Fandom:

The West Wing AU

Pairing:

C.J./Danny

Rating:

PG-13 for topic

Distribution:

How much do I owe you for hauling it off?

Spoilers:

Up to and including Full Disclosure, from which the series follows on

Email:

exfilia at livejournal dot com

Disclaimer:

if I owned them, they'd have a lot more fun

Warning:

mentions nonconsensual sex

Note:

Hoynes lovers should probably be hitting delete right about now.

She opened the door before he knocked.

"Daddy, what are you doing here, and what is that thing?"

"It's a cat. Donna Moss said you wanted a cat."

"It's enormous!"

"No kidding. Take him, will you? I've known smaller Rottweilers." He lifted one of the cat's paws from around his neck and placed it on Ellie's shoulder. The cat climbed across, setting its rear paws on her hipbones and its furry arms around her neck, and nuzzled its softball-sized head against her throat.

"Where did you get...?"

"He belonged to Katie Witt, the reporter who was killed. There's no one else who can take him, so I thought, you know, since you wanted a cat...."

"Is it supposed to be that color?"

"Now that is a very interesting rusty gray tabby pattern, Eleanor, very much like...."

"Mr. President? You're needed...."

"Be right there. Look, Ellie, just... just believe me when I say he's the best I can do for you. He's the cuddliest thing available in the West Wing right now, honestly."

She tried to glare at her father, but gave it up when he cracked a smile.

"Does it have a name?" she asked.

"Malice. I've got to go, so... don't trip over his tail, all right?"

"Tell Danny he's a genius," said Leo.

"Don't make me tell him that, Leo," C.J. said. "We already have to special order these huge hats."

"Nevertheless, he is, in fact, a genius. Close the door and come look at these."

"What's that?"

"Satellite photographs. You're going to have to learn to read them."

"Can the president read them?"

"I can, and he can read me. Here, this is one of the clinics in Deburras."

"Okay, we've got a main building, and some wards and labs and stuff, and... smoke?"

"Kitchen. How about over here?"

"A fenced-in compound. A park?"

"An outdoor physical therapy facility."

"Huh?"

"Look at these shadows, here and here, and then turning and running up here."

"Ditches?"

"Very good. But what if we called them trenches?"

"As in...."

"What if I told you Deburras, out of the goodness of the hearts of its people, gives a home each year to a couple of thousand orphans from refugee camps in the Middle East?"

"How old are these orphans?"

"Good, again. Mid to late teens, and all of them supposedly require evaluation at local health care facilities which, if you think about it, have a very large number of beds for third world clinics."

"Barracks. Leo, are you telling me these people took money we gave them to build clinics and put up militia training camps?"

"You're gonna make a hell of a president, you know that?"

"Is there a terrorist connection?"

"We're working on it. I mean, Walter Reed should have lab facilities like these backcountry clinics."

"What are we going to do?"

"What would you do, if we'd found out in a couple of years?"

"Is this a test?"

"If I needed a test, C.J., you wouldn't be running for county commissioner. What do you do? We can't bomb clinics. What do you do?"

She thought for a minute, then smiled.

"You know," she said, "the Deburris are doing a very good thing, a very generous thing, especially since they're one of the poorest nations in the world. I think we have to help them. I think we have to get medical staff in there, and food and medicine, and teachers for those kids, and loads and loads of developement money to grow their economy, and...."

"And where we gonna get...?"

"Why, until we can set something up locally, the U.S. Army would be proud to fill in."

"C.J., you have a truly malicious mind. The Deburri government will have something to say, of course, but that'll attract the world press, so... yeah, I think that'll do it."

They heard the sirens of the motorcade.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"The president," said Leo. "He went to take something to Ellie."

"Did I miss her birthday?"

"You know Catzilla, from the movie on the plane? Nobody else wanted him, surprisingly enough."

"Is Ellie aware that this cat is bigger than she is? Okay, I'll add it to the briefing. Was it Alice...?"

"Malice. And I will go spend twice as long getting a plan out of the sitting president...."

"I wouldn't let him hear you say that."

"He's good at the economics, really good. Not so good at the spy photographs, but he'll figure out how to get the money flowing once the army separates those poor orphans from their toy grenades. You know not to brief on this yet, right?"

"What if I get questions on the girls?"

"The administration will present a statement to the Deburri government within twenty-four hours. You don't have the details."

"Right. Thanks, Leo."

"Thank you, madame... press secretary." He closed the door behind him and