Once in a Lifetime

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Claudia sighed and pushed her plate of food away. "Why do I have to

baby-sit?" she whined.

"Because you're the oldest, and we trust you with the guest's kids,

okay?" Her mother replied, throwing another batch of bacon on the

grill. "You'll only have your brothers, and two others."

"ONLY?!" Claudia cried. "Oh, yeah, thanks."

"Claudia Jean, I don't have to tell you that the winery isn't doing well

financially, and your father needs to do this to keep us in business."

"I wouldn't have such a problem with it if you would keep your promise

and pay me when the adventure is over," Claudia muttered, taking a drink

of her juice. "I'm going outside."

"They arrive this afternoon."

"And unless you pay me, FORGET IT," Claudia said, pushing away from the

table.

Lilian Cregg watched as Claudia got up from the table and literally

looked down at her as she walked away. At nearly 6 feet tall she was a

good half a foot taller than her mother.

"I'll be on the porch, if you find any more jobs for me to do" said

Claudia sarcastically as she yanked the screen door opened and stormed

outside.

Lilian stood in the doorway and watched as her daughter settled down on

the porch swing, her long legs pushing her with much more force than

needed to get the swing going. She sighed to herself and wished that

things could be easier on Claudia. The vineyard was in trouble and the

family had decided to open up some of the rooms to guests. As a result

of the financial situation some of the staff had been let go and Lilian

had been forced to take on a large amount of work. And in turn Claudia

had gotten more jobs around the vineyard, including babysitting.

At 15 years old, working with her family wasn't exactly high on Claudia

Jean Cregg's list of exciting ways to spend her summer.

Her parents had already told her she couldn't go to the lake with her

best friend, because she had to help harvest the grapes.

It just wasn't fair.

She was the one everyone fell back on when they needed to take a break,

and she was sick of it. "I'm going to the garage," she yelled at her

mother through the screen door.

She went out to the garage, where she was studying the anatomy of phones

in her spare time -- not to mention getting knowledge out of destroying

things they didn't need anymore, anyway.

She grabbed a screwdriver from the workbench and started to take apart

the receiver from the old kitchen phone. Within minutes she heard the

unmistakable sound of four little feet approaching the garage. Her

brothers Ben and Peter had the uncanny ability to find her when she

didn't want to be found. Ben was 8 years old, tall and thin like his

sister but with his father's blond hair. Peter was almost 5 and a

redhead like his mom and sister.

"Whatcha doing, Claudie?" asked Peter as he climbed up onto the stool

next to his sister.

"Nothin" muttered Claudia as she pushed back a strand of reddish hair

that had escaped her braids.

"Why're ya doin' that to the phone?"

"Because I feel like it."

"Oh. You're mad again," he pointed out.

"Yeah."

"Did I do it?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

"Guess you're stuck babysitting again today?" asked Ben as he pulled his

bike out and sat on it.

"Yep, and the two of you had better behave. I have two more kids too"

"Why do people have to come stay with us" muttered Ben.

"Cause we need the money" sighed Claudia.

"Claudie, are we going to have to go live in the poor house" asked Peter

with his 4-year-old innocence.

"Peter, where did hear that?"

"On TV"

"No we are not going to live in the poor house," said Claudia as she

hopped off the stool and held out her hand to Peter. "Let's get your

bike out and take off the training wheels. We have a couple of hours

until the guests get here. We might as well have fun while we can"

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "They may have GIRLS with them."

Ben made a face, and scowled. "Claudie, will they have girls?"

"I dunno -- how come you don't mind me being a girl?" she asked as they

left the garage.

"'Cuz you're just Claudie, you're not a girl."

Claudia laughed at the logic.

She spent the next hour and a half helping Peter learn to ride a

two-wheeler on the grass in front of the house. He was doing pretty

well when he mother stepped out on the porch and called for them to come

in and get ready for the guests.

Claudia reluctantly dragged herself into the house, changed her clothes,

redid her braids and spent a long time looking in the mirror. She wasn't

exactly happy with the reflection she saw. She saw a tall, awkward girl

with reddish braids, braces and glasses. She sighed as she heard her

mother call her to come help in the kitchen.

Claudia went downstairs to help make the fresh lemonade and muffins that

were their hallmark greetings treats for their guests. "I hate this,"

she muttered, shoving the muffin tin in the oven and slamming the door.

Her mother was already out on the front porch, waiting, but she heard

the crash and came back inside. "Claudia, what on..."

"The door stuck and slammed," Claudia said, voice tinged with pure

innocence.

Peter and Ben snickered in the dining room.

Lilian just sighed and turned to go back to the front porch.

Claudia sat at the kitchen counter watching the timer count down the

minutes until she could take the muffins out of the oven. Just as she

was pulling them out of the oven she heard a car pull up. She put the

muffins in the basket, covered them with a clean white cloth and put

them on the table.

Peeking out the window over the sink she saw the latest group of guests

pile out of a yellow station wagon. Two couples and two kids, both

girls. One looked about 2 and the other about 7 or 8. The adults

looked normal enough, in her opinion, at least. She watched as they

unloaded their luggage and set it on the front porch. Smoothing down

her hair, she opened the front door with a plastered on smile and let

her father introduce her.

"Claudia, these are our guests, Mr. and Mrs. McGarry and their daughter

Mallory," said Thomas Cregg as he pointed to the couple with the younger

girl. "And Mr. and Mrs. Bartlet and their daughter Elizabeth".

"Pleased to meet you" said Claudia in the most polite voice she could

manage.

"So you'll be baby-sitting?" Mrs. McGarry asked with an artificially

kind voice that made Claudia wince.

"Yes, ma'am," she responded as politely as she could.

"Good," Mr. McGarry commented, nudging Jenny. "Let me take you to the

side and give you Mally's special instructions now, so you can get used

to them before Jenny gets angry because you've forgotten some obscure

thing." He glared at his wife.

"Sounds like you had a rough ride," Lilian commented. "Why don't you

all come inside and have some warm muffins and cold lemonade? Boys,

will you please go inside and get some glasses out of the cabinet for

the girls?"

"Yes, mom." answered the boys as they held open the door for their

guests. Mr. McGarry and Claudia stayed on the porch. He motioned for

Claudia to sit down.

"I'm sorry about my wife. It was a long trip"

"That's ok, sir, I understand."

"Please, don't call me sir" he smiled. "Leo is fine. I'm sorry, what

was your name again?"

"Claudia"

"That's a nice name"

"Not really" she said with a sigh.

"I like it."

"So one of us does," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, you said your

daughter has 'special instructions'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's allergic to cow's milk, and a couple other things, but just

mainly, I think I wanted to save you from Jenny's wrath." He laughed a

little too loud for Claudia's taste, and she edged away a little.

"Okay," she said, looking at him a little suspiciously. "Want me to go

inside and get you something to drink?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'll go inside in a few minutes. Here's the list of

instructions for Mally" he said as he pulled a piece of yellow paper out

of his shirt pocket.

Claudia took it, read it quickly and put it in the pocket of her

shorts. She stood up and opened the front door. Leo followed her and

she had to hold back a giggle when she realized she towered over him by

at least 5 inches. In fact, she noticed that she towered over all of

the guests by at least that amount.

"Must be visiting from munchkin land," she muttered to herself as she

walked into the house.

When she got to the kitchen Mr. and Mrs. Bartlet were at the table with

her parents, her brothers and Elizabeth were on the stools at the

counter and Mally was in her mother's lap. Mr. Bartlet was going on and

on about some obscure facts about grapes and winemaking.

"Looks like a long week" she mumbled under her breath.

"What was that dear?" asked Lilian.

"Nothing, Mom, just talking to myself"

Lilian raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes in warning. "Claudia,

dear, will you go get a bottle of merlot out of the cellar and put it in

the fridge?" she asked with a smile.

Claudia inhaled sharply and nodded. There were times you didn't cross

her mother, and this was one of them.

She made her way down to the cellar and grabbed the bottle of wine. As

she was turning to go back up she heard a set of heavy footsteps on the

stairs. She heard Leo's voice calling to her.

"Over here Mr. Mc..sorry, Leo" she yelled.

"Your mom said it was ok to come down and take a look around. Hey, this

is great"

"I guess, if you like dark dusty spaces," said Claudia with a shrug of

her shoulders.

He chuckled. "You don't like it much, I take it?"

"I've grown up here. I used to play hide and seek down here with my

friends. No big deal." She smirked. "There's a ghost, though."

"Ooh, scary."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please, whatever." She pushed past him

with the bottle of wine in her hands and headed for the stairs.

Claudia deposited the wine in the fridge and was closing the door as a

pair of little arms wound their way around her legs. She looked down to

find Mallory looking up at her with a big grin. As much as Claudia

hated being the designated babysitter she did love little kids. She

bent down and picked up Mally.

"You wanna go play outside?"

Mallory nodded her head with a great deal of enthusiasm.

"Mom, I'm taking the kids outside. Come on guys, bring Elizabeth with

you." she called over her shoulder.

"I don't want to go outside," Elizabeth said with as much dignity as she

could muster, considering she had just dumped lemonade accidentally down

her front.

"Okay... Mom?" Claudia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Elizabeth, would you like to help me make dinner while your parents

look around?" Lilian asked.

"No, I want to stay with Daddy," Elizabeth insisted.

"That's fine." said Lilian as she motioned for Claudia to go outside

with the kids.

Thomas took the guests on a quick tour of the vineyard and the house

while Lilian started dinner.

Claudia had taken the kids outside and let them play on the tire swing

in the backyard. She was distractedly pushing Mally and daydreaming

about having a normal family and a normal life when she saw her father

and the guests round the corner of the house and walk towards her.

"No, she's not real thrilled about helping out, but she's 15, she's not

thrilled about anything that involves her family" she heard he father

tell them.

With a roll of her eyes and a sigh she turned towards them just as the

swing came back towards her. Ben screamed but not in time. The swing

hit her in the shoulder with enough force to knock her down and knock

the wind out of her.

She hit her head on the ground, and lay there, dazed. Mallory got off

of the swing and came down to kiss her on the cheek, even though she

wasn't really responsive.

"Claudia, open your eyes," Mrs. Bartlet ordered. "Come on, honey, open

your eyes..."

Claudia opened her eyes slowly and said, "I'm just gonna... lie here...

for a minute..."

That brought a chorus of laughs from the group.

"That's a good idea, sweetie" said her father as he straightened out her

glasses.

After a minute Leo and her dad helped her stand up and walked her to the

front porch and settled her in the wicker rocker. Her mother went in to

get her a drink. Mrs. Barlet hovered around her for a minute before

sitting down next to her.

"I'm okay," Claudia insisted. She grunted when Mallory came running up

and plopped down into her lap.

"Cauda?" she said.

Claudia looked confused. "Huh?"

"I think she's trying to say Claudia," Thomas said.

"Oh. What, Mallory?"

"Sowwy."

"It's okay, kidlet." Claudia smiled.

"Cauda?"

"Yeah?"

"Your name's hard."

"Yeah."

Leo had watched this exchange from where he was sitting on the porch

railing.

"She has a little trouble with her R's and her L's." he explained.

"Oh" said Claudia as she began to rock Mallory in her lap.

"So what's your middle name?" asked Leo with a smile.

"Jean, but please don't tell me you like that too" she smirked.

"OK, I won't"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, y'know, I don't like it, so..."

"CJ."

"Huh?"

"She can say that, can't you, Mally?"

"Say wha?" Mallory asked sleepily.

"CJ."

"CJ," she repeated. She looked up at Claudia. "You're CJ, 'kay?"

"Okay," Claudia said with a smile.

By dinnertime her brothers had also taken to calling her CJ and that was

fine with her. She helped her mother get the meal on the table and then

took a seat between Mallory and Peter. Usually she detested eating with

the guests but these people were different from most of the others.

Most of their other guests were rich, stuck up people looking forward to

being waited on hand and foot. But these people struck her as something

else entirely.

Especially when Jed and Leo helped serve the food, allowing her to sit

down and relax for a minute before Mallory chucked a muffin her way to

show appreciation.

CJ sighed and stripped butter out of her hair. She couldn't quite get

it out of her braids, so she undid the ends and let it fall so she could

get the rest out.

"You have beautiful hair," Abbey commented with a smile.

"Thanks" she said shyly. "I usually just braid it, it's easier to keep

out of my face that way"

"Yeah especially when she's in the garage taking things apart" added

Ben.

"Benjamin" whined CJ.

"So what do you take apart in the garage?" asked Jed.

"Phones, radios, stuff like that."

"Ever get the stuff back together?"

"Sure"

"That's better than you do," said Abbey, teasing her husband.

"Daddy's a little klutzy," explained Liz.

"Hey" cried Jed.

Claudia chuckled. "Hey, it's okay," she said with a shy smile. "I'm

pretty klutzy, too."

"She falls into things," Peter added. CJ smacked him upside the head so

his face wound up in the soup bowl. "HEY!" he yelled.

"Claudia Jean, please stop doing that," Lilian sighed, cringing.

"As soon as he stops selling me out as a klutz, I will," CJ snapped. "I

can take care of that well enough, myself, thank you!"

"Claudia, please go to your room until you can be civil," Thomas said in

his sternest fatherly tone.

CJ stood up, turned to her guests and spoke quietly before leaving the

room. "I'm sorry."

The rest of the meal was spent in relative silence. When she heard the

sounds of everyone leaving the table CJ crept down the back stairs and

went into the kitchen. Her mother was bringing the dirty dishes in from

the dining room. CJ silently went to work at the sink. While she

worked she dreamed of a life away from the vineyard, somewhere where she

could live out her life long dreams. But being only 15 she didn't

really have any life long dreams, yet.

A little hand tugged on her shorts. "CJ?" Mallory said.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Claudia said, turning around.

"Read me story?"

CJ smiled. "When I get done with the dishes, okay?"

"The Three Bears?"

"Sure!"

