Bouncing Inaugural Balls

by: Rhonda and Evelyn

Character(s): The Men of the West Wing
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna, CJ/Danny, Toby/Andi, Zoey/Charlie, Will/Ainsley
Category(s): Humor, Romance, Post Ep
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: They're not ours and never will be.
Summary: Post-episode story for Inauguration: Over There
Spoiler: Inauguration: Over There
Feedback: Greatly Appreciated

"That's a nice dress." Danny spoke to her from behind, his voice lowered so that only she could hear him. "And the red high heels are very hot."

CJ whirled around, a filled champagne glass in one hand. "Daniel! Where did you disappear to earlier? I was going to let you have a dance."

"My services were in demand elsewhere. Kind of a knights-on-a-quest thing. Do I still get a dance?" Danny grinned, his snow-flecked woolen coat, folded over one arm.

CJ sipped her drink. "Depends. Did you tell Josh about the leak not being Donna?"

Danny patted his breast pocket. "Better than telling him, I showed him the article and let him figure it out for himself."

She smiled warmly at him and discreetly slipped off her heels, handing them to him.

Danny winked at her and set the shoes and his coat on a vacant chair. Taking her hand, he guided her out onto the crowded dance floor, firmly wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her body flush with his.

"I have to hand it to you, you're good when you want to be." CJ smiled and allowed him to move them slowly in graceful circles.

"Hey, I'm always good. I'm known far and wide for being good." He secured one of her hands in his, holding their entwined hands against his heart.

"Unsubstantiated rumors." She curved her free hand around the back of his neck, her fingers playing with the red curls resting on his collar.

He whispered in her ear. "If you'd quit toying with me, those could be substantiated rumors."

CJ feigned an innocent expression. "Are you referring to the other night?"

"Yeah. Did you even notice that I missed that last briefing? I had to hide out in that office for almost an hour."

"An hour? Now I am impressed."

"Yeah, well, like I said. I'm an impressive guy." He gave her a twirl and tried a little dip.

Laughing, CJ followed his lead, finding that he was surprisingly quite a good dancer. "Your mis-spent youth must have included some substantial time on the dance floor."

Danny grinned. "Nah. It's amazing what you can learn from watching videos. Wanna see my John Travolta moves?"

"Not here." A vision of him in a white sequined suit flashed through her mind and she had to muffle her laughter against his shoulder.

He did a little bump and grind against her and she shook with the effort not to dissolve into uncontrolled giggles. "Oh, God. Don't do that. Not now."

"Okay. Just let me know. I have all the steps down from that scene in 'Saturday Night Fever'. I figured they'd come in handy someday."

"This isn't the day, Fishboy. Stick with the Fred Astaire imitation and I'll keep ignoring Charlie's attempts to get my attention from across the room."

"What's going on? Are you guys going into Kundu?"

"Enjoy the dance, Daniel. Who knows when we'll have another chance."

He hustled across the ballroom, weaving his way through the dancers, struggling to reach the redhead by the crab puffs. From the back she looked as slim as ever, and it was only when he caught a profile of her, did he grin at the basketball that seemed to have sprouted in her midsection.

"Where have you been?" She didn't even look up, just continued to fill her plate.

"Throwing snowballs at Donna's window. The other guys couldn't hit the side of a barn from five feet away, but I..."

"At Donna's window?" Andi interrupted, giving him a sideways glance.

"It's a long story." He smiled. "But the short version is that Josh finally bought a clue."

She grinned in return. "That was a long time coming."

"Want to dance?"

"Sorry, my feet are killing me," she sighed. "I'd forgotten how badly these shoes pinched the last time I wore them. And that was before I gained 20 pounds."

"Let's grab a table and sit down. I'll rub them for you."

"Do you think anyone would be shocked if I took off my shoes?"

