As they stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them, CJ turned to face her colleagues, wanting to say to them all the things she hadn't been able to before, things she felt it would have been inappropriate to say to say in front of the President.

That said, when she opened her mouth to speak, she didn't have the first idea where to begin, "Guys," she addressed her words to Toby in particular, because she'd always felt closer to him than the others, not least because he'd brought her on board in the first place, "I don't know what to say."

Toby looked at her coldly, "Then don't say anything CJ, don't say anything at all. Nothing you say can correct this." He finished, before walking away without another word.

She knew it was nothing she didn't deserve, but that didn't stop it hurting, not least because she knew Toby wasn't the only friend she was going to lose before the night was through.

"He'll come round," Sam said, breaking into her thoughts. She was grateful for his kindness, which she suspected was borne of his own private life having got him into trouble in the past, but at the same time she suspected that what he was saying wasn't true. "You should probably have these back." he said, handing the envelope of photos back to her, "If you don't I might not be able to contain myself." He added, giving her a wry smile.

She smiled too then, she knew she shouldn't, not with Leo watching but she appreciated the fact that Sam was managing to speak to her at all, let alone joke with her, "How did I know you were going to say that?"

He shrugged, "Guess I'm just predictable..."

"CJ," Leo broke in, "can I talk you in private for a second?"

She nodded, and after saying goodbye to both Sam and Josh followed him into his office.

Considering that the atmosphere between them had been so bad, she was expecting another lecture, but to her surprise, it didn't come. Instead she was offered at seat, and then as Leo sat down she realised he was no longer looking at her with contempt, but with concern.

"Sir?" she asked shakily, worried about what was coming next. Right to be worried as it turned out.

"You said this was like 'The Jackal'." Leo said, his tone almost fatherly, "But I heard that little speech in there. I saw the look in your eyes when Abbey walked into the room. I don't know exactly what's going on between you and the First Lady CJ, but I think its safe to say its definitely not The Jackal."

X X X

"Talk to me." Abbey said softly, watching Jed as he stared at the door CJ had just walked through, "Yell at me Jed. Throw the Bill of Rights at me. Please, just say something."

He said nothing, just carried on staring at the door, and then....

"I cheated on you once. With a Republican called Darcy. She let me do things you never have. But then there's probably a reason for that what with you being a lesbian and all."

She knew she had no right to be upset, not after the way she'd been carrying on, but yet she could help it; it did hurt.

"Firstly, I'm not a lesbian. Secondly, when the hell did that happen?"

Jed moved over to the drinks cabinet, took out a bottle of Scotch and poured himself a large measure, "Firstly, I've seen the photos, there's no point in denying it. Secondly, 1992."

Abbey walked over to him, taking the bottle from him and pouring a drink of her own, "This could get dull, but firstly, that doesn't make me a lesbian, and secondly, why have you not told me before?"

He lowered himself down onto the couch, snorting as he did so, "Abigail, your head was between her legs, you were pleasuring her with your tongue, if that doesn't make you a lesbian I don't know what does." He eyed her contemptuously, "And if that doesn't make you rescind your second question then I don't know what will."
Abbey's response came in the form of the glass in her hand falling to the floor, her horror at his words clear. Since the phone call from CJ she'd been questioning in her mind what the photos would be like, but not once had it crossed her mind that they would be so graphic.

"Jed," she moved to the sofa and sat down beside him, "I had no idea. I'm sorry."

"Being sorry isn't enough." He got to his feet, unable to bear having her so close to him, and went to sit behind his desk; like he could stop his life from spiralling out of control as long as he carried on being Commander in Chief and didn't dwell too much on being Mr Abbey Bartlet, "In answer to your question, which, by the way, I still don't feel obligated to answer, I never told you because I didn't want to hurt you. Apparently you didn't feel it necessary to extend me the same courtesy."

Abbey opened her mouth to argue, to tell him that hurting him was the last thing she'd ever wanted to do, but he didn't give her chance.

"I can't talk to you about this right now Abigail. I thought I could, but I can't. I think you should go."

"You're dismissing me?" she crossed the room to his side, "You can't dismiss me Jed, I'm not a member of your staff. I'm your wife."

He laughed, sardonically, almost evilly, "Haven't you heard? You're not my wife, you're just a commodity and not a particularly precious one at that. Just go Abbey," he looked at her tiredly, clearly close to breaking but desperate not to, "go and call our daughters before a reporter does."

A tear slid down Abbey's cheek, "Jed, no. Please don't make me do this." She crouched at his side in tears, inconsolable at the thought of having to break the news of her affair to their children, "I can't tell them."

He shrugged, "Not my problem. I'm not the one who got you into this mess. You've only got yourself to blame."

X X X

"I know this may be slightly inappropriate," Josh said to Sam once they were safely behind the closed doors of his office, "but can I just say, wow."

Sam nodded, "Say whatever you like. I can guarantee that I'm thinking it too."

Josh took that as his cue, conjuring the pictures of CJ and the First Lady from memory in his head, "Those photos! They were – well – they were something else. The hands! The mouths! God the mouths... and... saliva....wow."

"My thoughts were organised with a bit more care and attention to grammar." Sam said pointedly, "but then I am a speech writer so I guess you can be forgiven for not being able to compete, and basically, that was the gist of it."

Josh sat down at his desk, "I would give anything to have been a fly on the wall."

"Mmmm, yeah." Sam replied as they both fell silent, lost in the thought of what exactly that might have been like, both quickly deciding that being a fly on the wall wouldn't have been enough, and being the filling in the sandwich might have been better.

