Washington DC, Friday 5 July 2002. 1.45pm.
CJ Cregg wandered wearily back to her office. Was it possible to have jet-lag as a result of flying from New Hampshire to Washington? She decided that her boss was a closet sadist.
This year, President Bartlet had decided that those members of the senior staff who were not going home to their families for the fourth of July should come and spend it with him and his family at the farm in New Hampshire.
"It'll be fun," the president had enthused – yes and fun it might be, but the thing that grated on CJ the most was the underhanded, sneaky way he had quite neatly pinned them down like a junior entomologist.
It had been shaping up to be a quiet Wednesday for once, or so she'd thought at Senior Staff that morning in Leo's office….
CJ had noticed that Josh was a little down in the dumps. Six days without Donna… and he was already on the verge of firing the young temp who was trying valiantly to fill her shoes. CJ knew of at least one pool involving Josh, the temp and some pretty good odds on whether she'd quit before she was fired.
Assignments were handed out as usual, Leo really making Josh's day by telling him that the upcoming commerce bill was going to require some hand- holding after the holiday. The thought of Josh 'hand-holding' anyone, let alone a delegation of right wing Democrats with a couple of Republicans thrown in for good measure drew a snigger from both CJ and Sam. Bitch-slapping them around the beltway, that was more the Lyman style. A stern glare from Leo stopped them as Josh opened his mouth to retort, but shut it just as quickly when Leo's glare moved in his direction.
Toby and Sam were putting the finishing touches to the president's National Address, and CJ had been given the onerous task of releasing the findings of the joint investigation into the disappearance of Shareef's gulf-stream. Not that there were any findings… and that's what made it onerous. She'd be fending off questions to which she had no answers for days.
They were about to wrap up when there was a single knock on the connecting door to the Oval office. It opened and the president walked in.
Everyone stood automatically, a chorus of "Good morning, Mr. President" or "Good Morning, sir," echoing around the room.
"Sit down everyone, please." Bartlet waved his hands at them.
"Did you need something, sir?" Leo asked, his hand poised on the rim of his reading glasses.
"No, not really. I was just coming in to make sure that everyone was going to get to see their loved ones on the anniversary of our Nation's birth tomorrow. Sam, what are your plans?"
Sam looked at the president with mild shock in his eyes, as if the question had caught him off guard. He'd been looking forward to his planned visit to California for a whirlwind day of fun and frivolity with his family for ages, and had been happily telling anyone who'd listen (and several who wouldn't) about it for weeks.
"I fly out for LAX at 7.30 this evening. Then I have a full day of family breakfast, picnics and barbeques planned. We're going to head down to the foreshore for the fireworks and then I'm on the red-eye that night and back to work on the fifth." His smile bordered on a smirk as he outlined his itinerary. Only Sam could look that innocently happy at the prospect of forty eight hours with little or no sleep.
"Excellent!" The president nodded in approval. "Just make sure you get some rest. I don't want to have to prod you during our meetings on Friday. Anyone else? Josh?"
"Me sir? I'm… staying in town… Mom said it was too much of deal getting down to Florida for only one day."
"Sam's going to California, which is just as far if not further than Florida," the president noted.
"What Josh means to say, sir…" Toby interrupted. "Is that Donna forgot to book his ticket before she left for her holiday."
The room broke into laughter at Toby's comment, with the notable exception of Josh who stared around indignantly.
"Hey! That's not true, I'll have you know… I'm quite capable of making my own travel arrangements!"
"I'm sure you are, Josh," Bartlet laughed, rocking back on his heels. "So you have no plans for tomorrow?"
"Nah - CJ and I are thinking of hooking up, grabbing a bite to eat and then vegging out in front of the tv.
"You've got no family commitments this year, Claudia Jean?"
"No, sir," CJ replied. "My Dad's going to visit my brother in Napa for a couple of weeks; I was going to try and get to see them, but…" she shrugged her shoulders and sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear that, CJ. Maybe something will turn up."
It was at that moment, CJ thought later, that she should have realized something was going on. And if that hadn't tipped her off, the answer Toby gave to the question should certainly have had her revising hers.
"Toby?"
Toby eyed both the president and Leo suspiciously, Leo having been conspicuously silent up until this point. Something was going on and CJ just couldn't put her finger on it.
"I… have plans."
"Would you care to elaborate on that?"
"No, sir… with due respect… I would not."
"Oh, c'mon Toby!" Josh groaned. "We told you our plans!"
"I'm busy… doing things….with nieces and nephews"
Josh snorted indelicately and rolled his eyes.
"Josh," the president admonished. "If Toby says he has plans, we have to believe him." He fixed Toby with a glare. "Even if he is lying!" Toby simply stared back at him impassively.
