Part 4
See disclaimers in Part 1.
Leo is sitting on the couch in his office dictating letters to Sarah. They have been working for the past half an hour or so. Leo has been fidgety the whole time, because his hip is giving him some trouble on this hot and humid July morning. The White House air conditioner doesn't seem to be keeping up with the demand. Leo already has his jacket off, and his sleeves are rolled up.
"Copy that to Josh," Leo instructs Sarah as he gets up from the couch. His hip catches causing him to groan out in pain and sits heavily back down to the couch.
"Mr. McGarry, are you okay?" Sarah asks as she jumps up from her chair, causing her steno pad to go flying off her lap, knocking over Leo's coffee cup on the table in front of the couch. The almost full cup of coffee spills over her tablet.
"I'm fine," Leo says through clenched teeth as he flexes his right leg, trying to get his hip to click again to stop the pain. It's been even more uncomfortable since the doctor manipulated it yesterday during his examination.
"Should I call someone?" She asks with concern.
"Look..." he angrily starts, but calms down quickly realizing that Sarah is only trying to help. "There's no need to get anyone. It'll just take a second or two to get it to stop," he comments as he rubs his hip and tries to concentrate on something else. "Why don't ya clean up that mess, before the coffee hits the floor," he says, pointing at the coffee table.
"Damnit," she blurts out, as she notices for the first time that she's spilled Leo's coffee. She hurries to Margaret's area, gets some napkins and rushes back to clean up the spill.
"Ya know... you're lucky Margaret didn't hear you say that. Cause she's been scolding me lately for cussing here at work," he smirks. His hip has finally clicked back into place and the pain is subsiding.
"Oh no, what did I say? I'm so sorry. I didn't..." She looks like she might cry.
"Sarah, it's fine. I was just teasing you," he quickly points out. "I'm sorry it's just that well... Margaret and I sorta like to tease each other, and I guess I just transferred that to you since she's gone this week," he explains.
"Margaret scolds you for cussing?" She smiles. She has heard stories about Margaret and her rules that she makes Leo follow.
"Margaret scolds me on a daily basis for one thing or another," he laughs. "Her favorite thing right now is to nag me about my cussing. Before that it was my lack of eating and before that it was that I wasn't eating right and before that..." he slightly looks up, tying to remember what she had been on him about before the not eating right kick.
"I think the eating thing is still an issue, because she left me instructions to make sure you eat and a list of foods that you like," she divulges, with a soft smile.
"Yeah that sounds like her," he grins, as he continues to flex his leg.
"But, she didn't mention that I should scold you, so I won't," she replies. She's starting to feel a lot less nervous about being around him. He's been really nice to her and enjoys working for him.
"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," he says, as he attempts to stand. This time his hip cooperates and he makes it up with no problem. He still has some pain, but the joint is no longer stuck.
"That appointment you had yesterday," she mentions, getting braver with him. "A doctor's office called, right after you left yesterday, to confirm your appointment. Was it about that?" She asks, pointing towards his hip.
"Yeah," he shyly admits. He might as well get use to telling people, cause soon everyone will know.
"Is it going to be... okay?" She asks with a concerned voice.
"Yeah, it's something they can fix," he discloses. "And please don't say anything to Margaret if you talk to her. Knowing her, she'd get on a plane and come right back and give me a good scolding." Leo isn't sure when he's going to tell her, but he's not going to tell her while she's there at the conference. He wants her to enjoy her time away from this place.
"I won't," she bobs her head. "Margaret didn't leave any instructions about ratting you out," she smiles, as she cleans up the last of the spill and then picks up the soggy steno pad, "I'll have these letters done soon."
"No rush and thanks," he flashes her one of his best impish grins.
"You're welcome, Mr. McGarry."
"Leo," he reminds her, as he makes his way toward his desk.
"Leo," she softly says, as she turns to go finish her work.
