"Josh? Hello? Josh?"

Josh blinked, registering the fact that Donna was standing in front of his desk, trying to talk to him. He'd been thinking about the night before with CJ, mostly that kiss and how good it had felt before she'd pushed him away.

"Sorry. I just kind of...spaced out there." Donna cocked her head to one side, looking at him with concern.

"Are you okay?" Josh smiled thinly.

"Yeah." What was he supposed to say?

"Okay," Donna said, a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Leo wants to know where you're at on the fish farm vote."

"We just need two more votes and I think I can get them, but Hale and McConnell are holding out unless we agree to support their amendment. Tell Leo we're going to need to bring it up at Senior Staff." Donna nodded and made a note. As Donna ran through the list of messages he had to return, Josh kept glancing over her shoulder to see if he could catch CJ walking by. He wanted to see if she still looked angry so he could be prepared when they got into Senior Staff in a couple of hours. Today was one of those days he wished Sam was still around. As he half-listened to Donna and made some notes about the messages he thought about adding Sam to the list of people to call. A moment later he scratched that idea as he realized they hadn't talked in months and Sam probably wouldn't appreciate him phoning up just to ask his advice about CJ. He could imagine what he'd say, anyway: "Wow. What were you thinking?"

Josh would have to explain how he'd gone to bed the previous night frustrated, sure that he was right. If she'd just wanted to see the cat, why did she come over so late? Why did she kiss him back like that? The cat wasn't that exciting.

But as he'd laid there he'd started having doubts. Maybe Amy had been right: he was hit and run. Isn't that what he'd done to CJ the first time?

As if on cue he looked over Donna's shoulder to see CJ walk past his office door, wearing a grey skirt and light pink blouse. She didn't look in but he kept staring at the doorway for a couple of seconds after, trying to think if he could tell if she looked angry. He realized he couldn't. Donna paused.

"Josh?" She turned to see what he was looking at and saw the empty doorway.

"Sorry. I just thought I saw something."

"This whole cat sitting thing is really affecting your sleep schedule, huh?" Donna observed. Josh nodded absently. "Let me know if you need any help." As Donna capped her pen, Josh's eyes snapped up to the doorway again as he saw Ben walk by, heading in the direction of CJ's office. Donna whirled around and saw what Josh was looking at. As he passed by, Ben glanced in and gave a little wave when he saw them looking. Josh smiled tightly and Donna gave an awkward wave. As soon as he'd passed, Donna turned back to Josh.

"What was that about?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing," Josh insisted. But seeing Donna's look of disbelief, he relented. "CJ came over after the dinner and I sorta...kissed her."

"You what?" Donna screeched.

"Shut the door," Josh said, hoping no one had heard her outburst. Donna obeyed.

"You kissed her?" Donna repeated, lowering her voice.

"Yeah and she kinda freaked out."

"Well, yeah!"

"She came over. It was late. What was I supposed to think?"

"That she has a boyfriend?" They were both silent for a moment. Then Donna considered, "Actually, that's never really stopped you before, has it?" Josh shrugged.

"Not really. But whenever I step in I've been right about the other guy."

"If things aren't going well with CJ and Ben you have to let her deal with it. You're her friend: you owe her that."

"I know," Josh admitted.

"So you're going to apologize?" Josh mumbled, "I guess so," nearly inaudibly, and pretended to look through some papers. "Next time you see her?" Donna continued pointedly.

"Yeah," Josh conceded with a sigh.

He was running late by the time he got to Leo's office for Senior Staff and he hadn't had a chance to talk to CJ. Now there she was, sitting on the couch with Toby, Leo in the armchair, all of them with heads bent together, looking grim. They looked up when he entered and he felt a brief pang of anxiety as his eyes briefly met CJ's.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late. What's going on?" he said quietly.

"Shut the door," Leo said, gesturing. Josh did, then came and sat down in the other chair, next to Toby.

"CJ has a source that says Lau's being investigated for violating election spending regulations when he ran for California's AG eight years ago," Toby stated quietly.

"That's crazy. What source?" Josh demanded.

"Greg Brock says someone from the FBI gave him the tip," CJ replied quietly.

"I miss the days when the FBI leaked information to us before the press," Leo observed wryly.

"Is he going to run the story?" Josh asked. She shrugged.

"If Lau's not our pick, he might not."

"Might? I'm pretty sure he's going to want to write about the incompetence of our vetting process. We pick someone else, you don't think people are going to have questions about why we didn't go through with Lau?" Toby argued

"Wait a minute," Josh interjected, "How serious is this? I mean are we talking a paperwork screw-up?" He could feel his anxiety mounting, envisioning another pitched, months-long nomination battle when they had so many other important things to focus on.

