The day was hectic for everyone. Jonathan was called in to a series of emergency meetings, which lasted most of the afternoon. Toby followed Jonathan around as his shadow for the day. He thought that if he got a better understanding of the workings of Hart Industries, it might be beneficial to the campaign. Toby had gained a new respect for Jonathan after seeing the way he ran his company. Finally they were through.
"Let’s see if we can’t catch the end of my wife’s speech."
"That sound all right to me. We could take our wives out for dinner afterwards." Jonathan smiled; Toby really wasn’t as hard as he had first appeared, especially when it came to CJ.
"I think I could get us in somewhere."
"I bet you could. You know, some day you and your wife need to come to Washington and let CJ and I throw our influence around."
"I think we could manage that."
When their car approached the rally site, they notice the unusually heavy police. When they got closer a dark hared officer stopped them. "I’m sorry sir, but you can’t go in there."
"Our wives are in there."
"They were attending the rally?"
"No, My wife is running for governor, and she was the key-note speaker. His wife is her political adviser."
"I’m sorry sir, there’s been a shooting. If you wait right here, I’ll find out more for you." Both men went visibly pale.
When it was over and the dust had settled a bit, the first thing Jennifer realized was she was hiding under the podium. The second was that she had hit her head in her panic to take cover. Finally she came to the conclusion that other then her massive headache, she was fine. The only thing she wanted was to be with her husband, and she knew that he had to be out of his mind with worry if he knew of the situation. Slowly coming out of her hiding spot, she remembered CJ for the first time. Looking around, she finally spotted the former White House press secretary. She was lying on the ground on the edge of the stage, and she didn’t seem to be moving.
CJ had one brief thought before her world went black. She could herself saying it, but didn’t know if she said it to herself or out loud. "Toby, I love you."
It was the ten longest minutes of Toby and Jonathan’s lives. Neither one had said a thing when the officer had returned. He noticed the look on both men’s faces and knew that what had had to say would mean everything to them. "Mr. Hart, your wife is fine, right now she is with the EMT that’s looking at Ms. Cregg." Toby’s eyes widened.
"What’s wrong with CJ?"
"They think that your wife is ok too, Mr. Ziegler, but she passed out, and they’re waiting for her to regain consciousness. I’ll take you to see them now."
"Thank you," Jonathan said. He couldn’t remember feeling more relived. The feeling was intensified when he saw his red headed beauty sitting on the ground next to a still CJ.
"Darling!" She exclaimed as she ran in to his arms. He hugged her so tightly she thought she would break, but she didn’t care, it felt wonderful. Tears she didn’t know she was holding broke through.
"It’s all right sweetheart."
To Toby the Hart’s weren’t in the same universe. The only thing that matted to him was the still form on the ground. He had taken up Jennifer’s place kneeling next to CJ on the ground. He had one of his hands holding one of hers and the other stroking her face.
"Sir, I think that your wife will wake up any minute, and when an ambulance gets back I’d like to take her to the hospital just to get checked out."
"Fine." CJ’s eyes started to flutter. It took her a few seconds to fully cone out of it but when she did, she grabbed on to Toby for dear life.
"Oh my God Toby! Oh, God it was, it was like being back at Roslyn all over again."
"Shh, it’s ok, I love you, you are here with me in Los Angeles and it will all be ok." He knew he was rambling. Toby Ziegler, the man who wrote what other people said for a living, couldn’t think of what to say to comfort his wife, when his thoughts match hers exactly.
After they’d both calmed down a bit, the paramedic interrupted. "Ma’am, we’d like you to come to the hospital to get checked out,"
"No, I just panicked that’s all, I’m fine."
"You might have hit your head."
"No really I’m fine.
"CJ, " Toby interrupted.
"Toby please, just take me home," she said with tears beginning to form in her eyes. He turned to the paramedic.
"If she shows any signs of a concussion or anything, I promise I’ll take her to the hospital."
"Sure, fine, whatever." The paramedic left the four of them.
"What was that all about?" Jonathan asked.
"A few years ago when we worked for the White House a hate group shot at us at after a function we were at with the President. One of our good friends got shot," Toby explained.
"The Newseum shooting. I remember that," Jennifer said.
"So do we," CJ said bitterly. "I’m sorry, that was uncalled for."
"Don’t apologize CJ. I think that we all need to go back to the house and have a stiff drink and then call in a few favors with the LA police department and see who they think did this." Jennifer said.
