Author's Note: Finally with some time to myself, I've been able to crank out a couple scenes. So here's a few. Don't worry, more is on the way.

For anything else, see the first chapter…

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If The Whole World Would Stop Looking

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/-/-/ Five Weeks After They Met: Connecticut /-/-/

CJ sighed as she shifted in the stiff chair. She was sure that there was plenty to do, but she didn't feel like doing it.

She was the only one from the actual staff that was there. They had sent her on the press bus- only because Carol had strep and CJ took pity on her- which turned out fine with her because the press bus left earlier than them, which mean they arrived in Connecticut first. This was aided, of course, by the fact that the Governor's bus broke down somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Frustration suddenly took over her and CJ violently jumped out of the chair, pacing around the desks as she went to look for a quiet place to sit and do nothing. She had about three hours to kill until people would show up and save her from both the press and incompetent volunteers. There were things she should have been doing as she waited for the Governor to get there, but she figured that, since she was technically supposed to be on the broken bus, she wouldn't have been able to do it anyway. And, without Carol, she didn't really trust herself to figure out what it was, exactly, she should be doing.

So instead, CJ slumped back against the wall in the far hall. It wasn't any quieter there, but it was out of people's way. She figured that that way, they wouldn't be tempted to come talk to her or ask her things.

Her knees started to fold and her back slide down against the wall, her body collapsing into a squat. CJ rested her elbows on her knees and put her face into her hands. Her eyes fell closed and she steadied her breathing. She knew she wouldn't actually fall asleep, but one could hope.

"Coffee?"

She didn't jump at the soft voice for she had heard the footsteps alerting her to someone's presence. Slowly she turned her head, eyes peaking out from her hands. She knew by the smile he was giving her that she must look rather childish.

She glanced him over once, quickly realizing that he was holding out a hand occupied by a Styrofoam cup. With a smile, she accepted it, thanking him as she warmed her hands on the cup. She took a tentative sip before he sat down next to her. CJ shifted her position against the wall so that she could look at him a little better.

Danny Concannon was quite the enigma. She honestly hadn't been paying him any attention when they first meet. She had been swamped with work and he hadn't exactly presented the most interesting first impression. But he was cute, that she had noticed that first day.

But, as the weeks passed, she had been far more intrigued with him. He could be the sweetest guy one minute, cracking funny jokes and complimenting her, and the next he would be stuttered over himself, tripping over his own feet, and making an idiotof himself. At other times, he was simply professional, asking questions. But there was always this… look. That was all she could explain it as. A look. It was… it made her feel sexy, though. And that made it worse. Confused her more.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was smitten with her. He had a crush on her, and she was surprised to say that she didn't mind. He was fun to be around- as long as he wasn't beating her own klutz record.

"Danny?"

"Hmm?"

"How'd you know I like my coffee with only cream?" He just shrugged, twirling the stirring stick that he had kept in his cup. "Because I know I never told you." Again he just shrugged.

"Good guess." CJ smiled, shaking her head, but dropped the subject.

"So, how long do you think it will take them to get back?"

"Josh said three hours, right?"

She looked at him. "How'd you know that?"

"CJ, I was standing next to you when you were on the phone with him. You said it."

"Oh…" CJ looked away, feeling the blush creep over her cheeks. "I say they won't be here until at least four hours."

"Nah… I say more like five."

CJ grinned. "You're on." He laughed and she joined him, purely for the fact that she loved his laugh.

As their laughter died away, they fell silent, the buzzing activity in the former restaurant suddenly returning to their ears. Danny sighed and she sipped slowly at the cooling liquid.

"So…" Danny said suddenly. CJ looked over at him waiting to see what he wanted to say, only to find that he was smiling mischievously at her. "What do I get if I'm right?"

"Right about what?" she asked playfully.

"About how long until they get here."

She shrugged. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

He smiled wider. "I guess I will."

/-/-/-/

CJ swallowed down the cold, shoving her hands into her pockets as a shiver ran down her spine. She knew she should have grabbed her coat, but she had been talking to Josh and couldn't hear over the noise and her coat was on the other side of the building. So she had braved the cold.

