Pairing: Leo/Margaret
Rating: R
Note: This fic is even hotter.
Warning: Sexual content and cursing!
*****
Thursday morning, in the wee hours before dawn, Leo's eyes are twitching under his closed eyelids indicating that his mind is very active. He's caught in a nightmare again, but not the one he's battled for the last four nights. Tonight's is worse. This nightmare is not of him trying to survive an attack, but that he's unable to get to Margaret and save her from an attack. His breathing increases to small labored pants. Held within the terror, he rolls flat onto his back, part of his mind struggles to reach her and the other part tries to rationalize him self to wakefulness. In his mind, Leo stretches out his hand to touch her and just as he nearly has her hand, he can't make his hand get any closer to her. He reaches, stretches and even calls for her to reach for his hand. The attackers jerk her away and he can only look at his empty hand. Leo jerks awake with a sudden gasp of breath. He looks around and sees her still quietly sleeping beside him, unaware of his distress and realizes that it was just a dream. He instinctively and immediately reaches for Margaret and rolls toward her as he runs his hand along her arm. He desperately needs to touch her and feel her warm skin under his hand. The realness of her breathing beside him is what his mind needs to bring him back from the edge of his terror. Now, needing them spooned together, he gently pulls her back against him by cupping her hipbone, drawing her closer against him and wrapping his arm snuggly around her waist, burying his face in the nape of her neck to breath in the sweet scent that is uniquely her own. His heart rate and panting slow down as he quietly holds her safely, waiting for morning to arrive.
The alarm clock rings and Margaret stirs in his arms, as Leo reaches his arm over her, to just reach the button and shuts off its announcement of the day. As he is reaching for the clock, Leo's face just brushes against hers, his slight stubble is bringing her to awareness and she sighs, as she snuggles into him. He wraps his arm around her and presses a kiss to the side of her lips. She sighs in contentment and then sleepily scolds Leo as he teases her awake by tormenting her with his morning beard against her bare shoulder, where her sleep shirt has slipped aside. He would have to admit that he's probably responsible for the wayward nature of her top, due to his habit of unbuttoning it and then not caring greatly about his inability to rebutton it again in the darkness. She rolls onto her back and smiles up to his face. "Leo, you always find the most unique ways to wake me up in the mornings." She reaches up, allowing her lips to meet his. He pushes her head back down to the pillow and deepens the kiss, moving from the sweet good morning kiss to a more passionate kiss, one that's most likely the aftermath of his fear in the nightmare. Margaret lifts her arm to place her hand behind his head and savors his wonderful way of waking her. Leo finishes the kiss with a few small kisses to her lips and lays his head beside hers on the pillows. His healing injuries are making him relinquish his passionate pursuit for a few moments.
Margaret turns to him, "Good Morning, Love."
"Good Morning, Baby," Leo caresses her arm and his hand, of its own accord, moves to the buttons of her top. "Looks like I'll have to practice buttoning you back up, for many more nights to come," he says as he looks at the buttons in question with a grin.
Margaret slides her hand down his arm to his hand at her buttons, "Leo, we have some time this morning for practicing and not just with the buttons." She rubs her fingers over his chest in search of the nipple, which is hidden by his arm. He locks his lips to hers and works his fingers down the buttons. His frantic actions make it harder for him to undo the buttons. His mind is cursing his inability to do so simple a task. He hates to open gifts slowly. They both seem a little more frantic to reaffirm the love they have found in each other.
Their hands are rediscovering where touching and stroking brings the most heightened responses from the other. Leo caresses her breasts, teasing her nipples to rigid peaks.
Margaret's hand starts to move down to touch Leo's thigh, when the back of her hand brushes up against his morning condition, accidentally of course, but he reacts to it just the same. Her mind, in its passionate state, registers her breaking the boundaries she has previously set. She's a bit afraid of his reaction, that he'll be upset that she's teasing him too much or that he'll lose patience with her. But of course, he's not upset. She can tell, at this moment, he's still in control.
His love for her encompasses more patience than she thought he was capable of. He can tell when she hesitates in her movements to touch him. He senses she's still a bit shy to touch him directly. He brushes up against her, reassuring her and encouraging her to touch him more.
She rubs his condition outside of his silk boxers, hesitantly at first and then more boldly. He rubs himself back on her hand. Her increasing pressure and touch, lets him know that she appreciates what she's feeling, in regard to his size and hardness, which causes him to rub a little harder against her. She moves her hand to reach around and to slide her hand under the back of his boxers and strokes his hips and firm cheeks, wanting to touch his warm skin.
He's now rubbing himself against her, on the outside of her silk panties. He pulls their hips closer with his hand at the small of her back, wanting to feel her body closer to him, as he rubs himself in a more rhythmic pace. Her stroking his hips and her acceptance of his rubbing has him on the edge, but he hesitates to end the wonderful moment of them expressing the love they share. Leo suddenly stops moving, and he realizes in that moment that he's not going to be able to control it. He continues to hold still and takes some deep shaky breathes, like he has before, but it's too late and knows he can't hold on. He knows it's too late and they both know it, he looks her in the eyes. He doesn't know how to react, neither does she.
She sees the struggle on his face, knows that he's lost the battle of his will and she can tell he's not going to control it this time. Knowing that it's too late to stop it anyway, she can feel it happening. She softly smiles at him, and gently strokes his face letting him know with her eyes and her touch that she's all right with his body's response to their lovemaking.
Leo, wanting to be close to her at this moment, kisses her deeply as it happens. He wants to cherish this gift, her understanding and the love she has given to him this morning.
As his body ends it's trembling, they look softly at each other, with love shinning in their eyes. They touch foreheads together for a few moments, as Leo's breathing loses it shakiness and their hearts slow from an accelerated rate.
She then giggles softly about what just happened and he hears her tease under her breath, "Oopps!"
He smiles at her reaction, "It's not that funny," with laughter and no embarrassment in his voice. She apologizes by pulling him into another kiss. They both have known in the back of their minds, for a while, that this was going to happen sometime, so it's no real surprise. He has had too many cooling off times recently.
Leo's using his arms better this morning and from the results of the necking and it's now at the level that it's definitely lovemaking, he's thankful that he's not had a setback, from the events of yesterday. With this thought he tenderly rubs Margaret's arm. "How's your arm this morning, Baby?" He leans in to kiss her shoulder and to tease her again with his stubble. The stubble that earlier started their lovemaking to begin with.
"My shoulder is just fine this morning, Leo. It was just temporary." She watches his lips touch her skin. She loves to see him kiss her body. It is a sight, which less than six months ago, she never would have dreamed of, his lips on her lips naturally, but on her body she couldn't even dream it.
Leo runs his eyes down her body and he notices that her sleep shirt is slightly hiked up, almost enough to reveal her panties. "Margaret, you were keeping the color of your panties a mystery from me last night. So, this morning I get to take a guess. Are they red?"
She shakes her head that he's incorrect, with a smirk on her face.
"Are they green?" She lets out a small giggle at his playing a game with her and lets him know that his guess is still not right.
"OK, my last try. Are they orange?"
She laughs and buries her face into the pillow beside his face.
With a grin on his face at her enjoyment, he places his hand on her hip and slide the tail of the shirt higher and he can't help but comment "Margaret, I still can't decide which color of your panties I like best on you, but that hot pink looks as wonderful as the other brightly colored ones." He rubs his hand over her hip to enjoy the satin under his fingertips. "Margaret, I think if you help me, I should be able to roll up and out of the bed this morning." He looks at her as she lifts her face to look at his, which is just inches away from her own.
"That might be the best idea, Leo." She moves to get out of her side of the bed. "We need to get you cleaned up and if we can get you to your feet, then you won't have any awkward looks or questions, let alone teasing from Josh this morning."
"Margaret, are you sure I'm not more trouble than I'm worth," Leo asks as he rolls onto his sore left side, to face the outside edge of the bed, and pushes himself up with his better arm. He grunts with the strain on his ribs and Margaret tries to both pull up and then push up on him to get him upright. Leo looks at the floor while he holds his unwrapped ribs. He does pay the price for trying this with no support for his side.
"No, Leo," she deadpans her answer and doesn't continue with anything else for a moment till he looks up at her. She steps between his knees and cups his colorful face in her hands and kisses him. "You're worth so much more to me."
He places his hands on her waist to hold her there and deepens the kiss. "Thank you, Margaret. That means more to me than anything else on earth."
She steps out of his hold and reaches out her hands to him, "Time to get to your feet, Leo. Then you can do your slow walk to the bathroom, while I get my robe on long enough to start the coffee. Take your robe in with you, Leo."
"Sounds like a plan to me, Margaret." He grunts again through clenched teeth, as he stands. "I'm up," he declares and he holds onto her for a moment to get his balance. "Point me in the right direction." He starts his slow shuffle. Glad that finally he can walk unaided, as long as he still hangs onto the furniture. He'll take any improvement at this time, so long as it's improvement.
Margaret slips out the door. She doesn't hear any sounds yet, from the guest room. She heads straight to the kitchen and the coffee maker, her first goal every morning. While the coffee is making, she searches for an ex-large mug. There is no reason for her to tote two mugs into the bathroom, when neither one of them have time to drink even half a mug. We both like our coffee black. ~Leo may not be pleased, but we do have to hurry in the mornings, till he can use his own bathroom. ~
Returning to the bathroom, she can tell that he has obviously managed to shed his boxers and do an initial clean up from his 'oopps' this morning. She finds him on the stool with a towel draped across his lap, his bare backside showing. ~ Nice looking profile he has, from the back, where it's showing in the mirror. Not a shy bone in his body. Lucky me! ~
Margaret sips from the mug and extends it to him, "Here, Leo. You take this and drink it and hold onto it for awhile." She hands him the steaming mug, taking time to make sure he has a good, two-handed grip on it.
He looks at the huge mug. "Why the giant mug, Margaret? Trying to give me my fair share, before Josh gets to the coffee pot?" He quickly takes a small sip of the hot coffee, holding his face over the steam, savoring the aroma.
She breaks the bad news to him, "That's 'our' fair share. You get a turn at the mug and then I intend to take it back."
He looks at the coffee that's remaining in the mug that he had just started sipping at. ~ She can play hell at getting more of this coffee than I do.~ "Margaret, there's sharing and closeness in a relationship, but I can predict that sharing coffee in the morning will 'not' work for us. We both tend to get rather possessive toward our coffee mugs." He takes another sip, not wasting any of his allotted time with the mug.
"That's very true, Leo." She seriously agrees, while she turns on the shower to warm up. She turns to keep an eye on him and the mug. "Leo, we do not have time to drink a whole mug before your shower and we can get more later." She holds out her hand for the mug. He takes a quick sip, watching her over the rim. "I'll give it right back." She smiles knowing his reaction to her next comment. "I have to get undressed."
"Here, Baby. Have a sip. I wouldn't want to keep you from your schedule." He grins at her while she takes two quick sips and hands it back to him. "You better hurry and get undressed. Some of us are just sitting here, ready to get into the shower." He pulls back the side of the towel, to give her a peek at his nude body.
She rolls her eyes at his bold playfulness. Her earlier assessment was correct, he's not shy, in fact, he seems very comfortable when undressed or as close as possible to it. She marvels how alike he is to Josh. She now wonders, ~Did Josh pick it up as a trait that's from his family members? It must have been nice to grow up surrounded by people that were confident and stable enough, to not teach a person to be ashamed of the body that God gave them, instead to teach decency and respect. I grew up in a strict and proper household. That's the root of my blushing at the slightest improper remark aimed at me. Having red hair did not help to control it. Thank God, I got over a lot of my shyness living in the dorms at college.~ She smiles to herself, ~It was more than a few times that I woke up to find a boyfriend had been smuggled into my roommate's bed. I almost tried it once myself. ~
Handing the mug back to him, she unbuttons and slips off the sleep shirt. She hangs it on the hook behind the door for now. She then slips off her panties and his eyes never leave her body, watching her every motion with the eye of a master painter. He definitely has worked out how to sip coffee and not lose sight of her wonderful creamy skin. His only problem is swallowing the hot coffee as his breathing increases, at the sight of her nude body in front of him. She sees that Leo's appreciating her undressing and feeling mean takes the coffee mug back, "Time for you to get your eyeballs back in your head and get in the shower."
