Title: Dulles to LAX, Indirect.
Chapter 8: Moving Conversations
Pairing: CJ/Danny
Author: Array
Email: array_
Rating: PG-13 (adult themes)
Disclaimer: They're all Aaron's
Author's Notes: Takes Place between Institutional Memory and Tomorrow
Reviews—absolutely, please and thankyou
"I have a plan."
"Is it a cunning plan?"
"Yes, but it does not involve any turnips."
She laughs. "Hey! How do you know that?"
"I'm a big British comedy fan. Check out the DVDs _____ Black Adder, Monty Python, Fry and Laurie, Red Dwarf, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. As a kid I used to listen to reruns of the Goon Show."
"Okay, You lost me after Monty Python, although I picked up on Dudley Moore. What's your plan?"
"Here's the basics. You're going to sublet your apartment. We're keeping mine for the time being, 'cause it's smaller, and I own it outright, so we can afford it. We're going to California for two weeks… maybe three… hang around, enjoy the sun and look at places to live. Then we're coming back here for a week or so to pack and tie up loose ends… and then we're gone."
She looks at him. "Where am I living, when am I leaving?"
He smiles and kisses her. "With me. On January 21st."
****************
She's in the corner of the sofa with her feet tucked up reading a briefing report. He's leaning against her, almost in her lap, stretched out over the rest of the sofa, flipping through National Geographic.
"You know there's just so little actual writing in these….."
"Donna's going to take Gail. I couldn't figure out what else to do. She wouldn't survive the trip to LA."
He looks up at her. "CJ, she didn't survive your Whitehouse__What is she… Gail the fifth?"
"Gail the third actually." She says haughtily. "How did you know?"
"You think I'm an idiot don't you." There is a silence. "It made me sure you really liked me. She always gave me a reason to be in your office."
"That was part of it. She reminded me of you when you were gone. People would come by to see her. We had lots of fun with bowl decorations. Sometimes things would show up in her bowl and I'd have no idea where they came from. She was our mascot. Toby used to talk about her as a symbol for us all… exposed and trapped all at the same time. I'll miss talking to her."
"You can talk to me"
"She never talked back"
"Ah. Right. In that case we can get another fish."
******************
"What's tomorrow like Margaret?"
"You have a meeting with Treasury at 9:00, a follow up with Kate Harper at 10:00 and you're at your apartment at noon."
"My apartment?"
"That's what it says here."
"What for?"
"Danny phoned and booked it. It says 'packing'."
"Oh God."
*****************
He's on the phone with Jim MacIntyre in Long Beach when he hears the brief knock, and then the key in the lock as Greg from her secret service detail comes in to check the apartment. He gives Greg a thumbs up and the younger man rolls his eyes back towards the door.
"I don't know Jim, I'm out there on the 21st anyways… can't it just wait until….Oh… I see. Well, let me see what I can do. It's kind of short notice, and I've got kind of a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, well if you think we can do it in that length of time…. Perhaps we could meet in Seattle and go from there." He sees CJ and knows there is something wrong. "I'll call you back tomorrow Jim. I've got to go." He hangs up. "Hey" he says quietly. She looks at him. The anger in her eyes is white hot, and while he's trying to figure out if it's him she's furious with, he walks to the kitchen and pours her a glass of wine, and even though he'd rather drink scotch, he pours one for himself because he has a feeling that the sooner the alcohol goes down the better. He hands it to her without saying anything because he's learning not to fan the flames. She's still standing when he sits down on the sofa.
"I sometimes think," she says in measured tones, "that men should be lined up and shot."
"Men in general?" he says calmly, "or certain men in particular?"
There is a long pause and he resists the urge to fill it.
She glances at him. "Men in uniform in particular."
"So not me then."
"Not right now, no."
He smiles. Just a little. And he tries not to let her see it. "Do you want to sit down?"
"I'd like to break a few things first!" she says darkly.
"Can't help you there."
He drinks his wine and waits. Eventually she comes over and sits on the opposite end of the sofa. "I don't know how Kate Harper can stand it." She says into the silence. She swallows what's left of the wine in her glass, and instead of replying he gets up and refills it for her. He sits back down patiently. "I wish it had been Leo in the room."
"Joint Chiefs of Staff?"
