United Airlines Flight from Dulles to LAX
Sunday, April 13th, 2008 1145
CJ leafed through the documents on her lap and felt rather gratified that they'd opted to fly commercial on this trip. The Hollis jet was a luxury and undoubtedly useful - especially for international trips, where itineraries often shifted on a dime, and national meetings that cropped up unexpectedly - but she couldn't ignore that fact that flying by private jet was more than eight times less efficient if calculated per passenger. The private aviation industry was booming, and had some of the best tax breaks going, but she could leave the jetsetting to Franklin and his family.
It was also a way to keep her private and professional life from mingling more than strictly necessary.
She pushed back into her seat and second guessed her decision not to wash an Ambien down with a glass of merlot. She'd popped one the last time she took this flight, but she'd taken it in the lounge well before takeoff. It was too late now anyway, she told herself.
That flight seemed like a lifetime ago, upon reflection.
It was a strange feeling powering her phone down completely, and somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered whether she would ever acclimate completely to it. She could feel the tug of the Ambien on her system, but it wasn't enough yet to quieten her mind - which toggled back and forth between last night's conversation with Toby and thoughts about her future with Danny at lightning speed.
The sense of relief that she'd felt holding Toby's pardon in her hands was intensified tenfold by the look on his face when he'd opened his apartment door to her at 6pm. Her hand had moved instinctively to her heart as they looked at each other over the threshold, and the hug they'd fallen into had been warm and reassuring for both of them. Somewhere in the past two weeks she'd owned the fact that the way she'd presented the last time they'd seen one another had, at least partially, triggered his veiled declaration of feelings for her. She was determined not to put either one of them through that again, so this time there had been no hesitation in her voice when she'd shared her final plans with him. Andy had arrived with Huck and Molly shortly afterwards, and she'd stayed just long enough to see the look in his eyes as his children wrapped themselves around him. He'd flashed her one last smile as she'd been heading out the door; a tacit blessing that she hadn't necessarily been looking for but was infinitely grateful to receive.
A stewardess broke into her reverie, with the offer of a beverage.
"I'll have some water please," she said as she let her mind drift to her arrival at LAX thirteen months earlier.
She'd pulled herself together just as the plane was landing and, as she stood at the baggage carousel, the anxiety in her belly amplified into something a little more substantial. She closed her eyes for a moment and waited for the feeling that she was making a huge mistake to hit her. It didn't come, and suddenly she realized that she'd mischaracterized what she was feeling. It wasn't anxiety, it was impatience. Most people underestimated the difficulties involved in entering a new phase of life; perhaps because they weren't cognizant of the extent and magnitude of the changes involved. Not her. The vestiges of her old life had remained on the plane which had brought her to California, she told herself. But she was well aware that from hereon out she'd be out of her comfort zone as she tackled personal things she was poorly prepared for. It was time to embrace the growing pains; to figure out ways to create balance and find ways of being true to herself and the relationship she had committed to. The impatience was suddenly underscored by a flutter of excitement at the prospect of seeing Danny, and before she knew it there he was. Smelling of her favourite cologne, and cracking a joke to keep the moment just non-emotional enough so they could get out of the airport and she could kiss him the way she wanted to.
Parking Lot at LAX 1230pm local time
Danny leaned back against the passenger door of his car; enjoying the California sunshine and thinking about the last time he'd picked CJ up after a flight from DC.
He tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, feeling somewhat antsy. She'd called from her seat on the plane before take off, she'd texted when her plane landed, and then again to tell him that there was a slight delay with the baggage offload. There was no reason to believe she wouldn't be walking through the double doors in the next twenty minutes or so.
He was expecting her to be so tired that she wouldn't care about much in the beginning. She'd left all of the logistical arrangements to him because she simply hadn't had time to do much, but there were all kinds of niggling doubts in his mind. For all the talking they'd done, they'd really only scratched the surface. Their final evenings together in DC had had a dreamy romantic quality - reminiscent of November 2006 - to them. She'd speculated about the nature of their future arguments, but it was unlikely to actually be bills or laundry.
The arguments would come, no doubt about it, because cohabitation put a lot of things into new perspective, and the proof of whether they were actually compatible would be in the pudding. Soon they'd be exposed to each other's less attractive qualities on a daily basis, and he had to admit to himself that he had no idea whether a clean kitchen was going to be more important than stray articles of clothing on the bedroom floor, how loud she liked her music, how hard it would be to establish a routine which worked for both of them, or how much physical and emotional space they would need. Things would either fall into place or it would be a rude awakening, he supposed. He was suddenly very glad that they'd agreed to rent a place as opposed to asking the tenants in her LA property to break their lease.
He had just concluded that he needed to trust in the leap of faith that they'd taken, when he caught sight of her, found himself assessing her level of exhaustion and, shortly thereafter, making a joke to offset the level of emotion that had been building up inside of him all morning.
His phone dinged with an incoming text and he smiled when he saw that there was, yet again, a delay with the baggage offload.
