A/N: Yay! Another chapter without too much stalling!

Thanks for being so enthusiastic about my return and my last chapter, guys. It really helped me keep going. I hope you guys like this next chapter! It's one of my faves.

Pro tip: Listen to "Love Me" by the Echo Friendly while reading the latter half of this chapter (I'll tell you when to start it lol) for a good time.

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In much the same manner she had yesterday morning, Donna walks carefully into the hotel dining room. She doesn't plan on having any grand confrontations this morning, of course, as she's obeying Will's directive to give him space. However, she can't help but feel the same sense of anticipation and nerves. It doesn't help that Josh had taken off last night without much explanation, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

She goes in with her head down, intent on finding a table in the corner to pick at a muffin and comb through some paperwork without bothering anyone. Much to her surprise, her plan is sidetracked by Will calling out to her.

"Donna!"

She looks up, surprised. Will is sitting at a table by himself, and is gesturing to the seat across from him. He's already picked out a pastry and a yogurt cup for her, as well as a mug of tea. He looks nervous. But overshadowing all of this is the fact that he looks horrible.

Spreading out from his nose is a nasty bruise, creating dark rims under his eyes, particularly the left one.

Donna stares at him, appalled. "Will, what on earth-"

"Sit down, please." He says, appearing to not register her expression. "I'd really like to talk to you."

Still looking at him like he's insane, she hesitantly sinks into the seat across from him.

"I need to apologize for what I said to you yesterday."

A part of her very much wants to hear what comes next, but she simply can't have this conversation without addressing the elephant in the room. "Will, what the hell happened to your face?"

It's Will's turn to look surprised. "You don't know?"

"What? How would I-"

"He didn't tell you?"

"Who?" Donna asks, further confused. "Will, please, what happened?"

Will looks around surreptitiously, and then turns back to her with a wry smile. He lowers his voice. "Ask your boyfriend."

Donna rears back in surprise, bracing her hands on the table. "What?"

"Josh. Last night, after you went upstairs..." Will shrugs. "We talked at the bar, he hit me. I thought for sure he would've told you."

Donna's head is reeling. She thinks back to last night. Josh had said he needed to take a call. And then later, when he called... He'd sounded concerned. Out of breath, even. Had he really...? "He hit you?"

"Yeah. But, honestly, Donna. I had stepped way out of line, he had every right. I said some things that were..." He shakes his head. "Anyway. That's why I need to apologize to you."

Donna shakes her head slightly, her eyes out of focus. "Josh wouldn't hit you."

Puzzled, Will smiles slightly again. He gestures to his face. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but..."

"He wouldn't! I know he has that ridiculous hard ass rep, but he's always been bark, not bite. He isn't violent..." She frowns. "Except for that time he broke the window... Or when he grabbed that guy who insulted Leo, or-"

"Donna." Will says kindly. "I'm not lying to you."

Donna continues to stare at the table top, the realization sinking in. "He hit you," she says, her voice affirmative this time.

"Donna, seriously." Will looks at her intently. "I don't blame him. I'm actually he didn't tell you everything that happened last night, because I said some horrible things. I deserved a punch in the face. More than that, honestly."

Donna doesn't meet his gaze. She simmers silently for a few seconds, her jaw clenched. "I'm going to kill him."

"Donna." Will says imploringly. Finally, she looks at him. "I really am sorry."

She puts her anger on hold for the time being to deal with the matter directly in front of her. She looks into Will's bruise shrouded eyes, and sees his guilt. "Will... What I did was wrong. You had every right to be upset with me."

"Upset, yes." He agrees. "But not like that. I implied some things that are simply not true, and I did it for reasons that were personal, not professional. I need you to know that I respect you, okay? What I said yesterday... It came from an ugly place. I didn't mean it."

Donna smiles slightly. "Will, that's very sweet of you to apologize, but..."