He grins at her scolding him for watching her so intently, "You're getting in with me, right?" He stands and lays the towel across the stool. He reaches out a hand to her face, and just their lips meet for a quick kiss before he steps over to the tub.
"Enjoy it for now, Leo." She follows him into the spray of the shower. "You know that when you get well enough, you go to your own shower. We have to choose between necking in the morning or showering together. There's just not time for both, with our work schedule."
"You're going to throw me out of bed in the mornings and make me shower, all alone, all the way over at the other side of the apartment," he whines in teasing, like she's a terrible person to be so mean.
She grins at his pouting face, "You bet your ass I am, Leo." She teases with an explanation, "Besides the time factor, these are small bathrooms," she points out to him first. "I need room to blow dry my hair and access to the sink and mirror to get my makeup on. Then there's my hairspray that clouds up the room, so much that I do it last and have to hurry from the room to breath." It works as she sees Leo's face dawning with understanding.
"I think you're right, Margaret." He looks sadly at her, "There's no way I can fight for elbow room at the sink. I know better than try to get between a women and her mirror when she's getting ready. Men learn that early in life."
She giggles and starts to quickly get him washed and shampooed. As soon as she has him done she asks, "Can you step out long enough for me to shampoo my hair, then I'll be done, also."
"Sure, I can do that." He grins at her. "I just remembered that these are glass doors." He grins wider, "I don't mind a peep show, if you're willing."
She throws the shower puff at him as he climbs out, "Leo, you're so bad," she scolds, with laugher in her voice.
Leo sets himself back down on the stool and absent-mindedly starts to dry off while he watches Margaret through the clear doors. He just can't get enough of seeing her beautiful body. He finds it extremely erotic to watch her wash her hair. Her breasts are wet and proudly rounded. Leo readily admits that he's most definitely a breast man.
Margaret sweeps her wet hair away from her face as she gets out and Leo hands her a fresh towel. He crooks a finger at her to move closer and he reaches up to pull her face down for a kiss. He pulls away from her and feels the wet tentacles of her hair leave wet traces on the sides of his face, "I hope I never get tired of watching you. You're so beautiful. Thank you, Margaret."
They each dry off and she slips into her robe again, before she helps him to finish drying and to slip on some fresh boxers. He may not have noticed that she put some of his extra ones in the drawer of the cabinet to have on hand. His robe is hanging behind the door, where he put it this morning on his way into the bathroom. Soon he'll be ready for Josh to finish getting him shaved and dressed.
*****
Josh had already paid a visit to their bedroom, while they were busy in the shower. He had started to worry when he had finished his mug of coffee and Margaret had still not called for him to get Leo up out of bed this morning. He knew that she had been up and to the kitchen, since the coffee was made and part of it gone. He remembered that he didn't want Margaret's wrath before her morning coffee. He had knocked on the bedroom door and waited for one of them to call to him. At getting no response, he knocked again longer, no way was he going to interrupt the necking that Leo and Margaret were known to enjoy in the mornings, even if Leo joked that is was to get his endorphins going in the morning, to help with the pain. With still no answer to his knocking, he had jiggled the doorknob and called to the couple that he was there to get Leo up. Finally, he got brave and cracked the door open and with no warning being yelled at him, he stuck his head inside and grinned when he found the bed empty and heard the shower running in the bathroom. He was pleased to find that his chick had left the nest on his own and managed to get up without his assistance. Leo must finally be healing. He was starting to worry that something serious might be keeping Leo from responding to all the different therapies that he has had to try to recover faster. Yes, he took into consideration for Leo's age. A younger man, like himself would be hard pressed to recover any faster. Josh had just closed the door quietly and went straight to Donna to tell her the great news that Leo was improving and that tonight they could return home to sleep in their own bed, now to get her to choose which, his or hers.
*****
Margaret helps Leo into his robe and he sits back down on the stool, he's doing pretty well at getting himself up and down from the higher and solid surface stool. Margaret ties the belt around his waist making a neat bow and Leo smiles as he watches her pat it into place, just like she would the bow tie to his tux. It's just one of her quirks that he loves. "Better call Josh, now. We both need to get finished," he remarks and sighs as he checks the clock on the wall. "Don't let me forget to take a clean wrap with me." He sighs at the thought of Josh binding him up again. That boy must have a pact with Abby to keep him from breathing, with the way he can get in on so uniformly tight, but he has to admit that once he's used to it, the pain is better. It's the lesser of the two evils.
*****
Everyone assembles at the table to eat muffins and fruit, while they take turns playing with the wax machine again this morning.
Donna looks at over at Margaret, while they're both feeding the guys, who now have wax on their gloved hands, "Margaret, how's your shoulder this morning?"
She smiles at Donna, "Thanks for asking. It's fine, just seemed better last night when I took my bath, so it wasn't anything serious." Margaret glances at Leo and notices that he has a dark look on his face and she gives him a pointed look and he shrugs and schools his face into a more pleasant look. They're not going there again. She finishes getting the wax and glove off of Leo's second hand and looks around at the other, "OK, Guys, time to move out." They all know the jobs they are to do to leave the apartment. The girls clear the table, Josh goes to the door to inform the agents and Leo shuts off the TV, he even get himself standing up this morning from the hard dining room chair. Josh and Leo exchanged a smile of accomplishment. Josh helps him with the long walk to the door, "Guess this means that you'll throw us out tonight, after the hot tub?"
Leo grins and go for a dig at Josh since the girls have ducked into the bedroom a moment, "Guess so, Josh. Since Donna and you would have to sleep on the floor, now that you broke the new bed." Josh throws back his head and laughs at his own expense. Leo smiles back at him, enjoying the delight that Josh has at his teasing. ~Man, I loves this kid.~
*****
At the office that morning, Leo and Josh have a short meeting with the President and at the end of the meeting the President tells them of a decision he has made. "Leo, I know that you're the Chief of Staff around here, but just keep in mind that I outrank you. I am strongly suggesting that you utilize more of the staff, for your benefit and I don't mean just the senior staff. You have a wonderful junior staff and I want you to use them. You two are burning yourselves out trying to run the White House alone. I feel lucky that you even let 'me' help."
"Mr. President," Leo tries to interrupt. "I'm getting back up to speed and Josh is doing great this week."
"That's my point, Leo." The President loudly agrees, "You've had more time away from the office this week than you've had since the beginning of the administration. You sound more rested and happier than I've seen you since, ……I don't know when."
"Sir, my 'forced upon' restricted hours is just temporary," Leo points out a little strongly.
"Yes, and I agree that Josh has been doing a great job, but we don't need him to be a martyr here." The President looks at Josh with appreciation for all he has done, out of love for Leo and for the administration. "Leo, he can't keep up this pace any more than you or I can. You both need to pull in more help and do more delegating of the work. Expand your inner circle of staff." The President knows that this is not going to be easy for Leo. "Leo, you need to oversee, not overwork."
Josh is keeping quiet right now. He thinks that the neither President nor Leo will appreciate his input at this time. He leans forward, with his hands folded across his knees and looks at he tips of his shoes. This may take awhile and he has to concentrate to keep up with whose winning. He hears Leo growl in disapproval. He's the only one to do so, to the President, in the Oval Office. It brings a slight undetected smile to Josh's face.
The President will not let it drop, "I know that Ed and Larry are very competent and work well with the senior staff, use them to cut the workload. We have a really nice temp pool of workers that can fill up the bottom layers. Use what we already have in staff." He gets serious and gives the bottom line, "I 'do not' want this job to kill any of us!" The President looks at Leo, ~This has been a wake-up call to them all. They have found out of necessity this week, with Leo out of his office more and the others taking over his work, that no one is indispensable. Please God; don't let us find out in a harder way. ~ "Rework the chain of command, Leo." The President looks sternly at the silent man, "Josh, you make sure he does it."
"Yes, Sir. We'll do our best to spread out the work schedule more," Josh has no other choice but to comply. He 'is' addressing the President.
The President looks at Leo for his answer. Leo meets his eye and grudgingly nods in agreement. The President smiles his thank you at Leo. Jed now looks at his friend and the bluntly evident colors on his face and hands. "Leo, Abby says that Josh and you are doing well with the therapy in the evenings." Leo nods yes and twitches a grin at Josh, like boys caught going out swimming. "Glad you're both enjoying it. She also told me that you'd eventually progress to doing laps in the pool with Josh there to oversee your safety. She pointed out that's to make sure you don't drown." The President looks at Josh to get in a dig, now that they've spent off hours together last weekend and he's now fair game. "I think it's a plan between Abby and Josh, so he can use the hot tub more."
"Your probably right there, Sir," Leo agrees and finally cracks a smile for his friend that just wants to help, to make his life a little easier. He looks and sees Josh smiling back at both of them, openly admitting his love of the hot tub.
"See, I was right," the President gloats. "Leo needs to get out of the office at a reasonable time so he can do his therapy, before it's too late at night, for the both of you. He can then even relax after dinner." The President's on a roll now that his plan to get Leo to shift some of the work was agreed to. "Abby will agree with me about the new work schedule," the President states confidently. "That it's also good for both of your stress levels and Abby would also say the therapy will be good for your hearts, as well."
Leo decides that the meeting needs to end before the President has someone else doing his job for him, "Sir, we should be back to work now."
"And do what today, Leo," the President asks in a challenging way.
" To get more staff at the upper levels, Sir," Leo replies in a sarcastic manner, just to take some of the fun out of Jed's handling him.
Josh just grins at the two older men taking digs at each other, neither is willing to fully back down. He knows when to keep silent. He came out of this meeting smelling like a rose.
*****
After lunch, Leo's finally sitting at his desk for a few hours, till Margaret decides it's his naptime. Until then, he's trying to sign his name to several correspondences, but it's slow going for him. He growls in frustration. "Margaret," he getting he's bellow back. She can hear him just fine, when the door is cracked open, but he feels more 'back in command', if he bellows.
She quickly enters his office with another folder to be signed. "What do you need Leo?"
"A pen that I could hang on to would be nice," he growls at the pen in his hand.
She looks at him pointedly and deadpans, "Leo, I hate to break this to you, but pens don't come with training wheels. I know pencils come in fat sizes for little kids to learn with. Donna or one of the other assistant's might have one of those pens called 'Pentech Softtouch', which is fat and spongy, with indentations to help grip better that you could use?"
He gives her the strangest look and then breaks out laughing," I wasn't blaming you that I couldn't hold the pen. It's just harder than I thought it would be, when I agreed to sign these today." He looks at the letter in front of him, "My signature looks like crap."
Margaret's still smiling from Leo's laughing confession, "I bet it is, driving you crazy to sign the letter and your fingers won't cooperate." She gets in her dig, she can't resist, "Your signature always looks like crap and so no one will be able to tell the difference. It's just more so this week," is her logical reply.
Leo smiles at her and replies sarcastically, "That's a great help knowing that. Thank you, Dear."
"Anything to help, Sweetie," Margaret smiles at him sarcastically, also.
The President and Josh behind him, enter Leo's office through the connecting door, "What's with the 'Sweetie' name calling?"
"Nothing, Sir," Leo remarks with a grin at trying to keep a secret from his friend.
The President looks at Josh, who's now beside him. Josh grins, because he knows the reason. "OK, Josh, spill it."
Josh hangs his head a moment, but when he lifts his face back up to scan the others, his grin is still in place, "Sir, when they start calling each other 'Dear' and 'Sweetie' it's not an endearment. It's most likely the opposite and they're just being polite about it."
"And, I'm the President and I get called Jackass," the President looks wounded.
Margaret jumps in, "Sir, your permission to step out and get Leo a hot towel to wrap around his hand? He's trying to sign some correspondence."
