"I don't know what to do?" Danny sat at his kitchen table holding his hands in front of him.

"It's the hormones. She'll get better." said the upper class New England voice brimming over with character and poise.

"It's been a month and she won't get out of bed."

"That's not good."

"I know."

"That's not good in any capacity."

"I thought you could help?" Danny looked at Abbey.

Abbey looked over at Toby sitting in the corner.

"I'm going to need your help too." Abbey said to Toby.

"Yeah, what ever you need." Toby leaned forward.

"She has a history of depression in her family." Toby told the group.

"Lingering hormones don't help."

"I have an idea." Abbey looked at the men.

Abbey opened the sliding doors to CJ's bedroom like it was the grand doors to the blue room at the White House.

CJ didn't budge.

"CJ?"

"Abbey?" CJ lifted her head off her pillow and looked up as if she had been sleeping all day, but she hadn't. "What are you doing here?"

Abbey circled toward CJ's end of the bed while CJ sat up and dangled her feet off the bed. "I came to see how you were."

"I'm ok."

"You don't look it."

"The pain is gone. I'm off the medications. I'm ok."

"CJ, Danny's worried about you."

"I know—"

"Because—"

"He didn't lose a child. I lost a child."

"Yes, he did, CJ. He lost a child just as much as you did. We all lose things. Things are lost to us, but it doesn't mean we stop our lives. You need to move on. I know you. You can move on."

"I don't know if I can." She began to cry. "It was my last chance." She paused. "I wanted that child so bad." She paused again to take in a breath and heave. "I never thought I'd want children one way or the other—but Danny—I wanted to have—I wanted to—I want to get over this, but I just don't---."

Abbey leaned down and took CJ's wrists. "I did." CJ looked at Abbey amazed and bewildered. Abbey sat down next to CJ. "It was after Elizabeth and before Ellie." She paused. "A boy." She took CJ's hair and pulled it away from her face as she too started to cry. "But it happened. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't Jed's fault. But I had to go on. I went on and I have two more beautiful children—."

"I'm almost fifty, Abbey, I don't see myself having more children."

"You're not fifty yet—and so what? You already have a beautiful daughter and a wonderful husband who loves you. Who want their mother and their wife back." She paused. "We all want CJ back."

"So do I."

"Bring her back."

"I can't." CJ buried her face in her hands and lay back on the bed.

"Then you give me no choice." Abbey looked toward the door. "Boys." Abbey yelled. Josh and Sam appeared by the door.

"Sam you got it." Josh told him.

"Yeah." Sam walked into the bathroom.

"What's going on?' CJ lifted her head.

"Man, Claudia Jean, you look like hell." Josh joked at the foot of her bed.

"Go, away." CJ yelled at Josh and turned to Abbey. "I don't want to see them."

"Well you're going to have to." Toby sauntered into the room and stood at the foot of the bed next to Josh.

Abbey gave them eyes and rose from the bed. CJ watched Abbey walk to the corner of the room as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Here we go." Toby walked to the left side of the bed and Josh to the right.

"No!" CJ yelled as Toby took her under her arms. Josh took her feet as she kicked and tried to set herself free.

"Let go of me!!" She yelled as they carried her into the bathroom.

"This is for your own good, CJ." Sam told her as he walked toward the tub.

"How are we gonna do this?" Josh asked.

"Wait. Lower her feet to the ground." Toby motioned.

"Are you insane!" CJ yelled.

"Yes." Toby yelled back, taking her over his shoulder and walking into the shower with her.

"Wake up!" He yelled at her as the water came down on her and Toby. Mostly her.

"We need you here! I need you here. Danny needs you here. Emma needs you here. We all need you here. Don't go away, CJ—I don't know how many times I can go inside there and bring you back!"

CJ began to cry again as she sunk down into the curve of the bathtub. Toby turned the water off. Everyone in the room just stared at them. CJ snuffed in her cries and stood up. Sam gave her his hand as she stepped out of the tub and sat on its edge. Toby stepped out of the tub and crouched next to her. She looked up at her friend's loving faces and considered what they had done. She started to smile.