"Miles Hutchison. He's a pompous, misogynistic, self righteous, moronic, son of a bitch who doesn't get us the information accurately, and god knows if it was possible to fire him it would have been done long ago. He makes it so very clear that he has nothing but contempt for anyone who has never been in uniform, but he has a particular distain for women in general and me in particular."
"Want me to take him out for you? I know some guys. I could make a few phone calls."
She looks at him and starts to laugh.
"How many more days?"
"Five" he says with a smile.
"I guess I can survive that long," she says.
He slides across the sofa to put an arm around her. "And for extra delight, "he says "you can spend time imagining just exactly how well he and Josh are going to get along."
She smiles back at him. "It's almost worth sticking around to see it," she teases.
"No," he says firmly, "No it's not."
****************
"I've got good news and I've got bad news. I need to make a change in plans. Can you survive without me for the last three days, and I'll meet you in LA on the 21st? I've got a National Geographic thing to do with Jim on 'Slugs of the Pacific Northwest.'"
She laughs. "You're kidding, right? Slugs of the Pacific Northwest?"
"They're apparently hugely photogenic."
"They'd have to be… You're not making this up?"
"I wish I was."
"So you're bailing on the last three days of the administration?"
"Looks that way, yeah."
"For slugs of the Pacific Northwest?"
"You've got to appreciate the irony."
"So was that the good news or the bad news?"
He looks at her for a moment. "Jim MacIntyre says we can have his condo in Long Beach for two weeks, because he's going to Ecuador. All we have to do is feed the cat."
"This is good."
"It's great. If you like cats… I can always say no if you'd rather be in a hotel."
"Nope. Cats are usually fine, and I hate hotels. I'd rather just be in our own place, but you're right …. This will give us time to look."
"So back to the first question. Can you survive without me for three days?"
"Danny, I've managed so far…" she looks at him, "You're afraid I'll say yes to Josh if you're not here."
He's about to make a clever remark when he hears himself say, "No, I'm afraid that this isn't real, and you won't show up." And then there is absolute silence, and more than anything he wants to take those words back, but he knows it's true.
And because there are no words, no platitudes of reassurance that she can offer she pulls him to her and hugs him close, putting her head on his shoulder, and breathing softly into his neck until she feels the tension in his body start to drain away.
*****************
"Okay, we have a system here. Anything you want in the next three weeks we're packing into these two suitcases. Anything you want to ship to California for the beginning of March use these red dots. Anything you want to put in storage use a green dot. Anything you just want to get rid of gets a yellow dot. We're starting on your bedroom with the clothes you're going to need for the next three weeks. You put them on the bed, I'll pack."
"Are you serious?"
"You've got about an hour tops, and then we're moving on to other stuff. The Mayflower guys are here at 3:00 pm."
"So are you crazy for me, or are you just plain crazy"
"Both. But we don't have time for that right now."
"I'm going to hate this."
"Yup, but when we're done I'm hoping you'll be eternally grateful.
**************
"Hey! How come you put a yellow sticker on my stereo?"
He looks at her. "C.J. It must be at least five years old."
"I bought it when I moved here."
"There ya go."
"Well there's nothing wrong with it."
"Yeah... I think we'll be buying a new system in California. This just isn't going to be a discussion."
"Oh my god! You are a stereo snob!"
"Oh no I am a technology and electronics snob. Better get used to it."
"Okay Geekboy, can I keep my TV?"
He shakes his head. "Nope!"
She rolls her eyes.
"Come on!" he says "It's not a flat screen, it's only a 3:4 ratio, and it won't support hi def"
She moves towards him. "You know it's kind of hot when you start talking like that!"
"This is like a foreign language for you isn't babe. Wow! Wait till we start talking about computers… megabytes, ram, software, virtual memory…" She starts to kiss him and her blackberry rings.
"Hey Greg… sure, send him up."
She looks over at Danny. "It's Sam."
She opens the door, and there's Sam with a pizza box.
"Hey Sparky! Did you come to help, or is that lunch?"
Well, it's lunch and I thought we were signing lease papers."
She turns to Danny. "I'm subletting to Sam?"
"Seemed like a good idea."
"It's a great idea. Why didn't you tell me?"
He holds up two fingers. "And I quote....'When am I leaving, where am I living'.... Besides, this was more fun," his smile is wide and sunny. "There's beer in the fridge… I brought it over yesterday."
TBC