Stay
Summary: Sequel to "Just My Imagination". CJ is pissed off and Toby
doesn't know why. When he finds out the reason, he decides to do
everything in his power to make things right and tell CJ how he really
feels.
Rating: PG
Couples: CJ/Toby
Disclaimer: I don't own them, someone else more powerful and richer than
me does. But I wish I did.
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"Perfect, on top of last night, the weather matches my mood," CJ grumbled while en route to the office, commenting on the gray skies hanging overhead.
Last night's dream had stirred up some feelings that she had been pushing down for some many years that they really shouldn't bother her anymore. But damn it, if every so often, those feelings bubble up and manage to screw her life up for a couple days. And now was not the time for this to happen. She had a big build up of the President's new environmental bill about to be revealed to the press and public on top of the Premier of Austria coming for a State Dinner in three days. The press room will be very hectic, and CJ needed to have her mind in the work, not her non- existent love life.
She walks into her office, soaked to the bone because her umbrella blew inside out. As she prepares to sit down and inspect the damage it has done to her hair, she hears a familiar voice bellow down the hall, "CJ!"
With her bad mood deepening, she steps outside to see what Toby could possibly want from her. "What?" she replies, barely hiding her disgust and anger.
"It seems that someone in the press room has gotten a memo detailing the President's new environmental bill. And I blame you. You better find out who it is or heads will roll," Toby shouted, despite being mere feet away from her.
"Well, gee, Toby, since you asked so nicely, I'll get right on top of that. Right after, I do senior staff in a few minutes and spend the next 6 hours reading tax statistics for a briefing that I'll give at 1 p.m. at which I'll be asked questions by people who don't like us looking for answers I can't give them. So your little request will go straight to the top of my list," she sniped back before closing her door in his face.
"Thanks CJ. Really appreciate it," he yelled sarcastically at the closed door.
As he turned to walk back to his office, Toby was struck by the brash manner that CJ had address him. They always had little arguments and banter back and forth, but it was always playful and friendly. They may bitch and argue with each other, yet at the end of the day or week; they were always laughing and joking over drinks. But today was different. There was coldness underneath the surface of her comments. Coldness and anger.
He couldn't think of a reason why she would be angry with him, but sometimes CJ didn't need a reason to be mad at him. He managed to rile her up well enough just with his presence alone. He decided to himself to avoid her for a few days and not ruffle her feathers too much. After a few days, things would smooth over. Things always smooth over between the two of them.
***
A week and a half later, Toby was starting to become concerned about CJ. She had become sullen and was perpetually short-tempered. While she was short with just about everyone in the office, except the President; her worst moods were saved for him. This had never happened before. That was the beauty of their relationship; no matter what happened they were always able to put it in the past.
At least he tried to put it in the past. But the past has the troubling habit of popping up when he least expected it. After that amazing summer in California, he had gone back to New York. It was only years later that he had been reunited with her. And she fell into the pool. Her modesty about clinging clothes was endearing. And despite turning around, he had managed to catch a glimpse of that body. The body of the woman he had fallen in love with all those years before. Now she was closing herself off to him. The love of his life, however unrequited, was slipping away, and he didn't have a damn idea as to why. It was time to enlist some help.
"Josh, can you come in here please?" he asked when Josh walked past.
"Yeah, Toby, what do you need?" Josh replied, and when seeing Toby's face, closing the door behind him.
"I need your help with something."
"What's wrong?"
"Have you noticed that CJ's mood has been a little dour these past weeks?"
"Well, I guess, maybe for a few days a couple of weeks ago, but she has gotten better since then. Do think there is something wrong with her?"
"I think that she is.how do I say this nicely.extremely pissed off at me. And while under normal circumstances, this would be not out of the ordinary; she has gotten progressively more and more short and temperamental around me. Just me. Not you, not Leo, not the President. Just me. And I am at a complete lost as to what I possibly have done to bring on this wrath."
"Well, Toby, I may be stretching here, but you are the Communications Director. Why not go ask her?"
"Because if come with 3 feet of her or her office, I get yelled at! After about 6 days of that, I got kind of tired and decided to just save everyone's sanity and avoid her. I don't want to make matters worse than they already are. So, I was wondering if you could find out what is going on."
"Yeah, sure Toby, I'll pass her a note during senior staff," Josh said, unable to keep the laugh out his reply.
"I'm serious Josh, I care a lot about her. I want to fix this. Her and I have gone through too much to let something small screw up the friendship. "
"Yeah. What is it with the two of you? What exactly happened in California when you two met?"
"Nothing much," Toby said, becoming very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.
Josh, noticing Toby squirming, quickly replied, "I'll see what I can find out."
"Thanks, Josh."