Ten minutes later Mallory was on the front porch swing in her pajamas

and wrapped up in an old quilt. CJ was next to her reading The Three

Bears.

CJ looked up as she saw Leo come out the front door with a glass of wine

in his hand. He sat down on the steps and looked out over the

vineyard. CJ went back to reading the story until Mallory fell asleep.

"You like the wine?" CJ asked Leo, twirling her hair back into a bun so

she could carry Mallory back inside and not have it get in the way.

"Yeah, it's very good."

"Good." She picked Mallory up and headed for the door.

"I think Jenny's in our room" yelled Leo over his shoulder.

CJ deposited Mallory into Jenny's arms and went back downstairs. As she

passed through the kitchen she noticed Leo had left the bottle of wine

out on the table. She grabbed it and went back out to the porch.

"Here, thought you might want some more" she said shyly.

"Thanks. So you *off duty* now?" he asked as he poured himself another

glass of wine.

"Yeah. Mom is tucking the boys into bed"

He nodded. "Sit down?" he requested. "So... you take apart phones and

stuff?"

"When I get mad, yeah." She shrugged, frowning. "It seems more

constructive than clocking somebody."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I used to clock 'em."

She laughed. "No wonder your hands are all gnarly."

"Maybe," he agreed with a smile. "Your dad said you don't like helping

out around here?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because they use me and use me, and they never say thank you or

anything." Her frowned deepened and she crossed her arms over her

knees.

"So you don't really mind the work, you just want to be shown a little

appreciation once in a while"

"Yeah" she muttered.

"That's understandable. So I guess running the winery isn't exactly

your life long dream?" he asked with a smile.

She shook her head. "Don't really have a dream." She sighed. "I'm

sure I'll get tapped to do it though, eventually."

"Maybe, maybe not." He smiled. "What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. "I dunno."

"Come on, there must be something you're interested in. I mean, besides

boys," he teased.

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose. I like to write, I worked on the school paper last

year."

He nodded. "Writing is good. You good with people?"

"When they aren't my brothers, yeah."

"There's a lot you could do with that."

She shrugged. "Like I said, I'll probably just wind up running the

vineyard."

"Pessimist."

"You'd better believe it."

Leo poured the last of the wine into his cup and took a large swallow.

"So what do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer"

"Oh. What about Mr. Barlet?"

"Jed, he's running for Congress in the fall"

"Cool, what state"

"New Hampshire. I've been helping him with the campaign. We all needed

a few days vacation, so that's how we ended up here."

She nodded. "Cool." She sighed. "I think it'd be fun to work in

politics. Hard work, but, y'know, it would help people. But it's an

all-guys thing, so I don't think I'd ever fit in." She laughed.

"Probably ought to stick with dismantling phones, eh?"

"Not necessarily. I'm sure you'll be good at whatever you decide," he

said with a smile.

"Claudia, it's getting late, come on inside" yelled Lilian from the

kitchen.

"Coming mom" she yelled back. "Goodnight Leo. I'll see you in the

morning"

"Sweet dreams," said Leo with a wink and a smile.

She didn't know why she felt uneasy in his presence, but decided it

might be best to just ignore that feeling. She went inside and upstairs

to get changed.

She ran into Abbey outside of the guestrooms. "Hey, CJ," she said with

a smile. "How's your head?"

"It's still on, I think," Claudia joked.

"That's good. You might want to take some aspirin before you go to

bed. You'll probably wake up with a headache"

"Great. Just what I need. Thanks for the advice" she said as she

headed for the bathroom.

"See you in the morning" said Abbey as she went into her room.

CJ awoke to the sun streaming in the window. Much to her dismay she did

have a rather large headache.

"Claudia!" Lilian cried, flinging open the door. "Get up, get up!"

CJ moaned and buried her head under the pillow.

"She's sick," came Mallory's little voice as she walked up and put her

cold hand on the back of CJ's neck. "She's got a fevew."

Lilian moved to put her hand on CJ's forehead. She was indeed running a

fever.

"Mally, why don't you go downstairs, I think the boys are watching

cartoons." said Lilian sweetly.

"OK. I be back watah"

"Watah?" asked Lilian.

"Later," translated CJ.

"Why don't you just rest for a while? I'll send Ben up with some

juice," said Lilian in a voice that was almost tinged with guilt.

"OK"

CJ snuggled back under the covers and fell back to sleep immediately.

She awoke to Mallory's little voice. "CJ? You still sleeping?"

"No," CJ mumbled, opening her eyes and looking at the alarm clock.

"Shouldn't you be taking a nap?"

"Take a nap with CJ," Mallory insisted. "Pwease?" The hopeful look on

her face made CJ feel bad, so she moved over and let Mallory up on the

bed with her.

"Okay. You lie still and go to sleep," CJ whispered, closing her eyes

again.

The next time she woke up, she heard Leo and Jenny calling frantically

for Mallory, and CJ just realized that Mallory had closed the door

behind her when she'd come in.

"She's in here!" she shouted. Mallory didn't wake up, just kind of

rolled over and mumbled in her sleep.

Jenny came into the room, gave CJ a look and picked up Mallory. Leo

stood there looking a little guilty. He followed Jenny out of the room

but returned a minute later. He knocked softly.

"It's open," said CJ not even opening her eyes.

Leo poked his head in. "Sorry about that. You feeling better?"

"A little and don't worry, you don't have to apologize"

"Okay," he said, a little doubtfully. "Did she take a nap?"

"Well, she was still sleeping when Jenny yanked her out of here, so

yeah." CJ covered her head with the pillow and sighed.

When she next woke again, Mallory had climbed back into bed with her,

and she noticed that the room was shrouded in darkness. Which meant it

was night.

"Mallory, honey, you need to go back to your bed," CJ whispered.

Mallory didn't respond, because she was sound asleep, sucking her thumb

contentedly.

CJ dragged herself out of bed and down to the kitchen. Leo and Jed were

sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating muffins.

"Hey kiddo. Feeling better?" asked Jed.

"A little" she said as she sat down at the table.

"You want some juice or something?" asked Jed as he motioned towards the

fridge.

"Orange juice would be great, thanks"

Jed stood to get it but Leo pushed him back into his seat. "I'll do it,

the juice is in a glass pitcher," he said teasing his best friend.

"Shut up," Jed muttered, blushing.

CJ yawned and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them.

"Mallory's in my room, sleeping," she mumbled, closing her eyes again.

"Here," Leo said as he set down a glass of juice.

CJ didn't respond. It would have taken too much effort to open her eyes

and move.

"Claudia?" Jed said, reaching over to feel her forehead.

She moaned in response and tried to sit up, but failed. A tired grunt

passed her lips and she tried again to open her eyes.

"I'm gonna get Abbey" she heard Jed say as she opened her eyes.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Leo as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I've been better," she mumbled.

Lilian, Thomas, Jed and Abbey came into the room a minute later.

"CJ, sweetie, can you hear me?" asked Abbey as she put her hand on CJ's

forehead.

"Yeah," CJ moaned, opening her eyes again with a lot of effort. "Wanna

go back to bed," she mumbled, still not able to move from the position

she was in.

"Okay, honey, can you try to sit up?" Abbey asked gently.

CJ moved a fraction of an inch, then fell back. "I can't," she sighed.

"Okay. Can someone carry her upstairs?"

"Mallory's in her bed," Leo supplied.

"So we'll take her into Jed's and my room," Abbey said. "I think she's

just got a virus, but she needs to be looked at closer than she has been

today. Someone needs to keep an eye on her."

CJ blinked and moaned.

"CJ?" came Mallory's voice at the top of the stairs.

"CJ's sleeping sweetie. Come down and Daddy will hold you for a minute"

Leo yelled up the stairs.

Mallory came down, followed quickly by Ben and Peter. Jed and Thomas

helped CJ to the couch in Abbey and Jed's room. Abbey got out her black

bag and checked CJ over.

CJ looked up at Abbey and croaked, "Will I live?"

Abbey smiled. "If you're making bad jokes, you're a shoo-in," she

teased. "You should be fine in a couple of days, you just need your

rest."

"Can't get much of that 'round here," Claudia mumbled, closing her eyes.

"CJ's sick, Daddy?" Mallory asked quietly from the doorway.

"Yeah, sweetie, CJ's sick."

"Did I make her sick?"

"No, honey -- why would you have made her sick?"

"I had a wunny nose."

"No, baby doll, you didn't make her sick," Leo assured Mallory. "Let's

go to bed, okay? Let's let CJ get her sleep so she can get better."

Abbey smiled at CJ. "You seem to have had quite an effect on her."

"Guess so," CJ mumbled, beginning to nod off.

By the next morning CJ was feeling better. She half expected her mother

to come barging into the Bartlet's room to wake her up so she could help

get breakfast on the table. But surprisingly enough that didn't

happened. Lilian checked on her about 7:30 and told her not to worry,

she would get things ready for breakfast.

CJ managed to drag herself out of bed a little after 10 and take a

shower. She dressed quickly and was in the process of braiding her hair

when she remembered what Abbey had said about it and decided to leave it

down for the day.

Passing through the kitchen she grabbed a muffin and a glass of juice to

take outside to the porch with her. Curling up on the swing she relaxed

to the sounds of the kids playing in the back yard. It sounded like

they were all having a good time, even Elizabeth.

Down the dirt road that went past the house to the vineyard she saw her

father and Jed walking along. Jed seemed to be doing all the talking;

her father was just nodding every once in a while. Over in the garden

she could see her mother and Abbey picking vegetables. CJ figured Jenny

was in the back with Mallory, making sure she didn't have too much fun

or anything like that.

Leo was nowhere to be seen.

CJ couldn't quite figure out whether that fact was comforting or not.

There was just something about him that she couldn't quite put her

finger on. He seemed nice enough. Not many men his age would take the

time to actually sit and talk to a 15-year-old girl. She enjoyed

talking to him something about him made her vaguely uncomfortable. But

she wasn't sure what that was, exactly.

He almost scared her to death when he came up behind her and said,

"Feeling better?" She just about hit the porch roof.

"Please, don't do that," she said, edging away a little. "You slept

late," she pointed out dryly.

"Too much excitement last night -- probably too much good wine, too,"

Leo said with a smile. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah."

Part 2

Leo came up on the porch and took a seat in the rocker.

"Did you get breakfast? I can make you something." said CJ trying to

sound polite.

"I'm not hungry. But coffee would be great. Don't get up, I'll get it"

he said as he went back in the house.

When he came back and sat down again she took a good look at him. She

could see his hands shaking slightly as he sipped the coffee. For

someone who slept late he sure didn't look like it, she thought to

herself.

"I've been meaning to ask this, but didn't know how to ask without

sounding rude..." she began.

"Ask away," Leo muttered, sipping his coffee and watching the kids play

on the swing.

"Why here? Why didn't you go on vacation someplace better?"

"It was Jed's idea, actually. I think he's always been interested in

wine"

"But why here, why not one of the bigger and frankly, nicer, vineyards"

"Well the trip was kind of spur-of-the-moment and..."

"And all the good places were full" she said with a smirk.

"Something like that"

She smiled ruefully. "Yeah, well, we're a pretty sucky little place at

the moment, so forgive my asking why."

"Not so sucky. You guys have a nice little outfit."

She shrugged. "We need money to keep going, or we'll have to sell the

fields. I know I'm not supposed to tell people that, but at the moment,

I don't care."

"Don't worry, I won't tell" he smiled as he finished his coffee.

"So any big plans today? A tour of the hot boring fields, some grape

stomping perhaps or maybe a ride into town...don't blink or you'll miss

it." said CJ with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"Ah, feeling better I see, the sarcasm is back. Somebody once told me

'sarcasm is the grumpy man's wit'. I think she was right"

"Whatever," muttered CJ.

He chuckled. "You got a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm tall, smart, and I scare the crap out of people, not to

mention I work all the time," she said, sighing. "I'm going out to the

garage, if anyone needs me."

She got up and headed off to put together the old box phone again.

Leo watched her go with a smile on his face. He headed over to the

large building that housed the actual winery in hopes of getting a few

samples.

CJ spent the next hour or so unnoticed in the cool garage. She was

almost done with the phone when Mallory wandered in.

"CJ"

"Hey, kid" she said as she picked up Mally and put her on the

workbench. "All done swinging?"

"Yep. Mawwy want a dwink"

"Sure, let's go up to the house and get some lemonade."

CJ put Mallory up on her shoulders and trudged back up to the house.

Jenny came out onto the porch. "Hello, Claudia," she greeted. "Have

you seen my husband?"

"He was out here earlier," CJ replied, brushing past on her way inside

with Mallory.

"Mommy and Daddy mad," Mallory mumbled around a mouthful of juice glass

a few minutes later.

"Yeah, I could kind of tell," CJ said with a smile.

Mallory nodded and went back to guzzling her lemonade.

CJ looked out to see Leo coming out of the winery, actually, stumbling

out of the winery. She had seen Jenny head in the opposite direction,

towards the grape fields, when she had stormed out of the house.

Quickly CJ went to the front door and silently waved him over.

"What's the matter" he asked, slurring his words slightly.

CJ just shook her head as she realized exactly was it was about Leo that

creeped her out. But still, she kind of felt sorry for him.

"Your wife is looking for you. And she's not exactly happy at the

moment."

"Oh" he muttered as he stumbled up the steps.

"Here, come inside and lie down a minute, okay?" CJ said, leading him to

the couch. "I'll take Mallory and go get Jenny."

He grunted. "Please, don't bother."

"I bet this stop was your idea," she muttered.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I did. And actually this was Jed's idea."

"But you didn't exactly veto it, did you?"

"No" he said quietly.

CJ got him settled down on the couch in the den. She was even nice

enough to get him a few aspirin and a glass of water.

"If you're gonna puke, the bathroom's over there" she said pointing

towards the closed door.

"You're too kind," he muttered.

"Yeah, whatever." She took Mallory by the hand and went outside, sure

to slam the door behind her.

She headed directly for Jed. "Mr. Bartlet?"

