Lisa's TWW Fan Fic Archive Home
Post Ep | Romance | General | Drama
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The Addition ~ 14
Monday morning came too quickly. Maddie was still sneezing and had a stuffy nose, but her fever had diminished. CJ was hesitant about leaving her alone, mainly because of what had happened on Friday night. She finally decided that she had to go to work and since Mrs. Harris was back in town, she was more than willing to watch Maddie. CJ dressed Maddie and brought her over to Mrs. Harris's apartment.
"Don't worry about a thing, CJ. If anything happens, I'll call, I promise."
"Thank you," she said quietly. She then looked at Maddie. "Okay sweetie, mommy has to go to work now. Can I have a kiss goodbye?"
Maddie smiled and hugged CJ. "Mama come back?"
"Yes, mommy will come back," she said, smiling. "Are you going to be the little angel that you are for Mrs. Harris today?" Maddie nodded and giggled as CJ tickled her. "Okay. Bye bye honey." She hugged and kissed her once more before leaving.
Toby walked at a rather fast pace through the entrance of the West Wing, took his messages from Ginger, and closed his door. He didn't want to be around anyone.
"Toby," Ginger said through the door.
"What?" He grumbled.
"You have staff in five minutes," she said, opening the door a little.
"Yeah, okay. Go away now." He sat down at his desk and began looking through his messages.
CJ walked inside and went directly to her office, picking her files up from Carol.
"You've got staff in five minutes, CJ," Carol said as she handed CJ her phone messages.
"Okay, thanks Carol." She sat down and tried to look through the briefing memos, but couldn't seem to concentrate. She decided to walk over to Leo's office instead. Grabbing her things, she got up and walked out of the office.
He couldn't concentrate on what he had to do, so Toby decided to simply walk over to Leo's office.
They reached the doorway at the same time, yet they barely acknowledged one another.
"Morning," CJ said flatly.
"Yeah...Morning," he mumbled.
Sam and Josh, who were already in the office, looked at each other. "What is going on between them," Josh asked Sam quietly.
"How should I know? I wasn't with them over the weekend. But something doesn't look right." Sam said, making room for CJ to sit down on the sofa.
"Good morning, Sam," she said, trying to sound upbeat.
"Morning. How was your weekend?"
"Well, aside from the fact that Maddie got sick, it was..." She glanced over at Toby. "Not the best weekend I've ever had."
Toby rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
"Maddie's sick?" Sam asked.
"Well, she's a little better now. Her fever is down. Thank you for asking though." She once again glanced over at Toby.
"Good morning everyone," Leo said as he entered his office.
"Morning," they all said collectively.
"So what's on the agenda for today," Leo asked.
"Well I have a meeting with Senator Richardson on the Hill today," Josh said. "Maybe this time he'll cooperate."
"One can only hope," Leo said. "What else? Sam, are you going to be meeting with that alien guy?"
Sam looked over at Leo. "His name is Bob, and yes," he deadpanned.
"Okay. Toby, you've got that speech covered?"
Toby didn't say anything. He simply kept looking at his memos.
"Toby?" Leo said again.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. It's almost done."
"Okay. CJ, you have everything you need about that vaccine that may be coming out?"
"Yeah, I have it right here."
"Okay, unless there's anything else, we're done." He looked at the four senior staffers who said nothing. "We're done. Get to work."
Everyone stood up and walked to the door. Josh walked over to CJ. "So how is she feeling?"
"She woke up twice last night from her sneezing. I think it's turned into a cold now, but I can't be too sure..."
Toby stopped walking and turned around. "G-d, CJ! You are too overprotective! She's fine. She had a case of the flu. Everyone gets it!"
"What did you expect me to do, Toby? Ignore the fact that my daughter was scared and didn't know where her mother was?"
"You could have let Carol take care of it. She knew what she was doing!"
"What the hell is going on between the two of you," Sam asked.
"Shut up!" They said at the same time.
CJ walked towards her office with Toby following close behind. "CJ--"
She whirled around. "I am overprotective, Toby. There! I said it. Are you happy now? I don't want my daughter to think that when she is sick or scared that she can't count on me to be there for her."
"You can't be there for her all of the time, CJ. You do have other priorities you know."
"What is wrong with you?" She yelled as she walked into her office, closing the door behind Toby.
"Nothing's wrong with me, I'm simply pointing out the facts. If she sneezes, you worry. If she falls and cries just a little, you worry. What are you going to do when she goes away to college? Move into the dorm with her?!"
She turned around so she wasn't facing him and wiped her face from the tears that were slowly making their way down her face. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like such a jackass?! Am I not allowed to love my daughter when I'm around you?" She paused and thought for a moment. "That's it, isn't it? When we're together, you don't want me thinking about anyone except you!"
"I never said that--"
"What about when I was saying goodbye to her when we left her at Carol's? You nearly dragged me out the door! All I was doing was saying goodnight to her!"
"I didn't drag out out the door."
"And what about at the restaurant? You basically waved off the fact that we had to go to the hospital to pick her up. The *hospital*, Toby! What would you have done if it was your child? Would you have let the sitter take care of it?!" She walked away from him and sat down at her desk.
"I just think that you're making her think that every single little problem she has that she can turn to you. How is she going to be prepared to go out into the real world with you worrying about every aspect of her?" He asked, his voice still raised.
She just looked at him in disbelief. "I would never do that. For goodness sakes, Toby, she's only two! She doesn't know how to pour a teaspoon of medicine into a medicine cup, she doesn't know what to do if she falls and hurts her arm or starts bleeding. She doesn't know how to put a band-aid on yet. All I'm doing is what a mother of a two year old does!"
"You're isolating her from the real world, CJ!"
She stood up. "How many times do I have to tell you that she's only two? She'll learn how to do all that stuff when she's older."
"How old? 30?" He said sarcastically.
"Get out," she said flatly.
"CJ--"
"Get out of my office, Toby!" She walked over to the door and opened it.
He walked to the door. "You're sheltering her. Face it. She is never going to learn how to fend for herself."
"I said get out," she said, teeth clenched.
He stormed out of the office. CJ slammed the door and sat at her desk and grabbed a tissue and wiped away the tears that were now flowing down her face. What was going on with him? Why did he say that? She just sat there and let the tears fall down her face, not knowing what to do next.
TBC.......