***
Josh spent the next few days trying to get any information he could without going directly to the source to find out the origin of CJ's mood. Unfortunately, Donna was not very forthcoming with any gossip from the rest of the assistants. Finally, at his wit's end, he decided to take the bull by the horns and ask CJ what was going on.
"CJ?" he said quietly, knocking on her door.
Josh saw that she was sitting in her darkened office with her back to him. She was holding her head in one hand and in her other hand was holding an old photograph. Feeling as though he was intruding on something very private, Josh cleared his throat loudly to make his presence known. Startled, she tucked the picture away in drawer and turned to face him.
"Josh, I didn't hear you come in, what can I help with?"
"Actually, I was wondering why suddenly you have become a walking thunderstorm?" He replied, trying to ease into the subject.
"What do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow.
"Well, I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but over the past few weeks, everyone has been walking around on eggshells for fear of unleashing your wrath. Particularly Toby. And I was wondering if there is anything that was bothering you that I could help with?" Josh said, trying to sound supportive.
But he noticed that when he mentioned Toby, a pained look swept across her face. It happened almost too quick to notice, but he saw it anyway. He had seen a similar look on Toby's face when he had asked him to help with CJ. Having an epiphany, Josh realized that they had been more than just good friends in California. They had been romantically involved.
Turning his attention back to CJ, she said, "Oh, it's nothing. Just the stress. You know, with the new FEC regulations coming out; the press will be all over it."
"Or maybe it's the fact that you're afraid that your feelings for Toby are getting in the way of your job?" Josh asked, frankly.
"No, it's not about my feelings for.what did you just say?" She said, once what Josh said finally registered in her brain.
"I said that maybe you've been snapping at everyone, because of your romantic feelings for Toby," Josh replied.
"How did you find out?" she snapped back, suddenly becoming very angry with Josh, who sat there both scared and amused at the same time.
"I just guessed a minute ago. And by your reaction, I guessed correctly," Josh snickered. She was worried that everyone knew.
"You didn't know before? I'm not that obvious?" She was calming down a little bit.
"No, you're not that obvious. It just suddenly hit me when I came in here and mentioned Toby's name. You looked like someone has just punched you in the stomach. I just connected the dots. But the more important issue is, are you okay?"
"Yes, I think I'll be okay, but now that you know, you might as well know the whole story," she said as she opened a drawer, took out an old photo, and handed it to Josh.
It was a picture of Toby and CJ. But it was taken years before Bartlet had been elected to the White House. They were smiling and leaning against each other during a sunny day on a beach. The wind was blowing CJ's hair around her face. They were both wearing sweatshirts that said "Berkeley" across the front. On the back, someone had written "San Diego weekend, Newport Beach".
Over the next 30 minutes, Josh sat there quietly as CJ unfolded the tale of their meeting in California, Toby's departure to New York, up to her dream weeks earlier. By the end, CJ had gotten choked up. Josh never realized how serious it had been between the two of them. They had been in love and it seems that Toby had broken her heart.
Josh reassured CJ that her secret was safe and everything would turn out alright in the end. He got up and shut the door behind him. He then marched down to Toby's office to tell him the news.
***
"It's no wonder that she's mad at you!" Josh shouted at a stunned Toby as he shut the door.
"Now you're mad at me. Well that's just great, Josh. I'll just lock myself in my office and slide the speeches out from under the door!" Toby shouted, moving from stunned to pissed off.
"I'm just saying that I can understand why you are getting the cold shoulder from her. You broke her heart and you don't even care," Josh replied, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Toby blinked. "What do you mean, I broke her heart. She broke mine. After the summer, I never heard from her again. I moved on and got married to Andi, but it was never the same as it was with CJ. I loved CJ more than anything, and she didn't even cry that last night we were together. When Bartlet got elected, we had an unspoken agreement that we would just be friends. And every day it kills me to work next to her and see that she has moved on, but I haven't."
"That's not true."
"What do you mean?"
"You know for a Communications Director and a Press Secretary, the two of you are the worst at communicating. I mean it's not true. She's just as hurt as you are," Josh said, now trying hard not to laugh at the situation. And people thought that he was clueless.
Toby sat down on his couch and try to process all the information coming at him. All these years, working together, and thinking that his feelings were unreturned; he could have been with her. Now he was mad at himself for wasting time. Well, he was not about waste another moment.
"Josh, sit down and tell me everything.from the beginning. And no laughing or I'll personally guarantee that Donna loses your appointment book for a month," he said, gesturing to Josh to sit down across from him.
Josh proceeded to tell Toby everything that CJ told to him earlier. He felt a twinge of guilt at betraying CJ's trust, but something told him that Toby would do the right thing. By the end of Josh's tale, Toby was the edge of his seat in disbelief.
