Title: "After All, Misery Loves Company"
Author: CretKid aka Cal
Category: CJ/Danny
Spoiler: pre-during-post episode story to go along with "War Crimes".
Author's Notes: Continuing with the "After Series", which can be found at www.oocities.org/rdcottrell/after.html. Thanks to my co-conspirators, you know who you are.
"After All, Misery Loves Company"
==========================
A heavy weight settled on the end of the bed and was moving stealthily over the blankets, pillows and bodies. Danny pried open one eye. The room was dark, the shades and curtains having been drawn the night before so that they could sleep in. He didn't want to appear to be awake, lest the very demanding cat decide now was a fine time for everyone to be up and about. Danny had made sure to leave food out for the schedule driven little monster so neither he nor CJ would have to get up when the true master of the house bellowed.
It was a rare enough occurrence that they were in the same city on a weekday, let alone a weekend. Rarer still for one of those days to be a Sunday when neither was expected to be at work and they could sleep in. Sleepovers were few and far between and neither wanted the time to end prematurely because the cat came a calling at 6 o'clock in the morning. He adjusted his line of sight so he could look at the digital clock on the night stand: 10:16 am. Nearly mid-morning with no pagers, no phone calls and no cat's demanding attention.
Not bad, Danny thought to himself. He breathed deep and wrapped his arm solidly around the woman spooned in front of him. He felt her clutch his arm to her as she snuggled closer, matching his sigh with one of her own. Obviously she too was semi-awake and didn't want the world to start.
The cat placed his forepaws in Danny's hip and stared him down.
Danny mumbled into CJ's shoulder, "Someone forgot to close the bedroom door."
"It is closed," CJ replied, sleepily. "He must have come in through the bathroom."
"You didn't close that off?"
CJ pulled more of the blanket up and over her head. "And have him banging into it all night long to be let in? I don't think so. I told you, he developed this closed door thing while I was away in California."
The cat was trying his best to wedge himself between their bodies.
Pulling back the covers just enough to look over her shoulder, CJ blankly stared at the cat-like shape balanced precariously on her legs and Danny's hip. "You're in his spot," she informed Danny. "He likes to sleep behind my knees."
"My spot now," Danny replied, drawing the blanket tighter around them both. "He can find a new one."
Unable to dent a space between the two bodies, the cat decided it was best to lounge across both. With hindquarters nestled on Danny's knees and head and forepaws resting comfortably on CJ's hip, the cat let out a loud yawn and went to sleep.
"One or both of us is going to get a charlie horse," Danny mumbled, too content to do anything about the added warm body in the bed or the extra weight resting on his knee.
CJ unearthed a hand from under the covers and patted the barren mattress in front of her. "Leo, come here."
The cat stretched, rolled and tumbled into the proffered space. He kneaded the mattress for several minutes before finally settling in the small space next to CJ's stomach. She absently combed his fur with her fingers for a few minutes until he stopped moving, then returned her hand to its tucked position under Danny's wrist.
"Happy now?" she mumbled into her pillow.
"Exquisitely," he replied.
They had dozed off for a few minutes before the phone started ringing. CJ groaned. Danny moaned. The cat made a jump for the door.
Grabbing the handset, CJ tried to read the Caller ID information but couldn't make out any of the letters without her glasses on. On the second ring, she tapped Danny's shoulder with the handset. "What's it say?"
Danny pried open his eye again and peered at the LED display. He growled into the pillow under his head, "White House."
"Dammit," CJ said under her breath, freeing her arm from Danny's hold and depressing the 'Talk' button.
She didn't really care if her voice sounded stuffy with sleep or irritated at being awoken on a Sunday morning, her morning off.
"Yeah?"
"CJ? It's Josh. I'm not disrupting anything, am I?"
His voice had a mischievous hint to it, but CJ knew he wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important. He was starting off with a joke, which meant she could classify the phone call as pressing and requiring her appearance but she would have time for a shower and maybe breakfast before joining the rat race.
"What do you want, Josh? What burned down, who said what and who's going to be my sacrifice to the sleep-in gods, because seriously, if this isn't a national emergency, I'm going to be pissed."
Josh cut to the quick. "Shots fired in a Baptist church in Texas little over 20 minutes ago. Two men, two guns, two congregants shot. A little girl and an elderly gentleman, both on their way to the hospital. That's all the information I have."
