The last Briefing of the day was due to start and Danny Concannon planned to get in for it with a second or two to spare. The long day had started out well as he remembered rolling around on the bed with C.J. Then, the bottom dropped out and it was still full of possible pitfalls. That's why he'd kept moving at top speed all day.

He was dropping his briefcase at his desk when he heard, "I've been looking for you."

The voice was well known to him, so he answered in the same annoyed tone he'd been confronted with. "You found me. How hard were you looking?"

His turn to go the Briefing Room brought him face to face with Libby Rhodes. She was a co-worker and a friend but right now she looked like a gathering storm cloud. "Danny, we need to talk."

"Fine." He leaned back against the desk, folded his arms across his body and looked like a smug, confident man.

"Not here. Somewhere private."

"I'll see if the President will let us borrow the Oval Office."

"Cute." She lowered her voice. "It's about C.J."

"Off limits Libby. Don't go there." Danny decided before she could go there, he would go somewhere else. He looked for an escape route and decided on the men's room.

Libby paused and followed him in. Lucky for all the White House men, it was empty. She planted herself in the doorway. "Okay. Talk."

"I know you're insane Lib, but this is a bit much. It's the men's room."

"Great. You're the man, act like one. I learned my tactics from you. 'Do whatever you have to in order to talk to the source.' That would be you."

"No comment."

"Listen you jerk, apparently your ego is ruffled and somehow C.J. is involved. I'm here to tell you, you're wrong."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stay out of this and you should stay out of men's rooms."

"Danny, stop playing this devil-may-care thing and tell me what's going on."

"It's not a big deal Libby. I was working on a story, someone else got it."

"That textbook thing?"

"Yeah." He nodded. His voice was calm but she saw his frustration when he punched at the wall.

"So how is C.J. involved?"

"She's quoted in the story."

"And?"

"And she knew I was working on it."

"And?" Libby's voice was growing more incredulous.

"And she didn't tell me someone else was on the story and further along."

Libby just gaped at him. She was about to say something when the door opened and a couple of the underlings from the Communications Department started to walk in. They did a double take when they spotted her. She gave them her steeliest glare. "Do you mind?"

"Uh, isn't this the men's room?"

"Yes. But give us a minute. Are your kidneys that weak?" They beat a hasty retreat and Danny came back under her glare. "Okay. Now as for you, you're not just a jerk, you're a moron."

"I can't say this to anyone but you." He lowered his voice. "You know I've tipped people here to stories before they've run." Libby was special to him but he couldn't tell her that he'd also held stories that would hurt the Bartlet White House. Danny did that if it wasn't a big deal but would make things tough for C.J.

"Yeah, you have. In return, you get scoops no one else does. You get incredible access to the President and everyone in the West Wing."

Danny started to object. She silenced him by jabbing her finger in his chest and continuing. "Yeah, you're also a damn good reporter and that helps you get those things. THIS is the first time I've been ashamed to call you a mentor, a co-worker and a friend."

"Libby, that's not fair. I take a lot of pride in my work. I don't get scooped, I don't take flack from editors."

"You do get scooped, everyone does. If C.J. had GIVEN Katie this story, you'd have a beef and I'd be in C.J.'s face. She didn't, she did her job like Katie did. You know about doing your job. Sorry your feelings got hurt but that's life."

He got another jab in the chest. Libby was shorter than Danny but between her finger and her fervor, she rivaled an NBA Center. "As for our idiot editor, remember what you told me when I got my first taste of his wrath?"

Danny winced, she had him. "Yeah, I get it."

"Go ahead, repeat it."

"In my brilliant manner I said, 'He's a what have you done for me lately guy. If you get scooped, you hear from him. If you get a scoop, you don't so'..."

"'Go get scoops.'", they finished together.

"I know you Danny, you weren't here today because you were out getting a scoop."

He nodded and started to tell her.

"Keep it to yourself. I'll hear it later or I'll read about it. But C.J. doesn't know you that well. She thinks you were either called on the carpet or you're avoiding her. You need to square things with her."

"I was avoiding her a little. I think I was an idiot." Danny admitted.

"I know you were but you realizing it is a big step."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence."

"She's the best thing that's happened to you in a long time. Make this right and don't wait too long to do it. Don't give her a reason to pull back."

"How'd you get so smart?" Danny threw an arm around Libby's shoulders and pulled her close.

"I guess it's the company I keep. That Josh Lyman is brilliant."

He hugged her closer as they both laughed and headed out. "Hey Lib, what do you have for today?"

"Follow up on the Children's Health Insurance Bill and an item on Mrs. Bartlet keynoting a conference on SIDS in April."

"SIDS?" Danny wasn't registering on the acronym though he knew it was a common one.

"Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Go see C.J."

He glanced at his watch. "No time now." As they went out the door he noticed the two underlings still waiting and staring. "I always forget to wash my hands unless she's there to remind me."

Libby suppressed a giggle as they went by the open mouthed men.

(TO BE CONTINUED)