C.J.'s Tactical Kiss
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Danny waits in C.J.'s office with Gail, creating a casual yet expectant atmosphere.
C.J. hesitantly enters her own office, signaling an unusual tension between them.
C.J. awkwardly prefaces her intention to kiss Danny, masking vulnerability with professional urgency.
Danny interrupts C.J.'s rambling with press deadline humor, forcing direct action.
C.J. proposes the kiss as a solution to clear mental distractions, focusing on the fishbowl to deflect intimacy.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Nervous determination masking a need for release; attempting to appear rational and in control while quietly relieved and slightly embarrassed after the kiss.
C.J. enters her office, frames her attraction as a tactical problem, proposes a single kiss to 'get past it,' briefly handles the fishbowl for comic cover, accepts Danny's embrace and kiss, then immediately restores the prop and exits while displaying an exaggerated, relieved smile.
- • Neutralize persistent personal attraction so it won't interfere with work focus.
- • Preserve professional reputation and keep workplace boundaries intact by limiting the encounter.
- • Reassert control over private impulses through a single, scripted act.
- • A single, contained gesture can extinguish ongoing distraction.
- • Work must take precedence over personal entanglement and so must be protected.
- • Physical intimacy can be compartmentalized if performed deliberately and briefly.
Amused and eager with confident ease; he balances desire with respect for C.J.'s stated boundary, showing pleasure and gentle reassurance after the kiss.
Danny waits, plays with the goldfish, presses for brevity by invoking his paper's needs, accepts C.J.'s plan, then responds physically by grabbing and kissing her decisively; afterward he checks that the plan 'worked' and engages in light, confirming banter.
- • Obtain an intimate connection with C.J. without turning it into drama.
- • Accommodate her stated need so they can both return to work.
- • Maintain the friendly, flirtatious dynamic while avoiding escalation.
- • C.J. is receptive and capable of controlling the situation.
- • A brief, mutual kiss can function as emotional closure rather than the start of a relationship.
- • Keeping things light will protect both their professional lives.
Non-sentient prop-status; functions as a comforting, humanizing presence rather than an emotional agent.
Gail (the goldfish) is handled as a portable domestic prop: Danny plays with Gail while waiting; C.J. picks up Gail when leaving, then returns the fishbowl to the table before exiting, using the fish as a comic, plausibly neutral buffer to the intimacy.
- • Function as a physical prop to diffuse awkwardness and domesticate the office setting.
- • Serve as a comic diversion that normalizes an intimate moment in a professional space.
- • Its presence will humanize the characters' exchange and reduce perceived impropriety.
- • Being handled will provide a socially acceptable pretext for close proximity and physical interaction.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The office doorway frames entry and exit: C.J. opens it to enter, negotiates private threshold space for the kiss, and later bumps into it while leaving. The doorway compresses public/private lines — it’s the physical threshold between work and the intimate moment.
The side table holds the fishbowl (Gail) and becomes the staging area for micro‑domestic choreography: characters warn about rocking it, C.J. picks up the fish briefly, and later returns it. The table anchors the playful, intimate choreography and provides a mundane counterpoint to the kiss.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Mandy's confrontation with C.J. about her cold demeanor towards Danny foreshadows C.J.'s later awkward attempt to address their romantic tension."
"Mandy's confrontation with C.J. about her cold demeanor towards Danny foreshadows C.J.'s later awkward attempt to address their romantic tension."
"The lighthearted exchange about Danny's appearance contrasts with his later passionate kiss with C.J., both highlighting underlying romantic tension."
"The lighthearted exchange about Danny's appearance contrasts with his later passionate kiss with C.J., both highlighting underlying romantic tension."
Key Dialogue
"C.J.: So... you have asked me out many times. I have said no."
"C.J.: I thought what I'd do is kiss you, you know, on the mouth, then I'd just get past it... I'd just get past it, and I'll be able to give my work the kind of concentration it really deserves."
"DANNY: How's that? C.J.: Yeah."