Hey, this is my first attempt at a West Wing series fic. I've still haven't managed to watch the whole series, I've just finished watching series 4. This is set during the 2nd series after the 'Noel' episode. I'm sorry if there is any mistakes about the time line of the show. I hope you like it; please review and let me know! Thanks!

Enjoy!!!

From The Past

1997

Tears stung her eyes as she took her seat by the plane window but she refused to let them fall. This was her new start... She decided she was finished crying over her old life. She can actually pin point the day everything started to go wrong for her. It was the worst day of her life and it was the best day of her life... It was the day she met him.

They were both only 16 years old. She was starting a new school and he was the first friend she made. He made her laugh and helped her with her homework. He carried her books and took her to the movies. He gave her, her first real kiss... He was her first real love.

Her family didn't approve... He was Jewish... She was Catholic. She was banned from seeing him. Her father was an old fashioned man and he was determined that his youngest child and only daughter would do well at school and then marry a nice Catholic man. Her two older brothers were there to enforce their father's wishes. She would not date a Jew! So they dated in secret... It was the only way that they could be together.

The night they graduated from high school, she had climbed out of her bedroom window to go meet him and was followed. She watched in horror as one of her brothers hit and kicked him, over and over again as he lay on the ground, defenceless whilst her other brother held her back. She couldn't believe it. She knew her brothers weren't angels, but she couldn't believe they were capable of something like that.

He nearly died because of her... Because of her family. It was a guilt she couldn't live with and when he was well enough to talk, she broke up with him. They were both going off to different colleges. She told him it would be the best thing for the both of them. Although it broke her heart doing so and she knew she broke his heart too.

That happened almost 16 years ago, and she hadn't seen him since she left his hospital room. That was until his Dad died. He came home for the funeral, she knew he would be there and tried to stay away but she just couldn't. She had to see him, even if it was from a distance. She no intention of speaking to him. She just wanted to see him. He saw her first and she was actually a little surprised at how happy he was to see her. He told her it had been a stressful day and was sick of everyone asking if he was okay. So, he suggested that they went and grabbed a drink to catch up. They talked about what they had been up to since high school and she told him after his attack, she stopped talking to her father and brothers.

He walked her home and she invited him in for coffee. He spent the night and then the next morning, she told him, he should go. He had a life in Washington, a good life that he loved. A life that didn't need complications. He reluctantly left, placing a soft kiss on her cheek and telling her to look him up if she was ever in Washington.

Now, it was 3 days later and she decided that she needed a fresh start. She closed her eyes as the plane made it's way down the runaway. This time tomorrow, she'd be in England, where she could start her new life.

XxXxX

Leo made his way into the White House; he had just finished having lunch with Mallory. He loved his daughter with all his heart and wished he could spend more time with her, unless it was a day like today when all she talked about was Sam. He liked Sam... He was a good man but that doesn't mean he wants to hear all about his daughter's love life. There is only so much a father can take.

"Hey, Tommy... How's it going?" Leo said, as he passed through security.

"Good afternoon, Mr McGarry." Tommy looked up at him. "I'm just trying to get hold of Mr Lyman, but there doesn't seem to be anyone at his office right now."

"He had a meeting in the Oval office; he's probably still there..." Leo commented, reading a report in his hand and not bothering to look at the guard. "Was it important?"

"No, sir." Tommy placed the phone back down. "But there's a young woman here to see him."

"A young woman?" Leo repeated, but his attention was still on the paper he was holding.

"Yes, sir." Tommy nodded. "Her name is Leanne Matterson... She said she's a friend, but we can't let her through until she's given clearance."

"Well, keep up the good work, Tommy..." He commented, turning to walk away, but suddenly stopped and looked back at him. "Wait, did you say Leanne Matterson?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You're sure??"

"Sir." He gave him another nod.

"Okay, I'll deal with this." Leo mumbled, almost to himself. "Where is she?"

"Waiting in that room..." Tommy pointed across the corridor.

"Okay, okay..." Leo repeated. "Okay, don't worry about Josh. I'll let him know."

"Yes, sir."

"And don't say a word about this to anyone, okay?"

"No problem." Tommy agreed, he thought it was a little strange but then he knew better then to ask questions.

"Right, thank you." Leo said before heading over to the room that Josh's ex-girlfriend was waiting. The girl that had caused so much trouble when they were teenagers. The girl that actually used to be best friends with his own daughter.

He paused for a moment, trying to work out the best way to approach this. It wasn't that he disliked the girl; he actually used to like her a lot. It was just her family that he didn't like. He knew everything that happened between her and Josh was a long time ago and people change, but this was the last thing Josh needed. He was still recovering from the shooting. He was doing a lot better then he was before Christmas. Now that they knew how much he was really struggling with it, they were able to help. He didn't want Leanne Matterson walking back into his life and turning it upside down.

Leo pushed open the door and saw Leanne stand up quickly when he did.

"Hello, I'm Leo McGarry." He stated, holding his hand out across the table towards her.

"Yes, Sir...I remember..." She stuttered slightly, shaking his hand. "How are you?"

