Chapter 2:
The next morning Jed Bartlet awoke in the residence with a pounding headache. He looked over at his alarm clock and saw that it was seven O'clock. He tried to remember what time he had finally gotten to bed as he stretched out his arms.
As he stretched his arm came in contact with a mass of hair connected to the head lying next to him on the pillow. Jed was wondering why Abbey was still in bed at this time of the morning when he remembered that Abbey was in Colorado and would not be home until that evening.
With a growing sense of confusion, Jed rolled over to see a heap of sandy-blonde locks, which most certainly did not belong to Abbey, on the pillow next to his own.
CJ Cregg groaned as she squinted opened her eyes only to find them filled with a bright light streaming in from the curtains. Closing her eyes again, CJ sighed, "I should not have had so much to drink last night." "CJ!" came the surprised voice from beside of her.
CJ sat up quickly in shock from hearing another voice in her bed, and then quickly regretted the idea as her head began to swim and she put her head in her hand to massage her temples. As she regained some of her thinking functions, CJ opened her eyes and looked around the room. She realized for the first time that she was not sitting in her own bed, and that this was not her room.
There were two couches sitting on top of a rug on her left, and behind them there was a set of French doors that most certainly were not a part of her house. "Now Claudia Jean, I think that we need to talk" came the unstable and shaky voice from beside her.
Slowly turning her head to see what she had gotten herself into, CJ realized that there were onlytwo peoplewho called her by that name, and this didn't sound like Josh.
As CJ turned to look into the eyes of the President of the United States, she pushed herself back in shock and proceeded to fall off the bed. When CJ realized what she had just seen and the fact that she was naked, she immediately began to gather her clothes, which had been scattered across the floor.
"Now, CJ…" Jed began as he tried to keep his voice steady, I think that we just need to sit down and talk about this like civilized adults." As CJ finished pulling on her shirt and then her pants, she looked at him and said, "Mr. President, I…I can't deal with this right now." And then she walked hurriedly from the room and began to run as soon as she was out of the French doors and around the corner.
"CJ!" Jed Bartlet called as he saw his press secretary practically run from his room with a look of horror on her face. As CJ ran down the hall she streamed passed a suddenly very confused Charlie.
When Charlie entered the president's room, he found the president awake and tying up his shoes. "I was just coming to give you your wake up call" Charlie said in a hesitant voice, "But I see that you're already awake."
"Yes I am" the president said in as cheery a voice as he could muster, "Did you happen to see CJ on your way in?" "Yes sir I did" Charlie said still slightly confused about what was going on, "She seemed rather flustered and she was running, she…" Charlie stopped mid-sentence as realization finally dawned on him.
"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone last night" Charlie said as the president finished tying up his shoes and proceeded to drink some water from the glass by his bed. "What was that?" Jed asked sharply, "Nothing" Charlie said as he looked away.
"I was drunk, she was drunk and that is all," Jed said to no one in particular as Charlie stood there, "And we are going to deal with this like adults goddammit!" With that the president slammed his water glass down onto the table unable to control his feelings. "I don't want to hear a word from you either." Jed said as he turned back to face Charlie again.
Calming himself back down, Jed took a deep breath and said "I'm going to finish getting ready and then I'm going to get some breakfast. After that I need to talk to CJ in the Oval office. Please send someone down to CJ's office with a message saying that I want to meet with her in the Oval in thirty minutes."
"Yes sir." Charlie said as he went to give the message to someone and thought over all of the events that had just happened in his head.
Back in her office, CJ was in panic mode. She was trying to think of all the possible ways that what had happened to her this morning was simply a dream.
Unfortunately, so far none of them were working out. She was deeply absorbed in her train of thoughts when she heard a knock at the door.
She practically jumped out of her socks as she turned to see who it was, and then let out an audible sigh of relief when she found Josh standing in her doorway. "Oh, it's you." "Yes it's me." Josh said with a laugh as he saw CJ's scared look, "Who did you think it was going to be?"
