TITLE: IN THE END
DISCLAIMER: The West Wing and its characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers, and NBC. No Copyright Infringement is intended.
First posted: Jan 2004
FEEDBACK: YES PLEASE!.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This idea came from a quote of Timothy Busfield about Danny "comeing back for CJ." The idea grew from there after I did some research on Dee Dee Myers and her husband. So here is one of the ideas I came up with (The long one apparently)
SUMMARY: If they can't be together because she's the Press Secretary what would happen when she's no longer the Press Secretary?
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I will be the answer
At the end of the line
I will there for you
While you take the time
In the burning of uncertainty
I will be your solid ground
I will hold the balance
If you can't look down
If it takes my whole life
I won't break, I won't bend
It will all be worth it
Worth it in the end Cause I can only tell you what I know
That I need you in my life
And when the stars have all gone out
You'll still be burning so bright
Cast me gently Into morning
For the night has been unkind
Take me to a place so holy
That I can wash this from my mindThe memory of choosing not to fight
If it takes my whole life
I won't break, I won't bend
It will all be worth it
Worth it in the end
'Cause I can only tell you what I know
That I need you in my life
And when the stars have all burned out
You'll still be burning so bright
Cast me gently Into morning
For the night has been unkind
Answer
Sarah McLauchlan
It was cold. Hell, it was January and only two more weeks and counting 'til the end of the Bartlet administration and the end to another page in history. Toby entered the West Wing shaking the snow off his boots and looking much like a frozen version of himself. "My God! It's so cold out there I think my saliva is frozen to the roof of my mouth.
"Hey Toby."Josh met him at the door and walked him toward his office.
"I'm serious. He ran his tongue over the roof of his month. "Hell is not a big pit of fire, but a giant snow drift with a wind chill.
"Yeah, I heard it's like two degrees out there." Josh responded. Toby just gave him a look.
"You're not helping. "Toby entered his office and Josh was about to walk away when Toby exited again in an irate state.
AOk, who took my baseball? Don't play dumb. I know someone here took it! Toby got nothing back but blank looks. A Funny, Funny. He paused. AI know you all think it's fun to play tricks on me because you feel there's no real threat of retribution. But, just because I can't do anything here... in the White House... does not mean I won't track you all down and make your lives a living hell. Again Toby got nothing from his people. AYou are not supposed to play pranks on me. It's for the next administration, not me. You're supposed to take all the R's off the keyboards, or short sheet the President's bed--! Fed up Toby walked back into his office and slammed the door.
Josh turned his back to Toby's office and palmed a bill to Toby's assistant. "Here's a five, get yourself some crazy glue and glue everything to his desk, on me. "
Next, Josh saught the attention of CJ, who entered the office from the cold. "CJ!" He yelled, catching up with her.
"Man. It's so cold out there I think my saliva froze to the roof of my mouth," CJ remarked.
"Wait. What? Did you talk with Toby outside?
"No? Is he here yet? She looked around.
"Ok. That was weird. " He took a moment. " It's a good thing we're breaking up the "Old'Gang" We're beginning to sound alike.
"Old Gang?"
"Except, of course, for me..."
"Old Gang, what are we a Fatty Arbuckle short?"
"Cause, you know, I'll be here. Keeping the flame alive. Yep, moving into the big office. Getting the big window... " Josh's ego was in full force.
"Alright already. We all know you're going to be the new Chief of Staff! Josh put his arms up in a rallying of support gesture to the troops."
"Chief of Staff! Chief of staff!"
"Ok about four weeks ago it was borderline cute..."
"Now?"
"I want to throw you off the Truman Balcony."
"Sorry, I'm just trying to get the troops excited, get things going. " There was an awkward silence as they stopped talking, but Josh kept following her down the hallway.
"Can I help with something, Josh?"
"Nothing. I have nothing to do."
"Glad I could be of assistance, " she said with sarcasm. What other way could she put it?
"You know it's Our Gang right, not "Old Gang?""
"What?"
"When you were trying to make a reference to my "Old Gang" reference..."
"Can I make a reference to a reference?" she said jokingly.
"I just mean..."
"I know, Josh. It was an attempt at a joke."
"And Fatty Arbuckle wasn't in Our Gang. Our Gang was one of the Hal Roach comedies. You know Spanky, the kid with the hair problem... They rounded a corner to CJ's office. Josh held onto the edge as they did.
"Yes, she said telling Josh in her tone she wasn=t stupid. AYand Fatty Arbuckle was the one who..."
