Title: In sickness and in health-y hair
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Category: Leo/Margaret
Series: Stand-alone
Spoilers: Story set in and between WKY - PC.
Archive (if applicable): The National Library http://westwingstories.com/library
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: Leo, Fitz, Margaret sick and some Body Shop shampoo - Good clean fun.
Author's Notes: Oh how could I let the shampoo comment pass by J
Disclaimers: I'm Ms Fill-in-the-gaps-explain-the-absences, clearly ownership dictates you don't have to do these things.
*
"Margaret!" Leo bellows from his office.
"You don't have to yell." Margaret replies her voice heavy, as she appears moments later.
"You told me your sinuses were blocked." Leo reminds her as she stands beside him. "I didn't know if you could hear me."
"Yes but...Ahh choo!" Margaret doesn't get a chance to finish her sentence and her hand doesn't get a chance to reach her mouth. The loose papers in front of Leo rustle and roll across the desk.
"Margaret!" Leo cries out exasperated.
"I'm sorry." Margaret apologizes profusely as she tries to straighten the papers on his desk.
"Go home before you infect the whole White House." Leo pleads.
"I don't..." Margaret begins.
"Go...before you pass whatever you've got onto my essential staff." Leo interrupts forcefully.
"Call me if you...Ahhchoo..." Margaret sneezes again. "Need anything."
"I will." Leo assures her shaking his head as she exits his office, sneezing again.
*
At home Margaret relaxes in a warm oil scented bath, slipping into an old comfortable pair of pajamas she sets herself up lying on the couch with her pillow under her head. A large packet of Kleenex rests on the floor in front of her and it isn't long before her eyes droop and she's breathing heavily in a stuffy sleep.
Margaret stirs again on the fourth knock of by Leo. She steps gingerly to her feet, grabbing a couple of Kleenex to empty her left nostril that has collected the entire gunk from her being rested on her left side.
She fumbles with the door to reveal Leo holding a hot water bottle and a number of other items.
"Was there something you couldn't find?" Margaret asks as a reflex.
"I come bearing gifts...help." Leo corrects himself.
"Come in." Margaret welcomes opening the door further to let him past. The first time in her apartment his eyes are drawn to the little details placed around the room.
"I have a hot water bottle, some cold and flu tablets, some throat lozenges and some chest rub." Leo says looking at each item in his arms.
"Did you get finished tonight?" Margaret asks settling herself back on the couch.
"Forget about that." Leo dismisses looking for the kitchen.
"Over there." Margaret points him towards the direction of the kitchen.
She waits a beat as Leo disappears into the kitchen. "Is there something going on you can't tell me about?" She asks.
"Don't worry about it." Leo answers as he comes back into the room with the water bottle full.
"Leo." Margaret pushes.
"There is, don't ask me to give out information I can't. You know how this works." Leo says sighing.
"Sorry." Margaret apologizes curling up on the couch.
"Do you have something to put over you?" Leo asks looking around the place again.
"Over there." Margaret points watching as Leo pulls a blanket down off the shelf. She listens as he wanders back into the kitchen again turning the tap on and off again after a few seconds.
"Leo what are you doing?" Margaret calls.
"Looking after you for once." He replies re-appearing in the room and placing a glass of water on her coffee table.
"You mean you want me better and back on my feet to look after you as soon as possible." Margaret re-words.
"Take these." Leo instructs holding out two cold and flu tablets and the glass of water.
"How do I know these are just cold and flu tablets?" Margaret asks.
"Margaret!" Leo sighs.
"Thank you." Margaret relents swallowing the white pills.
"Lie down." Leo instructs laying the blanket over Margaret and pressing the hot water bottle into her middle.
"You can change the channel." Margaret offers, fumbling for the remote on the floor in front of the couch.
"Thanks." Leo says picking up the remote and changing to CNN as Margaret sneezes again.
"Did you get in a temp?" Margaret asks before collapsing into a coughing fit.
"Don't worry about the office." Leo says turning to face Margaret from where he'd been sitting on the floor in front of the couch.
"I feel terrible." Margaret sniffles.
