A/N: Hey, sorry for the delay. Life quite insane at the moment, but I managed to find a little time to put this up today. Should I be doing something else right about now? Probably. Why am I not doing anything? I'm a bad seed. Well, not really, but anyway, here's the next chapter for your reading and reviewing pleasure. And speaking of which, REVIEW! I wanna know if it sucks too, not just if you like it. If it does, I'll pull the plug. Is anyone even reading this story?

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Donna hung up her boss's phone. She stood there a moment to try to and regain her composure. CJ was like a sister to her and the fact that the man she loved was cheating on her behind her backpissed her off. Donnaregained her composure so she wouldn't slip up and tell CJ. Ifthat happened that would blow Josh's plan and Donna didn't want to be the cause of that.

Secretly, Donna thought CJ should know and not be handled, she never reacted well when she was handled, but on the other hand, as the cheater, Ben was the only one who had the right to tell her. Donna exited the office and made for CJ's office, only stopping at Ryan's cubicle to pass on Josh's message that he was in charge of the phones and not to do anything stupid.

"Donna!" greeted Carol

"Hey Carol!" returned Donna, unobviously glancing through the window that separated Carol's office from CJ's to see if its owner was there, which it wasn't.

"What brings you to this side of the hallway?" joked Carol "Josh need to see CJ?"

"No he's not back yet. Thing is, I have nothing to do" she leaned on some filing cabinets dramatically.

"What?"

"Josh hasn't been here all day, so I've actually been able to do some work without having to get up every five minutes to track down Josh for something or have to respond to his bellows, and ...I have nothing more to do"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you need someone to answer the phones during CJ's briefing?"

"We usually have one of the junior staffers do it"

"Can I today?"

"Are you that bored?"

"Yes"

"Wait...who's on your phones?"

"Ryan. I needed a change of scenery"

"Heya Donna. What brings you to my merry side of the bullpen?" CJ entered Carol's office. Her good mood from earlier that morning still hadn't faded away, although Donna sadly knew it wouldn't last for the rest of the day.

"Boredom. Can I do your phones during your briefing?"

"Are you that bored?"

"Yeah. Josh and Toby's meetings got extended to the afternoon and I've been able to finish all my work without Josh here to distract me"

CJ laughed "And the boy is very distracting. Sure, why not?"

"Thanks CJ" grinned Donna as CJ entered her own office. Donna turned to Carol, in time to see her pick up a few pink pieces of paper, which the former recognized as phone messages. "I'll bring those in if you want" offered Donna, wondering if the call she was waiting for was in those papers.

"Sure, thanks. I still need to look up the spelling of Kashmir for the briefing and CJ gets pissed when spelling's wrong". Carol grinned and, after handing Donna the papers, turned to her computer.

Donna walked into CJ's office and, while Carol's back was turned and CJ was intent on something on her computer, she spread out the pink phone messages in her hands, of which they were only three. Familiar with the layout of the papers, Donna could scan them quickly to discover that none of them were from Ben and continue to CJ's desk before anyone could notice that she stopped.

"CJ," Donna offered her the papers.

CJ looked up from her computer in mild surprise "Oh thanks Donna. You know, now I can see why Josh says he can't live without you"

"CJ..." Carol called from the doorway "Time for the briefing"

"Okay, thanks Carol" CJ walked out from behind her desk and hurried towards the door and the waiting Carol, only to call a "Thanks again, Donna" over her shoulder.

"No problem..." Donna said vaguely. She had a far-away look in her eyes as she repeated something quietly to herself "...Josh says he can't live without me..." the phone out in Carol's office began to ring. Donna snapped back and hurried out to Carol's office. She sat down in Carol's chair as she picked up the phone, "CJ Cregg's office..."

Josh hit the top of the door as he and Toby entered the lobby of the White House "Okay...we need to go to your office and get Bonnie or Ginger to tell Leo's office we're coming over"

"What about CJ?"

