A/N: I'm so sorry it has taken so long for me to post. For other notes and disclaimers, see part 1. I also would like to thank for all the kind reviews.





Part 14



Carol knocked on the doorframe and stepped into CJ's office. She was sitting behind her desk, typing furiously and Miranda was on the floor playing. Carol was a bit surprised at how silent Miranda was playing. She always was running around the office with her toys shouting. And if she wasn't, she at least used to have lively conversations with them.



"CJ, it's almost seven. Shouldn't you be leaving?"



CJ nodded but Carol wasn't sure she had heard her.



"CJ?"



She finally looked up and it seemed as if it was first now that she noticed Carol was there.



"Yeah?"



"It's seven," Carol repeated.



CJ looked at her for a short moment before standing and leaning over her desk to look at Miranda. "Damn it," she said quietly. "I did it again, huh?"



"Has she eaten yet?" Carol asked and CJ shook her head. "I'll go down to the mess and see if I can find anything for her."



CJ nodded avoiding her eyes. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Then she walked around her desk and sat down next to Miranda on the floor.



"Hey sweetie," she whispered but Miranda didn't answer. "Miranda, honey, I'm so sorry." Miranda still didn't answer and it was now CJ noticed all her new toys spread around at the floor. "Miranda? What's this? Where did you get all these toys from?"



This time Miranda looked up and smiled proudly. "Toby gave them to me," Miranda said and continued playing.

CJ didn't know why but she felt how she got angrier and angrier and when Carol came back with food for Miranda she had to try really hard to stay calm.



"Carol, can you watch Miranda while I go and talk to Toby?"



Without waiting for her assistant to answer she walked towards the communications bullpen. The light was on in Toby's office and when she entered she noticed that Sam and Josh were also there.



"Hey, CJ!" Josh said happily. "What's up?"



"Um, Josh, Sam, could you please leave me and Toby alone for a few minutes?" She said looking furiously at Toby.



Josh and Sam looked at her, then at each other, then at Toby who all the time looked at CJ who of course looked back.



"Sure," Sam said. "Toby, we'll wait for you in my office."



"No," CJ said. "Wait in Josh's office."



Josh and Sam looked at each other as they were leaving Toby's office.



"There's definitely going to be yelling in there," Josh said.



Toby and CJ just starred at each other for a while. CJ's eyes were furious while Toby's were calm.



"CJ, what can I do for you?"



She walked closer to his desk and leaned her hands against it so she was looking down at him. "Toby, what exactly are you trying to do?" Without waiting for his answer she continued. "I asked you to watch her for two hours, tops, and you buy her a toy store!"

Toby rose, still surprisingly calm. He almost seemed a bit tired. "CJ, all I did was giving her some gifts. She was sad about losing her yellow bunny and."

CJ threw up her hands in the air with a frustrated yell. "That damn bunny! Toby, she lost it herself! If you buy her something new every time she loses anything she'll never learn to look after her things!"

"CJ, the kid is six years old. She just lost her family and I was just trying to be nice." Toby sighed, knowing he probably would have an outburst soon.

"Nice? Yeah, Toby' you're right. You've been so nice lately I've had it up to here!" She held up her hand to show her point.

"Well, you know what Ceej? I've had it up to here with you too!" Toby who finally had gotten tired of CJ yelling at him, shouted.

She took a step back and looked a bit shaken of how he had pronounced her name. It was a long time ago since she had heard it the last time.

"Look at yourself, CJ! You're hurting her! You're screaming at her all the time. In your eyes she can't do anything right"

"That's not true! Take that back!" CJ yelled. "Just because you've been spending a lot of time with her lately doesn't mean you know how she feels and how I treat her!"

Toby's arms flew out to his side. "Why do you think she comes to me?"

CJ's eyes became smaller and she had never been so close to slapping him as now. Instead, she took a deep breath to calm herself. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"And you like every minute of it," she said quietly.

That was true but Toby suspected she didn't mean that in a nice way.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

CJ smiled slightly, a bit patronizing. "Toby, you're telling me that I should look at myself. Before you start giving me orders, please take a look at yourself. Ever since we came back from New York you've been running after Miranda like you were her tail, you've done everything she wants you too and today you bought her an entire toy-store! Don't you think I know what you're trying to do? You're trying to make me look bad in front of others and in front of Miranda while you're making you the perfect adult that she can run to every time mean aunt CJ tells her to stop being noisy!" She paused for a while and looked at Toby as if she wanted him to say something. When he didn't, she continued. "You are still mad at me for what I did to you all those years ago and now, in some sick way, you want to get back at me, huh? Is that how it is?" Toby didn't answer, he just glared at her. This time, when she continued, her tone was softer, almost a bit patronizing. "Toby, you need to stop living in the past. That was such a long time ago and you're still thinking about it all the time. Now you think you've got a second chance with Miranda, but fact is that Miranda isn't yours. As much as you want her to be she isn't and she never will be. And as much as you're trying to be the good father you will never become one, at least not to her. You think that being nice to Miranda makes us go back in time. You're imagining that she is your daughter and that I never did that abortion and that we're just one big happy family! Toby, I think you're pathetic."

When she stopped for air she realized what she just said. Toby looked at her for a short moment before slumping down in his chair. It looked like someone just had stabbed him. He avoided looking at her. When she saw how much she had hurt him, she immediately regretted it. She realized that even though she had stopped herself from slapping him earlier, she in a way just did.

"Toby," she said quietly.

"Leave me alone."

She knew there was no point in staying so she left without another word, knowing that once again she had hurt him.

TBC.