomach roll again. "I can't."

"Okay, we'll give you a bit more time. Maybe some tea?" He suggests.

"I don't know."

"Will you try some, please?" He implores and I nod my head; more to please him than any desire for tea. He helps me stand up and walk back out to the couch. Then he tucks a blanket around me before walking across the room to heat up some water in the standard hotel coffee maker.

"What's Mike doing?" I ask.

"Getting some information we need." He answers vaguely. Great. I may be new to this game, but I'm not stupid. I know who Mike is getting information from and I really don't want to imagine HOW he's getting that information.

"Hey, Mike got us a classy place here; they've got Earl Grey, not that cheap Lipton crap." I know he's trying to distract me so I pretend it's working.

"The Government gets nothing but the best." I quip.

"Shit." Josh swears lightly and I look over to see him looking at his cell phone which is apparently vibrating. He sends a look over to me. "It's Toby."

"Voice mail?" I suggest.

"Twice already." He admits and hits send. "Hey, Toby."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

If this goes to voice mail again, I'm going to see Leo. No way is Josh out of touch like this. I don't care how sick he was; midterms are coming up! Josh Lyman would have to be dead three days before he wouldn't be weighing in on midterms.

"Hey, Toby."

"Where the hell have you been?"

"Uh...Florida?" Josh tells me. "Mom is looking at real estate here. I'm getting nervous."

"You're looking at houses in Florida with your mother?"

"Well...condos. Mom doesn't want to worry about yard work or leaky plumbing. Who knew a condo in Cocoa Beach could cost as much as a residence in Westport?"

I'm honestly not sure how to respond to this. "Uh-huh...Did you happen to remember there are things pesky little things going on called mid-terms?"

"Sure, but as I'm currently on medical leave, it really doesn't have much to do with me."

"It doesn't have much to do with...Could you please put White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the phone?"

"Toby, I- Damn it!" Josh swears.

"What's wrong?"

"I burned myself on the water for the tea." He complains.

"You're drinking tea?"

"It's...for my mom." He answers quickly.

"Your mom is drinking tea, during the summer, in Florida?" I summarize.

"She likes it." Josh assures me.

"And you're making it."

"Yes."

"Instead of focusing on the midterms."

"Yes."

"Josh, the President needs some numbers to change this election if we're going to get anything of substance passed. You're our number changing guy." I remind him.

"I'm also on medical leave with orders to keep my blood pressure down so my recently torn apart heart muscle doesn't explode resulting in my immediate death." He shoots back. Okay, maybe he has a point there. Maybe I'm not seeing things in the big picture. It is true that Josh won't be able to help us with anything if...Wait a second.

"Are you not coming back?" I ask point blank and there's a deafening silence. "Josh?"

"I...I have to get through this first before --"

"Josh, you can't let those racist bigots --"

"This isn't about them or the President. This is about what is best for me, Toby." Josh interrupts me.

"And you're comfortable putting your priorities in that order right now when we're taking heavy fire...literally?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am." Josh says hotly. I think this shooting affected him more than any of us realized. Though how could we get an accurate read with Donna shielding him all the time. Speaking of which...

"Does Donna know you're thinking about quitting?" Yes, I chose the word deliberately.

"I would NEVER leave Donna out of the loop or wondering about her job." He says adamantly and all of a sudden, it doesn't feel like he's talking to me.

"We need some help on the midterms. Sam's got this friend who's running and I'm seeing some red flags. And if I'M seeing red flags --"

"I really can't help you with that now, Toby." He interrupts me again. "You know who you should talk to? Lou Thornton. She's a pain in the ass but she knows her stuff and you could take her on short term, as a consultant."

"It would be short term though?" I press.

"Toby..." I hear something in his tone; something...off. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Anxious to get back out in the sunshine?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's beautiful here. I've got a book and three newspapers waiting for me on the deck." He tells me.

"Yeah, okay. I'll check into Thornton. Take care." I hang up the phone and close the screen on the weather channel for Cocoa Beach. If Josh has a book and three newspapers outside in Cocoa Beach, they're ruined now; it's been pouring down rain there for the past four hours. I open my Google search page and type in one word: Reiger.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"He's not buying this." I tell Donna.

"I think you're being paranoid." She replies and my eyebrows go up. "Not that you don't have a right to be paranoid." She amends her statement. "It's just that I don't think either of us are thinking very objectively right now."

"Maybe not." I admit but I can't shake the feeling that Toby was testing me just now. "How's the tea?"

"It's staying down." She smiles a bit. "That's huge. How's your hand?"

"It's fine; just a little red." I show her and she kisses it gently. "I have some news."

"Okay..."

"We're going to be leaving here in a few hours. It's dangerous to stay put so close to the estate. Reiger's people are going to be scouring the city for us."

"Where are we going?"

"Austria. Operation Last Chance has a base of operations there and they'll take custody of Liesel. Mike was able to work out enough of the cipher to come up with a lead there too."

"For Reiger or the treasure?" She asks.

"The treasure; although wherever the treasure is, Reiger can't be far away." I look away for a minute wondering if this is the final chapter of this book for me.

"You'll find him. We'll find him." She corrects herself. "Then you can end this whole thing once and for all." I swear she can read my mind sometimes. I squeeze her hand.

"Are you ready for a plane ride? I have to warn you that we're not traveling on Air Force One."

"Let me just change clothes. I'm already packed and ready to go." She manages to joke. She's currently wearing one of the hotel robes from the suite. The only thing she had to 'pack' was the purse she'd had with her when they grabbed her. Shit! I never even thought of clothes. No way is she changing back into the clothes she wore when she was abducted. Those things are going in the trash.

"Wait!" I know there's a boutique downstairs. This is Paris after all. "I'm going downstairs to get you some new things to wear. Just...drink your tea or take a final shower and I'll be back for you in 20 minutes." I promise her and book it to Kieffer.

"I need your help shopping for clothes." I tell him.

"No kidding, but it's never seemed to bother you before." He notes. Kieffer is the clothes horse of the group. He's also the ladies man of the group. I'm going to need both of those skills sets now.

"Not for me, for Donna." I explain and pull him by the arm downstairs with me. "I don't want her putting on the clothes she was wearing when she was taken. You're always buying clothes for the women you've got on every continent. I need you to help me find some replacements."

"Ah, this is for Donna....Then I'll help you. We don't have much time though. We'll be loading up the Nazi bitch soon."

"She doesn't need an entire wardrobe; just a few things to get her through the next few days." I tell him and he shrugs within a few minutes he's collected a few outfits for her. I took care of the underwear and pajamas. No way is Kieffer going 'there'. I pay cash and hurry back up to Donna. I hand her the clothes as well as a small traveling bag to put everything in before I take her old clothes and drop them purposefully in the trash. When I turn back to her, she's in tears.

"I didn't want to ever wear those again." She explains.

"They're gone." I assure her. "And now you've got clothes from Paris. That's a big deal to women, right?"

She gives me watery smile. "A very big deal...although really some perfume would be nice." She puts a little.

"We'll grab some on the way out." I capitulate immediately. "Hurry and change." I advise her. "We have to leave very shortly."

She nods and kisses my cheek." You're very sweet, Joshua, but I won't tell anyone."

"That's a relief." I call after her.

"And I'm keeping this amazing robe!" She calls back and disappears into the bathroom.

I shrug. Mike's people are paying for that.

15.

I pick my head up off of Josh's shoulder with an unladylike yawn. I really don't care what these other guys think of me at this point.

"Hey." He smiles and kisses me on the forehead. "I thought you were going to sleep the entire flight. You conked out before we even took off."

"How much more of the flight is there?"

"Not much." He shrugs as my eyes focus on what he's doing. His laptop is in pieces. "Vienna and Paris aren't really all that far apart."

"Josh, what are you doing to your poor computer?"

"Taking the explosive charge out of it." He says matter-of-factly.

My jaw drops and I look over at him. "How long has there been an explosive in your laptop?"

I'm trying to remember how many times I've used that thing and I'm coming up with an alarmingly high figure.

"Few years." He replies.

"Josh!" I shriek. He looks over at me in surprise and the look on his face must tell him what I'm thinking. "Donna, it would only self- destruct if you tried to access specific things without the password and you were in no danger of ever trying to access any of that."

"How do you know? I'm a curious person."

"Donna, has it escaped your attention that you've only ever used my laptop with me sitting next to you?"

"Oh."

"Yes."

"So why do you need to take the explosive out?"

"I may need it for something else." He says simply. "Mike!" he says, as he tosses something across the plane to Mike. Then he starts to reassemble his computer.

I shake my head and then drop it down onto his shoulder again. "I wish we could have stayed in Paris a few more days. It would have been nice to actually, you know, see it."

"I'll take you back."

"Don't joke about that." I pout.

"I'm not." He says. "After this is over, I'll take you back to Paris for vacation."

"Before we go back to the White House?" I arch a brow at him.

"Um..."

"I heard your conversation with Toby."

"Yes. When this is all over, I promise to take you back to Paris." He evades the question. That's fine. "Or Hawaii." He smirks with a sidelong glance at me.

"Now you're just making fun of me." I pout again.

"I am not. Hawaii or Paris, your choice."

"Joshua Lyman," I growl, "if you're giving me some politician's promise..."

He leans forward and kisses me breathless. When he pulls away, I almost forget what we were talking about. "Your choice." He says softly again. He smiles and returns to his computer reassembly.

"It occurs to me that I never thanked you for coming for me."

His movements momentarily freeze. "Stop."

"And I never told you how much I love you for it." I continue. He looks over at me and kisses me again. This time very deeply as his hand comes up to my cheek and I sink against him.

When he pulls away, he's smirking. "I had a hunch, but it's nice to hear."

"What do you mean 'you had a hunch?'"

"Baby, the several tongue lashings you've given me since I was shot sort of gave it away." He replies and then chuckles at my disbelief.

"I was having a whole moment here!" I say indignantly and huff back against the seat.

"So was I."

"Which you ruined with that mouth of yours." Really I just said this so he'd kiss me again...which he does.

"Change your mind?"

"You know what I meant." I glare.

"Uh-huh. Mike, you got that black light handy?" He finishes up with his computer and pulls out my beloved book and flips open to the inscription he wrote to me at Christmas.

"Josh?"

"Hmm?"

"If you have to destroy that book in the end, will you at least save the inscription?"

He looks over at me and smiles as Mike hands him a lamp and requests the cabin lights turned down. Josh sets up the lamp on the tray table in front of him.

"I'll try, Donnatella, but it's the inscription that I need."

"What?" I ask. "How could the mushy stuff you wrote to me mean anything to Reiger?"

"It doesn't." He flips on the lamp and sticks the book underneath and we both lean over it. His message to me disappears, but another one reappears.

"That's the cipher." I gasp and he nods. "You gave it to me."

"I did." He says simply.

"Do you know what it says?" I'm surprised by the empty tone my voice has taken on. He seems surprised, too, but doesn't comment on it.

"No." he replies. "But we're pretty sure it's going to end up being the instructions to work the watch which is what tells us for sure where Reiger's cache of pilfered treasure is."

