Hi, and so we are on to Season 3!

Disclaimer-Nothing but Jacob is mine.

And on a side note, I like so many other Fanfiction Authors no longer receive notifications via email about reviews/PMs etc. So if you do send any it might be a while, if ever before I get back to you. Please keep that in mind for it is not intentional-If anyone has a fix please let me know.

There will be a second part that follows this...eventually. Each series should cover about seven chapters some chapters several episodes. Flashbacks included when needed.

Also I do not do Private Messaging anymore, any questions stick them in a review and I will get back to you next chapter note.

Also please be aware of a bit of a time jump between these chapters.

Also after much thought and consideration I have decided not to include Mandy in this story. She's there for like one Season and misses half of the episode and while she was an okay character played by a very good actress her disappearance and everything that follows is just too hard to write. So no Mandy. Ever.

And a couple of the episodes are mixed around here but please keep that in mind.

Perhaps Love

Chapter 17-No Opportunity Necessary

At a dinner in which a veto is being held CJ and Toby get a dose of reality and CJ must go head to head when one of her reporters breaks the cardinal rule-mentions Jake on herbroadcast. Danny, Chris, Steve and all the other press reporters take bets and eat popcorn.

"One has to wonder if maybe the reason CJ Cregg seems distracted tonight is the fact that many suspect her son will be subpoena in one of the many cases that the President is fighting over his MS disclosure. Perhaps this is another example of how motherhood and the highest office in the land do not mix"

Chris blinked for a second watching the news clip and then against her better judgement she rewound the thing and watched it again. Katie sitting next to her was open mouthed. Danny and Steve both of whom had come to see them in the press gathering were watching and John was on his way back with coffee which meant that the entire Press Corps would be watching this by the time that the got back.

"Do we say anything?" Chris asked in a hushed tone.

"Like what?"

"Like…do you have a comment?"

"I think were gonna see the comment soon enough" Steve said grimly. "I think were gonna see it in the form of a bitch slap either verbally or physically"

"Good" Katie said viciously. "I hate that Sherry woman, I don't know why they give her press credentials she can barely spell"

"Don't start—"

"She gives the rest of us female reporters who have actually had to crawl our way up here Danny a bad name. Everyone knows she got her job because she saw her boss on his knees with his secretary and it makes the rest of us look bad. And she bitches about how she's not taken seriously as a reporter! Bitch makes us all look bad Danny"

"Please" Danny said throwing a pencil in the bin with a perfect throw. "She makes all reporters look bad"

"I don't think we have to do anything" Steve ruled. "There is no way that CJ hasn't seen this"

"Shame really" Katie said. "She's going to be so pissed we won't get chance to talk—I actually really did want to know where she got that dress from"

Danny shot a look to Steve who shrugged. Sometimes it was easier not to say anything when it came to stuff like this. A smart reporter knew when to keep their mouth shut and the suicidal ones…well…the suicidal ones learnt what happened the hard way when the Cardinal Rule was broken.

Do not mention the press secretary's son on national TV as a way to get to his Mom and/or Dad.

Well…now Sherry was going to learn the consequences of breaking this rule.

Danny thought that was divine justice if ever there was one.

"We think we have enough to contain any override of veto"

"I know. Leo said I could leek it but the whole thing is going to be about those kids who were killed so it's gonna be like shouting to the wind"

He nodded and then he shut the door behind him. CJ had changed out of her red dress into her grey pantsuit and now she was changing again.

"You putting the dress back on?"

"I'm hungry. The President doesn't need us and I am hungry. I want to eat something and God damn it I bought a dress to do it in. So maybe I don't get the pumpkin soup with the hot cheese gnocchi but at least I should be able to get something out of it."

"I called down to the front gate, they ordered us both a pizza"

She looked at him shirt half unbuttoned and he got a look at the lace camisole she wore underneath and then the shirt was being buttoned again which was good. It had taken Toby a long time to get into a tux and he was not in the mood to explain to his tailor why it was the state it was in.

Also knowing his luck the President and or Leo would walk in and that would be the end of that.

"Are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine"

"Aha"

CJ perhaps sensing by way of his tone that he didn't believe a word that she had said slammed her file back on her desk.

"The bitch came for Jake"

"Who is fine by the way, I called and he didn't even know it had been a thing. He was at Harrison's for the night and they were watching True Crime episodes—which reminds me—we really should speak to the FBI about any leads on the Tallahassee Strangler"

She laughed then though it burst out of her and it was slightly ragged. Toby couldn't blame her in the slightest. When Bonnie (looking very much as if she wasn't paid enough to do this) had shown him the press clip he had felt a pulse of murderous rage to the point where Sam had slammed the door on Kimball least something happen that would absolutely jeopardise the veto.

