Author: Angie
Email: AngieSuth@aol.com
Title: Taste Testing
Characters: Josh/CJ/Toby
Rating: G
Summary: And you don't see me as 'real thing' material?
Disclaimer: Not mine at all.
Spoilers: No.
Feedback: Always appreciated.
A/N: 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Oro! Happy birthday to you . . .' Josh. Just for you. With a dollop of something else.
Rhonda – this wouldn't be up here without you. Kate, you're a honey.
*
Taste Testing
*
Josh sat silently on CJ's couch, not moving.
CJ stared at him, waiting patiently until the tortured expression on his face eased and he was able to articulate his internal struggle.
"Why," he began, "does everyone treat me as an adolescent idiot in a grown man's body?"
"Because you are?" CJ stopped when she saw the hurt in his eyes. She sighed. "No, Josh, you're not. You are an amazingly bright man with a phenomenal talent for politics." She looked right at him, wanting him to hear the sincerity in her voice, "and a phenomenal talent for friendship." She studied his face for any evidence of acceptance of her gift. None.
CJ walked over to the couch and lowered herself down beside Josh. They didn't touch, but she could feel the tension emanating in waves from him, and she frantically searched her 'Josh vocabulary' to find the right words to comfort him. She found nothing, and slumped in defeat.
"CJ?"
"Hmmm?" She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at him.
"Can I kiss you?"
"Is this some kind of sick joke, Josh? Are you drunk, or have you just lost your mind?" CJ's irritation showed plain across her face. "For God's sake don't try and tell me that you have been harboring some secret passion for me, because that's bull and you know it."
"Don't you wonder, CJ? Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to be able to kiss one of your colleagues, one of your friends and know, just know, that this was it? That he or she was the one you were destined to spend the rest of your life with?" Josh looked tired and his age, for once. "I mean - I like - I love the people here. I spend more time with them than anyone else in my life. Why can't I find that person in the West Wing?"
"You really want to kiss me and see if I'm that person?" CJ tried, and failed, to keep the amusement out her voice. " Go on then. Try." She turned her face towards him, expecting him to chicken out, to backtrack, to make a joke and laugh it off.
He leaned forward and kissed her. Lightly at first and then opened his mouth and deepened the kiss as much as she would let him.
They drew apart.
CJ looked at him, her eyes sparkling with humor. "Nice but no cigar?"
Josh smiled ruefully. "Nice, but no cigar."
They settled back against the couch and sat in silence for a while.
"You gonna kiss your way around the West Wing?" CJ prodded his leg. "You know, to test your theory? Because if you do, you shouldn't leave out Will. Or Ed or Larry. I'll accept that Leo is out of bounds for now, but if you don't strike gold with the lower echelons, then you're gonna have to take it higher."
"What are you trying to say, CJ?" Josh grabbed her finger before she could bruise him significantly.
"I'm saying that I knew before you kissed me that it would be nice, but that you weren't 'the one' as you so quaintly phrase it. I'd have felt just as happy kissing Donna, or Ginger or Carol. I'm not fussy, Josh, but I think I know the real thing when I see it."
"And you don't see me as 'real thing' material?" Josh looked hurt again. And more than hurt.
"Not for me, Josh." CJ rubbed her eyes, regretting that she had ever consented to have this conversation.
"Haven't you ever wondered about your colleagues? What it would be like to kiss Sam, make love to Toby?"
"Let's not go there, shall we." A statement, not a question.
"Okay," Josh paused, studying his friend's face carefully. "But I bet you that they've wondered what it would be like to be with you . . ." He held his hands up at the horrified expression on her face. "I'm not speaking with authority here, CJ!"
"Good – because if I thought you were discussing me in that way over a beer, I would be after you so fast . . . God, Josh, it's hard enough being a woman in this place, without worrying if your colleagues are wondering what you look like naked."
"Seriously, CJ." Josh turned his head to look at her. "Have you ever met the 'real thing'?"
CJ considered him. She considered the hours he spent working for the common good; she considered the passion with which he defended what he thought of as right; and she considered the goodness of his heart and the depth of his friendship.
And she told him the truth.
"Yes. But, you know, Josh, here's the thing. They have to think of you in the same way for it to work. And that doesn't always happen. That's just not going to happen for me."
Josh tipped his head, "CJ . . ."
A head round the door cut him off mid sentence.
"Hey, Toby. CJ and I were discussing our love lives. She let me kiss her! An act of true friendship if ever there was one. If you're nice to her, maybe she'll do the same for you." Josh beamed at the face at the door. God, he loved these people, maybe he was a lucky man even to have just this.
CJ flushed and stood. "I'm going home. See you both tomorrow." She grabbed her coat and walked out of her office.
"Night, CJ," Toby straightened to let her brush past. Josh watched as Toby's eyes followed her down the hall.
"Toby, let me ask you something. Do you ever think that you might have met the woman you are destined love here, at work? CJ reckons I should kiss my way round the West Wing . . ."
*
The echoing heels faded away to nothing.
The End