"I see." Is all I say. I drop back against my seat and watch him try and work out the cipher, wondering for the hundredth time just what between us has been real and what has been fake.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Okay. Donna's pissed at me. Ever since I took the book out on the plane, it's been one word answers when she's spoken to me at all. I'm relatively sure what she might be pissed at, but not completely.

When we arrive at the hotel, the beauty of Vienna seems lost when she drops her stuff unceremoniously on the floor, locates the bathroom and disappears into it. It's several minutes before she reappears with puffy red eyes.

"All right." I say, standing in the middle of the room with my hands on my hips. "You're upset, let's talk about it."

"I'm not upset." She says tonelessly.

"You are!"

"You can only get upset or mad over things that are within your understanding, Josh. I know nothing about this stuff and nothing about you!"

"I thought we got past that." I say carefully.

"Well, it appears we didn't!" she hisses.

"What's going on?"

"I can't figure out what's real!" she turns to me crying and I sigh heavily. She's having a meltdown and I don't blame her. I'm surprised she's not having them on a daily basis. "You gave me that book for Christmas, Josh, and what you wrote meant so much to me, and now I feel like an idiot because I about bawled my eyes out over it and you used it to hide a cipher about a murdering Nazi!"

"Yes." I nod.

"What?" She clearly wasn't expecting that.

"Yes, I did that." I reply. "Despite the fact that I meant every single word I wrote to you and then some, without you knowing fully what it was, I entrusted the book to you for safekeeping because there is nobody on this planet I trust more than you and there is nobody on this planet who inspires me more than you."

"Don't you start that." She wags her finger at me. She walks over to the bed and crosses her arms over her chest. "Don't you start saying things like that because next I'm going to find out something else that I loved about us was just as fake!"

"Like what?" I challenge.

"What?"

"You and your quest for skies inspired me to give you that book. I meant every word I said to you. Now you can believe that or not, but I want to know what else you question." I lean up against the round antique table in the room and look at her expectantly. Thank God, she looks like she's at a loss to name anything else.

I push myself away from the table and slowly advance on her. She grabs onto the bed post and backs away from me until the back of her legs hit the bed. "Donna, everything in the context of us has been the truth." I say softly. "Every conversation we've had, it's been me and I've been in the moment with you. I love you and that's real. When you look at me and smile, I get lightheaded. When you touch me, no matter where it is, I tingle in that spot. I'm breathless when I see you each morning for the first time and all of that is real. I don't know what any of this is like from your perspective, Donna, and I wish to God I did, so I knew how to alleviate your fear of things... of me..."

"I'm not scared of you." She whispers immediately. "I'm continuously surprised at what it is that you're actually capable of, Joshua, but I'm not scared of you."

"That's my fear, Donna; that you're going to be afraid of me and I can't fight that. I can't change that. And that might not be completely devastating, but it'll be close."

Something in my tone must strike her as genuine because she launches herself at me and we're kissing desperately. Her hands are in my hair and on my shoulders, in my hair again. She drops her head back, so I can kiss her long, slender neck like I've been dying to for ages. I'm bereft to pull away, but it's for a worthy cause since she pulls my shirt over my head and tosses it over my shoulder. I'm questioning the wisdom in Dillon's wardrobe choices because I actually have to unbutton her shirt and it's taking valuable time.

I finally get it off and Donna tumbles back onto the bed. I use this opportunity to relieve her of her pants and she holds her arms out to me. I close my eyes against the bruises on her beautiful skin before answering her summons. Her arms come around me and my hand slides up her side and an amazing feeling of home washes over me.

I've had many unprofessional thoughts about Donna since the day I met her. Who wouldn't? She's beautiful inside and out. She's got the perfect blend of innocence and wisdom, naïveté and spunk; the woman of my dreams sprung to life and kissing every inch of my body that she can reach. She gently kisses the surgical incisions that I'm surprised to find are still extremely sensitive.

We slide up into the pillows and she unfastens my pants and then slides them off with her toes.

I drop my mouth to her collarbone and follow the trail to her breasts where she hisses and holds my head in place. I think I could stay here forever. She tastes so sweet and I almost feel guilty about defiling the innocent farm girl image of her I've always held.

Almost.

Of course, I know she's no innocent in this arena, but my warped brain will believe what it wants in a moment as intense and hot as this.

She links her hands with mine and I pin them both up by her head as I push up into her and sigh. She bites her lip and presses her head back into the pillow. The only sounds in the room are that of our labored breathing as we make love.

She moans and I stop to watch as her orgasm rolls through her. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She hikes her feet up around my waist and I quickly join her in heaven.

Sweating and breathless, I fall to her side and pull her against me. She shivers against me and I'm vaguely cognizant of the fact that she's not actually feeling up to par at the moment, which likely means that this sort of thing will probably kill me later when she is. But I'll die a happy man.

Once we're under the covers, she rolls towards me and into my arms. I run my fingers through her hair and kiss her again as she curls down into my side and eventually drifts off to sleep. I hold her close and continue to stroke the parts of her body I can reach.

My heart knows she's been mine for a while now, but my head finally seems to be catching on. What's to come is not going to be easy. I can't bring her with me and I can't leave her behind. But I can hold her tight in this moment.

16.

"Josh, can you hear me?"

"Dad?"

"Yes, I'm here." I can feel his hand running down my face. "Damn it Josh, why did you run off with this lead by yourself?"

"You promised...Mom you were...done." I manage.

"Right. And just look where that's gotten us." Dad sighs. "You should have come to me."

"I didn't...want to...drag you in..." I tell him.

"Look where I am now, Joshua."

"I know...Sorry..."

"I don't want you to be sorry- Josh...you need to stop now. Reiger has been convicted. He's done."

I shake my head in denial. He's not done; especially not after this. He's going to pay for what he did to each generation of my family if it's the last thing I do on this earth. Dad must notice my negative response.

"I should have never shown you that damn book." Dad mutters. "You never even liked skiing."

"Don't...tell mom."

"Are you kidding me? She'd take both of us out so fast it would put Reiger to shame." Dad sighs. "I'm telling your mother you're going to intern at some campaign out of state for awhile until you've recovered. She'll buy that."

"Dad...?"

"I'm here, Josh."

"I was so scared." I admit and I feel him pat my head.

"I know. I'm actually relieved to hear it. For awhile now it seemed like nothing scared you." Dad explains. "These are very dangerous people; you should always be scared of them."

"Good then." I smirk. Dad's face is swimming in front of me now; must be the drugs.

"Josh...JOSH!" I wake up suddenly to see Donna looking very concerned. "Are you okay?"

It takes me a second to shake myself out of the deep sleep and comforting dream. "Yeah...I was just...it was a dream."

"About your dad?"

"Yeah." I nod and she nods back at me. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I'm not so shaky anymore." She tells me. "Are you going there soon?"

'There' is the Vienna branch of Operation Last Chance; the organization that developed a multi-country network for the pursuit and prosecution of war criminals. 'There' is where Liesel is being held and questioned.

"Yeah, I may be able to get something out of her that gives us a clue about where her father is hiding."

"She'd never give him up."

"Not intentionally." I admit. "But I may be able to trick her into giving us something she thinks we already have. I didn't mean to fall asleep just now. I was just going to close my eyes and think about the cipher and then..."

"I think your body was telling you that you needed some rest. You're still not fully recovered." She advises.

"It's all right here, Donna. It's just a matter of cracking one simple code." I get up to pace out of frustration. Donna picks up the paper where I've transposed the cipher from the book. She turns it 90 degrees to the left and then 90 degrees to the right; like she could read it if she just looked at it from the right angle.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"It looks like gibberish from any direction." She shrugs and turns it completely upside down.

"What?"

"Nothing. It just seems like gibberish no matter what angle you like at it from." She notes and a light bulb goes on.

"Get the book." I order.

"Why? You wrote the cipher right here." She points to the page on the table between us.

"Yes, but not the way it- Just get the book...please?" I ask and go through my bag where I stuck the small black light I pilfered from Mike. Donna hands me the book and I open it to the page we need again. Of all the boneheaded, amateur mistakes! If I hadn't been so distracted with Donna...

"Why are you copying the cipher again?" She asks.

"Because I was stupid when I did it before." I reply and see that answer means nothing to her. "I think I was distracted by your incredible body and got sloppy in my transposing."

"Sloppy how?" She asks although she smiles at the thought that her body distracted me.

"I didn't copy the letters exactly as they were written on this page, line for line, space for space." I show her because it's easier than explaining. "It's another type of cipher. It's not meant to be read top to bottom, left to right, but if you don't have the exact placement of the letters, it won't be read in any direction."

"So it IS supposed to be read from a different angle?" She sounds terribly pleased with herself so I stop to kiss her briefly...and then again, not so briefly...and then I reach my hands out to touch her incredible breasts...

"Josh...the cipher!" She reminds me. Damn, she is distracting.

"Right, right." I go back to my task. I transpose the letters and start afresh. After about 40 minutes I look up into Donna's eyes. "Get my phone. We need to call Mike."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"What have you got?" I ask him as soon as he and Donna come into the conference room.

"Let's find out." Josh smirks.

"Brick's looking smug again." Dillon notes. "That's a good sign."

"Actually, the fair Donnatella gave me the clue I was looking for." Josh says magnanimously.

"I bet that's not all she gave you." McNulty grins until Josh gives him the death glare.

"What have you got?" I repeat and Josh pulls out the watch his father gave him, the metal piece from Liesel's locket and the book that Donna was entrusted with.

"You've all helped me with this investigation in one way or another over the years, so I thought it was only fitting that we do this together." Josh announced. He placed the metal piece from Liesel into and around the metal disk from his watch. He put the apparatus on top of the transposed cipher after counting down the rows to find the exact spot. Josh continues to move the object around the cipher according to some code he's got written on a separate piece of paper. Each time he moves it, he tells us a letter and I dutifully write it down.

When he's finished, we've got a several words that spell out numbers. We brainstorm around them trying to figure out their meaning until it hits me. "Longitude and Latitude."

"Mike, you're brilliant!" He exclaims and McNulty is on his computer plugging in the coordinates before Josh is done hugging me. We all watch over his shoulder and to our amazement, the coordinates indicate a location in Austria just a few hours away.

"I'll be damned." Josh mutters. "What can you tell us about the location?"

"Just a second, Brick." McNulty runs a few more searches. "Got an aerial view." Up pops a picture of a large home in a normal looking, if affluent neighborhood. "Got an address. Looking up the owner's info."

"It can't just be sitting in a house, can it?" Donna asks.

"Nuh-uh." Josh shakes his head and continues to look at the picture. "Maybe we've got it wrong."

"What have you got on the owner, McNulty?" I ask him.

"Present owner has had possession for the last thirty years. Before that...huh, looks like it was kept in the family."

"Family name?" Josh asks curiously.

"Beckengruber." McNulty answers and Donna gasps. She digs through her bag and pulls out the book with the cipher in it.

"The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing by Heimlich Beckengruber." She proudly reads it aloud and shares a wicked smile with Josh.