"You good?"

"Yeah?" She said, feeling like she was living in reality for the first time in weeks. Her smile went back to nothing, but she had smiled.

"We all love you, CJ." Sam told her.

"We only want the best for you." Josh concluded.

"Claudia?" Abbey asked by the door. CJ looked up looking calm for a moment. Danny walked into the bathroom and stood in front of Abbey, his hands in his pocket looking guilty for what he had let them do. CJ took his gaze. Toby stood. CJ looked at him lovingly, giving Danny the heads up he didn't have to feel guilty.

"Let's leave them alone, ok." Toby walked toward the door putting his hand on Danny's shoulder as he passed. Sam and Josh gave Danny brotherly looks as they passed the door.

Danny took a towel off the rack and handed it to CJ. She laughed.

Danny knelt down and looked her in the eyes. "You know what I was just thinking about?"

"What?"

"How you proposed to me in the bathtub."

"Yeah."

"The only time I had luck with a body of water." She laughed and patted down her hair with the towel before holding it in her lap. "I love you Danny."

"I know."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You don't. I just want you to be ok. That's all I care about."

"I want to be ok."

"You'll get out of bed."

"I am out of bed." She joked.

"Hey, that was a joke."

"Yes, it was." She laughed.

"I'm sorry—"

"Don't say that--- I won't let you apologize for this--."

"But I want to. I want to be..... better."

"I think you're already half way there."

"Yeah."

"Good." He took the towel and dried her face for a moment.

"Let's go back to Washington."

"What?"

"Washington."

"You want to?"

'Yeah I do."

"Get your old job back."

"Don't do this for me, CJ."

"I'm not doing it for you."

"Ok."

"I'm not."

"I know."

CJ snaked off the edge of the tub and fell into Danny like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Her head hit his shoulder and he cradled her.

Song:

Something that I said
Made you wear a frown
The way you hang your head
Has made the tears come down
But don't you wear a sigh
My beautiful child

CJ lay on the grass on the mall of Washington and watched her daughter dance around in the air and the surface, soaring around with her red hair flying.

SONG:

You don't know it doesn't burn
When you touch the sun
So don't be concerned
My golden one
You're gonna reach the sky
Fly ...
Beautiful child

Danny sat typing away at his laptop. Emma took her father's attention and he chased after her.

SONG:

There is no other place
The human race
Is running out of space
There is no better love
And human love is what it takes

"Michael" CJ called to her son. He ran to his mother and she placed him on her lap. She kissed him on the head and soon let him fall into line with his sister. She leaned back and remembered when she first met Danny and how she never thought her life would turn out this way. She ran in her head the events from the week before.

"And I now open the Bartlet Presidential Library." She heard the words in her head from the week before. The applause, the smiles of her friends, and she knew how content she was. She decided to enjoy the moment.

SONG:

And I'll be at your side
When you're falling down
You'll be feeling fine
When you hit the ground
So don't slip away
Stay ...
Beautiful child

A few years later

"Danny, don't go." CJ told him in their bedroom in D.C.

"What?"

"Danny, you're forty-nine years old and you have two kids, you shouldn't be going on assignments like this?"

"C.J., don't worry, it's nothing, I go in I go out, I'll be fine."

"Your going into a war zone, Danny, don't tell me it's nothing to worry about, because it is something to worry about."

"It's on the border of a war zone."

"It doesn't matter, Danny, any a number of things could happen, you could get a blood clot—"

"And I could fall down the stairs here and hit my head, C.J., this is my job."

"This isn't the job for a man your age?"

"My age?"

"You're too old for this Danny."

"I am not too old for this?"

"I'm too young to be a widow."

"Wait, how can I be too old for this, but you're too young to be a widow."

"Women live longer than men."

"I'd really like to end this conversation for the moment."