"I'm very good, thank you." He replied, taking a seat and gesturing for her to do the same. "And Yourself?"

"Uh, yeah... I'm okay." She nodded, nervously. "How's Mallory doing?"

"She's a teacher now." Leo informed her. "She's doing well."

"That's great." Leanne smiled. "She always did want to teach."

"Yep." Leo nodded, "Look, I'm going to get straight to the point, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, well... I wanted to see Josh..."

"He has a very busy schedule."

"Yeah, I understand that but..." She sighed, leaning her elbow on the table and rubbed her forehead. "I just want to see him."

Leo watched her for a moment, taking in her appearance. She hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her. Her golden brown hair was now straight instead of curly but that was about it.

She looked up at him. "I know you don't like me..."

"I never said I didn't like you."

"They why won't you let me see him?" She questioned.

"Because he's had enough to deal with already this year and he doesn't need any more trouble."

"Mr McGarry, I haven't come to cause trouble." She stated. "I promise you that… I… I heard about the shooting... I mean, it was all over the News... Even in England..."

"England?" Leo frowned slightly.

"Yeah, I moved there about 4 years ago." She told him. "Like I said, I heard about the shooting... I followed all the press about it just for any news on Josh... I had to come and make sure he was okay... I had to come and just see him."

"The shooting happened months ago."

"I know." She looked down.

"Why now?"

"I don't know... I was afraid to come before... I wanted to... I really did... I almost booked myself on the next flight out the night of the shooting... But... I couldn't..." She explained. "He has his life and I have mine... I didn't want to complicate things."

"What's changed?"

"Like I said, I needed to see him to make sure he was okay..."

"Well, he is okay...He's doing great." Leo told her.

"I need to see him...To talk him."

Leo sighed. "You're just going to drag up the past."

"Maybe the past needs dragging up." She whispered.

"No, it doesn't... Not this kind of past." Leo looked at her. "Everything is going okay for him at the moment... I'm not going to let you come back into his life and mess that up."

"I've already told you I have no intention of causing trouble... I but I owe it to Josh and I owe it to him." Her hand gestured down beside her.

Leo peered over the table, his mouth falling open a little when he saw a child fast asleep across the chairs next to her.

"This is my son... Mine and Josh's son." Leanne told him quietly.

"No..." Leo shook his head. "It can't be... He hasn't seen you since high school."

"Except for that week he came back..."

"For Noah's funeral..." Leo finished off, his voice quiet.

XxXxX

"Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. Did you know that? They evolved before mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even lizards..." Jed Bartlet informed Josh, Toby, C.J and Sam. "The earliest turtles had teeth and could not retract their heads, but other than this, modern turtles are very similar to their original ancestors."

Josh sighed and glanced at his watch. Their meeting had ended 10 minutes ago and The President had started talking about the history of turtles after telling them all about Sea Monkeys, which apparently he had received as a gift from his granddaughter.

"And they live on every continent except Antarctica..." He stated before stopping and looking at Josh. "Was there somewhere you needed to be, Josh?"

Josh searched his brain for an excuse to leave but he couldn't think of anything. Beside they had only just told the President that once their meeting was over, the four of them were heading out to get some lunch, which is probably why he started this lecture in the first place.

"No where important, sir." He replied, quietly earning himself a glare from both C.J and Toby for not getting them out of there.

"Great, now where was I?"

"They don't live in Antarctica..." Sam reminded him, the only one who seemed interested in this conversation. Now C.J and Toby moved their glares to him.

"Ah yes, they will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle..."

"Fascinating..." Toby muttered, starting to pace slightly.

"You know, Toby, a little knowledge will get you far..." Jed started but was cut off by shouting outside the office.

"Is Josh still in there?!" They heard Leo yell at Charlie.

They all looked from the door to Josh, questionably. He started to panic slightly, his mind racing over everything he had done that morning that might get him into trouble.

"Sir, would it be inappropriate if I asked you if I could hide under your desk?" Josh questioned turning to him.

"You think, I'm going to help you after you didn't listen to my turtle lesson?"

The door flew open before Josh had a chance to answer or look for another hiding place and Leo stormed in with Charlie following.

"I'm going to start chaining you to your desk!" Leo exclaimed, pointing at Josh.

"Can I go now?" Toby looked at the President.

"Well, I think this is going to get interesting so you might want to stay." Jed retook his seat behind the desk and looked at Leo. "What's he done this time?"

"I haven't done anything!" Josh claimed innocently before adding. "That I'm aware of."

"Oh, God." C.J threw her hands in the air and turned to Sam. "Do you have anything to do with this?"

"I don't know what this is!" Sam said defensively.

"Can you just tell him what's he's done and shout at him so I can go get some lunch?" Toby asked Leo.

"I haven't done anything." Josh sighed, he didn't like that they all assumed he was in the wrong, right away.

"The night of your father's funeral..." Leo started. "Where were you?"

"What?" He looked at him confused.

"You disappeared... You didn't turn up until the next morning...Where were you?"