"Sure, Margaret," the President quickly agrees. "Whatever he needs. Go." The President sees the frustration on Leo's face and knows that Leo's not in a mood to give him a straight answer. He turns back to his snitch and asks, "What's with the hot towel?"
Josh looks at Leo, who shrugs his agreement, "Sir, the heat helps to limber up Leo's hands. It helps the stiffness around the knuckles, so he can get them to work a little better. The therapist has him using a hot wax treatment at home in the morning. It's really neat."
The President had moved over to the desk to have a look at Leo's hands today. The President twists to look at Josh again, "You try it?"
Josh has a pleased grin on his face, "I know it sounds 'girly', Sir, but it's wonderful on your hands. Leo and I used those disposable medical gloves and then dipped a hand in the wax. It's fun to peel it off."
The President eyes light up at the mention of a new toy, "Where did you get one of the machines?"
Leo cuts into the inquisition, "Margaret snagged one of my credit cards and ordered me one. She even got the unscented wax."
The President is pleased to gleam that bit of information. "Leo, that's dangerous to turn a female lose with a credit card," he warns sounding serious.
Margaret has just returned with the damp, hot towel from the microwave. "I heard my female gender being taken in vain, Sir," she makes it sound like a warning even with the 'Sir' added quickly to the end. She also lays a large blue pen on Leo's desk.
The President grins and takes the 5th. He watches as Margaret wraps Leo right hand in the towel. She even massages his hand through the towel. "Leo, why is it you get all the perks around here?" He just has to tease his friend.
"Sir, that's not funny. Saying things like that out loud. It's just asking for a flash bulb to go off," Leo growls at the President. "Don't you have something to do, like somewhere else?" Leo tries to get the President to go away. Leo sighs at the wonderful feeling of the heat and Margaret attentions to his hand. He's getting tired and he has lots of signatures to do yet. His nap is sounding better all the time.
The President takes the hint. He was just checking on Leo, anyway. "You'll be napping soon?"
"Yes, Sir. Abby left orders for me to nap every afternoon this wee. Remind me to thank her for that. I'll lie down when I get these signatures done. I shouldn't be too much longer, if the heat and Margaret's massage work." Leo looks his thanks up to Margaret and their eyes smile at each other.
"Then my job here is done. I'll just take Josh with me and go back to my office, in case you need me." The President precedes Josh from the room. Josh closes the door behind him. All of Leo's doors have been kept closed this week, to protect him from prying eyes.
*****
Leo's in his office and Margaret has gone off to do some errands and to distribute some of the memos he's just managed to sign, as well as to pick up something from the mess for their lunch. He's rubbing at his hands, trying to straighten his fingers and to get them to move easier. Abby hovers in his doorway to the Oval Office, watching him closely. He's unaware of her presence. If he doesn't see her, then she can honestly assess his injuries a little better. She can see the frustration on his face, as he continues to work his hands.
She knocks quietly on the door and he looks up, wondering how long she's been standing there, watching him. He waves her in and she sits in a chair, in front of his desk. "Leo, I came by to see how you're doing." She continues to watch him work at moving his fingers, also noting that his bruised face is healing, but as she predicted it's getting more vibrant colors as it heals. The doctor in her has her asking, "Are your hands bothering you more today for some reason?"
He looks up and shrugs, "No, not really, it's just that they're taking so long to get back their regular movement. They don't hurt as much, but I can't get them to move the way I want them to, when I want them to." Leo rants a little, as he lists his full therapy schedule. "I'm doing the exercises that the physiotherapist recommended for me to do in the hot tub. I'm using the hot wax treatments and Margaret's doing the hand massages every evening. The only time they feel and move a little better is after the heat and the massage, but I can't be sticking my hands in hot wax every time I want to sign a piece of paper."
Abby continues to watch him, "Leo, tell me what's really bothering you? Your hands are improving, Leo. It seems as if your wrists are fine, the skin on the knuckles is healing and the swelling 'is' going down, so what seems to be the problem?" While she is speaking, Abby reaches across the desk and picks up one hand, looking at the knuckles. She then stretches the fingers out, judging the flexibility as she goes through each finger and she repeats the action with the other hand. "Leo, you can't rush the healing process. Perhaps the ligaments between your fingers are damaged a little more than we thought, previously. Ligaments just take time to heal properly, much like any other sprains or strains do. It's often said, that it's better to break something, than to sprain it, because sprains take longer to heal. Leo, you're improving just fine." She gently rubs his hand that she's holding and lays it down on the desktop. "Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be back to yourself in no time at all." She watches him try to flex his hands again, "The physiotherapist will look at them again tomorrow, I know she's scheduled for in the morning. But, keep in mind that patients in the hospital would be doing these treatments three times a day, not just once, like you are. You may need Margaret to message your hands prior to any writing, just to improve the movement. Like today, try to have all your signatures saved for after the hand message." Abby is still puzzled by Leo determination and insistence at working his hands. "By the way, Leo, how are your ribs feeling? You were initially having more problems with them, than your hands."
He hesitates and then answers, "Well, they're improving." He sees that she's waiting for a more elaborate answer, "They hurt a little less everyday and I'm able to move around better. Getting up from a low or soft chair is still a struggle, but I can walk a little more and I can even laugh without as much discomfort." He grins a little, "I still have a hard time calling out for Margaret, here at the office, but that's coming along, too." Abby rolls her eyes, he's bellowing for Margaret is legendary. Leo misses her look, so he continues on, "I sometimes forget and then I remember real fast, after I try and take in a deeper breath to call her." Leo's face lights up in delight, "Hey, I should tell Margaret that it's good therapy for me to yell for her. She'd never get upset with me about yelling for her, if she knew it was helping me," he adds with a smile.
Abby is happy for him and his new theory, but he still seems preoccupied with his hands, "That's great, Leo. I do feel that you 'are' making a great recovery." She just wants to reaffirm that to him. Abby knows she needs to get firm with him, "So what's the deal with your hands and don't tell me it's nothing, cause I know you and you wouldn't be this upset about not being able to sign some papers." Abby gives him a look he could read if he was blind, but he's purposefully not looking at her and is intently studying his hands, "For God's sake, Leo, if Margaret can sign Jed's signature, I'm sure she can manage yours in a pinch," she adds with a smirk.
He looks up in surprise and a quick grin follows, but he's just as quick changes his face to a more serious expression, "Abby, I don't know if I can talk to you about this." His eyes drop to the desk. "It's…… personal and I don't think you can help anyway." He looks up at her and then at both doors to see if they are closed.
She sees the look and wonders if it's a medical problem unrelated to his injuries, watching him as he looks back down at his hands, almost shyly, with a slight flush to his cheeks. "Leo, what is it? Maybe I can help."
He can tell that she's concerned and that she wants to help, but he doesn't want this to go any further. "Abby, if I talk to you about this, I don't want it to go any further, can you do that?" He looks at her face, "If I were your patient, you couldn't repeat anything said, like with doctor/patient confidentiality." He pauses and looks around the room and back to her and then adds, "This is private and I don't want anyone to know about it. If it's too much to ask, I'll understand."
She stands and comes around the desk to stand next to him, not wanting to show that she's now slightly worried, then she decides that maybe they should get more comfortable, "Leo, let's go and sit on the sofa. You look tired and I'm sure you're about ready for your nap." She rubs on his back like she does to comfort Jed. "Right?"
Leo looks up at her and nods in agreement as she helps him to stand. She sees that he's indeed improving, as he makes his way to the sofa, requiring just little assistance from her along the way, until the moment he needs to sit. Once, he is seated and recovered from his move, she sits beside him and takes his hand into hers.
"OK, Leo, go ahead. I promise that anything we say here today will be held in the strictest of confidence. Doctor/patient confidentiality is intact." She settles herself more comfortably in her corner of the couch to see him better, to give Leo a little distance and to put him more at ease, "Tell me about what's bothering you? Let me help you, if I can." Leo looks down at his hands and doesn't know where to start. She guesses, "Is this somehow about Margaret?"
He grins somewhat shyly and gives a slight nod to the right with his head in agreement, "Yeah, Ah… We're getting closer now, both emotionally and physically, but I'm unable to touch her like I want to, because my hands just won't cooperate." He rushes slightly, "We aren't yet ready to …… um …… make love, not just because of my injuries, but because we are taking our time. I'm letting her set the pace of the progress of our relationship." He takes a calming breath, "Lately, things have been moving along, but I…. I just want to be able to touch her the way she deserves to be touched and loved, but I can't, not with my hands like this." He rushes some again, wanting Abby to understand the whole picture and see his dilemma, "Margaret would never complain, but she does so much for me and I just want to do something for her, too." He smiles to himself, momentarily lost in thought, "In all parts of our lives, she does things for me and I just want to return the favor, but I don't know how to, right now." His frustration is surfacing, "She won't let me buy her things, and she's not interested in my money." He shifts to look straight at Abby, "I want to do so much for her, to make her life easier and she won't let me, and now, we're starting to move along in our relationship and I can't give her the ……… pleasure she …… needs or wants." He stops suddenly and looks at his hands resting in his lap.
Abby has suspected that the major incentive of Leo's recovery was more about Margaret, than work and now she knows this for sure. They're moving along more slowly in their relationship than she expected they would, but she's glad they aren't rushing into anything just because of the events of the last week. It would be too easy for that to happen and it might not be the best thing for a lasting relationship. But, something is going on, she can tell. They may not be having sex, his ribs are restricting his movement enough, she knows that for sure, but things are definitely moving in that direction. She has to trust that he'll tell her what he needs her to know about what's going on between them. "It's OK, Leo, don't be embarrassed. You've never been in this situation before. It isn't made any easier by the fact that you two are in a fragile part of your relationship, when you're just discovering your feelings and exploring the new depths of those feelings."
Leo decides that he does need to talk to someone and he feels he needs a female perspective on the situation, but he's still nervous about this conversation getting back to Jed. He'll let Jed know about some of it, when he's ready, but not just yet.
"Well, we decided, from the start of things between us, that we're going to take our time. There's no need to rush into things. We're two mature adults, who want to get to know each other better and savor each step of our relationship. We've worked together for years and know a lot about each other professionally and some personal things, from the time we've worked together, but we don't really know that much about each other's past." He gets more animated and relaxed talking about his Margaret, "Did you know she lost both of her parents just before she started college?" Abby eyes widen at her surprise, so Leo knows that answer, "She has one older brother, Colin, who was already gone from home when their parents died, so she has basically been on her own since then." He tries to give Abby a clue to why they need to go slow, "Abby, she's never really had anyone to talk to about personal things; things that a young woman would talk about with a mother or older sister. Margaret's very innocent about some things in relationships." Abby looks at him with the big question written on her face. Leo gives her a look right back that tells her she should know better, "Margaret 'has' had lovers, but I don't think she's truly been loved before, not in a loving relationship sort of way." He smiles again and it reaches his eyes, "She's so special, Abby. The special woman that I know her to be, but she's never had the opportunity to find that special quality in herself. I just don't want to rush her or hurt her." Leo looks down at his hands and Abby has now moved over and is holding them, he looks up at her and she sees the emotion shining in his eyes and reflecting that which his voice has just spoken of. The teary emotions that were shed here yesterday, in this very office, are still very close to the surface. She lets go of one of his hands and leans sideways, resting onto the back of the couch, while she gives him a few moments to gather his thoughts and feelings together.
During this these moments, Abby reflects about Leo and Margaret's relationship. There are stronger emotions there that he's speaking of. She knows there 'is' more. From the time that Leo and Margaret were asleep on the sofa in Jed's and her bedroom on the night of the attack, she knew. Their love has been there for some time, well before either of them even realized. This is no simple romance; it is the real thing. She knows he'll be gentle, kind and patient with the progression of their relationship, because he wants it to last. She looks at him, as if looking for more clues to this blooming romance. There's more to this relationship than meets the eye, and it's stronger than even she suspected, stronger than even his long time marriage to Jenny. This will be something she can think about later, right now Leo is the person who needs her help. He's a very private man, who's never really shared his personal feelings, so she knows that it's taken a lot for him to open up to her today.
