Lisa's TWW Fan Fic Archive Home
Post Ep | Romance | General | Drama
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The Addition ~ 7
She walked into the outer part of the Oval Office and over to Charlie's desk. "Hi Charlie, is he in?"
"Yeah, I'll go see if he can meet with you."
"Thanks."
Charlie walked into the office and came out a few seconds later. "He said he needs a few minutes to finish up with a meeting."
"Okay, thanks." She sat down in one of the chairs and waited. What was she going to tell him? How would she tell him that she needed to call a meeting? She didn't have the authority that Leo had. Maybe she could just tell him that she needed a few minutes to--"
"CJ, hello again," the President said as he walked out of his office.
"Good morning sir." She stood up.
"Charlie said you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, I do sir. I need to ask you a question, or a favor."
"Come on, we'll talk in my office."
"Yes sir." She followed him into the Oval Office.
"Please, sit down."
She sat down on the sofa and took a deep breath.
"Is everything alright, CJ? You seem a little tense."
"Oh...everything is fine sir, actually things couldn't be better." She smiled nervously.
"What's on your mind then, if you don't mind me asking."
"Well, I need to talk to everyone about something..."
He looked at her. "You're not thinking of resigning again, are you?"
Her head snapped up. "No, not at all sir. I just kind of need to tell everyone some news I have."
"Oh, okay. How does this afternoon, say around 1:00 sound to you?"
"That sounds just fine, thank you sir."
"Great. Now, I hate to cut this meeting so short, but I have to go into Leo's office for a meeting."
"Okay, well thank you very much. I'll see you this afternoon then."
"Great." He smiled. He knew that something was up. All he had to do now was figure what that something was. "I'll see you later, CJ."
"Thank you sir." She walked out of the Oval Office and back to her office. Now that she got that done, she had to think of a way to tell everyone what she was going to be doing. She decided to go to Toby's office. Maybe he could help her figure out how to tell everyone. She knocked on his closed door.
"Yeah." Came the voice from inside.
She opened the door. "Hi, I need to talk to you," she said as she walked into the office and closed the door.
"Sure, come on in," he said sarcastically.
"You know, I could just go back to my office..."
"No, it's fine. What did you need to talk about?"
"Well, I don't know what I'm going to say to everyone. I mean, it's not everyday that the Press Secretary makes an announcement that she's going to adopt a child."
He nodded, "True. Why don't you just tell them what you told me? That you have wanted to do this for a long time and you figured that now was the best time to do it."
She didn't say anything for a moment. "I...I guess that could work. But Leo's going to probably give me this huge lecture on how I'll be spending so much more time at home and not concentrating on my work and--"
"CJ. Are you listening to yourself? Leo's not that insensitive. I don't think he would say anything like that."
"I hope you're right," she said, standing up.
"Where are you going?"
"I have a briefing."
"Oh. Right."
"Yeah so I'll see you later." She went to open the door and then turned around. "Thanks, Toby."
"Anytime." He smiled and watched her leave the room.
1:00pm.......
"Why exactly are we having a meeting," Josh asked as he walked into Leo's office.
"Why do you have to question everything," Toby retorted.
"No one told us why we're meeting, so naturally we're just a little curious," Sam said.
CJ walked into Leo's office calmly. "Hi."
"Hey CJ," Josh said. "Do you know why we're having this meeting?"
Before she could say anything, Leo walked into his office. "Okay, so what's going on?"
"Good, you're all here," the President said as he walked into Leo's office. Everyone stood up.
"Good afternoon, Mr. President," they said, almost all together.
"CJ, I believe you wanted to tell us something?" He asked, looking at her.
"Uh..." She looked at everyone nervously. "Yes. I wanted to..." She was stumped. What was she going to do? She looked over at Toby who mouthed, 'It's okay.' She smiled a little and continued. "I wanted to let you guys all know that I'm going to have an addition in my family."
"You called us all here to tell us that you're getting a pet? CJ, that's kind of silly, don't you think?" Josh asked. He was greeted by Toby hitting his head. "Ow! What'd I say?"
"Why don't you let her finish," Toby said.
She cleared her throat. "Anyway, no Josh, I'm not getting a pet. I'm...I'm..." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm adopting a child." There. She finally said it. She told them. Now she just waited for their responses. She looked around at four very shocked people.
"CJ, did you just say that you're adopting a child?" Jed asked.
"Yes sir," she said quietly.
He smiled, "Congratulations! I think that's wonderful." He went and hugged her. "I'm sure you'll make a great mother."
"Thank you sir," she said, shocked that he was so supportive.
"What made you want to do this," Sam asked. "I mean, I'm very happy for you, CJ. I'm just curious as to what brought this idea on."
"I've wanted to do this for quite some time now, and I felt that now was the right time to do it." She looked at Leo. "I promise Leo, I'm not going to fall behind in my work. I'll still make sure to be at the staff meetings, give the briefings--"
He nodded. "I know CJ, but you don't need to."
She looked at him. "What?"
"I think that what you're doing is wonderful. Being a father, I understand that you still want to work and be a mother at the same time. What I meant was that you should spend more time with your...son? Daughter?"
"Daughter," she finished.
"Spend time with her. I'll put you on half days and have Simon do the afternoon briefings for a while."
She smiled, "Thank you Leo."
"No problem. And congratulations."
"I second that," Josh said. "Congrats, Claudia Jean." He hugged her.
"Thank you, Josh."
"There's just one thing CJ," Jed said.
"What's that sir," she asked nervously.
"What is her name?"
"Madeline."
"Beautiful name," he said.
"I thought so," she said, smiling once again.
"Is she at home right now," Sam asked.
"No, I pick her up next week."
"And I'm sure you're very excited about that, am I right," Jed asked.
"Yes sir, you are very right." She smiled. She couldn't wait to see her again.
"Wonderful." Jed said. "What's next?"
TBC.....