Leo couldn't remember the last time he had been so eager for a drink. Sure, the need lurked in the background on a daily basis, he was an alcoholic, it was a craving he kept at bay but it never fully vanished. Yet he didn't know when it had last felt so strong, perhaps during the campaign when he had sampled that Scotch.
Leo looked at his hands and realised they were trembling. Ordinarily he might have reached for the phone, called the Vice President up and asked about the next 'card game' but right now he didn't know if he could control himself if he spoke to the Vice President.
There was a knock on his door and he glanced up at it sharply.
"Not now!" he snapped.
Leo didn't care who was out there, they could wait, right now everyone could wait.
The most prominent woman in his life lately, his assistant Margaret opened the door. Her stance was fierce but her face bore unease."Leo the President wants you in his office," she informed him quietly.
Leo, who was giving her a look of outrage, attempted to mollify his stare as he nodded. He kept nodding as he stood up from his desk and cast another look down at the newspaper on his desk. He pushed a finger against the grainy image there and sighed.
He was back in the position of his work life versus his personal life. He had lost Jenny over it and soon his privacy had followed as his past with drugs and alcohol was outed. The wounds were still raw but he had weathered them, knowing this would be the most important thing he would ever do. Now here was another clash of those two lives and he didn't know to do.
The heading of the newspaper article was simple and cruel- 'Murder and Madness', a subheading offered 'The Dark Secrets of the Chief of Staff's Daughter'. The wording had made Leo suspicious as to the origin of the story and when he had read it he was certain he knew who had leaked Cadence's personal woes.
Leo headed out of his office and through to the Oval Office. Mrs. Landingham didn't offer small talk, just a look of sympathy.
Leo didn't know what he had meant to say when he stepped into the office. He supposed he was going to play down the issue but when he saw the President's empathetic, worried blue stare it all came tumbling out.
"It was Hoynes," Leo made the accusation with a snarl. "I told him sir. Cady mentioned Robbie's name to him when she was feverish and he asked me about him and I told him!" Leo shook his head angrily. "I mean who else could know? Who else benefits?"
"Well we do," Jed answered quietly, "we do Leo."
Leo tensed and frowned at his superior at his response. It was true but it was an ugly truth and Leo didn't have to like it.
The CIA agents had been rescued from Colombia three days ago but no statement had been released about it, in fact no one was meant to know about it publicly. The press were hungry for a story they knew was being kept from them and had kept churning out new articles and interviews surrounding the disastrous meeting between Vice President Hoynes and the Vice President of Colombia and the confirmation of CIA funded weapons in Colombia.
Just when they needed a distraction, this morning the news had broke. The tragic tale of Robbie Donovan, a young man who had gone to Chicago to surprise Cadence McGarry for prom only to get murdered before he could. The reporters had left nothing out, writing out it had led to Cadence making a suicide attempt, being sent away to a mental health facility for treatment that had been covered up, a decision Leo knew would come to haunt him and how it had started a downward spiral for her.
There had been speculation of hereditary problems, recalls to Leo's own problems and to her vanishing act after her scandalous thesis. One reporter suggested that in itself was a cover up, pondering if she had actually had another mental breakdown and been secreted to another mental health facility.
It was by no means the front headline this morning but the news was slow, the reporters were hungry and the gossip was being devoured and spread like wildfire.
Jed raised his pale brown eyebrows slightly. "Leo is this what was bothering you the other day when I asked if you thought Cady would get worse? Was it because she had mentioned Robbie?"
Leo sighed and gave a sombre nod. "Yes sir."
Leo's grey eyes searched the room and fell on the decanter at the back of it. He was still thirsty and desperate for a calm he couldn't summon in himself.
Jed gestured to a chair. "Sit Leo," he ordered calmly.
Leo obeyed, feeling a sudden sense of exhaustion in himself he hadn't been aware of. "She didn't mention Robbie to me," he explained. "She had some raccoon living in her alleyway," he paused and glanced up at Jed, giving him a pained smile, "remember how Robbie loved them?"
Jed nodded. "Vermin," he mused, "he had a family of them around his house, kept leaving left cat food out for them."
Leo nodded too. "Well Cady made a pet out of this one but it got run over," he grimaced slightly, "one night in the rain. She caught her flu after but she went to work because she's stubborn and she mentioned his name to him."
Leo gave Jed an angry look. "I want him fired for this," he said seriously.