"I want you on my team, Donna." He continues. "This was... This was a blow to our trust." He acknowledges. "But I have no reason to believe that your actions have jeopardized the campaign, or that you did them with any intent to harm the campaign. I think that given the circumstances, you've behaved as professionally as can be reasonably expected."

Donna's eyes widen at Will's unexpected mercy. "Will, thank you. I've really tried to keep the matter under wraps, and keep the campaigns out of it-"

"But." Will holds up a hand. "You did make one serious mistake. You didn't tell me."

Donna nods hurriedly. "I know. I know, it was wrong."

"If we're going to get out ahead of this thing, keep it under control, you've gotta talk to me. You've gotta keep me in the loop."

Donna continues to nod, making a definitive gesture with her hand. "Of course. From now on, anything you want to know."

Will nods. "Good. If we can keep this from the public, we will, but if we can't, there are ways to control the story. I just need to know you'll be on my side."

"Of course! And Josh..." She trails off. Her pulse starts to quicken in anger once more, but she ignores it for the time being. "I know that he'll want to control the damage in a way that protects both of our campaigns. He'll cooperate."

Will gives her another uncomfortable, twisted smile. "Right."

"I know that you haven't exactly experienced cooperation from him thus far, but..." The edge creeps back into her voice.

"Yeah." Will agrees. "But... It is what it is, Donna. What matters to me is that you accept my apology, and you're with me on this going forward." He makes meaningful eye contact with her from over top of his glasses.

"One hundred percent." She says, relieved.

"The way I was acting was rooted in how I felt personally. You know, because of our friendship." He doesn't go into the other things he's been feeling personally. "It wasn't professional. That's one of the things Josh pointed out to me, believe it or not."

Donna eyes cloud over again. "Did he, now?"

"Donna..."

"Excuse me, Will. I need to make a quick phone call."

Will thinks briefly of telling her to go easy on him, but then his eye gives a helpful throb when he blinks and he decides against it. He settles on, "Come back and eat something before we go, okay?"

Her gaze softens a fraction. "I will. Thank you."

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Josh is in a breakfast meeting with the Congressman and a few select staffers when his phone starts buzzing. As he's standing at the whiteboard, marker in hand, he instructs Ronna to put it on speaker.

"Josh Lyman." He says distractedly as he continues to add numbers.

"Joshua. Lyman." He freezes at the seething voice coming from the center of the table. He turns around, ready to scramble to make her stop. "What the hell were you thinking? You hit my boss!"

Josh winces. Five pairs of eyes bore into him. He swipes the phone off the table and quickly takes her off speaker. "I'm just gonna take this..." He gestures lamely out the door, and ducks out in a matter of seconds.

Once in the hall, he hastily raises the phone back to his ear in time to hear, "Well?"

He takes a deep breath, feeling the same panic of last night swelling in his chest. "Donna, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was going to tell you."

"Yeah, well, his face beat you to it! He looks horrible, Josh. Our campaign manager looks like he was in a drunken brawl last night, do you know how that looks for us?"

"Um."

"How could you do this?"

Josh sighs. "Donna... You weren't there. You didn't hear him last night. He said some awful things, and I just... Snapped."

"And what were you doing accosting Will anyway? He's my boss. It was my problem to deal with, okay? It wasn't your battle to fight."

Josh swallows. "He made you cry." He says weakly.

"So?" She rebukes. "Do you know how many times you've made me cry over the years, Joshua? Would you like to go back and hit yourself for all of those?"

He sags against the wall, feeling defeated and tired. For the briefest moment, he thought he had it. He thought they'd finally made it. The notion seems laughable now. "Donna..."

"Just tell me what you were thinking. If you were thinking at all, that is."

"I love you." He says imploringly. "Okay? I love you. Still. It drives me insane. I want to do everything for you. I want to be there with you, every second of the day, and it drives me crazy that I can't. When Will started talking about you, I snapped. What he said was... I can't repeat it. But I couldn't listen to it. I couldn't. I don't know if you know what it's like to love someone like that." His voice takes on an edge of anger. "But I love you. There."

