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Toby hadn't even reached his office the next morning before he was ambushed by Bonnie. "Your mother called again," she said, handing him a phone message. "I don't understand, can't the woman call me at home?" "She said she tried several times but you didn't pick up." He threw his things down on his desk and read the note with a scowl, crumpling it as he finished. "The fun just never stops." ***** "Well, this is my office!" C.J. said, spreading her arms wide. Katie looked around. "Wow." "Yeah?" "It's really small." "It's not that bad!" "I mean, you guys are running the country here, you would think --" "To be fair, we're not exactly running the country. All we're here for, essentially, is to keep the man who does run the country from making a fool out of himself on a daily basis." Josh strolled in. "Hey." "Hey, Josh, this is --" "No, let me guess. The infamous Katie." Katie smiled. "Oh God, what has she said about me?" "I know everything there is to know about you, young lady, all the way up to embarrassing home videos and naked baby photos." Katie looked mortified. "Are you serious?" C.J. laughed. "No, he's not. But just about everything short of that." "Try as I might, though, I couldn't manage to get anything bad out of her. So all I know about you is that you've got a perfect 4.0 for your college career, you're a brilliant cellist, and the star center on the girls varsity basketball team." "Well, we're not exactly known for our girls basketball program." "True enough," Josh conceeded. "C.J., I hate to interrupt the grand tour, but there's been a small turn of events. Do you mind if I steal your sister away for a couple minutes, Katie?" "No, not at all." "Oh, wait --" He saw Charlie outside in the hallway. "Hey, Charlie!" Charlie came in. "What do you need, Josh?" "I need to talk to C.J. You wouldn't mind showing this stunning lass around for awhile, would you?" "Oh, you must be Katie," Charlie said, extending his hand. Katie shook it. "Yeah. I feel like a celebrity around here!" "Well your reputation precedes you. I'd be glad to show you around. Zoey will want to meet you." "I'm going to meet the President's daughter!" "Play your cards right," Josh said, "you might even meet the President." "I'll catch up with you later, for lunch, if not sooner," C.J. said. "Thanks for doing this, Charlie." "Absolutely." "Good to meet you, Katie," Josh called after her as she left. "Yeah, you too!" "So," C.J. said, "a small turn of events?" "Yes, small." "I thought you got to Anderson and Malone." "I did. That bill's gonna pass." "Oh don't tell me --" "Yep," Josh sighed. "A pretty large number of House Republicans have decided to oppose the education bill." "Why? That was a sure thing!" "Apparently this is retribution for 1042." "Are you kidding me? That was months ago!" "They've been saving it for something they knew could really hurt us." "Well what do they want?" "I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'll find out. In the meantime, no hint of any alarm to the press. We're going to get this back." "Got it." Josh started to leave, then turned back. "Oh, by the way, your sister's pretty damn cool." "Told you." ***** "Hey," C.J. said, sitting down in the chair across trom Toby's desk. He stopped typing. "What's going on?" "Josh told me there's going to be problem with the floor vote." "Yeah, I know." He gave her a quizzical look. "You knew Josh would have told me." "Yes." "So?" "So, I wanted an excuse to come see how you are." He started to respond and she cut him off quickly. "And don't say you're fine." "Actually I was going to say I feel like shit." "What now?" "My mother called Diane last night and she's flying in from New York for the funeral as we speak." "Oh," she said, pointedly. "Yes." "So -- she's flying into D.C.?" "Yeah." "Your parents lived in the city?" "Rockville." "I never knew that." "Well, there's a lot you don't know." "Sure." She paused before pressing on. "Still, living so close..." "What?" "I don't know, you'd think they would be around now and then, to see their son at work, hear some of your speeches." "I wasn't kidding, C.J. My father and I were not close. We didn't talk. I was dead to him." "That's awful." "Yeah, well." He sighed. "They always loved Diane, though. Even when my father and I were civil he still seemed to only want me around when she was with me. It was the one good thing I ever did in his eyes, marrying her. They