A/N: I, like many, absolutely adore this scene. I also enjoy exploring CJ & Toby's friendship and thought this was a fine opportunity. :)
The first time CJ had done The Jackal anywhere other than her own shower was one late, tipsy night at Toby and Andy's apartment in the Bronx. It had been a long day and they were letting off some steam by actually cooking a meal themselves and enjoying it over a conversation about things other than headlines and opinion polls. Toby had caught her singing under her breath and swaying her hips while sautéing, watching for a minute before realizing this was more a routine than just idle recall.
"Hey, uh, CJ?"
"Hmm…?" she hummed, half-turning, but not quite stopping dancing or cooking.
"Whatcha doing there?" She looked confused. "The, uh," he swayed his hips a little and she couldn't help a peal of laughter.
"I've got this song stuck in my head and I'm going with the flow," she turned back to the stove with a flounce, motions undeterred.
"You look like you have a whole performance stuck in your head."
"It's the Jackal, Toby!" she said, facing him again with an expectant look on her face. At his lack of recognition, she chuckled again. "Gimme another bottle or so of wine and I'll show you."
Andy walked into the kitchen as CJ finished her sentence, immediately looking equal parts confused and entertained. "What's this now?"
"CJ has just let me know that she'll be providing the after-dinner entertainment."
"Ah, well, at least we're off the hook!" Andy reached past Toby to get the open bottle of cab.
Teetering between embarrassment and contrariness, CJ settled on the latter. "Alright, Toby, but you're going to have to run to my car for the CD. Keys are in my coat pocket."
Toby smirked and set his glass down on the counter. "Deal! What am I looking for?"
"Ronny Jordan, Quiet Revolution."
Toby gave Andy a peck on the cheek before leaving the kitchen. "Ronny Jordan… fusion jazz guitarist, right?" Andy had always been the hippest of their small group, particularly when it came to music, but CJ was the dancer of them.
"The very one!" CJ nodded.
"Well this, I'm looking forward to…" Andy said, stealing a carrot from the pan.
Unsurprisingly, they ended up in a great many bars along the campaign trail, the dim and smoky anonymity of their interiors providing the ideal ambiance for escaping the tension of the race. While the Governor seemed content to tour museums and sites of historical interest to take a load off, the rest of the team found their haven in cracked vinyl booths and the occasional dance floor. Leo joined them every once in a while, knowing when to tag along and when to leave the young staff alone. When present, he would stick to seltzers with lime and the dance floor with CJ. If there was space to dance and no Leo, she would inevitably drag everyone else out one-by-one for a few songs. The night after their big win in Chicago (and Josh's tragic departure), the group ended up at a jazz bar uptown. A couple of drinks in, familiar chords came through the speakers, stopping Toby in the middle of his remark to Leo. "Claudia Jean! This is your moment!"
Her eyes went wide over the rim of her grasshopper. "Nooo, Toby. Nonono—"
Sam, Leo, and Donna looked confused. "You have to!" he said, already steering the group to an open corner of the floor. "C'mon."
CJ laughed, already blushing slightly. "Fine, fine. But only because we won last night."
Everyone else exchanged blank looks as she passed her glass to Toby, then turned around.
"…a PhD in street stride…they called him…the Jackal…"
On "the Jackal", CJ whipped around to face them, lip-syncing the words perfectly as she bent one knee and leaned into it. She freely grooved to the guitar, her audience growing beyond their group to include most of the patrons on the dancefloor of the establishment. She was breaking hearts making eye contact during repeats of the title and the crowd couldn't get enough. At last, CJ finished to full applause, bowing and laughing as she took her drink back from Toby.
"That was…" Leo started.
"…something else." Sam finished, enchanted.
"You have to do this again, when Josh is back." Donna said, her serious big eyes undercut by the neon umbrella in her drink.
"Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" CJ said. "I need a refill."
Toby smirked. "Well, there's a line of people waiting to buy you one…"
Donna held her to it one rainy night in Washington state when the Governor and Leo left the nearly-packed campaign office to her, CJ, and the boys. They had cracked open a few beers while it stormed outside.
"C'mon, CJ, we can finish packing in the morning! We have to celebrate somehow…"
Toby and Sam were both clearly in agreement, but Josh looked utterly lost. "What now?" he asked.
"You weren't there, in Chicago… CJ has this thing… uh…"
Toby jumped in. "A performance. An art, really." CJ rolled her eyes, laughing.
"Well, it sounds like I missed out!" Josh's tone was clearly egging her on. She tried to look unconvinced, but cracked quickly.
"Alright, alright." She took another sip of her beer. "Toby, can you-"
"On it."
She started taking off her cardigan, ignoring the juvenile expressions on Josh and Sam's faces. Donna cuffed the back of the former's head, earning an appreciative smile from CJ.
"Whenever you're ready, mon chéri…" Toby said, finger on the boom box's play button.
"Hit it!"
Somewhere along the line, it became a "thing", one of their group's little rituals to mark celebrations and special occasions. Without hesitation, CJ had done it in the press room late one night after they had won a particularly gnarly battle with Congress. Their core staff was already gathered, bottles in hand and pizzas ordered to get them through the roll call, so it just, well, happened. And with that, a White House legend was born. Somewhere along the line (probably due to an offhand quip from Josh as he walked through a press gaggle), some of the reporters got word of it and tried to follow up on it.
"One day, if you're all very, very good, I might do the Jackal for you." CJ finally addressed the corps after days of hassling. She shuffled her papers, threw them a wink, and walked back to her desk.
"Will you ever really do it for them?" Carol asked, already starting to smile.
"Have they ever been anything approaching good?"
It had been a while since they'd had much to be happy about and CJ figured nominating a Supreme Court judge was a worthy occasion. She popped into Toby's office before heading to their informal celebration.
"Hey, Toby?"
"Yeah?" he was reading something on his desk.
"I was thinking… it seems like a pretty perfect night to, uh… let out the Jackal…"
That caught his attention, a grin spreading across his face as he looked up at her. He rounded his desk and went to the shelves across, fingers hovering for a moment before pulling out a CD case. "Voila!" he said, turning it over in his fingers.
"I'll meet you there with the stereo," she said, grinning. "Spread the word!"