Jed gave him a calm, disarming stare in answer. He remained standing, just opposite Leo's seat, feeling he might sag with fatigue if he sat. Jed had considered the CIA the worst of his problems until C.J had informed him of this morning's main topic in the news.
"Le you're the one who told me I can't fire him," he reminded him. "Anyway, you need proof. The press were sniffing around Cady, we knew that already, you warned one reporter off, not them all, someone else could've dug up this information."
Leo frowned and shook his head. "Not this," he insisted, "not without help. It was never publicised that Robbie was there to surprise her for prom, his parents and I agreed that information was best kept private for Cady's sake. She went through hell, the guilt consumed her, it nearly took her from me Jed."
Jed's eyes widened slightly. It was very rare that Leo called him by his name, even on a personal level he still felt the need to say 'sir'. Jed appreciated and despised it simultaneously, it was a reminder that his job was not nine to five but was full-time, all the time. Even when he left the building he was still the President, everywhere he went he was working whether he was on down time or not because the calls could come at any time- threats of war, economy crashes, home-grown terrorists, none of them were good enough to keep their hours sociable or their appointments separate.
"But I told Hoynes," Leo lamented bitterly as he bowed his head to his lap and clenched his fists slightly, "I told him. Now all this crap with the CIA and Colombia has just been swept away, his screw up on television forgotten, and we've gotten time to get our story straight. We've gotten the perfect distraction from those four agents and I know he's behind it, I know it!" Leo snapped as he turned a glower back up to the President.
"Leo we'll look into it," Jed promised. "I love your girls like my own and I'll make sure we'll find out who leaked this story. C.J is going to talk to Danny, she says he didn't write anything about it."
Leo stood up from the chair with an expression of woe. "They had a whole article about her mental instability, all these rumours about where she went to after Hoynes' campaign, all these accusations and a picture of Robbie, and a story about her being driven by guilt to try and kill herself."
"Leo have you talked to her yet?" Jed pried with a serious stare.
Leo shook his head. "She won't take my calls, Mal's going round to her apartment now to see her."
Leo and Jed turned suddenly as they heard Charlie protesting to someone that the President was engaged.
There were a few raised voices before the door opened and Charlie looked in apologetically. "Mr President I'm sorry-" he began.
Charlie didn't get to finish his sentence as the Vice President pushed past him to storm into the room.
John kept walking, marching up to Leo, his pale blue stare full of anger and his right hand raised, ready to point in accusation. It was unclear what his intent was as he never got a chance to express it.
Leo simply saw red. He forgot the role of Chief of Staff. He forgot that he was facing the Vice President. He forgot everything except being an outraged father.
Leo moved towards John, ready to meet him, his hands clenched into his fists, ready for what he didn't know for sure but damn it he was ready.
Jed moved quickly, putting himself between the two without warning so they were both forced to halt unexpectedly, leaving the three men dangerously close to each other.
Charlie lingered in the doorway, feeling the electric charge of tension in the air and knowing that a fight was on its way. He didn't dare leave the President in such a situation and yet he didn't know what to do because he was dealing with the President's Chief of Staff and the Vice President and they shouldn't be considered threats. They were the three most important men in the country and meant to be on the same side and yet right now they looked like enemies on edge just waiting for an excuse to strike one another down.
Jed fixed a tight smile up at John. "Good morning John," he greeted him sardonically, "I assume you have a reason for ignoring protocol and barging in here but you're entirely too close, I don't need to smell your aftershave."
John bristled at the mockery before backing off a couple of steps. He continued to wear a look of rage but bafflement was slipping into his expression as he glanced past Jed to Leo.
"Sir the news," John began as his gaze returned to Jed.
"You made the news!" Leo snapped angrily as he stepped by Jed to glare over at the man. "I trusted you John and you sold her out as a distraction! You told the press!"
John's blue stare filled with shock and his mouth parted slightly in an O. He drew himself upright and pointed back at Leo in protest. "Now wait a God damn minute!" he snapped as his vibrant blue gaze filled with anger again. "I didn't leak this!"
"No else knew about the prom plan John," Leo informed him hotly, "that wasn't in the press when Robbie was murdered. I told you that in confidence and a few days later the story is smeared all over the papers, convenient when we needed a distraction from the Colombia debacle!"
"Hey we needed, not just me!" John snarled. "And I would never, never betray her trust or yours like this! I came here to ask what you were doing about it! To demand you get those press lackeys of yours to apologise!" John pointed down at the Oval Office carpet. "It benefits this office more than mine, your leak is here!"
