(or, in honour of Pride Month, the West Wing fic I’m too lazy to properly write)
Okay this got wayyyyy longer than I meant it to be, but here it is, my not-quite-a-fic fic. I may write more if I feel like it? Warnings for allusions to period-typical homophobia (late 1990s-early 2000s)
From the minute Toby brings CJ onto the campaign, she and Josh are dancing around each other.
There’s just something sitting at the back of her mind. It’s not until she overhears Josh talking to his assistant Donna that she recognises it – it’s the same thing that drew her to Joanna Leed in ninth grade, the best friend who became the girlfriend; it’s the same thing that led her to a group of nerds at UC Berkeley, the nerds who became the first community she ever knew. She figures it out because Josh is talking about a date, and he never uses a single pronoun. She figures it out because she’s been doing it since she was sixteen.
At some point, gay rights come up in Governor Bartlet’s debate prep, and there’s a split second where she catches Josh’s eye. They exchange a look, and it’s all they need. CJ knows that, for however long this lasts, he’s the only person who can know, and the only person who needs to know.
Their chemistry was off the charts. How off the charts? Donna wasn’t originally going to be Josh’s love interest. However, after seeing how Bradley Whitford and Janel Maloney played off of one another, the showrunners knew they had something special.
They never got together until Donna grew outside of her role as Josh’s secretary. While it made for some incredibly gut-wrenching moments, Donna and Josh never actually hooked up until she had begun to forge a career outside of him. Though she technically worked under him during the Santos campaign, she got there based on her own skills. Let’s be honest: there would be a ton of uncomfortable implications had they gotten together while he was Deputy Chief of Staff and her Deputy Deputy Chief of Staff.
By the end of the series, they are both Chiefs of Staff to the President and First Lady. Like that’s so insanely precious.
“If you were in an accident, I wouldn’t stop for red lights.” FIND ME A MORE ROMANTIC LINE.
Okay, how about the fact that once Donna actually is in an accident, Josh doesn’t stop for red lights. He doesn’t even stop for an international crisis. That’s right, homeboy leaves the White House in the middle of an international disaster – one the United States would be justified in going to war over – to be by Donna’s bedside. Keep in mind, Josh Lyman was White House senior staff. Him leaving was kind of a big deal.
Literally everyone knew they had feelings for one another. Leo. Amy. CJ. Joey Lucas. Will. Christian Slater. Lucius Malfoy. It was kind of a thing, even though they kept denying it.
He quit his job at the White House after she left. He was already thinking about leaving, but her departure was what finally pushed him over the edge.
Donna was the first person to notice Josh’s PTSD, and actively sought ways to help him.
“And if you think I don’t miss you every day…”
That time Donna skipped the inauguration, and Josh threw snowballs at her window to get her to come down.
Donna is just such a good character. Like the way she marched into that campaign office and started working there, proved that she was valuable over 6(?) years and then when she realized that she was being under appreciated as an assistant she quit and started working where her talents were appreciated. Then she got a job on the Santos campaign because Lou saw that she was talented and capable and she became almost an equal with Josh and the rest of the campaign staff. She just goes after what she wants, whether it be a place in Bartlet’s campaign, a better job, or Josh himself, she just goes after it. And her idealism? Her ambition?? Her eagerness to learn and get better??? Flawless.
