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.

Josh groped for his phone in the green glow of his alarm clock, which claimed it was 4:34, at least until Josh dropped the phone and knocked the clock off the table fishing for it.

"Josh Lyman," he said, trying to sound chipper enough to piss off whomever was on the other end.

"This is the night operator again, Mr. Lyman. Mr. McGarry wondered if you could come in a bit early. There's something he needs to discuss with you before the President gets up."

"Jess, will you marry me?"

"Sir?"

"I mean, nine times out of ten when my phone rings, it's you. I've spent more time talking to you than to the last six people I've dated put together, and I know you better than anyone else who doesn't work in the White House...."

"I do work in the White House, Mr. Lyman."

"You're kidding. Not the OEOB?"

"No, sir, down in the subbasement."

"Well, marry me anyway."

"My wife might object, sir, and also Mr. McGarry was most insistent."

"I think Leo's dating, Jess."

"Shall I tell him you'll be in just after five?"

"Might as well," sighed Josh.

"Thanks for coming in. Want a Danish?"

Josh snagged a pastry and settled in Leo's office chair, waiting for his boss to start talking. Leo watched him for a while, took a doughnut and picked it apart and then watched Josh some more.

"You don't tell me what this is all about pretty soon, Leo, the president is going to be up, and Jess said...."

"Jess?"

"Jess the night operator. New love of my life."

"Jess Hunnicutt the ex-Marine drill instructor who lost parts of both legs in a training accident?"

"See, I knew he was a fascinating person, just from his voice."

"Yeah, well, while we're on the subject of, uh, love...." Leo's voice trailed off, and he licked a bit of yellow filling off one of his fragments of doughnut.

"What's the problem, Leo?"

"You worked for John Hoynes."

"You knew that when you hired me. How is that a problem?"

Leo ate the bite of doughnut, took another and nibbled at the lemon cream.

"Leo?"

"You know Hoynes pretty well?"

"I know how he likes his coffee, and stuff."

"He made you get his coffee?"

"I heard him give the order, Leo, but I would have got it if he'd asked. I'll get you coffee any time you want. Is this about coffee?"

"This is about women."

"Yeah, well, his marriage isn't in real good shape, but I don't think she'll dump him as long as she thinks she has a shot at the East Wing."

"So there are women."

"Whenever he's on the road, yeah, there are women, and sometimes pretty boys... grown men, I mean, but... you know the type. Is that the problem? The guys? It doesn't happen often."

"We should be so lucky. Talk to me, Josh. Tell me what I need to know and don't try to guess what's going on. I'm going to tell you when we're through."

"Okay, well, there's nobody steady. One-night stands, but they're not the type to make trouble. He doesn't go for bimbos."

"Who does he go for?"

"People with something to lose. Consultants, medium-level staffers, people who would destroy their own careers by making the accusation and not make enough from Oprah to compensate."

"You don't have a problem with this, with him using his position to coerce sex from staff?"

"I don't think that's the way it is. I never knew anybody to get hurt. I mean, they could say no, right? Nobody drags them to his room."

"Is he the type to kiss and tell? About the girls, I mean. The guys we'll never hear from. Would he talk about any of the girls, though?"

"He's not stupid, Leo. I mean...."

"Men have recovered from that kind of thing, made a public confession and just moved on."

"And that would trouble us why?"

"Because sometimes consultants and medium level staffers move up the ladder, Josh. Hoynes could use it to tarnish this administration and cripple whomever we do endorse."

"Which is not going to be Hoynes?"

"I think that's a fairly safe assumption."

"Why? What's he done, that..." Somewhere in Josh's brain a switch flipped. "Okay, you know something, someone. One of us? Not you, me, Toby... Sam, maybe, but Sam would have tried to reform him. Not Sam, so... C.J.? That's the kind of thing she'd do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What does it sound like? Come on, Leo, I love C.J. like a sister, but if you're going to talk about one night stands...."

"Trust me, we are concerned about that situation."

