Author's Note: I'm back… sort of. I've written this part and wanted to post it for all of you. I've also written random other parts and will eventually be posting them. Give me some time, I'm working on like five stories right now with a massive case of writer's block and no time to write!

Hope you enjoy and please review:)

For anything else, see first chapter…

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If The Whole World Would Stop Looking…

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/-/-/ Five Years Before: Bartlet for America, New Hampshire /-/-/

It had been a long day for Danny Concannon. Firstly, he had to get up early. Very early to catch a very early flight. Which he barely made because he set his alarm wrong, he had no hot water, he ran out of coffee, he had trouble tying his shoe- lame, yes- and then his car took forever to start.

But, somehow, he made it to the airport, waited an hour in security, and had to run before barely making it onto the tiny plane with a cranky hostess and a snoring fat guy sitting next to him.

Then, to make matters worse, he spilled his coffee in his lap- which, of course, tasted horrible but was extremely hot- which left him with a large stain on his pant leg and his thigh burning. When the plane finally landed, he didn't have time to change because he had to catch a cab and get somewhere in fifteen minutes. But, of course, the cab hit traffic and he was late.

So that left him standing in the hallway, with his jacket tossed over his arm, bag tossed haphazardly over his shoulder, and a large stain on his leg his jacket just barely covered by his jacket, an hour late and waiting for someone from the Bartlet for America staff to spare him half a glance and tell him where he was supposed to be.

"Uh, excuse me? Can I help you?"

He whipped around, sucking in a deep breath to steady his heart. "Hi. Yeah. I'm Danny Concannon… with the Washington Times."

"Uh, right," the woman before him said, though he got the impression she was only giving him a small fraction of her attention. "You'll want-" she turned, pointing in a direction, "to talk to Carol over there. She'll be able to tell you where to go."

"Thank-you," he smiled. She pushed a stray piece of blonde hair from her eyes, smiling quickly at him before excusing herself and pacing down the hall.

Danny yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly before turning and wandering over to where the blonde had pointed out. Trying to suppress a second yawn, Danny looked up to the desk pushed into the far corner. A brunette sat behind it, shuffling through a pile of papers. Carol, he assumed.

"Carol!" The brunette looked up, confirming what Danny had assumed.

The assistant- or, at least, he assumed she was the assistant- grabbed a few folders and stood, paying no attention to Danny, as she rushed over to the owner of the voice. Her boss, Danny assumed. He looked over at where she was going, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever owned the stressed voice.

He froze.

A red-headed woman stood next to Carol, glancing at the content of the folders only quickly. She was slouched, both with exhaustion and to stay at eye-level with Carol, but somehow he knew she was capable of seeming tall and intimidating. She adjusted her glasses that had fallen down her nose, before nodding at something Carol was saying at her.

Danny suddenly realized how pathetic he must look gawking at some woman whose name was unknown to him. Whose position was unknown to him.

He blinked, swallowing, before turning away and taking a step or two closer to Carol's desk.

"Can I help you?"

Danny felt himself freeze for a second time when he heard the voice again. He was amazed that he knew it was her voice even after only hearing one word from her.

He turned awkwardly and forced a smile on his face- which was a lot easier than he realized at the time. "Hi. Yeah. Um… some… one told me to come talk to Carol," he said, finishing with a pathetic gesture towards where he could vaguely see Carol's retreating form.

"Are you a member of the press?"

He blinked, turning his head to watch her as she walked around him and into the small office beside them. "Ah, yes?"

"You make that sound like a question." He grinned at the dry joke, walking just into the doorway.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm a member of the press, unless of course they gave me this pass for kicks." He shrugged, grinning wider when she smirked up at him.

She looked back down at the folders in her hand. Quickly she jotted something down and then pulled off her glasses. He waited, adjusting the strap to his bag before looking over at Carol's desk. When he looked back, she was observing him carefully. Danny adjusted his hand to make sure the stain on his leg was covered.

He waited another minute, starting to fidget under her scrutiny. "Well?"

"Well what?"

She rolled her eyes. For some reason he knew he shouldn't be thinking how cute it looked. "Do you have a name?"

"Oh, sorry. Danny Concannon from the Washington Post."

"Concannon?" He nodded. "CJ Cregg."

His stomach dropped faster than he ever thought possible. Quickly, to cover himself, he forced a smile and commented, "So you're Miss Cregg?"

"Yes… and you're late."

"Yeah, well… that's a long story."

"Really?" She arched an eyebrow at him and finally said, "We're leaving in an hour. The buses will be up front. I suggest you're on time… or they'll leave without you."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Danny flashed her a smile, smiling wider when he saw the corners of her lips curve and she looked back down at her desk. "See you in an hour, then."

He waited a moment for her to say something- anything- but she seemed to have already busied herself with the work on her desk. He nodded to himself and turned out of her doorway. Then, just before walking away, he smiled at Carol, leaving her wondering if she knew him.

/-/-/ First Day of Office /-/-/

It was growing on her. Albeit, she'd only been in there for about an hour.

CJ wrinkled her nose at the box of her things. She'd brought three- mostly of files, some of other necessary items- but she hadn't made much progress. She was tired- sleep had been impossible the night before- and she didn't care much for unpacking. She was psyched for her first day, first challenges and briefing and all that good stuff. But she was also scared shitless. She had fears of forgetting things and looking stupid. Honestly, though, she was more afraid of forgetting a reporter's name than anything else, amusingly enough- at least she thought so.