Leo watches Sarah leave his office and that's when it dawns on him why he's been so different with Sarah than the other temps he's had in the past. She reminds him of Margaret when she first came to work for him when he was Labor Secretary. Sarah's a little younger he guesses, but she still has a lot of the same qualities, not to mention the red hair, too. He decides that she might be very helpful in his and Josh's office after he has the surgery. He makes a mental note to say something to Margaret about it.
Around ten o'clock, Margaret gets her first break of the morning. She grabs her cell phone from her purse and looks for some privacy. She finds an empty recess in the hallway and calls her boss. After several rings, Leo picks up the phone.
"Yeah, McGarry," he finally answers. He had been sitting in his wing back chair in front of the window, and it took him a while to get to the phone.
"Leo, it's me," she quickly responds. "Why are you answering your phone? Where's Sarah?"
"Hey there," he says happily into the phone. "Sarah's off making some copies."
"Oh."
"Are ya checking to see if I had breakfast? Cause if ya are, there's no reason to, cause Sarah is very efficient, almost like someone left her some very detailed instructions to follow," Leo smirks, knowing that Margaret will have a comment.
"Very funny, Leo. And no I wasn't calling to see if you had breakfast. I was umm... calling to umm... well you see... they're in a bit of a spot here, and I was wondering if maybe you could help us out?" Margaret asks, biting her lip.
"What do ya need Margaret," he asks, sitting down in his chair hoping that it's him she needs.
'You,' she thinks to herself before answering back. "Well, the keynote speaker for the dinner Saturday night canceled and well... somehow they found out that I work for you and they were wondering if you were available?" She stiffens, waiting for his outburst.
"You mean, me, come out there and give a speech?"
"Yeah," she answers back.
"I don't know, Margaret. What would I say to a room full of women?" He quickly pictures, in his head, hundreds of ladies staring at him.
"Leo, you've given several lectures to women's groups before," she quickly reminds him.
"Yeah, but that was years ago. I just don't know, Margaret," he says, thinking that he'd love to spend time with Margaret, but isn't sure he wants to give a speech. He's not been in the best frame of mind, lately. "Nah, I think I'm gonna pass," he finally decides.
"Leo, why don't you take the day and think about it, and call me later tonight. I'll see if they can wait until later today for your answer. I bet they will, because they were crazy at the idea of having you come here. It seems you have a rather huge fan club here," she gently laughs into the phone. "The word handsome was mentioned more than once when your name came up," she adds with a smile.
"Margaret, stop trying to butter me up," he laughs as he shakes his head at the thought that women find him attractive.
"Leo, I'm not, they were all starry-eyed over you," she informs him, with a soft laugh.
"Right, and when was this discussed? Last night after happy hour," he sarcastically suggests.
"No, over breakfast this morning," Margaret looks at her watch. "Look, you think about it. I need to get back. Call me later with your answer, Okay?"
"Okay, but I still don't think I can come out there," he tells her.
"Oh, Okay, bye," she says sadly.
"Bye," he says, and then he hangs up the phone. He would love to call her right back and tell her yes, but he's not sure that he's up to giving a speech. He doesn't get a chance to give it any more thought, because Josh walks into his office.
"What'd ya need?" He says gruffly.
"Ah... I just needed to run a few things by you. Do you have a couple of seconds?" Josh asks, as he plops down in the chair in front of Leo's desk.
"Yeah, I've got nothing but time," Leo tells him.
Later on that day, Leo is heading to Josh's office to give him the information that he was looking for earlier in the day. He stops at the coffee pot to get a refill and overhears some young interns talking, around the corner.
"Yeah, that's what happens when you get too old and overstay your welcome. They just don't need his old way of thinking around here," the tall dark haired intern tells the other.
"Yeah, I agree. The President was right to reduce his duties. 'His' way of thinking is way too Republican for me," he agrees with his friend.
"Josh should have been his man this whole second term," the dark haired intern adds.
Leo's heard enough; he quickly turns, leaves his cup by the pot and heads off down the hall back towards his office.
