Reason's Prisoner: When the Battle's Lost and Won

Title: "Reason's Prisoner: When the Battle's Lost and Won"

Author: CretKid aka Cal

Category: General

Summary:

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Not mine. If we didn't care about the characters this much, we wouldn't be doing this in the first place.

Notes: Chronological Order of Reason's Prisoner Series.

North-Northwest

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Readiness Is All (concurrent with Tomorrow…)

Time Is Out of Joint

Cry Havoc

Paragon of Animals

When the Battle's Lost and Won*

"Have we eaten on the insane root / That takes the reason prisoner?" Macbeth, I:3

When The Battle's Lost and Won

Part 1

"CJ, we gotta talk."

CJ Cregg turned in her desk chair and held up one hand to shush the man at her office door. In that same hand was a cell phone, mouthpiece covered by her palm so that the listener on the other end of the line could not hear her conversation. The other hand held her office phone to her right ear. The look on her face was not betrayed by the tone of her voice, however.

"Mrs. Hassel, I assure you, the President did not intend any slight when he sent Representative Johnson to speak on his behalf… As you have probably seen on the news, the President's schedule has been quite hectic as of late… No, I don't think that is an excuse, I am merely stating a fact… The President is very concerned about your cause, which is why he sent Representative Johnson, the appointed chair of the President's Council on Education… The President has every confidence in Representative Johnson."

Carol breezed backwards into the office in her chair and grabbed the cell phone out of CJ's hand. CJ meanwhile was pointing frantically at a yellow legal pad on the desk blotter. Carol grabbed the legal pad and started giving instructions through the cell phone.

Danny Concannon decided that whatever the phone call was about it was not hush hush enough for either CJ or Carol to be concerned that he was in the room. He recalled in a briefing not so long ago that the President was supposed to make an appearance before the State of Kansas' Teacher's Union. That, and a number of other appearances dealing with his burgeoning re-election campaign, had been put on the back burner when Speaker of the House Henry Shallick intimated that there would be a ruling on the impeachment proceedings. Appearances that could be farmed out were. Apparently, the speech for the Teacher's Union in Kansas had been one such appearance.

"Mrs. Hassel, the President welcomes the support your union has pledged to his re-election campaign and I assure you that we are trying to reschedule the President's visit. But in the meantime, Mr. Johnson represents the President's stand on education."

Danny sat down in the couch and pretended to take an interest in the copy of the Washington Post sitting on her table. She was rolling her eyes and rolling her head along the back of the chair. Carol rolled back into the room, holding up the legal pad like a billboard sign. Written on the pad was 'HENRY O.K. WITH CHANGE'. CJ nodded her head and showed some signs of life.

"I will be sure to tell the President you said that, ma'am… It was nice speaking with you as well. Good bye." She hung up the phone and sighed heavily. "Good riddance."

Danny was still pretending to read the Post. When CJ cleared her throat to catch his attention, he replied from behind the paper. "Invite me in."

"What the hell are you doing?"

"We gotta talk. Invite me in."

"You're already here, nitwit. You invited yourself into my office. And I am sure that if I didn't have Carol trying to fax something to Henry in Russell, Kansas, you wouldn't have gotten as far as my door, let alone my couch."

"Invite. Me. In."

"Dear God," CJ mumbled under her breath. She put on a false face of earnestness and proclaimed with dripping sarcasm, "Danny, I hear you want to talk to me. Would you follow me back to my office please so we can discuss this like adults instead of ten year olds bent on one-up-man-ship. Oh, look, we're already here."

Danny put away the paper and leaned forward so that he rested his forearms against his knees. "Senate Judiciary Committee."

CJ pointed at the office door. "Get out."

"There have been whisperings," Danny continued undaunted.

"You will not rain on my parade. One week is not long enough for my Day of Jubilation. Toby may have had a hand in setting the re-election stage, but it was my savvy that got our polling numbers up."

"I think the House announcement last week may have had a bit to do with that, but I've gotta ask you to leave your fantasy world for just five minutes and listen to what I have to say."

"We climbed from an abysmal 27% at the end of May to 57% in the last poll. A number, I might add, that has been solid for the last month."

"I was there in the Press Room when danced your little jig."

"I did no such thing. Thirty percentage points, Danny. Do not rain on my parade." She threw a sharpie at him to make her point.

Danny ducked, then continued with his hands crossed over his knees. "Senate Judiciary Committee."

"You are going to persist in doing this, aren't you?" CJ stood up and walked around her desk so that she was towering over him.

"It could be bad," Danny maintained, leaning back against the couch cushions.

"The fact that this was Cal Ripken's last season in baseball is bad. The fact that it is supposed to rain the one and only weekend I will have off in the foreseeable future is bad. You barging into my office to tell me that the Senate Judiciary Committee has a burr up their collective ass is not on my list of what could be bad this week." CJ sat on the edge of her desk, arms crossed over her chest.

"You have this weekend off?"

CJ scowled and pointed once again to her door. "Get out."

"You're still bitter about the depositions, aren't you?"

"Don't even go there if you want to leave this office with all your body parts."

"I never said it was the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee," Danny added swiftly.

A look of puzzlement crossed CJ's face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"New Jersey."

"What about New Jersey?"

"Five months ago the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee asked for articles of impeachment to be declared against Supreme Court Justice Paul Venre. The New Jersey State Assembly Speaker dismissed the request eight days ago." Danny pretended not to notice that CJ sat up just a little straighter.

"I'm sorry if I was a little preoccupied last week with the U.S. House of Representatives' ruling about the possible impeachment of the President."

"Yeah, the story sort of flew in under the radar." Danny stood up. "And I think that was the intention."

"Do you have a point to make any time soon?" CJ asked, hands behind her on the desk as she leaned away from him.

Danny had to give her credit. If she knew something, as he suspected she did, she wasn't giving anything away. "No, I'm just digging. Does the White House have an official opinion about the goings on in the New Jersey Senate?"

"Not at this time."

"When you do, will you tell me?"

"If I say yes, will you go away?"

"If I go away, will you follow?"

CJ pointed to her office door. "Get out."

Danny smiled, tapped the side of the ever present gold fish bowl, and walked backwards towards the door. "I predict that before the day is out, you will be looking for me."

"In your dreams."

"Every night." There was an insufferable smirk on his face.

"Get. Out," CJ growled.

She counted to ten to make sure Danny was out of earshot. "Carol. Get me Toby. I need to see His Royal Hemmorhoid at his earliest convenience."

Carol rolled her chair into the doorway, phone to her ear. "I haven't heard that one in a while. What has Toby done this time?"

"Oh, he's been his normal obnoxious self."

Carol looked away as her call went through. "Ginger. Me. Has he got a few minutes? … Yeah, hold on a second." Carol covered the phone for a second. "CJ, you going there or should he come here?"

"I'll go there," CJ replied, pushing herself off the desk.

"She's headed down there, Ginger," Carol said into the phone. As CJ passed out of the office, Carol added, "And, Ginger? Duck and cover."

Toby Ziegler was sitting so that his ankle rested comfortably on the corner of the desk. One of several rubber balls was resting in his hand; the others stacked in a pyramid on his desk blotter. He watched as CJ stalked through the Communications bull pen straight for his office door. He smiled, a rare enough occurrence, but he knew it would infuriate his soon to be visitor even more. CJ stopped in his office door. She held one hand on the door knob and the other on her hip.

"Have you come to beg for a chance to win your money back?" Toby asked, knowing that the smirk that was well hidden by his beard would piss her off only because she would see it in his eyes.

"No, you card-counting poker shark, that is not why I am here, but rest assured that you will get your comeuppance. We may have a bigger problem."

"A problem bigger than the fact that the woman that speaks for the President of the United States has the absolute worst poker face in all of history?"

CJ looked livid, but Toby laid odds that she would keep her temper only because she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing he had irked her. But when her eye started to twitch, he knew he was in trouble.

"You know, I just may let your fat fry in the fire for that remark. Have fun talking with Justice Mendoza." CJ walked away from the office door.

That he wasn't expecting. Toby was out of his chair faster than he thought possible. He hated to think the mere mention of Robert Mendoza's name could do that anymore. "CJ."

She ignored him as she walked through the West Wing halls. Not wanting to appear to be chasing her, Toby ducked through the Roosevelt Room and headed her off at the pass.

"CJ!"

Still ignoring him, CJ passed into the press area, grabbed her messages from Carol and proceeded into her office. She shut the door before Toby could get a foot in the threshold.

Carol tried not to laugh as Toby pulled to an abrupt stop before falling into the door. To his credit, Toby knocked with civility before entering the office. "CJ, may I speak with you?"

"I don't know, let me check with Carol to make sure I have the time. CAROL!"

"You bellowed?" Carol replied.

"Do I have time to see Toby this morning?"

Toby sighed; he had heard that tone of voice before. The fact that CJ and Carol were yelling back and forth was not a good sign. Carol rolled to the door with CJ's appointment book in hand.

"I don't know. You have a meeting with Katie and Arthur in 15 minutes. Josh wanted to speak with you about next month's polling questions, so that will likely turn into an all-afternoon affair. And you are supposed to meet with a group of journalism students from one of the local high schools right after lunch," Carol added before returning to her desk.

CJ shrugged her shoulders at Toby and flopped into her chair. "Guess not, Toby. I'll see you later."

Toby was still perplexed about the yelling back and forth bit, and the fact that Carol seemed about 2 feet shorter than normal. "CJ, why is Carol pretending the office is a roller rink?"

"CAROL! Toby wants to know why you think the office is a roller rink."

To answer his question, Carol wheeled back into view, complete with air cast on her right foot. "Don't ask," Carol said as she moved out of immediate view.

"She tripped over her cat on the stairs," CJ provided. "Now, shoo. I have work to do, unlike others who insist in reveling in one night's poker misfortune."

Toby took a seat on the couch. "Mendoza."

"A Justice on the Supreme Court. Yes, I am familiar with the name."

"Why would I be having a conversation with Justice Mendoza? I don't recall seeing him on my calendar."

"You will, seeing that Justice Mendoza might soon be having a discussion with Danny Concannon."

Now Toby's eye was twitching. "About what?"

"Paul C. Venre."

The color would have drained from Toby's face but for the fact that he had expecting something like this for the last 8 days. "Okay."

"Danny's sniffing around."

Toby nodded. "Articles of impeachment were dropped I take it. And I am sure our favorite cub reporter will soon be asking all the right questions of all the wrong people."

"And Mendoza has a tendency to talk with the press when we least want him to. Danny knows that."

