XIII

Sam was beginning to wonder if it would be such a bad idea to replace the entire legal department with Republicans. A room full of Ainsleys was a pretty scary idea, but surely anything would be better than this morning's meeting with Brooks and Harrison.

Saturday, when they weren't in the process of sinking without trace, was usually a day for dealing with scraps; unimportant tasks and low-level meetings. Well, this was pretty much as low-level as you could get, and the standard of company was only taking it lower.

Brooks and Harrison might be extremely junior-level staffers, but you wouldn't know it from their egos. They reminded him entirely too much of the typical arrogant lawyer stereotype. They clearly resented him being down here, horning in on 'their' operation - which they appeared to be under the impression was run purely for their own benefit.

"Listen, guys," he tried again, "I know this is basic stuff, but you have to clear this with us."

"Sam, we know this," Brooks scowled at him.

"I know you know this, but the fact is-"

"We know the procedure, Sam!" Harrison chimed in. "And we don't appreciate you coming down here and treating us like idiots!"

No? Because it seemed pretty appropriate to me.

"Okay, I'm not here to lay the blame on anybody-"

"Then why are you here?" Harrison demanded.

Sam gave him a sharp look. "To make sure you understand our position on this."

"Fine." The junior staffer rolled his eyes.

"Understood." Brooks gave him a sarcastic sketchy little salute.

"Okay then." Sam pushed his chair back and stood up. He was willing to bet that exactly the same stupid mistakes would continue to be made, but it was no longer his problem. He'd set out the rules; if they continued to screw it up, well... firing them would not be the greatest hardship in the world.

"Bye, Sam," said Brooks, with an obnoxious smirk.

"Yeah, bye-bye, Sam," Harrison agreed, giving him a little wave.

He left.

Sam didn't quite catch what it was that Brooks muttered to his partner to make them both bust up laughing as he walked out, but it had something to do with 'positions', and not of the legal kind. His back tensed up momentarily, but he kept on going without turning.

"Hey, CJ."

"Joshua."

He crossed the room to sit on the edge of her desk. "Whatcha doing?"

She looked at him over the top of her glasses. "Work."

"Ah."

"Foreign concept?"

"I've heard of the word."

"You should try it sometime."

He pulled a face. "I prefer to stick with what I know."

He was rewarded with a slight smile for that, but Josh could see that she looked tired. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

CJ snorted. "You boys are a bunch of real mother hens, you know that?"

There was a smart remark on the tip of his tongue, but he reminded himself that he was a nice guy now. "We care," he said instead.

CJ stared at him for a few moments. "Jesus," she said wonderingly, shaking her head.

"Nope, it's still me."

"I was beginning to wonder."

He pretended to be injured. "I can't be nice sometimes?"

She rolled her eyes. "Did you bring me coffee as well?" she asked.

"No," he said, wondering who'd brought her coffee. Surely Sam had other things on his mind, Leo would've sent Margaret, and who else was there? "I was afraid you might think you were getting fired," he elaborated.

"What?" she frowned at him.

"Well, Donna only brings me coffee when she thinks I'm about to get fired."

"That often?"

He was about to reply when Carol stuck her head through the door, looking deeply worried. "CJ? Peter on line one."

"Yeah, okay. Can I just-?"

"You'd better take it," Carol said seriously.

CJ suddenly looked worried, and grabbed for the phone. "Peter? Is he-? Yeah, I- Okay. When did he-? Right. Uh, did they say-? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Uh, thank you, thanks, Peter. I'll- okay. Okay. Bye."

Josh looked on worriedly. "CJ?"

She shook her head. "It's- it's my dad, he's taken a turn for the worse, they think-" She buried her face in her hands. "God, I can't fly out to Ohio, not now-"

"Sure you can," Josh said firmly, taking a comforting grip on her arm. "Donna!" he bellowed. There was no particular reason why his assistant should happen to be in this part of the building, and yet somehow when he called, she knew to be there.

"Josh?" Carol's worry must have communicated itself to her, for she gave him and CJ a concerned glance.

"I need a flight to Ohio. Earliest one going." He smiled across at CJ. "Get two tickets," he added.

Toby hurried up and stopped Josh in the corridor. "CJ's flying out-?"

"To Ohio, yeah," he nodded. "Donna's sorted the tickets out, there's a flight in about an hour."

"How's her father?"

Josh shook his head helplessly. "I don't know. I only heard her side of the call, but... it sounded pretty bad."

"He has Alzheimer's," Toby explained. "He was hospitalised a couple of months ago with a stroke, and they re-admitted him on Monday. Her brothers have been keeping her posted."

Josh was dismayed. "How come I didn't know any of this?"

"She doesn't like to talk about it."

"Yeah." For a moment he remembered his own father... and the way he'd missed being there to say goodbye at the end. That wasn't going to happen to CJ. He wasn't going to let it. "I'm going with her," he said decisively. "She's gonna need somebody there."

"I should be there," Toby said quickly.

"Yeah, but one of us has to stay behind," Josh pointed out.

"Why can't it be you?"

"One of us has to stay behind and handle the press," he elaborated.

"You're going with CJ," Toby said instantly.

Josh smiled wryly. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought."

He turned and started to move away, but Toby called him back. "Josh?"

"Yeah?"

The Communications Director looked him in the eye for a long moment, and then said seriously "Look after her."

"I will," he promised, and meant it.