AUTHOR: Jadar Allyna.

E-MAIL: jadar_allyna@yahoo.com

SUMMARY: CJ stretched her arms above her head,
feeling two more satisfying cracks in her shoulders,
and looked over at him with a grin. "What is this,
National Let's Let CJ Be Right For Once Day?"

SPOILERS: mostly second season, up to and including
'Galileo'

DISTRIBUTION/ARCHIVING: go crazy

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Aaron's. Darn it all. Don't
sue.

FEEDBACK: Yes, please! As I said, this is my first
WW fanfic (although not my first fanfic) and I would
really appreciate any and all comments or suggestions,
especially about characterization. Please reply to me
personally though, since I am on the FanFicOnly list.
Apologies to people who get this more than once.

NOTES: I thought Josh had been acting fairly normal
in the episodes leading up to 'Noel', so just assume
that while he's not doing so great here, he's not
quite at the level he was at in 'Noel' either.
Oh, yeah, single quotations, 'yada yada yada', denote
character's thoughts.

Anyway, on with the story already.

P.S. I'm a Canadian. You'll see. Apologies to
Montana. :)


After Hours
by Jadar Allyna.


CJ turned her computer off with a satisfied sigh.
There, finally done. She just had to give these
copies to Carol in the morning for the briefing.

She leaned back in her chair and put her stockinged
feet up on her desk, feeling a comforting crack down
her spine as she did so. She flexed her toes
languidly and let out another contented sigh.

'Hmmm, 20 years since I've strapped on a toe shoe and
I've still got a pretty good point,' she mused idly,
the thought pleasing her for no reason. 'Mme. Tavener
would be impressed.'

Toby stuck his head through her open door. "CJ? The
president said you think he should go ahead with the
classroom anyway?"

She was still focussed on her toes. "You know, I have
great feet."

He blinked. "Yes, well, if great means hideously
large, then -"

She sighed, and not contentedly this time. "What do
you want?"

"I think it's a good idea."

CJ stretched her arms above her head, feeling two more
satisfying cracks in her shoulders, and looked over at
him with a grin. "What is this, National Let's Let CJ
Be Right For Once Day?"

"Of course not," Toby said, in that quiet voice he
used when he was about to insult her.

The smile dropped off her face. "Here if comes," she
muttered.

"We would never give you an entire day." He
disappeared again.

CJ stared at the spot where he had been standing for a
moment. What was with him lately? They'd always
traded barbs, but recently he'd been getting downright
mean about it.

'One of these days I'm just going to open my mouth and
let him have it,' she grumbled to herself.

"There is no yearning!" she heard someone yell.

She dropped her feet to the floor with a thump. "What
the hell?"

She made her way out through the deserted bullpen and
into the Communications area where Toby and Sam stood
arguing. Or rather, Sam was arguing, Toby was doing
his best to ignore him.

She leaned against a door frame. "What are you
yelling about yearning?"

Sam look puzzled for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed.
He was still in his tux, where as she had changed back
into her work clothes.

"No," he said finally. "Learning. I said there is no
learning."

"There is no learning?" she echoed. "They actually
pay you to write?"

"Oh, like you've never-"

"He's still going on about the teachers?" she asked
Toby.

"Please don't get him started," Toby sighed.

She turned to Sam suddenly. "Hey, is this because you
saw Mallory tonight?"

Sam opened his mouth and closed it again two full
times before he managed to answer. "Okay. First of
all, CJ, that's like me asking you if your slamming of
the Post is because you're pissed at Danny."

She rolled her eyes.

"Second, no. No, this is absolutely not because I saw
Mallory tonight. Except to say that she does have
quite a few valid points about -"

"Sam," Toby said warningly.

"I'm just saying -"

"Sam!" he yelled.

CJ left them to duke it out when she saw Josh go by.

"Josh," she called.

He didn't slow down. "Yeah?"

"Canada announced a $700 million moratorium on debt
payments from 11 of the world's poorest countries
today."

He stopped and turned around to look at her. "So?"

"Josh -"

"It's Canada." He started walking again.

"I'm saying it's going to come up." She followed him
past Donna's desk, where he stopped momentarily to
steal a stale donut, and into his office. "People are
going to want to know why we -"

"CJ, it's Canada!" he said around the food in his
mouth. "Who cares?"

She crossed her arms across her chest. "Actually,
Canada's the second country. Britain did the same
thing earlier this month. And Josh, there are, you
know, people in Canada."

"Alright, one, the debt owed to Canada accounts for
0.5 percent of the entire debt owed by Third World
countries, so this really isn't much more than a
symbolic first step, and two, there are people in
Montana as well, and you don't hear me caring about
them, do you?" He shuffled through the papers on his
desk. "What did Donna do with that . . ." he mumbled.

"Okay, much as I like to hear you equate a member of
our own Union with an entirely different country -"

"A member of the Union with three whole electoral
votes," he reminded her.

"Yeah, none of which were for us in the last election
so you might not want to -"

"Did you need something, or did you just come in here
to drive me insane?" He moved over to his cluttered
bookshelf. "Where the hell did she put it?" he
muttered under his breath.

"No, driving you insane is just a pleasant and
rewarding side affect," she answered, sitting on top
of his desk and crossing her legs.

He snorted.

"Seriously, isn't the whole point of the Electoral
College to -"

He cut her off with a loud grown. "Don't . . . don't
even start with me. Donna's been yammering about that
all week." He came back over to the desk and made
shooing motions with his hands. "Could you maybe
remove yourself from my papers so I can find -"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, here." She dug under a stack
of folders and held one out for him.