Letting out a shaky breath, she watched her crystallized breath, realizing that, as cold as she was, she had no interest in walking back into the stuffy, noisy building.

"CJ?"

Her lips automatically curved at his voice. He might have annoyed her at times, but no matter what, she always felt a weird pull in the pit of her stomach whenever she saw him or heard him speak. It was something she hadn't felt for some time. Turning, she grinned wider at him, the cold forgotten for that moment.

"What are you doing out here?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't hear over the noise." She waved her cell phone at him before shoving it back into her pocket.

"Oh," he nodded. CJ shivered again. She looked at Danny, but looked away. He had a tendency of staring at her at odd moments. She could feel herself blushing and prayed he assumed it was from the cold. Suddenly, when she looked back at him, he was standing right next to her, his coat off. "Here."

"No, Danny, I'm fine."

He shook his head, offering the coat to her. "You're freezing. Take it." Relenting to the fact that she was indeed freezing, she slipped into the coat. Taking a breath, CJ smiled at the vague fragrance of his cologne.

"Josh called. Said they'd be here in about twenty minutes."

Danny nodded. "That'd make a total of what? Five hours, ten-ish minutes?" CJ rolled her eyes at the mock gloating in his voice. But she smiled when she turned to see him smirking. "Well?"

"Well what?" she responded, smiling faltering just slightly when she noticed that he hadn't moved away from her.

"What's my prize?"

"You were off by ten minutes. You don't win."

"My guess was the closest."

"I'll need more time to ponder, then."

"Ponder?" he mocked, stepping closer, "I'll let you bounce ideas off me, if that'd help." She laughed, not knowing why because what he had said wasn't all that funny. Maybe it was more at how easily they seemed to fall into their odd banter.

The laughter died on her lips when her breath caught in her chest. He didn't move, but he became closer. Her body was leaning forward of its accord.

One thing she had come to love about Danny's eyes were how they laughed with his smile. But the laughter softened slowly the closer they became, being replaced by subtle nervousness.

CJ's eyes fluttered closed at the feel of his warm breath tickling the edge of his face. She exhaled softly, opening her eyes slowly to find there was only an inch between them. Danny brought his forehead to rest against hers. At the same time, his hands reached out to rest on her hips. All noise around her was shut out by the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.

Her eyes fell closed again as she felt his nose brush against hers. She angled her head, barely registering the gentle brush of her lips against his. Danny's right hand slid up to the small of her back, bridging the small gap between their bodies, before he angled his own head to increase the pressure of the kiss.

CJ pulled her hands from the warmth of her pockets, resting them first on his chest before running them over his shoulders. She massaged the back of his neck, letting her fingers become tangled in his soft curls, as she opened her mouth, welcoming his tongue in to explore.

Danny's hands ran over her back, trying to pull her closer. CJ continued to massage his neck. Her fingers played with his hair. Some sound vaguely registered in her brain, but she ignored it, using her leverage to deepen the kiss.

Suddenly, a noise made both jump apart. The noise started again, allowing the two to realize it was a horn beeping.

CJ stepped back out of Danny's embrace, her breathing raged and heart pounding. She caught his shy gaze before looking back. She could see her breath, and remembered suddenly how cold it was.

"Hey! CJ! We're here! CJ?"

She let out a shaky breath, rubbing her neck awkwardly. "That's Josh…" she breathed, "Guess they're earlier than they thought."

"Yeah." She looked up at him, noticing that he had barely caught his breath. "A couple minutes."

"We should," CJ gestured with her head towards the door. Danny shoved his hands in his pockets, nodding. "Okay…"

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/-/-/ Five Days After First Kiss: Ohio /-/-/

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Danny rubbed his knuckle over his nose, sniffing. His left hand in his pocket, his right regripping the strap to his luggage bag, as his feet readjusted themselves. He blew out a breath of air, refilling his lungs just as he looked up to see the bus driving away from the gaggle of reporters.

