238 Days
Author: Shelley
Summary: A trip to Colombia takes a frightening turn.



Prologue: This story is homage to a dear friend. A woman who suffered
through a terrible
ordeal in a foreign country only to come back better and stronger
from the experience.
Strong enough to return to that country on several occasions,
determined to carry out her
mission. Sadly, she lost a battle with cancer a year ago. Her memory
reminds me
everyday that while there are wonderful and heroic characters on
television that we chose
to play with here in our writing, we should also remember that there
are remarkable,
heroic people living all around us every day. She is greatly missed
by her loving husband,
her wonderful children and many, many friends. Her courage,
confidence and faith
continue to inspire me even though she left this world far too soon.




238 Days



Josh sat at his desk, impatiently drumming his fingers, waiting for
the temp to
retrieve the file he had requested. It had been 20 minutes and she
was still rifling through
the cabinets, apparently no closer to finding what she was looking
for.


This was his third temp in 10 days and Leo had warned him not to
alienate her, so
he was trying hard not to yell.


'Donna will be back in 4 days'; he thought to himself, 'I just have
to hold out for
a while longer.'








Donna exited the cabana and squinted into the morning sun. She
marveled at the
lush scenery all around her. It made her sad that a country this
beautiful could be in such
turmoil. She sat down against a rock and began writing in her
notebook. She wanted to
make sure that she wrote down every detail.


She had been so proud that Leo had thought enough of her to give her
this
assignment; she was determined to do a good a good job. True, she was
only here as an
unofficial representative of the administration. And this was, after
all, only a fact-finding
mission, but still, Donna felt like this was her chance to make a
real contribution.


She had been excited for a chance to travel to Columbia. She has
spent the last
week and a half talking to the people who were at ground zero of
the "drug war". She
listened to their stories and she felt their pain. Many of them were
trapped in situations
that they couldn't escape. Caught between the government and the all
powerful drug
cartels.


During their entire visit, the team had been carefully monitored.
They went
nowhere without an escort. Several times, Donna had gotten an uneasy
chill up her spine
but it had passed.


There were only three more days until she left for home and there
were still so
many people to talk to. Today, she was going to talk to a group of
farmers. They wanted
very much to grow a legitimate cash crop but growing coca for the
drug cartels was the
only way they could feed their families, and keep them safe. They
wanted some help
from the US in the form of protection and subsidies.


The remainder of Donna's group began to file out into the compound,
eager to get
a start on the day. They carried various cameras and pieces of
recording equipment to
capture the faces and voices of the people they interviewed. They
believed that if the
world could see these people, and hear their voices, it would go
along way towards
bringing the needed changes.


As they began loading their things into the jeeps, gunshots split the
air. Donna
looked up and saw a dozen armed men in fatigues flooding the area.
They were yelling
commands in Spanish. Everyone was in a panic. Donna couldn't
understand what the
men were saying but she gathered by their motions that they wanted
her to put her hands
in the air and she complied. Throughout the compound, she could hear
sporadic raised
voices and gunshots.


Donna heard a commotion and looked to her left. One of the male
members of the
party, an Englishman named Tad who worked for the UN, was putting up
quite a bit of
resistance.


"Who are you?" Tad yelled. "What do you want? We are a UN observation
team.
We came here in peace. We are on a fact-finding mission. You have no
reason to harm
us."


"Silence," yelled the man who appeared to be the leader of the
commandos,
angrily waving his gun in the air.


"I insist that you let us go immediately," Tad yelled as he continued
to struggle.
"We are here under the flag of the UN."


Soon a few others in the group began to yell also. Suddenly, the
rebel leader
raised his gun and fired two shots right through Tad's head. Everyone
in the group froze
as Tad fell to the ground, quite obviously dead.


In fractured English the leader said, "If you do not want to end up
like your
friend, you will keep your mouth shut and do as I say."







The intercom buzzed on Josh's phone. "What the hell?" he said to no
one in
particular. He despised the intercom, aside from the fact that he had
no idea how it
worked. He much preferred just yelling when he need his assistant's
attention. He rose
from his chair, crossed the room, opened the door and peered out.


"Yes?" he said with exaggerated patience.


The temp looked up, startled to see him in the doorway.


"Margaret called," she said "Mr. McGarry needs to see you in his
office immediately."


"Did she say what it was about?" Josh asked.


"No, she just said to tell you that it was important and that you
should get there ASAP."


"Ok," Josh said heading down the hall, "Then that's where I'll be if
you need me."






"Go right in," Margaret said as Josh entered Leo's outer office.


"What's up?" Josh asked her.


"I have no idea but I think it's serious," she said.


Josh nodded, and then opened the door to Leo's inner office
hesitantly. Leo was talking
on the phone in an obviously aggravated tone. He waved for Josh to
sit down.


"Get back to me as soon as you can," Leo growled as he slammed down
the phone.


He punched the intercom and soon Margaret's voice crackled from the
other end.


"Yes,sir?"


"Get Toby, Sam and CJ in here right now."



The older man began to pace back and forth in front of his desk. He
opened his mouth to
speak, then closed it, the opened it again but the words just
wouldn't come.


"C'mon Leo, you're scaring me." Josh said with a bit of nervous
laughter. "What's
wrong?"


"I just got a call from the State Department," Leo said as he sat
down on the edge of his
desk, finally finding his voice. "They are getting some intel on
a....well ....a situation
that needs our attention."


"What kind of situation?"


"A possible hostage situation." Leo said choosing his words carefully.


"So where's this weeks hot spot?" Josh asked as an inexplicable fear
began to build in the
pit of his stomach.


Leo took a deep breath before he said, "Columbia."


"No, Leo," Josh said shaking his head violently. "Don't tell me this."


"I'm sorry, Josh. It looks like it's Donna's group."


"What are you saying? Are you telling me that Donna is........? Is she...?"
Josh's voice
cracked. He couldn't bring himself to say the words that he feared
the most.


"We don't think so at this point," Leo said. "The reports we are
getting are that there are
casualties, however, they all appear to be male."


"And the rest of the group? Where are they?" Josh asked, even though
he already knew
the answer.


"We think they have been marched up into the hills and are being kept
at an undisclosed
location."


"Do we know this for sure?"


"We're waiting for confirmation."


"Anyone claiming responsibility?"


"Not yet."


Josh dropped his head to his hands. He couldn't believe this. Donna
had been so happy to
be going to Columbia. It was all she talked about for weeks. He was
sure that this was
some horrible mistake. 'Any minute', he thought, 'the phone is going
to ring and it will
be Donna giving us her flight information for the trip home.'


Toby and Sam entered Leo's office at the same time and saw Josh
sitting in the chair,
head in hands.


"What's wrong?" Sam asked, immediately alarmed.


"Apparently, Donna's group was involved in an incident in Columbia."
Leo said.


They all turned at the sound of a gasp from the doorway.


"Oh, no," CJ said "I just got the news of that incident over the
wires. Please tell me it
isn't Donna's group."


"We have early intelligence that it is." Leo said quietly.


"What did the wire say, CJ?" Josh asked, the desperation clear in his
voice. "Did they
give any details?"


"Not really," CJ said trying to force her brain back into
action. "They are just reporting
that rebels have seized members of a UN mission. They are reporting
seven casualties,
four Columbian guards and three UN employees. All of the dead appear
to be men at this
point. There is no concrete news of the fate of the others, but there
is evidence that they
were taken to a rebel stronghold somewhere deep in the forest."


"So we know the group? We know who is responsible?" Josh asked,
grasping for hope.


"There is no way of knowing exactly until someone claims
responsibility." Toby said as
he stepped over next to Josh and placed his hand supportively on the
younger mans
shoulder.   


"So what's the next step?" Josh asked trying to gather his thoughts
and formulate a plan.


"This isn't our problem to handle," Leo said. "It's in the lap of the
UN."


"What are you saying?" Josh asked incredulously. "Are you saying that
we do nothing?
That we just let Donna rot down there and go on with our lives? Just
trust the UN to
handle things?"


"No, that's not what I'm saying," Leo said trying to remain
calm. "I'm saying that we
will do everything we can to get Donna home safely. We will offer any
support and
assistance that we can. But this can't be an official government
operation, Josh. You
know that. There are certain limitations to what we can do."


"I need to be alone. I need to think," Josh said as he began moving
towards the door.


"Josh," Leo said in a voice that froze everyone in the room. Slowly
Josh turned and
looked at his boss and mentor. And for the first time, he saw the
fear and the sadness in
Leo's eyes.


"Don't you think I'm worried about Donna too?" Leo said quietly. "I'm
the one who sent
her there. I put her in that position. If something happens to her,
it's on my head. So
please don't act like you're the only one who has a stake in getting
her back."


"I didn't mean to imply that," Josh said. When he reached the doorway
he turned and
addressed Leo again, wanting to erase some of the pain in his voice.


"She wanted to go, Leo," Josh said. "She was thrilled that you
thought enough of her to
give her the assignment. It was the happiest I've ever seen her. She
wouldn't blame you
for this, and she wouldn't want you to blame yourself."







"Are you ok?" Sam asked as he entered Josh's office and sat down in
the visitor's chair.


"I wasn't even here to say goodbye to her, Sam. Did you know that? I
let her go without
saying goodbye."


"I didn't know that," Sam said looking at Josh with concern. "I'm
sure she understands."


"I'm sure she does, too. That's the problem, Sam. No matter how badly
I treat her, no
matter what horrible things I say to her, she always forgives me. She
always understands.
I knew how important this was to her. But I had a meeting with Matt
Skinner and it ran
long..... I should have cancelled it. I should have made sure I was
back. I should have
taken her to the airport. I should have told her how proud I was of
her. I should have told
her..."


"Stop it, Josh." Sam said sternly. "Stop beating yourself up. There's
no point in living in
the past. Just remember all of these things, and tell Donna when she
gets back."


"She has to come back, Sam." Josh said choking back tears.


"She will," Sam said with much more confidence than he felt.







Donna sat up against a pole, her arms bound behind her, holding her
tightly against the
rough wood surface. Her feet were sore and blistered from the long
hike into the forest
and the bindings at her ankles were cutting off the blood supply. The
blindfold that had
been placed over her eyes as they approached the camp had been
removed. She carefully
surveyed the situation around her.


She saw eight others from her group tied up in much the same way as
she was. Five men
and three women. Including her, that made 9 altogether. There had
originally been 15
members in her group. She blinked back tears as she thought about the
fate of the others.
She knew for certain that Tad was dead; she had his blood spattered
on her shoes. Things
at the compound had been very confusing but there had been a lot of
shooting and Donna
feared that others had died there as well. There were at least a
dozen of them when they
first started marching into the woods. The hike had been arduous,
uphill over rocky
terrain. They were given no water and were not allowed to rest.
Several times along the
way, people had stopped, unable to walk any further. Donna had tried
to encourage them,
tried to get them to keep going. And when they could go no further,
Donna had heard the
pleading, and then the gunshots. She tried to drive those thoughts
from her mind.


The mission leaders had warned everyone very clearly about the danger
before they left
the states. Donna had listened intently while they described the
unstable political
situation, and carefully listed all of the people who had been held
captive or killed in
Columbia in the previous 10 years. She had come here with her eyes
wide open. She had
understood and accepted all of the possibilities.


But, in her heart of hearts, she had never allowed herself to
consider this possibility. She
knew that she needed to clear her mind. To be strong. Others had come
through this kind
of situation and she could too. She just needed a little time to let
her brain catch up with
the reality of the situation.


She knew that the President would not be able to act directly to get
her back. She was an
unofficial representative of the administration; this was not a
government operation. The
UN would be handling the negotiations. She had watched these dramas
unfold in the past.
She knew that the world she currently found herself in was much
different from the one
she was used to. There would be no high speed faxing, no cyber
communication. All
talking would go on through back channels and third parties. There
was a good chance
that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. So she needed to prepare
herself, both
mentally and physically. She was ready to do whatever she needed to
do to hang on, to
stay alive. She would not give up, and she would be ready when
release finally came.


She knew that her survival was at least partly in her own hands. She
had to focus. She
had to cooperate. She had to do whatever was necessary to get home.
She leaned her head
back against the pole and tried to remain calm.





It had been 18 hours since the news had broken of the incident, and
there was no
significant new information to report.


The people on the ground in Columbia had managed to confirm the
identities of the dead
in the compound. They were definitely members of Donna's group. Any
slim hope that
Josh had held out that it was all a mistake had disappeared with that
confirmation. But
Donna wasn't among the dead so at least that was a piece of good news.


Josh wandered over to Leo's office. Margaret wasn't at her desk so
Josh knocked on the
door to the inner office.


"Come in," said a tired voice from the other side of the door.


Josh entered and saw Leo sitting on the couch in his office, feet
propped up, reading daily
briefing memos and looking worn out.


"Anything new?" Leo asked


"No," Josh said quietly.


An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a few moments.


"Leo, she wanted to go." Josh said.


"Funny, but that doesn't make me feel any better." Leo answered.


"Me either." Josh said.


Leo cleared his throat. "I've talked to Collins over at UN security.
They are trying to
make contact with the rebels through back channels. No luck so far.
He's going to keep
me updated."


"Good," Josh replied tiredly. "I'm going back to my office. Let me
know if you hear
anything."


"Why don't you go home, Josh? It's been a long day. I'll call you if
there's any news."


"Thanks, but I think I'll stay here for awhile."


"Suit yourself," Leo said. "But I think we better prepare for the
possibility that this may
take a while to resolve."


"I know," Josh said resignedly.


He left Leo's office and walked back towards the bullpen. It already
seemed like forever
since he had gotten the news and, in reality, it hadn't even been 24
hours.


He looked at Donna's desk and saw a picture of the two of them at
the inaugural ball.
'Hold on, Donnatella.' He thought to himself.


He sat at his desk, shuffling papers and trying to focus on work. As
midnight approached,
he absentmindedly placed an entry on his desk calendar. May 25---Day
One



Josh leaned against the wall in Leo's office, while the older man
dialed the phone and
waited to be connected. This had become their ritual over the last
several weeks. They
would meet for a few minutes, first thing every morning, to check the
wires for any new
information and to receive a briefing from Doug Collins at the UN.


As much as they both wanted to devote all of their time and energy to
getting Donna
back, they couldn't. There was still the people's business to
conduct, but this time each
morning gave the two men a chance to connect. Gave each a chance to
make sure that the
other was all right.


Josh knew that Leo was carrying a heavy burden. He felt responsible
for Donna being in
Colombia. He felt that he had put her in harm's way. Leo viewed Donna
almost as a
daughter. The thought of never seeing her again, of her never coming
back, was more
than he could stand.


Leo looked at Josh leaning tiredly against the wall. He knew that
under the strong mask
he wore on the outside, Josh was in excruciating pain. He and Donna
had such a complex
relationship, one that defied all normal explanation. He may not have
been able to define
their relationship but Leo knew one thing for sure; if Donna didn't
make it back, Josh
would never be the same.


"Morning, Doug," Leo's voice said, breaking the silence. "I'm putting
you on
speakerphone."


"Morning Leo, Josh." The now familiar voice said from the other end.


"Morning," Josh said "Anything new?"


There was a momentary silence on the other end of the phone that
immediately brought
both Josh and Leo to full alert.


"What is it?" Josh demanded. "Do you have new information?"


Doug Collins began to speak in as calm a tone as he could manage. He
had dreaded this
phone call since the minute that the new intel reports had hit his
desk.


"Our team on the ground in Colombia entered the jungle today in an
attempt to locate the
rebel stronghold. They were acting on information from several
different sources. They
entered the forest at the site of the abduction."


Leo's mind was whirling. He could tell by the tone of Collins' voice
that bad news was
coming. He glanced quickly at Josh who was staring at the floor, lips
moving in a silent
prayer.


"Just say it, Doug," he barked more harshly that he had
intended. "What did they find?"


"They found three bodies along the trail," Collins said. "They appear
to have been dead
approximately 3-4 weeks. We have reason to believe that they were
members of the UN
team. Two females and one male."


Both Josh and Leo fought hard to control their emotions as their
hearts leapt to their
throats.


"Have you identified them yet?" Leo asked in a shaky voice as his
knees gave out and he
sunk down into the couch.


"Not yet," Collins answered. "Due to the heat, the fairly advanced
state of
decomposition, and the wild animals, it's going to take a little time
to make positive
identification."


"How soon will you know?" Josh asked, in a strangled whisper.


"It depends," Collins answered sympathetically. "If you could get me
a copy of Ms.
Moss's dental records, it might help speed things up."


Josh's mind reacted instinctively. This was his specialty, completing
the task at hand.
This was one way, albeit a small one, where he could feel as though
he was doing
something constructive.


"I'll get them faxed over to you within the hour." Josh promised.


"Good. I'll keep you informed. The second I know something, you'll
know." Doug said.


"Thanks," Josh said as he reached over Leo's desk and disconnected
the phone. He
turned to face Leo who was sitting on the couch, staring silently at
the wall.


"I have to go check Donna's rolodex for the name of her dentist and
call him," Josh said
placing his hand on his mentor's shoulder. "Are you, ok?"


Leo just stared ahead as though he hadn't heard the question. "Leo?"
Josh repeated. "Are
you ok?"


"I'm fine," the older man said suddenly snapping back to reality. "Go
take care of getting
the records. I'll cover for you at staff. Get there as soon as you
can."


"I will," Josh promised as he headed for the door, casting a worried
glance over his
shoulder at Leo.








Donna shifted her position in an attempt to alleviate some of the
pain in her back. She
was beginning to feel the consequences of sitting in the same
position, arms tied tightly
behind her, for upwards of 20 hours a day. Sleeping in that position
with her head leaning
forward was not helping the matter at all.


She tried to move just enough to put a small amount of distance
between herself and the
pole she was tied to. The rough wood had caused a series of scrapes
and cuts all the way
down her body. As the sun rose higher in the sky and the temperature
began to soar, the
sweat running down her back would cause a painful sting. Day after
day, Donna tried not
to lean back against the pole, tried to give the cuts on her back
time to heal, but
eventually the discomfort of her position led her to lean back again.


Suddenly, one of the guards was standing directly in front of her. He
was very young;
Donna doubted that he was more than a teenager. But his eyes showed a
lifetime of pain
and suffering. Donna had noticed that most of her captors were young.
And they all
shared the same haunted look and the same simmering anger. She had
learned early on in
this crisis to follow their instructions. As long as she followed
their orders, everything
was fine. Donna realized the futility of trying to engage any of her
captors in a
discussion. She decided that her best bet to stay alive-her only bet
to stay alive-was to
do as they said.


One young man pointed his gun directly at Donna while another guard
moved behind her
and untied her hands, then came around and untied her ankles. This
had become a
morning ritual.


Donna was led at gunpoint to the edge of the forest that served as
the camps only
bathroom. The guard waited impatiently for Donna to finish as she
tried to force her
stomach not to react to the growing stench.


Finally, he led her to a small lake where she rinsed her hands and
splashed water on her
face and neck. She waded in to the water up to her thighs to try to
relieve the painful
sunburn on her legs.


The guard waved his gun and motioned that it was time for her to get
out of the water.
Donna reluctantly returned to the shore.


Finally, she was returned to her original location and was pushed
back into a seated
position. A small saucer of food was placed in front of her. Her
hands were allowed to
remain untied, only long enough for her to eat the food, which
consisted of stale bread
and a very thick stew. As she ate, Donna tried not to think about
what the ingredients
might be.


After her breakfast was gone, the guards snatched away the plate and
retied Donna's
wrists and ankles. They then moved down the row and began the process
again with the
next prisoner.


Donna looked to her right at the other prisoners. She wanted very
badly to talk with them
but the guards quickly stopped any attempts at communication. She
tried to remember all
of the information they had shared before the abduction. Talk of
spouses and children and
families. She hoped that they could use their loved ones to find the
strength they would
need to survive this ordeal. The prisoner who was currently doing the
same circuit that
Donna had just finished had vacated the post immediately to her
right. She tried to make
eye contact with the next prisoner down. She was a Canadian named
Taryn, a nurse by
profession. Donna remembered her saying that she had a fianc‚e at
home in Toronto. He
was a medical student. When he graduated, they wanted to work with
Doctors Without
Borders. They wanted to help the disadvantaged children of the world
before they settled
down to have their own family. When Donna met her eyes, she saw
nothing but despair
and hopelessness. She tried to silently encourage Taryn, tell her to
hang on, but she saw
very little reaction from the other woman.


Finally, Donna settled back against the post and closed her eyes. She
allowed her mind to
drift back to Washington and to the White House. It would be just
about time for the
morning senior staff meeting. She thought about how Bonnie, Ginger,
Cathy, and Carol
would use this time while all of their bosses were occupied to catch
up on the latest
gossip. She wondered who was replacing her, and hoped that Josh
hadn't alienated the
entire secretarial pool. Her mind settled on Josh and tears filled
her eyes.


She wondered why she had been so stubborn on the day she left. She
had hoped that he
would offer to drive her to the airport but he had headed over to the
hill for a meeting
with Matt Skinner instead. So Donna had left, without leaving him a
note. At the airport,
she had thought about calling, even about leaving a message on his
voicemail but she had
decided against it. Now she cursed herself for being so childish.


Immediately, she slammed her feelings down and regained her
composure. Getting
emotional now would definitely not help her situation. She had to be
strong; she had to
stay in control. But mostly, she had to stay focused on the situation
at hand. She would
have plenty of time to deal with all the other things after she got
home. She bowed her
head and asked for the strength, the courage and the wisdom to get
her through another
day.







Josh sat at his desk, trying desperately to focus on the folder in
his hand. He had read the
same paragraph five times and still had no idea what it said.


He heard a knock, and looked up to find Leo standing in his doorway.


"Did you hear something?" Josh asked anxiously.


"Not yet," Leo said. "But I was going stir crazy sitting in my office
waiting for the phone
to ring. I told the switchboard to forward all of my calls down here."


"I guess you might as well have a seat then," Josh said gesturing to
the visitor's chair.


"How did the meetings on the hill go this afternoon?" Leo asked


"Good," Josh said. "We've got the votes we need to pass."


"Excellent." Leo said distractedly. "Did you get the research we need
on the
transportation subsidies bill?"


"Not yet," Josh said. "It's taking a little longer to get research
done around here..."


Josh stopped mid sentence, choking on his words.


"Without Donna." Leo said finishing his sentence.


"Yeah." Josh said.


"I'm sorry, Josh. I should never have suggested that she go on this
thing to Colombia. I
should have recommended her for something else. Something domestic. I
should have..."


"Don't beat yourself up, Leo." Josh said putting down the folder and
leaning forward.
"Donna was ecstatic when you offered her this chance. She couldn't
wait to go. None of
us could have known it was going to turn out like this."


Leo looked down and scrubbed his face with his hand. "I can't even
close my eyes at
night without seeing her face."


"I know the feeling," Josh said ruefully.


Both men sat lost in their own thoughts, until the silence was broken
by the voice of the
temp standing in Josh's doorway.


"Mr. Collins from the UN on line one," she said.


Josh immediately punched the speakerphone button then hit line one.


"Doug, it's Josh. Leo is here too. What's the news?"


"The bodies have been positively identified," Doug said speaking
quickly to get the news
out as soon as possible. "Ms. Moss is not among them."


"Oh thank God," Leo said as he loosened his grip on the arm of the
chair.


"We just got the information about two minutes ago," Doug said.


"Thanks for calling so quickly," Josh said. "We really appreciate it.
And please pass
along our personal condolences, along with those of the entire
administration, to the
families of the victims."


"Will do," Doug said. "I have some other people to contact now. I'll
talk to you again in
the morning. We'll discuss the next step."


"Ok, Doug. Thanks again." Josh said as he disconnected.


He looked across the desk at Leo and saw an amazing look of relief
flooding across his
face. He realized, more so at that moment than at any one before, how
this situation was
affecting the man he thought of almost as a second father.


"Let's go get some dinner," Josh said. "Donna will kick both of our
asses if she gets
home and finds out that we haven't been taking care of ourselves."


"We wouldn't want that would we?" Leo said, managing his first small
smile of the day.
"Because she is coming home."


"Yes she is," Josh said. "And when she does, we've both got a lot of
things to talk to her
about."


"Yes, we do." Leo said.


Before they left to eat, Josh made another entry on his desk
calendar: June 22-Day 29.










Josh walked slowly through Donna's apartment. He couldn't believe
that she had been
gone for two months. He checked to make sure everything was ok. He
watered the plants,
and made sure that all the windows were secure.


This had become another ritual that he performed in Donna's absence.
Several times a
week, mostly just when he needed to feel close to her, he would let
himself into her
apartment. He moved slowly from room to room, picturing Donna there,
allowing
himself to believe, even for a moment, that things were normal.


He collected her mail on these visits. He carefully placed all of the
personal mail in a box
on the coffee table and placed the bills in his backpack to take back
to the office. He
would put them in the lockbox in his desk with his own bills, so he
was sure that the temp
would make certain they were paid.


This was another concrete thing he could do for Donna; take care of
the little details of
her life so she wouldn't have to worry when she got back. He wished
he could do more
but his hands were tied. This was not, as he was reminded daily, a
government operation.
He knew that these situations were difficult, and he was satisfied
that everyone involved
was doing their best, but that did nothing to relieve his feelings of
helplessness.


He was jostled from his reverie by the ringing of his cell phone.


"Josh Lyman," he said.


"Josh, Doug Collins just called." Leo said.


"Does he have anything new?" Josh asked hopefully.


"No one is being released," Leo said with regret in his voice "But
they have agreed to
allow a neutral third party to visit, probably some sort of religious
leader. They haven't
chosen the person yet. They're working out the details now."


"I'm on my way back to the office," Josh said as he began moving
towards the door. "Call
me if you hear anything else."







Donna looked around, trying to take in her new surroundings. They had
arrived at this
new location only yesterday. In all of the confusion, she hadn't
really had time to notice
much.


Without warning, the captives had been blindfolded, placed in jeeps,
and driven away.


Donna had initially feared that they were going to be taken further
into the woods and
killed. Then she noticed that her captors were packing up all of
their belongings and
placing them in the jeeps. Wherever they were going, the rebels
weren't planning on
returning.


She wondered what had sparked this sudden move. She allowed herself
to hope,
momentarily, that it meant that the people, who were searching for
them, trying to win
their release, were getting closer. 'It's possible' she thought, even
though she had seen no
outward signs of a rescue attempt.


They had driven for what seemed like hours, higher and higher into
the mountains. The
weather was noticeably colder at this altitude. Donna could hardly
believe that she was
only a few hours away from the tropical climate of the lower
elevations. The cool air
chilled against her sunburn, forcing her to shiver almost
uncontrollably.


When they reached the new location, the hostages were herded into a
medium sized lean-
to. Donna was glad to have at least partial protection from the
weather. The first night
they spent there had been surprisingly cold. Donna curled herself
into as small a ball as
possible and pressed against the wall of the lean-to, attempting to
conserve as much body
heat as possible.


Though her hands and feet were still bound, Donna was no longer
chained to a pole so
she was able to lie down to sleep for the first time in months.


The guards still watched closely and clamped down on any attempt at
communication.
Donna was beginning to feel the strain of having no one to talk to.
She was used to all of
the fast paced verbal communication of the White House, and
especially the banter with
Josh that she enjoyed so much. She tried to keep her mind as sharp
and as focused as
possible.


From time to time, she attempted to make eye contact with the other
captives, to engage
in a little non-verbal camaraderie. These attempts sometimes left her
feeling more
isolated and alone, as she often saw hopelessness looking back at her
from the eyes of the
others.


She let her mind wander back to Washington, to all of the things that
she had to look
forward to. All of the things that were worth fighting for, worth
surviving for. She tried to
concentrate on her friends, and her job, and all of the things that
she still wanted to
accomplish. And, as always, there was Josh.









Josh paced back and forth nervously in Leo's office. It had been four
days since they had
found out that the rebels were going to allow a third party visit
with the hostages. It had
taken a few days to work out the details. The visitor would be a
Roman Catholic priest by
the name of Father Nugent. He would be allowed a brief visit with the
hostages in return
for much needed supplies. His religious convictions precluded any
ammunition or guns
changing hands, but he would bring the rebels much needed food,
clothing, blankets, and
batteries for their radios. He would also bring them a dozen high-
powered walkie-talkies
and several sets of binoculars.


In return, he would be allowed 5-10 minutes to talk to each hostage
privately. He would
be making the visit alone. He would fly the supplies to an airfield
at the base of the
mountain. From there, he would be picked up, blindfolded, and taken
to the camp. After
the visit, he would be blindfolded and driven back down the mountain.
This was a
procedure that Father Nugent was fairly familiar with. He had served
as the go between
in other hostage situations.


His faith helped him to overcome his fear and face the very real
possibility that he could
become a victim himself. He believed that if he could bring some
small measure of
comfort to the hostages, and to their loved ones, then whatever risks
he faced himself
were worth it.


Father Nugent had agreed to stop briefly in Washington on his way to
New York and
ultimately to Colombia.



Both Josh and Leo jumped when Margaret knocked firmly on the door and
poked her
head in to announce Father Nugent's arrival.


After a round of introductions, they all settled in; Josh and Leo on
the couch, Father
Nugent in the chair facing them.


"Thank you for coming Father," Leo said.


"It's my pleasure," the priest said.


An awkward silence fell over the room. Father Nugent had been in this
type of situation
many times before. He recognized that the two men across from him
were experiencing a
myriad of emotions. He decided to make it easier for them by breaking
the ice.


"How long have you known Ms. Moss?" he asked


"Three years," Josh answered. "She joined the campaign in New
Hampshire and has been
with us, for the most part, ever since." Josh didn't feel the need to
explain to the priest
about the three weeks that Donna had spent away from the campaign,
the three weeks
when he thought he had lost her, that she would never come back to
him again. But she
had come back-and Josh prayed that she would come back this time
also. The last time,
the decision to return had been solely in her hands, this time it was
up to a group of gun-
toting thugs.


Leo noticed that Josh's mind seemed to be drifting so he decided to
speak. "I want to...
actually we all want to make sure that Donna knows how much we love
her, and how
much we miss her, and how hard we are working to get her back. We
need her to
understand that we are doing our best."


"I'm sure she already understands that, but I will make sure that I
tell her," the Father
said.


Josh fingered the letter in his pocket. He had spent the last four
days deciding exactly
what he would say if he had a chance to talk to her right now.


"Do you think there is any chance that you would be able to give her
a letter that I wrote
for her? Would that be allowed?" he asked Father Nugent.


"Every situation is different, Mr. Lyman, but if you give me the
letter, I'll certainly do
whatever I can to make sure she gets it."


Josh pulled the unsealed letter from the inside pocket of his jacket
and began to hand it to
the priest. Suddenly Josh stood bolt upright. "I forgot one thing,"
he said. "I'll be right
back. Please wait for me."


"I will," the priest assured him sensing the desperation in Josh's
eyes.


As Josh bolted from Leo's office towards the bullpen, Leo turned to
the priest.


"I want you to assure Donna that I am keeping a close eye on Josh. I
know she'll be
worried."


"I will," the priest said. "I'll also tell her that she's a very
lucky girl to have people who
care about her as much as you obviously do."


