"That man must be so tired." Margaret says peering out the window watching Simon's rental car pull out of the front gates. "He's working eight hours on, twelve hours off and four on administration and operational matters and every minute the service doesn't need him he's on a plane up here."
Behind her Leo packs up their things, the week has flown by and he feels a little guilty he hasn't taken more time off. "The service is letting him do paperwork while he's with CJ."
As the car crawls out of sight, Margaret turns back around to face him.
"It's better she's here, there are too many distractions in the district, Abby will be up in a couple of days." Leo tells her as Margaret helps him fold his shirts.
"I know." She says quietly placing a polo shirt on top of some pants.
"You want to take some more time, book a flight somewhere overseas, take another week or two?" Leo asks dropping another shirt unfolded in front of him.
Shaking her head Margaret wraps her arms around him. "Take me home." She whispers into his shoulder.
*
As the car glides gently to a halt, Leo takes Margaret's hand in his squeezing it gently to wake her from where she's leaning against his shoulder.
"We're here." He says softly as the door is opened for them.
"Where are we?" Margaret asks, she might have just woken up but the stately suburban house is no home she's ever known.
"Just wait." Leo says guiding her to the front door and opening it with a key he produces from his pocket.
Inside the house is airy, spacious and tastily decorated. "Take a look around." Leo encourages, Margaret ventures into the living room before turning back looking at Leo wanting answers.
"This is home if you want it to be." He tells her.
"You've bought this?" Margaret says almost in disbelief.
"No, not yet, but Simon is breathing down my neck, he wants it and it's only a matter of time before he comes up with the cash to outbid me." Leo explains.
"You're serious?" Margaret says staring at him.
"Well not about Simon." Leo admits. "Take a look around."
Leo waits in the foyer as Margaret looks around the bottom floor before climbing upstairs.
"How far from work are we?" Margaret's voice calls from the top of the stairs.
"A little over a half hour." Leo calls back turning the key over and over in his hands.
"You like it?" He asks when Margaret comes down the stairs again.
"I love it." Margaret smiles pulling him into a tight embrace.
"They can move our stuff tomorrow." Leo tells her over her shoulder.
"Leo it has five bedrooms." Margaret says as if he didn't already know.
"I thought if you ever wanted to have guests or..."
"Yeah." Margaret agrees not divulging she suspects he's trying to put a topic of discussion on the table.
"I'll tell them yes then." Leo says leading her out with an arm around her waist.
*
"It has five bedrooms." Margaret repeats later that night. Leo is propped up against a mass of pillows in her bed reading, the room is dark except for a small lamp that throws light enough for him to read by.
He looks up pulling his glasses from his face as Margaret sits on the bed next to him.
"If you don't like it, if it's too big." Leo says looking over at her.
"It's not so much I don't like it, as I think you're using it to try to say something without saying it." Margaret says pulling the three-stapled pages from his hand.
"Margaret!" Leo exclaims.
"Leo you're a world class political operative, but that means squat in the bedroom when you're talking to your wife, CJ and Simon live a half hour away from the house and they're the most likely candidates for house guests." Margaret says putting her foot down and Leo can't keep back the big grin on his face.
"I love you." He says, his smile breaking into a chuckle as he leans in and kiss her lips.
"Leo, those rooms aren't for house guests, they're for our children." Margaret says seriously and Leo looks down into his lap.
"How did we get this far without having this conversation and why is it we never talk about the big things but they go off without a hitch anyway?" He asks somberly.
"You mean you could count on one hand the number of conversations we had about the wedding and telling Mallory and The President and moving house and..." Margaret lists.
"We just work and we just know." Leo silences her.
"Leo." Margaret repeats.
"I didn't know...I mean maybe you thought I didn't want anymore children, because of my circumstances and other reasons so you didn't mention anything. I thought maybe you might not want children so I didn't say anything..." His voice trails.
"I would love to have children with you...I love you." Margaret smiles at him taking his hand in hers.
"I don't know if I can still...I guess we could always adopt." Leo shrugs.
"There's always IVF." Margaret suggests climbing to sit in front of Leo, he wraps his arms around her resting his chin on her shoulder.
"So how many kids do you want, six?" Leo asks smiling.
"Two is fine." Margaret laughs. "A boy and a girl."
"Do you want to start trying straight away?" Leo asks and Margaret turns to face him.
"We still have another four years." She remembers.
"You want to wait that long?" Leo asks brushing her fringe across her face. Coming to the realization that she doesn't, Margaret shakes her head firmly.
"There's something I want to do..." Leo starts tracing the pad of his finger along her cheek. "If you ever want more children and it looks like I might not live much longer..."
Margaret presses her finger against Leo's lips silencing him as tears pool along the bottom of her eyelids.
"Don't say it." She says hoarsely.
"I want to have some samples frozen and stored." Leo finishes.
"Leo, I don't want to think about that." Margaret says emotionally wrapping her arms around him.
"Ok." Leo whispers.
*