Disclaimer: *hands over ears* I can't hear you, la la la la la la...

Summary: "You seemed to have an objection to being repeatedly asked out." Takes place before this season.

***

Danny stuck his head into the office. "Hey."

CJ glanced up, then back to her notes. "I don't have much time, let's cut to the chase. No."

"No what?"

"No, I won't go out with you."

"I didn't ask you." Danny protested mildly.

"Yet."

"Actually, I needed a response to a quote from the Attorney General."

"The thing about the prostitute."

"Yeah," he answered, even though it hadn't been a question.

"At the briefing."

Danny sighed. "Okay, see you then."

CJ nodded, then waited. When he didn't say anything else, she looked up. "Danny-" she stopped, confused. "He's gone," she muttered to herself. Then she shrugged and got back to work.

***

"You dealt with the AG?"

CJ nodded. "All taken care of."

Josh smiled. "Great." They turned the corner. "Oh, hey Danny."

Danny stood as they entered CJ's office.

"What'd you need?"

Danny turned to CJ. "You threw out my story with the trash, I have another question."

"I'll catch you later, CJ." Josh left them.

She waved to him, then shut the door to her office. "What's up, Danny?"

"I'm not giving you the story just so you can toss it out at the next briefing."

"So what are you doing in here?" She held up her hand. "Don't ask me out."

Danny shrugged. "Wasn't planning on it."

"Oh." She stared at him for a moment, then mentally shook herself. "Well, good then."

"What time is the plane leaving on Sunday?"

"That's part of your story?"

"No, I lied when I said I had a question about my story."

"Why?"

"To get Josh out of the room."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say.

He smiled. "Relax, I just wanted to see how you were doing. We barely see each other anymore."

"Well. Thanks, I'm fine."

"Really?"

She smiled, touched. "Yeah. Everything's okay."

"I'm glad." He stared at her for a moment, then turned towards the door.

She hesitated for only a moment. "Danny."

"Yeah?" He half turned back to her.

She moved from behind her desk and made her way to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she laid her cheek on his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled and ran his fingers lightly through her hair. "No problem."

She smiled back as he turned and left the room.

***

Walking around was the only thing keeping her awake at this hour. She was in search of something laden with sugar. Or coffee, that would work too. Her wandering took her past the pressroom and she peeked inside. Only a few reporters left, hard at work. She closed the door quietly before Katie or Mark noticed her. Turning, she nearly ran into another reporter.

"Spying on us?"

She smiled. "Why would I do that? You never do anything interesting."

He grinned. "So what're you doing?"

"Wandering around. I needed some air, but it's too cold to go outside."

"California girl."

She laughed. "Danny..."

"Yeah?"

"Walk with me?"

He nodded and they fell into step, wandering around the nearly empty hallways. Neither spoke for a few moments. Then they turned a corner and CJ nearly ran into Toby.

"Watch it, clumsy."

She shook her head. "Whatever. You should know better than to get in my way."

"True, true. I think I still have the scars from that one time-"

She started to laugh. "Yeah, you do."

"So what's going on? What're you still doing here?"

"I have work to finish."

"Then shouldn't you be in your office?"

"Couldn't work anymore. I needed to walk, Danny's keeping me company."

Toby rolled his eyes at Danny. "Good luck, CJ can walk for days without getting tired."

"Not true. Just because you need a rest every three minutes."

"You tried to kill me on that mountain!" He raised his voice as he tried to convince her of his near death experience.

She rolled her eyes and turned to Danny. "It was a small hill, barely an incline. My four-year-old niece can handle it."

"Liar," Toby muttered.

"Shut up," she shot back good-naturedly before stepping around him. "I'm continuing my walk."

She started to walk away and Toby turned to Danny. "I'm serious, watch out for her. For someone who trips over her own feet more often that not..."

Danny grinned. "Thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind."

Toby nodded and Danny hurried to catch up with CJ. He found her pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"That was interesting."

"What was?" She added more sugar than she normally did before stirring.

"Toby was nice to me."

She shrugged.

"Nothing about conflicts, no growling at me."

"That's because I told him to shove it."

Danny stared at her for a moment, not sure whether to laugh. "Okay..."

"I told him that we're friends, that you've stopped asking me out, and that if he had a problem with who I chose as a friend, he better start running."

"Really?" Danny considered this. "And he was okay with that?"

"He shrugged and told me it was my head on the chopping block if you got a story from me that we didn't want leaked."

"That's it then?" He couldn't believe it. "No more fire-breathing Toby?"

She began to laugh. "I didn't say that. But for this moment it's good."

"Oh."

She shook her head and began to walk again. He followed her lead. "We can be friends though. He won't be annoying about that anymore. Especially since I told him you didn't want to date me anymore."

"I never said that," Danny told her quietly.

"You stopped asking me out," CJ reminded him.

"You seemed to have an objection to being repeatedly asked out. So I stopped."

"Oh." CJ considered this as they walked. They found themselves in front of her office and she motioned him in, closing the door behind them.

"You didn't stop asking me out because you don't want to date me. So why did you stop?"

"I was playing hard to get?"

She smiled. "Danny."

"Did it work?"

She laughed lightly. "Seriously."

He sighed. "You need a friend. And I know you have them all around you. Carol, Toby, Josh, Donna, the list is long. But I think you could always use another one."

"And you're good friend material?"

He nodded. "Just don't come to me for advice about any guys you want to date."

"There's only one guy I-" she stopped suddenly, realizing what she had almost said. She held up her empty coffee cup. "It's all this sugar, makes me say crazy things."

His grin clearly told her he didn't believe her.

She looked away. "Shut up."

"Okay," he agreed easily, the smile still in place.

"I need to get back to work," she told him a bit reluctantly.

"I'll go. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. And Danny?" She turned away from his quizzical expression. "In a few years, when it's all... well, just so you know the answer will be yes."

His face lit up. "Until then, we have business dinners."

She shook her head sadly. "I doubt it."

"Well, had to try."

"Goodnight, Danny."

He smiled. "Please go home soon and get some sleep."

"You worried about me?"

"All the time."

She stopped, touched. "Okay," she said quietly.

He gave her another smile before leaving.

She glanced at her desk and picked up a few files. Then she put all but one down. The rest could wait until tomorrow or even the next day. She put the one file in her briefcase, suddenly ready to go home. She would work on the one file, she told herself. And then she was going to try to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

***