Josh is coming out of his office and overhears and sees the whole scene unfold. He walks up to the young interns, "You two could learn a lot from Leo McGarry. It's too bad you're not going to get the chance."
"Yeah, we heard he's on his way out," the tall one speaks up.
"No, he's not. But you two are. You're both fired. Don't let the door hit your asses on the way out," Josh angrily informs them and then turns to follow Leo.
Josh catches up with Leo just in time to see his shoulders fall, as he enters his office and closes his door. Josh notices for the first time how Leo's hand-tailored suit just hangs on him. He walks up to the door, raises his hand to knock, but changes his mind and slowly walks away. He doesn't know what to say to his mentor to make it better, right now.
Leo is sitting behind his desk, trying to stay busy, when there's a knock on his door.
"Mr. McGarry," Sarah says, slowly peeking her head in his office.
"Leo," he reminds her.
"Sorry," she replies, walking toward him. When she gets closer, she's a little shocked at the weariness showing in his face. "Leo, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he replies, glancing at his watch and then back at her. "Why don't you go home for the day?"
"Are you sure there isn't something I should be working on? I don't want to get in trouble with Margaret when she gets back."
"No, you're fine. You've just umm... sorta hit us during a... lull."
"Okay, well you have a good evening. See you in the morning," she says, heading for the door.
"Thanks. You too," he replies.
It's late Tuesday night, and Leo is still brooding in his office, with the lights low. He's been quietly sitting in his chair and staring out his window for the past hour. He knows he should just give up and go home, but it's even quieter there in his big depressing hotel room.
This has been one of the longest days that he can remember. He's tried to keep busy, but the President is having the staff bypass him now, and go directly to him or Josh. Leo knows that they should end this battle of wills, but he's not sure how or even if he's ready to yet.
The peace summit at Camp David had been a joke. Nothing had been resolved. Leo had been right about dealing with the Chairman Farad, and Jed had been right about not bombing that apartment in Gaza, because it turned out they weren't the people behind the car bombing. So both men had been right and wrong, but neither of them is ready to admit it or try to resolve things between them.
Josh is handling most of Leo's duties. Now he knows how Josh felt when he was cut out of the loop over the congressman issue last year, but at least Josh had Donna there for him. His Margaret is off in Tennessee having a great time, at least she sounds like it on the phone. Maybe he should go out there and give that lecture on Saturday night. "I might as well, because I'm sure as hell not very productive around the West Wing anymore," he mutters out loud.
He lays his head back on his chair and closes his eyes. Before he knows it, he's asleep. He dreams of Margaret and after a few minutes, he jolts awake, "Margaret," he calls, before he remembers that she's gone. He shakes his head and looks at his watch as he digs out his cell phone and calls Margaret.
Margaret grabs her cell phone and sees the very familiar number. "Hello, Leo," she yells over the surrounding noise and into her phone.
"Margaret, was that an elephant I just heard?" He asks, with a puzzled look on his face that would have bought a smile to Margaret's lips if she could have seen it.
"Yes, Leo. We walked over to Rain Forest Café. They have all kinds of exotic animals here," she laughs into the phone.
"Real ones?" He asks, while thinking to himself why would people want to eat around smelly animals.
"No, they're fake, but they sure do look and sound real. They even move," she informs him, as she excuses herself from her friends, gets up from the table and heads for the door.
"Did you say they even moo? They have cows in the Rain Forest?" He questions in an annoyed voice.
"No, I said they even move. Leo, hang on just a sec, I'm going outside so we can hear each other better." She tells him as she makes her way though the crowd. Just as she hits the door, the Rain Forest Café famous fake thunderstorm hits.
"Margaret, was that thunder I just heard, you better not go outside with a cell phone in you hand if it's storming," Leo says, concern showing in his voice.
"Leo, that's just the restaurant. There's a simulated thunderstorm every half an hour or so," she laughs at his apprehension. 'He's getting as bad as me, in his worrying about me', she thinks to herself.