Earlier that day, when she and Josh had entered the building- Danny had left earlier as they wanted to avoid arriving together- they had discovered one thing they hadn't thought of: neither knew how to get where they wanted. CJ didn't think they handed out maps at the security checkpoint. She had officially declared herself lost five times on her way to her office. Three times on her way from nearly to her office to the Oval Office- CJ would admit her jaw dropped, the reality of her situation finally dawning on her in that moment. She got lost two more times and almost made it to her office, but Carol intercepted her and she wound up in Josh's office- she wasn't sure if she had gotten lost on the way or not. When she stepped out of there, Sam carried her away down some hallway where they then parted ways and CJ wondered back. She found Chris- and assumed she was in the reporters' bullpen- and chatted a moment with her. Carol found and saved her, leading her- finally- to her office. An hour later- nearly half-way through her first day- CJ was standing before a box in her office. Her office… in the White House. CJ couldn't help but crack a smile.

She hadn't seen Danny yet. She missed him. Missed sharing some of the finest moments of her life- that day- with him. She knew he was steering clear, at least for a while, to keep appearances. She wished she could tell him that she didn't think it at all inappropriate for him to wish the new Press Secretary luck. In fact, she would welcome the distraction…

CJ waited a moment, but it didn't happen.

Danny had, on the campaign trail, a tendency of arriving with coffee just when she was thinking about him- or thinking about throttling someone. She had always entertained the childish notion that she herself had conjured the wonderful man she was now engaged to.

She couldn't believe it some days. They were engaged. CJ had always sworn to herself that she wouldn't rush into marriage. That, if she ever said yes, they would have dated for years. Known each other for years, at least. That it they would be the best of friends, or some romantic thing like that. But Danny… Danny just had… Danny was Danny and that was the only way she could put it. They fit and she didn't need months or years to figure that out. They had years- four- to make sure it would work. But she knew it would.

After they won the election, Danny had had to go back to Washington to continue his job. CJ had wanted to go with him, but she had other things to deal with. She returned to California to arrange to sell her house- no matter what happened in Washington, she knew she wasn't returning there- and had to find a house to live in Washington. Three weeks after they had been engaged, CJ was in DC for one of the few times in her life. She bought an apartment and Danny helped her move in, a bunch of her stuff ended up at his house, however, just as many of his things turned up at hers. She spent much of her time at his house, even when he was working, but had returned to her own apartment just days ago. They had an appearance to maintain, and she hated it.

CJ lifted the box, dropping it unceremoniously on the ground. One wouldn't know it holding a single piece of paper, but when hundreds were collected in a box, they were quite heavy. She wasn't sure what was in the boxes- Carol had packed them- but she was sure they were possibly important. She thought the floor was a good place for them for the moment.

She twisted her body and fell onto her couch. That was one thing she truly loved about her office: it had a couch. Working in old restaurants, office buildings, and other assorted buildings, CJ had never once had a proper office space to use, much less a couch. Much less a comfortable one. Some how she got the impression she and that couch were going to become good friends over the next few years.

She didn't like her desk. She had tried to convince herself that she would get over it when she started to fill it with personal effects, but she wasn't so sure.

CJ yawned, throwing an arm over her face. It had been a long day and it wasn't even one yet! She still had things to unpack, things to read. She needed something to eat. CJ supposed she should be preparing for her first briefing. It would be soon.

She moaned, sighing dramatically even though she knew no one was around to hear, before forcing herself off the couch. Unpacking could wait a few hours.

"How's it going?"

CJ smiled to herself. Slowly, she turned, her smile growing. "Hey, you." He smiled back, stepping in before closing the door behind him.

She crossed her arms as he surveyed her office. "I like it. Not too small. Like the windows- plenty of light. Very cute. A little cluttered with all these boxes, but nice."

CJ laughed, approaching him. "Well if you'd give me a hand, I could get rid of the boxes."

"I'd rather use my hands for other things." CJ blushed, swatting at him. "Hey!"

"You deserved it," she tossed back. Absently, she pulled out a couple of books from one box and stuffed them on the shelf. "How's your day been going?"

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask you that?"

She smirked and looked back over at him. "I asked first."

"Pretty well," he said with a nod, his smile never leaving his face. "I have a briefing in about an hour. I hear this new Press Secretary's supposed to be pretty… hot."

"Should I be worried?"

Danny shook his head. "No one can be more beautiful than you." CJ scoffed at the corny remark, but blushed anyway.

"Speaking of that briefing, I really need to prepare for it."

"I could leave."

CJ shook her head, sliding into her chair. Danny smiled at the sight of her behind her desk. "You don't have to."

He nodded and started to unload one of the boxes. "How's everything else going so far?"

She shrugged. "Hectic… and I've gotten lost about thirty times."

"Really?" She just laughed. "I did the same thing my first couple of days here. But you'll get used to it."

CJ shrugged, playing with the file. She started to read and jot down a few notes. After a minute, she stopped what she was doing, and looked up to find Danny with his back to her, organizing some books on the shelf across the wall. "What I won't get used to is…" she paused and Danny turned to look. "… is not being with you."

He gave a shy smile, nodding. "I know… CJ, do you-"

"Danny." He stopped and looked at her. "Don't say it, Danny. I… We'll get through this. Trust me." She stood up and took a few steps around her desk to get to Danny, taking his hand in hers, "We will. It will be hard," she caught his eyes, running her second hand over his beared cheek, "but we'll get through it."

He tried to smile, but it looked forced. Danny nodded, squeezing her hand. "You should get working on that briefing. I plan to be keeping you on your toes."

CJ smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'd be thoroughly disappointed if you didn't."