An hour later, C.J. moved through the halls of the West Wing. She was composed, the traces of her tears concealed by make-up and sheer determination.

She and Danny would work this out. They cared too much about each other. She'd waited so long to open her heart to a man again, she wouldn't let things fail.

If the situation were reversed, how would she react? C.J. tried to imagine the scene. She would probably feel the same way if he ran a damaging story on the Bartlet Administration. Her common sense told her it would happen at some point.

She knew that she'd be a hoyden about it, C.J. could see Danny being just as hurt and upset as she now felt. She could also see herself making a bigger deal about it and being more furious than he was. It would be a tempestuous scene, no doubt about it.

Danny would put himself in her place, she decided. Then he'd understand and see how out of line his behavior was. Or C.J. would pound on his head until he did.

She found herself in her office staring at Gail in her fishbowl. C.J. automatically patted the side so the Goldfish would scamper by the glass. She dropped a pinch of food in eyeing the Cupid figurine gracing the bowl. It was the fallback decoration, the one C.J. used when there was nothing calendar or White House related to put inside.

"I figured you'd bring back an oil well." Carol made her presence known from the doorway.

"That would have been appropriate." C.J. agreed. "But the Secret Service didn't want to stop at an aquarium store for me."

"Go figure. Staff in 10 minutes." Carol, the ever efficient assistant reminded her. "Need anything?"

"No thanks." C.J. hesitated, "Wait, have you seen Danny Concannon?"

"Come to think of it, I haven't and he usually gives me a shout. Should I call and see if he's around?"

"Never mind. It's no big deal." C.J. figured to see him at the Briefing or she'd stop at his desk. "Let's get some things done."

Carol ran through the morning news summaries from the papers and the network shows. One of the stories getting prominent play was about the textbooks. Carol told C.J., "We're getting requests for more information."

"Call the roll for me." C.J. heard mentions of the usual suspects but not Danny. "Okay, it'll be high on the list at Staff. Get me the Press Secretary over at Education. I might as well share the wealth."

"Can you believe the book has the Civil War ending in 1868?" Carol was incredulous.

"No but..." C.J. gave her assistant a direct look.

Carol got the message and sniffed, "I make spelling errors, not fact errors. There's a huge difference."

"Got it." C.J. smiled at her assistant.

She took advantage of C.J.'s good humor. "Didn't Danny ask about this story awhile back?"

"Yes." C.J.'s tone was as short as her answer.

"I'm sorry, C.J. I hope it's all okay." Carol knew C.J. and Danny had something special going on but she also knew C.J. was intensely private. Still, Carol felt it was important to offer C.J. support.

"Whatever." C.J. started to gather her notes. She paused. "Thanks Carol. I appreciate it." C.J. left for Senior Staff.

Carol watched her go. She looked back at the Goldfish. "Don't worry little fish, they'll work it out. If not, I'll fight for custody of you."

**********
C.J. was passing Sam's office when he called out to her. She paused in the doorway. "Good morning Sam, what's up?"

"I'm surprised you are. I figured after seeing Katie's story there would be trouble at home."

She gave him a long cool stare. She closed the door as she stepped into his office. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"C.J., I meant that Danny must have been upset after being scooped. And I figured that spilled on to you."

"Why would that concern you?" Her tone was icy.

A smarter man would have changed the subject. Sam might be brilliant but he wasn't always smart. "I was curious."

"Well, let me enlighten you my friend. If by home you mean the place that's a refuge, let me clarify things. Most people spend about, oh let's see, 1/3rd of their lives at home. If I'm there 1/5th of the time, I'm lucky. I consider it an expensive and large locker room. I keep my clothes there, I shower there. If I'm lucky enough to have a personal life and get lucky there, it's my business. It concerns no one else. Got it?"

"Did I mention how much I like that leather holder for your legal pad?"

"Thank you, Sam. Shall we go to Staff?"

