What Else

Chapter 3: California

Author: AmandasArmada

Rating: T

January 21st, 2007

The first step back onto California ground was surreal, as a still-drowsy C.J. Cregg surveyed the crowd of people around her. After a moment of searching, she spotted him, grinning at her from a mass of people, and she felt her heart skip a beat even as a laugh tumbled from her lips.

Even with her sunglasses on, she could see the subtle sunburn on his face and arms, and she cracked up, unable and unwilling to stop herself. He smiled bashfully, pulling her into a kiss, which promptly stole her laughter as she sunk into it, the first she'd had in almost a week.

Pulling away a minute later she let out another giggle, her voice scolding. "Danny! Why didn't you wear sunscreen?"

"I did!" He said indignantly. "I guess 30 wasn't high enough. It's been awhile now since I was out of DC, I guess I didn't reapply it as much as I should have." He looked a little embarrassed. "Does it look that bad?"

C.J. giggled, taking her sunglasses off. "No. You're adorable," she said, kissing him again. Danny smiled, wrapping his arms around her.

"I missed you."

C.J. smiled, kissing him. "What've you got for me?" She asked, looking down at the small wrapped box in his hands.

"I'll show ya in a minute." Danny said smiling. They headed over to the baggage area, Danny shooing C.J. away as she started to arrange her bulging suitcase to be wheeled with them as they walked. "Let me get this, you can take the carry-on. You deserve a break," he said easily.

Heading towards the parking lot, Danny and C.J. continued to sneak smiles at each other. "How was your flight? Your Ambien still going strong?"

"No, I think the Vitamin D is waking me up actually." C.J. blinked into the sunshine.

"Good. I didn't want to feel guilty about kissing you if you were still drunk on wine and sleeping pills," Danny smirked. "Not the best thing for a guy's ego, either."

C.J. looked around, smiling faintly, feeling the streaks of sunlight warming her arms. "I forgot what it was like, being sunny all the time. It's nice."

"I'll take that as a sign you don't plan on shutting yourself up in an office all day any time soon." Danny smiled at her to soften the words.

"No, I meant what I said," C.J. said somberly, making eye contact. "I'm going to meet with Mattison and start doing some preliminary planning in a couple of weeks, but I'm not stepping foot into an office for at least a month." C.J. let her free hand grasp Danny's. "That reminds me, how's my new assistant been?" Franklin Hollis had provided her with a temporary personal assistant (she would be free to hire her own later, if she wanted to), a young woman named Mattison Wright, to act as a liaison for the Franklin Hollis Foundation, and C.J. knew she'd been working with Danny to get C.J. settled and comfortable.

"You'll like her, she's funny. She's a bit like Margaret, actually – quirky. She's been a big help. Helped me get this set up, actually." Danny stopped walking, and C.J. looked at him. "Time for your present," Danny said cheerfully.

C.J. unwrapped the box carefully, peering inside.

"A key?"

Danny nudged her, and C.J. looked at where they'd stopped. She'd just assumed Danny had found a rental car, but -

"How on earth did you know about this?"

C.J. gaped at the baby blue mustang, a mirror image of her beloved former car. Danny grinned. "I'm an investigative reporter, C.J. I have my ways. I thought it'd help you feel more at home."

"It's perfect," C.J. breathed.

She beamed at him, and Danny bashfully lifted her suitcase into the back.

An hour later.

They held hands upon reaching Sam's building in Huntington Beach, Danny leading the way to the elevator and then down the hallway towards the condo. Danny held the door for her, and C.J. grinned, stepping in. Sam had arranged for his stuff to be put in storage, and most of her stuff wasn't due to arrive for almost a week, but Danny had been hard at work making the place habitable. A new queen-size had been bought and assembled, and Danny had moved in some of his own things, although C.J. knew his assistant Maisy was still finishing up helping the movers pack up the rest of his apartment.

"Did you eat lunch on the plane?" Danny inquired, lifting her suitcase onto the bed.

"I was way too out of it - I'm starved," C.J. confessed, sitting down on the bed. Danny leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You relax," he told her. "I'll go see what I can knock up."

That evening.

Several hours later they sat on pillows in the living room, chowing down on Chinese and lost in laughter. "So poor Annabeth – sweet, bright, chipper, pint-sized Annabeth - is stuck trying to polish Toby so he's prepared to charm that herd of hyenas more formally known as your colleagues. And Katie, bless her, asks Toby if the President-" at this point C.J. lost it, her huge grin radiating throughout the room as she laughed. Danny gazed at her, grinning, enraptured, before leaning forward and kissing her.

It was several minutes before they broke apart, C.J. grinning breathlessly. "I feel like we still have so much to catch up on," she said breathily.

"Yeah," Danny nodded, smiling. "We've got plenty of time though," he said, taking her hand.

"You really are the cheesiest bastard I've ever met," C.J. laughed affectionately.

"Eh, just whipped," Danny replied good-naturedly. "Did you want to make it an early night?" he continued. "I know you're still on Eastern time."

"That's so sweet of you," C.J. said, relieved. "If you want we can set up the TV in the bedroom, watch a movie before we fall asleep?"

"You bet!" Danny replied enthusiastically. "I've got a bunch of DVDs here somewhere." He opened a closet and pulled out a box. "What do you feel like? I brought A Few Good Men, The Philadelphia Story - something called How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, Maisy gave it to me as a joke, I think she said it's about reporters..."

"Let's watch something funny and terrible, that way I don't have to think too hard," C.J. said, picking up the leftovers and putting them in the fridge.

"Your call," Danny said easily, grabbing the DVD and tossing it into the bedroom. "You wanna see me show off?" he asked smiling, picking up the TV.

"Very manly," C.J. mocked lightly.

"You wanna roll in the TV stand?" Danny called over his shoulder.

A minute later he'd set the TV down on the stand, starting to plug in the TV set and the DVD player.

"You sure this is okay? We can watch whatever you want, really-" C.J. began.

"Nah, this is fine! Gimme a minute, I'm gonna make some popcorn. You like butter?"

C.J. nodded, glancing up from where she stood checking her phone for messages.

"Ah," Danny said.

"What?" C.J. said, giving him her full attention.

"Well, I did have a thought for tonight, if you'll humor me."

"Go for it," C.J. said, opening her suitcase.

"Well, uh," Danny looked more than a little reluctant to continue. C.J. raised her eyebrows, then returned her attention to her suitcase. "Danny?"

"Okay. Well, I'm an easy-going guy, and you know I'm not the kind of person to boss ya around," Danny preambled, and C.J. glanced at him as she pulled a slinky nightgown out that temporarily made him lose his train of thought.

"You were saying you're not going to boss me around?" C.J. prompted.

"Right," Danny said, jumping back to attention. "That being said, I have one suggestion, which I'd really really like you to consider tonight." He picked up her phone from where she'd rested it on the bed, waving it a bit. "No alarms tomorrow. You've earned the right to a full 9-hours sleep, and I think the first step in your training is training your body to relax," he said, only half-joking.

"No alarms," C.J. repeated, considering it for a moment then shrugging. Danny grinned, obviously relieved. He took a step towards her, his trademark grin making her melt.

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to bring you breakfast, and you get to observe the beautiful Southern California sunshine from your spot curled up in bed. We have no obligations whatsoever, and I intend to spend the better part of the day making up for lost time," Danny said seductively, nuzzling her neck. C.J. shivered.

Danny smirked to himself, kissing her once more on the cheek before heading into the kitchen for popcorn.