Title: Hush
Author: AmandasArmada
Rating: M – contains explicit content!
Summary: What happens when C.J. and Danny don't really talk before "Requiem."
A/N: This is technically a prologue to "What Else", but it can stand alone too. Please feel free to leave a review!
x-x-x-x-x-x
November 2006
After her second date with Danny, there'd been phone calls. Phone calls, and flowers, and a box of goldfish crackers mysteriously ending up on her desk one morning after she'd complained about having to go in at 5 AM the upcoming Sunday. He hadn't asked her out again, respecting her promise to herself that she wouldn't see him again until after the inauguration, but he'd found little ways to make his presence known.
And the fact was, once he was back in her life, she couldn't seem to stay away from him...And so, there had been phone calls. Five minutes here, fifteen there, even a whole half hour once. He made her laugh and actually kept her on task, asking her about her work and offering her words of encouragement when she needed it. It started becoming a regular thing – every few days, even for a minute, she'd hear his voice or see his name pop up in her inbox. He'd comment on some facet of her day – sometimes the biggest news story, sometimes just to let her know that the Speaker of the House had tripped getting out of a limo, and his buddy from The Post had snapped a picture and he would be more than happy to forward it to her should she ever need a laugh.
When Leo McGarry died, C.J. knew Danny made an official call of condolence to the White House, but that was all. At least, that was all until she checked her email late that night, where she found a message, short and simple. It merely said:
C.J. -
Whatever you need.
She closed her eyes, tears falling silently down her face. He'd known she didn't need another voice in her ear, or another obligatory emotional exchange to fight through with a brave face. He was just there, ready to help her if and when she came to him.
She fell into bed even later than usual that night, the faces of Leo McGarry and Danny Concannon floating in the forefront of her mind.
x-x-x-x-x-x
The day after Leo's death was quiet, an incredible contrast to the usual chaos of the White House. Even people's voices seemed softer, more somber. Restful. C.J. knew this was a veneer, and she had a feeling the assistants were somehow putting in even more work to make things run more smoothly for their bosses. She spent the first half of the day in a fog, reading briefings, going to meetings, returning calls, putting in her own suggestions for the arrangements being made for Leo's funeral. At lunch she sat with Josh and a small collection of other staff members, trading stories about their fallen hero. A few congressmen even showed up to join in, including one senator who'd fought with Leo during the war. C.J. sat quietly for most of the lunch, absorbing the anecdotes and bittersweet insights being shared by the grieving people around her.
During the second half of the day, her mind turned to Danny Concannon. She thought about how she'd waited eight years just to get to go to dinner with him. She thought about the fact that one day, Leo had been vibrant – passionate, joking, strong and sweet. Poised to be the next vice-president. The next, he had surrendered into oblivion.
Things in life were fleeting, and uncertain. She'd learned that lesson when her mother died, and was reminded of it today.
She knew how important it was to use the rest of the time she had left in the White House wisely. But it was time to start planning for her life beyond it, too.
She knew it was going to happen tonight. It was inevitable, it always had been, and the hourglass had finally ran out of sand. Their time was up. The thought hung over her as the pace picked up around the office, urgent calls coming in, damage control to take care of. At the back of C.J.'s mind, there was a memory of Danny's lips on hers, of his hand taking hold of hers, of staring into his eyes, breathless. It sustained her as she worked, giving her the energy to get her through this awful, awful day.
Finally, at around midnight, she made her way out of the building, her Secret Service detail flanking her.
She had waited long enough to get to spend a night with Danny Concannon. Her first instinct to go to him, to get lost in her grief and comfort herself with his touch, fell away as she sat in the car on the way to his building. It wasn't going to be heart-wrenching. Her first night with him wasn't going to be the product of emotional devastation.
She was going to smile at him, and hold his hand, and kiss him, and he would respond as he always did, with eagerness and pleasant surprise. She was going to make him laugh, and watch his face as she tore off her clothes.
She was tired of waiting, and overanalyzing, and depriving herself of what could make her happy.
x-x-x-x-x-x
C.J.'s eyes were glued to Danny as he opened the door to his apartment, taking in his sexy mussed-up curls and broad shoulders, not hidden under a suit jacket, but covered only by a thin dark blue sweater. Her eyes traveled down, looking at his loose drawstring pants and bare feet. Vaguely she heard one of the agents introducing himself, and heard the shuffle as Danny stood aside to let him in for the inspection.
"All clear, ma'am."
They tipped their heads to her, and C.J. entered Danny Concannon's apartment, closing the door firmly behind her.
