Boys Will Be Boys

CJ/Danny, Abbey, others

PG for topics discussed

They aren't mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

Feedback welcomed

This is the second part of my CJ/Danny wedding story and is set during the reception. There will be one more part.

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Abbey stood with her husband and the rest of the guests as Danny and CJ were polkaing to "Shall We Dance?" from The King and I. He wasn't Patrick Swayze, but Danny was a very good dancer and his brother-in-law was making sure that people knew it. Every 20 minutes or so, Robin would go up to the DJ, they would confer and then the DJ would announce another "Wedding Couple" dance. So Danny and CJ had waltzed to "Could I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life", had done a slow fox trot to "Love Me Tender", and a cha-cha to "It's Now or Never". She was sure there was a samba, a tango, hell, may even a wedding "dirty dog" in store for them. The DJ was a great idea, much better than a band. He had a huge selection of music that ranged from the early 1900's to current stuff. Later on, she was sure there would be a Hokey-Pokey, a chicken dance, a line dance, and a hora.

Debbie came up behind Abbey, whispered something in her ear, slipped her a key card, and pointed to the door. Bonnie and Carol flashed quick V signs. It was interesting how so many of the former west wing staffers had decided to leave spouses and significant others at home for this wedding. ("There'll be so much for us to catch up on, it would be so boring for them".)

She grabbed her husband's arm, pulled him toward the bridal couple saying, "Come on, Jethro, time to do our thing".

"Well, I hope I can manage to not give her any signals," he groused. "And I don't know what the big deal is. I mean, I know she spent last night in the other bedroom of our suite, but they've been at Sam's for four months".

"You don't know everything", she replied.

Abbey thought back to those few days in late February when CJ and Danny came to visit with them after Chicago. The young couple were looking for some couple-to-couple pre-Cana counseling and at one point, after a discussion on fighting, ("Accept the fact that you are only human, that you will say things that will hurt one another, do things that will hurt another. But never accept the lie that there is nothing you can do about it.") the conversation started leading to a point where Jed said "Too much information" and left the room. The wedding date had been set,and Abbey suggested that they look to see if maybe they needed to adjust CJ's cycles to make sure that there wouldn't be any "inconvenience". An extra week of pills here and there could move things around.

Things looked okay but then CJ and Danny asked her if they could talk about planning for pregnancy. They wanted a family right away, but because there had been a small amount of fuss from some corners about their relationship, and because there was still a bit of Press Secretary inside her, CJ wanted to be able to say in all honesty that she was not pregnant at the altar. Abbey asked when they would like to have their first child "in a perfect world". Danny grinned and said, "Nine months and 10 minutes after we leave the church". Looking again at the calendars, she told them that it looked as if CJ shouldn't take any pills after the last set in early May. "But you realize that to be absolutely sure for the next two weeks, you will need to, or, rather you will need not to...". She then suggested that Danny see a urologist to make sure that his sperm count was normal and to find out what the latest thinking was on boxers versus briefs, hot tubs, etc. She told CJ that she might not ovulate the first month or two and that it might be a good idea to use the home predictor tests so they wouldn't be anticipating when there was no way anything could be anticipated.

As they approached CJ and Danny, her husband said, "Danny, if you'll let me dance with your wife, I'll let you dance with mine". The DJ announced a set of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman slow tunes. "Good", Abbey thought.

"Danny, for the next few minutes, I want you to look at me as if we are having a very pleasant conversation, Okay? Your college friends and the other guys got a copy of your room keycard. The mattress and box spring have been removed, as have all the drapes and shades. The bathtub is filled with ice. They are planning to invade the bridal suite and interrupt whatever you might be able to manage to do under such circumstances after some 30 minutes."

She saw him grit his teeth, but he smiled and said, "Okay".

"Please dance me over to that little corner. Then I will slip another keycard into your pocket. It's for Bonnie and Ginger's room. They have moved their things into Carol and Margaret's. Debbie has arranged for housekeeping to straighten up their, now your room. Unfortunately, the beds are only doubles but we felt that Carol, Margaret, Bonnie, and Ginger should have the kings. If it's okay with you, I will go to your room, pack up your things, and have the bell staff move them. If CJ's things have already been moved from our suite, we'll get them also, well I guess we'll get them in any case. I permitted the bartender to turn on the playoffs so I don't think any of those tall adolescents will notice that I am gone and they will be kept in the dark. Danny, you need to be smiling. I'm a very witty conversationalist".

He glanced over at her husband and his wife. "CJ seems to be taking this pretty well."

"Oh, CJ is not to know a thing about it until the two of you steal away later tonight; you know she would go totally ballistic. I'm sure that Jed is telling her the entire history of the California missions. If he were a in three-way conversation with us, he would be going on about medieval wedding customs such as public beddings of the married couple and some such. That's what he did when this happened with Mallory".

"Ma'am?"

"That's right, you were in Alaska at the time. When Mallory got married right after the '02 elections, they did the exact same thing. I thought that John's fellow pilots instigated it and Sam and Josh and the others just went along because boys will be boys, but now I wonder. You think they would have at least found something a little more original the second time-- maybe itching powder on the sheets, ex-lax in the chocolate on the bed, lipstick on your pajama bottoms, stopping up the toilet, that sort of thing. Why are you cringing? Smile, laugh, you're happy, you don't have a care in the world."

Her eyes got just a little misty. "It was so funny. I hid in the bathroom with the agents to take pictures. When the guys burst into the room, there was Jed, Leo, Fitz, John Hoynes, Ron Butterfield, and Lord Marbury, all in boxers and T-shirts, smoking cigars, playing poker and drinking either scotch or soda water. I don't know how they convinced Ron to let him be the only agent in a room with both the President and Vice-president, but they did. By the way, that was off the record."

"Ma'am, I had arranged with the dining room for some food, some ..."

"It's been taken care of".

"And in the nightstand with the phone, in the drawer, there's a little gift box..".

She put her fingers to his lips, "I'll get it."

"Abbey, I don't know what to say .."

She kissed his cheek. "Be happy. You two deserve it. If you don't want to deal with all the buttons, there's a zipper on the left side of the dress, starting at her ribcage. If you go that route, the dress will need to come off overhead."

The music ended as they danced up to her husband and his wife."Thank you, Danny. CJ, you are radiant. Jed, I think I broke a bra strap, I'll be back in a few minutes".