I don't own the West Wing or any of its concepts, and I'm making no money off this.
"Well, what would Leo do?"
Sam and Josh were sitting in Josh's office, and the question landed in the silence, bounced a few times and lay there, unanswered. Josh gave Sam a Look.
"What? You say the President's driving you crazy…he's driving us all crazy with this new bill. Why don't you do what Leo used to do?"
"Sam…" Josh looked ten years older today. "Do you have any idea what Leo used to do?"
"Um…no."
"Exactly. So kindly shut up."
"But Josh, it worked. Whatever it was, it worked really well. Why don't you-"
"Because I can't! I can't, ok? I won't. It won't work anyway."
"Why not?" Sam leaned forward. "You have it on your desk- does that mean nothing?" He pointed at the napkin Josh kept in a picture frame on his desk.
Josh groaned and ran his hands through his hair a few times. "Sam, when President Bartlet got…overly enthusiastic- and this is something you're never, ever going to tell anybody, you gotta swear it. It's never gone beyond this office and it won't now either."
"Ok…How bad can it be?" Josh leaned forward and whispered a few words in Sam's ear. Sam's eyes widened and he flushed a bright pink. "No."
"Yeah."
"No, no." Sam was shaking his head in denial. "No. Come on…"
"Trust me. It's true."
"But- but- but Mrs. Bartlet? And Jenny?"
"The First Lady knew about it. She was ok with it, I think. Doubt Jenny ever knew…she'd have killed Leo."
"Wouldn't have blamed her." Sam fell back, still shocked. "God."
"So you understand why I couldn't ever do what Leo did."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"You'll just have to fid your own tricks, then."
"Yeah. I need a drink."
This story is offered as an homage to all the fantastic Jed/Leo slash and slash writers out there, especially to the magnificent Xanthe, whose fics have given me many hours of enjoyable reading.