She feels that she might be able to help him with some caring advice, "Leo, I think you and Margaret have done the right thing by taking this relationship as slowly as you have." She tilts her head to the side and smiles at him, "You two have something very special, both here at work and personally. You're right not to push things, just let her tell you what she needs and wants from you, she may not know herself." She pauses to emphasize what she's saying, "If you're right and this is the first long -term romantic relationship Margaret's involved in, then taking it at her pace is the answer. I'm so happy that you two don't get caught up in the emotions of the moment. You have made the best decision already. That you want to make love for the first time, for the right reasons, because you love each other, not because of the fear of the current situation. My last advice is to keep the lines of communication open. You seem to have a great intuition when it comes to reading each other, keep that up."
Leo nods his head in agreement. He's more relaxed and relieved, now that he knows she understands.
She continues to look at him as she holds onto his hand, "I know that it's hard to talk about these things, but I'm glad that you've talked about this today. It's just between you and me." She changes directions, but is just as serious, "I also know that Margaret is a very private person. I just hope that she realizes that she can come and talk to me at any time." She smiles, "I have three daughters that I have had many conversations with, just like what Margaret may have missed out on with her mother. She's more than welcome to come and see me at any time. Jed's not privy to the conversations that I've had before, with the girls, and he won't be in the future, either."
She decides it's time to get back to his first concern, "Your hands are doing fine, Leo." She looks at him and smiles, "You're not twenty-five anymore. You already have a little arthritis in your hands and unfortunately that may be slowing down the process a bit." She assures him as she examines his hand again, "The things you're doing for your hands, the hot wax treatments and the hand messages might be something you may need to continue even after you have recovered from the injuries. You may have needed to start them at some point anyway." She continues to caress his hands and feeling the swelling in the knuckles.
Leo has been listening to everything she's said, "I just worry that she won't tell me what she needs from me." He firmly states, "I want to make her feel special, just like she does for me."
"She does Leo, she knows how you feel, but this may be more important to you than her right now." She smiles softly to him, "Women are different than men when it comes to sexuality. With guys, everything is very noticeable and physically present and intense and immediate and easy." She looks around, finding the right words and back to his face "With women, pleasure is …… different, it's slower and harder to access. There's more fear about not being able to please their partner or in fact, please themselves, it's not as easy as you may think." She smiles, "Most people think its just men who have performance anxiety in the bedroom, but women can too."
Abby notices that Leo's looking like he's ready to fall asleep, after his anxiety and now relief, " OK, Leo, you've had enough talking for now, I think. Nap time?" He nods to her, too tired to even answer her. She stands up and gets the pillow and blanket from the closet.
She helps him to get comfortable on his side, as he settles in for his sleep. He softly calls out to her as she leaves, "Thanks, Abby."
She watches from the door, " You're welcome. You know, Margaret is a very lucky woman, to have someone love her as much as you love her, Leo."
As he falls off to sleep he answers, "No, I'm the lucky one."
She smiles as she turns off the light. ~ No, they're both lucky, just like Jed and I are. ~
*****
It's early evening at the apartment and Josh exits the guestroom, with two overnight bags in tow, both Donna and his. He has just redressed after that night's therapy session with Leo. They both are still trying to figure out how they managed to escape from the White House at such an ungodly early hour. Well, if the truth to be told, Josh is returning to the office. Donna is still there holding down the fort. She was quite adamant that she could handle anything that popped up and the other assistants would pitch in and help, if the phones for both offices got too crazy. Josh sees Leo moving slowly but steadily to make his way out of the bedroom, followed closely by Margaret. The therapy wears him out, but each day he gets stronger. "Hey, Leo, I'm about ready to head back over to the office, " Josh grins at Leo, who's taking advantage of the early evening and is wearing his favorite faded blue jeans. " I know you don't feel back to normal yet, especially after your work out, but you do look more back to your old self in your jeans around here." Josh points out the truth and knows that Leo needs to hear that someone else can see the improvement that he's working so hard to achieve. Margaret stops right behind Leo and has her hands resting on each side of the waistband of Leo's jeans.
"Yeah, the jeans do make me feel more like my old self. That and the fact that Margaret just loves to get me in and out of them," Leo boasts to Josh in a macho manner. "Ouch. What was that for," Leo asks, as he gingerly rubs the back of his head, with his right hand.
"That, Leo McGarry was for your bragging comment. When you sound like Josh, then you get treated like Josh," Margaret gives him a pointed look, with a small satisfied smile and continues to the kitchen.
Leo and Josh look at each other and nod in agreement, before both vocalize the same conclusion, "The Sisterhood."
"I heard that," Margaret warns out the kitchen pass-thru window.
"Yes, Dear," Leo answers with a laughing tone. He knows he's not going to get the upper hand in this and he surrenders.
Josh is chuckling at the banter that has returned between the couple, so much like the way they were like before this last week. He calls to the kitchen, "Margaret, do you still want me to come over in the morning and help Leo finish getting dressed?"
Margaret steps to the doorway, " Josh, yeah, it would probably be a good idea for you to come for one more day. I'd really appreciate your help." She considers Leo's progress by the next week, "By Monday, he should be able to manage. I can help with his shoes and tie if he needs it, on Monday."
"OK, I'll come one more day and dress my kid." Josh shifts both bags to one hand and reaches out to ruffle Leo's hair like a kid. Leo softly growls and smoothes his damp hair back down. Not everyone is brave enough to try that with Leo, but Josh just grins and Leo does finally grin back at him. ~The crazy kid. Who else is going to torment you, but family? ~
"Be nice to me, Josh, or I'll tell Mallory on you and she's worse than any Sisterhood. She's a McGarry, remember that," Leo threatens with a pleased smile.
"That 'is' a real threat, Leo. Honorary sister of mine that she is, she'll kick my ass with pleasure, if she thought that I wasn't here to properly care for you ," Josh seriously states.
"That's my little girl," Leo boasts.
Margaret jumps in to get the male teasing to an end, since they can keep this up forever. "I can call you in the morning, Josh, when he's gets up to shower."
"Good, Margaret. Call me on my cell phone, when you want me to head over. I will probably be at the office by then. I have an early call to make." Josh is dancing from one foot to the other and heads for the door. Leo's driver has been waiting to return him to the White House.
*****
Margaret brings a stool into the kitchen for Leo to sit on, while she starts dinner, "See, Leo, we didn't destroy your kitchen this week."
Leo grins back at her, "I was getting worried with Josh in here so much, but I may be able to get him trained to cook, yet."
"Here, Leo, you just sit there and use the rolling kitchen cart to work off of and tear us some lettuce for the salads and here is some shredded carrots and cheese you can top it with." Margaret hands him the bags from the fridge. ~That should keep him happy and busy.~ "Leo, where is the colander hidden?" She turns back around to look at him, while she holds open the bottom cabinet doors.
"I put it in the top cabinet by the sink, that's where 'I' keep it," Leo gives her a logical reason for it being there. It's his kitchen after all. He grins at that thought, because it really is his now.
Margaret pulls it out to use when the pasta is ready. Leo's starting to take an interest in what she has cooking and laying out on the countertops. His natural instincts are kicking in. ~Any time now he's going to start directing the preparations. That fine with me, as long as he's safe here with me, he can order away. ~
"Margaret, this cart has a chop block top and when my hands get better, I could still sit here and cut up the vegetables, if I can't stand long enough, by then." Leo looks delighted.
"That's why I purchased it, so that we'd have another work area, for one of us to work at when you're here cooking. This kitchen is not big enough for an island, so the cart can be a tiny movable island. When it's not in use it can park under the pass-thru window."
"Good idea, Margaret. You know how I love kitchen gadgets and this is neat. It has a towel rack on each side, the stools fit underneath and two drawers on the front." He examines the cart all around. "Hey, it has a small drop leaf on the back." Leo grins happily at her and then looks back to the little cart and he rubs his hand gingerly over the top of it.
Margaret looks a little sadly at his bruised and healing hand. He's not really able to flatten out his hand, yet, she notices as he trails his fingers across the top.
Margaret carries a tray with their plates and glasses on it. She stops in front of him and loads the salad bowls onto it, "Come on, Leo, it's time to move to the dining table." She reaches over past him to set the tray on the ledge of the window. She hooks a hand under his arm to help him rise. " You're a little stiff after your therapy, aren't you, Leo?" He looks at her and grins sheepishly in answer to her question. She nods her head with understanding. "I'll grab your meds, while you make your way to the table."
"Thanks, Margaret." Leo looks around the kitchen to see if they've forgotten anything for the table, in his usual habit. "If you hand me the salad dressing, I'll take it with me to the table." He holds it in his left hand, since he knows he's going to turn to the right and will need that hand to hang on to the doorway.
They really enjoy the quiet dinner alone, for the first time since the big change of Leo moving in and living there. The soft music in the background helps to create a comfortable mood to enjoy their meal. Leo looks at Margaret and softly smiles, her face is so expressive, it tells him so much. He can tell she's thinking about something and trying to figure it out by the way she's studying the pattern on her plate. "OK, Margaret, times up. What has you so busy, in your head, this evening?"
She lifts her face to look at him and returns his soft smile, "Leo, you know me so well. I was thinking that 'this' apartment is now our haven from the world, just like the old apartment was. Our lives have been such a whirlwind of events and it seems that most of the time we are not in our control of our lives, except when we are here together and then time slows down and we can relax and enjoy our time here."
"Definitely, Margaret, life gets crazy outside the door and in here we can be together with some solitude from it. Even if it's just for a short while, after I recover my strength and our workdays may go back to the usual chaotic pace."
"Leo, it would be so nice, if the chaos was not quite that bad. This has been nice to be home before the clock strikes midnight." Margaret daydreams out loud to him. ~If only it could continue. ~
"Well, Margaret, I do have something of a surprise for you, then." He blows out his breath loudly, before he reveals the news, "The President insisted today that we widen the inner circle of staff that we use and spread out more of the work." Margaret is staring at him like he's telling her a dream come true. " I quote the President now, 'Leo, you are to oversee, not overwork'."
"Leo, Jed really told you to use more help?" She just wants to clarify what her ears were telling her and has a shocked look showing on her face.
"Yeah, he did," Leo confirms and sighs, just letting her know that he's not really pleased, but will give it a try.
"Leo, I may just kiss Jed the next time I see him." She seriously admits," I've been so worried lately that you'd either get an ulcer or have a heart attack, working at the pace you've been, since we got to the White House."
"It's not that bad, Margaret," he tries to defend himself casually, to make it sound like no big deal. " I'd never get an ulcer, not with my cast iron stomach."
"I'll just say two things to defend my opinion, Leo. The Mess food and you getting very little sleep," Margaret logically points out, using her fork to emphasize the points.
"You might be right, Margaret, but now you can keep an eye on me 24/7." Leo gives in and agrees to her unquestionable facts. She knows him too well, also. His face spreads to a happy grin at her delighted face.
She positively glows, "I'm so happy that I can now keep an eye on you. I really love having you here with me, all the time. It was starting to feel a bit lonely here with out you here with me."
He puckers out his lips for a kiss, since he can't rise and give one to her.
She smiles and is happy to help him out and glad that the table is small. She reseats herself and decides to approach the other thing that she has also been troubled about. "Leo, I do have something that has been bothering me for awhile, which I'd like to discuss with you, about how we've been responding to each other at the office of late." Leo tilts his head to indicate that he's listening intently to her and nods for her to continue. "I think we've been doing pretty well to keep it professional and not too personal in the workplace. This last week has been a real break in our normal behaviors. I just think to make home a more special place, that we should try to be more professional at work than we've been this week. We're getting more physical with each other here and it'll be harder for us, if we wait any longer, to put some restrictions on our behavior at work. We need to get back into our old ways, before the attack, a little kiss every now and then, but work is work." Margaret rolls to a stop at the end of her explanation of her logic.
