After Series:

~*~
When he got back to his apartment, he discovered that she was in bed, still in the exact same position he had left her. Looking at his watch, he smiled. 'Driving during the break of dawn definitely gets you there faster,' he thought. Not wanting to disturb her, he softly walked back out to the living room.

Sitting down on the couch, shedding his shoes, he made himself comfortable and attempted to do some work. The most he could hope for was to set half his mind on typing the article and the other half on CJ. Of course, he would have to fight with himself to keep it even.

When he heard her softly calling him, he closed the laptop and strode to the bedroom. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty's awake." he called from the doorway.

She blushed even though she knew he was just teasing her. "Sleeping Beauty didn't wake up till the Prince kissed her."

Smiling, he moved forward, finally sitting next to her on the bed. Leaning over her, he smirked, "Well, now, I need to take care of that, don't I." She met him half way for the kiss and after a few moments, they parted. "How's that?"

"Very nice." She began to pick at her fingernail, causing him to grasp her hand, both to provide comfort through touch and to stop her nervous habit.

"There's more where that came from." he promised.

"I hope so."

Caressing her cheek, "CJ?"

"Yeah?"

"You up for some company?"

She jerked involuntarily. "Someone's here?"

Moving his other hand to her arm, "No, no one's here. It's just that Josh would like to visit. He's not on a fact-finding trip, CJ, he seems genuinely concerned about you and would like to see for himself that you're safe."

"I'm with you. He should know that I'm safe."

Smiling, "Thanks. Then he needs to make sure you're okay. That you're still you."

"When?"

"When you're ready."

"Later."

"Okay."

"You got breakfast?"

"I've got something for you that I think you'll love."

"You cooked?"

"I ordered." With eyes twinkling, he quickly added, "Though, I assure you, I can cook well enough to knock your socks off."

He heard her chuckle as he went in search of the food he had purchased from the corner deli.

~*~
Later that evening, Josh knocked on the door, unsure of what to expect. CJ had left them all without a word. The level of anxiety that raised in him was unbearable and he had been more than relieved when Danny called to say that she was with him and that she was safe. Or as safe as she could be, depending on what her state of mind was. That's what he was there to find out.

Danny swung open the door, motioning for him to enter. She was sitting on the couch, legs wrapped under her, afghan covering most of her body. Her eyes looked sunken, red from obvious crying, and she looked paler than he remembered. He couldn't help but think that someone from California shouldn't be that pale. Then it dawned on him; three years in DC and you're likely to end up looking like a bleached sheet. She was entitled to look the way she did. And worse yet, they had all had a hand in it, he felt.

She broke the ice first. "So you're just gonna stand there?"

"Uh, no." Moving closer to her, "CJ, thanks for letting me come here."

"Did Danny tell you I wanted to keep it short?"

He smiled. "Of course, whatever you want, he'll give you." Looking over his shoulder to the kitchen and back at her, he whispered, "I will too, you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What are you willing to give, Mi Amor?"

"So much time to yourself that you'll go crazy enough to want to come back to us."

She chuckled; it still contained a mixture of laughter and bitterness. "I *would* have to be crazy to want to go back."

He shrugged. "Well, we're all a little nuts."

A genuine smile formed, "That's true."

"CJ, you scared me. I didn't know where you had gone. I knew we had driven you away and that didn't help any. When you didn't call, I didn't know what to think." He stopped and looked down. She put her hand over his. Danny had begun walking into the living room but returned to puttering in the kitchen.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Her eyes shifted to Danny and back to Josh.

"Okay."

"You sure 'bout that, CJ?" Danny muttered. Noticing Josh's concerned look, Danny added, "Show him your knee."

"I don't think Josh needs, or wants, to see my knee."

Josh turned, amused, "What about your knee?"

She began unconsciously rubbing her sore body part. "I hit it."

"On what?"

"The car."

"That's what you get for being so clumsy, uh, change that to tall if that will keep you from hitting me."

She smiled. "Like I chose my height, Mi Amor." Biting her bottom lip as Danny went back to work, she changed the subject. "Josh, I hope you understand that I just needed to get away. The atmosphere in Manchester was unbearable. I really needed a break."

