Title: "A Volume of Springtime Haiku" (1/6) (CJ/Danny.
Author: soft lite.
Characters: CJ, Danny, the senior staff, Jed, Carol, Charlie, Abbey, Gail, and various reporters.
Rating: G.
Disclaimer: Characters from "The West Wing" are not mine.
Spoilers: Through Season 5's "The Warfare of Genghis Khan." Archive: If you want to.
Author's note: Thanks to everyone for their feedback on "Bronze and Gold." This is the sequel. Also be warned that we're going even farther here into my alternate universe where the conflict of interest issue is not dealt with in as satisfying a way as some people would like.
10:58 p.m. Saturday, March 20, 2004
Carol had known for almost half the day that something strange was going on. It was unusual enough that she would be called in on a Saturday afternoon, but to still be at work at almost 11? And then there were the odd, unscheduled meetings that CJ'd had with various members of the senior staff. Finally, there was the cryptic phone message, "CJ, Danny called to say it's done and he's on his way."
This message didn't strike CJ as peculiar in any way, "Thanks Carol. Could you call senior staff and tell them we're meeting in the Oval in ten minutes? And then you need to come with me."
"Come with you where?"
"To the Oval Office."
"You want me to go to a Senior Staff meeting?"
"Carol, it's on one issue. You're going to need to be fully up to speed on it. And if Danny can be there, so can you."
"Okay." Carol made the phone calls and then walked with CJ. They arrived at the Oval Office and Charlie waved them in.
"How's it going, Claudia Jean?" the President asked.
"Good. We're ready."
"It's a go?"
"Yes."
"Fantastic. Are we going to tell Danny that?"
Josh, who had just arrived, pointed out, "I don't see how we're going to keep it a secret."
Leo agreed, "I don't think we need to."
At that moment, Danny arrived and started handing out pages, "Type's not set yet, so this is just the text. I brought one copy of the photos that will run with it," these he handed to CJ. "I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner. My editor and I had to negotiate with the metro and family/life editors about which page it would run on."
"And?" CJ asked pointedly.
"Front page of the family section."
"So it'll be in full color," Toby observed.
The First Lady entered the room, "Well, the pictures will be. I'm sure they're not doing the text in color."
"Mrs. Bartlet, it's a pleasure to see you," Danny greeted her with a handshake and a copy of the article.
By this time, everyone in the room was reading. Eventually, in a low and strained voice, CJ whispered, "This is really touching."
"Thank you."
"How much of this was in your safety deposit box?"
"The part about the rings."
"That whole part? That's long. When you talked about a drop in . . . Is this what you meant when you said you'd kinda written something about me?"
"Yes."
"What did you write it for?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Tell me."
After pausing and not being able to think of a way out of it, Danny admitted, "I wrote it in case we got engaged before this Administration was over."
"So you edited it to remove references to me."
"No. I wrote it that way figuring that the story would be like the preamble to the announcement. Then when you went to brief wearing this ring that had been in the paper, you'd get questions and could do the actual announcement."
"Clever," the President commented.
"Too bad the ring's missing," Josh added.
CJ glared at him, "Thanks for the salt, Josh."
Leo, not wanting the meeting to deteriorate any farther, asked, "Anyone have any issues with the story?" Silence. "Anything CJ needs to be prepped for that she's not already?" More silence.
Abbey, ever practical, "Then I suggest we all go and get five or six hours of sleep.
But Leo had one more question, "Danny when does this appear on the web and when does it appear in print?"
"It'll be posted on the web sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., and paper will start hitting the streets sometime between 4 and 5 a.m."
"Yeah. We'll plan on an 8 a.m. briefing, but if the natives are getting restless earlier, we may have to do it earlier."
"Right," CJ agreed, standing up and moving with the others toward the door, "Carol, Danny, walk with me."
They walked for a while also with Toby and Josh, "Hey Toby, maybe this'll be a big enough scandal to distract everyone from you and the unmarried mother of your children." CJ smacked Josh firmly in the back of the head and moved away from them.
"Carol, I'm sorry to throw you in the deep end like that. Did you have any questions?"
"If I did, shouldn't I have asked them back there?"
"I wasn't sure you'd be comfortable with that."
"How much of this," Carol waved the pages, "is true?"
CJ turned sharply to Danny, "That's a good point. I should know that before I go on national television."
"It's all true," Danny answered simply.
Carol sardonically added, "Which is more than we can say for CJ's response tomorrow."
"How would you know?" CJ asked suspiciously.
"Just guessing."
"For your information, everyone's signed off on honest but not entirely candid."
"Okay."
CJ looked mildly annoyed, "Go home. Both of you." And she picked up her things and left. Carol followed her out, but Danny lingered in her office for another minute before leaving.