"She's a good girl," Leo said. "And I'm the one who sent her there. I
gave her the
assignment. Please tell her I'm sorry. Tell her that I never thought
it would turn out like
this. Tell her that if I had known I never would have sent her."


The priest placed a comforting hand on Leos shoulder. "I'll tell
her," he said


Josh reentered the office as he finished sealing the envelope.


"It would really mean a lot to me if you could arrange for her to
read this." Josh said.


"I'll do my best," the priest said. "But now I have to be going or
I'll miss my flight to New
York. It was nice meeting both of you. I'll contact you as soon as I
can after the visit to
tell you how it went."


"Thank you, Father. We would appreciate that," Leo said.


As the priest reached out to shake Josh's hand, he took note of his
watery eyes and
quivering chin. He didn't know what was in the letter he now carried
in his pocket, but he
became more determined than ever to make sure that Donna got to read
it.








Donna wasn't sure what was going on but she could tell by the
excited voices of her
captors that something was happening. She looked up and saw a large
truck enter the
camp.


Immediately the men went to the back of the truck and began going
through the boxes.
'They must have found some way to replenish their supplies,' Donna
thought to herself.


Donna saw a man that she didn't recognize coming around the corner of
the truck.
He appeared to be a priest. The rebels lowered their guns and showed
the man a
tremendous amount of respect. He was conversing with them in Spanish.
One of the
rebels, the one who appeared to be the leader, motioned towards the
lean-to. The two
men, along with several other guards, began to approach.


When they were within 10-15 feet, the priest said something to the
leader. He motioned
for the guards to stay where they were. The priest then approached.


Donna watched carefully as he moved towards one of her fellow
captives at the other end
of the lean-to. He knelt in front of the man; an Irishman named Ian,
and spoke in soft and
gentle tones. After several minutes, he kissed Ian on the forehead
and moved to the next
captive.


As he got closer, Donna could hear him murmuring messages of hope and
strength from
family and loved ones back home. He held each captives bound hands
and looked deeply
into their eyes. He seemed to be trying desperately to impart some of
his own faith on
each one. Several times, Donna saw the priest hand one of the
captives an object, Donna
assumed that they were small mementos of home sent by loved ones to
help the captives
find strength.


Donna leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She had had only
minimal contact with
her parents since she went to work for the Bartlet campaign. They
strongly disapproved
of her choice of jobs. She wondered if they would have even taken
time to talk to the
priest, if they even cared if she came home.


She was lost in her own painful thoughts when she heard a voice
say, "Donna Moss?"


"Yes," she said as she opened her eyes and saw the priest kneeling in
front of her.
Something in his eyes made Donna feel instantly better. She finally
had the human
contact she had been craving.


"How are you doing?" he asked her as he took her hands in his.


"I'm doing well, Father," she said.


Donna held her breath and waited for the cleric to speak again. To
tell her if anyone at
home was missing her.


"I was summoned to the White House for a visit yesterday." He said
with a small smile.


"Really?" Donna asked.


"Yes," the priest said rubbing her hands comfortingly. "There are an
awful lot of people
in that building who are very worried about you."


Tears welled up in Donna's eyes. "Will you tell them that I'm alright
father? Tell them
that I'm hanging in there?"


"I certainly will, Donna." He said


There were three people in particular who wanted to make sure that I
conveyed their
personal message. The President himself called me into a private
meeting as I was
leaving the building and asked me to tell you that he misses you, and
that he is praying
for you, and that he is doing everything in his power to get you
back."


"Tell him I said thank you," Donna said as tears ran down her cheeks.


"Leo McGarry asked me to pass along those same sentiments on his
behalf, and also
asked me to tell you that you don't have to worry about Josh, because
Leo is keeping an
eye on him."


"Good," Donna said with a small sigh of relief. She was glad that
someone was looking
after Josh while she was gone.


"Leo also wanted me to tell you that he's sorry that he put you in
this position."


"No," Donna said cutting the priest off before he could say
anymore. "Please tell him not
to feel that way. I came here of my own free will, and I was grateful
for the chance. He
has nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing at all. Promise me you'll
make him understand
that, Father."


"I'll do my best," the priest answered softly.


Finally he reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope. He
turned and spoke to
the rebel leader in Spanish for a few moments. They seemed to be
having a bit of a
heated discussion. Finally the young rebel grunted "Si".


The priest turned back to Donna and removed the bindings from her
hands. Then he
handed her the letter. Donna recognized the writing on the outside of
the envelope as
Josh's.


"Mr. Lyman wanted me to make sure that you received this letter," the
cleric said.


"Thank you," Donna said taking the envelope and turning it over in
her hands.  


The rebel leader spoke again and the priest turned back to Donna.


"I have to go now," he said softly. "But I'll try to arrange to come
back as soon as
possible."


Donna looked at the envelope in her hands. She was suddenly torn. She
had no idea what
Josh had written to her. For all she knew, it could have been a
letter telling her that she
had been replaced. But one thought was crystal clear in her head. She
had been given a
second chance, a way to tell Josh how she felt in case she never got
back to the states.


"Father?" she said.


The priest turned back to her and said "Yes, Donna?"


"Will you give Josh a message for me?"


"Of course I will."


"Tell him I love him," she said softly.


"I'd be happy to." The priest said as he kissed her on the forehead
and rose to go.


Donna began to open the letter and then looked hesitantly at the
guard. He nodded his
head and grunted what seemed to be his tacit approval of her
continuing.


She pulled the piece of stationery out of the envelope and began to
read.


My Dearest Donnatella,
 I've started this letter a dozen different times but torn each
one up. I'm not exactly sure
what I should say to you.
     More to the point there are a million things I want to say and
don't know which one to
say first.
     I pray every minute of every day that you are well and as safe
as possible under these
conditions. I would give anything to have you here with me. I would
change places with
you in a heartbeat if I could.
     Please know that you have every ounce of strength that I can
possibly send you. I'm
begging you to hold on-we WILL find a way to get you home safely.
     Everyone here sends their love and support. You are never far
from our thoughts. I can
hear you now reminding us all that we have a country to run, but some
things are just
more important.
     I'm sorry that I wasn't here when you left Donna. I was being
childish and I'm very,
very sorry. You need to come home so I can make it up to you. So I
can make a lot of
things up to you.
     But mostly you need to come home because I've come to realize
something. I can't
live without you, Donnatella. I need you here with me. Not just here
at work with me,
although definitely that too. I mean here with me, 24 hours a day. I
miss you, Donna. I
need you. And most importantly, I love you.
     I'm sorry that I never told you that before. And I know this is
a crappy way to say it.
So you hold on until we can get you home and I'll take you to Hawaii
and tell you on the
beach under the moonlight.
     Hold on, Donnatella. I'll never give up and I don't want you to
either.
                          Forever,
                               Joshua


P.S. I've enclosed a little memento in the envelope. I hope it helps
remind you of me until
you get home.




Donna could barely see through the tears in her eyes but she peered
into the bottom of the
envelope. She smiled at what she saw nestled in the corner-one small
single coffee bean.


Before she had a chance to reread the letter, to commit it to memory,
the guard
approached her. She was afraid that he was going to take the letter
from her but he simply
motioned for her to put it back in the envelope. She did so and then
folded it carefully
and put it in the pocket of her shorts.


The guard then reached down and roughly rebound her wrists.


Donna looked across the lean-to at her fellow captives. Everyone
seemed a bit more
settled after visiting with the priest and receiving a few words from
home.


Donna leaned back and looked up at the stars. She tried to remember
the words that Josh
had written. Finally she realized that the words weren't what was
important, it was the
feelings that were important. Joshua loved her, as much as she loved
him. She looked
towards the sky with a renewed determination to survive.


"I love you, Joshua," she whispered. "I'll be home soon."






Josh sat on the balcony of his Georgetown apartment looking at the
Washington skyline.
He barely even noticed the gorgeous summer evening. The sound of his
phone ringing
startled him. He went to the living room and picked up the receiver.


"Josh Lyman," he said quietly.


"Hello, Josh. This is Father Nugent."


"Did you see Donna?" Josh asked anxiously. "How is she? How is she
holding up?"


All of the questions tumbled forth at once. Josh wanted to know
everything immediately.


"Yes, I got to visit with her." The priest said.


"How does she look? Is she healthy?" Josh asked.


"She is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. She
seems to be a very
determined young lady."


"Yes she is," Josh said with a smile. "Did she get my letter?"


"I handed her the letter myself," Father Nugent said. "I had to leave
before she read it but
I have every reason to believe that she did. I was assured by the
rebels that she would be
allowed to read it."


"Thank you," Josh said in a voice that came out barely above a
whisper.


"She had a message she wanted me to pass on to you," the priest
hesitated. He knew that
Josh loved Donna, he had known it since the minute he saw his face in
Leo's office. And
though he couldn't say for sure, he suspected that the contents of
the letter he had
delivered stated as much. But he felt funny being the one who had to
pass along the fact
that Donna felt the same way. Nevertheless, he was certain that it
was a message Josh
needed to hear.


"What is it?" Josh asked.


"She asked me to tell you that she loves you," the priest said.


There was a long period of silence.


"Thank you," Josh choked out.


"You're welcome. And if there's anything else I can do for you,
please don't hesitate to
ask."


"I won't. Thank you for calling, Father." Josh said as he returned
the phone to its cradle.


He returned to the balcony and sat back down in the chair. This time
instead of looking at
the skyline, he looked at the sky.


"I love you, Donnatella." He said. "I'm gonna find a way to get you
home soon."


July 30-Day 67





Josh stood in his office, shifting uncomfortably in his tuxedo and
looking at the reflection
of his very crooked bowtie in the window.


'If Donna was here,' he thought 'this stupid tie would be straight.'


"Are you ready?" Toby asked from the doorway, causing Josh to jump.


"Not really," Josh sighed, "But since I've been ordered to attend I
guess that's pretty
much irrelevant, huh?"


"It'll do you good," Toby said in an attempt to be
conciliatory. "Maybe you can actually
relax a little."


"Oh yeah," Josh said sarcastically. "The State Dinner for the King of
Norway, that's my
idea of a relaxing evening."







Donna huddled against the back of the lean-to in an attempt to stay
as warm as possible.
Even though the sun had just gone down, the temperature was already
plummeting.


The visit from Father Nugent had provided the rebels with thick wool
blankets to use as
protection against the mountain weather. After he left, each of the
hostages had been
given a thin threadbare cotton throw, which were what the rebels had
previously been
using. They also each been given a pair of dark blue sweats. These
items provided only
minimal protection against the ever-colder weather but Donna was
grateful for whatever
small amount of warmth they could provide.


The cold air, along with the lack of adequate nutrition and clean
drinking water, was
beginning to take it toll. Several of the hostages appeared quite
ill. Donna could hear
them moaning and coughing in the night.


She had been lucky so far. Aside from an almost overwhelming fatigue,
she felt good.
Some of the others appeared to have stopped eating, but Donna forced
herself to eat
whatever was put in front of her every day. She knew that she had to
maintain her
strength. Most days, she tried not to think about what she was
eating. She began looking
at the plate that was thrust in front of her twice a day as simply a
means to stay alive,
nothing else.


There would be time to rediscover the wonder of food when she
returned to the states.
She would make Josh take her to every restaurant in the greater
Washington, DC area,
from pizza joints to five-star spectaculars. She would once again
look forward to a good
meal. But that was in the future, for now she had to deal with the
reality of her situation.


As night fell, she could hear the sound of gunshots in the distance.
They had been coming
nightly for about a week now.


Her captors seemed to be on high alert, although none of them left
the camp to engage in
the battle. Donna watched them carefully for any signs that they
would be moving again.


As much as she hated the sunburn on her alabaster skin, she hoped
that maybe they
would move back down the mountain to a warmer climate. She was
frightened by what
would happen in the coming months, as winter approached.








Josh sat at the table, mindlessly moving the food around on his plate
without really eating
any of it.


"It's not that bad, is it?" Leo asked slipping into the chair next to
him


"What?" Josh looked up.


"The food? If you keep pushing it around like that, people are going
to get the idea that
the White House chefs are falling down on the job."


"I'm just not hungry," Josh said letting his fork drop to the table
and abandoning any
pretense of eating.


"Look," Leo said. "I know how hard this is for you, Josh. It's hard
for all of us. But you
have to eat. You said it yourself, Donna will kick your butt when she
gets back here if she
finds out you haven't been taking care of yourself. You have to be
strong. You can't lose
faith."


"I haven't lost faith," Josh countered edgily. "I just don't feel
right about sitting here
enjoying all of this food and drink and music when Donna is living
like...well I don't
even want to think about what kind of conditions Donna is living in.
I wonder if she's
getting enough to eat. I wonder if she's sleeping. What if she gets
sick, Leo? What if she
is sick or hurt and we don't even know about it?"


"I don't know how to answer that, Josh," Leo said angrily. "Believe
me, some nights I sit
in my living room and, no matter what I do, I can't stop the images
of what it must be
like for her. Every worst-case scenario in the world runs through my
mind. And I wonder
how it is that I can hold this position of power, the so-called
second in command, and yet
I can't just go down there, kick some ass and bring Donna home."


Josh stared, open-mouthed as the flood of emotion continued.


"You tell me. What the hell good is all this power, Josh? What good
is it; if I can't use it
to help someone I really care about? What's the point? I'm beginning
to wonder if it's
time for me to just walk away, time to let someone else take a shot
at it." Leo said as he
banged his fist angrily on the table.


As Leo's voice escalated, people in the vicinity began to stare.


"Let's get out of here," Josh said, as he grabbed Leo's arm and
headed towards the door.
He really didn't think making a scene in front the entire Norwegian
delegation was the
way they wanted to go right now.


The two men slipped through the portico doors and out into the
Sculpture Garden. The
evening air was crisp now that fall was here. Josh couldn't believe
it was October
already.


He watched as Leo paced angrily. He wanted to find just the right
words.


"I understand how helpless you feel, Leo," he began. "Sometimes I
just want to grab the
nearest F15 and go down there and get her out myself. It kills me to
think of what she's
going through.


The only thing that keeps me coming here, to this job, every day is
the fact that I know
that's what Donna would want. She doesn't want us to give up, Leo.
The best way we can
honor her is to keep fighting for something that she believes in. And
she does believe in
this administration. That's why she came back to us in New Hampshire,
and that's why
she stayed. And that's also why she went to Colombia. And if we give
up now, if we let
this beat us, then we've let Donna down. And that's not something I'm
willing to do. I've
let her down enough times in the past, I won't do it again. I love
her too much for that."


Leo looked at the young man standing in front of him, the man he
loved like a son. He
could see the pain in his eyes but he could also see something else.
A strength that Leo
had never seen before, a determination that went far deeper that any
he had ever exhibited
in the pursuit of getting legislation passed.


Even though Leo had suspected Josh's feelings for Donna for a long
time, he had never
realized, until this moment, how deep those feelings ran.


"Maybe you're right," Leo said scrubbing his face with his hands.


"I know I am," Josh answered. "And believe me when I tell you, if
Donna gets back and
finds out you gave up, she'll let you have it. And an angry
Donnatella Moss is something
you want to avoid at all costs."


"Are you speaking from experience?" Leo asked with a smile.


"Oh yeah."







The distant sound of gunfire invaded Donna's dreams.


Suddenly she was standing outside the Newseum. She was waiting for
Josh to come out
of the building. She saw him coming towards her and she called to
him, but he didn't
hear her.


She heard shots and then everything began moving in slow motion.
People were hitting
the ground. Everyone was screaming. She was surrounded by chaos.


She could hear the crackle of the secret service mics. She could hear
them calling out
instructions.


She looked around frantically for Josh. Suddenly she saw him, blood
pouring from his
chest. His eyes open and staring straight ahead.


She rushed to his side. She tried to stop the blood but it was as if
she wasn't even there.


She screamed out his name but he didn't hear her. None of them heard
her.


All she could focus on was the blood. There was so much blood.


Then all of the sudden she was standing on the observation deck at
the hospital, looking
at Josh's open chest.


His heart wasn't beating. The doctor's were working frantically but
Donna was terrified
that it wasn't going to be enough.


She wanted to go to him but again she couldn't move. She called out
to him, to anyone,
but no one heard her.


The beeping of the machines kept getting louder in her ears. She
looked around for
someone to help her but there was no one there.


Desperation and panic to rise in her throat until she felt like she
couldn't breathe. Donna
felt as though she was falling into a deep hole and she could, at
last, hear herself
screaming over and over at the top of her lungs."



The sound of someone speaking angrily in Spanish caused Donna to sit
bolt upright. Her
mind was whirling, as she looked around, unable to immediately take
in her
surroundings.


She saw one of the young rebels standing in front of her. She heard
him ordering her to
be quiet in broken English. He was also saying something in Spanish
that Donna couldn't
understand.


She shook her head to try to regain her grip on reality. By the looks
on the faces of her
fellow hostages, she realized that she must have been screaming out
loud.






Josh and Leo made their excuses and left the State Dinner early. As
they walked to their
cars, Josh eyed the older man with concern.


"Are you sure you're ok, Leo?"


"Are you sure you are?" Leo asked in return.


"Point taken," Josh said.


"I'll see you in the morning." Leo said "Maybe we'll get lucky and
Collins will have
some good news for us."


"I'll keep my fingers crossed." Josh said as he climbed into his car.






Leo sat in his darkened living room listening to the silence. He was
wracking his brain
trying to come up with one more thing that he could do to help Donna.


'There has to be something I'm overlooking,' he thought.


He remembered the look in Josh's eyes at in the Sculpture Garden and
he prayed that he
could be infused with some of that conviction.


True this was not, and never could be, a US government operation. But
there had to be
more that he could do. He resolved to start making phone calls first
thing in the morning. He would
call everyone he had ever known if that was what it took.


A lifetime in politics had earned him a lot of markers, and he would
call in every single
one, if he had to, to get Donna back.







Josh turned the key in Donna's lock and slipped into her apartment.


At first, he had felt like a trespasser coming here when Donna was
gone, but now he drew
a tremendous amount of comfort and strength from having her things
around him.


His conversation with Leo in the Sculpture Garden had been very
unsettling. He had
known that Leo felt responsible for Donna's predicament but he hadn't
realized how deep
the feelings of helplessness went.


He mentally renewed his commitment to keep an eye on Leo and to make
sure that he
was all right.


But his feelings of discomfort went deeper than what had happened
with Leo. He had felt
an unsettled feeling in his heart since before he left the party.


He wasn't sure what it was but he knew it had something to do with
Donna. It was almost
as though he could feel her calling him. Feel her trying to reach
him.


He focused all of his energy on thoughts of her. He stripped down to
his t-shirt and
boxers and crawled into her bed. He hugged her pillow to his chest
and tried to find a
way to reach out to her, to send her some of his strength.


Even before he admitted to himself that he loved her, there had
always been a connection.
He had always felt somehow able to reach her without words.


Despite the distance between them, that was what he was trying to do
now. Worse than
anything in the world, he wanted to reach out to her, to be a source
of comfort and
strength whenever she needed him.


"I love you, Donnatella." He said. "Hold on."






Donna sat straight up against the back of the lean-to staring out
into the dark night sky.


Her heartbeat and breathing had slowly returned to normal, but every
vivid image of her
dream remained. She saw the blood on Josh's chest. She saw his still
heart in the
operating room. And she felt the desperation of trying to reach him
and being unable to
do so.


She knew that she couldn't let these dreams defeat her. She had to
look at them for what
they were, just a product of her over tired subconscious.


Josh was back in DC and he was fine. He was doing everything he could
to get her back.


She leaned her head back and concentrated just on happy times,
blocking out all of the
bad memories and all of the images from the dream.


From out of nowhere, Donna felt an inexplicable calmness flood
through her body.


All of the residual fear from the dream dropped away and was replaced
with a resolute
strength. It was like nothing Donna had ever experienced before.


She fought back tears as she realized that Josh had heard her
screaming after all. Somehow he had
heard her, and he wanted her to know that he was trying to get to her.


"I love you, Joshua," she said, "I'll be home soon."


October 1---Day 100





"You look tired," CJ commented as they left the morning staff
meeting.


"I'm fine," Josh said as he continued down the hall towards his
office.


"Josh, I'm just saying......." CJ began.


"I said I'm fine, CJ. Just drop it will you please." Josh said in a
tone much harsher than
he had intended.


"Yeah, you seem fine," CJ yelled back sarcastically.





"Are you with me?" Toby's voice brought Josh's thoughts crashing back
to reality.


"What?" Josh asked.


"Are you paying attention to what I'm saying or am I talking to
myself?" Toby sighed.


"What the hell do I need to pay attention to," Josh shouted. "These
ridiculous tobacco
people say the same stupid things and make the same stupid arguments
over and over and
they don't even notice, or else don't care, that their stupid
arguments don't even make
sense."


Josh punctuated his sentence by throwing a stack of file folders
across Toby's office,
before stalking out.





"Hey, Josh," Sam said poking his head in Josh's office door. "Wanna
head out and grab a
beer?"


"Not tonight, Sam."


"C'mon, buddy" Sam whined. "We haven't been out in months."


"Not tonight, Sam. I have stuff I need to get done."


"Fine," Sam said sounding a little wounded. "I'll be at Houlihan's if
you change your
mind.






CJ finally decided to take matters into her own hands. She boldly
walked into Josh's
office without waiting to be invited and plopped down in the
visitor's chair.


"Something I can help you with?" Josh asked without looking up from
the folder he was
reading.


"I just wanted to check in with you," CJ said "See how you were
doing. It seems like we
haven't had a chance to talk in quite awhile."


Josh's eyes automatically went to his desk calendar. October 13---Day
142. Donna had
been held hostage for almost five months.


"I'm sorry, CJ. I've just got a lot on my plate right now."


"Don't you think I know that?" CJ asked as a hint of anger crept into
her voice. "But
shutting out your friends isn't the answer, Josh."


"I'm sorry if that's what it seems like I'm doing. It isn't my
intention to..."


"Save it, pal. I know you too well. You're burying yourself in your
work, keeping
everyone at a distance, and keeping everything inside."


"CJ, I......." Josh started.


"No, you let me talk. You did this once before, Josh. After the
shooting. You kept
everything bottled up and things just kept getting worse and worse
till you put your hand
through a window and almost attacked the president in the middle of
the oval office. Is
that we're heading for again? Because if it is, I'd like a little
advance warning this time."


"CJ, I'm fine." Josh said, even though the words sounded hollow and
insincere, even to
him.


"No you aren't fine. And under these circumstances, no one expects
you to be fine. We're
all hurting, Josh. We all miss Donna. Maybe not in the same way you
do but we all miss
her."


Josh finally allowed himself to raise his head and meet CJ's eyes. He
was struck by the
concern that he saw there. He knew that she was right; he had been
pushing people away,
more and more as the situation drug on.


"I'm sorry, CJ." he said softly. "I just feel so helpless and I don't
know what to do.
Nothing I try seems to make any difference. I want to fix this worse
that I've ever wanted
to fix anything and I can't."


CJ immediately responded to the sadness in her friend's eyes. She
moved around the desk
and wrapped Josh in a hug.


"It's ok," she said soothingly. "We all understand how you must feel.
We just want to
help you."


"I know." He said. "I'm sorry."


"There's nothing to be sorry for, Josh. None of us can know how we
would react in your
situation. I am fairly sure, though, that I wouldn't be holding up as
well as you are."


"I'm sure you would be, but I hope to God you never have to find
out." Josh said
sincerely.


"Listen to me," CJ said wiping her eyes and sitting on the corner of
Josh's desk. "We all
learned a lot of lessons from the aftermath of Rosslyn right?"


"I'd like to think so," Josh said quietly.


"And the most important one was that, together as a group we can
overcome anything
right?"


"Right," Josh said, a small smile playing across his lips.


"Then that's how we handle this from now on, as a group. Agreed?"


"Agreed."


"Ok then," CJ said. "That's enough of the sentimental mushy crap.
Let's get down to
work and get Donna back here where she belongs."


Josh smiled as he watched CJ shift seamlessly into take-charge mode.


"Katie told me that they have a reporter on the ground in Colombia
digging into the rash
of abductions. She was going to see if he had dug up anything new,
I'll give her a call
and see what she found out. I'll get back to you if there is anything
to report." She said as
she moved towards the door.


Josh called to her just as she reached the doorway.


"CJ?"


"Yeah?"


"Thanks."


"Hey,no problem. That's what friends are for."








Donna was startled awake by the sound of loud voices just outside of
the lean-to. She
opened her eyes and saw a large group of men that she had never seen
before. They were
dressed in fatigues and looked dirty and unshaven.


They were standing face to face with several of her captor's,
including the man who
Donna had come to think of as the leader of the group.


She couldn't understand what was being said but judging by the raised
voices and angry
looks, Donna guessed it was a fairly adversarial conversation. Many
of the men were
shaking their heads violently and waving their guns in the air.


The intruders seemed much older than the rebels Donna had become
accustomed to.
There was something in their demeanor that was different. They were
more intense than
the young rebels. They seemed more like soldiers.


As the argument escalated, Donna became more and more frightened. The
air was
charged with an intensity that made her feel very uneasy.


All of the hostages were awake now, watching what was unfolding under
the moonlight
in front of the lean-to.


The voices reached the point of violent shouting. There was one man
in particular among
the soldiers who seemed to be calling the shots. All of the others
seemed to be following
his lead, and he was getting angrier and angrier.


Without warning, he raised his weapon and fired several bullets into
the chest of the rebel
leader.


Donna heard herself scream as the entire situation dissolved into
chaos.


Several of the young rebels raised their own weapons but the soldiers
quickly disposed of
them.


The shooting went on for only a few short minutes but it seemed like
hours. When Donna
finally raised her head, she saw at least eight of the rebels lying
on the ground dead. The
remaining of her original captors had dropped their weapons and they
were standing with
their hands in front of them as a gesture of surrender.


Donna tried to come to grips with what was happening. She wanted to
assess the new
situation and decide the best course of action.


The man who was clearly the leader of the soldiers stepped forward
until he was standing
directly in front of the lean-to. He looked the hostages over and
then spoke in almost
flawless English.


"Which one of you is Donna Moss?" he asked.


Donna's blood ran cold. How did this man know her name?


"Speak up," he said again angrily.


Donna realized that she had no choice. "I am," she said


The man came and knelt directly in front of her. Donna felt the hair
on the back of her
neck stand up. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing there. His
lips spread into a
wicked smile.


"Is it true that you work for the President of the United States?" he
asked.


"Yes," Donna answered quietly.


"Excellent," the man said. "You will be very useful to us."


Donna tried to blink back the tears that were quickly forming in her
eyes. She was trying
to figure out what was going to happen next. How did this man intend
to exploit the fact
that she worked at the White House? Donna knew that the President
couldn't get
involved directly in any negotiations. She wasn't sure that this man
knew that.


After yelling instructions in Spanish to the others, he turned back
towards the lean to.


"Get up now." He said to the captives. "Prepare to move."


Donna struggled to a standing position as quickly as possible. She
heard some
protestations from some of the other hostages. Apparently the soldier
had heard them too
because he turned to look at the other end of the lean-to.


"We can't travel," Ian was saying to him. "We're sick and we're weak
and we won't be
of any good to you anyway. Just leave us here."


The soldier looked at the group of four hostages still seated on the
far end of the lean-to.
Donna wanted to scream for them to get up. She wanted to tell them to
do as they were
told, but she knew better.


She watched the soldier approach them as an icy chill raced up her
spine.


"So you wish to be left here?" the soldier asked flatly.


"Yes," Ian said. "We are too weak to travel. We came to this country
to help your people.
You have no reason to fear or distrust us. But we are sick now and
not up to traveling
again. Please just let us go."


"Do you feel the same?" the soldier asked gesturing to the three
others gathered around
Ian. They were the only four that had failed to get up. Failed to
follow instructions.


They all nodded their agreement.


The soldier turned as if to walk away but Donna knew what was coming
next. She
wanted to scream but the sound stuck in her throat.


The soldier turned around, raised his machine gun, and mowed down all
four of the
hostages at the far end of the lean to before they had a chance to
react.


Donna stared in horror as their blood splattered all over the back
wall of the lean-to.


"Anyone else object to being moved?" the soldier asked flatly as he
looked at the other
hostages.


"No," they all said in unison.


Another of the new men approached Donna, picked her up and threw her
over his
shoulder. He carried her across the compound and threw her roughly
into the back of a
truck A few seconds later she found herself covered by a tarp.


Donna tried desperately to regain control of her emotions. As the
truck fired up and
rumbled away, Donna realized that the rules had just changed
dramatically.






It had been two days since Josh and CJ had had their discussion about
working as a team
and he was trying to be more open with his friends.


He was having lunch in the mess with Sam and Toby. They had started
of discussing the
latest movement on the Patient's Bill of Rights but the subject had
quickly turned to
Donna.


"If we could just get into some kind of negotiation mode," Josh
said "At least then we
would know a little more about what we are up against. I just feel
like we're spinning our
wheels here. We have no idea what it is they want, or what they hope
to gain by holding
hostages."


"I've talked to every person I know who might have some insight on
the case," Toby said
rubbing his hands across his tired eyes. "They all tell me the same
thing. The situation
within the rebel factions inside of Colombia is chaos. They are not a
well-organized
group. They are actually hundreds of smaller splinter groups. The
trick is in finding out
exactly which group we are dealing with."


"And how exactly do we do that?" Josh asked with a heavy sigh. "I've
been trying to find
out for months with no luck at all."


"Well," Toby said dryly. "I guess we just keep asking until we get an
answer. I'll make a
few more calls this afternoon."


"Thanks," Josh said. "And...um...I just wanted to apologize. I know that
I've been tough
to deal with lately."


"Just lately?" Toby asked with a teasing smirk.


Josh smiled in return. "Well, you know what I mean. I've been more
difficult than usual
lately. I'm sorry that I was shutting you guys out. I just...well..I
should have known
better than to try to handle things alone."


"Have you talked to Donna's parents?" Sam asked.


Josh waved his hand dismissively. "I don't even want to talk about
them. Doug Collins
told me that he talked to the people who are acting as go betweens
for the families at the
UN. Donna's parents have called a grand total of once in the entire
time she's been gone.
When the liaison called them back to see if they understood what was
going on, they said
that they did and that they would call if they had any further
questions. They haven't
heard a word from them since."


"Hard to believe," Sam said.


"Tell me about it," Josh countered.


"Well," Sam said cheerily. "Donna has a family here."


"True," Josh said.


CJ sailed across the mess and sat down at the table.


"I may have something," she said


"What? What is it?" Josh asked anxiously.


"Remember I told you that Katie's paper has a reporter inside
Colombia doing a piece on
all of the different rebel factions?"


"Yeah."


"Well, she just called me and told me that they are willing to do a
satellite linkup so we
can talk to him directly," CJ said excitedly.


"Really?"


"Yes. It seems as though they have hooked up with a British film crew
that is down there
making a documentary but also doing a few live reports for British
TV. They are willing
to give us a chance to link into their satellite feed. I don't know
how long we will have,
but it would be good to have a chance to talk to someone on the
ground."


"Definitely. That would be a big help." Josh agreed. "When and where
is this going to
happen?"