CJ sat up and searched for her glasses. The wide-with-wear neck of the sleep-shirt she wore bared a good portion of her shoulder. She rotated her arm to bring the cuff back where it belonged. "Does the President know?"
"Someone is feeding him the information now. He's headed for Mass with the First Lady. You know he's going to want to talk to the Press."
"Yeah. I'll be there in 30 minutes." She turned off the phone, drew her knees up so that she was sitting lotus style on the bed. She elbowed Danny as he burrowed under the covers, humming softly to himself.
"I have to go in," she said, pulling the covers off his head.
Danny had his hands cupped over his ears as he chanted "I'm not hearing this I'm not hearing this I'm not hearing this."
CJ grabbed one of his wrists and said rather loudly in his ear. "You're going to hear this."
Danny sat up reluctantly, clasped his hands together in his lap. "Okay, I'm listening."
"I have to go in for a few hours. Shots were fired in a Texas church, two people were hurt. The President is going to want to speak to the Press…"
"I understand. Well, I don’t want to, but you get my meaning." Danny mimicked her posture, stealing one of her hands and holding it firmly within his own. "You shower, I'll make you breakfast to go."
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." She was off the bed and headed for the shower in the next breath.
"I better get a real kiss before you leave!" he bellowed over the roar of the shower.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CJ spotted the President and the First Lady outside on the portico near the entrance to the Residence. Charlie was looking particularly bored with his hands in his pockets; CJ surmised the President was going on about something that no one else seemed to feel was important. The First Lady looked as indignant as the President. If they were bickering and Charlie wasn't looking to head for the hills, today might actually be a bearable day.
The President was singing when she opened the door. It sounded like he was in a good mood. Too bad she had to be the bearer of bad news.
"Good morning, Mr. President."
He was still singing and dancing. Charlie shot her a look that asked her to save him from his misery. The First Lady waved her arms in exasperation. "He's feisty. Please, don't ask him about church."
CJ silently wished that she didn't have to ask him about anything. She held her briefing book in front of her like a shield. "I'm sorry, Mr. President, Melissa Markey died."
It was as if the wind was sucked out of his sails. The smile was gone from his face; the spring in his step was snapped at the tendon. "Yeah, okay."
CJ stood her ground. She hated being the one to tell him this sort of thing. Lowell Lydell, now Melissa Markey.
The First Lady walked over to the President. He was staring at his shoes. CJ didn't quite catch what he said to his wife.
The President looked up. "Charlie, can I see Leo?"
Charlie nodded, mumbled a "Yes, sir," that CJ was sure the President didn't hear.
"She would have lost too much blood at the scene, Jed."
Abbey transformed from First Lady irritated at her husband's propensity for oratory just to hear himself talk to supportive wife. She placed her hand on his shoulder. CJ looked away briefly to leave them their moment.
"She didn't have a chance," Abbey said softly.
"Yeah."
There was a moment of silence. The traffic from the street could be heard. CJ looked up to see that neither the President nor his wife had moved.
Abbey sighed, squeezed his shoulder. "All right. I'll be over in the Residence. I gotta see Babish this afternoon."
"Okay."
Abbey left for the portico entrance to the Residence.
The President stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking towards the Oval Office entrance. CJ followed, dropping her briefing book in front of her. He seemed smaller as he moved. She followed a step behind.
"When do you think I should go in there?"
CJ wished she had had a chance to talk to Josh before this to find out how hard the President had pushed to talk to the Press. When she arrived, the President had already left for Mass, Charlie was no where to be found and Josh was huddled in Leo's office with the doors closed. "I'd wait a couple of hours, until we have some more facts."
"You'll talk to the Sheriff's office?"
"Yeah."
It wasn't strictly necessary that she speak with the Sheriff's office, but since he had asked, she would. The President took death very seriously, especially the death of children. She would make polite inquiries since this shooting was going to be in the national limelight. The National Conference of State Legislatures was meeting next week in San Antonio. One of the hot topics of the conference was state enforced gun legislation.
"And I guess the D.A.?"
"Yeah, but you don't want to walk too far into that."
"Yeah."
Leo was waiting with the door to the Oval Office open. "Good morning."