Josh stopped "Oh yeah, I forgot. Okay, let's find Donna, then we'll go see the Leo"

"Hey Josh... Hey Toby" said a new voice from somewhere near their right. Charlie Young fell into step with the two men

"Hey Charlie, what's up?" Josh greeted the young man

"Hey Charlie" echoed Toby

"President wanted to see you immediately after you get back"

"And how did you know we were back, have you been standing in the lobby for hours?" Josh asked with a grin
"Nah, I looked out the window"

"Okay"

"What's with CJ?" Charlie asked suddenly

Toby and Josh glanced at each other. Maybe the thing they were waiting for had happened...

"Whaddya mean?" questioned Toby, nonchalantly

"When you guys came in, you asked Josh 'What about CJ?' What about CJ?"

Josh and Toby filled him in on the incident at the diner.

"Jackass. You beat him up, right?"

"Yeah" answered Toby

"Good. You know if you're ever gonna do that again, tell me. I can help you out"

"Yeah, we know, there, slugger" teased Toby, both remembering the time they had spent in a jail cell in California, accused of fighting people in a bar.

By now, they were entering Charlie's office. Charlie continued to the door that led to the Oval Office, while Josh and Toby hung back automatically at Charlie's desk. He knocked and opened the door when he heard a response "Toby and Josh are back, sir" Charlie addressed the President.

"Great, thanks Charlie. Send 'em in" they heard the President respond

Charlie closed the door, but not all the way and walked back to Toby and Josh "You can go in"

"Thanks, Charlie" said Josh

"Thanks" agreed Toby

"Hey guys, ya know if CJ finds out you beat up Ben before she gets the call, she'll kill you, right?"

"Yeah, we know" smiled Josh nervously

"Hopefully it won't come to that" Toby added as they walked into the Oval Office. Bartlet was standing before his desk openly staring at them. Wondering why the President of the United States was staring like that at them, (he usually saved these looks for when they had done something wrong, but was more amused then mad at them) Toby was the first to speak.

"Good afternoon, sir" tried Toby

"Good afternoon, Mr. President" echoed Josh

"Close the door" Bartlet said shortly and Josh obeyed. "Now," Bartlet said as Josh rejoined the group "What's this, you're beating up CJ's boyfriend?"

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, how do you know about that?" Toby asked, surprised.

Bartlet rolled his eyes "Come on now. You were talking with Charlie right outside my door"

"Oh yeah..." Josh mumbled

"So, why are you beating up Ben?"

"Past tense, we already did" corrected Josh and he and Toby proceeded to fill the President in on the goings on at the diner.

Bartlet glared as soon as they were done "Bastard..."he mumbled "I knew I didn't like him...there was just something about him..." he trailed off

"Um, sir, you never met him..." pointed out Josh, amused.

"I know. But I have an intuition about these things" he waved his hand like it was something unimportant

"Yes sir" agreed Toby, trying to hide a smile

Bartlet raised his eyebrows "Are you scoffing at me, Toby?"

Toby got his facial expressions under control "Oh no, sir, never" Toby said sarcastically

Bartlet laughed, then wrapped an arm each around both his Deputy Chief of Staff and his Communications Director "Good work, both of you, on giving that piece of slime exactly what he deserved. Now..." he lowered his voice conspiratorially "...if you want, I have access to the Secret Service, in fact, I have total control over them. I could get them to arrest him for something or even kill him, ...or, even better, I could go down to the Sit Room right now and get Fitz to order an air strike on him...or do you think that's a little over the top?"

"Just a little, sir" grinned Josh "But thanks anyway"

Bartlet smiled and clapped them each on the arm before releasing them "Okay, now get out of here"

"But, don't you want to hear about..."

"Another time" Bartlet cut Josh off "Charlie's right. If CJ finds out about what the two of you have been up to all day, you're dead meat. Get out of here, go hide in your offices, and that's an order...Charlie!" called Bartlet and that man entered

"Yes sir?" asked Charlie

"Charlie, is the briefing still on?"

