Disclaimer: I do not own the West Wing and I am not making any money by writing about it.

Title: Power Mom

Author: Madelin Breaker

Warnings: Suggestion of Sexual Situations

Pairings: None

Season: Towards the end of season four

Spoilers: Up to season four—may allude to future seasons

Rating: K+

Status: WIP

Archive: Sure, just let me know

Feedback: Please

Summary: A senior staff victory party changes C.J.'s life forever, impacts the dynamic of the West Wing, and brings out those pesky liberal women.

A\N: I've borrowed this plot bunny from another writer and I wish I could give her credit, but I have no idea who she is, having found the fic buried somewhere on a yahoo group. I promise though that this story does not resemble hers beyond the initial plot point.

A\N2: The religion and country that are part of a political sub-plot in this story are completely made up. They are not intended to resemble any real country or religion or to be a satire of any real country or religion.

C.J. groans as light begins to permeate the haze of her hangover.

"Mmph," she continues as she tries to pull the covers up over her head. C.J. rolls over and pulls harder on the blankets that refuse to move from the other side of the bed. She's finally forced to open her eyes when her foggy brain cannot conceive how the covers got glued to the bed. This reveals a bigger surprise than she bargained.

C.J. screams and scrambles to the head of the bed, grabbing the pillows to cover her naked body. At the same time, the occupant of the other side of the bed exclaims surprise and then rolls out of bed with a loud umph.

"Josh, what the hell are you doing in my bed?"

Josh's head pops up over the edge of the bed "huh" he runs his hand through his hair, "un C.J. we're naked."

"I applaud your powers of observation, Lyman." C.J. glances at the floor and fails to find any of her clothes. She resorts to grabbing the sheet at the foot of the bed and wrapping it around herself. She quickly pads into the bathroom in search of her robe, leaving Josh to pass out on the floor.

She emerges a while later washed, dressed in a robe, and the fuzzy taste removed from her mouth. Josh is snoring with his cheek plastered to the hard wood floor. C.J. kicks him and he jumps with a snort. He looks up at her from the floor and his unfocused eyes make C.J. look like a wavering giant.

C.J. can't help smiling at the hung over Josh, staring bizarrely up at her, but the moment fades quickly. "Josh go take a shower."

She leaves him to pick himself up and heads to the living room. The evidence of what happened last night is spread all over the room. C.J. picks her bra up off a lamp and ponders the cliché in that. She then turns on the important coffee pot and returns to the living room to clean up.

Josh emerges from the bath room debating how embarrassing it would be at this point to be walking around in only a towel. He then trips over his clothes piled outside the door. Josh pops up with as much dignity as he can muster and puts his clothes on.

C.J. looks up from her laptop as Josh emerges from her bedroom.

"This is many shades of weird, isn't it?"

"I made coffee. The cups are on the second shelf on the left." C.J. quickly dismisses his attempt to talk.

Josh returns with a cup of coffee, "We're not going to talk about this are we?"

"Do you remember anything?"

"Toby had a bottle of vodka." Josh runs his hand through his hair again. "It gets a little hazy after that."

"Do we have anything to talk about then?" she responds, shutting down her laptop.

"Nah, I guess not." Josh looks uncomfortably down at the floor. He doesn't understand how C.J. can just do this. He shudders for a moment. It's like sleeping with my sister. C.J. smiles at him -not a big smile- but one that let's him know that things will be okay eventually.

"I'm going to get dressed."

The tranquility between C.J. and Josh is short lived. Fuzzy memories are beginning to return and Josh made a joke about the mole on C.J.'s inner thigh. Matters are made worse when they realize they must have taken a cab—neither car is parked on the street.

"Josh, where have you been? I've paged you six times! You have a meeting with Senator Wells in five minutes." A distraught Donna rambles as they stride down the hallway. "Are you wearing the same suit as yesterday?" Donna finally notices C.J. walking with them and castes her a suspicious look.

Josh inadvertently derails Donna's train of thought by shoving his cell phone and pager at her. "I think they need charged."

The panic in C.J.'s stomach diminishes as she listens to Donna tell Josh exactly why he's meeting with the Senator Wells. If anyone is gong to pick up on the weird vibe between Josh and her, it would be Donna.

"C.J.?" Will Bailey pops up beside her.

"Yeah," she responds barely paying attention as she watches Josh and Donna go off in a different direction.

"Are the parties here always like that?"

"Yeah," C.J. responds hardily. The sweetness of yesterday's victory finally returns to her. She notes Will's appearance. "You look like hell."

"Yeah, I fell asleep in your office."

C.J. stops abruptly in the hallway at the image that flashes through her mind. "In my office now," she whispers harshly.

C.J.'s office door slams behind them.

