Author's Note: Takes place after season one's Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.

Polls and Pajamas

CJ walked out of the Oval Office and, for the first time in three days, breathed a sigh of relief. She could almost feel the weight being lifted from her shoulders. The rock being removed from her chest. The crushing sensation of fear and failure no longer plagued her. She inhaled deeply and made her way back to her office, trying to suppress the smile on her lips. A light tap on her doorframe broke her reverie.

"Hey," Josh said with a grin.

"Hey yourself," she replied tossing the poll numbers on her desk.

"So, that had to feel pretty good," Josh said folding his arms across his chest and leaning on his shoulder in the doorway.

"It didn't suck," CJ said perching on the edge of her desk.

"You shouldn't have been so worried."

"Really?" CJ asked raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, well…"

"Do you want to grab a drink?" CJ asked suddenly.

"Seriously?"

"I'm feeling pretty good right now and I'd kind of like to take advantage of a celebratory drink."

"Don't you have spin the numbers?"

"Yeah. It'll take me a few hours. Are you going to be around?"

"Oh, I'll be around," Josh said with a puzzled look on his face. He wasn't certain if this drink invitation was just because CJ was feeling good or because she wanted something else.

"Should I invite Sam and Toby?"

CJ made a face.

"Should I take that as a no?" Josh chuckled.

CJ shrugged. "Why don't we make it just us?"

"You're mad at them?"

"Not mad, just a little…letdown maybe."

"They were in your corner you know."

"Maybe eventually. I wasn't really feeling the love."

"CJ," Josh started to protest. He saw the look in her eyes and decided against defending Sam and Toby. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Great," she smiled.

A few hours later they were happily ensconced in a corner booth in a dark bar a few blocks from work. It was surprisingly crowded for a weeknight and the hour, but CJ and Josh didn't seem to mind. The music was blaring and so they ended up sitting closer together than they normally would. The waitress stopped by the table to take their order.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Do you want one of your fruity, girl drinks?" Josh asked CJ with a hint of mocking

"Sure, why not? I'll have a grasshopper and my friend here will have a Guinness," CJ ordered for them both.

The waitress nodded and went to get their drinks. "You know my drink?" Josh asked surprised. "What if I wanted a grasshopper too?"

"There's always round two," CJ replied.

"Okay," Josh said a little perplexed. He didn't feel this way that often, but CJ somehow had the magical ability to throw him off his game occasionally.

"So," CJ said.

"So," Josh replied.

"I was right," CJ said.

"True," Josh smiled.

"I was right."

"Yes."

"Toby was wrong."

"Toby was wrong."

"Leo was wrong."

"Leo was wrong and I can see where you're headed with this," he said trying to cut her off before she started in on him.

"You were wrong."

"I may have been a bit too conservative in my estimation of the numbers."

"You were wrong."

"You can't ignore your gut and my gut was telling me otherwise."

"You were wrong."

"Fine. I was wrong," he said with a smirk. CJ beamed back at him. At that moment the waitress dropped off his beer and her grasshopper. "Thanks."

CJ grabbed her glass and sipped the green concoction while Josh laughed. "Are you laughing at me?" she asked.

"Yes. For nothing more than drinking something like looks more like nuclear waste than an actual cocktail. Here's to you being right," he said clinking his glass against hers.

"Thanks," she said taking a long sip of her drink. "I needed a win."

"You didn't need one," Josh said.

"I did and not just for my job, but personally. I needed a win," she admitted.

"You got it."

"I really did," she said leaning forward with her elbows on the table.

"Oh and by the way," Josh said as he took another long swig of his beer. "I wasn't distracting the female callers at the poll."

"Yes, you were," CJ replied knowingly.

"My mere presence doesn't constitute a distraction."

"No, but your flirting with Joey does," CJ said taking a long sip of her drink.

"I wasn't flirt—Joey and I have a very professional relationship," Josh said stumbling over his words.

"Sure you do."

Josh finished off his beer and rolled his almost empty glass back and forth between his hands a few times. "Yeah, well…"

Josh surveyed CJ's almost empty glass and then looked at his own wondering how they'd managed to down their drinks so quickly. CJ wasn't sure it was possible, but the music seemed to be even louder than before and she scooted closer to Josh to talk without yelling.

"So, what's going on with you and Joey?" she asked.

"Nothing. She's got a--she's dating someone else."

"I heard that was over," CJ said.

"It is I guess. It's complicated."

"You should go for it anyway," CJ prodded him.

"Okay," Josh said dragging out the word to prove that he wasn't taking her seriously.

