Title: Wine and a Good Book.
Disclaimer: Owned by NBC, John Wells, and the amazing Aaron Sorkin.
Paring: CJ and Danny
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She hit the stereo with her free hand as the other hand gently and lightly held a glass of red wine between loose fingers, her long finger nails looking as if they were emerging from the bottom of the goblet. Her slick robe caught the air and flew as she lazily walked away from the stereo, letting the sounds and the wind from the fan hit her. Hot days, away from the world in her new summer home, were made worse by the broken-down air conditioner, but she was making do.
Miles from any civilization, in her father's old fishing get-away, she roamed the living. It was a room of browns and reds that matched the Indian rug on the couch. Having been left her and her brothers by her father she had finally convinced her brothers she needed the cabin this summer more than she did. She needed to be away and alone this summer and they had agreed to give her free run of the place and told they could only to show up with large amounts of notice.
She walked through the living room plopping herself down on the burlap looking, but much more comfortable couch. She took her glass to her lips and back never letting it away from her hot little hands, letting it dangle from her fingers tips when not set on her lisp. She set her long legs under her and began flipping the pages of a new coffee table book, an advance copy that had not yet hit the bookshelves. She flipped threw black and white pages, laughing and sighing on how young they all looked. It was, after all, ten years ago, the perfect time for Andrew Bloom to publish his pictures from the Bartlet Campaign. Now, in retrospect, they could be seen as legitimate history and not merely more political fodder. Well, that would be what she would have said as Press Secretary, but that was no more.
She flipped through pictures of Josh, Sam, Mrs. Landingham, the President, Toby, Donna and so on. Even a few pictures of Mandy. There was, of course, one person she had forgotten she might catch. She caught only a few passing glimpses at first, which made her smile, but then she turned to page 67 and there he was; smiling at her -- her back then -- from the outskirts, but still visible. CJ ran her fingers over his picture, smiling with melancholy and, for the first time with real eyes, true eyes, finally seeing how he had looked at her. Even back then, he had eyes for only CJ. How could she have missed it? After a moment her eyes glanced down to the names underneath the picture. She read off all the names in her head, including her own, until she got to the last name: And Washington Post reporter, Daniel "Danny" Concannon.
CJ took a swig from her glass and was ready for another. She leaped from the couch, almost tripping over the coffee table in the process, looking back as if it had been the coffee table's fault. She walked from the living room to the kitchen, as her robe flew behind her showing glimpses of her undershirt and bathing suit bottoms. It seemed too hot for clothes.
A carry-on over his shoulder, he walked around the house, having grown tired of knocking. Leading with his head he walked around looking for signs of life. He saw the tall slender figure walking from room to room, but only seemed to catch pieces of her figure and not the whole person. He ran his hands through his hair and over his red beard once he was sure who the figure was.
"Hello?" He called out, but she didn't respond.
"Hello?" He shouted as the figure walked toward the kitchen window and turned the sink on. "CJ!?"
"Hello?" CJ couldn't see as the figure moved out of her view. "Who's there…" She stopped in mid sentence as she hit the back screen door. She balked at seeing him standing there, he looked thinner, older, and his beard not as red as before. While she was amazed on how different he looked yet still seemed so familiar her face was that of shock at the site of him in her back yard.
"What?"
"Hey." He said sheepishly as he adjusted the strap on his shoulder.
CJ walked forward and opened the door slowly making it squeak like the question mark on her face. Danny walked forward hitting the small landing before the step. Before they could realize it, CJ had slid her hands onto Danny's face, taking him in a large kiss that could only make Danny comply. It was not what he had been expecting. And no matter how unexpected it was, or strange, or out of the blue, it seemed natural as Danny dropped his bag.
And after years of waiting, years of pushing each other away when secretly they wanted to pull each other close, after years of dancing around the issue and years of being apart, now with the presidency behind her, they seemed to pick up where they left off. Soon they found themselves in CJ's bedroom, having sex for the first time. For, as we all know, it is a tested fact that all judgment goes out the window where love is concerned. And with all obstacles between them now gone, the floodgates opened.
"Danny." CJ shot up in bed."I'm here. I'm right, here." Danny stopped buttoning his shirt and sat next to her on the bed. "What's wrong?"
"I wasn't sure…I thought it was a dream."