"We're in the right place." Josh nods. "Who's up for a road trip?"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Donna's sleeping again in the back of the van. The stress as well as the drugs have taken a toll on her. I'm riding shot gun while Mike takes a turn driving. Nobody said a word about bringing Donna along because they knew she'd only be going so far, and no farther.

"I'm going to need some help in Innsbruck." I tell him.

"With what?" Mike asks.

"Keeping Donna at the safe house while I--"

"No way." He shakes his head adamantly. "Let the CIA guys do the dirty work."

There has been significant amounts of bitching about the CIA joining our merry band but they've been taking lots of flack for not holding up their end in the war criminal investigations by world leaders so they're trying to overcome that prognosis and have decided this case is the perfect case to 'help' with. I assured them if they could just provide us with a safe place to call home for a few days that would be fine but...

"The C.I.A. won't stand a chance against Donna. It has to be you, Mike. Besides me, you're the only one she'll listen to."

Mike laughs. "She listens to YOU? Since when? Nuh-uh. I'm not walking into that minefield."

"She can't go with us. We don't know what we're going to find when we get there."

"I agree, but if you think I'm going to--" Mike breaks off abruptly. "Donna, you're up."

I turn around in my seat to see Donna looking at us sleepily. Mike must have spotted her in the rear view mirror. "Kieffer said we're halfway there?"

"We're just passing through Salzburg, so a little more than halfway." Mike reports.

"Sound of Music country." She smiles sadly. "And just where are you planning to drop me off? Along the road here someplace?" She motions out the window. "I guess there could be worse places to be stranded."

Mike pointedly looks out his side window and puts one hand over his mouth; traitor.

"Nobody's dropping you anywhere, Donna." I attempt and turn in my seat to face her directly. "Part of our team will move out to the residence and check things out there. The other half of our team will be staying at the safe house about eight miles away. It would be irresponsible and stupid to bring you any closer to the site. You'll be staying with the group at the safe house." Maybe if I state it as a foregone conclusion...

"And naturally you'll be staying at the safe house too." She states like it's a foregone conclusion. Damn, she steals my tricks all the time.

"No, I will be going to the site." I reply hoping that's the end of it. It's not.

"These other guys, they do this stuff full time and you've admitted that you've been out of the game, so to speak, for quite a while now."

"Yes, but I'm more familiar with Reiger and his operations than anyone else alive." I counter.

"Hmmmm...so the near death experience you had six weeks ago isn't going to endanger you or your team then?" Mike quickly disguises his laugh as a cough, but I'm not that stupid.

"I think I managed to head a team that rescued you and captured a valuable Nazi asset just fine."

"Because you're 'The Brick'?" She asks with eyebrows raised and Mike laughs again.

"Yes...I mean, no, that's not why, but I managed it just fine."

"You're taking more pain pills again and your blood pressure is up." She reports and I give her an incredulous look. "Dillon tells me things when I ask him."

"That's privileged medical information!" I shout back to Dillon who ignores me while Donna smirks. "I'm going and you're staying. If you came along and something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself." I continue in a lower voice. "I wouldn't want to live. So you're staying at the safe house."

"Okay." She acquiesced immediately.

"Okay? Just...okay? No fighting, no arguing?" I ask.

"Nope." Donna shakes her head. "Just remember that all that stuff you just said about me? That holds true for you too." And she kisses my shocked face. "Plus, when we're done here, I think we should take a couple days to try skiing." She smiles and sits back in her seat and starts a conversation with Kieffer, who like Dillon, McNulty, and hell, all the others are thoroughly smitten.

"See? I told you I'd take care of it." I tell Mike.

"Yeah, you're the master...Brick." He says tongue in cheek. I just know that at some point, Mike is going to blow that for me. He's just waiting for the right moment.

17.

I watch Josh check and recheck all these...gadgets...before putting them into a back pack that's very different from the backpack I know. He sighs and then looks up at me. I'm sitting on the bed cross legged and studying him closely.

"What?" he smiles softly.

I shake my head silently.

"I've done this before." He says, reading my mind.

"Yeah." I say and nod unconvincingly.

"We're going heavily armed."

"Do you know how to shoot?"

"Yes, very well." He stands up and walks over to the bed, eyeing me carefully. "I'm also going with highly specialized trained CIA and FBI operatives. I'm not infiltrating a palace on my own. This is what they do."

"Yeah, I know."

"Yeah?"

"I guess." I shrug.

"Mike will be here with you, along with several others. Mike is going to stay IN the same room with you and he will protect you, Donna, until his dying breath."

"Because I'm Brick's woman?" I chuckle with a mirth I don't feel.

"Because you're his friend," he replies seriously. "And I'm his friend."

"Why isn't he going then and you stay here?"

"Reiger doesn't want Mike, he wants me. Mike has no bargaining power with him."

"I just..." I drift off and look down at the bed. I'm being ridiculous. I KNOW I'm being ridiculous, but I can't help it. This is Josh. MY Josh, and he's caught up in something dangerous...deadly.

"You just what?"

"Nothing." I say.

"Come on."

I launch myself off the bed and fling myself into his arms. He's surprised when he catches me. "Please don't go." I beg quietly.

"Donna..."

"You're right, Josh. This is what these guys do. So, let them do it. Stay here safe with me."

"Please don't ask me to do that, Donna." He whispers.

"Why?" I cry pulling away.

"Because if you ask me, I will. I will stay behind with you, but if I do, this will never be over for me or us. Reiger and his minions will always be out there and we'll always be looking over our shoulders and we'll never be safe, our children will never be safe. This man has now terrorized three generations of my family. I have to be the one to end it. It has to be me. If it's not me now, then it will have to be me some other day." He says passionately.

And he's right. This is like a blood feud between these two families and the classic fight of good versus evil. And I've discovered that when Josh is on the side of good, he rarely loses those fights.

"Okay." I reluctantly relent.

"Thank you." He smiles softly and his sincerity shines right through.

"I just really like what we've started here, Josh. I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you. You're going to be off playing James Bond, and I'm going to be sitting here freaked out and feeling helpless."

"Well, first of all, you'll have Mike to keep you entertained and he's anything but boring. Secondly, while I'm doing that, you can stay here and start to think about whether or not we should go back to the White House."

"Why wouldn't we go back?" I ask in a surprised tone.

"You don't think it's going to be boring after this?"

"Josh, working for you is many things, but boring has never been one of them." I drone.

"I don't know how to take that."

"I'm not going to tell you how to take it."

"I'm going to assume it was a compliment."

"Okay."

"Just think about it. We have options." He says.

"All right." I nod. Interesting that he's not really saying what those options are though. But I do like working in the White House. I like the perks that come with it, like flying on Air Force One. It's demanding, but it's also exhilarating. I've met Ambassadors and Foreign Heads of State. I like that Congressmen and Senators try to swindle me and ply me with wine to get me to give them more time with Josh on something. And I love Josh's protectiveness when he sees that happening. I can't wait to see what he's like NOW.

He steps up to me and runs his finger down my arm. "You know," he says using his sexy husky voice. "I have a few hours before we leave."

"Austria brings out the randy side of you, you know."

"No, it's you that does that." He smiles, leaning in and kissing my neck.

"I'm worried about getting you too worn out before you have to do something so physically strenuous and mentally stressful like infiltrating a Nazi stronghold." I ramble.

"Well, now this sounds promising." He says softly against my ear as he runs a hand up my stomach and over my breasts.

"Joshua..." I groan. It sounds like it came right from my stomach.

"I love when you say my name like that." he says against my neck. He walks me backwards until we tumble on the bed. "Sometimes I think I've been waiting for you."

I bring my hand up to his face and smile. "It's too bad I didn't come along sooner."

"If you came along any sooner, I think I definitely would have just thought you were too young."

"I AM like ten years younger than you, Josh." I smirk.

"Yeah." He says, he looks a little melancholy now. "That's going to be a problem one day I think."

"But not today." I say quickly and hug him to me. He's getting pretty depressing right now. Why dwell on something that's like 40 years away?

"No, thank God." He smiles and tickles my side and I yelp. I take the opportunity to flip us over and he pushes my hair out of my face right before I pin him down. This is hot. I like this kind of power right now.

The door busts open and I quickly hop off of Josh as Mike saunters in.

"Have you ever considered knocking?" Josh demands.

"You have to get going." Mike smiles. He looks completely unapologetic.

"I have a few hours." Josh protests.

"No, you don't."

"I do, too."

"Get a watch that actually works."

"I haven't had an actual working watch in like 15 years, I had the other one." Josh replies. He sighs and pushes himself off the bed. I can feel my bottom lip quivering in fear of him leaving and I bite it to keep Josh from noticing.

"Don't fall asleep on the job." Josh says to Mike, while taking my hand and looking at me. "I don't want to hear that you guys lost her again."

"No Josh really, your flattery is embarrassing." Mike deadpans.

"You got beat up by a girl, Michael." Josh shoots back.

Mike glares at him for a beat before turning his gaze to me. "Donna, the reason why Josh's codename is Brick is because he swims like one." He rambles. I arch a brow at Josh.

"I. Hate. You." Josh growls at Mike, who looks completely unfazed. "You've just been waiting for an excuse to tell her that, haven't you?" But Mike merely shrugs with an evil glint in his eye.

I try to stop the giggling, but I can't. "Nice." Josh nods at me. "I never thought you'd turn into Judas."

I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss the hell out of him. "S'okay." I whisper huskily. "You excel at plenty of other things."

18.

"We've had surveillance running on the place since you gave us the heads up." CIA Agent Kate Harper tells us. I will not be mentioning the presence of Kate Harper on this mission when I tell Donna about it later. Unfortunately, one of these doofusses is bound to mention the totally hot CIA agent working this with us. But that's a problem for another day.

I know I played it all cool with Donna, but I hate these types of ops. Yes, I have the basic skills, but they're nowhere near the skills of the guys, and now women, who are covering my back on this one. They were sharp when they started out, and they've done nothing but get sharper while I've gathered dust. I'll carry a weapon and shoot it if I must, but it's really safer for all concerned if I keep my weapons holstered.

"And?" I prompted her.

"There's been an increase in activity over the last 6 hours." Harper reports.

"Since Reiger contacted me." I confirm and she nods.

"We haven't been able to confirm his physical presence on site. Our best intelligence is that he isn't staying here and is making a special trip into town to see you."

"I'm touched...really," I drawl and earn a smile from Harper. One of the guys kicks my shin under the table. Yeah, I am so busted.

"That call he made to you was scrambled too well to trace it in the amount of time you kept him on the line." Harper pauses. "I thought you Washington types could talk anybody's ear off."

"Routinely; they just don't always care to listen." I reply and get another smile...and another kick.

"We're watching inbound flights and customs at the borders, but it's more likely he's been holing up nearby."

"Yeah...that's what we figured. What's the headcount at the residence?" I ask for the hell of it.

"14 and climbing."

"Great. So Reiger essentially wants what I've got and he's willing to get it with overwhelming force."

"Oh, yeah." Jamison, Harper's partner pipes up. "That's why we're advocating a pre-emptive strike. We hit the house now, before the reinforcements arrive."

"But if we hit too early, Reiger isn't going to show." I object.

