Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.

*~*

If anyone were to look into the room, he or she would probably think Leo was deep in thought. He was sitting on the couch in Toby's office with his hands cupping the sides of his lowered head. The truth of the matter, though, was that Leo was fuming. Toby stood before him, waving his arms around emphatically as he continued to push the fact that a strong statement needed to be added into the President's upcoming speech to his Texan supporters. A statement that he, the President, denounced the Texas energy producers who were blatantly trying to extort great sums of money from Californians during their current energy crisis. And whenever Toby would pause to take a breath, Sam would be sure to jump in and continue Toby's rant for him. This tag team effort had been going on for some time now.

Without raising his head, Leo muttered loud enough for those in the room to hear, "Do you two think I'm going deaf?"

Toby stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked at Leo oddly. "Huh?"

"Do you and Sam think I'm going deaf?" Leo repeated, this time raising his voice as he stood up.

"Of-of course not, Leo," Sam stammered, moving from behind Toby so that he could be seen. "Whatever made you think—"

"Oh, I don't know, Sam. Maybe because you and Toby have been saying the same things to me for the last fifteen minutes. Maybe because you keep beating the same dead horse no matter how many times I've told you to move on! For the twelve millionth time, you cannot and will not include a condemnation of Texas energy producers into a speech that the President will be giving to a crowd of Texans! Even though those Texans are our supporters, you will alienate every single damn one of them the minute you begin attacking one of their own!" With each sentence, Leo's voice grew louder and louder.

"This is the time for us to be aggressive!" Toby shouted back, the volume of his voice matching that of Leo's.

"Yes, it's the time to be aggressive, but not stupid!"

"But, Leo—"

"Dammit, Toby!" Leo bellowed. "Will you for once in your life—"

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door. Slowly, Margaret opened the door and stuck her head into the room. "Leo? Can I talk to you for a minute outside?"

"Margaret, I asked you not to disturb us. What in the world—"

"We need to talk." Margaret held the door open for him. "It has to do with your list."

Leo could feel the color draining from his face as his heart began to beat rapidly. When Margaret had first begun working for him, he'd given her a list of names with the explicit instructions that if any of them were to call or appear in person at his office, she was to come get him right away – no matter what. There weren't many names on the list, the most notable being those of his mother and sisters. Leo nodded his head even though no one had asked him a question and stuck his hands into his pants pockets. "We'll continue this when I return," he managed to say to Toby and Sam. They nodded their assent to his back as he walked out the door.

Once in the hallway, Leo whispered, "Who is it, Margaret? My mother? Is there something wrong with my mother?"

"No—"

"Liz? Has something happened to Liz?"

"No—"

"Josie?" Leo cried in disbelief. "But I just saw her. She looked fine. An accident! Was she in an accident? Was she—"

"Leo," Margaret stopped walking and lightly touched her boss's arm, "it's no one in your family."

He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away the perspiration that had formed along his hairline. Thank God it wasn't someone in his family. He began walking towards his office again, with Margaret in tow, when he stopped so suddenly that she almost crashed right into him. "Margaret, if it isn't someone in my family, then who…?" Leo's voice trailed off as it occurred to him who might have been the cause for this interruption in his day. "Is it…?"

"Leo," Margaret admonished, secretly loving the fact that, for once, her boss was the one who was behaving erratically, "we can't continue this constant stop-and-go. You're going to give me whiplash." She stopped to take a breath before continuing on. "I don't personally know who she is. All I know is that she walked to the guard desk at the North entrance of the lobby this morning, told Mike, the guard there, her name, and said that she wished to see you. When he asked her if she had an appointment, she told him that she did not. He was about to turn her away when he noticed that her name was listed under your name as someone who has 24-hour clearance to see you, regardless of whether she has an appointment. That's when he called me. I recognized her name and told him to have someone escort her in to the West Wing once they'd verified that she is who she says she is."

"Where is she now?"

"Waiting for you in your office."

"Good," Leo muttered, "good." By this time, they'd reached Margaret's desk. "Tell Toby and Sam that I'm going to have to reschedule the continuation of our meeting until tomorrow morning. How does my schedule look for the rest of the day?"

"No different from any other day. You're suppose to be in one meeting right after another."

"Okay, I'm going to need the next hour cleared, so do whatever you have to to make that happen. Then try to reschedule the rest of my appointments for the remainder of the day. Okay?"

"Okay." Margaret began to walk back to the Communications Bullpen, but couldn't help turning back to ask conspiratorially, "Leo? Who is she?"

"Margaret…" Leo growled.

"Okay, okay," she responded as she scurried away.

Now alone, Leo stood outside the door to his office, trying to collect his thoughts. He had a feeling that the day was about to get a lot more complicated…and it wasn't even noon yet.