This time there was no need to crack a joke or do anything other than be the willing recipient of the kiss she brushed against his mouth in the middle of the arrivals terminal.
"Good flight?" he asked as he relieved her of her suitcase.
"Very," she replied as she linked an arm with his.
"Lunch at Nobu? I've been dreaming about their Dover sole ever since I got back."
She gave him a bright smile, which got brighter as they stepped outside.
"Want to drop by the house and change first?"
"No. I'm starving."
Nobu Restaurant in Malibu
1.30pm
"The last time you waved your fork around like that you asked me to fall off a cliff with you," CJ observed after watching him in silence for a while.
"The realtor called."
"Really?"
"Robert wants to give our -"
"Robert our landlord?"
"Yes. He wants to give our house to his daughter, the one down the road to his son, and put the one in Santa Monica on the market."
"Okay .."
"But before it goes on the market, Maggie wants to know if we'd like to see it."
"To rent?"
Danny hesitated slightly before saying, "to buy." He waited a moment longer before adding, "I know we talked about moving into your house when both leases were up, but how would you feel about offering to extend your tenants' lease and buying something together instead, now that this has come up?"
"Has Maggie taken you to see it already?"
Danny shook his head.
"She gave me the code to the gate, the combination to the key box, and said Robert was okay with us showing ourselves around. The tenants moved out a few days ago. They aren't going to start work on staging it until Wednesday."
The look he was giving her was not dissimilar to the one he had given her at the restaurant back when he'd worn his heart on his sleeve, but today she could feel doubts swirling in him as he broached the subject. Not doubts about her, though. It felt more like he was testing the waters for a much bigger conversation.
"Do you want to see it?" she asked carefully.
"Yes," he responded, just as carefully.
"Would you like to go right after lunch?"
"Sure."
446 23rd Street, Santa Monica CA 90402
3pm
"This is going to be a sticker shock kind of situation, isn't it?"
"Six point five asking price."
CJ exhaled sharply.
"But having the first female Chief of Staff as his tenant and potential buyer has made him amenable to negotiating," Danny hastened to add.
"Not to mention the added bonus of having a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author in the house."
"Actually I think it's more the prospect of having Jed and Abbey Bartlet come visit sometimes that's appealing. And, speaking of, did either one of them say anything to you at the wedding about going up to the farm?"
"Yes, and I've been meaning to ask you what that's all about. Another book?"
"Potentially. I need to focus on getting the deal for the Nancy McNally bio off the ground first, but it can't hurt to start the conversation. You okay with that?"
"Of course. Just tell me when and I'll have Margaret make it work with the schedule." She looked at the front door again. "Six point five, huh? Think we can pull it off, always assuming we like it?"
"How about we take a look around first and crunch numbers later?"
"This is a lot bigger than what we have now .." she said in awe as they walked through the door.
"I should hope so, for this kind of money."
They wandered around, taking in the natural palette and organic materials, and admiring things like the dual sided fireplace that was the centrepiece of the main level. When they'd inspected every nook and cranny, Danny took a seat on a couch on the patio overlooking the inground pool, and patted the space next to him.
"What do you think?"
CJ placed her head on his shoulder and relaxed against him as his fingers went straight to her hair.
"It's beautiful."
"Five bedrooms. Plenty of room for us to grow. Or entertain," he added hastily.
"We're going to have to talk about that first part eventually, Danny."
If they were going to delve into a bigger conversation it was as good a place to start as any.
"Yeah. Do you want to talk about it now?"
"As we contemplate dropping six point five million dollars on a house would probably be a good time, don't you think? I'm not busy for the rest of the afternoon. Are you?"
"No."
"So .."
"So .."
"I think we've established that we're not twenty-five anymore," she said slowly, when it became clear that he wanted her to lead. "Which means that the patter of tiny feet may not be as easy to come by as it might have been eight or even five years ago. We could spend a lot of time trying and getting frustrated. Which would do our relationship no good."
"So what are you recommending?"
"Going off birth control .."
"And behaving like the good Catholics we're supposed to be, instead of the lapsed Catholics we actually are?"
CJ laughed and said, "something like that."
She waited for him to say something else and, when he didn't, stood from the couch and said, "do you want to take another look around?"
"C'mere .." He pulled her back down and looked at her for a long moment before kissing her and pulling her into his side. "About that other thing .."
"What other thing?"
"The thing you mentioned, obliquely, twice in DC."
She fidgeted slightly and took a great interest in imaginary lint on her skirt until he turned her chin so that she was looking at him.
"I'm not saying I don't want to, but we've talked about two major commitments in the space of a few hours. Really major commitments."
"I know .."
"And I'm good with both of them. I am."
"But?"
He coloured slightly as he admitted, "I don't even know how to put this."
"You're an old-fashioned kind of guy when it comes to this kind of thing?" she teased.
"Okay, now I'm feeling ridiculous, but yes. It sounded so much more romantic in my head. So it's not if but when and-"
"Danny .." She cut him off with a kiss. "I can live with that."