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.

"You've got a bigger office than mine."

Danny looked up and found C.J. leaning against the frame of his door.

"What can I say? It's the East Wing."

"It still sucks."

"You can hang in my office any time you want. C.J., what do trailer parks have to do with wetland preservation?"

She walked around the desk and read over his shoulder.

"Are these trailers perchance in a swamp?"

"Any trailer parks anywhere are getting a tax break for tornado insurance."

"Tornadoes mess up trailer parks, Danny. You've seen the pictures of shelters full of homeless poor people who've lost everything."

"Homeless poor *tenants*. This money goes to the landlords so they can build the trailer park back, and it's attached to the wetlands preservation bill."

"Why are you looking at the wetland preservation bill?"

"Looking for a way to screw Josh."

"Is there something we should discuss, Daniel?"

She squealed as he swatted her backside and pulled her into his lap.

"My boss," he told her, "says it's part of the job: screw Josh Lyman at least twice a day. I'm already behind."

"I wouldn't worry about it. I think Amy was far enough ahead to last until the end of the administration."

"Oh, belittle my efforts, here. Don't you have a briefing?"

"Josh is doing it."

"I wonder if that could count...."

"You know Katie Witt?"

"Atlanta Journal-Constitution, four seats down from mine. My old seat. Of course I know her. What about her?"

"Does she... is she...?"

"What? Is she brilliant? Not as good as me, but she doesn't have that problem any more."

"She's one of the victims on the Hoynes thing. She was going to ask me at the podium if he was the one."

"Excuse me? She didn't notice who...?"

"The one who did the rest of us. The one who...."

"Raped you?" He pulled her tight against him. "Look, I'm sorry, but they're not going to give you any wiggle room on that."

"Yeah, she was going to ask if he were the one who ra.. raped me."

"Good," he said, and kissed her cheek. "So, what, you were going to say yes and the world was going to end?"

"Actually I was going to get Josh to brief and come hide in here."

"She may not be as good as me, C.J., but she's better than that. You don't want to read her paper tomorrow."

"I was afraid of that. You'd think she'd show a little solidarity, you know?"

"She probably thought you would."

"I beg your pardon?"

"She's going after him, trying to hurt him the only way she knows. She's doing what I would do if I were still in there. She thought you'd be cheering her on."

"What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Quit hiding. It's going to come out sometime. You might as well let Katie get in her licks."

"The president thinks we can make a case against him. He doesn't want it on Geraldo before we get our ducks in a row."

"C.J., the president isn't a lawyer."

"Are you?"

"No, but I talked to a couple about this."

"About what? Were you talking about me with a total...?"

"I was trying to take care of the victims who work for me now. C.J., there isn't going to be a criminal case."

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

"You could sue him."

"Should I buy Debbie Fiderer's alpacas, or choose a lifestyle of poverty and ignominy all my own?"

"I have a job."

"What does that have to do with me?"

He let her go and she almost fell off his knee.

"C.J.? You know everything I have is yours, right?"

"We're not married, Danny."

"You know I want us to be, right?"

"That doesn't mean I want to be a deadbeat!"

"You mean you will?"

"Danny, if I ever get to the point where I can't make my own living, just kill me, okay? Promise me you'll kill me?"

"One, you're devaluing the life experience of a significant minority of the American public there, and two, you know that's not what I was asking."

"Three, the experience of the unfortunates who are unable to work or to find work is something I find regrettable without feeling any need to share it, and four, what are you talking about?"

"You didn't...? Okay, that's... that's good, 'cause that wasn't how I wanted to do this."

Danny's phone rang. He slipped an arm around C.J.'s waist to steady her as he leaned forward to snag it.

"Concannon. Yes, ma'am." He placed the phone back in the cradle. "Duty calls, and isn't it great that one of us works for someone who can use a phone?"

"My boss is a Nobel Prize winner."

"My boss doesn't bellow at her staff."

"Rub it in."

"Anyplace in particular?" The hand at her waist wandered upward. She moved it and stood up.

"Your boss is calling you."

"She's an understanding lady."

C.J. took his hands in hers and pulled him to his feet.

"She's hell on wheels. Get in there before she regrets hiring you. Oh, and call Milton and Packard on Environment, Technology and Standards and...."

"Schoenberg on Financial Services? I didn't get to town yesterday, C.J., okay? I'm already on it."

"And Willis at the Interior Department?"

"Ooh, good one." Danny scribbled on his blotter. "Thanks."

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

"God, it feels good just to say that."

"Yeah. We can maybe talk later?"

"You know where to find me."