A chastened Sam followed her to Leo's office. They joined Josh at the table. Mandy was on the couch eating an apple. Toby lounged in the doorway.

Leo was on the phone. He wasn't trying to keep the conversation secret. "Yes Senator, I saw the story. It is shocking." Leo paused to listen. "But sir, your staff reviewed the book, all of them must have thought the Constitution was ratified in 1792, I guess." Another pause. "Oh, they don't think that. Well then why the hell didn't they point out that error among others? I'm sure you were surprised to learn that President Eisenhower was a Democrat. Sure Senator, get back to me."

He hung up the phone and faced his Staff. Before he could speak Mandy threw out a barb. "We'll be dealing with that kind of stuff all day. I'll bet C.J. you've already had a taste of it before you got to work. Any blood spilled during pillow talk?"

C.J. didn't get a chance to answer Mandy. Sam spoke first. "Mandy home and personal lives are refuges for most people. To clarify things, if average people spend 1/3rd of their lives at home, we're lucky to be there 1/5th of the time. Most of our places are like expensive locker rooms where we shower and change clothes. If we get to spend extended time there it becomes a personal life. And I believe unless it compromises the White House, we should let a personal life stay personal."

Everyone stared at Sam. He rarely took on Mandy since she constantly reminded Sam he was in her debt. Her eyes were spitting fire but C.J.'s eyes were shining. Sam focused on that, maybe playing white knight would leave C.J. in HIS debt. Or at least keep Sam out of trouble.

Leo took over. "Now that Sam the sage has spoken, let's move on. C.J. where does this stand?"

C.J. outlined a skillful plan to deal with the textbook story. She stressed the Department of Education could deal with most of it, the White House focus would remain on a report about a drop in violent crime.

"That's good. But C.J. errors in an American History textbook are sexy.", Toby said. "It'll stay hot, especially on the late night shows. It'll be the ha-ha topic in the monologues."

"We can't stop that Toby. C.J. has a handle on this. We'll stay with her plan." Leo gave her a nod of approval.

Josh had been picking through the muffins in search of another lemon poppyseed one. "But, let's be honest. Are most people going to recognize these are errors? What would happen if we quizzed people here?"

"I would hope that we hire people smart enough to know that Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon in 1969, not 1964 and that his name is spelled with an 'i' not an 'a'." Toby had the offensive textbook in front of him and was ready to give more examples.

Mandy beat him to it. "Before Toby starts citing chapter and worse, let's focus on numbers. C.J., these books hadn't shipped to many schools. Stress that."

"Plus they're for the new school year, so they haven't been used.", Sam offered.

"That's all to our advantage." C.J. said as she made more notes. "But the 'where' and the 'why' are problems. Where did it come from and why was it picked?"

"Do you have those answers?" Leo was ready to move on.

"Not yet. When I do, I'll call you so you can tell the President and make some decisions."

"What if it comes up at the first Briefing?" Josh hated to see C.J. stumped in front of the Press Corps.

"I'll deal with it."

"Okay, let's finish the list." Leo moved to the next item.

*************
C.J. left Staff and headed for her office. Carol had no answers yet to the problems with the textbook. C.J. checked her hair and make-up, then walked to the Press Room.

She looked for Danny in his cubicle. He wasn't there, C.J. greeted some of the other reporters. There was the usual good natured bantering. C.J. forced herself to focus on it.

Once the Briefing started, it was easier to stay on track. There were plenty of questions about the mistake laden book, the Department of Education and who shouldered the blame. C.J. handled them with aplomb even when her eyes strayed to Danny's empty seat.

She did manage to get in the drop in violent crime statistics and attribute it partly to the Bartlet White House commitment to more police and fairer sentencing.

C.J.'s path out of the Press Room took her past Danny's co-worker, Libby Rhodes. The two women exchanged pleasantries and headed down a hall. It was a little more private so Libby took a chance. "How was the rest of your evening after we landed?"

