Title: Hot chocolate from the Bartlet kitchen
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Category: CJ/Leo
Series: Stand alone
Spoilers: Written for the general tone of S 3, no specific spoilers.
Archive (if applicable): The National Library http://westwingstories.com/library, also FF.net
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: Other things happen in the Bartlet kitchen besides hot chocolate drinking.
Author's Notes: -
Disclaimers: All characters are from Aarons' kitchen.
~§~
"Ok I've got it." Josh slams down the empty beer glass and surveys his friends seated around the table in the dark Manchester bar. "Most unusual place you've ever done it." except he doesn't quite manage to get out unusual before moving onto place.
CJ rolls her eyes because at a table of three men and one woman it was a sure bet the conversation was going to turn to sex at some stage, she was hoping later rather than sooner.
Josh glares at Sam who is almost asleep, waiting for him to offer the first answer.
"The library at Princeton, 699 - 730." he practically yawns and is rewarded for his efforts by Josh with a snigger.
"The back of a dance floor in what will remain an unnamed San Fransisco dance club." Toby offers finishing off his drink, his three companions stare in amazement. "It was 1965, the place was one massive orgy, I wasn't about to be the only one missing out."
"Josh?" CJ prompts thinking there's no way he could top that.
"Top of the Empire State building." he says matter-o-factly.
"You liar." CJ accuses, knowing full well, people come and go from the top of the famous building all the time.
"You're right." he sighs wistfully. "The shallow end of Hartford public pool, it was six in the morning and I was supposed to be swimming laps with the rest of the elite squad...well" he looks directly over at CJ.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but the end of the bed."
Josh cracks up, Toby lets loose a secret smile and Sam chinks glasses with her. What all three men don't know is the most unusual and exciting place she's ever had sex was the Bartlets Manchester house kitchen floor, but it's not something to be publicly broadcasted here, despite the fact none of them may remember in the morning.
~§~
A week previous
Her wristwatch read three thirty in the morning and CJ was desperately missing her own pillow and bed. Since she'd been a child she would carry her own pillow halfway across the country, regardless of her families or her own destination.
She always got a good night sleep.
The Bartlet's house is cold and creaky and the floorboards underneath, weary with years of feet marching across them, betrayed her state of consciousness, yet nobody else seemed to stir.
In the kitchen she turned on the electric kettle and searched for the hot chocolate that had been pointed out to her earlier in the night. When the automatic kettle switched itself silently off she watched the hot water swirl and mix, then carried it to the front portico.
On her first night here, CJ was struck by just how quite it was and the stars, they weren't like the ones in Washington and there were so many of them.
A shadowy outline catches her eye when she steps out of the door and she's about to go back inside thinking it's a secret service agent, but in the shallow luminescence of the moon she recognizes that it is in fact Leo.
A board underneath her groans even under her minimal weight and his head flicks in the direction of the sound.
"Hey CJ." he beckons her to join him. "Can't sleep?"
"No...You?"
"No, but it's not unusual for me I've discovered."
"Is there Secret Service out there?" CJ looks out across the field, in the intermittent light she can barely make out each individual tree.
"Somewhere, that's one job I don't envy them."
"What are you doing?" she wonders how long he's been out here for, given that there's not a scrap or paper or a page of a book surrounding him.
"Thinkin." he sighs and CJ takes a long sip of the chocolate.
"About."
"It's all going to be different now, now that it's out in the open, everyone knows."
"The MS."
"Yeah, I'm going to miss how it used to be, before special prosecutors, testifying and lawyers."
"Aren't you a lawyer?"
He smiles in the darkness.
"Is that good?" he nods to the mug and she holds it out for him to have some. "How bout you make me some."
The boards don't creak as they pad barefoot back inside.
~§~
"What do you miss?" he sits at the table watching her prepare the hot drink. "I mean you're from the West Coast right." It strikes CJ as odd because this is the first time she's ever spoken like this with Leo.
"Right now...my bed and my pillow, I can't sleep in that room."