"I've got to make a few calls and confirm some things, but I think we
should be able to
set it up in the Conference Room. Since we're just linking in, the
amount of equipment
needed will be minimal. As for when? I'll get back to you. Sometime
tonight I think."


"Thanks, CJ." Josh said as they all rose to head back to work.


"I'll get back to you as soon as I know anything," she said as she
headed back towards
her office.



Twelve hours later, they were all gathered in the Roosevelt Room
waiting for the link up
to occur.


Leo, Toby, Sam, CJ and Josh sat on one side of the conference table
while the monitor
that would hopefully soon allow them to talk to the reporter in
Colombia faced them from
the other side. The technician that the paper had sent over continued
to fiddle with the
wires nervously.


"What's the reporters name again?" Josh asked.


"Jack Hawthorne," CJ said looking quickly at her notes.


"Ok. We're ready to go." The tech said.


He pushed a button and the monitor sparked to life. This wasn't the
glitzy graphics that
people had come to associate with network news reporting. It was just
a grainy image of
a man standing in the jungle.


"Mr. Hawthorne," Josh said not wanting to waste any of their precious
time. "This is Josh
Lyman speaking."


"Yes, Mr. Lyman," the reporter said holding his hand over the small
receiver in his ear in
order to hear better. "The paper has filled me in on your situation.
I'm aware of who is
sitting in on your end so we don't need to waste any time on
introductions. I'm not trying
to be abrupt, but I don't know how long this satellite link will hold
up and I have quite a
bit of information for you."


"You know something about Donna?" Josh asked anxiously.


"Yes," Hawthorne answered.


"Is she alright?" Josh asked desperately.


"Right now, I have every reason to believe that she is ok."


Josh let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.


"What have you found out?" Leo asked.


"Yesterday, we got a tip on some rebel activity that was occurring
high in the mountains.
Skirmishes between rebel factions aren't all that unusual here but
our sources told us that
this was a major consolidation attempt by a group called the ESF.
They are one of the
stronger splinter groups. They have been making a push lately to
bring other weaker
groups under their banner."


Both Toby and CJ were scribbling notes frantically as the reporter
spoke.


"First thing this morning, we entered a camp high in the mountains.
What we found there
confirmed what we had been hearing."


"What did you find?" Sam asked carefully.


Jack Hawthorne looked at the ground, the back at the camera before he
could continue.


"We found twelve bodies."


Josh and Leo both let out audible gasps.


"But you're sure none of them are Donna?" Josh managed to choke out.


"I'm quite sure." Jack Hawthorne assured him. "My wife and I had the
pleasure of
meeting Ms. Moss at a fundraiser in New York during the campaign. I
can assure that
none of the bodies are hers."


"Thank you," Josh said in a voice barely above a whisper.


"We did, however, find the bodies of what we believe to be four
members of her original
group along with eight rebels. They were all dead from multiple
gunshot wounds."


"What the hell happened?" Josh asked.


"From what we can piece together, the ESF moved in to try to fold
this group in under
their banner. Apparently a scuffle ensued that left eight rebels
dead. As far as what led to
the killing of the hostages, we have no idea."


"Do you know where they are now?" Toby asked.


"No, they have disappeared up into the hills again."


Josh's mind flashed back to something the man had said earlier.


"You said that you had reason to believe that Donna was ok. What do
you know?"


Hawthorne gathered his thoughts and decided on the best way to
proceed.


"We pick up a considerable amount of information by monitoring the
radio traffic. Many
of the rebel factions communicate by short wave radio and walkie-
talkies and we are able
to pick up a great many of their conversations. All day we have been
picking up
transmissions regarding a specific hostage that is now in the hands
of the ESF."


"Donna?" Josh asked.


"Yes," Hawthorne answered.


"What are they saying?" Josh asked, unable to hide the fear in his
voice.


"Apparently, they know who she is. They know she works in the White
House."


"Oh my God," Josh choked, barely able to talk around the lump in his
throat. "How do
they know? How did they find out?"


This was the one piece of news Josh had desperately hoped would stay
hidden. He didn't
know how the rebels would react if they knew, but he had been afraid
that it would place
Donna in the position of being used as a bargaining chip.


"We're not sure how they found out, but the point is that they know."
Hawthorne said.


"What now?" Josh asked, half afraid to hear the answer.


"Well," Hawthorne continued, "This could actually end up working in
her favor."


"How so?" Josh asked skeptically.


"The ESF is a far more organized faction than most. While its true
that they are bloodier
and more brutal than many of the other factions, they are also far
more pragmatic."


Josh blanched at the thought of Donna's new captors.


"And how exactly is that good news?" CJ asked.


"From what we hear over the radio, the ESF considers Ms. Moss a very
important
commodity. They think that they can use her to advance their own
position by trading her
for much needed weapons and supplies. They aren't likely to let
anything happen to her
before they get a chance to trade her for what they want."


"That's a small comfort," Sam said wearily.


"But at least it's a comfort," Hawthorne said with the attitude of a
man standing directly
in the middle of Hell. "It's more than families of the four people we
found this morning
have."


"True," Sam said sheepishly.


There was silence in the room for a moment as everyone tried to
digest all of the new
information they had heard.


"How soon should we expect them to make contact?" Josh asked.


"Hard winter will be hitting the high country in about 6 weeks. They
seem to be leaning
towards remaining in the mountains and incorporating as many of the
smaller groups as
possible before they come back down to base camp. I would expect them
to make contact
within 8 weeks."


"That long?" Josh said despondently.


"Things don't move at cyber speed down here," Hawthorne reminded him.


"I know. I'm sorry. I was just hoping that ...." Josh trailed off,
trying to accept the fact
that there wasn't going to be a quick resolution.


"I know." Hawthorne said softly. "I'm sorry."


CJ reached over and placed her hand reassuringly on Josh's shoulder.


"Who will they make contact with?" Leo asked.


"Hard to say," Hawthorne answered. "They will choose someone that
they think can get
access to the White House."


"Do they realize that this isn't a government operation," Leo asked.


"Their leader is a man named Armand Gutierrez. He is Colombian born
but American
educated. He is a very smart man. He realizes the limitations but he
will try to exploit the
personal relationship."


"So who will they contact?" Leo asked again.


Hawthorne looked intently into the camera.


"I am willing to set myself up as the go between, if that's what you
are asking, Mr.
McGarry."


"That's exactly what I'm asking." Leo said.


"I can let the rebels know through channels that I'm their best bet
when it comes time to
deal."


"Are you sure you're prepared to do this." Toby asked.


"Positive," Hawthorne answered.


"What's the procedure," Leo asked.


"I'll simply float the news through the rebel groups that certain
unofficial factions in the
US are willing to deal for Ms. Moss's return."


"Good," Leo said.


"Then we wait." Hawthorne said.


"We'll be in touch, Mr. Hawthorne. We will be giving you information
about how to
make contact. We won't be able to run this through the White House.
It will have to be
completely unofficial." Leo said.


"I understand."


"Good."


"Jack?" Josh asked.


"Yeah."


"Thanks."


"No problem."


After the monitor went black, Toby turned to Leo.


"How are we going to handle this, Leo?" He asked.


"We'll hear them out. We'll open up a dialogue. We'll do whatever we
have to do. We'll
get Donna back."









Donna sat shivering on the floor of the small hut, half from cold and
half from fear.


She had been separated from the other hostages upon their arrival at
the new camp.
She managed to get a quick look at their faces before she was taken
away and she saw the
same look of terror and shock that she knew must be written on her
own. The sight of 4
of her fellow hostages lying dead in the lean-to was burned into her
brain. As long as she
lived, she knew that she would never forget that sight.


She briefly wondered if they had known what was coming and had given
up. She
wondered if, at some point, they somehow made the decision that they
didn't want to go
on anymore and managed to goad the soldiers into killing them.


Donna knew that she would never make that decision. She would fight
till the bitter end.
She would do whatever she needed to do to survive.


She knew that the soldiers intended to use her as leverage, but she
also knew that the US
government would not be in a position to negotiate her release. She
wondered if Josh and
Leo and the others would work some kind of deal. She had seen it
happen many times,
back room hush-hush deals. Donna wondered if she was important enough
to warrant one
of those deals.


She glanced around the small hut that was apparently to serve as her
temporary home.
The floor was dirt but at least she had four walls to protect her
from the elements. She
was still bound at both the wrist and ankles, even though an armed
guard stood directly
outside the door. She could hear him pacing back and forth. She could
hear the clang of
his gun as he tapped the barrel with his palm in what was apparently
an unconscious
habit.


She could hear a great many voices not too far from her hut. She
realized that she was
now dealing with a much bigger group than she had been previously.
She couldn't decide
if she thought that this was a good thing or a bad thing.


Suddenly, the door of the hut opened and the man who Donna had
identified earlier as
being the lead soldier stepped in.


"Good evening, Ms. Moss," he said as he towered above her.


Donna looked up at him with uncertainty, not sure what she should say.


"My name is Armand Gutierrez. You are going to be with us for awhile
so I just want to
set up a few ground rules," he said as he knelt in front of Donna. He
reached out and
grabbed her hair and pulled tightly until Donna cried out.


"I am in charge here." The soldier spat. "You do as I say, for as
long as you are here, and
everything will be fine. But if you cross me, or if you become
difficult, I will not hesitate
to treat you just as I did the other hostages back at the camp. Do
you understand?"


"Yes," Donna said through her tears.


"Very well," the soldier said. "Then we should get along just fine."


With that, he turned on his heels and left.


Donna sat back against the wall as her tears flowed freely down her
cheeks. 'Yes,' she
thought. 'Things have definitely gone from bad to worse.'



Josh walked through the halls of the West Wing completely oblivious
to everything
around him. He was lost so deep in his own thoughts that he didn't
see Leo until he
almost walked right into him.


"Sorry," Josh mumbled.


"Been shopping?" Leo asked, eyeing the large bag in Josh's hand.


"It's a DVD player," Josh said with a small smile.


"You need a DVD player for your office?" Leo asked.


"No," Josh said sheepishly. "It's for Donna. It's a birthday present."


Leo's face suddenly turned serious. He had forgotten all about
Donna's birthday.
Margaret usually reminded him when there was a special occasion
coming up. 'Maybe
under the circumstances she decided not to mention it,' he thought.


"I'm sorry," Leo mumbled. "I'm really bad with dates."


"It's ok," Josh assured him.


"Today?" Leo asked.


"No, Thursday," Josh said quietly.


"Ah," Leo replied.


"I figured I'll just keep it for her until she gets home," Josh said.


"Good idea. I'm sure she'll love it."


"Yeah, I know she really wants one. She's been bugging me about
buying her one for a
year."


Josh got suddenly quiet. Leo took a few more steps, and then realized
that Josh was no
longer walking beside him.


"What is it, Josh?"


"I should have bought it for her sooner, Leo. In case...."


Leo saw the doubt creeping into the younger man's eyes. He knew that
this situation was
wearing on Josh. It had been two weeks since the satellite hookup
with Jack Hawthorne.
In that time, they had gathered all of the information possible on
the ESF. Not only were
they one of the bloodiest rebel factions in Colombia; they had a long
history of hostage
taking. Leo knew that Josh was worried about how Donna was being
treated; he was
worried about the same thing.


"Don't even say it, Josh.," he admonished. "Don't even allow yourself
to think it. I know
this is a tough time but we'll get through it. Donna is coming home.
We have to believe
that."


"I know. You're right. I don't mean to sound like I'm giving up hope.
I'm sorry, I'm just
a little tired and reading those Human Rights Abuse Watch reports
last night didn't do
anything to lift my spirits."


"I understand." Leo said. "I have a meeting with the President now,
but I'll talk to you
after staff ok?"


"Ok," Josh sighed as he walked away.







"Leo?"


The President looked at his longtime friend sitting in the chair
across from him. Physically he was
only a matter of feet away, but his mind was somewhere far off.


"Leo?" he repeated.


Still no response.


"I've decided to go ahead and drop the bomb on China," the President
said dryly.
"They've been causing us a bit of a problem lately and I
decided 'What the heck? we can
do ok without them.' Do you think that's alright?"


"I'm sorry?" Leo said distractedly.


"I asked if you think it's alright if I go ahead and give the order
to bomb China?"


"What?!?"


"I was just trying to say something that might be interesting enough
to break into your
thoughts. Care to tell me where your mind is this morning?"


"I'm sorry, sir," Leo sighed. "I'm just a bit distracted."


"So I've noticed. Could this have anything to do with the daily
briefing you've been
receiving from Doug Collins at the UN?"


"Yeah," Leo said as he rubbed his tired eyes. He had tried to keep
this entire matter as far
away from the President as possible but he was well aware that he
couldn't hide it
entirely.


"Look, Leo" the President said leaning towards his friend. "I know
that you have been
trying your hardest to keep me out of the loop on this one, and I
know why. I understand
how it would look for me to get personally involved in this,
especially since it isn't
technically a government matter."


"It isn't even un-technically a government matter. This is a UN
matter. We are just
advisors and, even at that, they aren't obligated to accept our
advice in anyway."


"I know that."


"We can't go in there in any official capacity and try any kind of
rescue mission. For one
thing, it would look bad, and for another thing, those missions
seldom work as planned."


"Then what's your plan?"


Leo sighed and dropped his head to his chest. He had known Jed
Bartlet for many years
and he knew this much; once he made up his mind to get involved in
something, there
was no stopping him.


"Work behind the scenes." Leo said. "Develop a dialogue. Find out
what they want, then
do what we need to do to get Donna home."


"Fine, let me help," the President said.


"You can't. You absolutely have to stay untouched in this whole
thing. All of this is going
to be done through back channels. We are going to have to deal people
who are probably
murderers and drug dealers and God knows what else. We can't take a
chance on having
your name associated with this operation."


"Why not?"


"It wouldn't look good." Leo said, attempting to point out something
that he believed to
be obvious.


"To who?"


"To anybody." Leo said.


"Leo, why don't you let me worry about that? I completely understand
the delicate nature
of these kinds of things. But I also know that there has to be
something I can do to help. I
think of the people who work here as more than employees. I want
Donna back too. So
tell me where we stand."


Leo saw the look of determination in Jed's eye that told him there
was no use in arguing
anymore.


"We have a man on the ground trying to establish himself as a go
between."


"Who?" Jed asked.


"A reporter named Jack Hawthorne. He's in Colombia doing some
documentary work. He's
been reporting on the rebel factions in the area for a while now. He
is very
knowledgeable about both the region and the local players."


"Can we trust him?"


"I think we can," Leo said. "Besides, he's our best option right now."


"Ok then," the President continued. "What's his take on the
situation?"


"He believes that the captors will be spending another 6 weeks or so
in the mountains
before they return to the base camp. They are trying very hard to
consolidate some of the
smaller factions under their banner. Eventually though, they will
work their way back
down the mountain. At that point, he thinks they will try to trade
Donna for the supplies
they need. He's going to attempt to make contact now, so that
everything will be in place
when they're ready to negotiate."


"Do we know what kind of "supplies" they will be asking for?"


"Not exactly, but I could take a pretty good guess that there will be
some kind of
weapons involved."


"Have you decided how you will handle that?" Jed asked pointedly.


Leo stumbled over the answer to that question. He knew that Jed was
being sincere when
he said that he wanted to help, but he also knew that they were
treading on very
dangerous ground. If there was a back room deal made that involved
weapons, or
anything for that matter, the President needed plausible deniability.
Leo was willing to go
down for this, but he wasn't willing to take the President with him


"What are you willing to do?" the President asked again pointedly.


"Whatever it takes," Leo said








Donna sat quietly in the corner of her hut, forcing herself to eat
the thick, bitter stew that
had been placed in front of her. She swallowed it down while
reminding herself that she
had to eat in order to maintain her strength. As she finished, a
soldier arrived, unshackled
her ankles and pushed her out the door.


It was her first real chance to look at her new surroundings. She saw
that the compound
was made up of a dozen or so huts, most very small. Around the huts
she saw dozens of
tents of various sizes and varieties. Some were obviously regulation
army tents, while
others were simply old tarps strung between trees.


There were a large number of soldiers milling about. Some seemed to
be patrolling the
perimeter of the camp, some were sitting on the ground outside of the
tents playing some
sort of card game, and still others were huddled around what appeared
to be a short wave
radio. They all had one thing in common though, they were armed.


Donna saw the young rebels who had been her original captors
unloading things from
the back of a truck. She assumed that they were unloading the
supplies that had been
pilfered from the previous camp.


Donna was led to the biggest hut in the compound. The soldier who was
escorting her
knocked on the door to indicate their arrival. Then he pushed Donna
inside while he
remained outside.


Donna stumbled through the door and found herself face to face with
Armand, the man
who had shot her fellow hostages just yesterday. His cold eyes made
the hair on the back
of her neck stand up. Donna suddenly felt more frightened than she
had since her
ordeal had begun.


"Please have a seat, Donna," Armand said indicating the chair in the
corner.


Donna bristled at his use of her first name. Something about the
taunting way he said it
made her want to cry.


"Are you adjusting to your new surroundings?" he asked.


Donna remembered his instructions from the previous day about
following his rules and
she decided to simply go along. The memory of the blood stains in the
lean-to and the
bodies of the four dead hostages were still fresh in her mind.


"Yes," Donna said softly but firmly.


Armand approached her and knelt directly in front of her chair. He
reached out and
grabbed Donna's arms tightly. When he saw her begin to wince with
pain, he smiled and
squeezed harder.


"Tell me," he said "Exactly who should I call at the White House to
talk to about making
a deal to get you home?"


Donna knew that she was walking on very thin ice. Surely this man
knew that he would
not be able to get a direct call in to the White House.


Immediately after President Bartlet had taken office, Donna had been
trained on how to
handle such matters. How to route a call to the White House in such a
way to alert
someone that she was in trouble. But now she was half a world away
and she doubted
that those same techniques would work. She wondered just how much
information she
should give out.


"I wasn't in Colombia as a representative of the US government," she
said calmly. "The
White House won't be in any position to offer you anything for my
release."


Armand released her arms and reached up to grab her long blonde hair
as he had done the
night before.


Pulling it tightly he said, "Please don't play games with me Miss
Moss. I thought I made
it clear it to you that I don't appreciate that."


"I'm not playing games," Donna said through her tears. "It's the
truth."


Armand released her hair and began pacing angrily around the room.


"I spent a great many years in the US," he said. "I know how things
work there. I know
just how many things your government does behind closed doors. You
may not have
been here as an official government representative, but I am sure
that there is someone
there who wants you back."


Donna immediately felt for Josh's letter, which she had tucked in the
waistband of her
sweat suit. She thought about what he had said. She knew that he was
trying to win her
release. She felt confident of that. But she didn't know what she
should do in this kind of
situation. She wondered if giving Armand a way to contact Josh and
Leo would be a
mistake.


Armand approached her once again.


"I assure you," he said, "this is going to be strictly a business
proposition. If they give me
what I want, then I will return you to them unharmed. I am a soldier,
a man of my word.
What I say I will do is what I do."


Donna stared into his face looking for some sign that she could
believe what he was
saying.


Just then, another soldier knocked on the door.


"What?" Armand asked angrily.


The younger man stepped into the hut.


"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir but we are getting a very
interesting message over the
radio. A man who claims that he speaks for certain people in the US  
who are willing to make a deal for the
ladies return. He says that he can be the conduit for the
negotiations."


Donna's heart soared. For the first time she began to think that
there was a real concrete
chance that she might make it home soon.


"Who is this man?" Armand asked, his curiosity obviously peaked.


"He is an American reporter. He says his name is Jack Hawthorne."


Armand turned to Donna. "Is this someone you know?" he asked.


"No," Donna answered.


"Where is this man now?" Armand asked.


"We aren't sure of his exact location but we know that he has been to
several of the other
camps so he must be somewhere close."


Armand thought for a minute then turned to the young soldier.


"Bring Mr. Hawthorne to me."


Josh entered Houlihan's at a little after 2:00 and saw Sam, Toby, CJ
and Leo already
seated at a booth in the back. The lunchtime rush was winding down so
most of the tables
around them were empty.


"What's up?" Josh asked as he slid in beside CJ. "I was halfway back
to the office from
my meetings on the hill when I got your page."


"I needed a chance to speak with everyone together, outside of the
office." Leo said.


"About what?" Josh asked wondering if he was the only one at the
table who was
confused.


"I had a meeting with the President this morning," Leo said. "He gave
me his tacit
approval to begin trying to reach a settlement to bring Donna home."


"Really?" Josh said, his voice a mix of joy and amazement. "Isn't he
worried..?"


"He knows exactly what he's doing." Leo answered. "Still, I'm
assuming that each of
you understands what would happen if the Presidents name became
entangled with the
wrong people. I assume that you will all use the utmost discretion in
this matter. The
President has graciously offered to use whatever pull he might have
to open any avenue
that might be helpful, however, I still do not want him to know any
of the final details
until, and unless, it is absolutely necessary. It is critical that he
maintain plausible
deniability."


They all nodded in agreement.


"So what's our next step?" Sam asked.


"We need to try to anticipate their next move before they make it.
It's vital that we stay
one step ahead. We need to be prepared for any contingency," Toby
said.


"Ok," CJ said grabbing her notebook and beginning to furiously
scribble notes to herself.
"I'll get to work setting up a communications network that we can
use. Once we get to
the negotiation stage, we won't be able to do anything inside of the
White House. I'll set
something up through Hawthorne's paper as well as British TV since
it's their film
crew."


"Good," Leo said. "We need to set up a way that we can be contacted
24/7. Keep it to the
fewest number of people that you possibly can."


"Will do," CJ said.


"I'll cover the supplies angle," Sam said. "Chances are at least part
of what they request
is going to be food, medicine, possibly electronic supplies. I'll
start trying to line that
stuff up now. It will save us time in the end."


"Ok then that's covered," Leo said, placing another checkmark on his
mental to-do list.


"They're probably going to ask for cash," Sam said.


"I've got that covered." Josh said. "I've liquidated every single
investment I have.
Everything has been moved into ready cash. I've already tapped
anybody I can think of in
case what I have isn't enough."


"Cash won't be a problem," Leo said looking at Josh. He knew that
Josh was willing to
give every penny he had to his name to get Donna back. There was no
way a few dollars
would stand in the way of her return, Leo would make sure of that.


"Now we come to the topic nobody wants to mention," Toby said grimly.


"I talked to the President about it this morning." Leo said. "This is
the part he most needs
to be kept away from. We can't be dealing with another arms for
hostage's scandal.
Especially considering that Donna was not in Colombia as
representative of the US."


"So what do you suggest?" Josh asked.


"Black market." Toby said matter-of-factly.


"I'm afraid so," Leo agreed.


"The best-case scenario would be that we could find a way to get them
to accept cash and
let them procure their own weapons. But we have to believe that they
are going to
demand at least some surface to air type weapons, types not readily
available on the
South American black market." Toby said.


"What do we do then?" Josh asked. He knew that he was willing to do
whatever was
necessary, but he wasn't sure that his friends were as willing to
throw their careers away.


"Whatever it takes," Leo said defiantly.


"Whatever it takes," they all repeated one by one.









Jack Hawthorne sat blindfolded, his wrists bound, in the passenger
seat of a jeep climbing
higher and higher into the mountains. He had received a radio message
just a few hours
earlier that the leader of the ESF was willing to meet with him


He had hoped to be able to open up a dialogue as soon as possible but
this was quicker
than he had anticipated. He was alone; his film crew had been forced
to remain behind.


He could hear the sound of people yelling in the near distance and
decided that they must
be getting close to the camp.


The jeep ground to a stop, and Jack was pulled roughly from the
passengers seat. His
hands were unshackled and the blindfold was removed. He reached to
the floor of the
jeep for his bag.


The soldier who had driven him up the mountain growled, "Follow me."


Hawthorne followed him across the dirty, noisy compound towards the
large hut that sat
near its center.


Just as they approached, Armand Gutierrez walked out of the hut.


"Mr. Hawthorne, I presume." He said. "How nice to meet you."


The two men stood sizing each other up.


"How do I know that you have the ear of the American's as you claim
you do?" Armand
asked him.


Hawthorne eyed the man warily." I need to reach into my bag to show
you the proof." He
said.


"Fine, but no tricks," Armand said as he placed his finger on the
trigger of his gun.


"No tricks," Hawthorne assured him as he reached into the bag.


He withdrew some papers and handed them the Gutierrez. "These are
satellite
transmission records. They show the reports that we are beaming back
to British
television. You can also see very clearly on there, a link up to the
White House. It should
prove to you that I can contact them directly."


"This will be how you communicate with them?" Armand asked
skeptically.


"No," Hawthorne answered. "I'm sure you are well aware of the US's
position in all this.
Since this will not be a government operation, all communication will
be done privately.
We are working out the details now."


"And exactly how can I be sure that they will deal?" Armand asked.


"I can assure you that there are many people within the US government
that are willing to
deal with you to gain the release of Ms. Moss."


Armand stood perfectly still for a short time. He seemed to be
considering all of his
options. Finally he spoke again.


"Fine. I will trust you for now Mr. Hawthorne, but I warn you, do not
cross me."


The reporter breathed a sigh of relief that he had at least managed
to open up a line of
communication. It was true that his motives were not altogether
unselfish. If he could pull
this off, he had a good shot at a Pulitzer. But he had met Donna Moss
before, he felt as
though he had a personal connection with her. He could also vividly
remember the
desperation in Josh Lyman's voice during the satellite hookup. He
wanted this to work
out for his own benefit, but he also wanted very badly to help get
Donna home.


"I have no intention of crossing you. I just want both parties to get
what they want."


"Fine," Armand said.


"May I see her?" Hawthorne asked.


Armand seemed to be trying to think of a reason to deny the visit so
Hawthorne
continued.


"You wanted me to give you proof that I could provide what I said I
could provide,"
Hawthorne stated matter-of-factly. "I expect that they will want the
same thing."


"What kind of proof?" Armand growled.








Jack Hawthorne was led to a small hut on the outskirts of the
compound that was being
guarded by a man with a very large gun.


Armand nodded and he was allowed to go inside.


Donna looked up expecting to see Armand or one of the other soldiers.
She was surprised
to see an American. For an instant, she wasn't sure what to think.


"Donna Moss?" he said softly.


"Yes," Donna said struggling to sit up.


"You probably don't remember me but my name is Jack Hawthorne. My
wife and I met
you at a fundraiser in New York during the campaign."


Donna searched her memory but couldn't place him.


"It's ok," he assured her. "It was a long time ago."


"I heard them mention your name earlier," Donna said. "Why are you
here?"


"I'm here to help get you home. There are quite a few people back in
the US who
desperately want you back there. Most of them work in a big White
House," he said with
a smile.


Donna's eyes filled with tears. She knew in her heart that everyone
at home would be
trying to get her back, but sometimes, in the dark of night, her fear
took over.


On those nights, she wondered if she would ever get home again. On
those nights, she
worried that she had been go so long that everyone had given up. And
on those nights,
she couldn't hold back the tears.


She knew it was just the situation she was in playing tricks on her
mind, but some nights
her fear and loneliness became almost suffocating.


"You've talked to them?" Donna asked meekly.


"Yes," he assured her. "They wanted me to tell you that they are
doing everything they
can to get you back. That they are thinking of you and they love you."


"Thank you," Donna said as tears of relief began to roll down her
face.


Jack Hawthorne wanted desperately to give her something that she
could hang on to.
Something to sustain her until he could find a way to win her
release.


He thought back to a cell phone conversation he had had with Josh
Lyman just a few
hours after the satellite hookup. He was amazed that the call had
even made it through as
deep in the jungle as they were. But Lyman said that there was
something he had
forgotten to say before. A message that he wanted Jack to pass along
if he got a chance.
Jack realized that this was probably the perfect time to share it
with her.


"As a matter of fact, I have a message for you from Josh," he said.


Donna's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at the mere mention of
Josh's name. Somehow
Jack knew that there was something more to their relationship than
just boss and
assistant.


"What did he say?" Donna asked eagerly.


"He said to tell you that he meant what he said about Hawaii," Jack
said. "Do you know
what that means?"


"Yes," Donna said through her tears as she thought about what Josh
had written in his
letter. "I know exactly what that means."









There was an insistent knocking on the door of the Oval Office in the
middle of the
morning senior staff meeting.


"Yes," the President barked.


Josh's temp peeked her head timidly in the door.


"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir," she said. "This package just arrived
by messenger and they
said that Mr. Lyman was to get it right away, top priority."


"Thank you," Josh said standing up and reaching for the envelope.


He turned it over and looked the address.


"It came by overnight courier from South America." Josh said
excitedly. "It's from Jack
Hawthorne."


"Open it," CJ said rising to stand beside him.


Josh pulled the tab on the envelope, reached in and pulled out
videotape.


"No note, just a tape," Josh said


"Pop it in the VCR," the President said.


"Here?" Josh asked, looking questioningly at Leo. "Maybe I should..."


"Yes, here," the President said taking the tape from Josh and placing
it in the slot.


The image that lit up the screen made Josh's heart stop. His breath
caught in his chest. He
felt tears spring to his eyes and he made no attempt to stop them.


It was Donna.


She looked tired. She looked disheveled and dirty. Her hair hung dull
and lifeless over
her shoulders with none of the usual shine. She had large dark
circles under her eyes.
Josh noticed that her normally tiny wrists looked even smaller. Her
lips were badly
chapped.


But still, there she was. And then she began to speak.


"Hi," she said. "I just wanted to tell you all that I'm ok. They're
treating me all right. Jack
said I only have a few minutes to talk. So I just wanted to tell you
thank you for
everything you're doing to get me home. I'll be strong till it
happens, I promise. I can
hold on. Please don't worry about me. I'll see you soon I hope. I
love you all. Bye. Oh,
and Josh-Aloha."


The entire room remained silent as they stared at the black screen.


The president moved over to the VCR, punched the eject button, and
handed the tape to
Josh who hadn't moved, and didn't seem to have even breathed, since
the tape began.
Then he turned and addressed his entire senior staff.


"Whatever it takes."


November 1---Day 160


Josh sat alone in his apartment, rewinding and re-watching the tape
of Donna. He had
spent the last two hours memorizing every single nuance.


He could perfectly time the small pause after she said "Hi". He
memorized her small, sad
smile after she said she was ok. He knew that her eyes would glance
nervously downward
after she said that she was being treated all right. That glance always
made his heart skip a
beat, because he was afraid that it meant she wasn't telling the
entire truth. Even half a
world away, she couldn't look him in the eyes when she wasn't telling
him the truth.


He watched her blink back tears when she thanked them for everything
they were doing
to bring her home and he saw the strength and courage come back into
her eyes when she
promised to be strong. He could feel her determination as though she
was sitting right
beside him.


His breath caught each time he saw two small tears run down her face
as she said, "I love
you all." But the best part, the part he lived for, was hearing her
say Aloha and seeing the
love in her eyes when she said it. He sat mesmerized by her face
until the screen went
black again.


And then once again, he hit the rewind button. It was only 45 seconds
of videotape, but
right now it was all he had to hold on to. He hit play and waited for
her face to appear.









