Past Tense Rising - 7

All disclaimers and notes are in previous chapters.

Several lines of the song "If I Could Turn Back Time" do NOT, I repeat, DO
NOT belong to me. I'm not exactly sure who they do belong to, but I know that
Cher sings the song.

"Dad?" Zoey knocked on the door to the Oval Office. She frowned as she heard
what sounded like a scuffle. "Dad? You okay?"

"Hang on a second, honey!" Jed shouted. A moment later, he shouted, "Okay,
come in!"

Zoey walked into the Oval Office, her nose buried in a folder about the state
dinner. "You know what I was thinking, AJ?" she asked.

"AJ?" the man behind the desk frowned.

"Come on, AJ." Zoey said. "I know it's you. You and Dad have been trying to
fool people for years and the only person it's ever worked on for more than
five consecutive seconds was Annie. And she was three years old at the time."

AJ looked crestfallen. "Jed swore it'd work this time. Jed! Get your ass out
here!"

The door from Leo's office slowly opened and Jed came in. "How did you know?"

"There was a buzz in the lobby about some guy who resembled the President
being here. I figured it had to be AJ and I also figured that you two thought
you had the element of surprise in your favor." Zoey smirked, fanning herself
with the folder.

"Outsmarted by my own daughter." Jed said in dismay. "Zoey, don't tell anyone
about this, okay?"

"That all depends." Zoey handed him the folder. "Do you think we'll be able
to pull *this* off?"

Jed looked over the folder and a glint of mischief entered his eyes. "Don't
worry, I'll get them to come. I love the idea, sweetheart."

**

A car pulled up to the steps. The driver was in a tizzy about having to go
through all the security checks that he had had to go through. The passenger
was sitting quietly in the front passenger seat, staring straight ahead.

"You're not still mad at me, are you, love?" the driver asked. "It was an
accident. You know that."

"Yeah, I guess." she touched the patch on her eye self-consciously. "What
should I tell my friends?"

"Tell them the truth." he said. "You got glass in your eye. I'll make it up
to you, I promise. Will your boss ask questions?"

"I doubt he'll notice." she replied, picking up her purse.

"Hey." he stroked her hair. "I am so, so sorry. It's just my temper, y'know?
Maybe I should look into anger management programs."

"Yeah." she got out of the car and shut the door, walking in the door.

The driver stayed for a moment and then drove off.

**

"Danny, come on. I already told the president I'd be gone for a few days." CJ
said, leaning against her desk.

On the other side of her desk, Danny Concannon was staring open-mouthed back
at her, seething and trying to not show it.

"CJ, I've had a lot thrown at me this week." he snapped. "Believe me, the
last thing I need is you tagging along."

CJ looked down and kept her mouth shut. She deserved that, she knew it, but
the knowledge didn't make it hurt any less. She knew she had hurt Danny by
abruptly pulling the plug on their personal relationship. He had done a
pretty good job of hiding it, but she didn't blame him one bit for lashing
out at her.

"Danny, I want to help." she said. "I'd like to think we're still friends."
Though she didn't want to be friends anymore. She wanted him back. She wanted
her good old buddy/reporter/fishboy/almost-more back and she was willing to
do what she had to do to get him back.

"CJ, believe me, if I could just switch off my feelings and go back to being
friends, I would." Danny said. "I want you in my life. I can't imagine not
having you in my life. But it hurts me too much right now to pretend that all
we've ever been to each other is friends. What you said hurt me."

"Danny, I'm sorry." CJ reached out to take his hand. "I really am."

He turned away from her and sagged. "Matt would have known how to remain
friends in these circumstances. I might have been the better writer, but he
was the better all-around person." he turned back to her and smiled a little
bit. "He was the best Naval pilot, the best friend, the best brother, the
best husband, and what mattered most to him, the best father." his voice
began to break. "God, CJ, Megan's gonna grow up and barely remember the man
he was. And she got stuck with me, someone who can barely keep his own life
straight."

CJ closed her office door and sat down next to him. "Danny, let me be your
friend. I'm coming with you. I'm not letting you go alone."

**

"Ginger!" Margaret skidded to a halt in the hallway at the sight of her
friend. "Jeez, what happened to you?"

"Glass." Ginger forced a smile. "Incredibly long stupid story which makes me
look even stupider than the story is, so please don't ask me."

"All right." Margaret grimaced. "Does it hurt? The glass in your eye, I
mean?"

Ginger touched the cut on her face, then the eyepatch. "Yeah. I put a glass
in the microwave and it exploded just as I got to it. I've spent the past
three and a half hours in the hospital."

"Good thing Mick was home." Cathy remarked. "You couldn't have driven
yourself."

"Yeah, good thing." Ginger echoed.

"Hey, Sam!" Margaret shouted at the approaching deputy communications
director. "Call Ainsley, will you? And tell her Ginger showed up."

"I don't have much time, Margaret." Sam protested just as a determined
looking CJ came out of her office and closed the door, intent on giving Danny
a few minutes to collect himself. "I thought you were gone."

"Not yet." CJ said. "Danny decided to drive down, so we're not leaving until
tomorrow morning."

"Where are you and Danny going?" Cathy butted in.

Both Sam and CJ ignored her.

"Could you run this memo down to Josh for me, and tell Donna to call Ainsley
and tell her Ginger's back?"

"Sure." CJ grabbed the memo and took off, without a second glance at Cathy or
Ginger.

"So did you agree to go with Leo?" Cathy asked Margaret. "Ginger, Toby's
looking for you."

"Yeah." Margaret said. "Hey, Ginger, be careful. He's already gone through
three temps and he made two of them cry?"

"What happened to the second one?" Sam butted in.

"She got angry and quit. He made the third one cry." Margaret replied.

"Thanks for the warning." Ginger said dryly as she headed in the general
direction of Toby's office, ignoring the curious stares at her appearance.

**

"Doo doo... if I could turn back time..." Donna sang to herself. "If I could
find a way... to take back all the words that hurt you... If I could reach
the stars... I'd give them all to you... oh!" she turned beat red when she
realized CJ was standing in the doorway.

"What's that song, Donna?" she asked thoughtfully.

" 'If I Could Turn Back Time,' by Cher." Donna replied. "You won't tell Josh
or Sam about this, will you?"

"Can you get me a copy of the song by the time I leave tonight?" CJ asked.

"Yeah." Donna replied.

"My lips are sealed." CJ promised. "Oh, by the way, Sam asked me to ask you
if you could track Ainsley down and let her know that Ginger came in."

"Consider it done." Donna picked up the telephone.

**

tbc

Past Tense Rising - 8

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