"Yeah? How're you feeling?"

"Better. Leo's in the house -- I think he's drunk. I'm going to take

Mallory and find Mrs. McGarry."

"Okay," Jed said.

An hour later, CJ and Mallory still hadn't found Jenny, and the storm

that had been brewing all day finally broke over them in the fields. CJ

looked back at the house, and then down at Mallory. The little girl was

already exhausted, and CJ didn't know if she could carry her back to the

house through the muddy ruts. It was over half a mile back.

With a sigh, she scooped Mallory up and headed for the tool shed a few

hundred feet away.

THey got there just as the lightning started streaking across the sky.

CJ had just gotten Mallory settled down when the door swung open and

Jenny jumped inside.

"Great, just what I need" muttered CJ.

Jenny spun around at the sound. "Claudia? Mallory? What are you doing

out here?"

"We're in here, actually," CJ said. "We were looking for you to tell

you that Leo was back in the house. But we couldn't find you, and it

started raining, and I couldn't carry Mallory back to the house, so we

came in here."

"Oh. So what kind of trouble has my darling husband gotten himself into

this time. Let me guess, a little too much sampling at the winery"

CJ exhaled sharply. "That would be my guess"

"So is he passed out somewhere?"

"I left him on the couch in the den."

"Look, I'm sorry you had to deal with him" Jenny said sincerely.

"It's no big deal" replied CJ.

Mallory climbed into her mother's lap while the three of them watched

the storm through the window in silence. CJ realized that maybe her

first impressed of Jenny McGarry had been wrong. Maybe she wasn't as

cold hearted and mean as she first thought. Maybe she was just tired of

dealing with Leo and his drinking, which was quickly becoming a pretty

obvious problem.

"Hey, Mallory," CJ said after a few minutes. "I think I left some toys

in here the last time I was stuck out here with another little girl like

you," she said comfortingly, noticing the way Mallory jumped at the

thunder. "Want to help me find them?"

Mallory nodded vigorously and jumped up. Jenny gave CJ a weary smile of

gratitude. CJ and Mallory found a deck of cards, a ball and a toy

truck.

CJ settled Mallory back down on the floor and tried to teach her to play

"GO FISH". That didn't go too well as Mallory still got her numbers

mixed up. So then they sat and rolled the ball back and forth until the

storm let up and they heard Thomas' voice through the wind.

"Stay here," CJ said, getting up and opening the door. "DAD! We're in

here!"

"You're okay?" Thomas shouted, running up with Jed Bartlet on his heels.

"Yeah, we're fine. Mallory's a little spooked by the thunder, and

Jenny's a little tired, but we're okay." She grunted, then said, "Dad,

okay, like, you're squishing me. Let go!"

"SOrry" said Thomas as he let his daughter go.

Jed picked up Mallory and helped Jenny to her feet. The group made

their way slowly back to the house through the mud. Lilian met them on

the porch with dry towels and hot tea and coffee.

Jenny took Mallory to their room to try and get her to rest for a

while. CJ's parents went back to work. Jed and Abbey sat on the swing

and drank their coffee. Elizabeth and the boys ran around in the wet

grass out front. That left CJ alone and Leo unaccounted for.

Somehow, she had a sinking feeling she knew where he was. And she felt

pretty bad about going downstairs to get the bottle of wine for dinner.

But she did it anyway.

"Leo? Mr. McGarry, are you down here?" she called, waving the

flashlight around. "Mr. McGarry?!"

"Oh for... quit shining that in my eyes!"

"Sorry," she muttered, directing the beam to the ground. "What are you

doing down here?"

"Thinkin"

"Oh really" she said as she pulled the chain to turn on the light. Leo

winced and turned his head up to face her. He was sitting with an

unopened bottle of wine in his lap. There didn't seem to be any empty

ones nearby so CJ took that as a good sign. "And you think better with

a bottle in your lap?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"Touche."

"Please put that back," she requested quietly. "I know you may just see

this as a place to vacation and get smashed off your butt, but this is

my home, and our family's business." When he made no move to put the

bottle away, she moved to take it out of his lap and put it back on the

shelf. "How can you do this to Mallory?" she asked.

"I don't know. Jenny asks me that every day. She's not that bad you

know. Jenny, I mean."

"I kind of figured that out this afternoon"

"I don't know why she stays with me"

"Probably because of Mallory. She's a great kid. Better watch out or

you're going to lose them both" she said as she glared at him.

Leo just nodded.

"Why don't you go pull yourself together for dinner" said CJ as she

motioned towards the stairs.

"Yeah. Good idea" replied Leo.

CJ sighed and held out her hand to pull him to his feet. "You might

want to pull the cobwebs out of your hair before coming to the table"

she teased as he followed her up the stairs.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Actually, it is," she said with a grin. "And yes, I am feeling much

better today, thanks."

"Sorry I didn't inquire about your health earlier in the day, Claudia

Jean" he smirked.

"Whatever" she said, returning the smirk.

Dinner was more enjoyable than the previous night had been. Nobody was

asked to leave the table, Leo only had one glass of wine and no muffins

were thrown.

Though CJ and her brothers had a discreet kicking match beneath the

table, and at one point CJ accidently kicked Leo in the shin.

He covered for her, by explaining he'd jumped because he'd bit the

inside of his cheek, and winked at her.

She could feel herself blush but quickly turned her attention back to

the trivia facts about the history of the yam that Jed was sharing with

the table. CJ pushed the yams around on her plate.

"So, does anyone know that latin word for yam?" asked Jed.

Abbey let out a huge sigh and kicked her husband under the table.

"Dioscorea," CJ muttered under her breath.

Jed looked surprised. "Where did you learn that?"

She shrugged. "Must have read it somewhere, I guess."

"Pretty impressive" said Leo with a smile.

"Thanks" she muttered without looking him in the eye.

"May I be excused, please?" she asked a moment later.

"You haven't hardly eaten anything, CLaudia," her mother said.

"I'm not really hungry. I want to go work on the old box phone in the

garage. Please may I be excused?"

"Okay, but you have to do dishes," Thomas agreed.

"Call me when you're done and I'll do them. Is that ok?"

"Yes" replied her mother.

CJ left the house and wandered through the yard trying to make sense of

what she was feeling.

She wound up on the swing, just kind of sitting there.

"Hi, CLaudia!" said Louis Bradley as he came up. He was one of the

investor's sons, and he drove a Porsche that she was forever bugging him

to let her drive.

"Hey," she said glumly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." She tried to brighten up and smile. "How's your dad?"

"He's good... I'm here to see your dad about a job."

"A job? YOU?!"

"Yeah."

"Oh." She nodded in the direction of the house. "He's having dinner

with some guests."

She took Louis inside; by that time dinner was over and she had to wash

the dishes. Louis and her father went into the office and the rest of

the group scattered quickly, leaving her to a sink full of dishes and

her own jumbled thoughts.

Leo came in a while later while she was scrubbing the potato pot. "Need

some help?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," she grunted, pouring on the elbow grease.

"Well, I'll dry, then."

She stopped and stared at him. "What's the catch?"

"No catch."

"Why?"

"Because you helped me today."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you helped me realize a few things without making me feel like a

complete jerk. Yes, I have a problem and I know that. But..I can't

control it. And that's the part Jenny doesn't understand. She thinks I

should just be able to stop. I've tried and it didn't work."

"Why don't you get some help?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated"

"OK, I'm not going anywhere for a while" she said as she swept a hand

over the large pile of dishes yet to be washed."so start talking" she

teased.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay."

"Okay, have it your way," she said, launching back into the potato pan.

"But you'll have to talk to somebody about it sometime, you know."

"Probably."

"No, you will..."

"Claudia?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Hi, Louis."

"I was wondering, if, well..." Louis shot Leo a pointed look, and Leo

excused himself. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner

and a movie tomorrow."

CJ just stared at him for a moment. She had had the biggest crush on

Louis since she was 13 and he was 16.

"Uh, sure" she managed to choke out. "I have to check with my mom

first"

"Well, give me a call in the morning, okay? I'm gonna go home now and

feed the fish or something."

She waited until she was sure he was gone before letting out a shriek

and flinging her hands up in the air, getting dirty soap bubbles all

over the kitchen.

Leo stood in the doorway to the dining room grinning.

"I take it you accepted his invitation?" he teased.

"Yes" she said blushing.

"Good, you deserve to get out and have some fun" he said, coming back

into the room and picking up the dish towel again.

She grinned. "Maybe he'll let me drive his Porsche," she said to

herself, dodging Leo's odd look in her direction.

She didn't want to think about Leo and his problems anymore -- she had a

date!

~~~~

"Hey, I don't have a pumpkin, but we can make do with what you've got

here," Abbey said soothingly, sitting down on the bed. "What about this

skirt? And this blouse?"

"Those are church clothes!"

"Okay..."

"I can't find my silver pants..." CJ whined, flopping onto the bed in

frustration. "I was gonna wear them and the paisley top there, and that

leather vest."

"Colorful," Abbey commented dryly.

"OK, how about the shirt, jeans and no vest" asked CJ as she grabbed a

pair of jeans off the floor.

"Better. What are you going to do with your hair?"

"Well, no braids, that's for sure" smiled CJ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At about seven-thirty the next night, the phone in the house rang, and

Thomas immediately knew something had happened. After a very terse

conversation with the party on the other end of the line, he grabbed his

jacket and left.

When he came back, he had a still-dripping Claudia in the front seat,

and he was yelling, "HOW COULD YOU BACK A PORSCHE INTO A POND?!"

CJ didn't really have a good answer to that question so she just

shrugged her shoulders and got out of the car. The kids were all

outside in the yard when Thomas pulled up so naturally they all came

running.

"CJ all wet" said Mallory as she wrapped her arms around CJ's legs.

"Not now sweetie" she said as she walked into the house.

"Get into some dry clothes and meet me in my office" called Thomas.

Leo had been in his room making some campaign related phone calls when

Thomas had received the call. So when CJ passed by the open door

dripping wet he was a little surprised. He tried not to laugh but

wasn't having much luck.

"Get caught in a rainstorm CJ?" he asked with a grin.

"Not exactly" she muttered as she went into her room, slamming the door

behind her.

Lilian walked up to her husband. "Why is she wet?"

"She went out with Louis."

"Yeah, I know."

"He let her drive his Porsche."

"Yeah..."

"She backed it into the pond."

"Oh God."

"Yeah -- yet another bill I can't afford to pay," he sighed. "When she

comes down, I'm in my office."

CJ stalled for a few minutes after getting into a dry set of clothes.

With a sigh she left her room and starting on the walk to her father's

office. As she passed by Leo's door he looked up and gave her a wink

and a smile.

She sighed and shook her head before going down the stairs and

disappearing into her father's office.

Two hours later, she was going back up the stairs, and into her room.

She slammed the door shut and flung herself across the bed, finally

letting herself cry.

As expected she was punished for the forseeable future, had to babysit

for free and was now expected to hand over all the money she made from

her outside babysitting jobs.

By 11 she was done crying and feeling sorry for herself. She stuck her

head out into the hallway. Everything was quiet and she correctly

assumed that her parents and brothers were already asleep. As she crept

past the guest rooms they seemed dark and quiet too. She continued down

the back stairs into the kitchen for something to eat. As she drove the

car into the pond at the beginning of the date she hadn't had any dinner

yet and she was starving.

"So, what happened?" Leo asked quietly, making her jump.

"Would you please stop doing that?" she asked before beginning to cry

angrily. "I've had a pretty crappy night and I just want something to

eat before I enter a life of indentured servitude. Hey, there's a

thought -- I could be a fucking nun."

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "WHat?!"

"They live in indentured servitude, no sex, no having to pay for

Porsches they wrecked, and no money." She shut the door to the fridge

with more force than was really necessary and began picking at some

roast beef.

Leo took her by the elbow and led her to a stool at the counter. She

sat down and he took a seat opposite her.

"Now, I've spent the better part of the night on the phone with people

in New Hampshire so my knowledge of the night's events are a little

sketchy. Care to elaborate?" he smiled.

"Don't you have something better to do than sit her and listen to me?"

"Nope."

"Fine." She sighed and shovelled another chunk of meat into her mouth,

then chewed for a long time. "I went on a date with a guy that I really

like, only he hates my guts now, because he let me drive his Porsche, he

put it into gear -- didn't tell me which gear -- and I accidently backed

it into a pond." She turned bright red and took another bite. "I'm a

good driver," she said defensively. "But I didn't know it was in

reverse. It's a different stick than I'm used to, and..."

"And you backed into a pond?" Leo supplied with a teasing smile.

"Yeah."

"And you have to pay damages?"

"Yes." She took another bite and chewed sullenly. "And I'm going to be

a laughing-stock at school next fall. I ought to just lock myself in

the garage." She put the lid back on the meat and put it back in the

fridge, suddenly not so very hungry anymore.

"You want tea?" she asked as she got herself a mug and put the kettle on

the burner.

"Sure"

While the water heated CJ got out a box of cookies and tossed them at

Leo.

"So how was dinner here?"

"Well, without you here to provide us with some entertainment it was

pretty quiet. Although Jed did give us some very interesting facts

about the National Park System"

"Gee, sorry I missed that" CJ smirked. "So is Jed always...uh..."

"A geek? Yeah" laughed Leo.

She nodded. "I am, too, but I hide it pretty well, most of the time.

Like tonight," she muttered, fighting tears again. "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

"Nothing."

"You okay?"

"I drove into a pond. Of course I'm not."

"Well, besides that, are you okay?"

"I guess."

The tea kettle whistled and she started to get up. Leo waved her back

down and got the tea himself. They sat and talked for over an hour.

About nothing in particular, the campaign, Mallory, Jed, what classes CJ

was going to take in the fall.

She glanced at the clock and sighed. "I'm gonna go to bed and play pity

party for a while longer before I go to sleep," she said.

"Okay," Leo agreed with a little smile.

She put her arms around him in a hug, and said, "Thanks." She

straightened and went to bed quickly before he could say anything.