Josh, Sam, Toby and CJ sat finishing their coffee in the corner booth
at Houlihan's. It had
become their habit to meet every morning for breakfast. It gave them
a chance to share
information and exchange ideas about Donna's situation. It also
helped them to keep the
matter out of the White House and as far away from the President as
possible.


"Have you heard anything from Jack Hawthorne?" Josh asked CJ.


"Not for a few days," CJ said quietly. "The paper hasn't heard from
him either."


Josh's brow crinkled with concern.


"Do they think there's something wrong?"


"Not necessarily," CJ said trying to instill in her voice a
confidence that she really didn't
feel.


"What about British TV? Have they heard from their film crew?" Josh
asked unable to
keep the worry out of his voice.


"I talked to them this morning. It seems that the crew has been
incommunicado for
several days also."


"Where in the hell are they?" Josh said as his voice began to drift
across the now bustling
restaurant. "This can't all fall apart now. We are supposed to be
hearing something in the
next week or so."


"Let's not panic," Toby said. "There could be any number of reasons
that they have
fallen out of touch. Let's not assume the worst."


"You're right," Josh said. "It's just that we're so close. I mean,
with a little luck we could
have Donna back by the New Year. I just don't want anything to go
wrong now."


"None of us do. I told Katie to page me right away if they heard
anything at all from
him," CJ said as she drained the last of her coffee. "Now we better
get going or we're
going to be late and Leo will not be pleased."










Twenty minutes later, they all sat in Leo's office waiting for the
morning meeting to
begin. They needn't have worried about being late. It was already 15
minutes past the
scheduled start time and Leo had yet to arrive.


Suddenly, the connecting door to the Oval Office opened and the
President walked in,
followed by a very grim faced chief of staff.


The senior staff stood and greeted the President with the normal
round of "Good
morning, Sir's," but none of them could ignore the grave looks on the
faces of the two
men standing before them.


"What is it?" Josh asked, fairly certain that he didn't want to hear
the answer.


"Why don't you sit down, Josh?" the President said in a shaky voice.


"Oh, God," Josh said. "What is it? What's wrong?"


"Take a seat, Josh," Leo said.


"Tell me what's wrong," Josh said, his voice rising.


CJ stood up and walked over to where Josh was standing.


"Come on," she said. "Just come over here and sit down and let's hear
what they have to
say."


Sam and Toby exchanged worried glances as Josh and CJ moved across
the room and sat
on the couch.


The President leaned against Leo's desk, while Leo moved over and sat
on the coffee
table facing the sofa.


CJ clasped Josh's hand tightly in hers. She cast a nervous glance
sideways at Toby. His
normally even countenance was showing fear around the edges.


"We just got out of a security council briefing," Leo said evenly.


"And?" Josh asked forcing himself to take deep, measured breaths.


As hard as he had searched for them, Leo realized that there were no
words that could
possibly soften the blow of what he was about to say.


"The government of Colombia has begun an effort to purge the rebels
from the
mountains."


Josh lowered his head and gripped CJ's hand tightly. All of blood
seemed to have rushed
from his head and for a moment, he felt like he was going to pass out.


As he closed his eyes, images of Donna on the videotape flooded his
mind. He saw her
promising to be strong, promising to hold on. He could see her blue
eyes; wet with tears,
trying to reassure him, reassure them all, that she was all right.


He wanted to just bury his head and cry, or scream at the top of his
lungs. They were so
close and now this.


Josh tried valiantly to push down the fear that was rising in his
throat. If they were going
to get Donna back, he would have to remain strong and in control. He
could do that much
for her. He could put aside his own fear. After all, whatever pain
and discomfort he was
feeling paled in comparison to what Donna was going through.


He had a nice, warm bed to sleep in at night. Of course, most of the
time, on the nights he
even bothered to go home, he found himself driving to Donna's
apartment and sleeping
in her bed. He felt closer to her in her apartment. He wondered how
Donna slept. Bound
no doubt, on the ground in some grungy Godforsaken jungle surrounded
by bugs and
snakes and who knows what else.


Josh had plenty of food to eat. In fact, it seemed like everyone in
the west wing had taken
it upon himself or herself to see that he ate correctly. Every time
he sat down, someone
seemed to be sticking food in front of his face.


He knew that none of them wanted to face the wrath of Donna when she
came home and
found out that they had not been watching out for him.


He remembered the way that Donna looked in the video. So tiny and so
frail. Her face
was drawn and her wrists looked thinner than usual. Even in a sweat
suit, Josh could tell
that she had lost quite a bit of weight, and Donna really couldn't
afford to lose any
weight.


Josh went through the biggest part of his day feeling perfectly safe.
In fact, it wasn't even
an issue he gave any thought to, especially inside the west wing. He
wondered if Donna
had felt safe for even one second since her ordeal began. He prayed
that she was
at least able to find some respite in sleep. He hoped that she
managed to have peaceful
dreams when she closed her eyes, but he doubted that was the case. He
hoped that his
letter had brought her some measure of solace and given her something
to hold on to.


As CJ clutched his hand tightly, Josh realized the most important
difference. He had his
friends around for support. He had people who cared about him
watching over him. He
had the sheer physical presence of those he loved. And Donna was
alone. Josh had an
entire building full of people helping to sustain him, helping to
keep him strong. Donna
was half a world away, living under hellish conditions, and she had
to sustain herself, had
to keep herself strong.


He wanted to hear all of the news, and he vowed to himself that he
would not weaken.
He would be strong for Donna.


Josh raised his head and looked around the room. All eyes were on
him, seemingly
waiting for his reaction. He looked Leo directly in the eye.


"What do we know?" he asked.


Leo breathed a sigh of relief. He was barely able to keep himself
under control at this
point and he did not know how he would have handled a rampaging Josh
Lyman.


Sensing the fact that the Josh and Leo's emotions were close to
boiling over, the
President spoke.


"At some point in the last 24 hours, the Colombian government began a
move to crack
down on the rebels. They have begun attempting to take over certain
bases, especially in
the mountain regions.


"Why now?" Toby asked


"We don't know," the President said rubbing his eyes wearily.


"Didn't we have any intel that this was coming?" Sam asked.


"I'm afraid we were caught completely off guard," Leo said.


"Do we have any way of knowing exactly which areas they are in, and
which groups they
are moving against?" Toby asked.


"Unfortunately no," the President said. "The situation on the ground
is very chaotic. Each
of the teams of soldiers seems to be acting somewhat independently."


"Do they know the situation?" Josh asked in a measured tone.


"We have been in contact with the government and we have expressed
our concerns
about all American citizens in the country. We have also let them
know about Donna."


"Have we called the American Embassy and told them to be on the
lookout? If she
manages to escape in the chaos, that will be the first place she
goes," Josh said.


"We have alerted all of the embassies in the area and asked them to
keep their eyes and
ears open," Leo said.


"Good," Josh said. "When is the next briefing?"


"I have asked for hourly updates," the President said quietly.


"Is there anything else we can do?" CJ asked.


"Pray," Toby said.


The room fell silent, each person lost in his or her own thoughts.


"Ok," Leo said, finally breaking the silence, "We have a few other
things to cover."


"Lets do it," Josh said leaning back into the couch cushions.


Leo waded through all of the issues on the agenda for the morning
staff meeting as
quickly as possible. He tried to shift some of Josh's workload subtly
over to Toby who
realized what was going on and graciously accepted the increase
without comment.







"That about covers it," Leo said closing the folder he had been
holding, "Unless anyone
has anything else."


"No," they all said in unison.


"Ok," Leo said, "Then let's get to work. Josh, I need you to stay
behind for a few
minutes."


CJ, Sam and Toby left the office, each giving Josh a supportive pat
on the shoulder
before they left.


After the door closed, Josh sat facing Leo and the President.


"Are you alright?" the President asked.


"Well, I wouldn't exactly say I'm alright but I'm not going to fall
apart if that's what
you're asking," Josh said.


"Look, Josh," Leo said, "If you need some time..."


"I don't," Josh assured him.


"Josh..." the President said.


"I said I don't need any time. I mean it. I'm fine, or as fine as I
can be under the
circumstances. There's nothing that I can do at home other than sit
around and obsess. I'll
be better off here trying to get some work done."


"Are you sure?" Leo asked.


"Listen," Josh said with his hands on his hips, "I understand what
you are trying to do
and I appreciate it. I really do. But I'm fine. Am I worried? -Yes.
Am I preoccupied? -
Yes. Am I going to be able to get this out of my mind for a second? -
No. But Donna is
living through Hell half a world away and she has shown more strength
and courage in
the last 206 days than I'll ever have to show in my entire life. Now
if I go to pieces, how
am I honoring her? I owe it to her to stay strong. The second that
there is anything I can
do, the second that there is some concrete action I can take, then
I'll take you up on your
offer of time off. But for right now, I need to stay here and keep
fighting for the things
Donna believes in and do whatever it is I can to keep it all together
until she gets home."


The President and Leo exchanged glances and then Leo spoke.


"If that's the way you want it, fine. But if you change your mind...."


"I'll let you know," Josh assured him.


Josh turned, as he was about to leave the room and caught a glimpse
of the fear and
sadness in Leo's eyes, the emotions that he was trying desperately to
hide on Josh's
account.


"She's still alive, Leo," he said in an amazingly sure voice.


"How do you know?" Leo asked.


Both Leo and the President stared intently at Josh waiting for an
answer.


"I can't explain it," he said. "We're connected. I can feel her, in
here," he said indicating
his heart. "If she was gone, I would know it."










Donna was jolted awake by the sound of machine-gun fire in the
compound. It took a
minute for her to realize that it wasn't a dream.


She could hear the soldiers shouting to each other in Spanish. Their
voices were loud and
some sounded very panicky.


As Donna came completely awake, she registered the sound of
helicopters directly
overhead.


She made her way over to the door of the hut, managed to crack it a
few inches and
looked out. There was no armed guard in front as there had been every
moment since her
arrival. But the scene she saw before her made her blood run cold.


The compound was flooded with soldiers in varying states of dress.
Many were just
emerging from their tents, still half asleep. They were firing wildly
towards the perimeter
of the camp. Occasionally they would take aim at the helicopters
overhead.


After each burst of gunfire, Donna would see men drop to the ground,
bloody and dying.
She could hear their moans and their cries. Even though she spoke no
Spanish, she could
tell that they were crying for help. Some of them appeared to be
praying.


She could hear Armand's voice as he moved among the soldiers shouting
commands. She
doubted that they were even being heard in the chaos, let alone
obeyed.


Donna crouched as low to the ground as possible while hundreds of
bullets per minute
continued to fill the air. She wondered if they were under attack
from another rebel
faction. She quickly discarded that idea. These were almost
undoubtedly government
forces. None of the rebel factions had this much firepower, let alone
helicopters.


Donna saw the door to a hut on the other side of the compound open
and Taryn, the
Canadian nurse from her original expedition stick her head out. It
was the first time
Donna had seen her fellow hostages since they were separated upon
arrival. Her heart
leapt at the sight.


Taryn had a desperate hunted look on her face and Donna wondered if
she looked the
same way. Taryn motioned for Donna to make her way across the
compound to the other
hut. Donna looked out at the whizzing bullets and hesitated. As much
as she would like to
have the chance to connect with her fellow hostages, she wasn't sure
if she should chance
the 50-yard run across the compound. The bindings on her ankles had
been loosened to
allow her to walk but they were certainly far too restrictive to
allow any running.


But if these were government troops, Donna reasoned, they might be
looking for a group
of hostages as opposed to an individual. Donna might have a better
chance of being
rescued if she joined the others.


She stood frozen in the doorway of her hut trying to decide what to
do. Suddenly she
heard the unmistakable sound of a grenade whizzing through the air.


Donna gasped in horror as the grenade made a direct hit on the hut,
which housed the
other hostages. A hut she had been considering running towards only
minutes earlier,
It only took a few seconds for the entire building to be engulfed in
flames. Donna tried
desperately to close her ears to the screams. She fell back into her
hut trying to block out
the mental images. They were bound at the ankles and wrists; there
was no way for them
to escape.


It took several minutes before Donna realized that the loud screams
penetrating her
consciousness were her own. She tried mightily to get her emotions
under control but she
was quickly being overcome by panic.


The fire that had been started by the grenade had burned the small
thatch hut to the
ground in seconds. Donna could now make out the forms of her dead
fellow hostages,
burned to death while they were bound and unable to escape. The smell
of burning flesh
assaulted Donna's nostrils and she turned back into the hut and threw
up.


The smoke in the compound was getting thicker as more and more
grenades hit their
target and started small fires. Many of the tents were on fire and
the embers were blowing
around wildly starting other fires as they went.


Donna's mind was whirling wondering what her best of course of action
would be. The
panic and the chaos were making it almost impossible for her to think.


She began to wonder what the others had gone through being burned
alive. That had
always been Donna biggest fear as a small child. She used to cry
during school fire drills
until she was completely sure that it wasn't a real fire.


She had forced her parents to allow her to sleep in a ground floor
bedroom and had
insisted that her bed be placed right underneath a window. She had
never quite been able
to place where the fear came from but it was very real and now it
seemed to be very close
to coming true.


Donna sat back against the side of the hut as tears overcame her. She
cried until her entire
body shook. She couldn't believe that just a few short weeks ago she
had thought there
was a real chance that she would be going home soon.


As she thought of home, she began to cry even harder. She cried for
all of the things that
she would never get a chance to do or say.


Suddenly, she felt Josh's letter against her skin and she pulled it
out of the waistband of
her pants.


She could barely read through the tears in her eyes,


***** Please know that you have every ounce of strength that I can
possibly send you.
I'm begging you to hold on-we WILL find a way to get you home
safely.*****


Donna realized that if she gave up now, there was no chance she would
ever get home
again. If they were fighting hard to get her back, what right did she
have to give up?


*****Everyone here sends their love and support. You are never far
from our thoughts. I
can hear you now reminding us all that we have a country to run, but
some things are just
more important.*****
She thought about how everyone in the Bartlet administration had
become her family.
They had accepted her as one of their own right from the day she
walked into campaign
headquarters in New Hampshire. They had accepted, and in fact even
embraced, her
quirkiness. They never made her feel like less than she was, even
though she was far less
educated and less qualified than the rest of them. Donna had
flourished in that wonderful,
nurturing environment.


Her own family gave a Donna a very conditional kind of love. As soon
as she ventured
outside the bounds of what they saw as her future, they withdrew
their love and support.
They gave the distinct impression that it would not be returned until
she chose to live her
life within their rules.


*****Hold on, Donnatella. I'll never give up and I don't want you to
either.
                          Forever,
                               Joshua*****


Donna reached down deep and found a new resolve. She hadn't fought as
hard as she had
to stay alive just to have it end like this.


She looked out the door at the chaos again and tried to formulate a
new plan. The gunfire
didn't seem to be abating any.


She tugged desperately at the binding on her wrists attempting to get
free. If she could
just manage to slip one wrist out, she would then be able to untie
her feet. Donna saw the
white fabric around her wrists begin to turn red as she scraped the
skin raw and bloody in
an attempt to escape.


The smoke was getting thicker and Donna continued to pull at the
material, oblivious to
the pain and the blood. Finally, one of her tiny wrists slipped from
the binding.


It took Donna a second to realize that she was free. She quickly
removed the bindings
from her wrists and reached down and began to work on the ones around
her ankles.


The noise was becoming deafening. The gunfire seemed to be getting
closer and closer.
Donna tried to block out the screams and the moans of dying men. The
smell of
gunpowder stung her nose and the smell of human blood made her
stomach churn.


Once she was free from her restraints, she moved cautiously towards
the door of the hut.
She had decided that her best course of action was to try to make it
out of the camp and
into the jungle. Maybe one of the government soldiers would see her
then and help her. At the
very least, maybe she could hide in the jungle until she could find a
way to call for
help. One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to just sit there and
die without trying
anything.


Before Donna could move more than a few feet outside the relative
protection of her
small hut, a grenade hit the ground no more than 50 feet from where
she stood. The
explosion knocked Donna backward into the hut. She lay on the ground
dazed and
confused, attempting to get her bearings back.


She tried to stand up but a sharp shooting pain in her knee brought
her right back down to
the ground.


Donna began to scream for help. Maybe, if these were government
soldiers, one of them
would hear her voice and come to her aid. Donna looked at the carnage
going on around
her and wondered cynically if any of the people involved in this
battle had much of a
concern for human life.


Suddenly, Donna realized that the smoke was getting thicker. The fire
that had consumed
much of the camp was moving closer. She tried to stand up but the
combination of the
pain in her knee, the ringing in her ears from the explosion and the
smoke all around her
made that impossible.


Donna grabbed Josh's letter and held it close to her heart. She asked
him to send her
some strength now; the strength to face whatever was going to happen
next.


"I love you, Joshua," she said out loud because she needed to hear
the words. She needed
to put them out in the universe with the hope that they would some
day make it back to
his ears.


Donna could feel the world swimming around her, as she could no
longer fight the
smoke. Her head was as low to the ground as possible and yet she
still couldn't find any
fresh air.
She sobbed desperately as the blackness began to envelop her.





At first Donna thought it was a dream. She felt a pair of strong arms
pulling her up off the
floor of the hut. She felt herself being thrown over someone's
shoulder. Her mind was
trying desperately to get a clear picture of the situation.


She tried to speak but the burning in her throat made it impossible.
She couldn't keep her
eyes open because of the stinging smoke. She felt her entire body
trembling with a
mixture of fear and exhaustion.


Whoever was carrying her was running now, towards the edge of the
compound.


She felt herself falling and then her back made contact with
something metal. The jarring
fall made her knee throb angrily. She was trying desperately to open
her eyes and take in
her surroundings.


She heard the unmistakable sound of an engine roaring to life and
then she realized that
she was in the back of a truck. She could feel the bullets whizzing
by just over her head
and she shrank down attempting to make as small a target as possible.


They began to move. Donna heard a harsh ping as a bullet bounced off
of the fender of
the truck. The truck rattled along over ruts both new and old; some
had been made by the
weeks of moving trucks in and out over the soft ground, others were
new ruts caused by
the explosions of grenades and small bombs.


Each movement made the pain in Donna's leg and head worse. She tried
to gather her
thoughts as the truck sped down the mountain. Once they gained some
distance from the
camp, Donna began breathing in the fresh air in large gulps.


She could hear the men in the cab speaking angrily in Spanish. The
wind rushing past her
ears made it difficult to make out either words or voices.


She raised herself up on her elbows and forced her eyes open. Her
head was swimming
but she could vaguely make out the figures in the cab of the truck.


One of them seemed to notice that she had awakened and turned to face
her. Even
through her blurry vision, Donna recognized Armand.


"Lay back down and do not move," he barked at her.


Donna did as she was told. So she was still in the hands of the
rebels after all. Donna
fought back tears momentarily but then realized that at least she was
still alive, and that
was more than she could say for any of the other hostages.


She had made it this far and she would make it all the way home. She
would get back to
Josh and to all of her friends.


Armand was even more on edge than before. She knew that she would
have to deal with
him very carefully. She began to reassess her situation immediately.
She needed to find a
way to make Armand see her as a valuable tool in getting whatever it
was he wanted. She
managed a small smile as she remembered another time, in another
place, trying to
convince another man that she could be valuable.







The sun was setting over the monuments on a cold winter night in DC.
Josh stared out his
window but didn't really see anything. His mind was filled with
thoughts of Donna.


He had been trying all day to get more information but the hourly
briefings yielded little,
if anything, new.


He had tried valiantly to concentrate on the legislative agenda on
his desk to no avail.


When he couldn't hold back the rush of emotions any longer, he picked
up the remote
control and turned on his TV. He hit the power button on the VCR and
waited for
Donna's image to appear on the screen.


He sat and watched the tape in silence. There was no way that she
could be gone. They
had fought too hard, and they were too close.


He was lost in his own thoughts when Sam rushed into his office
without knocking.


"Leo's office, now," he said hurriedly half pulling Josh from the
chair.


"What's up?" Josh asked as they began to move through the hallways.


"We've located Jack Hawthorne," Sam said breathlessly.


"Where? Does he know anything? Has he seen Donna?" Josh asked


"I'm not sure," Sam said. "They're putting the call through now."


Josh and Sam barged into Leo's inner office.


"Do we know anything more?" Josh asked his mentor, hoping for some
good news.


"Nothing yet," Leo said.


CJ and Toby entered the office and searched the faces of the men
already there for some
good news.


There was a tremendous rush of static from the speakerphone and some
garbled voices.


All at once, the far-off, tinny voice of Jack Hawthorne came through.


"I'm sorry to call you directly at the White House," he said, "but
there is absolutely no
way I can get any kind of satellite transmission out of here right
now."


"That's fine," Leo said. "Just tell us what you know."


"Have you seen Donna?" Josh jumped in. "Is she alright?"


Jack Hawthorne hesitated, knowing full well that he had absolutely no
good news to give
out.


"Right now, I'm in the camp where Donna was being held," he said.


Everyone in the room could tell by his tone of voice that things were
very bad.


"What's going on there?" Leo asked


"This place looks as bad as any war zone I've ever been in. As far as
I can tell, they were
overrun by government troops sometime in the last 24 hours,"
Hawthorne said. "There's
virtually nothing left here. Dozens of soldiers are dead; all of the
equipment is destroyed.
Whoever survived this, if anyone did, is gone."


Josh's knees suddenly felt weak and he sank down in the chair beside
Leo's desk.


"Any sign of the hostages?" the President asked.


The silence on the other end of the phone was deafening. Josh felt as
though time stood
still.


"What?" he implored the reporter. "Please tell me."


We found several bodies, people who were bound at the ankles and
wrists.


"Donna?" Josh choked out.


"We can't be sure," Hawthorne said.


"Why not?" Leo practically screamed.


"The bodies are burned beyond recognition," Hawthorne said softly.


CJ let out a muffled cry and fell into the couch. She could no longer
contain her sobs. The
thought of dying like that, tied and burned to death was too horrible
to imagine. Sam sat
on the couch next to her and placed a comforting arm around her
shoulders. He was
trying very hard to push the images of a fiery death out of his own
mind. He looked
carefully at Josh trying to gauge his reaction.


"How many bodies?" Toby asked.


"It's hard to tell," Hawthorne said. "At least four."


"Were they all in one place at the time of..." Toby hesitated. "The
time of the fire."


"It appears so," Hawthorne said.


"Wait," Josh said desperately grabbing for anything to hold on
to. "Didn't you say that
Donna was being kept separate from the rest of the hostages? Didn't
you say that she was
in a separate location?"


"When I was here, yes she was."


"And there's no sign of her?"


"As I said," Jack replied, "It's hard to get a handle on anything
here. We're going to have to wait
for some kind of formal identification and that may take awhile."


Josh was silent.


"I'm keeping my ear to the ground," Hawthorne assured them. "I'll let
you know as soon
as I hear anything."


Before any more could be said, the static became louder and suddenly
the entire line went
dead.


"I'm going down there," Josh said determinedly.


"Josh, you can't go," Leo protested.


"I can and I will," Josh insisted.


"The people on the ground there are doing everything they can. They
will let us know as
soon as...."


"I understand that. But I need to go, I need to see for myself."


"Josh, please...."


"Listen, I'm not pulling the pity card out here, but I think I've
done a lot for this
administration. You told me that if I needed some time I could have
it, well now I need it.
I love my work here but if you force me to make a decision right now,
I'll leave."


Josh began to pace the room looking for just the right words to make
them understand.


"I feel completely helpless here. I need to feel like I'm doing
something, making some
kind of effort to get Donna back. I've sat here for close to 7 months
doing nothing. I've
been a good boy; I've followed everybody's instructions. But now the
rules have
changed. Now all Hell has broken loose down there. Donna needs
someone there who is
looking out just for her. She's alone and I'm sure she's scared to
death. I need to go down
there. I need to find her."


"And what if you don't find what you're hoping for?" Toby asked
somberly.


"One way or the other, I bring her home," Josh said. "I love her, and
I owe her that
much."


"Josh," Leo began, feeling that he had to make the argument even
though he knew it was
futile. "The situation down there is too unstable. It's not safe."


"I understand that. But Donna needs me and my mind is made up."


"We won't be able to protect you, or offer you any official
assistance."


"I know that," Josh said.


Leo looked helplessly at Josh. He wanted to order him not to go but
he knew that would
be useless. And he couldn't really blame Josh; he knew that he would
be doing the same
thing in the younger man's position.


"Then go with my blessing," Leo said with watery eyes.


"Thanks," Josh said.


CJ stood up at wrapped Josh in a warm hug.


"You be careful," she said. "And you tell Donna we all love her as
soon as you see her."


"I will," Josh said with a smile. He wasn't sure whether CJ really
felt that optimistic or
whether she was doing it for his benefit, but either way he
appreciated it.


"Good luck, buddy," Sam said throwing his arm around Josh's
shoulder. "I'll take care of
everything here till you get back. Don't worry about a thing."


"Thanks, Sam."


Toby tore a page from the notebook he had been furiously scribbling
notes in.


"Here is a list of people who will be able to help you once you are
in Colombia," he said
as he thrust the paper into Josh's hand.


"Thanks," Josh said, meeting Toby's eyes and reading all of the
unspoken words there.


Finally the President spoke up.


To Hell with the rules, Josh," he said. "As soon as you hit the
ground down there and
assess the situation, you let us know what you need and we'll make
sure you get it. Head
for the Embassy, they have secure communication back here. I'll call
and tell them to
expect you."


"Are you sure, Mr. President?" Josh asked.


"I'm positive," the President intoned. "I want both you and Donna
back here safe and
sound as soon as possible."


"But, how will it look, sir...?"


"You let me worry about that," the President said. "You just go down
there and do what
you need to do. Remember, Josh, whatever it takes."


"Thank you, sir," Josh said as he turned to go.







Donna awoke in total darkness. It took a few minutes for her mind to
register the small
shaft of light coming from underneath the door.


Her hands and ankles were once again bound. There was sharp pain in
her wrists where
she had rubbed them raw in her to attempt to escape back at the camp.
She pulled her
hands to her face and felt dampness on the bindings. She knew that
the cuts must still be
seeping blood.


She attempted to reposition herself slightly and an excruciating pain
shot through her
knee. Memories of being thrown backward by the grenade blast came
flooding back.
Someone had wrapped a bandage tightly around her knee. She realized
that it must have
been bleeding but, in the chaos of the camp, she hadn't noticed.


As she slowly became more aware of her surroundings, she realized
that she was in a
closet of some kind. She could easily reach out and touch the walls
on all four sides of
her.


She could hear Armand's voice outside the door. She wasn't sure whom
he was speaking
to, but he was speaking in English.


"I want you to find Mr. Hawthorne," he hissed, "And bring him to me
as soon as
possible."


"Yes, sir," the other voice said.


"Make it clear to him that we are short on both time and patience. We
have to make a
deal and we have to make it now."


"I'll get word to him, sir," the other voice said.


Donna heard movement, then the opening and closing of a door. A few
minutes later the
door of the closet was flung open. Armand reached in and pulled Donna
into a standing
position by the hair. She tried to avoid crying out but the
combination of him pulling her
hair and the sudden influx of weight on her sore knee caused her to
scream out in pain.


Armand dragged her across the room and pushed her down into a hard
wooden chair.


"This is your last chance, Ms. Moss," he sneered. "You had better
hope that someone is
willing to make a deal to get you back. Because right now, I have
absolutely nothing to
lose."


"I understand," Donna nodded.


"You are my ticket out of this country," he said. "I need to go away
for awhile and lay
low. Someday I will come back to Colombia in triumph but for now we
must regroup."


Donna wasn't sure what her response to that should be so she remained
silent.


Armand reached down and squeezed Donna's chin roughly.


"I have sent someone out to make contact with out Mr. Hawthorne. You
had better say a
prayer that he still has the ear of the Americans, because you are
only getting one chance
at this."


Tears began to sting Donna's eyes. Armand released her face and she
looked around
quickly trying to assess her surroundings.


To her left, she saw a tiny kitchen area. The refrigerator didn't
have a door on it and
seemed to be used mostly to store ammunition. Donna saw something
cooking on one of
the burners of the stove so she knew that it must be in working order.


There were two other small rooms. The room in which she was currently
sitting had and
old ramshackle dining room table and half a dozen mismatched chairs.
The light fixture
was cracked and hanging down almost to eye level. There were water
marks all over the
ceiling that showed that this was definitely a building in disrepair.


To her right was a room that seemed to serve as both a living room
and sleeping quarters.
There was a short wave radio sitting on the table and guns and
ammunition strewn all
about the room.


Armand moved to the stove and took a pot from one of the crude
burners. He poured the
liquid into a cup and moved back towards the living room.


As he passed, Donna caught the distinct odor of coffee. It didn't
smell like very good
coffee but it was nevertheless, coffee. Donna felt instinctively for
the letter tucked in the
waistband of her pants, and she continued to feel until she could
feel the small coffee
bean tucked in the envelope.


She took a deep breath and vowed to do whatever she needed to do to
get back home.








Josh fastened his seatbelt and took a deep breath as the plane began
its descent into
Colombia.


"Hold on, Donnatella," he whispered. "I'm on my way."


December 18--Day 207





"Are you sure you want to do this, Mr. Lyman?" the young man asked,
never averting his
eyes from the road.


"I'm positive," Josh said. "And I've asked you to please call me
Josh."


"Yes sir," the young man answered.


Josh couldn't help but smile at the formality. He hadn't expected to
be assigned a driver,
but as soon as his plane landed at the airport, Thomas had been
waiting for him at the
gate and announced that he would be available full time to drive Josh
anywhere that he
needed to go.


'I guess the President really did call ahead,' Josh thought to
himself as they made their
way to the parking lot.


Upon his arrival at the American Embassy, Josh was greeted personally
by the
Ambassador, who made it clear that all of the resources of the
Embassy
were at Josh's disposal. The staff would be available to give help
whenever and wherever
needed.


Thomas eagerly showed Josh to a small conference room, which had been
set aside for
his use. The staff had moved in a desk, several chairs, a telephone
and a fax machine.


As soon as he was settled, Josh began calling the people on the list
that Toby had given
him. He wanted to touch base with them and let them know that he was
in
Colombia. All of them were very helpful and assured Josh that they
would offer any
assistance possible once the demands were made.


Once he had managed to acclimate himself to the country and get a few
hours sleep to
stave off total exhaustion, Josh announced to Thomas that he wanted
to visit the
compound in the mountains where Donna had been held.


Everyone involved tried to dissuade him from the idea, claiming there
was nothing to be
gained by it, but Josh insisted. He felt a strong need to see the
place where Donna had
been held. It was as though if he could see it, he could convince
himself that Donna had
been able to survive it. If her life had ended on that spot, he felt
certain that he would be
able to feel it.


The jarring bounce of a pothole brought Josh back to the present
moment, sitting on the
passenger side of a jeep while Thomas skillfully navigated his way up
the winding
mountain roads. He continued trying to prepare himself for whatever
lay ahead. He tried not to imagine
the fear that Donna must have felt as her captor's brought her up
this same road.


As they entered the clearing on the approach to the camp, Josh's
breath caught in his
throat. What lay before him was nothing more than a burned out
wasteland. Everywhere
he looked, he saw piles of rubble and ashes. The smell of fire was
almost overwhelming,
even after so many days.


