Part 6

See disclaimers in Part 1.

Leo arrives at the hotel around twenty after twelve. The bellhop grabs his bags out of the trunk and takes them inside for him. Leo tips the driver and then heads for the registration desk. "Hi, I need to check in," he tells the young lady behind the counter with a smile.

"Your name sir?" The pleasant young lady asks, in her soft but definitely southern drawl.

"Leo McGarry," he says, leaning his arms on the counter.

She looks his name up in the computer. She gets a puzzled look and types in his name again. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't seem to have a reservation in your name. Are you sure this is the hotel you have a room reserved at?"

"Yes, my assistant booked my room for me," he informed her.

"I'll check again," she types it in again. "I'm sorry, sir we don't have a reservation for you. Do you think she might have made the reservation in her own name?"

"Nah, she never has in the past, but I guess it's worth a try. Her name's Margaret McGuire."

"Well, we do have a Margaret McGuire in one of our Presidential suites, but that's the only room coming up under her name," she explains.

"That's okay," he breathes out with a sigh. 'I can't believe Margaret didn't take care of this. That's so unlike her,' he thinks to himself as he slightly shakes his head. "Could ya just give me any room, please?" He wearily requests.

"Sir, I'm sorry but... we're sold out."

"What?"

"We have four conventions here this week, we've been sold out for tonight and tomorrow night for weeks now," she explains. "Maybe your assistant booked you a room somewhere else? Why don't you call her? You can use the complimentary phone in the lobby, and then we can shuttle you to your hotel," she points towards the phone in the hallway.

"Thanks, but I have my cell phone," he promptly pulls his phone out of his pocket and punches in Margaret's number as he walks over towards the waiting area of the hotel lobby.

"Leo?" She answers, after she sees his number on her phone display. She has just sat down with Lynette to eat lunch.

"Margaret, I'm at the hotel and I don't seem to have a room. I thought you said you took care of it," he only slightly angrily questions. He still thinks the hotel made a mistake, because 'his' Margaret never screws up his reservations. He knows she'll have paperwork or a confirmation number to prove the clerk behind the counter wrong.

"Umm... I did take care of it. Leo, just wait for me, I'll be there in a couple of minutes," she says as she quickly excuses herself from lunch with Lynette and hurriedly walks towards the Guest Relations area.

'I can't believe Leo's at the hotel already. I thought I would be finished lunch by the time he got here, he shouldn't be here for another thirty minutes,' she mutters under her breath. She arrives at the lobby a few of minutes later and finds a dismayed and haggard looking Leo sitting in a chair with his luggage on the floor beside him.

"Hi Leo, welcome to Nashville. How was your flight? Isn't the weather nice here? How did you get here so soon?" She asks, trying to delay telling him about his room arrangements.

"Hey," he softly smiles, as he stands, so happy to see her. But, his smile fades as quickly as it appeared. "My flight was fine. Yes, the weather is also fine and I didn't check any of my bags, so I didn't have to wait," he quickly answers her questions. "Now..." he says as he puts his hands on his hips, "why the hell don't I have a room here?"

"Leo you do have a room," she says as she bends over, grabs his carryon and then hands him his garment bag.

"Well?" Leo stands there, holding his bag and not moving. "Let's go tell the lady behind the counter over there that she's made a mistake and get my room key," he says, pointing over in the general direction of the registration area.

"Leo, just... please come upstairs with me and I'll explain it to you there," she pleads as she hastily heads towards the bank of elevators.

"But, Margaret," he calls after her.

"Leo, please," she stops and walks back over to him. She doesn't want the whole lobby to overhear their conversation. "They don't have a reservation for you, but I'll explain it all to you upstairs."

Leo follows her into the elevators, "Well, if I don't have a reservation, I'd like to see you explain how you're going to make a room appear out of nowhere. They said the hotel is sold out."

"I can, just wait till we get to my room, okay?" She informs him as she presses the button for the elevator.

"Yeah," he says, trying to will himself to stop thinking about her room with the sunken tub.

"Leo, are you okay? You seem a little... flushed," she asks, as she enters the elevator.

"I'm fine," he says, pulling at his collar. "It was a little warm in the lobby, and we practically ran to the elevators," he grumbles.

"I didn't run to the elevators, and the lobby was really cold from the air conditioning. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" She asks in a worried tone.

