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:

graphic autopsy details. series deals with nonconsensual sex

Note:

They say that to get a character's age, you knock five years off the actor's. Strange coincidence--that's almost exactly what I needed. As usual, Hoynes lovers should probably be hitting delete right about now.

"Leo," said Abbey, "go wear a hole in the carpet in your own office, please."

"I'm thinking, okay? If I go back down there, people are going to expect me to have answers."

"We expect you to have the answers," said Danny.

"For you, I have the answer. If you ever again get an urge to do anything as purely stupid as telling the police a White House staffer might possibly be missing, tell me first!"

"Why?" asked Abbey. "So you can get involved with his crazy plan?"

"So I can be missing, too! And what crazy plans have I ever....?"

"Encouraging people's spouses to run for president, maybe?"

"I don't think that's a problem Danny is going to have," said Leo. Then he thought for a minute, but finally shook his head. "Nah," he said.

"Absolutely not!" declared Danny.

"That's what I said," Abbey told him. "You see how much good it did me."

"We're being sued," Josh told the president.

"What now?"

"Remember the kitchen manager? He's suing for unfair termination. He say the men involved participated voluntarily and we gave them the idea to complain."

"Anything to that?"

"He went on Geraldo."

"We're lucky they weren't all on Jerry Springer."

"Give it time."

"I need to make a statement about the dead reporter."

"No, sir, you need to stay out of this one."

"She did a brave thing, Josh. She probably died because of it. The least I can do is stand at the podium and acknowledge that."

"I hope she haunts John Hoynes."

"I understand the Delaware State Police are pretty much taking care of that."

"You know, Danny's got a friend...."

"This the friend that gave my wife's chief of staff access to a crime scene?"

"That would be the guy, yeah. He said Hoynes was distressed when he heard. He's cooperating fully. Gave them DNA and fingerprints and everything. They don't much like him for this."

"Who else would want the poor woman dead?" The president frowned. "Hoynes gave up his DNA?"

"Yeah."

"Make sure every law enforcement agency anywhere that might have an interest in that fact is aware of it, would you? Make the calls personally. And Josh? Tell Toby I want to make a statement."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr....."

There was a knock, and Charlie Young opened the door.

"CNN," he said. "Turn on...."

The president picked up the remote, and the television came on. Bob Russell was standing on the front steps of the Vice President's residence.

"I made a bad decision," he said. "In my zeal to see justice done for an unspeakable evil, I led someone to violate the ethics of her profession in a way that has resulted in her violent death. I am devastated by this horrible turn of events, and I find that I've lost my taste for political life. For this reason, I ask that the responsible parties remove my name from consideration for the Democratic nomination...."

"He's quitting?" said Josh.

"We wondered where Katie got the list," the president said. "Now we know. When that came out...."

"Yeah. Yeah, he was dead meat. This way he can come back in four years, but...."

"But what, Josh?"

"But he just handed the nomination to John Hoynes!"

"Mr. Vice President?"

"Sam, I'm sorry about this. I know this must be a very bad time for phone calls, when you're so busy...."

"Not too busy to watch you. That was a gutsy thing to do."

"Katie did the gutsy thing. She stood up to him, Sam. That's what you have to do now."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I had to drop out. I'd have been slaughtered, and Hoynes would have come out smelling like fresh baked cookies. Somebody else has to take him on, Sam, and that someone is you."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Son, we need you to run for president."

"I can't."

"You can't? There's a rapist standing up smiling right now, and a woman dripping fluids into the grooves of an autopsy table because she called him what he is, and you can't run? Are you that attached to the California 47th?"

"My birthday is the second of February."

"Okay, you've lost me."

"My thirty-fifth birthday, in 2005. I can't run. I don't meet the constitutional requirements."

"Two weeks?"

"Ten days or so. It doesn't matter. I'm flattered that you thought of me, and I'm sure there'll come a time when I'll remind you of it, but I can't run in this election. I'm not old enough."