xxxxx

"Dad!" Drea shrieked into the telephone in her hotel room. "I'm on the front page of the Baltimore Sun!"

"And USA Today," Josh smiled. "You're probably somewhere in the New York Times, too. And the sports section of every newspaper in America."

Drea was in the Marriott in downtown Baltimore with the rest of the Olympic hopefuls while Josh was across the harbor at the Hyatt. CJ was in a room two floors down from Josh and the separation was killing him. After they had dropped Drea off at the hotel, the pair had stayed up until about 3:00 AM, talking about life and love and other mysteries. Neither one had gathered the courage to discuss their recent marriage decisions.

"Do you have any idea how weird it is to find a picture of you that you never posed for, accompanied by an article written about you that you never agreed to, on the front page of the newspaper?" Drea's voice had his quality of awe to it.

Josh smiled at his daughter's innocence. "Yeah, Drea. I know a little something about it."

"Oh," she replied sheepishly, "I forgot."

"Have you seen Aunt CJ's scrapbooks? They're pretty comprehensive."

"Yeah." There was a pause on the other end of the line and Josh braced himself for tears. "Papa Bear?"

"Yeah Motor Mouse?"

"I'm scared."

'Ah, so she's 13 once again,' Josh thought to himself. "Ok, well, lets go through today. What's up first?"

"100 Free."

"Ok, what heat are you?"

A deep breath, "Third."

Josh smiled. He could hear her confidence returning. "And what do you want to do?"

"Not blow my energy out, just swim well enough to make the finals."

Josh nodded, "That's right. Don't go trying to set a World Record in the heat. Then what?"

"Wait until my heat for 200 Free," Drea smiled at her dad's technique for calming her down. It was exactly what Aunt Donna had told him to do.

"What'll you do while you wait?"

"Find you and Aunt CJ."

"You don't have to, you know. You can hang out without us."

Drea's eyebrow went up, "You trying to get rid of me?"

Josh smiled, "Never."

"I need to make sure that you haven't chickened out," she replied logically.

"Of what?"

Dramatic sigh from Drea, "Of asking Aunt CJ to marry you! Duh, Dad!"

Josh chuckled, "And face the wrath of Rebecca Lyman? Never!"

Drea giggled right back, "Ok, Dad. I believe you. I've got to go."

"Ok, honey, I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

"Bye," he whispered into the receiver, even though Drea had already hung up. "Just one more time, Drea. Just beat the clock this once more," he pleaded to the void.

Lying back on the bed, Josh began to voice the fears streaming through his head. "I've fed her to the wolves. The ravenous media that I've spent most of my adult life running and hiding from has now caught my daughter's scent. What have I done?"

"You've been running with that wolves analogy for about 2 minutes too long there, buddy," CJ commented wryly from the door.

"Geez!" Josh jumped at the sound of her voice. "How long have you been here?"

"Just long enough to hear you complain about the wrath of Rebecca Lyman. What's that all about?"

"Nothing," he evaded artfully. "How did you get in my room?"

"I fed Drea to the wolves."

He threw a pillow at her, "Seriously, CJ."

She giggled and threw the pillow right back. Flopping down on the bed next to him, she produced a room key. "I told the front desk that I needed an extra key to room 425 and they gave it to me."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"The level of security boggles the mind."

"Yeah," CJ nodded, standing slowly. "Let's go."

Josh wrinkled his forehead, "Where?"

"We're getting food."

"Thank you for informing me prior to this."

She replied by smacking him in the back of the head, "We're getting food because I'm hungry and if I don't make you leave the room, you'll mope until Drea's heat."

"Ok, so where are we going?"

CJ wiggled her eyebrows, "Continental Breakfast."

"You are like the most successful public relations agent in the country and you're going to have the Continental Breakfast at the Baltimore Hyatt?" Josh smirked, grabbing a small black box, his watch and his wallet off of his nightstand.

"You bet your sweet bippy! Coming?" CJ was already out the door as she threw the question back at Josh.