"Margaret, I'm fine," he quickly replies in a tone that tells her to not ask any more questions. He's not about to tell her the reason he's flushed is because he was thinking about her in that tub.

They spend the rest of the trip in the elevator in silence. Once they reach her floor, they step off the elevator and Margaret leads the way to her room. As soon as they get inside Leo impatiently demands, "Well, I'm waiting for my explanation?"

"Well, here's your room," she says quickly, as she motions with her hand around the suite.

"What?"

"Leo, when I tried to get you a room, the hotel was booked solid, so then I thought about getting you into another hotel, but then I thought, why waste the money. This suite has two bedrooms."

"We're gonna... share a room?" Leo asks in disbelief. This is better than he had hoped for, but he's still a little shy about it all.

"Yeah, well... we're both adults. You have the master bedroom, and I have other one; we don't even have to share a bathroom," she hurriedly says, just as she had rehearsed it in her head several times this morning. "So, really we're not sharing a room at all."

"Or... the sunken tub," Leo mutters without thinking, and then quickly blushes when he realizes he said it out loud.

Margaret faces turns red too, "Leo?"

"Hey, umm... you said we were both adults," he replies, trying to make light of the comment that flew out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Why do I have the master bedroom? Weren't you already staying in there?"

"Yeah, but when I couldn't get you a room and since 'I' decided that you were staying here... well... and since you're paying the bill... I thought you should have the master bedroom," she stammers out.

"Margaret, this was your gift. You should have the master bedroom," he softly reasons. "I insist."

"Leo, I don't have time to stand here and argue with you. I need to get back downstairs. Lynette and I just sat down to eat lunch when you called," she informs him. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No and why don't you go back downstairs and finish yours. I'll get something to eat in a little bit."

"You promise?"

"Yes Margaret, scout's honor," Leo says, raising his right hand and giving her an impish grin.

"Leo, Somehow... I doubt that you were ever a Boy Scout," she smirks.

"Well... you're right... but still," he smiles.

Margaret gives Leo a look, "You'll eat?"

"Yes, Margaret I'll eat."

"Okay," she affirms with a bob of her head and a quick smile.

"So, after lunch... are you done for the day?" Leo asks, in a hopeful tone. He wants to talk to her about how he feels about her.

"No, I have another seminar that starts at one thirty and runs until five o'clock, but after that, I'm all yours for the rest of the day," she immediately flushes at the way that last part sounded.

'I wish,' Leo thinks to himself. "Okay, well I'm going to unpack, eat and then maybe check out the hotel while you're gone."

"Leo, why don't you go eat and just relax? I can unpack for you after I get back," she offers. In the past, Margaret has usually taken care of that for him on both campaigns and other trips that they have gone on together, especially since Jenny left him.

"Margaret, go eat your lunch. I can handle my own unpacking," he lightly growls, with a smile on his face.

"You just don't want me to pick on you about how poorly you packed your things. I bet everything's just jammed in there and all wrinkled now," she teases, as she heads the door. "Oh and by the way... I draw the line at ironing your clothes," she laughs.

"Well... I think you just want to get a look at my unmentionables," he teases back. Leo's glad that she has her back turned to him, so she doesn't see the desire on his face.

"Been there, done that, not worth the effort," Margaret quips back, over her shoulder.

"Oh Margaret, now that hurt," he feigns chest pain, putting a hand to his heart.

"Get over it," she laughs, looking back at him. "Have fun, I'll be back after five," she says, as she opens the door. "Oh and Leo, this is a non-smoking room," she gives him a pointed look.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He appeals to her in his best innocent sounding voice. He's been wondering when she was going to get around to nagging him about him smoking again.

"It means you won't be able to sneak a cigarette behind my back here in the room and that you'll have to find somewhere outside of the hotel to smoke those vile things that you have hidden in your shirt pocket," she informs him.

"Margaret," he growls.

"And while we're on the subject, you shouldn't be smoking at all. You worked so hard on stopping after you got back from..." Margaret abruptly stops. Normally, she wouldn't say a thing about him smoking; it's just that lately she feels more like his friend than his assistant. She knows that he's been smoking off and on again since Zoey's kidnapping, but since this thing with the President, she has smelled smoke on him everyday.