"Yeah. It's nearly done now"

"The briefing?" Toby looked puzzled "I thought that it was at noon?"

"Pushed back an hour." answered Bartlet "We were waiting for your news about the thing, but you weren't back yet and the press was starting to get antsy about their deadlines"

"If you want us to get word to CJ..." started Josh

"Nah, don't worry about it" Bartlet waved his hand impatiently "It can wait until tomorrow. Now get outta here!"

Both Josh and Toby grinned at this "Thank you sir" they said. They turned to leave. Charlie followed behind them after asking the President if he needed him anymore and getting a response in the negative. Toby glanced up at the television in Charlie's office as Charlie closed the door to the Oval Office. The press briefing was indeed ending...

"CJ!" called one of the reporters, Chris "I just have one more question!"

"Shoot, Chris" responded CJ. She was still in an awesome mood. It had spilled into her briefing, making for an extra quippy briefing on her part.

"CJ, I was at the Dupont Circle Diner at lunchtime today. Toby and Josh came in and they beat up a man named..."she glanced down at her notes "...Benjamin­­ ­Dryer. I don't know why, they noticed everyone staring and brought it outside, I just wondered if you did..."

Josh and Toby exchanged horrified looks.

"Well, guys," said Charlie, who was standing on the other side of them "It was nice knowing ya"

Josh and Toby didn't stay to hear CJ's response...

Flush. And that was the sound of CJ's good mood slowly being flushed down the toilet... CJ successfully covered her surprise at the female reporter's statement "You know what, Chris? I haven't seen Josh and Toby all day. As I said, they've been on the Hill all day discussing the trade bill, but I'll be sure to ask them when I see them. Okay, if that's it, that's a full lid." CJ didn't stay to hear if there really were any other questions from the White House Press Corps...

Josh and Toby ran down the halls of the west wing, praying that they would reach their offices before CJ found them. They were approaching the sanctuary of Josh's office when...

"Joshua Lyman! Tobias Ziegler! If you two don't stop right now, I swear to God, I'm gonna shoot ya!" CJ stormed over to the pair.

"Hey, CJ, how ya doin'?" Josh tried one of his charming smiles, but it didn't work

"You'd better wipe that smile off your face, Lyman!" threatened CJ and Josh did obediently.

"You know, that was a very maternal-esque statement, there" pointed out Toby

CJ turned on him "One more smart statement out of you, buddy, and I'm gonna do something so rotten I don't even know what it is yet!"

Toby shut his mouth.

CJ glared at both of them together now "Okay, now have you lost what is left of your minds?! What the hell possessed you to go beating up people at diners, for God's sake?! Did you even think of how that image would reflect on this administration?! And for that matter, what the hell possessed you to go beating up Ben?!"

Josh stared down at his shoes like they were the most amazing things on the face of the planet, while Toby looked in every possible direction, but at CJ.

"Well?! Do you have an answer?!" CJ yelled.

They both met CJ's angry gaze slowly. "Uh...Ceej..."started Josh nervously. "The reason we were beating up Ben was..."

"CJ, Ben's been cheating on you" Toby finished quietly.

The angry look fell off CJ's face and the men were faced with a blank expression. There was a long pause before CJ finally spoke "You honestly expect me to believe that?" CJ asked, many shades quieter than before "Why the hell would you make up some stupid lie like that? Did you think I would be less mad at you or something?"

"CJ, we both swear, we're not lying" Toby promised

"We saw her, CJ. We saw both of them together." tried Josh

CJ paused, but then shook her head "...No. No, he wouldn't do that. You are both extremely wrong. And even if you did make up that lie to try to make me less mad at you, it didn't work. Now, I'm mad at you for beating up Ben, I'm mad at you for embarrassing this administration with your stupid antics, and now I'm also mad at you for lying to me about it. You must have been mistaken on what you saw today, and you're gonna apologize to Ben." CJ made to leave, but turned back "And one more thing. I am really...really pissed at the both of you." CJ turned to walk back to her office.