Toby rubbed the top of his head in expectation of an exhaustive day.

"One of the Post's new op-ed guys has taken a shine to racial profiling in the news," CJ added. "You have to wonder about the timing of the event."

"If you're coming up with conspiracy theories, you've been hanging around me for far too long, CJ," Toby replied. He stood up and after a moment started to toe the carpet. "I'm going to talk with Leo."

"Think someone else knows that Venre is on Justice Reynolds short list to replace him when the time comes?"

"I certainly hope not," Toby said as he started for the door.

Part 2

Josh Lyman set himself for another shot, cocked his wrist and let fly. The orange nerf ball soared through the air, glanced off the flimsy plastic rim above the blackboard and bounced into Sam's outstretched hand.

"I'm telling you, we need to press the flesh more. Stick him on the back of a train and send him across the country." Josh clapped his hands together to ask for the ball back. "Middletown, America. Let them know he's still the same man they elected to the Presidency 3 years ago. Call up every Mom and Pop newspaper and newsletter and morning news show distributor and get them to sing the praises of Josiah Bartlet."

Sam Seaborn lobbed the ball at Josh without really looking where he was throwing. "While we're at it, why don't we get him guest spots on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and "The Weakest Link"?"

The sponge ball bounced off the corner of the desk and Josh watched forlornly as it landed out of reach. "Not this again."

"There is such a thing as overexposure," Sam replied, rolling over to where the ball had landed and scoop shooting it back to Josh. "And there is his health to consider."

"The man is stronger than an ox." Josh sent another set shot flying through the air.

Sam spun in his chair to face Josh rather than rebound the ball. "But we've already battled the 'Is the President healthy enough to lead this country' war with the mass media once, and if we keep sticking him on the corner of every store front in Middletown, America, he's going to get a little frayed around the edges. The press is going to notice it."

"So we put on the gloves for Round 2." Josh fished another nerf ball out of a drawer in his desk.

"Have you discussed your blessed new media strategy with CJ yet?"

"No, but I'm supposed to talk to her this afternoon about the next set of polling questions. I’ll spring it on her then."

Josh took aim and sank a hook shot from six feet away. Arms raised in victory, he twirled around in his chair. "Game, set, match!"

Sam chose to ignore the mixed sports metaphors. "You do realize that your little media feeding frenzy will just about quadruple her work load."

Continuing to twirl in his chair like a five year old at the barber shop for the first time, Josh replied, "So we hire a full time media consultant."

"As simple as that, is it?"

Josh stopped twirling and leaned heavily on the top of his desk. "Our strategy ever since this whole re-election thing began was 'Let Bartlet be Bartlet, Part Deux'. Don’t sweat the independent council investigation, and behave as if this was any normal day. When asked about the investigation, point out at every opportunity that the President was simply protecting his right to privacy, like a number of honest, integral members of society sometimes do. And the House Committee saw it our way. And we continue to push our agenda to the head of the class as if this was just a blip on the radar screen. If we give that up now, we will look like we are trying to hide something. We can't stop now, not when we have 57% of the people on our side."

Sam picked up the nearest nerf ball and began to compress it first in one hand and then in the other. "The more we put him under public scrutiny, the more opportunities someone is going to have to suggest that something is wrong with him. If he even so much as coughs to clear his throat, it's going to be a major headline in every not-so-reputable newspaper and magazine in less than 24 hours that he's having some sort of relapse."

"The American people can't be that moronic." Josh caught what he was saying, scowled, and started over. "Let me amend that: most American people can't be that moronic."

"Someone ran an informal survey just after the President's MS was disclosed to the public. Internet traffic to medical web sites such as webMD.com increased by nearly 400%. The most frequently accessed files were those related to multiple sclerosis, seconded by a mere slip of a margin by medical malpractice procedures and impeachment laws. There are a lot of armchair information quarterbacks out there, and I am willing to bet that a majority of them make up that 43% of people we haven’t been able to convince."

Sam looked over his shoulder and tossed the nerf ball towards the hoop. The green piece of foam caught nothing but net on its way through.

Josh scowled briefly as Sam snagged the green ball in mid-air. "You just don't want to write more stump speeches than you have to."

"There is that."

A door slammed. Both Sam and Josh leaned towards his open door to see Toby pull up abruptly in front of CJ's office. With unnatural perfect timing, both sat back up in their chairs.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Sam asked.

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows with those two." Josh pondered for a moment and in a conspiratorial whisper asked, "You don't think they-- that they are--?"

Sam waited for Josh to continue his thought and in a moment of recognition of Josh's hand signals, shuddered dramatically. "Ugh, no! I try not to think about that."

"There was that exchange on Cheese Day. And she's the only one that gets away with calling him by anything but his name," Josh replied.

"I really don't want to know where she got the nick name 'Pokey' from, so can we table this discussion?" Sam asked, looking more uneasy by the minute.

"She calls you 'Spanky'."

"What does she call you?" Sam tossed him the nerf ball.

"You know, I really don't recall."

"You should bring that up with her when you're talking polling questions this afternoon."

Josh threw for another 2 points and waited for Sam to rebound the ball back to him. "Think she's got a nickname for the President?"

"I don't think she took too kindly to being referred to as 'Tall Girl' for the first 3 weeks she was with the campaign, so I bet it's something better not said in public," Sam supposed. "At least she's calling us nicknames again. I'd rather have her calling us anything rather than not talking to any of us at all."

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Guess so. You hear that Carol tripped over her cat last night?"

"Don't you two have work to do?" Donna called from the bull pen.

"This is work," Josh answered loudly. "We are contributing to interoffice communication."

"You're gossiping." Donna appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame.

"We are not gossiping," Sam replied over his shoulder. "Gossiping is for girls. We are participating in an information exchange."

"You're gossiping," Donna maintained, snatching the nerf ball that Josh had just launched in mid-air. "And you do have real work to do. Josh, Congressman Wick on line 2 for you." She tossed the nerf ball towards the trashcan in the opposite corner of the room. "Go home, Sam. Josh can play again when he's done with his homework."

Josh picked up the phone. "Chris, buddy! How's my favorite guy from the Meadowlands?"

Toby knocked on the door frame to Leo McGarry's office, leaning his head into the room. "Leo, do you have a few minutes?"

Leo looked up from the reports he was reading and removed his reading glasses. "What have you got, Toby?"

"Heads up. It may be nothing. It may be something." Toby closed the door.

Leo leaned back in his chair and watched as Toby studied his shoes. "Spit it out, will ya?"

"CJ says Danny Concannon is on a story about Venre's impeachment case."

"Venre's the New Jersey Supreme Court guy?" Leo started to tap his glasses against the report he had been reading. He was vaguely familiar with the case.

"Yeah."

The highlights were coming back to him as he sat and thought about it. "Articles of impeachment were drawn up concerning his lack of response when asked about the Justice Department's investigation into racial profiling on the Turnpike during his confirmation hearings."

"New Jersey House dropped the charges."

"It's not a story." Leo put his glasses back on and picked up the report again. Before he started to read again, he noticed that Toby was still hemming and hawing in front of his desk and he had started to scratch at his eyebrow. Leo had long ago learned to trust Toby's instincts, even when he had to disagree with them. "You think it might be."

Toby spoke quietly as he glanced at the door connecting Leo's office with that of the President. "The timing is a bit too coincidental."

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "The senators of New Jersey called for impeachment long before the President announced."

"Has there been any more talk of Reynolds retiring?"

Leo resisted the urge to sit up straight, now that he knew what angle Toby was after. "Not that I know of."

"Venre is on Reynolds' wish list for potential replacements."

"Makes sense. They have similar opinions concerning the environment, decentralization of monopolies, civil rights."

Toby stepped closer to Leo's desk. "Who else knows Reynolds offered to retire early so that the President could name his successor?"

"Outside senior staff and the President? White House Council's office. I suspect Reynolds' people know."

"Mendoza favors Venre's possible appointment."

"You've talked about this with Mendoza?"

"Not in so many words. He called me at home the morning the story broke, day before the ACLU speech."

Leo nodded his head. "Who else knows that you've spoken to Mendoza about this?"

"CJ. Mendoza has always been one to speak his mind, regardless of what we think. Danny knows this."

"Babish has Ainsley Hayes looking into judicial appointments for the last two years, State Supreme Courts."

Toby's eyebrows were doing an admirable job of chasing his receding hairline. "The White House Chief Council is vetting possible Supreme Court Justices?"

Shrugging his shoulders again, Leo closed the report. He stood up and walked towards the door to Margaret's alcove. "The President wanted to know which way the wind's been blowing in terms of who's been appointed. She's been reviewing the transcripts of the confirmation hearings."

"Does she know why she's reviewing transcripts?"

"I suspect she does. It's not like she just fell off the turnip truck. She clerked for Dreifort." Leo opened the door to check on the whereabouts of his assistant. "Margaret, can you ask Ainsley Hayes to come up here at her earliest convenience?"

Before he could close the door, he spotted Josh walking into the outer office. "Leo, we may have a problem."

Leo pointed Josh into his office. "Get in line."

Josh nodded at Toby. "I just got a call from Chris Wick. The DNC was looking to front James Lucas of Middlesex, NJ, for a Congressional bid in next year's election, only Lucas isn't getting funding from us. He's getting it from the GOP."

"Please tell me you're kidding," Toby implored under his breath.

Leo leaned against his desk. "He jumped ship?"

"Looks like it," Josh replied. "And want to know what's worse?"

Before Josh could continue, CJ burst into the office with a pink memo slip in her hand. "What the hell is this note from Larry King's scheduling office about?"

Josh pointed at the pink paper in her hand while addressing Leo. "James Lucas is a last minute replacement on Larry King Live. Tonight."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Oh, this can't be good."

Sam stepped into the room, and catching the expressions on everyone else's face, asked, "What can't be good? I just saw CJ fly out of her office like a bat out of hell."

"James Lucas has crossed over to the dark side," Josh quipped caustically.

"Isn’t he the leading Democrat in the New Jersey Senate?" Sam asked.

Toby cleared his throat. "James Lucas also led the investigation into Judge Paul Venre's allegedly false testimony at his confirmation hearings."

"The impeachment case over racial profiling?" Josh asked.

"One in the same," CJ replied.

Sam deflated. "This can't be good."

"Anyone want to lay odds on the hot topic tonight?" Josh threw out, turning in place.

"Why are we getting a 'heads up' from Larry King's scheduling office?" Sam asked.

"Maybe because there are people in this town that actually like me," CJ replied.

