this is so sweet

I love this. I love a Donna that shows Josh the same loyalty he would show her, even if a near tragedy has to remind her. Yes, Josh needs to take ownership of his own health, and they would need to work on that, but after Gaza, and Leo, and being passed over for CoS... and then Donna leaving him with the sense that she'd frozen him out when she returned? He was in a bad place and trying to get Santos elected by sheer force of will.

This is lovely; thank you. Also, you're probably right that Josh studied Donne in college; however, if he went to a private prep school in New England, he almost certainly also studied him in high school, too.

So, the giggling through the tears when Donna says 'I won't vote for you!". That's what your stories do to me. How do you do that?

I really like the way you potray Will, he was never a bad guy, just less idealistic than Josh (and of course a bad actor!). What this fic shows excellently is how, when faced with such danger, their masks fall and their feelings for each other are stripped bare. I also like the way Santos comes across as needing Josh and wanting only Josh. I love the final chapter, and how you used the poem.

I really like this fic too! I agree - I never saw Will as a bad guy, although he was definitely more likeable running a campaign for a dead guy than he was once he started working for Bingo Bob.

"I don't have a job anymore." "Yes, you do, Josh." "I just resigned." "The Congressman won't accept it." "Yeah, he will. He has to. It's going to be a thing. I told him to get another manager, but I don't know if he's going to do that; he said he'd pull out. I've really made a mess of everything." "He's not going to pull out. And he's not accepting your resignation." "Yeah, right." "It is right." "How do you know?" "I told him he couldn't do either of those things." "Right. And he listened to you?" "I said I wouldn't vote for him if he didn't." "Well, that makes sense." "It does, actually." "In a way only you could come up with." "People do listen to me now, Josh. I'm getting good at this." There's a long pause. Then Josh says, in a strained sort of voice, "You always were good, Donna." - These paragraphs were sad and sweet.
"She leans across the examining table. His lips are dry and chapped and his mouth tastes of the oxygen mask and stale coffee, but she doesn't care; she's never kissed anybody so long or so hard in her life. After the first stunned moment he's kissing her back as if his life depended on it. His life, and hers— which they probably do." - AW!

"And if you let him down by accepting his resignation or dropping out of the race now, I—I—I won't vote for you!" And then she shuts her mouth hard, and walks very fast out of the room." - Was Donna telling Matt Santos she will not vote for him meant to be quite as funny as I found it? Because it made me laugh.

So sweet, really liked the story
Love that Will is a good guy, in most of Santos and Russell campaign stories Will is a bad guy, in this one we can see that he cares for both Donna and Josh
Another perfect story