Donna's angry diatribe stops abruptly. Her voice comes out hesitant. "Josh..."

"And you still can't say it, can you?" His bitter tone builds. "You can't say it back. I would do anything for you, do you know that? You're... God, you're everything to me. I left the White House because of you. If you asked me to abandon this campaign? I'd do it. And you still can't say it back. Because you don't feel that."

Fierce only a moment ago, her voice is suddenly weak and robbed. "Josh, please. Don't say that."

"And another thing." He doesn't know what's overtaking him, but he can't stop. "I can't believe you told Will."

"Told Will... What?"

"Everything!" He explodes. "The baby! The proposal! All of it! That's us, that's you and me, and you went and told fucking Will Bailey like it was nothing."

Donna chokes out, "I felt alone! I needed someone to listen, to-"

"Well, I'm glad." He says scathingly. "I'm glad you have someone else for that now."

"Josh-"

"No. Don't try to make this okay. It's not, Donna."

"I'm not saying it is, but-" he could be wrong, but he thinks it's possible this is one of those occasions he's made her cry again.

"Tell Will I'm sorry." He mutters before hanging up, trying to catch his breath. He leans his back against the wall, a flat surface just like Stanley had told him. He can feel himself unraveling.

She doesn't love me. She never will.

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Midday, Matt Santos is backstage at a community center, waiting to take the stage. He watches the television absently, as he'd had an aid put on the news. Since that morning, he had thought briefly about Josh's strange phone conversation.

Donna couldn't possibly have meant that Josh hit her boss literally, could she? Of course, Matt had a lot of other things on his mind, so he generally dismissed the moment as a blip and moved on.

But as he's watching, a B roll of the Russell staff getting off their plane starts playing. He watches the staff, including Donna Moss, descend the stairs. The camera focuses on Bob Russell, smiling and waving, but over his shoulder Matt catches sight of his campaign manager, Will Bailey.

His face is a wreck.

Matt feels his own campaign manager tense beside him. He turns to look at him, but Josh is pretending to not have noticed.

"-the next President of the United States, Matt Santos!"

Matt gives Josh a serious look. "We'll need to talk about this."

Josh has the good grace to look at the floor, ashamed. "Yes, sir."

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By night's end, Donna is exhausted. She'd spent most of the day agonizing over Josh's words. At first, she'd been angry that he managed to turn the situation around on her, when he was clearly in the wrong. But as the day progressed, she knew with a sinking feeling that he had a point.

Why can't she say it back?

Though she wants nothing more than to go to her room and sleep this horrible day away, she hesitates when she sees Will alone at a booth in the hotel restaurant, pouring over some paper work. It had been a frenzied day, and she hadn't spoken to him much since their reconciliation that morning. She wants to continue to rebuild their relationship, and she should probably touch base with him before turning in for the night anyway.

"Will." She greets with a tired smile, sliding in next to him so she can see what he's working on.

"Hey." He looks pleasantly surprised that she's here. "Thought you'd be heading up to bed."

"God, I wish. Soon, hopefully."

"Long day for you, too?" After noticing Will's battered appearance, the press had badgered him for the reason why. With a self deprecating smile, he told one reporter that he ran into a glass door, going for humorous but unfortunately landing on dopey and awkward.

"Like you wouldn't believe." She sighs and sinks back against the booth.

Will bites the inside of his mouth, wondering if he should ask. Are we back to that point yet? "Just the job, or..."

Donna tenses. That morning, she'd promised to tell him everything. This probably isn't what he meant, but hell, she wants to tell someone. "Josh and I are fighting."

Will looks uncomfortable. He gestures at his face again. "Because of...?"

She shrugs. "Sort of."

"Oh." Will says lamely.

"He... He's pissed at me."

"At you?" Will says, surprised. "Why?"

Donna folds her arms. "He's upset that I told you some stuff about us. The proposal, and all that."

