Disclaimer: Gotta keep moving on, moving on...

Follow-up to the Moonlight trilogy.
Sometimes, things need to be discussed.

***

He waited two days. Then he couldn't stand it anymore. It was driving him crazy, it was all he could think about. Over and over again, it ran through his head.

He had waited until night time, until everyone else had left. As he walked towards her office, he could hear the tapping of her pen in time to the soft music she had playing.

Quietly, he shut the door behind him.

"Danny?" Her head came up and he could see the pleasure on her face quickly covered up by a worried expression. "What do you want?"

"An answer."

She gestured for him to sit, then moved from behind the desk to take the chair opposite him. "No notebook?"

"And who said you were unobservant?"

She smiled at his lame attempt to joke. "Question, Danny?"

"When you said 'never,' what did you mean?"

"What?" She stared at him in confusion.

"The other night, when we were..."

She looked away before quietly prompting him, "Yeah."

"You pushed me away." He kept his eyes focused on her, ready to try to read any reaction. "You said we could never be together."

"I..." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

His breath caught. "You meant that?" She still wouldn't look at him, and he was growing more and more worried.

"Not exactly," she whispered.

"CJ." He finally reached a hand out and tilted her head up. Now he could see her eyes, filled with confusion.

"We can't be together while I'm the Press Secretary."

"I know." Danny brushed his fingertips over her cheek. "But after."

"You'll find someone else," she whispered.

"What?"

"Someone better than me. She'll be... blond, maybe. And not so tall. And she probably won't run into things or fall into pools or yell at you or-"

He placed his fingers over her lips to stop the words. "That's not possible."

She pulled away and stood up to pace. "We still have so much time here. It'll never be over. And you'll get tired of waiting. I know I can't live up to your expectations anyway."

"So you decided to try to drive me away," he told her quietly.

She stopped to stare at him. "I... maybe."

"It won't work." He stood and walked towards her.

"Really?" she asked, half hopeful, half scared.

He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. "There is no woman in the world who compares to you. None of them come close. I'm going to wait for you. And at the end of the eight unbelievably long years..." She smiled and he kissed her cheek, then whispered in her ear. "I will be here, waiting for you. And we're going to have a date, and that date will last a long time, to make up for all the times you turned me down."

"That sounds good," she breathed. "Are you sure?"

"That long date I mentioned? It's going to last about sixty years. So don't make any other plans."

"What if I get on your nerves?"

"You already get on my nerves," Danny told her. "I can't see it being any worse if I get to wake up next to you every morning."

"Glutton for punishment?"

He pulled her closer and dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. "Yes."

She considered this. "Okay."

"One more thing."

She smiled, trying to muster up a look of annoyance and failing. "What now?"

"I've decided to reinstate the 'grabbing and kissing' thing."

"No, Danny, we can't-"

He kissed her, not gently this time. Their tongues danced as he ran his fingers up and down her spine, making her shiver. He grinned against her mouth in triumph, infinitely pleased at her reaction to him.

She pulled away slowly, then turned her back to him. Her fingers touched her lips as she moved to behind her desk.

"CJ."

"You should go."

"You can't just pretend-"

She closed her eyes and whispered, "Yes I can. I have to."

"CJ."

"Please, just go. I can't be alone with you, I do stupid things when we're alone."

He stared at her, speechless, as she stared at her desk.

"No more kissing. And if you-" She broke off and swallowed before continuing. "I know you're upset that I won't... and if you want to... pursue other women, I won't hold you to anything you said."

His annoyance melted. "What are we, in high school?"

Her head snapped up. "What?"

"You think I'm going to dump you because you won't... what's the term now, put out?"

She laughed self-consciously.

"I'm not a teenager, CJ." He told her gently. "I'm not going to forget about you, pout because you won't sleep with me."

"Thank you."

"Of course, we're going to make up for lost time as soon as possible."

She laughed, this time for real. "How come you haven't been snatched up yet?"

"The suspenders," he sighed. "Seems they're a little geeky."

"So are you."

"Hey!"

She smiled. "Goodnight, Daniel."

He shook his head but accepted the dismissal with a smile. For now. "Night, CJ."

***