VII

"Any luck?" Sam shook his head, and CJ sighed resignedly. Great. If a miracle solution hadn't popped up this soon, the chances of it materialising at all were getting steadily slimmer.

Sam came over to sit beside her, and rubbed his beard. "You really think it might have been stolen?"

"Barring the Swedish Ambassador running the world's most audacious insurance scam, it's starting to look like it," she grimaced. "But if it was stolen, what chance have we got of ever finding the thief?"

"Any disreputable characters in the room?" Sam wondered with a frown. She gave him a sideways look.

"The Swedish Ambassador?"

"Aside from him."

"It was a room full of politicians, diplomats, and the Washington social elite, Sam."

"So, all of them?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, so far, I've ruled out you, me, Leo and the president," she sighed.

"And Steve," he offered.

"And Charlie."

"And the First Lady."

Well, there you go. Seven down, eighty-six to go. What were we worried about?"

Sam sighed, and rubbed his head. "You know, it would have helped if the ambassador had actually been sober enough to even notice when it went missing, instead of calling up and bawling us out thirty-six hours later."

"And you would have done what?" she wondered wryly. "Strip-searched the entire guest list?"

He smirked. "As plans go, it has a certain appeal." A thought struck him. " Provided I didn't have to do it personally."

CJ snickered. "There's not enough money in the world to persuade me to strip- search some of the people in that room, Sam."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Not even Danny?"

"Samuel-"

It was probably fortunate for the Deputy Communications Director's continued health that Carol knocked on the door just then. "CJ?"

She sat forward. "What's up, Carol?"

Her assistant pulled a wry face. "The Swedish Ambassador called again. He's sober now, and fully in charge of his faculties - and he's hopping mad with it. He's given us a deadline. If we don't get that watch back to him by Friday night when his wife gets here, he's going straight to the papers saying it was stolen while he was in the White House."

CJ sighed, and dropped her head into her hands. "Oh, happy day."

The Vice President stared at him, hands balled into frustrated fists. He restrained himself from any more physical expression of anger, but he made no such effort to keep his voice free of it.

"Leo, just what in the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded harshly.

Leo looked him in the eye, and repeated the question. "Mr. Vice President, are you having an affair with Selena McGann?"

"I ought to-"

"We just lost a major deal because Joe Bridges is holding something over her head," he continued bluntly, "and we have reason to believe it's you."

Hoynes' shoulders slumped visibly. He was silent for a long moment, looking at the floor, before he raised his head. "For a time, there was-"

"God, John-" he snarled in exasperation.

"For a time, I was seeing Selena McGann. I'm not any more."

"How long since?" Leo demanded matter-of-factly.

His face darkened. "I don't see how that's any of your-"

"Damned straight it's my business, how long since?"

Hoynes sighed shortly. "Six months."

Leo screwed up his face in disgust. "So you carried on seeing her half a year after Joe Bridges rumbled the two of you?"

He frowned in confusion. "Joe Bridges doesn't-"

"He knows, John. He's known for a year, and he's been holding it over Selena's head for God knows how long. What the hell do you think happened to your technology bill?"

For a moment the Vice President stared at him blankly, then understanding slammed into place. "Son of a-!"

"Yeah." Leo glared at him. "Jesus, John, what the hell is going on here? You're not this stupid, I know you're not this stupid, so why don't you just cut the crap and tell me what the hell kind of game it is you think you're playing here?"

The two men glowered at each other in angry silence.

Jed looked up at the tentative creak of the Oval Office door. A rumpled and tired- looking Josh hovered uncertainly. "Charlie was already gone, I just-"

"Come in, Josh," he nodded kindly, putting his papers aside. Josh stepped in and closed the door.

"I just wanted to- Yah!" The Deputy Chief of Staff leapt backwards in alarm as the small ball of black and white fur curled up on the sofa suddenly opened its eyes and blinked up at him.

"It's a cat, Josh," the president told him with a wry smile.

There was a long, uneasy silence, as Josh regarded the wide-eyed feline warily. "Why is it staring at me?"

"Probably because you just shrieked."

The younger man edged across to join the president, continuing to eye the tiny kitten as if it might be planning to leap across the room and rip his throat out at any moment. "Why is there... a cat... in the Oval Office?" he asked gingerly.

Jed sucked in a slow breath, more of an effort than usual while his throat was still congested. "That's a question I've been asking myself, but apparently it has something to do with the First Lady having a crackpot theory that a pet would be good for my blood pressure."

Josh shuffled around until he was standing behind the president's shoulder, presumably safely shielded there from the wrath of flying attack kittens. "Is that... Donna's roommate's kitten?" he wondered anxiously.

"Ah-hah!" Jed abruptly sat upright, a piece of the puzzle falling into place. "A conspiracy!" He leaned his head back to look at Josh. "The women of this White House are conspiring against me!"

"To fill the place with kittens?" Josh appeared to find this a genuinely daunting prospect. Jed looked up at him wryly.

"Was there a reason you came in here, Josh?"

"Oh. Yes, sir." If anything, more colour drained from his face as he shifted away from the prospect of a potential White House cat invasion back to business. "Just to tell you- You wanted to talk to Leo, he already left."

"Well, where is he?" Jed narrowed his eyes concernedly. With anybody else, at this hour, he'd just assume they'd taken off for home - but not Leo.

Josh continued to look uncharacteristically serious. "He's meeting with the Vice President."

"What about?" Jed demanded. Josh looked down at the floor.

"I'd... rather not say just yet, Mr. President," he admitted.

Jed never liked those sorts of answers... but he supposed they were better than having his staff lie to his face.

"Okay," he said softly, nodding. He swallowed, and that caused him to cough dryly; Josh looked up worriedly.

"Sir, are you-?"

"I'm fine."

Nonetheless, he crossed to the desk and retrieved Jed's glass of water for him. He took it gratefully, welcoming the refreshment even if it was so icy cold it almost hurt to swallow. "Thank you." He looked up. "You can go now, Josh."

"Okay. Thank you." Josh looked hesitant, but nobody lingered after a presidential dismissal. "Goodnight, Mr. President."

"Goodnight, Josh."

Jed waited until the younger man was gone to let out the second round of coughing that had gradually been building, standing up before it doubled him over. He drained the glass and set it back on the edge of the desk, wandering over to sit down beside the kitten. He scratched it absently between its ears, smiling at the high-pitched purr this soon produced.

"Looks like something else is about to go wrong, there, buddy," he observed quietly. "Don't suppose you have any idea what that was about?"

The kitten just purred, and butted his fingers. He found it strangely comforting.