Title: Dangling your feet
Author: Loz.
E-Mail: loz06@yahoo.com.
Rating: PG.
Category: Leo/Margaret.
Series: Stand-alone.
Spoilers: Re-election atmosphere fic, no specific spoilers.
Archive (if applicable): The National Library http://westwingstories.com/library.
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: Who knew Leo couldn't swim?
Author's Notes: To Melissa who ALWAYS reads and encourages me before I post, meaning I do more and more!! Also to everyone else on this lovely friendly list who takes timeout to send me feedback.
Thanks to Jayne who suggested a sequel to Claustrophobic Confessions with Leo panicking under water. I already had this one up my sleeve and was spurred on by her suggestion to make something of my plan.
And last but not least… (Or she'd hit me) thank you to eJay who set this challenge and many more still to come for me: Dinner at a fast food restaurant; Phone call at an untimely moment; Swimming lesson; Hidden pair of socks; Photograph.
(Phew more thank you's than an Oscar speech)
~*~
"What?" Leo sighs looking over at his assistant.
"They didn't say they were a rent-a-bomb company when I picked it up." Margaret grumbles adjusting the air-conditioning, which worked for five minutes as they drove out of town and then spat ice crystals into the car before ceasing to work.
"Apparently air-conditioning was an added extra." Leo replies sarcastically.
"It's got to be two hundred degrees." Margaret complains winding down the window all the way now.
"I'm sorry we had to stay behind." Leo apologizes.
"I know...sometimes Josh opens his mouth, Toby is too drunk, Sam is naive, CJ gets worked up and the President has no one to guide him so things go from bad to worse." Margaret repeats Leo.
"You got it in one." Leo says wearily.
"Vinyl seats." Margaret complains kicking her shoes and pantyhose that she long discarded at her feet.
"Are you stuck yet?" Leo asks lifting his sweaty palms from the wheel for a second.
His question is answered with the sound of her sweaty leg ripping from the sticky seat and then the other. Their conversation dies again, the heat oppressive making it too exhausting to do much more than breathe.
"Leo how long have you known me?" Margaret asks over the hum of the engine.
"Margaret it's too hot." Leo protests.
"Ten years right." Margaret confirms.
"I'm not sure of the exact dates..." Leo confesses.
"Long enough." Margaret interrupts proceeding to unbutton her sweat soaked blouse.
"Margaret!" Leo exclaims watching her strip the cream silk off her arms, leaving the thin protective layer between her back and the seat.
"What?" Margaret breathes relishing the warm air from the open window on her soaking skin.
"Margaret!" Leo repeats, his eyes taken from the road to the rise and fall of her chest.
"They're breasts Leo, you mother has them, your sister has them, Jenny has them and Mallory has them." Margaret says dryly, it's too hot to bother with this conversation.
"Thank you for that reminder." Leo says his eyes drawn back to the intricate cotton, lace and bows of her bra.
"Where's the road Leo?" Margaret asks smiling to herself as she leans closer to the window to catch the air the flow into the car.
"It's out there." Leo says slowly, snapping his head back to the long straight road in front of him, smiling to himself as well.
"Can we stop in the next town?" Margaret requests after a half hour, dabbing a Kleenex against her dripping skin.
"I don't think McDonalds will appreciate you walking into their establishment dressed like that." Leo replies smartly.
"Ashamed to be seen with me?" Margaret replies with equal sass.
"I'm just worried I'll have to carry you to safety over my shoulder from a pack of hairy men." Leo shrugs.
*
"Ahhhh." Margaret says a little to loudly as the cool air engulfs her. The few patrons sitting at the tables turn and look at her, smiling in understanding.
"What do you want?" Leo asks fishing for the money in his pockets.
"Anything cold, nothing hot." Margaret replies sitting at the nearest table.
Leo returns with the biggest Coke on the menu sitting it in front of her and sticking a straw down the center.
"Do you think they have a shower here?" Margaret asks looking around her.
"Do you think you can stand another couple of hours in the car before we stop for the night?" Leo asks taking a sip of his own Coke.
"I suppose." Margaret sighs at the thought of hours more in the sticky rental car.
"I'll get you a room with air-conditioning." Leo promises.