"Strange bed." he nods in agreeance, taking the warm mug from her hands. "I miss the campaign trail, on the road, it made me feel young, working around you all, so much energy in the atmosphere, different to the White House mood."
"I miss my sister." CJ sips at the last of her drink.
"You were close."
"Yeah, I don't call her enough, I don't get the time."
"I miss Mallory, she's almost 25, but I still want to know everything she's doing."
"Protective father." CJ is familiar with the type.
She rinses her cup in the sink and leans against the counter reflecting on how her life has changed since joining the Bartlet campaign, Leo sits and drinks in a comfortable silence, deep in thought not doubt about what bought him to the back porch earlier.
"I miss sex." she sighs and Leo spits his mouthful of hot chocolate across the table and across the front of her.
"I guess I deserved that." CJ laughs quietly brushing at the liquid down her front as if she may extract it like it were lint.
"I didn't know we were getting quite so personal."
"I'm sorry, It wasn't my intention to make you feel uncomfortable." embarrassment creeps through CJ.
"No...I miss it too." he says quietly.
Sensing the rising level of uncomfortability in the room and watching him drain the last of the liquid from the mug, CJ excuses herself and goes back to bed.
~§~
The following night
It's earlier the next night when CJ makes the same nocturnal journey to the kitchen, tonight all the ingredients for hot chocolate are on the bench and CJ by-passes them, heading to the front portico with suspicions about who she'll find there.
Like last night he's seated in one of the generous chairs, hands warming around a mug this time. She takes up the chair next to him and brings her knees to her chin.
"Nobody tells you, you have to sign your personal life away when you take this job." she sighs with a joking tone.
"Mmm, please pass all spare time, sleep, dates and contraceptives to the front where they will be kept safely for the next four to eight years." he says putting on his best public announcement voice and turning to look at her.
"Not that I mind I guess." she shrugs.
"These few years are the most important things I'll do I told Jenny and I really believe it."
"You miss...?"
"Jenny...we spent thirty years together, it's impossible not to." he surprises her by moving his chair till it's touching hers and brings a mug of chocolate from the floor which she accepts with a expansive smile.
"How'd you know I'd get up?" she grins broadly.
He shrugs as if he has no answer and keeps watching the sky.
"I miss being able to stop and look at the stars." she pushes her head back in the chair and plays join the dot in goldfish patterns.
~§~
When her neck starts to ache worse than her back does from the bed she looks across at Leo who has been quite since speaking about Jenny.
"He sleeps." she whispers to herself watching Leos relaxed face.
His grip easily lets go of the mug, which she places on the floor next to hers and she stands over him gently calling his name to wake up, he is without response.
Her next move comes as a surprise even to herself as she bends over and brushes a chaste kiss to his lips, lingering a second longer than what would be considered platonic.
When she tries again she finds herself on the receiving end of her attempts as he kisses her back. At his urging she opens her lips letting his tongue dart in and meet hers, while he pulls her onto his lap, his hands traveling across her robe clad back as she finds hers releasing the only three buttons from the top of his shirt. He's gentle and thorough and CJ aches as she pulls away, but she's aware of a potential audience they may have.
"I'm sorry..." he lets her from his embrace.
"Secret Service." she stands up, holding the two mugs in one hand and leading him with her in the other. "Don't want them to be distracted from what they're supposed to be doing."
~§~
Two arms wrap around him as he rinses the mugs and her exploring mouth nibbles at his earlobe and the gentle skin behind his ear and down his neck. Warmth breath rushes over the area and he drops one of the mugs in the sink with a loud clatter causing CJ to jump back from him.
They stand frozen listening for other sounds of life in the house for a few moments.
When he decides no one has heard them he steps towards the huge grin that has swept her features and wipes it away with a kiss that explains in no certain terms what he wants from them both tonight. Her hands dance around the end of the shirt, gathering it and pulling it over his head with some help. They do a sweeping inspection before going back and paying closer attention to his chest as he maps out the dips and curves of her neck, discovering the sensitive spot below her ear which causes and involuntary yelp and again they pause momentarily to make sure no one has heard their nocturnal activities.
