All characters belong to Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros., & NBC. Standard disclaimers apply. Please send feedback. Resignation Violet
The wood was strong and beautiful. It had been smoothed and sanded, but the grain was visible, slightly darker lines traced in the honey-colored surface. There were scratches here and there, made by accidental slips of the pen, and there were a couple of deeper stab wounds, made on purpose. But on the whole, the wood was lovely.
C.J. noticed all this because she was resting her forehead on her desk.
"Hey."
She did not raise her head when Josh walked in. "Mmmph."
"I'm missing the end of 'Dial M for Murder'."
"That's got to be hard for you."
"Yeah. I mean, it's Hitchcock and Grace Kelly. That's a classic--"
She covered her head with her arms. "Do I look like I care?"
Josh dropped into the chair facing her desk. "Millicent Griffith is staying on."
That made her look up. "What?"
"Yeah. The President says to start meaning it when you give her our support."
"He didn't accept her resignation."
"Right."
C.J. straightened up in her seat, running her hands over her face. "Think he'll accept mine?"
"Nope." Josh grinned. "We're stuck with you."
She groaned. "You guys had me backing away from Millicent Griffith this afternoon. Now I have to one-eighty and start facing questions about whether we're planning to decriminalize marijuana, and whether the President's daughter has him whipped. And the Gillette thing on top of that. Tomorrow's going to make today look like a Carnival Cruise."
"As long as Kathie Lee doesn't show up. What about Gillette?"
"First thing tomorrow, I'm announcing that he's agreed to be on the Blue Ribbon commission."
Josh's eyes widened. "Toby asked him?"
"No."
"Then why...." Josh trailed off as it dawned on him. "Ah."
"Toby's eliminating the middleman." C.J. pushed her chair back from her desk by bracing one foot against a drawer. "Gillette's going to be howling at the moon."
"Him and his little tribe of fanboys."
She shot Josh a disgusted look. "His fanboys are members of our party, and they're going to be pissed at us. They're going to be pissed at me, in fact."
"So patch his call through to Toby's office. You know, since he's Gillette's biggest fan and all."
"That's the plan," she agreed. "Although maybe I'll take it myself. I do frosty and distant really well, you know."
"Yeah. Did you lay Morgan Ross out today?"
"Sam gave him a lecture. Like I couldn't handle it by myself."
"Well, it couldn't hurt. Guys like Ross listen to guys like Sam."
"You don't think I know that?" She looked at Josh solemnly. "It doesn't bother me if Ross doesn't take me all that seriously. Well, it does, but what bothers me more is that Sam just decided he needed to step in. This assumption gets made about who's more important around here. There are times you guys say things, and do things, and you don't realize...."
Josh leaned toward her. "You're right, and I'm sorry."
C.J. sighed. "My days get long, Josh."
"I know."
"How many times did I quit this job in the last thirty-six hours?"
"I stopped counting."
"Me too." She scooted back up to her desk. "I'm tired, and I have to start spinning the other direction now. But I guess that's a good thing."
"That we're going the other way?"
C.J. nodded. "She was asked a question and she answered with the truth, and we should back her up on that. Whether or not you think it should be legal, you can't argue that marijuana's really worse than tobacco or alcohol. Especially not when you think about what drinking did to someone like Leo. So she wasn't wrong."
Josh grinned. "I've never seen this side of you."
"Which side?"
"The midnight toker."
She rolled her eyes. "I don't want to hear it, potato bong boy."
"Yeah." He rocked his chair back slightly. "But you're right. And the other thing. We need Gillette on board."
"Well, he's the best a man can get," she quipped.
He ignored her. "Even if we have to get him in there ass-backwards, it's worth it."
C.J. rifled through some papers on her desk. "I know."
"We're heading in the right direction." Josh's face lit up as he thought about it. "Good things are going to come out of these last couple days."
"Yeah."
He stood up and stretched. "I should go."
"Going to try and catch the closing credits?"
"I've got work to do. You should go home and get some sleep."
"Nobody sleeps around here," she observed. "You're working, I'm working. Sam's hashing something out with Leo, and Toby's still in his office."
He smirked. "Playing with his--"
"Josh."
"Hey, you made the Gillette joke." He started for the door, then turned back. "One thing."
"Please, nothing else for the news cycle."
"You talked about quitting a lot today."
"I've got the Christian Coalition screaming at me in one ear, an army of Phish fans in the other, and the wonderful prospect of Seth Gillette looming in my future. I was trying to think happy thoughts." C.J. rubbed her eyes. "My days get long."
"Yeah." He leaned against the door frame. "You wouldn't really leave, would you?"
"Josh--"
"Claudia Jean, you are so important around here. You wouldn't really leave, would you?"
She smiled softly. "No. You're stuck with me."
"That's what I thought." Josh nodded slowly. "Night."
"Goodnight."
He disappeared into the hall. C.J. yawned and leaned forward, placing her elbows on her desk and her head in her hands. She blinked a few times and stared down at the desktop again. The smile crept back onto her face. The wood was battle-scarred, and partially obscured by clutter, but that didn't really matter.