"What are you thinking about?" CJ asked as she hailed Danny's attention
back to some place relatively close to Earth's gravity. He glanced at her and
nodded.

"Yeah, I hear you." He exclaimed and looked at his food. CJ frowned and
stared at him.

"I asked you a question. I didn't make a statement." She retorted. He
looked up at her and nodded.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about these weird dreams that I've been
having." He admitted. CJ nodded slowly and poked what was left of the food on
her plate absentmindedly. Danny watched her and sighed. "I'm sorry. What were
you saying? I'll pay attention."

"It's nothing. What are the dreams about?" She asked, looking up again
and smiling weakly. Danny smiled weakly.

"That doesn't matter. They're more like memories that come to me while
I'm asleep, memories of something that happened a long time ago and that have
recently been brought back to my attention." He admitted.

"Memories of what?" CJ asked, interested.

"You don't want to know. What's first on the agenda for the President
tomorrow?" Danny asked, changing the subject. CJ frowned and looked up as a
waiter came along to take their plates away. Danny had been right, the view
from the top of the space needle was fantastic.

"I don't really care." She replied honestly. "It's nice up here, and I
don't want to worry about work." She added. Danny sighed as he took the
dessert menu he was handed. CJ took one too and watched the waiter walk away.

"Listen, I'm sorry my attention wasn't based solely on you when it should
have been. Right before I picked you up, I had a weird dream, and it's just
preoccupying me. The truth is that ever since KD came back from the past,
I've just been thinking about our past and it's wrong of me to do so on our
time. You've got my complete attention now, I promise." Danny exclaimed as he
reached across the table and took her hand in his. CJ smiled and squeezed his
hand. He smiled back and kissed her hand.

"You never have explained to me about your past. All I've ever gotten
from you two are bits and clues, that you've known each other well but things
didn't work out for various reasons." CJ suddenly said, letting her months of
curiosity flood out of her. Danny sighed and looked at his hands.

"There's not much to tell. We lived together once, we were engaged, but
things didn't work out because we . . . we just decided we were better off as
friends." Danny explained as he looked up again to meet CJ's eyes. She nodded
and smiled weakly.

"Are there still any residual feelings between you two?" CJ couldn't help
but ask. Danny smiled weakly.

"We're friends, good friends, but nothing more. KD has Toby now, and I've
got you . . . right?" He asked with a wry grin, peering at her with a playful
sparkle in his eyes. CJ laughed and nodded, squeezing his hand again.

"Yes, you do." She replied softly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh, very funny." KD exclaimed as she walked up the stairs. Toby was
laughing, and even though it didn't help her case much, she was too. She
turned around and playfully nudged his shoulder. He slipped his hands around
her waist and pulled her into a kiss, an act which came as something of a
surprise. She kissed him back and slipped her hands around him. They stood
there a moment, kissing gently and just holding each other.

"I had fun tonight." He whispered. She smiled.

"I did too. I'm glad we're doing this." She replied softly. He nodded and
kissed her again. "Something's different about you, Toby." She said suddenly
as he nuzzled his nose against her cheekbone.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he looked into her eyes.

"I could swear you had a ring on before." She exclaimed as she took his
left hand in hers and slipped her fingers through his. "You're not engaging
me in a lucid affair, are you?" She teased. He blushed and looked at his feet.

"No, I'm not married. I, uh, was quite some time ago, but things didn't
work out between me and Andy." He replied. "I haven't had enough nerve to
take the ring off for going on two years. Then suddenly," He stopped and
looked up into her eyes again. "I found a reason to forget." He finished. KD
smiled and kissed his hand.

"I'm honored." She whispered before he leaned forward and kissed her
again, this time pushing a little so that he backed her into the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Toby started at the phone. He had to call one of them, to say something.
But he didn't know which one. He had told Andy to get lost, but her comments
lingered in his mind. She wanted to try again. What did that mean? Why did
Andy come back after all this time? How many years had it been? Was she
really so jealous of KD that she would come back from out of the blue to
inquire about a second chance at a long dead relationship? When Andy had once
mentioned going out on a date with an Oriole, Toby could remember being
slightly jealous then, but he wasn't in no way impelled to get in the way of
her happiness. Why wasn't she returning the favor?

"Toby. It's time to go home." Ginger said softly as she leaned in the
door. Toby looked up and smiled weakly.

"I'm not really sure that there's anything to go home to." He replied
softly.

"There never was before. Last I checked, you and Miss Brody didn't live
together." Ginger replied.

"But she was always there for me to drop off." He murmured. Ginger smiled
and moved a little further into the room.

"It's nice to see you this smitten, Toby." She teased. Toby chuckled
weakly and nodded, looking around the room. "It must be hard, trying to
remember how much you love someone who isn't here."

"Have you been listening at my door again?" He asked playfully as he
glanced at her, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"No, but I know it's hardly normal for your ex-wife to suddenly show up,
stay for ten minutes and then disappear, leaving you in your office with a
stunned expression on your face that comes once in a lifetime." Ginger
replied as she grabbed Toby's briefcase and put it on the desk.

