Title: "A Volume of Springtime Haiku" (3/6) (CJ/Danny.
Author: soft lite.
Poetry written by CJ Clanton
Characters: CJ, Danny, Carol, Josh, Toby, Leo, 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: A big thank you to CJ Clanton for volunteering to write poetry for this story!
Tuesday morning, March 23, 2004
On Tuesday, Danny began to feel that he could fall into a routine. Soon after arriving at the White House, he would check with Carol about possible good times to stop in to see CJ. Then he would go work on research and writing, leaving that for the briefings and visits with CJ. And there was the promise of dinner with her in the evening. Yes, Danny was feeling quite self-satisfied.
And then there was the first briefing. He noticed that there was no hint of a smile on CJ's lips, and he couldn't catch her eye. After the briefing, on her way out of the room, CJ pulled a handful of sea shell colored tiny bits of paper out of her pocket and sprinkled them over his head with a glare.
"I guess she wasn't so fond of that one, Danny," Mark observed.
Danny tried to brush as many pieces as possible out of his hair, into his lap, and then to his pocket. "Brilliant deduction."
Katie encouraged, "Don't just sit there and stew, go talk to her."
Danny looked at Katie as he considered and then left. Unfortunately, Carol stopped him outside CJ's closed door. "She's on the phone."
Danny sighed. "Could I use some of your tape?"
"Sure," Carol agreed and watched with interest as Danny dumped the bits of paper out of his pocket and began piecing them together. "I know it's none of my business, but she was already in a foul mood before she found that."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I suspect this teasing her didn't help."
Flamingo, she yells It's a ridiculous name I can't help but smile
Danny read it with slight difficulty because there were some pieces missing. He turned it over and taped the back, too.
As he was finishing, CJ came out and handed a file to Carol, then turned to him. "You. Inside." As soon as the door was shut behind them, CJ put her hands on her hips. "You weren't here earlier this morning."
"No," Danny answered cautiously.
"You weren't home, either."
"No – I was at The Post," Danny explained quickly.
Suspiciously, CJ asked, "You don't answer your cell when you're there?"
"I turn it off when I'm in a meeting with my editor. You should have left a message."
CJ sounded frustrated and gestured as she explained, "I didn't want to talk to your voice mail, I wanted to talk to you." She could see that he now looked concerned. "It's nothing to worry about. I just woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to talk to you, but I didn't want to wake you up in the middle of the night."
"You can wake me up in the middle of the night."
"I'll remember that in the future."
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Not so much talk as tell. I woke up and realized I haven't told you yet." CJ reached over and straightened his tie, then looked into his eyes and smiled. "I love you."
Danny grinned back, "I love you, too," and was pleased when she lightly brushed her lips across his. But then she retreated behind her desk. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?" Danny asked while dropping the taped-together poem on her desk.
"It'll have to be here, but yes. And let's do it here, here, because I don't need the gaggle babysitting us through another date."
"Agreed."
"I forgot to tell you yesterday that the president says it's fine for you to come to the First Lady's party as long as it's off the record."
"I expected that."
"So did I."
"May I ask a favor?"
"You may ask," CJ purred, leaning back, smiling serenely, and folding her hands in her lap.
Danny's smile broadened and there was a pause before he remembered that he was going to ask her something. "Would you wear that gray dress?"
For a moment, CJ had to search her memory. "From the State Dinner over four years ago?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.
"Yeah."
"Not for the First Lady's birthday party." CJ could see his disappointment immediately and explained, "She doesn't like it. I should wear something that isn't going to cause her to spend the evening scolding me. I'll wear the gray dress the next time we go to a thing."
"There'll be a next time?"
"I certainly hope so."
"So do I."
For a few minutes, they sat smiling at each other and talking about nothing in particular, until Carol knocked and entered. "CJ, you've got senior staff in five."
Both replied, "Okay," at the same time, laughed a bit, and Danny left while CJ collected her notes for the meeting.
---
When CJ arrived for the last briefing of the day, there was a bag on her podium. She hesitated, but Carol assured her it had been through security. "We each chipped in fifty cents," Chris explained, "except for Danny who chipped in a poem."
