Disclaimers in Part One.
Christmas Mass at the Basilica was, as was to be expected, beautiful. CJ
found herself getting completely lost in the music, with the extra musicians
brought in to augment the organ, the choir, the incense, the glowing
candlelight, the children falling asleep in the pews across the way. She
gave up listening to the familiar words and looked around at her friends and
coworkers - trying her very hardest to ignore the reporter on her other side.
In front of them, the Bartlet family sat in an orderly row, conscious of
their behavior in public as their father's role had taught them. Abbey
Bartlet took her husband's arm at one point and didn't let go until she
needed to lower herself onto the kneeler. Charlie looked a little faint - he
was later to explain that the incense was making him dizzy. Judging from the
choking sounds coming from behind him, Sam wasn't enjoying it much either.
But despite the heavy smoke Charlie was smiling, and CJ was pretty sure that
Zoe was holding his hand. Margaret's head was bent over the missal in her
lap, the candlelight making her red hair glow like a halo. Leo spent most of
the Mass watching Mallory and Sam and alternately scowling or smiling at his
only daughter, but every now and then he would steal a glance at Margaret and
smile to himself. The first time CJ caught him she watched curiously, not
sure what it meant, but the second time she just met his eyes and smiled
back. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed, but he just shrugged
and turned his attention back to the missal in his hands.
When the offertory hymn began there was another scuffle down the row - for
which CJ was grateful, because it gave her another reason to look down the
other way and ignore the infuriating man who kept taking her hand. She was
in danger of starting to enjoy it. It seemed that the row was a hymnal short
and Sam somehow knew none of the words to "O Holy Night." With a sigh Leo
passed his down. He knew most of the words by heart from years of singing,
but he still had to look over Margaret's shoulder occasionally. Somewhere in
the middle of the second verse she caught on and held the book out to the
side so he could see it. He shook his head at her, but after a moment he
reached out and helped her hold up his side.
"This is my favorite Christmas carol," Danny whispered from CJ's other side.
He'd been watching her watch Leo and Margaret wondered what she thought she
was looking at - but not enough to distract him from her.
To his delight she answered, brushing her hair back from her face. "Mine
too," she whispered, "especially this part."
Danny had to agree with her. It was the part where the music and the singing
were supposed to get louder and stronger and the words said, "Fall on your
knees. . ." He'd always loved that idea, the angels coming in all the glory
of heaven. He was a bit more jaded as an adult, but this part of the song
still gave him chills. He smiled to himself when he saw CJ rubbing her arms.
She had her sleeves pushed up over her elbows and the exposed skin was
covered with goosebumps. Since it wasn't cold in the church, he imagined she
had the same reaction to the music that he did. He reached out and took her
hand, this time holding it so tightly that she couldn't pull away.
"About a thousand people back there, Danny," she whispered.
"And none of them are looking at us," he replied. "It's Midnight Mass. The
ones who aren't asleep are singing. They're not staring at you."
"Danny. . ."
"CJ. . ." He copied her tone exactly, then dropped to one more serious.
"It's Christmas."
She turned fully and looked at him. "Yes, it is," she said after a long
moment. She squeezed his hand and he smiled at her. She had always loved
that rarely-seen smile - not the smirk, because she saw that often enough,
but the real smile. It was - devastating.
"Besides," he added, "these people have already seen us together."
"Not all of them. The holy day Mass wasn't exactly packed."
"Some though. That little old lady even thought we were sweet."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, even though she remembered very well.
"Nice lady. She's in the back with some grandkids."
She fought the ridiculous urge to actually turn around and look. "You are
such a liar."
"Am not. I remembered her face."
She shook her head, but she didn't let go of his hand.
When the Sign of Peace came around CJ paused, leaning far enough back against
the pew to watch the people around her. A little pleased flurry of noise
from the congregation told her that most of them had been watching the
President give his wife a very sweet kiss. They both hugged and kissed each
of their daughters, their granddaughter, and the rest of the families. CJ
hid a grin at the very formal look on Charlie's face when he shook the hand
of the man who was simultaneously the President of the United States, his
boss, and his girlfriend's father. It was a priceless moment. While Leo
kissed his daughter Sam took refuge in shaking hands with the people in front
of him - and then, very much caught up in the spirit, with all the people he
didn't know in the row behind the staff. When he finally turned back to his
own row, he found Mallory watching him with a highly amused look on her face.
"Are you laughing at me?" he asked.
"Yup," she replied.
"May I ask why?"
"Because you're cute."
Well, he couldn't argue with that. As he hugged her he caught sight of CJ
laughing at him behind Mallory. Not having a crush on CJ, he glared at her.
She only laughed harder.
Meanwhile, after Leo had kissed both Mallory and Abbey and all the First
Daughters and hugged his best friend, he turned to his assistant. Margaret
held her hand out as she had just done to the women behind her (CJ, to her
considerable surprise, got a friendly hug from the usually stoic Margaret).
She was looking down at her hand, waiting for her boss to take it, and was
therefore caught entirely off guard when he swept forward and hugged her. He
brought one hand up to her hair and said, "Margaret."
"Yes?" she replied, bracing herself for his usual, "You're a good girl."
He surprised her again. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."
Margaret was still reeling when a highly amused Danny - who, there being no
luck in CJ's world, had seen the whole thing - reached over to shake her hand.
CJ leaned over to kiss Leo on the cheek, squeezing past a still-stunned
Margaret. As she returned to her place Danny leaned forward over her
shoulder and whispered, "So - Sam has a thing for Leo's daughter who just
broke up with a hockey player, and Leo's assistant has a thing for him. I am
getting such good gossip tonight."
She slapped her forehead in frustration but didn't make a move to get further
away from him. "When the scandal papers pick this all up I'm going to blame
the First Lady."
Then she caught her breath as his arms slipped around her waist from behind.
She was caught and completely frozen, not knowing what to do with herself as
he hugged her close to him. He leaned even closer and whispered, "Relax. Do
you see my notebook out?"
She finally, awkwardly, covered his hands with her own and replied, "I guess
not." The look on his face was hurt as she twisted out of his arms, but she
only turned around so that she could hug him back. "Merry Christmas, and
thank you for keeping me company." It was the holidays, after all.
TBC