It was Josh, in the end, who snapped out of the reverie first. "We shouldn't be obsessing about this, should we?"

Sam shook his head, "Probably not. Work to be done, not to mention a campaign to be orchestrated amid a Presidential marital crisis. You'll ring Joey?"

"Sure." Josh glanced out of the window of his office to Donna's empty desk, "I think I'll get Donna back too. We might just need her tonight."

X X X

On leaving Leo's office, with his words still whirling around her head, CJ made her way to the Briefing Room. It was too late for the press to be there, she knew that, but before she started trying to get to the bottom of the source of the photographs she needed a few minutes to get her head together, and she couldn't think of any better place to do that than in the Briefing Room.

That room was more like a home to her than her own apartment. She loved everything about it, not least what it did to her. Just being there gave her an elevated sense of importance, not to mention confidence. She knew it was where she did her best work. Where she proved she was someone special.

She didn't even bother to switch the lights on, instead just sitting down on the podium, and putting her head in her hands.

How the hell had she got herself into this mess? It was never meant to be this way.

She thought back to Abbey, how she'd behaved in The Oval Office. It hadn't escaped CJ's notice that she'd not looked at her once, not even after her outburst. She assumed it was intentional, albeit it out of anger, or just a self preservation thing. Either way, she'd hated it. She'd grown too used to being the centre of Abbey's world just by walking into the same room.

Leo was right. This wasn't The Jackal, not to her. It was way more, and she had no greater idea of how to get out of it then she had how she got into it in the first place.

Falling in love with the First Lady of the United States of America was not a sensible idea, but just try telling that to her heart.

And then of course there was no guarantee that Abbey felt the same way. She'd told CJ she did, and CJ wanted to believe her, but a lot had changed since then...

X X X

The Manchester Trip - Day 3

"Do you have to go?"

CJ was packing as Abbey sat on the bed, modelling a kimono and a disapproving pout. The look was an attractive one, and as a result CJ was struggling intensely to concentrate on her packing, in the face of an urge to down tools, remove the kimono and go for a repeat performance of the thing they'd been doing near constantly for the last three days.

"I have to go." She said, without looking up, "It was a three day trip, this is day three, and I have a long journey in front of me."

"You're so heartless." Abbey replied, moving over to her, undoing the kimono slightly as she did so, "And clearly dead from the waist down if you can ignore this." she added, as CJ managed not to be distracted by the sizeable amount of cleavage now on show.

"Its more dead from the neck down if you must know." CJ replied, still focusing her attentions on her packing, although they were slipping slightly in the face of the improved view, "I'm exhausted."

Abbey leapt on her words, "Then stay another night. We'll take it easy. A nice bath, pop some corn and cuddle up with a movie."

CJ closed her eyes, groaning inwardly, feeling her determination to stay firm with Abbey disappearing fast. It did sound like one Hell of a plan; a big improvement on having to do battle with the journey home, only to arrive back at a cold and lonely apartment. That said, there were bigger issues;

"Abbey, darling, I have to go. I'm on a 6.30am flight with the President tomorrow."

"You'd rather spend time with my husband than me?"

The answer was an obvious no. Aside from the benefits relating to spending time with Abbey, there was also the small issue of how much she was dreading coming face to face with the President himself. She'd struggled enough after the initial night she'd spent with Abbey, and this – their three days in Manchester – was a whole new ball game. All the same though,

"I have to."

"Fine. Go then." Abbey bit back, sounding like a spoilt child, leaving CJ totally taken aback by her attitude. She sighed, closing her suitcase before moving to sit beside Abbey on the bed.

"Hey," She attempted to put her arm around her lover's shoulder, but to her surprise, the other woman pulled away, "Come on," she tried again, looking Abbey right in the eyes, her heart sinking as she saw that she was crying, "Oh Abs, you'd know I'd stay if I could."

"Jed says that." Abbey muttered, as tears cascaded down her cheeks, "Whenever he lets me down, breaks a dinner date, or is too tired to barbeque he says he would if he could. But what good does that do me eh? And now you're at it as well, prioritising the Barlet administration over me. Why don't I matter to anyone?"

Part of CJ felt guilty, feeling cruel for having touched such a raw nerve, even if only unintentionally, but at the same time, she also couldn't help thinking that Abbey was in need of a reality check. Their break had been good. Amazingly so. She'd enjoyed every single second, but it couldn't last forever.

"Abs," she tried again to cuddle her and finally succeeded, "Real life is still going on in Washington. We have to go back to it. I'm sorry."

"So that's it?"

She shook her head, before gently kissing Abbey's tears away, "Not if you don't want it to be." She wasn't entirely sure if it was true, because she had no idea how anyone would go about having an affair with one of the worlds most photographed women, but for Abbey's sake, not to mention her own, she had to believe they could at least try.

"You mean it?" Abbey asked hopefully.

She nodded, leaning in for a kiss, "You bet kid, after all," she added, hugging her tightly, "we'll always have Manchester."

X X X

Dwelling on the memory for too long was a mistake. Seriously so, and within seconds CJ had crumpled, crying tears that she never would have believed she still had left inside of her. It wasn't fair, none of it.

How could something so wrong, feel so undeniably right? Why should something that was perfect, be the cause of so much pain?

And how the Hell was she ever going to let Abbey go? Because she had to. There was no way they were ever going to get a happily ever after on this, even if they did both feel the same.

She didn't have time to concentrate on that question for long however, because her privacy was suddenly invaded by a voice from the shadows.

"I thought I might find you here. We need to talk..."

X X X