"Sam!" A knock from the door made Sam Seaborn groan and lean up on his elbows.

"Huh?" He looked around the room sleepily and blinked couple of times to see in the darkness. He sunk back against the pillows and turned on his side to wrap his arms around the sleeping woman next to him.

"Sam!" The knocking changed to banging and Ainsley Hayes rolled on her back.

"Sam," she whispered. "It´s Josh."

"Okay," Sam sat up. He ran his hand over his face and then reached for his watch from the nightstand. "Four AM. This better be good." He muttered and walked to the door.

"Someone better have died." He opened the door and covered his eyes with his hand as the bright light in a hallway hurt his eyes.

"Were you sleeping?" Josh Lyman looked at his friend.

"It´s four in a morning." Sam frowned.

"It is?" Josh checked his watch. "Oh, yes it is."

"What do you need?"

"I..." Josh started. "You know what, it can wait till morning." He said and turned to leave. "Go back to sleep. We´ll see you in the morning."

"Josh!" Sam called after him.

"Yeah?" He turned around.

"What do you need?"

Josh walked back to the door. "Can we talk?"

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. "Sure. Hang on a second, I´ll get dressed."

"Where´re we going?"

"You said you wanted to talk."

"We can´t do that in your room?"

"No... I need coffee." He said glancing at the bed where Ainsley slept.

"Okay."

"I´ll be out in a second."

He closed the door and find his tee shirt and jeans. He pulled the shirt on and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Ainsley," he leaned down to kiss her lips.

A soft smile spread on her lips and she opened her eyes. "Where are you going?" She asked sleepily when she saw him dressed.

"Josh wants to talk about something." He said and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "You go back to sleep."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, go back to sleep." He kissed her softly and stood up. "I´ll be right back."

Sam found Josh leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. Two Secret Service agents stood in front of the suite of the President and three other wandered around in their private floor.

"Josh?" Sam walked to his side and touched his arm gently. "You okay?"

He opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I´m sorry I wakened you."

"It´s okay." Sam said. "Let´s get some coffee."

They walked through the deserted lobby and into the small bar. They were closing up, bartenders drying glasses and cleaning tables. Most of the chairs were lifted on the tables but they let the two members of the President´s senior staff to sit down.

Josh leaned back in his chair and sighed. A waiter brought them the coffee they had ordered and glanced curiously at the agent who had found a table from a distance.

"Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"What´s wrong?"

"It´s... it´s... I´m fine."

Sam eyed him doubtfully. "What´s wrong?" He asked again.

Josh lifted his eyes to meet Sam´s. "Donna´s pregnant."

"Donna´s..." Sam swallowed his coffee and started to cough. "Donna´s pregnant?"

"Yeah." Josh nodded his head.

"And... is it yours?" Sam asked carefully.

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Sam, I´m thrilled. I love her---"

"Hey, hang on." Sam interrupted him.

"I love her, Sam." Josh said ignoring his friend´s questing looks. "And I want this baby."

"Josh..."

"Sam, I have loved her since I first saw her standing in my office arranging my schedules."

"Josh." Sam tried again.

"And it´s more than that, I´m in love with her." Josh continued. "Sam, this is it. She´s the one for me."

"It´s not that simple."

Josh looked up from his coffee. "Well, it should be!"

"I know." Sam said softly.

"I am not giving up on this." Josh said. "I am not giving up on her."

"I know."

"But I don´t know what to do." He admitted lowering his head. "I just don´t know what to do."

"With... the baby?" Sam asked quietly.

"No." Josh replied firmly. "This is what we want. I don´t know what to... I don´t know what to tell Leo, and the President."

"You tell them what you told me." Sam said. "They´ll understand."

Josh nodded his head and closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah."

"Listen." Sam leaned closer. "We all love Donna. She´s part of this big, weird family. And we all think that you two should be together. Though, personally I´m little hurt you didn´t tell me this earlier."

"I wanted to."

"My point is, that I love Donna like a sister. And I know how much she loves you. My heart ached when I saw her sitting in that waiting room 14 months ago." He stopped to look at Josh.

After he had returned back to work, Sam had kept an eye on him, frightened he would collapse. It had happened just before Christmas, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, that was what the doctor had said. After holidays, they had sat outside of his apartment, like they had done several times before, talking what had happened. Sam hadn´t mentioned Donna, or how she had reacted the news, but he had told him how he had felt, and Josh had talked about his fears and nightmares. They had sat a long time in a cold December night, just the two of them, drinking beer and talking. And after that, they hadn´t mentioned what had happened. They had got the closure. They had healed.

"I didn´t know... I don´t know." Josh said quietly. "Nobody ever... you never told me."

"It was like... She was scared, Josh. So scared. She stayed there the whole time, and it was Mrs Bartlet who sent her finally home." Sam´s voice cracked and he stopped before continuing. "I didn´t know how to help. It seemed that her whole world had collapsed in a seconds. She was afraid for you, she was afraid losing you. She told me that."

Josh closed his eyes and nodded.

"What you have." Sam spoke again. "It´s special. And it´s something we understand. We are all behind you."

"Thank you." Josh whispered.

They finished their coffees and stood up. "Listen, we´re leaving early in the morning, and the flight back will last good four five hours. You tell them then." Sam said as they walked back to the elevator.

"Yeah, you´re right." Josh agreed.

"I know." Sam chuckled.

"Sam!" Josh called his name before he opened the door that led him in his room.

