Small Talk

CJ/Danny, Hoynes; mentions of Sam, Carol, Donna, M/H Santos, Josh, Margaret

G to PG for topic

Spoilers: through end of series

Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

Feedback and criticism always welcomed. My memories of San Francisco and California are 30 years old. I've googled and researched, but if you find any errors, please let me know.

This is the second part of something that started out as one chapter with a working title of "California One", which is the coastal road that runs from approximately Leggett to approximately Los Angeles.

I briefly mentioned the idea of CJ and Danny attending a formal event with the current Administration in order to work in the concept of Danny coming home unexpectedly and hearing disturbing sounds coming from his bedroom. However, I soon realized that it would be a good venue for a conversation I imagined should have taken place between CJ and Hoynes as part of "Full Disclosure". I wish to give many thanks to "writer in the making" for her permission to use her idea in my story.

"Road to a Better World" is my name for the project CJ is doing for Franklin Hollis.

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Early February 2008 San Francisco, CA

CJ lay on the bed in their room at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in pantyhose and slip. She could hear the cable cars clanging outside their room. Danny was sitting in the easy chair, working on his laptop. He was in his tuxedo pants and shirt, tieless so far.

The past two weeks had been a wonderful experience.

They drove up Interstate 5 to the Redding area and spent the night. After sightseeing around Mount Shasta in the morning, they took the two-lane road across the coastal range to Eureka. They had a reservation in Bodega Bay for three days ago, and then spent a couple of nights with her younger brother's family in Napa before coming here earlier this afternoon for the DNC fundraising gala.

For the ten days in between, they meandered down California Route One, playing it by ear, stopping where fancy and an available room caught them. Two of the places were really old-style hotels, and she was hard put to explain the feeling inside her as she watched Danny sign the old-fashioned registers "Mr.and Mrs. Daniel Concannon". On the second one, he saw her look and apologized, "I'm sorry, next time I'll put 'Claudia and Daniel', sweetheart." She told him it wasn't a problem; she thought it was cute.

They ate in small restaurants and diners, in bars, in country stores. Everyone was solicitous of her pregnancy, more than willing to alter menu items to meet her needs. She had bought some maternity slacks, a skirt, and one nice dress before they left Santa Monica and, with Diana's tops and shorts, she was set. She remembered the look on Danny's face the day they left; it was the first time she wore any of the outfits.

Danny was able to transmit his first op-ed piece from a McDonald's in Fort Bragg, and they checked email. Whenever she called in to Nancy or Bonnie, they told her that everything was fine and to enjoy herself and her husband. She called Diana and the neighbor UPS'ed the dress and stuff to her brother's place.

They talked with the local residents about little things, the town's economy, the events, and the weather. They did the local tourist things. Sometimes she was recognized; the other times she was not (or the people were too shy or too polite to say something.)

When Danny parked her Mustang at her brother's place in Napa and she got out of the car, he told Danny that he never expected to see the day when CJ would let anyone else drive her car. Thirteen, fourteen months ago, she would have agreed with him, but now, it was the most natural thing in the world to be in the passenger seat with Danny at the wheel of her "baby" as they shared the driving. They kept the top down on the first leg from Santa Monica to Redding; that night, Danny had told her that one of the reasons he worried about her being alone at the airport after dark was because someone could cut the top and get to her.

"So if I were to use your Camry," she started to ask.

"CJ, it's non-".

"Negotiable," she finished his sentence, kissed him, and snuggled down beside him under the heavy wool blanket on the bed.

After tonight, the next ten days would have to be more structured, given the popularity of the cental California coast. Reservations were a necessity. They would do sight-seeing in the city tomorrow and then they would spend the night in Half Moon Bay. Then a night in Santa Cruz, two in Carmel, followed by six in Big Sur. They would spend two days and nights in San Luis Obispo for the Hollis Foundation meeting and one in Santa Barbara at the resort where their wedding weekend took place, before heading home.

Danny stretched, headed to the bathroom. On the way back, he stopped by the bed, sat down, and kissed her neck, one hand lightly caressing her breast. "Hmmm, you smell good," he said. Sitting up, he asked, "What's the name of the stuff your sister-in-law wears?"

"It's Paris by Yves St. Laurent," she answered, "and no, it's not named for Ms. Hilton, it's been around longer than she has. It doesn't smell nearly that good on me, I don't have the body chemistry for it."

"No, not for you. I mean, I like the way you smell." He kissed her again. "I was thinking about Fee. It was nice and flowery."

Fiona was Danny's older niece, just about to turn seventeen. "No, not for her," she said. "It's rosy and flowery, yes, but it's an experiencedwoman's rosy and flowery. It doesn't say 'Seventeen year-old virgin', and I think Robin would be happier with something that does." She made quote marks with her fingers. "We can find something for her when we get back if you like."

The phone rang. It was Jeff, one of Hank's friends in San Francisco. Hank had arranged for him to do CJ's hair and makeup for the gala. He was in the lobby. CJ gave him the room number, and put on her robe.