"Oh, okay," he breathes into the phone.
"Leo, did you call for a reason?" She's sorta surprised that he called her again today. She knows she told him to if he changed his mind, but she didn't really think he would.
In the past when she has been at these conferences, he's never called, unless it was work related, and she knows that Leo hasn't had much to do for the past month. When she gets back, she's gonna sit him down and talk to him about what's been going on between him and the President. She's about ready to go give the President a piece of her mind, but she knows that Leo will kill her if she does that.
"Ah, yeah. Well... I really don't need anything. Umm... I just callin' to see if they are still in need of a keynote speaker for that Saturday night thing," he finally mangers to get out. He's now pacing back and forth behind desk. "I've umm... changed my mind." He hopes that they still need a speaker, cause he needs to get the hell out of here.
"I'm not sure, Leo. I already told them that you didn't think you could make it. Let me quickly call the co-chairperson of the event, and I'll get right back to you."
"Okay, well if they do, I think I'll come out there tomorrow," he informs her as continues to pace.
"Really? You do realize the event isn't until Saturday night?" She asks him with a perplexed look on her face.
"Yeah, I know that, but I think I need to get away from here for awhile," he confesses.
"I thought Nashville wasn't an exciting enough place for you," she teases, trying ease his mind.
"Well, it is now that you're there," he alleges with a smile, that Margaret doesn't get the benefit of seeing. "Cause it sounds like you're having a great time."
"Leo, there's really a lot to do here," she beams. I'm sure you're find something to occupy your time," and then she adds under her breath, 'like with me.'
"I imagine... I will," he agrees, hoping that it will be her that takes up his time.
"Leo, I should get off of here and find out if they still need a speaker."
"Yeah."
"I'll call and let you know either way. Are you at work or your hotel?" She already knows the answer, she just wants to make him admit it and then give him a hard time about it.
"Work," he cringes, ready for some abuse for still being at work. He looks at his watch and discovers that it's nine o'clock. It's only eight in Nashville, maybe Margaret will forget about the time difference.
"Leo, its nine o'clock in DC" she starts her lecture, after looking at her watch and mentally adjusting for the time difference. "I thought you said you were going to leave early tonight," thinking back to their last conversation in the late afternoon when he called her wanting to know where some file was.
"Look... are ya gonna find out if they need me or are you going to harangue me about my work habits?" Leo implores in a tired voice. His annoyance with all that is going on with the President right now is starting to show.
Margaret frowns at the almost begging quality of his voice. 'He needs me', she thinks to herself. "I'm going to call and find out now. Why don't you go home and I'll call you in your hotel room."
"Okay, I can take a hint. I'm leaving," he replies, stopping his pacing and sitting down in his chair. He picks up a couple of things off his desk and shoves them into his briefcase.
"Really?"
"Yeah, as soon as I hang up, I'm outa here," he breathes into the phone, as he closes his briefcase.
"Okay, I'll call as soon as I find out something. Leo..." She pauses, deciding whether she should suggest what's she's thinking.
"Yeah?"
"I was umm... just thinking that... well even if they don't need a speaker... umm... maybe you could still come out here... for like a vacation. You said you needed to get away," Margaret blushes.
Leo grins at Margaret's forwardness. 'Maybe she is interested in me', he thinks to himself. "Ya know... that doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. Maybe I will," he softly offers.
"Great, well let me find out and I'll call you back. Bye." She can't believe he's actually thinking about coming out here even if they don't need a speaker for Saturday night.
"Thanks," he says, and then hangs up the phone. He leans back in his chair and close his eyes. He sits there for a couple of seconds, then grabs his bag and heads for his service car.
Leo drags himself though the hotel lobby and then up to his room. He heads straight for his couch and plops down. He is totally drained. This whole ordeal with the President is getting to be a bit too much for him. It's worse than most crises they have faced together over the past six years. He's been sitting there for several minutes reflecting and wondering what to do when his cell phone rings.