Leo glared at him in a fury. "We are the only two here who knew about it, are you accusing us? Do you think I sold my own daughter down the river for a temporary distraction?" he snapped.
Leo felt his hands trembling again as he stared John down. He felt an eagerness to punch the man and it was such a strong urge it terrified him. He needed that drink now more than ever.
"Leo I've watched her work hard to win my staff over, to rise above her past and excel in my team, I would never want to undo that," John insisted.
"Gentlemen this is getting us nowhere," Jed interrupted them loudly as he stood sideways between them so he could frown from one to another with ease. "We will have no more accusations until the leak is found. Until then, we are on the same side and the press might have been distracted from this business with the Colombians and the CIA but it has not gone away. Our four lucky agents will be coming from Langley to visit ourselves this afternoon with Director Wolfe and I am determined we get the truth of this mess from them."
Jed glanced from John to Leo impatiently when neither spoke.
"I'm waiting for a yes Mr. President," Jed informed them sharply.
"Yes Mr President," John sounded it out first in a sullen, quiet voice.
"Yes Mr President," Leo was calmer, knowing Jed was right.
"John, have you spoke to Cady yet?" Jed pried.
John shook his head. "I came straight here," he admitted. "She's still off sick although..."
"Although what?" Leo demanded.
"She's been having Gavin send her notes," John confessed. He looked both proud and apologetic at the same time. "I told him to stop initially but she's persistent, said she's going crazy in her house resting."
"That talk you gave yesterday about balancing foreign policy aid and aid at home was good," Jed admitted reluctantly with a slight frown. "Although," he added with a curious look, "I did mean to ask about the sheep."
John looked a little bashful at the remark as he smiled. "She's still got a fever sir, Gavin worked on tweaking it but he thought she meant sheep, he says she kept talking about them. Turns out her sister told her to count sheep to try and get some sleep, she was babbling about that, said she started naming them instead of counting them," he added as his smile widened. "She meant shops, more home supplied shops not sheep," he explained.
Jed gave a brief chuckle and nodded. "I see."
Leo didn't know what was transpiring. He listened to the conversation, angry simply for its existence as he wanted Jed to be yelling at John not attempting civil conversation with him but then he started to pay attention to the topic and felt a hint of pride for Cadence.
"Well it got you eight points didn't it?" Jed remarked with a touch of sharpness to his tone.
John turned sombre at the tone wondering why in the hell the President couldn't give him a break or consider a victory for him to be a victory for both of them. He nodded. "Yes, it did."
"Good for the sheep," Jed grumbled. "Look, one of you two get in touch with Cadence," he ordered, "that really is the important thing to be done and I want an update on her welfare."
"I'll ring Mal now," Leo retorted.
Gina looked around the apartment warily. It was a security risk but to her the entire neighbourhood was a security risk. If Tom Sedgewick had told her he had allowed the Vice President to come here she never would have believed it. There was also the germ risk to consider. The apartment's owner sat with a cluster of used and unused tissues before her, many turned into animals, some more identifiable than others.
Gina hadn't wanted to come, she had tried to talk her charge out of it but Zoey Bartlet could be stubborn and she had seen red with today's news and was adamant that she was seeing Cadence.
Gina had felt a sliver of alarm that Zoey had reached out to Mallory first and arranged to visit with her. Mallory was after all the Chief of Staff's daughter too. So now Gina had three ladies who would make profitable targets for many unscrupulous people under her watchful eye and all contained in an area that she was unfamiliar with and considered unsecure.
Cadence, the reluctant cause of all the trouble, was huddled up on her living room couch beneath her swan blanket with a raccoon teddy and two crumpled tissues in her lap. Her laptop was on the coffee table before her between two half-drained cups, a box of medication, her phone, and the origami tissues. She was attempting to type her resignation and getting interrupted by her own sneezes and her sister's scorns.
Mallory was sitting on a single chair, leaning forward as she berated her sister for her overreaction.
"Cadence you don't need to resign!" she snapped. "You've done nothing wrong!"
"They said the Chief of Staff's daughter," Cadence retorted hotly, "they are trying to create more scandal for dad."
The woman's eyes were bloodshot, she insisted it was simply from tiredness but Mallory and Zoey knew she had been crying.
The apartment was still cold, the heat was working but the radiators were old and simply didn't offer much heat. There was a smell of sickness in the air that had Gina recoiling, Zoey full of sympathy and Mallory considering calling up some cleaning professionals to disinfect the entire place.
"Why didn't you stay with me?" Mallory demanded. "You're clearly still not well."
