See Part 1 for disclaimer. 
Hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday. I'll try
to have more out sometime on Tuesday
The White House 2 a.m.

"Hey, Carol, is she awake?" Josh asked C.J.'s
assistant.

"Yeah, she was ten minutes ago."

"Thanks" Josh said as he knocked on C.J.'s office
door. 

"Are you awake, Claudia Jean?" Josh asked as he
poked his head through the door which he had opened.

"Yeah, come in Josh." C.J answered.

"I thought you would get a hot pink or a purple
cast."

"Very funny, Joshua, as you can see I went with a
plain, old-fashioned white."

"In Style magazine will probably ask you about that
when we host the State Dinner for the Prime Minister
of Israel next month."

"Ha, ha. What do you want Josh?"

"I was just seeing how you were holding up. By the
way, have you spoke with Danny since you got back from
the hospital."

"No, why do you ask?"

"He came in to talk with me after Sam did the
briefing. Listen he was very worried."

"About what?"

"You" Josh said in a dumbfounded voice.

"Me"

"Yeah, he said that when Sam came in to do the
briefing he thought." Josh paused for a minute before
continuing. "C.J he couldn't even finish the sentence.
So I asked if he thought you were wounded, and that
was what he had thought."

"I see."

"Look it's none of my business..."

"That's right it is none of YOUR business.."

"May I PLEASE finish."

"Yeah."

"Okay, I know that you and Danny had problems over
Mandy's memo..."

"Josh--"

"You're still not letting me finish. Listen he cares
A LOT about you. Let him know you're okay. I'd do it
before the next briefing."

Josh walked away, leaving C.J staring at the closed
door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo's Office-- 5 a.m.

"Okay everybody. The President is resting in the
residence. As you know he is unhurt. C.J you can
announce that the President will give a press
conference. It will be tentatively scheduled for
noon."

"So he can address both coasts."

"Yeah, Sam what do we know about the shooters?"

"They are teenage white supremacists. We believe
that all involved are in custody. Charlie and Zoey
were the main targets, but they wouldn't have cried if
they had hit the President."

"Okay, Toby, you will write the President's remarks
for the press conference."

"Yeah"

"C.J we are not certain if he will take questions."

"Okay"

"You can leave. C.J., Toby, I need to speak with
both of you?"

"What do you need, Leo." Toby asked after the others
had left.

"Are both of you up to working a full day?"

"Yes" both C.J and Toby said at the same time.

"Well, I wondered with the painkillers..."

"Leo, I'm fine. I have no problem with staying all
day." C.J said.

"Leo, there's nothing to worry about." Toby said.

"Okay, you two can leave."

"Okay"

After Toby and C.J left, Leo picked up the phone. 
"Abby, I've scheduled a press conference for noon..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C.J walked into her office and found Danny waiting
there.

"Carol should have warned me that you were here."

"You okay, C.J.?"

"Look, Danny I have a briefing to prepare for and
lots of other things to do. And to be perfectly
honest with you I am hanging on by a very, very small
thread. If I start talking about what happend last
night on a personal level, I'm going to break down. I
CANNOT afford to do that right now. But I am
physically fine, except that I have a broken wrist
that hurts like hell. I can't take the painkillers
because they will make me sleepy. Mentally is
probably another story."

"I was worried..."

"Josh told me about your conversation."

"He did."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I really don't want to talk about
this right now. Just let me make it through today."

"Okay."

"I'll try to talk to you later."

"Okay."

to be continued...

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