All of the bodies had been removed but the smell of blood and death
still hung heavily in
the air. Brown, puddle shaped stains on the ground indicated where
bleeding bodies had
fallen.


Josh looked around, trying hard to control his feelings of
overwhelming sadness and utter
despair. He tried not to think about how Donna must have felt during
the battle. She was
one of the strongest women he had ever known, but he knew that it
would have been
impossible to live through this kind of Hell and not be terrified.


He saw the burned out shells of trucks and jeeps, riddled with bullet
holes. Once they had
been destroyed, the people in the camp had been sitting ducks. He
said a quick prayer that at least one vehicle had managed to survive,
one vehicle that
could have carried Donna away from this Hell on earth.


Thomas followed Josh's every step, careful to remain a respectful
distance behind. He
wanted to give Josh time alone with his thoughts, but he also wanted
to make sure that he
was close in case Josh needed anything.


Josh stared in horror at the bullet holes all around him, and the
spent bullets and shell
casings littering the ground. Several small trees had actually been
cut in half by the
machine gun fire. He fought back memories of Rosslyn and tried to
stay focused.


'The sound alone must have been terrifying,' he thought.


He wondered if there was any other way Donna could have escaped.
Would she have
chanced trying to get away on foot?


"They searched the surrounding jungle?" he asked Thomas.


"Yes, sir," Thomas answered. "A full search was done 500 yards deep
in every direction.
If someone had been hiding in there, they would have been found."


"Ok," Josh said. "I just wanted to make sure..."


"I understand," Thomas said sympathetically.


Josh took one last long look around, trying to soak in as many
details as possible, then
turned back to Thomas, who seemed to be studying him intently.


"Let's go," he said. "We have a lot of work to do."


Dec 20---Day 209







Donna's eyes squinted against the sudden onslaught of light as the
closet door was torn
open. She braced herself for the inevitable yank on her long hair
but, this time, it didn't
happen.


Instead, Armand squatted down and placed his head very close to hers.
He smelled
like a strange combination of sweat and stale liquor. The cigarette
hanging from his
mouth was creating a smelly cloud around his head. He moved his nose
to within inches
of Donna's and exhaled smoke directly into her face. Donna coughed
and fought to keep
her eyes open despite the stinging.


"I am on my way to meet with Mr. Hawthorne," he said menacingly. "You
had better
hope that I like what he has to say, because if I don't, you will be
dead as soon as I
return."


Donna forced herself to meet his eyes. She knew that he was trying to
get her to show
fear and she was determined not to do it. She leveled her gaze at him
and said,


"Well then, I guess I should say 'Good Luck'."


Armand's face grew angry as he stared into her steady blue eyes. He
saw something there
that he had never seen before. In the past, when he had looked into
the eyes of hostages,
he had always seen fear and terror. In her, he saw strength and
determination. In an
instant, he understood why so many people would be so eager to get
her back.


But still, he had to maintain the upper hand. Had to assert his
control over her. And so
with a maniacal grin, he leaned forward and extinguished his
cigarette on her shoulder.


"I told the guard outside to shoot you if you tried anything
foolish," he whispered as he
listened to the sizzle and smelled the faint smell of burning flesh.


As he slammed the closet door shut, he heard her strangled sobs, and
he smiled.








Jack Hawthorne lay curled up in the trunk of a car speeding through
the city. Every bump
in the road sent a shooting pain through his back and neck. He
shifted to try to achieve
some kind of comfortable position and thought back to the events that
had brought him
to this point.


He had spent the last several weeks moving from camp to camp,
following in the wake of
the government soldiers and documenting the chaos and destruction.
The fighting going
on in the mountains was making communication with the base camp, let
alone the outside
world, nearly impossible. Jack was grateful to the members of the
British film crew who
had volunteered to wade into the middle of the danger right along
with him. This was a
story that Jack felt needed to be told, and the fact that it had
Pulitzer written all over it
was just a bonus.


Still, the last several weeks had been tough on him emotionally. He
had seen enough
blood and misery to last him a lifetime.


He had visited the ESF camp within hours of its being overrun by the
government
soldiers. The crude huts and tents that had comprised the makeshift
camp were still
smoldering and there were dead and dying bodies laying everywhere. He
looked around
and thought to himself that there was absolutely no possibility that
any of the rebels, or
anyone for that matter, had escaped alive.


He knew that the people at the White House desperately wanted to
believe that Donna
Moss had survived the carnage. He heard it in their voices when he
had managed to
get a call through to tell them about the attack on the camp. He knew
that were clinging
to some small hope, but, in his own mind, he thought that there was
no way she could
have survived.


But then he was contacted via short wave radio at a camp in the
mountains. He was told
that he needed to return to the city because his services were
needed. He had
been intrigued by the cryptic message and found himself unable to
resist it.


When he had finally managed to make his way back into town, he had
been contacted
again almost immediately. He was stunned to hear that the message was
from Armand
Gutierrez. His heart began to race at the thought that there might be
some hope after all.


He had initially balked at the idea of getting into the trunk, but
then realized that they
were dealing with a different situation than in the mountains. He
knew that Armand was
probably running scared and was afraid of detection. There were far
too many landmarks,
far more of a chance that Jack could decipher where they were going
here in the city.


So, after a few minutes hesitation, he had gotten willingly into the
trunk. After everything
that he had seen in the last few weeks, the chance to help bring
about a happy ending was
just too tempting to pass up.


The car stopped and Jack waited. He listened as footsteps moved
towards the back of the
car, he heard the key slide into the lock and a second later the
trunk popped open. Jack sat
up and took a deep breath of fresh air, glad to be away from the
gasoline fumes that were
beginning to make him dizzy.


He saw that they were parked in front of an apparently deserted
garage-like structure.
Abandoned vehicles littered the area. The front corner of the roof
had collapsed
completely. Through the front window, Jack saw three men huddled
around a table; one
of them seemed to be writing something that interested the other two.
From where he was
at, Jack couldn't make out their faces.



He crawled out of the trunk and stretched, trying to work some of the
pain out of his
cramped muscles. He tried to shake the remnants of the ride out of
his head. Whatever
was going to happen, Jack had a feeling that he needed to be sharp.


The door of the garage swung open and three men began to stride
purposefully towards
him. As they moved closer, Jack recognized the face of Armand
Gutierrez. He tried not to
let his face register the shock he was feeling. He had been sure that
Gutierrez was dead.


"So nice to see you again, Mr. Hawthorne," Armand said smarmily.


"I've been waiting for your call," Jack said evenly, not wanting to
engage in any verbal
power struggle.


"Good, does that mean that you are still in a position to carry my
message to the
American's?" Armand asked.


"That depends. Do you still have what the American's want in return?"
Jack asked.


"The young lady is still alive if that's what you're asking."


Jack breathed a sigh of relief.


"That's exactly what I'm asking. The Americans have assured me that
they are willing to
negotiate with you in good faith, but only if you are in a position
to return Ms. Moss to
them unharmed."


The blood began to rise in Armand's face and he took a few menacing
steps in Jack's
direction.


"I am the only person who is in a position to return Ms. Moss to
them." Armand yelled
"But if they cross me, I will not hesitate to kill her."


Jack held his ground but stood very still. He knew that it would do
no good to antagonize
the man who held Donna's fate in his hands.


"They won't cross you, but they will want certain assurances." he
said evenly, trying to
restore calm.


"All those things can be worked out," Armand said thrusting a
tattered piece of notebook
paper at the reporter. "These are my demands. As soon as they agree
to these, I will
arrange some kind of proof that the lady is alive."


Jack skimmed the list and said, "These things will take some time."


"Time is not a luxury I can afford right now," Armand spat "However,
there are a few
things I need to do before I will be prepared to leave the country. I
need a few weeks to
gather some of my people who scattered after we were so brutally
attacked by the
government forces." Armand stopped and seemed to be doing a little
mental calculation.
"They have thirty days, no longer. After that, I will kill the woman."


"I'll pass the message along. How do I get in touch with you if I
need clarification on
anything?"


"I will contact you in a week, Mr. Hawthorne. Through the same
channels I used before.
But please tell the Americans that I am not in a compromising kind of
mood. My
demands are non negotiable."


"I'll tell them," Jack said.


As Armand turned around and walked away, Jack Hawthorne climbed back
into the
trunk, eager to call the White House and share what he had learned.









Leo was momentarily startled by the ringing of the cell phone tucked
in the top drawer
of his desk. He knew that there was only one person who had the
number. He snatched
the phone from the drawer and flipped it open.


"Leo McGarry," he said, "What's do you have for me, Hawthorne?"


"I have some news for you. Is it safe to talk on this phone?"


"Yes," Leo said assuredly. CJ had given each of them a cell phone, to
be used only for
communication with Jack Hawthorne. They were part of the elaborate,
but effective,
communications network that she had set up through Katie's paper.


"I met with Gutierrez today," Hawthorne continued. "I have a list of
demands."


"Give them to me," Leo said grabbing a pencil.


"One million dollars cash in American funds. American passports and
paperwork for an
undetermined amount of people, a list of whose names will be given at
a later date.
An airplane and pilot to fly them to the South American destination
of their choice, to be
revealed once the plane is in the air."


Leo stopped writing. "Is that it?" he asked.


"Isn't that enough?" Hawthorne asked.


"Yes it is," Leo said, secretly breathing a sigh of relief that the
demands weren't more
extensive.


"When is our next contact?"


"A week," Hawthorne said.


"What kind of time limit are we looking at?"


"He said that he needs some time to gather his troops together. 30
days maximum."


"Fine," Leo said, glancing at the calendar on his desk. "I need you
to do something for
me."


"What?" Hawthorne asked.


"I need you to get over to the American Embassy and talk to Josh.
Tell him everything
you just told me."


"Josh is here?" Hawthorne asked incredulously.


"Yes," Leo said. "He'll be handling everything on that end."


"Ok, I'm on my way there now."








"Margaret," Leo said as he passed through his outer office. "Please
have CJ meet me
right away in Toby's office."


"Sure thing," Margaret said picking up the phone and dialing CJ's
extension as her boss
stalked off down the hall.







Leo was glad to find Sam already in Toby's office when he arrived.


"Did you need something?" Toby said as he looked up and saw the chief
of staff standing in the doorway.


"Let's wait till CJ gets here," he said pointedly.


"Is this about...?" Sam began, then hesitated as he noted the open door
and all of the
activity in the bullpen.


"Yes," Leo said.


A few minutes later CJ walked in.


"What's up?" she asked.


Leo closed the door, then turned and faced the three of them.


"Jack Hawthorne just called me," he said. "He met with Gutierrez this
morning. We have
a list of demands."


"What are they?" All three asked in unison.


Leo repeated the demands as Hawthorne had given them to him.


"It could be worse," Toby said scrubbing his face with his hand.


"My thoughts exactly," Leo said. "I think we need to be prepared for
the fact that these
may change."


"Or maybe we should just be thankful that he is desperate and willing
to settle for
whatever he can get," CJ said.


"That's possible also," Toby agreed.


"The money is no problem," Leo said matter-of-factly. "I'll take care
of that."


"The passports are do-able," Toby said without looking up. "I'll
start working on them
and then we can just fill in the details later."


"Are you sure you want to do this?" Leo asked. "Falsifying documents
is a pretty dicey
business."


"I told you before, Leo, I'm in," Toby said. "Whatever it takes."


Leo looked around the room as each person silently confirmed their
willingness to move
forward.


"The plane is going to be a dicier issue," Sam said. "It's not going
to be as easy to get one
of those in under the radar, no pun intended. Not to mention that we
are going to need a
pilot and crew."


"Exactly," Leo said. "Let's put a few discreet feelers out and see
what we can come up
with. We have one week before the next contact, and a 30 day final
window."


"It won't take 30 days," Toby said confidently.


"Well apparently Gutierrez needs some time to reassemble his troops."


"Have you talked to the President?" CJ asked.


"Not yet," Leo sighed. He knew that trying to keep this information
from his old friend
would be pointless. "I'm on my way to tell him now. I just wanted to
be able to report to
him that we are already working on it."


"And to that end," Toby said. "I think we all have a few phone calls
to make."


"Yes," they all agreed as they scattered from Toby's office, each one
determined to meet
the demands of her captors and bring Donna home.





"Mr. Lyman?" Thomas said as he entered the room. "There's a Mr.
Hawthorne at the
front gate. He is here to see you and said that you would know he is."


"Yes," Josh said immediately. "Send him right in."


"Will do, sir," Thomas said as he exited the room.


In the five days that he had been in Colombia, Josh had realized that
Thomas was never
going to be able to address him in a less formal way.


There was a light rap on the door. Thomas ushered in Jack Hawthorne,
then quickly
excused himself.


"Jack," Josh said moving forward and shaking the reporters
hand. "It's nice to finally
meet you in person."


"Ditto," Jack said, realizing that Leo McGarry must not have had time
yet to call his
deputy. "I didn't know that you were here in Colombia or I would have
called you this
morning."


"I arrived a few days ago......Wait...called me this morning? Why? Do you
have some
news? Do you know something?"


"I met with Gutierrez about an hour ago," Jack said.


"What? What did he say? Is......" Josh stopped himself in mid-sentence.
He wanted to
hear the answer so badly but at the same time he was terrified to ask
the question. Finally
he gathered all his courage and asked softly, "Did you see Donna?"


"No," Hawthorne said.


Josh's heart sank.


"I didn't see her, but Armand assured me that she is alive."


From the depths of despair to the summit of happiness in three
seconds flat. Josh's voice took
on a worried tone.


"Why didn't he let you see her? Do you believe him when he says that
she is alive? Do
you think he's telling the truth?"


Hawthorne looked Josh straight in the eye and spoke sincerely.


"I really think he's telling me the truth, Josh. He told me that he
would make contact with
me again in a week. I told him that I would need concrete proof then
that she was alive.
He didn't even flinch."


Hawthorne saw the doubt still reflected in Josh's eyes so he
continued.


"He's not the same man I met in the camp, Josh. This battle has
changed him He's used
to being the top dog and now his little rag tag army is in tatters.
His comrades are
scattered all over the countryside. He's scared, although he would
never admit it, and
he's desperate. It makes it much harder for him to hide his emotions
and intentions. He
knows that she is the key to getting what he wants. He managed to
escape the camp
somehow and I think that he was smart enough to make sure she got out
safely too. I
really believe she's alive, Josh. I wouldn't say so if I didn't."


"Thanks," Josh said in a soft voice. "I didn't believe that it was
possible she was dead, I
just needed a little reassurance, you know what I mean?"


"Yeah, I do," Jack said.


The two men stood quietly for a several minutes.


"What are the demands?" Josh asked snapping back to matter at hand.


"I called Mr. McGarry as soon as the meeting was over so I'm assuming
he's already at
work on them," Hawthorne said. "He wants one million dollars in
American currency,
US passports and papers for him and all of the men he chooses to take
with him. A plane
and crew to give them safe passage to the South American country of
their choice. Once
they are on the ground, the plane and crew will be released."


"Donna never gets on that plane," Josh says vehemently, never
thinking for a moment
that they wouldn't  find a way to meet the hijackers demands. "She is
released on the
ground, before the exchange. No negotiations on that. Do you
understand me?"


"I understand," Hawthorne said.


"I mean it, its non-negotiable," Josh said.


"I understand. I'll make that point perfectly clear at our next
meeting."


"And when is that?"


"He is going to contact me in a week," Hawthorne said.


"I want to be there for your next meeting," Josh said.


Hawthorne looked sympathetically at Josh.


"That's not possible and you know it. I'm the only one that he will
talk to. We don't want
to spook him now, not when we are this close."


"I know. You're right. I just...I want real proof...I want to know that
she's ok," Josh
said.


"I'll get it for you. I promise." Jack said.








The door to the closet flew open and once again Donna found herself
face to face with
Armand.


"You may just be in luck," he sneered. "Mr. Hawthorne still believes
that the American's
are willing to make a deal for your safe return.


Hr reached down and placed his hand on Donna's sore and swollen knee.
Donna knew
what was coming and braced herself against the pain as he squeezed.
She bit her lip to
keep from crying out but when the pain got to be too much, she let
out a small scream.


As the door slammed closed again, she heard his evil laugh.








"Leo McGarry," the Chief of Staff said as he picked up the ringing
extension on his desk.


"Leo, it's Josh"


"How are you, Josh?"


"I'm fine, Leo. How are things on your end."


"Things are good here. Did you meet with Hawthorne?"


"Yeah. The demands aren't as bad as I thought they might be."


"Me either."


"Still, they could be tricky."


"We're working on that from this end, Josh. You just take care of
what needs taken care
of down there."


"Will do. But Leo, how are we going to work the plane thing?"


"CJ, Sam and Toby are working on it now. Don't worry, we'll find a
way."


"Ok, keep me informed will you?"


"Absolutely."


As Leo hung up the phone, he looked down at the calendar on his desk.
He had taken it
from Josh's office the day after he left for Colombia. For some
reason he had felt the
need to continue what Josh had started. He grabbed a pencil and
filled in the next block.


December 23---Day 211








Josh wandered back down the hall towards his makeshift office. He
could hear the strains
of the Embassy holiday party fading into the distance.


Thomas had convinced him to attend, if only for a short while. He
knew that his young
driver had hoped that the lights, and the cheer and all of the multi-
denominational
decorations might lift his mood and give him a chance to relax.


Josh appreciated the thought, but knew that nothing would lift his
mood tonight. He
entered the office and sank down into his desk chair. All he could
think of was how much
Donna loved Christmas.






Jack Hawthorne cradled the phone against his ear and spoke softly to
the person on the
other end.


"I wish I was there too, sweetheart. I'm sorry that you have to be
alone on Christmas. I'll
make it up to you," he promised.


"I know that you will," answered the sweet, soft voice on the other
end of the phone.
"And I know that what you're doing there is important. Just please
promise me that you
are going to come home safely."


"I promise," he whispered.







"Isn't it about time to take care of this gift exchange fiasco so we
can all get back to
work?" Toby asked grumpily.


"Look, I know this isn't your holiday," CJ said "But you were the one
who wanted to
participate, so let's just try and be a little cheery about it."


"I know that I agreed to participate," Toby countered "but it's just..."


"It's hard to feel cheery," Sam said picking up his bosses
thought, "without Josh and
Donna here."


They all nodded in sad agreement as Leo and Margaret approached the
group.


"We, and by that I mean all of the assistants and support staff, have
made a decision,"
Margaret said nervously. "I've already run it by Leo but I wanted to
make sure that we
have everyone's approval."


"What is it?" Sam asked.


"We would like to hold off on the gift exchange, and for that matter
the party. We want to
leave the bullpen decorated as is and just put the entire holiday on
hold until Donna and
Josh get back so we can all celebrate together."


CJ quickly blinked back the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I
think that's an
excellent idea," she said.


Everyone in the group nodded their agreement.





Donna leaned her head back against the wall and tried to forget about
the pain for just a
few minutes.


She could hear church bells and celebratory shouts in the distance.
All of the sudden she
realized that it must be Christmas Day. Was that possible? Had she
really been gone that
long?


At the beginning, she had carefully chronicled every day in her head,
keeping meticulous
track of how long she had been held captive as well as what the
accurate day and date
was. After a while, the reality had become too overwhelming and she
had begun to let
each day simply melt into the next.


She did a little calculating in her head. She knew that she been
captured on May 25th. If
this indeed Christmas, it would mean she had been held for seven
months. Donna closed
her eyes and held back the tears as the reality of that number began
to sink in.



December 25---Day 213







Jack Hawthorne was spending all of his time wandering around the city
and being as
visible as he could possibly be. He was afraid to return to his work
in the mountains. He
wanted to be available to meet as soon as Armand contacted him.


He had just stepped out of a cab in front of his hotel when a man
approached him and
said, "Please come with me, Mr. Hawthorne. Mr. Gutierrez would like
to see you."


Jack was not at all startled or surprised. He had believed all along
that he would be
contacted in an indirect manner and had, in fact, been waiting for
it. The element of
surprise would mean that Armand could feel confident that the
reporter had not had time
warn anyone and that he would not be followed.


The two men walked calmly into the hotel parking garage where Jack
was once again
placed in the trunk of the car. They drove for what seemed like a
longer distance this time
before coming to a stop.


The trunk opened and Jack climbed out, careful to keep his hands in
front of him and
avoid sudden moves.


Before him stood a run down old apartment building. He noticed some
electrical wires
that looked they had been strung by an amateur and some radio and
television antennas
on the roof. Before he could assess the situation further, the man
who had picked him up
said, "Follow me."


They entered the building and picked their way down a filthy garbage
strewn hallway.
When they reached the last door on the left hand side of the hallway,
the man knocked
three times and uttered something in Spanish.


The door opened and Jack once again found himself face to face with
Armand Gutierrez.


"So, Mr. Hawthorne," Armand said getting directly to the point, "Did
you pass my
demands on to the Americans?"


"Yes, I did."


"And?"


"And they are willing to meet all of your demands."


"It's that simple?" Armand asked skeptically.


"Yes, it's that simple. They have only one counter demand."


"And what is that?" Armand asked angrily.


"Ms. Moss never boards the plane. The exchange takes place on the
ground. She is free
before you get on the plane. They have assured me this point is non-
negotiable. If you
agree to that, they are willing to meet all of your demands."


Armand considered for a moment and then sneered, "That is acceptable."


Jack thought that Armand seemed startled that his demands had been
accepted without
question. It seemed to throw him a bit and Jack decided that now
would be a good time to
try to gain the upper hand.


"Good. As soon as you get me the information that you need on the
passports and
paperwork, I will get it to them and we can get moving. In the
meantime, I would like to
see Donna so that I can give the Americans my personal guarantee that
she is alright."


Armand looked momentarily shocked but gestured towards the closet.


It took Jack a minute to realize what he meant but then he moved over
and opened the
door.


Donna flinched expecting to see Armand but breathed a sigh of relief
when she realized
that it was Jack Hawthorne.


He immediately dropped to his knees and put his hand on her shoulder.
She looked
considerably worse than she had looked last time he had seen her in
the camp. She had
blood-covered bandages on her knee and wrists. Her face was pale and
drawn. She had
huge dark circles under her eyes. Jack lifted his hand to her
forehead. She appeared to be
running a fairly significant fever.


"Are you ok?" he asked her.


"I'll be fine," she said resolutely. "What's happening?"


"What's happening," he said, "is that we are going to get you out of
here very, very soon.
We're very close. It's not going to be long now."


"Ok," she said. "I can hold on. I'll be fine. I promise."


"That's enough," Armand growled.


"You listen to me," Jack said looking directly into her eyes. "You
hold on. I'll be back
soon."


"Thank you," Donna said.


This time when the door closed, there was a small smile and the only
tears were tears of
happiness.



"Well?" Josh asked anxiously as Thomas ushered Jack Hawthorne into
the office. Jack
had called and said he was on the way over, he had said that he had
been in contact with
Armand, but he had refused to offer any details over the phone "How
did it go? Did you
see Donna?"


"I saw her," Jack assured him.


"How is she?" Josh asked


"She is definitely very much alive," Jack said.


"Thank God," Josh said. "Is she ok?"


"I'm not going to lie to you, Josh. She is starting to show the signs
of being in captivity
for a long period of time. But I got a chance to talk to her and I
can assure you that her
fighting spirit is still very much intact. She told me that she will
be able to hold on and I
believe her."


"Signs of being in captivity?" Josh asked, feeling slightly nauseous.


Jack decided that it was best to tell Josh as many details as he
could.


"She looks tired, Josh. She's very thin. She has some kind of injury
to her knee but I
didn't get a chance to ask her about it. She's running a bit of a
fever but I don't think it's
anything to worry about. She has some bumps and bruises. But she's
strong, Josh. She's
going to be ok."


Jack could actually see the relief wash over Josh's body, only to be
replaced by a concern
about the news of her health and a renewed determination to get her
to safety as soon as
possible.


"Thank you," Josh said. "Thanks for everything. I know you're putting
yourself in danger
doing this and I appreciate it."


"No problem," Jack said with a smile. "You can just make sure I get
an invite to the next
big White House shindig. I need to make it up to my wife for being
away at Christmas."


"Consider it a standing invitation," Josh said.


Suddenly, they heard bells and whistles and clapping and singing from
outside of the
embassy. Josh was temporarily confused until Jack said "Happy New
Year."


Josh looked at the clock on the wall and realized that it was 12:01.
He hadn't even paused
for a moment to think about it being New Years Eve.


"Well, it isn't yet," Josh said quietly, "But at least now there's a
good chance it will be."









Leo reached into to his pocket and pulled out the ringing cell phone.
He stepped into
Josh's empty office to escape some of the noise of the celebration
going on in the
bullpen.


"Leo here," he said.


"Its Josh," said the voice on the other end of the phone.


"Do you have news?" Leo asked.


There was a silence on the other end of the phone and Leo stiffened.


"Jack saw her today, Leo. Donna's alive." Josh said.


Leo could hear the tears in Josh's voice. When he spoke again he was
fighting back his
own.


"Is she ok?"


"He said that she needs sleep and food and probably a Dr. but he said
that she's ok. And
he said that she's strong, she told him that she could hang on."


"Thank God," Leo said, immediately sending up a silent prayer of
thanks. "What's next?"  


"Armand said he would be in touch soon with the passport and
paperwork info. How is
everything else coming?"


"The money is set and ready to go." Leo said.


"But Leo where.........?"


"The money is set, Josh. End of story."


"Alright," Josh said. He recognized the familiar tone in Leo's voice
that signaled the end
of the topic.


"The plane is just about set too," Leo continued.


"Really, who...?"


"The President is taking care of it."


"But I thought....."


"Look, Josh. It's his decision. I've known the man a long time and I
trust his judgment.
He feels like he is in the best position to handle this and he's
probably right. He hasn't
even let me in on all the details yet but if he says it's handled,
then you can believe it's
handled."


"Ok. Tell him I said thank you."


"Tell him yourself as soon as you and Donna get home."


"Thanks, Leo. I'll call you as soon as I have any more information."


"Please do."


For the first time in weeks, Leo felt a smile cross his lips. He
could finally see the light at
the end of the tunnel.


"Happy New Year, Josh," he said.


"Yeah, it just might turn out to be that after all," Josh said with a
smile.


January 1---Day 221






Jack Hawthorne was getting used to having mysterious strangers
approach him on the
street. He wondered if he should be concerned that it no longer even
scared him.


He was standing at an open-air fruit market when a man carrying a
large manila envelope
approached him.


"Mr. Hawthorne," the man said. "Mr. Gutierrez asked me to give you
this envelope. He
said that you would know what to do with the contents."


Jack peered in the large envelope and saw various pictures and papers
full of personal
information.


"Tell him I'll take care of it," Jack said calmly. "How do I contact
him when it's done?"


"You can contact me, and I will get word to him," the man said as he
handed Jack a piece
of paper with a phone number on it. "Needless to say, that number is
for your eyes only."


"I understand," Jack assured him. "I'll call you soon to set up a
time for the exchange."


"Very well," the man said and disappeared back into the crowd.








Thomas quickly led Jack into the room that Josh was using as a
temporary office. Josh
had made it clear that anytime Jack showed up at the gates, day or
night, he was to be
escorted in immediately.


Josh saw the manila envelope in Jacks hand.


"Is that what I think it is?" he asked excitedly.


"Yep," Jack beamed. "It's the passport information. It's all here."


"Great," Josh said as he picked up the phone and asked the
receptionist to give him a
secure line to the White House.


Josh waited impatiently until he heard, "Toby Ziegler's office."


"Ginger," he said "It's Josh. Is he in?"


"Sure, Josh. Hold on one second."


There was a brief pause and then Toby's familiar voice came on the
line.


"Josh?"


"We got the passport info," Josh said without preamble. "Now what?"


"Write down this number," Toby said.


Josh scribbled the number on the desk pad.


"Call it, tell them who you are. You won't need to say anything else.
They are waiting for
your call. They will send a courier over to get the envelope and they
will courier it back
to you when it's finished."


"Toby, look," Josh hesitated for a moment. "I'm not doubting you for
a minute, but I
have to ask. These guys are reliable right?"


"Absolutely, Josh. Call them."


Josh's hands were shaking as he dialed the number that Toby had given
him. This was
the last piece of the puzzle that needed to be taken care of, and
then they could get Donna
back to where she belonged.


January 9---Day 229







Josh had slept only sporadically since the courier had picked up the
package. He had no
idea how long it would take to create the fake documents. Toby had
told him to be
patient, it was important that the documents were done right. If
Armand did not feel that
they were good enough, it could blow the entire deal. Josh couldn't
let that happen. They
were so close now that he could feel it.


Leo assured him that there was a plane on the ground in Colombia
waiting for
instructions. The President had taken care of all the details.


Josh was concerned that the President had become so personally
involved. He worried
about a scandal if anyone found out. But he was so grateful to know
that everything was
in place, that he didn't question it. There would plenty of time to
deal with the fallout
later, after Donna was home safely.


Thomas barged excitedly into the room and said, "Mr. Lyman, there's a
courier out
front."


Josh reached the Embassy gate on a dead run. The courier stood there
calmly holding the
same large manila envelope from the previous week. Josh took it and
quickly looked
inside.


He saw US passports and other documents and breathed a huge sigh of
relief. When Josh
looked up to thank the courier, he was gone.









Josh was pacing like a caged animal around his makeshift office. It
had been over two
hours since Jack Hawthorne had come and picked up the paperwork.


He had promised that he would call back as soon as a meeting time had
been arranged.


Josh's heart leapt as the phone rang. He answered it before the first
ring had finished.


"Lyman," he said.


"Day after tomorrow," Jack said. "First thing in the morning."


January 16---Day 236





As much as Josh had wanted to insist that Jack take him along for the
exchange, he knew
that it would have been a mistake. There was a chance that the rebels
might recognize
him and be spooked. Josh wasn't willing to take any chances at this
point.


Jack had asked for, and received, permission to allow one other
person to accompany him
to act as a driver. Thomas had volunteered immediately. Both Jack and
Josh made it
crystal clear to Thomas that this could be dangerous, but he insisted
that he wanted to go.
Josh's assurance that Thomas was trustworthy was enough for Jack and
he agreed to let
the younger man accompany him.


The two men had set out before daylight to prepare for the exchange.
Josh watched them
drive off from the Embassy window and realized that all he could do
now was wait and
pray.


At the last minute, Jack called Leo and gave him the details on
where to send the plane.
He had received Leo's personal assurance that the money was waiting
on the plane and
that the crew was in place and ready to go.







Jack and Thomas arrived at the old airfield as the sun was coming up
and waited. The
plane arrived shortly after they did. Two hours later, they saw
several vans and panel
trucks approaching.


"This is it," Jack said.


"Let's do it," Thomas replied.


The two men got out of the van and faced the group of soldiers
forming in front of them.
Armand was the one of the last ones out of the first truck and he
pulled Donna out behind
him.


Armand eyed the plane sitting on the runway. "Do you have everything
I asked for?" he
sneered.


Jack looked into Donna's eyes and in an instant he knew that he had
to make sure that
nothing went wrong. She had suffered so much and now he was on the
verge of getting
her home. Forget the Pulitzer, Jack knew what was really important.
He hoped that if it
were ever his wife in that situation, someone would step up to help
her. He opened his
mouth and began to speak the words that had been told to him
personally by the President
of the United States.


