******denotes the beginning and end of a flashback.
“CJ.” Everyone in the room said as she fell.
“You okay?” Josh asked as he caught her.
“Yeah, I think so.” CJ said. “Maybe I should try this
again.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Jed said. “I’m going to send
for Abbey.”
“Sir, I’m fine.” CJ said.
“No, I’m sending for Abbey, no buts.” Jed said.
About five minutes later Abbey walked into the Oval
Office. “What happened?” she asked.
“CJ got really dizzy and almost passed out.” Josh
said.
“Well, why don’t you and I go back to your office,
CJ.” Abbey said.
“Okay.” CJ said and Josh helped her to stand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I want you to sit down on that couch and not move.”
Abbey told CJ when they reached CJ’s office. “You’re
not feeling dizzy anymore?”
“No.” CJ said.
“Tell me what happened?”
“They used Toby to transmit their demands. The
President put the phone on speaker. I stayed quiet
while they were talking about the demands. Then the
President asked how Toby was, he said he was fine. I
couldn’t stay quiet then and I said, thank God. I
think it shocked Toby that I was in there, he said my
name, and then the terrorists took the phone away from
him. I was trying not to cry, so I was going to go
stand next to the windows. When I stood up, I was
dizzy and couldn’t stand. You know the rest.”
“Okay, have you been dizzy before?” Abbey asked.
“Yeah, a couple of times.” CJ answered.
“What did your doctor’s say?”
“I haven’t told either of them.” CJ replied.
“Why not?”
“Both of my dizzy spells have happened in the last
two days.”
“Okay. How bad has your morning sickness been?”
“It should be called afternoon or evening sickness.
I’ve been fine in the mornings. But I’ve had a lot.”
“That’s probably contributing to the dizziness.”
“Okay.”
“I think you should go to the residence and rest for
awhile.” Abbey suggested.
“No...”
“If anything happens you know we’ll let you know.”
“I know that. I just don’t think I can be around
Meghan right now. If I’m around her then she’ll know
there’s something wrong, and I don’t what her to
know.”
“Okay, then you should go home.”
“That might be a good idea. You’ll have the
President...”
“Yeah, we’ll call you. Listen I don’t want you to be
alone, I’m going to ask Josh to go with you.”
“Okay.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby sat down in his seat on the plane. He couldn’t
even begin to imagine what CJ was going through. What
had she been doing in the Oval anyway? Of course she
probably insisted on staying. He moved forward in the
seat so he could get his wallet out. If anyone had
told him five years ago that he would have had a
wallet filled with photos he would have laughed at
them. The first photo was one of CJ holding Meghan. It
had been taken shortly before he left to come to
Israel. Meghan had probably changed so much since
then. She was growing up so fast. The next photo was
one of CJ alone, it had been taken by a White House
photographer on the day of Bartlet’s second
inauguration. It was probably his favorite photo of
her.
“Your family?” Mrs. Rubenstein asked noticing the
photos Toby was looking at.
“My wife and daughter.” He answered.
“How old is your daughter?”
“Meghan will be two in November.”
“She’s very pretty.”
“Thank you. We are very proud of her.”
“I would say you and your wife are.”
“Yes, CJ and I are proud of her.”
“She is your only child?”
“Yes.”
“I see. I’ll leave you alone now. I can see you want
to think about your family.” Mrs. Rubenstein said.
“You’re right.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do you need anything?” Josh asked CJ as he opened
the door to her and Toby’s apartment.
“Nothing you can get for me.” CJ answered.
“CJ, everything’s going to be okay.” Josh said.
“I’m trying to believe that.” CJ said.
“Then believe it.”
“I’m trying, Josh, I’m really trying.”
“I know you are. You want some dinner?”
“Not really, but I know I need to eat.” CJ replied.
“Okay, where’s the takeout menus?”
“Here.” CJ said opening the drawer where the menus
were.
“Okay, how about Chinese.”
“Yeah, a little bit but I don’t want anything spicy.”
“Okay.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby had believed it when people said that your life
could pass before your eyes. He was finding that was a
very true statement. He smiled to himself as he
remembered the first time he had asked CJ out...