"I never knew," Toby said, still in shock.
"Neither of you knew," Josh replied, becoming very serious. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to fix it," Toby said with determination.
With that, Toby told Josh about his plans to woo CJ and make right what he had let go so horribly wrong. It would take about week to get everything set up, but with hopefully with Josh's help; CJ would be his again.
***
A few weeks later, things had gotten back to normal. At least normal for the White House. CJ and Toby were back on speaking terms. CJ had no idea what Toby was planning. Finally, the day had arrived for Toby to put his plans into action.
"Carol, what does my schedule look like today?" CJ asked, wondering how late she would at the office tonight.
"You have a briefing at 9 to answer questions about the President's weekend plans to go up to Manchester, then senior staff in the Oval, a meeting with the reporters from the Globe and USA Today, another briefing at 3, then at 6:30 you're supposed to meet Josh somewhere to meet with a guy from State. He said he would give me the address later on today," Carol rattled off.
"Well, looks I'll have some down time between 4:10 and 4:20," she said sarcastically, "Well if anyone needs me, I'll be in my office."
Moments later, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"Morning CJ, I was dropping by to see if you might be free for dinner tonight. I was thinking, maybe we could get some Thai food," Toby asked as he opened the door.
With the ever so slightest twinge of pain in heart, she replied, "I'd loved to, but I have this thing with Josh and some guy from State at 6:30, but maybe afterwards we grab a drink before calling it a night?"
"That sounds good. How about around eight at Dugan's on Dupont Circle?"
"Sounds good. I'll see you after my briefing at senior staff."
Toby's plan was laying out exactly how he wanted it to. On his way to senior staff, he dropped by Josh's office to check and see how plans were going on his end.
"Hey, Josh how are things going?" Toby said, almost cheerfully.
"You know, Toby, she's going to know something is going on if don't keep smiling."
"Good point," he said, and with that his face returned to its usual stern look. "Now, how are the plans going for this evening?"
"Things are going good. I've got her believing that she coming along to prepare an official at State for an upcoming press conference," Josh replied.
"Good. Now make sure that you give her the address at the last possible moment, so she doesn't have time to figure out where she's going."
"Got it," Josh replied and then looked up and got very serious, "Toby, I hope that everything goes well tonight. You two are my friends and I would like nothing more than see the both of you happy."
A small smile crept across Toby's face. "Thank you, Josh."
They turned and left for the Oval Office to sit in on senior staff meeting. Throughout the meeting, Toby keep stealing glances over at CJ. It was going to be extremely difficult for him to get through the day and not give away the surprise for that evening. He made it through the meeting without smiling too much, which wasn't too difficult considering that Sam kept bringing up the environmental lobbies.
***
Before CJ knew it 6:00 had rolled around and it was time for her and Josh to leave and prep the guy from State on the new Accords treaty just signed by Germany. After quickly heading to the Press Room and putting a full lid on the press for the day and grabbing the last minute messages from Carol, CJ headed over to Josh's office.
"Hey, Josh ready to go?" she said as she popped her head in.
"Yeah, just a minute. Let me finish up with this file and I'll be all set," he replied as he closed the folder that he had been reading. "Donna!"
"Yes? What do you need?" Donna asked as she walked into the office with that eerie timing that she had.
"CJ and I are going to prep that guy. You can go home early."
"Okay."
Josh and CJ left the West Wing and headed out to meet the guy. Josh had the address and CJ was following him to the place. After few blocks, Josh came to a sudden halt and got a slightly panicked look on his face.
"Dammit! I forgot the file on the treaty at the office. I have to go back and get it."
"Well, I'll go back with you and get it."
"No, otherwise we'll both be late. Listen I'll give you the address and I'll meet you there. I'll only be 15 minutes behind you."
Josh quickly jotted down the address and jogged off back to the office. Once he was out of sight, Josh turned back and smiled in the direction of CJ. He silently wished Toby the best of luck and walked off in the direction of his apartment.
CJ quickly glanced at the address and headed off in its general direction. She pulled her coat tighter around her as the cold wind blew down the street. She quickened her pace hoping to get to the destination soon and get out of the chilly air that had cooled the warm spring night in DC. After a few more turns and a couple more blocks, she had arrived at the address on the scrap of paper Josh had given her. But it wasn't an office building like she had expected. Or even a restaurant. Instead, she was standing in front of an apartment building. She glanced again at the address and caught the number of the apartment: 23.
She opened the front door and walked up the staircase to the second floor. She walked down a well-lit corridor with rows of doors of either side. Something about the hallway seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was; so she continued to walk. On the front of the door, there were brass numbers indicating which apartment was which. Counting the numbers as she passed them, she finally reached apartment #23. Taped to the door, there was a typed note that read: Please come in. I'll be out in a few minutes.
