TITLE: Exact Change, Chapter Five
AUTHOR: The Little Cat
SPOILERS: Everything.
DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to the gang at NBC. I'm just borrowing them. They will be returned, tired but unharmed.
AUTHOR NOTES: So sorry about the wait, and that this chapter is short. There is more coming soon.
Molly crawled into the passenger side of CJ's rental car, slamming the door behind her as CJ turned the key in the ignition. They were silent for the first five minutes, CJ hoping Molly wouldn't ask the questions that Molly was trying to figure out how to ask. When they stopped at a red light, CJ could stand it no more, there was enough stress to begin with, and ignoring Molly's curiosity about Toby was simply too much to deal with. CJ turned towards her step-mother.
"You know Molly, you're wearing the same expression now as you did when I was in your high school English class and you didn't want to call on me because you were afraid I would say something you hadn't thought of."
"I never thought that."
"Sure you didn't. Go on, ask what you want."
Molly leaned back in the passenger seat, considering. Opened her mouth, closed it again. CJ hit the gas when the light turned green. "I'm assuming that you two are involved. Did you meet at the White House?"
CJ sighed. "We're not involved. Not exactly. It's…complicated." CJ looked over at Molly. She had no idea how to explain the complexity of her relationship with Toby. "We met several years ago. When he went to work for President Bartlet's first election campaign, he came to see me. Convinced me to come aboard. He is probably the best friend I have ever had." There. That was most of the truth. Not so bad. It almost made sense.
Molly smiled. "Well, that's good. The best relationships are ones that grow out of friendship. That's how I came to marry Tal."
"NO. We aren't in a relationship, Molly."
"But you're in love with him."
CJ slammed on the brakes. Luckily, there was next to no traffic. CJ looked over at Molly, a stunned expression on her face. "I'm…..no. How the HELL did you know that?"
"It's obvious. If it's any comfort CJ, he's in love with you right back."
CJ closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. "Can we drop it?"
"Fine." They were silent a few more moments before Molly continued. "You should probably keep driving CJ, or we'll be late."
CJ sighed, moving the car forward.
They pulled into the small parking lot of the office of Mill, Smith and Berg. Tal's lawyer, Gregory Berg, had been a student of Tal's in his early days of teaching. He stood outside the main doors to greet CJ and Molly.
"Hi Greg." CJ said. "How are you?"
"CJ." The older man greeted, reaching out to clasp her outstretched hand. "Molly. I'm so sorry for your loss. Your brothers are here, as are Angela and Hogan." He held the door for them as they entered the office.
There was the obligatory round of tearful embraces, CJ noting how much both of her brothers had aged since she saw them last. Good Lord, she though to herself. Has it been that long? Hogan reached for her, and CJ grabbed the young woman in a tight embrace.
The reading of the will took very little time. The three children of Tal, as well as Molly, were to evenly split the assets he left behind. The only shock to any of them came when it was announced that the family home would go to CJ. She was confused, but Greg made sense of it when he read Tal's reasoning.
"Both of your brothers own homes already, as does Molly. You rent an apartment in DC. I want you to have a home, Claudia Jean, and hopefully one day a family to fill it." Greg paused, then continued. "Please don't take this as me being disappointed in you, because the opposite is true. I am so proud darling."
CJ felt her eyes well up, and she felt her brothers come around to either side of her. Paul passed her a tissue, and Bill slid his arm around her. "We're all proud of her."
Toby had just finished placing a mountain of sandwiches on the dining room table when he heard the cars pull up in the driveway. He looked up as CJ, her brothers, Paul's wife Angela, Hogan and Molly trooped through the front door. CJ had told her family to expect Toby's presence, and had endured her brother's gentle teasing with grace. Hogan had grinned, listening to her father and Uncle tease her Aunt about her "boyfriend".
"Toby!" Paul and Bill hollered in unison.
Toby flinched internally. "Hello."
He had never felt quite comfortable around CJ's brothers. Not because they had given him reason to feel uncomfortable, but because he had always associated meeting her family with making a commitment to her. They had very little commitment to one another, at least as far as anything official went. Toby knew, when it came right down to it, that he was bound to her. CJ was the only woman he would love for the rest of his life. He was not prepared, however, to tell her so. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her.
His mind flashed back to the last time they had been together, several weeks before. It had been an odd evening, in that they had come together with very little involvement of stress or alcohol. It had been a late night, they had grabbed take out, and had somehow ended up back at CJ's apartment. That night had been dangerous. Not being drunk had meant little cover for slip ups, for emotion spilling through the cracks. He had paused upon entering her that night, looking down into her eyes, not moving. Tell her, his mind had hissed. Tell her you're in love with her, that you'll love her forever, that you want to marry her, watch her have your children, grow old together, just do it, tell her.
"What?" she had asked.
"Nothing. Just…..you are beautiful."
She had smiled. "Charmer." Her words had been lost to sighs as he had begun to move.
Toby shook himself out of his memories and back into the present. She was comfortable with what they had, he was sure, and would not make her uncomfortable by declaring feelings that she could not return. So he grinned at her brothers, and waved at the giant pile of food on the table. "I made lunch."