"You're worried about shocking people?" Toby sarcastically asked and then dodged a flying crab puff. "Yeah, probably some small-minded people will be shocked, but since, as it has already been pointed out to me by several senators and a drunken English diplomat, CJ has ditched her shoes, you'll just be following a trend."

"Well, in the interests of solidarity..." Andi slipped off her heels and handed them to him, grabbed her plate of crab puffs and carrots sticks off the buffet table, and in stocking feet headed to a quiet corner of the ballroom. The patented Ziegler glare quickly cleared the table, and they sat in companionable silence, listening to the swing music, while he rubbed her swollen feet.

"Why do women wear these things?" he mused, looking at the strappy sandals with three-inch heels perched on the table next to the last remaining crab puff. "I think Donna's heels were even higher."

"How do you know about Donna's shoes?" Her voice would have been sharper, but the firm pressure of his fingers on the balls of her feet felt just too good.

"I caught a glimpse of them when she crawled from my lap to..."

That got her attention. "Your lap?"

He waved her off, shrugged his shoulders, and moved his talented hands up her leg and started to massage her throbbing calf.

"Hmmmm," she moaned involuntarily. "Don't think I'm gonna let this story go untold forever, but right now - as long as you keep doing what you're doing - I couldn't care less whether or not Donna gave you a lap dance."

"Donna just kind of perched on my knee. It was Charlie that . . ." He stopped and grinned at her shocked expression. "Let's go home."

"Charlie gave you a lap dance?"

"Not really. Not intentionally. He just can't sit still. Zoey and her boyfriend are driving him crazy and he's determined to take us with him."

Andi leaned forward and caressed his cheek. "Being in love makes everyone a little crazy."

"Not me. I'm in love and I've never been saner."

"Uh, huh. Snowballs, lap dances, breaking West Wing windows? Sounds perfectly sane to me."

"I didn't break the window. Will did."

"But the rest is factual?" She laughed at his disgruntled expression. Smiling, she whispered, "Going home with a crazy man sounds good. Mama is exhausted and even the kids are a little tired."

Toby moved his hand to her belly and softly moved it back and forth over the silk material of her ball gown. He grinned as he felt the babies move. "Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'lap dance', doesn't it?"

Andi glanced up, sensing someone's approach. "Speak of the Devil."

"Toby?" Charlie neared the table.

"What now?" Toby left his hand resting on Andi's distended abdomen. "If this is about Sir Frog Legs, I promise we'll focus on that..."

"The President would like you to join him for the thing."

"Now?"

Charlie nodded.

Toby stood and then immediately bent to kiss the top of Andi's head. "Stay here and rest. All three of you. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"No," she quietly replied. "I see Matt Skinner across the room. He'll give me, uh us, a ride home."

"But..." the Communication Director whined in frustration. "I had plans for us. Or at least thoughts of plans."

"It's okay. Come home, Toby. Come home when you're done. I'll be waiting for you. We all will."

"You really do look amazing."

He held her close as they swayed to the soft sounds of 'The Way You Look Tonight'.

"You look pretty amazing yourself," she whispered, then added with a giggle, "Especially now that your lips are no longer blue."

"You needed the coat more than me."

"You are so sweet. Of course you could have let me go back inside my apartment for my own coat."

"Sweet? You keep saying that...I'd rather you think of me as 'Wild Thing'. And if I'd let you go back inside, it would have ruined the moment. When the hero rescues the fair maiden, he doesn't let her go back into the dragon's lair for her coat and purse."

"I'm positive that my roommate is not going to like being referred to as a dragon. Anyway, what is this 'Wild Thing' thing you have going tonight? Is that because you think you look like Charlie Sheen in 'Major League' because I'm not sure I see...."

"Nope, just preparing you for later tonight," he growled in her ear and he could feel her shiver.

Changing the subject, Donna put a little distance between them, physically and mentally. She was still a little stunned at how fast she'd gone from being on Josh's blacklist to being on his

whatever. She glanced around. "Do you see Will? Did he find Ainsley?"

