"Will Baby Make Three?" part nine.
Disclaimer: still where I left it in part one.

This part picks up two months after CJ and Danny found out she was pregnant.

Danny came into her office. "Don't forget today's the day. We both make our announcements and run." He was grinning wickedly at her.
"We're not going to be able to run fast enough to get away from Leo. He's the one who frightens me."
Danny walked around her desk and took her hand. "We'll deal with it. Maybe he's not such a hard ass after all."
"And maybe he's worse and he's just been showing me his good side all this time." She smiled. "I'm sorry, Danny, it's not you. Leo has been on my case since I took this job. He's harder on me then he is on any of the guys. I don't think when Leo said 'Avoid conflicts of interest by staying away from Danny' that it translated to 'Go right ahead and date Danny, CJ, and, oh, by the way, get pregnant as fast as you can'." He kissed her softly on the lips. "You can take him. I'll be in my office talking to my editor. We'll swap stories later. Bye."
"Bye." It was time for the morning staff meeting. "Oh, well, here goes nothing...except maybe my job."

She was distracted at the staff meeting, but not so much that she didn't participate at all. She didn't want to be asked too many questions. She just wanted to make her announcement at the end of the meeting so she could go back to her office and pack up her stuff if she got fired.

As everyone was getting up to leave, CJ asked them all to give her just a few minutes to say something.
"As everyone has been telling me for the past few months, I look a bit pale at times or they've noticed that I have been queasy and eating bland food. I have thought about this statement for months now." Toby was already starting to get bored. She could tell by his shuffling feet and his quick glances toward the door. "I wanted to tell everyone at the same time so that no one felt slighted. I also wanted to mention it before I started showing, which I am a little." Heads snapped in her direction; eyes staring at her stomach. "I'm four months pregnant. Yes, you can trace that back to the night of the shooting. Thank you for listening. I'm sorry I took so much of your time."
Josh was by her side now, and proclaiming, "I'm gonna be a godfather!"
"Josh, you said 'godfather', right? So that eliminates you. CJ, is it Danny's?" All heads again went straight to her. "Yes, Sir." She was holding onto Josh's hand so tight, it was beginning to hurt him.
Leo ran his hand through the little hair he still has on his head. "Everyone but CJ and Josh leave."
"Why doesn't Josh have to leave?" Toby asked, annoyed.
"Because CJ"s got him by a death grip over there and I take that to mean she wants him with her."
Everyone left as quickly as they could. Sam let out a soft, "Congratulations, CJ." Toby pushed him out the door.

"CJ, you understand what a conflict of interest is, right? The Press Secretary dating a member of the White House Press Corps is a conflict of interest. It doesn't matter that Danny is the senior member, he is still a member." He looked at her hand. "CJ, let go of Josh. You're gonna break his hand."
"Josh, I'm sorry."
"It's no problem, CJ, really." He was shaking out his hand.
"Josh, go around to her other side. Let her hold your other hand for a while."
He gave her a small but warm smile as he took it. She was squeezing hard again. "Hey, could ya take it easy a bit?" he whispered to her.
"Sure, sorry."
"Kids, focus on me, please." Leo was pointing to himself. "CJ, you said you're four months pregnant? That you traced it back to the night of the shooting? Maybe you were just in emotional turmoil that night. Yes?" She knew what he was looking for but couldn't give it to him.
"Leo, we were all in emotional turmoil that night. Danny had been chasing me for almost a year at that point. Truthfully, I liked the attention and I liked Danny. Leo, it wasn't an accident that I let him take me home that night."
"That's what I'm saying, CJ, just because you wanted to be with him that night doesn't mean a lifetime. You follow what I'm saying?"
"Ouch!" Josh pulled his hand away from CJ's grip. "Here, have the other one again."
"Leo, the thing between Danny and I wasn't a one night stand. We've been together ever since."
"You two did a great job keeping it secret. If you weren't pregnant, nobody would've known." Leo seemed pleased but not being aware of CJ's past pregnancy history, he couldn't have known what that comment did to her.
"I'm glad you're pleased with us for keeping it out of the press. But I am also glad that I'm pregnant. I'm glad that Danny is thrilled with the prospect of becoming a father. I'm glad that whatever happens today or tomorrow or five months or five years from now, that I will be content in the knowledge that Danny and I love each other and that our child was conceived from that love. I'm glad that she will know every day of her life that we love her. I'm sorry that it's against the rules. We didn't plan it. But it's happened and I'm not going to stand here and tell you that it was just one night when I know that's not true." She was crying now. Josh was holding her in his arms.
"CJ, I'm not saying Danny is a bad guy. We all know he's not. But you love him? Where the hell did that come from?" He stood up to pace a bit.
"It comes from the fact that he is a kind, wonderful and generous man who has a great sense of humor. He's good at what he does, personally and professionally. I know that this looks bad. I seem to remember having a similar conversation with Sam about Laurie. I know that the truth is not always depicted in the tabloids. We're risking a great deal here but it's worth it to both of us. Do you really want to make either one of us choose? Do you really want to make me say I'm sorry that we're bringing a baby into this world? I can't Leo. If you want to fire me, then do it. I'll pack up today." She began to leave.