"Margaret, it's called rehab and it's okay to say it out loud. Everyone knows I was in rehab, and... you're right, I did work hard to stop smoking but things have... lets just say it's not been an easy year and leave it at that. I'll stop again," he softly says, patting his shirt pocket that contains a half-empty pack of cigarettes that he just opened this morning.

"You promise," she softly demands.

"Yeah, I promise," his voice goes even lower as he almost to a whisper, "Thanks for caring, Margaret." 'She has never smoked cigarettes. I have to stop if there is any hope of us getting together. It would be like kissing an ashtray. All the mints and gum in the world can't cover that taste,' he thinks to himself.

"You're welcome," she bobs her head. "Okay, I'll be back after five. Your key card is on the coffee table; make sure you take it when you go downstairs to get something to eat. Bye," she says as she walks out the door.

"Bye," Leo calls after her.

Leo watches her leave and smiles. He hasn't felt this good in a long time. He looks around the suite and is surprised at its size. He walks over to the Baby Grand piano, taps on a couple of keys and then sits down on the piano bench. He's still thinking about what Margaret said about his cigarettes, he pats his shirt pocket again and decides that there's no time like the present. He stands, walks over to the trashcan in the kitchenette, grabs the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, crushes them and throws them into it.

Leo walks around the suit a few more minutes, making sure that Margaret is really gone. Then he goes into the other bedroom and starts moving her things back into the Master bedroom. It takes him only a few minutes to complete the task, well almost complete the task. He can't bring himself to move her panties and bras. He leaves them for her to move. He walks back into his bedroom and throws his suit bag on the bed and starts to unpack.

After he unpacks, he sits down on the bed. He knows he promised Margaret that he'd get something to eat, but he's really not hungry. He's more tired than anything else, and his hip is starting to throb from being cooped up on that airplane. The past few sleepless nights, the stuff with Jed and all the emotions of the day are finally starting to catch up with him. He debates about taking something for his hip, but he chooses to tough it out. He decides that maybe lying down will help it. He stands, takes off his sport coat, unbuttons another button on his shirt, untucks his shirt a little, slips out of his shoes and crawls into the center of the bed. He uses the extra pillow to support his hip and within seconds, he's fast asleep and dreaming of Margaret.

Margaret heads back to her hotel room an hour earlier than she had told Leo that she would be back. The last seminar had been really boring; so she and Lynette decided that they were skipping out at the next break. Margaret opens the door to their suite and finds the living room vacant. She heads for the master bedroom, but then remembers that she moved into the smaller one. She changes directions and heads for the other bedroom.

Margaret stops abruptly after she opens the door and finds Leo asleep on her bed. She looks around the room and notices his things lying about. She shakes her head when she realizes what he's done. Her eyes rest on his body. He looks so cute lying there on the bed, looking years younger, with a peaceful and relaxed look on his face. She can't help but smile at his open collar; his half-untucked shirt and then her eyes drift lower on his body.

"Oh my God," escapes from her lips, before she has a chance to stop the words from spilling out. She quickly slaps a hand to her mouth. She decides that Leo must be having a wonderful and exciting dream from the reaction that he's having. She can't help but stare. She knows that she should be ashamed to be staring at him and that she should leave, but it's like seeing a car wreck; you just have to look. She feels her body starting to react to what she sees, and her mind starts to wander.

Leo moans and moves a little in his sleep. This breaks Margaret's trance, and she quickly and quietly leaves his bedroom. She goes to her bedroom and finds her things there. She walks into the bathroom and notices the bath oil sitting on the tub. She decides that a nice bath is what she needs right now. She fills the tub up with water, adds some bath oils, gets undressed and eases herself into the warm water. She lays her head back and relives her recent images of Leo lying in bed. Her eyes pop wide open; she shakes her head, tries to think of other things, and then closes her eyes again. This time when the images come, she relaxes and drifts off to sleep.

Leo wakes up, remembers dreaming about Margaret in the sunken tub and then realizes he has an issue. He sits up on the edge of the bed, willing himself to calm down. Finally, he decides that only a cold shower will help his current situation. He gets up, walks to his bathroom, pulls off his shirt, undershirt and then drops his pants and boxers. He pulls back the shower curtain to turn on the water and finds Margaret's silk stockings hanging there. They don't help his problem, as a matter of fact; the stockings just make it worse. He shakes his head in disgust at what little control he has over his thoughts, and his body these past few days. He quickly grabs his pants, pulls them back on and carefully zips them up. He snatches the hanger with the stockings on it, holding it away from his body, and heads for the master bathroom.