"Which you have to read to us," Laura added, "because he refused to."
CJ set her notebook down next to the bag, peeked inside, and pulled out a wooden box with pink and green insets made of some kind of stone in the shape of a rose. "This is beautiful," she said softly. "Thank you, everyone."
"Read the poem!" several reporters encouraged.
CJ opened the box and found a periwinkle parchment that was just the perfect size for this box.
Roses are in bloom She lets me sit beside her I can feel her breathe
"You can keep all the poems in it," Katie explained.
The smile on CJ's face had grown as she read the poem aloud, and as Katie spoke, her eyes moved over the poem again. "Thank you all. This is really very thoughtful."
"It's the least we could do considering how your first two dates went."
Now a teasing glint appeared in CJ's eye. "Yeah, and believe me when I say we're not going to give you another chance any time soon. Let's start the briefing."
---
When Danny arrived at CJ's office for dinner, he discovered that not only was dinner there, but so were Josh and Toby. "I'm sorry. If you're in a meeting, I can come back later." His eyes fell on Josh and Toby's dinners. "Or we can cancel."
"Don't be ridiculous," Josh piped up. "Come on in. We decided to join you for dinner."
"And I've had no luck dissuading them," CJ added with a roll of her eyes.
Josh patted the sofa between himself and CJ, "Come sit down. Let's eat dinner."
Danny shrugged and joined them, "Whatever it takes to spend time with CJ." As he sat down, his hand found hers, their fingers interlaced, they smiled, and kissed briefly. Toby's sigh ensured their kiss would end quickly, and as Danny looked over, he saw Toby rolling his eyes. He also noticed something else. "Hey there, Gail. You and Toby have prime seating there."
Josh complained, "Yeah, I can't see anything here. Switch with me, Toby."
"Not on your life. I don't want to sit next to him."
Despite Toby's words, they had a pleasant time. Danny was pleased to discover that CJ had no inhibitions about holding his hand or kissing him in front of her friends.
Some of them, anyway. During one kiss, there was a knock on the door and when Leo opened it and said, "CJ," she practically jumped away from him. That was the end of their evening, anyway, because Leo needed the senior staff. And Danny left to think about how he was going to talk with CJ about this.
---
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Danny decided that at least on this day, he should not make the mistake he had made yesterday, so he was at the White House early enough to be there when CJ arrived. After watching her approach and hearing bits of Carol's morning litany, he was invited into CJ's office for just a minute. "Hey there, Fishboy, how are you?" CJ asked and then kissed him before he could answer.
"Hum. It seems it's going to be a very good day," he answered after the brief kiss. "I brought you a poem," Danny explained, pulling an antique white parchment out of his pocket. CJ smiled and read it aloud.
The cherry trees shed their petals a mantle of white across the grass She looks up at me with eyes full of trust The sun shines down marking our skin with leaf patterns and all around us the wind sings softly in the leaves Her body feels so warm leaning into mine trusting me She tilts her face up to mine and when I finally feel her kiss Ican barely comprehend how soft it is
"Is this what you imagine us doing at the end of cherry blossom season?"
"I hope."
"So do I. Why did you bring this one in person? And it's not Haiku?"
"I wrote it last night."
"Last night?"
"I had a dream about it last night."
"You should have called me," CJ encouraged in a playful voice.
"It was the middle of the night."
"I wouldn't have minded."
"You ARE looking like you're sleeping better, but I know you're in this building too much to get enough sleep."
"I'm not sure a guy I've never had an unchaperoned date with should be talking about my sleep habits."
"One of these days we'll have a date all by ourselves."
"Yeah." CJ's smile turned a little sad as she read over the poem again, then she looked into Danny's eyes and apologized, "I'm sorry, but I have to work now."
"Okay, but I want to talk with you later."
"Keep in touch with Carol and she'll get you in."
"Okay."
Danny went directly from CJ's office to Josh's. "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure. Several, actually."
Danny went in, closed the door, and sat down. "There are a couple things I want to ask you about."
