Mint Bistro in Manchester, NH
6:55pm

"Doing okay there?" Danny asked as he watched CJ shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"I should have pumped one more time before we left," she admitted as she palpated her left breast discreetly.

"Want me to go get it for you? I'm sure they have a room here somewhere that they'll let you use."

She thought about it for a moment, and then demurred with a shake of her head.

"Let me know if you change your mind," Danny said as he reached out and gently rubbed her shoulder. "I can be there and back in less than ten minutes."

She was giving him a grateful smile when a hand caressing her other shoulder made her jump.

"Hi."

"Hi!"

The two men looked on, bemused, as each woman complimented the other on her dress.

"How many?"

"Two. You?"

"Five."

Danny gave a low laugh before asking, "so .. how's Pennsylvania Avenue? You enjoying being the guy, or what?"

"Feels more like chief cook and bottle washer most days."

Danny acknowledged the sentiment and picked up the wine bottle.

"Still drink red?"

"Yeah," Josh mumbled as he pushed his glass forward; momentarily distracted by three text messages following one another in quick succession.

"Everything okay?"

Josh put the phone down on the table and ruffled his hair in frustration. A server at his elbow prevented him from having to dissemble and CJ, recognizing the look on his face for what it was, stepped in quickly with "we should order."

Josh gave the menu a precursory look.

"I'll have whatever he's having," he said as his phone vibrated again. "Sorry, I have to stay on top of this .."

The entrées had been served before he was able to join the conversation properly again.

"How's fatherhood treating you?" he asked Danny, picking at the food on his plate.

"It's the damnedest thing. Everyone in the family, even CJ's brothers, tried to prepare me for being sidelined for a while. But the moment she was born I felt a surge of relevance."

"Oh yeah?"

"It's somethin'.."

Josh looked over at his wife, who was gushing over the most recent photos of Imogen on CJ's phone, and a small smile materialized on his face.

"You guys thinkin' about it?"

"At some poi-"

He was interrupted by Donna, who showed him shots of Danny in deep conversation with a rapt baby. He looked up at Dannny and the smile had become a grin.

"Daniel Concannon, baby whisperer," he teased.

"He may not have breasts but he sure can talk," CJ said proudly. "It's the sweetest thing when he tells her one of his stories."

"I hope you're writing these stories down for a future children's book," Donna said.

"You always were a freaking raconteur," Josh said as he drained his wine glass.

"Raconteur? Did you just say raconteur?" CJ said as she checked the level on the bottle of red wine and looked at Donna. "You may need to cut him off if he keeps using words like that. I don't have the mental bandwidth for big words any more."

Donna sighed.

"So it's not a myth that you lose a bunch of grey matter when you have a baby?"

"Nope. And that's just one of the things you have to look forward to."

"So Danny, how's the new book going?" Josh asked when talk of babies stopped dominating the conversational landscape.

"Good. Excited to be working on it with these two wonderful women," Danny said as he raised his glass at them.

"Ask him how wonderful he thinks I am at 2am, when I weasel out of changing diapers because I'm too exhausted to get out of bed."

"You did the bulk of the heavy lifting getting her here," Danny whispered with a fond wink. "I'm good with the 2am changes."

"Had any trouble convincing Toby to write an introduction for Bonnie and Ginger?"

Danny's eyes drifted slowly to Josh, who had gone back to his phone immediately after asking the question.

"No, actually. And he has a great story about Mrs. Landingham which I'd never heard."

"The one about the homeless veteran's funeral?" Donna asked, when it became clear that Josh was totally consumed by the information being relayed to him.

"Yeah."

"That's a nice story. You should have Charlie tell you the rest of it. Sorry about this .." she added as she waved in Josh's general direction.

"I'm sure it's important," CJ said with a knowing smile.

Danny picked up the white wine bottle and refreshed Donna's glass. "Hey, a few years down the line you and I can swap war stories about what it was like being so closely associated with a Chief of Staff."

