That Night and Her
Chapter 1
Lily Winters smiled up at her boyfriend as she accepted the cup of coffee he had gotten her and moved to sit across from her at Crimson Lights. For the first time in years she was not only in love, but happy, and in an uncomplicated romance. "Thanks."
Shrugging, Charles Young smiled back; "you know, you don't have to thank me every time I do something as simple as get you a cup of coffee," he told her with ease.
"It's the simple things that you do that make you so special. You take great care of me," she replied as she reached across the table and covered his hand with hers.
Charles laughed: "you're nuts, you know that?"
"Only about you," Lily said as she leaned across the table to kiss him.
"Geez, get a room, you two," Devon Winters said as he crossed over to them, his younger half sister, Ana, in tow.
Lily rolled her eyes as she sat back down: "a simple kiss, Devon. Really, you'd think you were a monk or something."
Devon shrugged: "just because I'm looking for Ms. Right and not Ms. Right now, like some people," he replied with a forced laugh as Ana plopped down next to her adoptive sister.
"You ok, kiddo?" Charles asked the younger girl.
"I guess," Ana sighed as she looked to the black man her sister was dating.
"We just got back from seeing Tyra," Devon informed them as he indicated with a tilt of his head that he needed to talk to his older sister. "I'm going to go get us some drinks…"
"You know, I need to ask Colleen about something. Be right back," Lily said as she got to her feet and trailed after Devon.
Ana rolled her eyes as she looked over at Charles: "Those two are about as subtle as sledgehammers."
Charles laughed at her: "you might have a point there. So, you ok or what?" he asked as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip, watching her carefully over its top.
Ana sighed. She was still trying to understand all the things her mother had done in the name of the obsession she had developed for Neil Winters and in her need to 'help' the presumed dead Drucilla Winters. In the end, it had all backfired on Tyra, almost leaving Ana without a family.
But, as was usually the case, Neil Winters had risen to the challenge presented to him. He had divorced his 'dead' wife, while he stood by her during her treatments for the head injury that impaired her judgment, put his former sister-in-law on notice about her own involvement, petitioned the court for custody of Ana, and was currently in NY trying to convince a very annoyed ex that they had been victims of a deranged woman, an impaired one, and a very scared one, and that he wanted to be with her no matter what his actions a year ago might have suggested.
"Charles why do people do things like Tyra did?" she wondered.
"I don't know," he admitted.
"She saids it was because she loved me, but I don't believe it. Why would she hurt people because she loved me? Especially people that I love?"
"People do all sorts of things for reasons that they never thought they would," he answered as he put down the mug.
Ana looked at him: "would you lie to protect someone?"
He sighed: "I know people who have," he admitted, thinking back to his former boss and his wife and the secrets that they had kept and the lives they had impacted.
"Were their lies worse than hers?"
He nodded sadly: "I think they would say so," he answered truthfully. "But. . . there were other things at play. . ."
"Where they forgiven?" Ana pressed.
"For the most part." Charles answered simply, wondering if it were the truth. Within there circle the 'lies' and misdirection had been forgiven or seen as simply coming with the territory, but his boss's popularity numbers had never reached their former level and he knew full well that his boss's wife would never have the same respect she once had in her own field.
"Why?" Ana wondered as Devon and Lily approached.
"Because they lied for a greater good, not out of a need to hurt people," he answered truthfully about the lies good men and women had told, as well as the number of times they had been forgiven in words even if not in action.
"She thinks she lied to protect me. Is that what you mean by a greater good?" she wondered.
"No," Charles answered quickly as Devon went to interrupt. "Look, you forgiving her is up to you, Ana. The people who forgave the people I knew made their decisions too. We all live with things we can't forget even if we can forgive it," he shook his head sadly. "Sometimes other people forgive us even when we can't forgive ourselves."
"She doesn't think she did anything wrong," Ana pouted. "That's why she won't even apologize to me."
Lily cut in as she slid back into her seat and Devon stopped behind Ana: "Honey, none of what she did was your fault."
"But. . ."
"Lily's right. What Tyra did she did. . ." a voice said from just behind Devon causing the group to look at its owner with surprise. "Don't take on her mistakes," it added as Ana jumped up and ran to the Hispanic woman.
"Karen! You came back!" Ana said with delight.
"What can I say? Your Dad can be very convincing when he has to be," Karen laughed as she hugged the girl and looked over to Neil's other two children who looked at her with slight suspicion, and, at least in the case of Devon, a tinge of guilt. "Besides, if keeping secrets is something to be blamed for, I'm guilty of the same crime," she added as Neil joined them, a baby carrier in his hands.
"Ummm. . . is that. . . I mean… I thought. . ." Lily started to sputter. "Honey, we'll explain. Just not here," Neil interrupted. "Charles you don't mind, do you? This is a family thing, after all."
