Title: Under Your Skin
Author: ScullyAsTrinity
Category: Angst/Romance
Rating: PG-13
A/N: I'm so happy to finally have my West Wing muse back. I've been so caught up in CSI I've been neglecting my WW ships. I'm very sorry.
Thanks go out to Jackie who clued me into Matthew, who was wonderful from the second I began conversing with him. But I must say, this goes out to my girl Dani, who's back in the states and is coming to visit!
And as always, a great heap of thanks to Karen, who is utterly fantastic, all of the time.
Summary: He wasn't going to be her regular bedfellow.
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"You, Toby, are a sad, sad man in need of a good picker upper." CJ shot toward her colleague, fully intending the weight of her words.
"Sad, sad man?" Toby pondered, scratching his beard. "CJ, I'm no longer enthralled by your words."
She shot him a sharp look as she crumpled papers and shoved them into her briefcase. "You wound me, really you do. But go ahead, shoot barbs, I'm offering my expertise."
He scoffed at her words. "And what would that be?" He knew many things of which she was expert at, but wasn't sure what she was shooting at. That was one of the things she was brilliant at, throwing him for a loop.
Multi-tasking, she moved to shut off her lamp, grabbing her heavier-than-normal briefcase at the same time. "I assume you still have some semblance of direction. I mean, that hasn't eluded you yet Tobster?"
Biting his tongue, he stared her down. She stared back, raised a brow and moved past him, flicked off her light. "Be at my place in an hour. Wipe your slate clean." She shot at him as her heels clicked away.
Toby weighed his options as he bounced on his heels, standing at the bottom of his steps. Hands were shoved deep into his trench coat pockets, and he looked back towards his car and then towards CJ's door. He shouldn't be there, he really shouldn't be there.
The door suddenly flew open, CJ's lanky frame hanging in the doorway. "Gonna stare all night, or are you gonna come in Tob?" Toby, in a rare show of indecisiveness, looked to his car again. CJ snapped twice, gaining his attention once more. "Toby?" She queried, ducking her head in an attempt to gain his attention.
"Yeah. Yes." Toby said, shooting one last glance to his car before starting up her steps. She smiled, her smile quickly turned into a grin as he walked by her into her apartment.
Toby pulled off his coat and toyed with it in his hands. He was uncomfortable, for the first time in ages, he was uncomfortable standing alone in CJ's apartment. She whisked her way into the room and grabbed the coat from him, disappearing from the room only to reappear moment's later, a bottle of Grey Goose and two glasses in hand.
Flopping her body onto the couch, she made a motion for him to follow. He did so, sitting gingerly on the edge of the sofa. CJ shot him a look, he rolled his eyes and flopped back more comfortably on the couch. A glass of vodka was pushed into his hand and he knocked a swallow back with determination, meeting her eyes as she took her first sip.
"Is it true that every building in D.C. is required to have a fireplace? I've heard that." She said, patting him on the thigh, attempting in such a way to spur the conversation. He toyed with his beard and propped his head up with his free hand.
"Guess I've been to busy to find that out Ceej." Another gulp of the alcohol took an edge off of his words. "Sorry."
She scoffed at him. "My attempts at conversation seem to be dive-bombing into oblivion. I'd hate to think that this was a bad idea."
CJ stood from the couch, and, like a fine jungle cat, moved lithely over to her fireplace, igniting it with a quick match. His eyes too ignited, and he looked to her for an explanation. A shrug was the answer he received and he accepted it at face value. Just a fire, nothing more. No Toby, not a metaphor for lust, not a signal that she wants anything from you. It's a fucking fire.
"CJ, I need to break this block." He stated dryly, raising his vodka to his lips, gulping elusively. "Badly." He finished, cringing.
"Damn Toby. You're alliterating. This must be bad, come here." CJ said, placing her glass on the coffee table. Stalking towards him, she nearly felt herself purr with anticipation.
She peeled off her shirt quickly and tossed it at him. Toby caught it, fingers trailing carelessly over the fabric, imagining it to be her skin beneath him.
CJ nodded her head towards the bedroom. He knew where the bedroom was, he'd been there before, many times. He'd fallen into her bed a tangle of limbs and lips, each falling on the other in beautiful abstraction.
"No." He stated, swallowing the rest of his beverage. Toby stood, holding out his arms. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd better go." She made a move to speak, standing there in her slacks and bra, feeling incredibly out of place. "No, I know I should go. Uh, thanks for the drink-" He held up the empty glass and then placed it forcefully on her coffee table. "And I'll uh, see you in the morning."
"So that's it?" CJ threw her hands in the air, advancing on him. "You're leaving. You can't leave." She said angrily, standing half-bare before him.
And he snapped, just snapped. Grabbed the back of her neck and crushed their lips together in the manner that they usually did. "My turn CJ, just shut up."
He released her and walked solo to her bedroom, pulling at his tie as he went. It almost hurt her to follow, he wasn't going to be the regular bedfellow. This wasn't like it always was. The air wasn't right. And even though he'd kissed her exactly the same, he'd kissed her differently.
When she entered the room, he grabbed her hand and brought her lips down to his, this time kissing reverently. Her first reaction was to be disgusted, the way his tongue swept over hers, patient. She was never patient, never, never. Frantic. That was how she always had it. But then again, before, it had always been about her.
Hands on her hips, not rough but experimental, as if testing the skin there for the first time. Working on her pants, she put up no resistance as his fingers slipped under the band of her panties.
CJ gasped, and he was sure that he'd never heard her breathe in such a way; he nearly smiled. Nearly. "Admit it CJ, it's not about you CJ, and it's not about me." He moved back to stare straight into her eyes. "It's about us and that's why you can't stand for this to happen."