Title: Dulles to LAX, Indirect.

Chapter 1: The Red Eye

Pairing: CJ/Danny
Author: Array
Email: array_

Rating: PG-13 (adult themes)
Disclaimer: They're all Aaron's except Jim.
Author's Notes: Takes place after Duck and Cover. Please review.

Late at night he's watching as the story unfolds on CSPAN. He's knows there's nothing to do or say, and no way he can intrude on her concentration… not now. Still he sends an email. "Saw the news. Talk to you when you surface." he signs it the way he used to, "D.C." because it's kind of a private joke, and he can't risk signing anything else. He's mildly surprised to get a return email the same night. All it says is "You don't know the half of it, but I'm still treading water.- CJ"

He lets it go at that.

Two days later the phone rings and it's Jim MacIntyre, a freelance photo journalist he's worked with before.

"Danny, I've got National Geographic hooked on a background piece on nuclear energy and the various missteps along the way. Why don't you come on out to California for a few days, we'll do some interviews and photos, then next week I'll meet you in Pennsylvania and we can do some '25 years on' details on Three Mile island. Are you in?"

He agrees because he knows this is no time to discuss anything with her. He's heading out to Los Angeles as Air Force One wings its way back to Washington. He sends her a couple of emails while he's in California, but there's no real content in them. Nothing you wouldn't send to a friend. Nothing to cause pressure.

One week later he's on the red eye back to Dulles. He's tired, but he can't seem to sleep, so he fills the time writing a POV for the Post, making a list of facts he needs to have checked on the Three Mile Island debacle and a brief synopsis for a side bar on Chernobyl. He pretty well has the info clear on San Andreo. He has a copy of the Kemeny Commission Report in his briefcase and he hauls it out and starts highlighting. Somewhere over Missouri he pulls out his i pod and leans the seat back, and selects his 'Beatles Ballads' playlist, hoping it will lull him to sleep.

Something in the way she moves,
Attracts me like no other lover.
Something in the way she woos me.
I don't want to leave her now,
You know I believe in how.

He closes his eyes.

Somewhere in her smile she knows,
That I don't need no other lover.
Something in her style that shows me.
I don't want to leave her now,
You know I believe in how.

Bad choice. He's halfway through the song before he realizes he's on the verge of tears. Damn it. He feels like he's back to where he started eight or so years ago. Damn Josh Lyman anyways. Like he needed a reminder of the date… Of 'the current window in time'. Part of him wishes that he hadn't called her. He was doing okay alone... wasn't he? God, it's Josh who should be listening to this song, not him.

You're asking me will my love grow,
I don't know, I don't know.
Stick around, and it may show,
But I don't know, I don't know.

Yes, him. He can't blame Josh for this one really. He knew he was coming back to Washington for this. Knew he couldn't stay away. He swears if this doesn't work he's really going to give up. No.. really… he will. He knows he can't just keep waiting, but he's not sure what his next move should be. It's the look she had on her face when she said, "I wanted to see you" that keeps him in the game. He's seen her in the background on CNN and CSPAN over the last week and she looks solemn and tired. Hell, they all look tired, and it doesn't look like there's a lot of fun on Pennsylvania Avenue these days. He knows she can't or won't reach out to him. He needs to find a way in.

Something in the way she knows,
And all I have to do is think of her.
Something in the things she shows me.
I don't want to leave her now.
You know I believe and how.

He does what he always does when he wants to know her schedule, or her mood, or the length of time a member of the Fourth Estate could survive in the halls of the West Wing. He emails Carol.

*******

It's been a difficult week. It's after midnight and she's still going through briefing notes for a meeting the next morning. She's curled up in her pajamas and robe in the armchair with a cup of coffee beside her on the table. She's tired. She's tired of the crises that dog her every day, she's tired of being in charge, and she's tired of not having anyone to joke and play with. She misses her spin boys, her buddies. She's read the same page three times, but she can't seem to focus. She's waiting for the caffeine to kick in and her attention is wandering, and she finds herself thinking about him. She's thinking about his hands. She remembers the feel of his hand on the back of her neck, under her hair. Fidgeting nervously on the tablecloth….. Creating white space…Neutral territory. A magic trick… what had she been thinking? She pinches the bridge of her nose. Her blackberry rings and she reaches for it without looking, nearly putting her hand into the coffee. She picks it up, recognizes the number for her secret service detail, and says "What's up, Rob?"

"Uh, Mr. Concannon's at the door ma'am"

"You let him up?"

"Yes, ma'am. He seemed to think you were expecting him."

"I don't really know what you guys are paid for…"

"No ma'am."

There's a knock on the door. When she opens it Danny is there with a carry bag. He walks in.

"I thought you were in California?"

"I was… yesterday…or this morning. Red eye last night to Dulles. Stories to file today, but I thought since we missed dessert last time I'd bring it over."

"I'm still kind of working." She waves the briefing papers at him. "I have a meeting at 8:00 am."

He pulls a piece of pink phone message paper out of his pocket and hands it to her. "Oh yeah. Margaret says it's pushed to 10:00 a.m."

"You saw Margaret today? She told you I would be here?"