Charles shook his head as he rose: "Course not, Mr. Winters. I need to get back to the office anyway. I'm sure Michael has something for me to do," he added as Karen raised her eyes from Ana and towards him. As her gaze connected with his, he watched the recognition set into her eyes and silently cursed as he recognized one of Andi Wyatt's former campaign managers.
"Oh, Karen," Lily piped in. "This is my boyfriend, Charles Young."
Karen raised an eyebrow at that: "Charles, is it?" she wondered as she extended a hand, surprising the others at her tone.
"At least here," he answered in a tense tone.
"So what? You've got another name?" Devon teased, hoping that it was something that simple. For once he actually liked a man Lily was dating and thought that this one might actually be good enough for her.
Charles shrugged: "Got some old friends who can't get it through their heads that I'm too grown up to be called Charlie," he answered flippantly. "Look, Lil, I gotta get going anyway. I have to call a guy about a thing," he added quickly changing the topic.
Lily shook her head and laughed at him: "it's not breaking lawyer client privilege to tell me you're going to work on a case," she chided as she kissed him on the cheek, knowing that he didn't like public displays of affection other than that or hand holding.
"Well, it was certainly nice meeting you, Charles," Karen commented, letting him know by the emphasis on his name that she got his unspoken message.
Charlie nodded, glad that if nothing else, the Congresswoman who had broken his friend's heart at least had good taste in employees. . .
Chapter 2
Lily walked tiredly into the apartment she had just started sharing with Charlie and kicked off her shoes. As she crossed the room, she couldn't help but miss her puppy--- she had gotten her divorce, but Cane had kept the dog, the house, and just about everything else after she found out that he had lied to her about everything that ever mattered, including his identity. Of course she had been the naive idiot who had allowed him to put everything in his name, but that didn't really matter…
Shaking her head she walked into the kitchen to see Charles with his head in the refrigerator as he talked on the phone: "yeah, I know that. . . well, she did the research. . . well, its not like this is going to be a major surprise to anyone, well, maybe except Cancannon," he said with a dry laugh. "The sources check out," he added as he turned and froze seeing Lily there. "Look… Ummm… I gotta go. . . she is? Visiting family. . . right. No, Josh, it's fine. . . yeah. . .OK. Tell her to call me when she actually gets in. . . right, and we all know how well those schedules are kept to. . ." Charles laughed at the man on the other end's retort. "You two set a date and I'll show. . .Gee, I don't know. The man who saved your life should get that honor don't you think?" he paused to let the other man speak and then laughed: "hey we all went off yours didn't we? But yeah… I'll do it. Talk to you soon."
"Business?" Lily asked curiously as she plopped down at the counter top and watched him balance a plate and end his call.
Charles shrugged: "just talking to a guy about a thing. How'd things go at your Dad's?" he asked as he dropped the phone onto the counter.
"Umm… adding in the malpractice suit my aunt might be facing?" she wondered.
"Do I even want to know?" he wondered as he put the plate down and stood opposite her.
"Karen thought she couldn't have kids because of an operation she had had done by my aunt as a precaution against Cancer years ago. Only thing is. . . my aunt lied and. . ." Lily shrugged. "You know, I always wondered how she could help Tyra. I mean, Aunt Liv always insisted that she didn't know about Tyra's involvement with my mom and… Well, now I know why."
"Lil, I don't know. . ."
"You don't have to. My aunt has to face what she did sometime. I mean, my Dad missed out on seeing his child born. Being there for the first four months of its life. . ." she held back a sigh as she shook her head: "You know, he's lucky Karen even took him back after what he did to her."
"You're Dad's a good guy."
"Most of the time," she agreed with a small smile. "So what were you and your friend talking about?"
Charles shrugged: "other friends. Mistakes. His wedding. Well, if he and his fiancé ever set a date that is."
"That hard?" she wondered, knowing that Charles never really talked about his life before Genoa City and looking for some insight into his past.
"No. Typical for these two," he answered, then clarified at her look: "it took nine years for the two of them to get together. A lot of people thought they were together before, but. . . well, those who knew them knew better."
"And you guys didn't try to get them together because…?" Lily asked on a laugh.
"One we weren't matchmakers like you and Colleen pretend to be."
"Hey," Lily pouted as Charles laughed and continued: "Oh, there were plans. . . we maneuvered we. . ." he shook his head as he thought back over the eight years of the 'courtship' of Josh and Donna that he had watched: "but they always held back. Probably because he was her boss."
"And in what world does that really matter?" Lily wondered. "I mean, really, did either of them have that much to prove?"
Instinctively he stiffened: "in the world we moved in, it did matter. But they were always there for each other. Even ran red lights and police barricades when they had to."
"Police barricades?" she asked, her voice rising slightly in pitch.
"Yeah. . .that was only once. . . only because she forgot her ID. And she didn't really run it. Just skirted it till she found someone she knew. . ." he said, his tone becoming subdued at the memories.
"Why? What happened?"