"I think he will." Jamison retorts. "You've got both the pieces and he knows it. Where's Liesel Reiger?"

"Still at the safe house." Dillon answers. "We're not bringing her in until we see Reiger up close and personal."

"Sadly, I'm not sure he cares about his daughter." I point out. "I doubt she's the bargaining chip that you think she is."

"You know this man better than anybody." Jamison states. "If we take the residence, what's he likely to do?"

"Pick another spot." I answer automatically. "He likes being on his own turf. If we take the residence, it's going to throw him off balance. But we may not want to deal with Reiger when he's off balance and more predictable."

"Is it possible to take the residence without tipping him off?" Dillon asks.

"We don't need to 'take' the residence." I interrupt. "If we can infiltrate the residence without him being aware of it, that's all we need."

"We're supposed to infiltrate an unfamiliar residence that is currently swarming with over a dozen enemy targets without tipping anyone off?" Kate asks.

"Isn't that why they call you people spooks?" Dillon laughs at his own joke. There has always been a rivalry between the CIA agents and the FBI agents in justice who are pursuing war criminals. This sometimes causes tempers to flare and problems to arise. I do not want temper tantrums or problems here. I want to get back to Donna in one piece.

"Let's not go there." I insist. "We're a team here. Let's look at the building plans and come up with a strategy."

<><><><><><><><><><><>

I'm watching Donna pace, a habit she's obviously picked up from Josh, and it's making me dizzy.

"Would you sit down?!" I nearly shout and startle Donna. I didn't mean to be that loud. I'm a little frustrated staying behind on this one.

"How can you just sit there?" She asks me. "Isn't this waiting driving you crazy? Why aren't they checking in? They should be checking in."

"They will when they can." I assure her. "Checking in with us is NOT their first priority and you shouldn't want it to be."

She rolls her eyes at me but sits down at the table next to me and pops some chips in her mouth. It's nervous eating; I'm familiar with the condition. Long stake outs almost ALWAYS guarantee you a weight gain.

"What are you doing?" She asks me.

"I'm working some of the other messages now that we've got the cipher cracked." I report.

"Can I help?"

"Why not?" I shrug. None of this is classified because of the age of the items; they were de-classified years ago. I pass some of the work over to her and see that she quickly gets down to work. She's probably very grateful for the distraction.

"Josh showed you how to de-code this type of cipher?"

"Yeah, but I'm still practicing."

"I'll look over everything you do." I promise. "See what you come up with."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"We've got our infiltration points." Jamison points to three different locations on the map. "We gain access and stay hidden until we get the coded signal on our cells."

"Lyman, Dillon, and McNulty stay together and deal with Reiger directly when they get the contact call." Dillon adds. "He's not going to expect Lyman to go in alone, but we don't want to tip our hand on the rest of our team."

Everyone acknowledges understanding and agreement to the plan and the strike team heads out. I'm operating on two different wavelengths here. On one level, I'm itching to end this. But on another hand, I realize that a three generation struggle for my family is coming to a close and that's a bit overwhelming emotionally. In order to make this ending come out the way I want it to, I have to divorce the emotional from the analytical. That's the only way I'm going to be able to take Reiger out. And I am going to take Reiger out if it's the last thing I do.

"How you doing, Brick?" McNulty asks me and I shrug.

"Ready to be done with this."

"Whether or not we get Reiger?"

I give him a look that says 'Reiger is not getting away from me again'.

"I'm just saying that this is an old man now." He points out.

"And?" I prompt. "His crimes diminish with age?"

"No. They couldn't." He shakes his head. "Sometimes, when you get to the end of a really long, hard fought battle...the resolution doesn't quite...feel like you think it's going to. Taking in a decrepit, old man might not give you the satisfaction you're looking for. You may have to look outside the box for your sense of finality here."

"Are you practicing your psych degree on me now?" I smirk.

"Yeah, I am." He admits. "This is a decades long, family feud you're trying to settle. You might find it a little more constructive to focus your energy going forward instead of looking back. That's all I'm going to say right now."

"Thank. God." I tease, but I take his words to heart. He knows a little something about this. I'm still contemplating our conversation when my cell phone buzzes. I literally jump.

"Lyman." I answer.

"Sternberg." I hear the voice use my family name, but it's not the voice I've been waiting for.

"Put Reiger on." I insist.

"He will speak to you in person at the location I am to give you."

"He'll be speaking to himself. I'm not going anywhere until I speak to Reiger. Put. Him. On."

There's a pause before some sharp words are exchanged and the phone is passed on to the man himself.

"You are every bit as stubborn as your grandfather, Sternberg."

"Thank you." I reply shortly. I will not get into a pissing match now; not when I'm so close... "Speaking of relatives, I've got your daughter Liesel here. She's lovely, really." I drawl.

"She has nothing to do with this." Reiger answers. "This is between men."

"Right. Women are secondary humans; along with Jews and blacks and other members of inferior races." I roll my eyes even though he can't see me. "Let's make a deal."

"You have the items with you?" He asks.

"Do you think I would trust them to anyone else?"

"I think like most Jews, you would not relinquish anything that could lead you to an immeasurable fortune." He says snidely.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure this fortune is measurable." I point out. "And I'm also pretty sure that I can put my hands on it without any help from you."

"Then for what purpose are we speaking?" Reiger asks.

"My superiors are willing to trade your death sentence for this treasure of yours; not that I can be blamed if my gun misfires in your direction." I explain. "Bring us to the treasure, you avoid the death penalty and your master race progeny walks free."

"What assurances do I have that you will keep your word? You bastard Jews change your 'deals' whenever it suits you."

"Luckily for you, I'm hampered by both CIA agents and FBI agents. They'll be part of the exchange."

After a moment of thought, Reiger agrees to the deal and wants to meet us at the residence we have already infiltrated. A time is set and he abruptly hangs up.

"Good job, Brick." McNulty notes.

"Nah, he agreed too fast. He's got another ace up his sleeve. Show me the building plans again." We go over it brick by brick, but I can't see it yet, even though I know it's there. My phone buzzes again and I see it's Mike. Please, no...

"Lyman."

"Josh, we've got something weird going on here." Mike reports.

"Casper, tell me weird does NOT include Donna being out of your sight at any time."

"No, she's right here. She's the one who found it."

"Found what?"

"We've been working on these coded messages now that we have the cipher; the ones that we've accumulated over the years from Reiger's associates?"

"Yeah?"

"We thought we were messing it up until we figured out these messages were in German. Donna found a translation program online --"

"Of course she did." I drawl.

"But it's still not making sense." Mike complains. "My pronunciation is shit and we're not entirely sure about where each word begins and ends so we might be off base here, but --"

"Send me the entire message, Mike."

"Donna just did. She sent it as a text; it should pop up on your phone any second."

"Okay, I got it. I'll call you right back." I clip off before I end the call to bring up the text message. It's one long stream of letters and it takes me a bit to break them into their individual words and then one word stands out to me; rats. It starts a pinball volley around my brain and my heart rate ticks up. "McNulty!"

"What?"

"How far are we from the German border?"

"About 18-20 kilometers, why?"

"Get me a copy of the land deeds and property information."

"Brick, Reiger is going to be showing up within the hour --"

"Get me the damn papers!" I shout and he holds up both hands in surrender and gets to work on my 'request'.

"We've got the area sealed." Kate reports. "He's not going to be able to move within this perimeter without our knowing it."

I smirk. "We'll see."

"We know what we're doing, Brick" She says all snotty and for a second I can hear Donna's voice saying those words.

"So does he." I motion with my head to the most recent picture of Reiger that we have which is taped above the computer station. "And he's no novice at escapes. Luckily for me, I've got Donna Moss on my team and together..." I trail off.

"This Moss is another agent?" Kate asks.

"Don't ask." McNulty advises and starts bringing up the documents I requested on screen. Damn, there it is.

I flip open my phone and hit speed dial number one.

"Josh?"

"I love you." I tell her while keeping my eyes on the screen.

"I...love you too. Are you okay?"

"More than okay. You just helped me solve this last puzzle."

"I did?"

"The coded message; it referred to rats."

"I know." I swear I can hear her shudder through the phone. "That's why I thought we did something wrong."

"No, my beautiful, brilliant woman, you did everything right. They were talking about rat lines."

"And that helps us how?"

"Rat lines were how Nazi war criminals referred to a tunnel system designed to get them safely across borders." I explain and see my companions eyes widen. "Reiger ain't coming in by motor vehicle, people, he's coming in through the old tunnels. That's why he needs almost an hour lead time, and why he feels confident meeting us here. He's got another way in...and out."

"Shit." Kate says loud enough to be picked up by my phone. "We need to go in now. Catch him in the tunnels while he's off guard."

"Who's that?" Donna asks suspiciously.

"CIA agent." I answer shortly. "Gotta go. I'll call with an update as soon as I can." I hang up even as I hear her call my name in protest. "If we don't have to worry about blowing our cover on the ground, let's take the house now."

"Agreed." Kate nods in my direction. "Maybe if this Moss is as good as you say, we should think about poaching her for our agency."

"No way in hell." I reply. "She's all mine." We quickly update our strike team and within minutes, we're inside the house and by house I mean mansion. The place is immense. The team breaks out their high tech gear and finds a false wall that leads to a downward spiral staircase and opens up to three different tunnels.

"Now which way?" McNulty asks.

"We break into teams." Harper decides and turns to me. "You got a strong feeling about any particular tunnel?"

"Which one points north to Germany?" I answer her question with a question and after consulting her compass, points to the tunnel farthest from us. "Then that's the one I want."

"Lyman, McNulty and I take this one. Teams of three for each of the others. Report in every five minutes. We are taking prisoners here, not lives." She makes eye contact with each person down here and once she's satisfied that she's heard and understood, she nods. "Move out."

The tunnels are actually large enough for two of us to walk through them shoulder to shoulder with occasional openings that are even larger and split off into other tunnels. We stick with the largest tunnel and communicate silently until Kate puts a hand up to stop our forward progress. We can hear the sounds of other footsteps in the tunnel coming from the other direction. My heart beat speeds up and we back up until we reach a larger opening. The only advantage we have right now is that we know they're coming and they think we're waiting for them a few hundred feet above here. The element of surprise is no small thing but it isn't everything.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"He said you are beautiful and brilliant and his woman." I point out...again. "Can't you just be happy with that?"

"We're going to step around the sexism inherent in that statement and move right to the fact that this CIA agent may also be beautiful and brilliant." Donna replies. "What's her name? Can we look her up on your fancy equipment here?"

"Donna, I am not wasting time and resources so you can check out someone your demented mind thinks is competition for Josh."

"Brilliant, demented mind." She corrects me. "Josh is out there in a dangerous situation with this woman. I know what adrenaline and danger does to heighten emotional responses." I raise my eyebrows at her. "I've seen movies!"

"Donna, please believe me when I tell you that Josh is head over heels in love with you. And he fell in love with you when he was not under any heightened emotional response to adrenaline or danger. He has been on hundreds of ops with brilliant, beautiful agents and yet you are the one he is in love with. Can we not talk about this subject anymore, please?" I'm not above begging at this point.