"Yes, I do." Jack said. Then he uttered a quick prayer for strength
and continued. "So let
me tell you how this is going to work."


Armand lifted an eyebrow but remained silent.


"There is one million dollars American cash aboard the airplane. One
unarmed man will
be allowed to go on to the airplane and verify what I am saying. He
will also verify the
presence of a full flight crew. He can then stay on the plane or he
can exit, that's your
choice. The door to the plane will then be closed and locked. I will
hand over the
passports and papers to you and you can verify their authenticity.
Then you are free to
leave at any point you wish after you have released Ms. Moss. The
plane will not be
unlocked until she has been released."


"You have given this a great deal of thought, Mr. Hawthorne." Armand
hissed.


"Those are the rules. Take them or leave them."


Armand motioned for one of the men to check the plane. The man
hesitantly dropped his
gun on the ground, then jogged up the steps.


A few minutes later, he reappeared and assured Armand that both the
money and the
flight crew were aboard. A moment later, the airplane door slammed
shut.


Armand moved towards Jack. "The papers?" he said, holding out his
hand.


Jack handed him the manila envelope. Armand opened them and gave them
a quick
inspection. He nodded his satisfaction then moved back towards the
group.


"As soon as Ms. Moss is released, the plane will be unlocked," Jack
said evenly,
recognizing that they had reached the moment of truth.


"Very well," Armand hissed, as he grabbed Donna by the hair and
pushed her towards
the reporter.


Jack quickly reached out and grabbed Donna to keep her from falling.
With one arm
around her waist, he led her to the waiting van and opened the back
door. He half lifted
her in so that she could lie where the back seats had been removed.


"It's ok," he whispered to her. "It's almost over now."


"Get in the van," he barked at Thomas, who quickly obeyed, slid into
the drivers seat and
started the engine.


Jack calmly walked around to the passenger's side, made sure that
every other door was
locked, then signaled the pilot as he had been told to do.


The second he climbed into the passengers seat, the door of the plane
opened. Armand
and the soldiers began to move towards the steps.


"Drive," Jack ordered Thomas, and with that they roared away from the
airfield.


As soon as they were out of sight, Jack climbed into the back of the
van with Donna. She
was sobbing uncontrollably, half from fear and half from relief.


He quickly untied her hands, carefully trying not to disturb the
wounds on her wrists.


"Where are we going?" she asked.


"Josh wanted us to drive immediately back to the Embassy," Thomas
reminded Jack.


Donna looked at Jack with amazement. "Josh is here?" she asked.


"Yes he is," Jack beamed, as he saw a look of utter joy come upon
Donna's face. "And I
think you should call him before he has some sort of attack."


Donna's hands were shaking violently so Jack punched in the numbers
on the cell phone
before gently handing it to her.


"Lyman," the voice answered before the first ring had finished.


The sound of his voice made Donna sob even harder. She tried to speak
but nothing
would come out.


Josh could hear the soft crying on the other end of the phone.


"Donna, is that you?" he asked breathlessly.


"Yes," she sobbed.


"Where are you?" he asked.


"We're on our way there," she said.



January 18---Day 238








Josh leaned back against the wall of his makeshift office as his
knees turned to Jell-O.
The entire world seemed to be spinning around him. He could feel his
heart pounding
wildly in his chest and he made no attempt to brush away the tears
that were coursing
down his cheeks.


He focused all of his attention on the phone in his hand, wishing it
could somehow
magically transport him to Donna's side. He listened to her sobbing
softly on the other
end and wondered if she could hear that his tears matched her own.


"Donna, are you alright?" he asked quietly.


"I think so," she sobbed.


"Are you hurt?" he asked, unable to hide the fear in his voice.


Josh was frustrated by the distance between them. He wanted to see
her with his own
eyes; he needed to assure himself that she was indeed alright. He
remembered what Jack
had said about her showing "signs of being in captivity"; those words
had echoed in his
ears since the moment he had first heard them. He was glad that the
Embassy had a fully
stocked infirmary on site.


He pushed away all of the mental images of bruises and blood and
concentrated only on
the sound of her voice.


"How far away are you?" he asked, knowing that any amount of time was
going to feel
like an eternity.


He heard her repeating the question, and then heard Thomas's voice in
the background
say, "We'll be there in about 45 minutes."


"It's going to be the longest 45 minutes of my life," he said,
glancing at his watch.


Donna pushed herself into the corner, with her back wedged between
the rear side of the
driver's seat and the side of the van. She had one leg pulled up to
her chest, the other
sticking straight out in front of her. Jack eyed the blood-covered
bandage and saw her
wince in pain as she tried to find a semi-comfortable position. She
was clinging
desperately to the cell phone, holding on to it as though it were her
lifeline.


Jack looked at Donna, and how intent she was on listening to Josh's
voice, and suddenly
he felt like he was intruding. He reached towards the back of the van
and grabbed a
blanket and a bottle of water out of the box of emergency supplies
that Thomas had
packed. He twisted the cap off of the bottle and handed it to her.
She downed the entire
bottle in what seemed like one gulp and shot him a grateful look that
made his heart melt.
He covered her with the blanket, tucked it up around her shoulders,
and then moved back
to the front of the van to give her some privacy.


"Keep talking to me, Donna," Josh begged. " I just need to hear your
voice. Are you sure
you're ok?"


"I think so, but it's hard to say. I'm just so glad to be out of
there that I'm kind of numb
right now," Donna said as she closed her eyes and focused only on the
sound of his voice.


"I can imagine," he sighed.


They spent a moment just listening to each other breathe. Donna
marveled at the fact that,
even after this long separation, and even though they were miles
apart, she could still feel
the connection with Josh. It was almost as if he was right there
beside her.


She reached into the waistband of her pants and pulled out Josh's
letter. She held it next
to her heart, recalling all of the times that she had found strength
and comfort in the
things he had written. His words had helped her to believe that this
day would actually
come.


"I can't wait to see you," she said, closing her eyes and picturing
his face.


"I can't wait to see you either," he said in a voice barely above a
whisper. "And it won't
be long now. I promise."


Suddenly static crackled over the line. Donna's voice began cutting
in and out. Josh
yelled frantically into the phone, eager to maintain contact.


"DONNA!!" he said. "DONNA!!"


All he heard coming back at him was static, and then silence.








Donna continued to clutch the phone, plaintively saying Josh's name
over and over into
the receiver.


"What happened?" Jack asked.


"I think we got cut off," Donna said tearily.


"Don't worry," he said leaning between the seats and taking the phone
from her
trembling hands. "We'll be there before you know it."








Josh hurried down the hall towards the Ambassador's office,
repeatedly dialing Jack
Hawthorne's cell phone. He continued to get the same "caller
unavailable" message each
time, yet he continued to try again and again.


'Nothing has happened,' he thought, trying desperately to sooth his
jangled nerves. ' It's
just the damn unreliable cell service around here.'


He entered the Ambassador's suite and glanced at the secretary
sitting just outside the
entrance to the inner office. She signaled for Josh to go right in.
The Ambassador had
been informed of all that was going on and was ready to offer any
assistance he could.


"Have you heard anything?" the Ambassador asked eagerly as Josh
entered.


"They're on the way back," Josh said as tears again sprung to his
eyes. The reality
suddenly hit him when he heard himself saying the words out loud. The
day he had
waited and worked so hard for had finally arrived.


"Is Ms. Moss alright?" the Ambassador asked.


"I don't know. I think so," Josh said trying to gather his scattering
thoughts. "She said
she was okay, but Jack said that she had some injuries last time he
saw her."


"I'll call the infirmary," the Ambassador said reaching for the
phone. "I'll make sure that
they have a full staff on duty. We'll have them give her a thorough
check-up as soon as
she arrives."


"Thank you," Josh said as he punched the numbers in on the cell
phone. Again he got
nothing but the mechanical voice of an operator saying that the
caller was out of range.


The Ambassador could see the desperation in Josh's eyes.


"Listen," he said. "I'm going to call the front gate and tell them to
wave the van straight
in. We'll bring them directly into the underground garage. I'm sure
they'll be here soon."


"Thank you," Josh said as he moved towards the door. "I'm sure you're
right."







Donna leaned her head back against the van seat and tried to get her
emotions under
control. Her hands were trembling as she pulled the blanket tighter
to ward of the chill
that was suddenly spreading over her entire body. She tried to
breathe deeply.


'I've held on for so long, now is not the time to break down,' she
thought. 'I'm going to
be fine. In a little while I'm going to see Josh and then I'm going
to get back to the states
as soon as possible."


Donna's mind was flooded with images of home. She wanted nothing
worse than to get
back there. She knew that what had happened to her was an aberration
in an otherwise
beautiful country. Still, she felt a desperate need to get back to
the United States, and
back to the safety of Washington.







Josh paced back and forth frantically in the underground parking
structure. His heart felt
as though it was beating a million miles an hour. He was taking deep
gulping breaths in
order to keep from passing out. He clasped his hands together in a
futile attempt to stop
them from shaking.


He looked at his watch again and tried not to worry. It had been
close to an hour since he
had talked to Donna. An hour that seemed like an eternity. Time
seemed to be standing
still as he listened intently for the sound of the Embassy gates
swinging open.


"Oh please, God," he said. "Please. We're so close. Please don't let
anything have
happened."


Suddenly, he turned towards the entrance to the parking garage. He
was sure that he had
heard the mechanical whirring of the main gates. He watched the door,
counting the
seconds, trying to remember exactly how long the driveway actually
was. And then there
it was, a white van. The same van which he had watched Jack and
Thomas leave in
earlier.


As the van moved into the garage, he froze momentarily. Finally he
willed his feet to
move. As soon as the van stopped, he raced to the side door.


Josh tore open the sliding door and crawled into the rear
compartment. In an instant, he
was next to Donna.


A lump formed in his throat and he found himself  barely able to
breath, let alone talk. He
cupped her face in his hands, letting the reality of the moment soak
in. She was finally
here, right in front of him. He had dreamed of this exact second for
so long and now it
has finally arrived. A huge grin spread across his face.


Donna reached up and touched one of Josh's dimples, and suddenly a
flood of emotions
were released.


"Oh God, Donna," Josh said as he gently wrapped her in his arms. He
was careful not to
cause her any physical pain but his intense desire to feel her next
to him could not be
denied.


"Josh," she breathed in his ear, as she plunged her hands into his
hair. "Please tell me this
isn't a dream."


"It isn't a dream," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "I promise
you it isn't a dream."


"If it is, please don't ever wake me up," Donna said in a shaky voice.


Josh stroked her back to try to reassure her. He was shocked to feel
how thin she was. He
could feel her shoulder blades, her spine, and every bone in her
torso. He moved his
hands to her shoulders and realized that they were skin and bones.


He placed his cheek against hers and felt the fever on her skin. As
much as he wanted to
stay in that position, holding her close to him forever, he suddenly
became very
concerned about her health.


"Let's go," he said soothingly. "I want the doctor to take a look at
you right away."


Donna seemed reluctant to untangle herself from Josh. Her arms
remained tightly
wrapped around his shoulders and she didn't lift her head from the
crook of his neck.


"Come on," he said. "You need to see a doctor."


As Josh pulled back the blanket that was still covering Donna's lower
body, his eyes
came to rest on the bloody bandage around her knee.


"What happened?" he asked, all the pain in his heart evident as he
reached down to touch
the affected area.


Donna flinched as his hand lightly made contact with her leg.


"Oh, God I'm sorry," he said.


"It's ok," Donna said as she stroked his cheek reassuringly and
placed her hand over his.
"Whatever physical pain it might cause me, it's worth it for the
chance to feel the touch
of your hand again."


"You're going to be feeling the touch of my hand every single day for
the rest of our
lives," Josh said lovingly.


"I'm counting on that," Donna replied with a sly smile.


Donna winced as a cramp shot through her leg and Josh's mind snapped
immediately
back to her physical condition.


"Where else are you hurt?" he asked as his eyes continued to move
over Donna. At the
bottom of her sweat pants, he saw raw, red skin-the remnants of ankle
bindings that
were too tight.


The cuts on her wrists were red and angry looking. There were small
trails of blood
running onto her hands. The cuts were dirty and swollen and obviously
infected.


His eyes continued to move up her body, checking for any other
injuries. They stopped
on what appeared to be a burn hole in her shirt. Through the hole,
Josh could see the red,
blistered skin underneath. He pressed down his anger at the people
who had done this to
her. He knew that there would be another time and place to deal with
it.


The sight of her gray complexion and her dull, lifeless hair made
Josh choke back a sob.
He noticed the large black circles under her eyes and wondered how
much she had
actually slept since her capture.


Suddenly, their eyes locked, and Josh saw a sight that made his heart
soar. When he
looked into Donna's eyes, he saw that her fighting spirit was still
very much intact. After
everything she had been through, he saw only strength shining back at
him.


"Let's go," he said as he gently cradled her body to his and crawled
backwards toward
the door.


He stepped out of the van, and then gingerly lifted Donna out. She
laid her head down
against his shoulder as he cooed gently in her ear. She felt so tiny
and frail, but Josh knew
that frail was a word that should never be associated with the woman
he held in his arms.


A nurse approached pushing a wheelchair.


"That's ok," Josh said as he moved past her and began the walk to the
infirmary. "I've
got her."







The doctor was waiting with a full medical team when they arrived.
Josh laid Donna
down carefully on the table in the center of the room.


He grasped her right hand tightly in his and stroked her hair back
from her face with his
other hand. His eyes were glued to hers, as if she might disappear if
he lost eye contact
with her


He smiled a reassuring smile at her and she rewarded him with a full
wattage grin. Josh
felt like he was alive for the first time in almost eight months. It
was as if someone had
turned the lights back on, lights that had been dim for a very long
time, for 238 days to be
exact.


The doctors and nurses went right to work, shouting numbers back and
forth to each other
as they each performed their assigned tasks.


"Would you please step outside, Mr. Lyman?" the nurse asked politely.


Josh hesitated, searching Donna's eyes for some sign of what to do
next.


"It really would make this whole process go much more quickly," the
doctor said kindly.


"I'll be ok," Donna said confidently.


"Are you sure?" he asked, still holding tightly to her hand.


"Yes, just don't go too far," she said.


"Ok," he said hesitantly, "I really should call and let everyone know
what's going on."


"That's a good idea. Tell them all I love them, please and that I
can't wait to see them.
Tell them I'll be home as soon as I can."


"I will," Josh said, reluctantly releasing his grip on her hand.


He reached down and stroked the side of her face gently. Donna
grasped his hand and
planted a kiss in his palm.


"I'll be right outside if you need me," he murmured as he brushed a
soft kiss across her
cheek.


"Thanks," she smiled


Josh backed across the room, never taking his eyes off Donna. Once he
reached the door,
he hesitated, not wanting to let her out of his sight, then ducked
outside to let the doctors
and nurses do their work.







"Is there a phone here I can use?" he asked the young receptionist
sitting near the
entrance to the infirmary.


"Sure, you can use the one in the doctors office," she said
indicating the door
immediately to his right.


"You'll call me right away if she needs me?" he said, realizing it
came out sounding
more like a command than a question.


"Yes sir," she said gently. "I'll come and get you right away."


"Thank you," Josh said as he moved towards the office door. He picked
up the phone
sitting on the desk and asked the secretary for a secure line to the
White House.


The tension in the Chief of Staff's office was becoming close to
unbearable. The entire
senior staff had been gathered there since Leo had received the call
with instructions on
where to send the plane.


Toby sat brooding in the overstuffed armchair. The notebook
containing the speech that
he had been trying to work on lay abandoned on his lap. He had been
focused on the
same point on the wall for almost half an hour.


CJ and Sam sat nervously on the couch, pretending to look over the
daily briefing reports
and failing miserably. CJ was obsessively shuffling and reorganizing
the papers while
Sam twisted and untwisted his hands nervously in what looked like
some manic game of
Here is the Church.


Leo sat tapping his fingers on the desk, stealing furtive glances at
the other staffers. His
eyes kept falling back to the calendar on his desk. Day 238, he had
written that only
minutes after he had received the call from Jack Hawthorne. He prayed
that it was the last
entry that he ever had to make on that calendar.


Finally Margaret burst through the door. She didn't even bother to
knock. She was so
excited she could barely force the words out of her mouth.


"It's Josh," she said. "Line one."


All four of the people in the room shared one last nervous glance
before Leo punched the
line on the phone and then hit the speakerphone button. Margaret
stayed in the back of the
office, eager to hear news of Donna.


"Josh?" Leo said cautiously. "What's going on? Is there any news?"


"She's back," Josh shouted joyously.


Suddenly the room erupted in cheers.


CJ inadvertently tossed all of the papers she had holding into the
air, and they sailed
about the room, floating to the ground like giant confetti. She threw
her arms around Sam
and hugged him tightly as she dissolved into tears.


Toby actually let a wide grin spread across his face. "I had never
had any doubts," he said
as he quickly pasted his usual grumpy demeanor back on his face.


Margaret bolted from the room, anxious to spread the news to the
other assistants. With
the help of the White House grapevine, everyone in the building would
soon be
celebrating the news of Donna's release.


Leo dropped his head to his chest and didn't make any attempt to stem
the flow of tears.
It felt as though the weight of the world had just lifted off of his
shoulders.


"Shhhhhhh," Leo hissed as he suddenly remembered that his deputy was
hanging on the
other end of the phone.


"How is she?" Leo asked.


"She's with the doctor now, they're checking her over but she seems
ok," Josh said
sincerely.


Hearing the tone of obvious happiness and relief in Josh's voice made
Leo relax.


"Thank God," he said


"So you'll let us know if she needs anything? If either of you need
anything?"


"She wants to come home, Leo. She's just...she's in a hurry to get back
home."


"And we are all anxious to see her, too. Let me know as soon as the
doctor says that she
can travel and I'll take care of all of the arrangements."


"Thanks, Leo. I'm going to go now. The doctor should be out any
minute and I want to
talk to him."


"Ok, keep us updated." Leo said.


"Give Donna my love, Josh," CJ said. "And tell her I can't wait to
see her."


"Will do."


"That goes for all of us," Sam said


As soon as the phone disconnected, the room erupted in cheers again.
The celebration
was interrupted when the connecting door to the Oval Office opened
and the President
strode in.


Each member of the staff tried to compose themselves and treat the
President's entrance
with the proper respect and decorum.


"Should I assume we got some good news from Josh?" the President
asked with a twinkle
in his eye.


"Yes sir," they all chorused.


"Donna is back at the Embassy now. The doctor is examining her, but
Josh said that she
seems to be doing as well as could be expected." Leo said, beaming
from ear to ear.


"Then this really is a red letter day," the President said, slapping
Leo heartily on the back.


"Yes sir," Sam agreed.


"Then let's get back to work." The President said clasping his hands
in front of him. "CJ,
I have a feeling that this is going to be a busy day for you. First,
we want to happily
announce the news of Donna's release."


"Yes sir," CJ said as her tears were replaced with a broad smile.


"We may also have to deal with another story coming out of Colombia.
Something about
the mid-air capture of some rebels," the President said waving his
hand dismissively, as if
to cushion the shock of the news.


"Sir?" Leo asked suspiciously, "Do you know something we don't?"


"Many, many things," the President with sly laugh. He moved back
towards his office,
then turned and faced the staffers. "As soon as I have the details,
I'll let you know."


And the remaining four people in the room stared at his retreating
form, looks of
complete shock on their faces.









Josh paced nervously outside of the exam room, staring at the door as
if he could will it
to open. When the doctor finally emerged, Josh pounced on him
immediately.


"How is she?" he asked.


"I'd say she is amazingly good condition for someone who has been
through what she's
been through," the doctor answered evenly.


"Thank God," Josh said, letting out a breath he didn't even realize
that he had been
holding.


"She is moderately dehydrated. I've started her on IV fluid and we
should be able to get
that under control fairly quickly. Her pulse and blood pressure are
in the normal range.
Her temperature is elevated but that is directly related to her other
injuries."


"How so?" Josh asked, the concern creeping quickly back into his
voice.


"She has several fairly significant cuts and abrasions. On her
ankles, her wrists, her
shoulder and her knee. The lack of treatment for these has caused
infection. I cleaned
them all out well, and bandaged them to keep any further dirt from
getting in."


"Is the infection serious?"


"We've started her on high dose antibiotics and I'm confident it will
be cleared up in a
few days."


"What about her knee?" Josh asked blinking away the memory of the
bloody bandage
and the way she flinched when he touched it.


"I removed a fairly large chunk of metal from just below the kneecap.
That reduced the
pain significantly. I've cleaned it out and bandaged it, but I
recommended strongly to Ms.
Moss that she see a specialist as soon as she gets back to the
states. They will probably
want to scope her knee to check for any other smaller fragments and
clean up any scar
tissue."


"When do you think she will be able to travel?" Josh asked.


"As I said, Mr. Lyman, she is in remarkably good physical shape for
someone in her
position. However, she has expressed her desire to return to the
states as soon as possible,
in no uncertain terms."


Josh smiled. Even after what she had been through, Donna still knew
how to get her point
across.


"Normally, I would suggest that a patient be a little stronger to
make such a trip. These,
however, are special circumstances. In this case, the emotional
dividends of letting her
return home far outweigh my concerns about her physical stamina. She
needs to stay on
the IV's that I've set up for her but, if that can be arranged, I see
no reason why she can't
travel as soon as the arrangements can be made."


"Are you sure it's safe?"


"Your friend is a very strong woman, Mr. Lyman. She survived eight
months imprisoned
in the jungle, I think she can handle a simple plane ride."


"I'm sure you're right," Josh said with a smile. "I'll make all the
arrangements."







After a quick call to Leo, Josh slipped back into Donna's room. He
was shocked to see
her sitting on the edge of the bed.


"Hey handsome," she said, looking up as he entered the room.


Josh shook his head and bounced across the room to sit beside her on
the bed.


"You're amazing you know that?" he said incredulously.


Donna smiled sweetly. "What makes you say that?"


"Because despite all you've been through, you're up and around and
harassing the
doctors about letting you go home."


"I'm serious about that, Josh. When can I go home?" Donna said, as
her lips formed the
pout he remembered so well.


"Leo is making all of the arrangements. He'll call as soon as he
firms up the details. But
how does tonight sound?"


"Really? Tonight? Oh thank you, Josh. Thank you," she said as she
threw her arms
around his neck, completely disregarding her IV lines.


Josh held her tight, reveling in the feel of her heart beating next
to his. He placed his
hands on her back and smiled a relieved smile as he felt her
breathing, strongly and
evenly.


"How in the world did you manage to stay so strong, Donna?" he asked,
no longer able to
contain his complete utter awe of the woman he was holding in his
arms.


Donna pulled away slightly and reached underneath the pillow to
retrieve a tattered
envelope. Josh immediately recognized the letter that he had given to
Father Nugent to
give to Donna.


"You still have it?" he asked in amazement.


"Always," she answered. "I'm going to keep it with me forever."


He placed his forehead against hers.


"I meant what I said you know. I really do love you."


"I love you too, Josh."


They stared intently into each one another's eyes for a few moments
before an irresistible
force drew them together. As their lips met, Josh felt a surge of
electricity pass through
his body. Donna sighed and parted her lips, allowing Josh to deepen
the kiss. When they
finally came up for air, Josh wrapped his arms around Donna and
buried his face in her
hair.


He heard a very soft voice whisper in his ear, "And I'm holding you
to what you said
about Hawaii."


Donna placed her head against Josh's chest and enjoyed the sound of
his laughter.







It was almost nightfall before a plane could be arranged to take Josh
and Donna back to
the states. Leo had managed, somehow on amazingly short notice, to
get a medical
transport to do the job.


Donna had objected, claiming she didn't need a doctor on the trip but
Josh insisted that
someone needed to be on board to maintain her IV's. He finally got
her to cave in by
insisting that either they took the medical transport, or they waited
a few days until she
was stronger


The stretcher was loaded on the plane and securely fastened to the
floor in the medical
bay. The paramedic checked to make sure that all of Donna's IV's were
secure then
moved to the front of the plane and strapped himself in next to the
pilot. Leo had
obviously briefed the crew on the situation, and on Donna's reticence
to have medical
personnel on board, because they were being as unobtrusive as
possible. Josh made a
mental note to thank Leo as soon as they got back.


As the pilot signaled that they were ready to take off, Josh looked
around and noticed that
the only seats were near the front of the plane. There was absolutely
no way he was
leaving Donna's side. He settled himself on the floor directly beside
the stretcher and
took Donna's hand in his, stroking her knuckles with his thumb.


"Are you ok?" he asked.


"Yeah," she said. "I'm just happy to be going home."


"And everyone there is going to be happy to see you. But I really
want you to try to get
some sleep while we're in the air."


As soon as the plane was airborne, Donna sat up.


"What are you doing?" Josh asked.


Donna didn't answer, but rather slid off of the stretcher, careful not
to disturb her IV lines,
and crawled into Josh's lap.


He immediately pulled her to him.


"Thank you for never giving up on me, Joshua," she said


"Thank you for never giving up on me, Donnatella," he replied.




Once the medical transport plane reached cruising altitude, the
lights were dimmed and
the only noise that could be heard was the soft whirring of the
engines. Josh stroked
Donna's hair rhythmically as she slept in his arms. Her long frame
was curled up tightly
in his lap. Her head rested in the crook of his neck and her warm
breath was like a soft
breeze across his throat. Josh leaned his head back, finally allowing
himself to give in to
the sleep that had been threatening to overtake him for the last hour.


Suddenly, he felt her entire body jerk as she pulled away from him.
Even in the dimly lit
plane, he could tell that her eyes were as big as dinner plates. Her
breathing escalated and
Josh could feel her pulse pounding when he grabbed her wrists. Her
arms flailed wildly,
dislodging one of her IV's. She tried desperately to push herself
away from him but he
held tightly to her tiny waist.


"Donna," he said firmly, trying to keep the fear out of his
voice. "Donna."


She continued to struggle. Her muscles tensed as she whimpered
softly, her eyes darted
back and forth looking for an avenue of escape.


"Donna," he repeated, this time more sharply. "It's ok, I'm here."


Suddenly, Donna's struggling subsided. She stared at Josh for a few
seconds, eyes wide
with fear. Then she collapsed into his arms sobbing uncontrollably.


"It's ok," he murmured softly as he stroked her back. "It's ok. I'm
here. Everything is
going to be ok."


"I thought it had all been a dream," she sobbed into his shoulder. "I
dreamed I was still
back in that place."


"It's ok, Donna," he said reassuringly. "You're safe now. I'm right
here."


Donna pulled her tear-stained face away from his shoulder and looked
into his eyes.


"I'm sorry," she said with a shaky breath. "It was just so real. I
thought I was back there.
I woke up and Armand was looking at me, telling me that no one was
coming to help me,
telling me that no one was willing to make a deal and...."


"Shhhh.. It's ok," Josh said softly rubbing her back. "It was just a
dream, Donna. I know
it seemed real but it was just a dream. I never would have stopped
looking for you, you
know that right? I would have looked for you till I found you."


"I know," Donna said, instinctively reaching for the letter that was
now nestled safely in
the pocket of the hospital scrubs she had been given at the infirmary.


"I love you, Josh," she said as she leaned and placed a soft kiss on
his lips.


"I love you too," he assured her.


Josh reached down to take her hand and felt a small trickle of blood
coming from the site
of her dislodged IV. He signaled for the paramedic who came back and
gently reinserted
the tube.


Once the IV's were back in place, Josh leaned back against the wall
and gently resettled
Donna in his lap.


"Try to go back to sleep," he whispered. "I'll be right here."


"Not yet," Donna said with a shaky sigh. "I'm not ready to go back to
sleep just yet. I
want to hear you talk to me. If I can hear your voice then I know
it's not a dream."


Josh pulled her tighter. He wished that he knew the magic words to
say to make the
nightmares disappear. He knew all too well how realistic and
terrifying they could be. He
also knew that all he could do was be there for her when she woke up
to hold her and try
to calm her fears.


"I'll talk to you all night if you want," he said soothingly. "What
do you want me to talk
about?"


"Tell me what's been going on at work since I've been gone," she said
as she snuggled
closer in to his chest, trying to think of a topic as far away from
the jungles of Colombia
as she could get.


"Well, you might hear a few horror stories from the temp pool," he
said with a small
smile.


Donna laughed. "Well it's nice to know that things haven't changed
since I've been
gone."










The paramedic moved towards the back of the plane and informed them
that they would
be landing in about 20 minutes.


"We're almost home," Josh whispered in Donna's ear.


"Thank God," she sighed. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."


"Me too," he said. "But I never doubted for a minute that we would
get here."


"Me either," Donna said.


"Maybe you should get back up on the stretcher and lay down," he
suggested.


Donna wrapped her arms tighter around his waist. "I'm fine right
here," she said with a
smile. "That is, unless you're tired of me already."


"Never," he said, a slight catch in his voice.


Josh braced himself against the wall and they remained sitting on the
floor, holding
tightly to each other until the plane rolled to a stop.


"It'll just take a few minutes to get the steps in place," the pilot
called out over his
shoulder.


"Ok," Josh said as he gingerly lifted Donna up and sat her on the
edge of the stretcher.
His legs were stiff from sitting in the same position on the floor
for so long and he needed
to stretch before he even attempted to get off of the plane.


They could hear the sound of the crew working just outside. After a
few minutes, the
door swung open and Leo bounded aboard.


"Leo," Josh said in a startled voice. "I didn't expect to see you
here."


"Well," Leo said sitting down next to Donna on the stretcher, "I
couldn't wait a minute
longer to see Donna with my own eyes."


Donna said, "I'm so glad to see you too, Leo," as she wrapped her
arms around his
shoulders.


"I'm so sorry, Donna," he whispered into her ear.


"You have nothing to be sorry for, Leo," she answered.


"You wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for me," he reminded
her.


"Please don't do this," she begged. "There was no way you could have
predicted what
would happen. It wasn't your fault."


He held her wordlessly, wondering if he would ever be able to
convince himself that she
was right. Finally he pulled away and looked paternally into her
eyes. "Let's go," he said.
"It's getting late."


"What time is it?" Donna asked.


"3:25 AM," Leo answered. "I've got an ambulance waiting to take you
over to GW. The
President's own personal physician is waiting to take a look at you."


"No, Leo," Donna protested. "I don't need...."


Leo cut her off with a wave of his hand. "The President was adamant.
And I must say that
I agree with him 100%. You need a complete check-up. Plus, Josh tells
me that the doctor
at the Embassy recommended that you see a specialist for your knee.
So, it's off to the
hospital we go and I don't want to hear another word about it."


"Ok," Donna said. "But Leo, is there any way we can do it without the
ambulance. I
don't really want to ride..I mean I hate..." Donna began choking back
tears as she
wrapped her arms around Josh's waist. "I'll go. I just don't want to
ride in an
ambulance."


Leo looked at Donna's pleading eyes and then at Josh. "Good Lord, how
in the world do
you ever say no to her?" he asked.


"Welcome to my world," Josh laughed.


"Ok," Leo sighed. "As long as the paramedic says it's ok, we can go
in my car."


