Disclaimer: The West Wing and its characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers Television and NBC. No Copyright infringement is intended. The title of this story comes from the Heather Nova song "Heart and Shoulder." It's set about one year in the future; the time frame isn't really important, I just wanted to allow for enough time to pass that her relationship with Danny would have run its course. I didn't want to deal with the end of it because I can't think of any way it could end well, and I'm a C.J./Danny fan too so I don't want to make him the bad guy. But I'm not going to make any guesses about where the characters' lives would be a year or so down the road; I'm only assuming her relationship with Danny is over and not much of an issue and the Democrats won the midterm elections. ***** C.J. strode into her office, finding her assistant, Carol. "Good morning!" she greeted her cheerfully. Carol looked up with a slightly raised eyebrow, surprised at her boss' unusually happy demeanor. "It's Monday morning." "Yes." "And you're smiling." "Do you know what I'm doing today, Carol?" "You have staff in ten minutes." "Well, that's certainly true, but it's not exactly a reason to jump out of bed on a Monday morning." Carol consulted the schedule she held in her hands. "You have a briefing at noon." "Carol!" "Could it be that your little sister is coming to visit tonight?" "Yes it could." C.J. emerged from behind her desk with a notebook and a stack of papers in hand. "She's flying in from California tonight to spend five days in town. Five days with my brilliant little sister, to show her around the city, show her off to everyone... She's a senior at Berkeley, did you know that?" "C.J." "Yes, I'm on my way." She left her office for the senior staff meeting and saw Josh and Sam just ahead in the hallway. She hurried to join them. "Guess what I'm doing tonight." Josh pretended to give it a lot of thought. "Let me just take a wild stab at it.... You're going to Washington National to pick up your sister Katie, who, by the way, is a semester away from completing her bachelor's degree in education at the esteemed Berkeley University, which, it must further be noted, she is attending to follow in her beloved older sister's footsteps." "I mentioned that before?" "Once or twice," Sam smiled. "And, also, you mean University of California at Berkeley. Berkley University is in Michigan." "Thanks for clearing that up." "Sure," Sam grinned. "Also bear in mind she just made the Dean's list for the seventh consecutive semester, and she's already been courted by some of the finest secondary schools in California," C.J. added. Josh laughed. "Ah, she's been courted." "Forget all that stuff," Sam said. "What I really want to know is, is she cute?" She turned to him wrathfully. "Sam!" "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" "You better be." They entered Leo's office together. Toby was already inside and sat on the couch; Leo stood, leaning on the edge of his desk. C.J. sat next to Toby. "My sister's flying in tonight." "Yes, I know." "She's--" "Shut up." Leo cleared his throat, signaling he was ready to start the meeting. "This is shaping up to be a light week so let's just get through this quickly. We have two major bills going in front of Congress this week that we have to get passed -- Josh, call Malone and John Anderson and make sure they're on board for 440, whoever else you think we need to get to." "Done." "Our education bill should go through no problem," Leo continued. "Over the weekend the President of France will be visiting the White House, so there's plenty of preparations to be made there. Oh, and the First Lady wanted me to remind everyone that Thursday is the President's birthday so you should all keep the evening open." "Is she going to give us any details on this, or even, you know, acknowledge there's gonna be a party?" Sam asked. Leo sighed, irritated. "I would imagine, at some point, but for the time being she's taking great pains to do this well and keep it secret from her very nosy husband." There was a quiet knock at the door and Ginger poked her head in. "Yeah?" Leo prompted. "Sorry to interrupt. Toby, there's a phone call for you. It's your mother." Josh snickered. "Toby, your mommy's calling -- you'd better run home before you're grounded!" Toby ignored him. "Can it wait?" "She said it was an emergency." He looked to Leo, who nodded. "Go ahead. In fact, we're pretty much done here. You can all go." C.J. was the last one out, and she stopped for a moment on the way back to her office, seeing Toby on the phone. He was rubbing his forehead, his eyebrows knotted, looking down at the ground. He seemed troubled and worried, and she felt an urge to ask him what was wrong and offer her support. But she quickly thought better of it and continued on to her office. ***** C.J. spent the rest of the day tiptoeing around Toby. Everytime someone said something to him she saw him snap at them or ignore them altogether, and while she knew he was often withdrawn and irritable, she could tell this was something else. Whatever that phone call had been about, it really got to him. But no one else seemed to notice. She went to Josh for a second opinion and found him on the phone. He signaled that it would just be a minute. "Really? Oh, that's great, Bob. Okay. Okay, thank you." He hung up. "Was that Malone?" "Yeah, 440's gonna go through. What do you need?" "Oh, nothing. I was just about to leave to get Katie, and I was bored." "Really, what do you need?" She sat down in the chair across from him. "Have you noticed Toby acting ... strangely today?" "What do you mean, strangely?" "I don't know, he's just been acting strangely since he got that phone call this morning. You haven't noticed it?" "No. What do you care?" "He's my friend, Josh." "Okay, I'll make you a suggestion," he said, leaning forward. "Ask Toby why Toby's been acting strangely." "That's certainly a valid suggestion." "But." "She thought about it for a moment, weighing the options. "No, it's a good suggestion." Without another word she got up and left his office. Josh shrugged to himself. "Well, glad I could help..." ***** Toby didn't look up to acknowledge the knock at his door. "What?" She didn't leave the doorway, wary of intruding any more than she felt she had to. "I just wanted to see if you were okay." He laughed. It wasn't a kind laugh. "You wanted to see if I was okay?" "Yeah." "I'm fine." "It's just that--" "C.J., I have