~~~~

"Leo, CJ's been in an accident," Margaret said, coming into his office.

"She's fine, but her car is totalled."

"Good God, that woman should just give up and take a cab. Where is

she?"

"Josh went to pick her up at the Emergency Room"

"I thought you said she was fine?" he asked growing concerned.

"She is, the police just wanted her to be checked out. They should be

here in a minute. You want me to send her in when she gets here."

"That would be nice Margaret" he said a bit harsher than he had

intended.

After Margaret left he sat back down at his desk in his cluttered

office. He pushed aside a stack of Bartlet for America flyers and put

his feet on the desk. While he waited he made a mental count of all the

cars CJ had wrecked over the years.

Twelve that he knew of, probably more, though.

CJ knocked on the doorframe and said, "Margaret said you wanted to see

me?"

"What happened to your arm?!"

She shrugged. "I sprained my wrist and they want it immobile for a

while. I'm really okay," she assured him with a smile.

"So what happened?"

"Some twit hit me in the bumper with a five ton pickup," she said,

wincing as she jarred her hand as she sat down. "So, this time, it

wasn't my fault."

"Whatever you say" smirked Leo.

CJ leaned back and propped her feet up on the desk too. They sat in

comfortable silence for a while.

"So when you met me as a tall geeky teenager did you ever imagine things

would work out this way? That we'd be working together, trying to get

Jed elected President"

"Would it surprise you if I said yes?" asked Leo with a wink.

"Yeah." She played with the pencil mug on his desk and asked, "How's

Mal?"

"She's doing well. She just got a job teaching fourth grade."

"Great!" CJ said with a smile. "And Jenny?"

He shrugged. "I think she's in Borneo."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, you want to come over to the place Toby and I are sharing? I can

make some lemonade and muffins..."

"Sure" said Leo as a smile came across his face as he remembered the day

almost 25 years earlier when he had first shared lemonade and muffins

with Claudia Cregg.

"So what are you thinking about?" asked CJ as they walked out into the

cool fall evening.

"About the first time we had lemonade and muffins." admitted Leo with a

smile.

She laughed. "Yeah, well, those were mom's muffins, not mine." She

grinned over at him. "I've learned that chocolate chips make excellent

muffins."

He raised an eyebrow. "A fascination with chocolate, too?"

"Oh hush."

"And here I just thought you had obsessions with crashing cars and

getting wet."

"Shut up." She was blushing furiously.

The fall air had the smell of fireplaces and burning leaves. CJ inhaled

deeply and sighed.

"Don't get this nice smell in California huh?" teased Leo.

"Nope" she smiled.

The finished the walk to her place in silence. She struggled to get the

key out of her purse with one hand until Leo took the key ring from her

and opened the door.

"Exactly how are you going to make muffins with one hand?"

"I'm not. You are, I'll supervise" she declared.

"OK, but you know you are taking you life into your hands, letting me

near the kitchen"

"I'll take my chances"

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Someone's gotta keep you entertained while Jenny's off in

Borneo," she joked. "There's muffin mix in the cabinet, Leo -- just

follow the directions." She fished around in her purse for the bottle

of Tylenol3 they had given her in the ER.

By the time Leo had managed to get the muffins in the oven CJ was fast

asleep on the couch. He set the oven timer and sat down in the

recliner. He turned the TV to CNN and put his feet up to relax for what

felt like the first time in days.

His cell phone rang, waking CJ up. "Ohhh..." she moaned as she banged

her arm trying to roll over.

"Lie still," Leo insisted, answering the phone. "Leo McGarry -- hey,

Jen. Yeah, I'm over at CJ's. Muffins and lemonade... Hold on. CJ, she

says thank you for feeding me, even though I'm the one making the food."

CJ grunted and went back to sleep.

Leo walked to the kitchen to take the muffins out while still on the

phone with Jenny.

"Oh, she wrecked her car and sprained her wrist, so she couldn't cook...

no, she's fine. I just came over to keep her company. She took a

painkiller and she's out cold on the couch. So when are you coming

home? Oh, I guess if you're enjoying yourself then you should just stay

another week...look I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow...yeah, love

you too."

Leo sighed deeply as he turned the phone off. He wasn't paying

attention to the hot pan he had just placed on the counter and he

brushed his knuckles against it. He managed to bite back the scream so

he wouldn't wake CJ again. Grabbing an ice cube out of the freezer he

held it against his hand and paced around the kitchen.

He finally stopped pacing and went back to the living room while letting

the muffins cool off.

Toby came home a little later, and seemed a little surprised to see Leo

in his living room. "Hello," he greeted cautiously. "Is CJ out?"

"Yeah -- muffins are on the counter, and I'm going home for the night."

"Oh, you don't have to rush out" said Toby as he grabbed a muffin.

"I'm not, I was on my way out anyway" said Leo as he grabbed his coat.

He walked back to campaign headquarters quickly thinking about

everything in general and nothing in particular. THe light to Jed's

office was still on when he got there. He could see Jed was on the

phone so he knocked quietly. Jed waved him in and motioned for him to

take a seat.

"Yeah, we'll see that on... okay, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Bob.

Kiss Meridith for me." Jed hung up and turned to Leo. "How's... uh...

CJ?"

"She's okay. She's out cold on the couch and I wouldn't count on her

for anything substantial for a couple of weeks, but yeah, she's okay."

"And her car?"

"A pile of twisted metal rubble."

"Ouch."

"Yeah"

"That's brings the car count up to what now? A dozen?"

"At least" smiled Leo.

"I still remember vividly the day we met CJ in Napa. After spending 5

days with her I knew she would go places. There was just something

about that tall awkward 15 year old. I'm not sure what it was."

"I know what you mean" muttered Leo as he leaned forward in his seat and

fiddled with a Bartlet For America pin that was on Jed's desk.

"You ok, Leo?"

Part 3

"Yeah," Leo said with a shrug. "I'm fine."

"You talk to Jenny?"

"Yeah -- she's gonna stay another week."

"Is this good?"

"I don't know."

"Leo, what's going on?"

"I honestly don't know. Things with Jenny have been, strained, strange,

whatever, lately."

"Any idea why"

"No...yes...I don't know" sighed Leo as he tossed the pin back on the

desk.

"How about we go back to the farm, get something to eat and talk?"

offered Jed.