"Danny—"

"So, you think I'm gonna die first?"

"I was counting on it, but you have to wait ten more years until the time share gets paid off so I can go to Miami and live with my boy toy Derek."

"I see."

"Danny."

"Tell Derek I said hey."

"Don't joke about this Danny!"

"I'm not!"

"You're my husband and the father of my children, we have to make these kinds of decisions together."

"I know. I know. But I didn't ask for this. They offered it to me."

"You could have said no."

"Yeah." He lifted his laptop bag over his shoulder. "I have to go to work, can we talk about this later."

"Yeah. We still having lunch?"

"Yeah. I'll call you if there's a change."

"Okay." Danny kissed C.J.

"I'll be fine."

"I say no."

"Hey, who wears the pants around here."

"Me, Danny, always me."

"Point well taken."

"Two children Danny--"

"I know."

"—Conceived and delivered between the ages of 43 to 46 Danny!—"

"Yes, I remember I was there."

That's over sixty hours of labor. You owe me."

"Sixty hours?"

"You want me to show you how it felt."

"I'm just sayin, 'cause I was there and seems like a—"

"---'Cause I could. Maybe I could pull your head through the mail slot in the door."

"No, I think that'd be more feeling like I was being born myself."

"Let's try!"

"Whoa, whoa, down girl. I get it. I thought you wanted me alive?"

"No! I'd just rather do it myself! I can't leave this to amateurs."

"Killed a lot of people have you?"

"Yeah, I'm a regular Bonnie and Clyde."

"You know even though it's a little bit evil your sarcasm still turns me on."

"Why don't you ever take me seriously?"

"I always take you seriously. Just not about this." Danny kissed her.

"And other things---"She lifted off.

"Not many, a few other things, but that's in the past."

"Yeah, you're not trying to get one over on me."

"I'd say the same thing about you."

"I'd really like to end this conversation for the moment."

"Yeah." He laughed at her. Oh, how she could never stop amusing him. Danny walked out of their bedroom calling after her. "I'll call ya."

C.J. could hear Danny yell and play with Emma and Michael as he left. The sounds were beautiful, but C.J. couldn't help think about Danny's plans.

THAT NIGHT.

"Are you going to sit there and sulk?" Danny yelled at C.J. who had nestled herself in their corner chair. She ignored him and walked into the bathroom.

"I'm divorcing you, you know that!" She yelled to him.

"Yeah, Yeah." Danny said as he placed the last of his belongings in the carry-on. "You know Richard asked me to go. He's been a really good friend to me over the years—"

"Tell him I said no!" C.J. made herself visible in the doorway. Danny gave her a face.

"What? Makes you sound like you take orders from your wife."

"Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like!"

"Since when did you become a sexist Marxist!"

"What does one have to do with the other!"

"In my world they're one in the same."

"In Claudia Jean land?"

"Yes, Claudia Jean land, where we party twenty four seven and your day pass is starting to expire."

"You making this thing a bigger deal then it is?"

"Since when did you become that guy. You were never that guy. That's why I love you, 'cause you were never that guy."

"All guys are that guy! That's who we are, C.J. We can't help it. No matter how understanding and sweet we are we want to be our own men."

"A man would stay with his family."

"I'm not leaving my family?! This is my job. I'll be back in a week." Danny took the carry-on off the bed and threw it against the doorframe.

"What if you don't come back?" She said wearily.

"C.J. I told you don't think that way."

"I'm sorry Danny, but I can't. I can't not think that way. You and Emma and Michael are my life."

"You're my life too." Danny walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're my life C.J. This doesn't mean—"He kissed her on the head.

"You have responsibilities, Danny."

"Yes, and my job pays for those responsibilities. I'll be back in a week." Danny stood up and started for the door, taking his bag over his shoulder.

"For god's sake, Danny, grow up!"

"I need to grow up!?"