"You want me to rub in some of this." Leo asks picking up the little jar of chest rub. Her eyes heavy with sleep Margaret nods pulling the blanket closer around her.
"You should get into bed, you'll be much more comfortable there." Leo continues, Margaret reluctantly agrees allowing Leo to help her up.
"This is a nice room." Leo compliments looking around the bedroom.
"When did you turn interior decorator?" Margaret asks croakily.
"All right, thank you, you're sick and you can still dish it out." Leo says shaking his head.
"My head is pounding, my nose is blocked and my joints are aching..." Margaret complains.
"You'll live." Leo tells her pulling back the covers and helping her in the bed.
"I don't know." Margaret sniffs as Leo pulls the covers back up over her.
"This will make you a little better." Leo says smearing some of the chest rub on his right fingers. "Those cold and flu tablets should kick in soon."
Leo waits watching as Margaret settles once again, her eyes closing and her breathing labored. He carefully undoes the top two buttons of her pajamas, pushing aside the material and gently rubbing his fingers in a circular motion across her chest.
It isn't long before the soothing fumes float upwards from her chest and Margaret doesn't answer to his soft calls of her name.
*
Disorientation rules again when Margaret wakes to Leo's soft voice. She tries to recall the last thing she remembers, coming to the conclusion that his presence in her place still means it's not too late. To her surprise the clock is glaring six am. The instant Margaret throws the covers back she shivers, hurriedly reaching for another layer of clothing.
Shuffling into her living room, Margaret discovers Leo on the phone to Josh. His eyebrows rise when he sees her, waving her over to sit next to him.
"What are you doing up?" He asks as he places the phone back on the coffee table.
"I don't know." Margaret says reaching for a Kleenex.
"Did I wake you?"
"No I just woke up." Margaret admits.
"I'm not surprised, you've coughed and sneezed all night." Leo informs her.
"My throat." Margaret rasps prompting Leo to reach immediately for the throat lozenges. "Have you been here all night?"
"I got to doing some work...making some calls...hope you don't mind." Leo explains.
"Did you sleep any?" Margaret asks pulling the blanket from last night down and around her.
"Not much." Leo says pulling the blanket closer around her. "You're not coming to work today." He further instructs.
Margaret nods picking up the remote flicking through the channels until she finds a news service.
"I've got a meeting." Leo announces peeling his eyes from the screen.
"You're going home?" Margaret asks.
"Not enough time." Leo replies gathering together his files on the table.
"You've got to take a shower." Margaret sighs muting the television.
"What are you saying?" Leo jokes lifting his arms to smell for body odor.
"Leo you put me to bed, used my phone and made yourself at home on my couch...There's a fresh cake of soap in the shower." Margaret tells him her eyes closed, her head pressed into the back of the couch.
*
Leo firmly clicks the lock on the bathroom door before pulling off the clothes he's been wearing for more than 24 hours. He steps inside the generous shower and turns the hot tap. The showerhead is wide and it doesn't take too long for the water to turn scalding.
He casts his eyes over the variety of liquid gels she keeps as he adjusts the temperature of the water. "Where's the shampoo?" Leo asks further searching the bottles.
"Happy shine shampoo." He says out loud squirting some onto his hand nonetheless. "Cherry and almond scent."
When he's dressed again, clean but in the same clothes he finds Margaret asleep on the couch, TV on and speaking softly to no one.
"Feel better." Leo whispers kissing her on her forehead.
*
The military advisers file out of the situation room, leaving Leo with Fitzwallace sitting alone at the table.
Silence passes between them and Leo lets his thoughts run to Margaret for a moment.
"This is when you normally say something." Leo says to get his mind back to business.
"Have you changed your shampoo?" Fitz asks. "You have, I can tell," he says, "'cause your hair seems bouncy and more manageable."
"Well I like to look good for you." Leo jokes back casting his mind back to this morning's shower.
"I appreciate it." Fitz says before they talk more important issues.
*
"What time is it?" Margaret asks when she next opens the door to Leo.
"It's after midnight." Leo replies, his arms full of cold and flu supplies again.
