XVII

SATURDAY:

Steve wandered into the kitchen, and was surprised to see his other half still sitting there. "Hey." He leaned against the doorframe, and gave Sam a puzzled look. " Shouldn't you be gone by now?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed, and pushed himself wearily out of his seat.

"Something wrong?" he wondered.

He shook his head, and then shrugged. "Not really. It's just..." He trailed off. Steve waited for it to work itself to the surface.

Sam looked sideways at him. "What would you do if... there was somebody who'd done something you found totally incomprehensible, and yet you knew you were supposed to just... handle it? That you might even be called upon to defend that person's actions, because... just because that's what you're supposed to do."

He hesitated for a beat. "This isn't still about me calling the president cute, is it?"

"Steve." His boyfriend gave him a reproachful look.

"Sorry."

"Although, you know, I'm not over that yet."

"Okay."

"And may, indeed, never be."

"Okay."

Sam sighed. "Seriously, though. What would you do if you were called upon to defend something professionally that you, personally, found utterly reprehensible?"

Not knowing what ethical dilemma his boyfriend was dealing with, but seeing it was clearly important to him, Steve gave the thought due consideration. "I suppose," he said finally, "I'd have to know what I was defending it for."

"Yeah." Sam nodded slowly, and straightened up. "Yeah." He came over to press a quick kiss to Steve's cheek. "I'm going now."

"Okay."

"I'll be back late, probably."

"Late-late, or Saturday late?" he queried. In the White House, there was often little difference. He'd never met a group of people for working such incredibly long hours. Oh, he'd pulled a few late-nighters in his time, when the software absolutely had to ship or heads would roll, but give up his morning lie-in? Forget it.

Sam grimaced. "Probably late-late," he admitted. He breathed out heavily. " It's gonna be a long day."

"Okay."

He turned to go, and then lingered in the doorway. "Steve-" he began, and there was a pregnant pause before he finally continued, "-do you think I should shave my beard?"

He had to grin at that, not quite the weighty moral question he'd been expecting. Then he shrugged. "It's your face, Sam. I promise to still love you whatever you do with it. Even if you grow a moustache." He considered that for a fraction of a second. "Please, mother of god, don't ever grow a moustache."

Sam smiled, and then chuckled lightly. "Okay," he promised. "See you later, Steve."

"Have a good day," he responded. By the sound of things a 'nice' day might be too much to be wishing for.

"Mr. President?" Charlie poked his head around the door. "Toby."

"Okay. Thank you, Charlie." He stood up, folding away his glasses into a pocket. He'd been anticipating this one since yesterday. "Toby," he nodded.

"Mr. President." The Communications Director shuffled in, seeming uncharacteristically quiet. Jed frowned, and tilted his head to one side.

"And where have you been, Toby? I was expecting you to come in here, guns blazing, the moment Josh told you."

Toby shrugged infinitesimally. "I've been busy."

"This didn't flag your attention?" he wondered sardonically.

"It blipped my radar," he conceded. "I've been speaking with CJ, we're working on a few contingency plans."

"Contingency plans?"

He quirked a low-key smile behind his beard. "Also, possibly, the beginnings of a scientific paper on Cregg's Law of political scandal."

That intrigued him for a moment, but more pressing questions beckoned. Jed compressed his lips into a tight line. "You want to tell me how I get a bucketload of crap for a medical condition I can't help, and Hoynes gets nothing for a sex scandal?" he asked, unable to quash the challenging tone, and not entirely inclined to.

Toby didn't drop his gaze. "I hold you to a higher standard," he said simply.

Jed nodded slowly, and permitted himself a slight smile of acknowledgement. " Okay." He looked up. "Contingency plans?"

"Josh and Leo are putting together a strategy for the Vice President to speak to the press."

"They don't want to hold this back until after the State of the Union?"

"They want to. But Danny Concannon knows Leo had an unscheduled meeting with the Vice President, and we don't know how much Bridges knows about the leak and McGann being behind it. If this is going to come out now, we want it coming from us."

"Okay," he nodded again. It would doubtless overshadow the State of the Union - but he wasn't sure that was wholly a bad thing. The entire world was going to be watching him like a hawk through this damn speech to see how he was holding up after the year he'd had, and frankly, he could do with a little of the pressure taken off.

"Okay. Well, you can go." He cracked a smile. "Unless you'd like to meet the kitten? The rest of my staff have certainly seemed keen to derail the entire operation of government to play with a catnip mouse."

"I try not to encourage wildlife," Toby said impassively. Jed chuckled.

"Okay. Thank you, Toby." The Communications Director left, and he sat down to take a brief break before his next meeting.

"Senator."

"Leo." Senator McGann swivelled her chair around to smile at him, impeccable appearance showing no sign she'd been pulled away from other plans to make this Saturday meeting. "Back so soon?"

"I spoke to John Hoynes," he said flatly.

That caught her attention; she straightened up, but spoke coolly enough. "About what?"

He shook his head in dismay, in no mood to play games. "Selena, what were you thinking?" he sighed.

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so it's a case of what I was thinking?" she wondered.

"Hoynes is a hothead, and, at times, too arrogant for his own good." He had empathy of his own for the Vice President's situation, but he was still more than pissed enough at his actions to keep it tightly walled away. "You should know better."

She shrugged unapologetically and sat forward. "A girl has to keep herself amused," she said, locking gazes with him.

"That's a pretty dangerous game," he noted.

"It's the only kind worth playing."

"Yeah, well, you're not just playing, you're losing." He glared at her. "Why the hell didn't you come to me as soon as you know Bridges was on to you?" he demanded.

She lowered her brows pointedly. "Because I'm a big girl, and I don't need to go running to daddy to get my hand held at the first sign of things going wrong?"

"Well, I'm not your daddy, and I'm sure as hell not here to hold your hand!" he snapped acidly. "You put the integrity of the entire Democratic party at risk playing your power games!"

McGann eyed him sideways. "My, we have a lot of faith in the integrity of the Democratic party," she smiled dryly. "It's nice to know you're still an idealist, Leo, even after all these years. I always thought that was terribly sweet of you."

He refused to be drawn. "Blackmail, Senator?" he demanded. "Why the hell did you even stand for it? You know damn well that if Bridges goes public with the news, even now, it's Hoynes's head on the chopping block, not yours."

She smiled sardonically, an expression that seemed directed more at herself than at him. "That's true," she conceded. "However, believe it or not... I'm actually rather fond of the boy."

He blinked. "You amaze me."

She gave him a tigerish smile. "You're not the first to say so."

"You were protecting Hoynes?" he asked incredulously.

Her gaze grew colder. "I also have something of an allergy to giving in to blackmail." He nodded slowly. "Is the Vice President out of a job?" she asked him.

"We're handling it," Leo said shortly.

She raised a fine eyebrow. "You think you can?"

"I think I can save his job. His marriage might be another matter," he said snidely. McGann was unrattled.

"I'm not the 'other woman', Leo, so don't even try me," she said icily. " Marriages die from the inside out, not any other way."

In that, at least, he knew all too well she was right. He inclined his head in acknowledgement. "You're right. That was out of line, and I apologise."

She looked at him, and smiled faintly. "You're a complicated man to figure out, Mr. McGarry."

Now he allowed himself to smile thinly in return. "You're not the first to say so."

She tossed back her head and laughed, apparently genuinely delighted. "Ah, Leo. There's nobody like you." A more business-like demeanour snapped back into place like the jaws of a steel trap. "What's happening to Bridges?"

It was his turn to give a predatory smile. "Oh," he said softly, "we're taking him down."

She gave a slow nod of approval. "That," she conceded, "I'd like very much to see."