"Was accused of Murder.."
"I knew that."
"How you could confuse an accused murderer with family entertainment is beyond me," he said in his sarcastic condescending tone.
"Can I help you Josh?! Can I help you in some way?"
"I told you. I have nothing to do."
By this time CJ had made it to her office and taken her messages from Carol.
"Stop following me Josh! "CJ yelled back at him, but Josh ignored her.
"Hello, Carol." Josh responded to Carol.
"Hello, Josh," Carol said with a sly smile as he followed CJ into her office. Josh noticed CJ's office was far from packed.
"What? Do we have to get you a big ball of yarn to keep you occupied...," she yelled to him from behind her desk.
"You haven't packed you office yet?" Josh looked around.
"I can't work out of boxes. It makes me antsy when I can't find anything. How do you do it? " She looked at her messages.
"What? I have one box on my desk with all my important stuff..."
"So you just keep everything in one box and you packed the rest?," she said with a tinge of anger, really wondering how he did it.
"Yep."
"Your date book, transition information...?"
"Yep, Yep. All set."
"Your Inaugural Ball tickets.... "CJ was searching for anything he might have forgotten. Or at least would make him think he did. Josh went white.
"DONNA!" Josh walked out of her office as CJ organized some papers on her desk and tried her best not to laugh. Before Josh was clear of the doorway to Carol's office, he was distracted by a man entering with a large vase of flowers.
"Ohh, flowers, " Josh said making a one-eighty back into CJ's office.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have the attention span of a gnat?
"No, but I have been told I resemble a Jewish Robert Redford, " he joked as he sat down on CJ's couch.
"Thank you, "CJ told the man as she reached for the card and he left.
"Why do you get flowers? I don't get flowers, Josh whined looking at the three other vases on the floor of her office.
"'Cause I'm a girl and you're a boy. That's why, " she said in a flirtatious way.
"Whoa, that's a little bit sexist?"
"And your a little bit rock and roll, "she smirked.
"And what you said was still sexist so don't deflect me with Donnie and Marie humor."
"Well... "CJ was stuck in a corner. "It is... but since I really like flowers, let's just pretend, for the moment, it isn't. " CJ took the card out of its envelope.
"So, who are they from?" Josh said in a very motherly tone.
"When did you become such a Yenta?," she said fingering the card.
"When did you start using words like Yenta?" CJ looked at the card.
"Who's it from?" Josh spoke, but CJ never looked at him.
"The reporter from the A.P." she said placing the card back in its envelope and stuffing it into her back pocket. She looked up and stared at Josh making himself comfortable in her office. "As much as I enjoy discussing the finer points of silent comedy and feminism with you Josh..."
"Don't forget Yiddish expressions, " he chimed in.
"I have work to do!"
"Actually, Our Gang comedies weren't silent...."
"Josh! What's wrong with you? What do you want?!"
"I have nothing to do, " Josh said in a little boy way.
"You were serious about that!? she paused for a brief moment. "Go find your inaugural tickets!"
"Ahh....I can do that later." He placed his hands behind his head. Carol entered CJ's office.
"Leave Joshua. Leave my office now. Find something to do. Bug Toby. Count the ceilings tiles in your office if you have to, I don't care. Just get out!"
"Ok. Ok. I'm leaving. Where did your good mood go?
"Out Josh! she pointed.
Carol passed Josh as he left CJ's office. "Oh, another delivery... Who's this one from?" Carol asked.
CJ looked preoccupied and it took her a moment to respond. "What? Oh, it's from the reporter from the Times." She looked up at Carol.
"Hey. I thought you said it was the A.P." Josh spoke from behind Carol's head.
"Leave Josh. "CJ yelled, getting her papers in order."Oh, and Carol, can you see if Danny Concannon is in the Press Room?
"Yeah.".
"Hey, I can do that," Josh yelled from the outer office, almost jumping up to be seen.
"Go away, Josh!"
"Carol, close the door behind you would you?
"Yeah. Carol shut the door, leaving herself and Josh in front of the closed door.
"You got flowers too?" he said motioning toward the flowers on her desk.
"Yes." She walked behind her desk.
"All I get are muffins." Carol smiled at him. "Small ones, the kind that have no purpose whatsoever. There was a large pause between then. "You know I'm going the new Chief of Staff?
"Yes," she smiled with a sly grin. She was humoring him.
Josh, noting the awkwardness of the moment, paused before leaving his last remark. "Well, "I'm so glad we had this time together."" Josh walked off. "Donna!," he yelled.