"I've been asleep all day." Margaret yawns standing aside to let him in.
"Good." Leo says dropping more tablets and lozenges on her coffee table.
"What's going on at work?"
"Don't worry about it." Leo dismisses.
"Easy for you..." Margaret's voice trails as she curls onto the couch again.
"I used your shampoo this morning." Leo says settling onto the floor in front of her.
"Mmm Hmm." Margaret says drowsily.
"Fitz asked me if I'd changed my shampoo." Leo explains.
"Mmm Hmm." Margaret says.
"What was that stuff?"
"Happy shine shampoo from the Body Shop." Margaret mumbles.
"The who?" Leo questions.
"On Massachusetts Avenue, Union Station."
"You should get into bed, you'll feel better there." Leo advises.
"Whatever you say shampoo boy." Margaret says softly.
"I should have short sheeted your bed for that comment." Leo threatens helping her to her feet.
*
"You just paid for two nights in a room you didn't sleep in." Margaret yawns the next morning when she finds Leo curled up asleep next to her, the sun is yet to make its first announcement for the day.
"Doesn't matter." He stretches out in the crinkled two-day-old clothes.
"What time do you have to be at the office?"
"Soon." Leo says fumbling for his jacket.
"Have a shower Leo." Margaret says throwing herself back onto her pillow again.
"So I can smell like a fruit shop again."
"You do not." Margaret mumbles against her cotton sheets.
"Fitz'll think I'm gay."
"He will not, let me smell." Margaret argues pushing herself up off the mattress and onto her knees.
"I don't want to get sick." Leo warns turning around to face her. Margaret leans closer hovering her nose to the side of his head. She breathes in deeply through only one nostril, the cold stealing her ability to smell the cherry and almond scent.
"You smell lovely to me." Margaret offers.
"Nice and girly." Leo corrects as Margaret sniffs.
"You always smell nice to me with that aftershave you wear and..."
"Margaret." Leo stops her.
"Leo?"
"You rub that lotion into your arms each morning, your shampoo and conditioner and then there's that tiny dab of perfume you put behind your ear." Leo lists leaning over and breathing in behind her ear.
"Yes." Margaret says hoarsely as Leo hovers in front of her face now.
"Feel better today?" He asks pulling the top button and buttonhole of her pajamas together.
"A little." She admits and then adds. "Thank you for looking after me."
"That's Ok." Leo says drawing a piece of her hair between his middle and pointer finger. He says nothing, staring into her eyes and twirls the piece of hair between his fingers before tilting his head further towards her.
With horrible timing, Margaret feels her nose begin to tingle and twitch and as Leo is about to press his lips to hers, she ducks away as the sneeze escapes.
"I'm sorry." Margaret apologizes; she doesn't miss the smile on Leo's face.
"I've got to take a shower." Leo says patting her hand. "Hop back under the covers."
Margaret listens curled up as the water rushes through her pipes and splashes down on Leo and the tiles.
"How do I smell?" Leo asks rousing Margaret from her light sleep a little later, she goes to sit up to smell Leo's damp hair but he cuts her off, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her like he'd wanted to prior to his shower.
At first Margaret is hesitant, then wrapping her arms around him threading her fingers through his thin wet hair.
"You're going to get sick now." Margaret says looking down when the kiss breaks. Leo ignores her, tilting her chin up and kissing her again briefly.
"I have to go to work." Leo says pushing her hair back from her face.
"Leo..." Margaret starts.
"I...we're going to talk about this, but you understand right now I have to go."
"What was...is?" Margaret stutters.
"I want this Margaret, the beginning of something...you and I." Leo reassures.
"My head is stuffy." Margaret smiles weakly.
"I know I'll be back later to take care of you." Leo informs her.
"I need someone to rub in some more chest rub." Margaret requests as Leo helps her get comfortable again.
"I'm your man." Leo says softly pressing his lips to her forehead. "I've got to have you healthy for our first date."
"Our first date?" Margaret questions as Leo turns out the lamp.
"Tickets for the theatre in New York." Leo says into pre-dawn darkness.