What did I expect him to do?

Drop down on his knees in the middle of the bullpen and beg me to stay?

Order me to get back to work?

The hiss of water from the showerhead was her answer.

Something.... I expected something more than throwing a comment over his shoulder and walking away.

Okay, so the world was about to end... for the second time. We'd been through an asteroid scare before... this should be old hat for Josh by now... but me quitting, shouldn't that get some kind of reaction?

Donna brushed away a stray strand of hair that channeled a stream of water down the side of her nose.

I'm going to drown in my own shower... before I even start my new job.

She turned around and let the water course down her back, lifting her chin into the air she drew in a deep breath. The warm moist air filling her lungs as her eyes squeezed shut on her realization.

It's a good job, a damn good job,.... She swiped at the water beading on her forehead ...but it's not my job.

It had all seemed like a gift from heaven. A change of pace. A step up in responsibility and status.

People that listen to me.

The steam clouded up the walls of the shower.

Is that what I wanted?

She drew a question mark in the fog.

What I want. I can't have.

The question mark disappeared in a flush of steam.

But sometimes, she thought, you have to do something new... when the old plan doesn't work.

Not that I'd ever really made a plan. It wasn't something you put on a to do list.

1. Fall in love

2. Make him fall in love with me

3. Happy Ever After

It doesn't work like that. Not everything in life works like congress. Wait. Scratch that. Congress doesn't even work. Anyway, since working ten feet away from Josh wasn't helping anything. I decided to help myself.

With a little help from Sam.

Her laugh echoed off the walls, bouncing tightly in the small shower.

Thank God for Sam. He'd flown in like Mighty Mouse... minus the red briefs ...and gave me the opportunity of a lifetime.

Administrative Assistant. She could just picture it. Her own office. Her own assistants.

Letterhead.

The water sputtered and rained scaldingdrops on her back. Backing up against the wall, Donna squeezed herself against the wet tile, waiting for the temperature to go back to normal.

But it won't, she worried, get back to normal. Nothing ever will. The President getting worse by the minute. Leo gone. Josh... Josh gone.

Sure, he didn't say it in as many words, but he was on his way out. It was that distant look in his eyes. He was gone and he didn't even know it.

So there was no going back. Just a whole lot of steps forward. For better or worse.