Leo looks at her and blinks, "Margaret, you're right again. We've been so emotional and with so many changes in our lives this past week that we do need to regroup and get back into having that nice division we had between the two." Leo feels the need to insert a reality, "Not to say, that there aren't going to be situations that may arise, when we feel the need to have a closer contact with each other, but it'll be a natural response." Leo smiles and reflects, "I'm sure that after I'm well, we'll get back into the old comfortable routine that we've had at the office. It took us several years to develop it and it's still there, it just got side tracked this week. We shouldn't worry too much about it, Margaret. I'm confident that we can weather anything that comes at us, together."
"I'm so glad you agree, Leo. Now, let me get these dishes back to the kitchen and you go on ahead and move over to the couch," Margaret puts action to words and sets the dishes back onto the tray and sets it again on the window sill to the kitchen.
"OK, but I should help when I can. I'll just owe you a turn," Leo agrees and lifts him self up using the table top for leverage. He makes a detour to change the CD and then follows Margaret orders and lowers himself to the couch, with a satisfied sigh.
Margaret comes in and sets his glass in front of him. He thanks her and watches with interest as she picks up the CD remote to turn it off. She trades for the TV remote and turns on the TV. She quickly flips through the channels to find the program that she's looking for. Smiling, she finds it and hands the remote to him, "Here you go, Leo. I wouldn't want you to miss your 'porn' cooking show." She makes her voice sound disgusted, but she's grinning at him.
Leo looks at her face with surprise, "Margaret, are you sure it's OK with you that I watch it?" His eyes tear from her face to the TV of their own accord, he can't help himself when he hears his favorite cook tell the menu for the show.
Margaret chuckles at him being torn between trying to concentrate on her and the TV show he can't resist. "Leo, it's fine. I know you really enjoy your 'soft porn' once a week."
"Margaret, you know that just cuts me to the quick, when you call it that," Leo scolds her and has a hard time of keeping his attention on her and not the TV. When the commercial comes on, he looks at her with his full attention. "You wanna watch it with me, Baby, this evening?"
She pats him on the shoulder, "No, I think I'll pass, Leo. I'm not going to try and compete with your first love." She just loves to tease him with this show. It really pushes his buttons.
"I hope you mean cooking. I discovered my love for that as a teenager," Leo defends his right to enjoy and watch the cooking show.
"Leo, I'm going to go to the bedroom and use this hour to sort the floss for my cross-stitch project and just enjoy some music from your Bose. I also really need to be doing some of our laundry this evening. I was planning to do some on Sunday and you know how that turned out. I can put in a load and do the other things as well. We're starting to run low on some of our clean clothing. I know I am. That's another reason I bought lots of panties yesterday. I'll do more on the weekend and you need to check on the dry-cleaning service here at the apartment for your suits." She leans over and gives him as quick kiss, when she hears the show coming back on.
Leo answers her, but he's distracted, "The Secret Service will want to handle that." She shakes her head at his total attention to his cooking show. She adjourns to the bedroom to have the next hour to herself. It's something that they've not had recently. Togetherness is wonderful, but they have some interests that are different and they both realize that everyone needs some quiet time to themselves, every now and then.
Margaret returns to the living room at the end of the hour when she hears Leo turn off the TV and start the CD playing the soft music again. Stopping in front of the couch, she sets her glass on the coffee table next to Leo's and looks at him as he stretches out on the couch, smiling at her invitingly. "If you think that we're going spend the rest of the evening just cuddling, you're sadly mistaken, Leo. We have projects we can get done." Leo's face is showing his coming protest. "I know that we'll have all of this coming weekend here at home, but," she squints one eye at him and honestly points out, "if I know you, you'll be busy on the phone with Josh or the President and probably reading files whenever you can." He holds up his index finger in preparation to make a point. But she keeps right on talking, "I know, I know, you do have to catch up and Josh is covering for you." He now has a guilty look on his face and jerks a small nod of his head to the side, in reluctant agreement and decides that his feet are interesting to look at right now. "Don't worry, Leo, I can make some adjustments to you working at home." She states like it's a chant, "It just goes with the job."
Leo looks sideways at her with mild disappointment, first that she's not cooperating on his scheme to cuddle for the evening and the second that she knows him too well and will probably limit his time on the phone this weekend. "So, Margaret, what is it that 'you' want us to do this evening, since we're home with extra time on our hands," he asks with some reserve, knowing by the tone of voice that she'd used that she has a plan.
She grins at the tone of his voice, like she's going to make him scrub carpets or some other terrible job. "Leo, I just thought that we could go though your other boxes that Mallory and Sam brought over. She talked like it was an assortment of keepsakes."
Leo grins at her proposed idea. "Sure, we can do that. I'd like to see what I have packed in them, also. When Jenny sent them to the hotel, I just quickly pulled out what I wanted to use for the hotel or the office and Mallory took the rest to her apartment to store for me." Leo pauses before trying to express his reasons. "I didn't want to have a lot of it out in the hotel room. It just didn't seem right, to unpack a lot of it, right then. Mallory wanted me in an apartment, but I never really had the time or the desire to go look for one. Why should I have gotten an apartment for just me, when the hotel was enough for me to go to and sleep?"
Margaret smiles sadly at Leo, he just doesn't know how sad and lonely that sounds, when she knows that she'd have welcomed his company at any time. "Well, Leo, that's not a problem now. You're here to stay. We can check out the boxes and then, come the weekend, we can just relax in 'our' apartment, together." She picks up his glass to take it to the kitchen for a refill.
Leo smiles at her proposed plan and then continues with the conversation while she's in the kitchen, since the kitchen window was left folded open. "Margaret, that would be a nice way to spend the evening and a relaxing weekend will be wonderful." He considers the coming weekend, "Let me warn you though that Josh and I are planning on adding two extra therapy sessions over the weekend. We can do one each morning and then again late in the evening." She has a questioning look on her face at his ambition. Leo confesses, "I mentioned to Abby, this afternoon that I thought with the therapy, I'd be improving faster. She pointed out that if I were taking the therapy in the hospital, I'd be doing three sessions a day. Abby suggested that I might try to get in some extra sessions this weekend."
"Sounds like you have a plan of your own, Leo." She knows that Leo wants to get well in record time. "You'll have to rest and recuperate some during the afternoons." She smiles with satisfaction, "So, my plan will fit in with yours, very nicely."
"I agree, Margaret." He adds to be helpful, "I saw the boxes in the guest room, just inside the door where Sam put them." He's not happy with his next request, "If you would be nice enough to bring one in here, we can see what I left in it." Leo quickly warns, "Just remember to be careful of your back, if it's too heavy just scoot it in here with your foot or you could ask the agent to step in and move it in here."
In the guestroom, Margaret checks the boxes and decides that maybe it does weigh too much for her to move it. She doesn't want to risk her back on their first night of them trying her taking care of him alone, again. "Leo, it might not be a bad idea after all, for the agent to move the box. If I ask him in here, will you make the request?" She stops at the doorway and waits for his answer, a hand on each side of the doorframe.
"Yeah, I'll do it, Ms. Chicken," he teases her about being backward about asking the secret service agent for help. "We might as well make use of him, he's camped out there for the night." She walks to the coffee table and takes a sip from her glass.
"Leo, it's not really his job, you know." Margaret wants to point out her logical reason for being hesitant in asking about the agent's help.
"He won't mind, Margaret. He'll still be able to keep me secure. In fact, he'll be able to report that he did a physical check on me." He wants to calm her worry, "Call him in here, Baby." She still looks at him a little skeptically and Leo gets firm. "I don't want you hurt, so get him. Please." He swings out his arm toward the door.
She turns and starts for the door, "Yes, 'Sweetie'." Margaret flippantly replies to his being bossy at the apartment, "I just love a strong willed man."
Leo gets the hint and can't resist being flippant back to tease her, "Baby, just as long as you love me." He watches her face for her reaction to the teasing with a soft smile on him face for her.
"You know I do, Leo." She gives in and goes to the door and unlocks it to relay Leo's request to the agent and she holds the door open, while he speaks into his mic to inform the other agent that he'll be inside.
The agent strides in and nods to her when he observes that Margaret flips the lock on the door behind him. He moves to stand in front of Leo, "Mr. McGarry, you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, you're Agent Lewis, right?" Leo asks in a friendly manner. It's not the agent's fault that he's assigned to stand watch outside the apartment.
"Yes, Sir." The agent replies in a short professional manner, with his hands folded in front of him.
"I'd like you to do something for us, if you can?" Leo pauses slightly but doesn't break eye contact, "We realize that it's not something that you're required to do, but we need a box moved into here. I'm unable to do it with my hands and if Margaret puts her back out, all hell will hear it and I'm first in line."
The agent nods, "Sure, I can get it for you, if Miss Ryan will show me where it is." He turns to look at her for directions.
"Right here, inside the guest room," Margaret's voice sounds apologetic and thankful, as she steps to the guest room door to point out which box. It takes the agent about two minutes to bring the box in and set it on the coffee table.
"Thanks, Lewis, we appreciate your help," Leo smiles at the agent and waves a hand at him.
"Anytime, Sir. Just let me know," Agent Lewis strides to the door and Margaret follows him, to lock the door behind him.
Leo reaches out to flip open the lid of the box to reveal the long packed contents.
Margaret moves around the table to sit in front of his legs. She helps by lifting out the top items, which includes a few framed photos and underneath them is a large photo album. Under that, a couple of older books, one item wrapped in cloth and a small metal box.
"Margaret, hand me the metal box, please." Leo lays the box on his stomach, to open the lid and looks inside. His face reflects sorrow and memories from long ago.
Margaret watches his face and rests the photos, in her hands, onto her lap. "Leo, care to let me know what's making you have that far away look on your face?"
"They're my military metals and other items from my Air Force days. Each one has memories, some good and some bad, a lot bad when it comes to war," he honestly answers her, but leaving her with the impression he'd rather not get into it right then. He hands her the box. "Trade me. What have you got there?"
Margaret hands over the photos and takes the metal box from him. She slouches back overtop of his legs, to rest against the couch. She opens the lid and gently moves the contents around and with surprise lifts out a set of pilot's wings. She looks at Leo and he nods that, yes they're the real thing, his Air Force wings and one of his most valued possessions. She studies the wings and stokes a finger over them. She glances at him again and he returns it, with a small crooked smile of his own.
He can read her face, "Yeah, there's a lot that we don't really know about each other, from the time before you started working for me, but we have plenty of time to share that part of our lives." He glances to the photos in his hands and groans with a smile that makes it all the way to his eyes. "You just had to see the pictures of me as a kid, first."
She replaces the wings in the box and shuts the lid. The contents of it will wait for another day for her to hear the history of each item in it. Leo has had a rough enough time of it lately and she could tell that he was not in a hurry to tell her, just yet. Margaret smiles at the look on his face, "I think you were cute as a little boy, and I can even see some of you, in Mallory." She leans in enough to look upside down at the photos in his hands.
Leo gives her a rueful look, "If I was cute, I guess I definitely out grew it fast."
"Well, Leo, now you're handsome, especially to me." She has a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face for him.
Leo now sounds like he is doomed, "So, what are we going to do with these now that you know that they exist."
Margaret states her intentions and takes one of the photos back from him to look at more closely, "I want to set out some of your things around the apartment. This is your home, now. It should reflect you and your tastes as well." She smiles to herself when she remembers the interior decorating magazines that Abby, Donna and she looked at, over the weekend. "Good thing that I haven't done any real decorating to the apartment, yet. Now, we can let it reflect both of our tastes."
Leo just knew that the girls were up to something, when they were huddled up at the residence. "That's fine by with me, but if you want to display my things and have my opinions on what I like with the decorating, then you'll have to use my credit card for the expenses." Leo gives her, his ultimatum.
Margaret gives him the familiar pointed look that says she's not happy with what he just said, "Leo, you know my answer to that." She feels guilty at her usual snap response. This is sudden to her and even though it 'is' her fondest wish, she has been on her own for years and now she needs to get used to sharing everything and not be so independent.