"Then what are we supposed to do now, Mike?" She asks me.

"We have the toughest job now; we wait." I tell her and pat her shoulder sympathetically

19.

Harper and McNulty raise their weapons. McNulty's got an HK G36 assault rifle, when the shadows heading our way are nearly right on top of us, he flips the light on his HK on and it blinds the shit out of them. Reiger's all of six feet away from me now and he's flanked by two large German bodyguards.

It's lame, I know, but at this point, I'm always disappointed they're not actually in old World War Two uniforms. I think it would make all this more satisfying to take them out in their wolf's skin. The two bodyguards raise their weapons at us. I haven't pulled my gun yet. We still have the upper hand. They also can't actually see their target anyway, thanks to McNulty and his beacon there.

"My daughter calls you the Hunter." Reiger says.

"Soon she's going to call me the guy that threw her ass in jail."

"You said she would be freed."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were we actually operating on the up and up? My mistake. I'll just leave you to your secret tunnel then?"

"I did not think you were this smart." He says. I hope McNutly accidentally shoots him. He can get trigger happy. I don't know if Harper over there knows that.

"I'm not." I smirk. "My Shiksa girlfriend is."

"You will never get out of here alive, Sternberg." He says. "I did not just come here with two people."

"Well, I'd like to say 'great minds think alike,' but since you're deranged and feeble, I'll just say I didn't come here with just two people either, and I promise you, my friends are better armed than yours."

"Beenden." Reiger says. Thank God McNulty is just as fluent in German as I am because as soon as 'Finish it' is out of Reiger's mouth, McNulty fires and Harper fires on his shot. The two bodyguards go down. The sudden loud noise causes part of the tunnel ceiling to come down. It didn't completely cave in or anything, but it caused enough dust that I took my eyes off of Reiger. When he comes into view again, he's pulling something away from his mouth.

"FUCK!" I yell and dive on him.

"Brick!" McNulty calls a little confused by my sudden attack of an old man.

"It's a fucking suicide pill!" I shout as McNulty and Harper rush forward to where I'm at Reiger's side on the ground, who's already showing imminent signs of death. "Do something!" I order McNulty.

"What the hell do you want me to do?"

"Reverse it."

"Cyanide?" he asks incredulously picking up a small vile. "I can't reverse Cyanide, Brick."

"NO!" I shout. "GOD DAMMIT!" I punch the side of the tunnel as hard as I possibly can. I scream outraged again, and also in a little bit of pain because I think I just broke my hand. Three fucking generations of my family...the guy takes a fucking suicide pill.

"He's dead." Harper says as she takes her hand away from his pulse point.

"Whoopdie fucking do!" I snap. McNulty arches a brow at me. "I don't want to fucking hear it!" I bark.

"Team 1 copy?" comes a soft voice through Harper's radio on her shoulder.

"Go."

"We heard gunshots."

"Target's neutralized." She confirms. "We're all clear."

"We think you need to see this." Comes the voice.

The three of us turn and leave the bodies there. We're not on clean up duty after all and jog the tunnels in the opposite direction back the way we came.

"Where are you?" Harper radios.

"Tough to say. We took a lot of turns. Head east."

"I'd kill for GPS." McNulty mutters.

"Wouldn't work this far below the surface." I reply. But then I think of Dillon and radio him. "Dillon, which way?"

"Hang your next left." He radios back. He's following our heat sensors above in our command van.

I smirk over at McNulty, who shakes his head and smiles. "Now, that's my idea of help from above."

"Mine's a sniper in the tower." He shoots back.

"Or that, too."

"So, this Moss..." Harper says as we move as quickly as possible through the tunnels. "She's not an agent."

"No. She's my girlfriend." I confirm.

"Is it serious?" Harper asks and McNulty chokes on his laugh. "That's a yes." Harper concludes.

"Yes." I nod.

"It's too bad." She shrugs. "You're not without your charm."

"McNulty here's got charm." I say nodding my head over to McNulty. "He's got a way with the ladies, they love him."

"I don't date FBI pukes." She says a little distastefully. "They've got way too much baggage."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't date CIA snobs." McNulty shoots back.

"All right, children. Let's remember we're running around blind underground in Austria, please." I say jumping in to referee.

"Hang your next right." Dillon pops in in my ear.

"Team three copy?" Harper says as we make a turn.

"Go."

"Are you still moving?"

"Negative. We're stationary."

"They're about 50 yards ahead of you now." Dillon says and we pick up our pace to a light jog, which is making me pretty winded. Donna's gonna kill me. I promised her I wouldn't over exert myself.

We come upon the other group and they're all standing there in front of a wall. "What's going on?" I ask.

"We've hit a wall." One quips. Funny.

"Why do you need us?" McNulty asks.

"It's booby trapped." Jamison says.

"I'll be damned...." I say quietly and move to the wall, shining my small flashlight along the sides. I run my hand over the jasper covered wall, then move my radio mic closer to my mouth. "Dillon, hand the radio off to someone else and come on down with your bag of tricks."

"I get to blow something up?" he replies.

"That's a big 10-4." I say.

"I'm supersonic." Dillon cuts off.

I shine my flashlight around the wall and note the various explosives there, then shine it along the walls. I stop when I hit the ceiling.

"Look at that." I nudge McNulty.

"A trap door." He notes.

"It probably goes to a well." I nod. "There's a lake on the grounds, isn't there?"

"Yeah." McNulty nods. "Dillon should probably stay away from the ceiling."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in going for a swim with all this electrical shit strapped to me." I nod.

"What are you two talking about?" Jamison demands.

"Welcome to the mission, did you do your homework?" McNulty quips. "Behind door number one here is Reiger's treasure."

Before long, Dillon comes jogging up and everyone steps out of his way. Dillon's top notch. This guy makes McGyver look like a girl. In fact, I'm not a hundred percent sure that show wasn't loosely based off of Dillon.

He sets a bright light up that illuminates the whole door and steps back to study it, then he looks up. "Ah." He says.

"Yup." I confirm.

"Well, I'll want to stay away from that."

"That would be much appreciated." I say.

"Seeing as how you can't swim for shit..." Dillon mutters and opens his bag.

"We'll just keep that on the QT, thanks." I reply, rolling my eyes.

"I'm just saying, when the rush of water comes, there's gold, jewels, priceless works of art, 17th century weaponry behind this door, and if it's saving your ass or that stuff..." he jokes.

"Hey, you're the one that's got to explain that to Donna on the other side." I shoot back.

"She'll be upset, that's true." He nods as he gets to work.

"She'll need someone to comfort her for sure..." McNulty joins in.

"A strong shoulder to cry on..." Dillon replies.

"Someone who was there and is just a bit traumatized and emotional about seeing Josh drown..."

All right, I've had about enough of these two. "Just blow the fucking door!"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Concealed entrances with booby traps!?"

"Donna, just get off the computer." Mike says frustrated. "What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"You will not, Michael. You'll censor." I bite back. "Booby traps, like, you know, bombs?"

"Explosives, sure." He says. "But, Donna, you're talking about stuff that's 70, 80 years old. Doesn't mean it's going to work."

I turn to him and give him my 'Josh, how stupid am I' glare. His eyes widen a bit. Looks like it works just as well on him.

Mike's cell phone rings and I jump up and run over to him. "Yeah." He says pressing it to his ear.

"Is it Josh?" I ask frantically. "Is he okay? Is it over? Is Reiger dead?"

"I have a PHONE in my ear." Mike says to me.

"I should shut up now?" I ask backing away.

"Please." He smiles.

He listens to the person on the other end, thanks them and snaps his phone off.

"Reiger's dead. Everyone down in the tunnels is all right. We're still awaiting word on the guys above ground."

"So Josh is all right?" I ask holding my breath.

"Right now, yes." He nods and I let my breath out.

"What's the 'but' part?"

"They think they found the treasure." He says.

"Booby traps?"

"Yes, ma'am."

And the hits just keep on coming.

20.

"Toby --"

"Leo, we can't just let these things ride anymore!" I explode.

"We don't have much of a choice." Leo says quietly.

"If Josh isn't coming back, we need to start considering a replacement."

"Who said he isn't coming back?" Leo asks.

"Please."

"I swear, Toby, I haven't heard that he's made a decision either way."

"When's the last time you spoke to him?" I ask.

"I don't know! Am I supposed to write these things down for you?" Leo grouses, but I know it's meant as a distraction.

"Let's call him and ask him them." I suggest and see Leo's hand freeze in the process of picking up a file on the desk. It's just a small hesitation but since I'm watching for it, I pick it up easily. "He's still with his Mom in Florida, right?" I take out my cell phone in the ultimate bluff.

"Toby...don't." Leo says softly.

"Where is he really, Leo?" I ask point blank. "I know he wasn't in Florida the last time I got in touch with him."

"Toby..." Leo sits down heavily in his office chair and then looks up at me with hooded eyes. "Toby, I'm telling you to drop this...for everyone's safety."

"This has something to do with Reiger?"

Leo visibly pales. "Damn it, Toby, what are you up to?"

"I saw the name in Josh's office, I looked into it." I reply.

"Damn it, stop! Stop right now and never mention it again, do you understand me?!" Leo shouts.

"Yeah..."

"I mean it, Toby. You'll be opening Pandora's Box."

"I got it." I assure him. "He's...okay though?"

"Last I heard, yes." Leo admits.

"We need him here."

"I know. He needs to...finish something first." Leo tells me.

"You'll let me know when he's...available again?"

"Yes." Leo agrees and nods toward the door, dismissing me. I sure as hell hope he hears something soon.

<><><><><><><><>

"Damn it, Dillon, can you open the things or not?" All my frustration over letting Reiger slip through my fingers by letting him take the easy way out comes out at Dillon. Not that he's on the run anymore, but still.

"It's not as easy I as I make it look, Brick, and unless you'd like to practice your backstroke..." Dillon trails off as he concentrates on the work before him. I know it's complicated and time consuming, but patience, in case you haven't noticed, isn't exactly my strong suit.

"Right. Take your time..." I manage and pace the length of the tunnel to where it takes a sharp right turn. I get around the corner and blow out a deep breath.

"You okay?" Harper asks and I nod distractedly. "Not exactly the ending you'd pictured on this investigation?"

"Not even close." I admit and it's her turn to nod.

"You took him out."

"He took himself out." I correct her.

"You put him in the position where he thought that was his only option; same thing." She concludes. "He's not running around spending money he stole from the prisoners he tortured....That ain't nothing, Josh."

"Maybe." I agree but mostly to get her to leave me alone.

"Brick!" McNulty calls me from around the corner and Harper and I jog back to where Dillon is working.

"What is it?"

"I'm running into some trouble here." Dillon announces.

"What kind of trouble?"

"The kind where if I'm wrong or accidentally set something off while I'm working, we're all dead." Dillon explains.

"I hate that kind." I mutter.

"I've never seen a layout like this before." Dillon continues and points to several items while I pretend I understand the problem.

"You're losing me here, Dillon." I confess.

"There's a switch missing." Kate Harper offers.

"Exactly!" Dillon beams like his prized pupil just got the Nobel prize.

