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

When CJ walked back into Toby’s office around
midnight, he was still busily typing. Again, he had
not even heard her come in. She smiled to herself
about his intense concentration on what he was doing.

“How is it going?” CJ asked as she sat down on the
desk.

“You startled me!”

“I did?”

“Yes, and it’s going fine.”

“Don’t you think it’s time to take a break.” CJ said.
“I’m fine.”

“And that would be the reason your eyes are
strained.”

“CJ I have to polish this.” Toby said.

“Polish, so you’ve already written all of it?”

“Yes.” Toby said turning his attention back to the
computer.

“You could polish it in the morning.”

Hearing the tone of her voice, Toby looked at her
again. “What did you have in mind?” He asked.

“I’m not telling.” CJ teased.

“CJ...”

“But if you decide you want to know, I’ll be in the
bedroom.” CJ said and then got up and left the room.

Toby watched CJ leave the room. He turned and saved
the document and then shut down the computer. He then
followed CJ.

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

“Good morning Claudia Jean.” Josh said cheerfully as
he came into CJ’s office on Monday morning.

“Good morning Joshua. So did you have a nice
weekend?” CJ replied.

“Yeah, did you?”

“Meghan’s walking.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” CJ replied. “She started walking on her own
on Saturday. She was all over the apartment on
Sunday.”

“I bet she was.”

CJ had still been reading through the papers on her
desk as she was talking to Josh. She picked one of
them up and was reading it. “Oh you have to be
kidding me!” She exclaimed as she was reading it.

“What?” Josh asked.

“You remember Mary Marsh?”

“Yeah. What’s she done now?”

“Well, she’s pushing for the Ten Commandments to be
posted in public schools. ‘Meet the Press’ is
interviewing her on Sunday. They want someone there to
represent the administration’s viewpoint.”

“Who, not me again?”

“No, not you. Toby.”

“You’re kidding?!”

“No. I’m not. My paperwork says Leo thinks it’s a
good idea.”

“Wonder if anyone has told Toby?” Josh wondered
aloud.

“I don’t know. I don’t hear any shouting yet.”

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

Toby was pacing in Leo’s office. “Absolutely not.” He
said.

“Toby you’ve been the front man on this. You are the
best one to do it.” Leo said.

“That doesn’t matter. I’m not going to go on a TV
program with Mary Marsh. You and the producers of
‘Meet the Press’ can forget it. I’m not going to do
it!”

“CJ, Sam and Josh can help prepare you for it.” Leo
said calmly.

“No, they can’t, because I’m *not* going to do it!”

CJ and Josh came into Leo’s office for the morning
staff meeting. “Looks likes he knows CJ.” Josh
remarked.

“What did everyone in the damn building, except for
me, already know about this!” Toby exclaimed.

“Calm down. I only found out this morning.” Josh
said.

“Josh was in my office when I was reading the
paperwork on it.” CJ explained. “It shocked me so
Josh found out about it.”

“How long have *you* known?” Toby asked CJ.

“I found out this morning when I read the paperwork
on my desk this morning.” CJ said.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” CJ said.

“Okay,” Leo said, interjecting into what he feared
was quickly turning into a fight. “I think that Toby
should do it, and the two of you and Sam will prepare
him.”

“What?!” Josh said.

“Yeah, I think that’s what we should do. Toby you
are going to do it. All of you can work on it once
the State of the Union is over with tomorrow.”

“I’ll do it, but I don’t have to be happy about it.”
Toby conceded.

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

“Is it safe to come in?” CJ asked as she knocked on
Toby’s open door.

“For you, yes.” He replied, getting up and ushering
her into the office, he then closed the door.

“For me? Then I guess it’s not safe for anyone else?”

“No, it’s not. If I snapped at you earlier, I didn’t
really mean it.”

“It’s okay.” CJ laughed. “But I think Leo thought we
were going to get into a fight in his office.”

“Which would have been funny...”

“Considering that we never fight.” CJ finished
Toby’s thought.

“Exactly. Why is it everyone thinks we fight?” Toby
said.

“They know both of our temperaments, and find it
hard to believe that somehow we hold our tempers with
each other.”

“How exactly is it that we do that? I know that you
infuriate me sometimes.” Toby said.

“I don’t know. For the record, you infuriate me too.”

“Really?” Toby said and then kissed her.

“Okay,” CJ said a minute later. “The reason I came in
here was that I ordered a sandwich for lunch. It’s too
large for me. So I was wondering if you would share it
with me?”

“Yeah, I assume it’s in your office.” Toby said as
he took CJ’s hand and pulled her up from the couch.
They walked hand-in-hand to CJ’s office.

to be continued...