The President walked into the room at this point. "CJ, I hear congratulations are in order." He hugged her. "Give my best to Danny."
"No offense, Sir, but I've been talking to CJ about this and the thought of congratulating her had not come up yet."
"Then it should have, my friend. Finding love is difficult but they did it. Having children is a wonderful and blessed event and they're going to experience that in a few months, if I heard correctly. By the way, CJ, I'm glad that there is a reason for the way you've been looking lately because I was beginning to get worried."
"Thank you, Sir." She was wiping her eyes. "Look, I'd really like to go to my office and pack. I'll be out of here as soon as I can get everything to my car." Josh was supporting her. She didn't look good.
"Maybe you should stay right where you are, CJ. Abby can have a look at you." The President was on the phone before she could answer. "She's on the way." Looking confused, he asked Josh, "If Danny is the father, why are you here?"
"Because I'm her friend."
"Jed, she was holding onto him so damn hard, she almost broke his hand. I didn't think it would be a good thing to have this conversation without some kind of support for her."
"Well, Leo, that was mighty kind of you. At least you were worried about that much."
"Sir, what do you mean?"
"The woman is pregnant. She shares this news with us and you lecture her about her perceived wrong. Am I getting this right?" He kissed his wife as she entered the room. She went over to CJ.
"Sir, you're getting it right but you must keep in mind that this is a conflict of interest. No matter how you look at it, it's not good. We can't win this one."
"I don't leak him stories, Leo. I don't know how many times I've told you that. We don't even want to talk about work when we're home."
"When we're home?! Please don't tell me the two of you are living together. God, I don't know how much more I can take."
"We're not living together."
"But you may as well be, right? Given the hours you two work, what the hell else could you possibly have to talk about?" He looked like he honestly didn't know.
"Leo, did it ever occur to you that there is life outside of work? With all due respect, maybe that's why your marriage fell apart. We have families to talk about. We talk about ourselves and the baby. We discuss possible names. We're trying to decide if we want to know what the sex of the baby is or if we should wait. We need to think about picking godparents.
"Hey, I thought I could be the godfather." Josh piped up.
"Your name actually came up, Josh. Like I said, we're discussing it. Nothing is final yet."
"What about marriage plans?"
"I'll let you know when we know, Leo. That's all the information I have for you at this point."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a reporter, CJ. I'm your boss."
"And I'm your boss, Leo, and don't you forget it. If anything is wrong with her or that baby because of what you pulled here..." Abby interrupted him. "Jed, she needs to go home and rest. Have Danny take her if he can."
"No, I have to pack up my office first. I may as well make it one last trip." CJ was fighting the tears in her eyes.
"Who the hell fired you?" Abby asked her.
"Leo was about to when the President came in."
"Leo?" Even Abby was surprised by this.
"You were about to fire her? On who's authority?"
"Sir, I wasn't about to fire her. She offered to clean out her office if I was going to fire her and then you walked in so I didn't have a chance to clarify things."
"So, you weren't going to fire her then?"
"No, but I was going to continue the lecture some more."
"Why? Couldn't you see that she is no position for that right now?"
"Now I can, Sir. CJ, you know where I stand on this issue but I am sorry for any trauma I caused you and the baby. Go home, don't pack, just go home. Take no work with you, just rest."
"Thank you, Sir. I'm not fired then?"
"No, CJ, you're not. Don't make me sorry about this."
"It'll eventually come out. We're not going to be able to stop that, no matter how careful we continue to be."
"We'll deal with it then, you can be sure."
"Stop threatening her, Leo, she needs her rest. CJ, go to your office. I'll call Danny for you and he can meet you there and take you home." Abby was gesturing for Josh to help CJ back to her office. "Make sure she takes nothing with her."
"Yes, Ma'am."