He pads across the floor, barefooted, opening the door to the master bedroom and continuing on into the bathroom. He rubs his bleary eyes, trying to get the sleep from them. He doesn't notice that he's not the only one in the room until he's practically next to the tub.

"Oh Gwad," Leo says, dropping the hanger, when he sees Margaret lying in the tub, with her firm round breasts peeping up at him.

Margaret jolts awake, "Leo, what the hell?"

"I'm... I'm... sorry," he slowly stammers out, as he backs up towards the door. His eyes are riveted to her beautiful form lying in the sunken tub. The reality of it is so much better than his recent dreams. He quickly notices that she's a natural red head.

Margaret finally recovers from her shock and covers herself by crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes gravitate to his lower region and discover that he's still in the same condition as he was during his nap.

Leo finally regains his senses, sees where her eyes are looking and quickly looks down, turns and bolts from the room. He almost runs to his bedroom and shuts the door quickly behind him.

Margaret jumps out of the tub, hurriedly dries, throws her clothes back on, wraps her hair in a towel and goes after him. She finds his door shut and knocks, "Leo," she calls though the door.

"Go away," he yells back.

"No, I won't. Leo, please open the door. It's okay. It's not a big deal. I'm not mad. I got back early; you didn't know."

"Margaret, please," he snarls.

She checks the doorknob finds it unlocked, opens the door and finds him hurriedly packing his stuff. "Leo, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to check into another hotel," he says, without looking at her. He finally raises his eyes to hers, "look Margaret, I'm sorry I didn't..."

"Leo, there's no reason for you to leave," she tries to tell him, as she stares at him. He's added his shirt, but it's unbuttoned and he's still bare footed. She almost smiles at the sight of him.

"I think... that under the circumstances...I should leave," he informs her, grabbing some more clothes from his drawers and throwing them into his carryon.

"No," she says a little more forcefully than she planned. "I don't want you to leave. Leo, it's okay. I only screamed because you startled me when you dropped the hanger."

"I should have been paying closer attention... I..."

"Well I'm sure you weren't expecting me back this early," she knows he would never intentionally have entered her bathroom if he thought there was even the slightest chance that she was in there.

"But still, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he motions around the room with his hand, "us sharing a room."

"Well if you really want to move to another hotel, I can't stop you. But, I really don't think you have to. We just need to be more careful, is all," she explains to him. She doesn't want him to leave. She's hoping that somehow that them sharing a room will open the door to them having a relationship.

"Its just, well... I guess I'm just used to being... alone," he says, and then turns back to his suitcase and softly mutters to himself, "Maybe that's how it's meant to be for me."

Margaret hears his last statement and gets upset. She's tired of him thinking the way he does. He's always so down on himself. "Leo, stop it. It happened. It's nobody's fault. Stop taking the blame for every damn little thing that happens," she yells, as she leaves his bedroom and slams his door shut.

"Damnit," Leo mutters, as he plops down on the bed. He's never seen Margaret this angry before. He finally gets up and goes the bathroom, picks up his boxers and slowly wanders back out into his bedroom. He undoes his pants, steps out of them and is in the process of pulling on his boxers, when Margaret comes bursting back into his bedroom.

"And another thing Leo McGarry..." she abruptly stops, when she realizes he's standing there with his back to her and his boxers halfway up his legs. She gets a brief glimpse of his backside, before he can pull them all the way up. 'Thank God, he was facing the bed;' Margaret tells herself under her breath. "Oh, Leo... I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." She gasps, raising a hand to her blushing face, and then turns quickly and bolts from his room.

"Margaret," he calls after her. Leo quickly pulls his pants on, buttons his shirt and follows her. He finds her sitting on the couch in the living room. "Hey," he says, sitting down beside her but a respectful distance away from her. "I guess we're even now," he says with a forced grin.

Margaret looks up at Leo and smiles, "Well, not really. I think you saw a lot more of me than I did of you," she lightly teases. "All I got was a quick glimpse of your skinny little butt," she laughs.

"Hey, my..." He quickly decides to drop the matter. "Yeah, I guess I did umm... see more. Look... I'm sorry," he tells her again.

"Leo, let's just remember, what goes on TDY, stays on TDY," she laughs a little, covering her nervousness.