"She's a single girl, Leo. If she wants to sleep around, that's up to her. Hey, she could have had a steady, but you went all Wolverton Mountain on him!"

"I hadn't even thought about that. There goes keeping it from the press."

"Huh?"

"If Hoynes decides he needs to take C.J. down, the first thing he's going to do is name every man she's ever kissed, particularly if there's an element of scandal."

"Poor Danny. That's gonna break his heart."

"You know you're coming off as a colossal asshole, here, Josh?"

"Hoynes never forced anybody to do anything, Leo. Did he? Is C.J. saying he did?"

"She's not saying much of anything. She's just sitting in her office crying."

"'Cause Hoynes's going to make her look like a power whore?"

"Do you care?"

"Yes, I care! C.J.'s my friend, but what does she... what do you expect me to do? You want me to talk to him about keeping her out of the book?"

"No. If it comes out at all, she's going to come clean."

"Huh?"

"To keep him from blowing off anybody else who comes forward. She's positioned herself to be the sacrificial lamb, Josh, and I don't want that to happen. Do you?"

"The President is going to be caught between them."

"We all are. What I need to know from you is where you're going to be standing."

"You're sure this thing is going to happen?"

"If Hoynes runs, somebody's going to say something. Yeah, it'll happen."

"I gotta think about it a while, Leo."

"Think fast. I need an answer before the President gets up."

Josh found no one in the bullpen, although Toby's light was on. C.J.'s door was open, and Josh could see her at her desk, head pillowed on her arms, unmoving except for an occasional sob.

"C.J.?"

"Josh?" She sat up, found a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Leo called me in early. He said you might have a thing."

"I did something really stupid."

"Yeah, I heard. Look, you're not the only one. Boy, are you not...."

"I figured."

"Everybody does stupid things, C.J., but you don't have to be a martyr about it."

"What do you expect me to do? Do you expect me to say yes, I slept with a married man and so did a lot of other people and we're all scum but vote for him for President?"

"You did do this, right? I mean, nobody twisted your arm?"

C.J. didn't answer; she wrapped herself into a ball, closed her eyes and rocked back and forth, weeping.

"C.J.?" Still no answer. "Okay," said Josh, standing up and closing C.J.'s blinds, "I'm just going to go talk to Toby for a minute, and then I'll come back and we'll talk some more." He pulled her door closed behind him.

"Toby? You awake?"

"You saw C.J.?"

"There's no way she can brief."

"Right."

"Is it true that the First Lady is practicing again?"

"Is it true that you are the absolute king of non sequiters?"

"We don't want any more outsiders involved in this than we have to have, do we? I thought as soon as she was up I'd take her up to see her, and she could maybe have her stuff handy...."

"I think you need to do some serious work on pronoun referrents, there."

"Don't be doing grammar on me when I'm doing damage control, Toby."

"Is that what we're doing?"

"I dunno. I'm going to go sit with C.J. and let you make the calls."

"I'll do that."

"Now whose modifiers are dangling?"

"I'll take care of C.J., okay? You go do whatever you need to do."

"You want me to brief?"

"You should maybe talk to Leo."

"Are we okay, Toby?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. That's a good idea, about the First Lady. Could you have Charlie buzz me in C.J.'s office when we can go up?"

Josh walked down the hall to Leo's office and leaned against the door.

"You done thinking?" Leo asked.

"Not yet. Toby's taking C.J. upstairs to talk to Dr. Bartlet."

"About what?"

"Probably a needleful of magic sleeping potion. C.J. doesn't look too good. If Toby stays with C.J., do you want me to brief?"

"Kill me now."

"Do you or don't you?"

"Okay, you read what's in the briefing book, you say we'll take questions later in the day and you leave. That's all you do, okay? You don't answer anything."

"Yeah, okay."

"And send Danny Concannon in here first thing. First thing, Josh, before he gets his coat off."

"Leo, be gentle with him, okay? He's my... he's one of my best friends."

"You're a piece of work, Joshua. Go on, get out of my sight."