"My Enemy, My Friend"

The weekend came rather quickly and Josh and Sam set to work on Donna's new backsplash. Since Donna had already invited Danny over to help supervise, Josh accepted the fact that he was going to see CJ in a social situation before they met with the president. However, at the moment, he had more important things on his mind.

"Is this supposed to be so drippy?" Josh asked Sam as they mixed up the grout for the backsplash.

"Well we followed the directions," Sam countered mixing the grout a few more times.

"Yeah but it seems kinds of runny," Josh said.

"You think we should put more mix in?"

"I think it couldn't hurt."

"Okay," Sam shrugged lifting the bag.

"Hey, hey, hey," Donna said as she walked through the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"We're adding more grout mix," Josh replied somewhat dismissively.

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't look right," Josh said looking over at her.

"Why don't you wait for Danny to come over? They'll be here any minute," Donna practically pleaded.

"You don't think we're capable of mixing grout?" Sam asked. "Josh and I are very educated men Donna."

"Educated men who nearly burnt down the White House by starting a fire in a fireplace welded shut since the 19th century."

The doorbell rang at that moment and Donna practically ran toward the door.

"Tried to start a fire with decorative spruce I might add," she called as she walked toward the door.

"You know, she may have a point," Sam said lowering the bag. "And Danny is here now so…"

"Yeah," Josh agreed.

Donna ushered Danny and CJ into the kitchen, their welcome hugs given at the front door.

"I hear you're having a grout problem," Danny said walking over to Josh and Sam and shaking their hands.

"Not a problem so much as Donna being bossy," Josh said quietly.

"I heard that," Donna said over her shoulder as she looked CJ up and down. She was finally starting to appear pregnant. Sam walked over to CJ and gave her a hug.

"You look great," Sam said.

"Thanks," CJ replied shyly. She still wasn't quite sure she was used the attention of being pregnant. "How are you doing?"

Donna had filled CJ on Sam's broken engagement and while CJ didn't want to draw attention to it, she did want to make sure her old friend was doing alright.

"I'm okay," Sam nodded looking at Donna. "I suppose the news about Laura traveled fast?"

"I may have heard something," CJ affirmed. "I'm so sorry Sam."

"Yeah," he brushed off her concern. "It's for the best."

He appeared to be trying to convince himself of the fact as much as he was trying to convince CJ.

"You'll get through it," CJ said reaching over and squeezing his hand. "But if not, remember that just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't partake in a good catfight."

"I'll keep that in mind," Sam smiled.

CJ noticed that over Sam's shoulder Josh was hanging back. She knew he was mad, but she wasn't sure what type of welcome to expect. It only took another moment before she found out. Sam turned his attention back to the grout and left CJ and Josh staring at each other.

"Judas," he acknowledged her by nodding.

"Jesus," CJ replied using the Spanish pronunciation of the name.

"It's not funny," Josh said giving her a hard time.

"No, but the fact that you've basically proclaimed yourself Jesus is telling," CJ countered. "Are you going to give me a hug before you put my husband to work?"

Josh grinned and stepped forward to give her a tentative hug. "You know Danny's work here doesn't get you off the hook right? I'm gonna kick your ass in the Oval next week."

"I'm looking forward to it," CJ replied.

Danny had been listening to the exchange and smiled to himself. CJ and Josh, in what amounted to a pissing contest, were always amusing, especially because CJ was a woman.

"You better watch out there Josh," Danny warned him. "She's been looking a little too forward to this. She said something about paybacks for an announcement you stole from her while she was Chief of Staff."

Josh had turned his attention to Danny and then he looked back at CJ. "Yeah, an announcement you were going to make anyway," Josh reminded her.

"Well, I'm just pushing along some funding you're going to approve anyway," CJ said with a sweet smile.

"Oh, okay, I see what you're up too," Josh nodded.

"I'm up to nothing, except my job," CJ replied.

"Okay," Josh agreed even though he didn't believe her.

"Truce for today then?" CJ ventured.

"Sure," Josh said. "You do look good by the way. You're brighter than usual or something."

"I believe they call that glowing," Donna translated for him.

"Sure, whatever," Josh said as he walked back to the men in the kitchen. '"I have importantly manly work to do right now."

Josh walked away from them and CJ and Donna were left to watch him strut toward the kitchen and demonstrate his most manly pose.

"You sure you're willing to live with that full time?" CJ teased Donna.

"Sometimes I wonder that myself," Donna smiled back. "Oh, we should sit. You should be off your feet."

"I'm really okay," CJ protested as Donna pulled a kitchen chair away from the table.

