Author: Angie
Email: AngieSuth@aol.com or angiesuth@hotmail.com
Title: A Lull In The Downpour
Characters: CJ/T
Rating: PG -13
Summary: Sometimes you need to step out of the rain.
Disclaimer: Not mine at all.
Spoilers: 'Mid' Ep to 'The Stormy Present', but more in fantasyland than anything else.
Feedback: Always appreciated.
A/N: For the challenge posted earlier this week or last. Except I failed on the R or NC-17 thing. Hadn't the heart, somehow.
Rhonda makes my day. Without her, you wouldn't be reading this. You need someone to have faith sometimes, and Rhonda gives me mine.
This has been a trying time. But not as trying as it has been for some others.
Kimberly and I DreamofAJ – here's to distraction and the good luck you deserve. With an awful lot of love.
*
A Lull In The Downpour
*
"Toby, I'm not protecting you. Go hide from the President somewhere else. Out!"
The door shut with a satisfying clunk.
And opened again.
Toby poked his head into CJ's office. "What if I told you that I'm not hiding from the President?"
CJ raised an eyebrow and swallowed a derisive snort.
"Well," Toby smiled grudgingly, "Of * course * I'm hiding from Lincoln reincarnate, but that's not the only reason for me sitting on your couch." He paused, closing the door as he came back into her office, and pulled shut the one blind still open. His eyes drifted to the busy television screen and stayed there. Determinedly.
"I'm waiting, Toby."
CJ looked at her tuxedo-clad friend, watched as his hands twisted nervously at his tie. Damn, but he cleaned up nicely. She glanced at her watch and sighed. No time for this, no time at all, but she couldn't resist a chance not to inflict a little torture of her own devising. God knows she was about to be tortured. Donna had had to sit with the President in the theater last year, but she'd had to ride in the car with him and travel on Air Force One as he re-lived his vintage quips and ripostes the following day. She shuddered at the memory.
CJ let her hands hover over the button of her pants before softly popping it open. She saw Toby's eyes drift to her fingers and then straight back to CNN. She saw the faint flush on his cheeks. How far was he going to let her go before he ran screaming for cover? It was an old game, but CJ was conscious of moving it up a level; she just had to keep focused, not get distracted; hold onto her advantage for once. She took a deep breath and undid her zip.
"Well?" Her tone was no-nonsense, her hands busy.
Toby swallowed painfully, fully aware of the rustle of silk as CJ pulled her blouse from her pants and started opening the buttons, bottom first. He sank back down onto the couch and undid his collar. His eyes followed the trail of CJ's hands and the smooth expanse of skin, not to mention the neat little bellybutton, now exposed at her midriff. He was finding it difficult to breathe, let alone speak.
"Uh," he croaked, "would you believe me if I said it was for the pleasure of your company?"
"No. You'll have to do better than that." CJ was having fun. She liked it when Toby got nervous. She liked it even better when she was the one who was making him nervous. She particularly liked it when she was on top. Holding on to that thought, she made her next move.
CJ finished her buttons and let her blouse hang open as she bent to slip off her shoes and pants. Bare-legged, she turned to reach for the hanger on the back of her door.
Toby let his eyes roam over CJ's long legs, mentally applauding her dedication to the LifeCycle he knew was used daily in front of the television in her apartment study. He watched a muscle in her slim backside twitch as she stretched to hang up her pants, and he wondered just how much of it he would be able to cup in his hands; whether the heat of her would penetrate the sheerness of her underwear; whether her skin would be as soft as he imagined it to be.
CJ turned back to face him, the light in her eyes betraying her excitement at having Toby right where she wanted him: having Toby wanting her.
Toby groaned, realizing too late how it would sound, and cleared his throat in an attempt to disguise the sound. He turned his shoulders towards the television, but his head stubbornly refused to follow.
"You don't mind me changing while you're thinking of something more plausible, do you? I've left it all a little bit too late." CJ let her blouse slip from her shoulders and silently thanked God for the matching underwear Carol had given her for Christmas. She twisted to hang up her blouse, and Toby saw the skin stretch over her ribs before letting his eyes linger on the small nipples he could see hardening through the silk and lace of her bra.
She took her makeup out of her purse.
"Make yourself useful." CJ held out a small mirror and gestured for Toby to stand.
He did.
He took the mirror.
Toby prayed that she would keep her eyes on her reflection and away from his trousers.
She did.
She could feel his breath on her face
CJ stepped closer to Toby and raised the lipstick to her mouth, shaping her lips into a small 'o' as she exhaled, and widening her eyes as she tried to focus. She was going to have to work hard on keeping her hand steady. The thought of him watching her lips and her teeth and her tongue suddenly unnerved her. She almost put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. Instead, she lay her hand on his wrist, ostensibly to position it, but wanting the contact. Her fingers lightly touched the fine hairs there and lingered briefly under the cuff of his shirt. She allowed her thumb to rest in the palm of his hand.
