CJ leaned back in her chair. It was out, now. Everyone knew. Toby was gone, and she didn't know if she would ever see him again.

Ok, so maybe never seeing him again was a bit dramatic – but it didn't seem that way in her mind. He was one of her best friends - - one of the last ones still around. How was she going to cope? Will would be good. Will would help. Will was not Toby.

She felt a presence at her door, and looked up. Babish.

"Are you okay?"

She was surprised. Maybe he had a heart, after all.

"No, not really," she bit her lip, "May I use the phone?"

"I believe so. I'm assuming you mean a personal call… and as long as it's not to-"

"I'm not calling- I'm not. That wouldn't be… "

"Just making sure. CJ… I really am sorry."

She glanced up at him. "He…" she choked back tears, as Babish cut her off.

"We shouldn't talk about … I'm sorry. You should get some rest."

CJ watched him leave her office. She picked up the phone – dialed a familiar number.

"I just tried to call you" a familiar voice answered.

She couldn't breathe. The lump in her throat rose and fell as she swallowed, and she finally burst into tears.

"Shhhh… it's okay. It's alright. Calm down."

"I…" she stuttered, not really knowing what to say, "I can't… talk about it… this- this is – off the record"

"I'm not looking for a story. I just want to make sure you're okay. Hey, I'm unemployed, remember?"

"We've – we've got a whole lot of empty offices here – you could -" she sobbed, "you could shack up here for awhile… hell, I'll even put you on payroll"

"You should be at home. You should sleep."

"I don't think I could"

"I could come pick you up – take you home myself, make sure you get some rest…"

"I don't know, Danny, I just…"

She was interrupted by a soft knock at her door.

"I have to go." She muttered before quickly hanging up.

"Good evening, Mr. President" she stood, brushing off her skirt.

"Sit down, Claudia."

"Yes sir."

They both sat quietly for a moment. The President pursed his lips. He pressed his hands firmly together, then placed them on his knees.

"It has been a very long evening – one that I would rather not repeat, and one that I honestly regret having to participate in, but we must move on. This administration is not finished. I'm not about to roll over and let the other guys in quite yet. I realize that everyone is upset," he paused, "myself… myself included, but tomorrow we get back to work."

"Mr. President," she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze, "I don't think… I don't know if I can continue in this-"

"CJ, you need to rest. I'll have a car take you home."

"Thank you, sir, but someone… I …have an alternative mode of transportation, sir."

"Alright, then. But make sure Danny Concannon keeps his hands to himself."

He smiled slightly, and for a brief moment she was comforted by the return of his fleeting sparkle.

"Yes sir. Thank you, Mr. President."

---

Toby stumbled up the steps to his apartment. He had been on the brink of tears for days, but could not seem to let go. There was someone outside his door.

"You shouldn't be here." He struggled to find his keys.

"I need to be here." Andi frowned. "The door's open. I came to meet you when you got home, but-"

"Where are the twins?"

"Inside. Asleep. I thought about leaving them with my mother but then I figured-"

"what? I might want to have one look at them before they throw away the key?"

"Toby, please. I thought they would calm you down."

He paused and looked at her.

"Josh called."

"You answer my phone now too?"

"He was leaving a message. I picked up to let him know I was here."

"Are they polling on it?"

"I don't know, Toby."

"You shouldn't be here. What if press shows up – you can't be seen-"

"Bullshit. Come inside, its cold."

He smirked a bit at that, and walked inside. It was hard to forget the events of the day – hard to even lay them aside for a moment. But, Andi made him dinner, he watched his kids sleep, before they woke up and crawled all over him which he found very annoying and very cute at the same time… but he was still broken. It would take a long, long time to even try to fix the things he had broken, and contemplating the President's words was completely out of the question… but for one night, he would try to just sleep.

---

Donna was very confused. One moment, CJ was offering her a big job, the next moment, she wanted her to help Will brief… she knew that her job was a student gig, but she was sort of upset that she was a pushover.

It became evident to Donna when Toby's trash was being categorized that something was amiss. Ok, so she had known before that, but categorizing trash was really weird. Then came the announcement. Then Margaret came to her. They sat and watched. Margaret told her that CJ was going directly to Will – a necessary move in Donna's mind. So, CJ wanted Donna to help Will prepare. She got that. I mean, he obviously had more credentials… more experience… she had gotten a little excited about maybe going into the press room… but helping Will was a big deal.

Plus, this meant she could have more time to study – she would have to prepare much less, and be able to actually go to classes – a bit plus when you're in school. This was good. She tried to avoid any subject that might make her burst into tears. Toby. Josh. CJ. Even Oliver Babish made her sniffle.

Then, there was Will. It was good to see him again – good to work with someone familiar, but not so depressing it killed her to look at them. She had the whole press thing kind of under control, so helping Will prepare wasn't a problem… and he would have been fine – except for the whole stage-fright thing he had going on.

-------

This time there was no question about his credentials.

