Chapter 3:

"Leo," Jed Bartlet said as he knocked on the adjoining door between their offices, "Do you have a second to talk?" "Of course Mister President" Leo said as he put down the memo he was reading, "Come on in and have a seat."

"Margaret" Leo called as he got up to close the door, be sure that you change the spelling of the word bipartisan, it is spelled better with a hyphen, not as a single word. "What was it that you wanted to talk about sir?" Leo asked as he came to sit in the chair opposite of the president.

"I wanted to talk to you as mainly a friend for a moment, okay?" "Yes sir" Leo said uncertainly as he took off his reading glasses, "What's on your mind?"

"I did something stupid" Jed said with a sigh as he reached up his hand to massage his temple, "I did something stupid Leo, and now I'm worried that I may lose two of the most important women in my life because of it."

Looking up in concern at his friend, Leo whispered, "What on earth did you do Jed?" Taking a deep breath, the president prepared himself to tell his story, "Well you remember the party last night I'm sure?"

"Of course" Leo said with a curt nod, "Well as you know, we all partied a little harder than maybe we should have, but at least everyone got home okay. So after you left, when CJ, Charlie, and I were walking towards the limo, I dismissed Charlie and told him that he was welcome to go home."

"Yes sir" Leo said as he listened closely to the president's story. "After Charlie left, CJ fell over a couple of times, and Ron suggested that we give her a ride back to the White House instead of letting her drive."

"That was a good idea" Leo said in approval, "Well anyway, that's what happened" Jed said as he looked out the window over Leo's shoulder.

"I'm sorry sir" Leo said in a confused tone, "I'm not sure I'm following you, what happened?" "Oh for goodness sake's Leo!" The president snapped unable to control his misguided frustration and anger.

Then calming down he looked down at the floor and whispered, "I gave CJ a ride back to the White House, and when I woke up she was there."

"Hold on a second," Leo said in disbelief, "Are you telling me that you…that you" "Yes Leo" Jed said as he looked up to meet his best friend's eyes, "I slept with CJ Cregg last night." "Oh Jed," Leo said as he shook his head, this is not good."

"Don't you think I know that!" the president snapped as he lost all trace of the calm he had managed to maintain throughout the morning, "I know that this isn't good. I slept with another women so my wife is going to kill me. That woman happens to be my press secretary so the whole world is going to want to know, and it will certainly affect the dynamics of the workplace. I consider said woman to be like a daughter and my wife considers her to be a close friend. And on top of all of that, that woman was completely incoherent, even more so than myself, and I'm worried that she might feel that I took advantage of her! I know this is bad Leo, I definitely know."

"Alright," Leo said with a sigh as he transitioned from friend mode into chief-of-staff-mode, "I think that the first thing we have to do is that I have to talk to CJ. Then I think that you need to talk to Abbey when she gets home this evening and pray to god that she forgives you. After that we'll just take it one step at a time."

"Thanks Leo" the president said softly as he got up to go back into his office, "And please be nice to her Leo" Jed said as he walked back to the adjoining office door, "I think that she has probably had one of the worst mornings of her life." "Don't worry sir, I'll try not to yell too much." "Good then, I'll see you later today provided that I live through my upcoming meeting with Abbey."

"Margaret!" Leo yelled as the president left the room.

"Yes Leo?" "Get CJ in my office now!" "What should I tell her it's about?" Margaret asked as she noted the unhappy look on Leo's face, "Just tell her that I need to tall to her about the results of last night."

"You mean the elections?" Margaret asked as she looked up from her note pad, "Yeah sure," Leo said with a sigh, "Tell her that it's about the election results." He doubted she'd believe it, but it might at least get her to his office without a fuss.

"What were you thinking CJ!" Leo yelled before she even had a chance to fully enter his office for their meeting. "Leo, what are you talking…" interrupting her loudly and standing up from his desk Leo said, "You know damn well what I'm talking about CJ! The president came by to see me this afternoon," Leo paused to give CJ a meaningful glare, "So I'm asking you once again, what the hell where you thinking!"

