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.

"They're on their way back," the First Lady told Josh. "We'll get it straightened out."

"Why would anybody have anything against me? Other than members of Congress and their staffs, who play by the rules."

"A very interesting set of rules."

"Yes, ma'am, but rules. If you break the rules, you don't really win."

"You do if you don't get caught."

"You're a cynic, Mrs. Bartlet."

"Is that what's bothering you about this?

"It bothers me that they won't tell me what it was."

"It was nothing, Josh, just nasty, petty little hate mail."

"Then why can't I see it?"

"You can, when it gets back from the lab."

"I mean, I might have recognized... something."

"No," she said quickly.

"Mrs. Bartlet? Have you seen it?"

"I heard about it."

"Why? Why you?"

"Because Danny Concannon thinks out loud."

"What's going on? Is this about Amy?"

"It took you this long to come up with that?"

"It took me this long to decide that you weren't going to admit it. This shouldn't be going through your office. When Leo is...."

"It isn't going through us. Treasury is handling it. It's just that Danny knows people."

"Yeah, and I don't?"

"You told me once that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I had to put a professional face on things."

"Yeah, and I think we can agree that you've surpassed expectations on that one."

"Right now you look like a junior high pitcher crying because the coach is taking him out."

"With respect, ma'am, you're not the coach."

"No, you're embarassing yourself in a much larger arena than that." She took a breath while he gaped and recovered himself. "You're publicly scrambling for official control of a situation in which you're personally involved."

"And the EAST WING is 'involved' in this HOW?"

"Because there aren't a lot of people who work in this building who'll stand up to you when you're on a roll, and most of them are drunk in Sam Seaborn's basement! Josh, you have to stand down. If you don't, you're going to be on leave as soon as Leo McGarry walks into this building."

"No. He wouldn't do that. He told me that as long as he had a job, I had a job."

"That's not what we're talking about!"

"Please, ma'am, for the love of God, will you tell me what we are talking about?"

"That was stupid."

"No stupider than some things you've done."

"I think you're forgetting our objective, here."

"Maybe I am, but don't I have a right?"

"You don't have rights. You don't have anything, except what I choose to give you because you have something I need. The only thing that distinguishes you from all the others is your own stupidity, and if you've lost me Bernard, that absolutely will not be enough. Do you understand me? Don't just nod, say it!"

"Yes. Yes, I understand you."