The President looked up. "You heard?"
"Yeah."
CJ caught Leo's eye. She could tell by the tone of Leo's voice that he had something in mind that the President didn't want to hear. It probably had something to do with the meeting he had held with Josh as she was briefing.
"CJ thinks that I should wait a few hours."
Leo looked at her, nodded, returned his gaze to the President. "I would."
The President capitulated. "Okay."
It had been like standing between a wild dog and a sizzling steak the last time they had tried to talk the President down from talking to the Press. CJ was relieved that it wouldn't be this way today.
CJ tapped the briefing book against her thighs. "Thank you, Mr. President." She turned and headed for one of the entrances to the West Wing.
As she walked away, she heard the President say, "Be subject to one another, Leo. What can I do to be subject to you?"
"I'm fine," Leo replied.
"Yeah?"
"I've got Margaret."
CJ almost laughed as she went back inside the building. She wound her way around the throngs of people watching the football games on every available television set in the place. Toby's office lights were out. Sam was chatting with Ginger in the Communications bull pen. CJ headed for her office to make her phone calls for the President.
Josh was sitting on her couch when she entered the office. He looked like he had just been run over by a freight train. His feet were propped on her coffee table, his Starbucks grande whatever-the-hell-he-was-drinking-lately was listing to the side, and he had his free hand covering his eyes as if to ward off evil spirits.
"Feet off my table." She whacked the bottom of his shoes with her briefing book before settled behind her desk.
"You told him?" Josh asked quietly, dropping his feet to the ground and slouching on her couch.
"Yeah," she replied. "We'll need to get him ready to talk to the press in a few hours."
Josh put his coffee down on the table, rubbed his face with both hands. "Sam's working up some remarks now."
"Good." CJ opened her laptop and hit the space bar to restore it from its sleep state.
Josh was rolling his neck.
"Why do you look like you've just gone ten rounds with the heavy weight contender?" she asked. She looked about the office, trying to decipher where she had left her own coffee.
"We’re sending the Vice President to San Antonio."
CJ stopped her search and stared at Josh. "Seriously?" He nodded. No wonder he looked drained. "This was your closed-doors meeting with Leo?"
Josh nodded again. "Hoynes is the logical choice."
"Hoynes does not want to talk to Texans about gun control legislation."
"No, but we can send him down there to voice our support of pending "may issue" laws in state legislation there. He's not against gun control, CJ."
"He's not exactly for it, either." She slapped the corner of her desk. "Press room."
Josh looked at her, confused. "What about the press room?"
"It's where I left my coffee."
He pointed at the door. "You want to go get it?"
"No, it's like an hour old now." CJ leaned back in her chair, propped her feet on the corner of the desk. "So, we’re sending Hoynes to his home state to talk on the President's behalf. About "may issue" laws versus "shall issue" laws in the wake of a deadly shooting in a church of all places. Yeah, this is going to play well in the Press."
"We need Hoynes."
"Yeah, and I need some Tylenol because this is just screaming 'big-ol'-headache on the horizon'."
Josh tried to prop his feet on the corner of the coffee table again. CJ shook her head and pointed to the floor. He indicated her own propped feet on the corner of her desk. She shrugged her shoulders. The non-verbal battle continued until the silence was broken when the computer on her desk quacked.
Josh sat up, startled. He looked about the room. "You're not housing farm animals again, are you?"
"No, I have email." She reached behind her and pulled the laptop within her line of sight. The little envelope icon in her system tray was spinning.
"Your computer quacks at you when you have email?"
"Yes." She tapped on her email program. There was a message in her in-box from Danny.
"Doesn't it get a little annoying at times?"
"Nope." She closed the laptop and smiled at Josh.
"Okay. You're not going to read it now?"
"Nope."
An evil grin broke across Josh's face. "It's from Danny."
"Maybe."
"He sends you email at work. That’s so … sweetly disgusting."
"Thank you, Romeo. Don't you have better things to do?"
Josh shrugged his shoulders. "I'm waiting for Donna to get back from her deposition."
CJ sat forward, put her feet on the ground again. "She thinks you're pissed at her."
"I am not."
Josh looked genuinely surprised at the notion. CJ shook her head.
"You missed the important part of that sentence, Josh. She THINKS you're pissed at her. Do something about it."