Suddenly, he sighed noisily, for no particular reason at all. Five days ago, standing outside in the freezing cold, bantering about some pathetic bet, had been absolute bliss. Any moment he could be in CJ's presence was so near that feeling, but being with her alone that night was… Danny may have been a writer, but he was still searching for the words to describe that night.

But words to describe the last five days were easy to come by: agony, torment, loneliness…

Ever since they had kiss, CJ had closed off. It was like the honking of the bus's horn that night had shattered all joy he felt and snatched CJ away from their taste of Eden. He could say it no other way- that night, in his mind, was absolute perfection. A taste of some paradise… only CJ was the forbidden fruit he was so tempted by.

He'd only seen her when she was talking with the press or if they happened to cross ways in the hall. But, every time he started to talk, she'd either excuse herself or some one would show up. Either way, she never looked at him for very long.

But Danny had tried on several occasions to remind himself that, before they had kissed, they didn't see much of each other. She was constantly busy, as was he, and what he thought was closed off could very simply be a coincidence. But somehow he didn't think so. He just… he didn't know.

With a sigh, he turned around to find the newest building he would be staying in for the next few nights. It wasn't much better than the last place, but it was something, as always. If he were to guess, he would say that it was a hardware store that was closed down years ago and now remade to house the democrats buzzing around making coffee and phone calls. There was still a sign nailed just over the door and display windows. The words had faded so badly that the name was nearly impossible to read. The windows were covered with a thick layer of dust, making it difficult to tell there were people inside, much less distinguish one from the other. There was, however, a small section on the far left where it looked as though someone had taken their hand and rubbed away at the dust.

"Okay, guys, CJ says she has a few minutes to speak at you."

"Speak at us?"

"Those were her words, not mine."

Danny turned slowly to watch Carol talk briefly with the reporters. He cracked a smile at the words, but not much else. He felt like a shell of his former self for the past few days. All he could focus on for extended periods of time was CJ. Seeing her only fueled his mind. He needed to talk to her, but he wasn't sure if she'd have time to listen.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure why she was avoiding him- this was assuming that she was consciously avoiding him, of course. He supposed maybe she was just scared. Maybe she sucked with relationships. Well, didn't everyone? He'd also played with the thought that she was already with someone and now mortified by what she'd done. But that scenario made him feel worse- both for kissing someone who was already taken and simply because that meant he couldn't have her. Other than that, he had come up with nothing… That was until he looked up and saw CJ sending a few last words to Leo McGary. Then it hit him.

CJ was in charge of everything press related. She dealt with the media aspect of the election. Made sure no one made an ass of themselves on camera or the camera made an ass out of the Governor. That was her job. Her job also meant she knew things about the election that the press wasn't supposed to know. And that meant that if someone were to see her kissing a member of the press, one of them would go down. One of the two of them would be hit hard- either she would be questioned about leaking stories to him, or he would have his reputation tarnished for sleeping around to get stories.

The thought hadn't truly occurred to him before. He knew she was out of his league, that she was so far beyond him he could never hope to get her. That's what he meant when he compared her to a forbidden fruit, he hadn't meant it so literally.

Danny hadn't taken his eyes off CJ as she walked quickly away from Leo and over to where the gaggle stood off to the side waiting for her. She smiled shortly at them all, surveying the group. Danny caught her eye briefly…

/-/-/-/

There he was. Again. Just when it seemed she had managed to thrust him from her mind there he was, taunting her. She had brushed him off every time, assuming he would get the hint, all the while hoping and praying he would, but ignore it.

CJ didn't look at him for the rest of her short briefing. She felt him trying to catch her eye, but she avoided it. She had dropped her guard long enough to see… something in his eyes when she first arrived. Something… understanding, maybe. Sorrow for sure.

She thought- no, she knew he deserved to have a talk with her, but she couldn't begin to know what to say. She didn't know how she felt, or what she felt, or where she wanted to go with this. With him. If there was anything to begin with.

Answering her last question, CJ hastily retreated from the reporters, fleeing into the building. Carol spoke into her ear, taking and switching files as they paced back to CJ's office.

"What?"