"Yeah?" Sam looked up from the lock he had opened with his card.

"Thank you."

Sam smiled. "You´re welcome."

He stepped in the dark room and undressed quietly. He had only little time before the wake up call, but he slipped under the covers and rolled on his side to face Ainsley.

"You´re back," she said sleepily and snuggled closer to him, placing her head on his chest and wrapping her arm around him.

He hugged her close and kissed her forehead softly. "I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." She replied and tightened her hold onto him.

-----------

The ringing phone wakened Sam up the next morning. He pulled his hand under Ainsley and reached to answer.

"Hello."

"Good morning, Sam." Charlie Young, the personal Aide to the President greeted him. "The President asked me to call and remind that he wants to talk to you and Toby before we leave."

"I remember." Sam groaned sleepily. "I´ll be there in time."

"Okay." Charlie said and Sam was sure he was grinning.

"Okay, we´re up..."

"We?"

Sam´s eyes snapped open and he sat up. "I´m up, I mean I´m up."

He heard Charlie chuckling. "Okay."

Sam hung up and fell against the pillows sighing deeply. Ainsley rolled closer to him and kissed his jaw. "Morning."

"It´s okay." He said. "I´m sure he didn´t catch that."

"That you´re up?" Ainsley said teasingly and slid her hand down on his bare stomach and under the covers. "You weren´t lying." She whispered and giggled when he grabbed her hands and rolled her on her back.

He looked at her and lifted his hand to smooth her face. "God how I love you." He whispered and kissed her sweet and long.

"I love you too. So much." She said softly.

He kissed her again. "We have some time before I have to go." He said and placed soft kisses on her face and neck.

Her arms locked around his neck and she pulled him closer. "What´s on your mind?"

-----------

After their early meeting with the President, Sam found Ainsley waiting for him and he walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Hi." He whispered and kissed her cheek softly.

"Hi." She leaned back against his chest and covered his arms with her hands. "How did it go?"

"Good."

They stayed like that a little longer before they heard rest of the staff coming. Leo, Toby and CJ walked in the small lobby and looked curiously at Sam and Ainsley who now stood apart, but smiling.

Ten minutes later they were all ready to leave. Several Secret Service agents waited ready to lead the President and his staff out into the waiting cars and start the ride toward the airport where Air Force One waited.

"Sir." Josh said suddenly and everybody turned to look at him.

"Josh?" Jed Bartlet turned to look at him curiously.

"Sir, I..." He started and then pulled Donna on his side and wrapped his arm around her. "Well, the thing is..."

"Josh," Leo frowned. "What ever it is, just say it."

"Okay." He sighed. "We´re going to have a baby."

Sam smiled and slipped his arm around Ainsley´s waist, pulling her to lean against his chest. They had kept their relationship as a secret for several months, and intended to keep it that way, but at that moment, he wanted to feel her close. His best friend, the man he loved like a brother, was going to have a baby with the woman he loved. Sam needed to share the feel inside him, the feel he recognized as joy, with the woman he wanted to carry his child someday.

He watched the joy and happiness between the friends and colleagues. He waited until everybody else were hugged and congratulated the new parents to be before he walked closer. He leaned to kiss Donna´s cheek and whispered something in her ear, something that made her reach for him and wrap her arms around his neck and hug him tight. Something that made her eyes shine with unshed tears.

"I love you both. And I will love this baby. Josh´s one of the most important people in my life, and you make him happy. I could not ask for more."

Donna Moss pulled back from Sam´s embrace and touched his cheek with her hand. "And there´s a woman you love, and who loves you with all her heart. We hope you will be part of this child´s life." She whispered softly.

He nodded and hugged her tightly once more before stepping back and looking at Josh. The two friends embraced each other tightly. "You deserve the best, my friend." Sam said and nodded at Donna´s direction.

"So do you." Josh replied. "And Ainsley Hayes is just that."

Sam nodded in surprise and glanced at Ainsley who looked at them smiling softly. A lonely tear escaped and fell down on her cheek, and with two steps he was close to her and lifted his hand to wipe the tear away.

"Sam." Ainsley whispered, not breaking their eye contact.

"I love you." He replied.

Jed Bartlet smiled. He had known about Josh and Donna, he was married with a doctor, and he had three children. Morning sickness was something he recognized. So many mornings Donna had excused herself to rush to the ladies room and little later Josh had followed her. She had gained weight, but Jed had said nothing, just ordered her to go home when she worked late. He had asked Leo if he had heard any rumours about Josh and Donna, and the reply had been the same that it had been the last three years. There was something between his Deputy Chief of Staff and his assistant.

And now, hearing Sam Seaborn declaring his love to that beautiful, intelligent and loyal Republican they had hired, to the woman they had learnt to love and respect, Jed Bartlet, the President of the free world, smiled even wider. He loved those two men like his own sons, and he couldn´t be happier.

"Okay." Jed cleared his throat. "I believe there´s a plane waiting for us. Not to mention the First Lady I miss. Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, sir."

They were led out through the kitchen and into the limos that waited outside. Jed stopped to wave to the cheering people and then looked back.

"Josh, Sam." He called. "You and the ladies will ride with me, I believe I have not congratulated you yet."

Sam´s arm was wrapped around Ainsley as they walked toward the car. He let her go in first and then turned to wait at Josh and Donna.

He helped Donna to climb in and turned to look at Josh.

"We´re lucky. Very lucky." Sam said to his friend.

"Yeah." Josh grinned. "Luckiest men in a world."