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.

"Katie!" Russell waved the paper at her as he came around his desk to shake her hand. "Wonderful job, wonderful!"

"I couldn't have done it without you, sir."

"You couldn't have done it without an anonymous White House source."

"It's not that I don't appreciate your support, but is this going to cause you any grief with the administration?"

"Only if they find out. They didn't give me the list, Katie. I have my own anonymous source."

"You're good."

"You'd be surprised. Are you ready to come to work for me, now, or would you like to go another round?"

"I feel strange about this. I mean, taking leaks from someone I expect to work for...."

"We can stop right now, if you want, and let someone else take him down."

"What have you got?"

"That's my girl," he said as he opened his desk drawer and held up an audiocassette. "Sit down. This may upset you. It upset me."

"Let's see if we can find Bartlet," C.J. said. She took Danny's hand and led him along the row of stones on the island in Constitution Gardens.

"It's down at the end," he said, and they strolled toward it.

"How do you know that?"

"What do you mean how do I know? It's not that big a stretch. The guy's great-great-whatever-grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence, and you're trying to get on the good side of his wife so she'll let you write her biography, and yeah, I came out here to get a picture of it to give her."

"And that got you on her good side?"

"I never took the picture. They look like tombstones, C.J., and the name on it is his, see?"

He pointed at the block at their feet, and C.J. shivered.

"I wish you hadn't said that," she said. "It gives me chills how fragile he is."

"He's okay," said Danny. "If he weren't, trust me, there would not be a Baltic tour."

"Would she tell you?"

"I think I'd know when she started ordering me around like a nurse's aide. Everything else in her mind just shuts down when he's sick, and she doesn't think of anything but him."

"How do you know? The last time it happened you were in the press room making trouble!"

"I was not...! Okay, maybe I was trying to make trouble, but you weren't letting me get away with it, were you?"

"How do you know how the First Lady acts...?"

"I know because that's how I feel when you're hurt. If I were Atlas holding up the world, I'd drop it and take care of you."

C.J. swatted the side of his head.

"You're such an idiot, Danny! You know that?"

"For taking care of you?"

"If you dropped the world, you'd drop me too!"

"Nah. I'd catch you." He put his arms around her and pulled her close. "Everything but you can hit the floor and shatter, but I've got you now and I'll never let you go."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"What if I ask you to?"

He leaned back and looked at her, his eyes wide with hurt.

"Are you asking me to?" he said. "To back off?"

"Just long enough to move whatever this is poking me." She slid her hand into his pocket and came up with a small velvet-covered box. "Danny? What's this?"

"You remember what we were talking about in my office, when I said I wanted to do it right when I did it?"

"Sort of."

"Yeah, so if you are asking me to back off, this would be the time to do it, before it gets any more embarrassing."

She opened the box and saw a diamond ring nestled in a velvet bed.

"Danny!" Her arms slid around his neck and she buried her face against his collar.

"I want us to be married, C.J.," he said. "Would you... will you?"

"Danny, you are so... perfect!"

"Yeah, but will you? Will you marry me?"

"Of course, you idiot! It's just...."

"Just what?"

"I think you'd better catch me, 'cause I feel like the world just fell out from under my feet."