Gingerly, she turned the knob and entered into the apartment. The foyer was darkened but a light source around the corner cast enough light to prevent her from bumping into things. As she turned the corner, she suddenly felt as if she had stepped in another world. There was a table that had been set for a formal dinner. On top of the crisp white tablecloth, there was two place settings of fine china. The tall, white tapers were lit and illuminated the entire room in a soft glow. As she stood there wondering if Josh had given her wrong address, someone came up behind her and started to slip her coat off her shoulders. She screamed and whipped around to see who was behind.
"Who is there?!" she yelled.
When she had turned around she was surprised to see Toby standing there, holding her overcoat. Relieved, she let out the breath that she didn't realized she had been holding.
"What are you doing here? Is Josh okay? Where is the guy from State?" she rapidly fired off, trying to get a sense of what was happening.
"CJ, why don't you sit down and I'll get the food from the kitchen," Toby replied, brushing off her questions nonchalantly.
CJ looked closely at Toby for the first time and realize that he wasn't carrying a briefcase or wearing an overcoat. He wasn't even wearing a tie and his shirt collar was undone. Then she realized what was so familiar about the hallway. This was Toby's apartment building.
"Toby, what am I doing in your apartment?" she asked sitting down at the elegant table.
Toby returned with a covered dish and placed in front of her and then put an identical looking dish in front of the place setting to the left of her. He then sat down there and turned to answer her.
"Something I should have done a long time ago. Please eat and we can discuss it after dinner."
As he lifted the lids off the plates, he revealed chicken parmigiana and spaghetti and meatballs. Her two favorites.
"Toby, you remember," she exclaimed as she dug in as she hadn't forgotten to eat a proper lunch that day.
"Of course I did. Chicken parm and spaghetti and meatballs have always been your favorite Italian foods," he said with a small smile creeping up his face.
They enjoyed their dinner in pleasant silence and content in the fact that they didn't have to fill the dinner with mindless conversation. As she finished, Toby cleared the plates and brought out dessert. Tiramisu. Again another one of her favorites.
"So why am I here again and what about Josh and guy from State?" she asked again taking a small bite of her dessert.
"You are here because I wanted to do something nice for you since you had been in such a bad mood over the past few weeks, but I figured you wouldn't come here on your own. So, I got Josh to fabricate a story about some press conference for an official at the State Department and then conveniently 'forget' a file at the office."
"So Josh knew about this all the whole time," she said, thinking casually of what she could do to get even with him.
"As much as I love to see you torture Josh, he was an unwilling cohort. Please refrain from destroying him."
"So all of this was just to cheer me up?"
"That and to tell you how much I value our friendship. For someone who can work miracles with words, in my relationships I don't say the right words often enough. You are one of my dearest friends. I cherish the memory of the day I met you. You made that time in California unforgettable. And I just wanted to tell you that," he said, ending the thought abruptly and avoiding her eyes most of the time. He was obviously embarrassed at revealing such personal feelings.
"Toby, I value our friendship too. When I met you in California all those years ago, I felt like I had known you all my life. You are truly one of my best friends," she said, blushing ever so slightly at exposing her feelings to the man that she loved.
As though sensing her anxiety, he got up and returned with two glasses of white wine. He handed her one of the glasses and raised it in a toast.
"To friendship," he said before clinking his glass with hers.
"To friendship."
When CJ went to take a sip, she noticed an object at the bottom of the glass. She fished it out with her fingers. Once she got it out, she realized it was a ring with an emerald cut diamond in the center surrounding by two trillion cut diamonds on either side. It was an engagement ring. CJ looked up and saw that Toby had gotten down on one knee. He had a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes.
"CJ, I never stopped loving you. It broke my heart that night I had to leave to go back to New York. When I saw you again, all those feelings came rushing back. But I thought that you had moved on so I decided not to pursue it. But then I found out that I was wrong. I became to never lose you again. Would you do me the esteemed honor of becoming my wife?" he choked out, barely containing his tears.
CJ sat there for what seemed to be an eternity. Toby became very nervous, thinking that maybe Josh had been wrong. But then she broke out in a huge grin and started to cry.
"Yes, Toby. Of course, I'll marry you. I've loved you ever since I met you," CJ exclaimed.
She then helped him to his feet and then kissed him deeply. When they parted, he slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her again.
"So what are we going to tell people? Isn't it going to seem kind of strange that one day we're just friends and the next we're engaged?" CJ asked, suddenly realizing the after effects of their decision.
"CJ, they'll just have to get used to it, but until then, let's enjoy the night."