"This is my home," Cadence replied stubbornly, "and I'm not going to see your career muddied as well."
Mallory sighed and waved her right hand in the air carelessly. "You're being dramatic now," she scolded her. "I don't care what the press write, we survived what they said about dad. Cady cat," she adapted a more sympathetic tone, "what they have done is cruel but it's not a scandal, you had every right to be the way you were, you were devastated and who could blame you?"
Zoey, who was standing by the old fireplace pointedly staring at three Get Well cards, glanced over to Cadence briefly. She frowned as she saw her friend turn white and slouch in her seat with a look of grief.
Zoey remembered Robbie well, he had been friends with her sister Ellie and the same age as Ellie. Robbie had been a popular fixture in the Bartlet house even before he had met Cadence.
Zoey had always been fond of him although she had found him a tad eccentric. When he and Cadence had met Zoey had been confused at the shy giggles between them and the sullenness it had caused in Ellie for a while. They had been a happy trio initially but then something had changed and Ellie had gotten mad and suddenly Robbie wasn't around the Bartlet household so much anymore and he was spending more time with his uncle in Chicago.
Zoey understood it all now, she had only been twelve when he had been killed, and just ten when the flirtations had started. Ellie had had feelings for Robbie but he had only considered her a friend, with Cadence he had been starstruck and she with him.
"I think about him every day Mal," Cadence said softly, "he died alone, scared and helpless and in so much pain in a place he didn't know."
Cadence's eyes burned with tears again. "He was there for me and I had no idea, he shouldn't have been there."
Mallory rose from her chair and hurried to her sister's side. She sat beside her and pulled her close, not caring if she risked germs.
"Cady cat don't blame yourself," Mallory begged. "He wanted to be there. Those people who killed him are the ones who shouldn't have been there."
Zoey turned away as she felt her own eyes bud with tears. She couldn't stand the sadness, especially not from Cadence. She had come to console her friend but realised she had no idea how to do that. She looked to the cards again. One with a picture of a cartoon dog looking ill was signed from a Gavin and Jeremy, one with a hopeful looking cat was from herself and the third, with a raccoon with exaggerated baggy eyes and holding an ice pack was blank.
Zoey was naturally curious about the third card. She had attempted to find one with a raccoon but they weren't exactly popular animals for Get Well cards. She wondered where this one had come from and how someone could care enough to find a raccoon one for Cadence but not enough to sign the card.
Cadence shrugged off her sister and pushed her sweat matted hair back from her face. "I'm alright," she insisted.
Mallory looked cross again. "You're not and I want you back with me until you are alright," she insisted.
Cadence cracked a bitter smile at this. "You're using your teacher voice," she complained.
Mallory continued to look cross as she folded her arms. "Cadence you're sick, you need fluids and care and company."
"I'm over the worst of it," Cadence argued. "I need work and normality." She frowned and turned her stare to her laptop.
"Rethinking your resignation?" Mallory queried lightly. "So you should, you're good at your job, don't throw it away over this nonsense. This story will be replaced by something else soon Cadence and then they'll forget."
Cadence shook her head. "Until the next thing, first the thesis, now this, obsessions over whether I'm mentally fit or not for my job then dangerous questions about whether it's hereditary, that's the problem Mal, when they start asking if dad is mentally fit for his job."
Mallory shook her head angrily. "Let dad deal with that," she insisted, "you know he can."
"It's bad for my boss too," Cadence lamented, "all this drama."
"Well he's used to that," Mallory mused. "Come on Cady you work for the White House, drama is half the job."
Cadence shook her head again and fumbled with a few strands of hair. "It can't be mine, not again. They don't deserve to be dragged down with my shit."
Cadence leaned forward and hit the send button.
Mallory sighed. "The irony is you're being dramatic right now," she scolded.
Zoey smiled at this. She stepped away from the fireplace at last and walked over to the pair.
Cadence turned an awkward, faint smile up to her. "B.B you shouldn't be here," she said quietly. "Not that I don't appreciate it and the soup you brought but it's no fun for you."
Gina wondered at the nickname. Zoey had to explain it was short for Baby Bartlet, a nickname she pretended to detest and yet she had smiled when telling Gina about it. Gina thought B.B was just like Zoey's codename- bookbag- and was wary of someone somehow guessing it from her nickname despite how unlikely that was.
Zoey raised her hands to her hips and gave Cadence a scornful stare to rival Mallory's.
"Cady we're family, I care about you," she insisted.