a lot of work to do." She gave him a long look, trying to decide if he meant it or if she cared. Grudgingly, she concluded that he did -- at least the part about wanting to be alone -- and she decided to honor his wishes. She flashed him as warm and apologetic a smile as she could manage, and left. ***** C.J. returned to her office and sat, feet up on the desk, arms folded. She didn't begrudge Toby his wish to keep his problems private; she knew he was a secretive person and expected no other reaction. Still, she'd always had something of a mother hen instinct, especially with Toby, as she felt she was probably the only person in the West Wing who could make any viable claim to knowing him at all. It was frustrating not to know how to help. She looked at her watch. Katie's plane was scheduled to land in about half an hour. She started to get ready to leave, but looked up to see Toby pass by her office door with his coat on. A lot of work to do, my ass! she thought. Changing her mind quickly, she rifled through her cluttered desk for her address book. She found her sister's cell phone number and dialed. Katie answered after two rings. "Hello?" "Hey, it's me." She already sounded apologetic. "Hey, Claude! We took off a little late -- I think we're going to land in 45 minutes. But I can't wait to see you!" "I can't wait to see you too." C.J. grimaced. "But I'm afraid I'm going to be even later than you are." "Oh, was there an emergency at work?" "Not exactly. I think a friend of mine needs someone to talk to, and I want to be there for him. "Him?" C.J. could just picture the smirk her sister was wearing. "It's not like that." "Well, that's too bad. Anyway, I understand." "I owe you big time, Katie." "Yes you do. But you've got five days to make it up to me." "Thank you for understanding. You have the address to my apartment, right?" "Yep." "Okay, just talk to the girl at the front desk, she's expecting you. She can give you a key." "She's expecting me?" "Just about every person I know in the city and a fair amount I don't are expecting you." Katie laughed. "Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you later tonight." "I won't be too long, I hope. Talk to you soon." "Bye." C.J. hung up, grabbed her coat, and rushed out the door. ***** C.J. wandered around the streets of D.C. without any real idea of where she was going. She knew that Toby sometimes liked to take solitary walks through the city when he had a lot on his mind, but she had no idea where he went. Just as she was about to give up her search figuring he had gone home, C.J. found Toby sitting on the steps of the reflecting pool. She hesitated, thinking again that he probably wanted to be left alone. But as she watched him staring blankly out at the water, she realized that he looked not alone so much as lonely, and he might just need a friend. With a deep breath, she gathered the courage to give it one last shot and walked over and sat beside him. "Hey," she ventured softly. He didn't look up. "Hey." She waited a minute before continuing, unsure exactly how to start. "This is probably none of my business--" "It is." "--but I've been worried about you." She looked to him for a reaction, but found none. "Well, I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you, in whatever capacity you need. To listen, or just be here with you in silence, or -- I'll leave if you want." "You probably should." She sat there for a minute and studied his face, still waiting for any indication of any emotion. Nothing. She started to leave. "Wait." She turned, surprised, and saw in his eyes now not cold indifference or neediness, but a grateful appeal he hadn't known how to make until now. There was almost something welcoming there. Reassured, she returned to the steps. He still offered no explanations, but they sat in a more comfortable silence now. She realized that he wasn't being, and hadn't been, standoffish; he just didn't know what to say. Cautiously, she reached out and took his hand in hers. He responded by squeezing it and enveloping it in both of his. He glanced at her and they shared a small smile. He began tentatively. "You know this morning, when my mother called..." "Yeah?" "My father died. He had a massive heart attack." "Oh, Toby--" She didn't know what to say. "He'd had a few smaller ones over the past couple years. It's not like there was no warning." He looked away, pausing a minute before going on. "Still, I wasn't there. We'd barely spoken for the last two years." "Toby, you aren't to blame --" "I wasn't there, C.J.!" His tone caught her off guard. He softened, and continued. "We were never close. I think he always wanted a son he could teach sports to, you know, show the ropes of the family business, and I never wanted any of that. I disappointed him, and there was almost nothing about him I respected. But I knew he was dying, and I never visited, I never called. The divorce pretty much ended any relationship we'd ever had. After that he all but disowned me." C.J. cringed at the mention of his divorce. "Maybe I'm not the person you should be talking to about this." "Yes you are. You the only person I have to talk to about this." "God, I'm so sorry." "You aren't to blame either, C.J. I made the decision a long time ago, and I dont regret it. This is on me." A moment went by in silence, then she dared to ask what she was really wondering. "You don't regret it?" "No." She allowed herself a small smile, which he returned with a devilish twinkle in his eye, a silent understanding between two people who had something secret from the rest of the world. "Do you?" "This is on you, remember?" He laughed a little at that. Another long silence ensued before either spoke again. She turned to look at him directly and stated, "I don't think you should be alone tonight." "I'm fine." "No, you're not." It infuriated him how she assumed she knew him so well. But her concern was flattering, he had to admit. "C.J., your sister is waiting for you." "She'll understand." "I can't believe you even left her this long." "For you?" She smiled at him. "Okay. You're really fine?" "Yes." "You're lying?" "Yes." "Okay." They shared a genuine smile, the first time she felt her presence had started to make him feel better. Even though he didn't say it she could see the relief and gratitude in his eyes. "If you need anything--" she started. "I'll tell you." "You won't." "I know." "I'm here for you, Toby." "I know." 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." "Yo