A/N: Hello all! First off, I'm gonna apologize about the bit of political stuff I threw in here. What I know about politics can fit quite neatly on the head of a pin, so it probably doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense. I grabbed it from something that Josh was working on in 'Talking Points' in season 5, cause it's around then when this story takes place... Anyway, this is my first West Wing fanfic (or rather the first one I've finished...I've written half of at least 3 more, but gotten writer's block and I've been skipping around on them, working on one, then another and going back when I think of something else and this is the first one actually I've finished, so this is the one you get), so go easy on me please. Keep the flames down to a decent temperature, but I'd like to know your honest opinion, though so review! And thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: None of these folks are mine, though how I wish they were...wait, some of 'em are mine...a lady named Lisa and some diner waitress who I don't think I gave a name too...The diner's even a real one in Washington DC, I looked it up! This is how sad my life is...

-AEM

CJ Cregg was walking through the lobby of the White House one morning when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and grinned when she saw Josh Lyman jogging towards her.

"Hey CJ" Josh caught up with her

"Mornin' Joshua"

"You're in a good mood this morning" Josh observed

"Yes I am" she grinned to herself

Josh stopped and turned to study his friend closer "Hey, what's that around your neck?"

CJ put her hand on the long beads around her neck and smiled embarrassedly "Oh, Ben gave them to me. I was helping him clean out his apartment over the weekend and he found these love beads he got in high school and he gave them to me"

"You're not wearing them to your briefings, are you?"

CJ laughed and continued walking "Are you kidding me? Leo would kill me, not to mention Toby"

"Oh yeah, they would just love that one..." grinned Josh. Suddenly, a thought entered Josh's mind and he stopped again. It took a moment for CJ to notice Josh was no longer walking beside her, but when she did, she backtracked her steps.

"Hey, Josh, what's the matter?" she asked, concernedly

"Wait, did you just say you were helping Ben clean out his apartment?"

"Yes I did" CJ had been hoping Josh would overlook that statement. She was wrong.

"Where's he going? He's not moving away so soon, is he? I mean, he's not getting transferred again"

"Uh, no, he's moving in with me" CJ said that last part quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear it

"What?" asked Josh, though he thought he knew what she had said.

CJ rubbed her hand along her neck and repeated "Ben's moving in with me. It makes more sense for him to move in with me because my apartment's bigger and..."

"Hey CJ, that's great! I didn't know you guys were that serious!" Josh said, happy for his friend.

"Yeah we are" CJ blushed uncharacteristically and continued walking.

"So are we going to be hearing wedding bells anytime soon?" Josh teased.

"Joshua!" she hit him on the arm, mortified.

"Ow!" he rubbed his arm "Hey, it was an honest question!"

"Yes, but also none of your business!"

"Oh that's nice, CJ, I thought we were friends" Josh teased again

"Josh...you know what I mean..."

"Chill out, CJ, I was only teasing" grinned Josh

"Excellent, what are we teasing CJ about this time?" Toby Ziegler joined the pair

"Ben moved in with CJ over the weekend." Josh answered

"Oh thanks, Josh, why don't we just announce it at the briefing now?" CJ remarked sarcastically.

"Well, if you want to..."

"Hey, CJ, that true?" Toby asked

"Yes."

"Is he going to propose?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Probably because that's the next step, I hear."

"Toby wouldn't know about the order of steps in a relationship since he's been known to do stuff like that backwards." Josh joked

"What is it 'Comedy Hour with Lyman' now?" glared Toby

"Hey, if I wasn't in politics, I think I'd make a pretty dammed good comedian!"

"Stick to politics, Josh."

"I'm sorry, I still don't see what my relationship with Ben has to do with either one of you." CJ said

"We want to make sure he's taking good care of you," said Josh

"What, are you my protective older brothers now?"

"Just call it 'concerned citizens'." remarked Toby with a smirk.

"Hey, Toby, senior staff in 5." Toby's assistant, Ginger, reminded as she walked by.

"Thanks, Ginger."

CJ's assistant, Carol fell into step with the three soon after "Mornin' boss,"

"How ya doin', Carol?"