Cadence's smile warmed. "I appreciate it, I do but you're risking catching the flu and you're a teenager, you should be having fun."
Zoey could feel Gina staring at her and knew the agent was eager to leave but she had no desire to. She had missed Cadence for so long and she was eager for more catch ups and nights out with her and Mallory. Their time together brought back fond memories and a much needed feeling of normality.
"Can I take this seat?" Zoey queried as she gestured to the seat Mallory had occupied.
Mallory nodded.
Zoey took it and smiled at the pair. "Why don't we talk about something else?" she suggested.
"Like what?" Mallory queried, welcome for a topic change.
Zoey's smile turned mischievous. "Boys," she said. "What about you and Sam? I thought he was going to run from that dinner when we told him he had to make a grand gesture." She giggled.
Mallory dipped her head slightly as she smiled at the reminder. She had wanted to stay mad with Sam but his fumbling, awkward nature was endearing and he had seemed so sincerely apologetic about everything.
"Well we still have to arrange another date," she murmured.
"So you're willing to date him again?" Zoey quipped.
Mallory turned her smile up to Zoey. "One more chance," she said sternly. "What about you and Charlie? I hear that's turning serious."
Zoey looked embarrassed as she turned her head away to study a wall. "I don't know," she mused, "maybe, I don't know, it's too soon."
Zoey waved off the idea as she looked at Cadence with a smile. Her smile died away as she suddenly realised the insensitivity of the topic. "Cady I..."
"I'm not dating anyone yet," Cadence said, "but I've had some offers for coffee."
"Oh, from who?" Mallory queried with a sudden interest.
Cadence and Mallory's mobiles started ringing simultaneously causing the women to jump before they giggled.
Gina tensed but tried to keep the frown from her face.
Mallory answered first.
"Mallory thank God, well are you with her? Is she okay?" Leo's concerned voice called.
Mallory glanced over at her sister who had plucked up her phone from the table with reluctance. "I'm here now dad," she assured, "and she's okay, honest."
Leo sighed with relief. "Are you sure?" he demanded.
Mallory nodded though he couldn't see. "Yeah dad, I mean you know she's upset and angry, I'm angry about it but she's coping."
Cadence answered her phone. "Hello."
She was surprised by the Texan drawl that answered.
"Cadence I am not accepting a resignation from you," the Vice President informed her heatedly, "especially not one that says and I quote, 'I've made a donkey out of things.' Would you get that doctor to make another house call, you obviously still have a fever."
"Damn I knew I should have proof read that," Cadence murmured wearily as she clapped her free hand to her sweaty brow. "Oh well, donkey or not I have to quit."
"No, damn it don't start with this."
"Mr Vice President you have me in the role of Public Relations, this is not good Public Relations, this is the opposite," Cadence snapped.
Mallory and Zoey both looked at her with intrigue at the words 'Vice President'.
"Just a sec dad," Mallory addressed her father, "her boss is on the phone with her."
"Her boss? You mean the Vice President?" Leo pried, somehow knowing it wasn't Gavin or Cal.
"Uh huh, apparently the resignation she e-mailed him had the word donkey in it," Mallory mused.
"Resignation?!" Leo spluttered.
"Calm down dad, I think he's rejected it."
"Your suggestion to show a balance between foreign aid and home aid got me eight points, even with the sheep," John informed her. "Even when you're sick you do a good job."
Cadence sighed and bowed her head. She found herself studying the raccoon teddy in her lap and weaved her hand into its fake fur.
"This is bad press," she insisted, "you don't need it, and the White House doesn't need it," she insisted. "They'll just keep digging and it gets worse then. You don't need them thinking I'm mentally unstable for my job and that you probably just hired me because of who my dad is."
"Cadence cut the crap. I get that you are cranky from being sick and mad at the press and upset, and you have every right to be but you can't go into this self-hating spiral," John scolded her. "We had this conversation when you mentioned the press sniffing around, I said then that I wasn't taking your resignation and I meant it."
Cadence squeezed the raccoon lightly. "Well you should," she said moodily.
"Well I won't," he answered, his voice heated and his tone final. "Now, did you get my get well gift?" He switched the topic purposefully.
"Yes," she retorted quietly.
"Good, you let him keep you company for a couple of days, this is gonna blow over anyway, there will be another story and then yours is old news. I want you back as soon as you are well enough."
"When it all blows over?" she quipped.
"Cadence," he said sternly, "when you're well regardless of what the topic of news is. This is politics, we all take our turn at being the story."