Chapter 4


Toby stared at the picture on the wall behind him.
It had been a going away gift to him from her.
It seemed funny now.
No one got it here.
But they all had.
A life boat.
The gossip had been strong about his reaction to the job offer and somehow, he didn't even want to know how, she had found out. Hell, Donna had seemed to find out everything back then. In fact she had been the only 'junior staff member to know before the formal announcement. But that was besides the point. As it were, she had gotten him the picture and wrote a simple note, probably similar to the ones she had given each of the other members of the staff she had been close to, although none had actually ever asked the other about her parting messages, never mind shown them to someone else. In fact all he had been able to do with it was sentimentally taped it to the back of the picture before he hung it here behind his desk. He didn't even have to get up and looked at it. He had memorized it a while ago. We'll always all be each other's life boats no matter how far a part we may drift. To a man who had made his living with words, it was surprisingly well written and stated. Hell, he had started to wonder why he didn't have her writing speeches instead of Sam. But then again there was her pension for sarcasm. . .

"Mr. Zielger?" a soft voice called pulling his attention away from the picture and to the young reporter in his doorway.

Shaking his head, Toby sighed. He hadn't even had the chance to call CJ yet and here he was having to face the inevitability of what laid ahead. "What do you need?" he asked as he pretended to shift through some files.

"I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" Toby asked as he looked up at her in slight surprise.

"I didn't. . ." she paused as she stopped in front of his desk, her youth and inexperience showing in the way she fidgeted She'd never make it in the Press Corps, a good Press Secretary would tear her to shreds, never mind what the other reporters would do to her, he thought with a slight shake of his head as he waited for her to continue. "You must think I'm a total idiot. I mean, I did watch the hearings. . .I mean who didn't, right?" she babbled.

"You have a point I assume?"

"Umm. Right. I guess I shouldn't have. . . I should've looked at the name more when I thought I recognized it. No one really realized who she was until you stormed out. . ."

Toby glared slightly at the term and then sighed. He was too tired for this. Hell, right now he felt too damned old for it. "Don't worry about it," he sighed dismissively.

"But. . ."

"There's noting to worry about. Oh, I want all the information you can get out of your source on my desk within the next hour."

"We're going with the story?"

"No, not we," Toby said surprising her with his tone. "No offense but you're too inexperienced to handle a story of this magnitude, and frankly I am not in the mood to get reamed out by Leo McGarry, the Bartletts, or any other former White House staffer who will undoubtedly be there because one of my reporters screwed up! I got reamed enough during my years working for, and with, them for my own mistakes. The story will be handled by an outside source. He'll use his own contacts. I just want the information from yours so that I know what I'm walking into. So that we can all better be prepared for it."

The reporter fought hard to not let her disappointment at not getting the story show, but was glad to be in some way able to get into his so called good graces. "I'll do the best that I can to find out all that I can."

"You better. I don't put up with shoddy work. Next time, be on time and have the research done so you don't embarrass yourself," he said gruffly before softening his tone slightly. "And don't feel bad. There are more seasoned reporters in there who didn't make the connection either. At least you had the grace to admit your ignorance," he said dismissing her as he hit the intercom. "Get me Danny Cancannon," he told his secretary, wanting to put off informing CJ for just a little bit longer.