A knock on the door; introductions made. Jeff looked at the dress hanging on the bathroom door, looked at the pictures Hank had taken when he approximated the look he wanted for her hair, and set to work on her face. When he was done, the man asked her to uncover her shoulders; he dusted them with a translucent sparkling powder.

"Now let's work on your hair," he said, reaching for the curling iron he had plugged in and dumping a bunch of hairpins on the table.

Danny came to the table and handed him a black velvet box. "You might want to use these," he said, looking at CJ's eyes in the mirror.

She grabbed the box from Jeff and opened it. It held a dozen tiny hair combs, 4 teeth each, in sterling silver. On each comb, there were two little marquise-cut light blue-violet stones hanging from detachable delicate silver chains. "O-ohh, Danny!" she sighed, again catching his eyes in the mirror. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He kissed the top of her head and moved back to allow Jeff to work his magic.

The result was as Hank described it. Her hair was pulled back from the sides of her face and up from her neck in an apparently haphazard fashion, each piece fastened with one or two of the combs. There were wisps left to frame her face and at the nape of her neck. She took the hard mirror that Jeff handed her, turned around on the chair, and checked out the back view of her head. She thanked the man who had made her look so good.

Danny handed Jeff a small dark green gift bag. "Hank and Steve thought you might like this," he said.

Jeff reached in, pulled out a Mason jar with amber liquid, opened it, and sniffed it appreciatively. "Nectar from the gods," he exclaimed. CJ and Danny saw him to the door, again expressed their thanks.

Closing the door, CJ put her arms around Danny's neck. "Thank you again. By the way, if you continue to spread Robin's moonshine around, we're going to get visited by Revenuers," she joked.

"It's okay, I'm not selling it," he replied. "Let's finish getting dressed; we're supposed to be downstairs in twenty minutes.

She helped him with his tie and cufflinks – the platinum Gails. She put on the silver dress sandals with one-inch square-bottomed heels; then she stepped into her dress and held the bodice about her as Danny zipped up the back. She bent from the waist and lightly shook herself into the sewn-in bra. She was afraid of loosening her hair but the combs had extra long teeth and nothing happened.

She was reaching for the multi-strand liquid silver necklace she had planned to wear when Danny stopped herarm told her to close her eyes and hold out her hands. She felt him place something flat, about nine inches square on them. She opened her eyes to see an open jewelry box with a necklace, a bracelet and earrings in the same light blue-violet color as the stones in her hair. In the necklace and bracelet, the marquise stones were smack-dab against each other at an angle. The earrings consisted of a marquise cut stud, with two other stones on a short thin silver chain, an echo of the ones on the combs.

Her eyes filled with tears. "Danny, how did you ever, -"

He grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. "Let's not spoil this ravishing face," he said. "And thank Hank. He had the inspiration and the taste, he found them. All I did was pull out a credit card."

"And asked him to do it in the first place," she added. "All the women are going to be so-oo envious of me and all the men are going to be so mad at you." She took the necklace out of the box, handed it to him, and, turning her back to him, lowered her head. He fastened it and kissed the back of her neck. She fastened the earrings to her ears, put the bracelet on her wrist.

He put on his jacket and picked up the cape. "Do you want this on?" he offered to drape it over her shoulders.

No, I'll just carry it," she said. She took it from him, folded it over her arm and picked up her clutch bag. With her other hand, she smoothed his lapel and said, "Let's go downstairs."

They picked up their table assignment card at the entrance to the Grand Ballroom, checked the room diagram, and headed to their table. CJ's face lit up as she saw that they would be seated with Sam and Carol. Of course, she knew that Carol and Sam were "working" the event and had to court the other people at the table. This was not the time to reminisce or to catch up.

They were introduced to the four other couples at the table, influential contributors to the DNC from Chicago, Nashville, Omaha, and Tallahassee. The conversation was light, slightly partisan of course. The others were not fools, they knew who CJ was and they knew about Danny; when the conversation turned toward them, however, CJ and Danny diplomatically moved it back to the party's deep pockets. This was a "thank you and please" event – "thank you for your help in the past, please help again".

The man from Omaha noticed that CJ hadn't touched one of the amuse bouche on her plate, the one with asparagus and brie baked in phyllo; he asked if he could have it. "Can't get enough of this brie," he said.

"And when we first got married," his wife added, "he wouldn't eat anything green other than peas and cheese meant velveeta."

Carol called the waiter to her side and quietly reminded him that a special menu had been requested for Mrs. Concannon.

After dinner, there was dancing. During a break, they were walking back from the restrooms to their table when they heard Donna calling, "CJ! Danny! Over here!"

"Oh, Lord," CJ muttered. Donna was standing with the President and Mrs. Santos, and former Vice-president Hoynes.

"We can cut this short," Danny whispered. "You can pretend you're tired, a little queasy. I'm sure you'd only get three Hail Mary's for the lie."