"What?" Donna appeared from nowhere scaring Josh to half to death.
"How do you do that? He grabbed his heart. "I need you to go through all the boxes in my office and look for my Inaugural Ball tickets." They walked toward his office.
"There are about eight hundred boxes in your office..."
"There are not eight hundred boxes in my office."
"I was hyperbolizing."
"Hyperbolizing?"
"Get a dictionary, Josh."
"I know what it means. I just.... don't use it in a sentence..."
"If you don't use it in a sentence, what's the point of having it in your vocabulary?"
"Are you going to look for them or not!?"
"You had to pack everything up early didn't you? And now, I'm the one who has have go through all those boxes for your tickets.
"Oh, come on. We packed early because we're excited. He put his hands up in a rallying position again.
"Yeah, I know, she said with total lack of enthusiasm. "Chief of staff, Chief of Staff."
Donna walked away, but Josh still tried to get the enthusiasm going for himself. He raised his arms up, as he had for days, in a rallying position. "Chief of Staff." He said under his breath getting louder and louder on each phrasing. "Chief of staff, Chief of Staff!" And with his final, "Staff" a large paper ball hit him in the side of the head. He turned in the direction from which it came, "Hey I saw that! Who did that?! Who did that?!" And he was off to find the culprit.
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CJ sat at her desk and stared at the card in her hand. She was interrupted by Carol's knock on the door. CJ told her to come in.
"Danny's not supposed to be back until next week. Carol hung onto the doorway.
"Next week? I thought he was coming back to cover our final weeks?"
"His office says he's not coming back 'til next week.
"Ok," she shrugged it off. "Thanks Carol." Carol closed the door. CJ leaned back in her chair and looked at the card and read it again to herself: "Eight years is a long time to wait. --Danny. "
CJ smiled and took another look at the flowers. They were beautiful. Sterling roses. She looked at the card and then up again as she smirked and bit her lip. She hadn't seen Danny in almost two years. With things being so busy, it had barely crossed her mind that her days as Press Secretary were really coming to a close. Did the card mean what she thought it meant? She picked up the phone to call him, but placed the phone down before she could dial. What if it didn't mean what she thought?
A WEEK LATER: LAST WEEK IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
CJ looked at herself in a small mirror on her desk.
"They're ready for you, " Carol said as she knocked on the door.
"Be right there." Carol walked away.
CJ glossed her lips and patted them together before standing up and flattening down her hair. She took one more look at her entire body before shoving the mirror into her drawer. She took a breath and walked out of the door, taking a folder from Carol and walking toward the press room
"Hey there, Joshua. Joshy old boy. The Josh man," she said spotting him.
"Wow, the good mood returns?" Josh walked with her for a spell.
"Yeah, I am in a good mood." She seemed surprised at herself. AI don=t know why, but I am?
"Are you wearing lip gloss? "He looked at her with surprise.
"Maybe. " She adjusted the folder in her arms.
"You're wearing lip gloss?"
"So I'm wearing lip gloss?," she defended herself.
"No. It's fine. It's just different."
She stopped, pausing their walk to the Press Room. "Different, as in it makes me look weird. Or different because I don't usually wear it?" she said, showing how vulnerable it made her feel.
"Different because you don't usually wear it at the office. Josh didn't know how to react.
"Oh."
"I'm just not used to it, that's all. " They started to walk again.
"It makes me feel feminine. Can't a women want to feel feminine once in awhile?"
"To each her own." Josh paused. "So, why are you all dolled up?"
"I'm wearing lip gloss, I'm not dolled up." CJ entered the room to the flashes of bulbs.
"Hello everyone," she said placing her folder on the podium. "And welcome to the last Monday of the Bartlet Administration." She smiled and looked over at Danny's seat in the fourth row, but no Danny. Her smile diminished a little on the inside, but she was good at not showing her true feelings.
LATER THAT WEEK.
Josh ran into CJ's office. "CJ, you have to come see this. Someone crazy glued all of Toby's things to his desk...
"In a second, " she said, her head in her papers.
"Ok, but your gonna miss all the good stuff." He began to walk out.
"Josh?" she called after him taking off her glasses and putting them on her desk.
"Yeah?" Josh placed his hands around the threshold of the door.
"Do you still get E-mails from Danny?"
"Yeah, sometimes."
"Have you heard from him lately?" she fished.
"Yeah, last week?"
"Oh," she paused. C.J went back to her work momentarily, but then back to Josh.