"Great. Senior staff in 5 minutes and you've got a briefing immediately after."

"Oh good, you can tell the world about you and Ben, then." Josh deadpanned

"What's this?" Carol looked at her boss, amusedly

"I'll tell you later, get back to work."

"Okay." Carol smiled and walked away

"One more word out of you, Mr. Funny Pants and I'm gonna kill you." CJ threatened

"Okay." Josh laughed as Toby tried to hide a smile under his beard

"You too." CJ caught him

"What'd I do?" Toby protested

"You were there."

"Josh, you've got the thing in 5 minutes." Donna Moss, Josh's assistant said as she walked by.

"Okay, Donn...wait what?"

"Serves you right." mumbled CJ

Donna retraced her steps to the three "You have the thing in 5 minutes, Josh."

"Donna, for the love of all that is good and holy...what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm paying you back for every time you've demanded 'the thing' from me and expected me to have some ungodly idea what you're talking about, so today I'm referring to everything as 'the thing'."

"As amusing and a bit annoying as that sounds, Donna, that could get in the way of a little thing we do here called 'running the country'."

"How come it gets in the way when I do it, but when you do it, it's perfectly all right?"

"Because I said so."

"Shut up." Donna glared and began to walk away

"Wait, you never told me what I have in 5 minutes!" Josh called after her.

"Remember what Ginger and Carol just told Toby and CJ they have to do and think about it!" exclaimed Donna, without turning around.

"Well, that was a bit snippy. I haven't even done anything to her yet today." Josh remarked

"You're an idiot, Josh." Toby proclaimed

"All right then, Toby, if you're so smart, what do I have to do in 5 minutes?"

Toby closed his eyes and shook his head as if he could not believe it "Senior staff."

"Oh."

"You're an idiot, Josh."

The three then arrived at Leo's office.

"Mornin' guys, come on in." Leo mumbled. He stood with his glasses on, reading something in a file behind his desk.

"You know you have a chair there, Leo." Josh said with a grin, to which Leo ignored him.

He closed the file, took his glasses off and studied his staff briefly. "Oh, hey, CJ," he sat down in his chair, with a pointed glance at Josh "what's this I hear about..."

"My god, why does everyone in this White House feel the need to poke into my personal life?" CJ interrupted

Leo looked up at her in mild surprise "I was gonna say Sam's campaign, but if you wanna talk about something different..."

"No I don't"

"Okay. What about Sam's campaign?"

"Shouldn't you be asking me that, seeing as how I'm Sam's campaign manager?" pointed out Toby

"Okay, question's open to the floor now, does anyone know anything about Sam in the 47th?"

"He won." said Toby

"Yes, I know that part" Leo said, exasperated "I'm not that old, I'd forget all the screaming, does anyone know anything about how he's doing...how he's adjusting to the job?"

"That's not the question you asked, Leo" Toby smirked

"Say, Toby, on the way into work this morning did you spend the entire time thinking of all the ways you could give me a hard time today?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I did"

"I give up" Leo threw up his hands "It's like trying to run a 3-ring circus..."

"Someone's in a good mood this morning" Josh observed

"Yes, believe it or not, boys and girls, I'm actually in a good mood, so no one'd better spoil it" Toby warned.

"Okay, I can die now, I've seen it all" Leo remarked

"Wow, what put you into such a good mood that you can actually admit you're in a good mood, my bearded friend?" asked CJ

"Well," Toby smiled secretively "Andy brought over the twins last night and...Molly saw me, she smiled at me and said 'dada'."

A brief silence followed this statement, but CJ broke the silence by saying "Oh my god, Toby, that's fantastic!"

"Hey, that's great, Tobe!" Josh added "I always heard that twins take longer to learn to talk because they have their own secret language that they can understand each other in, so they don't need anything else"

Everyone stared at Josh.

"I don't know," Toby shrugged "She just said 'dada'."