"We'll see," she answered as they walked over to join the group.

She thanked the president for including them in the dinner.

"Not at all, we're glad to have you," replied. "In fact, we almost drafted you. Bram forgot his tux. If he hadn't been able to rent one, he'd be upstairs with room service and you and Danny would be schmoozing the guys from Toledo, Louisville, Waco, Hartford, and Seattle."

"Every once in a blue moon, small assignments like that, I wouldn't mind, sir. At least until these two" hand to her stomach "decide to make their debut."

Again, more small talk. When Donna asked about Anne Westin's acting, Danny quickly changed the subject to avoid any mention of the musical, getting the conversation onto "Road to a Better World".

"So, CJ," the president asked," should I be worried that you are spending the evening hitting up some of my donors for your project?"

"No, sir, as I mentioned before, right now we aren't actively seeking donations from anyone except the uber-wealthy. Maybe when we move on to 'Light up the World', which is the name we've tentatively given to the second phase to add energy to the infrastructure, we might get into fund-raising."

The former vice-president asked some questions about that phase and CJ explained that they were looking into solar, wind, and geothermal sources as well as hydroelectric power. At this point, they were ruling out nuclear energy. The politics of the area were much too unstable to gamble with it. Americans had experience with losing power, but they took their roads for granted. Light was more meaningful to the average American than macadam, so it might be efficient to fund-raise for that.

"But," she laughed, "the last time I asked for a donation, I asked my neighbor to donate a cup of sugar for the chocolate mousse I was making for dessert that evening."

"Danny, does CJ make good chocolate mousse?" Donna asked.

"Very good. It's even better as body paint."

"Danny!" CJ exclaimed, turning a very rosy pink. Everyone laughed.

The orchestra started playing again.

"Donna, I believe this is our dance," Matt Santos stated, leading her onto the dance floor.

"Danny, may I dance with your bride?" John Hoynes asked.

CJ looked at Danny, he looked back at her. He raised her hand to his lips, handed it to the former vice-president. "Just bring her back to me safe and sound." Turning to Helen, he bowed, saying, "Ma'am, may I have the honor?"

"I must say that marriage and impending motherhood seem to agree with you, CJ. You are radiant, you look relaxed, you are obviously in love, and that man is totally besotted with you," the Texan said, expertly turning her around the room.

"Thank you, sir."

His face became serious. "CJ, I said it before and I will say it again. What happened that night will never bementioned by me and I'm fairly sure that it's been buried way deep. But if someone were to find it, to want to use it – if you haven't already done so, make sure that Danny hears it from you now, just in case."

"He knows. He's known for some time, since before we – before I realized I belonged with him. But I'm not part of this," she waved the hand that had been on his upper arm, "anymore. And I certainly don't miss it. Why should anyone care?"

"My dear Claudia Jean, you are a beautiful, intelligent, witty, dedicated, and caring woman. If I had met you when we were in college, and if I had had the sense to pursue you and the honor to win you, I might not have felt the need to be a fool, and you could very well be First Lady right now. As it is, with the barriers dropping lower every day, you could, if you wished, be President some day. If you were to try, you would have enemies. Someone would care."

She could see again the charm that had seduced her into his bed that night so long ago. As much as she liked Matt Santos, this complex, intelligent man, for all his personal demons and flaws, would have beenbetter for this country. But she could not see herself as his First Lady. Maybe if she had never met Danny – she shuddered at the thought of going through life without Danny. There was no comparison.

"Mr. Vice-president - ".

"John," he interrupted.

"John," she acquiesced. "I thank you for the compliment, but there is no way I would ever aim for that. I've seen it. What I have now is so far beyond any of that. Donna will be president before I would ever consider it."

He looked over at the willowy blonde dancing with Matt Santos. "Don't underestimate Donna. She has grown and still is growing. Don't get me wrong, Josh is tremendous at what he does, he'll probably be better than Leo someday, but part of Josh will always be a little boy. I should know," he laughed self-deprecatingly. "Now Donna, there's something about her, there's a destiny there."

The music ended. As they were approaching Danny and Helen Santos, the First Lady told CJ, "Your husband is an excellent dancer. You are a very lucky woman."

Yes, ma'am, I know."

The president returned to claim his wife and walked off toward Josh, with Donna on his other arm.

John Hoynes handed CJ to Danny. "I know I'm not the first man to say this," he told the former reporter, "but I also won't be the last. You are a very lucky man. " He bowed to CJ, "Ma'am", backed off, and approached Margaret.

The music started again and Danny guided his wife back onto the floor. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied, looping her arms around his neck. "I'll tell you all about it later, upstairs. Right now, let's just dance and not make any small talk."

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To get an idea of what CJ's necklace and bracelet might look like, go tothe QVCwebsiteand look at item # J98581. I have a similar bracelet, but mine is in garnet and gold. To see the stone color, check out the baguettes on J2840.