"Sure, what?"
Danny sized Josh up and decided to start with the easier part first. "Do you think that, you know, ANY time in the foreseeable future I could have dinner alone with CJ?"
"Feeling a little frustrated?" Josh asked with a smirk.
Danny frowned. "I'm serious, Josh. It took her more than four years to agree to a date. We haven't really had one yet. She's keeping me at a distance, and, perhaps jokingly, she said this was one reason."
Josh sat back and seemed to consider this. "If you go out, there are gonna be reporters there."
"Yeah."
"You want to have dinner with CJ alone in her office tonight?"
"Yeah."
"I'll do what I can. You'll have to keep the shades open."
"I know."
"What else?"
Danny felt uncomfortable. "Josh, you know you can tell me stuff off the record and nothing will happen."
Now Josh looked uncomfortable, but he said, "Sure."
"What's the thing with CJ and Leo?"
"He thinks of her like a daughter," Josh replied immediately.
"Yeah. But I think there's something else going on." When Josh didn't respond, Danny continued, "Last night she practically bolted away from me when Leo came in."
Danny could tell Josh was avoiding his eyes. "Danny, CJ is going to kill me for telling you this." When Josh saw Danny was still staring steadily and expectantly at him, he relented. "About four and a half years ago, Leo noticed that you were flirting with CJ and she was beginning to flirt back. He had a talk with her. Several, actually. If he hadn't, I don't know what would have happened or when, but it might not have been four years before your first date."
Danny sat and absorbed this information for a minute. "Okay."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I should let you get back to work."
"Okay."
---
Danny was disappointed that CJ's day was so busy, she had no time for him before dinner, but he looked forward to dinner. As Josh had promised, they were actually able to have dinner alone together. Danny soon found he had less interest in food than in putting his arms around CJ and touching and kissing her as much as she would allow. Given that her shades were all open, that was quite surprisingly a lot. But when he tried to slide his hand from her knee up an inch under her skirt, she pushed him gently away. "Well, since we don't seem to be eating, maybe we should talk."
With a sigh, Danny agreed, "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
"Me? You're the one who said this morning you wanted to have a talk." Danny collapsed back against the cushions and closed his eyes. "What's wrong?" CJ asked, sounding concerned
"I was going to ask you that."
"What do you mean?" now sounding more suspicious
After a long moment, Danny opened his eyes and looked at her. "CJ, why are you okay with kissing me in front of Josh and Toby but not Leo?"
"I don't have a problem kissing you in front of Leo, he just startled me."
"It was his voice, not his knock, that made you jump." CJ chewed her lip as she thought about this, and Danny could see her eyes growing more distant. Finally Danny decided any reaction would be better than none. "CJ, has Leo asked you not to date me?"
Now anger flared in CJ's eyes and she stood and crossed the room and spoke with a voice full of resentment, "He was completely behind the decision we made over the weekend – you know he was."
"What about before that?"
CJ's eyes remained steely, but some of her anger evaporated to be replaced by sadness, "Leo thinks of me like a daughter and wants to protect me. So, yes, years ago he had words me with me about what could happen to me professionally if I were to get involved with someone in my press room."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"There are some things reporters shouldn't know. If you were going to be angry at someone in the West Wing because I wouldn't date you, it needed to be me, not the Chief of Staff."
Danny was relieved at least that CJ's story was consistent with Josh's. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Well, I'm not jumping for joy, but I'm not mad."
Before CJ could reply, her phone rang. "Hello. Yes Charlie, I'll be right there." Turning back to Danny, she explained, "I have to go now."
"Okay." And CJ walked out. But Danny stayed, removed a cornflower blue parchment from his pocket, wrote a note on it, and left it in the middle of CJ's desk before leaving.
---
Hours later, CJ returned to her office, dropped into her chair, and found and read the card.
Her eyes can be grey Sometimes the lightning flashes Clouded and stormy
She looked at her watch, noted it was 12:03, remembered their earlier conversation, and dialed his number.
"Danny Concannon."
"I'm sorry," CJ offered quietly.