"And a pool." Margaret requests swinging her legs under her chair.
"You don't want much." Leo scoffs, the expression wiped off his face as Margaret's features crinkle together. "What?"
Her head looks under the table to find a pair of socks wedged under her shoes. "Dirty socks." Margaret says disgusted lifting her legs clear from the floor.
"Dirty socks?" Leo repeats looking under the desk.
"Can we go please?" Margaret requests standing, leaving the rest of her Coke at the table with Leo.
"I guess someone's feet got hot…Thirsty anymore?" Leo asks when he gets back in the car.
"Get me out of here. This place is hot and disgusting."
*
"Cable, air-conditioning and a pool." Leo reads off the neon sign outside of the highway motel.
"Perfect!" Margaret says as she tries to slip her feet back into her shoes. She pushes her feet into the sweaty shoes only to find her feet have swollen and no longer fit the shoes.
"What's wrong?" Leo asks pulling up outside reception.
"Nothing." Margaret sighs looking out her window at the black road and although the sun is burning off the last of the afternoon she knows the six steps between the car and the office is likely to burn the first layer of skin off the bottom of her feet.
"Are you coming in?" Leo asks opening the door.
Opening her door Margaret slams it quickly after her hopping across the burning road repeating 'ouch' over and over.
"What are you doing?" Leo asks strolling behind her as Margaret enters the air-conditioned office.
"We'd like two rooms please." Margaret asks as Leo steps into the office shutting the door behind him and locking in the cool air.
"We only have one room left." The teenage girl informs Margaret.
"Two beds?" Leo asks standing next to her.
"Ahhh..." The young girl says as her hands fly over the keyboard. "King size."
"You have nothing else?" Margaret asks dropping her head on the counter.
"I said we only had one room left." The girl says rudely.
"I'm sorry I'd like to see your supervisor." Margaret replies smartly tiring quickly of the attitude she's received.
"My mother is getting my brother from training and my father is in room 26 fixing the air-conditioning." The girl says her voice dripping with disdain.
"We'll take it for tonight." Leo interrupts handing over his card before the aggravation gets any higher.
"Out here to your right and almost to the end." She says sweetly to Leo.
"Enjoy you're stay." The young girl says bitterly in Margaret's direction as Leo slides the key off the desk, the transaction complete.
"She's playing with you because you're hot, tired and angry." Leo informs Margaret as he heads back to the car for their luggage.
"I know." Margaret says waiting on the shaded path as Leo lifts their luggage out of the back; she takes her bag following Leo past the numbered green doors.
"Ugghhh." Margaret groans, stopping outside room number five.
"What is it?" Leo asks putting down his bags.
Margaret points to the pool that is full of twelve children under ten and their parents. Water is splashing over the edge, happy shrieks and calls filling the afternoon air. Someone screams as they dive in and somewhere else a child ends up in tears.
"They'll be tucked up in bed come nightfall." Leo compensates resuming his walk towards their room.
"This is it?" Margaret questions as they stop again outside the room with an open door.
Leo looks down at the number on the key and nods in the affirmative.
"Leo this is room 26, no air-conditioning." Margaret says through gritted teeth.
"It'll be Ok." Leo assures her stepping into the room calling hello.
He's met with a frustrated sigh and then a surprised hello.
"I don't know what's wrong with it." The rotund man says looking at the air-conditioning wall unit.
"We just paid your daughter for the room." Leo explains.
"Sure hope she didn't give you any cheek, the heat gets to her sometimes, gets to all of us." He laughs.
"She was very polite." Leo says before Margaret can get a word in.
"I'll get you folk some portable fans." He says packing up the few tools he has with him and leaving them alone.
Margaret glares across at Leo who really doesn't feel like going ten rounds. "Go have a cool shower."
*
"You don't stop." Margaret says standing in the doorway to the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head.
" 'Time is it?" Leo asks not looking up from his work.
"Four thirty." She replies as the portable fans that were bought up while she was showering rustle the papers Leo is working with.
"I've got to make some calls but I don't think the kids are out of the pool yet." Leo informs her.
"I'm so tired." Margaret says sleepily.
"It's the heat." Leo says softly turning to look at her. "Lie down."