"I forgot. You're the foremost judge of humanity." Toby said softly as he
stared silently at his desk. Ginger chuckled, grabbed his jacket and walked
around the desk.

"Come on, Toby. Get up. Put this on. Go home. Maybe you can give her a
call. It's only fourteen bucks a minute with today's long distance rates."
She assured him as she pulled him to his feet and started to help him get his
jacket on.

"Are you handling me now, Ginger?" Toby asked.

"Absolutely. Get out of here." She retorted and then moved out of the
office to gather her own stuff to go home. Toby glanced once more at the
black sleek receiver before grabbing the briefcase, switching off the lights
and leaving the office to head for home, too many thoughts still running
through his head.

Jed snorted loudly and stared at the face above him. He tried to growl
something menacing, but what do you say to the face of a staffer who managed
to pick the short straw and was forced to wake up the President because his
personal aide was in Washington, DC recovering from the flu and going to
dinner with the president's youngest daughter. But this morning, the staffers
were spared the angst of having to draw straws.

"Wakey, wakey, Joss." KD exclaimed as she gently whacked his face with a
pillow. He growled.

"What time is it?" He moaned.

"It's going on seven o'clock. We let you sleep in today. In exchange, you
have to move a little faster. Get up, shower, eat, all that crap. Come on."
KD retorted as she whacked him again. He growled and snatched the pillow away
from her. She laughed and started walking away. "Get up, or I get out the
cold water."

"YOU WOULD!" Jed snapped before looking around the sunlight room. He saw
the digital alarm clock on his nightstand and groaned. "This damn thing says
six forty-five!"

"I lied!"

"Hello, Joshua Lyman's office." Donna exclaimed as she picked up the
phone. "Josh, hey!"

"Hi, babe. You miss me?" Josh asked as he stood outside the Washington
State Senate building.

"Of course. What's happening?" She replied.

"The President's in there talking right now. I figured no one would
notice if I snuck away for a minute or two." He added with a playfully
seductive tone.

"So is this a personal call or a professional one?" She whispered,
returning the tone, but softly so the other people in the office couldn't
hear. Little did she know, they did anyway, and they grinned before going
back to work.

"Why don't you guess?" Josh purred.

"You want me to meet you at the airport tomorrow morning?" She asked
softly. He chuckled.

"More than certainly." He retorted.

"How's everything else?" She asked, glancing at the eyes that were
watching her.

"The President's awake. The whole present staff is alive. Those two facts
are miracles when they go hand in hand." Josh replied, realizing that the
mood was slowly being lost. "KD has been kind of moping, and I admit, so have
I. CJ has been extremely professional this morning, but I haven't seen much
of Danny, so that might explain it." He added. Donna laughed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So this is it?" Toby asked as he stared at the sunset. Andy sighed
behind him and sniffled.

"I'm sorry, Toby." She said softly.

"What's to be sorry about? I mean, hey, marriages end all the time." He
retorted as he turned on his heel and walked towards the liquor cabinet. Andy
moved to intercept him.

"Toby, talk to me." She pleaded. He glared at her.

"What do you want me to say? You've made your choice, and I guess in some way
you're right." He snapped and then softened. He reached up gently stroked her
cheek with his fingers. "As much as we may love each other, we can't live
together. Or do you even love me anymore?"

"Of course I do." She replied as she moved away from his touch. He sighed and
looked away from her.

"Do you know where you're going to go, or are you kicking me out?" He asked.

"I'm going to stay with my mother until things are final." Andy replied, the
pain streaking her voice.

"Like you said, maybe this is for the best. What can I say? We gave it a
shot." Toby grunted as he kicked a chair. Andy jumped a little and let loose
a little sob.

"Toby, don't get destructive. You know in your heart that this is the right
thing to do." She insisted.

"Why haven't you left yet, huh?" Toby snapped, facing her again. "You've said
what you needed to. I can see your bags are packed. Go on, get out of here!"
He cried. Andy let a tear roll down her cheek as she looked at her feet.

"I don't want you to be . . ."

"What, mad? Hurt? Sorry to disappoint you, Andy." He interrupted softly. She
looked at him again, tears streaming now, and nodded. She silently moved
backwards and then turned, walking to the front door. Toby turned away so
that he didn't have to watch her leave. He heard the door open and close
quietly behind him. He bit his lip and leaned his forehead against the glass
window, still staring at the eternal beauty of a sunset. His heart felt like
it was breaking, and yet strangely enough, it didn't. It actually felt like
it should be breaking, but wasn't. He didn't want her to go. He didn't want
to give up and let their marriage slide down the hills.

Stepping away from the glass, Toby walked to the cabinet and fished out a
bottle of scotch and a glass. As he poured, he saw the golden wedding band on
his left hand. He put the bottle down, picked up the half-full glass and
began to sip it while staring at the wedding band. It was over. He knew
already that he couldn't just let go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To Be Continued . . . .