"No, that can't be it," Toby added.

CJ shot him a look that would freeze liquid nitrogen.

Leo stepped into the fray. "I'm glad you find some humor in this situation, Toby."

Toby was no longer looking at his shoes. "Temporary mental aberration."

Noticing Toby's shift to political strategist, Leo called the meeting to a head. "CJ, is this what Danny has?"

"Could be." CJ crossed her arms over her chest. "He wasn't specific."

"Find out how specific he can be," Leo suggested. "Sam, go talk to Ainsley about her research into State Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Babish. MARGARET!"

The red-haired woman slipped into the room. "Leo?"

"Never mind about Ainsley. I'm sending Sam down there."

Sam looked from Leo to Margaret and then back to Leo again. "Why do I have to talk to her? Why can't Josh?"

"Want a little cheese with that whine, Spanky?" CJ added, turning full body towards Sam.

Leo threw a disapproving look in CJ's direction that she didn’t see. "It’s either Ainsley or Babish. I need Josh to go shake whatever tree Steve Oronato has been hiding in."

"I needed to head over there about Big Tobacco anyway." Josh stopped pacing the room. "Might as find out who's behind Lucas' defection."

"I'll talk to Ainsley," Sam added.

Margaret pointed at her desk. "I'm just going to go back to work here."

Nodding, Leo turned back to CJ. "See if you can find out what Lucas is going to talk about tonight."

"Got it." CJ crumpled the pink memo slip in her hand.

"If it's what I think it's about, we need to talk to Justice Reynolds about what might be hitting the fan in the next 24 hours."

"Who the hell could know about it? Justice Reynolds was in the Oval Office at the time he made the offer," Josh asked.

"Things slip. It's happened before." Leo made a shooing motion with his hand. "Let's get it done, people."

Toby waited for the others to leave before stepping away from his perch near Leo's desk. "I'm going to talk to Justice Reynolds."

"Be discreet, Toby. If Lucas is going to start unfounded rumors about Reynolds retiring--"

"They're not exactly unfounded," Toby interrupted.

"--and that Venre is a possible choice to replace him from the starting gate--"

"No one has properly vetted him yet!"

Leo walked behind his desk and pulled out his chair. "I'm just saying, Toby, if you thought Mendoza was an uphill climb, anyone we choose to replace Reynolds is going to face Mt. Everest. It's rare enough to replace one sitting judge during an administration. It's a damn miracle when you get to replace two."

Toby leaned over Leo's desk. "If we try to appoint a new justice now, it's going to look like we think we won't have a second term."

"Then we'll save that battle for later. We are going to win the Democratic nomination. And we are going to win re-election."

"You're beginning to sound like him," Toby replied, pointing towards the door to the Oval Office.

"Today, I'm going to take that as a compliment. I want to know what Reynolds has to say about this."

Toby straightened. "Someone may need to take my meeting with Sepio."

"Put it off. Sepio will just think you don't want to talk to him."

"I don't want to talk to him. He wants an audience about some wildlife refuge thing," Toby said, waving his hands in a haphazard fashion.

Leo sat down. "Go talk to Reynolds. I'll talk to the President."

Toby tapped the desk corner and headed for the office door.

Setting his reading glasses on the end of his nose, Leo picked up the long forgotten report. "MARGARET!"

Margaret appeared in his door again. "Leo?"

"Find me a few minutes with the President sometime in the near future, will ya?"

"'Near future' before lunch or after lunch?"

Leo paused and hated himself for having to think about the question. "Do we know what’s on his menu?"

"No, but I can find out," Margaret offered.

"God save us, we're trying to gage his mood by what he's had to eat," Leo muttered.

"Leo?"

"Before lunch."

Margaret gave him a 'thumbs up'. "Good choice." She left for her office.

"MARGARET!"

"Turkey on whole wheat and a small side salad."

How she knew what he was going to ask, he didn’t want to know. "Thanks."

Part 3

CJ had a pounding headache, compounded by the fact that the underling on the other side of the phone conversation was blathering about something inconsequential and avoiding her request all together.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Cregg, State Senator Lucas is a last minute replacement for our scheduled guest. I really don't know what Mr. King will be asking him this evening."

Rubbing her temples, CJ tried not to let the teeth gnashing she was doing be heard over the phone. "You mean to tell me that Larry King asked James Lucas to sit in on a discussion of 'ripped from the headlines' tv? That is the topic tonight, isn't it? That's what it says on your web site."

"I believe tonight's topic has been changed in light of Mr. Wells last minute cancellation."

CJ counted to ten several times before framing her next question. "Can you at least tell me who else is on the guest list this evening?"

"We are still trying to confirm the rest of tonight's guests at this time. Mr. Wells was going to be Mr. King's only guest tonight."

The sigh of frustration almost escaped. "Can you at least tell me who you have contacted or who has shown interest?"

"I can't give you information that I don't have. I would help you if I could, Ms. Cregg."

CJ dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling. She tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice. "Thank you so much." Without looking, she attempted several times to hang up the phone.

What had started out as a wonderful morning was quickly turning into a media nightmare. There was a knock on her door before she could successfully get the receiver into the cradle. She turned her head just enough to get a good side long view of her visitor. "Took you long enough to get here."

"You're draping your neck over furniture again." Danny stepped into the office.

She couldn't help but notice that he was looking at the disarray of the desk and the files on her couch. At this point, she didn't care. "That doesn't answer my question."

"You asked a question?"

"It went unasked." Readying herself for round umpteen-million of the cat and mouse game they so frequently played, CJ sat up, wincing slightly from the change in the center of gravity for her head.

Danny sallied up to the corner of her desk. "Then how do I know to which question you were referring? 'How did I ever let that handsome reporter slip through my fingers'? 'When will I finally admit I am madly in love with a certain senior White House correspondent'?"

"How about 'How long should I deny a certain insane, red-head pain in the ass access to the President'?"

"Nah. That can't be it."

CJ almost snorted. "Do you and Toby compare notes every morning?"

"Excuse me?" Danny idly picked at the fall decorations around the goldfish bowl.

"Not an hour ago, Toby had that same smart-ass reply. Do you plan these things ahead of time?" She slapped at his wrist as he tried to rearrange the wreath arrangement.

Rubbing his hand on the side of his pants, Danny replied cheerily, "I still have no idea what you're talking about, but putting that aside, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, 30 minutes ago. What took you so long getting here?"

Danny had a look on his face that she remembered from not so long ago. He was in a mischievous mood and getting information from him would be like drawing blood from a stone. Not that he was obligated to give her any information.

"I told you that you would be looking for me before the end of the day. Though, I was thinking more around dinner time, but before lunch is fine by me."

CJ leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. A war of words with Danny tended to have its uses. "Are you content with being insufferable, or can I convince you to act like an adult for two seconds?"

"If you wanted me here earlier, you shouldn't have sent Carol to fetch me. She's on crutches today, if you hadn't noticed."

"I did notice and I also know that she called you from her desk because I was standing over her when she did."

"Normally, I would reply with another smart-ass remark about playing hard to get, but by the looks of that vein in your forehead, I probably shouldn't."

CJ scowled. He was trying to bait her into subconsciously rubbing at her forehead. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "You are just full of witty come-backs today."

"It helps to have a willing sparring partner." Danny set aside a stack of papers that was in the guest chair and took a seat. "I missed this."

She tried to remain stern but knew it would be a lost cause. This too had become habit, and bad or not, it was nice to be back to the familiar. "There is no 'this', Danny."

"I know. I just said that to see if I could get that vein on your forehead to jump again." He leaned forward, supposedly studying her face. "Looks like I can." He leaned back in his chair, mimicking her posture. "You have to admit, you missed this pedantic bantering thing we had going."

"I don’t know about what they say where you went to school--"

Danny interrupted, "Notre Dame, but you knew that already."

"--but where I come from, what we do," CJ motioned her hand between them, "is neither scholarly nor bookish."

"Well, 'playground' did pop into my mind, but then I've already given that vein in your forehead enough exercise." Danny paused and couldn't help but smile. "You're draping your head again."

"I am asking for a raise," CJ said to the ceiling. "No one should have to put up with the sort of shenanigans I have had to put up with this morning and not get combat pay."

"I am not being combative. You still haven't told me why you wanted to see me."

CJ sat up. "Larry King."

"I hear he's a nice guy," Danny replied.

"Who else does he have across the proverbial table from him tonight?"

"How should I know?"

"Because you do know, I can tell by the smirk you are trying to hide."

"Maybe I do." He tried hard not to have an expression on his face.

"You tell me who's on Larry King Live and I will let you ask whatever question that has been rattling around inside that head of yours."

"Just one? I should at least get one question per guest."

Sighing, CJ replied, "Fine."

"James Lucas, New Jersey State Senator."

"He doesn't count. I already knew he was going to be on tonight."

"Fair enough. Congressman Jacob Riley from Nevada."

Considering Lucas wanted Judge Venre impeached because of his lack of information concerning the Justice Department's investigation into racial profiling during his confirmation hearings, it made sense that Congressman Riley was on the ticket. Riley was one of staunchest supporters of legislation that would prohibit the use of racial profiling. "Okay. That's one question. Who else?"

"An Air Force lieutenant from Nellis Air Force Base by the name of Samuel Peterson was flown in this morning and is staying at the Watergate, the bill for which is being footed by Congressman Riley."

She wasn't expecting that name, and she wondered what had been offered to the man to get him to speak on live television. "Anyone else?" CJ asked, grabbing a pen from her desk so that she wouldn't start clenching her fists.

"There's been mention of someone from the ACLU, but I haven't got that confirmed yet. Three guests, three questions. May I begin?"

CJ tapped the pen on her knee. "Two questions, and a yes-no confirmation, since you can't name for certain the final guest."

Danny nodded. She was surprised that Danny capitulated so quickly, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"I see the connection between Riley and Lucas, since both are big proponents of legislation to outlaw racial profiling and inflicting harsher penalties on law enforcement officials convicted of racial profiling," Danny began. "Obviously the Air Force lieutenant has something to do with this because the little vein on your head started doing the Macarana the minute I mentioned him. So, who is he and why haven’t we heard of him before now?"

"That's two questions."

"No, that's one question with two parts."

CJ smiled. "To-may-to, to-maa-to."

"Answer the question," Danny playfully growled.

