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.

"Good morning," Abbey said to the agents outside the residence door. Was it morning, yet? She checked her watch. It was two AM, close enough.

Her front door was still closed. The agents' eyes were wide, and they looked almost nauseous. Abbey smiled at them, imagining what they conceived the situation to be.

"Is Mr. McGarry with him?" she asked.

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Not a problem," she said, and waited for them to open the door.

Danny was already impatient with the Secret Service. A black-suited agent drove them from the airport. Another one waited on C.J.'s... on their front stoop. Two more hovered inside. The nanny, blessedly, was asleep, as was Claudie. C.J. stood over her crib, and Danny felt her shudder against him.

"She's all right," he whispered. "We're all right."

"What kind of a life will she have if Paul Bostitch wins this thing?"

"The best one we can give her," he said, and then took a deep breath. "C.J., do you really want to adopt a kid?"

"Huh?"

"The woman who was shot at the hotel has a baby, nineteen months old. She's almost unadoptable because of the alcohol and cocaine in the womb thing, so our age wouldn't be so much of a problem as long as we had, you know, a plan. She's going to need the kind of home we could give her, and I thought...."

"Have you seen this kid?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I went and met her. She's sweet."

"Without telling me?"

"I wanted to make sure she was okay first, and she is."

"She's okay, but is she ours?"

"I knew she was meant to be as soon as I heard her name: Julia Katherine Boggs. They call her Katie."

They had fallen asleep sitting against the headboard with the light on, her husband in his blue pajamas tucked up under the covers, and Leo in shirtsleeves sitting beside him with a manila folder open on his lap. Abbey sat down beside them and kissed first one, then the other. Jed's arm slid around her and pulled her close, until they felt Leo start to get up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"You two look like you could use some time alone."

"If I'd known you were going to break and run I'd have tied you to the bed while you were still asleep."

"He's good at the running thing," said Jed. "Did C.J. come with you?"

"Why would she?" asked Leo. "She doesn't work here anymore."

"No," said Abbey, "but she'll be in after breakfast for her official hug. Leo? What's wrong?" She rolled across her husband's body and settled between the two men. "You're okay with me being here, right?"

"I guess."

"You sound like a teenager."

"I feel like a teenager, Abbey. I don't know what I'm doing or how I'm supposed to feel or anything, and even the stuff I'm sure of I'm wrong about."

"Like what?"

"Like that a woman resents it when her husband has sex with someone else?"

"Since when are you just someone else?" she asked.

"Since when am I having sex with him?" asked her husband. "Or with anyone, for that matter."

Abbey ignored Jed's pique and turned Leo's face so that she could look into his eyes.

"What part of 'I love you, too' are you having a problem with?"

"The part where it gets kinky," said Leo, his voice shaky.

"Please, God, can we get to that part?" asked Jed. Abbey ignored him again.

"It could get that way," she told Leo, "but only when you're totally comfortable with it."

Jed climbed out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Abbey asked.

"Both of you in one bed and I still can't get laid? I'm going to take a shower." He strode into the bathroom, and Abbey heard the water come on. Leo flopped back against the headboard.

"It's okay," Abbey told him.

"I keep hearing that," he said. "but I can't make myself believe it. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. I thought you were going to be it, but...."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you in your quest for condemnation, but you're not getting it here. You're allowed to love him, Leo. You're allowed."