"Yeah, I'd like that, actually" said Leo with a small smile.

~~~~

CJ woke up with a jerk and found herself in darkness. "Leo?" she

mumbled, trying to clear her thoughts from the narcotic. "Toby?"

There was an answering snore from the bedroom, and she sat up slowly

before going in to go to bed.

Very few people actually knew that she and Toby had a relationship --

Andi being one. She had actualy encouraged them to get together.

CJ got a glass of water and attempted to undress with one hand. She

managed somehow to do it without causing herself any further pain. Toby

instinctively moved over as she crawled into bed.

"You ok" he muttered in his sleep.

"Yeah, go back to sleep" she whispered before leaning over to kiss his

forehead.

He mumbled something else -- Toby seemed to mumble a lot, she'd noticed

over the years -- and rolled over to go back to sleep.

She closed her eyes, but sleep was slow in coming.

When she woke up the next day, it was already past time for Toby to have

gone back to work. She sighed as she got up and went to the kitchen to

get herself something to eat.

"Need some help?"

She jumped. "Leo, what the hell are you doing here? Aren't you

supposed to be at work?" she asked, nearly dropping the glass she had

managed to get a hold of.

"I stopped because I had a few questions to ask you. Toby said you were

still asleep and that I was welcome to stay and wait until you woke up"

explained.

"OK, whatever" muttered CJ as she gave him a strange look.

"Coffee" asked Leo, pointing towards the coffee maker.

"Please"

CJ took a seat at the table while Leo got her coffee and a muffin.

"Thanks" she said. "Now, are you going to tell me what's bothering

you?"

He shrugged a little and sighed.

She sipped her coffee and smiled. "It's gonna be a long day if you

don't start talking," she teased a little.

His eyes narrowed at her playful tone. "This isn't funny, Claudia," he

snapped.

"Sorry," she said quietly. "I'm still a little loopy from the pills."

"Speaking of which, don't you need to take one?"

"Quit changing the subject. What's bothering you?"

"Well, it's Jenny..."

CJ nodded and stared at him to continue.

"Things have been pretty bad lately. We're not exactly getting along

well. She's decided to spend an extra week in Borneo. She just thinks

I'm too wrapped up in the campaign. Of course I am. My best friend is

running for President of the United States and I'm running the show!

How could I not be wrapped up in it? She just doesn't understand how

important this is to me."

"I think she does. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she's just

worried about you?" asked CJ softly. "Worried about the amount of

pressure you are under, worried about what you might be tempted to do?"

Leo cringed visibly. "I haven't had a drink in a long time" he reminded

her in a fairly nasty tone.

"I know that, we all know that. We just want to keep it that way" said

CJ as she reached out to pat his arm.

She appeared nonplussed by his apparent irritation -- partially because

she'd been witness to it all before. "It'll be okay, Leo, eventually,"

she promised.

"And you and Toby... there's just something about that that rankles,

too. I mean, I know you two don't get all lovey-dovey at work and all,

but still..."

She smirked. "At least he doesn't have a Porsche."

"Yeah, well, maybe it would be better if he did."

She frowned. "Leo, that was just mean, and if I had any real energy, I

would hit you."

"I know" he said quietly. "Look, I should go. I have a ton of things

piled up on my desk and you should get some rest. You gonna come in at

all today?"

"WHat happened to taking things easy for a week or two?" smirked CJ.

"You didn't really believe that did you?"

"Nope. I'll be in for a little while this afternoon."

"Good. I'll see you later"

Leo put his coffee cup in the sink, kissed the top of CJ's head and

grabbed his jacket before heading out the door.

She sighed and looked down into her half-empty cup of coffee. She knew

he was right, in a roundabout way. She didn't feel completely at ease

with Toby. It was slways like she was expecting him to go off on the

hardwire with her, instead of the voters or the people who needed it.

She loved Toby with all of her heart, but not necessarily in a romantic

way.

It was this realization that make her feel sick to her stomach. Not the

medicine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning of Election Day dawned clear and crisp, a typical November

morning in New Hampshire. CJ got out of her bed and wandered down the

hall pausing for a moment in front of the door to Toby's room. She

heard the sounds of him getting ready for the day.

Two months earlier they had come to the conclusion that although they

loved each other dearly, they weren't in love. With only a few months

left in the campaign they decided it wouldn't make any sense to have one

of them move out so Toby just moved into the guest room.

At first CJ thought things would be awkward. But, surprisingly, they

weren't. And for that she was glad.

She knocked on the door. "You decent yet?"

"Shut up," he growled.

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna go make some coffee..."

"Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes."

CJ shook her head smiling and headed for the kitchen. A long time ago

she realized that Toby wasn't ready for human interaction before at

least one cup of coffee. She started to coffee maker and grabbed the

newspaper off the front porch. Within seconds of sitting down to glance

at the front page the phone started ringing.

She grabbed it and said, "Yeah," distractedly as she flipped through the

front page.

"You two up yet?" Leo asked.

"Yes, Leo, we're up. It's sweet of you to check and all, but..."

"Come down to the office as soon as you can, okay?"

"Leo, we haven't even gotten caffinated yet."

"Fine, pour a cupful down his throat and get in here"

"Right. We'll be there in 45 minutes" she mumbled as she hung up the

phone.

Forty three minutes later they were walking through the door of the

Bartlet for America headquarters.

"What the hell couldn't wait?!" CJ bellowed grumpily.

"Mandy walked out this morning," Leo said with a frown. "I need you to

run complete media interference today -- she negotiated for live

cameras, and all of this shit that the Governor and I never even knew

about..."

"Shit," CJ muttered as he handed her the day's list of media

applications. "SHIT!"

While CJ flipped through the stack of papers Toby tried to make a clean

getaway.

"Not so fast, Toby" she said as she reached out and snagged him by the

coat sleeve. "There's enough mess here for both of us"

"CJ, I'm a speechwriter for a man who could very well be the

President-Elect by tonight, don't you think that maybe I have a few

things of my own to do today?" whined Toby.

"So get to work" she muttered as she gave him a shove in the general

direction of his office. "Come to my office and give me a hand in an

hour," then adding as an afterthought, "Please?"

"Maybe" he smirked as he went down the hallway.

CJ rounded up Carol and as many other warm bodies as she could to give

her a hand. By lunch time things were under control and CJ was able to

take 10 minutes to put up her few and have something to eat.

She was just finishing her salad when Josh appeared in her office. She

wearily waved him in without looking up from the folder she had just

opened in her lap.

Josh never said anything, just paced around the room until CJ was unable

to take it anymore.

"Joshua Lyman, SIT DOWN!" bellowed CJ. "You're making me dizzy"

"Sorry" he muttered as he flopped down in a chair on the other side of

CJ's desk.

"God, if you're like this at 1 in the afternoon what are you going to be

like later at the farmhouse?" teased CJ.

"You probably don't want to know" he said with a grin.

"You're right," she mumbled, glancing back down at the scheduled press

release for the morning. "I really DON'T want to... Josh, who told

Danny Concannon that he would have inside access this evening?"

"I don't know. The Governor or Mrs. Bartlet, probably."

"Yeah, well, you think they could bother to tell me..." she muttered,

flipping through the rest of the day's press applications and things.

Five minutes later she tossed the stack on her desk and looked up to

find Josh had nodded off in his chair.

"Finally, he stopped moving and he's quiet" she muttered to herself as

she went out in the hallway to find Carol.

Two hours later CJ was on her way to the farmhouse to check out the

situation. As she pulled into the driveway she saw Danny on the porch

with Leo.

"Daniel, you're supposed to be here this evening, as in, when it is dark

outside." she yelled across the driveway.

"I was, uh, getting a head start on things" he smirked.

"Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of England, Danny."

"You'd make a lovely queen, CJ."

"Bite me. Leo, can I go in?"

"Yeah, go ahead -- we've been expecting you for at least two hours," Leo

pointed out.

"I got buried in stuff, or I would've been here sooner." CJ grabbed her

purse, kissed the roof of her car and said a quiet thank you before

going inside.

"What was that about?" Danny asked, confused. "Does she always kiss her

car?"

"Well, yeah, now she does," Leo said with a smirk.

"Why?"

"That's a question best left untouched, Daniel. Trust me."

"AH-kay" muttered Danny as he sat down on the porch swing to flip

through his notebook.

Leo went in the house to look for CJ. He found her in the kitchen with

Jed and Abbey. Abbey looked about ready for a nap while Jed was

bouncing around the room like a kid on a sugar high.

"Jed, please sit down. You're making both of us dizzy" whined Abbey.

"Fine" he muttered as he turned a kitchen chair around and straddled it.

"OK, where were we" muttered CJ as she glanced at her notes, "Oh yeah,

apparently someone invited Danny Concannon to spend the evening here"

she said with a glance in Jed's direction.

"That was me. Did I forget to mention that?"

"Yes, Governor, you did neglect to mention that," CJ said, sitting down

and rubbing her eyes.

"What's so wrong with having Danny around?" Jed asked a little

indignantly.

"Nothing, I just wish you'd've told me..."

"Told you what?"

"That he's hanging around on election day."

"CJ, give it a rest. It's not a big thing, okay? Here, have some

coffee," Abbey encouraged, passing CJ a cup.

CJ took the coffee and looked up to see Leo in the doorway.

"Anymore of that left?" he asked, pointing towards CJ's coffee.

"Sure, have a seat" said Abbey as she reached for another coffee cup.

"Danny still outside?"

"Yeah, he's on the phone. You know, it might be nice if you tried to

get along with him today" said Leo.

"Bite me," she muttered, reaching for the coffee pot and pouring a

little more for herself. "He's an arrogant bastard."

"He asked if you always kiss your car," Leo said casually.

"And what did you tell him?!"

Leo shrugged.

"Great" muttered CJ.

Jed and Abbey watched this exchange with amusement. Jed glanced from

his best friend to CJ and just shook his head.

"What?" snapped Leo.

"Nothin'," said Jed .

"Whatever. I'm going out for a walk while things are relatively calm

around here. Wanna join me CJ?"

"Sure, why not." said CJ with a sigh.

They put their coats back on and left through the kitchen door.

"What's with the two of them" asked Abbey as she came up behind Jed's

chair and put her hands on his shoulders.

"I don't know"

"Did you know CJ and Toby broke it off?" she asked.

"No, but then, I didn't know they were together in the first place..."

Jed muttered in disgust.

"So she's a free agent," Abbey supplied mildly. "Probably out on the

prowl..."

"ABBEY!"

"What?" Abbey inquired with all due innocence.

"That's my best friend out there, my very married best friend"

"But not very happily from what I hear" said Abbey.

"Maybe not, but that's not the point"

"And what is the point?"

Jed sighed heavily, "Frankly, I don't really know"

"Why don't you go to your study and relax. The kids will be here in a

while."

"Great," he mumbled. "I'll see ya, then, right?"

"Sure," she said softly. "Till then, y'know, I think I'm gonna go kick

Sam and Josh around a little and flirt with Danny when he gets off the

phone."

"Dr. Bartlet, you're scary."

"Oooh, DR. Bartlet?" she said with a smirk. "Does that mean you'd

rather lock the den?"

"Yeah, but you want to kick the spin boys and flirt with Danny."

"Not anymore."

They took a quick look around and headed for the den, locking the door

behind them.

An hour later Abbey was smoothing her hair back down and getting ready

to leave the den. Jed was wandering around the room, shirt unbuttoned,

shoes off, hair sticking up.

"Jed, honey, you might want to pull yourself together a little before

you leave the room." teased Abbey.

"Huh?" muttered Jed as he caught sight of his reflection in the window.

"Oh, yeah."

"You ok?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah"

"Jed..."

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"Nothing important." He began tugging on a sock. "So, I wonder if CJ

and Leo have come back yet or not..."

"See, I gotcha thinking, didn't I?"

"Shut up."

Abbey kissed his cheek and left the room. She went out to the kitchen.

It was empty. Looking out of the window over the sink she could see

Danny, Josh and Sam talking out by the pond. She didn't see CJ or Leo.

Jed wandered down the hall a few minutes later.

"Any sight of them?" he asked.

"Nope"

Jed wandered out the front door. CJ and Leo were on the front porch

swing. CJ was reading something in the folder in her lap and Leo was

trying very hard to stay awake.

"There you two are," Jed said. "Abbey and I have been looking for

you..."

"Well, we've been here for about half an hour, so..." CJ muttered,

rubbing her eyes behind her glasses. She poked Leo in the ribs. "Would

you quit messing up my papers by trying to rest in my lap?" she hissed.

"'Kay," Leo muttered.

"You need something, sir?" asked CJ.

"No, I'm fine, just waiting for the kids to get here"

"Kids" muttered Leo without opening his eyes.

CJ sighed and moved the folder from her lap and let Leo get

comfortable. Abbey wandered out a minute later, took one look at Leo

and went back in for a quilt to throw over him.

"Let him rest," Abbey whispered to CJ. "He's been running around like a

chicken with his head cut off the last couple of days. I don't think

he's slept at all."

"Yeah," CJ agreed, gently smoothing his hair and opening her folder

again. "We had a long talk while we were out walking."

"About...?"

"Nothing much," CJ lied smoothly.

"Oh, ok" said Abbey, not believing that line at all. "I'll let you get

back to your reading. Do you need anything?"

"No, we're fine" said CJ with a smile.

Abbey returned the smile and went inside.

CJ sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It wasn't her place to

tell Abbey that Leo had told her how unhappy he really was with Jenny.

It wasn't her place to complain about being torn in loyalties to the

family and herself.

Leo grunted and shifted in his sleep, and she sighed again. Tucking the

quilt around him she pushed off the porch floor with her foot and

started the swing gently. She watched him sleep and was instantly

transported back to that summer almost 25 years earlier.

On the last night of his vacation Leo had had too much to drink and was

passed out on the porch swing. CJ couldn't sleep and had gone outside

for some air. She didn't expect to see him on the porch and almost

turned around to go back to bed. But something made her stop. She sat

down in the rocker next to him and watched him in the moonlight. She

remembered wondering how he could just throw away his life for a bottle,

how he could hurt his wife and child so easily. After about an hour CJ

had smoothed back his hair, kissed his forehead and went back up to her

room.

Looking down at Leo now she realized that except for his drinking,

little had changed over the past 25 years. He was still hurting himself

and his family. He had just traded his love of liquor for the love of

his job. And she knew that sooner or later things would catch up with

him.

Leo shifted in his sleep again and mumbled without waking up. CJ

allowed herself to drift off too with one hand running through his sandy

hair and the other resting softly on his chest.

She awoke when Danny cleared his throat. "CJ? The Governor and Mrs.

Bartlet request your presence inside."

She mumbled something and shook Leo. "Hey, Leo, wake up," she insisted,

finally thwapping him on the side of the head.

Leo jerked upright, making the swing jump and bounce so hard that CJ

felt her stomach lurch. "Jeez, Leo, relax!" she yelped.

"Sorry" he muttered as tried to stand up without tangling himself up in

the quilt. He wasn't too successful and CJ had to grab him before he

ended up taking a header over the railing and into the bushes.

"LEO" she groaned as she pulled him upright. "Stand still and give me

the quilt"

"Yes, ma'am" he muttered under his breath.

Jed appeared in the doorway and tried his hardest not to laugh. "Just

came out to see what was taking so long" he said with a grin.

"Ask him" said CJ as she poked Leo in the chest with her finger.

"Owww"

"Get over it" said CJ as she stalked past him and followed Jed into the

house.

Leo just stood there, shaking his head and trying to comprehend what

exactly had just happened. Giving up completely, he just walked into

the house, rumbling, "COFFEE!" in a very Jed-like fashion.

Abbey met him in the kitchen; she pushed him into a chair and handed him

a steaming cup of coffee. She just stared at him while he took a sip.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing" she said with an innocent smile across her face.

"Abbey," he mumbled around the rim of the mug, "spit it out already

before you choke on your smugness."

"Who's being smug? And when did you take to sleeping in CJ's lap?" she

asked with a smirk.

"When I decided I felt like taking a nap, Abigail." He took a long gulp

of coffee, and then looked up at her. "Why the hell are ya lookin' at

me like that?"

"Leo, Leo, Leo..."

"WHAT?"

"Admit it already."

"Admit what?"

"You have a Jones for CJ."

Part 4

"I do not," he protested sharply.

"You do."

"I DO NOT!"

"You do not what?" CJ asked, coming into the kitchen and reaching for a

coffee mug and the pot.

Abbey opened her mouth to say something, but Leo interjected, "Nothing.

Abbey's being an idiot."

"HEY!" Abbey yelped, stomping on his foot.

"Oww" he said hopping up and limping around the room.

"The Governor is looking for you, he's in the living room" said CJ to

Abbey.

"Thanks" said Abbey as she left the room, but not before smacking Leo in

the back of the head.

"What the hell was that all about?" asked CJ with a smirk.

Leo sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Nothing," he muttered.

"How're the numbers?"

"So far, so good," she replied with a smile. "But I wouldn't go pinning

the tail on any donkeys other than my spin boys at this point, if ya

know what I mean."

"Yeah," he agreed mildly.

"Speaking of the boys, have you seen them lately?"

"I think they're in the den working on the speeches."

"All three of them? Good Lord, let's hope Josh is just watching and not

trying to help," groaned CJ as she remembered the disaster of a press

release Josh had written a few months earlier.

"Yeah, I wish he'd get his head outta his ass, too," Leo sighed, rubbing

his eyes. "So, I haven't asked this, but, if we lose, what're you gonna

do?"

"Well, Leo, to be entirely honest, I don't have the faintest idea," CJ

admitted with a sigh.

"Not planning on going back to California and running the vineyard?" he

asked, only half joking.

"No, although Dad would love the help. Ben's there everyday and Peter

helps out when he can but Dad's getting up there and it is getting to be

too much for him. But I won't run it, it's just not me."

"What about you?" she asked as she refilled their coffee cups.

"Retirement in semi-contentment," he muttered. "Jenny wants to move to

Hawaii."

"It's nice out there," CJ said non-comittally.

"Yeah, whatever."

"You don't sound too happy."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, I know," she agreed mildly. "Sorry."

"Not your fault."

"Yeah, but does that mean I can't be sorry?"

"No."

"I couldn't really see you relaxing under a palm tree for the rest of

your life" teased CJ.

"Me either. I don't know...I guess worrying about it right now doesn't

make much sense. Later tonight, when this is all over, I can worry

about what happens next."

"Yeah," she agreed mildly, finishing her coffee. "Okay, if I drink

anymore, I'm not gonna sleep for a week."

"Yeah," he replied, reaching for the coffeepot again to top his mug

off. "Go find out what the spin boys are up to, will ya?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling, as she left and went into the other room.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed.

Three hours later they were all huddled in the den keeping a close eye

on the television. Josh and Jed were on caffeine overload and were

pacing around the room. The others were sprawled out on the couch, the

chairs, the floor. Leo sat in an overstuffed chair near the TV. CJ was

sitting on the arm of the chair absentmindedly rubbing his back.

Abbey glanced over and smirked a little, but returned her attention to

the television.

When they announced it a few hours later, the first thing that happened

was Jed almost fainted. Abbey grabbed him and propped him up on the

chair with his head between his knees, laughing while she did so.

Leo pulled CJ into a giant hug, knocking her off the arm of the chair

and into his lap, where she lay, laughing.

Toby and Josh both looked on that with unamused eyes, especially when

Leo bent to kiss her on the cheek. They weren't blind, and neither one

of them was stupid.

And neither knew about their shared history, so they both assumed the

worst.

Jed pulled himself together and gave his victory speech while they all

looked on proudly. The party lasted well into the night. Somewhere

around 3 in the morning CJ wandered out to the porch to escape the noise

for a while. She found Leo on the swing wrapped up in the quilt,

swinging slowly, looking up at the stars.

"Hey," she said softly, with a smile. "You did good."

"Huh?" he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts. "What?"

"You did good," she repeated. "Can I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the

empty seat.

"Yeah, go ahead," he replied. "I was just thinking."

"Pretty deep stuff, if your face is to be believed at all," she teased,

sitting down and taking his hand in hers. "Old friend, you've gotta do

something for me, promise?"

"Depends on what it is," he stipulated dryly.

"You've got to treat Jenny and Mallory better," she said quietly.

"You've hurt them pretty badly over the years, and those wounds don't

heal easily."

"I know" he whispered, "I've been a crappy husband and father for years"

"But it's not too late, you can change things" she tried to assure him,

although deep down she wasn't too sure it was true.

"I'll try," he finally conceded with a sad sigh.

"Good," she whispered. "That's all you need to do."

~~~~

"Soo..." CJ said conversationally as she and Leo finished their

meeting. "Jenny told me she's asked for a divorce. Confirm or deny?"

"I suppose, *no comment* won't work" sighed Leo wearily.

"Nope"

"Yes, she asked for a divorce" he said quietly as he stood up and walked

to the window. He stood staring out at the rain that had just begun to

fall.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly, but thanks for the offer" he said without turning to

look at her.

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me" said CJ as

she got up to leave. She walked past him and patted him on the shoulder

before going to get ready for a briefing.

As she headed for the door, he called over his shoulder, "CJ?"

"Yeah?" she said quietly.

"Thanks."

"Leo, I saw this coming a mile away, and I'm sure the President isn't

too happy about it. You need a sympathetic shoulder," she said quietly,

leaving and closing the door behind her with a quiet click.

Leo sighed heavily and headed for the connecting door to the Oval

Office. Taking a deep breath he entered the room and stood in the

doorway until Jed looked up from what he was reading and motioned him

in.

