DISCLOSURE

When CJ arrived in Leo's office Toby was the only one there. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." she said brightly.

"I was looking for you earlier….Carol said you weren't in yet." he said, gauging her reaction.

"I'm here now, what is it?" she replied without blinking.

"It can wait. Your door was shut." He said, dark eyes trying to pull her out.

"Yeah. It often is when I'm not in," she said, turning to the papers Carol had handed her before. "Anything I need to know before I brief the gaggle?" she tried to distract him.

"Nope. Unless you want to share with them why you're avoiding me," he said softly.

"She sighed. "Not now Toby. I'll come see you when I'm done briefing." she finished quickly as the others arrived.

As Leo began she tried to clear her mind of Jilly, Toby and everything except the next half an hour or so, forcing her professional head to kick in. As they wrapped up she tried to get a head start out of the room but Toby was right at her elbow. "I'll wait in your office" he began

"Damn, Toby, I said I'll come when I'm done…Just stop…" she took a deep breath. "I'll come when I'm done, OK?" she said gently, placing a conciliatory hand on his arm.

"OK" he said quietly, watching her head to the Pressroom with a slight frown. He knew her well enough to know she would tell him what was going on eventually, but Toby wasn't known for his patience and he hated being kept in the dark even more than CJ did. He went to his office and turned to watch her briefing and waited.

CJ rattled through the briefing at breakneck speed, thankful that the political day at least had started quietly and uneventfully. She was desperate to get back before Jilly woke; didn't want her to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings alone. Chris tried to draw her into something trivial but she threw it back, promising to talk about it at the next briefing and left the room trying to hide her desire to escape. Knowing Toby would have watched the briefing and would now be waiting for her, she dashed for her office pausing only to give her papers to Carol before quietly opening the door.

Jilly was stirring as CJ came in.

"Hey. I was hoping you were still going to be asleep…you feel OK? You're not feeling sick?" she asked, kneeling in front of the couch, stretching a hand out to Jilly's forehead, which was a little hot, and noticed her cheeks were flushed too.

Jilly blinked slowly as she sat up, as if it was an effort to come round. In answer, she lent forward, putting her head on CJ's shoulder, eyes shut to block the rest of the world out, craving familiar comfort. CJ wrapped her arms gently around the trembling, frail frame, dropping a kiss on her head. "Lie down again, we'll talk later." Lifting her head to lie the girl down she caught sight of Toby standing in the doorway. He locked eyes with her and then looked at Jilly, who still lay in the circle of CJ's arms oblivious to his presence. He drew his eyes back to CJ, before turning on his heels and leaving her office.

"Shit" CJ cursed their disclosure.

Carol came running in "CJ, I'm really sorry; Leo's office was on the phone, I couldn't stop him"

Realising Jilly had drifted off once more she lay her back down and covered her with the comforter. "Don't worry about it…he'd have found out before the end of the day anyway. I just wanted to have some answers before he did, that's all," she said, turning to her assistant with a smile. She caught sight of the bowl, now returned to its home on her bookshelf. Seeing her, Carol said " It's OK, I cleaned it out earlier. I came in to turn the ringer on your phone off so it wouldn't wake her and nearly kicked it over. Knowing you're even clumsier than me I figured I'd clear it away before you sent it flying!" she joked, trying to bring a smile to her boss' face. She was rewarded with the sight, albeit a small smile. "And there's this…it was on the floor in front of the couch, I think it fell from her cardigan pocket…" she handed CJ a small photograph.

CJ studied the photo; a smile crept over her face, then disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. "I better go see Toby" she sighed. "Come get me if you need me. And thanks. You're going above and beyond the call of duty today."

"It's OK. And CJ, Dr Bartlett is in the residence today, just in case you need her."

CJ smiled, squeezed her arm and Carol gently closed the door as they left.