"Hello, Margaret," he says, after seeing that it's her cell phone number.
"Hey, Leo. You're in luck," she happily says into the phone. Actually, she's the one who feels fortunate; she was really hoping that Leo would get to come to Nashville.
"They still need a speaker and they would love to have you," Margaret is standing outside the mall entrance to the Rainforest.
"Good," Leo says, feeling some relief, knowing he doesn't have to go to the White House for a few days.
"Leo, I've already made your plane reservations using your personal credit card; you have to file it on your travel voucher to get your money back. But, I can take care of all that paperwork for you when we get back. Your flight leaves at noon and remember you have to be there two hours before to get thought security. It's not like flying on Air Force One. Just use the E-Ticket check-in counter," she informs him.
"Did you book me First-class?" Leo asks, then cringes waiting for his 'you spend too much money' lecture. He loves to rile her up.
"Yes, I figured it was the least I could do since you agreed to come out here. Besides, after Monday's shopping adventure, I'm getting used to spending your money," she laughs into the phone, as she sits down on a concrete bench in the mall.
Leo laughs, "Good Girl." He smiles and hopes that she has more opportunities to spend his money.
"Leo, what have I told you about saying that?" She tries to hide the laughter in her voice.
"I know, but I couldn't resist. Sorry," Leo breathes softly into the phone. He knows that she secretly likes it when he calls her that; just by the way she acts, after he says it.
"Okay, you're forgiven," she runs a hand across her forehead, moving her hair out of her eyes. "Leo, you'll need Debbie to cut you some orders. I can't do that from here."
"Nah, I'm just going to take leave and come out there. It's not going to be an official TDY," he informs her, as he gets up and goes to his bedroom. He grabs his suit and smaller carryon bags from his closet and lays them on his bed.
"Leo, this is considered a work related function, you shouldn't..." Margaret doesn't get a chance to finish, cause Leo interrupts her.
"Margaret, I don't want to mess with havin'... I'm just gonna go into work tomorrow morning, clear what's left of my negligible schedule, put in my leave slip and then catch my plane." 'And the hell with the rest,' he adds in his head.
"Okay, do you want me to meet you at the airport?" She asks in a soft voice; it kills her that he thinks so little of his work anymore.
"No, I'll just catch a cab to the hotel," he says, as he starts to go though his drawers and throw things into his suitcase for his trip.
"Leo, what are you doing?" She asks, hearing commotion and heavier breathing on the other end of the phone.
"I'm packing," he lightly huffs into the phone.
"Are you sure you remember how?" She snickers into the phone. She can just picture him running around, throwing things into his bag, and not taking the time to fold things nicely like she does for him.
"Very funny, I take back my good girl comment," he smirks, wading up his undershirts and shoving them into his smaller carryon.
"Well, it's been a while since you packed your own bags, don't forget to pack enough... umm... stuff. You're going to be here four nights and five days." She careful counts on her fingers, making sure she's correct.
"Margaret I can count," he opens up the next drawer and grabs some boxers, not bothering to count them and then throws them in on top of his now wrinkled undershirts.
"Well, just make sure you add some extra things, cause you never know what might happen," she blushes, thinking about his boxers.
"Margaret," he growls, shaking his head at her perfect timing. He knows exactly what items she's referring to. "I'm not a child," he says, as he walks back over to the drawer and grabs a couple more boxers.
"Well, you don't want to run out," she says, secretly hoping he does so that she would have a good reason to give him the new boxers she bought on impulse at the mall yesterday. She still can't believe she did it, but she just couldn't pass them up. Maybe she can give them to Mallory and she can give them to her father.
"Look, I'm going to hang up now and finish my packing. I know how taxing it can be, cause my assistant always complains when she has to pack for me." He grins, thinking about the look on her face that she is probably making now. He loves all the faces she makes at him.
"I don't complain," she argues back, scrunching up her face.
"You do too," he reiterates.