Leo has his defense argument ready for her objection, "It's only fair, Margaret. Mostly, everything in the apartment is yours. I only purchased the guestroom furniture and I might point out that some of it, already needs replacing." He raises and eyebrow at her and she grins at his meaning.
She perks up at a thought she has. "Leo, I never thought of it until now, but do you have any other things stored away?" Margaret gets a look of deep concentration, "It seems to me that you had an old fashioned bookcase in your Secretary of Labor office. You know, that one that had panels of glass on three sides."
"Yeah, come to think of it. I do have a few pieces that were mine from my mom's side of the family, the other Irish side." He grins to himself, while he's remembering what's stored away. "I've had them in a storage space, since the divorce." Leo wanted to be honest and up front with Margaret, "I agreed that Jenny could keep all the newer items."
"What kind of pieces are you talking about? Furniture?"
"Oh, yes. Some beautiful old world furniture," he teases her, since he knows she adores antiques and these are going to please her greatly.
With her hips still sitting her weight on the couch, she leans over to fold her arms high on his chest and rest her chin on top on them to look him right in the eye. "OK, Leo. Quit dangling a teaser in front of me and tell me what you have stored. You know I 'love' old furniture."
"All right, I surrender. I have a beautiful round," he pauses to make her wait, "dual dropped leaf," he pauses again, "pedestal table." Her eyes are large with delight. Leo gives her the last tantalizing detail. "It's got four, claw foot brace legs off the bottom of the pedestal."
Her lips pull in to a tiny circle and she sucks in air, as she loses focus of his face and pictures the table in her mind and then glances at the small dining table across the room.
Leo catches her look and breaks out laughing, "You better wait till after any redecorating before we bring it here, with the other pieces. I 'know' that it will break your heart, when you hear that we'll need to find some suitable chairs to go with it."
Her head pops up from her arms, but she never takes her eyes off his face, "You mean we'll need to go antique shopping for them?" At his nod to confirm her assumption, she gets almost giddy. "Leo, don't ever lie and tell me that Christmas doesn't come early."
She gets a dreamy look in her eye as she imagines what type of chairs they'll be searching for. She sighs with pleasure and lays the side of her face down on his chest.
Leo watches her face. ~When she reviews what I said, she'll be questioning me with excitement again, so I'll just be patient and wait for it. ~
"Leo," she pops her head up and stares him in the eye again, pinning him in place with the look.
~Here it comes. ~ Leo smiles knowingly at her.
"You said other pieces. What else is stored away?" She is almost demanding with her question, thinking he's deliberately holding out of her, to tease her.
"Well, besides the old bookcase you mentioned, there's not much," he pauses to drag it out again. "Just an old carved wooden headboard and it's not really very big. You know that antique ones were usually just full size and it's not a whole bed."
Margaret's mouth falls open, "Leo McGarry, you know, I should hurt you for keeping me in suspense, when talking about real wood antiques."
Leo calmly reminds her that he's safe tonight, "The agent might have a problem with you doing that. It might make him look bad, for me to end up damaged on his watch." He watches the emotions run across her face and he loves them all. "So I better not mention the matching dresser that goes to the headboard?"
"Leo," she rises to her knees over him and acts like she going to choke him, but at the look of enjoyment that he has on his face, she instead slips her hands under his neck and brings her lips down to his.
She pulls her lips from his and asks, "Here's a riddle for you, Leo. How many agents does it take to get Leo McGarry and Margaret Ryan to said storage building, without incident this weekend, to view the said furniture?"
He chuckles at her with that wonderful deep rumble that she loves, "I don't care how many agents, Margaret. They can bring all of them as far as I'm concerned, when we go inspect the storage space this weekend."
Margaret gives a squeal of delight and kisses him again as a thank you. She knows he'll keep his promise.
She settles back to her place on his legs and is smiling to herself, "I can't wait till I tell Abby and Donna what we have to work with when redecorating."
Leo reminds her of a best part, as for as he's concerned, "You can also break the bad news to them that I'm insisting you use the credit card for the expense." Leo pins her with a serious look, "Margaret, I'm not kidding here, I want you to promise me that you'll not consider the expense, when you are making those decisions." She starts to debate with him, but he holds up a hand to stop her, "I know you, if it's something for me, you won't worry about getting it." He nods to the side, "After you dicker to get the best price, of course, but if it's something you like and want, you'll rehash the decision to death." He pauses to change reasoning tactics, "This is our home. I want it to reflect us. This is the 'one place' my hard earned money 'should' to be used the most. I want us to enjoy our haven together."
Margaret looks at him seriously for a full minute, "You really mean this, don't you, Leo? It's that important to you?"
He gives her a soft smile to assure her and honestly answers, "Yes, I really, really mean it. I do not want to worry that you didn't get something for the redecorating, because you were trying to keep on some kind of budget. It will make me wonder when it's done, if it was all done with me in mind and not us in mind."
Margaret finally understands that Leo needs the security that she'll 'do it right', with the decorating to make the apartment their haven from the world. "Leo, I promise. I'll not hesitate when making the decisions. As long as you understand that I'll not be comfortable afterwards either, if I just throw money away doing the redecorating. I want the good feeling that I did my best, too."
Leo's pleased at her compromise and adds his own reserve, "Agreed, Margaret and I get to keep my manly right to moan and groan at the process, whenever I feel the need."
She giggles at the coming fun, of tormenting him during the redecorating processes. "Can we seal the bargain now?"
Leo growls in approval, "You bet, Baby. Get up here and seal it properly." He reaches for her and she slides in beside him and they lock lips to make it a pact.
They snuggle for a few minutes, before Margaret looks at him with her eyebrows pulled down, "Leo, I think you just side tracked me to get your way with tonight's plans. We still have more stuff to get unpacked from the box."
Leo chuckles at his tactics getting discovered, "Can't blame me for trying and I didn't hear you complaining, until now."
"Nice try, Leo, but I want us to get this box done." She sits up and reaches into the box and draws out the cloth bundle. She unrolls it after glancing at Leo for his nod to continue. She finds what looks like a silver silhouette, of the front of a plane and in the area of the propeller, is a round clock. "This is neat, Leo. Have you had this long?" She holds it up and wobbles its wings up and down, just to get a visual effect.
"Yeah, it was in my room as a teenager, when I dreamed of being a pilot." Leo remembers a kindness done to him back then, "The neighbor man gave it to me, when he found out I was crazy about planes." He chuckles at her antics, " It's a replica of a DC-13."
"This would look nice on the hutch of your computer stand," she looks at him to see his reaction to her suggestion of displaying it. She adds some logic to try and sway him. "We'll be able to see it through the doorway, from here."
"Good idea," he agrees at the eager look on her face. " I'd like that, it's similar to how I had it back then."
Margaret hands the clock to Leo and lifts out some larger framed pictures. She shifts through them and lists them out loud to Leo. "You have a picture of 'The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk' and this one has two '1910 German Stereo cards featuring the Wright flyer'."
"Oh, I 'am' impressed with your knowledge, Margaret," he's teases her, knowing that she can't tell one plane from another.
"I'm reading the titles at the bottom, Leo. I'm not that smart about planes and you know it." She makes a silly face at him, "You're just teasing me."
She returns to reading the titles on the next picture, "This last one is two framed post cards. One of a 'Burgess-Wright aeroplane' that wrecked and the other one is of a 'Bennett Racer Model R or also referred to as 'Baby Wright' or 'ROADSTER' '."
"Those are both early bi-planes. I took my first flight in a bi-plane. At the local air-show, when I was 10 years old. It was a 1929 Travel Air 4000. I fell in love with flying that day." He chuckles at his memories of that next year. He drove his parents crazy with his fascination of being a pilot some day. He remembers the vintage, brown leather bomber jacket he wore constantly. He still loves to wear it, some things you never give up.
She glances at him for further info on the pictures, but Leo just looks at the plane clock in his lap. "You have a nice collection of Wright brother's prints here, Leo. I think you should hang them in the guest room, or should we call that the computer room or your study?"
Leo chuckles at the way Margaret's mind jumps tracks in the middle of a sentence, "I think that would be a great idea. We can make the study over in an aviation memorabilia d‚cor. There should be some bigger things from my collection, if they are in there?"
Margaret heads to the bottom layer. "Hang on, Leo. Here's a flat box with something in it. It's a display plaque and it has a stand to hold it. Let me read it. 'Actual section of wing fabric acquired from the historic "Vin Fiz", used when this become the first airplane to cross the Transcontinental USA.' You mean that small square, is actually from the plane?" She holds the display closer and examines the gray cloth inside.
He remembers that Mallory got it for him through her school, "Yes, it's a souvenir from when the museum did a restoration of the plane."
Margaret extends it to him, waiting just a second to make sure he has it secure in his limited hands. "Hold it too and let me get out some more items." She finds two last pictures and a smaller cardboard box. She lifts out the pictures first. "Hey these are neat, they're from the space program." She holds them both quickly up for him to see before flipping them back around for her to look at, "You have one of Alan Sheppard on the moon and one of the space shuttle Columbia." She glances at him with a smile, these she can relate to.
Leo grudgingly confesses like he's been unfaithful to the older vintage stuff. "Yeah, I never can make up my mind, whether I'm hooked on the past of aviation or the future of it." He just smiles innocently at her. ~I'm a true flyboy, wanting to take a bi-plane to the moon.~
Margaret studies Leo for a moment after he confesses that he can't decide something, the man that makes hundreds of important decisions is normal after all. She is so please to have this reinforced in a small personal way. "This is a really nice part of you that I've enjoyed founding out this evening, Leo. Thanks for sharing it with me."
He smiles and his colorful face looks better for it, "I'm happy to share with you anytime, Margaret." He gets serious and points to the box, "But there better be another item or two in that box or I'm going to throttle Mallory for raiding my collection."
Margaret gets a look of mock horror on her face, since she knows that Leo would move heaven and earth for Mallory, "Oh, just wait a minute, before you go and threaten the life of your 'only' daughter." Margaret uses both hands and lifts out a box. It's a good size cube and she sets it down on the coffee table and lifts the lid off, to reveal a plastic square protective case. "Oh, Leo. Even I can tell that it's a beautiful piece."
Leo gazes at it lovingly and she can tell it's his favorite piece of his collection, "It's a model of a F4U-4 Corsair, like Pappy Boyington flew in the Marines VMF 214 Blacksheep Squadron, during WWII." He brightens to give her a detail that she can relate to, "The best part is that it's carved from a block of wood." Leo holds out his hands for the case. She gingerly sets it in his hands. Margaret retrieves the pictures from his lap, so he can set the case down. It's a little awkward for him to hold it securely. Once it's steady in his lap, he studies it for a little while, tilting his head to see different angles.
Margaret's already busy flipping through the pictures, trying to think of some good arrangements that would look nice in his study. She goes to put the pictures back into the packing box and finds another smaller box in the bottom. "Leo, there is another box in here." Putting the pictures back down into her lap, she removes the last item. It is longer and is in a beautiful rectangle box. She opens it to reveal a dark statue. "OH, my. Leo, is this what I think it is?"
He glances at what she has in her hands, "Yeah, it's a Remington."
She looks back at the wonderful workmanship and detail of the statue. "It's bronze then?"
"Yes, it's bronze, he started working with bronze late in his life. It's called 'Mountain Man'. I always wanted one of his pieces and I really didn't care for his cowboy statues, but this one, I liked. Guess it's because the mountain men went in first, to the unknown territories as explorers and I admire that."
Margaret looks around the room, "Can we display it here in the living room? I'd like to keep it out, if you don't mind."
Leo is touched that she's enjoying his collection, "I'd like that. It'd be nice to see it out, for us to enjoy."
Margaret gets up and walks over to the table in front of the bay window and set the statue down in the light from the lamp and adjusting it to show its best side to the room.