They kissed and stayed up all night talking about all the time that they had wasted. Finally, in early hours of the morning they fell asleep in each other's arms. It was only when they woke up that morning that they began to contemplate the questions that they would get at the office.
To Be Concluded.
"Perfect, on top of last night, the weather matches my mood," CJ grumbled while en route to the office, commenting on the gray skies hanging overhead.
Last night's dream had stirred up some feelings that she had been pushing down for some many years that they really shouldn't bother her anymore. But damn it, if every so often, those feelings bubble up and manage to screw her life up for a couple days. And now was not the time for this to happen. She had a big build up of the President's new environmental bill about to be revealed to the press and public on top of the Premier of Austria coming for a State Dinner in three days. The press room will be very hectic, and CJ needed to have her mind in the work, not her non- existent love life.
She walks into her office, soaked to the bone because her umbrella blew inside out. As she prepares to sit down and inspect the damage it has done to her hair, she hears a familiar voice bellow down the hall, "CJ!"
With her bad mood deepening, she steps outside to see what Toby could possibly want from her. "What?" she replies, barely hiding her disgust and anger.
"It seems that someone in the press room has gotten a memo detailing the President's new environmental bill. And I blame you. You better find out who it is or heads will roll," Toby shouted, despite being mere feet away from her.
"Well, gee, Toby, since you asked so nicely, I'll get right on top of that. Right after, I do senior staff in a few minutes and spend the next 6 hours reading tax statistics for a briefing that I'll give at 1 p.m. at which I'll be asked questions by people who don't like us looking for answers I can't give them. So your little request will go straight to the top of my list," she sniped back before closing her door in his face.
"Thanks CJ. Really appreciate it," he yelled sarcastically at the closed door.
As he turned to walk back to his office, Toby was struck by the brash manner that CJ had address him. They always had little arguments and banter back and forth, but it was always playful and friendly. They may bitch and argue with each other, yet at the end of the day or week; they were always laughing and joking over drinks. But today was different. There was coldness underneath the surface of her comments. Coldness and anger.
He couldn't think of a reason why she would be angry with him, but sometimes CJ didn't need a reason to be mad at him. He managed to rile her up well enough just with his presence alone. He decided to himself to avoid her for a few days and not ruffle her feathers too much. After a few days, things would smooth over. Things always smooth over between the two of them.
***
A week and a half later, Toby was starting to become concerned about CJ. She had become sullen and was perpetually short-tempered. While she was short with just about everyone in the office, except the President; her worst moods were saved for him. This had never happened before. That was the beauty of their relationship; no matter what happened they were always able to put it in the past.
At least he tried to put it in the past. But the past has the troubling habit of popping up when he least expected it. After that amazing summer in California, he had gone back to New York. It was only years later that he had been reunited with her. And she fell into the pool. Her modesty about clinging clothes was endearing. And despite turning around, he had managed to catch a glimpse of that body. The body of the woman he had fallen in love with all those years before. Now she was closing herself off to him. The love of his life, however unrequited, was slipping away, and he didn't have a damn idea as to why. It was time to enlist some help.
"Josh, can you come in here please?" he asked when Josh walked past.
"Yeah, Toby, what do you need?" Josh replied, and when seeing Toby's face, closing the door behind him.
"I need your help with something."
"What's wrong?"
"Have you noticed that CJ's mood has been a little dour these past weeks?"
"Well, I guess, maybe for a few days a couple of weeks ago, but she has gotten better since then. Do think there is something wrong with her?"
"I think that she is.how do I say this nicely.extremely pissed off at me. And while under normal circumstances, this would be not out of the ordinary; she has gotten progressively more and more short and temperamental around me. Just me. Not you, not Leo, not the President. Just me. And I am at a complete lost as to what I possibly have done to bring on this wrath."
"Well, Toby, I may be stretching here, but you are the Communications Director. Why not go ask her?"
"Because if come with 3 feet of her or her office, I get yelled at! After about 6 days of that, I got kind of tired and decided to just save everyone's sanity and avoid her. I don't want to make matters worse than they already are. So, I was wondering if you could find out what is going on."
"Yeah, sure Toby, I'll pass her a note during senior staff," Josh said, unable to keep the laugh out his reply.
"I'm serious Josh, I care a lot about her. I want to fix this. Her and I have gone through too much to let something small screw up the friendship. "
"Yeah. What is it with the two of you? What exactly happened in California when you two met?"
"Nothing much," Toby said, becoming very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.
Josh, noticing Toby squirming, quickly replied, "I'll see what I can find out."
"Thanks, Josh."
***
Josh spent the next few days trying to get any information he could without going directly to the source to find out the origin of CJ's mood. Unfortunately, Donna was not very forthcoming with any gossip from the rest of the assistants. Finally, at his wit's end, he decided to take the bull by the horns and ask CJ what was going on.
