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.

"C.J.? You got a minute?"

"Make it quick, Mitch. I heard you've spent more time with my fiance today than I have, and I could be jealous for just a little bit."

"Trust me, no fear. Listen, do you know of any Democrat other than John Hoynes who's running for president?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Do you know of any Democrat...?"

"I heard you the first time!"

"Well, do you?"

"The Democratic leadership doesn't normally share that kind of information with press secretaries, Mitch. What makes you think...?"

"Something Danny said."

"Yeah, right, uh... I think they're pushing a retired Air Force colonel from Arizona, but I don't know anything about him."

"Name?"

"Not even that, and I could be wrong about rank and branch. Let me check for you, okay?"

"Great. You'll get back to me today?"

"Your deadline's not till...."

"Yeah, but I'll need to research the guy. Give me a break, C.J., okay?"

"Okay, I'll try. I really will try."

Tracy, having exhausted escape possibilities for the moment, settled at the foot of the bed.

"You're bleeding," she said.

"It happens. It'll get worse."

"Are they gonna get you a doctor, or anything?"

"I don't think so."

"Why... how did you get here?"

"I drove."

"I don't understand."

"Don't you? Look at me! I let a man get me into this state, and then I was too stupid to do anything about it, and...."

"I heard he would have married you."

"Yeah, and that would have made everything all right, wouldn't it? I'd finally achieve my ambition to be a trophy wife, and all it cost me was my self-respect, my professional reputation and... an... ooh!"

"It's okay. Here, hold my hand." The chains wouldn't stretch far enough for both hands to grip, but the one that could clamped on Tracy's wrist hard enough to bruise. "Why did they chain you up?" she asked when the screaming stopped again.

"I crossed her. She said... who am I kidding? She intended to do this from the start. She doesn't even need me. It's the baby she wants."

"She lied to you?"

"At first she just said I could stay out here, out of sight, until the kid was born, but then...."

"They lied to me, too. My sister did something for her boyfriend when they lived in Marrakesh, and they were going to put her in jail. She didn't know anything about it, but if I don't do what they say...."

The woman laughed.

"You're doing better than me," she said. "You did it to help someone. I told her I'd help her do anything she wanted, as long...."

"As long as she hurt your baby's father?"

"Not him. It wasn't that, or not just that. Can you imagine a guy who doesn't get it to the point where he gets his girlfriend pregnant, expects her to throw up everything that means anything in life and come be Donna Reed for him and then puts his totally unqualified best friend into her job and expects her to like it?"

"Guys do that kind of thing, I guess."

"It wasn't even Josh's hide I wanted. It was Danny Concannon's, for deciding the little woman didn't need to be in a man's job, and he'd just relieve me of it whether he had anything resembling experience or not. If I could have got my hands on him, I'd have strangled him myself."

"They say he's doing really good."

"Doesn't that just figure? Josh doesn't need me, the First Lady doesn't need me and now even the conspiracy doesn't need me. That'll be the new annotation to my entry in Who's Who: Amy Gardner--superfluous."