Title: Better for Him
Author: hpgw7
Rating: PG
Category: Angst, Romance, Drama
Spoilers: Through Tomorrow
Disclaimer: WB, Aaron Sorkin, John Wells, etc. own The West Wing, 
I'm just having a little non-profit fun.
Feedback: Pretty please. hpgw7@yahoo.com

A/N: I found this little story on my computer waiting to be posted, 
so I figured now is as good time as any to post it, even though the 
title sucks.
A/N: Amy's a little meaner than I think she would ever be (um...is 
that possible?) so I apologize to any Amy fans out there, if there are 
any, but I'm not one of them.
A/N: Un-betaed so the ton of mistakes I sure you will find are mine.

******************

It was one of the biggest fundraisers of the year. Everyone who was 
anyone in the Democratic Party was there. Everyone wanted their 
picture taken with the new popular President.

Donna and Josh were having a good time and were chatting with 
Joey Lucas and her husband when Sam came by and whispered 
something in Josh' ear. Josh excused himself and walked off with 
Sam to deal with the latest problem. A few moments later Donna 
excused herself, she thought it was a good time to see how the 
First Lady was doing since she still got nervous at these events.

After seeing that the First Lady was enjoying herself, Donna walked 
towards the bar to wait for Josh when she heard someone call her 
name, not just anyone, but the last person Donna wanted to run 
into. She turned towards the voice and saw Amy standing with a 
group of people. Donna, ever polite, walked over against her better 
judgment.

"Amy, hi."

"Hey. Donna, this is Melissa Gold, Rebecca Ross, and Eric and Pam 
Hayden," Amy told Donna then turned to the group, "This is Donna 
Moss, the First Lady's Chief of Staff."

After exchanging pleasantries, Donna asked, "So, what do you all 
do?"

"Melissa works for NOW, Rebecca works for the ACLU, Eric is the 
Dean of Georgetown Law, and Pam is a plain old civil attorney," Amy 
supplied, acting as the group's spokesperson, which for some 
reason was making Donna extremely nervous.

"Your picture doesn't do you justice," Melissa said out of the blue.

"My picture? Of you mean from those silly articles. They were so 
stupid," Donna rolled her eyes.

"I think they were so sweet," Rebecca smiled. "It was hard to 
imagine though they were talking about Josh Lyman."

"Oh, you know Josh? Of course you know him, who in the 
Democratic Party doesn't know him, I meant personally," Donna 
nervously rambled. Every time someone mentioned the gossip 
articles that were written about Josh and Donna shortly after they 
got together, then again around the inauguration, Donna got 
uncomfortable.

"We all went to law school together," Eric replied.

"Oh, right. Of course, I knew most of you did. That's great."

"Yeah, Melissa and Josh dated for a long while," Amy told Donna.

"Well, I wouldn't say a long while," Melissa clarified.

"What would you call two years then?" Amy looked towards Donna.

"Well, I guess it was two years, but after the first six months I don't 
think Josh was aware we were together. He was too absorbed in his 
books to have time for a girlfriend."

Donna smiled, hoping she looked more comfortable than she really 
was.

Pam thankfully noticed Donna was uncomfortable, so she changed 
the subject, "So, where did you go to college?"

"University of Wisconsin at Madison."

"I thought you dropped out?" Amy questioned.

"Umm... yeah... I did," Donna softly replied, and then she quickly 
added, "I had to for personal reasons."

"Oh," Pam nodded.

"Well, it was a good thing Josh likes taking in stray puppies, 
otherwise who knows where you would be," Amy declared.

The air suddenly got very tense and Donna felt like someone just 
punched her in the stomach while the four other people exchanged 
awkward glances.

Donna found her voice and fired back, "I was not a stray puppy. In 
fact, Josh is allergic to dogs." Donna turned towards the others and 
felt the need to recite her resume, "I joined President Bartlet's first 
campaign as a volunteer shortly before the New Hampshire primary 
where I convinced Josh to hire me as his assistant. I worked my way 
up from assistant to campaign spokesperson for both the Russell 
and Santos Presidential campaigns to Chief of Staff to the First 
Lady."

"That's wonderful," Melissa quickly responded hoping to break the 
tense environment.

"Everyone gets lucky once in a while. I assume Josh is letting you 
repay your debt to him then he'll move onto a more suitable woman 
because I really can't see what else Josh gets out of your 
relationship," Amy shot back.

Donna instantly felt tears fill her eyes and she swallowed a huge 
lump in her throat. She was shelled shocked and couldn't think of a 
come back.