"Someone didn't like the choices. . ." he shook his head. "It was an ignorant guy with a gun and innocent people got hurt in the crossfire," he answered. "Look, none of us talk about that night. . . we didn't then. . .now. . .It's the past.
A mistake forgiven."
"For the greater good?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow intending to tease him out of his mood by throwing his own words back at him.
"No," Charles answered tightly: "Because two kids who didn't think were in love," he answered as he picked up his plate and crossed to the garbage. "You know, I'm not so hungry after all."
"Charles. . ."
"It was a long time ago," he replied without looking at her. "People have moved on. Forgiven, even if. . . even if they're unable to forgive themselves. . ."
Chapter 3
Donna Moss looked up from her schedule to see her fiancé standing in the door to her office. "Now what?" she wondered at the look on his face.
"You have time to look over that report Charlie had sent over?" Josh Lyman wondered.
"Why yes, Joshua, in the middle of scheduling a cross country trip for my boss to help promote a bill your boss, her husband, wants passed for education, and fielding questions and reviewing reports on the things she actually wants to add to her own agenda I had time to read some model/college co-ed's report on the former administration!" she snarked as he crossed the room.
"Wow, someone's in a mood," he quipped as he slid into an empty seat across from her.
"And you're not improving it," she shot back. "Really, Joshua, I have a ton of work I have to get done. I don't need you in here causing me more."
"You want a summary of that report?"
"Joshua…" she started her annoyance rising.
"Hey, I won't even pull out the note cards."
"Like you'd even be able to find them?" she shot back as she put down the papers she was reviewing. "Fine. Give me your damn summary so I can get back to work, because God knows you won't leave until you do."
"Toby wasn't the source," Josh told her quickly.
"The source for wh…" Donna started, then as realization dawned, her eyes grew big. "Oh, hell no."
"Ah huh…"
"She didn't. . ."
"Oh she apparently did."
"And a college co-ed figured this out when the Feds couldn't?" she asked, her voice rising.
"They weren't looking and he covered for her all too well," Josh put in.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure enough to want to take it to him. I want him back on staff," Josh told her evenly.
"He'd be your deputy if he hadn't of covered for her."
"Yeah."
Donna shook her head: "Toby is going to have a fit that we figured this out. Even more so when he finds out who actually figured it out. Not that I didn't have suspicions that it was someone else, but I was always leaning more towards Harper."
"I was thinking someone else too," Josh admitted grudgingly. "But. . ."
"You knew better."
"I also knew Toby was lying. It seemed the only thing that made sense at the time."
Donna nodded: "now we have to figure how to spin it. He technically didn't lie since he had to have known about the program. . . She would've told him. . ."
"And he covered because he wanted to protect not her specifically," Josh added.
"She made him think it was someone else… preyed on his grief over his brother's suicide and the memory that David almost didn't make it home from a mission. . ." Donna said and then stopped short. "Josh, them digging into that… it could bring up…"
"The anniversary is coming up anyway, Donatella. We both know it. Know when it is all too well," Josh said gruffly.
"I hate that this year of all years I won't. . ." she stopped herself. "We'll get him back in before then."
"Yeah," Josh said rising.
"He's not going to like it."
"I know. But, I don't like this whole thing myself," Josh told her. "Damnit, he was like my brother and I didn't know that he was drowning until it was too late. Then there were no lifeboats we could float him and it was all because CJ manipulated his feelings for her so that she could get off?"
"I doubt it was that simple. . .she was probably trying to protect. . ."
"Donna, don't tell me she was trying to protect Leo!" he ordered, his voice rising: "Because until Toby took the damn plea she made it look bad for him! You tell me Bartlet and I swear… he didn't deserve it. Not after the way he turned on Toby."
"He signed the pardon."
"At the last minute making it our problem instead of his and making Toby look even guiltier in the process! The man has two kids who deserve to know that their father isn't a criminal. That he didn't leak sensitive information to the press! That he was just doing what he always did and took the brunt of the blame for the team."
"He wasn't the only one who did that."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Hell, at least I was out of town with Matt at the time or she would've pinned it on me."
Donna shook her head: "I'll call Cahill, get the story leaked. When are you telling Matt?"
"Why?"
"Because I think I should be briefing Helen and Anabeth at the same time," Donna told him calmly. "We're going to be asked about it on this trip."
"Just keep our sources of information out of this."
"Fine," Donna sighed. "And if there's nothing else?" she added picking up the schedule she had discarded when he came in.
"I'm going to call him and ask him to come over for dinner."
"Tonight?"
"I thought. . ."
Donna shook her head: "we'll make it work. Just don't tell Sam who we're having dinner with or he'll want to come too and I think at least one of us needs to be here to hold down the fort with this breaking."
"Yeah, well. I haven't told Sam yet."
"Josh, get out."
"But. . ."
"I told you I didn't want you dropping more problems in my lap. I don't clean up your messes any more, that's what you have Margaret for."
"I just. . ."
"Out, Josh. Some of us actually do work here. . ."