"CJ?" Toby questioned his wife.
"That sounds good Toby."
"Are you sure? You wanted to go home a few minutes ago."
"Really Toby, It’s fine." The foursome headed back to the car. Each husband had his arm protectively around his wife.
"Thank you lieutenant. Yes, I’ll tell them. Ok, good bye." Jonathan put the phone back on the receiver and faced the three people sitting on the couch. "Well, the LAPD knows as much about this as we do." Toby jumped up.
"Wow, that’s reassuring. With all the technology of today, they have now clue who tried to gun down our wives in broad daylight?!"
"Toby, you have to calm down." CJ got up and put her arms around him.
"Sorry."
"We need to start thinking about this relationally. Since Jennifer’s speech was the focus for today’s event, I think it’s safe to say the shooter was probably aiming for her, unless you can think of some reason why they’d be aiming for you CJ."
"No, I can’t think of any."
"But who would want to kill Jennifer?" Toby asked, "It’s very early in to the campaign, I can’t believe she has already offended someone or some group that much."
"Maybe it’s not political," CJ reasoned. "Do you two have any enemies?"
"Well, we have sent a few people to jail," Jennifer said.
"How many is a few?" CJ asked.
"Oh maybe a hundred?" Jonathan answered.
"A hundred! What are you amateur detectives?" Toby asked, amazed.
"Well, we don’t mean to get involved in these little mysteries, they just sort of happen," Jennifer explained.
"That’s why you’re so in with the LA police department." CJ said.
"LA, a few cites in Europe, Mexico, China," Jennifer added, Toby shot her a look.
"Hey CJ, we’re working for Nick and Nora Charles."
"I guess that means you two aren’t going to sit back and let the police handle this are you?"
"Well, I was going to have some people at Hart Industries look in to it."
"I need to point something out," Toby said, "if the public gets wind that you’re trying to solve this one on your own it’s going to look like you don’t trust the police. That’s a lot of votes to lose."
"All right, we’ll stay out of it," Jonathan said.
"Good," Toby affirmed. CJ yawned. "I think it’s time for me to get my wife home."
"I’m going to look in to get some extra security for the campaign," Jonathan said as he showed them out.
"All right, We’ll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"What the hell was that little scene today?"
"You said you wanted rid of her. I thought I could stage it and then blame it on some extremist group she had offended."
"You screwed that up big time, first, Jennifer Hart is still alive and second I didn’t say I wanted her dead. I was thinking more on the lines of a political scandal, pictures of her in bed with a male prostitute or something like that. She is going to gain the public’s sympathy from this. I want this fixed, and I want this fixed now."
"Yes sir."
"CJ if you want to talk about it…"
"I’m fine Toby, really. They weren’t aiming for me."
"That doesn’t matter and you know that." He sighed. "Claudia Jean, if you don’t want to talk about it fine, I will." He pulled the car in to a parking lot. "I almost lost you today. The thought of that is enough to make me sick. Mere words cannot express how much I love you CJ, and if you were to be taken away, well, well…" His voice began to crack, he looked at her and was once again at a total loss for words, tears were streaming down her face. He put his arms around her, and whispered, "I’d give anything to have been able to prevent what happened to you to day." He held her tighter and the two of them stayed like that, in the dark parking lot, for a very long time.
Across town Jennifer Hart was sitting in bed with her knees up to her chin. She didn’t notice her husband staring at her in the doorway. "Are you ok?"
"I will be, once you join me." He crawled in to bed and laid down next to her. She leaned back and put her head on his chest. "Darling, did you mean what you said."
"When?"
"Earlier, when you told Toby that we’d stay out of this."
"Have I ever meant it when I’ve said that?"
"Just checking."
"Do you want to stay out of it?"
"Oh, come on, we couldn’t stay out of this if we tried. It’s inevitable. Hart’s law or something, trouble follows us where ever we go and we can’t run away from it."
"I don’t think of it as trouble, it’s more like adventure and excitement."
"Well, I could have live with out today’s excitement, especially seeing the look on CJ’s face when she woke up."
"Or the look on Toby’s. They’re an odd couple don’t you think?’
"CJ says that there’s a side to Toby that only she gets to see."
"Yes, well, I think we all got to see a little of that side today. You know, there’s a side to me that only you get to see too," he said, smiling.
"Jonathan, is that a proposition?"
"You bet."
"Good, just checking."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