"Um... I promised the um... the First Lady that I...I...I would... um... 
take care of a...a....um... a thing for her. Excuse me." Donna quickly 
ran away from the group.


************

Sam walked outside to the patio to take a phone call from the Junior 
Senator of Ohio who was on the fence about a health care bill that 
was up for vote that week.

"...On behalf of the President of the United States I thank you 
Senator." Sam flipped his phone closed and turned to go back in 
when someone standing in the corner caught his eye. "Donna?"

"Oh, Sam, hi!" Donna turned around and wiped away stray tears.

Sam noticed Donna's red puffy eyes, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You look like you've been crying, not to mention you're standing 
outside in a corner by yourself," a concerned Sam replied.

"I just needed some fresh air, it's so stuffy in there," Donna lied.

"Donna."

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine, Sam. You can go back 
inside," Donna turned around and walked back to her corner spot 
as she felt a new batch of tears form in her eyes.

"I'm going to get Josh."

"No, please don't," Donna moved to stop him.

"Then tell me what's going on."

"It's nothing. It's stupid," Donna said as she wiped away fallen 
tears.

"Donna, it's not stupid if you're standing out here crying about it," 
Sam said as he gently rubbed her shoulder.

Donna took a deep breath then blurted out, "Why's Josh with me?"

"What?"

"Josh. Josh Lyman. Your best friend! Why's he with me? Why's he 
living with me? Why's he hiding his grandmother's engagement ring 
that his mother sent him two weeks ago in his ugly green socks?!"

Sam was dumbfounded, "Did you just ask me why Josh is in a 
relationship with you?"

"Yes."

"Ok, well I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's because he 
loves you."

"Does he?"

Sam stared at Donna in disbelief. He had no idea where this was 
coming from. "Donna, I think you need to sit down." Sam led Donna 
to a nearby bench.

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do," Sam said gently pushing her down, "Because I think 
you hit your head and developed amnesia."

"Sam--"

"Donna, what's going on? Where's this coming from?"

"Josh is the White House Chief of Staff, he took a nobody 
Congressman and made him the President of the United States with 
all the odds against him. After the President he's the most powerful 
man in the country, not to mention the world. Everyone in that 
room wants five minutes with him," Donna tearfully pointed back 
towards the ballroom.

"Yes, Josh is all those things, but you're the Chief of Staff to the 
First Lady, that's a really cool gig," Sam said reassuringly, even 
though he still didn't understand why Donna was so upset.

"He's a graduate of Harvard and Yale and I'm a college drop out."

Now they were getting somewhere Sam thought. "Donna, that 
doesn't mean you're stupid. In fact, you're a lot smarter than a lot 
of college graduates I know."

Tears were freely falling down Donna's face, "He should be with 
someone who matches his educational background."

Sam began to replay the evening in his head to try and figure out 
what could've happened to Donna from the time she arrived with 
Josh to now. When Josh and Donna first arrived they were laughing 
and joking with each other, in other words being their typical 
selves. Finally, Sam remembered running into someone.

"Someone like Amy, you mean."

"Yeah," Donna answered in small voice.

"What did she say to you? I assume you ran into her and she said 
something," Sam asked, while his anger at Amy grew inside of him.

"She was with a couple of law school friends. Including Josh's ex-
girlfriend and a woman he had a crush on."

"So? That's all in the past. Don't tell me you're jealous because I 
guarantee you if Josh walked passed all of them, including Amy, he 
wouldn't bat an eye."

"Oh, I know that. I trust Josh."

"Then what's going on?"

"They're Ivy educated professionals."

"Donna, you're a professional. And I don't know what their jobs are, 
but I bet they don't come with the perk of flying on Air Force One."

"So did my job when I was Josh's assistant."

"True, but you got a really big office that makes my office look like 
a shoebox."

"I know," Donna began to sob.

Sam was very concerned about Donna. He never saw her so upset, 
not even after Rosslyn.

Sam stood up, "Donna, I'm going to get Josh."

"No, no, no. Please don't," Donna begged.

Sam sat back down and began to rub Donna's back. "Donna, please 
tell what Amy said."

"She said Josh was only with me so I could repay him for everything 
he has done for me and once my debt is repaid, he'll dump me for a 
more suitable woman," Donna sobbed.

"Repay? How are you repaying... oh."

"That's what everything thinks, isn't? I got where I am by sleeping 
with Josh," Donna choked out.

"No! Absolutely not. Donna look at me. Donna..."

Donna looked up and met Sam eyes.

"You got where you are by spending the past ten years working 
your butt off, not by sleeping with Josh. And anyone who has 
worked in Washington for the past ten years knows that."