Leo swings his feet down to the floor with the plane clock tucked into his waist as he holds his arm in tight to support his ribs as he rises to sit up. "Margaret, I'm going to take a break and set this on the computer stand and take a restroom call, while I'm so close to a bathroom." He leans forward and hangs onto the coffee table with his left hand to help pull himself up to his feet. He stops half way and takes a deep breath in and out before straightening his back up. Margaret's beside him now and has a worried look on her face. "It's alright, Margaret. I've just stiffened up from being in one position so long"
"OK, then, Leo. Can you make it on your own if I steady you, while you get out from behind the coffee table?" She holds onto him and steps backward and he follows her foot steps, just missing stepping his toes onto hers, with each step. She can tell he's smiling and knows he's taking pleasure in just barely missing her toes.
"Yeah, I'll be fine after the first few steps." Leo proves himself right and flashes her grin and she return a rueful one back at him, she was onto his little footsie game.
"Then, I'm going to check on the clothes dryer and refill our drinks. So take your time, Leo." Margaret disappears into the bedroom, listening to Leo as she goes.
"Like, I'm going to do a leg race here. Everything I 'do' is slow speed. Josh refuses for me to be or act or even consider 'old' as an option. He boasts that we'll both be feeling younger after the therapy. I have the feeling that he has us mapped out for at least the next year." Leo assumes she's hearing him, but he's talking just as much to himself, as he enters his study.
*****
Leo makes it back to the couch before her actually, but he's not going to tease her when she's doing the laundry for the both of them. He helps out by putting the large pictures back in the box and he leaves out the display case with the model plane. He'll take it to the study on the next trip.
Margaret returns and catches him trying to slip the small photos and the album back into the box. "Oh, no you don't, Leo. I want to see the photos of you when you were little."
He groans and lays them back down, "Wasn't one enough to appease your curiosity? I don't get to see any photos of you as a kid," he challenges, to hopefully distract her and to keep him from being embarrassed by his photos.
"Fine, Leo, I'll get my album. You can look at mine, while I look at yours." She answers his challenges, innocently not paying attention to how it sounds.
Leo looks at her with in mock shock, "I can't believe what you just suggested." He looks her body up and down. He then scans down his own body and back to her, with a questioning look. "What is this then? You show me yours and I'll show you mine?" He actually gets that asked, with a straight face.
Margaret doesn't have the poker face that Leo has and cracks up laughing, "Oh, Leo. That sounds terrible. Interesting, but terrible and I do 'know' you just couldn't resist, when I left that comment wide open."
Leo joins her in laughter, "I just had to. I guess being around Josh is starting to corrupt me."
Margaret laughter follows her to the bedroom and she returns shortly with a grin on her face and a photo album in her hand. "Here, Leo. Enjoy. Don't blame me if you get scared by what you see."
"That's what I should warn you about. My album should have a warning label on the front, but Mom insisted on making it for me." Leo teases with her, while he lays her album in his lap.
"Leo, move your butt over and let me in beside you," Margaret orders with her backside again the couch.
Leo grins and immediately starts to slide his hips carefully over, "Sure, but why are you getting so cozy up against me now, you didn't want us to cuddle earlier, thinking it would distract us from your plan?"
"This is different, Leo. I want to ask you about the pictures and this way I can share with you about mine." She has a logical reason and he does look so comfortable stretched out.
"So, not only do you get to see all my geeky pictures, you want me to tell you all the details that go with them?" He rolls his eyes at the inquisition he imagines in him mind. ~Guys just like to flip the pages and look quietly, unless of course, we do not know 'anyone' at all in the picture.~
Margaret looks at him with honest sincerity, "Sure, Leo, it's a girl thing. We want to know all the interesting little details, of our boyfriend's prior life."
He frumps and looks at the cover of the album in his lap, "This may be a painful process, but just remember that paybacks are hell, Margaret." ~I can tell that this is one of those times that a man is on touchy ground, especially if he complains to loudly.~ His face brightens. ~Then again this might be fun! This album should have in it somewhere, something embarrassing for Margaret. ~
Margaret notices his happy look all the sudden, "Ok, here's the deal, Leo. We can take the 5th when needed."
"Deal, Margaret." He leans closer, to kiss her, to seal the deal. He loves making deals with her, but it tends to be distracting for him and one day soon, he's going to find himself agreeing to something that he'll have no idea what it was he agreed to. He trusts her.
They turn their attention to the albums, since they're both curious to see what they contain.
"Leo, you were cute when you were little." She flips the pages slowly. "You were a little bit older than your two little sisters. Right?"
"Yeah, I'm 3 years older than Elizabeth and 5 years older than Josephine." He grins with satisfaction, "My nicknames for them, back when we were kids, was Lizzy and Josie." Still grinning he gloats, "Being the big brother really had its advantages. I got to stick my sisters with embarrassing names that I love to use in public, especially at social events."
"I just bet you were a bossy big brother and took advantage of being the oldest." She teases him, trying to imagine him ever 'not' being in charge, "I can tell that from some of the pictures of you three playing as kids."
"Speaking of big brothers. Is this a young Colin here? In this one?" She looks at the albumin his lap and Leo comments, "It looks like you were both mad in it."
She studies the photo in question, "Yep, we were mad all right. It was my birthday and Mom and Dad made us stop playing at my party, to have our picture taken and we were very unhappy to have to pose in front of our little friends." She sighs softly, "We were mad, but we were shoulder to shoulder in everything. Colin was my big brother by 4 years, but we saw eye to eye on everything." Wants him to understand how close they were, since they had to deal with career parents that were always on the move, "Back then, it was us against the world and sadly now it really is."
"You talked to Colin lately?" Leo has an ugly thought of Colin hearing that there was an attempt on Margaret.
Margaret has a guilty sound to her answer, "No, I usually try to catch him on the weekends." She hurries to rationalize her lapse, "He's out on a job most of the time during the week and Mrs. Wallace is always there with the kids." Margaret hears how that sounds, "Colin tries to be home on the weekends, when the kids are home, so I can usually catch him then."
"Man, are you two going to need a long talk, after 'this' week and I'm 'really' glad he likes me." Leo has a definite worried tone, as he predicts the phone call yet to be made.
"Leo, he knows what our jobs and work is like and the risks that sometimes occur." She thinks about her brother's reaction and gets worried herself, "Then on the other hand, you're right, he's not going to be happy that we were both at risk." She quickly explains why, "He gets pretty protective of family and if I love you as family, he loves you as family."
"Yeah, his kids seem to like me pretty well, from what I can tell. Most kids that don't know me, seem to think I'm gruff." Leo states a fact about how his first impression, seems to small kids, when they meet him. With his lined face and gravely voice, especially if he's wearing a suit.
"Leo, most adults that don't know you, also think you're gruff." She leans her head over to touch his, "You live a tough and demanding life. You 'have' to be tough in order to achieve the goals of your work."
"Margaret, I think you're one of the few people that understands where I'm coming from in my work," he sincerely means that.
"Yeah, I do, Leo." She kisses his lined forehead. "Now, let's get on with the embarrassing pictures." Margaret wants to lighten the mood.
"You know, Margaret, with you being a tall kid and Colin being average for his age, you both look like you're the same age." Leo glances a smile at her, "Like twins, but not identical."
"Yeah, we were mistaken as twins a lot." She scoots back up a little from where she was relaxed and sliding down on the couch, "People would ask Mom if it was hard raising twins and she would deadpan to them, 'Not if they're four years apart'."
"So that's where you got your dry humor?" Leo teases her, about when she uses it on him.
"Yeah, I guess I did, but I inherited my red hair and my temper from my Dad," Margaret freely admits to it now that he's gotten a taste of it.
"I hope, Colin took after your Mom with his temper and his sandy hair." Leo swallows with difficulty thinking of the danger Margaret was/is in. "I still think he's gonna kill me." Leo hopes that his new theory, of the darkness of red hair is a gauge to their temper level. Then again, his Mallory has dark red hair. He is 'so' in trouble.
Margaret seriously shakes her head, "Nah, he'll kill me first, like a big brother should and then he'll kill you, but not in front of the kids." Margaret gives him some sure fire advice, "Next time we see them, just grab one of the kids to protect yourself with and don't let go of them, till he's ready to leave."
"Good to know, Margaret." He seriously vows, "That child is going to be stuck to me like glue, even if I have to go down to the Sit. Room. So I'd better grab Ben and you take Katie." Leo chuckles, "Ben would love all the tech features in there."
Margaret rolls her eyes at a sudden thought. "I can just see the President and you with Ben." She's not sure that age or size would matter with the three, "That boy was born grown up and so smart it's scary. Still, he has his red hair to be wary of." Margaret has picked up on Leo gauging them by their hair.
"He'd be Jed's kinda boy then." Leo can just visualize Jed with a version of his younger self. Leo chuckles to himself as he continues to look at Margaret's album. It seems that she was into sports as a young girl.
"Hey, Leo, is this who I think it is?" Margaret has a delighted tone to her voice and she leans the album to him, pointing to a photo.
"Yeah, it is!" He grins as he looks over to the photo she's pointing to, "That's Jed and me as teenagers at our Prep school."
Margaret studies the photo of the two, with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. "You look so happy and full of dreams back then."
"Yeah, but we never dreamed of the White House, back then." Leo smiles remembering back to those years, "I wanted to be an astronaut and Jed wanted to be a priest. Life is so unbelievable and so amazing at times."
"Leo, can I take this one out and frame it. I think it should be out where it can be enjoyed." Margaret asks him, with hopefulness in her voice and showing on her face.
"Sure, if you really want to? I have some others, of us together, already in frames." He just knew that she would eventually get to his entire picture collection. Margaret doesn't miss a detail in things that interest her. She slides the pictures out of the album to set them aside for framing.
"Where are they, Leo? I didn't see any more in the box." She looks at him like he's mistaken.
"Sure you did. You laid them out of the box, to the side. They were right on top of the albums, in the box." He scans the table to see where she placed them, when she unpacked the other items.
Margaret reaches over to shuffle through the items on the coffee table. " Are these the ones?" She holds up a stack of framed photos that are held together with some large rubber bands.
"That's them. Take the bands off and look at them." Leo gives her some encouragement, since he'd like to see them again.
Margaret does as instructed. "Leo, these are wonderful. Can we put them around the apartment, also?" She studies the photos of Leo and Jed. "This one must have been at a family event, when you were both young dads, because the little girls are sitting at your feet." She glances to the second photo, "This other, may have been at the inauguration ball, because you're both in tuxes."
"Whatever you'd like to do them, Margaret." Leo's beaming inside and out that Margaret is adding his possessions to hers, around them. It really does make him feel at home, their home.
They look at the albums again for a few minutes, in happy reflection.
Margaret's getting to the end of the album that his mother made. It stops several years back, when she passed away. On one of the last pages is displayed his military photos. One shows a younger Leo, as a Colonel, in his dress uniform and another one of him posing in front of his F-105 Thunderchief fighter. He's wearing his flight suit and his helmet is tucked proudly under his arm. Flipping the few last pages, she finds, tucked into the back of the album, a photo of Leo just a couple of years ago. Possibly taken during the campaign, of him posing with his own Cessna 310J airplane. She knows the model of his plane and the license number. Since the campaign trips, he as trusted her deal with the details of scheduled maintenance and inspections, plus making sure the insurance premiums and hanger rental payments are made. She knows that he 'is' serious about his plane being taken care. Flyboys are just that way with their planes.
"Leo, you really need to take these two photos, of you with your planes, and have them framed. You could display them in your study, since you're doing it in an aviation theme." Margaret smiles at her own suggestion.
He leans over to view them again, but he knows them well, "That would be really nice, Margaret. Those are two of my favorites. You know my first weakness 'is' my planes." He smiles and admittedly is pleased at her suggestion.
"Leo, is this the only album that you have?" Margaret decides to take a shot at finding out if Leo has other things, which he would like to have here at the apartment, now that it's his home.
"Well, yes, there were more photo albums, but when Jenny was dividing up our personal stuff, we decided that Mallory should have her album, from her school days. Mallory also has one, of the three us together, when she was little and I think that we should find another one here that Mallory put together for me, of just her and me, from some of our family albums. It could still be in one of the other boxes that she's going to bring this coming weekend."
