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The West Wing My Way
Chapter Three |
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CJ's and Toby's plane lands in New Hampshirt around three in the morning. The lobby of his hotel in Nashua is closed when they get there, so CJ is stuck in Toby's room. He tries to get her to take the bed and let him sleep on the floor. "Are you crazy, Toby? Do you have any idea how filthy this floor is?" Toby shrugs. "Well, I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, CJ." She sighs and sits on the bed. "Toby, the way I see it--right now at three o'clock in the morning-- we're both adults. You're married, we're friends, nothing is gonna happen if we sleep on the same mattress. You sleep under the sheet and I'll sleep on top. It's either that, or I'm sleeping in your car." |
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Toby walks around the bed, trying to figure out how to make her idea work. He grabs a pillow. "Okay, you put your head up this end and I'll--" CJ laughs. "Toby, I'm not sleeping next to your feet!" She grabs a pillow and his keys off the nightstand and starts out the door. "CJ, wait. You're right, nothing's wrong with us sharing the same mattress. Now, let's get some sleep. Morning will be here before you know it." |
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So they settle into bed, Toby, a married man, and CJ, his closest friend of nearly twenty-years. He makes CJ sleep under the sheets, though, and he sleeps on top. Toby wakes up when CJ lays her head on his chest in her sleep. It's natural for two people sleeping in a bed together to touch, but Toby is so comfortable with her head on his chest that it scares him. CJ had assured him that nothing would happen, but she was wrong. Something did happen. She cried. In her sleep, with her head on Toby's chest, CJ Cregg cried. |
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** ** |
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CJ is glad when Toby catches up with her outside him apartment. She could tell that some me from the party were following her, and she's just sober enough to be scared. Sure, they haven't said anything, but it is nice to have some company as she walks the five blocks to her hotel.
"So, how long are you gonna be in town?" Toby has never been good at small talk, but her desperately wants to hear her slightly husky yet meoldic voice. "I go back at the end of next week." They walk in an uncomfortable silence for a while. "I have to go to parties with Andi this week. She's running a campaign for a Senator from New York." CJ nods. "So, you and Andi are together?" She hopes he didn't hear the disappointment in her voice. "Yeah," Toby sighs. "We're engaged." CJ is almost sure she heard regret in his voice. |
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She stops walking in front of her hotel and turns to face Toby. The moon and streetlights make her eye shine brighter than the lights at the party, and his knees get weak again. He had spent the entire walk from his apartment wondering what he would do if she asked him up, but it is obvious that that isn't going to happen. CJ extends her hand, "Thanks for the talk, Toby. And the walk." Toby shakes her hand. |
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She's almost to the door when he realizes that he hasn't heard her laugh yet. "Hey, CJ...I gotta warn you, I'm nothing like the charming man you talked to today. Today you met my better half, Jack Daniels." And there it is: her laugh. It is the first time Toby heard it, but he knows that he will spend the rest of his life, from this moment on, living for her laugh. |
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Chapter Four |
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Chapter Two |
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Fan Fiction Home |
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