"Hey," Danny said, and his voice was soft and tired but welcoming. He gave her a gentle smile, and stepped forward gingerly, and she let him embrace her. His body was warm and his scent wafted up to C.J.'s senses, and she broke away just enough to make eye contact as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He met her gaze bravely, and she saw the loving concern in his eyes.
"I don't really want to talk tonight," she said softly.
"That's okay," Danny said, always the picture of understanding. "Do you want to sit down? I could put something on the TV and you could just zone out for awhile."
"I actually had something else in mind," C.J. said, and she was proud of how husky her voice sounded. Danny held her gaze, not so much confused as patient to hear what she had to say.
She gave him a small smile, then felt it widen - and then she was kissing him.
It was even better than she remembered. His lips were soft and pillowy, and his beard tickled at just the right pressure to feel nice and not scratchy. He smelled so good.
She felt him respond, raising one hand to place in her hair, the other still wrapped around her waist. He sighed a little. He could smell the dab of her perfume, and something flowery that might have been her shampoo. He gently guided her against the door, kissing her patiently, slowly, showing her that this was something he was always prepared for, an action as natural to him as breathing. C.J. pushed her lips more firmly against his, lifting her own hands to frame his face, and felt her face break into a smile.
He was such a good kisser. He was steadily alternating between sucking gently on her top and bottom lip, gently brushing her lips with his tongue. His breath was warm and his hands started traveling up and down her sides.
He was happy to be kissing her, but he didn't get it. Well, that was fine. She'd just have to take a more forceful approach.
C.J.'s hands drifted down, leaving his face and moving up and down his chest as she slipped her tongue into their kiss. Danny moaned appreciatively, wrapping his arms around her waist again.
Still not enough. She let her hands continue down, and then she was untying the drawstrings on his sweatpants, feeling her hands brush against the bulge underneath. She heard the sharp intake of breath and smiled. Danny loosened his hands from her waist, taking half a step back and surveying her face, breathless.
C.J. smiled seductively at him.
"Do you like this blouse?"
"What?" He breathed.
"My blouse. Do you like it?"
"Yeah," he said hoarsely, staring transfixed at the spot of revealed skin where she'd pulled the top of the blouse to the side, showing off part of her chest and shoulder.
"Oh. That's too bad." C.J. took a step forward, brushing her lips against his for a second. "I was thinking of taking it off."
Danny made a weird rasping breathing noise, and C.J. cracked up, grinning as she kissed him again, this time letting herself nip at his tongue for a second. "Danny," she whispered.
"Yeah."
"We're really doing too much talking. I'm gonna stop doing that now."
Danny stared at her, dumbstruck, his face flushed. She picked the kiss back up, pushing Danny backwards so he was walking with his back turned towards a hallway she'd seen when she came in. He was kissing her back now, a sense of urgency and excitement building, and she laughed again, only stopping the kiss long enough to draw breath. She opened for eyes for a split-second, finding one of the doors in the hall ajar, and she could see a bed and a nightstand with a reading lamp and an old dog-eared book next to it. They entered the room together, Danny's hands now traveling up and down her sides again, then gently sliding forward to brush against her breasts. "Mmm," C.J. murmured quietly. They were at the bed. She felt Danny's knees buckle and she pushed him back onto the bed, crawling on top of him, straddling him as he moved up and laid on his back, their kisses continuing. C.J. brought her hands up, starting to unbutton the offending blouse, feeling the silk slip over her skin as it fell off. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded. Danny still seemed stunned, but he was quickly catching up, his hands now running over her bare skin – along her sides, up her back, caressing her stomach, then brushing against her bra, all the while never breaking the kiss.
Their arms brushed as C.J. felt her way down, starting to tug at his pants. Danny arched his body, trying to catch his breath, as she pulled them off him and dropped them on the floor, shoving her blouse off the bed at the same time. "You sure about this?" Danny said breathlessly, gazing at her with his huge blue eyes, the yearning in them undeniable. C.J. grinned at him.
"What do you think?" she asked playfully, pulling his sweater off him. She bent down to kiss his neck, taking in the scent of his aftershave. His hands moved down to feel her legs, and then he was unzipping her skirt, tugging it down desperately. She leaned forward, acutely aware of her breasts' position relative to his face, and helped him slip it off, knocking it down so it joined the rest of their clothes strewn along the floor and moving back into her straddling position.
She was making out with Danny Concannon in their underwear in his apartment. Her life was definitely looking up.