"Go right in, Mr. Lyman. They'll be glad to see you, I'm sure."

Josh smiled half-heartedly.

"Thanks Jerry."

"Barry, sir."

"Yeah. Thanks."

He walked slowly onto his old stomping-grounds… it was an odd feeling. He glanced into Toby's office… empty already. Maybe he should have gone to see him…

His eyes wandered to Will. And the attractive blonde leaning casually over Will's desk. And the manner in which her hair bounced so close to his hand. And the sharp curve of her shoulder. And her crisp jacket over an ever-so slightly low-cut silk blouse. Will was drooling.

She didn't see him. He was staring right at her. She continued her work with Will; circling random bits of what he assumed were press releases. His ogling was cut short by a massive embrace.

"Hey" he whispered, holding his friend tightly.

CJ rested her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were red and her face was puffy. "Hey."

"You okay?"

She laughed, sniffling into his collar. "As much as…"

"Could be expected, yeah."

"Not that I'm at liberty to discuss this." She pulled away and straightened her jacket.

Josh glanced back into the office of the new Director of Communications.

CJ grabbed his arm. "Come on. Sit with me in my office."

He had no choice but to follow her.

"My meeting's with Will in a few minutes…"

"He's busy."

"I noticed."

CJ frowned. "Don't be upset. You turned her down – I needed staff."

"I'm not upset, just… I don't know." He scratched his chin. "How is he?" Josh glanced towards the Oval Office.

"Angry. Disappointed. Sad.Worried."

"I called him. Yesterday. Andi picked up – she was waiting for him."

"Good. That's… good."

"How do your polls look?"

"Down. To be expected, I guess. They'll bounce back."

"Yeah."

"CJ"

"Joshua."

"Are you okay?"

She pressed her lips together tightly as they trembled into a sad sort of smile.

"I will be."

Josh glanced behind him, where even though he couldn't see it, he knew Donna was still doing everything possible to prep Will.

"Josh?"

He had zoned out. CJ raised an eyebrow.

"You should see Will now."

He nodded, quickly stepping out of the office. Truthfully, he never had been completely at home with CJ as Chief of Staff. It wasn't that he didn't respect her or want to work under her - - he just never got used to the idea. He walked slowly down the hall. Maybe, he thought, if he walked slow enough, he wouldn't have to face her.

-----

Will had a pen in his mouth, one behind his ear, two on the desk in front of him, and one in his right hand that he was using to circle almost every word in the next mornings press release.

Donna tucked her hair behind her ear and tapped on the desk.

"Look, you aren't going to have a problem with this part. Seriously. They're just going to ask you about Toby, or about the investigation or something. No one cares about this new thing – they think it's just something random we're throwing out to get them off the leak story."

"Yeah, well," Will stuttered, "that's what we're doing."

They both smiled, laughing lightly. Donna pointed to the next paragraph.

"I like this. It's witty. I mean, not that they're really going to notice – but hey"

She stopped. Will was obviously ignoring her. He stood. She looked up.

Josh was standing at the office door.

"Hey"

"Hey" Will answered, moving from behind the desk to shake Josh's hand firmly.

Donna sat back in her chair. Speaking of awkward moments…

Josh looked at her. He couldn't help it, really. He didn't even realize it.

"We," he glanced around the office, "have a meeting… damn they cleared this place out"

Will grabbed his schedule off the desk.

"Oh Gosh. Yeah, yeah we do."

Donna stood.

"Well, um, I'll leave you guys to … negotiate I guess"

Will nodded.

"This shouldn't take long. Stay - I'll take you out for coffee, okay?"

"I'll be in my office."

She swept past Josh. He closed the door and sat down.

"She mad?"

Will shook his head.

"I don't know. I really don't know. I've been here less than a day," He sat down behind the desk, "after my mentor, role model, and former boss was escorted out of the White House, I'm apparently the new director of communications, but I've been given absolutely no information other than some new market initiative, which I have memorized but will inevitably get no questions about, and now you ask me to stipulate on your relationship with Donna, a subject which no one - - honestly - - absolutely no one would dare address, ever… I don't know, Josh. I just don't know."

Josh scratched his head.

"Yeah. So… about the fallout"

"What do your polls say" Will shuffled through a file.

"Not much. Down a bit, but we leveled out yesterday. Not that we aren't getting completely attacked by the right…"

"So if he's asked about it, you echo what the President says. Verbatim. Say he doesn't want to get too far into it because…"

Josh nodded, "Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, he can't make further comments."

"Right. Then get away from it - message of the week, debates, whatever"

"Right."

They stood.

"As much as I'd like to sit and talk with you, Josh, I really…"

"Yeah. I've got to get back, anyways."

He turned to leave.

"Hey," Will smiled, "save me a cabinet post or something, will you?"

Josh glanced back at him and smirked. "You bet."

He closed the door behind him, heading towards CJ's… Leo's… towards Donna's office.