"Don't," she softly hisses back.
"Margaret, now who's acting like a child?" He laughs, as walks over to his closet, to grab some shoes, suits and dress shirts. He wonders if he'll need any causal clothes too. He'd love to take Margaret out somewhere nice to eat and maybe even go dancing, but he's not sure what there is there besides country music places to dance. He decides that he'll need to get back on the dreadful 'Internet' and see what he can find for them to do.
"Well, you started it," she banters back, smiling.
"Margaret," he grumbles, still trying to decide what suits to take with him. He grabs his new light gray double-breasted pinstripe suit and a lavender shirt and then lays them on the bed. He assumes that this is one of Margaret's favorite suits that he has, because she always comments on it when he wears it. Then he adds a couple of more suits to the growing pile on the bed. He walks back to the closet and gets some more causal clothes and lays them on the bed too.
"What did I say?" She laughs back, loving this far too rare enjoyable moment with Leo. He needs to laugh more often. She thinks about how sexy he looks when he grins and laughs.
"I think you need to go back to the hotel and go to bed, cause you are way too punchy," he says, heading into the bathroom to pack his toiletry bag. He glances at the tub and gets an image of Margaret in her sunken one. He gasps at the image in his head and portions of his body start to react to the image in his head.
"Leo, are you okay?" Margaret asks, standing up without really thinking about what she was doing.
"Umm... yeah, I..." Leo stammers. "I just startled myself." He needs to calm down, literally.
"Oh, okay," she breathes a sigh of relief, as she sits back down on the hard bench. She can't help but think he's not telling her the truth, but she drops it. "Well, I should let you finish your packing. I need to get back to my friends in the restaurant. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Margaret, you're still at the restaurant. It's late. Didn't you say you walked there? You are calling a cab to go back to the hotel," he states, more like a statement than a question.
"Leo, it's not very far at all. We just cut though this adjacent parking lot to the hotel, and we were here in no time at all." She's going to need a nice walk after all the food she's eaten tonight.
"Is it safe there?" He stops moving and waits for her answer.
"Safer than walking in DC, besides there are six of us." She shakes her head at him. He's really been so worried about her lately, it makes her think that maybe he does have feelings for her.
"Okay," he walks out of the bathroom, and goes over to his closet. He just remembered that he didn't pack any ties for his suits.
"Okay, well... I'll see you tomorrow," she says again, standing up and heading back into the restaurant.
"Oh wait, am I staying at the same hotel as you?" He grabs the matching tie for his gray suit and some other ties, too.
"Ah... yeah, call me when you get here and I'll meet you in the lobby," verbally back pedaling while she figures out how to tell him where he's staying.
"Margaret, I can check into a hotel by myself," he shakes his head. "I used to do it all the time on lecture circuit."
"I know you can, but..." she splutters, as she does an about face and walks back outside. "There was that one time you went to the wrong hotel."
"I still say that was my assistant's fault. I know she told me the wrong hotel name," he grins, remembering how flustered Margaret was on the phone that time.
"I remember distinctly telling you which hotel you were staying at, you just misheard," she argues, softly laughing. "Just humor me and call when you get to the airport, then I'll meet you in the lobby."
"Margaret you worry too much. I'll see ya tomorrow. Night," he says closing his cell phone and throwing it on the bed and making a mental note to pack the phone charger.
Margaret flips her cell phone shut and stares at it. What's she going to do now, she thinks to herself. When she had tried to make a reservation for Leo at the hotel she's staying at; they were sold out, because they have four separate conventions going on this week. She first thought about switching to another hotel, so that they could both be at the same hotel, but then she thought that would appear odd to Leo. Then it dawned on her that she has the huge two-bedroom suite. All they would have to do is share a living area. They're adult enough to be able to do that she thought. But, when it came to telling him on the phone, she just couldn't do it.
Margaret thinks about calling him back, but then she's afraid he'll make his own hotel reservation somewhere else. She's hoping that by them sharing a room, she'll finally be able to get a chance to talk to him.