CJ dropped the pen on the desk, leaned forward. Her hands were folded in front of her, and she leaned closer as if the information she was about to divulge was better left behind closed doors. "Approximately 7 months ago, Air Force Lieutenant Samuel Peterson was stopped by police outside Boulder City, Nevada, for rolling a stop sign. However, there was no stop sign to roll. When the police asked to search his vehicle, he refused. An officer spotted a locked gun box under the passenger seat. When Lt. Peterson reached for his military I.D., the officers drew their weapons and asked Lt. Peterson to leave his vehicle. He refused again, citing they had no grounds to search his vehicle for rolling a fictitious stop sign. Lt. Peterson was forcibly removed from his truck and arrested for failing to comply with a police request. Lt. Peterson offered no resistance and went passively."

Danny wasn't writing anything down. He had been fishing earlier, it wouldn't surprise her if he didn't already have a good portion of this information as well.

"And how do you know this? And before you claim I've used up all of my questions, that's a follow-up to my first and I assume the answer goes to why no one has heard of this case before."

CJ continued. "We, meaning Sam, Toby and I, were at the Boulder City Police station to prevent Congressman Riley from making a complete ass of himself. Lord knows how he caught wind of it, but he did, and was on his way to that police station with a bus load of reporters to gain some support for his bill in Congress."

"How do you, Sam and Toby fit into this little scenario? And again, goes to answer the first question."

"Sam was retained on behalf of Lt. Peterson. Lt. Peterson used his one phone call to contact his lawyer. His lawyer called Toby. We were all in San Francisco at the time. Toby called Sam. All charges were dropped."

"And Lt. Peterson's lawyer is…?"

"A sitting judge on the United States Supreme Court," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Justice Mendoza."

Score one for the reporter, CJ thought to herself. "Lt. Peterson's father and Justice Mendoza had been friends since grade school, apparently. Justice Mendoza is Lt. Peterson's godfather."

"And you kept this out of the media, just like you kept Mendoza's arrest in Wesley, Connecticut, quiet?"

When it came to Danny and his secret sources of information, she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that he knew all about Mendoza and the keystone cops of Wesley, Connecticut.

"Okay, CJ, you really got to work on getting that vein under control. And by the way, that was my yes-no confirmation."

"You're not writing about that," CJ warned, pointing a finger at his chest.

Danny nodded. "Fine. Can I ask my second question now?"

"Fire away."

"Any truth to the rumor that Justice Reynolds is ready to retire and Paul Venre is on a short list to replace him?"

This she was expecting. The fact that he knew something about Reynolds only confirmed in her mind that her day was about to go straight to hell. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

"I'm not even going to justify that with a response. Besides, you know that there is no possible way I could answer it even if there was a remote possibility that it's true."

"Good enough. Nice talking to you." Danny stood up.

Before he could reach the door, CJ called out, "I don't suppose that if you knew something more you would tell me?"

Danny seemed to ponder this, smiled and shook his head. "Nah."

"Just thought I would ask."

Danny slowly backed out of the office. "So, can I assume that there won't be an early lid?"

CJ picked up the pen on her desk "That would be a safe bet."

"Then I should make sure my take out menus are up to date."

The pen started a dance on the edge of her desk. "Probably a good idea."

"Okay. I'll see you at the 1 o'clock briefing." Danny looked both ways before venturing from the Press Secretary's office and headed towards the briefing room.

CJ studied the pen in her hand and contemplated how much she really wanted this day to end as quickly as possible.

Part 4

Josh had one arm in his suit jacket and the other laden with his backpack and half a bagel sandwich. He was about to leave the West Wing entrance when CJ snagged his suited arm and pulled him aside.

"Come with me." She started to drag Josh away from the main hallway.

"What the hell, CJ? I'm supposed to meet Steve Oronato in like 7 minutes."

Undaunted, CJ pulled Josh into the Roosevelt room. When she was sure they were alone, she said, "Danny knows about Reynolds."

"How the hell did he find out about Reynolds?" Josh nearly screamed. The backpack in his hand dropped to the table.

"I don't know, Josh, I'm not a mind reader. He asked and I deflected." The frustrated sigh Josh let out only confirmed her instinct that Danny knew something. "I asked Carol to pull every piece of literature that has a quote, a picture, a story on Reynolds for the last three years."

"That's a start."

It was silent while they both brooded over how the rest of their day was going to go. Both leaned against the side of the table and crossed their arms.

"Where's Sam?" CJ asked quietly.

Josh shrugged his other arm into his coat. "Last I saw he was headed down to the inner sanctum."

"Ainsley's office?"

Nodding, Josh went back to crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah."

"I need him to talk to Lt. Samuel Peterson."

"Wasn't he the Air Force guy from Nevada?"

"Yeah. He's on Larry King tonight. Along with Congressman Riley and someone from the ACLU."

"Danny told you this?" CJ nodded. "This can't be good. He knows about the whole Boulder City thing?"

"He essentially had the story, I filled in some of the details. I don't think that's the angle he's after. He knows about Mendoza and Connecticut."

Josh blew air through his teeth. "Well, he's not after a conspiracy within our administration to hide racial profiling or else the Mendoza thing would have come out long ago. And there is the police record. Danny's after something else."

CJ agreed and indicated so by nodding her head. She sighed. "I may need to kidnap Donna. Carol's sort of incapacitated and the Reynolds' research could take a bit of time."

"I'll be on the Hill all day anyway at this point. I think I will pay Congressman Riley a visit first though." He slapped the table with both hands and pushed himself to a standing position. "Think of it this way: we have just over 9 hours to prepare for this."

"I need to find Sam. I need to call Toby."

"Have fun." Josh grabbed his backpack and left the room.

CJ left by the door on the other side of the room and headed for the basement offices.

Sam looked up from the newspaper he was reading when he heard the distinctive ring of an elevator reaching the lobby floor. The Watergate Hotel lobby was moderately busy for the mid-afternoon. In the thirty minutes that he had been sitting there, he had seen at least 4 congressmen, 3 senators and half a dozen lobbyists.

A smartly dressed uniformed gentleman walked out of the elevator. Sam stood up, folded his newspaper under his arm and walked towards the man in military attire.

"Lt. Peterson?"

Peterson, a man of medium height and toned musculature, stopped short of the concierge desk. He stood at attention out of practiced habit. Sam recalled the Air Force lieutenant had done the same thing in an out-of-the-way police station in Boulder City, Nevada.

"Mr. Seaborn."

"I heard you were in town, I thought I would stop by to see how you were doing," Sam improvised. The newspaper slipped from under his arm and he scrambled to catch it.

Peterson calmly picked up the fallen newspaper and handed it back to Sam. "If you will excuse my candor, sir, I think I know why you're here. I suspect that this is not a social call."

"Yeah." Sam pointed towards the set of chairs he had just vacated. "We got word that you are appearing on Larry King Live tonight, and judging from the rest of the guest list, we think we know what's going to be the topic of discussion this evening."

Sam took a seat and waited for Peterson to do the same before continuing. "Not that we are trying to cover up the incident in Boulder City, Nevada, but I just want to make sure that the incident 7 months ago is the reason why you are here."

"Yes," Peterson affirmed. "Congressmen Riley asked if I would join him in a discussion of racial profiling. My commanding officer allowed me to take some of my leave time to come to the East Coast. I've already met with Mr. King."

"Wait, Larry King will be broadcasting from the Washington studio? Not Los Angeles?"

"Unless Larry King has a clone, I am pretty sure I met with him this morning."

Sam slowly digested the information. CJ was not going to be happy. Toby was really not going to be happy about this. The Communications Director really hated it when the political aspirations of the administration were ambushed before they even left the starting block. Larry King on the East Coast, when Sam was sure he was supposed to be on the West Coast in the L.A. studio because the television producer that was supposed to be the sole guest didn't like to travel.

"Out of curiosity, when were you contacted about this?" Sam asked, hoping that the twitching he felt in his eye was simply an aberration.

"Sunday afternoon. I arranged with my CO to leave last night. I checked in with the commanding officer of Bolling Air Force Base at 0700 this morning, after which I went to the CNN studios."

"So, to be absolutely sure about this, you were contacted almost 48 hours ago about appearing on Larry King Live this evening, and this isn't a last minute replacement for tonight's scheduled guest."

"Yes, sir."

Sam was almost positive he wasn't cringing as he mumbled, "Maybe Toby was right."

There was a look of puzzlement on Peterson's face. "Excuse me, sir?"

Sam shook his head. "Nothing." He leaned forward. "Suffice it to say, it's a good bet that the circumstances that led to my representing you are going to come out."

"I am aware of that, sir." Peterson sat ram-rod straight in his chair. "I've talked with my father. I had dinner with Justice Mendoza and his family at his home last night. As I discussed with Congressman Riley on the phone yesterday morning, I will discuss the circumstances of my arrest, that the charges were dropped and that I was free to return to base. I will not be discussing the military's position on the practice of racial profiling in any way. If it is brought up, I do not represent Justice Mendoza's thoughts on the practice of racial profiling. To my knowledge, the state senator from New Jersey, Congressman Riley and Rachel Edwards from the American Civil Liberties Union will be participating in a panel discussion, Mr. King will be the moderator and I will be asked as one of several witnesses to recount my experience."

"Apparently someone has already talked with you," Sam replied, relaxing a little.

"My CO is very thorough."

Sam placed his newspaper on the glass-topped low table between their chairs. "You understand that I had to come here and talk to you."

"It's not a problem, sir. I appreciate your help in Nevada."

"Out of curiosity, why didn't you call the base for help? Surely someone from the Judge Advocate General's office could have helped you."

For the first time since starting their conversation, Peterson smiled. "Actually, I did call the base. My CO served with my father in Vietnam and called my father to let him know what was happening. My father called Justice Mendoza. You arrived before the JAG officer could. I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I certainly did not want to spend a night in jail."

Sam stood up, offered his hand. "It was good speaking with you again, lieutenant."

"Likewise, Mr. Seaborn."

Toby stepped out onto the marble steps of the Supreme Court Building and squinted at the glare of bright gray clouds that assaulted his eyes. He reached for his cell phone to check for voice mail messages. Out of respect, he had turned off his phone while he had been meeting with Justice Reynolds in his chambers. Toby hated nothing more than having a conversation interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone.

Well, there were things that Toby hated more, but his pet peeve for this week was excessive cell phone use.

There was a message from Bonnie that confirmed his meeting with Sepio had been postponed. Another one from Ginger reminding him that Seth Gillette was expecting his phone call to be returned promptly. The last had been from CJ. From the sound of her voice, he had decided it couldn't wait until he returned to the West Wing. He dialed her direct line.

CJ answered on the first ring. "Toby?"