The President waited for them to leave the office.
"Leo, don't you ever do that again, you hear?"
"Sir, I was looking out for you and the administration. That's my job, in case you forgot."
"I didn't forget. Do you realize what it would look like for the President of the United States to fire a woman who is about to become a single mother? We'd be handing the headlines to the reporters. Hell, we'd be selling the papers for them."
"Sorry, Sir. I was looking at it from a different point of view."
"Get over the fact that it's Danny. You like Danny; we all do. Our Press Secretary is going to have a baby in a few months. We should be grateful that she's starting to show and that she decided to tell us the truth finally. At least it gives us time to get used to it before she goes into labor during a briefing and we're all standing around with our mouths hanging open."
"That would be quite the front page picture, Sir."
Abby had waited long enough. "Are either of you happy for CJ? Jed, you sounded like you were but you still seem to have some reservations. Leo, be nice to her."
"I'm happy for her." They both answered at once.
"Good, I'm glad to hear that." She smiled at them. "Stop talking about her as if she just pushed the nuclear war button at the Pentagon. She's in love. These things happen. Give her and Danny time. Hope for a wedding before the baby comes. It always looks better in politics." They were both surprised by that last comment, although it was true.
"Danny must have proposed. He's the kind of guy who would."
"He did. She turned him down at the time." Abby answered.
"So somebody in the West Wing did know she was pregnant."
"We talk, Jed. I'm a doctor and her friend. I wasn't going to break a confidence. CJ doesn't either. You should know that by now, Leo. She does good work if you give her the chance."
"I know she does. We'll see how things progress."
"We can handle this, Leo." The President patted his arm. "We'll make it through this just fine."

Danny was able to get CJ home with no problem. Abby had made all the proper calls to get her out of the White House without incident. He put her straight to bed.
"Danny, stay here with me."
"Of course. Come here and snuggle up." He opened his arms for her.
"How'd it go with your editor?"
"He congratulated us and wants to know when I'll need time off to help you out when you have the baby. He was remarkably understanding. I guess I got off a lot easier then you did."
"Yeah. I thought I was going to get fired. Leo was not happy. I almost broke Josh's hand and all he was trying to do was help me out by providing much needed support. The President totally threw me off by congratulating us and giving me a hug. I didn't know what the hell was going on by that time. I was crying and Josh was holding me. I got dizzy so Jed called for Abby who decided I needed to go home and that you should take me. Anyway, I still have my job." She looked up at Danny then down at her slightly bulging stomach. "And I still have you and 'Surprise' over here."
"You are not going to nickname our kid 'Surprise' are you?"
"No. It's just we don't have a name yet. Oh, by the way, Josh wants to be godfather."
"You said he would and we agreed he'd be great. When you go back to work, tell him he's elected."
She smiled. "He'll be thrilled."
"Enough talking, you need your rest. We have plenty of time to think about these things."

TBC