CJ falls into the pool, thanks to Roberto Benigni, leading to some talk...
and talking.
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me and no copyright infringement
is intended.
Archive: Sure. Just let me know where.
Note: I changed the location of the party in question; instead of being at
a movie mogul's house, it's in a hotel.
Spoilers: 20 Hours in LA
Talking
"Do I look okay?" CJ Cregg turned on her high heels, making the
skirt of her Donna Karan dress flare pleasingly around her
ankles. She didn't often wear high heels, since they made her
taller than almost everybody at a party, but she really wanted to
make an impression.
"You look fine." Toby Ziegler told her, taking a last puff off
his cigar before he had to put it out.
"You aren't even looking." CJ protested.
"I don't have to." Toby replied. "I know what you look like."
"Do you think I'm being impossibly petty and small to do this?"
CJ asked, in a very different voice.
"CJ, you're taller than I am, especially in those shoes." Toby
assured her. "Believe me, there is nothing you can do that will
make you look small."
"I really want to knock Isobel's eyes out tonight." CJ admitted.
"I want her to look at me and cringe at the thought that she had
the audacity to fire me. I'm Press Secretary to the President of
the United States and I want her to know it. Does that make me a
bad person?"
"No."
"Would you do something like that? Go to a party simply to get
petty revenge on people who annoyed me in the past?"
"It's what I live for." Toby said lightly. "Let's go. I have a
few scores to settle myself."
"Who do you know in Hollywood?" CJ asked curiously.
"Nobody. However, I have an invitation to this shindig and
certain political movers and shakers do not." Toby said loftily.
"That's wicked, Toby." CJ laughed.
"So is wearing heels at your height. Will you dance with me,
even if it does mean I get to spend four and a half minutes with
my nose buried in your cleavage?"
CJ swatted him with her evening bag and they went down to
the party.
**
Hollywood was often very good to the Democratic party and the
fundraisers could be a lot of fun. CJ, who had never been to one
as large as this before, was enjoying herself as she never had
while working PR. Toby, who had attended functions of this kind
all his life, was not. His only real enjoyment was the look on
the faces of some of the Democratic party members who had long
ago written him off.
CJ found herself talking to several celebrities - or, rather,
being entertained by Roberto Benigni by the pool. The ebullient
Italian was gesturing wildly and talking in his broken English,
making rather risque comments.
"Bella. Bellisima." He said to CJ, eyeing her up and down with
fervent admiration. "So tall, these American girls."
CJ smiled and made the mistake of coming closer. As she did,
Roberto reached for her to kiss her on both cheeks. She bent a
little so he could reach her cheek and her heel caught in one of
the tiles. She reached out blindly to keep her balance and
Benigni reached out at the same time. He missed and his flailing
hands propelled her backwards.
The entire party went silent seconds after the tremendous splash
of CJ falling into the pool. Everyone was looking at her, and
she swore viciously, feeling incredibly stupid.
Toby made his way to the side of the pool and bent down to help
her out, prudently bracing himself by grabbing the ladder with
his other hand.
"I am never getting out." CJ ground out to him, through clenched
teeth.
"You can't stay in the pool all night, CJ."
"Watch me."
"Yeah. Me and two hundred other people." Toby smiled at her.
"I'm soaking wet."
"I've seen you that way before, CJ." Toby said impatiently.
"Get out of the pool."
CJ, her cheeks burning, climbed out, clinging to Toby's hand.
"Nice dress." He commented quietly to her as she wiped off her
face with a towel thoughtfully provided by the host's staff. "It
doesn't cling as much as that thing you were wearing the last
time you fell into a pool."
"Toby."
"Mind you, I appreciated the view a lot more then." Toby
continued.
"Toby."
"Let's get you into some dry clothes."
"How am I going to get back to my room without anyone seeing?"
"Everybody has already seen. You hold your head high and walk
gracefully." Toby said calmly, with a smile lurking in his
beard. "And don't lean on me. I don't need to get wet, too."
**
With flaming cheeks and her head held high, CJ allowed Toby to
escort her to her room. She nodded and smiled pleasantly at
everyone they passed, CJ miserably aware of the rivulets of water
running down her back.
Toby said nothing else as they got to her room. She rooted in
her bag for her key and finally came up with a sad, soggy mess.
"Dammit." She swore. There was no way the little bit of
cardboard that undid the electronic lock was going to go into the
key slot.