"I hate it when you do that," he replied.

"Caller ID. Get with the 21^st century."

"You rang?" He wanted to get back indoors as soon as possible. It looked like rain to the south.

"Yeah. Danny confirmed James Lucas, Congressman Riley, Air Force Lt. Samuel Peterson and someone from the American Civil Liberties Union on tonight's show."

Toby turned away from a couple of tourists who were taking much too much interest in his half of the conversation and walked further down the stairs to an open area. "Well, it looks like racial profiling will be on the serving plate tonight."

"Sam is talking with Lt. Peterson right now. Josh is going to try and corral Congressman Riley."

"They're not the ones I'm worried about."

"What I've got to say next isn't going to alleviate your worries either, but Danny started fishing about Reynolds as well."

"Well that just clinches it." Toby would have thrown his phone against the outer wall of the Supreme Court Building, but the lesser of two evils included not facing a possible assault charge if he managed to hit someone instead.

"I did some digging to see where he might be getting this. Carol pulled an article out of New Yorker magazine," CJ continued. "An interview done almost two years now. He was asked if he ever thought of retiring. He said yes, but that Justice Crouch beat him to the punch. Soon after the New Jersey Senate called for articles of impeachment against Venre, Reynolds went on the record and said the allegations were, and I quote, 'outlandish and laughable. Paul Venre has more integrity in his pinky than Acting Governor Michael Haywood has in his entire body', endquote."

Toby rubbed his forehead. "So, on top of waiting for the other shoe to drop, we get to defend the President's choice of Leslie Cryer for assistant secretary of commerce for economic development because Justice Reynolds thinks her lieutenant governor is a conniving, opportunistic hack set on his own political agenda. I want copies of everything you have messangered over to me right now. Right now, CJ."

He heard CJ sigh over the phone. "It's going to spill tonight. We will need to have some sort of response."

She was quiet for a minute. From the background noise over the line, he assumed Carol had just rolled into the room.

"Hey, Toby, give me a minute. I've got Sam on the cell phone."

"Yeah."

Toby turned in place in 45 degree increments to get an idea of the number of people surrounding him and for something to do. The wind had picked up and Toby scowled at the change in the weather. He could hear CJ's half of the conversation as the decibel level started to increase.

"Toby? This last minute replacement thing is not so last minute. Lt. Peterson was called Sunday afternoon."

The paranoia gears were spinning fast in his head. Unfounded or not, his fear was that this was an organized attack in order to sully their victory in the grand jury inquiry. They were going to be accused of greasing the rails so that Venre's impeachment case would get lost in the melee of the President's impeachment case. So that they could announce that Justice Reynolds was stepped down and so that Venre could be named as the next Supreme Court Justice. Their 57% approval rating was an extremely soft number, despite the month long mainstay. Any accusation of impropriety was going to send that number on a fast downhill descent.

"Alright. Let's see what page Josh is on with Riley and what the Republican leadership has to say about this. Make sure Leo knows what's going on. I'm going to pay another visit with Justice Reynolds just as soon as you get those files sent to me. I'm on the stairs of the Supreme Court Building."

"Which side?"

"West, I think."

"You know, Toby, you could make it sound like you're not headed to your own execution."

Toby started back up the steps to the West Pediment. "I'll be sure to send the guy with the black hood your way when I see him."

He hung up the phone and hung his head as he passed through the brass doors. He wasn't going to wait outside with the threat of rain.

Part 5

Josh walked into the restaurant and wasn't surprised to find Steve Oronato already seated and eating. When the hostess greeted him, Josh pointed in Steve's direction and said the person he was meeting was already there. He swept past with fluid motion, slipping out of his trench coat and backpack with practiced ease in the crowded room. Josh slipped into the bench seat and grabbed the closest waitress.

"Grilled chicken sandwich, side of fries and a Coke."

"This isn't my table," the waitress replied, and sped off.

Steve speared a fork-full of romaine lettuce and waved it at Josh. "If you had gotten here on time, your order could have already been on the table."

"I was delayed," Josh replied, looking for anyone who might take his order.

"Yeah, I thought that might be the case. That's why I didn't wait." Steve smiled as he chewed his food.

Josh held his tongue before making the sarcastic reply he so desperately wanted to say.

"So, Josh, why the sudden interest in meeting with me? Afraid my guy is going to announce and steal your thunder?"

"Your guy already has announced his intentions," Josh replied, and he flagged down the waitress that was headed their way. He repeated his order and continued his conversation. "Or have you forgotten the Leadership Breakfast?"

"Hell, no. I was laughing about that for weeks. It's a rare thing when Toby gets his feet pulled out from under him. It's on our favorite's list: Blunders of the Bartlet Administration."

"What I want to know is how you guys get off backing one of our guys in the New Jersey State senate."

Steve smiled, predatory. "So, this is about James Lucas."

"Yeah, this is about James Lucas."

"He came to us," Steve replied smoothly. "What can I say? He finally saw the light."

"And it was in large neon letters saying, 'Here there be dragons'."

"Now, Josh, it's not my fault he chose to defect to a winning team."

Josh smiled and looked to the back of the restaurant. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Steve swallowed visibly and continued to lecture with his fork. "You're just bitter because you and I both know that James Lucas is a sure win for that Congressional seat, no matter which ticket he runs on. He's got good numbers. Thirteen seats, Josh. This is just one of them."

Josh leaned back in his chair when the waitress brought his food to the table. He poured a generous amount of ketchup on his french fries. "In seven of those seats, the incumbent's a Democrat, in areas that have historically voted Democratic in the last 10 elections."

"Well, now in one of them they are going to vote Republican."

"We'll see about that. I suppose it's not a fluke that Lucas is going to appear on Larry King tonight."

From the look on Steve's face, Josh knew this wasn't news to him. "He may even announce his intentions of running for the New Jersey 12^th."

"Yeah, and I bet one of his campaign platforms is going to concern racial profiling."

"You know, that's the rumor."

Josh laced his fingers together and steepled his hands over his plate. "I'm going to tell you a little story. It may be true, it may not, but that's not the point. And I will tell you why. Because this little story is the one I can sell."

"I'm all ears."

"There's a rather disgruntled State Senator who has recently had his pet cause, the impeachment of a State Supreme Court Justice, declared null and void because really, there was no case."

"The New Jersey senate would disagree with you there."

"Who said this was about New Jersey?" Josh asked plaintively. "May I finish my story?"

"By all means."

"So this State Senator has decided that he wants to do something about it. Maybe he's been a victim of racial profiling himself. Maybe he's a lawyer that had a lucrative practice bringing racial discrimination in the workplace to trial before entering the political arena. He's the leading Democrat in the State Senate, been there for nearly two decades and never once had to fight to keep his seat. The people love him.

"But he's had a few lapses in faith in the Democratic Party. Things aren't shaking the way he would like and the same constituents that got him elected are expressing some concern. 'What are you going to do about the number of young men being pulled over for Driving While Black'?

"The Republican Acting Governor decides that if he wants to play ball with the big boys, he's going to have to tackle this issue. Our State Senator agrees. They decide to review the confirmation hearings of one of the State's most controversial judicial appointments in recent history. They allege that the nominee did not truthfully answer questions regarding an ongoing Justice Department investigation into racial profiling. Did I mention that it was an ongoing investigation? Ongoing. As in currently under investigation. Did I mention that this nominee spearheaded the investigation as State Attorney General? That he asked the D.O.J. to look into police arrest records.

"So this Republican Acting Governor and this Democratic State Senate leader ask for the Supreme Court Justice's resignation and he rightly refuses. They ask the State House to call for articles of impeachment. The House reviews the case and dismisses it. The State Senator is disappointed. The Acting Governor hears his dismay and says, 'Hey, we could use you. Why don't you run for the 12^th congressional slot in the next election? I've got some friends that want to talk to you.'

"These friends arrange for a public forum where he can announce his candidacy. They find a forum where he can establish a platform that in more ways than one can rip into the issues that you guys couldn't put a sizeable dent in when we were under the gun of an independent council investigation. These friends give him the ammunition to tear into the current administration's policy regarding privacy, First Amendment rights, hate crimes legislation and a whole host of apparent grievances that this State Senator might now have now that he's aligned himself with the Republican party.

"And because a currently sitting US Supreme Court Justice publicly denounced said Republican Acting Governor, your friends will find a way to drag him into this as well and the fact that at one time he was thinking of retiring. Your friends are going to pull out all the stops you tried to use when we put a Supreme Court nominee before the Senate Judiciary committee. Allege that the Bartlet administration is trying to load the Court with justices that protect the individual's right to privacy, a person's right to marry whom they want and where they want and have it legal wherever they choose to live. Justices that will uphold a woman's right to choose and believe in the separation of Church and State.

"And I'm here to tell you that you're going to lose."

Josh called over their waitress and pointed at his barely-touched plate. "Can I have this wrapped to go?"

Steve was laughing and smiling, but Josh had been around the Hill long enough to recognize the look of false bravado.

"Nice story you have, there, Josh. You should think of a career in fiction writing when your guy gets voted out of the White House next year."

The waitress arrived with Josh's take out box. He dropped a ten dollar bill on the table and stood up. "My 'guy' is President of the United States. You couldn't touch us with the FEC seats. You couldn't even get on the same playing field when we brought in Mendoza. We are going to stomp on your toes when it comes to Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and campaign finance reform. My 'guy's numbers are pushing 60 percent. Where does your guy sit right now?"

With that Josh grabbed his backpack and left the restaurant.

Sam was waiting for him outside and around the corner. They started walking towards Capitol Hill.

"From the smirk on your face, I am going to assume things went well in there," Sam ventured, accepting the white styrofoam box. "What is this?"

"Yes, things went well and that is a grilled chicken sandwich and a side of fries."

"French fries? You couldn't ask for a potato or vegetable?"

"French fries are a form of potato and no I couldn't ask for something else because then Steve would know I wasn’t seriously going to share a meal with him."

"But you weren't going to share a meal with him, you were getting me lunch."

Josh pointed at the box in Sam's hands. "And there it is. Quit complaining."

They waited to cross the street with the light and the rest of the pedestrian traffic.

"We need to call CJ and let her know that it's a decent bet Lucas is going to bash the administration tonight," Josh said, reaching for the lunch box and grabbing a few fries. "We're going to have to strategize a response. We got any word from Toby?"

Sam slapped Josh's hand away as he reached for another fry. "Yeah, he's in with Justice Reynolds again. He's prepping him for any possible press response to tonight's show."

"You headed back to the House?"

"Yeah," Sam replied. "I need to draft remarks for the President in case he gets asked a question about this at tomorrow's luncheon with the Medicare people."

"There's going to be press at that?"

"It’s not like we can hide him behind the podium or something. Someone is bound to ask a question if Lucas does what we think he's gonna do."

Josh checked his watch. "I am about due to meet with several Congressmen. I'm going to check in with Leo. Does Toby have his phone on?"

"Now he does."

"Unless Leo says differently, why don't we all regroup at 5 pm and see where we are with this."

Sam nodded as they reached the next intersection at Constitution Avenue. Josh turned left and sped towards the Hill. Sam turned right and headed towards the White House.

Leo stepped through the short corridor that separated his office from the Oval Office. The conference call he had just finished with Josh and Toby via their cell phones did not sit well in his stomach. CJ was still hashing out strategy with them in his office. Sam was due back at any moment; Josh and Toby were going to be stuck outside the West Wing for most of the afternoon. He had to brief the President again. At least they didn't have to worry about any players adding to the mix of mayhem in their ring.

The President was sitting on one of the candy-striped couches; shoes off and feet propped on the corner of the coffee table. A thick folder of papers was in his lap. The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled to his elbows and his jacket was draped over one of the adjacent chairs. A china cup and saucer was perched on the edge of the couch and Leo swore that it was being held in place by some sort of miracle. The only sound in the office was the gentle drum of rain splattering against the thickly paned windows behind the desk.

Bartlet looked up just as Leo crossed into the Oval Office. The glasses that had been balancing on the tip of his nose fell into his hand.

"Leo!" Bartlet stood up, displacing the lap-full of documents to the floor in a balanced heap. "Did you know that today is the birthday of William O. Douglas. He would have been the longest sitting judge on the Supreme Court had that old grouch Joseph Crouch left the bench when he wanted to. Thirty-six years, Leo. That's an accomplishment."

"Mr. President--" Leo started, knowing that his tone of voice would bring an end to the factoid of the day.

"Now what? I hate it when you address me that way. Makes me think my day has just gone to hell in a handcart."

"Well, maybe Purgatory. We may take a hit in the next poll."

"How big?" Bartlet moved behind his desk

"Toby seems to think 10 points or more. Josh tends to agree. CJ thinks we can spin it."

"Spin what?"

"James Lucas on Larry King Live."

"The little piss-pot you were telling me about this morning?"

"That little piss-pot is aiming for our pool."

Bartlet waved his arms dismissively. "Let 'em. We'll just add more chlorine."

"We're prepping for a response this evening after the show."

"We've had hits before, Leo."

"We can't afford too many of them, not this early in the campaign. We don’t want this to become part of the campaign platform, with us defending everything we've done so far instead of us campaigning with what we want to do in the next four years."

Bartlet sighed his resignation. "Is someone writing up remarks for that lunch thing we have tomorrow?"

"Sam's headed back now."

"All right. I'm meeting with my economic advisors this afternoon. I want an update after that."

"You've got it, Mr. President."

Part 6

"What have we got?" Leo asked as he stepped into his office.

The rest of the Senior Staff was gathered around his desk. He dropped his briefcase down and grabbed his glasses from an inside pocket before taking his seat. In less than 3 hours, Larry King Live was going to be the hot topic of the night and he wanted to know where they stood in terms of defense should hackles be raised.

"We've pretty much confirmed that Lucas intends to announce his candidacy tonight," Josh prefaced. "I've checked the DNC's internal polling numbers before he jumped tracks, and no matter what ticket he runs on there's a good chance he's going to take the New Jersey 12^th without a problem in the 2002 elections."

"What do we know about him?" Leo asked.

Sam looked up. "He worked for a Howard, Benton and Miles, a law firm out of Trenton, New Jersey, that primarily focused on civil rights and racial discrimination in the work place from the time he left law school until political aspirations led him down the primrose path. He was a state district attorney for five years before running for State Senate in the mid-1980's. Since then, he's been an advocate for legislation that increases penalties for perpetrators of hate crimes of any sort. In 1999, he wrote an op-ed paper condemning the appointment of Paul Venre to the State Supreme Court because of his lack of response to questions into the D.O.J.'s investigation of racial profiling on the New Jersey Turnpike."

"He's run unopposed in the last 2 elections, Leo," Josh added.

"And now he's playing ball for the other side." Leo rubbed his forehead. "We got anybody to run against him next year?"

"We're working on that," Sam said.

Leo indicated that they should all take seats as he was not going to keep this meeting short. All but Toby found a chair or couch to sit on. The Communications Director chose to stand near the door.

"All right then, what can we expect for him to bring to the table about this impeachment case? What do we know about Paul Venre?"

CJ took point. "Paul Venre was nominated in 1996 by then Governor Leslie Cryer for the position of State's Attorney General. He was renominated and unanimously confirmed for a second term in 1998. While serving as Attorney General, he appeared before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to argue in favor is Megan's Law in August, 1997, marking the first decision by any federal appellate court upholding the registration of sex offenders. He argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court in favor of the state's urban education plan. In 1999 he was nominated again by the governor to the State Supreme Court. This time, however, his nomination was approved by a very narrow margin.

"Last May, after the D.O.J. offices published their results of a two-year study of racial profiling in New Jersey law enforcement, State Senator James Lucas intimated that Venre misled the Senate committee about his knowledge of racial profiling."

Toby stepped forward and took over from there. "The impeachment case rested on two postmarks and the transcript of the April, 1999, confirmation hearings. Venre, while serving as Attorney General, received a letter postmarked April 20, 1999, from the Department of Justice indicating that there was probably cause to start a full investigation into the use of racial profiling by New Jersey State Troopers. They cited two cases in particular, one being that of a New York taxi driver that was held on drug charges after his fare left the cab when troopers pulled the taxi over in 1996. It was later determined that the drugs belonged to the man that left the cab, not the driver."

Toby reached into his pocket and produced a small spiral notebook. "On April 22, 1999, Lucas asked about the Justice Department investigation, to which Venre replied, 'I am not at liberty to disclose what federal officials are focused on during this pending investigation'. On April 29, 1999, Venre sent a letter to the Senate committee informing them that the US Justice Department intended to file a civil suit alleging that some troopers engaged in discriminatory law enforcement practices."

"This past May, Venre was called in front of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary committee to answer for responses made during his confirmation hearings," CJ continued. "Over 150 documents that supposedly crossed the Attorney General's desk from 1996 through 1999 in regards to racial profiling were produced and he was asked if he recognized any of them."

"There must have been thousands of documents that crossed his desk from 1996 to 1999," Sam proclaimed. "He can’t possible be expected to remember every piece of paper."

CJ nodded. "Venre admitted that he passed the task of investigating racial profiling on to his subordinates until 1998 when the issue took center stage when 3 men were shot and killed on the New Jersey Turnpike. Until that time, he had been assured by the state police offices that the troopers did not engage in racial profiling."

Sam turned in his seat to face Leo. "After facing the Senate Judiciary committee for 13 hours straight, Venre said that he would not report for another session. His lawyers indicated in a statement that the material the committee was after could be easily obtained by other means and that the Justice's time was better spent serving the people in the role he was appointed to fulfill."

"Soon after, the Senate Judiciary committee in conjunction with the Acting Governor asked for Venre's resignation. He refused. They called for impeachment. The Speaker of the House Henry Conroy said that they would no longer investigate the impeachment charges, citing that the House was not the venue to argue for or against racial profiling and Venre's role in it. End of story," Toby concluded.

"Sounds like a lot of semantics to me," Leo commented.

"Our problem stems from the fact that Justice Reynolds has spoken favorably of Venre's decisions since his appointment to State Supreme Court." Toby started to rub at his forehead. "And that he's not too fond of the Acting Governor of New Jersey."

"I'm not too fond of the Acting Governor of New Jersey," Josh stated.

Sam echoed, "That's only because he's a Republican."

"That's not reason enough?" Josh rejoined.

"Josh," Leo warned. Josh backed down. "Who else can we expect trouble from tonight?"

"Rachel Edwards from ACLU has never been fond of us," Sam reported.

Leo shook his head. "No, but she's fair. Didn't she lead the charge against the California State Highway Patrol about a year ago?"

"One in the same," CJ confirmed.

"She won't say anything we haven’t heard before. She'll elevate this to a form of hate crime."

There was a knock on the outer office door. All turned in that direction as Ainsley Hayes popped her head through the threshold. "You wanted to see me, Leo?"

Leo waved her in. "Yeah, hold on a second. Josh, what about Riley?"

"Riley wants to push his bill and he could use the media attention. He's promised me that he will try to keep the panel discussion focused on racial profiling and the bill."

"Okay. It looks like we will probably have to wait out the show to see what happens. Ainsley, I need you to brief CJ on the judicial appointments for the last two years."

CJ turned in her chair to find Ainsley. "I need percentages of nominations versus confirmations, for our administration and any other that's faced a Congress with a different majority party than the sitting President."

"What are you two planning?" Josh asked.

Leo tossed one of many manila folders onto his desk. "A little spin doctoring."

"Where's CJ?" Toby asked as he walked into Josh's office.

Josh had his feet propped on the corner of his desk. A bag of microwave popcorn was sitting in his lap. He paused in his inhalation of popped kernels to reply, "She wanted peace and quiet to come up with a response. She said and I quote, 'I don't want to be a party to your Heckle and Jeckle routine', endquote."

"What I want to know is which one is Heckle and which one is Jeckle," Sam replied as he followed Toby in with a couple of cans of soda. He tossed one to Josh.

Josh caught the can of ginger ale with ease. "I was thinking we could do a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 routine. You and I can be Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. Toby can be Mike Nelson."

Toby cleared a space on the corner of Josh's desk. "Has it started yet?"

"Yeah, Larry's just finished introducing his guests. Isn't Lucas looking dapper in his pin stripe suit?" Josh threw several popcorn kernels in the air to catch them in his mouth.

"You know, I wouldn't have gone with pinstripes," Sam said. "It draws attention to his double chin."

"You two are freaks," Toby declared. "Turn up the volume."

Josh dug around the piles on his desk to find the remote control and increased the volume on the television.

Larry King was in his usual attire: brightly pressed shirt, dark tie with matching suspenders. He was leaning on the high desk with arms crossed in front of him, addressing the camera like he was talking to his neighbor over the backyard fence.

"Our topic tonight is racial profiling. In April, 1998, three young African American men were shot and killed by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. A survey made last year found black drivers accounted for 32 percent of turnpike stops and 46 percent of searches, while white drivers accounted for 54 of the stops and 27 percent of the searches, and Hispanic drivers for 8 percent of the stops and 25 percent of the searches. Similar statistics have been seen in the states of Maryland, California and New York. Congressman Riley, you have recently put together a bill based on a Department of Justice inquiry into the practice of racial profiling that defines stiffer penalties for law enforcement officials that perform illegal search and seizures on our nation's highways."

The camera angle cut to the man seated on Larry King's far left. "That's correct, Larry. The statistics are appalling. In New Jersey, a consent search requires a reasonable suspicion of contraband. More white drivers are being stopped on the New Jersey turnpike, but only a fraction of them are being searched. My fellow legislators and I want to put a stop to the practice of racial profiling on our nation's highways. It is unethical, it is immoral, and it is racist."

"To play devil's advocate for a moment, Congressman," Larry started, "the United States has long used profiling of this nature as a means to seek out criminal elements and safeguard the well being of United States citizens."

"Twenty-five years ago, when air marshals were stationed on jets leaving and entering the Middle East, the concern was the protection of air passengers from terrorist hijackings. It’s not any different and it's a practice that should have been phased out long ago."

The African-American woman on the panel sat forward and interrupted, "If I may just add to that statement. Physically removing a person from an airplane for suspicion of terrorist activities is a whole different ball park than pulling an African-American or a Hispanic man from his car after he was stopped for speeding on the Turnpike. A traffic violation for traveling 6 miles over the posted speed limit is not nearly as life threatening as a man with a gun on an airplane."

Larry turned his attention to the woman on the panel. "Dr. Edwards, as part of the Legislative Counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union, you were influential in the development of the "End to Racial Profiling Act of 2001", the bill that Congressman Riley spoke of earlier."

"Yes," Edwards replied. "The bill defines and prohibits racial profiling on local, state, and federal levels, provides legal recourse for victims, and mandates the collection of data to quantitatively determine the extent of racial profiling. Unlike previous legislation, the bill would be particularly effective by tying prohibition and data collection to receipt of federal funds and by providing incentive grants to finance anti-racial profiling tools and activities. In this manner, the so called 'junk-science' that many opponents of this legislation quote to dampen the seriousness of racial profiling allegations can be put to rest."

"Racial profiling undermines the public's trust in the criminal justice system, and that is why it is so important to directly and positively address the problem," Riley continued.

Josh pointed at the television. "Lucas is just itching to talk now. Look, he's got ants in his pants."

Toby threw a wad of paper at Josh. "Shut up."

"The problem is," Lucas started, and the camera focus moved towards him, "recent Supreme Court decisions allow the police to use traffic stops as a pretext in order to "fish" for evidence. This is just wrong. Racial profiling is based on the premise that most drug offenses are committed by minorities. The pervasiveness of racial profiling by the police in the enforcement of our nation's drug laws is the consequence of the escalating the so-called war on drugs. There has to be a fundamental change in the way our legislative and judicial handle such atrocities."

"Wind him up and watch him go," Sam commented from his chair.

"Isn’t it true, Mr. Lucas, that you will be seeking a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives next year?" Larry asked.

"Yes. This afternoon, I formally announced my intentions to seek the Republican nomination for the New Jersey 12th congressional district."

Intrigued, Larry continued, "Republican? Are you not the Democratic Majority leader for the New Jersey Senate?"

"Yes. Recent events have led me to consider joining the Republican party in my search for legislative backing for the policies I believe in."

"In what way?"

"Considering the rather lackluster display of backbone by the Bartlet administration in stopping the flow of illegal drugs into this country as they focus more on drug treatment than drug enforcement, I believe it is paramount for our nation to address this and many other issues. Mandatory minimums aside, we need judges that will crack down on drug related crimes. However, this does not entail giving law enforcement officers de facto permission to stop someone willy-nilly for looking the part of a drug dealer or smuggler simply because of the color of their skin. We need legislation that doesn’t address pie-in-the-sky policies but the down-to-earth problems that face this nation. President Bartlet has already confirmed one U.S. Supreme Court Justice with one of the broadest interpretations of the First Amendment. He has named numerous candidates for the federal circuit judgeships that share similar views. Should we let this continue?

"Bartlet's vision for the courts is rose-colored and does not address *real* concerns of *real* people who have been downtrodden and persecuted since arriving on America's shores. Gay marriages do not stop gays from having loving relationships, but racial profiling tears families apart. Abortion clinics and federally regulated abortion drugs are only a stop gap measure, while the real problem - poverty and lack of opportunities and options continued to go unchecked. And it is time that the Bartlet administration cleans up this mess --"

"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Toby, Sam and Josh leaned towards Josh's open door to better hear the ruckus at the other end of the hall as Lucas continued his tirade.

"-- one that has been going on since the founding of America - instead of wasting time and resources on issues that are less urgent. Yes, legislation concerning mandatory minimums, hate crimes and gay marriages is laudable, but making a real difference to people already burdened with historical disadvantages is more important."

CJ stormed the door between her office and Carol's reception area, and Toby was reminded of a certain line from poetry about hell and fury and scorn.

"This is horse shit! CAROL! Get me Ainsley up here right now! I want to go over those court statistics again! And I want polling numbers--"

"Think CJ's pissed?" Josh ventured, returning away from the circus down the hall to the circus on the television screen.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to be near the Press Room during the next briefing," replied as he watched Carol scramble for assistance.

Bartlet was half listening to the broadcast from his open office door. One of the assistants had the television on in the reception area. As he paced his office floor, he caught glimpses of the broadcast. When Reynolds' name was mentioned, the President stopped and paid attention.

"Issues such as racial profiling need to be addressed, not because of political motivations but because it is right. Because the practice is so far outside the statutes of moral and ethical behavior that is abysmal that those seeking confirmation to seats of judicial power can simply jump on the bandwagon and declare their allegiance to the cause. There have been noises made recently that Justice Reynolds is set to retire. Paul Venre is one of his protegees. If men like Venre are allowed to ascend to the bench, not only on the state level but on the federal level as well, we are in for more trouble than anyone has ever bargained for."

The camera focused on Larry King once again. "We have a clip from a recent interview with Justice Reynolds while on vacation in Upstate New York."

The scene changed from the CNN studios to a bucolic countryside with a host of reporters following Reynolds in a parking lot that appeared to lead to several woodland trails. Reynolds was obviously dressed for vacation and by the way he waved his hands at the camera did not like to have his down time interrupted by lens and microphones.

A faceless voice called out, "Sir, what do you think of the allegations that have been brought against New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Paul Venre?"

Reynolds turned towards the cameras and replied, "The allegations are outlandish and laughable. Paul Venre has more integrity in his pinky than Acting Governor Michael Haywood has in entire body."

The faceless voice continued to ask questions from the ether. "Don't you think your opinion is a little biased, seeing that Justice Venre once clerked for you when you first joined the Supreme Court?"

"Well, that's why you’re asking me the question, isn't it?" Reynolds turned tail and continued along the hiking trail with his grandson in tow.

The broadcast returned to the CNN studios and Lucas was pointing at the off stage television screen. "It is that type of inflammatory remark that we need to avoid in our justice system. Justice Reynolds has all but gift wrapped a pardon for Paul Venre's inexcusable behavior regarding both his confirmation hearings to the New Jersey State Supreme Court as well as his lack of participation in the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation into racial profiling."

Bartlet had his hands in his pockets as he looked at his shoes. He eased away from the reception area door and made his way towards the passageway between his office and that of his Chief of Staff.

Leo was sitting behind his desk, head braced with his hand. Bartlet moved to the sofa so that Leo didn't feel the need to stand up in his presence.

"Are you watching this?" Bartlet asked unnecessarily.

"Yeah. He's aiming for our pool."

"Yeah." Bartlet watched with Leo in silence as Lucas continued to vilify Reynolds on national television. "I want to talk with him."

Leo didn't bother with a reaction. It was as if he had been expecting such a request all along. "It's going to be a media circus."

"I don't care. That man is having his reputation torn to pieces because he chose to be my ally and my friend. I have to apologize to him. Personally."

Leo sat up. "I'll see that he gets here."

Bartlet nodded and continued to watch the character assassination on screen. "Good."

Part 7

CJ's hand was on the doorknob. She imagined she could hear the flashbulbs popping and the camera lenses whirring and she wasn't even on the room yet. Taking a deep breath she opened the door in one fell swoop and jaunted up to the podium.

She clapped her hands to warm them slightly and said with false brightness, "Let's get this party started. Katie."

Katie was sitting on the edge of her seat so that she could see over the head of the man sitting in front of her. "CJ, New Jersey State Senator James Lucas has implied that many of this administration's policies do not benefit a large section of the general population. Does the President have a comment on this?"

"The President would advise Mr. Lucas to check into the Family Wellness Act which provides health care and after school care for underprivileged children in urban areas. In addition, Mr. Lucas should look into the education initiatives that pay for the college education of anyone who chooses to teach in an inner city school district, tax incentives to anyone that leaves a job in industry to teach. He can also check with HUD Secretary Deborah O'Leary and see what she thinks of the President's support of her initiatives to put an end to homelessness by making lower income housing available for anyone who wants it, just to name a few. Chris."

"Is the President surprised that James Lucas has left the Democratic party to run on the Republican ticket in next year's elections?"

"To be honest, the President didn't know James Lucas existed until this afternoon when he announced his candidacy. Bobbi."

"Does the President support the "End to Racial Profiling Act"?"

"The President is aware of the problem with racial profiling on the nation's highways, and he believes that this act will go a long way in the right direction."

"CJ! CJ!"

CJ pointed into the crowd and called out the first name that popped into her mind. "Helen."

"CJ, State Senator James Lucas appears to have a vendetta against President Bartlet's judicial nominees. Any comment?"

"My comment would be to question why James Lucas is aligning himself with the party that is the sole reason why there are 109 judicial vacancies in the federal court system right now. Last year, only 39 of the President's 81 nominees were confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and none of them after the month of July. Forty-two nominations, a high proportion of them being women and minorities, were left to lapse. Of those, 38 never made it to committee. For someone who says he wants to champion the rights of people 'already burdened with historical disadvantages', he's making friends in all the wrong places."

Danny raised his hand. "CJ!"

"Danny!" she replied in the same sing-song voice.

"What does the President think of the Senate Judiciary Committee's inability to confirm or even deny his nominations in a timely fashion?"