"How hard can it be to disarm this sucker when it's got to be incredibly old?" I ask.

"Without the missing piece, incredibly hard." Dillon tells me. "You'd be risking your life to try."

"A missing piece!" It hits me like a ton of, well, bricks. "You're brilliant, Dillon, I don't care what McNulty says."

"I am?" He asks.

I nod and smile while I use the radio to call up to our comrades. "Patch me through to Casper, will you?" I wait a minute before I hear Mike's voice on the line.

"What have you got for me?" He asks.

"It's what you have for me. Or rather what Donna has for me." I correct myself. "I need the item Donna is holding for me. I need it down here in the tunnel. So get it from her and bring it down here, okay?"

"Right. I'll just get it from her and do that." Mike says sarcastically.

"It's one little thing, Michael. We're waiting." I hear the line click as it's disconnected.

It seems like hours, but it's really just about 30 minutes, before there's a commotion and a new group appears at the turn of the tunnel. I'm more than a little dismayed to catch a glimpse of a blond ponytail in the middle of the group. Jesus, Mike, you couldn't keep her at the safe house?

"Don't start." Mike preemptively cuts me off. "Like you could have done any better."

I'm slightly mollified when Donna throws her arms around me and kisses me, but it only distracts me for a moment. "You promised to stay at the safe house."

"I promised to stay with Mike at the safe house. Mike is now here, so I'm here, too."

"It's dangerous here." I point out.

"Mike checked with the team. They said it was clear here." She reports.

I give a scathing look to the rest of my team who are now studiously avoiding my eyes by looking at anything and anyone but me. "Uh-huh. Tell me you at least brought the thing."

She produces the items that I requested; the one from my father and the one from Liesel. I turn to move closer to the device as Dillon and Donna move to follow me. I turn back abruptly and give her a scathing look intended to get her to back up.

"Like anything that could hurt me up there isn't going to be able to hurt me from ten feet further back?" She asks.

"Good point. Somebody get her out of here, please." I request. I even said please. I mention this because despite my good manners, nobody steps up to follow orders. "Will somebody please escort my fiancé out of this hell hole?" I ask again.

"Fiancé?" Donna squeaks.

"We'll talk about it later." I assure her. "Now please get out of here until we work this out."

"And leave my fiancé alone down here? No way." She shakes her head determinedly. See how she did that? She just turned my distraction technique right back on me. At any other time, I'd admire her style but right now...

"Donna, please --"

"Get on with it already." Harper shouts. "Donna will stick with me."

Shit. The women have joined forces. The Sisterhood lives, even here. "You'll both have to stand back." I say authoritatively.

"Come on, Donna, let's stand back and fan ourselves while the big, bad, brave, boys protect us." Kate drawls and Donna snickers. Yeah, that's gonna be trouble.

I turn back to Dillon and hand him the pieces. He manipulates them for a minute and then I can see the light bulb go in. "Fucking incredible." He carefully places the items, now joined together, into the spot where he and Kate said a piece was missing. He slowly turns them until something clicks and we all hold our breath. I hear a hissing sound.

"That doesn't sound good." I whisper to Dillon, but he's watching the device still and doesn't answer me.

"No, check it out. The device triggered something beyond this wall and it looks like..." He trails off again and have I mentioned how annoying that is? Then I see the smoke.

"Everybody clear out!" I order.

"No, wait!" Dillon counters. "It's good smoke."

"Good smoke?" I repeat.

"Check it out! The device has released something from the other side of the door that's melting the trigger wires. It's amazing!" Dillon is in love. The whole team moves closer to watch. When the smoke dissipates, Dillon uses a series of mirrors to check connections.

"Now what?"

Dillon makes eye contact with me and his mouth forms into a sly smile. "Now we open the door."

"Seriously? It's that simple?"

"Yeah...or else I'm wrong and we're all about to die." Dillon shrugs.

Damn smart ass. I reach my hand out to push the door open.

"Josh, wait!" Donna calls out. "Can't you push it open with a stick or something and stand back a ways?"

I look over at Dillon, who's smirking. "It's fine." I assure her with a confidence I am mostly faking. I do take another step back though as I push hard with my right hand. The sucker is damn heavy so I have to lean back in and push with both arms. Then I motion to Dillon and McNulty who add their weight; nothing. What the hell?

"Wait!" Donna calls out and approaches us.

"If the three of us can't push the door open, there's no way you can." I explain.

She just ignores me and reaches a hand out to the device giving it a slow, cautious turn until another click sounds and the door pops open like a jack-in-the-box.

"Men are always trying to use brawn when brains are what is called for." Donna tells Kate, as Harper sticks her tongue in her cheek. "After you, Joshua."

I kiss her quickly on the lips and take her hand in mine. "No, this one we do together." We push the door open further and walk across the threshold together. I turn on my high beam light and flash it around but all I see is more tunnel. We take a few steps inside when I hear Donna gasp.

"What?" I turn to her in alarm and see her pointing her light in a different direction. I move mine to follow hers and then it's my turn to gasp. There are piles and piles of treasure. I can see chests, boxes, and bags, some of them broken, overflowing with coins, jewelry and items made from lots of shiny, expensive material; like silver and gold. Holy shit.

"Joshua..." She moans. "Look what they stole..." I can hear her heart breaking in her tone of voice.

"We'll see about getting it back where it belongs, Donna, I promise."

The rest of our team has followed us inside.

"Holy shit, Lyman." Mike seems to need a thesaurus.

"Yeah..." I agree. "Holy shit."

Harper is already perusing through a pile of what looks like books.

"What have you got over there?" I ask her and it's the first time I see her at a loss for words.

"They're...records...ledgers..." Then she looks up at me with sadness etched on her face. "Records from the concentration camps...experiments and...death records."

I nod solemnly and Donna puts her arm around my waist. "We're going to need lots of help cataloguing all of this. Have you got people you trust to go through this?" I ask Harper and she nods without looking back at me. "I'll start making calls."

"Hey! There are plans over here!" McNulty calls out. "Plans for the design of the death camps."

"God..." Dillon begins. "I mean, you know they had to have plans but looking at them... Seeing how someone sat down and at their leisure put together plans for killing a whole race of people. I feel sick."

"There's a lot of that going around." I tell him and Donna gives my hand a squeeze. "Looks like we could use someone with excellent organizing and documenting skills. Feel up to a challenge?"

"If you're here with me." She replies.

"Deal." I agree and kiss her again. I need something pure and true in this testament to evil surrounding us. The next few days are going to be tough, but with Donna beside me, I truly believe I can get through it.

21.

I walk into the tunnel just in time to see Donna take off in the opposite direction. She throws herself over a large garbage can and throws up violently into it.

What the hell?

I pull a bottle of water off of a table and walk over to her. This whole area is like some kind of archeological excavation now. A certain amount of this tunnel has been afforded for space for the CIA, FBI and Operation Last Chance teams to work, but beyond us, that part of the tunnel has been sealed.

There are bright lights now set up all over. In one area some chairs, tables, bottles of water and food, and a couple of computers have been set up for appraisers to work.

Donna's been here tirelessly working with anyone who needs help. I've been trying to be here as long as she'll let me, but as she points out, I was shot not too long ago, and followed that up with 'physically and emotionally draining globetrotting and spy work,' so she limits how long she'll let me be here before shooing me off for rest.

I won't admit it to her, mainly because I don't want the others to think I'm a wimp, but I'm feeling a lot better now because of it. I feel stronger.

I hand her the water bottle and she rinses her mouth out, then grabs onto me and cries into my shoulder. I rub her shoulder with my good hand, because as it turns out, I did break my hand. Donna didn't take that well.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly, stroking her hair.

"Sorry." She says and looks up at me. "It's just some of this stuff is really hard to look at. I was cataloguing the plans..."

"Ah." I say. "I keep forgetting I've been at this longer than you."

"How does it not get to you?"

"Oh, it gets to me." I assure. "It gets to me so much, I've been chasing these bastards for 20 years, Donna."

"Are they going to be able to give all this stuff back?"

"Most of it." I nod. "Some of it will go into a conservatorship until it's either claimed or eventually donated to museums. People have filed insurance claims over the years. But for some of it, the families that owned it were entirely destroyed and it will never be claimed."

"60 years later..." she sighs, looking around and shaking her head.

"Yeah." I say and hug her tightly.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"So, this is weird." Sam says coming into my office.

"What's that?" I ask.

"I just tried to go up to the Residence to speak with the President, and the secret service wouldn't let me."

"The secret service wouldn't let you?" I ask incredulously, putting down my pad.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you got that right?" I reply.

"They told me no one but the First Family and Leo McGarry is permitted in the Residence until further notice."

What the hell is going on?

I look at Sam for a minute and then stand up from my desk and head out of my office. "Come with me." I say and he falls into step with me.

"Where are we going?"

"Leo's."

We walk through Communications and into Operations, and past Josh's locked office and Donna's empty desk. I've never been more sure than I am now that they're heavily involved in all this somehow.

We enter Leo's office and he's sitting on the couch reading through a very large binder.

"What's going on?" He asks, taking off his glasses.

"Sam was just denied access to the Residence." I say.

"I know." Leo nods. "The secret service told me. Talk to Mrs. Landingham and she'll schedule you some time, Sam."

"Why can't he go to the Residence?" I prod.

"There was an assassination attempt on the President, remember?" Leo shoots back. "There are security measures in place."

"Presidents have been shot at before."

"Not this one."

"Leo..."

"Toby, I swear to God, I've about had it with this crap!" He's about to lay into me more, but Margaret buzzes in.

"Leo, Josh is on the line."

Well, this should be good.

Leo stands up, walks to his desk and picks up the receiver. Damn, I was hoping he'd put it on speaker phone. "Josh, how's Florida? Really! That's amazing! Congratulations." Congratulations? What would Leo be congratulating him on? "I haven't heard from Donna in a while, have you? Yeah? Is she doing okay? How'd you break your hand? Oh. Well, that obviously wasn't very smart. How's your mom? Yes, Toby and Sam are here too, would you like to speak with them? I'll put you on speaker."

Leo punches a button and Josh's voice fills the office. "Good job on the mid-terms, guys." He says.

"The house stayed the same." Sam replies.

"Yeah, well...it could have gone a lot worse." Josh replies.

"How's Florida?"

"Outstanding." He immediately replies.

"Really? Even with that bad weather? It's been raining pretty much non-stop since you got there." Leo gives me an unamused look. I can't help it. It's in my nature. This stuff is literally programmed into my DNA.

"No, the rain sucks. But it's been ages since I spent any real time with my mother." Josh replies.

"When do you think you'll be back?" Sam asks, sitting down. Good job, Sam. I can't get in trouble for that.

"I'll be back in Washington in about two weeks."

"Have you heard from Donna?" Sam continues.

"Yeah, she's great." Josh replies. "She's coming back when I am."

"When are you coming back to work?" I ask. What? It's the natural flow of the conversation!

Pause.

See?

"We'll talk about that when you get back to Washington, Josh." Leo jumps in and saves him. I keep forgetting about their history and that's something I should never forget.

"Will do." Josh says.