************************************
“CJ, you were right when you said I was a million
miles away when you came into my office.”
He noticed that she was about to interrupt him.
“Please just let me say this without any
interruptions.” He told her.
“Okay.”
“Okay, in the last year, you and I have become
closer. In fact, I would consider you one of my
closest friends.” Toby paused a moment before
continuing. “I often wonder if there is more than
friendship here.”
“Toby..” CJ said softly.
“No, let me finish. I certainly don't want to ruin
our friendship. But, I would like to see if there is
more. Okay, that’s what I came to say. I’ll leave
now, before you kick me out.”
“No, you are not going anywhere. I think I should
have something to say about this.”
“Okay.”
“You’re right we have gotten closer in the last year.
And I consider you one of my closest friends.”
“Okay.”
“Like you, I too have wondered if there is more than
friendship here. In fact, on my side, I think there
is , and I would like to see where that could take
us.”
“So would I.”
“Okay, then we are agreed that there is more than
friendship between us?”
“Yes” Toby said as he moved to sit next to her.
“What are we going to do about that?” She asked,
turning to him with a smile.
“I think we should find out where these feelings will
take us.”
“So do I.” She replied.
Toby searched her eyes for a moment. He leaned
closer to her, she closed her eyes. He kissed her
lightly on the lips.
“That wasn’t taking things too fast, was it?” Toby
asked after ending the kiss.
“No.” CJ laughed.
“Good.”
**************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh had suggested to CJ that she lay down after they
had eaten. That had been hours ago, and now she was
unable to sleep and was sitting in a chair by the
window. She probably would have gone out to sit on the
balcony, but that likely would have woken Josh up and
she didn’t want to worry him. She moved her hand, and
her engagement ring caught her eye. She looked at it,
thinking of when Toby had proposed to her.
***************************************
“You still haven’t told me what you’re up to.” C.J
said as Toby was unlocking the door to his apartment.
“I haven’t admitted that I’m up to something, yet.”
“You just admitted it. I was right. You said ‘I
haven’t admitted I’m up to something, yet.”
“Why don’t you sit down on the couch and close your
eyes, and I'll be back in a minute.”
“Okay”
“Keep your eyes shut!”
“Okay!!”
Toby walked into the bedroom and took a jewelry box
from the dresser. He opened it and looked at the
diamond and emerald ring inside of it. He worked up
his courage to ask C.J the question he was planning to
ask, and went back into the living room. He knelt in
front of her and took her left hand in his.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Okay.’
“The last year that you and I have been together has
been the happiest year of my life.” Toby said as he
took the jewelry box from his pocket.
“Oh, my God.” C.J whispered.
“I’ve decided that the only way I can be certain I
remain happy is to see that you stay in my life,
permanently. Claudia Jean Cregg will you do me the
honor of agreeing to become my wife?”
C.J could barely talk for the tears that were
falling. “YES, I’ll marry you.”
Toby slipped the ring on her finger. He then moved
to the couch beside her. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” C.J said, then she leaned closer
to him and kissed him. Toby put his arms around her,
pulled her closer to him, and returned the kiss.
****************************************
“You look like you’re a million miles away.” Josh
said softly, trying not to frighten CJ.
“Something that seems like a million years ago, right
now.” CJ said.
“What, if I may ask?”
“The night Toby proposed to me.”
“Yeah, I remember you flashing that ring at me the
next day.” Josh laughed.
“That was an accident.”
“If you say so.”
“I’ll be back in a minute.” CJ said and rushed into
the bathroom.
Josh waited on CJ to return. “I guess the Chinese
didn’t agree with you? I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” CJ said and sat back down
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Wait you rushed out of Leo’s office earlier today.”
Josh said.
“Yeah.” CJ replied.
“You’re not...”
“I’m not what, Josh?”
“Pregnant?”
“Josh...”
“Oh, my God you are. Does Toby know?”
“If I were pregnant do you think I’d tell him about
it on the phone?”
“No. So he doesn’t know?”
“No.”
to be continued...