AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story is taking on a life of its own… A friend of mine (who is not a WingNut, but I'm trying to get her there) has suggested some upcoming twists and turns (she knows enough about the characters to give some ideas) and I think some of the upcoming chapters should be good ones.

As always, thank you to all for your reviews – I honestly appreciate your time and thoughts.

PHOTOGRAPHS (3)

C.J. Cregg sat in her office after Josh slammed the door behind him and wondered what the hell had happened in her life in the last several weeks. Before the CODEL, she had been an excellent Press Secretary and bang-up friend. Now? She was a struggling Chief of Staff and high on several shit lists. She looked down at the magazine photo layout on her desk and thought, My God. I told her to go out and do something for herself and look at what happened.

The staff meeting on the energy consortium had gone well and was over within 10 minutes. Toby was going to run point on this as Josh's incident with the Hummer was still a sore point with some of the environmental lobbyists and C.J. wanted the administration's message to be unclouded with scandal – if that was ever possible with this administration.

C.J. had noticed that Josh seemed a little antsy during the meeting, but chalked it up to the recent changes in the Chief of Staff's office and her own inexperience. Since she had taken over Leo's job, Josh had been helpful and friendly, but somewhat distanced, as if he was unsure of his footing within the structure of the "new" administration. C.J. didn't know if it was because of his recent emotional roller-coaster with Donna and the CODEL attack, Leo's heart attack, or if there was something else going on.

Josh hung back after the rest of the staff left the office, shifting from foot to foot, and waited for C.J. to finish going over her phone messages with Margaret. Once Margaret had shut the door behind her, Josh walked over to C.J.'s desk and threw the magazine down in front of her.

"What's this?"

"Take a look," he replied, throwing himself heavily into a visitor's chair, "It probably won't be the last time those pictures appear in print and I'm sure we're going to be asked about them."

C.J. looked down at the pictures and felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. She recognized the burning SUV immediately and saw the blonde hair through the shattered window.

"Oh my God. Where did you get this?"

"Donna."

"Oh shit, Josh. Who gave it to her?"

"I don't know, C.J. She won't tell me. However, I think I should point out that the photographer in question was one she met while she was on the CODEL. Apparently, he took a personal interest in her education about the Israeli/Palestinian matter… among other things."

C.J. looked up when she heard the disgusted tone in Josh's voice, "What?"

"They had a … thing… while she was over there."

A wave of nausea rolled over C.J. as she thought of her conversation with Donna during the lockdown. Go do something for yourself. Separate yourself from him, Donna. Have a fling. Go live a little.

"How do you know this?" she asked, focusing on the photographs in front of her to avoid having to look him in the eye.

"He came to visit her in Germany. It was pretty obvious, C.J."

"Oh my God."

"Yeah, well… now he's screwed her twice." There was more than a hint of sorrow in his voice and C.J. wondered if was rooted in the photographs or in the knowledge of Donna's affair.

"You seem pretty calm about it, Joshua. I would have expected more from you – a typical display of the Lyman temper, some shouting or destruction of government property."

"That was earlier. I managed to chase Donna out of the building and scare an entire bullpen of assistants," he sighed. "If that son-of-a-bitch had been anywhere in the tri-state area, I probably would have needed a good attorney and bail money."

C.J. studied the man across from her and weighed her options. She felt the need to tell him about her conversation with Donna – after all, she and Josh had been friends for years and keeping something like that from him was a source of an uncomfortable guilt – even with her new position as his boss. On the other hand, she was concerned as to how he would take hearing her advice to Donna. She wanted him to understand Donna's devotion and her own need to make the younger woman see she was wasting her life and talent. C.J. knew that unless Donna did something to make Josh see how he felt, nothing would change.

No matter how she couched the words, though, C.J. was almost certain she was in for a fight with her deputy.

"Josh, there is something I need to tell you."

He looked up at her questioningly, arching his eyebrows and giving her the patented 'I-know-this-is-going-to-be-bad' look, "What's up?"

"Do you remember the night of the lockdown – after the Correspondents' Dinner? When I was in here with Donna and you were stuck in your office with Kate?"

"Yeah," he responded, beginning to look a little confused, "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, while we were in here, Donna and I had a talk…"

"Ok, but, C.J., I really don't need to hear your conversation about nail polish and hemlines right now, you know?" he chuckled, shifting in the chair and trying to get himself a little more comfortable.

"Gee, that wasn't incredibly sexist or anything. Thanks. No, seriously, Donna and I had a talk about her career, and her future…"

She had Josh's attention now.

"… and you."

"Me? You had a conversation with Donna about me?" C.J. could hear a note of anger creeping into Josh's voice and knew things were going to go downhill fast.

"Well, yes. I told her that she needed to start thinking about herself as a person separate from you and from her job. I told her she needed to think about why she was still with you."

"What? C.J., what the hell were you doing?"

Oh God, she thought, this is not going to go where I wanted it to go.

She continued, knowing she needed to get everything out before he went ballistic, "Josh – think about it. She's intelligent, loyal, creative. Hell, she's saved our asses time and time again when no one else knew what the hell to do around here. And she's not going to go anywhere working for you because you won't let her go. And she can't have a personal life working for you because you won't let her go with respect to that either. And while she is devoted to you, she knows you won't change anything."

Josh sat looking at her, his mouth open and a shocked expression on his face.

"You know I'm right and so did she," C.J. rushed on, "She went on the CODEL knowing she had to do something different, something new. I think that's why she had a 'thing' with the photographer. It was the first thing she has done in the last 5 years that didn't involve you."

At that point, Josh's self-control snapped. He lept out of the chair and stood over C.J.'s desk, "You told her to go over there and fuck some strange guy so she could feel better about herself? That she needed to run away from me? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Josh, wait…"

"No. You wait, C.J.! If you hadn't given her such stellar advice, maybe she wouldn't have slept with this bastard, he wouldn't have known who she was or been that close to the wreck, and maybe, just maybe, these pictures wouldn't be out for the entire world to see and for her to have to relive!"

"Hey, buddy – that's way out of line!" The two were now nearly eye to eye over the top of her desk and C.J. was waiting for Margaret, or even worse, the President, to come through one of the connecting doors because of the noise. "Don't you even think of blaming me for this," she said pointing at the magazine on her desk.

"Like hell it's out of line! She respects you, C.J. She looks up to you. Did you really think that if you told her it was a good idea to leave me and go find herself some excitement she would think it was a bad idea? What kind of friend are you?"

"I'm a good friend, Josh. And I'm Donna's friend as well as yours, so you might want to remember that."

Josh looked at her, silently furious, and quietly said,"You told her to leave me."

"I'm sorry, Josh. I really thought it was time for her to figure out who she was without you to hold her back. I was talking to her as a friend."

Slamming his fist down on her desk, he shouted, "You had no right!"

C.J. stared at him for a moment and then looked down at the photographs on the page in front of her and wondered if he was correct. When she looked back up at him, he was stalking out of the office, slamming the door in his wake.

As she studied the pictures, C.J. looked at the photographer's credits again. She recognized the name from somewhere – she couldn't remember quite where - and thought for a moment. Slowly reaching over, she picked up the phone and dialed, holding the magazine in front of her and studying the pictures intently.

"Hey, Melissa? It's C.J. Cregg… Yeah, I know… lots of changes… Look, I need you to do something for me and I need it to be kept quiet – consider it a personal favor…. Yeah? You'll do it?... Great… I need you to look someone up for me…"

(To be continued.)