"Take care, Buddy." Sam says.

"You too, Sam."

"We'll see you soon, Josh." I say.

"Auf Wiedersehen, Toby." Josh says and disconnects. Leo rolls his eyes. Sam looks perplexed by Josh odd choice of closing, but shakes it off.

"Well, that's good news." Leo says. He obviously got a lot more out of that conversation than I did. But I did get more than I had before...

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"I thought you didn't want Toby to know." Donna says as soon as I disconnect the call in our room.

"Well, I don't. And I don't think he's allowed to know, but he's been bugging the shit out of Leo. I thought maybe I could give him enough to figure it out on his own. Toby never really needs confirmation of anything."

"Leo's not going to be very happy with you for that." Donna says sternly.

"Probably not." Josh shrugs.

"How's your hand feeling today?" she asks as I slide across the bed where she's sitting cross legged with my laptop open in front of her.

"Throbs a little." I shrug.

"Well, maybe that will teach you not to punch concrete walls." She replies. Geez! She's really on my case today!

"Probably not." I reply. "What are you doing?"

"Looking at things to do in Paris." She smiles sidelong at me. "Though it doesn't sound like we'll be able to squeeze it in now."

"Why not?"

"You told the White House we'd be back there in two weeks." She looks very disappointed.

"Well, maybe it'll be two weeks and a few days then." I say.

"Really?" she smiles perking up again.

"Did I or did I not promise you Paris or Hawaii?" I push myself up on my good hand and kiss her neck.

"You did!"

"And you seem to have picked Paris."

"I figured since we were already over here, it would be easier. I could always bug you to take me to Hawaii during re-election." She pokes me in the ribs, but tips her head back so I can kiss along her collarbone.

I slide the computer out of the way and she eases back into the pillows. "I take it we're going back to the White House then?"

"Do you not want to?"

"I want to be wherever you are, Donnatella." I say. "I like my job, I do. But not as much as I love you, and if you would feel better being far away from there, I'll do that."

"Well, how likely is it that your past will come back again?"

"I'm not going to go looking for it anymore, Donna. I promise you that." I look right into her eyes so she knows I mean it. Donna can always see through me when I'm lying. "It's unlikely that anyone else would come looking for me. After Jacobs' arrest, the FBI is doing an internal investigation and anyone working for Reiger no longer has the funding to come after me. I can't say I'm 100 percent positive it never will, but it won't be because I went to look for it."

She nods and then looks down between us.

"Donna, if you're scared about being around me..."

She snaps her eyes back up to mine and... uh oh...I'm in trouble. She shoves me and sits up. "Joshua Lyman, you idiot!"

"I'm sorry!" I say quickly and wrap my arms around her and bring her back into the pillows.

"Don't try and charm me!" she snaps, half-heartedly trying to pull away.

"I'm not." I say lowering my voice to my husky voice that I know makes her nuts.

"Stop trying to give me outs, Joshua." She orders, but she lets me ease her back down to our previous spot.

"Kay."

"I'm serious."

"They might not let me back in, you know."

"Leo hasn't said anything about that."

"Leo's not in charge of the Secret Service, Donna. The President was shot during an attempt on my life."

"But once the Secret Service talks to Justice..." she starts and trails off. One look at my face though tells her that may not be the case. "They'll hash it out, right? Reiger's dead; Liesel's in jail."

I shrug. "I guess we'll see."

She looks at me for a long moment before she speaks. "Well, if they do let you go back, I'd like to go back, Josh."

I smile lightly at her. "Good."

22.

"Sarah? There's someone here to see you. Two someones actually." President Bartlet announces and Mom shoots to her feet in time to see Donna and I come through the door.

"Joshua!" I run into my mother's arms and we hold on to each other long enough to assure ourselves, and be assured, that each of us is fine. Donna's watching us with a tremulous smile on her lips. We both spoke to Mom after we'd first discovered the treasure (and eliminated Reiger) and again a week later when we were touring Paris; that was an amazing week. But Donna and I both knew from personal experience that hearing the voice wasn't the same as seeing the face and holding the body of someone you love.

"How's life at the White House?" I tease.

"I could get used to it. Maybe you should think about running for office." Mom teases back.

"I'll keep it in mind if I need to come up with an alternative career." I promise. Donna and I just arrived and I haven't seen Leo or Ron Butterfield yet. My professional fate appears very much in limbo here. I wasn't sure they'd let us in the building.

"Donna, honey, are you okay?" Mom holds out an arm to invite her into our family circle. She joins us without hesitation. "You've had quite the adventure."

"That may be understating things a bit." Donna replies. "But these last few days in Paris have had a restorative effect."

"I'll bet." President Bartlet remarks. "Josh, take your time with your family, but come see me and Leo when you're done." He orders gently. I like the fact that he refers to both these women as my family.

"Yes, sir, thanks." We end up sitting on the couch all together with Mom in between Donna and I.

"I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you both." Mom shakes her head and squeezes our hands. Then she gets a puzzled look and looks down at Donna's hand. "Hmmmm.... is there something you forgot to tell me on the phone from Paris, Joshua?"

"I did not forget. We just wanted to tell you in person." I smirk over at Donna because I told her this would be the outcome of 'waiting' to tell my mother. "I asked Donna to marry me while she was drunk on French Champagne and slipped a ring on her finger before she sobered up enough to reconsider."

Mom slaps my shoulder. "Donna, I'd say 'congratulations' but I'm not sure that 'condolences' wouldn't be more appropriate."

"Mom!" I protest mildly.

"I know what I'm getting into, Sarah." Donna says with a sweet smile for me.

"I'm sure you do." Sarah agrees and kisses her on the cheek. "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks." Donna replies. "I'm just going to go freshen up a minute before we have to go downstairs to discuss our career options." She excuses herself to give me a few minutes alone with Mom. I send her a smile of gratitude.

"You're done with this business now, right Joshua?" Mom asks immediately.

"Completely done." I promise her.

"Even if Michael calls with another hot lead on someone?" She presses.

"I've already told him I'm retired. I think he's ready to be done too." I assure her. "We did a lot of good, Mom. We captured a lot of the monsters responsible for the holocaust and we were able to return family items to thousands of people; even more once they finish cataloguing all the items from Reiger's storehouse."

"I know." Mom closes her eyes. "But it wasn't without a tremendous personal cost either. If things hadn't turned out the way they did with Donna..."

"Please, don't even think that." I shake that alternate ending off. Donna is safe and sound in the building and even wearing the ring I bought her in Paris.

"I just mean that you have others to consider now."

"I know that, but I had others to consider before too." I remind her. "I had to finish what Dad and his Dad started. I had to."

"I wish I could say I don't understand you, but I was married too long to your father to claim ignorance." Mom admits. "Now you've closed that book."

"Yes, both literally and figuratively." I assure her. "After I finish this one last thing." I get up and grab the flight bag I brought with me. "I have a couple things for you."

"Presents from Paris?" Mom's eyes light up.

I smirk. "You get those too, but Donna has them in her bag and she wants to give them to you. This is...family business." I explain. "We were able to acquire some things from the recovery operation in Austria. A lot of it is untraceable, but some of the items had identification markings and are being returned to the families that the items were stolen from."

"Josh?" Mom says my name tentatively and I nod. She starts crying before I can even give the items to her.

"The wedding rings belonged to Grandpa and Grandma. Remember how he always said he regretted not having them before he died?" I unwrap the simple bands of gold inscribed with the names of Yosef Liam Sternberg and Ariella Sternberg.

"Oh Joshua..." Mom holds them in her closed palm and hugs me tightly.

"There's one other thing." I unwrap it from the bubble wrap Donna had carefully wrapped it in and hand Mom the Menorah that was recovered; also engraved with our family name. Mom looks up and covers her mouth with her hand.

"After all these years..." Mom keeps shaking her head in disbelief. "Your father would be so proud of you, Joshua. Not just for this, but for the man you've become."

Now I'm crying too. "That's because of you too, Mom." She nods a little but her eyes are all about inspecting every detail of the Menorah.

"I'll be very honored to hold these in trust for the family, but I think you should consider using the rings when you and Donna marry. Take something from the past into the future."

"I'll talk to her about it." I promise, moved by the very thought and knowing Donna would feel the same.

Mom chuckles. "You've already learned to consult Donna before making decisions that affect both you? Finally, proof of that brilliant brain I've been hearing about." She kisses my cheek to take the sting from her teasing.

"You know, if I had a self confidence problem, that's the kind of thing that could mess a guy up for life."

"Self confidence was never an issue for you." She rolls her eyes. "If anything you had too much and never realized when you were attempting the impossible; maybe that's why you achieved it so often." Her gaze traveled around the beautiful White House sitting room. "I mean, look where we're sitting; look what I'm holding all because of you."

"I love you, Mom." I tell her even though I know she knows it already.

"And I love you, Joshua, with all my heart. I pray that now our family can enjoy that love in peace." That sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

"I'd better get downstairs and you'd better get your things packed." I advise her.

"We're going to your apartment?"

"Uh....it needs a little clean up work right now." I shrug off the damage Reiger's people did when they ransacked it. Nothing there was priceless to me and as long as Mom and Donna are safe...well, the rest can be replaced and cleaned up. The anti-semitic slurs they painted on the wall need to be painted over though, and I'm not taking Donna or Mom back there until it's fit for habitation again. Mike assured me he was on it and I trust him. "In the meantime, we're going to be staying at a posh DC hotel. You're going to be completely spoiled for Connecticut after this."

"I'll take my chances...besides, Florida is looking better and better to me." Mom admits and gets up to pack.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"You started without me?" I say lightly, although I'm feeling anything but calm about them starting this conversation without me. Donna is sitting by herself on one of the couches in the Oval with Ron and Leo sitting opposite her and the President in an armchair between them. I join Donna and take her hand.

"Just some small talk." President Bartlet assure me. "A proposal in Paris? I didn't know you had it in you, Josh."

"Donna inspires me, sir." I tell him with a smirk.

"In more ways than one." He agrees and motions to the papers in his hand. "I've been catching up on your reports from Europe. You two make a formidable team."

"We had a lot of help, sir." Donna adds. "From incredibly well trained teams of the FBI and the CIA; not to mention the assistance from Operation Last Chance."

"I guess what I'm asking is if you think you're done with this business, Josh." President Bartlet asks point blank.

"I am well and truly done, Mr. President." I assure him. "This was the last thread I needed to tie up for my family."

"We're asking Josh, because--" Ron began.

"I know why you're asking, Ron." I interrupt him. "Let's cut to the chase. Do I still have a job here?"

"Josh..." Donna groans. I know she was hoping for something more...diplomatic, but this is still me after all. She should have known better. Leo's smirking now.

"Agent Harper is thinking you and Donna should come work for her." He tells me.

"I don't think that I'm cut out for that kind of life." Donna states. "But it's a very nice compliment."

I just keep eye contact with Leo. Finally he speaks. "If any of this gets started up again--"

"It won't." I interrupt again.

"-you'll be involuntarily separated." He finished without batting an eye. "It's too big a security risk for the President and everyone else around you." He tells me sending a significant look at Donna. I nod in understanding.