"I know. It's okay," Danny replied gently. "Go get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay."
Author: soft lite.
Poetry written by CJ Clanton
Characters: CJ, Danny, Carol, Josh, Toby, Leo, 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: A big thank you to CJ Clanton for volunteering to write poetry for this story!
Tuesday morning, March 23, 2004
On Tuesday, Danny began to feel that he could fall into a routine. Soon after arriving at the White House, he would check with Carol about possible good times to stop in to see CJ. Then he would go work on research and writing, leaving that for the briefings and visits with CJ. And there was the promise of dinner with her in the evening. Yes, Danny was feeling quite self-satisfied.
And then there was the first briefing. He noticed that there was no hint of a smile on CJ's lips, and he couldn't catch her eye. After the briefing, on her way out of the room, CJ pulled a handful of sea shell colored tiny bits of paper out of her pocket and sprinkled them over his head with a glare.
"I guess she wasn't so fond of that one, Danny," Mark observed.
Danny tried to brush as many pieces as possible out of his hair, into his lap, and then to his pocket. "Brilliant deduction."
Katie encouraged, "Don't just sit there and stew, go talk to her."
Danny looked at Katie as he considered and then left. Unfortunately, Carol stopped him outside CJ's closed door. "She's on the phone."
Danny sighed. "Could I use some of your tape?"
"Sure," Carol agreed and watched with interest as Danny dumped the bits of paper out of his pocket and began piecing them together. "I know it's none of my business, but she was already in a foul mood before she found that."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I suspect this teasing her didn't help."
Flamingo, she yells It's a ridiculous name I can't help but smile
Danny read it with slight difficulty because there were some pieces missing. He turned it over and taped the back, too.
As he was finishing, CJ came out and handed a file to Carol, then turned to him. "You. Inside." As soon as the door was shut behind them, CJ put her hands on her hips. "You weren't here earlier this morning."
"No," Danny answered cautiously.
"You weren't home, either."
"No – I was at The Post," Danny explained quickly.
Suspiciously, CJ asked, "You don't answer your cell when you're there?"
"I turn it off when I'm in a meeting with my editor. You should have left a message."
CJ sounded frustrated and gestured as she explained, "I didn't want to talk to your voice mail, I wanted to talk to you." She could see that he now looked concerned. "It's nothing to worry about. I just woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to talk to you, but I didn't want to wake you up in the middle of the night."
"You can wake me up in the middle of the night."
"I'll remember that in the future."
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Not so much talk as tell. I woke up and realized I haven't told you yet." CJ reached over and straightened his tie, then looked into his eyes and smiled. "I love you."
Danny grinned back, "I love you, too," and was pleased when she lightly brushed her lips across his. But then she retreated behind her desk. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?" Danny asked while dropping the taped-together poem on her desk.
"It'll have to be here, but yes. And let's do it here, here, because I don't need the gaggle babysitting us through another date."
"Agreed."
"I forgot to tell you yesterday that the president says it's fine for you to come to the First Lady's party as long as it's off the record."
"I expected that."
"So did I."
"May I ask a favor?"
"You may ask," CJ purred, leaning back, smiling serenely, and folding her hands in her lap.
Danny's smile broadened and there was a pause before he remembered that he was going to ask her something. "Would you wear that gray dress?"
For a moment, CJ had to search her memory. "From the State Dinner over four years ago?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.
"Yeah."
"Not for the First Lady's birthday party." CJ could see his disappointment immediately and explained, "She doesn't like it. I should wear something that isn't going to cause her to spend the evening scolding me. I'll wear the gray dress the next time we go to a thing."
"There'll be a next time?"
"I certainly hope so."
"So do I."
For a few minutes, they sat smiling at each other and talking about nothing in particular, until Carol knocked and entered. "CJ, you've got senior staff in five."
Both replied, "Okay," at the same time, laughed a bit, and Danny left while CJ collected her notes for the meeting.
---
When CJ arrived for the last briefing of the day, there was a bag on her podium. She hesitated, but Carol assured her it had been through security. "We each chipped in fifty cents," Chris explained, "except for Danny who chipped in a poem."