"No. I'm here."
CJ leaned in and kissed him, "Yeah, you are aren't you?" She rested her hands on his face. "Where are you going?"
"I was just goin' to make some dinner."
"I'm not hungry."
"Okay."
"Why wasn't this strange?"
"What?"
"I mean, us here---I haven't seen you---we haven't seen each other in---"
"This isn't why I came—"
"Yes, yes, I know. Me too—I mean I didn't think---I just---"
"I guess we weren't thinking---""I saw you in the book—and then you were here---why are you here?"
"Josh said he was worried about you. I was in the area, so I said I'd check in on you—"
CJ laughed, "I'm good."
"Just good." His eyes lifted.
"I'm better now." She leaned in and the kiss was more passionate than before and Danny couldn't get himself away, as CJ leaned back, unbuttoning his shirt for him as they fell onto the bed.
She woke up still dredged in the aroma of his warmth and his touch. He had only been in her bed for one night and still his smell had penetrated her sheets, the blanket, and the comforter—and the pillow beside her where he laid. She opened her eyes and out stretched her arm to feel he wasn't there. The sun hit her eyes as she lifted her head, seeing that it was well into the day, it was afternoon. She squinted as the light hit and shifted her head to see a note taped next to her on the headboard:
You look so beautiful I thought I'd let you sleep. Don't worry I'm not far.
Danny.
Just then CJ heard a sound outside the window, followed by another, forcing her to raise her head and her mass of mussed hair, pushing it out of the way of her face in her sleepy haze. It sounded like chopping of some sort, a sound she only knew from childhood, from summers spent at the cabin with her family. With a questioning look on her face, CJ moved her long legs out of the bed and wrapped the blue sheet around herself and made her way to the window. She smiled at the site.
--
"What are you doing?" CJ asked as she pushed the front door open with a squeak.
"We need wood." Danny split the piece of wood in front of him with a force of air and breath. The wood spilt and Danny set the axe at his side wiped his brow with his forearm.
"Why?" She wined in her bantering way.
"For a fire." He split apart another piece of wood.
"It's the middle of July, Danny."
"For tonight."
"Danny, it's still the middle of July."
"So we'll put on the air conditioner…I want a fire tonight…" He stopped in mid sentence as he took a look at CJ wrapped all warm in the blanket, the breeze blowing through her golden hair, the browns and greens of the cabin and trees in the background, and the golden light from above. CJ saw him looking and she smiled. He was sweaty from what was hard work for a man his age, in the hot sun, and he never looked better to her
"Come here." She beckoned with her finger.
Danny gave his usual mischievous look and began to approach her on the porch. He stepped on the next to last step, and CJ leaned down, cupping her hands around his face and kissing him with a passion that Danny matched then intensified. He lifted up so that they were on the same level, and soon CJ had wrapped her legs around Danny and he walked her into the house.
----
"Maybe we should get married?" Danny spoke as they sat on the porch step, the sun beginning to set.
CJ looked at Danny with her question mark look, "Are you asking me to marry you, Danny?"
"I know, I know, that was the worst proposal in the world, but yes—that's what I want. It's what I've always wanted."
CJ looked him in the eyes and saw the passion in them. Her eyes glittered and she rested her hand on his check.
"What?" Danny asked not knowing what to make of CJ's face, as no words came from her mouth.
"Nothing." She said softly. "Nothing." She paused. "I just still love you, that's all." She smiled and laughed as tears began to form in her eyes.
"Let's make that fire." Danny stood up and reached his hand for CJ. She looked at Danny strangely.
"CJ?" He asked her. "CJ?"
--
CJ's head lifted up off the couch. She took a look at the empty wine bottle and the darkness of the evening and knew she had only been dreaming. She sat up and before she could even focus, she caught his face again, Danny in black and white, and she knew what she had to do. She called information in Washington, DC, and she waited. And she waited while it rang, unsure if it would be answered.
"Danny?" She paused as she heard his sweet surprised voice. "Yeah, it's CJ." She smiled. "How are you?…..Really?….Me, too….No.….No, I'm fine…just…wanted to see how you were…..listen, Danny, I was wondering…..I'm out at my father's cabin and I thought…..would you like to come and visit?" She waited and smiled when she heard the answer. "Yes, I'd love that. I would."