"You couldn't tell me? So I didn't worry?" He had the usual whiny tone to his voice, the one meant to make people feel sorry for him, the one that usually got him his way.

"No, I just needed to leave."

He allowed his sadness its freedom when he said, "You resigned, CJ."

Sighing, "I know what I did, Josh."

"Talk to the President."

"No."

"CJ, you both need it."

"He doesn't need anything but for me to spin his lies. For Toby and Sam to write great speeches to make him look good. For you to line up the votes for the bills he supports."

"He's a smart man, CJ. He knows how to get what he wants."

"Okay, but I don't hear you correcting me on anything else."

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's because the rest appears to be true."

"Toby was the only one who got to yell."

"I think that was more his choice than Bartlet's."

She stifled a laugh. "Knowing Toby, that's entirely possible."

"Yeah."

Looking past Josh, her gaze settled on Danny, listening intently while he typed. "I'm the only one he didn't tell."

"What?" Josh had momentarily lost his ability to follow her.

"He told all the guys. Leo told me." She shifted, still favoring her knee. "*Leo* told me, Josh. It made me feel as if I wasn't as important as the rest of you."

"You are."

"But I didn't feel as if I was. He never bothered to make me *feel* like I mattered. He lied to us, Josh. He lied to all of us and he didn't have the balls to face me. Then..." She signaled to Danny that she was all right and he stopped in his tracks, returning to the kitchen, deciding to make some coffee for them all. "Then, he had the nerve to expect us to behave as if nothing happened."

"He expected us to serve at the pleasure of the President, CJ. That's what we signed on for."

"Not for the lies."

"CJ."

Shaking her head and her finger simultaneously, "Not for the lies. We didn't sign up to look like liars, to look like we wouldn't know the truth if it hit us in the face. I spin the truth, for Christ's sake, and I couldn't spin this. And no one was supporting me. How was I supposed to do my job out there on a limb with no one holding the end of the rope?"

"I would've held it, CJ."

"If I had asked?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't think I should have to ask."

Silence filled the room eventually being broken by Danny's announcement that the coffee was ready. He put the cups down in front of the two friends, his remaining on the kitchen table along with his laptop. He would continue working as long as CJ appeared to be comfortable with her visitor.

"You shouldn't have had to ask. We should've known." He ran his hand through his hair. "And you know what? We did know. We just didn't do a damn thing about it and for that, I'm sorry. You know I am."

"I know."

"I really want to hug you. I missed you. It was like losing..." His eyes began to glaze over with tears and he looked away from her briefly, only returning to her when she called him.

"Josh?"

"We got really close during the campaign and I started to think of you as my sister. When you left without even telling *me*, it was like losing so much more than a colleague."

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. "I would never stop talking to you."

"But you did." He said into her hair. "You left me behind and I had no clue what to do."

"I would've called you." She moved her face to look at him. "I will never stop talking to you, Josh, no matter where we are in this world."

"So you're not thinking about coming back?"

"I don't know. I think it's too soon to decide."

"Then, by all means, you should talk to the President." A big smile played on his face. "Give it to him with both barrels."

"What?"

"You resigned, CJ. You now have the right to let him know *exactly* what is on your mind."

"I would never disrespect him like that." No matter what he had done, he was still the President of the United States.

"You're still entitled to let him know how you feel."

She poked him gently. "That I am."

"Then you'll do it?"

Sipping the last of her coffee, "Yeah. I'm entitled to my opinion. I'm entitled to be hurt by his deception. I'm entitled to feel tired of being the fall guy 'cause I honestly didn't see *that* in the contract I signed. I'm entitled to be a human being and damnit I'm entitled to be *me*. The hell with what he thinks. It's *my* turn to talk now!"

Josh smiled, hugged her again, and did a backwards thumbs-up to Danny whose fingers had frozen in mid-air when she began speaking in such a strong voice.

"You ready to go?"

"Now?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Yeah. May as well bottle up this momentum and continue it."

Shaking her head, "Tomorrow at the earliest."

"Sounds good to me." As Danny walked into the living room, Josh smiled and continued, "Tomorrow, you and the President, round one."

~*~
End part 7.