"Come on. I'll let you in my room and you can dry off and call
down for a new key." Toby offered.
"Thanks." CJ felt a distinct warmth toward her old friend.
"What are friends for?" Toby shrugged.
**
"Thank you. I feel much better." CJ said, towelling off her
hair, wrapped in Toby's bathrobe. "You really can be sweet, you
know that?"
"Don't let it get around." Toby told her.
"No, really. This was really nice of you."
"CJ, letting a beautiful woman take her clothes off in my room
and use my shower isn't usually considered sweet." Toby replied,
in a level tone.
CJ dropped the towel. When Toby spoke in that tone, he was
perfectly serious. Had he just complimented her? In all the
years she had known Toby, he had never shown any level of
interest in her. Then again, up until last year, she thought he
had been happily married. Andrea Wyatt and Toby Ziegler had been
inseparable; it was always Andi and Toby. Their separation and
subsequent divorce was a shock to CJ. Toby never said a word
about it and she wasn't quite sure when Toby started to make
excuses for Andi's absence at his side.
She shivered suddenly. She had known Toby casually for years,
but she had never really looked at him as a woman looks at a man.
They had been friends, nothing more. Now she was acutely aware
that she was sitting in his hotel room, naked and wrapped in his
robe. And he had called her beautiful.
"I... I have to go." CJ said, praying for her voice to come out
steady.
"I think calling for a room key might be useful." Toby replied,
pointing to the phone.
"Oh. Right."
"I would have called, but hotels don't usually give out women's
room keys to strange men." Toby continued. "And while you're at
it, feel free to order something hot to drink. Charge it to my
room if you like."
"Do you want anything?"
"No, thanks. The bar fridge is well stocked."
CJ called and was assured that someone would be up with a new set
of keys within the half hour. She thought seriously about
waiting in the hall, but that would hurt Toby's feelings, as well
as make her look even more ridiculous.
She was feeling very uncomfortable. Toby had taken off his
jacket and tie, and poured himself a drink. He had also opened
the door to the balcony and lit another cigar. He had not said
anything, nor was he looking at her.
She was being silly. Toby was like a big brother to her. He
had, in fact, been her older brother's friend from college.
Steve had brought Toby home one vacation to see the sights of
California, and she had liked him from the start. Steve had
teased her about having a crush on him, but she had merely been
flattered and pleased that someone was taking her and her
ambitions seriously. CJ was the Cregg family correspondent and
she wrote to him with news of the family desultorily over the
years and they had met occasionally when their travels coincided.
CJ smiled to herself as she recalled when she started working
with him. Toby was waiting for her at her townhouse, having
gotten the spare key from her mother, and offered her the job
just when she badly needed a boost to her ego. She hated doing
PR for the entertainment industry; it was frivolous and the sums
she got paid for doing it were almost embarrassing.
"What are you smiling about?"
"I was just thinking about the last time I was in a situation
like this." CJ replied, with a laugh. "What is it about you
that I end up falling into swimming pools and get soaking wet?"
"I have that effect on women." Toby responded lightly.
CJ looked down, again feeling uncomfortable. Toby had moved
closer now and was looking at her with an odd expression.
"CJ?" Now his voice took on that gentle note that rang warning
bells in her head. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, of course." CJ lifted her head proudly. "Why wouldn't I
be?"
"You looked odd there for a moment."
"Toby..." CJ looked down again, trying to decide what to say.
"Toby, I should go."
"CJ, you're in a bathrobe. You can't wait out in the hall."
"I just don't think I should be here... with you..." CJ
stammered.
"You're a beautiful woman, but I assure you, you're perfectly
safe with me." Toby assured her. "I'm not going to leap on
you."
"Why not?" CJ asked immediately, then cursed her wayward tongue.
Toby, to her surprise, did not pick up the banter and retort in
kind.
"Because you're not Andi."
**
Back in her room, CJ changed into casual clothes and wondered if
she should return the bathrobe. She was fairly sure Toby had not
gone back to the party. She had seen the flash of pain in his
eyes when he mentioned his ex-wife, and was about to respond when
the hotel concierge showed up with her new key.
She picked up the robe and sighed. She should return it and
retrieve her dress. And she wanted to make sure that Toby was
all right.