"And what about you, Leo? What are your plans for the next couple of days?"
CJ had noted in the past that the president got a twinkle in his right eye just before he announced something that he felt was in the best possible interest of all his staff. It was a twinkle that the staff had come to know well – and dread.. It was the twinkle he had right now.
Then she noticed that Leo had a similar twinkle in his eye… only his was accompanied by a twitching at the left corner of his lip.
"Me, sir? I'm about to spend the rest of the day fighting with at least two members of my staff after I tell them that they're going to have to go home and pack an overnight bag of casual clothes suitable for a summer day and night in New Hampshire. I am then going to strong arm said staffers into getting into a motorcade to Andrews where, along with me, they will board Air Force One for the one and a half hour trip to Manchester. I will then be expected to endure thirty six hours of inane trivia from my host – without complaint – I might add AND the whining about said trivia from my traveling companions. I will once again board Air Force One and fly another hour and a half back, landing at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night, go back to my place, catch about three hours sleep and be back at my desk by seven am Friday morning."
"Well, I don't know if I liked the 'inane trivia' crack, but I can pretty much guarantee that there will be NO whining on the trip from anyone involved. But apart from that, your plan seems just fine."
CJ took a moment to assimilate what she'd just heard. Glancing first at Josh, who – from the looks of things was trying to do the same – she took in the slightly bemused expression on Sam's face and Toby's rather self-satisfied air as he leaned back in his chair looking at her down the bridge of his nose over his steepled fingers.
"Wait for it…" he said quietly. "Five…."
Fighting two staffers…
"Four…."
Air Force One…
"Three…"
Manchester…
"Two…"
Inane trivia…
"One…"
Josh and CJ finally put two and two together and they shot each other a startled look.
"LEO!"
"And here endeth the lesson," Toby smirked.
And so it had come about that CJ and Josh had spent thirty six hours with the first family and Leo up in Manchester.
In all fairness it was actually quite a nice change – if you could get past the 'inane trivia' that the president couldn't avoid treating them to, trivia that had caused her to bite her tongue on more than one occasion. But CJ took comfort from the fact that she wasn't the only one to have suffered – she could have sworn she had overheard Josh muttering something about 'going to find a snake to molest' at one point.
The fourth of July celebrations had gone on late into the night and continued unabated on the journey back, where, despite the First Lady's protestations, the president had kept them awake with a running commentary on the history of the firework. When they had landed back at Andrews in the wee small hours of Friday morning, CJ, Leo, Josh and the rest of the president's captives had made a rapid beeline for their respective homes.
Now with, as Leo so accurately prophesized, only three hours sleep and half the day still ahead of her, CJ felt like she had been run over by a freight train. Groaning as she flopped down on her couch and swung her legs up, she cracked open the bottle of water in her hand, leaned back and took a sip.
She allowed herself a moment of relaxation, feeling her heart beat through the soles of her feet. She should have worn the flats.
"Carol?" CJ called, one forearm resting lightly over her tired eyes.
"Yeah, boss?" Carol got up from her chair and came to stand in the doorway of CJ's office.
"Any calls?"
"Three," Carol said.
CJ lifted her arm and peered up at her.
"Suzie MacDonald from the Times, regarding the Ikeman legacy story," Carol shrugged, leafing through her notes, "Tom O'Brien, wanting to confirm details for the release of the anthology of White House photographers, and Danny."
"Danny?" CJ sat upright.
"Yeah, he called about 10.50 but he was after Josh."
"So he called you?"
"Apparently he didn't have Josh's direct number. He just wanted me to transfer him."
"Hmm? Okay." CJ thought that seemed a little odd, but didn't say anything further.
"Thinking about it now, it seems a little odd." Carol said, unconsciously echoing CJ's thoughts. "He seemed really agitated about something. I tried to talk to him, but he just shut me down."
"Good agitated? Or bad agitated?" Danny in any state of agitation when he was working on a story usually held wide ranging implications.
"Wiggy agitated, I'd say."
Damn. CJ could really do without this right now. If she was honest with herself, what she really wanted was to lie down for half an – no make that an hour, but that clearly wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to happen because thanks to Danny, she was now going to have to get back onto her aching feet and go to see Josh about this mysterious phone call. Groaning she hauled herself off the very comfortable couch.
"Carol, if anybody needs me, I'm going to see Josh."
"He's not there."
CJ stopped in her tracks. "He's not?"
"I thought you might want to see him so I called Eloise when you got back.
"Who's Eloise?"
"Josh's temp. Anyway, when I called Josh had left. He said he was going to be out for the rest of the day."
CJ shrugged internally. That wasn't unusual. Oh well, he'd probably be back for the strategy meeting at four. She would ask him about the call then.