The Simple Things - 3

All my disclaimer stuff is with part 1..

~Kari

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had managed to find a small pizza parlor near the hospital, and occupied
a booth in the back corner. Donna was sitting between Carter and Josh, and
CJ was on his other side. Toby and Sam were the bookends of the group, with
Toby puffing on a cigar and staring across the room. He wasn't too fond of
social situations, which really didn't surprise anyone.

"So why were you guys in Chicago in the first place?" Carter inquired, taking
another sip of his drink.

"There was this convention thing.. with the GDC.." Josh answered.

"I don't know too much about politics, but doesn't the President, y'know,
have to go to those things as well?"

"He does," CJ interjected. "He was here on Monday, with Leo McGarry, but had
to get back to Washington. We stuck around to clear up some things, and were
supposed to leave tonight."

"And then the snow came." Donna contributed.

"Hence, we're here."

The conversation would have continued, if not for the fact that Toby finally
realized that a waiter had been standing there for a few minutes, looking
slightly agitated. He tapped Sam and motioned to the college student standing
in front of them.

"Alright guys, what do we want on our pizzas?" Sam asked, flipping through
the menu.

"Pepperoni," Carter replied, "and lots of it."

"Personally, cheese is fine with me."

"Mushrooms."

"Pineapple and Turkey." Josh piped in, eliciting a glare from CJ.

"Whats wrong with-" Carter started.

"Don't ask. Trust me on this, don't ask," Toby retorted, finally looking in
the direction of the group. "You'll have to sit through the whole story with
Eric and Troy, and the tofu and it's really not worth it in a pizza parlor in
downtown Chicago!" His voice raised during his rant, and Donna just shook her
head.

"Don't worry about him." She said, as the old jukebox against the wall
started to play.

"Well, whatdya know," Sam commented, "I only put a quarter in that thing 15
minutes ago.."

Carter tapped Donna on the shoulder and flashed a smile. "Wanna dance?" They
stepped out of the booth as the mid-tempo melody danced through the air.

Josh turned to his left and whispered to CJ. "C'mon... I owe you for that
turkey comment. One dance."

They too left the booth, leaving Toby and Sam with each other, an empty
pitcher of Pepsi, and 4 uneaten pizzas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're quite the dancer, Dr. Carter." Donna smiled as they twirled around
the dance floor.

"I've had some practice. So, I was wondering, do you think you can be let out
long enough to go grab some coffee somewhere?"

"Let out?" Donna inquired, moving closer to Carter as she spoke.

"Yeah. Your friend over there seems a little overprotective."

"Josh?" She laughed. "Josh transcends overprotective and goes right to
neurotic. But I assure you, he will not interfere with my personal life." As
she finished her sentence, she glanced over to the other side of the small
dance floor.

"Josh, why are we dancing?" CJ murmured, resting her head on his shoulder as
they swayed to the music. It wasn't like him to do things on a whim like
this, and frankly, it confused her. But what confused her even more was that
it felt right.

"I don't know, it seemed like a fun thing to do," he whispered back, "You
wanna stop?"

"No."

"Good."

TBC....

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