"Huh? Oh no one." "Okay," Josh said skeptically as he continued on, "I just wanted to come by to be sure that you had all of the information you need to brief the press on the election results and the white house's reaction in this morning's briefing."
"Oh thanks" CJ said as she took the folder from his hand. "Are those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?" Josh asked with devilish grin. "Of course not," CJ said in a nonchalant voice, "I think they are, I think that those are the exact clothes that you wore yesterday, there's even a stain on them from where you spilled Champaign last night."
"I…I" CJ said as Josh continued, "You sly fox, you spent the night at someone's house didn't you?" As CJ turned increasingly red and became more and more flustered, Josh said, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about CJ, I was just stating the facts, which by the way your silence has given far more credit to then if you were to do anything else. Anyways, I'll see you later."
"Carol!" CJ yelled as Josh left, "I need a new outfit to wear today and a cup of the strongest coffee you ca find." "Yes I'll et right on it." Carol said as she turned to go, "Oh, and CJ?" "Yes Carol?" CJ said impatiently, "The president wants to see you in his office in fifteen minutes." As Carol left, CJ sank down into her chair, and her face became far paler as all of the blood seemed to flow out of her body. She was going to have to confront the situation sooner than she had wanted. Much sooner.
"He's waiting for you." Mrs. Landingham said as CJ walked up to the outer room in front of the oval office. "Feel free to go on in." With a deep breath, CJ steadied her nerves and pushed open the door.
"Good morning CJ" the president said in an overly cheery tone. "Would you like some coffee? A scone?" "No thank you Mr. President" CJ said with as much dignity as she could manage.
Leaning back against his desk the president said, "I'd like to try to do this in as civilized a manner as possible. I really don't want things to be awkward…" "With all due respect Mr. President" CJ said as she interrupted him, "There is no way that things are not going to be awkward. Not only are you the President of the United States, and I your press secretary, but you are also a married man, and I am by no means your wife."
"All the same, I think that we should discuss this over coffee, and then…" "Mr. President, what is it that you want? Do you want my resignation? Because I'll give it to you if you ask. Do you want my silence? I'm not going to tell anyone about this, although you can tell whomever you like. Including Abbey, although I'd like to be in another country when you tell her if that's alright by you…"
"First of all CJ," Jed said in a very calm and gentle voice, "That's twice now that you've interrupted me. Second of all I do not by any means want your resignation, and you should feel free to tell whomever you like about this so long as they are not any members of the associated press. I can see now that you are definitely not ready to talk about this, so I will give you some time to cool down and then we will talk this whole thing over. Alright?"
"Yes sir." CJ said, relieved that she would not yet have to face the humiliating discussion ahead of her. "In the mean time, I am going to talk to a few people about this, including Abbey." Seeing the look on CJ's face he said, "Yes CJ, including Abbey, but I'm going to make it incredibly clear that you are completely blameless in every way." "Yes sir" CJ said as she turned to go.
"Oh and CJ," Jed said when she was almost at the door, "I appreciate how well you are handling this situation. Even if you aren't yet ready to talk about it."
"Thank you sir" CJ said as she felt her face turn red from the mortification of the situation and then opened the door and walked out into the hall.
"CJ," Sam said as he saw her walking back to her office, "Wait up a second." "Yes Sam?" CJ said as she turned to face him, "I just needed to talk to you about our statements to the press for last night's elections."
"Uh huh," CJ said in a distracted voice as she tried to figure out a way to avoid Abigail Bartlet at all costs for the next few days. "CJ, are you listening to me?" Sam said in an aggravated tone.
"Oh yes, press statements. Well I think that we should express our admiration for all the candidates who ran last evening and mention that we are anxious to get to work on some serious legislation over the next few years."
"Sounds good," Sam said as he started to walk off towards his office, "Toby and I will start drafting a statement for the president as well. And CJ, are those the same clothes that you were wearing yesterday?" Blushing a deep shade of red CJ said, "Of course not Sam, now go do your work."
Feeling incredibly overwhelmed by the circumstances that she now found herself in, CJ headed back to her office to think over how she was going to manage to face the president again.