"Congratulations, Toby. 'Dada' was Mallory's first word too. I was so proud. Mal learned to talk young; I think she wasn't even the twins' age yet...ever since, we can't get her to shut up...anyway, Jennie always said that Mal probably didn't even know what she was saying, but I think she was just jealous that Mallory didn't say 'mama' first." put in Leo.

"What are we congratulating Toby about?" questioned a voice from the door. Leo, Toby, Josh, and CJ all turned to the door that adjoined Leo's office to the Oval Office to find President Bartlet there.

"Molly said 'dada' to Toby last night" Leo answered.

"Hey, Toby, that's fantastic!" exclaimed Bartlet and went over to clap Toby on the shoulder. "I remember when Zoey first said 'dada', proudest moment of my life..." After going on at length about this for a moment, he concluded with "So, what's going on in here?"

"Well, I hear it's supposed to be a senior staff meeting, but all they're giving me is static" Leo remarked sarcastically

"Isn't that what they usually do?" Bartlet said, with a smile.

"I was trying to get an answer on how Sam's doing in the 47th, but they keep giving me grief and a headache."

"He won." said Bartlet, smartly.

"I know that, sir," Leo rolled his eyes "I was trying to find out how he's adjusting."

"Yeah, how is he doing? Any of you talk to him?" Bartlet asked his staff and all three shook their heads.

"How come you can't answer me like that?" Leo asked.

"Due respect, he is the President, Leo" Josh smirked

"Yeah, but I can still fire your asses."

"Good point."

"Okay, I want one of you to give Sam a call sometime today and report back to me or Leo. And stop giving Leo grief, he's the one that actually runs this country. I just sit behind that big desk in there and look cute."

"Oh, but it's so much fun to harass Leo." CJ grinned.

"I could fire you for that remark, Claudia Jean." Leo tried to hide a smile.

"I know, but I say it anyway."

"So, who's calling Sam?" asked Bartlet.

"CJ. I've got an assignment for Toby and Josh." answered Leo

"Aww...I wanted to call Sam..." complained Josh.

"Suck it up." was Leo's response.

"What do you need, Leo?" asked Toby.

"I need you guys to go up to the Hill..."

"Why?" asked Josh curiously.

"Well, if you'd let me talk, I'd tell you, Josh." Leo said, exasperated

"Yessir."

"I need you guys to take some meetings on the Hill about trade bill...finding ways to keep some of the programming jobs here in the US"

"The jobs will come back, it just needs a bit of time" argued Josh

Leo rolled his eyes "I know that, it's just the Speaker of the House..."

"I talked to him. I convinced him. He said he'd get the votes"

"Yeah, and it's them who need the convincing"

"But he said he'd get the votes for us and we didn't have to do a thing" protested Josh

Leo shrugged "Things change, Josh. I'm gonna arrange some morning meetings and you'll report back to me in the afternoon."

"Okay." Josh agreed sullenly.

"Sir, that's all I have, you have anything to add?"

"No, thanks everyone" said Bartlet

"Thank you, Mr. President." They all responded in unison.

"Okay, that was a little freakish, don't do that again" warned Bartlet

"Yes sir" they all piped up

CJ, Josh and Toby were about to leave Leo's office and Bartlet was about to go back into the Oval when he suddenly stopped and turned "Hey, CJ, what's this I hear about Ben moving in with you?"

CJ gulped in surprise "Uh...excuse my asking, sir, but how did you know that?"

Bartlet grinned "I'm nosy, CJ, so I make it a point to know everything that goes on in my White House. I even have an unwilling spy named Charlie, but neither of those are why I know about that."

"Then how?"

"Because all three of you talk really loud. And make sure you take off those beads for the briefing" Bartlet answered simply and went back into the Oval Office, shutting the door behind him.

CJ glared at Toby and Josh as they left Leo's office "I'm really going to kill you guys..."

A/N: Well, thanks for reading...I've divided this story into four sections cause it was too dammed long to put into one. As I said, this is my first attempt at a West Wing fanfic. If it sucks, just tell me and I won't torture you with it anymore, I'll just try again with a new one... So, go on and press that little button on the bottom left corner of the screen, please! It won't bite, it likes you! Thanks!

-AEM