"Seriously. You should."

"Who has time for relationships anyway? It's almost midnight on a Thursday night and we just got out of work."

"I suppose you have a point," CJ replied giving him a serious look. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not pining," Josh said a bit defensively.

"I know."

"So anyway, new subject: how's Danny?" Josh asked CJ. He had the largest grin on his face as if he relished putting her on the spot. "I saw your briefing."

"Did you," CJ replied as more a statement of fact than anything else.

"You were a little snarky with him."

"It was a dumb question," CJ defended herself.

"Still…you might want to let him out of the box."

"I was a lot snarky with him and he'll get outta the box when I decide he's outta the box," CJ said forcefully.

"Ya know, I'm not gonna lie," Josh said. "That reaction right there was a little bit hot."

"I know you like your women opinionated," CJ smiled at him. "How about we make a pact? We don't talk about Joey or Danny for the rest of the night."

Josh pretended to mull it over for a moment, even though he whole-heartedly agreed with CJ's terms. "That sounds fair," he said finally.

"Another round?" the waitress asked, popping up at the right moment.

"Sure," Josh replied. "How about you?"

"Why not," CJ said handing her the empty glass across the table. Her arm brushed Josh's as she reached and it affected Josh in a way he didn't expect. CJ didn't seem to notice his Adam's apple as he swallowed hard. She smiled at him as the waitress walked away.

CJ and Josh were left alone again. He noticed that she had a piece of hair in her line of sight and without thinking he reached out with his index finger and brushed it out of the way. There was no way he could know that the simple gesture and the lightest of touches had sent a shiver down CJ's spine.

For her part CJ kept a calm exterior. It wasn't as if it was a big deal, but suddenly she couldn't recall why she'd asked Josh out for a drink. When she asked she knew it was her tell. He had told her once before that she always asked him out for a drink when she wanted more than a drink. She didn't really take him seriously until now because suddenly realized that he might have a point.

Just as Josh was tucking the piece of hair behind her ear CJ lifted her hand up to finish the motion and their fingertips touched. They didn't say a word as their fingers mingled together for a moment, but it felt like everything in the room was quieter. Josh intertwined his fingers with hers and like two magnets flipped into position, Josh's head moved forward just as CJ's moved and their lips met in the middle. The kiss was rather chaste based on their past outings. Their lips barely parted, just coming together slow and soft and deliberate. Josh could taste a hint of crème de menthe on CJ's lips as he pulled back and ran his tongue along his bottom lip.

"That was…" CJ started to say.

"Nice," Josh finished for her.

"I was going to say public," CJ said feeling a bit of color creep into her cheeks. It had been a while since she'd been kissed and she's forgotten how good it could feel. "But it was also really nice."

"I didn't…I don't want you to think it was because of Joey that I did that," Josh said.

"I didn't think that," CJ said. "Besides, our deal is no questions asked right?"

"Yeah, but I figure I owe you that."

"Okay. For what it's worth, it had nothing to do with Danny either."

Josh didn't think it was possible but CJ moved even closer to him in the booth and their knees touched under the table. He fought the impulse to run his hand up her long leg under the table, but only for a moment. He gave into want and grabbed her thigh, moving his fingers up the fabric of her pants slowly; a move he knew drove her insane.

"Is that more private for you?" he said leaning over and whispering in her ear.

CJ could feel her heart start to beat faster and it took all her will not to throw one leg over his hip and have her way with him right there in the booth. It was especially difficult when Josh's hand navigated up her hip and he gently squeezed her.

"It is," CJ replied in his ear. She knew how to get back at him and leaned forward and ran her nails down his chest with just the right amount of pressure. "Did I thank you for coming by my office before the numbers came in tonight?"

"Uh, no," Josh said trying to keep all the blood from rushing from his head to another part of his body, but CJ's fingers probed with just the right amount of pressure on his chest.

"Thank you," she said into his ear, letting her lips and tongue graze his earlobe before backing off completely.

"We should go," Josh managed to say in between stilted breaths.

"We ordered another round," CJ reminded him.

"You'd really rather sit here and drink than go back to my place?" Josh said as he stood up and pulled out his wallet. "Well?"

"I'm right behind you," CJ said scooting out of the booth.

Josh left money for the two rounds plus a generous tip on the table. He wished that they hadn't driven separate, but if CJ was going to spend the night she needed to bring her clothes to get ready in the morning and she always seemed to have a week's worth of clean clothes in her car.