He grinned at her retreating head, "Yeah, I'm coming." 'Well, it's now or never. I'm not sure how romantic a proposal is when it takes place in the lobby of a hotel. Oh, well, I'm sure I'll think of something.'

xxxxx

"…. And then I told him that I was engaged," CJ admitted sheepishly.

"Did he ask to who?" Josh took a bite of his cheese Danish.

"No," she lied. I can't just tell him like this.

"And he just bought it like that! Seriously?"

"Yup." CJ nodded. "I'm getting more coffee, you want anything?"

He shook his head. He quickly found himself lost in his thoughts and remained there until CJ came back and said something.

"What was that?"

"It was you." The random comment was said so quietly, it didn't even sound like CJ saying it.

"What was me?"

She took a deep breath and Josh could see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I told him that I was engaged to you."

Josh wasn't sure whether to be elated or depressed. Either she thinks of me as a fallback friend or she actually loves me back. "That wouldn't be so bad, would it?"

Positive that he was bringing up a long running joke, she responded, "I'd get Drea, right?"

Shit, she thinks I'm joking. "Only if I die. And whoever would want that?" He smirked.

"I'm sure I could find someone." Oh, so this is how it's going to be. I just came right out and told him that I wanted to marry him and he wants to joke around and plaster on that stupid smirk that I find so darn sexy.

"I'm telling you. My life has taken on whole new meaning. I'm now the father of the super-swimmer, Rebecca Lyman. For that reason alone, people might encourage me to reproduce again." I'm just talking. I swear I don't even hear the words that are coming out of my mouth.

What the hell? He's bringing up reproduction right after he killed my marriage conversation? I seriously want to marry this man? CJ let out a deep sigh and sipped her coffee. "I'm not even dignifying that with a response."

"Fine, deny the demand for my-"

"Joshua Lyman, wherever your articulation, vocabulary and intelligence went, find them. Please, find them soon," CJ demanded.

"Yes, Your Highness," Josh smirked.

Oh to kiss that smirk off of his face. And then I'd…CJ lost herself in her daydreams until she noticed Josh raising his eyebrows at the look on her face. Snapping herself to attention, she mentally berated herself, Mind out of the gutter, Claudia Jean, mind out of gutter. "Wipe that look off of your face, Joshua –"

He cut her off, "CJ, do you remember right after Drea was diagnosed and you went to the pharmacy?" I'm not dancing around the issue anymore. I want this ring on that woman's finger by the time Drea steps onto that block.

She smiled, "Yeah, and I whined that people kept calling me Mrs. Lyman." And we're back to the marriage conversation. Is he going to do the Mexican Hat Dance on my heart again? I can just hear the next answer now. 'I really never liked that. I need to distance yourself from Drea because you repulse me.'

Josh reached over and tenderly took her hand. "Well, I've been thinking lately that I've thought of you as Mrs. Lyman ever since that day. I've been thinking lately of how much I love you. And I know that these words are so inadequate for what you deserve. So, if you could just listen to my heart and hear what it's saying. Hear the words of undying love that it's trying to say, and the way it knows it will never be complete until you answer me. What I'm trying to say," He paused to pull the little black box out of his pocket, "is, Claudia Jean Cregg, will you marry me?"

CJ's mental response was off and running, but her verbal response was cut off by the flood of tears that had suddenly over taken her body, "I never dreamed that you loved me back."

Josh's heart broke with that simple statement. He quickly gathered his beloved into his arms. "Forgive me, CJ. Forgive me for not telling you sooner." He let her cry for a few moments longer until he couldn't wait anymore, "Anytime you feel like responding, that would be great."

She looked up at him and began to giggle, "Oh, sorry." Gathering herself, she looked straight into his eyes and said the words that she had been waiting to say her entire life, "Yes. Joshua Lyman, I will marry you."

A slow grin spread out across his face as he slipped the ring onto her finger and pressed his lips to hers. They were interrupted by the alarm on Josh's watch.

He broke the kiss, glanced down at the watch and grinned, "Want to go watch our daughter qualify for the US Olympic Swimming Team?"

CJ grinned and slipped his hand into hers, "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

xxxxx