"Do they?"

"Donna, don't you think if the republicans seriously thought you 
and Josh were having an affair they would've brought it up 
sometime during the Bartlet administration?"

"I guess."

"Look, if the republicans had any shred of evidence to support all 
those rumors over the years they would've used against the 
administration to create a sex scandal, but they never did. Not even 
our worst enemies have ever said you got where you are by sleeping 
with Josh."

"Except Amy," Donna tearfully reminded Sam.

"Exactly! It's Amy! Of course she's going to say something like that, 
she's jealous of you! Always has, always will be."

Donna laugh, "Amy jealous of me? Please."

"Yes. It's the truth."

"Ok, fine, why's Amy jealous of me?" Donna humored Sam.

"Because you have Josh."

"Amy had Josh."

"No, she didn't. Yes, they dated, but Josh wasn't hers, he was yours. 
He was yours the second he met you."

Donna looked at Sam knowing he was right, but tears still began to 
fill her eyes. "It's just Amy is... I don't know what she is, but every 
time I'm around her I feel inferior. And I think it would be better for 
Josh's career to be with someone like her."

"You want Josh to be with a manipulative bitch? Because that's what 
Amy is. She wants everyone to feel inferior to her: you, me, Josh, 
even the President. So, I don't care if she graduated from college 
and you didn't, you're the better the person. In fact, you're the 
better politician." Donna looked at Sam with surprise.

Sam nodded, "You are. Amy only cares about her agenda, while 
your only agenda is to make people's lives better, no matter who 
they are and what they do. As for Josh's career, how is it good for 
his career if he has to be careful what he says to the one person he 
supposed to tell everything to, so they don't use any information to 
backstab him?"

"I don't know. I never really thought about it like that."

"And that's exactly why you're better for Josh than Amy will ever be. 
Amy doesn't love him, she loves his job and power that comes 
along with it. She wants him because he's the White House Chief of 
Staff and has the ear of the President. You love and want Josh 
despite all that."

"Well, there's the perk of getting into any restaurant we want, 
whenever we want," Donna weakly attempted a joke.

Sam smiled, happy that Donna was coming around. "Of course it's a 
perk! Hell, I see it has a perk! Let me tell you something I thought 
being Deputy Communications Director was great for restaurant 
reservations, but Deputy Chief of Staff has nothing on that, but 
don't tell Otto I said that."

Donna smiled. "Oh, this is so stupid," Donna said wiping her eyes, "I 
can't believe I let Amy get to me like that. I know I'm good at what I 
do with or without a degree from the Ivy League."

"Yes, you are."

"And I know Josh loves me."

"Yes, he does."

Donna took a deep breath and hugged Sam, "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for."

"Ah, I just can't stand Amy!"

"Join the club. We got jackets." Sam and Donna exchanged smiles.

"Don't tell Josh about any of this."

"On one condition."

"What?"

"Promise me a dance at your wedding."

Donna's face broke out into a huge grin, "Deal."

They stood up and walked towards the door. Right before Sam 
opened it he remembered something, "Hey, how do you know about 
the engagement ring?"

"Two weeks ago I saw a box in the trash from Josh's mother. I asked 
what she sent, he wouldn't tell me. I thought it was shoes or 
something that he was embarrassed his mother sent him, so I 
dropped it. But then the other night my feet were cold, so I went to 
put on Josh's ugly green socks because even though they're really 
ugly they're really warm and voila."

"That doesn't mean his mother sent the ring. He could've bought it 
in a store."

"Josh told me years ago that his mother was holding his 
grandmother's engagement ring for him," Donna smirked.

"Oh."

"I promise to be surprised when he asks."

"Ok," Sam opened the door and the two walked back into the 
ballroom.

"Just tell your friend to do it soon because the next time I see Amy I 
want to blind her with the ring."

"That's very professional of you."

"Thank you," Donna smiled.

"Hey!" A voice from their left called. Josh walked over to them. 
"Where have you been?" Josh directed his question towards Donna.

"I was outside getting some air. I ran into Sam and we were having a 
little chat."

Josh noticed Donna's red eyes and got extremely concerned. "Have 
you been crying?"

"I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to freshen up my make-
up," Donna kissed Josh's cheek and walked away.

Josh instantly turned to Sam, "What's going on?"

"Nothing. She's fine."

Josh glared at Sam. "Trust me, she's fine. And the President's health 
care bill is going to pass," Sam assured his friend. "I would however 
find a better hiding spot for the engagement ring," Sam added.

Josh's eyes widen, "She found it?"

"Apparently, your ugly green socks are really warm."