Will looks regretful. "I shouldn't have mentioned that, last night..."

"It's okay. He's right, I probably shouldn't have told you."

"Oh." Will says again. He clears his throat. "Yeah. Of course."

Donna turns to look at him, her blue eyes wide and seeking affirmation. "I just needed someone to talk to. You're the closest person to me on the campaign. And, of course, you're a good listener."

Her defense hadn't worked at all on Josh, but like she'd hoped, it appears to be working wonders on Will. "Yeah, I know what you mean. He should understand."

Donna sighs listlessly. "It's not just that."

"Oh?"

"I..." She bites her lip. She can feel herself doing it - instead of confronting her feelings about Josh, she's manipulating Will into being on her side and affirming her virtue. But even though she recognizes it, she can't seem to stop. "I haven't been able to tell him that I love him back."

"Oh." Will's eyebrows jump upward. His heart starts to thump loudly. Is she saying what he thinks she's saying? She doesn't love him? "That's... Um..."

"He's being unfair." She wheedles. "We haven't been together long, and..."

"Definitely." Will agrees breathlessly. His stomach lilts hopefully. She's so close to him - her eyes wide and staring brazenly into his. Her shallow breath stirs a loose lock of hair hanging beside her face, and he feels the temptation to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.

"Thanks, Will. You get me." She says sweetly.

This is it, he decides. It's now or never. He closes his eyes and leans in toward her.

"Whoa, what the hell?"

His eyes fly open abruptly at the sound of her voice and the feeling of her hand on his shoulder, firmly pushing him away. She's looking at him in shock, her body language conveying alarm.

"Oh god." His stomach constricts painfully. He feels blood rush to his face. "Oh god, oh god. I'm so sorry. I thought..."

Donna furrows her brow. "No, you're... I'm sorry. I was sending out the wrong signals." She realizes. "I was... Oh, God."

Will looks away from her, face burning. "No, you were fine, I was..."

"I love him, Will." She informs him suddenly. "I... I know I haven't done the best job conveying that, but I love Josh. So much. I have for years."

Will swallows painfully. "I didn't know."

"He doesn't either." She mutters, mostly to herself.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Will struggles to continue speaking through his intense shame. "Why the hell doesn't he?"

"It's complicated." She defends.

"Obviously."

She looks down. "I... I'm just not convinced he feels the same way."

Will laughs out loud. Donna looks at him sharply, so he quickly stops. "Sorry, Donna it's just... That's the craziest thing I've ever heard."

"What?"

"I have never met someone so demonstrably in love with someone else as Josh is with you."

She stares at him, bewildered. "But..."

"As the guy on the receiving end of how in love with you he is, let me tell you," he smiles despite the situation, "it's intense. I have the marks to prove it."

"So he's impulsive, he's protective, he's not-"

"Donna. C'mon. You can't possibly believe that. When it was some anonymous guy in DC, I was fine to be on your side, say 'yeah, there's no way he's genuine.' But knowing it's Josh? We all knew, back at the White House. That guy is crazy about you. Literally."

Donna blinks, floored. Slowly, she stands up from the booth and starts to back away from Will, stumbling slightly. "I... I have to go."

"Donna, wait." Will calls out, hoping to explain himself further. She's gone.

As she races back to her room, Donna can't help but wonder. She has no problem admitting to herself, even to other people, that she's in love with Josh. Why can't I tell him?

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At midnight, Josh is up with his staff in the Congressman's suite. They're working intently, and a tense mood hangs over the group. Matt hasn't had the chance to speak to Josh yet, but both know the conversation is coming. Since the incident that morning, and the comical reports of Will's injury on minor networks, the staff had put two and two together. It spread from the few who were present in the room to nearly everyone who traveled with the Congressman.

A few people look up when Josh's phone rings. Having learned his lesson, he checks his caller ID. He swallows. It's Donna. He briefly considers ignoring her, but he couldn't forgive himself if it was an emergency. "Hello?"