"Which you have to read to us," Laura added, "because he refused to."
CJ set her notebook down next to the bag, peeked inside, and pulled out a wooden box with pink and green insets made of some kind of stone in the shape of a rose. "This is beautiful," she said softly. "Thank you, everyone."
"Read the poem!" several reporters encouraged.
CJ opened the box and found a periwinkle parchment that was just the perfect size for this box.
Roses are in bloom She lets me sit beside her I can feel her breathe
"You can keep all the poems in it," Katie explained.
The smile on CJ's face had grown as she read the poem aloud, and as Katie spoke, her eyes moved over the poem again. "Thank you all. This is really very thoughtful."
"It's the least we could do considering how your first two dates went."
Now a teasing glint appeared in CJ's eye. "Yeah, and believe me when I say we're not going to give you another chance any time soon. Let's start the briefing."
---
When Danny arrived at CJ's office for dinner, he discovered that not only was dinner there, but so were Josh and Toby. "I'm sorry. If you're in a meeting, I can come back later." His eyes fell on Josh and Toby's dinners. "Or we can cancel."
"Don't be ridiculous," Josh piped up. "Come on in. We decided to join you for dinner."
"And I've had no luck dissuading them," CJ added with a roll of her eyes.
Josh patted the sofa between himself and CJ, "Come sit down. Let's eat dinner."
Danny shrugged and joined them, "Whatever it takes to spend time with CJ." As he sat down, his hand found hers, their fingers interlaced, they smiled, and kissed briefly. Toby's sigh ensured their kiss would end quickly, and as Danny looked over, he saw Toby rolling his eyes. He also noticed something else. "Hey there, Gail. You and Toby have prime seating there."
Josh complained, "Yeah, I can't see anything here. Switch with me, Toby."
"Not on your life. I don't want to sit next to him."
Despite Toby's words, they had a pleasant time. Danny was pleased to discover that CJ had no inhibitions about holding his hand or kissing him in front of her friends.
Some of them, anyway. During one kiss, there was a knock on the door and when Leo opened it and said, "CJ," she practically jumped away from him. That was the end of their evening, anyway, because Leo needed the senior staff. And Danny left to think about how he was going to talk with CJ about this.
---
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Danny decided that at least on this day, he should not make the mistake he had made yesterday, so he was at the White House early enough to be there when CJ arrived. After watching her approach and hearing bits of Carol's morning litany, he was invited into CJ's office for just a minute. "Hey there, Fishboy, how are you?" CJ asked and then kissed him before he could answer.
"Hum. It seems it's going to be a very good day," he answered after the brief kiss. "I brought you a poem," Danny explained, pulling an antique white parchment out of his pocket. CJ smiled and read it aloud.
The cherry trees shed their petals a mantle of white across the grass She looks up at me with eyes full of trust The sun shines down marking our skin with leaf patterns and all around us the wind sings softly in the leaves Her body feels so warm leaning into mine trusting me She tilts her face up to mine and when I finally feel her kiss Ican barely comprehend how soft it is
"Is this what you imagine us doing at the end of cherry blossom season?"
"I hope."
"So do I. Why did you bring this one in person? And it's not Haiku?"
"I wrote it last night."
"Last night?"
"I had a dream about it last night."
"You should have called me," CJ encouraged in a playful voice.
"It was the middle of the night."
"I wouldn't have minded."
"You ARE looking like you're sleeping better, but I know you're in this building too much to get enough sleep."
"I'm not sure a guy I've never had an unchaperoned date with should be talking about my sleep habits."
"One of these days we'll have a date all by ourselves."
"Yeah." CJ's smile turned a little sad as she read over the poem again, then she looked into Danny's eyes and apologized, "I'm sorry, but I have to work now."
"Okay, but I want to talk with you later."
"Keep in touch with Carol and she'll get you in."
"Okay."
Danny went directly from CJ's office to Josh's. "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure. Several, actually."
Danny went in, closed the door, and sat down. "There are a couple things I want to ask you about."
"Sure, what?"