Josh held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. I will." He stood up to leave.
Before he could escape, CJ called out, "Hey, did you know Will Sawyer's back in town?"
Josh grabbed the overhang of the door. "Didn’t we have him banished to Madagascar?"
"Myanmar."
"What's he doing here?"
"I don't know."
"We should probably find out." He slapped the top of the door frame and sauntered out of her office space.
CJ tapped her fingers across her knee, contemplating what she wanted to do first. Call the Abilene Sheriff's office. Call the state district attorney. Talk to people that did not want the White House to check on the progress of their investigation, who didn't want a liberal gun-hating President to use this incident to further gun control packages in Congress.
She decided to check her email.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: movie tonight?
There was nothing in the body of the message. She re-read the subject line and hit 'reply'.
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: RE: movie tonight?
Are we forgetting to write our email now?
She hit the 'send' button and wondered if a little humor might come out of this day at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She wasn't exactly sure when it had started to rain, but it had and now it was getting louder. Thunder was rolling in the distance. CJ turned the volume up on the computer so that the CD she had been playing would cover the noise of rain pelting on windows.
QUACK.
CJ nearly jumped at the sound. Why she ever let Sam play with her computer was beyond her reasoning at that point. There was a funky sound for nearly every operation and she had yet to figure out how to turn them off. She didn't listen to music in her office often; the small boom box on her shelf hadn't played CD's correctly for years, so she had started using the computer's built in CD drive instead. Only now, with the myriad of noises marking every click, escape and return she made, she was seriously rethinking her decision.
She clicked on her email program and sitting in her inbox again was a message from Danny.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: no
Again, no body text in the message. Just a plaintive expression in the subject line. She went to her 'sent mail' folder to discover what the original message had been. She hit 'reply'.
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: RE: no
Subject line messages? Is this a new form of communication?
She sent the message and went back to work. Two minutes later, her computer quacked at her again.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: yes; movie?
Laughing, CJ pushed away the news wires she had been reviewing for her next briefing and brought the laptop closer. Two could play at this game.
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: where are you?
The response was almost immediate.
QUACK.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: your place; bonding with cat
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: call me; do not bond cat to furniture!
QUACK.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: this is more fun; you've ruined my plan :-(
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: will sawyer's back in town
QUACK.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: isn't he a tribal king in ???
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: he's a god of good harvest and land of the dead
QUACK.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: show off; movie?
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: time?
QUACK.
Josh was grinning manically from her doorway, squeezing an orange nerf football in his hands. "It's like a barnyard in here. The park police in the lobby might think a duck stowed away for the winter."
CJ turned down the volume knob on the CD drive. "Shut up." She checked the last message to come in.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: when's the prison break?
"Is the President ready?" he asked, choosing to sit on the arm of her couch. He tossed the football in the air, giving it a spin so that it would spiral on its way down.
CJ pushed her laptop away from her. "Yeah. He's still talking to the Vice President. We're scheduled to go to tape in about an hour. Local coverage, major networks, tapes to anyone who wants one, but it won't go live. Sam and I will go over the remarks with him as soon as the Vice President leaves, or pull the President out for the 15 or so minutes it will take him to do this. He's supposed to call the Markey's just before."
"Briefing room?"
"Yeah. If we set up in the Mural Room or the Oval Office, it will look like we put too much thought into this."
"Don’t we want to appear like we're putting a lot of thought into gun control?"
"He's not going to talk about gun control," CJ said. "Sam was looking for a King James Bible earlier and mumbling about Ephesians and being subject to one another."
"Ah." Josh tossed the football high in the air and had to reach to catch it. "So he's going to give today's Chrich sermon the way he thinks it should have been given."
CJ pulled the wires she had been reading back to her. "Homily."
"To-may-to, To-maa-to. Did you hear about the 'discussion' the President and First Lady had about this homily?"
The computer quacked again.
Josh chuckled as he stepped over to her desk. He placed the football on the far corner next to Gail's fish bowl. "Sounds like AFLAC is looking for a quote."
CJ glowered at him, then tapped the space bar to see the latest message queued in her mailbox.
TO: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
FROM: concannon@wpost.com
SUBJECT: did some polynesian god sweep you off your feet?
She quickly typed out a reply as Josh looked over her shoulder.
TO: concannon@wpost.com
FROM: cjcregg@whitehouse.org
SUBJECT: misanthrope looking for attention
"Subject line emails?" Josh asked, incredulous. "He can't afford the time to properly type out his intentions?"
CJ took a swipe at his thigh. "Stop reading over my shoulder."
"No wonder that machine has been quacking every two minutes. What's he doing? Sitting at home, awaiting your every word?" Josh sat on the corner of her desk.
"Apparently."
"Doesn’t he have a job to do?"
CJ pushed him away from the desk and rested her feet where he had been sitting. "Unlike some people, he has Sunday's off."
The phone rang. Before she could grab the headset, Josh picked it up, checked the Caller-ID and answered, "CJ Cregg's office, Misanthrope speaking." He picked up the orange football in his other hand and held that arm out to keep her from grabbing the phone.
"Hey, Josh. Can I talk to CJ?" Danny asked.
Josh had an evil look on his face, stepping away from the desk and CJ's long reach. "I'm sorry, I think your girlfriend is a little busy at the moment."
In one ear Josh heard Danny say, "Give her the phone, Josh." In the other he heard CJ hiss, "Give me the phone, Josh."
Josh held the receiver away from his ear and furtively looked between it and CJ standing next to him. "Now that was just spooky."
CJ batted the football away, grabbed the phone and proceeded to use the receiver as a hand axe. Josh immediately stepped away. She put the phone to her ear. "Hey."
"Is the misanthrope gone?"
She glared at Josh, who had decided her door frame was the neighborhood jungle gym. "No, he's hanging in my office door with a stupid expression on his face."
"I take offense at that!" Josh said loud enough for Danny to hear over the line.
Though he couldn't hear Danny's reply, Josh was sure it was the same as CJ's verbal response from the snort of laughter that followed.
Josh waved his arm at them as he left her office. "I thought mind reading didn't come into play until later in the relationship. You two really do deserve each other."
CJ waited until Josh was out of ear shot before sitting down at her desk again. "Hey."
"You said that already," Danny noted.
"Yeah, well…"
There was a comfortable pause, then, "So, when do you get sprung?"
CJ picked at imaginary lint off her shirt. "Last briefing is in an hour. Update on the incident. President will speak for 7 to 8 minutes. We'll say no questions, but you know there will be at least three. The regular song and dance."
"I'm going to pick you up, since you walked in and it's raining now and you tend not to notice these things. Have you decided on a movie?"
Rather than comment on his editorial, CJ replied, "No. I haven't really thought about it."
"Start thinking about it and be prepared with an answer by the time I pick you up. You haven't pulled my credentials, have you?" he teased.
The orange football caught her attention. Josh had left it in her office. "You haven’t abused my name on local television lately, have you?"
"Ah, no."
CJ smiled. "Then your credentials have not been revoked."
"I'll see you in ninety minutes, then?"
"Yeah." She spotted Toby walking through the hallway and decided she might just as well follow, find out how he wanted her to handle the Hoynes' coattails quote. "I gotta go."
"Bye, CJ."
"Bye." She hung up the phone and closed her laptop. Grabbing the football off the floor, she decided a pit stop at Josh's office was in order so that he could put away his toys.
On her way to his office, she breezed through the bull pen to check the fax machine and the Wires Inbox for anything of relevance to her. She read the latest wire report as she walked down the hall. Just as she brought her hand up to knock on the door, she heard a muffled bellow come from the closed room.
"You don't get to decide that! You don't get to decide what's material and what isn't, Donna!"
Deciding that it was better to not know anything, CJ headed for the Mess. The mentality had changed in recent months; need to know had taken on a whole other meaning. She dumped the football on Donna's desk and hoped that whatever Josh was ranting about, he could fix on his own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CJ never enjoyed being in the Oval Office when the President called the family of a child, young or old, lost to crime, accident or attack. The sincerity in his voice, with words that spoke of loss, anger, betrayal and fear, sympathetic and understanding -- her throat always thickened with emotion. She never wanted to have to be on the receiving end of that phone call, but if that was ever her lot in life, Josiah Bartlet's was the voice she wanted on the other end.
The Vice President was standing near the door. CJ glanced over her shoulder at the VP and wondered how the meeting about Texas and the State Legislatures conference was going if he was still in the Oval Office. Sam was sitting on one of the striped couches with his laptop, making the requested changes in the text as the President finished his phone call.
Sam looked up as soon as he stopped typing. Within a minute, Charlie stepped into the Oval Office with several sheets of paper. Charlie handed them to Sam, who read through them quickly, then presented them to the President. The President hung up the phone with a moment of silence, put on his glasses and read through the pages. He nodded and CJ left to see to the Press.
She hurried through the halls, checking her watch as she walked. Three minutes until the briefing, 7 to 8 minutes until the President would be behind the podium. As she rushed through her office, she noticed Will Sawyer perched on Carol's desk.
"Hi."
Will's head followed her into the room. "Hi."
"What do you need?" She breezed past him and into her office.
"You called me." He got off the desk and leaned in her doorway.
CJ fished around on her desk for the latest wires Carol left for her. "Yes, I did. Well, Toby made the remark in response to some new polling data. It was off hand, obviously he meant it as a joke and he regrets it."
Will nodded. "Okay."
CJ looked up. "He'll be happy to go on the record with you."
Shrugging, Will pushed himself off the door. "Nah, that's all right."
Pulling up short, CJ wondered what else Will had if he didn’t want to talk to Toby. "What do you mean?"
"I don't need it."
"You're not going to let Toby explain himself?" She started walking towards the briefing room.
"I'm not writing it."
Incredulous, CJ really wondered what his angle was. Too many times in the past 6 months she had found herself explaining all sorts of remarks to reporters. Some of the fires she was able to put out easily. This one had put itself out. "Why not?"
Will shrugged his shoulders again. "It's not news."
She had misspoke one word and had been news for nearly 3 weeks. "Really?"
"Yeah."
CJ nodded. This was too easy. "Okay."
"I'll see you in there."
CJ stopped before turning into the Press room. "You weren't joking before, were you?"
Stopping in his tracks, Will asked, "When?"
Rolling her hands, she replied, "When you said--"
"No."
Stepping closer to him, she asked, intrigued, "Why do you think the White House is a bad beat?"
Danny had been so adamant that the White House was the only place he wanted to be nearly a year ago. That a promotion to editor paled next to the White House beat. It had been like unsuccessfully pulling teeth when Danny had Mandy's memo. The memo was news, she had to admit. And if he hadn't written the piece on the weaknesses of the Bartlet Administration, they wouldn't have been able to pull out of the sophomore slump they were in.
She hated Danny at the time, felt betrayed that he would ambush her -- the Administration -- in that way. Things between them had soured considerably. Things were on the mend before Rosalyn, but he had declined the editor's job despite her reservations and the conflict of interest. And then he had fallen off the face of the Earth.
He had been in Manchester to cover the re-election announcement. They had talked briefly over lunch one day and it occurred to her that she genuinely missed him. There had been too many sacrifices made for a job that was no longer fun, a job that she dreaded waking up to each day.
She had resigned. And she called Danny when it became apparent to her that she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. All she did know was that she wanted familiarity, she wanted normalcy, and Danny helped her see that. He was familiar, he was normal - in his own way - and she didn’t want to think about the perceived conflict of interest. He wasn't in her press room anymore, but that was the beat he favored. He gave it up.
It was a sacrifice.
The White House wasn't a bad beat. Was it?
Will Sawyer, in his jeans and denim shirt and Sunday best be damned. Will, the reporter in the field. Will, the man after the narco barons and world politics. Will, the one who fought to stay out of the White House Press room when she had so many requests from other agencies to get in it.
"I don't like being a stenographer. And I don't like writing gossip. I read a column last week where a lady bemoaned a decade of scandals she's had to cover, as if the news was to blame for the quality of journalism."
He dropped his voice. "I don't know if there's ever been a more important time to be good at what I do. Can you imagine how much I don't give a damn what Toby said to a staffer?"
If only all the reporters in her Press room could be so forgiving. CJ smiled, genuinely glad that Will was back if only for a few days or weeks.
"Yeah. All right." She stepped towards the press room door, then turned around. "You can sit anywhere you want."
He smiled his thanks and went around to the press entrance. She stepped to the door that would lead her to the podium. This would be the last briefing of the day. The President would speak, she would take a few questions, and her day in the West Wing could end.