The first sound to greet him is crying. He immediately sits forward in his chair, drawing the eyes of a few more staffers. "Donna?"

"Josh. I'm so sorry." She manages to choke out. She takes a shakey breath and tries to keep going. "You have no idea how sorry I am. I can't believe I..."

"Donna. What's wrong?"

"You were right." She sobs once. "You were so right. I'm so sorry, you don't deserve any of this. And I don't deserve you."

His room full of staffers melts away. "Donna," he says urgently. "Where are you?"

"I just didn't think..."

"Where are you?" He repeats, standing up.

Confused, she gives him her location through tears. "But that's far, don't try to..."

"Keys." He says out loud to the room, looking around wildly. "Somebody! Keys."

The staffers glance nervously between each other, unsure what he means. Matt is the only one to understand. "He's asking for car keys. He needs a car."

"Please." Josh manages.

"You heard me." Matt says commandingly. "Somebody, a car."

Finally, one of the interns digs his keys out of his pocket and holds them out. "It's the rental in the parking lot, it's-"

Josh grabs the keys and takes off. "Hold on. It's okay." He says distractedly into the phone. He reaches the parking lot and clicks the keys once. A pair of headlights floods the lot, and he climbs inside the sedan.

"No, listen." She says firmly, trying to keep her emotions at bay. "This is important, Josh."

"I was out of line this morning, I was upset-" he says, on autopilot. He backs the car out of the lot. As has been evidenced multiple times this week, Donna crying has untold powers over him.

"No! You were right."

"I was right?" His breath hitches. He was right that she didn't love him?

"You were right to be pissed at me, I mean." She clarifies hastily. "I've been... God, I've been awful to you." She sniffles again.

"No, you've..." He trails off half heartedly.

"I have." She says miserably. "Not just recently. For years, Josh. For years."

"Don't say that." He says gently. He means it. For years, she was dedicated, she proved she cared for him when no one else was there, she...

"Josh, I left you." She says urgently. "I left you not just a few months ago, but I left you six weeks after I started working for you. I left you for some asshole I couldn't care less about."

He swallows painfully. "Donna, you don't have to do this."

"I left you for him. And then I left you again, just months ago. While I worked for you, I jeopardized both of our careers by sleeping with Cliff Calley. I did it again when I claimed that quote for Jack. I told you about job offers, I made sure you knew I resented the job, I was constantly going on about dates, and guys, and..." She struggles to catch her breath. "I made sure you knew that you came last. Always."

"Donna..." He knows he has rebuttals. He knows there are moments when she'd been there for him. The Christmas she stayed in DC for him, the months she was with him constantly during his recovery.

But, God, there were times when he really had felt like that. Like he came last for her, and always would. It was due in part to many of the moments she'd just described.

"You flew halfway around the world at a moment's notice to be with me! In the middle of an international crisis! And what did I do? I had some other guy there, because of course I did. You were there for me, because of course you were, and I..." She starts to cry heavily again. "I pushed you away. Again."

He stops at a red light, his heart hammering. He wants to say, I know, I know, I was there! Yes, it was shit, but I didn't care, because you were alive! How could I care about anything beyond that? but she sounds like she doesn't need anything to add to her guilt right now. "Donna, c'mon. Give yourself a break."

"No, Josh. Not this time." Her voice softens. "You've never been anything but good to me."

He could almost laugh. "We both know that's not true."

"When it really mattered, yes, it's true. You took me back. You gave me every opportunity. You taught me everything, hell, you gave me a chance when you had absolutely no reason to. And beyond that... You always forgave me. You broke the law for me to diffuse the Cliff situation. And with Jack! You showed up at my house and told me I was amazing, you gave me a fairy tale the night I had actively betrayed you and the entire administration."

"But I..."

"You were there for me in Germany." She goes on, not letting him get a word in. "You were amazing. You came without a second thought, you... You were right there when I needed you. You always have been."