C.J. remembered the tenderness and passion of the night before with Danny. "VERY nice. Thank you. It's nice of you to be...", C.J. paused, "concerned." She favored Libby with a small smile then asked, "Have you seen Danny?"

"No." Libby's tone was questioning. "Is something wrong? Figured he must be at a thing for the First Lady, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of today." C.J.'s smile tightened. "Thanks Libby." C.J. started to move off. Libby stopped her.

"C.J., if there's a problem, I'd like to help. Should I tell Danny you're looking for him?"

"Unnecessary. We'll catch up later, I'm sure." C.J. hurried off. Libby vowed to find out what was going on, Danny would expect nothing less of the woman he considered a kid sister and a good reporter.

**********
The day passed quickly because C.J. made it a full one. She buried herself in reports, advance planning and the book ballyhoo. She'd nailed down the rest of the answers about how the book got a go-ahead. She'd given the information to the President and Leo.

They included C.J. in a phone conference with the embarrassed Education Secretary. A course of action was in place, she would announce it at the final Briefing unless someone asked earlier.

Thoughts of this issue brought Danny back to her mind. Their paths still hadn't crossed. To the best of C.J.'s knowledge, he hadn't even been in the White House. "Guess if I really want to know I should ask Mrs. Landingham. She always has the best information."

A knock on the door pulled C.J.'s attention back to the moment. It was Abigail Bartlet. The First Lady asked, "May I come in?"

"Of course, Ma'am". C.J. rose as Abbey stepped in and closed the door. "Is anything wrong Mrs. Bartlet?"

"That's my question. Let's sit down." Abbey indicated C.J.'s couch and they settled there. "We're off the record."

"Okay. About what?"

"You. I take it you and Danny are having some trouble."

"Do we need to talk about this Mrs. Bartlet?"

"It's Abbey for this. Yes, we're friends and I'm worried."

"How did you know?"

"Danny was supposed to have a meeting with me. He canceled it on short notice and didn't really offer an explanation. I spoke to him, he wasn't his usual breezy self."

"And that means I'm involved?" C.J. was not comfortable with this conversation despite her friendship with Abbey.

"C.J. we've covered this ground before. But in case it's news to a couple of people who deal with news, you and Danny light up these days. It's evident something is going on that makes the two of you happy. Your work is better because there's something in your life besides work. It's balance, girl."

"Oh."

"Nice comeback for the Press Secretary.", Abbey observed dryly. "I hear it was because of a story."

"Abbey he got scooped. I was quoted in the story and knew he was working on it. Danny likes to win, he was upset."

"And you don't? Have you put yourself in his place?"

"I have. You're right, at some point it will happen to me. I thought we were prepared for it."

"You'll work it out." Abbey's tone was positive.

"I'm glad you think so. I'd feel better about it if we could at least hook up."

"Would you like me to have him paged?"

"No, thank you it would be too much like high school." C.J.'s voice was firm. "It'll be fine."

"Okay, I trust you to handle this for the moment." The First Lady stood and turned to go. She whirled around. "Two things. One, don't make it too easy on him to apologize and make sure some wine is chilled, maybe even champagne for when he comes over to finish groveling. Two, don't forget you have a weekend off coming up when we leave the White House. Remember we leave you people behind to visit Elizabeth."

C.J. ticked off Abbey's points on her fingers. "One is don't make it too easy. Two is wine or champagne. THREE, is a weekend off and what does that have to do with anything?"

"So sue me, the count is off. At least it's not in print like a certain book." C.J. rolled her eyes at that. Abbey laughed and continued. "Get through this rough patch C.J. and you'll be in good shape for real progress on the weekend off."

"I can't do it alone Abbey." C.J. sounded a bit plaintive.

Abbey reached over to hug C.J. "You won't have to, Danny's a man, meaning he's not real bright at times but he's not stupid." She left and C.J. went back to work wondering how a day that started so well would end.

(TO BE CONTINUED)