Past Tense Rising - 10

All disclaimers and notes are in the previous nine parts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the morning, CJ was awakened by a thrashing Danny.

"Danny!" she grabbed her watch. "Seven in the morning, wonderful." she began
to shake Danny lightly. "Danny, wake up! You're having a dream!"

"No!" he cried weakly, still thrashing. "CJ! Jesus God, don't take her away!"
He jerked awake and upwards, still gasping.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." CJ began to rub his shoulders. "It's okay,
Danny." she reached over and switched the lamp on.

"Thank God." Danny rubbed his face and lay back. Before he closed his eyes,
CJ could see the haunted look in them.

"It's okay." CJ touched his face. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"The Newseum shooting." he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose and
squeezing his eyes shut. "God, they're so real every time.." he took a few
deep breaths, trying to stave off the panic that always came along with this
recurring dream.

"I dream about it too sometimes." CJ confided. No one else knew. It didn't
happen often enough to cause much more damage than a ruined night of sleep
here and there. But, judging from the effect this one dream was having on
Danny, he was having trouble putting it to rest, just like Josh had. "Mostly
I keep seeing Josh sitting there, Toby told me about finding him, and I can
just imagine Toby's face when he saw him." she closed her own eyes and a tear
made its way down her cheek.

"I don't even remember writing the story." Danny kissed her forehead. "But I
must have written one because it showed up in the papers. The only thing I
can clearly remember besides all the chaos is begging God for your life and
despising myself when I heard about Josh and the President and those two
Secret Service agents." he began to involuntarily clench and unclench his
fists. "And I remember the rage." he looked at her. "When I heard they were
after Charlie and Zoey, I... I lost it, I think. I trashed my office."

"It's okay, Danny." CJ said again, taking his hand. Obviously, Danny had been
more affected than anyone else knew. "I'm here and I understand."

**

Later that day:

"Leo, you wanted to see me?" Toby poked his head in Leo's office.

"Yeah, come in. Shut the door." Leo said. "I assume you've gotten the
President's memo."

"Yeah." Toby replied. To be honest, he had thought it was a joke at first. "I
don't think it's a good idea."

"Oh, it's not as bad as you think." Leo scoffed, standing up. "I talked to CJ
this morning and she thinks it's a good idea."

"She's waiting until she gets home to yell at you." Toby replied without
missing a beat.

A rueful Leo rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, that's what Josh said. Okay, I guess
that's it. I wanted to make sure you knew what was what." His eyes narrowed
when Toby didn't move. "Is there something else?"

"I want to talk to you about Ginger." Toby said. He had thought about this
for most of the night and decided that getting another perspective on the
issue was the best way to go. 'Besides,' he argued with himself, 'I'll kill
anyone who's messing with my Ginger--'

At that point he had sat up and said aloud, "Wait a minute. When did she
become *my* Ginger?"

"I was going to ask you about her anyway." Leo sat on his desk. "I know she's
been coming in late a lot lately. Is she all right?"

Toby shrugged helplessly. "I don't think she's okay, Leo. Yesterday she came
in with an eyepatch. It was bigger than my fist. I don't think she's okay at
all."

Leo was concerned. He leaned forward. He may not have known Ginger all that
well, but he was fond of her and considered her to be a sweet, if not
sometimes timid, girl. "Toby, what are you saying?" he asked.

"She said she had an accident with the microwave and a glass." Toby got up
and started pacing around. "First of all, she's not that stupid. You know how
she's always been a little quiet? These days she hardly speaks at all and
when I yell at her, she--"

"You yell at her?" Leo raised his eyebrows. "On a regular basis?"

Toby looked embarassed and even a little contrite at the same time. "I
decided to start toning down a little after I made that last temp cry
yesterday. I haven't yelled at Ginger yet today."

"Bring out the cake." Leo said. "For you that's an accomplishment."

"Well, the past few months, I've been noticing that whenever I start shouting
at her, she begins to flinch away, usually backwards."

"I've heard you shout before, Toby." Leo said sarcastically. "It's a loud and
at times obnoxious sound."

"Physically." Toby clarified for his boss. "Like she thought I was going to
hit her or something."

"Good Lord." Leo stood up and began to pace himself. "Toby, are you sure?"

"I've been watching her for the past several months, Leo, since she got out
of the hospital." Toby replied.

"Why was Ginger in the hospital?" Leo asked. "And is she seeing anyone?"

"I asked Margaret." Toby said. "She said it was Mick somebody. And she was in
the hospital because she fell down a flight of stairs at her apartment
building."

Leo fell silent, disturbed.

Toby's eyes widened and he paled when he realized what he had just said.

TBC

Past Tense Rising - 11

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