"Donna," he manages hoarsely, tears starting to prick the back of his eyes.

"Hell, where are you right now?" She questions.

"Um." He hesitates, looking down at his current situation. "I'm on my way to see you."

"Of course you are. You're the most dedicated, loyal person I know, and don't try and tell me any different." She sounds almost frustrated. "After everything, after all of the times I've been cold, distant, told you to back off, you're still dropping everything for me."

I always will. I can't help it.

"God, why didn't I see it before? You took on Will for me. You left the White House because of me. After everything, you still wanted to marry me." She takes a deep breath. "You... You love me. You really do."

He could almost laugh. He slumps forward against his steering wheel, grinning profusely. His voice slightly choked, he says, "Well God, I've only been trying to tell you that for months!"

He hears her smile in her reply. "I love you so much, Josh. I'm so sorry."

Months of tension he didn't know he'd been carrying eases. "Why are you sorry?"

"I'm sorry it's taken me this long. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm sorry about everything I... Everything I've put you through."

A rousing chorus of honking forces him to pull his head up off the steering wheel. He glances blearily at the green light and eases into the intersection. "Hey, I've put you through a lot, too."

"But I..." He hears tears in her voice again. "I need you to know that the only reason I couldn't say it back is because I was afraid. I was insecure, I was... It's not because I didn't love you."

"I'm sorry I ever gave you reason to doubt me."

"I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"It's okay." He says softly. "I'm on my way, okay? It'll be okay."

"You don't have to do that..." She says reluctantly.

"I need to see you."

"Yeah." She says with a sigh. "Yeah, that would be good."

"Don't worry about it."

"I love you, Josh." She repeats, sounding equally relieved to hear it. "I have for almost eight years, you know. I went out of my way to prove that I didn't, because I thought it was so obvious. But you have to know that... I have never loved anyone as much as I love you."

"Donna, I'm serious, you don't have to say all-"

"I want to."

"I... You too."

A gentle mocking tone enters her voice. "Oh, so now you're clamming up, huh? Back to awkward, emotionally stunted Josh?"

He smiles. "I've never loved anyone as much as I love you, either."

"Yeah, I know."

"You know, huh?"

"I do now."

They stay on the phone for a while after that, but eventually Josh convinces her to get a couple hours sleep before he gets there. After a few hours driving, he finally makes his way to her room, exhausted. When she opens the door, she immediately pulls him into her arms, and he gratefully buries his head in her shoulder.

"I'm so happy you're here."

"Yeah. Me too."

"I'm sorry about-"

"Don't. It's okay."

She hesitates. "Will Bailey tried to kiss me tonight."

Josh stiffens. "You probably don't want me to say 'saw that one coming,' do you?"

"Preferably, no."

"Okay. Then I won't."

"Let's go to bed, okay? We can talk more in the morning."

"Yeah."

After undressing, he collapses beside her, relieved. He pulls her close to him, a previously unknown contentment overtaking him. She gently threads her fingers through his, their clasped hands resting on her stomach.

"I love you." She says again, though it's the first time he's heard it in person.

He presses a kiss to the back of her neck. "Yeah. I know."

"You know, huh?"

"I do now," he echoes. "And I love you too. Just to clear that up."

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that."

"Don't worry. I'll remind you."

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Yay! I'm so happy. I really love this chapter, honestly. For a while, I always thought that Donna was the more obviously devoted one, but on subsequent rewatches, I've realized I was wrong. Maybe from a viewer's perspective, but certainly not from Josh's - especially given his history of abandonment issues. So, yeah, this felt good, to have her owning up to all this and realizing that given her insights into Josh, it should be clear to her exactly how he feels. (Of course, I'm not saying she had no reason for her insecurity! So all you guys who hated on Donna during this story can take that negative energy elsewhere please.)

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Things aren't totally smooth going from here, but at least we've got that major conflict cleared up for the most part. As for poor Will, things will start to look up for him soon, I promise.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.