White House. Charlie pedeconferences with Josh, telling him that he has preliminary budgets from everyone except for Transportation: "They said you knew why." Yes, I believe it's because the dog ate their homework. Josh asks Charlie if he's ever worked on a campaign (the answer is "no"), and whether he will work on the upcoming one (the answer is, "who knows"). Someone hands Josh a note as Charlie continues to talk about budget markups. Josh hands the note to Charlie and then walks into the bullpen, announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, the asteroid has passed us. The world is not ending today." Charlie follows behind and reads out the details: apparently the asteroid passed only 73,400 miles above earth's atmosphere, which is awfully close. As Charlie reads, Josh notices that there is someone who is not Donna sitting in Donna's cubicle. A foreboding chord is played.

Back in Beijing, C.J. asks Toby how long Jed can sit up, and Toby expositions that the doctor said thirty minutes, forty tops. At that moment, Jed had been meeting with Lian for seventy-two minutes. Teddy comes out and tells C.J. that Jed called him in to learn the exact amount of uranium the South Koreans enriched. And just then, Curtis sticks his head out and says that Jed would like the translators to come back in. A cell phone rings -- it's Leo. C.J. fills him in on what is happening. Leo: "I was gonna tell you the world's not ending, but maybe it is." C.J.: "The asteroid's passed?" Leo: "It's passed." They make it sound less like a global threat and more like a kidney stone.

Josh walks up to the stranger sitting at Donna's desk and asks her where Donna is. Hey, I recognize that woman. Don't let her make you smell that shoe. She appears to have changed catchphrases, asking Josh, "Who's Donna?" Josh tells her that Donna is the woman in whose chair she is sitting. "The blonde girl? I'm Marla Warsky. I'm covering this desk for a few days." Josh hones in on the fact that Marla is a temp, and assumes that Donna will be back in a few days. But the shoe woman does not let anyone live in a state of denial: "She got a new job, I think. I've got her cell, if you want to give her a call." Because that's the shoe woman. She'll take your deepest truths and shove them in your face. And make you smell them. Josh has a look of utter despair on his face as Marla holds up a post-it note for him. Don't smell it, Josh, whatever you do.