"I wasn't thinking Leo!" CJ yelled in a frustrated voice, finally letting out some of her own pent up anger. "There was no thinking involved on anyone's part Leo." CJ said with a sigh as she took a seat in one of his chairs and placed her head in her hands.

"CJ," Leo said with a far gentler voice when he saw the pained look on her face, "CJ I…" "Look Leo," CJ interrupted as she looked up at him, "I'm sorry I yelled at you that was out of line. I just want you to know that I never planned to do anything like this, it was just a stupid, drunken mistake. And now that mistake might cost me my friendship with Abbey and my previous easy-going relationship with my boss."

"I know that you never intended for this to happen CJ, you're a far better person than to come between a married man and his wife, no matter who that man may be. And I'm truly sorry that it has to be this way."

Looking up at Leo, CJ sighed and said "You want my resignation. Even though the president refused to take it, you want my resignation."

"Yes CJ, I'm not asking for it right now, but when this get's out I want your signed resignation sitting on my desk. And that is a 'when' and not an 'if' this gets out. You've worked in politics for a while now CJ, and I'm sure you are aware of how these things work, it is a definite reality that this story will leak, whether in the middle of next week or next year."

"Yes Leo, I do know that, and I know that the president cannot possibly hope to run for re-election with a scandal like this on his shoulders…I just wish that there were some other way."

Sighing Leo said, "I wish that too CJ, you are an incredibly bright and talented young woman, but my first job is and always has been to protect the president. That is all of our job, and that is why I know that when the day comes I will find your resignation on my desk."

"Yes Leo, it will be there when the day comes." As CJ looked up at Leo, she saw an uncharacteristic look of hesitation in his eyes and then guessed the motive behind it, "You're not just asking for my resignation, are you?"

Smiling sadly at the genius of the woman before him and at the cost of what he was asking her to commit, Leo said, "No, I'm not just asking for your resignation. It wouldn't do the president any good to lose his press secretary if it didn't somehow lessen his part of the scandal in the process."

"You want me to create an image." CJ said bluntly with no question at all in the phrasing, "You want me to lie to the world and try to take the blame away from the president."

"I know how much this is asking of you…" Leo began before CJ interrupted him in a tone of increasing disbelief, "No Leo, I'll do it. So what angle are you trying to play? The sad and lonely press secretary who was recently dumped by her latest boyfriend? The crazed woman purposefully trying to screw up the presidency? Or, and personally I like this one best of all…" CJ said as her voice edged dangerously close to the point of hysterical laughter, "Or we could just blame the president's M.S. and say that he had no cognitive function at the time of the 'incident'."

"I was thinking," Leo began with a sigh, "I was thinking that we should play up the role of the lonely, drunken president and the power-hungry, opportunistic woman."

CJ closed her eyes thinking of how hard she had worked to dispel just such stereotypes, thinking of how many times she had threatened to break someone's kneecaps when they insinuated that she had slept her way up the political ladder. That now, after all of her efforts, that it should come down to her purposeful engagement of such stereotypes seemed to CJ to be some display of the world's ironic sense of humor.

Thinking about all of the possible repercussions of this choice, both negative and positive alike, CJ finally looked back up at Leo and said, "Fine, I'll do it." What did it matter now anyways? CJ thought, her career in politics was over the moment this story broke anyway, so what if her entire family thought that she was some sort of power-hungry hoar, at least this way she could protect the president's best interests.

"Thank you CJ" Leo said truly wishing that there was some way to save her the painful experience ahead, "I really hope that this story takes years to break, because I truly don't know how we're going to get along without you."

"A good start would be to be sure that Josh doesn't end up anywhere near the press room." CJ said with a laugh as she used her classic mode of humor-as-a-deflection. Then getting up to leave, CJ paused at the door and whispered, "I'm going to miss this Leo, I just hope that I can stay here for at least a little longer."

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I hope you like the story thus far. Up next, a conversation with Josh. Reviews are very welcome!