"I don't see anyone. I'm too dazzled by the amazing woman in my arms."

"Oh, Joshua, you are so sweet. I'm really sorry for what happened before. I didn't mean

"

"What did you call me?" he demanded, pulling her closer. There was barely a hair's breath between them. Running his hand down her back sensuously, he whispered in her ear, "Forget the past. Noone is between us now."

"Josh," she sighed, tears blurring her eyes.

"I want you...now."

She felt weak in her knees. "I....I...."

"Did I render Donnatella Moss speechless?"

She played with the curls at the nape of his neck, lightly tickling his ear. "I don't need words, Joshua...," she breathed.

"Let's get out of here," he moaned. "We could go back to my place if the dragon's still in yours."

"Uh, uh, Joshua. You promised me eight balls."

"If balls are what you want....trust me, I've got a couple ready just for....Damn."

"What's the matter?"

"Leo's signaling us to follow him."

"He must mean you. I'll wait here."

"No, he wants us both."

"I think I'd better fly under the radar for a little..."

"No, he understands what happened. CJ told him."

"Still, maybe I'd better..."

"No, he wants us both. He just pointed at you, then at me, and jerked his thumb. I don't think you can misinterpret that hand signal. Come on, the sooner we go, the sooner you can decide which balls are in your immediate future."

"Ok, wild thing."

"Quick, say that again."

Laughing, she took his arm and walked with him towards the ballroom door. "Later."

The sound coming from his mouth certainly wouldn't stop traffic, but it was just loud enough to get the attention of a cab driver standing across the road, a hundred feet away, leaning against his vehicle drinking coffee.

Will didn't see him so he blew on his fingers again.

He was worried about Kundu, but he couldn't help smiling. He'd danced with Ainsley Hayes, gotten her phone number and the promise to watch a video with him later in the week once the crisis had passed. "Note to self: buy more Rice Krispies"...and he'd been named Deputy Communications Director. It'd been a heady evening. He didn't even mind the slush that splattered his pants as the summoned cab drew up to the curb.

"Come on," he motioned to his colleagues. He was a full-fledged member of the team now.

As he opened the back door, Will waited a moment. He was pretty sure that he'd be sitting on his boss' lap this time so he'd let Toby get in first.

"Hey, aren't you the goat boy?"

The gruff voice broke through his visions of a Southern belle with long blonde hair, munching on marshmallow treats.

"Hi, we need you to take us to..." he crawled over Danny and settled down on Toby's knees.

"Hi, Mac," Donna chirped, standing outside the cab while Charlie climbed in and perched precariously on Danny's lap.

Josh squeezed in, and Donna snuggled back against him.

"So is it the Texas Ball or the Plains States next?"

"We need to get back to the White House."

"I thought you were planning on hitting all eight balls tonight."

"Can't. Something's come up."

"And you're all heading back? Even you?" pointing to Will. "I thought you said you were signing up for unemployment tomorrow morning."

"Not as of 10 minutes ago," Toby answered. "He's one of us now."

"How about you? I thought you worked for 'The Post'. Where are you headed?"

"They're working, so I'm working," Danny sighed. He'd wanted to ride back to the West Wing with CJ, but that smacked of favoritism, she informed him. But he grinned when he remembered that she'd then asked if he still had the Santa suit.

"How's frog boy?"

"Wet...very, very wet," laughed Charlie. "He was still croaking about it the last time I saw him."

Mac drew up to the White House gates, and they all piled out. Josh checked the fare, then doubled it, and handed the cash to the cabdriver. "Thanks, Mister. It's been a great night."

Donna hesitated for a minute, leaned over the back of the seat, and softly kissed Mac's cheek. "I feel like Cinderella, only this time, I'm not running away from my prince, and I still have both shoes. Thank you."

"You call me next time you've got a ball to go to... Your pumpkin awaits."

The end.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Sequel: Bouncing Back

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