"No, she should sit," Danny said turning his head away from the task at hand for a moment.

"Hey, you're here to work, not supervise me," CJ reminded him happily.

"With you, my work is never done," Danny said as he grinned at her and then turned his attention back to Josh and Sam and the runny grout.

"Between Josh and Danny, we should be sainted," CJ whispered to Donna.

Donna smiled in response and sat down across from CJ, who had finally succumbed to getting off her feet.

"I'll have to give you the tour when the boys are finished," Donna said.

"From what I've seen this place is fantastic," CJ said. "Did you have it checked out? The price Josh told me just seems too good to be true after seeing it."

"We had it inspected from top to bottom," Donna replied. "It is in tip-top condition. The guy just really wanted to get out of town."

"Criminal?" CJ asked with a raised eyebrow.

"His girlfriend moved to Germany actually," Donna said.

"Ah, so it was more about making sure his woman didn't leave him for a hot piece of bratwurst."

"Something like that I'm sure."

"Well I've got to say that you two really lucked out. The neighborhood is great and everything looks pretty updated."

"The only thing we've had to do is repaint the master bedroom and the den," Donna said happily. "It really seems like this place was meant to be."

"You deserve it," CJ said.

"Thanks," Donna said a little sheepishly. "So how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling really well actually," CJ said running her hand absently along her protruding belly. "The first few months were not fun, but I'm finally feeling like myself again."

"That's good."

"You have no idea," CJ said. "This little girl really had it in for me the first months."

"Have you picked a name yet?"

"Not even close," CJ chuckled. "I'll be lucky if Danny I agreed on name before she starts kindergarten."

"I'm sure you'll find something."

"Yeah, eventually," CJ replied.

Across the room the men were hard at work trying to get the grout to look more like grout than the gray soup it currently resembled. Danny was hunched over the bag reading the instructions as Josh protested that they'd already followed them to the letter.

"Okay, how much water did you add?" Danny asked.

"I told you, we added a gallon of water," Josh replied.

"Although there was some debate about how many quarts were in a gallon," Sam added honestly.

"Sam, there are six, I told you," Josh said turning away from Danny.

"It's four," Danny replied simply. "There's your problem."

"No, I know there's sixteen pints in a gallon," Josh said. "You cut that number in half, which is eight to get to quarts."

"Sort of except there are four quarts so that'd be eight pints in a gallon," Danny replied.

"Then what has six?" Josh asked confused.

"I have no idea," Danny replied.

"Don't look at me," Sam said. "I told you I thought six sounded funny."

"So what we did was add too much water," Josh said.

"I'd say so," Sam replied.

"Why don't we start over," Danny suggested. "We'll add four quarts of water and see what happens."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam said as he lifted the bucket of runny grout. "You have a utility tub around here?"

"Laundry room," Josh said pointing but making no attempt to move.

"No, really, I'll take care of it," Sam said walking toward the laundry room.

"So," Josh said. "How are you and CJ doing?"

"We're good," Danny said. "CJ seems to be feeling a lot better, which is great because she felt pretty awful for a while."

"How's her blood pressure?" Josh asked.

"Why, are you worried you're going to endanger the health of my baby when you two square off in front of the president?" Danny asked good-naturedly, although there was genuine concern under his joviality.

"No, but I know how CJ gets when she's really passionate about something," Josh replied. "I don't want to be responsible for her getting all riled up."

"Don't worry," Danny said slapping his hand on Josh's shoulder. "I've had a little talk with her and we've both agreed that shed going to keep cool. She's actually gotten much better at it lately."

"Really?" Josh asked skeptically.

"She's been doing yoga," Danny shrugged. "How's things with Donna? This place is wonderful. When CJ told me how much you paid I didn't believe her."

"I know," Josh said. "It was a little higher than what I was looking to pay, but we couldn't pass it up."

"And you and Donna are good?"

"We're great," Josh said. "I even got home before midnight a few nights ago."

"Wow," Danny said genuinely impressed.

"Okay," Sam said coming back into the kitchen with an empty bucket. "I think we're ready to start over."

"Great," Josh said.

"Hey what are we using for the actual backsplash?" Danny asked.

"My dishes," Josh replied filling up the water pitcher again.

"You don't need those?" Danny asked.

"Donna informed me that I don't. We," he said emphasizing the word as if it weren't really true, "decided that Donna's dishes were cuter than mine."

"Cuter?" Sam stifled a chuckle as he began to mix the grout together.

"Yes," Josh said.

"Well we'll have to break them, so that might be kind of cathartic," Danny offered.

