XIX

"Hey, you."

Charlie looked up, smiling in startlement. "Zoey! What are you doing here?"

"Mom wanted me to come in. To tell me about..."

"Oh," he nodded awkwardly. CJ had cornered him and spoken to him about the book this morning. He was still torn up between dismay for the president's sake and relief that at least he understood what this funk he'd been in was about.

He rounded the desk to take Zoey's hands and give her a quick kiss.

"I told mom," she blurted when he pulled away.

"You did?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah, she-" Zoey nodded. "She was okay. She was... yeah."

Charlie hesitated, and gestured towards the Oval Office. "Do you want to...?"

"I think it's time," she agreed. She took his hand, and the two of them headed into the president's office.

He looked up from his books, and a smile split his face as he saw his youngest daughter. "Zoey!" He tugged his glasses off and stood up to come and join them.

"Hey, dad." She threw her arms around his neck and he squeezed her happily.

"What are you doing in this neck of the woods, honey?" He pressed a brief kiss to her temple and shot a mock-suspicious look at Charlie. "This guy giving you trouble? Do I need to arrange to have him disappeared?"

Zoey giggled, but stepped back to the safer ground of resting against her husband's shoulder. "No, actually, I'm probably gonna... probably gonna need him around for a while."

"Oh?" The president tilted his head inquiringly, eyes narrowed.

She looked at Charlie. Charlie looked back. They linked hands and turned to face the president, and Zoey took a breath.

"Dad? Charlie and me, we're... we're gonna have a baby."

For a long, paralysingly breathless moment, the president looked completely blank. Then an unreadable expression spread across his face, and he moved forward. Charlie backed away as he lunged, just in case, but he only wrapped Zoey in a tight bear hug.

The president held onto his daughter for what seemed like a long time, not speaking. His breathing was just a touch too ragged, and Charlie could tell his recently fiercely repressed emotions were on the edge of getting the better of him.

After a moment he raised his head, and gave his son-in-law a gentle smile. "Come here too, you," he ordered softly. He beckoned with a hand, and Charlie moved forward to be pulled into the embrace of his family.

He snatched up the phone halfway through its first ring. "Leo McGarry."

"We got word from our boys in Cambodia."

Nancy's familiar voice sent a jolt of tension through him.

"Nancy," he warned, the 'so help me, if you don't tell me right now...' going pretty much unspoken.

"They got the guy."

"The assassin?" he said in disbelief.

"Matched the gun to the bullet they took out of our guy's skull," she confirmed.

"And he's-?"

"Nobody," Nancy said.

"Huh?"

"He's a street punk, Leo. Arrests for assault, robbery, drug offences... he's nobody's paid attack dog."

The import of this news took a moment to sink in. "This was a random gun crime?"

"Leo, this guy holds up tourists and business travellers three times a week. He sees an American in an expensive suit, he's after his wallet or his phone. Probably didn't even knew who he'd gunned down 'til it hit the headlines. The agents on the scene figure Williamson probably put up a fight, called out for his protection detail or something, and the mugger panicked."

"Unlucky son of a bitch," Leo grimaced. Williamson had probably thought his Ambassadorial status protected him. Leo had lost what little faith he still had in the power of positions and titles the day the bullets started flying outside the Newseum. It didn't matter how important you were, somebody somewhere was crazy enough to try to kill you.

"His detail are getting a dressing down, but seriously, Leo, there's a fatal shooting every other day out there. He was playing the odds sneaking out on his own like that, and there's no way he didn't know it."

Despite the grim nature of the subject matter, a grin of relief was beginning to spread across his features. "We're in the clear? This was completely non-political?"

"Just another botched mugging on the streets on Phnom Penh," she confirmed. "The only thing unusual about this one was they actually caught the guy."

"I can tell the president?"

Now he heard the smile in her voice as well. "Knock yourself out," she said warmly.

Leo put down the phone and sprang to his feet, load on his shoulders lightened as he contemplated the prospect of at least one piece of good news to bring before the president today.

He headed out of the office, bellowing.

"Margaret!"

Donna wouldn't have been entirely surprised if the tension bottled up in Toby's office right now was so strong it could be felt all the way out in the press room. They were all gathered here rather than trying to squeeze into CJ's office; there was no way the rest of the staff didn't know something was up by now, but they weren't ready to take this out into the bullpen just yet.

CJ was close to bouncing off the walls, pacing back and forth as she waited for the appointed hour to roll around. "I'm ready, I'm pumped, I'm primed, I'm on the ball," she snapped at the others as they kept nervously offering suggestions.

"Katie's gonna stick to the script?" Sam wondered anxiously.

"For the first few questions, yeah. After that, it's a free for all."

"Who're you gonna call?" Toby asked. Donna resisted the urge to say 'Ghostbusters'.

"Ghostbusters," muttered Josh. CJ clipped him round the head.

"This office is too small to contain that level of stupidity."

"I'm thinking there's a pun about 'density' to be had in there somewhere," Sam observed.

CJ turned to glare at him, hand still raised. "You want some of this, Spanky?"

"This conversation has taken a very disturbing turn," Toby muttered into the palm he was resting on.

Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Donna quickly prodded him in the side. He turned to glower at her, but it quickly turned into a smile and a shrug before he turned back to the discussion. She hated to say it, but this level of stress was doing him a world of good. He'd been yanked forcibly out of his moping and thrust into the thick of plotting and scheming, and he'd come to life.

CJ had turned back to Toby's question. "Rick Maskey's first stop on the sympathy bus. And after that- Well, after that, the sympathy bus hits a brick wall and all the passengers die horribly painful deaths."

Toby sighed heavily. They all froze as the door creaked open, and Carol gave them a tentative smile. "CJ?" She waved a small slip of paper.

CJ took the note, read it, and tilted her head back with an unexpectedly relieved sigh. "Cambodia," she said, when she straightened up and noticed everybody looking at her.

"Good news?" asked Josh.

"They caught the guy, and it's not gonna be a thing." Everybody's breath let out in the same 'whoosh' of air. Sam massaged his neck.

"We can throw that out there first?"

"Distract the lions with some fresh meat?" CJ nodded. "For a while, anyway. But it won't be long before they're baying for blood again."

"I don't think lions bay," Josh put in dryly.

CJ glared at him. "Since when were you appointed nature boy?"

"Since when did lions bay?" he retorted.

"Break it up, kids." The words slipped out before she could stop them, and Donna immediately blushed crimson. But nobody challenged her, and Toby even gave her a rare quiet smile.

"She's right." CJ straightened up and smoothed her suit jacket. "Let's get this freakshow on the road."