"Right," he quickly agrees. "But I'm still sorry."

"Leo, I know. Please let's just forget about it," she softly pleads and then gives him a warm smile. "Hey, are you hungry?" Trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I guess. I haven't eaten since breakfast," he tells her so she won't pick on him about not eating at all today.

"Leo, you promised earlier today that you'll eat lunch," she quickly points out.

"I know, and I was gonna to, but... to tell ya the truth... I was more tired than hungry."

"Okay, you're off the hook for not eating lunch, but now you're going to go eat a good healthy dinner."

"I was wondering when you were going to get around to trying to shove food in my face," he smirks.

"Well, someone needs to make sure you eat," she laughs.

"Sarah did offer to bring me lunch both days that she temped for me. Did you leave her instructions to do that?" He fakes a weak frown that turns quickly to a grin despite his best efforts, he's happy to be bantering with her again. He's missed her so much while she's away these last few days.

"Maybe, but you'll have to take that up with her, because I'm not telling," she declares.

"I'm sure she's sworn to secrecy," he suggests.

"I hope you treated her nicely. She's not been in the pool very long, and I hope you didn't frighten her away."

"I was very nice, you can ask her if you like," he smiles.

"I just might," she counters. "I'll call her when we get back."

"I guess you could call her if you'd like, but she doesn't work in the pool anymore. She's assigned to Josh's and my offices from now on," he smiles.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was a big help and well... I felt she deserved a break... sorta like someone else I knew a long time ago," he softly says.

"See... you are sweet."

"Whatever... but lets not let that get around, okay?" He implores.

"No one would believe it anyway," she smirks.

"Hey," he laughs.

"No... really Leo that was very nice of you to give her a job. Josh can really use the help with Donna being gone."

"Yeah, Josh really needs help and...," he stops, he almost told her that his office will need help soon, too. "Umm... Margaret, can I ask ya a question?"

"Sure," she quickly returns.

"Why did you choose Sarah? How did you know she'd... well work out so well?" He asks.

"I met her last month when she was temping in CJ's office. She was having problems with the copier and well... we just sorta starting talking and I offered to meet her for lunch that day. She's a new college graduate with huge student loans and... she's alone here in DC and well... I just really like her."

"Margaret, say no more. I like her too," he tells her. He didn't mean to put her on the spot.

"Okay."

"Good. Hey didn't you say something about eating? Cause I'm a little hungry," he informs her.

"Yes I did, so let's go get something to eat," she smiles. "I've already made dinner reservations for us at the Old Hickory Steakhouse it's a really nice restaurant here in the hotel, under the glass atrium of the Delta Island, surrounded by the breathtaking indoor gardens, the winding pathways, the cascading waterfalls and..."

"Margaret," he grumbles, shaking his head at his quirky assistant. She has definitely earned her reputation for being the condensed Reader's Digest index of... well, all human knowledge.

"Sorry," she blushes. 'I really need to stop rambling on all the time,' she thinks to herself. "So you're ready to eat?"

"Yeah," he tells her again. He just hopes that Margaret doesn't give him heck about what he plans to order.

"I didn't think you would feel much like leaving the hotel after the long day you've had," she offers, as she stands.

"It sounds perfect," he says, as he gets off the couch. "Is this good enough?" He motions to his casual attire.

"Yeah, it's perfect, but you might want to put on some socks and shoes," she informs him.

"Right," his face reddens as he looks at his feet. He forgot he didn't have any shoes and socks on. He makes his way to his bedroom to get some clean socks on.

"Let me mess with my hair a bit and then we can go. I made reservations for five-thirty," she checked her watch, as she removes the towel from her hair and heads to the bathroom. "We should just make it," she tells him over her shoulder.

Leo and Margaret have a quiet walk down to the restaurant. Both of them are still thinking about the bathroom incidents. They pass though the Delta Island area on the way to the Old Steak House. They stop for a while, watching the Mississippi style flatboat full of people float by them.

"That looks like fun," Margaret comments.

"Wanta ride it after dinner?" Leo asks, putting a hand to her back, guiding her toward the restaurant.

"Yeah, I love boats," she informs him.

They are seated within a few minutes of arriving at the restaurant. They requested a table on the balcony, overlooking the Delta Island and the River Boat ride. Leo is still somewhat bothered by the earlier events in the room and won't hold eye contact with Margaret for very long.