"Toby?" She rapped on his door. He opened it almost
immediately. He, too, had changed into casual clothes and he had
a drink in his hand. "I wanted to return this. And I want my
dress."
Toby glanced over her shoulder and a grin started to spread over
his face. CJ glanced behind her and saw Josh, Sam and Donna
coming down the hall. She flushed and was about to say something
when Toby pulled her into his room and shut the door.
For a full minute, they looked at each other, then started to
laugh.
"Well, it should be an interesting flight back." Toby said,
between chortles.
"Toby, do you know what they're going to think?"
"Honi soit que mal y pence." Toby said, still smiling. "Evil to
him who thinks evil of it."
"I know what it means, Toby." CJ swatted him lightly. "I mean,
they're going to think that we..."
"Well, you did take your clothes off in my room." Toby pointed
out.
"And what choice did I have?" CJ retorted. "Maybe if I
explain..."
"No, no, no." Toby shook his head. "Do not explain. If you do,
they'll think there is something to explain. Just ignore it. If
anyone asks, then you can explain, but not before. Besides, I
intend to have some fun with Sam about it."
"My reputation is not something you can use to pick on Sam."
"Your reputation? CJ, this is the twentieth century, not the
nineteenth. We both work at the same level and we're both
adults, so even if there was something going on, who cares?"
**
"CJ? And Toby?" Sam repeated for the fourth time, settling into
a chair in Josh's suite and opening a beer. "I wonder how long
that's been going on?"
"Nothing is going on, Sam." Donna said positively, taking the
beer out of Josh's hand and taking a drink.
"Donna, give me back my drink." Josh demanded.
"No. You have a sensitive system. You shouldn't drink."
"Donna, you're my assistant, not my mother."
"And I thank God for that every chance I get." Donna retorted.
"Give me back my drink."
"No. You'll just get drunk and silly and be hung over on the
flight back." Donna reminded him.
"Why did I allow you to come to this, anyway? None of the other
assistants were allowed to come."
"I keep you on time and I stop you from drinking and making an
idiot of yourself. I'm indispensable."
"I can't believe it. Toby and CJ?" Sam mused, ignoring Josh and
Donna.
"There is nothing going on, Sam." Donna repeated.
"How do you know that, Donna?" Josh asked. Having been
unsuccessful in retrieving his beer, he took a bottle of juice
from the bar fridge.
"Women know these things, Josh." She said smugly. "CJ and Toby
are friends, that's all. CJ has her eye on someone else and Toby
is still in love with Andrea."
"Donna, CJ took her dress off in Toby's room." Josh pointed out.
"It was soaked."
"And most guys would not pass an opportunity like that up." Sam
added helpfully.
"Men." Donna said, disgusted. "Is that all you think about?"
"Yes." Sam and Josh answered simultaneously.
"You two are disgusting." Donna said and flounced out of the
room, taking the beer with her.
"Are we disgusting?" Josh asked Sam.
"We're guys." Sam replied.
"So I guess the answer's yes?"
"Yep."
**
"Toby, what happened between you and Andi?" CJ asked quietly.
"Nothing."
"Look, if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. But you
two seemed so happy together."
"We were." Toby sat down. "Nothing happened, CJ. No grand
scenes or anything like that. I mean, we always fought, but
never about anything serious."
"So what happened?"
"We stopped talking to each other. We got busy, with her running
for Congress and me on the campaign trail." Toby sighed. "We
stopped making time for each other and realised that we had built
lives for ourselves that didn't include our marriage."
"I wasn't aware that you were having problems."
"Neither were we. It took us both by surprise." Toby said
sadly. "Andi was getting crap from my family and I wasn't giving
her the support she needed. I was getting stressed out with the
campaign and she wasn't there for me. So we drifted apart."
"Sound to me that something did happen."
"The family stuff started a long time ago, CJ." Toby explained.
"Andi's not Jewish, which was a big deal to my family. She
wouldn't convert, so none of our kids would be Jewish. So she
got flack for that. And when there weren't any kids, she got
flack for that, too. I told then to screw themselves. Andi was
my wife and they could go to hell if they couldn't accept that."
"That must have been hard on her."
"It was. Andi coped with it pretty well, though. We moved to
Washington soon after we got married anyway, so we never had to
deal with the Ziegler relatives much." Toby shrugged. "I think
what made things go wrong was the campaign."
"Long hours, no private life, all work and no play." CJ nodded
sympathetically.