*
Margaret wakes again to the gently breeze from the oscillating fan on her face. Yawning she rolls over to find Leo asleep at the other end of the bed. Despite the fan blowing straight on her, her skin is still covered in a thin sheen of sweat and although the sun has disappeared for another night the air still hangs oppressively around her.
Careful not to disturb Leo from what must be rare sleep, Margaret opens the door to their room looking over the pool. The water is blue and inviting and the best part is it's calm. The kids from today safely tucked up in bed in air-conditioned comfort.
Grabbing her towel from the bathroom, Margaret heads to the pool.
*
"Hi." Leo says coming into Margaret's view where she leans against the side of the pool at the shallow end. His hands grasp some folders and his phone, which he discards next to him as he rolls his pants up mid calf dangling his ankles in the water that laps around the top step.
"It's heavenly in here, you should get in." Margaret says wading over to sit on the steps next to him.
"No bathing suit." Leo excuses himself, picking up one of the folders.
"Dangling you're feet in the water, that's not your style." Margaret says splashing the water away from her.
"It is right now." Leo says disinterested.
"Just excuses, I'm wearing my bra and panties." Margaret informs him grabbing his attention as she lifts herself far enough out of the water to reveal her navy bra.
"If you must know I can't swim." Leo says quietly not lifting his eyes from his reading.
"Leo." Margaret says almost sympathetically, lifting the folder from his hands and getting his full attention.
"It's nothing Margaret, it's not unusual for someone of my generation, there weren't the opportunities and I just never learnt...we always lived in the city and I loved track and field events."
"What about Mallory, can she swim?" Margaret probes.
"Jenny always took her to classes."
"I'll teach you." Margaret smiles up at him.
"Margaret!" Leo exclaims.
"Come on it'll be fun." Margaret says wiggling to a higher step, the water lapping around her waist.
"No." Leo says firmly.
"Why not?" Her question met with no reply. "Dangling your feet." She reminds him.
"All right, as long as you promise not to let me drown." Leo relents.
Margaret nods and Leo heads upstairs to change.
*
"You swim good." Leo compliments as Margaret strokes from the deep end towards Leo. She bites her tongue to prevent the smile at the sight of him clad only in boxers as he puts the phone and folders on the table at the deep end.
"Come on." Margaret says holding out a hand for him. He takes it gratefully as she leads him down the stairs to the waist height water. Hesitation crosses his face as she walks him deeper into the water.
"Do you trust me?" Margaret asks as they stand in the chest height water.
"Explicitly." Leo answers.
"Turn around." She requests and is met with compliance. "Stretch out your arms and take your feet off the bottom."
Slowly with both hands supporting his back, Leo floats to the top of the water. Smiling she watches him close his eyes relaxing as his comfort level rises. As a test Margaret removes on hand from his back. His eyes flick open instantly, mild panic on his face.
"I'm sorry." Margaret apologizes although his ears are below the water.
"This is so relaxing." He yells because he can't hear his own voice and Margaret stifles a giggle. Keeping her hands on his back she guides him back down the water to the shallow end.
"Is that it?" He asks when he's put his feet back on the bottom again.
"Put your face in the water." Margaret instructs and Leo looks at her hesitantly.
"Dangling your feet." Margaret reminds him and Leo relents ducking his face half in the water. "You're whole face." Margaret sighs.
Taking a deep breath Leo sticks his whole face in the water, when he comes up for air his hair is sticking all over his face. "I'm not sure this is worth it." Leo decides.
"Do this for me." Margaret requests looking towards the water then to the side, "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, and breathe out."
Looking dubiously at Margaret Leo complies nonetheless putting his face in the water and exhaling, turning his face to the side and breathing in again.
"Try this." Margaret says taking his hands in hers, Leo looks surprised as shrinks her body below the water line and places his hands on her shoulders. "Float this time on your stomach and kick your legs."
Leo locks eyes with hers keeping him there as he hesitantly takes his feet from the bottom, it takes a moment for his kicking movements to break the surface and the whole time he never takes his eyes from hers searching for her approval and reassurance.
"Now put your face in the water and breathe." Margaret instructs moving her hands to support his chest, Leo's kicking slows for a moment as he feels Margaret's caress underneath him.