"Did you tell him"

"I had to but he was mostly unaffected. Jake's used to people saying rubbish about what you and I do. Trust me he knows where to put the mail"

She sat down at her desk and sighed and then she shook her head. "I hate that he has too" she said finally. "I hate that he is in the middle of this and you know what? I wish that I didn't feel this way but I am so glad that he wasn't with those two brothers tonight. I know that realistically it was never going to happen but when I heard what had happened….my God you think about what those parents are going through tonight and I just…" she shook her head and her hands turned into claws.

"I just want to rip that woman's face off. I am not the story, I was never the story tonight and every other reporter got that, every other reporter got that tonight, it wasn't even worth mentioning—"

"Every other reporter has been here with you from the start. This is what? The second time a state dinner has been interrupted by these things? Last time a hurricane took a tender ship. Everyone in that room likes and respects you and knows you do what you do because of it. Sherry or whatever her name is, isn't going to be in your press room ever again after the bitch slap you gave her tonight and if her network kicks off I think your gonna find that the President of the United States will back you. Our son is fine, everything is going to fine. Now come and have some pizza so we can see this night through. How many times have you told me that tomorrow is always a better day than the day before?"

"If I ever tell you that again I want you to remind me that it is complete and utter crap and that I should be shot on sight"

Toby nodded his head and then he shoved his hands in his pocket and said quietly.

"I talked with Babbish. He says that Charlie might not be the only one offered immunity"

Her head snapped up at that and he shrugged. "I don't know" he warned her. "I don't but…but they might offer someone immunity and if they think that Charlie won't flip they might go to Jake. CJ we really got to get him his own lawyer. Babbish gave me a couple of names and I've vetted them and I've had Sam and Josh vet them and we've got them down to two. I think we should meet them and get Jake to meet them."

"Charlie wouldn't take immunity"

"Yeah well…Charlie didn't have parents, I am going to make Jake take immunity even if I have to commit a crime to do it. I don't know how much legal hot water he is in but I am not going to have him be used as a scapegoat because they cannot get at me or you"

She watched him for a second and then.

"Gotta say your always hot when your angry"

"Darling I am always hot" he shouted as he left the room and he ignored Carole's utterly exasperated look or the fact that the two interns who had just started this week were looking at him as if he was going round the bend.

"You understand the second I speak to Jake it becomes attorney client privilege?" Aidan Bradshaw, partner at Bradshaw, Kempt and Lee said to CJ and Toby as he sat in the conference room that Friday.

"Anything he says to me after that becomes privileged even from you?"

"He's told us mostly everything" CJ pointed out. "When we found out about the plane we gave him a good grilling, he's been forthcoming"

"He knows he has to be forthcoming with me?"

"He knows"

Aidan Bradshaw tapped his pen against the desk for a second and then.

"I don't know if they will offer him immunity. I wont lie, as his attorney if he is offered it I will encourage him to take it. I take it that the President understands that? That Leo McGarry understands what that means?"

He got two nods back and he nodded.

"I don't see them making it a big deal" he said finally. "Jake was underage, he was a kid, he was scared, confused etc…he didn't know what he was sleeping on until he found out the President had MS and then he went and confirmed his suspicions, there's a three day gap between that, that we need to tighten our belts on but I think if I am in there when they start questioning him then that should be enough. Not even the hard hardest of Republican's want to use your son to get at you. Plenty have children and more have elections they want to win. Besides…that image of your son covered in blood after the shooting cemented him as America's darling boy. If I can talk to him then I would like to get the ball rolling, figure out if they have anything on him and if they do…then we can take it from there"

"He's outside. We dragged him here. We thought with it being a Saturday…or do you want to do this somewhere else?"

"Here is good"

In truth he had never been to the White House—his father who bled blue was going to have a field day when he heard about this Aidan just knew. Besides…this might be a small piece of the case of the century but it was a small piece and he would be damned if he did not take the opportunity presented to him.

"I'll grab him"

"And then you can both step out"

Neither one of them looked happy about it but you didn't get to be a named partner by making your clients happy one hundred percent of the time. Aidan had learnt that the long way, the hard way and all the ways that existed in between.

They stood up and then.

"Miss Cregg?"

"Yes?"

"As a father can I just say you bitch slapped that woman all the way back to the small town she crawled out of with a skill that would make most parents weep"

For a second the tall and exceptionally intimidating woman (not to mention hot—Aidan Bradshaw was a happily married man but CJ Cregg was the stuff of governmental fantasies since she had stepped out in high heels and a grey silk DKNY dress two years ago) stared at him and then she smiled.

"Thank you" she said with a smirk and then she left the room Toby Zeilger behind him and he turned back to his paperwork as the teenage boy who might make or break the Presidency stepped into the room clutching his coffee cup and looking very much as if he was heading for war.

Aidan knew the feeling.

But he was a firm believer that when opportunity knocked you answered the door and he was going to get this kid through this the same way he would any other client.

If he got his father to a function where he could meet the President? Well…that got him off the hook for father's day for years.

And there you go, I hope that you enjoyed and I will do my best to bring you the next chapter sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-As Leo goes in front of the committee the night that changed his, Jake, Josh and the President's life is explored. Italics in Flashbacks.