Her lips started to move down from his neck, following the path to his shoulders, then down his chest and to his stomach. She giggled, feeling the tickle of his chest hair on her face, moving her head back up and kissing his face some more. It was late, and she was exhausted, but she was going to enjoy this.
Her eyes met his and they held each other's gaze for a moment. She looked at him, taking in the love in his eyes, the look of rapture and happiness on his face. She kissed him again, slower and softer this time, and shifted her lower body so she was pressing gently against his erection. Danny let out a long breath. He started kissing her again, and she felt herself melt into him, his hands reaching up and unclasping her black push-up bra in one fluid motion. She let it slide off her, opening her eyes to see him watching her, his eyes traveling down to take in her breasts. Danny heard a little "mm" escape his smiling lips as he gazed at her, adoring her. Her breasts were small and round and beautiful, and he really, really wanted them in his mouth. C.J. seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because she lowered herself slightly, and Danny eagerly sat up further, taking one into his mouth. The sound of C.J.'s breathing made his groin ache, and he brought his other hand up, caressing her other breast, feeling her nipple turn into the bud of eraser under his fingers. He switched, taking the other breast into his mouth, and heard her gasp as she started making riding motions, the layers of cotton still separating their lower halves.
"Roll me over," she breathed firmly, and Danny immediately obeyed, looking down into her eyes and seeing his own smile matched on her face. She brought her hands up to comb her fingers through his hair, caressing his face, identical grins playing on their faces as he brought his head down for another kiss.
This was pure elation. Feeling her skin, listening to her breaths, seeing the happiness on her face when he finally broke off for air...he could have stayed with her like this forever, just watching her and kissing her.
Before the thought could even finish forming, Danny let out a haggard breath, watching as C.J. reached down and started pulling at her panties. He'd never been more turned on in his life. He took in the sweet little curls, swallowing as he saw that some of them looked damp, and gazed at the spot where her mound joined to her long, long legs. He was itching to taste her. He hesitated, wondering if the sounds of her coming would be enough to push him over the edge. It had been a very, very long time.
Before he'd had the chance to make up his mind, C.J. was impatiently tugging at his boxers, and he hastened to comply, taking in the mischievous grin still dancing on her face. "Roll again," she murmured, and a moment later he gazed up at her naked body in wonder. He knew what she wanted without thinking about it, and a moment later he gasped with her, her at the sensation of his finger entering her, him at the realization of how wet she was. He slipped another finger in with ease, listening to her breathing quicken. He used his right hand to caress her hair, bringing her down so he could kiss her. She was smiling almost shyly, gazing down at him, and he started rocking his left hand slowly, feeling his palm brush against her clit. C.J. closed her eyes, screwing up her face in concentration, and after a minute of gentle gliding and rocking, Danny curled his fingers up in a "come hither" motion. A few seconds later she was shaking and gasping his name, and Danny knew he'd been right; he was close too now. Their eyes met again and suddenly C.J. was rolling with him, and he was looking down at her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him. She wiggled a little, and Danny got the message, loud and clear. He forced himself to wait another minute anyway, kissing her gently, and C.J. let out a little sigh of happiness.
After a minute or so of kissing C.J. broke away, gazing into his eyes, and Danny took a deep breath, knowing it was time. He returned her smile, kissing her quickly on the cheek, then closed his eyes for a second as he slid inside her.
It lasted longer than he'd expected. When he entered her C.J. let out a soft sigh, and it was enough to compel him to hold off as long as possible. God, he wanted to feel her tremble again. He got his wish after several minutes of steady thrusting, aided by him positioning himself so he knew he'd be putting friction on her clitoris. The sound of his name on her lips as she came was enough to make him finish, feeling warm waves of release flood his body. Then he was kissing her, exhausted but delirious, and her warm smile flooded his heart with emotion. He pulled out gently a second later, rolling over on his side facing her, wrapping an arm around her.
He'd made love to C.J. Cregg. This moment had been in the works for a better part of a decade – shouldn't he have felt a greater sense of pressure when the time arrived? How was it possible that he hadn't overhyped this moment, setting it up in his mind so the real thing couldn't possibly meet his expectations?
He shook his head a little, clearing his thoughts. C.J. was smiling, curling up to him and yawning. "I'm going to go to sleep now," she said quietly.
"Kay," Danny replied softly.
"I have to get to work really early tomorrow."
"Sure," he said sweetly, understanding that she meant if he were to wake up and find her gone, he shouldn't take it as a slight.
"That was really nice," C.J. said, in a voice so soft he barely heard it.
He kissed her forehead gently, closing his eyes, burying this moment in his memory, hopefully the first night of many with her falling asleep in his arms.