West Wing Fanfic

Isabel

"It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Ring"

Pairing: Zoey/Charlie, Josh/Donna

Rating: PG

Archive: Sure, just drop me a line

Feedback: Greatly appreciated

Spoilers: Takes place after "17 People"; teeny references to "Lord John Marbury", "The Portland Trip", "ITSOTG", "The Crackpots and These Women" (really teeny)

Summary: Charlie wants to make the ultimate commitment, and Josh wants to take the first step

Disclaimers: I'm just borrowing these guys and gals; I'll put 'em back when I'm done

"Josh?"

"Hmm?" Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman looked up from a mountain of papers to see Charlie Young standing in the doorway. "What can I do for you, Charlie?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, come on in."

The younger man closed the door and sat down. "The reason I'm coming to you about this is because you got me my job, and you introduced me to Zoey. In short, I trust you more than anyone else on the Staff."

"Okay," Josh said slowly. "Is everything alright?"

"Actually, everything's more than alright. Josh, I wanted your help in picking out a ring for Zoey."

"A ring? You mean like an engagement ring?"

"Yeah. I want to ask her to marry me."

Josh leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Have you ran this by the President yet?"

"No."

"Don't you think you should ask him before getting a ring?"

"That was my next stop. I wanted to enlist you in my defense."

"Donna!" Josh bellowed.

Immediately, his assistant poked her blonde head in the door. "You are a very rude man, Joshua Lyman. There is an intercom."

"I don't know how it works. Call Mrs. Landingham, see if Charlie and I can have the next few minutes he has free."

"Okay." She left the office, and Charlie grinned broadly.

"You'll help me?"

"Zoey's like a little sister to me, Charlie. I wouldn't have even introduced you if I didn't think you were a good guy. After the last year and a half, I know you're a great guy, and I know how much you love her. Of course I'll help you."

A few minutes later, the pair entered the Oval Office.

"Mr. President, I have a question to ask you," Charlie began.

"Don't you want to know how my appointment with the Finnish ambassador went?" asked Bartlet teasingly.

"How did it go?"

"Very well, thank you. Josh, are you here with Charlie, or did you need something else?"

"No, I'm here to give Charlie moral support."

"Well, you're a good friend. Charlie, what do you need?"

"Mr. President, I want to ask Zoey to marry me."

"Really?" asked Bartlet, surprised.

"Yes. I know that she is twenty, and it's her decision, but I wanted to get your approval first because of... well, what happened last year in Rosslyn. I know you're very protective of her."

"I am very protective of her," he agreed. "I also want her to be happy, and I know she's happy with you. You have my permission and my encouragement to ask her. Just remember, the 82^nd Airborne Division still works for me."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm guessing you brought Josh along because he supports this?"

"Yes," Josh interjected. "Although, Mr. President, if you hadn't given your okay, I would have been a very vocal opponent of Charlie's plan as well."

Bartlet laughed softly. "Charlie, do you have a ring?"

"Not yet. I want to ask her tomorrow. It's the first anniversary of when we... ah, well, it's a special date."

"I don't want to know," the President groaned.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President. I didn't mean –"

"Just go get a ring, please. Clear your afternoon for this; I can manage without you. Josh, go with him, make sure he doesn't get tricked into buying a zirconium."

"Yes, Sir," Josh agreed.

Sam Seaborn knocked on Josh's door.

"You wanted to see me, Josh?"

"Yeah, Charlie and I need your help."

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Close the door."

Sam obeyed and Charlie grinned nervously. "I'm proposing to Zoey. I'd like it if you would come ring shopping with me and Josh this afternoon."

"Of course. Why me? Why not Donna or CJ? They're probably more in tune with what Zoey would want."

"Josh said you had a fiancee once."

"I did," Sam groused, glaring at his best friend.

Josh grinned sheepishly. "Look, we're clueless, and as far as I know, Donna and CJ have never been engaged. Leo will never take the time to go with us. Toby doesn't believe in love. Ainsley... is out of the question. That leaves you."

"Fine."

Later that afternoon, the three men were exploring one of the District's finest jewelry shops – with a Secret Service detail as an assurance that no other customers would bother them.

"What do you think of this one?" Charlie asked softly, looking at a simple gold band with a row of three small diamonds.

"It's a little showy for Zoey." Josh grinned. "Hey that rhymed! I'm a poet and I don't know it."

"No," Sam admonished him. "You're a kindergartner who's never read Sartre."

"Sartre?"

"It's the best rhyme I could come up with," Sam shrugged.

"Back to the ring?" Charlie pleaded.

"I think Josh is right. You don't want anything that will overwhelm her; it needs to complement her."

"Well, like what?"

"You have to trust your heart, Charlie. When you see the ring, you'll know."

"Okay."

"Hey," Josh called. "This is nice." His friends joined him at another display case as he examined a slender bracelet with silver and gold interwoven.

"I think so too, Josh," Charlie said. "Except, I'm supposed to be getting her a ring, remember?"

