I don't own them - Aaron Benjamin Sorkin does. However, this alternate universe is all mine, and began with "You've Got To Want It" and "Inadequacy and the Single Woman".


When Push Comes To Shove:
Defining Parameters
by Rebecca A. Anderson
sniggles@claudia-jean.net
May 2001


"Hey," Ainsley greeted Leo, who was playing doorkeeper. "Can I go in and see her?"

"She's pretty pissed about getting drummed out of the Party," Leo warned.

"Yeah, well, I've got a tape of yesterday's Capitol Beat, so she can stop being so pissy," Ainsley said with a smile. "And besides... maybe it's for the best that she's splitting away from the Democrats and pursuing her own options."

"Maybe," Leo conceded grudgingly. "Go on in. And don't look at her like she looks horrifying, because it makes her feel really self-conscious."

"I've seen her at her worst, Leo - no big deal," Ainsley said with a smile. "By the way, Oliver said to tell you hello."

"Tell him I said hi back."

Ainsley nodded and smiled before steadying herself and walking into CJ's hospital room calm, cool, and collected. "Hi, CJ."

CJ looked up from the folder she had in her hands and tipped her glasses further down her nose. "Ainsley! Hey! What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed in shock.

"Well, all things considered, I thought a visit might just be in order," Ainsley admitted with a warm smile. "How do you feel?"

"Oh, like crap - but it's not a big deal because I'll feel much worse by the time this is all over with. Did you bring flowers?"

"No... I brought something better."

"What? Chocolate?"

"No... a video tape of yesterday's Capitol Beat."

CJ groaned and closed the folder over her face. "AINSLEY!"

"What? It's not a big deal - I just bribed Mark Godfrey to give me the first unedited copy."

"No, you know what I mean - I got eaten alive!"

"Not really, well... not originally, anyway. And I did a good job of stepping up to the plate for you. I think I got bleeped more times last night then I have the entire rest of my life!" Ainsley giggled. "Wanna see the whole thing? What didn't make it to air?"

CJ sighed. "I guess."

Ainsley smiled and popped the tape into the VCR.

"Welcome to Captiol Beat, this is Mark Godfrey. Tonight, my guests: to my right, political analyst and counsel to Senator Mark Hamlin, Ainsley Hayes; to my left, the charming and witty Representative Deborah Wittier. Tonight's topic: how much personal information about our political candidates is too much, and how much is too little."

CJ sighed and stifled another groan.

"Ladies, just yesterday, Claudia Jean Cregg, the forerunner in the Democratic nomination process for the Senate in New Hampshire, called a press conference to announce an altered campaign schedule to accommidate her treatments for breast cancer. Now, one must wonder what exactly was going through her mind when she announced, in effect, to the whole world at large that she has cancer."

"Well, I think it was a bad idea all around, Mark," Deborah spoke up. "She effectively ended her DNC-funded campaign the instant she opened her mouth about her cancer."

"I don't see why," Ainsley threw in. "Whether or not she gets funding from the DNC, she is the forerunner in that particular race, and the fact that CJ has breast cancer won't affect her ability to represent New Hampshire in the Senate."

"I disagree - who really knows what radiation and chemotherapy do to a person..."

"Oh, please! Like it was a question in 1998, when Daniel Westbrooke ran for, and won, the open seat for Georgia - no one questioned his ability to..."

"Miss Hayes..."

"I think it's because she's a woman."

"EXCUSE ME?!"

"I think it's because she's a woman, and she's Josiah Bartlet's political protégé. You don't want her to come into power because she has his training under her belt, his ideas wound up to bat, and if it leaks out that she is smarter than your average Senator, wow, there goes the Senate."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh really? Marcia Hamblin - two years ago, showing signs of intelligence and Bartletism, you slapped down her campaign in the California 26th."

"Because we wanted Juan Montez to win."

"So you could keep that part of California under your thumb? Well, let me tell you something - I have seen a lot of politicians. And in this day and age in politics, CJ Cregg is phenomenal. Not only did she face a Grand Jury during the Bartlet Administration, she did so with grace and poise. And now, she came forward to tell the world that she has an illness that kills millions of women in this country each year, and that she will continue to fight the battle. She did it to show people everywhere that she is still strong, still fighting, still kicking - and to set herself apart from Jed Bartlet, her political mentor, who left his degenerative illness undisclosed for so long."

"And we'll take a break now, and be back with more from Ainsley Hayes and Deborah Wittier."

CJ stared at Ainsley. "You realize you defended a former Democrat?"

"No, CJ, I defended my friend. And besides, being married to Oliver Babish has... changed some of my political views. I was beginning to lean a little more to center, anyway." Her smile was enormous. "How do you feel now? I mean, you got drummed out of your Party but..."

"But I've got someone ready to pick up the cloak. You're looking at the candidate for the Women's Liberty Party for the open Senate seat of New Hampshire. They love me," CJ said, smiling weakly.

"Great!" Ainsley leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I've got to get back to Washington, but you'd better believe if you win, I'll chuck in my resignation and come work for you."

"I'm gonna kick some ass, girl, just you watch," CJ replied with a grin. "Kiss the kids and Oliver for me."

"No problem."



Finis