She decided she would never get used to the flashbulbs. Staff photographers had to have dozens upon dozens of photos of her stepping up to the podium; why the flashbulbs continued to explode always eluded her.
There were more reporters in the room now that at the first briefing of the day. They always came out in droves when the President was making an appearance.
Everyone was finding their seats. She watched as Will sat down near the back of the room.
"Okay, here's what we know. At approximately 11:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Melissa Markey died of injuries sustained during an exchange of gun fire in an Abilene, Texas, church during morning services. The shooter, Ron Carl, has not been charged at this time. Darryl Bechtell, however, has been charged for aggravated assault. Harold Winter is in intensive care and is expected to make a full recovery."
She knew the minute she paused for a breath, the questions would start flying.
"CJ! CJ!"
"CJ, will Ron Carl be charged at all?"
CJ replied, "The Assistant District Attorney in charge of the case has not said if there will be charges. We should know more tomorrow morning."
"Has the President talked with the Markey's?"
Nodding, CJ replied, "The President has expressed his sympathies with the Markey family."
"Has there been any contact between Ron Carl and the Markeys?"
CJ wanted to avoid any discussion of Ron Carl, charges and what the Markeys thought about the incident. "I don't have any information for you about that."
She held up her hand to ward off further questions. Carol had entered from the back of the room, CJ's signal that the President was ready. "This is all the information we have at this time. The President has asked to make brief statement. I want to remind you that the President will not be taking any questions following his remarks."
She nodded to one of her deputies at the door closest to the podium.
"Here now is the President of the United States."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danny was waiting for her in her office when she finally walked in there. He was sitting at her desk, paying attention to the goldfish as he was wont to do when left to his own devices. She leaned against the doorway, not the least bit irritated that this man was sitting in her chair.
"Hey."
Danny looked up and smiled. "Hey yourself." He moved the gold fish bowl to the corner of the desk where it belonged. "She looks bored," he said, indicating the fish. "You're not giving her enough attention."
"I give my fish more than enough attention." She sat down on the couch, tossed the briefing book on the coffee table.
"But I'm not likely to find fish scales all over your clothes. Cat hair, on the other hand…"
CJ patted the seat next to her on the couch. "Are you going to join me, or what?"
Danny bound out of the chair and quickly sat down next to her. "Better?"
"Much." Her head found a spot on his shoulder.
He took her hand and rested his head against hers. "Bad day?"
"It's getting better."
Danny stroked the back of her hand. She nestled closer. Without looking, Danny knew she had closed her eyes. Her shoulders were tense. He turned so that she could lean against his chest.
"You had to tell the President she died, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it's over now."
CJ sighed, turned so that her forehead was flush with his neck. She wrapped an arm around his chest and gripped his sweater in her fist.
"You given any thought to dinner and a movie?" Danny asked softly. He felt her shake her head against his neck. Snaking an arm around her back, he held her close to his body and felt the tension start to ease. "Would you rather stay in?"
She hesitated, but nodded in the affirmative. "Lets order out and pick it up on the way."
"Stop at the video store and pick up a movie or two?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay." He kissed the top her head and then froze as he looked through the office door.
CJ felt him tense under her and looked up. "What's wrong?"
She looked over her shoulder. Leo was standing in the hallway, his expression unreadable. He stared her down before stepping away.
CJ closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against Danny's. "Oh, hell."
Danny took her face in his hands. "We decided we were going to make a go at this, remember. No matter what anyone thinks. I'm not alone in this, am I?"
"No."
He kissed her forehead. "Okay, just so we're on the same page."
Smiling, she kissed him full on the lips. "We're on the same page."
"Good." Danny stood, pulled her off the couch and into his arms. "Let's go home."
CJ paused, eyes widening slightly. Danny caught her hesitation and smiled at the grin on her face.
"Home," she said quietly. "I think I like the sound of that."
"Good. Cause I don't plan on going anywhere for a while," Danny replied, grabbing her coat from the tree. "Well, I do have to go out of town Tuesday to upstate New York, but--"
CJ kissed him again. "You talk too much."
He helped her on with her coat and led her out the door with a hand at the small of her back. "Good night, Gail," he said over his shoulder as he closed the door.
end