We Had Some Jackets Made

"I'm still getting questions about New Mexico."

"Screw it."

"They're still going to ask..."

"Screw it. It's small potatoes and they know it."

"Doesn't that make it easier to kick it across the field?" Josh said, interjecting into the back and forth between CJ and Leo. They both leveled a look at him.

"How is it you're still alive?" Sam wondered to Josh.

"It's the dimples."

"Will the two of you shut up?" Toby asked. "It's a wonder we get anything done around here."

"Yeah." Leo studied his desk for a minute. "Don't forget we have that thing here tomorrow night."

"What thing?"

"The dinner thing."

"Oh, my God."

"CJ, I agree, but we've got to be there."

"No, I mean, oh, my, God." CJ pinched the bridge of her nose. "I haven't had to attend something formal in a few weeks..." and I wish I didn't have to, because I hate feeling put on display... 'oh, look, poor CJ, but she looks good, doesn't she?' Bite me, you jerks. But I've got to go.

"Nothing fits?" Toby finally asked, after an exceptionally long pause.

"Nothing fits," CJ confirmed. "Leo?"

"Congratulations on coming up with the best excuse for not coming to a formal event I've seen. And go get yourself a dress."

"Thank you."

"There are formal gowns in the maternity section?" Josh queried.

"The offer to help me look is still open, Josh."

"Never mind."

"I'm borrowing Donna for a long lunch, though."

"Hey!"

"Josh, it's the only time she'll have more than fifteen minutes off the whole week. We're having lunch, or at least she is, I may be having crackers, and then we are tracking down something I can wear when I'm four months pregnant with twins." CJ aimed another look at him, this time arching her eyebrows, highlighting in a fashion which was almost undoubtedly unintentional the haunted eyes below them.

Josh surrendered. It's possible that Toby smirked under his beard, and Sam smiled a bit. "Way to go, Josh." Leo looked from one to the other of them with something vaguely resembling a grin, and threw up his hands.

"I don't know exactly why I hired you, but go work, all right?"

"Carol, I'm about to go to lunch."

"All right. Back in an hour and a half?"

"Do you think there's a good selection of formal gowns for pregnant women somewhere out there?"

"I'm sure you can find it," Carol smiled back.

CJ looked at her for a long moment. She had to start asking sometime... although she didn't relish what would probably be a conversation filled with smart remarks when she asked Josh... "Actually, Donna's not quite ready yet. Come in for a second?"

"Okay." Carol followed CJ into her office and shut the door. "Everything okay?"

CJ shook her head and waved a hand. "No, no, this isn't anything bad or a story we're going to get hit with or anything. It's just... I'm going to be asking a lot of people this, and it seemed only fair to ask you first, since you have to put up with me all the time..." she sighed, and tucked her hair behind one ear. "One of the things my brother said when he was here was that he understood I had people that were as good as family. I guess what I'm trying ask is whether you'll help me with that."

"You're asking me if-"

"-you'd like to be known as Aunt Carol to these two little troublemakers, yes." CJ flinched a little, but flippancy was often her only defense against the terror trying to swallow her.

Carol smiled very broadly indeed. "I'd love to. Does that include diaper changes?"

"We'll make Josh do that," CJ returned dryly.

"Okay," Carol laughed back. "Thank you. I'm really honored."

"Get the sap away from me," CJ grinned. "Now I'm really going."

"See you. Good luck!"

"Thank you!"

Toby, for reasons best known to himself, had told Josh and CJ to stay together the whole evening. It probably had something to do with the way Josh kept looking at the bar, but after fifteen minutes of it, Toby had found CJ and taken her over to Josh, and told them that if CJ picked up a drink, Josh had to drink it, and if Josh picked up a drink, CJ had to drink it. Since Josh didn't want CJ to drink while she was pregnant, and CJ didn't want a drunken Josh in the papers tomorrow, they both wandered around with a glass of water.

"You really do look nice," Josh remarked, between meaningless conversations with other attendees.

"Thank you."

"I mean it. You look good."

"And I said thank you. I still look like an elephant."

"You do not."

"And how would you know?"

"Well, aren't elephants gray?"

"You were doing so well for about 30 seconds there, Josh."

"Oops?"

"Indeed." CJ spotted the First Lady and started pulling Josh in her direction. She really did look good; it turned out there were actually several dresses for a woman who was six feet tall and pregnant at the same time. Although CJ suspected, from the collective survey she and Donna had conducted yesterday, that her options would become a bit more limited in the next couple of months. "Ma'am," she greeted.

"CJ! You look lovely."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Josh shuffled his feet. "Good evening, Josh. Behaving yourself?"

"No," CJ answered promptly.

"What's he done now?"

"I don't look like an elephant because elephants are gray," she supplied.

"Hey!" Josh protested, blushing. "You know I'm here, right?"

"All too well, I can assure you, monkey boy," CJ shot back.

"I wasn't the one who said you looked like an elephant."

"Josh, in that situation you're supposed to simply reassure the woman that she looks magnificent," Abbey advised him.

"I did!"

"And leave it at that. If necessary, use variations on magnificent, but don't make the mistake of putting your foot in your mouth."