"When you married CJ did she slowly strip you of all your manhood?" Josh asked Danny.

"I didn't really have a whole lot of manhood to begin with, but what I had left she basically took, yeah," Danny nodded smiling as he added more water.

"So your dishes have flowers all over them?"

"No, lucky for me CJ only prefers frills when she dresses up," Danny said.

"Lucky you," Josh said. "See what you've avoided Sam?"

He didn't mean it callously. Josh thought he was being helpful and sympathetic in a manly way. Didn't guys usually get together after a break up and have a few beers, while exalting the joys of being single? But, Josh could tell he'd hit a nerve by the way that Sam's face tightened.

"Oh, hey, Sam," Josh said. "I didn't mean it the way it came out. I was doing the supportive guy thing."

"Yeah," Sam dismissed him while he busied himself with mixing the new grout. "I'm not really sure I'm ready for the manly 'I'm over it and it doesn't bother me' thing."

"Sorry," Josh said sincerely.

"I know," Sam said not looking up at him.

There was an awkward tension in the air and no one was quite sure how to diffuse it. Sam wasn't in the mood to talk about Laura, but he wasn't sure how to change the subject. Josh felt bad for making Sam feel bad and he felt like he should say something more, but Danny was giving him a look that indicated it would be better to let the silence be for a while longer.

Sam finished mixing the grout and this time it looked like it was something they could use.

"You wanna break my plates?" Josh offered Sam as he handed him a pillowcase with a few of his dishes inside. The look on his face was so child-like that Sam couldn't stay mad at him. He knew deep down that he was only trying to make him feel better anyway.

"Yeah, I do," Sam smiled as he took the pillowcase from Josh. He noted the color of the pillowcase was dark blue and he assumed they were Josh's old pillowcases. "So, are your new sheets pink now?"

"No, although there is a hint of mauve," he said regrettably.

Josh handed Danny a pillowcase and the men set out toward the front door.

"We're gonna go outside and break some stuff," Josh said happily as they wandered out in to the hallway.

CJ and Donna watched them as they walked by with their pillowcases of plates and hammers in hand.

"It really doesn't take much to amuse them does it?" Donna asked.

"Danny looks positively giddy," CJ smiled. "Though I suppose breaking a bunch of dishware would have a certain stress release."

Once they heard the front door close CJ turned her attention back to the conversation that she and Donna were whispering before the men left.

"So you don't think Josh is happy with Santos?" she asked

"I don't know," Donna said. "I've tried to ask him, but it never goes well. President Santos is his guy. He plucked him out of obscurity to be the president."

"That doesn't mean he has to stick with him until the end," CJ said.

"I think he still feels guilty about leaving President Bartlet," Donna said. "He doesn't want to do it again."

"He didn't feel guilty about leaving," CJ replied glibly.

"I think he did," Donna countered. "He's never said as much, but I think he really did."

"Well he's never said as much," CJ agreed. There was a short, awkward pause and it was clear that CJ was still somewhat bitter about Josh leaving the White House. "President Santos is too independent for Josh."

"You think?" Donna asked.

"Obviously you know them both a lot better than I do, but from an outsider's perspective, it seems like President Santos does what he want, when he wants. Josh likes to have control of things and with President Santos I don't think he has much, if any."

"You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one," Donna agreed.

"It's too bad," CJ said as she heard the front door open. "I was hoping things would change for him."

The men walked in with their broken dishware and worse smiles suggesting that the ritual was, in fact, one of the happier boyish moments of their adult lives.

"You guys have fun?" Donna asked noting their grins.

"It was okay," Sam said clearly lying.

"Yeah," Danny agreed, but not overly zealous.

CJ just shook her head. "That is going down as your happiest moment on this entire trip isn't it?" she asked him.

"Well if you'd like to give me a happier memory…" Danny said suggestively leaning down and kissing CJ's neck.

"Okay, okay," Josh said. "I did not need to hear that."

"I second that," Sam agreed.

"We have work to do stud," Josh said pulling Danny back into the kitchen.

"Have fun honey," CJ smiled as they walked away.

The afternoon continued and once the grout was properly mixed it seemed as though the backsplash came together fairly quickly. The guys used their artistic prowess to the best of their ability when designing the backsplash until Donna and CJ came to supervise and gave them a few constructive hints about where certain pieces should fit into the grand design. The awkwardness from earlier seemed to disappear and everyone was laughing and enjoying the company, though Josh and CJ seemed to talk more to the group than each other.

After the backsplash was left to dry the grand tour was given. Danny, CJ and Sam were all very impressed with the brownstone.