"You look like crap Leo, sit down before you fall over." said Jed as he

tossed aside his reading glasses and took a seat on the couch opposite

Leo. "You wanna talk about it?"

Leo just shrugged his shoulders and dropped his head down into his

hands. Jed got up, grabbed a box of tissues and took a seat next to

Leo. He held out a few tissues and got comfortable while he waited for

Leo to pull himself together enough to talk.

"I... ah... did it to myself, I guess," Leo finally said woodenly.

"No, Leo, it was both of you, not giving and taking enough," Jed

contradicted. "You both made choices and..."

Leo sighed and shook his head. "No, Jed. I brought it on myself."

Jed just nodded, knowing that whatever he said it wasn't going to make

much difference.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one knowing quite what to

say. Finally Leo got up with a sigh, "I have things to do, sir. I'll

talk to you later" he muttered as he headed for his office.

"Leo, wait..."

"Sir, please, not now" he pleaded.

Jed gave up knowing that when Leo went back to calling him *sir* the

personal conversation was over.

"Yeah, whatever," Jed finally muttered, dismissing Leo with a wave of

his hand.

Leo nodded and went back to his office, where he found Mallory waiting.

"Mags said to come on in," she said mildly. "Mom called and told me

this morning, and she thought you might need someone to talk to."

"What the hell is with everyone finally giving a shit about how I feel?"

Leo muttered.

"CJ said you're crabby."

"And apparently she was right" he spit out as he flopped down onto the

couch. "I'm sorry sweetie" he said as he held out his hand towards

Mallory. She took it and sat down next to him.

"Are you really ok?"

"No, and no I don't really want to talk about it"

"OK, but if you won't talk to me promise me you'll talk to someone

later. Uncle Jed, Josh, CJ, anybody."

"I will, I promise"

"Dad," she said warningly. "You've got to."

"I WILL."

"Yeah," Mallory finally said, dropping his hand and getting up onto her

feet. "And I believe you as far as I can throw you."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me loud and clear -- I don't believe you, I don't trust you.

And I'm amazed that CJ and Jed do."

"Don't worry, I don't think they do either" he said calmly.

"Look, I have things I need to do. I just wanted to stop by and see if

you were ok. Obviously you're not ok and have no plans to do anything

to help the situation. I'll be home later if you decided to talk" said

Mallory as she walked out the door without even looking back at Leo.

Leo grabbed the phone and punched in CJ's number. "Get me out of here"

he said quietly and then hung up the phone without waiting for a

response.

His phone rang a moment later, and when he didn't pick it up, Margaret

came in. "CJ's on the inter-office, Leo. She says she'll be right

down."

"I'm going home," Leo said tiredly, more tiredly than he thought he

could even have felt.

"Okay," Margaret said quietly. "I'll rearrange the rest of you

rmeetings, okay?"

"I don't care."

"Leo, are you ok?" she asked.

He sighed heavily. "No. I'm tired, pissed and crabby. But thanks for

your concern, really, I appreciate it. I'll call you later." he said

with a genuine smile.

CJ arrived minutes later and ushered him out the door.

Once they were out on the sidewalk, she said, "We're going to my place,

okay?"

"Yeah."

She walked him to where she had parked her car and ushered him into the

passenger seat. "You sure this is safe?" he asked worriedly.

"I am a GOOD driver," CJ said, pushing him into the car and buckling him

in herself, being sure to pull the belt tight over his hips."

"Uh, yeah," he squeaked.

She rounded the car and got in, fastening her seatbelt. "Want food?"

"No, thanks..."

She looked over her shoulder as she backed out.

Leo kept a tense watch, too, shouting, "CJ look out for..." as a car

whipped out of nowhere and plowed into the bumper of the car, sending

them spinning into the two cars on either side of them -- Sam's and

Josh's.

CJ's airbag puffed up into her face and knocked her back into the back

of the seat with enough force to knock her out. She came to a few

minutes later to find Abbey leaning over her.

"I'm fine" she muttered as she sat up slowly. "Leo?" she asked

anxiously when she realized he wasn't in the seat next to her.

"He's fine, he's over there" said Abbey as she pointed towards a group

gathered on the lawn.

CJ closed her eyes again briefly. "Okay, I quit -- I'm gonna get a

fucking limo and a chauffer..." she mumbled, slowly opening her eyes

again.

"That would be a good idea, sweetie," Abbey said. "We popped your

airbag so you could breathe -- well, Leo did -- but we're having some

problems getting you out."

CJ grunted in reply and closed her eyes. "Who hit me?"

"Uh, Tad Whitney" said Abbey.

"For God's sake can't that man just leave me the hell alone!" screamed

CJ.

Abbey just shook her head and tried not to laugh.

An hour later CJ was freed, unharmed, from the car. A car and driver

were waiting to take them to her house. The spent the ride in silence,

both nursing matching headaches.

When CJ opened her front door, she ushered Leo in like a protective

mother. "Want some Advil?" she asked. "Me, I'm gonna have a couple

Advil and a giant margarita -- if I had any urge to drink anything at

the moment." She massaged the back of her head. "Advil," she mumbled,

heading for the kitchen.

Leo laughed a little bit, knowing that as long as Claudia Cregg was

mumbling about Advil and margaritas, she wouldn't ask him about Jenny.

CJ brought him a couple of Advil and a glass of iced tea.

"Here. To be quite honest, I don't feel like talking so why don't you

just relax and get some sleep. I need to make a few phone calls" she

sighed.

"Insurance company?"

"Oh shut up" she said reached out and caressed his cheek. "You sure

you're ok?"

"Yeah" he replied as he kicked off his shoes, loosened his tied and

stretched out on the couch.

"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll go into the bedroom and make my calls

so you can get some sleep." As she walked away, he had to laugh as she

muttered, "Dammit, my insurance is gonna skyrocket!"

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, it was to

the sound of her rattling around in the kitchen.

"What time is it?"

"Almost 7, you've been asleep for a few hours. You hungry?"

"Yeah, I think so." he said as he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Good, dinner will be ready in an about half an hour"

"Thanks," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I could use some more of that

Advil about now..."

"Not till you talk to me about what happened with Jenny," she said

mildly, setting a skillet down on the stovetop with a clatter.

Leo walked to the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools at the

breakfast counter. "Now that's just mean. And could you stop throwing

the cookware around so loudly" he muttered.

"When you start talking" she said in an overly sweet voice.

"What the hell is your problem?" he asked, holding his head in his

hands. "You crash cars right and left -- have you ever finished paying

for a car before you wrecked it? -- you bitchslap people around, you...

you..."

"Watch it or I'll throw this at you," she said very calmly, a butter

knife in her hand.

Leo looked up at her, took one look at her face and decided to bite back

his next series of comments. "Sorry" he muttered.

"It's ok. Leo, I'm worried about you, we all are, please, talk to me?"

she sighed as she walked behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Fine, you give me a neck rub and I'll talk"

"Deal"

He laughed. "You're so easy..."

"Yeah, I am," she agreed with a smile. "But I'm far from cheap. Now

start talking."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Well, I guess it all really kicked into gear when I

forgot our anniversary."

"Yeah, but it's been brewing a lot longer than that, right?"

"Yeah, it has." He sighed. "Things have been going downhill since the

campaign started. Jenny wasn't thrilled that I took it on in the first

place. She had envisioned a few years of having me all to herself."

"I can understand that. Let's face it, she's put up with a ton of shit

over the years Leo. All she wanted was a normal life for a while. Who

could blame her."

"I know. I realize now that it wasn't too much for her to ask. But I

threw myself full force into getting Jed elected and things started to

go downhill from there. By the time election day rolled around we were

barely speaking. After we got to the White House things go better, for

a while. But then..."

"You got too wrapped up in your work, again?"

"Yeah"

She nodded, but he couldn't see. "You screwed up, yeah, but she

could've tried to put up a little more and understand..." She hit a

particularly sore muscle group and he lurched in her hands. "Okay, just

relax, Leo..." she said soothingly.

He took a couple of deep breaths and tried his best to relax.

"So then you missed your anniversary and things snowballed from then

on?"

"Something like that" he sighed as he leaned his head back into CJ. She

moved her hands up from his neck to his temples, making gentle circles

as she felt him relax just a little further.

"And you want things to blow over, but they're not gonna," she said

quietly, knowing both sides of the story already.

"Yah."

"Jenny says you haven't been in love with her for a long time," CJ said

gently. "That it was a long time in coming."

"Maybe," he muttered, pulling away from her. "I feel better now --

maybe I ought to go home."

"No, stay for dinner. I promised the President I would fuss over you

for a while" she said as she went to the stove.

"Great, just what I need, another mother-hen, as if Margaret wasn't

enough..."

"Leo" she said cutting him off with a look of warning.

"Fine, I'd love to stay for dinner"

"Good. So set the table"

He grumbled but went into the kitchen and found the articles he needed

in the drawers. He'd been over many times before -- usually when CJ had

just crashed her car and was high on pain pills, but a couple of times

for no reason beyond their wanting to vent.

"Hey, can you get glasses too?" CJ asked as she brought something out of

the oven.

"What the hell is that?"

"Enchiladas..." she said, her voice trailing off. "You don't like

enchiladas?"

"Yeah, I do. Sorry." he said as he finished setting the table and sat

down.

"So how are things back at the vineyard?" he asked hoping to steer the

conversation away from Jenny.

"Pretty good. Ben took over the day to day operations and they were

able to hire some additional help. I'm trying to convince Mom and Dad

to come out for a visit but I haven't had any luck yet."

"That's good, did Ben's wife have her baby yet?"

"Yeah, last week, another boy. They named him James. And before you

ask Peter and his family are fine too. So, now that we are done with

the update on the Cregg family we can resume our earlier conversation.

What are you going to do now?"

"Well, give Jenny her divorce, I guess. It's irreparable, CJ. It's

over." He looked woebegone and beaten, down-trodden and angry all at

once.

"Okay," she said softly, sitting down. "Why do you say that?"

"Cause it is. We've tried and tried to make it work. I know some of

our efforts were half-hearted at best but there were times recently when

we really did make an effort to try and work things out. Too much has

happened, too many hurtful things have been said, by both of us, that

there just isn't any hope. And the best thing for both of us is to just

end it."

"Is that what you want?"

Leo nodded and turned away from her as he felt himself get teary.

"Okay," she whispered, reaching for his hand. "You know I can't take

sides on this."

"Yeah."

"I love you and Jenny both, and it's killing me to see you two like

this," she said quietly. "But, if I have to choose, I choose you, Leo.

Well, because, uh, you're my boss and could have my ass on a gold

platter in your office in the morning."

Leo chuckled and turned back to face CJ. She smiled as she reached out

to wipe a stray tear from Leo's cheek with her thumb.

"Hmm, you on a gold platter? THat's an interesting visual, Claudia Jean"

mused Leo with a wry smile.

CJ just groaned and shook her head.

"Leo, not funny... not in the least," she scolded even as she smiled an

amused grin.

"Yeah, it is, Claudia," he contradicted with a crooked grin. "And your

smile proves it to me."

"Shut up," she said, turning red and laughing as she looked away. "You

know me too well -- it's not fair."

"Hey, you know me just as well. You always have. You've always

understood me, even when you were just 15. God, in some ways that seems

like 5 lifetimes ago and in other ways, it was just like yesterday."

"Yeah," she agreed with a sad smile. "A lot of time has passed and

look at us both -- I still can't drive without crashing, I still have an

obsession about falling in water, you're still obsessed with anything

but your family, and... uh... I crossed the line there, didn't I?"

"No" he said softly, "You didn't. It's the truth."

He pushed his food around on his plate for a few minutes without really

eating much.

"You don't like it?"

"No, I mean, yeah I like it. I'm just not hungry. Maybe I should just

go home. I'm not exactly very good company at the moment."

"Leo, I don't want you to be alone right now," CJ said quietly. "I

know you too well, remember -- you're not going to crawl back into that

bottle for solace, and you're not gonna be alone for a while, okay?"

She reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I trust you about as

far as I can throw you, which ain't far, my brother. You can sleep in

my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch."

"I'll stay, but I'm not sleeping in your bed. I'll take the couch

'cause, well, no offense but do you and your long legs even fit on the

couch?"

CJ burst out laughing and smacked him on the back of his head. "Fine,

you can have the couch"

"Thanks," Leo mumbled, grabbing her and yanking her over to tickle her

until she was on the floor laughing until she was crying.

"UNCLE, UNCLE!" she shrieked, slapping half-heartedly at his hands.

"Fine" he said as he offered her his hand to help her up. She eyed it

warily for a few seconds before taking it.

"I'm going to take a shower. You can clean the kitchen."

"Clean the kitchen? I thought I was the guest, the person you nearly

killed this afternoon, the person whose life is falling apart..the

person...". He looked up to find that CJ had already left the room.

Leo rolled his eyes but took his dishes into the kitchen and began to

wash them, muttering the whole way.

When CJ came out of the bathroom about forty-five minutes later, Leo was

stretched out on the couch with her copy of "War and Peace", sound

asleep.

With a small smile, she covered him up with a quilt and took the book

gently out of his hands. She sat on the coffee table for a minute,

watching him. He looked peaceful in his sleep and she only wished that

that peace would still be there when he woke up. She kissed his

forehead and turned out the light before heading to her room.

She awoke to a ringing phone about an hour later and groaned. It

wasn't very often that she could go to bed early, and she was now pissed

about having been woken up.

She grabbed the phone, turned it on, and snapped, "WHAT?!"

"Nice way to answer the phone, Claudia Jean," said Jed.

"Oh, sir, sorry." she said as she sat upright, now wide awake.

"Don't worry about it," chuckled Jed. "I was just calling to see if you

know where Leo is, he's not answering his cell phone."

"He's, uh, asleep on my couch"

"CJ?"

"He's on my couch, asleep, sir. I'm not surprised he's not answering

his phone.... what do you need?"