Josh stared at her. "How did you -"

"It's a girl thing," she replied dryly, still holding
out the folder.

He took it warily. "Okay, that was just freakish, you
know that?"

"What can I say, I have many talents," she shrugged.

Josh smirked. "Yeah, like being good in bed?"

"Alright, one," she glared at him, while copying his
argument style from before, "I actually said I'm GREAT
in bed, because - not that you'll ever know - I am,
and two, bite me."

He laughed lightly, his nose buried in the file.
"Nice comeback."

"Yeah, well, at least somebody has a comeback around
here," she sighed.

He looked up, his eyes narrowing. "What's that
supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, just . . . what have we been doing lately?
A few months ago we were all fired up, and now it
seems like we're more worried about," she waved a hand
in the air, "Green beans and stuff."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" he asked
edgily.

"It just looks like we're letting everything go by
without taking the big swing and risking the strike.
Why aren't we vetoing the hell out of this Defense of
Homophobics Act when -"

"Because we got shot at!" he exploded, and CJ went
dead still. "And I'm not too eager to go out on a
limb for people when it's going to result in a gun
being pointed at my head!"

For a moment, all that could be heard in the small
office was the ragged sound of Josh's breathing.

CJ couldn't move. 'Oh. Oh, God. Open mouth, insert
foot. Oh, Josh . . .'

He placed his hands on the desk to the right of her,
leaning over, his head down. She could actually see
him struggle for control. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have . . ."

"Josh," she whispered, putting a tentative hand on his
shoulder, and biting her lip when he shrugged it off.

"I'm fine," he said, straightening up, but still
staring in front of him rather than looking at her.
"I'm fine," he said again.

Now it was her turn to look down. "Josh, I know it's
not the same, but you weren't the only one who was
shot at," she said softly.

He didn't answer.

"Hey," she said suddenly, reaching over to grip his
hand. This time he didn't pull away. "If you ever
need to just, you know, let off some steam, get mad
and yell at someone, you can do it at me."

A tiny smile tugged at his lips. "You're saying I can
yell at you?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yell, scream,
call me names, throw stuff. I won't take it
personally; Toby makes sure of that."

He finally turned to face her, the smile stretching
across his face. To CJ's utter astonishment, he
dropped a quick kiss on top of her head. "Thanks."

She stared at him as he moved around the desk and sat
down. "Okay, then," she said slowly, getting to her
feet. "I'm just going to be . . . uh, out there."

He nodded, shuffling through his papers once again.
"Okay."

She paused at the door. "Josh, you should go home,"
she said quietly. "Get some sleep."

He looked up, and their eyes met for a long moment.
He nodded again. "Yeah. I will, I'm just going to
finish this . . ."

"Okay. Don't stay too late."

He was already bent back over his work. "I won't."
They both knew he was lying. "Night, CJ."

"Good night, Josh." She watched him for a minute
before leaving, closing the door behind her.

CJ wandered slightly aimlessly, weaving through the
empty desks. She trailed a hand across the surface of
one. Sometimes she really loved the White House at
night.

Somewhere, she could still hear Toby and Sam. As she
made her way towards them, Leo's voice joined them.

"What are you people still doing here? Don't you have
lives?"

They looked up at him, startled. "You're still here,
too," Sam pointed out, as CJ entered.

Leo waved an arm in their direction. "Well, why are
you just standing there? Do some work!"

"You just told us to go home!" Sam protested.

"Sam," Leo said, his voice dropping significantly.
"The First Lady is in Portugal."

He frowned. "Yeah, I know, she -"

"Sam," Toby said quickly. "Mrs. Bartlett is in
Portugal."

Comprehension dawned.

"Leo!" the President bellowed from another room.
"Where did you go? I found that book on 18th century
textile machines, and it most specifically says that
James Hargreaves patented the Spinning Jenny in 1770,
NOT in 1772 like you were trying to tell me!"

Three sets of eyes widened in panic as they
frantically scrabbled for something to make them look
busy.

"Leo, are you out here?" Jed yelled.

Sam finally surrendered the file he and CJ had been
tussling over and glanced around like he was
considering which chair to hide under.

"Leo, for God's sake," Toby hissed urgently. "Get
back in there before he comes looking for you!"

"Leo? Where are you?"

The Chief of Staff barely suppressed a groan.
"Coming, Mr. President!" he called with forced
cheerfulness. "Don't say I never do anything for
you," he whispered fiercely to the other three before
leaving.

They breathed a sigh of relief.

"I am getting out of here while I still can," Toby
muttered, hurrying away.

Sam stood chewing his lip. "Yeah. Hey, you want to
get some food?" he asked CJ.

She raised an eyebrow. "Sam. It's 10:00 on a
Wednesday night."

"I know, so it shouldn't be crowded," he nodded
happily.

"Okay. Just let me get my shoes."

"Ah ha!" he cried. "You were shorter! I knew it.
Toby, you owe me five bucks!"

"Will you shut up?" Toby's voice came back from his
office. "You want him to find us?"

CJ stared at Sam. "You guys bet on whether I was
shorter than usual? Didn't it occur to you to look
down at my feet?"

He looked doubtful. "No. Why?"

She rubbed her forehead. "It's becoming clear to me
why we don't get paid very much."

Sam reached for his coat. "Should we ask Josh to
come?"

She glanced in the direction of Josh's office. "Uh,
no, he already left for the night." She met Sam's
eyes for a moment before looking away.

"Okay," he said softly.

"Was that Sam I heard?" the President hollered.

Sam paled. "Oh, God." He grabbed her arm. "Run for
it!"

As they dashed through the hallways towards her
office, CJ couldn't help laughing.