His hands move quickly untying the sash to her robe, not once did they consider taking this back to the relative privacy of their bedrooms. The fluttering robe to the floor reveals only a small pair of panties and a t-shirt on CJ and he smiles with suitable approvement.
Hands and mouth zone in on her breasts, protected only by the thin layer of cotton. She'd almost forgotten just how good the feeling of gently caressing hands and an enthusiastic mouth and barely nibbling teeth were. She lifts the shirt over her head, without his realization brushing past his face, her apology comes in the satisfied low moan as insistent hands and teasing teeth coax her nipples further into taught peaks.
It's now she feels alive, every cell in her body is jumping, and every nerve ending is awakened or heightened. She's aware of every reaction her body has to his touch and it jolts the memory of how wonderful it is to have someone who appreciates your body as much you do theirs.
Fumbling hands grasps for the cotton shorts he's wearing in a silent protest that he's wearing too much clothing, she drags them to his ankles, removing herself from his reach leaving little option but to follow her to the kitchen floor. The Leo McGarry mutual appreciation society of CJ Creggs breasts continue as she tries desperately to reach skin still hidden by clothing, but as he travels a nipping and sucking path across her ribcage and down to her navel her goal becomes only further from her reach.
A gentle grasp at a handful of his thinning sandy hair encourages him back up to her, she glides her hands down one side of his hips locking her fingers in the waistband of his boxers. CJ drags them as far as she can go before she runs out of arm length. They remain stranded mid-thigh, but all she notices is the freshly released erection pressing against her. All roads are leading to her center and she knows it won't be long before she'll want him inside of her.
When he's extracted the last of his clothing, gentle hands spread her legs further apart but she stops him on the way to oral gratification, bringing his face to look at hers. "Inside me now." she growls her hands ripping at her own panties.
He understands the need, rendering further talk useless as they're dragged down her never ending legs to eventually join his underwear. An encouraging hand opens her legs further again and once extradition is achieved, the replacement is his teasing erection across her wet warm folds.
"Do we need anything?" he looks her straight in the eye continuing to caress, his cock pressing closer to her still. Underneath him she writhes in anticipation and at the sensation. He hopes at this stage she says no because to have comes this far and then have to stop would kill everything.
"I need you now." she moans reaching for the engorged organ herself, guiding it towards that which aches for it's presence.
He presses slowly up her passage allowing both to adjust. Each step is met by mutual moans from the friction and when totally inside her he waits, allowing her to adjust to him.
"Move Leo." she gasps, reaching up for an encouraging kiss. He blindly grabs at the robe, putting a corner of it in her hand so she can muffle her cries into it as he starts making his first slow movements.
After a few awkward moments they find their rhythm and he reaches to make contact with her as yet untouched clit, rubbing in time to his thrusts.
"Oh God." the low throaty moan draws out as climax teeters, CJ's hands are flailing, the robe long lost she digs into his back and smothers her cries of passion on his shoulder as she comes.
She watches his face as he continues to thrust till he comes moments later, a wave of pleasure riding over his face, which fades before he falls to rest his weight on top of her.
On his back like her is where they remain the sounds of heavy breathing filling the quiet night, chests rising and falling in time.
"We're not going to be having a McGarry Jr. in nine months are we." he asks as his breathing tapers back to normal.
"Let's just say that I didn't pass everything to the front when I signed on..." she assures him dragging the robe over them as their bodies begin to cool in the crisp night air.
"The kitchen floor wasn't too hard was it?"
"It was surprisingly better than my bed." she grins across at him.
"Maybe you should try my bed out for comfort." encouraging fingers brush gently along her side.
"Maybe I should."
~§~
"You've had sex somewhere better than the end of the bed haven't you." Toby asks her at the bar away from Josh and Sam.
"You bet I have." CJ grins a small secret smile.
"Somewhere better than the three of us combined and so good you can't confess even to your plastered friends."
"Got it in one."
~§~