Carol had learned in the past few months of working for CJ how to speak fast and walk quickly and survive in the fast paced atmosphere they lived in. But, most importantly, she had learned that CJ didn't always pay attention. Mind, she always knew what she needed to know, but that had a lot to do with Carol's ability to reiterated important points and CJ's long-perfected skill of impromptu crash-sessions.

"You didn't hear a word I just said, did you?" Carol's accusation had an air of playfulness that let CJ know she was teasing, allowing her to obey the urge to collapse into her chair and childishly blow out a puff of air, half rolling her eyes at Carol's question.

"Seriously," Carol said while CJ stared down at the files on her desk, "I said you need to read those files, get something to eat… and Danny Concannon wants to talk to you."

"About what?" she said, her voice muffled against the cold metal that was her desk and the paper files.

"How would I know?"

"He didn't, say, mention that when he asked for an appointment with me?"

"He didn't ask for an appointment-"

CJ's annoyed sigh interrupted Carol and the assistant halted before she could finish her thought. CJ lifted her head, "Then how do you know he wants to talk to me?" she asked, but didn't need an answer for she could clearly see it right before her. Carol just nodded in the direction of Danny's rigid form before she retreated back to her desk. CJ said nothing. She just watched as Danny stepped forward, not able to stifle the thought of how cute he looked with his hands jammed in his pockets. He stopped right between the doorframe, forcing a short smile in her direction.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"So," he drawled out, obviously at a loss for words. CJ didn't have to wonder anymore what he wanted to talk about, it was pretty obvious, but she had no more words for him than he did for her. "Can we talk?"

She opened her mouth, "sure" forming on her lips just as the muscles in her neck were ready to shake her head "no". But neither action happened and suddenly CJ realized seconds had passed and she hadn't responded.

"Danny-" That was all she could come up with. A condescending tone and his name. She could almost feel him wince. "I-" She sighed, looking down at her hands. She seriously had no idea what to say.

"It's okay," he said after a moment. CJ looked up to see him moving to turn out the door, one hand shaking off the conversation, "I get it. You don't have to say anything."

"No, wait, Danny!" CJ was on her feet and Danny had turned back to look at her. She thought she detected a hint of shock on his face, but he covered it with interested confusion before she could read anything into it. "I- I…" She took a breath, shutting her eyes briefly as if that would calm her racing thoughts. "Close the door."

She didn't look up to see if he had reacted. To see if the door was closed or if he had moved any farther into the room. She just kept her head slightly bowed and her eyes closed for a minute, then said, "I don't know what you expect from the other night-"

"CJ, I don't-"

"Let me finish," she looked up at she said this, noticing that the door was closed but Danny was still standing right before it, keeping the distance. "I… We can't do this. I can't do this."

"Do what?"

CJ let out a frustrated groan. There was so much wanting to blurt out. Things were racing to the front of her mind out of order and she didn't know where to start with any of it. "I- We- A relationship wouldn't work, okay? So… we can't- we can't just…" She looked up at Danny as if that might order the chaos in her mind. It didn't have the intended effect. Instead it erased all but one: the completely irrational desire to walk up to him and kiss him. She knew she was staring, but she didn't have any perception of how long.

"I know," he said suddenly, jolting CJ. "I get it. I wish… I wish that weren't true, but… I get it. I just wanted… I don't know what I wanted." He sighed, looking down at his shoes, his hands being stuffed back into his pockets. CJ smirked slightly, finding the sight amusing, if not cute. "Just to make sure you were okay with it… I mean… I-" he paused and looked at her, "Can we be friends?"

CJ just nodded. She didn't trust herself to try and form words. Didn't trust her brain to send the right words to her lips. So she just nodded, and Danny nodded back.

"Okay. You're okay with it then?" Again, she just nodded. "Okay. Good… I guess."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Good."

"Akay… I'm gonna go now. Talk to you later."

"Yeah… bye."

And then he was gone again. Always coming when she didn't expect him- didn't want him to come- only to disappear far too soon, leaving her with her musings and fantasies of a far less complicated world. How envious of that CJ she was. How jealous. The girl always got the guy in the fairytale…