"The President is dismayed that it took the Republican controlled Senate 280 days to confirm 73 nominees between 1999 and 2000, when it only took the Democrat controlled Senate 130 days to confirm 128 nominations during President George Bush's last years in office. And at the rate confirmations are happening now, it looks like the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking to hit an all time low."

Danny continued, "What about allegations that the Administration did not go through proper channels to get state support for certain nominees?"

"This Administration has gone through all the proper channels. The President is more concerned with the fact that several Republican senators have opposed nominations for political reasons and have sometimes used anonymous holds to prevent hearings or confirmation by the full Senate."

Jonathon nearly jumped out of his seat. "What about Lucas' allegations that the President's nominees across the board are idealistic and unrealistic in the current political climate?"

"By all objective accounts and studies, the judges that the President has appointed are a moderate group of judges, rendering moderate decisions, and certainly including far fewer ideologues than were nominated during previous Republican administrations."

CJ looked out into the sea of faces and not so haphazardly chose another name. "Mike."

"Has Justice Reynolds offered his resignation to the President?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Does that mean you haven’t been told otherwise?"

CJ fixed him with a withering stare. "No, it means not to my knowledge."

"Does he intend to resign?" Mike persisted.

"You'd have to ask him that."

Bartlet was only paying partial attention to the replay of CJ's briefing when Charlie announced that he had a visitor. When Leo said he was going to get something done, he meant it. The President stood up and greeted his guest.

"Henry." He shook the Justice's hand warmly and led him into the Oval Office.

"Mr. President." Reynolds took the proffered seat.

"Sorry to bring you out here at this late hour," Bartlet said, sitting across from Reynolds.

"I'd been expecting the phone call since your man Toby came by to see me twice this afternoon. Bob Mendoza had a good old time laughing at his expense." The older gentleman smiled, then sobered. "I would have come even if you hadn’t asked."

"I know that, Henry. Can I get you anything?" Bartlet asked, starting to get up.

Reynolds waved him down. "No, no, don’t bother. I do want you to know that the offer is still on the table, but I think I will wait until you're re-elected to hand in my resignation."

"I might not get re-elected, but I appreciate your support. This may have never happened had certain members of Congress gotten their way in the impeachment proceedings."

"If it's not one thing, it's another. The mess with Venre started long before you disclosed your illness. Speaking as a friend, it was not wrong of you to keep it hidden for so long."

Bartlet pointed to some nebulous room outside of his office. "Try telling that to the members of Congress that feel a President's illness does not fall under the purview of one's right to privacy."

"They don't separate the man from the office. And they waited until you announced your re-election to hand out subpoenas, and even those were unnecessary. It was a political show."

"As members of my staff tell me, we do better under pressure anyway."

"And what a show you performed."

"I asked you here to tell you that I'm sorry."

"No need for an apology, but I'll accept one anyway. I know apologies are not your forte. I'll save it for a rainy day." Reynolds brushed at the wet spots on his overcoat. "Today doesn't count."

There was a knock at her office door. CJ knew that guys had disappeared somewhere and were no longer in the West Wing. Leo was with the President. Carol, Donna and the rest of the office staff had left for the evening. She was too wired to go home, too tired to leave her office. She was seated on her couch, feet propped on the low table, televisions on but turned down and the lights low to ward off the stress headache that had been building from the time she got off the phone with What's Her Name from the Kansas school board.

The door wasn't exactly closed. It wasn't exactly open, either, but whoever was on the other side chose caution over carelessness and entered the office slowly.

"CJ?"

She nearly laughed. She should have expected he would still be in the building. "Come in."

Danny stepped through the door and left as jar ajar as he had originally found it. "What's up?"

"My blood alcohol level."

CJ's eyes were a bit heavy but she certainly didn't feel drunk. Danny looked around the office and on the desk and found nothing but an open Coke can on the low table next to her feet. "Are you absorbing it through the air?" he asked incredulously.

"No." She picked up the near empty Coke can with a bit of uncoordinated difficulty and swished its contents. "I fixed it."

She handed him the can. He didn't need to get the can close to his nose to know there was a great deal of rum in it.

"Whoa, Nelly!"

"Told you I fixed it."

"Oh, you certainly did." He placed the can back gingerly next to her feet. "How many of these have you had?"

"Two, maybe three. I lost count."

"Is there a reason why you're drinking, in the dark, in your office?"

CJ turned on the couch so that her right arm was braced across the top. "I am still in kill or be killed mode here, Danny. Lay off."

"I come bearing gifts. Well, more like food." He held up a slightly greasy sack of take-out. "I convinced myself that this would be seen as a gesture of good will."

"If that sack is from that dive you laughingly refer to as a bar, then I may just invite you to join me." She pulled the remainder of a six-pack from the cube fridge hidden next to her couch and a bottle of Bacardi 151 from the couch cushion. "Is it still raining outside?"

"No, it stopped about 30 minutes ago." Danny joined her on the couch and accepted a can of Coke.

"Good. I don't want to go home in the rain."

"Is that an invitation?"

"No. Gimme the food."

"Hold your horses, Ms. Grabby-hands. I've got some napkins here as well. Do you want ham or roast beef?" He pulled two wrapped hot submarine sandwiches out of the sack as well as a cardboard container filled with french fries.

"Either."

He handed her the first sandwich and opened the other for himself.

"Do you want that Coke fixed?"

Danny popped the top and took a sip. "Nope, it ain't broke."

"Suit yourself." She settled back on the couch and they slowly ate in silence.

"The briefing went well," Danny ventured, breaking the silence when most of his dinner was eaten.

"You get your story in?" CJ asked. She had yet to get through half of her sandwich.

"Yup."

CJ rolled her head and tried to relax. The alcohol hadn't put a dent in the knot between her shoulder blades. Danny must have noticed as he was sliding closer to her on the couch.

"Why are you still so keyed up?" he asked. "Briefing's over. The mean, old press hounds are safely tucked away in their cubicles." He tentatively took her hand.

She shrugged and pointed at one of several tv screens in the bookshelf across the room. "Something Rachel Edwards said on Larry King Live just struck a chord."

"It must still be resonating pretty good if you're still thinking about it," Danny replied.

Closing her eyes, CJ let her head fall back on the couch and didn't care if it was taken as a sign of weakness. "Rachel Edwards said pulling a person suspected of terrorist activities off of an airplane is different than pulling a person suspected of carrying drugs out of his car after caught speeding on the New Jersey Turnpike. There are a lot of things I find wrong with that statement."

"Other than the obvious civil rights violations?"

"It goes-- it goes beyond that," CJ said slowly. She withdrew her hand from his grasp and rubbed her face with both hands.

"In what way?"

"When Toby gets on his soap box about prayer in school and the separation of Church and State, his hate mail goes through the roof," CJ started. "Is he unpatriotic because he refuses to say the 'under God' line in the Pledge of Allegiance? Toby, however, is quick to point out, that line was not in the original pledge. Or that he disapproves of the motto 'In God we trust'?"

Danny sat patiently next to her and she sensed that he was waiting for her to continue. She knew she was avoiding the real issue, and Danny was being patient. She owed him that much to continue with her thought processes.

CJ took a deep breath. "I've just been sitting and thinking that as bad as it sounds, I'm okay with the police stopping suspicious characters on the street, on the highway, from getting on an airplane. If it's going to protect me from being hurt, maimed or killed, I'm okay with it. I can just imagine what sort of response that would get if it came out."

CJ smiled wryly and looked over at the man sitting next to her. "I'm counting on your sense of chivalry here, by the way. I hear a word of this conversation outside the context of you and me sitting here, I'm going to come gunning for you and you will come to know the meaning of the word pain on a fairly intimate level."

"No notebook here," he replied with a sense of ease. He held his empty hands up in front of her face.

"I realize that the problem on the New Jersey Turnpike is that people are being pulled over primarily based on their skin color and that there are an extraordinarily high number of car searches again based on skin color. But if that search stops someone from buying a gram of cocaine, then getting in his or her car and then running me down on the street as I cross to get my morning cup of coffee, I'm all for it."

"There's a fine line between protecting the people and protecting their rights," Danny said, turning so that he was facing her.

The remotes for the televisions were sitting on the low table. CJ reached for them and turned off the news shows. "Advocates against Megan's Law say sex offender registration goes against the offender's civil rights to live his life in peace."

Danny braced his left elbow against the back of the couch and propped his head. "If you look at the whole picture, sure, it can be seen that way."

CJ was still staring at the space where the blackened screens now resided. "If there's a sexual predator living in my neighborhood, I want to know about it."

"There's nothing wrong with feeling that way."

"I don’t give a damn if he feels uncomfortable because my neighbors are watching him to make sure he doesn’t prey on anyone else."

"But when your neighbors take it upon themselves to punish him further for acts he's done in the past, that's vigilantism, not justice. You can search a man's car for the suspicion that he's carrying illegal drugs. But when you pull someone over because he's black and in your experience black men carry drugs, that's wrong."

"Yet you think we shouldn’t instill stiffer penalties on people that perpetrate a hate crime for the sole purpose of hurting someone because of their race, creed or sexual preference."

"You can't legislate what people think. If they act on what they think, sure, prosecute away. But what about the civil liberties of the people you intend to prosecute under stiffer penalties for what they thought when they committed their crime?"

"They lost their right to plead the First Amendment when they threw the first rock and killed a poor kid that was different from them." CJ blew air noisily through her lips and tried to sort her thoughts. "My father would say the problem is, we're a reactive society rather than a proactive one. We wait until there's a problem rather than preventing it in the first place."

"It's not possible to be proactive," Danny said, taking a now cold french fry from the tray between them. "We can't spend a lot of time and energy predicting and solving problems that don't exist in the here and now. We need to spend that time on the problems we already know about since there isn't enough time to do both. If you start dictating what can and cannot be said or done, it's the beginning of the end." He made a face as he ate the french fry.

"I seem to recall you tried that line on me once before." CJ picked up the remnants of sandwich wrappers and the cold fries, shoved them in the paper sack and tossed it in the trashcan across the room.

"And apparently I didn’t convince you then either."

"Keep at it. One day it might sink in."

Danny leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I doubt that, but I'm going to have a good time trying."

CJ playfully shoved him aside and stood up. "I gotta go home. What time is it?"

Danny looked at his watch. "It's pushing 11 PM."

Gathering the things she wanted to take home with her, she politely dismissed him with, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Standing, Danny drained the rest of his Coke with a single swallow. "Are you okay to drive?"

"Yeah." Danny was standing at her door when she looked up again from her desk. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, CJ." He paused before leaving her office.

End story