"Yes, you need to grow up. You're not twenty anymore. Hell, neither of us are. And I don't know about you, but I spent too long waiting for this and I'm not letting it slip through my fingers. I will not loose you and I will not let our children grow up not knowing you. We can't do everything we did before--"

"Stop doing this. Stop thinking everything's going to go wrong."

"Because it does!"

"C.J."

"Danny you have to stop living this life—"

"What life?"

"The life you lived thirty years ago, even six years ago. You're married now, Danny, and you have children. Our children."

Danny looked her at with deep love. "That's why you're asking me this?"

"Yes!" C.J said exasperated.

Danny dropped his bag to the bedroom floor. "I'll stay."

Michael Cregg-Concannon took in the White House from his ten-year-old position, his father's hand on his head so as not to lose him. He watched, as people seemed extremely happy to see his father, and him. It gave Michael, staring up at his father as his dad joked and palled with people, an amazing feeling that his father was a well-liked man.

"Danny!" Sam yelled Danny's name.

"Sam, what are you doing here?"

"Josh, come here, it's Danny." Sam looked back at Danny. "We're doing some consulting work for—"

"Hey there Mikey." Josh ran his hand through Michael's hair.

"Hey, Mike, you remember Josh, he's your godfather."

"Hi." Mike said sheepishly.

"And Sam."

"I'm not your godfather." Sam said unsure how to make the boy remember. "Not that I'm not great friends with your parents, I'm just not your godfather in any way. Well, not the technical way, but I could be in the spiritual sense of the word." Sam looked away and did his best Brando impression. "Michael it's about the family." Josh, Michael, and Danny stared at him.

"He's not gonna—"Josh said to Sam.

"Sorry, I just always wanted to—"

"Yeah, Sam we know." The group continued to walk.

"You showing him the tour?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, thought I'd show him around. Show him C.J.'s old office."

"You mean where you two first..." Josh started to infer in a non-child friendly way.

"Hey!" Danny put his hands over Michael's ears.

"I wasn't gonna say anything—"

"You're implyng, don't imply in front of my kid." Danny removed his hands.

Josh put his hands over Michael's ears. "But you too didn't even really do anything. Did you?"

"No!"

Josh took his hands off Michael's ears.

"I bet he wanted to." Sam said from the back of the group. "Man, eight years?" Sam put his hands on Michael's ears. "How'd you get past that?"

"A lot of cold showers."

"Yeah, Sam, not all of us had hookers back then."

"Again a joke at my expense and I'm okay with it. But if I can just say." He paused. "You'd better." He gestured with his head. Josh gave an "oh" look and covered Michael's ears. Michael looked up at the strange grown ups. Sam pointed to Josh. "Once slept with the First Lady's chief of staff." He pointed to Danny. "Was in love with the Press Secretary for eight years while you were her senior correspondent."

"Made your case?" Danny asked.

"Pretty much."

"Good." He then nodded to Josh, who took his hands off Michael's ears as they now had reached the Press Secretary's office.

"Is this it, Dad?" Michael asked his father.

"Yeah, Mikey, this is it." Danny's phone beeped. He looked down at his text message as Michael ran off.

"Hey, Michael."

"We'll take care of 'um, we're on lunch. You got to take that."

"Yeah. I'll be right back."

"Don't worry, we got him."

"Just keep an eye out for him, he tends to get himself into things."

"In to things?"

"It's curiosity. He is C.J.'s kid."

"That's funny because I was going to say the exact same thing about you." Josh laughed.

Josh entered the Press Secretary's office and found Michael at the foot of the desk.

"We should wait for Walter to come back."

"False alarm." Danny walked in behind his son. Michael turned around and caught eyes with his father and Danny couldn't help but laugh at the red-headed kid he never thought he'd have. Danny remembered every detail of how the office used to look when CJ had lived, breathed and pushed him away in the office. He looked to the left of the desk, remembering the spot where for almost eight years Gail's bowl sat, with Gail swimming away and never knowing the symbol she was to the couple.