"It seems like there was an unauthorized pamphlet sent out to Hispanic households, alleging his opponent was planning on legalizing drugs and prostitution," Leo explained.

"And it came from him?" Josh asked in disbelief.

"The FBI seems to think it at least came from someone on his campaign," CJ replied. Josh stood up, feeling agitated. He ran a hand through his hair.

"We have two days until the announcement," he stated, starting to pace.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," CJ replied flatly. Josh turned around and stared at her.

"And why did you think it would be a good idea to give Greg Brock the story? If this is going to come out, the last thing we need is for it to be coming from the New York Freaking Times." CJ stood, eyes flashing.

"I didn't give him the story. He had the story. Leo asked me to see if anyone had dirt on Lau; that's what I did. Everyone in this room knew I was doing it, and now you're saying this is my fault? How about the fact that you and Toby wanted to rush into a confirmation without vetting the guy, and then he turns out possibly being a creep? No, I guess you'd rather we'd waited until the confirmation hearings started to get our pants pulled down," CJ railed. Josh just stood there, stunned for a minute. He knew she was right, and he'd just put his foot in it after he'd promised himself he'd be trying to make her less angry. Before he could respond, Leo held up his hand.

"Ok. Whatever this is about, fix it on your own time. CJ, no one's blaming you. You did good finding this information. Now I have to take it to the President and see if he's willing to stick with Lau. Who's our second choice if not?" Everyone exchanged looks.

"Russell wants Caroline Black," Toby said quietly. Josh sighed inwardly.

"I'm tired of compromising for Russell," he said.

"Me too," Leo admitted. CJ nodded.

"The other name we considered was Nelson Rivera," Toby stated.

"We didn't pick him first because he's taken some pretty vocal liberal positions on some issues," Josh reminded.

"I'd rather defend someone who cares about the issues than someone who might be a criminal," CJ said. Everyone nodded, reluctantly agreeing.

"I'll take both Rivera and Black's names to the President. Then I'll call Lau," Leo announced.

"If I need something to get Greg to move off the story, can I offer him an exclusive with the new pick?" CJ asked. Leo nodded his assent before standing up and going back to his desk, showing the meeting was over. Josh stepped to one side and looked down at the carpet as Toby and CJ left, then he followed CJ down the hall, a few steps behind. She glanced back and saw he was behind her, but didn't say anything. He followed her into her office and shut the door behind him. She went around to the other side of her desk, but didn't sit down.

"Josh," she began in a tired voice, but he interrupted her before she could continue. He wanted to get the apology done as quickly as possible and get out of there before she had a chance to yell at him

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said at the meeting..."

"Josh?" she repeated with a sigh.

"I know you weren't trying to give Brock a story so I don't even know why I said that...

"Josh."

"And last night. I shouldn't have done that. But you have to admit that the cat isn't that exciting, so I don't know if it's really fair to blame me for thinking..."

"Josh!" He stopped, finally realizing she wasn't going to let him just go first. He tried to prepare himself for the tirade he was sure was about to come his way.

"You were right," she said simply. Josh did a double-take.

"Sorry, what?"

"Not at the meeting. You were an idiot at the meeting. But last night, you were right. I didn't come over to see the cat, and I didn't know what I wanted."

"You didn't?"

"I broke up with Ben this morning," she announced, coming around to the front of the desk. As he started to register what she was saying, Josh felt a prickling of excitement break through his disbelief. He couldn't resist the smile that was starting to spread across his face. "Well you don't have to look so happy about it," she added, registering the look.

"Sorry. I mean, that's terrible," he said, looking serious.

"My heart wasn't in it, and it wasn't fair to him."

"Ok." Josh took a step towards her.

"We screwed up two years ago," she stated, leaning back slightly.

"Ok?" Josh wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"We never talked about things. I don't want the only reason I'm sleeping with you to be because I feel like I have to work off the stress of the job."

"Wait, you want to sleep with me?" Josh grinned. CJ rolled her eyes and gave a little smile.

"I want to date you. Like normal people." He considered that this could be a chance to show he had the potential to be more than just hit and run. CJ was right that they'd screwed up; maybe she was right that they could fix it. "Do you want to try this thing again?" she asked, leaning in towards him. `

"Sounds good." Her smiled broadened.

"Good, because I think I'm going to kiss you now." She leaned in and his reply, "good", was smothered as their lips met. There was a dreamy intimacy to the kiss. He slipped his arms around her waist and she brushed his cheek with one hand. When they pulled apart Josh whispered, "I missed you" before he'd even realized he meant it. CJ smiled.

"I was here." Josh took her hand and squeezed it.

"I know."

I'll try to update as soon as possible but I'm super busy these days. Let me know what you think so far!