"Can't argue with you." Josh's eyes had glazed over slightly. "If I have to hear the President expound further on the origins of Greek myths I think I'll do something drastic." He looked longingly at a group of people standing in the corner, talking. "I think your girlfriend was the smart one."
Sam cast his eyes to the corner. C.J. Cregg was laughing prettily, talking to a group of Congressmen. "Yeah," he said, "C.J. definitely had the right idea." His eyes took in the ice blue skirt, the acquiline hands and the deep, full-bodied laugh audible across the room.
Sometimes, he wondered, how someone like her could possibly have fallen for someone like him.
She was, somehow, the consummate politician as well as the consummate woman. Even as she stifled a tired yawn she managed to keep smiling and look interested in what the Congressmen were saying. One in particular she cozened, keeping eye contact in the face of everyone else and breaking up laughing at the punchline. She laid a hand on his arm, still laughing.
No, Sam told himself, shaking his head once to dispel the thought. She really is just playing politics.
He turned back to Josh. But his best friend had seen the whole exchange. "What was that, Sam?"
"What was what?" Sam tried to ignore the nagging, stabbing thread in his stomach.
"Come on," Josh said impatiently. "You were looking at C.J. and then you turned away like she'd turned into Mary Marsh. What happened?"
"Nothing, jeez." Sam spoke a little too vehemently. "She's just over there, talking with Congressman Brown." He gestured to show the spot.
Josh followed the gesture, watching C.J. with the Congressman. "Sam!" he exclaimed. "You're jealous!"
"Bullshit." But the younger man's voice was rough, and he couldn't look Josh in the eye.
"Sam." Josh didn't get too many opportunities to play the father confessor, but he took this one. "Sam, she's just networking. She's a woman, so she has to network like a woman."
"Josh, that is possibly the most sexist remark I've ever heard you make."
"I didn't mean it like that, dammit." Josh sighed. "Just - it's her way of networking. She's not gonna cheat on you."
"I know, but -"
"What?"
For some absurd reason, Sam felt like confiding in someone. "Josh, look at her. Come on. She deserves more than the playboy of the Hill."
It was Josh's turn now. "Sam, that is possibly the most ridiculous remark I've ever heard you make."
"Why?" Sam looked defiant. "Everyone else thinks I'm just good for one-night stands; why should she be any different?" And with that he rose and headed over to the corner.
From where he sat Josh could see the scene in pantomime. The man trying to charm his girlfriend away from the throng of wolves. The woman's eyes flashing. As they walked away he heard conversation: "Sam, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, nothing," Sam murmured. "You seemed to be getting along very well with Congressman Brown."
C.J. grasped the import of his words almost immediately and wheeled to face him. "Sam," she said with an inscrutable face, "your eyes aren't normally green."
Sam's smile twisted bitterly. "Ah, jealousy, the 'green-eyed monster.'"
"You don't trust me." C.J.'s eyes were just as bitter.
"I didn't say that."
"How can you be jealous and still trust me?"
Sam sighed and looked away. "C.J.," he said unsteadily, "what could you like about me?"
Wordlessly, C.J. understood. Would he never shake that pigheaded idea that he wasn't good enough for her? If anything the reverse was true. He was a martyr sometimes, and he didn't have to be, and it was annoying. It wasn't lack of trust, it was insecurity. But...
She exhaled noisily. "Sam, I'll see you in the morning." Without another glance she walked out the door and away.
-----
The next morning dawned blinding and gloomy. Sam shuffled into work late, not really caring for the consequences. He threw himself into his chair, turning on his computer. What the hell, he figured, he may as well check his email before working. Not that he gave a damn, anyway. But the first message was from a very familiar address.
Heart in his throat, Sam clicked the message from C.J. There was some sort of file attached - an MP3, from the look of it. He opened it and read:
* * * *
To: "sseaborn"
From: "ccregg"
ATTACH: "thingforyou.mp3"
Sam, last night you asked me what I could possibly like about you. I wanted to respond, and this says it better than I could.
I love you.
-C.J.
* * * *
Sam could only listen in wonderment to the words as the song unfolded. A soft smile appeared on his face, never to leave.
----------
I feel like you know me
I know well I know I know you do
I've got this thing going on inside my head
I've got this thing for you
I like your face I like your body
Like your feet I like your nose
I like your chest beneath the covers
Like your heart I like your soul
I like your life inside me pounding like a heart inside a dream
Inside a dreamer that's been dreaming of a perfect symphony
I like the way you walk beside me like a paper in the wind
The way you swing your arms so gladly
Where you end and I begin
I like everything about you
Baby I do
I feel like you know me well
I've tried to let you see me for yourself
I feel like I'm... I'm out of my head
I've got this thing for you
I like your face I like your body
Like your feet I like your nose
I like your chest beneath the covers
Like your heart I like your soul
I like your life inside me pounding like a heart inside a dream
Inside a dreamer that's been dreaming of a perfect symphony
I like the way you walk beside me like a paper in the wind
The way you swing your arms so gladly
Where you end and I begin
I like everything about you
Baby I do...
(Thing for You - Jann Arden)