"If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights. Thanks for taking me back. Oh, and the flowers are beautiful." She exits my office and I'm left alone. Alone and staring at her walking down the hallway. Alone and wondering how the hell she does this to me.

Few people in this world can leave me speechless. I've been to Harvard and Yale. I've gone against some of the biggest political giants in this world, and I’m the one who leaves them speechless. Day after day I council the president on what's best for this nation. Rarely am I ever left with out an answer or rebuttal to any question put before me.

I am the king of comebacks. Say something to me and I've immediately got a response. Just ask any staff member here, and the collective members of congress. No one catches Josh Lyman off guard. Except for maybe her. If I'm the king of comebacks then I think I've found my queen.

When it comes to the sarcasm, though, I still think I've got her beat.

"Hey...we need funny people."

"Yeah?"

"You know any?"

You gotta admit, that was pretty good.

However, when it comes to the more serious stuff, Donna's way in the lead. Case in point, what just happened here. She managed to say something, which quite frankly was the nicest thing a woman has ever said to me. And what do I do? I let her walk by without acknowledging what that meant to me. Not telling her how important it is to know that someone cares for me enough to risk their own safety.

Of course, all the options of a perfect response are jam packed in my brain right now:

"If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop to pay tolls on the interstate."

"If you were in an accident I think my entire world would come to a stop until I knew you were okay."

"If you were in an accident I'd be scared to death that I'd never be able to tell you everything I feel about you."

Or I could of just grabbed her and kissed her. Let's be serious, we all know this is what I really wanted to do.

However, none of these things happened. I'm left standing here in my office and she's off trying to think of good one-liners. She's back in the Roosevelt room oblivious to the fact that she left me in here thinking about what she does to me. How she leaves me breathless and speechless at the same exact time.

I go back to the mess of papers on the floor that has only been partly cleaned up by Donna and I. I sit on the floor, and I automatically start thinking about how only minutes ago, Donna was sitting across from me.

"Okay, what I need is for you to stop being, like, you for a second."

How is it possible that one stops being themselves? I've never thought of changing to suit anyone's needs. I'm Joshua Lyman; sarcastic and full of myself until the day I leave this earth.

Now I'm sitting here wondering what I can do to change. Change in a way so she can realize why I do this. How the things I say to her in a sarcastic tone can be directly translated into what I really mean. When I ask her what kind of dumkes stops for a beer on his way to pick up his injured girlfriend, what I really mean is, "What kind of son of a bitch could ever leave someone as perfect as you, alone and scared, not knowing that everything was going to okay?"

She asked me if this all made me feel superior. How can I feel superior when he was the one who had her? He was the one who got her to leave me to go back to him. Whenever he wanted to, he could hold her, kiss her, and tell her everything he felt for her. Granted, I doubt the bastard ever realized he had this opportunity, but still he had it. I'm stuck here only dreaming of something that was once his reality.

How he ever let her go is beyond me. Yes, she left him, but I would have chased her by foot all the way to other side of the country if I were him. Not stopping for passing cars, stop signs, or blisters forming at the bottom of my feet.

How is this all so clear in my head but so difficult to say out loud?

I gather all the loose paper and pile them up next to my desk. I've got to get back to Roosevelt room before they send a search party out to find me.

I leave my office and start back to meet the others. I pass by the bouquet of flowers I sent Donna. It's not just gifts I have to give her. Gifts only mean something if you know the representation behind them. Donna has no clue what those flowers really mean.

I've got to start somewhere. I've got to stop making juvenile comments about seeing her in a catholic school uniform, or knocking on the complete lowlifes she chooses to date. Of course, they are complete lowlifes, and I sure as hell want to see her in a catholic school uniform.

What I need is just one chance. One opportunity where I don't blow it with complete silence or an inane comment that leaves Donna wanting to slap me. What I need, and it hits me how obvious this is, what I need is a one-liner. Not a one-liner like the one about the president's love of Latin. Something that will give her just the slightest glimpse of what I mean. What she really means to me.

I walk into the room to find Sam and Ainsley standing at the other side of the room. Larry and Ed are sitting at the table at the end nearest them. Donna's sitting at the opposite side with her back turned to me. I've entered the room to hear the end of a joke Sam's been telling. By the look on Ainsley's face, it's a very long and drawn out joke.

"…..then the president says, `I didn't mean to hit it, it just got in my way."

He's met to groans and nasty glares from around the room.

"You talking about you and your prostitute friend again, Sam?"

Ainsley laughs and turns to Sam, "Now that's funny."

"Must you always have the sarcastic comment, Josh?" Sam asks.

If he only knew. Donna turns around in her chair and looks at me. I look back over to Sam. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Of course,” Sam throws his hands in the air. "This country could be under nuclear attack and we couldn't stop josh from making a sarcastic joke."

Sam turns back to Ainsley and Ed who are working on some jokes Larry has written down. Donna turns her back to me again and starts writing on her legal pad.

I walk up behind her and lean over to her left ear. "If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop to make a sarcastic joke."

Okay, so it's a start.