Chapter 2

The problem with someone calling you a chicken is that it can't go unanswered. Sure, your parents tried to teach you to take the high road, but that never really worked, did it? No, in the end you either proved you were or weren't a chicken. You either walked away or you did whatever it was they wanted you to do…

"Are you going to answer me, or are you just going to stand there staring at me all day?" I ask him after watching him go through whatever mental thing he's going through for a good minute.

His eyes have this look of panic in them. "I might be safer staring at you all day."

"You kissed me on a dare," I say in a quiet, steely voice in the hallway of the Russell headquarters. "In my boss' office," I say a little louder. "In front of my boss," I say through gritted teeth.

He tries a slight smile, but dimples or not I'm not falling for it. "Yes on the last two, kind of on the first."

"We're you trying to get me fired?"

"What? No!"

"So you just thought it was appropriate to kiss me then and there?"

He gets a bit of a smirk on his face. "You're saying it would've been appropriate someplace else?" When he says that, my eyes must get bigger, because he flinches just a bit and takes a small step back as if I might hit him. Which I might.

"You're deranged!" I say somewhat loudly, making a few people turn their heads and look at us.

"I was making a statement," he says, putting his hands on his hips defiantly.

"That you're deranged?"

"No. That this is the first time I've seen you since it was o… you know what? Just forget it. It was a mistake."

"You're damn straight it was!"

He stares at me for a second before going into defensive mode. "Don't get pissy with me. You're tongue was moving around just as much as mine was!" And with that, he turns on his heel and walks out.

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I've been sitting in my office for the last twenty minutes, silently freaking out. There are many, many things to freak out about, not the least of which is that my boss saw me making out with the enemy.

You don't know what it's like. You see this person, this person who has become your entire life, every single day for years. You laugh with him, fight with him, banter with him, tease him, learn from him, teach him. You nurse him back to health, deal with his emotional baggage, ask for him before you go into surgery because he's the only one who can make you really believe everything's going to be ok. And if it's not, if you're going to die, he has to be the last person you see. He just has to be. Because if he's become your entire life, the last moment of it must be filled with him.

And then, you don't see him. You don't see him for two weeks and two days. You don't see him and you don't talk to him, and you wonder if he's mad at you or if he hates you or if he misses you half as desperately as you miss him.

And then, you walk into your boss' office talking about media events in Vermont, and there he is. And he says hi to you, and you say hi back and you can't help the smile on your face. And you faintly hear your boss talking, but you're just staring at each other, and then he says, "Hold on a sec, there's something I have to do."

And then you watch him as he walks towards you. And before you really know what's happening, he has a hand on your cheek, pulling you close to him, and then he's kissing you. And it may start out soft and warm and light, but it quickly moves into a hungry, passionate, mind-blowing kiss that demands your reciprocation. And so, right there in your boss' office, you kiss him back. Because you have to. Because you've been waiting for this kiss for seven years and eleven months, and it's better than you ever thought it would be, and for a minute you really don't give a damn if your boss is watching you, if you're going to be fired, if you ever work again. You're kissing him, and you have no intentions of stopping.

And then, after who knows how long, a minute, an hour, a year, the kiss ends and he leans his forehead against yours and your hands are still in his hair and your both panting, and he leans in closer and kisses you lightly on the lips, then the nose, then the cheek and finally back to your lips and it's perfect, until…

Your boss clears his throat and you both look over at him and you remember who you are and where you are and your face turns the color of a strawberry and this man looks at the ground, wiping lipstick from his lips, and then looks back at your boss and says, "You were saying?"

So, you see my dilemma. You see why I'm freaking the hell out. Why I stood fixated on the ground as Will and Josh discussed a no smear campaign as if nothing had happened a moment earlier. Why I followed him into the hallway to find out what the hell he was thinking. And yes, a part of me wanted to find out if there was any chance that was going to happen again any time soon in private without clothes on, but that's a different subject altogether. And yes, that's why I went from mildly bewildered to downright ticked off when he told me he did it because CJ double dog dared him to. What the hell?

So, I do the only thing to do in this situation. I don't care if she's the White House Chief of Staff, if she dared Josh to kiss me in front of Will, I'm going to kill her. It might be difficult now that she's attached at the hip to the President, who's guarded by secret service, but I'll find a way. So I take a deep breath and call her. And somewhat surprisingly, Margaret puts me right through.

"How's the new job? Do you love it?" she asks me right away.

I can't help smiling. "I do. Its so much more responsibility." When I say that, I instantly realize that I'm talking to the White House Chief of Staff about my responsibility and that I must sound pretty lame. So I try to back peddle. "I mean, not as much as yours, but for me," I say weakly.

She laughs a little. "Well, you're sorely missed here, but I'm glad you're being utilized. What's up?"

I hesitate. "Is it possible, I mean, I'm sure it's not. He's just, well, you know how he can be. And maybe he misunderstood you or maybe he was trying to be an ass, or maybe he couldn't help himself and then was later just trying to find someone to blame and your name popped out, or maybe he is deranged, I don't know. But I'm sure you…"

"Donna," she cuts me off.

