Written while waiting for challah to rise.

I'm slowly working my way through season six of The West Wing, and not my kingdom but definitely a noble title and a nice estate in the hinterlands for a fic where:

- Josh starts dating Joey Lucas sometime early in season two
- Donna admits to her crush on Josh sometime later in season two
- She gets over it
- The two of them remain very good friends for the rest of their lives

- (So basically Cox and Carla on Scrubs.)

Then:

- Donna gets herself a girlfriend

- (If this was some alternate universe version of the show itself, she'd never be allowed to call herself "bisexual" because of contemporary network standards.)
- (Not even "queer.")
- (Just someone who says "I'm not suddenly a lesbian. I've had boyfriends and now I have a girlfriend, it's not that hard to understand.")
- (But because there was a bisexual woman on mainstream TV in such a high-profile show, even if it wasn't ever said there, it'd be able to show up later on stuff like Orange is the New Black.)

And:

- Josh somehow finds himself in a sort of big brother-type relationship to Donna and her girlfriend
- Which he loves
- And in situations like the end of season five, because Donna and her girlfriend aren't married or legally partnered, he's able to step in when things need to get done
- Because The West Wing is nothing if not idealistic they'd be alive and together by the end of the show

- (Of course Josh promises to be the best man for Donna the instant gay marriage is legal in either DC or Wisconsin, whichever manages that first.)

Also:

- Josh and Joey don't get to spend much time together but find ways to make it count when they do
- They work on maintaining their relationship in other ways when they're not both present in the same room
- Like long e-mails and phone calls
- Which takes someone by surprise until Josh reminds them that Kenny's with Joey and they're on speaker
- "It's nice to hear your voice," he says to Joey, and means it

- (Skype was hardly a thing when the show was made, but it might've come in a bit near the end of its run.)
- (Josh's growing command of Sign would be shown by slowly increasing the complexity and nuance of his vocabulary and sentence construction.)
- (There might be some discussion of disability and handicaps and the distinctions, differences, and overlaps between them.)
- (And the two of them tag-teaming through life together.)