"I do that all the time."

"And have you noticed, Josh, that I love it even less than usual?" CJ inquired.

He groaned. "Good man," the First Lady approved. "You can go ask my husband for some horror stories from when I was pregnant with Liz if you want, but there is no safe route out from here." She smiled, with a hint of wickedness. "Go enjoy yourselves... and CJ?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Sit down soon. You're limping again."

"That's the problem with a formal event after I've been working all day, ma'am, but I'll see if I can place Josh in someone else's unsuspecting care."

"Oh, he can sit with you." Josh's eyes widened in horror, and CJ laughed.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Leo?" CJ inquired at his office door Saturday morning.

"Yeah, come on in, CJ." He moved a folder from one stack to another, and placed his glasses on the desk. "Is New Mexico still a thing?"

"No, I think they got the message."

"Okay. What are you doing here on a Saturday morning, CJ?"

"I've got stuff to do."

"Yeah. If it's not New Mexico...?"

"No, nothing else came up."

"CJ, you should be resting more."

"I'm fine."

Leo regarded her with decidedly paternal concern. "CJ..."

"Leo," she returned with exasperation. "I just wanted to ask you something, and then I'm going to go sit down and put my feet up, all right?"

"That was more than I wanted to know, but yeah, sure."

"I'd like you to be grandfather to the twins."

CJ watched while it sunk in. "Are you sure?" he finally asked, trying to offset some very soft feelings. "I can be a pretty mean guy."

"I'm sure." And she wished and hoped beyond hope that he need never find out why she was asking now; why she was following up so very strongly on her brother's assertion that she did have a family here. Her silent misgivings on how it would look were held silent by her determination to follow through entirely and guarantee that nurture, at least, would not be working against these two. Hopefully everyone else here would see it the same way, if only for her sake, and she thanked God again that they were girls.

Leo smiled his brilliant smile. "Then I accept. But no diapers."

"Wouldn't dream of it." CJ smiled back, and something deeper than words went through the air over Leo's crowded desk. Finally, Leo nodded a couple of times.

"You're asking the guys to play dad?" he inquired.

"I didn't think I needed to," CJ returned.

"Say something to them before the first week in February, will you?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Leo."

"No, thank you, CJ." Leo put his glasses back on and reached for the next folder with almost unnatural relish.

"Toby wants to see you in his office," Margaret said to CJ as she stepped out of Leo's office.

"Now?" Margaret just nodded. "Okaaaay."

When she arrived at Toby's office, she was only half-surprised to find Josh and Sam also waiting. "What's up?" she asked, coming in and closing the door.

"It's come to our attention-" Sam started.

"-and we don't mean to put any pressure on you or anything," Josh interjected.

"-that you've been asking certain people to help you out with the twins."

"We were just wondering what we're doing," Toby added from his chair.

CJ looked at them and sighed, even though what she wanted to do was cry for relief that they wanted to do this, that these three men had teamed up to make it clear they were willing. "Can I sit down? I promised someone I'd sit down and put my feet up, and I'd like to be able to do one of those things." There was some shuffling, but CJ wound up on one end of the couch with Toby on the other, her feet in his lap. He slipped her shoes off as though it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be sitting there on a Saturday morning, massaging CJ's feet and legs.

"CJ?" Sam prompted after a minute. CJ looked at him sharply.

"I didn't think I needed to ask you guys," she said quietly. Toby stopped what he was doing and lifted his eyebrows a little. "I mean, I didn't think I needed to ask you guys to be honorary fathers, because you're already acting that way."

Josh grinned. Sam smiled warmly. Toby just resumed his massage work.

"Is that a yes?"

"We need to say it?"

"No." CJ smiled with relief.

"Do we get to plan your baby shower?"

"No!"

About two weeks later, the President called Charlie into the Oval after yet another meeting about the estate tax bill.

"Yes, sir?"

"Charlie, you feeling all right?" Leo queried from his position by the President's desk.

"Yeah, Leo, thanks." Charlie's odd expression of shock and nervousness didn't fade, however. "You've got the ambassador in the Mural Room, sir."

"Charlie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Charlie, you look like... well, I don't know what you look like, but you look like you got ran over by something or other."

"Well, sir," Charlie started slowly, "CJ just stopped by, and-" he hastened his reassurance at the sudden look of alarm on the faces of the two older men "-nothing's wrong with her, sir. She asked me to be an honorary uncle to the babies. And I was just-"

The President moved forward and looked his aide in the eye. "Charlie, congratulations; we're having jackets made."

"She asked you too, sir?"

"Well, of course she did, but what she said was, 'Mr. President, I was wondering if you and the First Lady could be grandparents to the babies?', after which I considered checking with Abbey for about two seconds and then said yes." The President gripped Charlie's arms. "Charlie, this is a wonderful honor, and you won't be doing it alone. Now, what color would you like your jacket?"

"Thank you, sir. I think maroon would be good," he returned.

"We don't have that, but we'll do our best." He stepped back and visibly switched gears, while Leo smiled. "Mural Room?"

"Yes, sir."

