Had she ever, Donna wondered, in her entire time working for Josh, been
sent on an errand quite as humiliating as this one? No, she decided, no, she
hadn't. Not that she could remember. Standing outside in the cold making an
ass out of herself on the phone to the Flenders paled in comparison to being
sent in search of Josh's missing girlfriend in the middle of a party.

Why had she even agreed to it? She easily could have told Josh that such a
request was well outside of her duties as his assistant, and suggested that he
go find his little chippie himself. But he was supposedly busy trying to sort
out the INS debacle for her, and since she hadn't made it to the party yet she
didn't know what she was missing, and, well, he was Josh.

Damn him.

She finished checking every place she could think of in the west wing, with
no luck. On her second trip through the lobby she decided to question Bill
Pryce, the security guard on duty, to see if he'd heard anything.

"Hi Bill," she said as she approached, smiling a greeting.

"Hello Donna," the stocky young man said in return. "You look beautiful this
evening, if you don't mind my saying so."

She inclined her head self-consciously. "Thanks. Have you seen the First Lady
by any chance? Within the last 15 minutes or so?"

"I think I heard one of the Secret Service agents mention the residence, ma'am,"
he said.

Donna folded her arms across her chest. "What did I tell you about calling
me ma'am?"

"Right," he said, chagrined. "Sorry."

"We're the same age, Bill."

"I know."

"We could have been in the same kindergarten class, for crying out loud."

"Yes ma -- Donna. Sorry."

"It's not like I'm an old spinster or something," she grumbled. "Not yet,
anyway."

"Excuse me?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing. Never mind. Thanks for the help." She gave
him a grateful smile and turned to go.

"Have a good evening, Donna."

"Thanks," she said over her shoulder.

She started toward the residence, and found herself thinking about Bill. He was
an attractive guy. Brown hair, soft brown eyes, built like the captain of the football team. According to Margaret, the only person who knew more about what was going on in the White House than Donna herself, he didn't have a girlfriend at the moment. Maybe she should ask him out.

She stopped in her tracks, struck by the thought. Why not ask him out, indeed? He was cute, single, made a respectable living, and most importantly, she couldn't imagine that he would ever send her trolling the halls of the White House in search of his bitchy girlfriend.

Then again, men seemed to have a knack for disappointing her these days.

Afraid that if she hesitated any longer she would lose her nerve, she whirled on her heel and stalked back to the lobby, her Nine West shoes ($39.99 on clearance) making loud clacking noises on the tile. "Bill."

He turned to look at her, surprised. "Couldn't find her?"

"It's not that." She walked over to stand directly in front of him. He really did have nice eyes, she decided. Honest eyes. Humble eyes. "Bill, would you like to go out sometime?"

"Ma'am?" he said, his eyebrows raised. "I mean, Donna. Sorry. Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yeah, why not," she said, trying to sound suave, casual. "Nothing elaborate, just a drink after work or something. It'll be fun."

"Sure," he said, and now a wide smile threatened to crack his face. Look at that, Donnatella, she said to herself. Here is a man who is excited at the prospect of going out with you. Here's a guy who won't take you for granted or throw you over for a loud, pouty, strident --

"Great," she said shortly. "Let's talk next week, we'll set something up."

"Okay. That sounds great. Thank you."

"No, Bill, thank you." Okay, that was definitely not suave, she thought, cringing. She put on her best smile and waved goodbye, then started for the residence again.

He's a perfectly nice guy, she told herself. We'll go out, we'll have a lovely time,
and then...

And then...

Oh my god, why am I crying?

She stopped and angrily wiped at her eyes. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and silently yelled at herself to get it together.

Bill's a perfectly nice guy, she told herself again. You can't blame him for not being someone else. The one guy you can't have. The one who doesn't seem to want you anyway.

Donna straightened her shoulders, held her head high, and set off to find Josh's
girlfriend.

end.