"It'll be more like horror stories," Josh interjected.

It didn't escape his notice that CJ's eyes cut involuntarily to his phone as he put it down.

"Don't worry, nothing to do with your leftovers."

"My leftovers?" CJ asked as her face and chest flushed. "Gee, Josh, between trying to stop Russia and China from annihilating the Northern Hemisphere and navigating the reality of genocide, I'm sorry I couldn't leave everything tied up neatly in a bow for you."

Josh's eyes snapped to hers in surprise, but his pager went off before he could respond. Followed closely by his phone - which he snatched off the table and answered.

He listened intently for a moment, and the firm set of his jaw and the flash in his eyes left no doubt that he was aggravated.

"We do the job in front of us, Lou. You can tell her that we certainly don't always always get to pick and choose what we want to work on."

His eyes wandered around the room as he spoke; resting lightly on CJ before they dropped to the napkin he was twisting in his hand. Donna touched his knee gently and he suddenly seemed to become aware of his surroundings.

"I don't care what it takes," he said as he got up from table and moved away in a hurry. "If this bill fails it makes him look weak and costs us votes. Find out what the Senator wants and get him on board. We need this one."

Donna looked at her table companions in mortification.

"He didn't mean that," she said as she placed a hand over CJ's. "He's just really stres -"

Somewhere behind them a baby cried and the look in CJ's eyes morphed from anger to embarrassment as she glanced down and watched a stain spread across the front of her dress.

Without a word, Danny whipped his jacket off and draped it around her shoulders.

"Let's go," he said gently, sensing that she was at the end of her tether. "I'll settle the bill on the way out."

"Don't worry about the bill," Donna replied, not sure what to say or do at this point.

"Thanks. I'll call you," Danny said with an appreciative squeeze to her shoulder.

Donna watched them make their way out of the restaurant with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Where'd they go? " Josh said when he returned to table about ten minutes later.

Donna stared at him as she stirred sugar into her espresso.

"What was that?"

"What was what? Why are you putting so much sugar into your coffee?"

"Leftovers? Really?"

Josh looked surprised for the second time that evening.

"It was a joke."

"Judging by her reaction, I think that may have eluded her. What's going on between the two of you?"

"There's nothing going on."

"Josh!"

"There's nothing going on."

"She barely said a hundred words the whole time, and you spent the few moments you were actually present .."

She trailed off as he placed his hand over hers.

"I'll text her in the morning and apologize."

"What was that whole we don't get to choose about?

"What?"

"You said, you can tell her that we certainly don't always always get to pick and choose what we want to work on. And then you looked at CJ."

"I was talking about Amy," he shot back.

"She thinks that was a dig at her." When Josh continued to look at her in confusion she repeated, "something's going on."

"Do we have to talk about this now? I need to get back to DC before my staff blows up everything up, along with our chances for reelection."

Donna considered her words carefully.

"Is this about what happened the night of the lockdown?"

When he signalled the server for the bill instead of responding, the hollow feeling of unease exploded on the inside.

"I thought we were past that, Josh."

"We are," he muttered as he pulled out his wallet - and Donna was almost sure he hadn't intended her to hear it.

She put her hand over his as he reached for his phone.

"Josh, Danny's worried .."

Her words gave him pause.

"Danny's worried?"

"Yes. I'm worried, too."

"I'll fix it. I'm texting her right now."

"She doesn't know I told you about what happened that night, and neither does Danny. Is it possible that there's a lot more going on here? For both of you?" She squeezed his hand a little tighter. "CJ's the closest thing you have to family, Josh. Please get to the bottom of this before it becomes a gulf there's no coming back from."

His phone rang again, bringing the conversation to a premature end, but she knew from the look in his eyes that he'd heard her. She waited until they were back in the car, and he was distracted again by the political debacle waiting for him back home, to text Danny.

Let's put the California trip on the books sooner rather than later.

The response arrived immediately.

I'll get back to you with some dates tomorrow.