Leo came up to him as the President went out. "Better to do all your freaking out now," he advised, "but if you're in the delivery room, I can guarantee that's not gonna happen."

"The delivery room?"

"See what I mean?" Leo patted Charlie. "Go back to work, kid."

"Yeah." Charlie looked out the windows absentmindedly, and then turned around. "Yeah."

"Hey, CJ-ow!" Sam jumped back.

CJ could feel herself turning an incredibly bright scarlet all the way to her toes. "Oh, damn... are you okay?"

"Except for a bruise shaped like your elbow across my ribs, yeah." Sam eyed her carefully. "Are you all right?"

"You startled me."

"Are you all right?" Sam repeated, and only then did CJ realize what, exactly, he was asking her: if time had frozen, again, in an instant of utter backwardness, so there was nothing but that horrible, horrible moment that stretched on...

"Yeah, I'm here, Sam," she assured with a smile. He peered at her carefully, and nodded.

"You know, sometimes when I look at you, it amazes me that I don't keep seeing what I saw when Donna brought me in..."

"Me too," CJ returned quietly. They started walking speedily again. "Actually, I was coming to ask you something--can I do that now?"

"You ready for the veto?"

"Yeah. I'll be around during the Nobel dinner in case anything comes up."

"Why aren't you going?"

"Because I'm too big to fit into the chairs, Sam."

"No, really."

"Because it involves too much walking around, and I'm not sure I can fit into the dress I got a few weeks ago, even if I wanted to wear the same one to two dinners in a row."

"Ah. Speaking of that..." CJ raised a dangerous eyebrow at him. "Speaking of that, how are the ultrasounds and other stuff going?"

"Fine. They're good."

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure, since you hadn't asked any of us to come with you..." Sam's eyes were suddenly deep with fear.

CJ put a hand on his arm in brief exasperation and considerably more affection. "I'm a big girl, Sam," she said.

"CJ, what about..."

"It's fine." CJ stopped inside Sam's office door and eyed him carefully. "Don't freak out, all right?"

"I'm not freaking out. Then again, you haven't asked me anything yet, so it'd be hard for me to freak out."

"Good point. Sam, I'd like to put 'Spanky' on your jacket for the thing." It was just so much easier to pretend than it should be, for something like this; so much easier to use her and her colleagues' deftness with words to avoid the big questions and instead ask things like that.

"That's your question?"

"Yes or no."

"What jacket?"

"The jackets you guys had made," she said, tilting her lips into a smile.

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. Well?"

"I'd rather not..."

"Okay."

"Was that your question?"

"No, I was just messing with you."

"Okay."

"Sam, I know this is a big favor to ask of you, and would be even if we didn't both work in the White House, but I'd like for you to be my lamaze partner. I've got to start attending sessions soon..."

"Lamaze? Isn't that the breathing thing so nobody's head gets ripped off during labor?"

"Very funny, Spanky."

"Why'd you ask me?"

"Sam, can you really imagine Toby or Josh at a lamaze session?"

"What about Donna or Charlie?"

"It's not supposed to be another woman, and Charlie's still freaking out."

"Okay." Sam stared into space in the way he had that was almost adorable. "Yeah, all right... what do I need to study up on?"

"Sam," CJ said, grinning, "you are a total dork."

"I know."

"Thanks, Sam."

"You're welcome, CJ."

"Where were you?" Toby wanted to know as soon as CJ and Sam came in the door.

"Lamaze class," CJ returned, as if daring him to say something stupid.

"Sam's your lamaze partner?"

"Is there a reason we were paged, Tobus? Because I can assure you that having both our pagers go off in the middle of a breathing exercise is not the way for me to make friends with anyone."

"I was having fun," Sam said.

"I noticed, Spanky."

"There may be a thing with a sub."

"This isn't the kind you eat?" CJ made a face at Toby.

"No."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know. Leo just wanted both of you back here in case something broke."

"Okay. I'm going to go to my office and relax or something, all right?"

"Okay," Toby answered.

CJ ran into Ainsley as she exited the bullpen. "The quest for Fresca?" she inquired.

"That and possibly some muffins," Ainsley told her.

"Thank you for the advice, by the way."

"You're welcome. Were you able to complete everything?"

"Yeah, I think so." CJ sighed as she continued toward her office, limping a little bit. "Good luck with the Fresca and muffin hunt!"

"Thank you," the lawyer accented back.

"What are you doing back?" Josh asked, coming up behind her.

"Toby paged us out of lamaze class," CJ griped. Josh smirked, and CJ smacked him.

"Ow!"

"Do not mock the lamaze, Josh."

"I wasn't mocking the lamaze, I was just mocking, you know, Sam and his geekery in a lamaze class." Josh's expression indicated that he was aware of an incipient and possibly scathing retort.

"He's surviving pretty well, actually." CJ lifted an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, Josh... in addition to the jackets proudly announcing your honorary parenthood I've been hearing so much about, do you suppose it's possible there will also be jackets emblazoned 'The Idiot Boys'?"

Josh pouted, and CJ just smirked as she continued to her office. There was a lot she could write up if she was stuck here for as long as she suspected she might be, and she may as well make some more dents in the enormous amount of work she still needed to finish.