"That's sweet, Leo." Margaret's so glad that Leo and Mallory are close. "That was a labor of love from her, Leo."
"Well, believe it or not, but back then, we actually did have more 'Father and Daughter' time together than you'd think, when I was just a lawyer." He clarifies that some, "It was before I got into climbing the political ladder."
"Well, if your expertise with Rachel was any clue, then you must have been close to Mallory as a little girl." Margaret chuckles softly at the memories of Leo playing on the floor with Rachel. ~Maybe when Leo is well, we can offer to watch her for another weekend.~
"Oh, I'd love to see the album of the two of you, Leo." Margaret has a soft smile on her face, trying to visualize Mallory when she was small enough to carry around. She has always liked and had a soft spot for Mallory. Red heads tend to be drawn to each other. "I've only seen the one photo of her when she was really little that you keep on your desk. We need to have some of her and you to set around. I have my family displayed and I'd like you to have yours, also."
"Yeah, she was 'my girl', back then, but girls tend to bond with their mom's when they get to puberty." He gives a small sigh, "Jed and I were moved back to the 'ignorant male group' in the girls' eyes, still loved, but with female superiority after that." Leo looks up at Margaret face for her Sisterhood approval of his assessment. "Luckily, Mallory and I have bonded again in the last few years, even before the divorce." He admits, "She has boosted my moral on more than one occasion."
He bumps Margaret's shoulder beside his. "Now, I have my two favorite women in my life and I couldn't be happier." He gives her a kiss to her temple. Leo remembers the women all through his life, "Hey, I do have one album that you might like to see, it's a family heirloom. It's in my safety deposit box." Margaret gives him her full attention at his mention of something old. "It belonged to my grandparents, on my mom's side. It was saved with the furniture for Mom. It even has a few photos of my great-grandparents in it." Leo knows she wants all the details, "It's made of very old leather, with embossing on the covers, so it's better to store it in the environmentally controlled area of the bank, but we can stop by some Friday night and bring it home to look at." He wants her to realize how much it means to him. "It's what got me started with my genealogy research of my family."
"I thought that you said you were researching your dad's family tree?" She replays in her mind the conversation they had a few months back at the old apartment. "Do you have much on your mom's family history?" They continue to flip pages as they talk.
"Yeah, remember I told you I have it on the computer and the neat part of the Family Tree Maker program, is that it lets me work on as many family branches that I want to. It's really interesting to see the info that I've found and look at the pictures of the people that it's about." He pauses and looks questioningly at her, "What do you know of your family history?"
"Well, not too much." Margaret tries to remember what's in her parents bible, "Just some info about my grandparents, but I do have a few photos of them. Dad and Mom were the busy type and didn't go too much into the family history. Maybe they were going to do it in their senior years. I know a lot of people do, at that age, but the car accident cut their time short." Margaret states sadly.
"Well, you could do it for them, now. Colin and the kids might be interested in what you could find." Leo happily gives her a convincing testimonial, "It's really an interesting hobby. It's like a mystery that never ends. Just as you find one line, another crops up and if you tie into an established line or a famous person's line, it just explodes. It's like eating potatoes chips, you just can't stop with one."
Margaret's giggling at his excited speech, "One chip or one family line, Leo?"
He gives in to her playfulness, "Either one, and the thought of chips is making me hungry, again." He knows her greatest weakness, "What about some ice cream before bed?"
"You twisted my arm, Leo." Margaret closes the album in her lap. "You straighten up the coffee table as best you can and get the photos safely back into the box." She stops short at putting her feet to the floor, "Please, leave out the photos that I want to frame and display."
"OK, you get the ice cream, while I lay the photos and albums, back in the box." Leo swings his legs around and put his feet to the floor. He's holding his breath while he does so and his ribs are telling him that they're still unhappy. Leo reflects, ~My ribs will probably be hurting for some time, yet. At least I can set myself up now.~
Margaret waits to see if he makes it to a sitting position and then heads for the kitchen. "Two pints and two spoons coming right up, Leo."
"Still not sharing your ice cream, are you, Margaret?" Leo teases her, knowing he'll get a defensive remark back from her.
"Not when I have my chocolate, chocolate chip flavor. Besides, you have your cherry cordial." Margaret replies right on cue. He knows her so well, he's positive about some thinks in life. Like the sun will come up in the mornings and Margaret with her chocolate.
"Yeah and my cherry cordial is all for me," Leo warns back to her. Two can use the, 'don't touch my ice cream' rule of hers. ~That's one Sisterhood rule that's ingrained in her.~
*****
Leo's hand massage has become an enjoyable time for them at bedtime. A time that both of them have discovered they both, not only enjoy, but also look forward to. It's a quiet moment together, where no words are needed to express their feelings. Their eyes meeting, as she glances up to see him softly watching, during her tender care of his hands, convey more than words every could.
After she completes his hand massage, Margaret takes the raspberry lotion bottle and sets it on the nightstand. She has it wrapped in a small towel to keep it warm for him. She steps out of bed and disappears into the bathroom. Leo reaches for the lotion. He feels the bottle and it's still warm. He grins his crooked grin of satisfaction. He has a plan.
Shortly Margaret returns to the bed. Leo watches her approach in the soft light. As she reaches the bed, Leo stops her, to stand beside it and with a grin he starts to unbutton her satin shirt, she puts her hands on his shoulders. Her shirt slips off her shoulders and slides to catch on her bent arms. Leo clasps his hands at her waist and pulls her closer. He can smell the flowery perfume she wore today and he leans in, to kiss each exposed nipple hello. Margaret gives a satisfied moan of impatience, "Leo, I hate to interrupt you, but I'm getting into the bed now," she drops the shirt to the floor.
Leo scoots back up in the bed, "Good, Margaret, but lay face down."
Margaret doesn't know what he's up to, but she's happy to comply and find out.
Leo reaches for still warm the bottle of lotion and dribbles it over her back. His hand is better after the massage, but he still can't flatten the fingers. He figures he can use the palm of his hand and still give her a soft back rub.
"Leo, you have no idea how much I've missed you rubbing my back. It truly is one of my weaknesses." She remembers the weekend he rubbed on it almost constantly. "That's one of the main reasons that I've been so careful with my back this week. If it pulls out, I'd be in such pain without you to rub my back." Leo chuckles at her sincerity. "Leo, can you imagine if I'd have to resort to Josh or Jed to rub my back? Josh would push for me to join you two in the hot tub all the time or Jed and Abby would have me back at the residence, so fast it would make my head spin. You included, Leo. Right where they want us." She has an absolutely serious tone to her voice.
Leo chuckles in absolute agreement, "What about the other guys helping you?" He remembers how they have been helping him this week.
"Well, let me see. Sam would be afraid of hurting me, but he'd be hurt, if I didn't let him help. Charlie is a bit shy, but I'm sure he would give it a good try. Toby would growl at being interrupted every hour and that would be it for me." Margaret sighs at the bad scenario, "Abby would just have to put me out of my misery and knock me out with drugs."
Leo leans down to kiss her cheek, "My poor Margaret, you'd be suffering at the hands of my hyper deputy and an over protective President." He chuckles at her enduring both. "I do agree with your assessment of Jed and Abby. Of them shuttling us right back into the residence. They like to keep family close and care for them personally." Leo continues to rub her back in alternating patterns. He's enjoying the ability of stroking her creamy skin as much as she's enjoying the rubbing.
Margaret finally gives in to her common sense, "Leo, you better quit now. As much as this is a dreamy way to end the day, I don't want you to over do and put a strain on your hand or you might have a longer recovery time."
Leo sighs and grudgingly replies, "Baby, you know that I love doing this for you, but you're right again, I better stop for tonight."
"I'm always right, Leo, just sometimes only one of us knows that," she teases him.
He lies down beside her and is nose to nose with her, "I take it that sometimes, I'm the one in the dark."
"I take the 5th, Leo." Margaret reaches out to cup his head closer and tenderly kisses his lips. "I do miss the little things you do for me, Leo. They make me feel special."
"You 'are' so special, Margaret. I know it and I'm not wanting any other guys to find out how really special you are." He kisses her lips, he then brushes his lips across hers, savoring the softness they acquire when they have been thoroughly kissed, " I want you all to myself." Leo admits solemnly.
"You're one of a kind yourself, Leo." Margaret kisses his lips fast and hard. "My kind." She gives him another firm kiss to his smiling lips. "Now shut up and show me."
"Yes, Baby. Anything you say." Leo's the one to comply now. He pulls her closer with his arm around her, drawing their hips together. Their hands do some rediscovering and in no time they're both lost in a world of passion. They're both exploring each other in the near darkness. Fast reaching the limits of the recently expanded, acceptable areas from this morning. Leo again rubs the satin that's covering her mound and visualizes the red curls beneath. Margaret is exploring his body as if she'll never get the chance again and is also rubbing her hands on his satin boxers. After the incident of this morning, they're not as nervous at any surprise results of their lovemaking. Margaret slips her hand under the back waistband of his boxers to enjoy the firm warmness of his bare skin. Leo does the same, in a mirror action of hers. Stroking the soft round curves of her cheeks. Margaret moans into his mouth, her pleasure at his touch. Leo in his hunger to know her more, pushes back on her hipbone at gain better access to the front of her. He leans to her and runs his hand again over the front of her and traces a fingertip up along the leg band. Then he slides it just under the edge of her waistband. Leo pulls his lips from hers, long enough to look her in the eyes, while he's still sliding a fingertip back and forth just under the band and asks, "Can I?"
"Yes, Leo. I trust you." She leans her face to his and reaffirms her answer, as their lips meet. He turns his hand over and gently slips his fingers under the barrier of the band and feels the cool satin of her panties rub against the back of his knuckles. His fingertips are blindly sliding further down, till they discover at the edge of her tinder smooth skin, the area of his quest. He rubs on her mound enjoying the texture of springy hair, the curls which are both firm and soft at the same time. He strokes the tips of his finger around in swirling circles. Margaret moans her approval and Leo concentrates on the front area of her, not wanting to rush her by moving lower. Anyway, at this point he has a problem of his own. If he indulges in any further exploration of her, he's going to, more likely, be pushing his own limits. He just savors the advancement their lovemaking has reached tonight.
Margaret's enjoying Leo quest of discovery and in the back of her mind she's relieved that she doesn't have to decide, on the larger choices tonight. She decides to see if Leo will appreciate some of her exploring and goes on a quest of her own. Margaret follows Leo's lead and pulls away to ask, "Leo, can I?"
"Anything, Margaret. I'm yours." He too seals his agreement with a kiss and rolls back to allow her to lean toward him. In the near darkness, she slides her hand under his waistband and explores under his boxers. His problem is firm and warm to her tentative and soft touch. She's skittish at her first touch of him with no barriers. This is a major step of trust and closeness for them. Margaret is a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. She can hear Leo's breathing turn shaky at his anticipation of her discovering a private part of him, a closeness that they both want to share. She knows better than to push him to the edge after this morning's lovemaking, but she still softly explores all of him and is not disappointed in her findings. Leo soon knows that he can only hold control of his body's responses for a short time more, if this quest of Margaret's is not terminated soon. He rolls against her and she understands his actions and pulls her hand from his boxers to cup his face and place soft kisses to it. She can hardly see the damage to his face, in this light. She, too, regrets the limits that it reminds her of. Limits that Leo has been enduring since his attack.
"Leo, thanks," she whispers to his ear and she kissed the lobe.
He whispers back to hers, "For what, Margaret?"
"For allowing me to find the edges of what I'm ready for and for the pleasure we enjoy from each other." She snuggles in closer against him, secure in his arms.
"Margaret, I'm thanking you, for being so generous and welcoming to my lovemaking with you." He snuggles into her, happy to hold her to his heart. "Margaret, I love you so much."
She murmurs again his chest, "I love you, Leo. Always."
Sleep slips quietly to them as the world ceases to exist beyond their entwined bodies.
*****
TBC with Friday
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