"I was just checking to see if he was ok. I guess he's well taken care

of." said Jed as he smiled to himself.

"He's fine, just tired"

"OK then, I'll see you two in the morning."

"Good night sir, see you tomorrow"

CJ tossed the phone down and curled back up under the comforter,

determined to get 6 straight hours of sleep.

That didn't happen -- not by a long shot. She couldn't get back to

sleep, so she got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of

milk. She laced it with a little scotch and added some ice cubes before

running it through the blender.

It took her a moment to remember that Leo was on the couch, and he was

the source of the major crash in the living room.

She hit the stop button on the blender and ran into the living room.

Leo was on the floor next to the couch. He had obviously tripped over

the shoes he had kicked off earlier. He was rubbing the back of his

head muttering under his breath.

"Problem Leo?"

"Oh, just shut up and help me up." he grumbled.

CJ held out her hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep."

"So you decided to run the blender?"

"I was making a toddy frappucino, thank you," she said with a heavy

sigh. "The President called earlier, wanting to know if you were still

alive."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I hadn't killed you..... yet."

"Very funny." he muttered.

"You need some ice?" she asked as she reached out to feel the back of

his head. "Oh yeah, you sure do" she said as she felt him flinch as she

touched to bump that was already forming.

She took him into the kitchen and got him an ice pack

"Thanks" he said, taking the ice. "You can still have your toddy,

whatever, don't stop on account of me."

She shrugged. "It's probably melted by now."

"Ohhhkay..."

"I told you it was a toddy frappucino. Milk, scotch, ice...."

"Well, yeah, the ice is probably melted by now, yeah..." he agreed.

"That ice is gonna melt if you don't put it on your bump, Leo..." she

pointed out. When he still made no move to move it, she took it gently

from him and held it against the bump on his head. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Then why didn't you do this yourself?" she asked, pulling him towards

onto the couch.

"Dunno."

"Leo, Leo, Leo...what am I going to do with you" she mumbled as she

pressed the ice gently against his head.

"Wow, that's a loaded question" teased Leo.

CJ blushed. "You're an old pain in the ass, you know that?"

"And proud of it," he replied, flinching as she moved the ice slightly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah..."

"You gonna tell me what's really going on in that head of yours? You're

not that upset about Jenny asking for a divorce, Leo. It's what you

wanted all along, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's what I want but it's still almost 35 years of my life

just...just...over with the stroke of a pen."

"Yeah" she said softly.

He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and his head in his

hands. He took a few deeps breaths and rubbed his eyes with the heels

of his hands. CJ rubbed his back gently waiting for him to continue.

When he didn't, she didn't push him any further. Over the past 25 years

she had learned from experience that the quickest way to get Leo to shut

down was to force him to talk.

CJ eventually removed the icepack and Leo reached up to gingerly touch

the lump on the back of his head.

"God, CJ, you really are trying to kill me today, aren't you?" he

teased, a slight smile coming across his face.

"Nah, I kinda like having you around" she said with a grin.

"Yeah, well, I confess, I'm kinda fond of you too"

And for a minute they just sat there, looking at each other, while

something unspoken passed between them. It was something that had

happened numerous times over the years. Something they both felt but

did nothing about. Something hidden away and taken out only in the

privacy of their own thoughts. But this time something in CJ made her

throw caution to the wind and confess a long kept secret.

"Well, as long as we're confessing, there's something you should know,"

she said softly and seriously. The look on her face made Leo sit up and

she grabbed his hand before continuing. She could feel her cheeks blush

like a school girl but she was determined, once and for all to tell Leo

how she really felt. "Leo McGarry, I've had the biggest crush on you

since I was 15 years old." She looked away, not sure she wanted to see

his reaction.

Leo took a deep breath and lifted up her chin to look her in the eye.

"You're not the only one harboring a 25 year old crush, Claudia Jean."

She blinked and stared at him. "Say what?" she finally choked out.

"You heard me, CJ. I don't think I can say it again right now."

"You don't get crushes, Leo. Leo McGarry hasn't had a crush in his

life, I'm willing to bet... Me, on the other hand... yeah. You? No

way." She was babbling now, completely incoherent -- she couldn't even

comprehend for real what he had told her. It went in one ear and

bounced around her brain briefly before shooting out her other ear. It

wasn't reality. It was a figmentation of her imagination.

Or rather, it was... until he kissed her.

The kiss took both of them by surprise but neither one seemed in a hurry

to end it. When it finally did end they were both speechless, a truly

rare occasion. CJ sat up quickly as she had basically ended up on top

of Leo. She ran her hands through her hair nervously as he took a deep

breath and let it out slowly.

"Leo,CJ" they finally spoke at once.

"You first" said Leo.

She laughed nervously. "Ah... that was wonderful, but.... should we be

doing this, Leo?"

"I don't know."

"It could be seen as sexual harrassment."

"CJ..."

"It could be a PR disaster in the making...."

"CJ!"

"This isn't a good idea, Leo...."

He rolled his eyes. She wasn't going to shut up. So he leaned forward

and kissed her again, until she was completely silent.

When he finally pulled away he put his fingers to her lips to silence

any more protests that she may be preparing to voice. "Let me speak"

She nodded.

"CJ, we are adults, you are single, I am getting divorced. There is

nothing wrong with this. Whatever this is."

"If we worked anywhere but the White House I would agree with you. But

let's face it, we could be a PR nightmare faster than you can say *Sam

and his call girl friend*"

Leo smiled. "CJ, CJ, Claudia...."

"What?"

"You are entirely too stuck in the mud on this, aren't you?"

"Leo, it's reality, not...." She broke off and began chewing her

thumbnail nervously.

"It is reality, and the reality is that something is happening between

us. Something that's been brewing for 25 years. Isn't it time we did

something about it?" he asked with a small smile.

"I was just a kid," she whispered.

"You're not now, are you?"

"No, but... I know you now. I know you too well. How will we make this

work, when we both know so well and so much about each other."

"We're the same coin, CJ, just two different sides." He cupped her face

in his hands. "We can make this work."

CJ just sank back into the couch, still trying to digest the fact that

Leo had had a crush on her since she was 15. He guessed what she was

thinking.

"CJ, I never, ever would have done anything back then. You're right,

you were 15. And I was 30 and married with a child. I never even

considered doing anything back then, even though I spent a good portion

of that week at your house drunk."

"I know" she whispered as Leo wiped away a stray tear.

"You're my friend, Claudia -- you always have been," he said quietly.

"And I don't want ANYTHING to EVER destroy that. So, I suppose, we

should take this slowly, and tread lightly."

"I suppose," she agreed. "You really had a crush on me when I was 15?"

"I just about had a conniption when you went out with that guy with the

Porsche."

CJ laughed at the memory of coming home dripping wet and explaining the

situation to Leo in her kitchen.

"CJ, at 15 you had an understanding, an intuition, a manner about you, a

*whatever*, that was well beyond your years. I knew that the day I met

you. I always knew you would go far."

Now she was crying openly as was Leo.

"So, we take this slowly?"

"Well, not too slow, I'm not getting any younger ya know." smirked Leo.

She laughed and kissed him gently on the cheek. "I don't know what

we're going to do or how we're going to do it, but we have to be

discreet."

"I know."

"I don't understand how or why, but I loved you from the moment I saw

you. Only I didn't know what it was that I was feeling. Mostly

confusion, I think," she joked, blushing a little under his scrutiny.

"Well, that's understandable, you were young" said Leo with a shrug of

his shoulders.

CJ nodded and yawned loudly. She glanced at the clock on the VCR.

"So much for the 6 straight hours of sleep I was planning on getting"

she mused.

"CJ when was the last time you got 6 straight hours of sleep?" teased

Leo.

"No idea, but how about we try and get 4 hours."

"Four hours are good," he agreed mildly. "I'll just stay here on the

couch, since it's comfortable, and..."

"You will not," CJ protested.

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly.

"Leo, I almost killed you twice today, I just admitted to harboring a

quarter century old crush on you. I am not letting you sleep on the

couch. Let's go" she said as she gently pulled him to his feet.

"You're sure about this?" he asked quietly.

"Leo, I'm asking you to sleep, not make love to me," she said with a

smile. "Believe me, when I want that, you'll know for sure, and there

will be no doubt in your mind that it is time."

"OK"

She led him down the hallway towards her bedroom. Grabbing a pair of

pajamas she headed into the bathroom to change. Leo slipped off his

dress shirt, pants and socks before crawling into the bed. CJ came out

a minute later with a glass of water and two Advil.

"Thanks" he said as he took the pills.

CJ turned out the light and slid under the covers. They lay side by

side in silence until CJ was overcome by a case of the giggles.

"What the hell is so funny?" Leo asked.

"Nothing," she said, continuing to giggle.

"Claudia..."

"Sorry, I just..." She was gasping for breath.

Leo rolled over her and flicked the light back on.

"It's just that I still can't believe..."

"Are we back to the fact that I had a crush on you when you were 15?" he

asked with giggle of his own.

"Yes" she said as she turned the light back off.

SHe took a few deeps breaths and composed herself as best she could.

She felt Leo's hand reach out for hers and hold it tight, and she knew,

she KNEW, that it was true. And that it was real. And that it was

long-lasting.

"Good night, Leo," she whispered.

"Night, CJ."

Dawn came way too fast and the blaring of the alarm sent CJ flying to

shut it off. Only she wasn't used to having to climb over someone and

she managed to nearly knock Leo off the bed in the process.

"Jeez, CJ, I've been awake for all of 5 seconds and you're trying to

kill me already."

"Oh, God, Leo, I'm sorry!" she choked out between her laughs. "This is

just so.... weird for me right now."

"Glad I can provide you with some amusement on this dreary morning." he

said as he glanced out the rain. "I'm gonna go home and shower before

work."

"And how are you going to get there?"

"Uh, good question"

And that question was answered when a driver appeared at CJ's front door

5 minutes later with instructions to take Leo home. A second driver

would be arriving to take CJ to work within the hour.

"I'll see you later," CJ said quietly. "We'll be okay."

"Yeah," he agreed, leaning forward to kiss her very gently and softly.

"See you for Staff."

Part 5

CJ arrived at work, head held as high as she could in front of Josh and

Sam. Luckily the damage to their cars was minimal and they weren't too

hard on her. She walked into the Oval Office for Staff a few minutes

after everyone else and the only open seat was next to Leo. She

couldn't tell if that had happened on purpose or plain luck. There was

little time to dwell on such matters as Leo started the meeting as soon

as she had set foot in the room.

She managed to concentrate on the meeting, and not on how expressive

Leo's hands were, somehow...

And then they all dispersed and went back to their offices.

CJ went to prepare for her next briefing while Leo headed to the hill

for a few meetings. It was the middle of the afternoon before they

caught up with each other. Leo stopped by her office on his way back

from his meetings. She was on the phone but waved him in. Sighly

deeply he sank down onto her couch and rested his head on the back.

"Hey, you ok?" she asked as she hung up the phone.

"Yeah, just tired, didn't get much sleep last night.' he said with a

smirk.

She tossed her glasses aside and joined him on the couch. "How's your

head?" she asked as she gently ran her fingers over the lump.

"Fine, as long as you don't touch it."

"Sorry. So you wanna do something tonight? Dinner?"

"You cooking?"

"Maybe. What's wrong with my cooking" she asked woundedly.

"Nothing but how about we just order in, maybe rent a movie or

something. That is, if we get out of here at a decent time."

"Sounds good. Now get going, I have a 4 o'clock briefing to get ready

for."

"You're throwing me out?" he asked woundedly.

"Yeah, but I know you have just as much work, if not more, than I do to

get done before we get a chance to leave...." she said with a gentle

smile. "So, beat it. Hit the road, Leo, and...."

He laughed. "I'm going, I'm going..."

CJ watched as he disappeared around the corner. She went back to work.

By some stroke of luck they were actually walking out of the building at

a few minutes before 8 that night. Leo's car had been in the parking

lot over night so he drove them to CJ's after picking up some Chinese

take-out and a movie.

"I still can't believe that Leo, the food snob, would like inane movies

like 'Aliens from Beyond'," CJ teased with a giggle as she let them into

her apartment.

"I was just kidding, CJ!"

"Yeah, uh-huh...." She laughed and grinned down at him, where he was

looking very sheepish.

"Okay, okay, so I like bad old B movies.... I can't believe you like

sappy chick flicks."

"Well, at least we managed to settle on something," she laughed.

"Popcorn?"

"After dinner" he said as he held up the bag of food.

They settled on the couch to watch CNN while they ate dinner. CJ wanted

to just start the movie but Leo insisted on watching CNN in case

anything important had happened in the 20 minutes since they had left

the office.

"But Leo, we had the radio on in the car, your cell phone has been

surgically attached to you and we just checked the answering machine.

What do you expect is going to happen."

"Nothing, this is my normal routine"

"Oh, I guess I should have realized that" said CJ with a roll of her

eyes.

CNN's headlines told them that, yes indeed, they hadn't missed a thing

in the previous 20 minutes.

"Can I put the movie in?" CJ asked.

"Are you physically capable of putting the movie in the VCR? I would

assume so..."

"LEO!"

"Say it right."

"MAY I put the movie in?"

"Of course."

"You're a pain in the ass."

"And you're just realizing that now?" he smirked.

"No. Even at 15 I figured that out pretty quickly"

Leo just looked at her and stuck out his tongue.

"Oh real mature there Leo."

He laughed. "Very astute of you, Claudia."

"You're nothing more than an overgrown baby."

"Your point?"

"Well, for one, I'm not gonna change your diapers when you get old.

Mallory can do that."

He threw his head back and laughed like he hadn't laughed in a long

time.

CJ just sat back and watched as he laughed. When he stopped she gave

him a big smile.

"What?" he asked.

"That was a nice sound. You laughing like that is something I haven't

heard in a long time."

He returned the smile as she stood up and put in the movie.

CJ smiled and snuggled up to him as the movie began to play. A couple

of hours later, when it was over, they were both long since asleep.

