"Hey Leo."

Leo McGarry nearly jumped out of his skin. "G-d damn it Toby, you can't keep lurking in my office in the wee hours of the morning like this. If DC was an open carry state, I could have shot you. You'd be dead, I'd be in prison, and where—"

"How would you get a gun into the White House?" Toby asked.

Leo shook his head in disbelief, "Don't interrupt me when I'm in the middle of berating you."

Toby scratched his head abashedly, "Sorry Leo."

Leo dropped his briefcase on his desk and walked around to open the blinds.

"Why are you opening the blinds when it's still dark outside?" Toby asked.

Leo turned around and glared at him, "Oh excuse me, I wasn't aware that, after breaking into my office at five in the morning, you're running the show now! Did you want to choose what pen I use to sign my Department of Defense reports with? Did you want to decide what I eat for lunch too?"

"Okay, okay," Toby threw up his hands in defeat. "I'm sorry I was just making conversation."

"Just making conversation," the Chief of Staff muttered while pulling folders out of his briefcase. He paused and looked outside at the pre-dawn twilight. "To be honest," he admitted, "I just open them because it's something to do, to start out the day on the right foot."

"Yep I get that," Toby replied quietly.

"What did you want Toby?"

He scratched his head and cleared his throat. Then he didn't say anything for a solid minute.

The Communications Director is known to be a pretty morose man. But Leo noticed that he looked strained and even anxious this morning. "Toby?"

He cleared his throat again and started fiddling with his jacket, "Leo I have something I want to get off my chest..."

"Yeah?" Leo walked over to sit in the chair beside Toby, motioning him to continue.

"I haven't told anyone at work...I haven't talked to anyone about it other than my sisters and my rabbi..." he trailed off, fiddling with his tie now.

Leo watched him with rising concern, spinning through the possibilities in his head. They didn't need another hidden illness in the White House. "Are you sick?"

"No! No I'm fine," Toby held his head in his hands. "Sorry I need a minute."

"We could do this later Toby—"

"No I want to get it over with."

Leo waited a minute, still wondering what this was all about. "Do you want a drink?"

Toby exhaled loudly, "Yes."

"Is scotch alright?"

"That's fine."

Once Toby had his scotch in his hand, he let out a long sigh. "Alright," he leaned back against the couch, stretching his legs, "Can we start over?"

Leo grinned, "Sure."

"I've been debating when to bring this up for months. I'm still not sure if this is the right time—"

"When will it be the right time? For us? In this job?"

"Yep," Toby scratched his forehead. "I've been seeing someone for a while..."

Leo leaned forward, patiently waiting.

"For the past two years actually," he finished.

Leo frowned, "Who is she?"

"His name's Ezekiel Wallace and he's a thirty four year old child and youth worker and trans rights activist," Toby rushed through his description, like he was finally pulling the band-aid off.

Leo's face cycled through several expressions at once, finally settling on open-mouthed shock.

Toby stood up suddenly and started pacing and jabbering on, "It wasn't that I didn't want to talk about it. I just wanted to have some semblance of a private life!"

"Right."

"I didn't want all of you to have to defend me. And obviously during the re-election campaign, we were already fighting wars on all fronts, we didn't need another scandal."

"Yeah—"

"Not that I feel like my dating life is a huge deal. I mean it's important to me and it makes me happy, but we're not breaking any laws or anything, obviously."

"Obviously."

"And I didn't know how long we would stay together. It could have been just a short period of my life that didn't need to get blown out of proportion."

"Toby—"

"Or worse, people dismissing it as just 'a phase' or me being 'confused,' when I'm a grown man capable of making my own decisions!"

"Toby!" Leo finally shouted, making Toby jump. "Would you sit down and stop talking in frenzy! Watching you pace and rant is making me lightheaded."

Toby quickly sat down and folded his hands in his lap, "Okay."

Leo sighed and took a drink of water. He couldn't think of what to say.

"You can ask me questions," Toby volunteered.

"So Andie...?"

"We got together long after Andie and I got divorced."

"No I mean—have you..." Leo gestured awkwardly, "been gay this whole time?"

"No. I mean yes. I mean—I still like women, if that's what you're asking. I'm bisexual," Toby said.

"And this guy you're dating, he's a... drag queen?"

"No. Zeke is a trans guy. He..." he paused, looking upward like the words for explaining transgender issues would be written on the ceiling of the office of the Chief of Staff. "He was raised as a girl. He transitioned when he was a teenager. He's a bit short for a man, but usually people read him as a feminine gay man."

Leo looked up at the ceiling like the instructions for handling your Communications Director's increasingly complex coming out would be written there. He looked back at Toby, "Is it serious?"

"Yes."

Leo looked back up at the ceiling.

"Leo, I want to make it public," Toby said, enunciating each word carefully.

He snapped back to look at him, "Why?"

Toby tugged on his tie and frowned at it, "It's a constant dread. Coordinating our exits from buildings. Driving out of town just to eat dinner together."

"What about all that stuff you just said? About needing privacy?"

Toby rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "It's just not worth it. And ... When the President told me he had MS, I was furious. Understandably it had a huge impact on the campaign, but even just on a personal level... I realized that I was frustrated with myself really, in not trusting myself or the people around me. So being angry at the President was really just, well, hypocritical of me."

Leo snorted, "You think?"

"Look I know it's going to seem like it's pushing the President into taking a more radical political stance—"

"I think you should do it," Leo announced.

Toby looked at him in disbelief.

"I think you should make it public," Leo smiled at him. "It's not like we haven't gotten through tough situations before. And I don't think you should be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life."

Toby nodded and sipped at his scotch, "When do you think I should tell the others?"

"Well don't do it anytime in the next few weeks. Maybe once this bill has passed and things have calmed down a little."

Toby finished his drink and set it on the table, "Alright then."

"Once you tell them we can work out a press strategy," Leo pulled a pad of paper and a pen towards him. "I'm going to need to vet him, Toby."

Bristling, Toby asked, "Why? Won't that just draw unnecessary attention—"

"I'll do it through back channels!" Leo replied. "Calm down and give me his name again."

Toby sighed, but he knew it was the smart move. "Ezekiel Morgan Wallace. Wallace with an a."

"Okay. Is that it?" Leo looked back up at him, finding his Communications Director staring at the paper.

Getting up from the couch, Toby said briefly, "Yep. Thanks."

"Thanks for telling me," Leo watched him walk to the door before adding, "I'm behind you on this."

Toby gave a small smile and nodded.

It was only after he had left the room that Leo realized he might have chosen the wrong words of encouragement.