"Leo, that was like 4 years ago." He pointed out.

"Josh?!"

"I went for a walk... My father had just died... I wanted to get my head straight." Josh replied. "What the hell is this about?"

"Promise me you didn't lie to me just then."

"Lie too you?" Josh repeated, completely confused about what was going on.

"What's going on?" C.J cut in, but Leo didn't look at her.

"Josh, promise me you weren't with her." He said quietly.

Josh opened his mouth to reply but closed it a second later and stayed silent.

"Damn it!" Leo exclaimed.

"Leo, look..." Josh started to explain.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I don't know..." Josh shrugged. "But how do you know about this?"

"Okay, I was enjoying Josh getting a ticking off to begin with, but now I'm worried this is going to turn into a thing." Jed sat up straight in his chair and looked at his Chief Of Staff. "Leo?"

"It's not going to turn into a thing." Leo assured him.

"Seriously, Leo... How do you know about this?" Josh asked again. "There is no one else that knows... And if they did, why would they tell you now?"

"She was here."

"What?"

"Leanne was here."

"Who's Leanne?" Sam frowned slightly at the unfamiliar name.

"She just came by to see you." Leo continued.

"Here?" Josh stared at him. "She's here now?!"

"No, I sent her away."

"Leo?!" He exclaimed.

Toby sighed; he wasn't sure whether or not he should care about what was going on. If it was just another one of Josh's girlfriends then he didn't, but if it were going to effect the administration then he'd kick his ass for causing problems just when things were starting to go their way. He looked across at C.J, he could tell she was mentally running through every scenario in her head so she'd be able to work out what to tell the press. Sam had that confused look on his face. The one where he wasn't sure whether or not he should be concerned or annoyed.

"What did she want?" Josh asked.

"What?"

"Leanne... What did she want?"

"To see you."

"Then why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because you were having a meeting with The President of The United States!" Leo reminded him.

"He was lecturing us on sea monkeys and turtles!"

"I could make you write me an essay on it, if you're not careful." Jed told him.

"Yes, Sir... I'm sorry..." Josh took a deep breath before turning his attention back to Leo. "I know you don't like her..."

"I've never said I didn't like her!" He rolled his eyes, glancing around to see they were all watching curiously. "Let's go and sort this out in my office."

"What about us?" C.J asked.

"You don't need to be a part of this." Leo told them.

"But I want to be a part of this." She claimed.

"No you don't..." Josh muttered, walking towards the door leading to Leo's office; knowing he was probably going to get a lecture on why he should stay away from Leanne.

"Leo?" Jed called out before he had a chance to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Should I be concerned about this?"

"No, sir..." He shook his head. "It's personal."

"Yeah and I'm asking whether I should be concerned." Jed replied, knowing whether or not someone had a personal or work related problem, it could still hurt the administration.

"And I'm saying no."

"Okay." Jed nodded. "We'll talk about this later."

"Yes, sir." He agreed before disappearing into his office.

Jed sat silently for a moment, wondering what it all could be about. His attention was brought back to the other three senior members of staff as they argued about something in unusual hushed voices and then watched as they made their way over the door. He stared at them for a moment, whilst C.J and Sam pressed their ears against the door.

"I can't hear anything..." Sam stated.

"Get out of the way." Toby pushed him aside and took his place.

"Well?" Sam asked after a few seconds. "What do you hear?"

"I hear you." He turned and gave him a look.

"See, told you..." Sam started.

"Both of you shut up!" C.J glared at them.

"Excuse me." Jed cleared his throat.

"Sir?" Sam turned to face him.

"My eyes must be mistaking me." He started, standing up and walking around the desk. "It appears that my senior staff are trying to listen into a conversation between the white house chief of staff and his deputy from the oval office."

All three of them quickly took a step away from the door.

"It was Toby's idea." Sam said quickly.

"It's things like this why the kids didn't like you at school." Toby told him.

"Hey. I was popular!"

"Okay, Sam..." C.J patted his arm patronizingly.

"I was!"

"Get out." Jed rolled his eyes, sighing as they left arguing.

He waited for a moment, glancing at the door seeing that they had closed it behind him. He then picked up an empty glass and made his way over to Leo's door.

"What are you doing, Mr President?"

He jumped away from the door quickly and spun around to see Mrs Landingham stood by the door.

"I was uh... I was just going to get some water from Leo's office." He claimed, holding up the empty glass.

"There's a pitcher of water on your desk, sir..." She gestured to it.

"Uh, well yes..." He stuttered.

"Mr President, you wouldn't be trying to eavesdrop on what's going on in Leo's office, would you?"

Jed looked at her for a moment before down at the glass in his hand.

"Damn it, Mrs Landingham, I'm the President of The United States!" He exclaimed, resisting the urge to pout and stamp his foot; she always spoils his fun.

"Yes, Sir and the President of The United States should act in a mature manner and set an example."

"Well then, I'm just going to go over to my desk and pour myself a nice glass of water."

"Very well, Sir..." She replied, watching as he crossed the room before leaving.

TBC

Please review and let me know what you think!!