"No, I mean for Donna. She'd like this."

"Donna? Your assistant Donna? That Donna?"

"Yeah, that Donna," Josh said with something akin to dreaminess in his voice.

Sam rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I thought we were here for Charlie and Zoey."

"We are, but Donna would love this bracelet."

"So get it for her, Josh."

"Yeah, but she might think I like her as more than a friend."

Charlie laughed. "You do like her as more than a friend."

"Yeah, but do I want her to know that?"

"I'm gonna go look at some more rings."

"Okay... hey, maybe she'd like these earrings better."

Sam fought a smile and put an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Donna usually wears her hair down. If you get her a bracelet, you'll be able to see her wear it."

"Good point. Wait, why are you noticing how Donna wears her hair?"

Meanwhile, Charlie was surveying a group of rings the owner was showing him. As one caught his eye, he smiled widely. "Sam! Josh!"

The two Staffers joined their young friend at the counter. "You found something?" Josh asked.

"This is the ring," Charlie gasped. "This is it."

It was a slender band made out of gold with a small diamond in the center. On either side of the diamond was an even smaller ruby.

"Zoey's birthstone is ruby," Charlie explained. "She got a pair of ruby earrings for her sixteenth birthday, but she lost them last year. I know how much she's wanted anything with rubies since then."

"It's a beautiful ring," Sam affirmed with a smile.

"That's the ring," Josh agreed.

"That's it," Charlie stated with finality.

"Very good," said the jeweler. "Anything else, Mr. Young?"

"No, thank you. But I think my friend would like to see one of the bracelets," he said, gesturing to Josh.

"So, what was this mysterious errand you and Sam and Charlie went on?" Donna badgered her boss as he came back from the shop.

"Nothing."

"Come on."

"It was nothing."

"It was something." She followed him into his office and he kicked the door closed.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we were at a jewelry shop –" he allowed a dramatic pause, "helping Charlie pick out an engagement ring."

"For Zoey?" Donna asked with a lovestruck look in her eyes. "Oh, Josh, that's so wonderful."

"Yeah, it is," Josh agreed. "He's planning on proposing tomorrow night, so don't say anything!"

"Jeez, I won't. Don't worry." Her expression turned wistful.

"What's the matter, Donna?"

"Zoey is so lucky. I'm six years older than her, and I've never had a guy love me like Charlie loves her." Josh smiled and she glared at him. "What? Another 'small sense of self-worth' comment?"

"No, I was just going to tell you that you're wrong."

"What are you talking about, Josh?" she queried.

"You have a guy who loves you and would do anything for you and will always love you."

Her eyes widened. "Are you saying that –"

Josh silenced her by taking the long jewelry box out of his bag. "Open it."

Tears were brimming in her blue eyes, and she opened the black velvet case with trembling fingers. She involuntarily let out a gasp as she saw the bracelet.

"I love you, Donnatella."

"I love you, too, Joshua."

He took the bracelet from the box and placed it on her slender wrist. "The silver and the gold are sort of intertwined, see? I thought I could be corny and say the significance is how intertwined your life is with mine."

"I like that analogy," she admitted. "Even though it is a bit corny." She fingered the bracelet. "But it's accurate. You've become the most important thing in my life, Josh."

"And you, in mine."

For the first time in three years, they gave in to their emotions and kissed gently.

"Hey," Zoey chirped as she breezed into the White House dining room. "I can't believe my Dad let us have this room tonight."

"Yeah, it's pretty great," Charlie said, standing up and smiling at his girlfriend. "You look wonderful, Zoey." She was wearing a long, slender black skirt and a red V-necked shirt.

"You look pretty handsome yourself." Charlie was still wearing his jacket and tie from earlier in the day.

"Thanks."

They sat down and enjoyed dinner, talking about everything and anything.

"So," Zoey began as they started on their slices of cake. "Josh and Donna, huh? It's about time."

"I'd say so. I think what happened last year forced Josh to confront his feelings for her. And she realized how close she came to losing him. I guess the shooting did have a fringe benefit," he said in an attempt at a joke.

Zoey's face looked stricken. "A fringe benefit? You were the target of a racially motivated assassination attempt, and you think that any good came out of it?"

"Zoey, I –"

"Do you know how much that night scared me? And how scared I was losing you afterwards when you would avoid me? Right now, I don't give a damn about what the shooting did in helping Josh and Donna; I care about the fact that three boys wanted you to die because we're together!"

"They didn't succeed, sweetie. We're still together." Charlie placed a hand over hers and squeezed it. She smiled at him, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. "And I want us to always be together."

"Charlie?"

The young aide pulled the ring box from his jacket pocket and put it on the table in front of Zoey. "It's been a year and a half since I met you while you added oregano to that pot of chili. I won't lie and say that the road we've traveled together has been without its bad times, but I can say that I've never been happier in my life than when I'm with you.

"I love you more than I knew it was possible to love another person, and I will always feel that way. Zoey Caroline Bartlet, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"