"I'm done, sir." I address my comment to the President. "I'd like to continue my work here; we both would. But I'll understand if you think that's a bad idea."

"We have a lot of work ahead of us, Josh. I think I'm going to need someone brilliant to help me accomplish all the things we want to accomplish this term." He answers. "Do you know anyone who fits that description, Donnatella?"

"Well...there's Agent Harper...Agent Dillon seemed to have a pretty sharp mind....this whole thing would have never been resolved without Mike Casper's hard work and then there's--" She stops abruptly when she sees my expression.

"I was speaking of someone who is brilliant about politics, Donna." The President gently chides her.

"Oh. Well, then there's really just Josh." She smiles up at me and I reward her with a kiss. We both turn to look at the President, who nods at Ron.

"Okay, then. The first order of business is to wipe both your names from these reports. Agent Casper and his crew, as well as Operation Last Chance, will get credit for the arrests and the recovery."

"That's not right." Donna objects. "I don't care about my name in there, but Josh has spent most of his life trying to capture--"

"Yes, and you and I know the truth. My mother, father, and grandfather know it too. That's all I need. Plus, it's going to go a long way in keeping us safe from any repercussions from all this. So we're going to cooperate in any way Ron wants us to." I tell her.

"Got it." Donna agrees immediately and I'm startled by her acquiescence. Damn, I didn't know I had that kind of power.

"Anything else, Ron?" Leo asks.

"We think, under the circumstances, keeping a lower profile for a few months wouldn't be remiss." Ron added.

"That should be easy enough. Josh is still recovering from a gunshot wound. That alone should enable us to keep him under the radar." Leo decides. "When are you two thinking of starting back?"

"Monday?" I suggest.

"Monday." The President agrees and stands up in dismissal. Donna and I follow suit, as does Leo and Ron. "Listen...I won't be able to mention it out loud again, so I want to take this time to tell you what an incredible job you've done with all this, Joshua. It's no small feat, and while we can never bring back the lives that were lost or undo the atrocities that were committed, you've brought justice on a great many of the individuals responsible for much of the death and destruction. I'm very proud of you, Josh."

That choked me up and Donna has to squeeze my hand to get me to answer. "Thank you, sir." I really can't get out any other words and I have to look down at my shoes to keep the tears in my eyes from spilling over.

"We'll see you first thing Monday morning, Mr. President." Donna fills in the silence and tugs on my hand. We leave the Oval through the portico and I pause there a minute to pull myself together.

"It's okay, Josh. It's been a pretty emotional day." Donna rubs my back with her hand.

I chuckle at her understatement. "Mom wants to give us the wedding bands."

"I'd be honored to wear them." She tells me quietly. "It will be like having your grandparents with us."

That does it and the tears I'd been battling back, spill over my face. Donna wipes them away with gentle fingers and I see that she's crying too. "I love you so much." I tell her.

"Ditto." She grins impishly at me. "I've been thinking about our housing options for the weekend. I think we should stay at the Hay Adams. I hear they have incredible rooms overlooking Lafayette Park."

"For like a thousand bucks a night. Are you trying to bankrupt me?"

"Are you saying I'm not worth a thousand dollar a night hotel room, Joshua?"

"Oh, no, I'm not going there." I refuse to get sucked into that.

"Fine, then let's go to Florida." She counters.

"Florida?"

"Your mom really does want to look at real estate there, and we have four days. We could make some wedding plans." She pouts and I'm done.

"Two days." I counter just for form.

"Three."

"Two and a half; final offer. We have to get back here and get you settled into my place." I explain.

"We're going to settle me into your place?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight again." I promise.

"Never?" She teases.

"Never." I agree. "Get used to it."

"Okay. Let's go." This agreeable Donna is quite unnerving. I hope it doesn't last long.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"What the hell do you mean it's been changed?" He shouts from his office.

"I told him if he wanted some of your time, he could damn well get his ass over here. You're barely back from medical leave." I explain.

"You didn't." Josh says hopefully.

"I may have left out the 'ass' part but he got the idea." I hate to pop his bubble but...

"Donna, I am perfectly capable of walking, or taking a cab," He amends when I give him the disbelieving look. "...to the Hill."

"Of course you are." I tell him and rub my palm against his cheek. "But this way he's coming to your turf. Isn't that better?"

Yes, I've been...modifying his schedule a bit. But that's within my purview as assistant and fiancé. He'll just have to deal with it.

"Donna, you can't just--"

"Leave her alone." Toby interrupts us.

"Toby, this has nothing to do with you." Josh objects.

"You're very lucky she puts up with you at all. Leave her alone and come to my office," Toby orders.

Josh gives me a look that says we're not through discussing this yet. You'd really think he'd know better than that by now.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Hey, you don't get to dictate how I deal with Donna in the office." I tell him as we walk toward his office.

"Somebody ought to before you completely blow it." Toby replies and opens his door.

"Your faith in me is quite astonishing."

"I have no faith in you, Joshua. People who lie to me, don't instill faith."

"Donna didn't want anyone to know we were in Paris." I stick to the line we came up with. "She didn't want anyone to know she was in Florida with me; neither of us did. We'd just discovered this...thing between us and we wanted some time and privacy to figure things out. For awhile, we weren't even sure we were coming back to work here."

"Please."

"Toby, you don't know what it was like. Nobody watching over our shoulder or hard deadlines hanging over our head. Just rest and relaxation, my friend. Rest and Relaxation."

"That sounds pretty nice, Joshua." Toby agrees. "But since you've decided to come back and grace us with your presence, do you think we could get a little work done?"

"What do you need?" I ask and sit on his couch. It's then that I notice what the television is tuned to; an honors ceremony for Mike and his team with the President and the Director of the F.B.I. It makes me smile.

"The Marriage Recognition Act; can you talk to your pal Skinner?" Toby asks.

"Huh? Oh, sure. I'll have Donna set it up."

"It has to be soon." Toby reminds me, like my brain has addled while I was gone.

"Yeah, yeah..." My attention wanders back to the screen showing my pal Mike receiving a medal and a plaque of some kind. God, he's going to be impossible to live with now.

Toby notices where my gaze is focused. "That's quite a medal your friend got there. I'm surprised you aren't there, too."

"I just got back to work." I protest weakly. "Besides, this is his moment." I nod toward the TV. "We'll have a private celebration when all this hoopla settles down."

"He deserves the hoopla." Toby points out. "All of them do." I look over at him, but his focus is still on Mike and his team on the stage with the President and the Director. "They risked their lives over and over again to seek justice for those who can't seek it for themselves."

"Yeah..." I agree.

"And this guy Reiger? The worst of the worst. There must be a special spot in hell reserved for him and his pals." Toby opines. "I'm glad Casper and his team are getting this special recognition. I just can't help but think about everyone else who helped in the captures and recoveries that will never get to shake hands with the President and take a bow on the world stage." His gaze swings around to meet mine and I see understanding there.

"They know that they were a part of it and they were never in it for the glory to begin with." I explain and look back at McNulty receiving adulation from the crowd. He looks more than a little uncomfortable. I chuckle. Dillon hams it up, while Mike rolls his eyes. Take a bow my friends, you deserve it. "I'll have Donna call Skinner's office today." I get up to leave. "Anything else?"

"No, that was it. Just don't screw it up with Donna, or I'll have her working with me before you can say 'apology bouquet'." He threatens.

"As. If." I laugh at him. People just don't understand how we work, Donna and I.

"Donnatella Moss!" I bellow from across the bullpen.

"Yes, master." She shouts back and I've got to say I like the sound of that. Again, she reads my mind. "It was sarcasm, Joshua, don't get used to it."

"You really know how to bring a guy down, you know that?" I tell her as we meet each other halfway.

"Yes, but I also know how to bring a guy--"

"Donna!" I exclaim.

"What? I was going to say lunch!" She says smirking.

"I don't have time for lunch. What's his name is coming over to see me. You told me so yourself."

"Yes, but not for 30 more minutes; plenty of time for lunch. See how well I take care of you?" She bats her eyes at me.

"Nobody does it better." I agree. "However, I'm afraid to ask what lunch entails."

"Well, it's not burned beef." Donna hedges. Shit. "But it's not salad either. I've got it laid out in your office. Let's go eat."

I let her lead me by the hand to my desk where I smell delicious Chinese food. I use the remote to turn the TV on, but Donna tries to take it away from me.

"No news while we eat, Josh. It's not good for your blood pressure."

"This news is. Look." I motion with my hand to the television and she sees part of the team we worked with on a stage responding to thunderous applause.

"Hey! I forgot that was today." Donna notes and leans close to me. "That applause is for you too, you know." She whispers.

I just smile and lift the can of Fresca she got us for lunch. That new attorney, Ainsley Hayes, has us all drinking the stuff now. "To all the men and women who were part of the hunt." I toast.

"Hear, hear." She taps her can to mine, we both take a sip and smile briefly before I can't resist and kiss her. As usual, my timing is impeccable. C.J. catches us in the act.

"Hey, hey! Not in the office. We had a deal." C.J. protests.

"We're on our lunch break." I counter.

"Uh-huh." C.J. replies with her tongue in her cheek. "Oh, good, I was hoping you had it on. That guy there. Do you know who that is?"

"Uh, no." I lie. "How would I know that guy?"

"He works with Mike, you're Mike's friend. It's not like impossible you might have met him." C.J. explains and I relax.

"Sorry, Ceej." I shake my head in the negative.

"Damn. Maybe you could ask Mike?" She suggests.

"He's a stranger. Why do you think this is the guy for you?" Donna asks.

"He's hot!" C.J. says motioning to the screen. "And he hunts dangerous Nazi war criminals. Can you imagine being with a man like that?"

"Hmmmm...It is alluring in a way, I guess." Donna shrugs and gives me a smirk. "But I prefer the cerebral type."

C.J. scoffs. "Not me. So what do you say, Josh? Give Mike a call and invite him and his friends out for a celebration sometime this week?"

There's NO WAY I'm doing that. Talk about dangerous missions! "I'll see what I can do, Ceej." I tell her with a reassuring wink to Donnatella.

"You rock, Josh Lyman, I don't care what everyone else says." C.J. kisses my cheek. "And we're very glad you're back."

"Me too, C.J." I keep my eyes on Donna's. "And except for a Honeymoon, I don't plan to be out again for the rest of the term."

C.J. took one more glance at the TV as she walked out. "Good. If only we had men like that working here."

Donna burst out laughing and her happiness was just so infectious, I had to kiss her again...and again... Hey, at least I closed and locked the doors first! From now on, this is the only person I'm going to spend my time hunting down, and I know that I'll never have to look far. Then I see the look in Donna's eyes and wonder which one of us is the hunter and which one is the hunted. Donna chooses that moment to kiss me again and I decide that I really don't care.

~THE END~

Site Name: Crossroad Awards
Owner: Devin
Design: Standard Lines
Online Since: 08/01/08
Season: Two
Stage: Nominations

March 28, 2009
Nominations Start

April 30, 2009
Final List of Nominees Announced

May 01, 2009
Voting Begins

May 16, 2009
Winners Announced

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