"No, she's a politician, too." Toby shook his head. "It was me.
I'm not the easiest person in the world to live with and the
campaign just made it that much harder. You see, before the
Bartlett campaign, I got fired from every consultant's job I had.
I would shoot my mouth off and offend somebody higher up in the
campaign, mostly by being right. I'm good at what I do, but not
so good at keeping quiet about some of the stupidities of
campaigns. This was the first time I stayed the course of a
campaign and the first successful one. Andi had always supported
me when I'd get canned. Now that I was flying high, she wasn't
there. I guess she thought I didn't need her or something."
"When exactly did you two break up? You never said anything
about it."
"About the time you signed on." Toby replied. "When Leo fired
the other guys instead of me, I went home to tell Andi about it.
She and I had a long talk and decided that we should separate for
a while. We both knew that we'd be too damned busy between her
campaign and mine that we wouldn't be home much anyway. She
moved out and went stumping around her district and I started
doing the legwork for Leo."
"And you didn't get back together when the elections were over?
Andi was with you at the inauguration and you seemed happy."
"I wanted to get back with her." Toby twisted his wedding ring
absently. "She refused. She served me with divorce papers not
too long after that. She said she still loves me, but we don't
have the time to devote to rebuilding our relationship. She's
right."
"You still love her, don't you?"
"Yeah." Toby nodded. "Maybe someday I'll find someone else, but
right now Andi's the one I want."
"I'm sorry, Toby." CJ reached out to touch him on the shoulder.
"So am I." Toby half smiled. "What about you? Anyone in your
life?"
"I'm the President's Press Secretary. I don't have a life, any
more than you do." CJ replied.
"But if you did?"
"Well... Danny Concannon." CJ admitted. "He makes me laugh."
"Want a word of advice? Steer clear of getting involved with him
right now."
"I know, I know. He's a reporter. I'm Press Secretary. It's a
conflict of interest."
"Yes, but you already know that." Toby shook his head. "I was
thinking more about the lack of time to commit to a relationship.
I've been there, CJ, and I know. Working at the White House
doesn't give you the time to devote to someone else. If you
can't devote that time, it isn't going to work. It'll be okay
for a while, but the tenth time you have to cancel out because of
a crisis or the twentieth time Danny is late because of a
deadline, it'll get harder and harder to keep it going. Danny's
a nice guy. Not good enough for you, of course, but he's not
going to give up his life so you can do this. If it's real,
it'll wait."
**
"So, did you enjoy the party?" Sam asked Toby as they settled
into their seats on the flight back to Washington.
"Not especially."
"I notice you didn't come back after helping CJ to her room."
"I wasn't enjoying myself that much."
"But you did enjoy spending some time with CJ." Sam said
brightly.
"I always enjoy spending time with CJ. Spending time with you,
on the other hand, is an ordeal."
"Ah." Sam sat quietly, trying to think of a way to get Toby to
admit what happened in his room.
"Was there something you wanted, Sam?"
"Well, yes, actually. I, uh, wanted to...." Sam broke off, his
courage failing.
"What?"
"Never mind."
"What?"
"It wasn't important."
"So why did you mention it?"
"Because I, uh..."
"Go away, Sam."
"Okay."
**
"Okay, CJ, you have to tell me." Josh sat next to CJ as soon as
the seatbelt light went off. "What happened between you and
Toby?"
"Me and Toby?" CJ looked up from her notes. "He helped me out
of the pool and escorted me to my room."
"And..." Josh made a "continue" gesture.
"And I got dried off and we talked."
"You... talked."
"Yes, Josh. We talked. It's what friends do."
"So nothing else happened. You just talked."
"Yes."
"What about?" The innocent tone was well done.
"About the fact that Toby can do push ups with his tongue. Among
other things." CJ deadpanned, with a suggestive smile. "I had
heard rumours..."
"Okay, that's more than I wanted to know." Josh got up and left.
**
"Told you." Donna said to Josh as he admitted defeat in teasing
CJ. "There's nothing going on."
"What about that weird comment about Toby and his tongue?"
"I already knew about that, Josh." Donna said calmly.
"You did?"
"Yes, Josh. Women know these things." Donna smiled
sweetly.
"How?"
"Experience, Josh. How else?"
Josh blushed and Donna bent her head over her book, smiling to
herself.
END