"So when do you two officially move in?" Danny asked. "I'm assuming since the kitchen table is here it must be soon."

"We're shooting for a soft move," Josh replied.

"We hope to be completely moved in two weeks," Donna added.

"Then we're throwing the housewarming to end all housewarming parties," Josh said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I think you're more excited about the housewarming than the actual moving," Donna said.

"Well, yeah," Josh replied. "You two are in town at a good time. I called Toby and he's coming in for it."

"How is he doing?" CJ asked.

"He's good," Josh said. "As happy as Toby can be anyway."

"Why don't we order some dinner?" Sam suggested. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Manly work requires a manly meal," Josh agreed.

"Beer and pizza then?" Danny suggested wryly.

"Hey, pregnant lady in the room," CJ reminded him.

"Sorry, pizza and sparkling water for you," Danny said unsympathetically.

"Do you think the hospital will frown on me requesting a bottle of merlot after delivery?" CJ asked rhetorically.

"Going through withdrawal?" Donna asked.

"I think it would have been easier if I had known my last beer was my last beer," CJ said.

"Well let's go figure out the order," Josh said as everyone started to usher out of the den and back to the kitchen. CJ was the last one in the room and she tugged on Josh's arm pulling him back.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" CJ asked.

"What's up?" Josh asked turned back toward her.

"I don't want things to be weird with us," CJ said.

"It's fine," Josh dismissed her.

"Is it or are you just saying it is?" CJ asked.

"CJ, we're good," Josh replied.

"We're on the same side you know."

Josh set his jaw and it looked like he was biting the side of his cheek.

"Yeah," he said unconvincingly.

"You don't think so," CJ said.

"I think the money you're asking for could do a hell of a lot of good in this country creating jobs, fixing health care or making a dent in the education system," Josh replied honestly. "I think if we were dealing with a budget surplus I'd glad give up the money and write you a personal check myself, but we're not. We're operating in a deficit and it just isn't the right time."

"If you were operating under a surplus you still couldn't fix the three things you listed," CJ reminded him.

"We could make a dent."

"I can make a dent here and in Africa," CJ said. "The infrastructure here is falling apart. I'm not living in the now anymore Josh. I'm having a baby and I'm thinking about her life fifty years from now. I want to do whatever I can do to make her life better."

"And fixing health care and education won't do that?" Josh countered.

"Why not make a hundred tiny dents in everything we can instead of being so narrow-minded. You just said you're not gonna fix it. You're gonna make dents."

"CJ," Josh protested. "It's not that simple. I've got a million and one governmental programs to think about at home, not to mention all the foreign aid packages I have to review. I'd rather feed Africa than build an infrastructure there."

"If we build the roads we can feed Africa," CJ said. "If we improve our infrastructure we don't have to mobilize the National Guard the next time a bridge collapses or a road caves in because it won't happen."

"We're not gonna agree on this," Josh said.

"I don't want us to be at each other on this," CJ said. "We're on the same team."

"You and I both know we haven't been on the same team for a while," Josh replied.

"Fine," CJ agreed. "We're not on the same team, but can we at least agree we're in the same league? We both want the same things and we have the same basic political beliefs."

"I know."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that you scare the hell out of me when you get like this," Josh said. "He'll listen to you. You'll get five minutes with him and the agenda I've spend the last six months working will be out the window because you're passionate and smart and persuasive."

"You're persuasive Josh," CJ said walking over to him. "You're smart and you know what you're doing. You shouldn't be afraid of me or anyone else."

"It doesn't feel like that," Josh replied.

"Josh," CJ said.

"No, I'm fine," he said cutting her off. "We're good. You're still one of my best friends and I fully intend to give you a sound ass-kicking next week."

"Good," CJ said with a small grin. "I'm not expecting anything less."

"We're good," Josh said reaching out and enveloping CJ's in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and sighed. At that moment the baby decided to kick fairly hard and Josh pulled back with a look of terror on his face. CJ started to chuckle at his reaction.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"That was my daughter trying to literally kick some sense into her dumb Uncle Josh," CJ said.

"That was…wow," Josh said.

"Freaked you out?"

"Just a little."

"Try taking it from my side of things," CJ said.

"It's like Alien or something."

"That's what I told Danny," CJ said happily. "He thought I was being rude comparing our child to an alien."

"I have to tell you that I'm definitely on board with that description," Josh said. "So, shall we break bread one last time before our latest knock-down, drag-out fight in the Oval?"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," CJ said as they walked into the kitchen.

TBC