"Thanks," Donna said.








Josh sat in the private waiting room at GW while Leo quickly phoned
the others to let
them know that Donna had arrived home safely.


"Well, needless to say, no one complained about me waking them up at
close to 4 AM
this time. They were all so happy to hear that Donna was home they
didn't even look at
their watches," Leo said as he took the seat next to Josh's.


"I can't believe this day is finally here, Leo" Josh said dropping
his head back and
running his fingers through his hair.


"I know exactly how you feel," Leo said. "But you never gave up hope,
and you did what
you had to do. I'm proud of the way you handled this whole situation,
Josh."


Josh looked at his mentor, struggling to find the words to respond.
The moment was
interrupted as the doctor walked into the room and both men rose to
their feet.


"How is she?" Josh asked immediately, even though he had seen her
with his own eyes
only an hour earlier.


"She's doing very well," the doctor answered, motioning for the two
men to sit as he took
the chair across from them. "All of her vital signs are normal. The
IV's are doing their
job. Her hydration level is rising. Her fever is down to 100.7. All
in all, she seems to be
rebounding better than anyone could have anticipated."


"So I can take her home?" Josh asked hopefully.


"Well, as I explained to Ms. Moss, I would like to keep her here for
a day or two. It will
give us a chance to take care of a few vitamin deficiency issues and
also to go in with the
arthroscope and clean up that knee a little."


"But she's ok right?" Leo asked.


"She's going to be fine. What she needs is some rest and relaxation.
She needs some time
to get her strength back. My prescription would be for plenty of
sleep, lots of good
healthy food, plenty of liquids, and plenty of attention from her
friends."


"I think we can handle that," Josh assured him. "Can I see her?"


"The nurses are getting her settled as we speak. Considering
everything she's been
through, I'll allow you unrestricted visitation."


"Thank you doctor," Leo said.


Josh and Leo watched the doctors retreating back for a few minutes
then Leo spoke
again.


"You go spend some time with Donna," he said. "I'm going to head home
and grab a
shower then head back to the office."


"Ok, I'll be here if you need me."


"And Josh, it wouldn't hurt you to get a little sleep yourself."


"I'll try," Josh promised.


Suddenly his eyes dropped to the floor and he said, "Listen, Leo. I
just wanted to say
thanks for everything. The money and...."


"Don't mention it," Leo said in a voice that let Josh know it was
time to drop the subject.
"Now you go, and tell Donna I'll be back to see her later."


"I will," Josh said.







Sam strolled down the hospital corridor carrying a large bouquet of
flowers. It was early
and he was sure that Donna would be asleep, but he wanted to see for
himself that she
was back and safe. He pushed open the door to her room as quietly as
possible and peered
in.


Josh was sitting on a chair beside her bed, holding her hand tightly
in his and leaning
over with his head very close to hers. They were deep in
conversation, both smiling
happily, both very much awake.


They looked up at the sound of the door opening.


"Sam!!!" Donna said excitedly, holding out her arms towards him.


He crossed the room and enveloped her in a tight hug.


"Hey, Darlin," he said happily as he pulled away.


Josh smiled as he watched the tears flowing down the faces of both
his best friend and the
woman he loved. He knew that Sam loved Donna too, in a totally
platonic way, and that
her time in captivity had been hard on him.  It had been Sam who
called Josh twice a day
while he was in Colombia, desperate for any new piece of news.


Sam handed Donna the flowers and said, "These are for you."


"Thank you, Sam" Donna said. "They're beautiful."


"So are you," Sam said leaning over and planting a kiss on her cheek.


Donna blushed.


"It's so good to see you," he said with a huge smile. "I have lots to
tell you. I've been
keeping notes the entire time you were gone so I wouldn't forget
anything.
Unfortunately, I don't have time to stay and talk now because I have
to get to staff. I just
wanted to see you before I went in."


"Thanks for coming Sam," Donna said with a smile. "We'll make time
for a long talk
soon."


"My pleasure," he answered. "I'll be back as soon as I can, ok?"


"Ok, thanks," Donna said. "Tell everyone at work that I said hello."


"I will," he assured her.


"It was really sweet of him to come by," Donna said as the door to
her room swung
closed behind Sam.


"I think you better get used to it," Josh smiled. "Something tells me
that half the staff of
the White House is going to pass through that door today."


"Speaking of the White House...." Donna said.


"What?" Josh asked feigning innocence.


"Don't you have to go in to work today?"


"They know where I am if they need me," he said matter-of-factly.


"Josh," Donna admonished.


"I just don't want to leave you here alone," he said softly.


"I know. And believe me, I wish that you could just stay here with me
every second too. I
want nothing more than to pretend that we are the only two people in
the world. But
considering your job, we both know that's not possible. Now you said
yourself that there
would be people stopping by all day, so I won't be alone. I would be
willing to bet that
there is a mountain of stuff on your desk that needs taken care of."


"I'm sure there is but..."


"No buts, Josh. You need to go in to work."


"Are you trying to get rid of me," he laughed.


"Never," she smiled. "But I know that now that you are back in town,
there is no way that
you are going to make it through an entire day without someone
calling you to come in
and handle some emergency. So consider this a preemptive strike."


"Ok," Josh reluctantly agreed, "but only for an hour or so, just to
touch base."


"Good, and be nice to the temp so she keeps everything on order. I
don't want to come
back to a mess."


Josh couldn't help but beam at the thought of Donna back at work.





CJ threw open the door to Donna's hospital room and tears immediately
sprung to her
eyes. She froze for a moment, just taking in the sight of Donna
sitting up in bed flipping
through a magazine. Finally, she bolted across the room and wrapped
Donna in a firm
embrace.


"I am so glad you're ok," she said, as she pulled back to look
directly into Donna's eyes.


"It's so good to see you," Donna said, holding CJ's gaze as a million
unspoken messages
passed between them.


"I came by as soon as the morning briefing was over," CJ
said. "Everyone asked me to
tell you they were thinking about you and can't wait to see you."


"Thanks," Donna said. "I can't wait to get back to work."


"Well, you need to take some time off."


"Actually, I want to get back to work as soon as possible. All of
these months CJ, the one
thing that sustained me was thoughts of home. Of getting back here."


"And getting back to Josh?" CJ asked with a soft smile.


"Is that going to be a problem, CJ? I mean our relationship-Josh's
and mine."


"I won't let it become a problem," CJ assured her. Anyone in the
press who tries to make
an issue out of this is going to have me to deal with, and it won't
be pretty."


"I've really missed you," Donna said with a smile.


"Ditto," CJ said with a wide smile of her own.


"So tell me everything that's new. I missed watching your morning
briefing because they
were running some tests on my knee."


"Not much to tell really," CJ said. "The entire press corps sends
their best regards."


"Tell them I said thank you."


"And there is one other thing that I wanted to mention to you before
you see it on the
television," CJ said nervously, not at all sure how Donna would take
the news.


"Armand Gutierrez and the other rebels have been captured and are
currently being held
awaiting extradition to the US to face drug trafficking charges as
well as a whole slew of
other offenses. The UN is also very interested in pursuing kidnapping
and murder
charges."


"But how...I mean I saw them get on the plane," Donna said.


"I don't even know all of the exact details yet, Donna. All I can
tell you is that the
President made all of the arrangements himself. He is a Nobel Prize
winner and Armand
and his friends are apparently not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
I don't think it was
much of a contest. For one thing, they never paused to think that the
galley fully loaded
with liquor might be an attempt to throw them off their game. Second,
they didn't seem
to notice that the plane left Colombia flying north instead of south.
All I know is that by
the time they landed in Mexico, a country with very friendly
extradition laws I might
point out, they were already in the custody of UN troops. I'll give
you more details as
soon as I get them."


"Ok, thanks," Donna said.


"Are you alright?" CJ asked, "I mean if there is a trial, there's a
chance you'll have to
testify. I mean you are..."


CJ stopped in mid-sentence, unsure of whether or not Donna was ready
to discuss her
ordeal.


"I am the only survivor," Donna said quietly.


"Yes," CJ said.


"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Donna said. "If I
need to testify than I
will."


"Let's not even think about that now. There is so much I have to tell
you. We got a new
water delivery guy," CJ said with a twinkle in her eye.


CJ began catching Donna up on all of the west wing gossip from the
last eight months.
They were giggling hysterically over the latest adventures of the
staff when they heard a
cough from the doorway.


They turned around to see Toby standing stiffly just inside the door,
holding a large
bunch of balloons in his hand. He shuffled his feet slowly back and
forth, as the multi-
colored ribbons draped all around his side. He looked at both of the
women with a look
that clearly said "HELP!"


"Toby!!" Donna said as a large small broke out on her face.


"Hello, Donna," Toby said nervously. "It's very nice to see you
again."


"It's nice to see you too. Are those for me?" Donna asked gesturing
towards the balloons.


"Yes they are," Toby said approaching the bed and placing the
balloons on the bedside
table.


"We'll they're beautiful," Donna said quietly.


After an awkward silence in which Toby stared at his shoes intently
and CJ tried very
hard not to laugh out loud, Donna spoke again.


"Thanks for coming by, Toby. I appreciate everything you did to help
get me out of
Colombia."


"It was nothing," Toby said, allowing a small smile to pull at the
corner of his mouth. His
eyes rose up to meet Donna's and he saw by her smile that she
understood how happy he
really was, even if he couldn't express it in words. "Now I'm sorry
to break this up but
we really must get back to work. CJ, I have some notes I need to go
over with you before
the afternoon briefing."


"Oh fine," CJ said in mock exasperation as she leaned over and gave
Donna a goodbye
hug. "But you're buying me lunch on the way back."


Donna smiled as she watched Toby and CJ walking out the door, still
bickering over who
was paying for lunch.









"Hello, Margaret," Josh said with a smile as he entered Leo's outer
office. "Is he in?"


"He's on the phone right now. Is it important?" Margaret said looking
up from her
typing.


"Not really. I just wanted to drop off some notes on the thing."


"Excuse me?"


"Never mind. Could you just give these to him as soon as you get a
chance?"


"No problem." Margaret said, taking the folder from Josh and placing
it on the pile on the
corner of her desk.


"Oh and I meant to ask you, have you noticed that the bullpen is
still decorated for
Christmas?"


"Yes," Margaret said dryly.


"Ok, it's not my holiday so I can't say I'm up on every little
nuance, but isn't it just about
time to be taking those down and preparing for. I don't know...whatever
comes next?"


"We left them up for a reason, Josh. Haven't you noticed that all of
the gifts are still
under the tree?"


"I can't say that I looked that closely."


"We're waiting until Donna gets back. Then we're going to have the
Christmas party."


Josh stood looking at Margaret with his mouth open. He had been so
consumed with his
own worry that he had overlooked the affect Donna's captivity had had
on everyone in
the west wing, especially the other assistants.


"That's really sweet, Margaret. I know that Donna will appreciate
it," he said sincerely.


"Don't tell her ok? It's going to be a surprise." Margaret said
conspiratorially.


"OK. I'm on my way to see her now, but mum's the word. Would you tell
Leo I'll be at
the hospital if he needs me?"


"Sure thing," Margaret said as she returned to her typing.








Josh entered Donna's room holding a large brown paper bag behind his
back. She was
sitting on the bed, surrounded by magazines. Her hair was pulled back
into a ponytail and
both IV lines had been removed.


"Hey handsome," she said, grinning from ear to ear.


"Hey beautiful," he said as he planted a kiss on her lips.


"What's behind your back?" she asked curiously.


"A surprise for you," he answered.


"Oh goody, what is it?"


Josh held the bag out in front of him and said, "Take a guess."


"Wow. It smells fabulous. Oh Josh, it's food," she said excitedly.


"Yep."


"Chinese food," she said with a ravenous look.


"Yep, from Wong's."


"You're an angel," she said opening the bag and peaking in.


"The doctor said you need to eat and I didn't figure that the
hospital food was going to   
do anything for your appetite."


"Wow," Donna said, "This is great."


"I wasn't sure what you would be in the mood for so I got a little of
everything."


"You're too good to me," Donna said teasingly.


The doctor walked in and found them sitting side by side on the bed,
surrounded by
Chinese food cartons and talking animatedly about the program that
was on CNN.


"Well, Donna," he said. "I guess I don't need to ask how you are
feeling this evening?
How's your appetite?"


"Fine thanks, Dr.," she said.


"That's good. Everything looks good," he said as he glanced at her
chart.


"When can I go home?" Donna asked.


"Well, if this keeps up, I see no reason why you can't go home
tomorrow after the
arthroscopy on your knee."


Donna squealed with delight. "Thank you, Dr."


"You'll need to take it easy for awhile. The knee will need a few
weeks to heal. But
basically I'd say the it's ok to resume your normal life, within
limits, as soon as you feel
up to it."


"Can I go back to work?" Donna asked.


"That depends. If you can start off with a light schedule, reasonable
hours, plenty of
breaks during the day then I don't see why not. I'll be in to see you
in the morning before
the procedure. I suggest that you try to get some rest."


"I will," Donna said as the doctor replaced her chart, snagged an egg
roll from the
container, and strolled out of the room.


"Did you hear that? I'll be back to work in no time."


"He said 'within limits', Donna. I don't want you trying to do too
much too soon."


"I won't, Josh. I promise. I just really want to get back to work.
Besides, if I don't go
back, I'll never get a chance to see you," she smiled. "I'll just lay
around my apartment
all day.....oh my God.....my apartment...I haven't paid...I mean is it
still...?"


"Don't worry about it," Josh assured her. "It's all taken care of."


"But..."


"No buts, remember," he said mirroring her earlier words back to
her. "It's all taken care
of."


"Thanks," she said as she leaned backwards against the pillows.


"Anytime," he said as he lay down beside her and pulled her into his
arms.


"CJ told me about Armand when she was here earlier," Donna said
haltingly. "Do you
really think there will be a trial?"


"I'm not sure," Josh said. "But I promise you one thing. If there is,
I'll be right there with
you every step of the way."


"Good," Donna said as she laid her head on Josh's chest. "Because
together we can
handle anything, right?"


"Absolutely," Josh said as he planted a firm yet gentle kiss on her
lips.








"Donna, I think it's too soon for you to be going back to work," Josh
said as he stood in
the kitchen watching her gather up her things.


"You've expressed that sentiment many, many times, but I'm going so
just get used to
it," Donna said with an exasperated sigh.


"But Donna...."


"Please, Josh. Can we not do this? The doctor said that it was ok for
me to resume my
normal life."


"Donna, it's only been a week. And the doctor also said that you
should be getting lots of
sleep, but that hasn't been happening has it?"


Donna froze, tears springing to her eyes and Josh realized that he
had spoken much more
sharply than he had intended.


He closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds and
wrapped his arms around
her.


"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean that the way it came out."


Donna took a deep, shaky breath.


"If I'm keeping you awake, Josh..."


"That's not it and you know it," he said. "I know how terrifying
nightmares can be,
remember?"


"Yes," Donna said wrapping her arms more tightly around his waist, "I
remember."


"I'm just worried about you. That's all."


"I know," Donna sighed, "and I appreciate it. But I can't just sit
around my apartment all
day staring at the walls. That really won't help anything and it
won't keep me from
thinking about what happened."


Josh searched his brain for the right words to say. He didn't want
Donna to suffer
anymore than she already had. He wished he had a magic formula to end
all of her pain
but he knew it wouldn't be that easy.


"What did Dr. Eckenrod say about it?" he asked.


Josh had been careful not to push for details of Donna's meeting with
the psychologist
that Doug Collins had recommended. He knew that she would tell him
when she was
ready.


"She said that nightmares aren't uncommon for someone in my
situation. She also said
that I can't let them cripple me, and I need to get things back to
normal as soon as
possible," Donna said.


"Ok," Josh relented. "I just want you to promise me that you'll tell
me if you need a
break."


"I promise," Donna said as she picked up her tote bag. "Now we better
go or you're
going to be late for staff."


"OK, let's do this," Josh said, grabbing his backpack.


Donna reached the door of her apartment, and then suddenly she
turned to face Josh. She
reached out and stroked his cheek gently.


"Thank you," she said softly.


"For what?" he asked.


"For being here," she said. "For letting me do what I think is best.
For worrying about
me."


"My pleasure," Josh said leaning down and brushing her lips with a
quick kiss.










Donna's arrival back in the west wing caused the expected commotion.
Even though
most of the people had already visited her either in the hospital or
at home, they
celebrated again as though they hadn't.


As Donna entered the bullpen, her jaw dropped. In the corner stood a
Christmas tree, still
fully decorated with a pile of packages underneath. There were
wreathes hanging on all
of the office doors, and brightly colored twinkle lights strung along
every window and
doorway. There was mistletoe hanging from the ceiling and poinsettias
on almost every
desk. 'It still looks like Christmas,' Donna thought.


"Why are the decorations still up?" she asked as she continued to
soak in the holiday
atmosphere.


"Don't ask me," Josh said shrugging his shoulders.


Donna was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on as she
entered her cubicle
and caught sight of her desk. Her familiar stapler, her pencil holder
and her pictures were
all still in place. A lump formed in her throat as she opened her top
left desk drawer and
saw her copy of The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing.


"It's exactly the way I left it," she said turning towards Josh, a
look of wonder on her
face.


"I made the temps work at a different desk," Josh said sheepishly. "I
know how you hate
it when people move your stuff around."


"Thank you," Donna said softly as she brushed away her tears.


"No problem, now I guess it's time to get down to work," Josh said,
trying to change the
subject before Donna got too emotional.


"Good idea," Donna said.






Just as she was about to settle into her chair, Margaret charged
around the corner like a
woman on a mission.


"Donna!" she said excitedly, as she threw her arms around her friend
in a huge hug,  "It's
great to have you back."


"Hi, Margaret," Donna said cheerily. "It's great to be back. Do you
know what's going
on with all the decorations? I mean, shouldn't they be taken down by
now?"


"Oh, I'm not sure, We've just been so busy we haven't had a chance to
get to it yet,"
Margaret said as she waved her hand dismissively.


"I'll do it this afternoon," Donna offered.


"Sure," Margaret said with a smile as she gave Josh a quick wink.


"Did you need something?" Josh asked, trying to encourage Margaret to
get to the point.


"Oh, I almost forgot," she chuckled. "The President would like to see
you, Donna."


"Me?" Donna asked nervously.


"Yes you," Margaret said.


"When?"


"Right now, if that's possible."


"And, Josh," the redhead said with a conspiratorial gleam in her
eye. "Leo wanted me to
tell you that staff has been postponed. He'll get back to you with an
exact time."


"Ok, Margaret. Just let me know," Josh said as he finally realized
what was going on.


"Will do," Margaret chirped.


"You better not keep the President waiting," Josh said, looking at
Donna with a bemused
smile. "Apparently I have some free time so I'll be in my office when
you get finished."









Donna was ushered into the Oval Office as soon as she arrived. The
President
immediately stood to greet her.


"Donna," he said as he enveloped her in a huge bear hug. "It's so
nice to have you back."


"Thank you, sir. It's nice to be back," Donna answered, returning his
hug.


"Sit, sit," he said motioning towards the couch. He sat down across
from her and took her
hand in his.


"So how are you feeling?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern.


"I'm good, sir," Donna answered.


"The First Lady and I have been very concerned about you," the
President said.


"I appreciate it, sir; but really I'm fine," Donna assured him.


"You feel up to being back at work?"


"Yes, sir. I can't wait."


"That slave driver of a boss of yours didn't force you to come back
early did he?"


"Quite the opposite as a matter of fact."


"Well, good then. But don't overdo it. If you need any help, anything
at all, you just let
me know."


"Thank you, sir. I will."


"Leo tells me that Doug Collins recommended a psychologist who
specializes in patients
who have suffered through the kind of thing you've been through."


"Yes sir. Dr Eckenrod. I talked to her on the phone yesterday for
several hours."


Was she helpful?"


"Definitely, sir."


"Good. If you need any time off or anything like that...."


"Thank you, sir. I think I'm ready to get back into the swing of
things."


There was a soft tap on the door and then Charlie poked his head in.


"It's time, sir," he said.


"Oh, I'm sorry," Donna said standing up. "I must be keeping you from
a million things."


"Not at all," the President assured her. "In fact, I'm going to walk
back to the bullpen
with you. I need to talk to Josh for a moment."


"I can send him up, sir."


"That's ok. I could use the exercise," the President said.






Donna and the President continued to chat on their way down the hall
while Charlie
walked a little ahead. The President was filling Donna in on
everything that had been
happening with the first family since she had been gone.


As they rounded the corner into the bullpen, Donna froze in her
tracks. All of the
Christmas lights were twinkling, there was Christmas music playing
and a large banquet
table had been laid out with cookies and eggnog. It seemed like the
entire White House
staff was there.


"Merry Christmas," Margaret said as she approached Donna and placed a
red Santa hat
on her head.


"What's going on?" Donna asked amazedly.


"It's the Christmas party," Margaret answered. "HO HO HO!"


"But, it's almost February," Donna said as her head swiveled around,
taking it all in.


"We wanted to wait until you were back," Ginger smiled. "It just
wouldn't have been the
same without you."


"You guys are too much," Donna said with tears pouring down her
cheeks. "I can't
believe you did this."


Donna hugged all of the other assistants as they gleefully led her
over to the tree to check
out the packages.


Josh stood back and watched her with a smile. It felt good to see her
surrounded by so
many people who loved her and were concerned about her.


'Maybe coming back to work was a good idea after all,' he thought.









The party was in full swing. The assistants were leading everyone is
a rousing rendition
of Jingle Bells while Sam, CJ, Toby and Josh stood in the corner
debating the relative
merits of real versus artificial pine wreathes.


Leo approached Donna. "Merry Christmas," he said as he reached up
and tugged her
Santa hat over her eyes. Donna giggled and swatted him on the arm.


"This is what you postponed the staff meeting for?" she asked
incredulously.


"Yep," Leo answered.


"Did Margaret threaten you?" Donna asked.


"No. I wanted to do it. You deserve it," Leo said as he planted a
kiss on her cheek.


"Thank you," Donna said.


"Unfortunately I am going to have to steal Josh, CJ, Sam and Toby
because we have a lot
of things to cover, and I don't think the real versus fake debate is
going to be settled
anytime soon, but you guys enjoy the rest of the party."


"Thanks, Leo," Donna said, enveloping him in a warm hug.


"No problem," he said, returning her embrace.


"Have fun," Josh said, holding a sprig of mistletoe over her head and
planting a kiss on
her lips before departing the bullpen for Leo's office.












"You look beat," Sam commented as the members of the senior staff
headed back to see
how the Christmas party was proceeding.


"I'm just a little tired," Josh said. "Donna hasn't been sleeping
very well."


"She ok?" CJ asked, her brow wrinkled with concern.


"She's having nightmares," Josh answered worriedly. "The doctor said
that they are
normal and that they will go away eventually, but they are really
awful while they are
going on."


"Anything we can do to help?" Toby asked.


"No, thanks though," Josh said. He stopped walking and turned to look
at the others.
"You know what? I used to think that waking up from a nightmare,
covered in sweat,
short of breath with a clutching feeling in your chest was the worst
thing that could
happen. But now I know I was wrong. The worst thing is the total
feeling of helplessness
you get when it's happening to someone you love."


"I know it must be tough on you," Sam said sympathetically.


"I just hate seeing her like that," Josh said, shaking his head.


"All you can do is be there for her," Sam sighed, wishing he had some
better advice to
give.


"I know. I just wish I could do more," Josh said.


"Josh, when you woke up from your nightmares after the shooting, and
Donna was there,
how did you feel?" CJ asked.


"Better," Josh answered, remembering the way that Donna had held him
and soothed him
back to sleep on those awful nights.


"And I'm sure she feels the same way."


"Thanks, CJ. I hope you're right," Josh smiled, realizing how often
CJ seemed to know
exactly the right thing to say.


"Aren't I always," CJ laughed. "You just let us know if there's
anything we can do."


"I will, thanks," Josh said.









When they rounded the corner into the bullpen, they saw the party had
ended. The lights
had been turned out and some of the staff members from the Mess were
dismantling the
banquet table.


Josh entered his office and found Donna staring out the window,
still wearing her Santa
hat. Her back was to him but he could see her shoulders shaking
slightly.


"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked "Didn't you enjoy the party?"


"The party was great," she said turning around. "I just can't believe
that they waited for
me. I mean they left all the decorations up and..."


"I know," Josh said removing his handkerchief from his pocket and
handing it to her.
"They just really wanted to do something to show you how much they
care."


"I really am lucky, to have such good friends. And look what Margaret
got me," she said
holding out the gold locket around her neck.


"It's pretty," Josh said.


"And it's just the perfect size," Donna beamed.


"Perfect size for what?" Josh asked quizzically.


Donna opened the locket and showed Josh a single small coffee bean
nestled inside.


"I can't believe you still have that," Josh said wistfully as he
remembered the day that he
placed it in the envelope with his letter.


"It gave me strength, Josh. I held on to it for dear life. And now it
will always be with
me."


Josh didn't know what to say. He struggled for words to convey his
feelings and finally
settled on, "I love you."


"I love you too," Donna smiled.











"Josh Lyman's office," Donna said as she picked up the phone.


"Donna, it's Leo. I'd like to see you and Josh both for a minute if
you are available."


"Is anything wrong?" Donna asked nervously.


"No, I just need to see you in my office."







Josh and Donna arrived in Leo's outer office and Margaret waved them
right in.


"What's up, Leo?" Josh asked as they entered the office.


Leo motioned for them to sit on the couch. "I just got a call from
Doug Collins."


"What did he want?" Donna asked.


Leo seemed to be thinking of the best way to break what he was afraid
was going to be
difficult news. "He is coming to Washington tomorrow. He needs to get
an official
statement from you about what went on during your time in captivity."


Leo paused for a moment to gauge her reaction and noticed that
Donna's whole body had
stiffened.


"He wants to get moving on this case ASAP," Leo continued. "Since you
were the only
survivor, they need your statement to proceed with filing charges."


"I understand," Donna said, as she swallowed hard.


"If it's too soon..." Leo said


"No, it's ok. I'll do it."


Josh wrapped his arm around Donna's shoulders. "I'll be right there
with you," he said.


"Thanks," Donna answered in a shaky voice.








Josh was startled awake by the sound of a blood-curdling scream..


"Donna?" he said sharply reaching next to him on the bed. "Donna?" he
said again as his
arms failed to find her.


Frantically, he reached over and turned on the light.


It was then that he saw her, curled up in the corner of the room,
eyes wide with terror,
trying to fight off some unseen enemy. Her back was pressed against
the wall and her
arms were flailing wildly. The look of complete and total desperation
in her eyes broke
his heart.


He jumped out of bed and rushed to her side. He knelt in front of her
and tried to wake
her up without frightening her any further.


"Donna," he said gently but firmly. "Donna."


She was sobbing harder now, gasping for breath. She was using both
her hands and feet
to try to push Josh away.


"Please no," she sobbed. "Please no."


"Donna, wake up," Josh said as he grasped her wrist. "Wake up now."


Suddenly, Donna's eyes registered recognition. For a split second,
everything seemed to
freeze.


"Oh God," she said as wracking sobs consumed her body. "It happened
again."


"It's ok," Josh assured her as he gathered her trembling body into
his arms. "It's ok. It
was just a dream."


"It was so real," Donna sobbed.


"I know," Josh said stroking her back. "I know. But it's all over
now."


Josh pulled Donna into his lap and stroked her back to help her calm
down. He simply
held her, trying to help her calm down for nearly half an hour.
Finally, her sobs subsided
and her breathing returned to normal.


"I'm sorry I woke you," she said softly, not lifting her head from
his shoulder.


"Don't be silly," he said. "Let's just get you back in bed."


"I need to get a glass of water first," Donna said.


"Ok, I'll get it," Josh said as he stood up and gently pulled Donna
up with him.


After she had crawled back under the covers, he went to the kitchen
and returned with a
cold bottle of water.


Donna drank hungrily, finishing almost the entire bottle.


"Anything else you need?" Josh asked, unable to hide the concern in
his voice.


When Donna said no, he pulled back the covers and crawled in beside
her.


He wrapped his arms around her and she immediately clung to his
chest. He stroked her
back and cooed softly in her ear.


"It's ok. I'm here. It's ok," he said over and over.







Several hours later, Josh rolled over in his sleep and stretched out
his arm. He sat up with
a start when he realized that Donna was no longer beside him. After a
quick check of the
bathroom, he wandered out into the living room.


He spotted Donna curled up on the couch, wrapped in an afghan
watching an old movie
on TV with the volume down as low as possible.


"Are you ok?" he asked as he lowered himself down to sit beside her.


"I'm fine," she said, trying desperately to hide her tear filled eyes.


"You don't look fine," he said as he wrapped her in his arms. "Did
you have another bad
dream?"


"No," Donna admitted hesitantly. "I was just...well I was afraid to go
back to sleep."


"Why didn't you wake me up?"


"One of us needs to get some rest."


"Wrong. I don't want you sitting out here alone. You wake me up,
Donna. I want to be
with you. We're in this together remember."


Donna stared at the clocks on the bullpen wall. She wasn't sure if
she wanted them to
move more quickly or more slowly.


The meeting with Doug Collins was scheduled for 7:00 PM. Donna was
not looking
forward to recounting all of the details of her imprisonment, but she
knew that it had to
be done. She decided that she would just as soon get it over with.


Leo had arranged to hold the meeting in the Mural Room. He thought
that it would be
better to hold it in a place where Donna felt absolutely secure. He
wanted to make this as
easy for her as was humanly possible.


As 7:00 approached, Donna began nervously preparing. She printed out
a copy of Josh's
schedule for the next day and placed all of the notes he would need
for his morning
meetings in one nice neat stack. She made one last check for messages
then turned on his
voice mail.


"Are you ready?" Josh asked, coming out of his office just as she
shut down her
computer.


"As ready as I'll ever be," Donna replied, not quite managing to
reach the confident tone
she was trying for.


"Ok then, let's go," he said as he gently grabbed her elbow.


Donna knew that there were things that were bound to come up in this
meeting that she
had not yet told Josh about. Details that were so disturbing she
hadn't yet shared them
with anyone. She had tried to block them out of her mind and she had
been successful for
the most part. But at night, when her guard was down, that's when the
memories flooded
back.


Dr Eckenrod suggested that the things she was refusing to face might
very well be the
key to her nightmares. The doctor felt that getting those experiences
out in the open
might very well help lessen their hold over her.


When she looked in Josh's eyes, she believed that he was ready to
hear whatever she had
to say. She knew that she just needed to find the strength to say it.


"Are you sure you want to sit in on this?" she asked, seeking one
last dose of reassurance.


"Positive," Josh said as he leaned over and gave her a quick hug.






As they were making their way towards the Mural Room, they heard
someone calling
them from down the hall.


"Hi there," CJ said nervously as she fell into step beside them.


"Hi CJ," Donna answered.


"Are you headed out for your meeting with Doug Collins now?" CJ
asked, trying to
sound casual.


"Yep," Donna answered, unconsciously playing with the hem on her
jacket.


"Look..." CJ said, "well, I'm not trying to intrude but....well, the
thing is... I'd be happy
to come with you for---you know---moral support. If you want me to
that is."