Margaret can tell that Leo is still embarrassed, "Leo, it's okay," she says, reaching across the table and laying her hand on his, to get his attention. "You didn't know that I was in there. Will you please stop feeling guilty about it?" She quickly removes her hand, realizing what she just did. They usually don't touch hands. He sometimes puts his hand to the small of her back, but he does that to everyone.

Leo looks at her, "Margaret, I... just didn't want ya to think that..."

"Leo, I don't. You don't think that about me, do you?" Margaret watches Leo shake his head. "Okay then, lets just forget it happened."

Leo nods his head. He really doesn't want to forget the sight he saw. He wants her, but he's not sure how to tell her. He'd planned to tell her as soon as he got here today, after the bombing incident had scared him. But finding out that they were sharing a hotel room had made him a little nervous and then seeing her naked had thrown him way off his game plan.

"Okay, I just want to say I'm sorry, one more time," he says, reaching across the table and touching her hand.

"Okay," she says, looking at his hand on top of hers. "So, what are you thinking about getting?" Margaret asks, as she slowly slides her hand out from under his and picks up her menu.

"Hmm, I was thinking maybe some prime rib," he smiles.

They spend the rest of the dinner sharing some things about themselves and having a nice meal. Margaret tells him some more about her shopping trip and the night she went to the Wildhorse Saloon. Leo talks a little about his dinner with Mallory, but doesn't mention the West Wing. He does tell her that Josh talked to Donna, just before he left to come to Nashville, and that she's doing really well and hopes to be back in DC soon.

When they are done and they are headed back to their room, they walk back by the Island, and take a ride on the flat boat. It doesn't last very long, and Margaret is a little pouty when it's over so soon.

"That was short," she frowns, as she reaches for Leo's extended hand as she steps out of the boat.

Leo takes her hand, helping her onto the dock, "You really liked that?"

"Oh yeah, I've always loved boats," she gushes.

"I never knew that," he says, still holding her hand, even though she has safety made it out of the boat and onto the dock.

Margaret shyly looks down at their hands, "Um... yeah. I use to go boating with my family all the time when I was a kid. I love to go fast down the river with the wind blowing my hair."

Leo lets go of her hand; he puts a hand to the small of her back, guiding her toward the elevators. "I've not been boating in years. Mallory used to love to go, but Jen..." Leo stops abruptly.

"But Jenny what, Leo?" She asks with a soothing smile, letting him know it was okay to talk about his ex-wife.

"Jenny never really cared for it, so we didn't go much and then there was... well you know... my drinking and we stopped going altogether." He hates that a lot of his memories about Mallory's childhood are tainted from his addictions.

They reach the elevators and wait for one to arrive, "Leo, you could still take Mallory boating. I bet she would love it," Margaret informs him.

"Yeah, I should," he lowers his eyes and stares at his shoes. "Ah..." he says looking back up at her. "Maybe you'd like to go too?"

"You bet, I'd love to go," she smiles, stepping on the elevator.

"Great," he replies, following her.

"When?" Margaret says almost a little too eagerly.

"Well, there's not much going on for me at work lately, so how about the weekend after we get back?"

"Great," she acknowledges with a head bob.

"Then it's a date," he shyly adds.

They both get quiet at the term that he just used. They stare at each other for a few moments, then Margaret speaks up, "Yes, I'm gonna hold you to it, too."

Leo wishes she would hold him to more than that, but he needs to stop his mind from going there right now. "I'm not planning to back out of it," he emphasizes with an impish grin.

Once they get back to the suite, neither of them knows what to do. They stand there in the living room for a few awkward seconds, until Margaret breaks the ice, "Would you like something to drink," Margaret asks, heading for the wet bar. "We have all kinds or soda and juice."

"Something without caffeine," he tells her.

"There's 7-Up. Is that okay?" She asks, as she sorts though the refrigerator.

"That'll be fine," he answers, slipping off his jacket and laying it on the back of the couch and then sitting down.

Margaret grabs a couple of diet 7-Ups and walks over to get two glasses from the bar. She pours the soda and overflows the second one. She cleans up her mess with a paper towel and then throws it in the trash. She contentedly smiles when she sees Leo's pack of crushed cigarettes in the trashcan. She walks to the living room area and joins him on the couch. She hands Leo a glass of soda and he quickly takes a drink, "Is this Diet, Margaret?"