---
The next morning, CJ arrived just minutes before the 7 a.m. Senior Staff meeting. Not seeing a pen on the top of her desk, she opened a drawer for a new one. There, lying on top, was a piece of peach parchment that she had never seen before. Pulling it out and quickly glancing over it, she realized it was Haiku.
"CJ, you're late for Senior Staff," Carol pointed out as she arrived.
"Right," CJ agreed, sticking the poem back in the drawer and grabbing a pen. As CJ walked quickly towards the meeting, she couldn't help but wonder where the poem had come from.
---
"Hi Carol," Danny greeted with a smile as he walked into CJ's office.
"Danny," Carol smiled back. "She's in Senior Staff."
"I figured. I was hoping you would help me with something."
"If I can."
"I want to give these to CJ," Danny held up a paper bag. "One at a time, in secret, hidden in various places."
"What are they?"
Danny pulled a sheaf of variously-colored pieces of paper out of the bag and arrayed them in front of her. "Pick one and read it."
"Pastel parchment?" Carol sounded perhaps skeptical or perhaps impressed as she pulled one out, "Haiku about a flower."
"Right."
"So you want me to help you hide poetry for CJ to find?"
"Yes. Because technically I shouldn't be able to do that myself."
Carol held up a hand, "Wait – she had a peach one of these this morning!"
"Yeah. Last night her drawer wasn't completely closed, so I just let it fall in."
"There are some people who would be disturbed that you were able to do that."
"Which is why I'm hoping to enlist you and Josh to help."
Carol looked in the bag, "Danny, there must be 30 of these things."
"More or less. There aren't quite as many in the other bag."
"Where did you get them?"
"I wrote them."
"When?"
"The poems I started writing about a year ago. Yesterday I got the parchment and wrote one. Today I couldn't sleep, so I copied the rest."
"Okay. You want me to hide all of them now or just a few?"
"Just a few."
"Okay. I'll keep the rest in this bag with my personal stuff."
"Okay. Thanks."
"Yeah. Good luck this morning."
"Thanks."
---
By 7:45, Carol was relieved to see CJ returning, "They're getting restless."
"Yeah, I figured. Quite a lot of them here?"
"Everyone, as far as I can tell."
"Why don't you go give a ten minute warning, and I say I won't come until they're in their seats and quiet."
"Okay."
--
Fourteen minutes later, CJ wiped her sweaty palms, picked up her notebook, bade Gail farewell, and went to the crowded but silent briefing room. "And a bright and early good morning to you all. I knew many of you would be concerned about this earthquake in India, but I had no idea so many would be here so early on a Sunday morning." CJ paused and looked around the room, daring anyone to suggest there was something on their minds other than death, destruction, and injury. "Currently there are 176 people confirmed dead, but it's only been a couple hours, and there are thousands missing. Any questions?" As CJ expected, nearly every hand in the room shot up and dozens of people began calling her name. "Chris?"
"CJ, are you the unnamed woman in Danny's article?"
"What would make you think that?"
"Well, everyone who's been here a while knows he's got a crush on you."
"Okay." CJ took a deep breath. "Is everyone familiar with this article?" Seeing many nods around the room, she continued, "Then you must have read what I read: that the woman in the article was unaware of Danny's affections or intentions."
Chris was persistent, "But did Danny talk to you after the ring was stolen?"
"Yes. And yes. Laura?"
"Have you accepted his proposal?"
"Danny hasn't proposed, and I think he knows that I could say nothing other than, 'No,' to a proposal from a guy I've never dated. Tim?"
"Do you plan to date Danny?"
"You mean if Danny were to ask me out on a date today?"
"He hasn't?"
"No."
"But if he did?"
"Don't you think he should have to find that out the hard way? Mark?"
"Would anyone in this Administration object if you dated a reporter?"
"Are you asking me out?"
"No, I meant Danny."
"I can't speak for everyone in this Administration since I haven't asked, but I would hope that they would have enough respect for my professionalism and integrity to trust me. Paul?"
"Are you going to take a question from Danny or let him make a statement?"
"You think Danny needs to ask a question about the article he wrote?" CJ paused here to allow the laughter to die down. "As for Danny making a statement, all of you work together in this building, so I'd think that if you wanted a quote from him, you wouldn't need me to direct him to a podium to give it. Steve?"
"Is the Administration or anyone in the Administration doing anything to help with the recovery of the ring?"
"Steve, the ring was just one of many items Danny lost in the robbery, and no, we're leaving that to the police. Last question. Katie?"
"What was your overall reaction to Danny's article?"
"I thought it was a touching reminder of the personal effects of a kind of crime I quote stats to you about every couple of months. Thank you, everyone."
