ext_2279 ([identity profile] fourteenlines.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] crack_van2004-03-08 11:28 pm
Entry tags:

Out Here on the Border by Meghan Reilly (R)

Fandom: THE WEST WING
Pairing: CJ/Toby
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: The Squirrel's Nest, though it seems to be down right now
Why this must be read:

This story is for anybody who's ever had a fantasy about just getting in a car and driving away. Going to Mexico. It's about how much it might take to propel that fantasy into reality.

This story goes AU sometime in mid-season four; an unspeakable tragedy occurs and the others move on, leaving CJ and Toby to cope in the only ways they know how. It examines the depth of Toby's feelings for CJ, but it also, surprisingly, touches on the respect and affection between CJ and Bartlet.

This is also a story that grabs you from the first line and pulls you in; by the time you realize exactly what's happened, the knowledge hits you like a fist to the jaw.

The opening paragraphs:




In the end of all things, they were together.

"Drive, Toby. Just drive."

He'd taken the order without question. Throwing some clothes in a
bag, watching out of the corner of his eye with fascination as she
folded her underwear into neat little piles of lace and cotton, then
threw them so that they landed in the bag every which way with his
boxers, he wondered how far they'd have to go before they escaped.

The car was hot, steamy with summer; the air-conditioner was broken
and she had taken off her T-shirt a while ago. Arizona tended to
wrench people's self-consciousness away like dogs tearing at meat--
things were easy, things were good, things went the way you wanted
them to and no one cared what you did. Her bra was black cotton,
stetchy, and the tiny elastic fibers in it glistened like a mirage
around the droplets of sweat running between her breasts.

He couldn't stop staring.






Out Here on the Border

ETA: I just noticed the author's email address isn't anywhere on the story itself. Her last known address is here, don't forget to send feedback!

wow

[identity profile] jersey-tomato.livejournal.com 2004-03-09 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
this was amazing. you really conveyed the intensity of the situation. well done. thanks and keep up the awesome work!