Margaret heads back to her friends when she gets a quick thought. The master bedroom should be Leo's, since he's paying the bill. She decides that she'll move all of her things into the other bedroom and bathroom as soon as she gets back to the hotel tonight.
Leo wakes up at his normal time on Wednesday morning, but just lies in bed for a few minutes. He thinks about trying to call Margaret, but decides against it, since he will see her this afternoon. He calls the service and tells them to inform his driver to pick him up about an hour later than usual. He forgoes his normal routine of turning on CNN while still in bed, and just gets up and heads for the shower. Afterwards, he gets dressed in tan Dockers, a matching button down stripped shirt with no tie and a sport coat.
Leo finishes packing the last of his toiletries and then calls for a bellhop to come get his luggage and take it downstairs. Next he calls Sarah.
"Leo McGarry's office," she says, in a very cheery voice.
"Morning Sarah, It's me," he smiles at how much she sounds like a young Margaret.
"Good Morning, Mr. McGarry, umm... I mean Leo," she splutters. "I was starting to get worried about you."
"Did Margaret leave instructions on that, too?" He laughs.
"No, I guess I must have picked that on up on my own," she softly says. She's really grown to respect and care for him in such a short time. She hopes that someday, she'll get a boss just like him.
"You're a fast learner, but I'm not as helpless as Margaret makes me out to be," he smirks.
"She just cares about you and wants to make sure you're taken care of while she's gone," Sarah says, as she wonders if Margaret could possibly love Leo; who could blame her if she did. It's so obvious that they care for each other, but she does wonder if its something more.
"Yeah, I know. She's been doing it for years now. I'd be lost without her," he softly says.
"Well, at least that's what she says," Sarah laughs.
"Yeah, I just bet she did, too," he quickly agrees. "Hey, I just called to let ya know that I'm coming in late today and then I'm leaving at ten to go to Nashville. I won't be in the office for the rest of the week."
"Okay," she says sighs. "I guess I should go back to the pool," she sadly says.
"No, I don't want ya to go back to the pool. I need you there at the office taking care of it while I'm gone, and you can help Josh, too. And when I get back, I'm callin' the pool and having you permanently assigned to the West Wing. We need hard working and intelligent people like you."
"Oh, thank you Mr. McGarry," she excitedly says.
"Leo," he reminds her with a laugh.
"Leo thanks. I won't let you down."
"I know you won't, Kiddo. I'll see ya when I get in, which won't be until eight thirty or nine. I'm gonna have breakfast at my hotel first before I come in this morning."
"Ok, I'll see you then," she smiles at what he just called her. If it had been everyone else, she would have been pissed. But, it seemed perfectly fine for Leo to call her that. "Oh wait," she says in a rush. "I almost forgot. Josh was just in here a few minutes ago, looking for you. He seemed sorta... well... upset or panicked."
"Okay, thanks. He must still be having problems with that bill. I'll go see him before I leave, I have some stuff that might help him and I need to tell him that I'll be gone this week, too."
"Do you want me to call Josh and let him know that you're running late this morning?" She asks.
"Yeah and tell him to go ahead and have Senior Staff without me," he adds.
"Okay, I'll see you when you get here." Sarah says as she thinks to herself, 'Mmm, Nashville? I wonder why he's going there? I wonder if he knows anyone there?' She smirks to herself as she gets back to work.
"Bye," he says, and then hangs up the phone. The bellhop arrives as soon as he's off the phone. Leo gives him a generous tip and then leaves to go downstairs to have breakfast.
The Maitre'd asks him if his daughter will be joining him this morning. He tells him no and follows him to a table. He orders breakfast and works the New York Times crossword puzzle while he waits for his food to arrive. After his finishes his breakfast, he is still working on his puzzle when a bellhop comes to tell him that his car is waiting for him and that he's already loaded his bags for him. Leo generously tips the bellhop and heads for his service car. Once he gets in the car, he informs his driver that he needs to leave for the airport at ten.