"Don't let me go." Leo says hoarsely before ducking his head into the water and breathing in the pattern she'd shown him.
Encouraging him to stop, Margaret lifts him up under his arms to standing.
"How am I going?"
"You're an excellent student." Margaret compliments. "Last lesson." She instructs, demonstrating the freestyle arm stroke.
Leo copies her circling his arms and dragging them back through the water. "Can you put the arm strokes and kicking together?" Margaret asks.
Leo nods and Margaret strokes back to the middle of the pool away from Leo. "I swim to you?" Leo asks hovering in the shallow end.
"You don't have to put your face in the water." Margaret allows watching as he hesitantly pushes off the wall taking slow and purposeful strokes towards her.
Leo's not even halfway towards her as his phone rings on the table behind Margaret. She stops treading water, swimming the two strokes to the edge of the pool and lifting herself out of the water to answer the phone.
"Hello?" Margaret says turning to look at Leo who to her horror is no longer swimming towards the deep end. Panic has overtaken him as he watched her swim away from him and thus his safety net gone. Instead of the somewhat fluid swimming movements he was stroking moments ago, Leo flails barely keeping his head above water, the panic shutting down the swimming knowledge she has taught him. All he knows is he can't touch the bottom without disappearing under the water.
The phone clatters from her hand bouncing once on the side and landing in the deep water, sinking and resting peacefully on the bottom. Margaret dives back in the water, surfacing in front of him and sliding her hands up his sides. Leo grasps onto her like his life depends on it, as he well believes.
"It's Ok." Margaret soothes walking back towards the shallow water feeling the tension seep from Leo as the water level creeps further down his body.
When his feet drag on the bottom he releases himself from Margaret, anger washed across his features and a slight amount of embarrassment at his reaction, he climbs out of the water stalking towards his towel that he rubs vigorously on his hair.
Margaret sighs settling on the middle step briefly before swimming slowly to the other end, rescuing the soggy phone and leaving the cool blue water.
*
"You're sleeping on that side of the bed tonight." Margaret says as she gets back to their room with he towel wrapped around her, finding Leo dripping wet and lying on his back on the bed.
"Why is this so important to you?" Leo asks sitting up.
Margaret hesitates briefly before grabbing her purse pulling out a picture of a smiling young girl. "I'm sorry I left you."
"I trusted you, I trust you." Leo reminds her.
"I know I betrayed that, I forgot...again." Margaret says quietly.
"Who's that?" Leo asks softening.
"My cousin, Angela." Margaret says waiting a beat before continuing. "One summer vacation we were all in her backyard pool..."
Margaret sits on the edge of the bed fingering the photo.
"I was practicing my strokes, swimming up and down the pool, I had a competition coming up and I wanted to win. Angela could swim, she was confident in the water but she couldn't swim that well." Margaret explains.
"I stopped in the deep end and Angela was struggling in the middle, she must have gotten tired."
"Did she drown?" Leo asks carefully.
"No, I swam to her much like I did with you tonight."
"It wasn't your fault, you got to her and you saved her." Leo says soothingly as Margaret remembers in snapshots that day.
Slowly tears well and fall as she stares down at the photo of her cousin who is now thirty-five and a lawyer in Philadelphia. She only gets further upset as she recalls tonight's events and places them side-by-side.
Starting to sob quietly Margaret lets the photo flutter to the ground walking out of the room heading back to the pool.
*
It's a matter of minutes later when Leo steps up to the shallow end of the pool. Margaret's legs dangle over the end at the other end of the pool as quiet sobs rack her body.
Leo slides into the water down the steps before pushing off; his clumsy yet purposeful strokes take him further than he swam last time, where the water is twice his height. Clinging to safety on the side Leo looks up under Margaret's falling hair to find her smiling.
He rests his free hand on top of hers, stroking his thumb soothingly across it watching her smile grow. Taking a firmer grip, Leo pulls her towards the water, her shriek ringing out in the air as she falls towards the water sinking slowly under.
Instantly Leo follows her, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to hers. Seconds later he pushes them back towards the surface.
Still with one arm around her, Margaret breathlessly pulls her lips away from his. "Leo!"
"Shhh." Leo says pressing his lips to hers again increasing the passion in his kiss.
~*~