"You're gonna get a call" Josh said quietly from behind her and she stopped and turned back to Josh and Toby

"What?"

"You're gonna get a call from Ben" Josh answered "He's gonna ask you to meet you somewhere and that's when he's gonna tell you he's been cheating"

CJ moved closer to the two men "And how do you know that?"

"We told him to" answered Toby miserably "We told him that he was going to tell you or by the end of the day, we would"

"But how would you know whether he called or not, unless..." she came to the correct conclusion a moment later "...unless you planted a spy named Donna in my office under the pretense of boredom, who would report back when he called"

"Well, the spy didn't necessarily have to be named Donna, but you got the rest of it right" muttered Toby under his breath

CJ chose to ignore that. "Why are you doing this?" she asked

"Doing what?" questioned Josh

"Butting yourselves into my business"

"Because...CJ...we're your friends. We don't want to see you get hurt" Josh tried desperately

CJ snorted in disgust "What the hell kind of friends would do something like this? Friends? What happened to 'concerned citizens?'" she mocked

"CJ..."

"And this hurts me more" CJ walked away, leaving the two men gaping in her wake.

CJ entered her own office where Donna was on the phone and Carol was turned to the computer. Donna got off the phone as CJ approached her "Hey CJ" she greeted "while you were at the briefing..."

"Party's over, Donna, get out" CJ interrupted bluntly

Donna stared up at her blankly "What?"

CJ placed one hand on the back of Donna's chair and leaned over the blonde woman "I said party's over. I know what Josh and Toby did and I know why you're really here. They lied to me, you lied to me, now get out"

"CJ, they're not lying..."

"Get out of my office, Donna"

Donna got up slowly and walked wordlessly out of CJ's office.

"What happened? What did Josh and Toby do?" Carol asked

"You remember Chris at the briefing saying that Josh and Toby were beating up Ben at some diner? Well, they did" CJ seethed

"What?!"

"And they made up some stupid lie that he was cheating on me, I mean, Ben wouldn't do that. Josh and Toby probably thought that if they came up with some elaborate excuse, then I wouldn't be mad at them or something..."

"CJ," Carol said quietly "have you ever given thought to the fact that Josh and Toby might not be lying"

CJ paused for a moment, staring at her assistant "Ben wouldn't do that" she said finally, but shakily

Carol stared back "For one, you know as well as I do that they wouldn't beat up anyone, never mind Ben, without a good reason and for another thing, even if they did, would they lie about something like that?"

"Because...because they thought I would be less mad at them..." CJ said desperately

"That's a dumb excuse and you know it"

The phone rang then and Carol picked it up "CJ Cregg's office" she paused a moment, pressed a button on the phone and hung it up "CJ...it's Ben" Carol whispered

CJ paled 'What if Josh and Toby weren't lying?' she thought to herself worriedly 'No, don't be stupid. You're being paranoid, CJ.' she tried to reassure herself, but it didn't work.

"I'll get it in my office" she told Carol. She closed the door behind her and raced to her desk. On one hand she was deathly afraid that Josh and Toby might be telling the truth and Ben was about to confirm her fears, but on the other hand, she was eagerly hoping to find that she was being paranoid and Ben was only calling to ask her to dinner or something. CJ picked up the phone on her desk. "Ben?" she said into it while sitting down on her chair and hoping her voice didn't give away her fears.

A moment of silence on the other end, then "CJ?"

"Yeah"

"Um...listen, can you meet me?"

CJ's heart jumped into her throat "Now?"

"Yeah..." more silence "...if that's okay with you"

"Yeah, now's fine. Where?"

"Dupont Circle Diner?"

More silence, but this time from CJ. Then finally "Is that where..."

"Yeah" Ben cut her off

"Ben," started CJ, forgetting her fears and remembering her anger at Josh and Toby "I really should..."

"No, can you just meet me now?" Ben cut her off again

"Sure. I'll be there in a minute"