Both CJ and Josh broke a few laws trying to get to Josh's place. He came to several rolling stops. She ran a red light, but finally they pulled up to Josh's porch. Although he lived on a fairly quiet street, they didn't want to chance being spotted and so it added to the tension that they couldn't touch each other until they were safely locked away in Josh apartment.

Josh fumbled with the keys and when he finally pushed the door open he pulled CJ into the apartment with him. Their lips locked almost immediately and CJ started to whip off her coat while Josh quickly got to work on the buttons of her blouse. It was a perfected art, what they could accomplish. A choreographer would be impressed with their ability to walk to the bedroom, navigate furniture and remove clothes in the dark without their lips breaking contact. Until Josh accidentally steered CJ into a wall, but that only allowed him to push her against it and focus his lips on her exposed neck and collar bone before she grew impatient and wrapped a leg around his waist and pulled him to her.

Josh moaned when he felt his pelvis crash against CJ's and he quickly spun her away from the wall and resumed backing her toward the bedroom. CJ occupied herself with removing Josh's belt and moved on to his shirt, but she fumbled with the buttons as he kissed her neck. She thought she had the button through the whole, but in her haste she popped the button off the shirt. With one already gone, she decided to take the shirt in her hands and rip it apart with force, which caused all the buttons to come flying off on the floor.

"That was Brooks Brothers," Josh said pulling away and examining his shirt.

CJ gave him a wicked grin as she lay on her side on Josh bed clad in scant clothing. She curled her legs and propped her hand up on her elbow. "I guess I know what to get you for your birthday," CJ said. "Now, would you rather worry about your shirt right now or would you rather let me thank you for being such a good friend tonight?"

Josh smiled as he saw that she was using a variation of his earlier line on him. It didn't take him long to kick off his pants and jump on top of CJ on the bed. She laughed a hearty belly laugh as he maneuvered his hands behind her back and popped the clasp of her bra with expert precision. She kissed him hard, her tongue probing his mouth, his lips and his chest. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and they were so close that not a spec of light could be seen between their bodies.

"Josh," she murmured at the same time he purred, "Claudia Jean."

# # #

Spent and exhausted a while later Josh lay with his hand wrapped around CJ's hip. He kissed her shoulder as she scrunched into the pillow. "That was…" Josh said.

"Nice?" CJ asked with a chuckle.

Josh let out a noise that was akin to a snort. "I was going to go with epic," he said.

"It was that," CJ agreed putting her hand on his and pulled him closer to her.

"Are you cold?" he asked sensing her chill. He scooted closer to her. "I figured I'd have kept you hot and bothered for at least an hour."

"No, you did," CJ smiled turning toward him so they faced each other. "It's just kind of cold in here. Do you have an extra pair of pajamas?"

"No, I usually sleep in the buff," he said with a grin, pulling the sheet up over them.

"Shut up, you do not," CJ laughed.

"I do."

"Josh."

"What?"

"You don't sleep in the buff," she said.

"I could," he replied.

"Seriously, don't you have an extra pair of PJs?"

"Not really," Josh admitted. "I'm a boxers and t-shirt kind of guy."

"You don't own pajamas?"

"Every guy you've ever dated wore pajamas?"

"Yeah. All guys need pajamas. They wear the bottoms and women wear the top. It's an excellent system."

"I think the system has broken down," Josh said snuggling his lips into CJ's neck. "I'll keep you warm."

They lay like that for a moment until Josh realized just how cold CJ felt. Instead of him warming her up, she was making him cold.

"You really are cold," he said.

"Do you have an extra blanket?"

"It's April Claudia Jean. You can't seriously be this cold."

"And yet."

Josh extricated himself from her and walked over to the bureau. CJ curled up in a ball once his body heat was gone. Josh fumbled through some items and came up with a Wesleyan sweatshirt. He walked back over to the bed and hopped back in next to CJ.

"How's this?"

"Perfect," she said putting it on. "Though kind of short."

Josh surveyed how the sweatshirt barely covered her derriere, not that he minded. "It's a good fit," he said.

"You need pajamas," CJ said settling back into the pillow.

"I'll get right on that," Josh said snuggling his face into her neck and wrapping his arm around her again. CJ breathed a contented sigh. She fell asleep feeling that it had been a glorious day. The poll results were better than expected and finally felt job security. Not only that, but she had spent an excellent evening with Josh. She fell asleep with Josh snuggled next to her secure in the knowledge that tomorrow they would wake up and there would be no awkwardness, which suited them both quite well. Just as she drifted off to sleep she also made a mental note to buy him a pair of pajamas before their next sleepover.