TITLE: Dancing Partners AUTHOR: Kasey SUMMARY: A group outing after work. RATING: PG, S/M, little J/D (Very little, so if you’re a J/__ shipper, don’t worry, it’s about a line’s worth,  go ‘head and read on anyway!) DISCLAIMERS: They aren’t mine.  What do I look like, Aaron Sorkin? (I don’t, fear not…I’ve got that whole “I’m female” thing, so…::grins:? THANKS: Dis and Lt., you guys are absolutely great – both in the beta-ing dept. and in the way of being the best friends a girl could ask for! The Greenville Pub and Club (And yes, that was its real name) was too smoky and loud for most of their tastes.  However, it seemed it was the company which made the evening very enjoyable.  Zoey sat alone at a booth with Charlie, but instead of sitting across from him, she was snuggled against him, her chin on his shoulder and his arm protectively around her.  Gina shook her head and smiled as she watched from a nearby booth. The rest of the Senior Staff – plus Mallory, Donna, and Margaret – had staked out basically a whole section of booths, plus two pitchers of beer and various other drinks.  “Leo, relax!” Josh commanded as he saw his boss staring nervously over at the table where Sam, Mallory, Margaret, and CJ sat.  Sam and Mallory were next to each other, their heads almost touching as she told him something over the noise of the music.  “Mallory’s got enough sense not to let Sam try anything in the middle of a group of people.  It’s not until they leave together that you’re allowed.”  Leo turned and glared at Josh before going back to his Coke.  The younger man suspected his boss wouldn’t have come except to keep an eye on his daughter. The sheer fact that it was a bar was reason enough for Leo to not want to be there, and he didn’t usually participate in the fraternization of the staff.  And yet there he was.  Gazing intently at his daughter and his deputy communications director getting seemingly closer and closer. Until the music changed.  A fast-paced, Latin, salsa-y song began to play, and Mallory jumped up.  “Sam, c’mon!”  He looked up at her as though she’d grown another head.  “Let’s dance!”  She almost laughed at his panic-stricken expression.  “I’ll show you.” “Mallory, I…I am like the world’s worst dancer, I’ll crush your toes and then fall on top of you…” “I don’t mind.”  She grinned.  “C’mon…it’ll be fun…”  Sam sighed and held up his hands in defeat as Mallory pulled him from the chair and out onto the dance floor. She positioned his arms and started to dance, showing him what to do.  “Back….forward…back…forward…” She smiled as she demonstrated, and Sam tried to join in.  He fumbled fairly badly, but she giggled when he trod upon her toes and caught him before he could fall.  And within a couple tries, he actually had it down. “So how’d you get so good at this?” “Are you kidding?  I practically memorized Dirty Dancing when it came out!” He grinned and began to improvise as best he could, twirling her under his arm as he’d seen people do in movies and such. The White House group stopped what they were doing, stopped their conversations, and turned to watch Sam and Mallory.  “Who knew Sam could dance?” CJ asked. “I would’ve figured he’d be too clumsy – he trips over his own feet when he’s walking!” Toby was watching with a faintly amused smile. “I wish Josh could learn to dance like that,” Donna sighed. “I can!” Josh protested.  “I just…don’t want you to break those stiletto heels you always wear.” “I don’t wear stiletto heels.” “Stop arguing and watch,” CJ ordered, and they did. Leo, meanwhile, almost choked on his Coke as he turned and saw the two of them dancing.  Rolling his eyes and sighing when he recovered, he turned to Josh with a raised eyebrow, and received a thumb’s up sign in return.  Great. The song ended soon thereafter, and Sam and Mallory had, unbeknownst to them, gathered a slight audience, who applauded their dancing efforts.  They grinned and accepted the applause, laughing at the idea.  Sam led her back to the table, where they sat, red-faced from the dancing, and each got another drink.  He leaned over and whispered something to her, and a slow grin spread across her face.  She kissed him, and then they stood up, announcing they’d be off. And Leo sighed again.  His daughter wasn’t seven years old anymore, she was twenty-seven, and she wasn’t about to listen to him.  At least not when it came to dancing partners. And partners of other sorts…only he didn’t want to think of that.