Tears welled up in Donna's eyes as she fought to keep her cascading
emotions under
control.


"Thanks, CJ, that would mean a lot to me," Donna said sincerely.


As they entered the Mural Room, they saw Sam and Toby arranging
chairs around the
large conference table.


"Moral support?" Donna asked.


"We just wanted you to know that we're here if you need us," Sam said
as Toby
nervously stared at the ground. "We can leave if we are intruding."


"No, I'm glad you're here. Thank you both," Donna said softly. The
outpouring of love
and support she had received today from the people at work had
astounded her.


Just then, the door opened and Leo stepped in followed by a tall
blonde man in a suit and  
a casually dressed woman.


"Donna," Leo said, "I'd like you to meet Doug Collins, I think you've
talked to him on
the phone. He works in the Secretary General's office at the UN."


"Nice to meet you," Donna said as she shook his hand.


"And this is Dr. Eckenrod, I believe you spoke to her on the phone
also," Leo said.


"Yes," Donna said trying to hide her shock. "I didn't know that you
were going to be
here Dr. Eckenrod."


"I asked her to join us. I thought it might be best," Doug Collins
said as he put his
briefcase down on the table.


"What he means," the doctor said reassuringly, "Is that these types
of meetings can be
very stressful. Especially coming so soon after your return home. So
I'm just here to
observe and of course I'm happy to offer any assistance that I can."


"Although I am very pleased to see that you apparently have a very
strong support
system already in place," she said as she looked approvingly around
the room.


"Yes I do," Donna smiled affectionately at all of her friends as she
squeezed Josh's hand.


The remainder of the introductions were dispensed with quickly and
they all settled down
around the table.


Donna perched on the edge of her chair. Josh placed his arm
protectively around her
shoulders and then dropped it down to rub her spine soothingly.    


"Together," he whispered softly in her ear.


"Together," Donna said as she squeezed his hand in response.


Doug Collins cleared his throat to signal that he was ready to begin.


"I want to make this as painless as possible for you Ms. Moss," he
said.


"We would appreciate that," Leo said pointedly.


They quickly moved through all of the basic questions. They covered
Donna's full name,
age, and occupation. They also ascertained that she was in Colombia
as an observer for
the administration, not in any official capacity.


They discussed the initial capture only briefly. At this point, there
was no chance of
bringing charges against the original kidnappers. Officials had no
way of knowing their
exact identity or even if any of them were still alive.


They did, however, have Armand Gutierrez in custody and they wanted
desperately to
build an airtight case against him. They had quite a bit of proof of
his drug trafficking
activities but they wanted him on the more serious charges of
kidnapping and murder.


UN teams always knew the danger before they entered a foreign
country. In many cases,
they were entering highly volatile and unstable situations.


Regardless, Doug Collins wanted to send a clear message that their
teams were not fair
game for kidnappers and terrorists. Donna's statement could be just
the ammunition they
needed to make an example out of the men they had in custody.


"Do you remember the first time you saw the man you know as Armand
Gutierrez?"
Collins asked.


"Yes," Donna said as her hands began to tremble.


Josh moved his chair closer to hers. He left one hand on her back,
and reached out with
the other to take her hand and try to calm her trembling.


"Can you tell me about that day?"


"We were at the second location then," Donna began. "I don't know how
long we had
been there. I woke up to the sound of shouting. When I looked out, I
saw a large group of
men I had never seen before. They were all dressed in army fatigues,
and they were all
carrying guns. One of those men, I came to know later, was Armand
Gutierrez."


"Did they appear to be welcome guests?"


"I don't think so. I woke up and I heard arguing. It was obvious that
the men were angry.
I couldn't understand what they were saying though because I don't
speak much
Spanish."


Sam leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, intent on
hearing every word
Donna had to say no matter how difficult it might be. He was
determined to help both
Josh and Donna in any way possible.


"But they were arguing?"


"Definitely," Donna said as the memories of that day flooded back.


"And then what happened?"


"Armand kept getting angrier and angrier," Donna said. "He didn't
seem to be getting
what he wanted. All of sudden he lifted his gun and he shot the
leader of the original
group and killed him."


Donna paused for a minute and Josh could tell that her mind had
transported her right
back to that day. He rubbed her back a little harder to remind her
that he was there.


"What happened next?"


"Everything kind of went crazy. Everyone began shouting and then
Armand's men raised
up their guns and killed several of the rebels," Donna said as she
began to fight back
tears.


"Were any hostages injured at this point?"


"No not yet," she said quietly.


Toby shifted nervously in his seat as he noticed the slight catch in
Donna's voice. He had
read many horrifying accounts of the way the ESF treated hostages
during his research on
Armand Gutierrez. He was certain that there were things about her
time in captivity that
Donna had yet to share with anyone. He regretted not having told her
already how in awe
of her strength he was. She caught his eyes briefly, and he flashed
her a small supportive
smile.


"What happened next?" Collins continued.


"Armand asked for me by name. He specifically said that he was
looking for Donna
Moss," Donna said, her voice growing shaky.


Leo bristled. He had known all along that Donna had been singled out
because of her
association with the White House. His old feelings of guilt over
being the one that sent
her on the assignment threatened to resurface.


He quickly came back to reality when he realized that this meeting
wasn't about him and
any feelings of guilt he might have. He needed to be strong for
Donna , to give her
whatever comfort and support he could.


"And what did you do?" Collins asked.


Donna stared at him as she remembered the terror and panic she had
felt when she first
heard Armand say her name.


"I hesitated at first, but then I raised my hand," Donna said dazedly.


"What did he do?"


"He said that he was going to trade me back to my friends in
Washington for the things
he needed."


CJ's jaw clenched at the thought of a man who was willing to use
another human being
as currency.


"Ok now, Donna," Collins said, proceeding with caution, "When aid
workers reached
that camp they found eight dead rebel soldiers and four dead
hostages."


"Yes," Donna said as she began to twist the hem of her skirt
nervously.


Josh stroked her spine a little harder, trying to transfer all of his
strength to her through
his fingertips.


"Can you tell us what happened?" he asked gently.


Donna took a deep breath and began to speak.


"We were very tired at that point. The weather was turning colder at
night and it was
difficult to get any sleep. Some of the hostages refused to eat the
stew that we were given
everyday. We were so thirsty that it was hard to think straight."


Donna's cheeks began to flush and she felt like her heart was going
to pound right out of
her chest. Her breathing became shallow and she began to hear a roar
in her ears. She
swallowed hard and continued.


"Some of the others were starting to lose hope, I could tell. I
wanted to talk to them, to try
to encourage them to go on, but we weren't allowed to have any
communication at all. I
tried to catch their eye, I tried everything I could think of but
nothing worked."


There was a note of desperation creeping into Donna's voice that she
was unable to hide.
For the first time, she was allowing herself to share the horrific
memories of that day with
others. Once she started, she knew that there was no turning back.


"When Armand told us that we would be relocating, Ian and several of
the others begged
to be left behind. They said that they were too tired and weak to be
of any use to anyone.
They told Armand that they were peacekeepers and that they meant him
no harm. They
begged Armand to simply leave them behind. He told us all to stand up
but they wouldn't
do it, they just stayed on the ground. I wanted to scream out to them-
tell them to get up
but the words just wouldn't come."


CJ let out a sob. She was stunned by the palpable feelings of fear
and panic emanating
from Donna's body.


"What happened next?" Collins asked in a measured tone. He didn't
want to push Donna.
It was obvious that these were difficult memories for her to relive.


"Armand turned away like he was considering their proposal. I knew
that he wasn't."
Donna's voice began to rise and her eyes darted nervously around the
room. All of the
sudden he turned back around and just killed them with his machine
gun. He just mowed
them right down. They didn't even have time to scream."


Donna's sobs suddenly broke free. Both Josh and Leo reached out their
hands to try to
comfort her.


"All four of them at once?" Collins asked.


"Yes," Donna choked out.


Josh leaned over and pulled Donna to him. He wrapped both arms around
her and stroked
her back while she sobbed into his shoulder.


"Do you need a break?" he asked.


"No, let's just finish this," she answered.


"What happened next?" Collins asked, desperately trying to regain his
own composure.


"Then I was thrown in the back of a truck, a tarp over me, and next
thing I knew we were
at a different camp," Donna said quickly, trying to distance herself
from the memories.


"Did you have any idea where you had been taken?"


"I didn't have any idea where I had been in the first place so I had
no point of reference,"
Donna snapped.


"I'm sorry," Collins mumbled.


"No, I'm sorry," Donna said apologetically. She took a few deep
breaths and tried to
regain control.


"What happened once you reached the new camp?"


"Things got markedly worse," Donna said, as a dark shadow crossed her
eyes. She began
to clench and unclench her fists.


Josh looked desperately at Leo, hoping that his mentor could give him
some guidance. He
hated seeing Donna in so much pain; however he knew that she would
have to face these
memories sometime. Leo nodded at Josh, as if to assure him that
talking about what
happened was the right thing for Donna.


"How so?" Collins asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.


"The original captors were all young boys. They seemed to be true
believers in the
cause," Donna said. "These men were soldiers, they were more like
mercenaries. The
living conditions with the first group had been far from ideal but we
had managed to get
to some kind of routine. But everything changed once we got to the
new camp."


"In what way?"


"First off, I was separated from the other hostages," Donna said.


"Why?"


"I don't know. I think it had to do with the fact that Armand knew I
worked in the White
House. I guess he thought that I was his ticket to getting what he
wanted so he wanted to
keep me apart from the others."


Was that the last you saw of the other hostages?"


"No," Donna said. All of the blood drained from her face and she
began to shake
violently. That first night in the new camp was something she had
tried desperately to
forget. She had pushed it from her mind in order to maintain her own
sanity. But since
she had gotten home, the scene had repeated itself every night in her
dreams. She just
hoped that her friends would understand what she had done. She had
come too far to turn
back. She took a shaky breath and continued.


"The first night, I heard a commotion outside of the hut. I inched
over to the door and
looked out. The men were all standing around drinking and laughing.
They had dragged
the other two women hostages out of the hut. They were lying on the
ground, still tied up.
The men were grabbing at their clothes and laughing."


The skin on her palms became raw as she dug her fingernails in harder
and harder. Josh
reached over and took her hand in his; trying to keep her from doing
any further damage.
She immediately began to squeeze as hard as she could.


"I could hear the women screaming and begging them to stop. Then
Armand came out of
his hut. He was laughing and carrying on just like his men."


Donna pulled away from Josh's grasp and sprung to her feet. She began
to pace
frantically. He rose to follow her but Toby placed a restraining hand
on his shoulder. Josh
sank back into his chair watching helplessly as Donna replayed that
horrible night in her
head.


"He raped them both," she choked out in a voice barely above a
whisper. "I closed my
eyes but I could still hear them screaming. They just kept begging
him to stop. After he
was done, the other soldiers passed the women around. Finally they
stopped screaming
and I could just hear them whimpering. Then they threw them back into
the tent."


CJ wanted to cry out loud but she slammed her emotions back down
instead. This was
something that the men in the room could never fully understand, a
terror that they would
never know. She knew that she could be a strong source of support for
Donna on this
issue. Whatever Donna said next, CJ promised herself that she would
stay strong.


"Do you need a break?" Leo asked.


"No," Donna said. "I want to get this all out."


"Ok. What happened next?"


"Armand came to the hut I was in," Donna said, her eyes growing wide
as she relived the
moment in her head.


Sam squeezed Josh's shoulder as he saw his friends emotions begin to
spiral out of
control. Josh's breathing quickened and he was pressing his clenched
fists violently into
his thighs.


"Did he assault you?" Collins asked softly.


Time seemed to stand still as everyone awaited Donna's answer to that
question. She
looked directly at Josh and she was amazed at what she saw in his
eyes. He looked at her
with a look that conveyed nothing but love and support. Yes there was
also anger and
fear, but somehow Donna knew that whatever her answer to that
question, it wouldn't
change how Josh felt about her.


"No, because..." Donna's sobs strangled off the words before she could
speak them.


"Because why?" Collins asked.


"I'm sorry," she sobbed.


"What are you sorry for?" he asked sympathetically.


"When he came into the tent, he had this look on his face. I knew
what he wanted. I just
wanted to stop him so I told him..." Donna stopped, her eyes suddenly
glued to the floor.


"What did you tell him?" Collins prompted her.


"I told him that I was HIV positive," she sobbed. "I couldn't think
of anything else to say.
I know that's not the kind of thing that a person should lie about. I
just didn't know what
else to do."


Donna was taking in breath in huge gulps now, trying desperately to
get her sobbing
under control. She was leaning hard against the wall and it seemed to
be the only thing
holding her up.


Dr Eckenrod rose and crossed the room to stand beside Donna.


"You have nothing to be sorry for," she said gently rubbing Donna's
arm. "Actually, you
should be quite proud of yourself."


"Why?" Donna asked, looking directly into the doctor's eyes, wanting
desperately to find
an answer.


"You thought quickly on your feet. You saved yourself from a horrible
situation. There is
absolutely no shame in what you did."


"Still..." Donna said looking back down at the floor.


Dr Eckenrod continued to pat Donna's forearm.


The entire room sat fell silent for a moment as everyone took a few
deep breaths and tried
to compose themselves. Sam relaxed his grip on Josh's shoulder as he
felt a small amount
of tension drain from his friend's body. He knew that Josh would have
still loved Donna
no matter what had happened, but he was glad that this was one issue
that they wouldn't
have to confront.


Toby and CJ shared a knowing glance as each of them breathed an
inward sigh of relief.
Leo looked pointedly at Doug Collins as if to say 'Let's wrap this up
soon."


"Tell us what happened the day the government troops arrived."
Collins said, trying to
gather the information they needed as quickly as possible and give
Donna a much-needed
chance to heal.


Donna's pacing returned with a vengeance. This time, Josh gave into
his urge to go to
her. He crossed the room and leaned against the wall so that he would
be close by if she
needed him.


"All I remember is the chaos. The gunfire was continuous. I looked
out the door and
bodies were falling everywhere. The noise was deafening. I looked
across the compound
and I saw Taryn, she was one of the other hostages, sticking her head
out of the door of
their hut. She was motioning for me to join them. I had no idea what
was happening but I
thought that I would have a better chance if I made it to the others
than if I stayed by
myself. Just as I was about to try to make it across the compound, a
grenade hit their
hut," Donna cried as she leaned against the wall next to Josh,
reaching out and grasping
his hand.


"It seemed like it only took a few seconds and it was in flames.
There was no way for
them to escape. They were tied up. I could hear them screaming. I
could smell flesh
burning."


Donna's knees threatened to give out on her as she slumped against
Josh's side. He
gently placed his arm around her waist and led her back to her chair.
He sat down beside
her and placed his arm around her shoulder.


What happened next?" Collins asked


"I fell back into my hut. Burning embers were flying everywhere. I
was afraid that my
hut would catch on fire next. So I decided to try to make it to the
woods and hide out. As
I started out of the hut, there was an explosion about 50 yards ahead
of me. I can
remember falling backwards. The world was spinning. I remember a pain
in my knee.
And the smoke just kept getting thicker and thicker. I thought I was
going to die."


Donna's hands instinctively flew to her neck and she squeezed the
locket containing the
coffee bean in her hand.


"All of the sudden I felt someone picking me up. They carried for a
little ways and then I
was in the back of a truck again speeding down the mountain. I
remember being grateful
for the fresh air. Next thing I remember, I woke up in a closet."


"You knew it was a closet?" Collins asked.


"Yes, I could tell that were indoors. It was dark, but I could reach
out and feel the walls
on all four sides of me. I had a bad pain in my knee and my head was
pounding. Armand
told me that he was going to meet with Jack Hawthorne. He said that  
I had better hope
that someone was willing to pay for my return because if not, he was
going to kill me as
soon as he got back."


Suddenly the statement on Donna's face changed.


"Armand was much different in the apartment," she said.


"How so?" Collins asked.


"Much more scared. Much less in control. I could almost see the panic
in his eyes. He
would pull me out of the closet by my hair. He intentionally grabbed
my sore knee. He
put his cigarette out on my shoulder."


Josh fought back his anger. He knew that there would be no need for a
trial if he could
just have five minutes alone in a room with Armand. But Donna did not
need to deal with
his anger right now, so he pushed it down and returned all of his
attention to her.


"Do you know why?" Collins asked, realizing that Donna had a far
better insight on
Armand than anyone else in the room.


"I'm not sure. It was like he needed to feel intimidating again."


"Were you more frightened in the apartment than you had been in the
camp?" he asked.


"In a way, because he was so clearly out of control. But once he came
back from the first
meeting with Jack, and he didn't kill me, I knew that he must have
heard what he wanted
to hear. Then when I saw Jack, and he assured me that everything was
going to be ok, I
just used that to keep strong. That and Josh's letter," she said,
meeting Josh's eyes and
managing a small smile.


"What happened the day of the exchange? Did you know you were going
to be released?"


"No. He just pulled me out of the closet and threw me into the van.
He didn't tell me
anything until we pulled into the airstrip and I saw Jack. Once Jack
helped me into the
van, I never saw Armand again."


"Thank you Ms. Moss," Collins said. He had several more questions but
decided that the
information he had would be sufficient. "I can't thank you enough.
You've been very
helpful. I'm sure this will give us enough to file charges. I'll have
this transcribed as soon
as possible and then I'll get it to you for your signature."


Collins began to stuff his papers into his briefcase and grabbed the
tape recorder he had
been using.


"Ok," Donna said.


"Donna, I want you to call me if you need anything at all," Dr.
Eckenrod said as she knelt
in front of Donna's chair.


"I will," Donna said, "Thank you."


"I want you to remember what I told you. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with doing
whatever it takes to survive."


"Thank you,"


"Survivors guilt does nothing to honor the memory of those who didn't
make it back.
They wouldn't want you to feel this way. They would have celebrated
your life. They
would have wanted you to go on."


"Remember Donna, crying doesn't make you weak. Neither does asking
for help. Look at
your friends, they want to help you. Lean on them. There are a lot of
people in this world
that have to face trauma alone. You are lucky, Donna. All of these
people want to help
you. Let them help you. It doesn't mean you're fragile. In fact, it
takes a strong person to
admit when they need help."


"Thank you doctor," Donna said.





As Leo escorted the Dr and Doug Collins from the room, Donna sunk
into Josh's arms.


"Are you ok?" he asked.


"Yeah," she said, and a small smile crossed her lips when she
realized that she was, in
fact, telling the truth.


"Are you ready to go home?" he asked.


"Yes," she said.


She turned and looked at Sam, CJ and Toby as Leo reentered the
room. "I was thinking
maybe we could all go back to the apartment and get some Chinese
food. Maybe we
could...you know..talk some more," she said cautiously.


"Sounds like a good idea," Leo said. "I just need to grab a few
things from my office and
then I'll meet you there."


"CJ and I will stop at Wong's and pick up the food and meet you at
your place." Toby
said.


"I'll stop and pick up some beer and soda," Sam said.


Donna smiled as she and Josh left the Mural Room and headed out. Dr
Eckenrod was
right; she was lucky to have a man who loved her and a lot of
incredible friends.



Springtime had exploded in DC, bringing with it unseasonably warm
temperatures and
cherry blossoms in full bloom. All around, the sights and smells of
nature's rebirth
assaulted the senses.


It had been four months since Donna's return from Colombia and she
was showing the
signs of a rebirth of her own. She finally felt like her life was
returning to normal.


Her nightmares hadn't disappeared completely, but they occurred far
less frequently and
were usually far less intense than they had been right after her
return.


The knowledge that she would have to travel to New York to testify at
the trial of
Armand Gutierrez  was the only thing that was keeping her from
putting the entire
experience behind her. She knew that she would always have the
memories, but once the
trial was over with, she would finally be ready to close that chapter
of her life.


Doug Collins and the people at the UN had been very helpful. They had
done everything
possible to expedite the trial. They had also agreed to work off of
her statements instead
of subjecting her to the standard round of intense pre-trial
preparation. Having witnessed
her initial statement, Collins was quite sure that Donna would be an
effective witness
without any coaxing or coaching.


She had actually been relieved when he called and said that the trial
would be taking
place at the end of May. She was anxious to tell her story one last
time, anxious to see
Armand pay for what he had done to her and to the other hostages.


Donna had been lucky enough to meet many of the families of her
fellow hostages at a
memorial service that had been held in New York several months
earlier. She wished
desperately for something to say that would ease the pain she saw in
the faces of the
parents, spouses and children of the people who had not been lucky
enough to make it
back. She finally realized that the only thing that would bring them
some small measure
of comfort would be the knowledge that the man responsible for the
deaths of their loved
ones was punished. Donna resolved at that moment to stand up in front
of the court and
tell her story loud and clear. Hers was the only voice that could
tell first hand of the
atrocities that Armand had committed, and she was determined to let
the whole world
know so that he could be punished.








"I think that takes care of everything," Donna said as she placed a
stack of folders in
Josh's backpack. "Sam is going to cover the thing with Watkins for
you and everything
else I put off until next week."


"I'm sure everything will be fine," Josh assured her. "Stop worrying."


"I just hate dragging you away from work when there is so much going
on," she fretted.


"Donna, please don't start this again. I am going with you to New
York. I wouldn't be
anywhere else," he said as he stepped directly in front of her and
placed his hand on her
chin, tilting her head up to look in her eyes.


"Thank you," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and
planted a soft kiss on
his lips. "I'm not sure that I could do it alone."


"Well, you aren't going to have to worry about that because you are
never going to be
alone again," he said as he placed his forehead against hers.


They stood in a comfortable silence, staring deeply into each other's
eyes until a knock
on the door startled them back to reality.


"Come in," Josh called.


"You two almost ready to go?" Leo asked as he stepped into the office.


All set," Josh answered.


"Good," Leo said. "Are you sure you're ok with this, Donna?"


"I'll be fine, Leo," she assured him.


"I want you to call me if you need anything. Anything at all," he
told her as he gave her a
quick hug.


"I will. Thanks, Leo."


"Ok, I have a car waiting out front to take you to the airport. You
better get going or you
are going to miss your flight."


"Thanks, Leo," Josh said. "Margaret has the number of the hotel in
case you need to
reach us."









The flight into New York was uneventful. Donna had been quieter than
usual but it
seemed to Josh to be a determined quiet. It was as if she was
conserving all of her
strength and energy for her testimony.


They ordered a light dinner from room service, and then Donna
wandered out onto the
balcony as Josh called Sam to check on how things had gone with
Senator Watkins. He
ended the phone call as quickly as possible and went to join her.


"How are you feeling?" he asked as he watched her taking in the
beautiful nighttime
skyline.


"A little nervous," she admitted.


"I'll be right there with you," he said as he rubbed her back
soothingly.


"I know," she smiled. "That's why I'm only a little nervous as
opposed to completely
terrified..


"You can do this," he said, wrapping his arms tightly around
her. "You are an amazingly
strong woman."


"Thanks for having so much faith in me, it means a lot" she said as
she buried her head in
the crook of his neck. "I love you, Josh."


"I love you too," he whispered. "Now we had better try to get a
little sleep. Tomorrow is
going to be a long day."






Josh lay awake for a long time with his arms wrapped securely around
Donna. He
listened to her soft, even breathing waiting for any signs that a
nightmare might be
arriving. He had been dreading Donna's court testimony for months.
She had been so
strong and so brave up to this point, he hated to see her have to go
through any more
pain. He gently stroked her hair as he sent up a quick prayer that
things go as smoothly as
possible.








Josh and Donna arrived at the courthouse the next morning at 8:00 AM
sharp. He could
feel her hands begin to tremble as they made their way towards the
assigned courtroom.
Doug Collins was there to meet them and immediately introduced them
to the attorney's
who would be trying the case. They briefly explained several
procedural matters so that
Donna would know what to expect once she got inside the courtroom.
She expressed her
fears about the cross-examination by the defense lawyers, and the
attorney's assured her
that they would do everything they could to make it as painless as
possible.


Donna was clutching Josh's hand tightly and trying to take some deep
cleansing breaths
when suddenly, she could hear audible gasps and a hum of excitement
coming from
behind them. She turned around in time to see Armand Gutierrez being
led towards the
courtroom door.


Josh placed his arm protectively around Donna's waist as he attempted
to move her down
the hallway and out of sight of the man who had caused her so much
pain. No matter how
much he prodded, Donna wouldn't move. She seemed rooted to the spot.


"I'll get them to take him in the back way," Collins said as he
headed towards the
oncoming scrum.


"NO!" Donna said. "It's ok. Let them come in this way."


"Are you sure?" Josh asked, not even trying to hide the concern in
his voice.


"Yes," Donna said confidently.


She squeezed Josh's hand tightly and tried to ignore her wildly
beating heart. Everything
around the two of them seemed to fade away as Donna fixated solely on
the man who had
been her tormentor for so many months, the man who had continued to
torment her in her
dreams long after she was out of his physical presence.


The tension in the air got thicker as Armand approached. Donna had
wondered on many,
many occasions what this moment would be like. She had expected to
see a different man
than she had known in the jungle. She had expected that a team of
attorneys would have
gotten a hold of him and made him look like a model citizen. But
Armand was an
unrepentant soldier to the very end.


As he moved closer, Donna had to stifle a shocked chuckle. Not only
was he
wearing the same type of battle fatigues that she had seen him wear
many times, he had
on a tattered Che Guevara t-shirt underneath. Donna wondered if
anyone else saw the
irony in that.


'How appropriate,' Donna thought as she saw that both his wrists and
ankles were
shackled. 'Now he knows how it feels.'


Josh's arm tightened around Donna's waist pulling her more tightly to
his side. Donna refused to take her
eyes off of the man moving towards her.


Right before he turned into the courtroom, Armand made eye contact
with Donna. She
locked eyes with him and refused to look away. Donna's mind was
suddenly full of  
memories of the time in the camp, the faces of the other hostages,
the sound of their
screams, the evil that she saw in those eyes as he tormented her in
the closet. It took
every bit of strength she had but she didn't turn away. After what
seemed like an eternity,
Armand sneered and allowed himself to be led into the courtroom.


"Are you ok?" Josh asked


"Yeah," Donna said as she leaned into Josh's shoulder. "I really
think I am."








Donna looked out over the packed courtroom as the attorney's moved to
the sidebar to
discuss some bit of legal minutiae. She had been on the stand for
close to three hours. At
first she had been nervous, but her confidence had grown with each
question she
answered. As she spoke, she looked out at the faces of the victim's
friends and relatives.
The look of gratitude and relief that she saw on their faces spurred
her on. When the
moment came that she was asked to identify the man who had committed
all of the
atrocities, Donna looked Armand right in the eyes and identified him
with a strong, clear
voice. At that moment, she knew for certain that, whatever the
outcome of the trial, she
had won. Armand had not destroyed her, in fact he had made her
stronger.




Josh watched Donna's testimony unfold with nothing short of awe. He
thought back to
the young woman who had hired herself as his assistant back in New
Hampshire. Even
though he had always known that she was much stronger than most
people gave her
credit for, even he was amazed at the way she had handled her entire
ordeal.  He listened
as she recounted  what had happened in Colombia in a voice that was
shaky but strong.
He watched her give gruesome details of her time in captivity
without ever once faltering. And when she was asked to identify the
man who had held
her captive, she looked directly at Armand as she pointed him out,
never breaking eye
contact.








"I was really proud of you back there," Josh said as they sat on the
plane on the
way back to DC.


"Josh," Donna blushed.


"I'm serious," Josh said. "You are so strong. I don't think I could
be that strong."


"I couldn't have done it without you," she said earnestly. "I mean
it, right from the
very beginning. When I was in Colombia, I used your letter to hold on
to hope. Then
once I got back, you saw me through all of the nightmares and
everything else that
happened. No matter how terrible the details were, you never turned
away. And back
there at the courthouse, having you there beside me helped me find
the strength I needed.
I honestly don't know what I would do without you."


Josh reached up and gently wiped away the tears that were falling
down Donna's face
with his thumbs.


"You'll never have to find out," he whispered.








Josh headed back from senior staff the morning after they returned
from New York
wearing a big smile.


"Donna, would you please join me in my office," he said cheerily.


"What's up?" she asked as she followed him through the door.


Josh moved towards his desk and removed an envelope from his top
drawer.


"Does this good mood have something to do with what we are going to
be working on
next?" she asked.


"In a way," Josh laughed. "In fact, I think I can safely say that you
are going to
absolutely love what we are going to be working on next."


"What is it?" Donna asked excitedly.


Josh handed her the envelope. Donna eyed him suspiciously, then
opened it up and pulled
out two airline tickets.


"We're going somewhere?" she asked.


"Yep," Josh beamed.


He watched the statement on her face change from curiosity to pure
bliss as she opened  
the tickets and realized that they were for a flight to Hawaii.


"Oh," she screamed. "Are you serious? Are we really going to Hawaii?"


"Yep," he answered. That was all he could manage to get out before
she launched
herself at him and covered his face with kisses.


"Do you have work to do there?" she asked him as she pulled away just
enough to let
him, answer.


"Nope," he said. "It's 100% vacation."


"Josh, are you sure you can get the time away?"


"I promised you a trip to Hawaii and that's what you're going to
get," he said. "I've just
been waiting until this whole mess was completely over with. Can you
be packed and
ready to leave in two days?"


"I could be ready to leave in two hours," she assured him.


"Good, then we need to get everything in order around here and then
it's off to Hawaii."







Donna quickly put everything in order at the office and spent the
rest of the next two days
shopping and preparing for the trip. She treated herself to some new
clothes and shoes,
made sure that she had plenty of sunscreen, and even bought several
new bathing suits.


As she stood in front of her open suitcase, her mind wandered to Josh.


She couldn't believe that he had taken care of all the arrangements
himself. She was
touched that he had gone to so much trouble, although she had a
suspicion that CJ may
have been drafted into helping with the actual planning.


She was looking forward to spending some time with Josh, away from
the White House.
He had been taking such good care of her since her return home; it
was time for her to
take care of him. Donna was on a mission to make sure that Josh
relaxed and enjoyed
himself. 'I'm going to give him a vacation he'll never forget,' she
thought with a smile.









Josh nervously fingered the ring box in his pocket. He was going to
have to find a way to
slip it in without Donna noticing. He was sure that she would inspect
his suitcase before
they left to make sure that he hadn't forgotten anything important;
he would do it after
that.


He thought back to the look on Donna's face when she opened the
envelopes with the
airline tickets in it. He hadn't seen her that excited in a long
time. He was going to make
it his mission to keep that look on her face the entire time they
were in Hawaii. 'After
everything she's been through in the last year,' he thought, 'she
deserves a vacation she'll
never forget.'







"Ok, are you sure we have everything?" Donna asked as they stood in
the airport waiting
for the plane to board.


"I have everything I need," Josh said with a smile as he wrapped his
arms around her.


"Thank you," Donna laughed. "But that's not what I meant."


"I know what you meant, and if we forgot anything we will just buy it
there."


"Thank you, Josh."


"For what?"


"For planning this all, for giving me my dream vacation."


"You're welcome, sweetheart. But you haven't seen anything yet."



The End



E-Mail me at:kuebsr@yahoo.com