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.

"Charlie?" Tracy, wearing a corderoy jumper and penny loafers, slipped into the chair beside his desk. "I think I'm in really big trouble."

"You just now figured that out?"

She shook her head.

"I didn't even know the girl that died."

"You think killing a total stranger is better than someone you know?"

"I don't know. I mean, people do it, in wars, and so forth."

"Yeah, I do know. I think the guy that shot my mother was an 'and so forth.' So you thought this was like a war, and it was okay to kill the occcasional reporter?"

"Nobody told me they were going to kill her! I still don't know that they were the ones who killed her!"

"You tell the Secret Service who 'they' are?"

She almost whimpered: "No."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know what to do, okay? I'm scared, and I don't know what to do."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared I thought I was doing something good, and it's not. Scared if I say I was one of them it means I think it's okay what they're trying to do."

"What's that? What are they trying to do, Tracy? I can't help you if you won't tell me."

"Are you trying to help me?"

"I'm not against you. I'm trying to help Amy Gardner. Were you the one who put her resignation on the First Lady's desk?"

"No."

"Tracy...."

"Really, I promise, I didn't do it. Why won't anybody believe me?"

"Come in, Josh," the president said. "Talk to me. Are these our doctors Abbey says are mutilating little girls?"

"No, sir," said Josh. "It's local talent. The only U.S. money involved was in the construction phase."

"So they're not getting any financial support from us now?"

"No, sir."

"Where are they getting money from? I mean, the Deburran economy is nonexistant, right?"

"Their per capita income is in the single digits, yes, sir."

"So how are they paying for forty rural health clinics? Where's the money coming from?"

"Give me a little time to look into that?"

"Not too much time, Josh. My married life is on hold as long as those clinics are operating."

"Mitch?"

"C.J., there's an Egyptian human rights website that claims the U.S. is supporting clinics in Deburras that perform female circumcision?"

"Excuse me?"

"Female circumcision: it's a procedure that...."

"I know what it is, Mitch, and I don't envy you having to explain it to the readers of a newsmagazine."

"Yeah, I think we're going to have to skip the diagrams. You have a comment?"

"Nothing printable. Let me get back to you on it, okay?"