"Are you going to shove me up against the wall again?" Will's question is neutral, merely a statement that something happened between them.

"How much do you remember?" she sits down behind the desk.

"Everything, though, I'm not quite sure how in charge of my facilities I was."

"Will, we're adults and we were drunk."

He interrupts whatever she was going to say next. "I know and don't tell any one." He shrugs with his hand in his pockets.

C.J. smiles weakly at him. "I promise not to put anymore olives in your pocket," she offers as a weak peace gesture.

"Thanks." Will turns and leaves.

C.J. sighs and lays her head on her desk. Moments later Carol comes bustling in.

"Coffee, Tylenol, and the morning wires," she declares a little too perky for someone who is hung over.

"Carol you're a life saver."

"Sure, staff in fifteen minutes."

C.J.'s groan can be heard for quite a distance.

Leo enters the oval office to find the rest of the senior staff seated or as seated as they can be while fidgeting around. Leo walks over to stand by the President, but no one else seems aware of his presence.

"Mr. President?"

"Leo, they've been like this since they got here."

"Like what, sir?" The senior staff being antsy doesn't seem like a national crisis to him.

"C.J. runs for the hills every time Josh or Will look at her and, well, Toby's still seems to think he can move farther over on the couch."

Leo raises his eyebrows. "Sir, I think we have more important things to worry about."

"Right, right"

"Hey guys, we're up here."

Everyone jumps at Leo's gruff words.

"Would someone like to tell me what we have today or should we sit and pretend not to look at each other for another ten minutes."

"Leo, is Margaret withholding coffee from you," Josh begins, "because your mood…"

Josh stops when he sees the look on Leo's face.

"Anyway, I've met with Wells this morning. He can bring us seven votes if we drop amendment five off the bill.

"What's amendment five and what does he have against it?" The president asks.

"Apparently, it prohibits the US from donating certain food to Vendel."

"And those seven votes come from districts that produce some of those foods." Will quickly deduces.

"Why do we care what type of food gets sent to Vendel?" Toby asks in his usual "I can't believe we're having this conversation voice."

The President of course knows the answer to this, "What type of food do you not send to aid a people who practice the Abalan faith?"

"They're the one who refuse to eat anything orange?" Will asks to clarify.

"Yeah, something to do with it being the color from their devil."

"And if we drop this amendment there's a chance any help we send would go to waste because carrots would be taken as an insult." The conversation bounces back to Josh.

"Don't we have someone who regulates that anyway?" The President asks.

Everyone in the room looks at each other, but no one seems to know. Finally Josh responds, "I'll look into that sir."

"Okay" Leo interjects to move onto another subject, "Anything else?"

A knock on the door answers Leo's question. Carol opens the door and gives them an apologetic look. She hands C.J. a folder, and quickly exits. C.J. scans the contents- her face forming a mask of frustration.

"C.J.?" Leo prompts.

"Toby, did you make an intern cry?" she asks with an accusatory tone.

"No" Toby responds like he can't believe she just asked that question.

"Well, Time and the Post have it. It'll be tomorrow's top story along with the announcement of her tell all book."

"Well, that's just great. Who is she?"

"Gladys Timpton"

"Yeah, I think she worked for me. The name sounds vaguely familiar."

"Didn't we have one of those last year?" The President asks.

"Yes, sir, but no one took that one seriously. This one seems to have caught the press's attention. It has a more serious content than séances with the first lady.

"C.J. keep me posted on that. Toby, Will, the education speech?"

"It's coming, Leo," Toby grumbles.

The senior staff seems to have returned to their earlier mood and Leo really doesn't want to know what's up. "Okay, anything else?'

No one says anything so Leo turns to the President.

"Go do your jobs," he dismisses them.

They leave the oval office mumbling "Thank you, sir."

"Leo, there's something going on with those four."

Leo looks like he is going to regret asking this, "Do you want me to look into it?"

The President thinks about this for a moment. "Naw, it's not of our business. They'll work it out."

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir," Leo responds and then goes to his office.

"Margaret!"

She comes scurrying to the room, "Yes, Leo?"

I need the memo ways and means sent over last night."

Margaret nods and turns to leave. Leo sits down at his desk, glasses on, and ready to work, but then he stops. "Margaret."

"Hmm" she pauses in the doorway.

"No, never mind." He wave her off.

"Are you sure?"

"The President thought the senior staff was acting odder than usual today?" Leo reluctantly puts out.

"Toby, Josh, and Will are wearing the same suits as yesterday. And they had a party in the cafeteria and I mean partay."

Leo gets his usual glazed over look.

"But I suppose that isn't that strange."

"No, it's not. Could you get the memo now?"

"Yeah, sure."

TBC

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