Toby could smell her perfume; feel the heat of her; see the steady beat of the pulse in her neck. He wanted to press his lips to it – taste her life force as it beat passionately through her. He wanted to bury his face in her hair; wrap his arms around her and pull her to him so tightly he could feel every muscle, every bone … and glory in her well placed softness.
He wanted to kiss away the color she had just skillfully applied.
"Thank you." CJ took the mirror, letting her other hand brush against his chest and releasing his wrist from her gentle grip. She replaced it in her purse and looked up at him. "Stay there!"
Toby stopped his awkward backward shuffle to the relative safety of the couch and undid another button on his shirt. It was getting uncomfortably hot.
"I haven't finished with you yet." CJ forced her voice to stay businesslike. She stepped into her dress and pulled it slowly up her body. As it reached her waist, she turned away from him slightly and called over her shoulder, " Hold it up for me, would you?"
Toby inched forward and tentatively placed his hands on CJ's hips, lightly holding the dress in place. His thumb grazed the skin at the small of her back and he felt her shiver. It was the first sign of any kind he'd had that she was affected by his presence, and although he felt he should analyze the previous ten minutes and his strange inability to exert his free will, with so little blood being sent to his brain, he just didn't have the wherewithal. He knew he was in need of a stiff …
The thought shuddered to a halt as CJ's arm stretched behind her to undo her bra and slide it over her shoulders. Toby caught a glimpse of the side of her breast; milk soft skin and pink bud nipple, before she thrust the bra into his hands and pulled the dress up to cover herself.
"Zip me up, please?"
Toby extended a trembling hand and pulled the tiny zipper up the length of her back. The dress fitted like a second skin, the deep red giving the pale flesh a warm glow. Unable to help himself, he let go of the zip, but brushed his hand upwards to the nape of her neck and ran his fingers through her hair; watching it swing softly back into place.
Little touches. So far, it had always been little touches, and Toby found it almost unbearably poignant that that urge had not been replaced. He wanted CJ now, wanted her badly, but the feel of her hair in hand thrilled him more than he could say.
"I've always wanted to do that." His voice was no more than a whisper.
CJ picked up her necklace from her desk and raised her arms to hold it behind her. "While you're there, I could use a bit more help with this."
Toby took the delicate clasp and fastened it, placing the chain gently against her neck. The intimacy of the action, the feel of her skin beneath his fingertips; the sheer beauty of the jewelry and his friend brought a lump to his throat.
CJ turned and smiled at him before leaning down to breathe a kiss on his cheek. She smoothed the lipstick trace with her thumb. "Thanks. Can you see my shoes?"
Toby scanned the office, glad for the excuse to hide the flush creeping up through his beard. Still holding CJ's bra, he bent to retrieve the shoes from beside the couch and gasped as he stood.
CJ was wriggling out of her underwear.
She grinned at the expression on his face; equal parts lust and amazement. Just what she looked for in a man.
"There are ways and means, Toby, but sometimes it's just easier to go without." She handed him her panties. "Put these and the bra in my briefcase, would you?"
Never in his wildest dreams had Toby imagined CJ to be wearing nothing under her formal wear. He could catalogue all his favorite dresses of hers, and now that list needed a re-think: underwear, or no underwear.
He dropped the shoes.
"Will you dance with me later?" Toby couldn't help himself. He gripped the silk in his hands tighter, unwilling to let go of the tangible evidence.
CJ laughed. "It's a theater, Toby, nothing more. No dancing. Just the President's version of Lincoln-mania and something else we're bound not to understand and you're destined to hate."
"Dance with me now, then?" He was suddenly in front of her, his nose just inches from her chin, his eyes fixed on the curve of her cheek.
CJ could feel a warm hand touch her elbow. "Only if you promise not to sing."
She leaned into him, and rested her head against his.
Toby closed his eyes. "I only sing when I'm unhappy. You don't make me unhappy, CJ." He felt her smile. "Well, you don't. You make me mad and you make me angry. But you don't make me unhappy. Don't make me unhappy, CJ, dance with me."
Toby slipped her underwear into his pocket and slipped his arms around her waist. He pulled her hips towards his and let his hand slide over her backside. "Magic. And now I know how you do it." He heard her laugh and smiled against her cheek.
"Consider it a gift." She let her lips brush his ear and her fingers dip under the collar of his shirt. "You know …"
A knock on the door and Carol's voice. "They're waiting in the lobby for you, CJ."
"I'll be right out, thank you." CJ stood still in Toby's arms and leaned back to look at him, a soft smile on her face.
Toby let his hands slide slowly from CJ's dress. He dropped a kiss on her collarbone and straightened her necklace with a softly stroking finger.
"You look lovely." He picked up her wrap and handed it to her. "We'd better go."
*
Josh turned as the door opened.
"What are you doing? You're sitting ducks out there!" Toby let CJ stride out in front of him and fiddled with his tie.
He patted his jacket pocket and wondered when she'd notice what was missing. And what she was going to do about it. Whatever 'it' was.
Sometimes you need to step out of the rain.
The End.