"CJ?" he said quietly, knocking on her door.
Josh saw that she was sitting in her darkened office with her back to him. She was holding her head in one hand and in her other hand was holding an old photograph. Feeling as though he was intruding on something very private, Josh cleared his throat loudly to make his presence known. Startled, she tucked the picture away in drawer and turned to face him.
"Josh, I didn't hear you come in, what can I help with?"
"Actually, I was wondering why suddenly you have become a walking thunderstorm?" He replied, trying to ease into the subject.
"What do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow.
"Well, I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but over the past few weeks, everyone has been walking around on eggshells for fear of unleashing your wrath. Particularly Toby. And I was wondering if there is anything that was bothering you that I could help with?" Josh said, trying to sound supportive.
But he noticed that when he mentioned Toby, a pained look swept across her face. It happened almost too quick to notice, but he saw it anyway. He had seen a similar look on Toby's face when he had asked him to help with CJ. Having an epiphany, Josh realized that they had been more than just good friends in California. They had been romantically involved.
Turning his attention back to CJ, she said, "Oh, it's nothing. Just the stress. You know, with the new FEC regulations coming out; the press will be all over it."
"Or maybe it's the fact that you're afraid that your feelings for Toby are getting in the way of your job?" Josh asked, frankly.
"No, it's not about my feelings for.what did you just say?" She said, once what Josh said finally registered in her brain.
"I said that maybe you've been snapping at everyone, because of your romantic feelings for Toby," Josh replied.
"How did you find out?" she snapped back, suddenly becoming very angry with Josh, who sat there both scared and amused at the same time.
"I just guessed a minute ago. And by your reaction, I guessed correctly," Josh snickered. She was worried that everyone knew.
"You didn't know before? I'm not that obvious?" She was calming down a little bit.
"No, you're not that obvious. It just suddenly hit me when I came in here and mentioned Toby's name. You looked like someone has just punched you in the stomach. I just connected the dots. But the more important issue is, are you okay?"
"Yes, I think I'll be okay, but now that you know, you might as well know the whole story," she said as she opened a drawer, took out an old photo, and handed it to Josh.
It was a picture of Toby and CJ. But it was taken years before Bartlet had been elected to the White House. They were smiling and leaning against each other during a sunny day on a beach. The wind was blowing CJ's hair around her face. They were both wearing sweatshirts that said "Berkeley" across the front. On the back, someone had written "San Diego weekend, Newport Beach".
Over the next 30 minutes, Josh sat there quietly as CJ unfolded the tale of their meeting in California, Toby's departure to New York, up to her dream weeks earlier. By the end, CJ had gotten choked up. Josh never realized how serious it had been between the two of them. They had been in love and it seems that Toby had broken her heart.
Josh reassured CJ that her secret was safe and everything would turn out alright in the end. He got up and shut the door behind him. He then marched down to Toby's office to tell him the news.
***
"It's no wonder that she's mad at you!" Josh shouted at a stunned Toby as he shut the door.
"Now you're mad at me. Well that's just great, Josh. I'll just lock myself in my office and slide the speeches out from under the door!" Toby shouted, moving from stunned to pissed off.
"I'm just saying that I can understand why you are getting the cold shoulder from her. You broke her heart and you don't even care," Josh replied, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Toby blinked. "What do you mean, I broke her heart. She broke mine. After the summer, I never heard from her again. I moved on and got married to Andi, but it was never the same as it was with CJ. I loved CJ more than anything, and she didn't even cry that last night we were together. When Bartlet got elected, we had an unspoken agreement that we would just be friends. And every day it kills me to work next to her and see that she has moved on, but I haven't."
"That's not true."
"What do you mean?"
"You know for a Communications Director and a Press Secretary, the two of you are the worst at communicating. I mean it's not true. She's just as hurt as you are," Josh said, now trying hard not to laugh at the situation. And people thought that he was clueless.
Toby sat down on his couch and try to process all the information coming at him. All these years, working together, and thinking that his feelings were unreturned; he could have been with her. Now he was mad at himself for wasting time. Well, he was not about waste another moment.
"Josh, sit down and tell me everything.from the beginning. And no laughing or I'll personally guarantee that Donna loses your appointment book for a month," he said, gesturing to Josh to sit down across from him.
Josh proceeded to tell Toby everything that CJ told to him earlier. He felt a twinge of guilt at betraying CJ's trust, but something told him that Toby would do the right thing. By the end of Josh's tale, Toby was the edge of his seat in disbelief.
"I never knew," Toby said, still in shock.
"Neither of you knew," Josh replied, becoming very serious. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to fix it," Toby said with determination.