"Yes, diet. You don't need all that extra sugar," she informs him, still smiling from what she saw in the trash. She decides not to say anything to him about it.

"Okay," he says, not quite sure of her logic, but he learned a long time ago that sometimes it's just easier to go along with her, than to argue with her.

"So, what are you going to do tomorrow while I'm at the convention?" She asks, opening her soda, then taking a small drink.

"Well... I should work on my speech, but I have almost three days to write it," he replies, as he fiddles with the tab on the soda.

"Leo, you don't want to wait too long. Cause I know you, and I know how you just love to revise things fifteen times before you have a final copy," she implies with a knowing look.

"I don't revise things fifteen times," he denies, as he opens his soda.

"You do too," she argues. "And it's gotten worse since we got to the White House," she adds.

"I wouldn't have to revise things so many times if you didn't change things when you typed them up," he tries to push the blame on her.

"I make only grammar corrections, which are a lot in your case," she informs him with a smirk of a smile.

"There's nothing wrong with my use of the English language," he readily points out.

"Is that what you call it, English?" She laughs.

"What'd ya laughing at," he quickly retorts. "Just cause I'm from Chicago doesn't mean I can't use proper English, ya know," he grins.

"And all I have to say is thank God there's computers now, cause I used have to retype all those revisions for you," she smirks, as she gets up from the couch. "I'm going to go put on something more comfortable. I'll be right back."

Leo sits there for a few seconds, then gets up and heads for his bedroom. He goes to the bathroom and then comes back out into his bedroom. He decides to change into his sweat pants and goes looking for them. He quickly discovers that he didn't remember to pack them. He walks back out into the living room. He finds Margaret on the couch, in sweats and a campaign t-shirt from the last election, with her long legs curled up under her.

"You didn't change?" She says, noticing that he still has on his Dockers and shirt from earlier.

"Well... I was going to, but... someone forgot to pack my sweat pants," he informs her, as he takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch. "My usual packer was out of town, and I had to rely on someone else."

Margaret lets out a small laugh, "I told you you'd forget something."

"Well, I'm sure I would have remembered, but if I remember correctly, someone was bothering me when I was packing," he explains, folding his arms over his chest and staring at her.

"Really. Who?" Margaret asks, her mind quickly jumping to conclusions, fearing that somehow Jordan was back into the picture.

"You," he laughs at the puzzled look on her face.

"Oh," she shyly says.

"So, tell me about what you've been doing here at the conference, so far, on the government's dollar," he grins.

Margaret spends the next hour telling Leo all the things she's been doing. Leo just leans back and listens to her animated voice as she talks about the events she's attended and the people that she's met. He loves listening to her and he still can't believe that he's here with her, sharing a suite. He occasionally offers a comment, but mostly he's content to listen to Margaret ramble on.

Margaret finally stops, "So, do you know what the topic of your speech is going to be for the dinner on Saturday night?"

"No, not really. What is the theme of this year's event for again?" He asks, hoping that it will inspire him to come up with an appropriate topic.

"Sounds of Success," she tells him.

"Well, I guess I should try to work that into my speech somehow," Leo says, scratching his chin, thinking about what he'll talk about.

Margaret yawns and then looks at her watch, "Leo, I think I'm going to call it a night and go to bed. I need to get up for early to meet some friends for breakfast tomorrow," she says, standing and stretching a little. "Do you want to come with me tomorrow?"

"You mean you and a bunch of woman yapping early in the morning. Nah, I'll think I'll pass," he smirks, giving her an impish grin.

"Okay, suit yourself. I guess I should tell you that some of these women think you're very handsome. But, for the life of me, can't imagine why," she teases, as she heads for her bedroom.

"Hey," he feigns a hurt look on his face.

"Get over it," she laughs.

"Okay," he says, heading for his bedroom. He looks at his watch and sees that it's eleven o'clock. He can't believe how quickly time has flown by tonight.

"See ya tomorrow," he stops and watches her.

"Night," she tells him, before disappearing into her bedroom.

TBC in Part 7

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to provide such wonderful feedback! I have tried to personally respond to all of it, if I have missed you I am terribly sorry. I had originally planned to post the parts of FEW every three days, but I got so many people begging for it sooner, that I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!