Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.

*~*

Jenn wandered aimlessly around Leo's office. She was suddenly full of nervous energy; every time she'd try to sit down, she would begin either tapping her foot or drumming her fingers on her thigh, so she resigned herself to walking in circles. Even though she knew it was probably a bad idea, she couldn't stop herself from walking to the other side of Leo's desk. A notepad, manila folder, and pen sat on the top of his desk, and a few accessories such as a stapler and a tape dispenser formed a border at the edge of the desk. There were no personal effects on his desk except for one wooden picture frame that contained a 4x6 picture of a pretty young red-haired woman looking off into the distance with a preoccupied smile on her face. Jenn had this frame in her hand and was examining the picture when a door to Leo's office opened.

When she looked up and saw a familiar face looking back at her, she dropped the frame onto the desk and ran towards the man with her arms outstretched. "Uncle Leo!"

He broke into a radiant smile that matched hers and fiercely hugged the body that had flown into his arms. He couldn't be sure, but it felt like she'd grown since he'd seen her last. He'd remembered her as being shorter than he was, but she was now definitely inch-for-inch the same height.

Jenn clung on to Leo's body for dear life. For the first time since she'd boarded the plane in Oakland, she felt like she was going to be okay. As Leo slowly detached himself from her, she had to bite her lip to stop the tears that had formed in her eyes from falling. Leo walked over to his couch and motioned for her to join him there.

"God, Uncle Leo," she bubbled enthusiastically like a cheerleader as she sat down next to him, "it's so good to see you. You have absolutely no idea."

He smiled in response, but didn't say a word. He instead scrutinized her face with parental eyes, seeking any hint of what her current state of mind was under the carefree veneer she was currently sporting.

Sensing that Leo was inspecting her, she stood up and moved over to his desk, where she picked up the frame she'd accidentally dropped. "Is this Mallory? She's really pretty. Kind of looks like you…you two have the same eyes."

Leo moved over to her side and took the frame from her hands, momentarily glancing lovingly at the picture of his daughter before replacing it on his desk. "Yeah, that's Mal. You have to remind me to introduce you two. She's about your age…a little bit older, but much younger than me."

"Well, I would hope so," Jenn joked as she playfully poked him in the side.

An awkward silence fell upon the old acquaintances. Leo led her back over to the couch for a second time where she reluctantly sat down. For a split second, it had almost felt like she was just there to pay him a friendly visit with no ulterior motives. Now there was no avoiding the real reason she'd come.

"Uncle Leo, my mother," Jenn began to say just as Leo murmured quietly, "I'm so sorry about your mother, Jenn."

She furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "How did you…?" She allowed the sentence to trail off uncompleted as she realized that Leo probably had many resources that could have informed him of her mother's death.

"It doesn't matter. How are you holding up?"

"It's been…rough," she allowed herself to admit. "It's still weird to think I buried my mother, of all people, three days ago. My mom, Uncle Leo. I still can't believe she's dead."

He placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him comfortingly. She slouched down a little in order to rest her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to the funeral. I wanted to come, but…" This time Leo was the one who allowed the sentence to go unfinished. He felt foolish trying to come up with an excuse. He knew – and had a feeling she knew, too – that he could have attended the funeral if he had really wanted to. "I sent some flowers. Did you get them?"

Jenn began to shake her head no when she remembered the tasteful arrangement of orchids (her mother's favorite flower) that had arrived at the funeral house without a card. At the time, she'd assumed the funeral house had donated the flower arrangement when they'd seen that only a handful of flowers had been sent by family and friends for her mother's funeral. Now she realized that the arrangement had been from Leo. "They were lovely," she whispered as she pulled herself away from his embrace.

Leo noted that a hard edge had entered her voice when she stated, "The whole funeral was pretty pathetic. If it'd been up to me, I would've just cremated her. But Mom had been adamant, even at the end, that she wanted a full burial, complete with a wake and everything. The wake was such a joke. No one came or dropped by except for our landlady and a couple of my co-workers. So it essentially ended up being me staring at Mom's casket for four hours in complete silence. The burial wasn't much better, but at least the priest had to be there with me to conduct the last rites."

Leo felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Jenn's retelling of her mother's funeral, which has been done in an emotionless voice, made Leo curse himself for not having made more of an attempt to fly out to California to be with her. He knew, from tabs he'd been keeping on her, that her life with her mother had been especially difficult during the past few years, and he hadn't been there for her when she'd needed someone the most.

"Jenn, I'm so sorry I didn't go," he began to say, but she cut him off as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's okay. It's doesn't matter. She got cancer, then she died, so I buried her, and now I'm here. That's that." After a slight pause, she asked, "Does…he know?"

"That you're here or that your mother died?"

"Both. Either or."

"Well, no and…no," he answered feebly.

"You didn't tell him?"

"It's been kind of crazy around here, Jenn. We had the Grand Jury hearings about the President's MS to go through, and for awhile it didn't seem like any of us were going to have our jobs for very much longer. Then the hearings finally finished up with us still standing, so we've been really busy trying to restore order to the country, faith in the President, etc., etc. I didn't tell him about your mother's death because…" Leo stopped mid-sentence as he realized that his mind was, at that moment, spinning – spinning to construct a lie for him to tell a girl who'd just lost her mother. This realization saddened him. He couldn't lie. "I didn't tell him, Jenn, because I knew he'd become upset. And after all these months of him being upset day in and day out, I thought it would be nice to see him not upset for once. I'm sorry, Jenn. I should have told him."

She stared at him dispassionately and sighed. She was still standing with her arms crossed, and he was still sitting on the couch, but now his head was lowered in shame. She'd traveled across the United States to feel better. Now she not only did not feel better, but she'd made someone she cared about feel as badly as she did. "I should just- "

"Do you want to see him?" Leo interrupted. He walked over to her and placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "You should see him, Jenn."

"I don't know, Uncle Leo. I came here because I wanted to see him, but now that I'm here, I don't know if I want to anymore. We haven't seen each other since I was ten. What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"Trust me, Jenn, when I say that he'll want to see you. Should we check to see if he's available now?"

"Uncle Leo, I-I don't know." Jenn shook her head nervously and began biting an already gnawed fingernail. "Maybe this isn't such good idea."

"Only one way to find out, kiddo." Leo walked to one of the closed doors in his office and placed his hand on the knob. "Ready?"

Jenn nodded her head as her stomach lurched. Her fear was clearly exhibited on her face.

Taking a deep breath, Leo threw the door open and looked at the side profile of an old friend.

Hearing the door open, Jed looked up from the document he'd been reading and saw Leo staring at him. "Hi, Leo," he addressed cheerfully. "Do you need something?"

"Am I interrupting you, sir?"

"Not at all. I've just been wondering if there's any way I can bribe Charlie into ordering me a cheeseburger for lunch rather than a salad. Think I'll have any luck?"

"Doubt it, sir. Mrs. Landingham trained him well."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Jed groaned. "What I wouldn't give for a cheeseburger. And I thought being President was supposed to come with perks."

"Sir, a special young lady traveled a long way to see you, and I was wondering if you had a moment to chat with her a little."

"Of course, Leo," Jed replied enthusiastically as he pushed his chair back and stood up. "I always have time for a friend of yours. Where's the special girl?"

"Right here, sir."

Leo stepped aside to reveal Jenn, who'd been hiding behind him. As Jed paled and pulled off his reading glasses, she meekly held up a hand and waved. "Hi…Dad."