adored Diane." C.J. noticed his eyes gained a certain subtle glow when he spoke of his ex-wife. "That's why she's coming. He was closer to her than he ever was to me." "You going to be okay with seeing her?" "Are you?" "Toby, it's not about me." "You honestly believe that?" "It was a long time ago." "All right." "She doesn't know about me, does she?" "Well she knows about you, but she doesn't know you." C.J. looked relieved. "Okay, good." Katie knocked tentatively. "C.J.?" "Oh, hey," C.J. smiled at her. "Come in. Katie, this is Toby Ziegler, our Communications Director." "Hi." "I've heard a lot about you." He laughed, eyeing C.J. "I'm sure you've had that a lot today." "Yes, I have," she said, rolling her eyes at her sister. "Toby told me to shut up when I told him about you." "Yes, after you had already told me twenty times," he retorted. Katie watched them tease each other with a careful eye and couldn't help but smile. "Well, if I'm not interrupting --" "No, are you ready to go to lunch?" "If you are. Nice meeting you, Toby." He was amused by the level of familiarity she had assumed instinctively. In just the short time he had known her she reminded him of C.J. a lot. "Nice to meet you." ***** "Did you get to meet everyone?" C.J. asked, sitting across from Katie in a crowded restaurant. "Yeah, pretty much. I met Leo and Sam, and Charlie and Zoey are great." "I'm glad to hear that." "So," Katie began with a mischievous smile, "which one was the guy you left me for last night?" C.J. knew what she was getting at, but couldn't avoid the question. "the last one you met, Toby." "I thought so. I would've gone for Sam myself." C.J. had to laugh. Her sister was always looking after her love life. "First of all, I'm not going for anyone. And stay away from Sam." "He's cute!" "Yeah, he decided you were cute before he even met you. What made you think it was Toby?" "I don't know, seeing you two together, even as briefly as I did, you seemed to be really good... friends, if you insist." "What does that mean?" "It seemed like something more to me, but you know I'm just a romantic at heart." "Yeah, well, how's Cupid's love life doing?" "Go ahead, change the subject, that's fine. There hasn't been anyone serious, not since I broke up with Mike. I told you about that, right?" "Yes." "I've just been having a good time with friends, you know, large groups, a couple dates here and there." "That's smart." "Nothing interesting." "Before you start," C.J. said, raising a hand to stop her, "there's nothing interesting going on over here either." "I beg to differ." Katie leaned forward confidentially. "Really, sister to sister, what's going on with you and Toby?" "Nothing!" "I just don't believe you!" C.J. saw she wan't going to be able to deny it altogether. Katie just knew her too well. "All right. There was, was, something between Toby and I. But that was a long time ago, and we're friends now." "You never told me about this! When?" "When we first met. During the primaries." "Why did it end?" C.J. looked away. She hated to say it out loud. She never told anyone before. "He was married." "Oh God, Claude..." "It destroyed their marriage. They had problems before that, but that was definitely what caused the divorce. I didn't know he was married at first, but I still felt -- I still feel horribly guilty. I'm just glad it didn't destroy our friendship as well." "Did anyone else know about it?" "The First Lady, but that was it, as far as I know. We managed to keep it a secret for the most part. She and the President are like the poster children for the perfect relationship, so I don't know if she necessarily approved, but she was supportive." "Claude, I would have been supportive." "I know you would have, and I should have told you, but I was just so --" "Don't say ashamed. You should never feel ashamed about love." "Who said anything about love?" Katie saw something she had never seen before in her sister's eyes when she connected the thought of Toby and love, even in denial of it. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she realized it. "You're still in love with him." C.J. looked at her watch. "You know I really should get back to the West Wing." "Avoidance is a step up from denial, I suppose." "Katie." "All right, I'll let it go. For now." ***** "You still wear your ring." Toby looked up to see a woman with shoulder-length auburn hair standing in the doorway, her arms crossed. "How did you get in here?" "I don't even get a hello?" "Hello, Diane. How did you get in here?" "I told them I was your wife." "Wait a second, they cleared you just because you said you were my wife?" "Yes." "The security here is terrifying." She moved to sit across from him in the chair, putting her feet up on his desk. "You still wear your ring," she repeated. "You still keep my name." She sized him up for a moment and flashed him an icy smile. "Would you have called me if your mother didn't?" "Probably not." "I'm sorry for your loss." "You were closer to him than I was." "Which is why I'm saying the loss must be harder on you." "All right." "Have you seen him at all, since -- ?" "Once. He refused to speak to me. You've kept in contact with them?" "Mostly over the phone, yes. You know what?" "What?" "We've just spent five minutes in the same room being relatively civil to each other." "Even with a couple years' time of festering resentment." "I'm very proud of us." "Amazing that in the wake of my divorce I'd end up on better terms with my ex than my own father." "Oh, make no mistake about it, Toby, we'll never be on good terms." "I had no illusions that we would." "Well," she said, standing, "I should get out of here before we start fighting. I just wanted to let you know I was here in person." "Okay." "The funeral is Friday?" "11 o'clock." "Okay. And Toby?" "Yeah?" "I really am sorry for your loss." ***** C.J. walked down the corridors back to her office, thinking about everything Katie had said at lunch. She told herself her sister was just picking up on feelings that were buried years ago if she was picking up on anything real at all. But she wasn't convinced. Katie was very perceptive, and she knew C.J. better than anyone. She wondered if there could still be something there. She was so lost in thought that when she turned the corner she ran right into a woman, knocking the contents of her purse all over the floor. "I'm so sorry!" C.J. bent over to help her collect her things. "It's okay, don't worry about it." She stood after gathering everything up. "I'm Diane Ziegler." "Oh, Toby's ex-wife," C.J. said, caught off guard. "I'm C.J. Cregg." "He told you about me. Nothing too horrible, I hope." "Only the nicest things a man can say about his ex." "I'm going to be in town a few days, for his father's funeral." "Yeah, he mentioned that. It's a tragedy that they left things the way they did." Diane raised an eyebrow. "You two must be really close." Oh God, she knows, C.J. thought. "I guess you could say that," she ventured warily. "It just surprises me because Toby had always been sort of a loner. But I'm glad to see he has a friend to confide in. I just hope he hasn't biased you against me." "Not at all." C.J. was relieved she didn't seem to realize. "Well I have to go -- I haven't even checked into the hotel yet. It was nice to meet you, C.J." "You too." She watched Diane leave and buried her face in her hands, consumed with guilt. ***** "Are you busy?" Toby entered C.J.'s office and sat on the couch, not waiting for an answer. "No." She finished reading the last sentence of a memo and sat down next to Toby. "How did it go?" "Better than I expected. We avoided a screaming match anyway, so that's something." "I ran into her just now, literally." "Really?" "Yeah." "C.J., you shouldn't feel guilty." "I do. I ruined your marriage, Toby, and I can't even comfort myself with the image of her as a horrible bitch anymore. She's really -- nice." "Wait till you get to know her." "I'm serious, Toby." "We had problems long before you came along." "I understand that, but if I hadn't come along --" "Then we would have gone on in misery for years. It's not like if you hadn't come along we could've fixed everything and love would have triumphed over all. We weren't compatible. Neither one of us wanted to have less control in the relationship. By the end of it, we really hated each other. I couldn't deal with the fighting anymore. You probably did us both a huge favor." "Don't say that. I might be able to believe the rest of it but please don't say that." "All right. Just don't lose any sleep over it, because that would make me feel awful. I've burdened you with enough of my problems already." "I don't mind it. But I'll try to let go of this one. Do you need anything?" "No. I just needed to see a comforting face." "And you had to settle for me." He smiled at her. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
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