With that, Toby told Josh about his plans to woo CJ and make right what he had let go so horribly wrong. It would take about week to get everything set up, but with hopefully with Josh's help; CJ would be his again.
***
A few weeks later, things had gotten back to normal. At least normal for the White House. CJ and Toby were back on speaking terms. CJ had no idea what Toby was planning. Finally, the day had arrived for Toby to put his plans into action.
"Carol, what does my schedule look like today?" CJ asked, wondering how late she would at the office tonight.
"You have a briefing at 9 to answer questions about the President's weekend plans to go up to Manchester, then senior staff in the Oval, a meeting with the reporters from the Globe and USA Today, another briefing at 3, then at 6:30 you're supposed to meet Josh somewhere to meet with a guy from State. He said he would give me the address later on today," Carol rattled off.
"Well, looks I'll have some down time between 4:10 and 4:20," she said sarcastically, "Well if anyone needs me, I'll be in my office."
Moments later, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"Morning CJ, I was dropping by to see if you might be free for dinner tonight. I was thinking, maybe we could get some Thai food," Toby asked as he opened the door.
With the ever so slightest twinge of pain in heart, she replied, "I'd loved to, but I have this thing with Josh and some guy from State at 6:30, but maybe afterwards we grab a drink before calling it a night?"
"That sounds good. How about around eight at Dugan's on Dupont Circle?"
"Sounds good. I'll see you after my briefing at senior staff."
Toby's plan was laying out exactly how he wanted it to. On his way to senior staff, he dropped by Josh's office to check and see how plans were going on his end.
"Hey, Josh how are things going?" Toby said, almost cheerfully.
"You know, Toby, she's going to know something is going on if don't keep smiling."
"Good point," he said, and with that his face returned to its usual stern look. "Now, how are the plans going for this evening?"
"Things are going good. I've got her believing that she coming along to prepare an official at State for an upcoming press conference," Josh replied.
"Good. Now make sure that you give her the address at the last possible moment, so she doesn't have time to figure out where she's going."
"Got it," Josh replied and then looked up and got very serious, "Toby, I hope that everything goes well tonight. You two are my friends and I would like nothing more than see the both of you happy."
A small smile crept across Toby's face. "Thank you, Josh."
They turned and left for the Oval Office to sit in on senior staff meeting. Throughout the meeting, Toby keep stealing glances over at CJ. It was going to be extremely difficult for him to get through the day and not give away the surprise for that evening. He made it through the meeting without smiling too much, which wasn't too difficult considering that Sam kept bringing up the environmental lobbies.
***
Before CJ knew it 6:00 had rolled around and it was time for her and Josh to leave and prep the guy from State on the new Accords treaty just signed by Germany. After quickly heading to the Press Room and putting a full lid on the press for the day and grabbing the last minute messages from Carol, CJ headed over to Josh's office.
"Hey, Josh ready to go?" she said as she popped her head in.
"Yeah, just a minute. Let me finish up with this file and I'll be all set," he replied as he closed the folder that he had been reading. "Donna!"
"Yes? What do you need?" Donna asked as she walked into the office with that eerie timing that she had.
"CJ and I are going to prep that guy. You can go home early."
"Okay."
Josh and CJ left the West Wing and headed out to meet the guy. Josh had the address and CJ was following him to the place. After few blocks, Josh came to a sudden halt and got a slightly panicked look on his face.
"Dammit! I forgot the file on the treaty at the office. I have to go back and get it."
"Well, I'll go back with you and get it."
"No, otherwise we'll both be late. Listen I'll give you the address and I'll meet you there. I'll only be 15 minutes behind you."
Josh quickly jotted down the address and jogged off back to the office. Once he was out of sight, Josh turned back and smiled in the direction of CJ. He silently wished Toby the best of luck and walked off in the direction of his apartment.
CJ quickly glanced at the address and headed off in its general direction. She pulled her coat tighter around her as the cold wind blew down the street. She quickened her pace hoping to get to the destination soon and get out of the chilly air that had cooled the warm spring night in DC. After a few more turns and a couple more blocks, she had arrived at the address on the scrap of paper Josh had given her. But it wasn't an office building like she had expected. Or even a restaurant. Instead, she was standing in front of an apartment building. She glanced again at the address and caught the number of the apartment: 23.
She opened the front door and walked up the staircase to the second floor. She walked down a well-lit corridor with rows of doors of either side. Something about the hallway seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was; so she continued to walk. On the front of the door, there were brass numbers indicating which apartment was which. Counting the numbers as she passed them, she finally reached apartment #23. Taped to the door, there was a typed note that read: Please come in. I'll be out in a few minutes.