"C.J., there's a black limo parked out front and two guys in suits and overcoats hanging around on the front stoop…… she didn't have to tell me. " He grins at her cheekily. "Carol told me……. Margaret was the one who told me Giuseppe had chocolate cheesecake in the kitchen, and quite honestly you weren't here when they told me. I just asked when your last meeting of the day was, and figured it out from there."

"How do you do that? How do you get my assistants to work for you all the time? First Carol, now Margaret? They're supposed to work for me!"

He shrugs. "I don't know… women like me" he smiles at her.

"Some of them do!"

He shrugs again, "Well I guess the flowers and the gifts don't hurt"

She swats at him with her file folder and he knows he's halfway home. "Cheesecake?" he says temptingly, holding up the bag.

She half smiles and shakes her head, but he's already in the kitchen pulling plates out of the cupboard. "Okay I have presentation instructions here…" he unfolds a sheet of paper.

She sits down on a high stool, ready to be distracted. Beating back demons….Looking to be amused… She puts the folder of briefing notes down on the counter and leans on it.

"Do you have any confectionary sugar?" he asks.

"I don't even know what that is"

"Hmmm… okay, we'll do without that." He takes a bottle of chocolate sauce out of the bag and drizzles it on to the two plates.

She reaches out and swipes a fingerful off the nearest plate.

"Hey! That one's going to be yours then!"

"I'm okay with that."

She does it again as he's shifting pieces of chocolate cheesecake out of a pastry box and on to the plates.

"Hey! Cut it out…. Presentation is important here!"

He adds a little more chocolate sauce and is reaching into the bag when she tries for a third time, this time scooping up a little bit of cheesecake. His hand shoots out and grabs her by the wrist before she can get it to her mouth.

"I told you… no!"

She's laughing for the first time all week. They struggle a little but he's got her overpowered because she's giggling too much. He brings her hand to his mouth and licks the chocolate off her fingers. He still has her fingers in his mouth when he looks her in the eye. She stops laughing, and there is moment of silence before she says "Danny….. Did you come here tonight to seduce me?"

He smiles at her. "I kinda did, yeah." And he reaches under her hair and pulls her in for a long kiss. If anything it's better than he remembered, and he finds it more difficult than he anticipated to stop and tease, "How am I doing so far?"

"And when I said I didn't want to see you until after we were out of office?" Her hands are on his shoulders, under his suspenders.

"Totally ignoring it.' He slips his hands under his suspenders so that they drop off his shoulders, reaches out for her, pulls her in again and kisses her long and sweetly. She puts her arms around his neck, and he kisses the soft skin below her ear and down onto her shoulder. He breathes in her scent, and he can feel his blood pounding as he says lightly, "Do you still want dessert?"

"I thought that's what we were having"

He runs his fingers up just inside the collar of her pajamas, up her neck and smoothes a piece of hair behind her ear. "I was thinking of this more as an appetizer..." He grins. He looks like a kid waiting to be given permission to create mischief.

She kisses him softly. "I assume you have some kind of plan for the entrée?" but she's the one unbuttoning his shirt.

He looks at the ceiling, shakes his head, pulls her to her feet and says 'You should come with me now, so we avoid working that innocent little metaphor to death." He starts towards the bedroom, but she's really on a roll now.

"You don't want to talk about the daily special?"

"Not really, no!"

"How about reservations?"

"Only if you've still got 'em"

"How about Catch of the Day?"

"Get over here!" he reels her in and she slips her arms around him under his shirt. They kiss long and hard before he half falls half pulls her on to the bed. He stops for a moment and takes her face in his hands. "You can still say no." he says gently. This time it's her. Pulling him closer and kissing him an answer.

***************

He wakes up suddenly, knowing he's not in his own apartment. She's sitting on the bed beside him, wearing only her robe, finishing a piece of cheesecake."

"Hey Sleeping Beauty. Welcome back"

He shakes his head groggily. "I prefer Prince Charming."

"Yeah, me too,"

"What time is it?"

"About two thirty."

He squints at her. "I fell asleep?"

She nods. "Well, you were working pretty hard," she teases. "Maybe it was just 'cause you were up for so long." She licks the fork and smiles at him seductively.

He smiles at her sleepily. "Hmmm. Feels like I did something right the first time."

"This was your first time? You should have told me. I would have been more gentle."

"Come closer so I can smack you." He says lazily, but she just laughs.

He struggles to sit up. "And why are you still awake?"

I heard the chocolate cheesecake calling my name. It was quite loud. I'm surprised you slept through it." She holds up a forkful. "Last bite?" He shakes his head. She puts the empty plate on the bedside table.

"You have chocolate on your face," he says.

"Where?"

He motions her closer, then licks his thumb and scrubs it off, with her cheek cupped in his hand. It is a totally tender and unselfconscious gesture. She turns her head to kiss the palm of his hand.

"Are you okay?"he asks simply.

She looks straight back into his eyes. "I'm good," she answers.

He smiles gently at her. "Come here," he says, and she slides out of her robe and under the comforter with him. He pushes her hair back from her face, kisses her gently on her eyes and wraps his arms around her. She melts into him.

******************

TBC