"Did he mention when he was coming back? "Josh was half way out when he heard her question.
"Why don't you call him, CJ?"
"No. It's ok." She went back to her work. "I was told he was coming back this week. I wanted a head count for the speech tonight.
"Ok," he paused. "We're going live at eight?"
"Yup. Just in time to preempt Must See TV."
"Ok." Josh started to leave. AI invited him to the thing on Friday.
"Who?" she looked up
"Danny. I invited him to stop by and have a drink with us on Friday..."
"Great," she said with no emotion, going back to her work.
"CJ?"
"Josh I really need to get this done." She didn't look at him.
"Sure." He took a last look at her and walked away.
"CJ." Carol knocked on the door.
"Yeah."
"You ready?"
"What?"
"Two o'clock briefing?"
"Yeah." CJ placed her glasses on the desk and picked up the papers she had been reading. Carol followed her down the hall.
"There's a new guy in the room."
"New guy? Well if that's not coming late to the party, I don't know what is," she said dryly.
"From the Post," Carol said, making CJ stop in the hall.
"That's Danny's paper?"
"I know."
"Danny's not covering our final days?" She was floored.
"That's what they said," she said defensively.
"Well...that.... S"he took a breath. "What's his name?" she said deflated.
"His name?"
"His name. The new guy?"
"Preston Triantayllopu."
"Trianta what!"
"Triantayllopu."
"Triana----whatever is the name I have to remember for two days of work."
"You have to remember it, I have to spell it."
CJ took a breath. "His name couldn't be John Smith could it?" she said sarcastically as she pushed her way into the room.
FRIDAY: FINAL PRESS BRIEFING.
"Ok everyone," C.J smiled out at the entire Press room. AIf there aren=t anymore questions? She looked around and saw Danny's empty seat. "Then I'm going to have a drink and a very long nap. She picked up her folder. "That's a full lid." She smiled and the whole Press room stood, giving her a good bye clap. She smiled, nodding her head thankfully. CJ looked toward the door to see her colleagues, Josh, Toby, and Leo applauding her.
SATURDAY MORNING.
"Hey up and at 'em." Josh roused CJ who had fallen asleep on her couch.
"What? Huh?"CJ awoke, groggy with a little bit of a hangover.
"Did you sleep here last night?" Josh asked even though it was obvious.
"Yeah, I guess I did." She sat up and held her head.
"We wondered were you went last night? You just disappeared."
"When did I disappear?"
"Around midnight, I guess."
"I left the party at midnight?" It took her a moment to recall. "Oh, I remember. I came in here to get....oh I fell asleep! What did I miss?" she wined.
"Well, Toby took a lamp shade and put it on his head," Josh said with his joking manner.
"Josh!"
"Hey you weren't there. You don't know."
"I missed it, " she said deflated and ignoring Josh. "I missed the party, " she was so disappointed.
"Oh, come on. There'll be other parties." He walked toward the door. "It's moving day. Time to ship out." He passed the door. "Keep that wagon train a ridin'". And he was gone. CJ slowly walked toward her doorway and noticed Carol out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey boss," she said.
"I feel like I've been hit in the face by a giant led skillet.
"I told you that fourth glass of Champaign was a bad idea."
"I had four glasses of Champaign?"
"And about three beers."
"Oh...:" CJ held her head.
"I'll go get you a cup of coffee."
"Yes please." CJ looked up at Carol and noticed a small vase of flowers. "I thought you sent all the flowers to the children's hospital?"
"I did. These just came for me today. For me. They're from Danny."
"Danny sent you flowers?"
"Yeah, isn't that nice? She smiled and began to walk away.
"Oh, he sent me flowers too, ya know," she yelled.
"I know."
"How do you know? I didn't..."
"You already got flowers from the A.P. and the Times..." she smiled and walked away knowing what she knew about her and Danny.
"Oh."
"I'll get you that coffee." Carol walked away.
"Well....mine are bigger, "she yelled. "Oww.." she silently squealed and held her head. "Too loud." Carol brought CJ her coffee.
"I'll start with the heavy boxes." Carol spoke with a glint in her eye.
"Thank you." CJ took a sip and sat on the edge Carol's desk. "So," she yelled at Carol, "I guess Danny never showed up last night, huh?" CJ let her finger graze the flowers on Carol's desk.
"No. I never saw him," she yelled.
When all the boxes were carried out of the West Wing, with her last box in her arms, CJ took a final look at the Press Room and with a bittersweet smile turned off the lights.
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