Author: soft lite.
Characters: CJ, Danny, the senior staff, Jed, Carol, Charlie, Abbey, Gail, and various reporters.
Rating: G.
Disclaimer: Characters from "The West Wing" are not mine.
Spoilers: Through Season 5's "The Warfare of Genghis Khan." Archive: If you want to.
Author's note: Thanks to everyone for their feedback on "Bronze and Gold." This is the sequel. Also be warned that we're going even farther here into my alternate universe where the conflict of interest issue is not dealt with in as satisfying a way as some people would like.
10:58 p.m. Saturday, March 20, 2004
Carol had known for almost half the day that something strange was going on. It was unusual enough that she would be called in on a Saturday afternoon, but to still be at work at almost 11? And then there were the odd, unscheduled meetings that CJ'd had with various members of the senior staff. Finally, there was the cryptic phone message, "CJ, Danny called to say it's done and he's on his way."
This message didn't strike CJ as peculiar in any way, "Thanks Carol. Could you call senior staff and tell them we're meeting in the Oval in ten minutes? And then you need to come with me."
"Come with you where?"
"To the Oval Office."
"You want me to go to a Senior Staff meeting?"
"Carol, it's on one issue. You're going to need to be fully up to speed on it. And if Danny can be there, so can you."
"Okay." Carol made the phone calls and then walked with CJ. They arrived at the Oval Office and Charlie waved them in.
"How's it going, Claudia Jean?" the President asked.
"Good. We're ready."
"It's a go?"
"Yes."
"Fantastic. Are we going to tell Danny that?"
Josh, who had just arrived, pointed out, "I don't see how we're going to keep it a secret."
Leo agreed, "I don't think we need to."
At that moment, Danny arrived and started handing out pages, "Type's not set yet, so this is just the text. I brought one copy of the photos that will run with it," these he handed to CJ. "I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner. My editor and I had to negotiate with the metro and family/life editors about which page it would run on."
"And?" CJ asked pointedly.
"Front page of the family section."
"So it'll be in full color," Toby observed.
The First Lady entered the room, "Well, the pictures will be. I'm sure they're not doing the text in color."
"Mrs. Bartlet, it's a pleasure to see you," Danny greeted her with a handshake and a copy of the article.
By this time, everyone in the room was reading. Eventually, in a low and strained voice, CJ whispered, "This is really touching."
"Thank you."
"How much of this was in your safety deposit box?"
"The part about the rings."
"That whole part? That's long. When you talked about a drop in . . . Is this what you meant when you said you'd kinda written something about me?"
"Yes."
"What did you write it for?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Tell me."
After pausing and not being able to think of a way out of it, Danny admitted, "I wrote it in case we got engaged before this Administration was over."
"So you edited it to remove references to me."
"No. I wrote it that way figuring that the story would be like the preamble to the announcement. Then when you went to brief wearing this ring that had been in the paper, you'd get questions and could do the actual announcement."
"Clever," the President commented.
"Too bad the ring's missing," Josh added.
CJ glared at him, "Thanks for the salt, Josh."
Leo, not wanting the meeting to deteriorate any farther, asked, "Anyone have any issues with the story?" Silence. "Anything CJ needs to be prepped for that she's not already?" More silence.
Abbey, ever practical, "Then I suggest we all go and get five or six hours of sleep.
But Leo had one more question, "Danny when does this appear on the web and when does it appear in print?"
"It'll be posted on the web sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., and paper will start hitting the streets sometime between 4 and 5 a.m."
"Yeah. We'll plan on an 8 a.m. briefing, but if the natives are getting restless earlier, we may have to do it earlier."
"Right," CJ agreed, standing up and moving with the others toward the door, "Carol, Danny, walk with me."
They walked for a while also with Toby and Josh, "Hey Toby, maybe this'll be a big enough scandal to distract everyone from you and the unmarried mother of your children." CJ smacked Josh firmly in the back of the head and moved away from them.
"Carol, I'm sorry to throw you in the deep end like that. Did you have any questions?"
"If I did, shouldn't I have asked them back there?"
"I wasn't sure you'd be comfortable with that."
"How much of this," Carol waved the pages, "is true?"
CJ turned sharply to Danny, "That's a good point. I should know that before I go on national television."
"It's all true," Danny answered simply.
Carol sardonically added, "Which is more than we can say for CJ's response tomorrow."
"How would you know?" CJ asked suspiciously.
"Just guessing."
"For your information, everyone's signed off on honest but not entirely candid."
"Okay."
CJ looked mildly annoyed, "Go home. Both of you." And she picked up her things and left. Carol followed her out, but Danny lingered in her office for another minute before leaving.