Danny sized Josh up and decided to start with the easier part first. "Do you think that, you know, ANY time in the foreseeable future I could have dinner alone with CJ?"
"Feeling a little frustrated?" Josh asked with a smirk.
Danny frowned. "I'm serious, Josh. It took her more than four years to agree to a date. We haven't really had one yet. She's keeping me at a distance, and, perhaps jokingly, she said this was one reason."
Josh sat back and seemed to consider this. "If you go out, there are gonna be reporters there."
"Yeah."
"You want to have dinner with CJ alone in her office tonight?"
"Yeah."
"I'll do what I can. You'll have to keep the shades open."
"I know."
"What else?"
Danny felt uncomfortable. "Josh, you know you can tell me stuff off the record and nothing will happen."
Now Josh looked uncomfortable, but he said, "Sure."
"What's the thing with CJ and Leo?"
"He thinks of her like a daughter," Josh replied immediately.
"Yeah. But I think there's something else going on." When Josh didn't respond, Danny continued, "Last night she practically bolted away from me when Leo came in."
Danny could tell Josh was avoiding his eyes. "Danny, CJ is going to kill me for telling you this." When Josh saw Danny was still staring steadily and expectantly at him, he relented. "About four and a half years ago, Leo noticed that you were flirting with CJ and she was beginning to flirt back. He had a talk with her. Several, actually. If he hadn't, I don't know what would have happened or when, but it might not have been four years before your first date."
Danny sat and absorbed this information for a minute. "Okay."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I should let you get back to work."
"Okay."
---
Danny was disappointed that CJ's day was so busy, she had no time for him before dinner, but he looked forward to dinner. As Josh had promised, they were actually able to have dinner alone together. Danny soon found he had less interest in food than in putting his arms around CJ and touching and kissing her as much as she would allow. Given that her shades were all open, that was quite surprisingly a lot. But when he tried to slide his hand from her knee up an inch under her skirt, she pushed him gently away. "Well, since we don't seem to be eating, maybe we should talk."
With a sigh, Danny agreed, "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
"Me? You're the one who said this morning you wanted to have a talk." Danny collapsed back against the cushions and closed his eyes. "What's wrong?" CJ asked, sounding concerned
"I was going to ask you that."
"What do you mean?" now sounding more suspicious
After a long moment, Danny opened his eyes and looked at her. "CJ, why are you okay with kissing me in front of Josh and Toby but not Leo?"
"I don't have a problem kissing you in front of Leo, he just startled me."
"It was his voice, not his knock, that made you jump." CJ chewed her lip as she thought about this, and Danny could see her eyes growing more distant. Finally Danny decided any reaction would be better than none. "CJ, has Leo asked you not to date me?"
Now anger flared in CJ's eyes and she stood and crossed the room and spoke with a voice full of resentment, "He was completely behind the decision we made over the weekend – you know he was."
"What about before that?"
CJ's eyes remained steely, but some of her anger evaporated to be replaced by sadness, "Leo thinks of me like a daughter and wants to protect me. So, yes, years ago he had words me with me about what could happen to me professionally if I were to get involved with someone in my press room."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"There are some things reporters shouldn't know. If you were going to be angry at someone in the West Wing because I wouldn't date you, it needed to be me, not the Chief of Staff."
Danny was relieved at least that CJ's story was consistent with Josh's. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Well, I'm not jumping for joy, but I'm not mad."
Before CJ could reply, her phone rang. "Hello. Yes Charlie, I'll be right there." Turning back to Danny, she explained, "I have to go now."
"Okay." And CJ walked out. But Danny stayed, removed a cornflower blue parchment from his pocket, wrote a note on it, and left it in the middle of CJ's desk before leaving.
---
Hours later, CJ returned to her office, dropped into her chair, and found and read the card.
Her eyes can be grey Sometimes the lightning flashes Clouded and stormy
She looked at her watch, noted it was 12:03, remembered their earlier conversation, and dialed his number.
"Danny Concannon."
"I'm sorry," CJ offered quietly.
"I know. It's okay," Danny replied gently. "Go get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay."