“CJ.” President Bartlet knocked on her open
office door.
“Yes, sir. Come in.” CJ said standing up.
“Sit back down, CJ.” Jed said and sat down on the
couch.
“I’m sorry about yesterday sir.” CJ said.
“Yeah, I heard about it. I think that you did the
only thing you could do.”
“I shouldn’t have let her get to me.”
“I can see why you did. Don’t worry about it CJ. I
don’t have a problem with it.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Now, may I give you some free advice?”
“Yes, sir.” CJ said.
“I understand you and Toby are fighting over this
situation.”
“Yes sir.”
“You both are so stubborn that it may take awhile to
get over this. But try to get over it as soon as
possible.”
“I tried sir.”
“And?”
“Let’s just say Toby said something last night that
made me very angry and hurt me a lot. Then he tried
to reach out to me later last night. I couldn’t
accept it, I was too hurt.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know, Mr. President, I don’t know.”
“CJ if there is anything Abbey or I can do to help,
please let us know.”
“I will sir.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A week after CJ had spoken to the President, CJ and
Toby were still not speaking very much. They did talk
a little around Meghan, but most of the conversations
were about Meghan. Finally, CJ had all she could
take. She was trying to find a way to reach out to
Toby. Then she remembered something the President had
told her. CJ picked up the phone and dialed the First
Lady.
“Good morning, Mrs. Bartlet. How are you?” CJ asked.
“I’m fine CJ. And you?”
“I’ve been better, ma’am.”
“Are you and Toby still fighting?” Abbey asked
sympathetically.
“Yeah we are.”
“It’s been over a week.”
“Yeah I know. Mrs. Bartlet, I was wondering if I can
ask you a huge favor?”
“What?” Abbey laughed.
“You wouldn’t care to watch Meghan for me tomorrow
night?”
“What are you planning CJ?” Abbey asked.
“Let’s just say I’m sick of fighting. I’m going to
find out a way to reach out to my husband, and I’m
going to end this.”
“Good for you.” Abbey said.
“Toby already tried once, but I was too angry and
hurt to accept the overture. I know he won’t try again
so I guess it’s my turn.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Don’t worry about Meghan, we’ll watch her as long as
you need us to. Oh, are you going to tell Toby?”
“Not until he gets home tomorrow.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CJ caught up with Ginger later that day in the
hallway.
“Ginger.” CJ said.
“Yeah, CJ?”
“Toby is working on the speech for the Denver trip,
right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“He’ll probably work late tomorrow night?” CJ asked.
“Yeah and tonight probably too.”
“Okay, can you do a favor for me?”
“Yeah, what?” Ginger asked.
“When Toby walks out of his office tomorrow night.
When he takes a break from writing, can you put a note
from me on his desk?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“Thank you so much. Can you put it were it will be
the first thing he sees when he goes back into the
office?”
“Yeah, that’s no problem CJ. May I ask you a
question?”
“Yeah Ginger.”
“Are you trying to end the fight?”
“Yeah.” CJ said softly.
“Thank you, thank you so much. He’s a lot easier to
work for when you guys are happy.”
“He’s a lot easier to live with too.” CJ laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CJ was sitting in the rocking chair in Meghan’s
nursery rocking her to sleep. “I’m sorry for the way
things have been between your daddy and I for the last
week. But I’m going to fix everything tomorrow. You
enjoy your visit with Uncle Jed and Aunt Abbey, and
when Daddy and I come to get you everything will be
normal again. Daddy and I love you sweetie.” CJ said
as she laid Meghan in her crib.
CJ was sitting on the couch reading memos, an hour
later when Toby came home. She watched him as he took
his coat off and sat down his briefcase.
“Is Meghan asleep?” He asked.
“Yeah, I put her to bed about an hour ago.”
“I’m going to go look in on her.”
“Okay.” CJ said leaning her head against the back of
the couch as he went by.
As he walked by, Toby could not help but do what he
usually did when she did that. He bent and gently
kissed CJ, and was greatly surprised when she kissed
him back.
“I’m sorry, CJ. I shouldn’t have done that. There’s
still too much between us.” Toby said gently stroking
her hair.
“Don’t worry about it.” CJ said softly. She watched
Toby walk to Meghan’s room. “There won’t be too much
between us tomorrow. If I have my way, there’ll be
nothing at all between us tomorrow. Nothing at all.”
to be continued...