Leo finally arrives at the White House, only an hour later than normal. He's already missed Senior Staff. But he's not worried about that, cause he had Sarah tell Josh to go ahead and have it without him, this morning. It's not that he's been active in them anyway lately, he's mostly just been sitting back and letting the others run the show. He's given up trying to get things back to normal, every since they first got back from Camp David and the President burst in on Senior Staff and called everyone, except Leo, into his office for a meeting.
Leo goes to his office, sits down at his desk and starts looking through his files for a leave slip. He doesn't turn on any of the TV's in his office. He finally finds where Margaret has them hidden, and fills out one for today and the rest of the week. He walks over to Debbie's office and leaves it on her desk.
Next he heads over to Josh's office to let him know that he won't be here the rest of the week, and that he's now officially in charge. Josh is staring at his TV when Leo enters his office, "Hey, Josh."
"Leo," he says, jerking his head away from the TV and then quickly grabbing the remote and turning it off. "What's the name of the hotel that Margaret's staying at in Nashville?" Josh is pretty sure that he already knows the answer, but he wants to make sure before he tells Leo what has happened.
"The Gaylord Hotel. Why?" Leo asks, noting the look of shear panic in Josh's eyes and face. Leo starts to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Have you talked with Margaret this morning?" Josh hopes that Leo has and that this is not a Gaza like occurrence for Leo.
"No, I haven't," he has a puzzled look on his face and a nervous lump suddenly appears in his throat.
"Leo, sit down," he tells his long time mentor and surrogate father as he stands and moves towards him.
"Josh, what the hell is going on?" Leo's heart is starting to beat faster and he's starting to feel a little lightheaded.
"Leo, there was a... car bombing in one of the Gaylord hotel parking lots last night. At least one person is dead and several others, who were in the parking lot, were injured."
Leo's legs buckle, Josh reaches him just in time, grabbing a hold of him and helping him into a chair. "Margaret," he cries out. "Was she...?"
"Leo, they're not releasing any of the names of those involved until all of the family members have been notified. I've been trying to call Margaret on her cell phone, since I first saw this on the news this morning. She must have it turned off." Josh is standing by Leo's side with a comforting hand resting on his shoulder.
"Or... she isn't able to answer it," Leo painfully breathes out as he blinks back the tears in his eyes.
"Leo, we don't know anything right now. There are hundreds of people staying at that hotel. The chances of her being one of the..."
Leo doesn't let him finish, "Josh, I talked with her late last night... she was out with some friends at a restaurant, she said something about cutting though a parking lot to get back to the...hotel," Leo manages to get out.
"Leo, does she normally have her cell phone turned off?" Josh moves to the front of his desk and leans against it.
Leo slowly and distressingly shakes his head, "She normally calls me every morning. She's been keeping close tabs on me since... well since all this crap started after Gaza." Leo looks up into Josh's face. "I... need her," he admits, lowering his eyes trying to keep his tears from falling.
"Leo, it's going to be okay. I'm going to find out what's going on, okay?" He reaches out and puts a comforting hand on Leo's leg that is shaking.
"I... need to go to my office," Leo says, as he stands and turns quickly to leave. He grabs his cell phone from his coat pocket, flips it open and calls her. He gets the dreaded message: 'This person's cell phone is off' message; he quickly leaves a panicked message for her to call him, and then clicks his cell phone shut.
"Leo, did you need something?" Josh softly asks, having followed Leo into the hallway.
"Huh," Leo turns around.
"You came to see me," Josh says.
"Ah... yeah umm... I'm taking leave for the rest of the week," he mumbles.
"Leo, are you sick?" Josh just now notices Leo's casual attire.
Leo shakes his head and walks towards his office. He needs to get away from everyone; cause he's not sure how much longer he can stay in control of his emotions.
TBC in Part 5
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Bev (adoreleo):
Lynn (leosimpishgrin):