CJ woke up and stretched, wondering why she felt so stiff, then

remembered that she was on the couch with Leo, and if she was stiff, so

was he. "Hey," she heard leo say quietly.

"Hey..."

Leo sat up slowly and stretched his arms out in front of him.

"Damn, I am too old to be sleeping on the couch" he grumbled as he

dropped his feet from the coffee table with a thud.

By then CJ had gotten up and was holding out a hand to help him up.

"Come on, let's go."

"Huh?"

"Bed, Leo. Let's go to bed." she said wearily as she waited for him to

stand.

"CJ, are you sure about..."

"Leo, bed. Not sex. B-E-D. Bed."

"As in sleep?"

"As in lots and lots of sleep -- I wish."

"OK" he grinned as he took CJ's hand and stood up slowly.

"Just for future reference, when we do sleep together, it is going to be

at a time when both of us are awake and able to, uh, fully participate."

"Good idea" he smirked as he sat down on the bed.

She smiled and reached for her nightgown, which sat on the end of the

bed. "I'll be back," she promised, heading for the bathroom.

Leo got out of his work clothes and climbed under the covers, and closed

his eyes. He was asleep by the time CJ climbed into bed, and she smiled

as she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.

As usual dawn came much too quickly. However, CJ did remember that Leo

was asleep next to her and she managed to turn off the alarm without

causing him bodily harm.

As Leo threw on his clothes from the night before he turned to CJ.

"So, since I've already been here two nights in a row would it be okay

with you if I brought over some clothes?" he asked nervously. "I think

this running home to shower and change stuff is gonna get real old, real

fast."

She laughed and blushed a little. "Yeah, I guess that's okay. But

what are we going to tell people?"

"That I sleep over and if they don't like it, fuck 'em."

"Oh. Okay."

Leo padded out into the living room to find his shoes with CJ close on

his heels.

"So, how do we want to do this. One big announcement."

Leo stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face her. CJ was

hard pressed to identify the look on his face. Fear? Amusement?

Something entirely different?

"A big announcement? CJ, it's been a little over 24 hours, I don't

think we need a formal statement yet. Give Jed another 48 hours and

he'll figure it out on his own and start the rumor mill."

"Yes, and by that time, the press will have already tried to take me

out for lunch, Leo. I know what I'm talking about -- please."

"Yeah, okay, yeah, but a big announcement? CJ, what are you thinking?

It's not like we're getting married. We're just two friends sharing an

apartment at this point."

CJ was a little surprised at that statement but recovered quickly.

"Well, I had plans to be more than friends by the time this gets out,

but hey, if that's the way you want to look at it."

"I meant to the press, to everyone else, CJ, we're just two friends

sharing an apartment. That doesn't mean we can't be more within our own

walls," he said quietly, very much aware that he had offended her.

"Leo, you and I both know that the press isn't going to buy the *just

friends* story any more than our actual friends will. We have to tell

them something."

"What? I'm only speaking for myself at the moment but honestly, I have

no idea where this is leading. I know how I feel about you but let's

face it, things will never be easy." he sighed as he took her hand.

"They never are."

"Precisely."

"Leo... I don't know where this is heading, either, but I want to make a

go of it, if at all possible, and you're putting stumbling blocks up in

the way, and I'm doing the same thing, and god, but it's annoying."

"Yeah. Sometimes I just wish I could lead a normal life. Have some

reasonable hours, get more than 4 hours sleep a night, eat a home cooked

meal more than once a month."

"Leo, you wouldn't last a month leading a normal life."

"I would too!"

"Nope."

"Prove it."

"You're a food snob, and I don't cook."

"So we go out."

"See, right there, Leo. Normal people don't go out every night, unless

they live in New York City!"

"So what? NOw you're telling me that I don't even know what normal is

anymore?"

"Exactly" she said a little louder than she had planned.

Leo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while gathering his thoughts.

"Look we are getting no where. Let's just keep this between ourselves

for another day. We can talk about it later. I'll take you out to

dinner. Deal?"

"Fine"

A little over an hour later they arrived at work in separate cars. A

little over two hours later Jed called Leo into the Oval Office.

"You know why CJ's acting like a royal pain in the ass today?" Jed

asked.

"No, sir, why would I?"

"Well, now, that was a little cold."

"It was meant to be. I'm not her father, I'm not her husband or

boyfriend..."

"Leo, Leo, Leo -- what the hell is the matter with you?"

"NOTHING!"

"Leo, please," said Jed lowering his voice. "What is going on? The two

of you were staring at each other with daggers in your eyes all day.

Two days ago you were sleeping on her couch. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, sir."

"Something happened. It had to have."

"NOTHING HAPPENED!"

Jed turned to see Charlie standing in the doorway with a file. NOt

taking his eyes off of Leo he pointed to the desk and Charlie dropped it

there without a word.

"Leo sit, please" said Jed as gestured towards the couch.

"Sir, I'm begging here..."

"Leo, three things are going to happen in the next minute or so. Number

one is you are going to sit, number two is you are going to stop

calling me sir and number three is you are going to tell me what the

hell is going on with you and CJ...With you and CJ" Jed repeated quietly

as Leo smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders. "Spill it, my

friend."

"There's really nothing to spill, sir."

"Jed."

"Jed, there's nothing to spill."

"Prove it."

"I'm staying in her apartment."

"Yeah? And?"

"And.. I'm staying in her apartment. Her couch is comfortable."

"So you're sleeping on CJ's couch, excuse me, comfortable couch, instead

of staying at your place for no apparent reason. What a crock of..."

"Sir, Jed, please. We really don't need to have Mrs. Landingham running

in her telling us to watch our language."

Jed nodded. "Whatever." he muttered under his breath.

"Jed, that's all there is to it," Leo said with a sigh.

"Oh really? And what set you two off at each other this morning? Who

forgot to make the coffee?"

"SHut up."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. My life is none of your business, so just stay out of it

-- SIR."

Jed opened his mouth to say something but instead motioned to Leo that

he was free to go. "Well, that didn't work, so on to plan B" he

muttered to himself. "Oh, Charlie, can you find CJ for me?" he

bellowed.

CJ came into the Oval Office with a disgusted look on her face. "This

couldn't wait, sir?" she asked.

"Nope."

"I was in the middle of a meeting."

"Tough."

She sighed and smiled. "Okay, what do you need, sir?"

"Why are you and Leo being assholes?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh for God's sake, Claudia Jean, you heard me the first time." said Jed

trying to mantain a presidential air about him when he really just

wanted to take CJ and Leo by the necks and knock their heads together.

He sat on the couch and motioned for her to sit next to him. "I just

finished a 10 minute conversation with Leo that led exactly nowhere. So

now it's up to you to make some sense of what the hell is going on

around here today."

"So, what did Leo tell you?" she asked curiously.

"That he's staying at your apartment and that you're couch is

comfortable."

"And that's true."

"OK, but that doesn't explain why the two of you are acting like

immature brats today."

"We're not acting like immature brats!" CJ protested. "We both just

spent the night on the couch, after watching a movie, we fell asleep.

And we both woke up cranky and sore, and..."

"CJ, I want you to tell me something."

"Maybe, sir..."

"If you two are going to do this, don't you think you should try a

little harder?"

CJ let out a ragged breath. "Yeah. It's just that...yesterday morning

we were the best of friends who had been harboring secret crushes on

each other for 25 years. Then we admitted our feelings and have been

picking at each other ever since. I'm beginning to think that maybe be

are better off as friends."

"I don't think you are, but that's not for me to decide. So go find Leo

and talk, now, before I lock the two of you in the Mural Room." teased

Jed with a smile.

CJ returned the smile as Jed patted her arm. She headed for Leo's

office. Knocking lightly on the door she heard him mutter, "Yeah,

what?" She turned back towards Jed who simply mouthed the word, "Go."

Taking a deep breath, she entered his office. "Hi," she said. "I heard

through the grapevine that we're having problems today?"

"Probably," Leo muttered, looking up and just now registering that she'd

walked in through the Oval Office door. "What's..."

"He sent me," she said, gesturing over her shoulder. "He wants us to

straighten up."

"Oh great, the leader of the free world is meddling in my personal life

again." muttered Leo as he leaned back and put his feet on his desk.

"Well, I don't think he was speaking as the leader of the free world

when he asked why we were acting like assholes." sighed CJ as she walked

over to Leo's desk and sat down on the corner.

"He said we were acting like assholes?"

"Yeah."

"Damn...."

"So, he's pretty upset with us at the moment."

Leo groaned and rubbed his eyes. "We can't have a normal relationship."

"That's probably true, but why can't we even try?" she asked softly as

she reached over to pat his leg.

"Maybe we can."

"How"

"For starters we can stop acting like assholes." said Leo with a smirk

as he dropped his feet down and scooted his chair closer to the desk.

He put his elbows on the desk, head in his hands.

She chuckled. "Not acting like assholes would be good." Her smile

faded. "But we'll have to tell them something when they ask why you're

staying in my apartment."

"No, we won't."

"Yes, we will..."

"Fine, tell them we are involved...anything so we stop fighting. I

can't take much more of this." he said wearily.

CJ reached over to brush back his hair, taking care not to touch the

bump on his head. Leo gave a contented sigh as he folded up his arms

and dropped his head down.

"You wanna tell the staff first, or let them find out at my next

briefing."

"I vote for the briefing but I will leave that up to you."

"I don't want to do this if you aren't ready for it," she whispered.

"This is you as much as it's me, Leo."

"Well, we should've thought about that before, I guess..."

"Or at least tried to spin it so it wouldn't look bad," CJ added. "It's

okay, Leo -- if you want to leave it vague, I completely understand,

but, eventually..."

"I know, eventually we will need to deal with it. But the whole idea of

dealing with it before we've done anything is just so...I don't know.

For God's sake we haven't even had a date yet." he groaned.

'Last night we did. We had dinner and a movie," CJ pointed out sagely,

with a smirk. "But you didn't even try to get to first base, which

makes me think you're a wuss."

"Hey, I'm not a wuss. I was being a gentleman. And let's not forget I

was recovering from my many near death experiences of the previous day."

"A gentleman?" she snorted. "A gentleman would realize I haven't been

touched by a man in six months and would do something to remedy that!"

She rolled her eyes. "Near death experiences, my ass."

That rendered Leo speechless and bright red for just a moment. "And

just how would I know that little bit of information. It's not exactly

common knowledge around the office, memos aren't sent out about these

things. If I had known I would have..."

"You would have what?" asked CJ with her eyebrows raised.

"Done something about the situation." he said as calmly as he could.

She snorted. "Leo... what's done is done."

"Yeah, but what hasn't been done can be changed..."

"Whatever."

"First base," he mumbled.

"Second," she stipulated. "Second or a homerun, thank you."

He laughed. "You're a pushy broad, y'know..."

"I know, always have been. But then again, you've known that for a long

time, right?"

"Yep. So care to start over?"

"Definately," she replied as she leaned over to kiss his cheek and

whisper in his ear, "One more thing...batter up" she said with a wicked

grin.

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Go back to work."

"Yes, sir..." She smirked. "It's a curved ball, and he...."

"Claudia..."

"Yeah?"

"Please go back to work."

"I'm going." she said as she slid off the desk and headed for the door.

"Hey, Leo?"

"What?" he sighed.

"Swing for the fences, hit one out of the park."

"GO BACK TO WORK!" he rumbled, his voice catching on laughter as she

kicked her heel up coquettishly and winked at him.

"May I take that to mean you've patched up your differences?" Jed yelled

from the Oval Office.

"Either that or it's opening day at Fenway Park." muttered Leo as Jed

came in sat on the couch. "Pardon me for asking, but don't you have

something you should be doing, like running the country?" asked Leo with

a smirk.

"Actually I'm running a little ahead of schedule, so I have a few

minutes to chat."

Jed kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the couch, giving Leo the

sinking feeling that he planned on staying for a while.

"Great, just great." said Leo under his breath as he sat down in a chair

next to the couch.

"So, what's next. For you and CJ, I mean?"

"I think maybe a date, ya know, like normal people."

"YOu and CJ, normal?" said Jed trying to surpress a laugh.

"Jed, you're not helping."

"OK, so what can I do to help."

"Well, no offense, but you could just, uh, stay out of it." grinned Leo.

"OK, OK, I can take a hint" he muttered. "So you have the notes on the

thing for tonight.

"Yeah, somewhere." replied Leo as he got up and walked to the desk,

happy that the conversation had turned back to the matter of running the

country.

"You know, you really ought to take her somewhere nice for dinner," Jed

commented as he skimmed the papers. "Get dressed up, nice food, a kiss

goodnight, maybe more,s ince you're living together now..."

Leo tossed his glasses down on the desk as he looked up at Jed and

somehow managed to suppress a scream. "I would love to take her to

dinner tonight but somehow I got roped into going to this dinner

for...for...who the hell is this thing for tonight?"

"The Ambassador from Latvia is getting married next week, and we've

been invited to celebrate with her and her fiance.... CJ's coming, you

know."

"Of course I know -- she has to go."

"Precisely... so take her out on the floor and dance -- just don't

upstage the happy Latvian couple."

"I'll keep that in mind. Can we please get back to work?" asked Leo on

the verge of pleading.

"Sure, what's next?"

"Not sure, but I do know that it will involve a room full of people so

you will leave me the hell alone." teased Leo.

"Nice way to talk to the President of the United States, Leo. SHould we

go next door, look at the seal on the floor?"

"Nothing would give me more pleasure, SIR." smirked Leo.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jed said with a sigh. "Okay, I'm going. You're

impossible."

"No more so than you. Sir."

"Shut up."

"Maybe."

Jed left the room with a laugh, leaving Leo alone for the first time in

what seemed like days. As usually happened his solitude lasted all of 5

minutes before Margaret was coming in with a stack of phone messages and

5 things that needed to be signed.

"Leo, you ok?" asked Margaret. "You seem a little out of sorts today,

even for you."

&