Gingerly, she turned the knob and entered into the apartment. The foyer was darkened but a light source around the corner cast enough light to prevent her from bumping into things. As she turned the corner, she suddenly felt as if she had stepped in another world. There was a table that had been set for a formal dinner. On top of the crisp white tablecloth, there was two place settings of fine china. The tall, white tapers were lit and illuminated the entire room in a soft glow. As she stood there wondering if Josh had given her wrong address, someone came up behind her and started to slip her coat off her shoulders. She screamed and whipped around to see who was behind.
"Who is there?!" she yelled.
When she had turned around she was surprised to see Toby standing there, holding her overcoat. Relieved, she let out the breath that she didn't realized she had been holding.
"What are you doing here? Is Josh okay? Where is the guy from State?" she rapidly fired off, trying to get a sense of what was happening.
"CJ, why don't you sit down and I'll get the food from the kitchen," Toby replied, brushing off her questions nonchalantly.
CJ looked closely at Toby for the first time and realize that he wasn't carrying a briefcase or wearing an overcoat. He wasn't even wearing a tie and his shirt collar was undone. Then she realized what was so familiar about the hallway. This was Toby's apartment building.
"Toby, what am I doing in your apartment?" she asked sitting down at the elegant table.
Toby returned with a covered dish and placed in front of her and then put an identical looking dish in front of the place setting to the left of her. He then sat down there and turned to answer her.
"Something I should have done a long time ago. Please eat and we can discuss it after dinner."
As he lifted the lids off the plates, he revealed chicken parmigiana and spaghetti and meatballs. Her two favorites.
"Toby, you remember," she exclaimed as she dug in as she hadn't forgotten to eat a proper lunch that day.
"Of course I did. Chicken parm and spaghetti and meatballs have always been your favorite Italian foods," he said with a small smile creeping up his face.
They enjoyed their dinner in pleasant silence and content in the fact that they didn't have to fill the dinner with mindless conversation. As she finished, Toby cleared the plates and brought out dessert. Tiramisu. Again another one of her favorites.
"So why am I here again and what about Josh and guy from State?" she asked again taking a small bite of her dessert.
"You are here because I wanted to do something nice for you since you had been in such a bad mood over the past few weeks, but I figured you wouldn't come here on your own. So, I got Josh to fabricate a story about some press conference for an official at the State Department and then conveniently 'forget' a file at the office."
"So Josh knew about this all the whole time," she said, thinking casually of what she could do to get even with him.
"As much as I love to see you torture Josh, he was an unwilling cohort. Please refrain from destroying him."
"So all of this was just to cheer me up?"
"That and to tell you how much I value our friendship. For someone who can work miracles with words, in my relationships I don't say the right words often enough. You are one of my dearest friends. I cherish the memory of the day I met you. You made that time in California unforgettable. And I just wanted to tell you that," he said, ending the thought abruptly and avoiding her eyes most of the time. He was obviously embarrassed at revealing such personal feelings.
"Toby, I value our friendship too. When I met you in California all those years ago, I felt like I had known you all my life. You are truly one of my best friends," she said, blushing ever so slightly at exposing her feelings to the man that she loved.
As though sensing her anxiety, he got up and returned with two glasses of white wine. He handed her one of the glasses and raised it in a toast.
"To friendship," he said before clinking his glass with hers.
"To friendship."
When CJ went to take a sip, she noticed an object at the bottom of the glass. She fished it out with her fingers. Once she got it out, she realized it was a ring with an emerald cut diamond in the center surrounding by two trillion cut diamonds on either side. It was an engagement ring. CJ looked up and saw that Toby had gotten down on one knee. He had a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes.
"CJ, I never stopped loving you. It broke my heart that night I had to leave to go back to New York. When I saw you again, all those feelings came rushing back. But I thought that you had moved on so I decided not to pursue it. But then I found out that I was wrong. I became to never lose you again. Would you do me the esteemed honor of becoming my wife?" he choked out, barely containing his tears.
CJ sat there for what seemed to be an eternity. Toby became very nervous, thinking that maybe Josh had been wrong. But then she broke out in a huge grin and started to cry.
"Yes, Toby. Of course, I'll marry you. I've loved you ever since I met you," CJ exclaimed.
She then helped him to his feet and then kissed him deeply. When they parted, he slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her again.
"So what are we going to tell people? Isn't it going to seem kind of strange that one day we're just friends and the next we're engaged?" CJ asked, suddenly realizing the after effects of their decision.
"CJ, they'll just have to get used to it, but until then, let's enjoy the night."
They kissed and stayed up all night talking about all the time that they had wasted. Finally, in early hours of the morning they fell asleep in each other's arms. It was only when they woke up that morning that they began to contemplate the questions that they would get at the office.
To Be Concluded.