---
The next morning, CJ arrived just minutes before the 7 a.m. Senior Staff meeting. Not seeing a pen on the top of her desk, she opened a drawer for a new one. There, lying on top, was a piece of peach parchment that she had never seen before. Pulling it out and quickly glancing over it, she realized it was Haiku.
"CJ, you're late for Senior Staff," Carol pointed out as she arrived.
"Right," CJ agreed, sticking the poem back in the drawer and grabbing a pen. As CJ walked quickly towards the meeting, she couldn't help but wonder where the poem had come from.
---
"Hi Carol," Danny greeted with a smile as he walked into CJ's office.
"Danny," Carol smiled back. "She's in Senior Staff."
"I figured. I was hoping you would help me with something."
"If I can."
"I want to give these to CJ," Danny held up a paper bag. "One at a time, in secret, hidden in various places."
"What are they?"
Danny pulled a sheaf of variously-colored pieces of paper out of the bag and arrayed them in front of her. "Pick one and read it."
"Pastel parchment?" Carol sounded perhaps skeptical or perhaps impressed as she pulled one out, "Haiku about a flower."
"Right."
"So you want me to help you hide poetry for CJ to find?"
"Yes. Because technically I shouldn't be able to do that myself."
Carol held up a hand, "Wait – she had a peach one of these this morning!"
"Yeah. Last night her drawer wasn't completely closed, so I just let it fall in."
"There are some people who would be disturbed that you were able to do that."
"Which is why I'm hoping to enlist you and Josh to help."
Carol looked in the bag, "Danny, there must be 30 of these things."
"More or less. There aren't quite as many in the other bag."
"Where did you get them?"
"I wrote them."
"When?"
"The poems I started writing about a year ago. Yesterday I got the parchment and wrote one. Today I couldn't sleep, so I copied the rest."
"Okay. You want me to hide all of them now or just a few?"
"Just a few."
"Okay. I'll keep the rest in this bag with my personal stuff."
"Okay. Thanks."
"Yeah. Good luck this morning."
"Thanks."
---
By 7:45, Carol was relieved to see CJ returning, "They're getting restless."
"Yeah, I figured. Quite a lot of them here?"
"Everyone, as far as I can tell."
"Why don't you go give a ten minute warning, and I say I won't come until they're in their seats and quiet."
"Okay."
--
Fourteen minutes later, CJ wiped her sweaty palms, picked up her notebook, bade Gail farewell, and went to the crowded but silent briefing room. "And a bright and early good morning to you all. I knew many of you would be concerned about this earthquake in India, but I had no idea so many would be here so early on a Sunday morning." CJ paused and looked around the room, daring anyone to suggest there was something on their minds other than death, destruction, and injury. "Currently there are 176 people confirmed dead, but it's only been a couple hours, and there are thousands missing. Any questions?" As CJ expected, nearly every hand in the room shot up and dozens of people began calling her name. "Chris?"
"CJ, are you the unnamed woman in Danny's article?"
"What would make you think that?"
"Well, everyone who's been here a while knows he's got a crush on you."
"Okay." CJ took a deep breath. "Is everyone familiar with this article?" Seeing many nods around the room, she continued, "Then you must have read what I read: that the woman in the article was unaware of Danny's affections or intentions."
Chris was persistent, "But did Danny talk to you after the ring was stolen?"
"Yes. And yes. Laura?"
"Have you accepted his proposal?"
"Danny hasn't proposed, and I think he knows that I could say nothing other than, 'No,' to a proposal from a guy I've never dated. Tim?"
"Do you plan to date Danny?"
"You mean if Danny were to ask me out on a date today?"
"He hasn't?"
"No."
"But if he did?"
"Don't you think he should have to find that out the hard way? Mark?"
"Would anyone in this Administration object if you dated a reporter?"
"Are you asking me out?"
"No, I meant Danny."
"I can't speak for everyone in this Administration since I haven't asked, but I would hope that they would have enough respect for my professionalism and integrity to trust me. Paul?"
"Are you going to take a question from Danny or let him make a statement?"
"You think Danny needs to ask a question about the article he wrote?" CJ paused here to allow the laughter to die down. "As for Danny making a statement, all of you work together in this building, so I'd think that if you wanted a quote from him, you wouldn't need me to direct him to a podium to give it. Steve?"
"Is the Administration or anyone in the Administration doing anything to help with the recovery of the ring?"
"Steve, the ring was just one of many items Danny lost in the robbery, and no, we're leaving that to the police. Last question. Katie?"
"What was your overall reaction to Danny's article?"
"I thought it was a touching reminder of the personal effects of a kind of crime I quote stats to you about every couple of months. Thank you, everyone."