"Yeah?" I asked, kind of dazed.

"I have a meeting in the sit room in ten minutes. Is there an actual question coming?"

"Oh, sorry. You're busy. I'll let you get back to work."

"I've got a minute. Just, what?"

I take a deep breath and say it as quickly as possible. "Is it possible that you dared Josh to kiss me in front of Will?"

"What?" she yells into the phone.

"See, I didn't think so."

"Josh kissed you in front of Will?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Really. It was…"

"Amazing?" she asks like a high school best friend.

I sigh. "Yeah, it really was."

She laughs again. "He kissed you in front of Will?"

"Yeah. I walked into Will's office and Josh was there. And I was kind of nervous because we hadn't seen each other or talked since I quit, and then he just told Will he had to do something and he walked over and…" I trail off.

"Oh, shit."

"What?"

"It was the first time you two had seen each other?" she asks me.

"Yes," I drawl out.

"He did it. He really did it," she says quietly, I think to herself, not me.

She seems to be in some sort of daze, so I say her name. "CJ?"

"Huh? Yeah?"

"What do you know about this?"

"Well… when I said… I didn't mean right in… wow."

"CJ?" I ask sternly.

"I was partially drunk! It's not my fault! I'd had four Heinekens and a glass of whiskey and coke!" she yells.

"CJ!"

"I didn't think he'd do it right in front of Will. I thought he'd take you someplace private or at least out of the way. I didn't think he'd do it right there! Is he nuts?" she yells.

"What did you tell him to do, CJ?"

It's quiet for a minute and I begin to wonder if she hung up on me. "I dared him to kiss you the next time he saw you," she says quickly and quietly a minute later.

"CJ!" I yell.

"I though it would make a statement!"

"What statement did you think it would make?"

"You know…" she kind of squeaks out. "That it was the first time he saw you since he was allowed to have those feelings for you and that he wasn't going to wait another second."

"What?" Are we talking about the taboo subject? The last time we did this, it didn't go well. But wait a minute. Josh said he kissed me to make a statement. This statement? How romantic is that? "Is… is that the statement he wanted to make?" I ask her quietly.

Now she chuckles a little. "Well, he did kiss you, didn't he?"

"Well… yeah, but… but you dared him to." And that's not romantic at all.

"Donna," she says. "He wouldn't have taken the dare if he didn't want to kiss you."

I snort. "You don't know Josh. He would've kissed Toby if you'd dared him to."

She takes moment to ponder this I think. "Well, I wish I'd known that before just now. But still, of course he wanted to. He's been miserable since you left. The perks of it just hadn't occurred to him until I pointed them out."

"The perks?"

"Dating you," she says to me.

"Oh." Josh wants to date me?

"So I dared him to take action. But, and let me be very clear on this. I never told him to kiss you in front of Will."

"I yelled at him," I whisper.

"I can imagine."

"I didn't realize…"

"There wasn't an empty office he could've taken you to?"

I'm quiet for a minute. I've blown it. "What should I do now? He's pissed at me."

"No he's not."

"Yes he is. He stormed out of here. He made a statement and I yelled at him! I've got to…"

"Call him. Tell him to make the statement again," she says casually.

"I can't ask him to make the statement again. You can't re-make statements like that!" I say, beginning to panic.

"You could make a statement of your own," she suggests.

"What?"

"Make a statement of your own. Go to the Santos headquarters and kiss the hell out of him. Right in front of everyone there. You'll make a statement and still be getting him back for kissing you in front of Will."

"Yeah, right."

"Yes. Do it. It's a great idea."

"Because it worked so well the first time? No way. I'm not just going to walk into the headquarters and… no." I'm shaking my head back and forth quickly, which she can't see, but I find important to do anyway.

"I dare you."

"CJ. I'm not a child. I'm unaffected by dares."

"I double dog dare you."

"Still unaffected."

"Come on. You know you want to." She's goading me. I can't believe she's goading me!

"What is this? Peer pressure?"

"Come on Donna. He took a step. An idiotic one, yes, but a step. It took him seven years to take it; can't you meet him half way? He can't take a step like this alone, I bet money he's freaking out right now."

"I could call him. I should just call him. That's the smarter move," I tell her.

"It's not risking and daring. He took a chance on you. His statement was risking and daring!"

"And moronic," I remind her.

"Of course it was, it was Josh."

"Even if I did want to. He's not there. He's at the post office. Santos has a thing there."

"Go there then," she says in an excited voice.

"I can't."

"Of course you can."

"No I can't. It's…"

She interrupts me. "Chicken."

"I'm not a chicken!"

"Then do it," she dares.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Chicken."

"I'm not a chicken!"

"Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk." Chicken sounds! She's making chicken sounds?

"I'm not a chicken!"

"You look like a chicken to me," she says casually.

"CJ!"

"Chicken."

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it! I'll go there and make a complete ass out of myself. I'll make a statement! Happy?"

"Yes," she says, laughing.

"I'm gonna get you for this," I say just before hanging up and beating my head on my desk.