Part 8
See disclaimers in Part 1.
Early Friday morning, Leo wakes up with Margaret still in his arms. Her red hair is fanned out across his chest. He breathes in the sweet vanilla scent of her hair and smiles. He can't believe the contentment he feels. The intimacy that Margaret and he shared the night before was phenomenal. He realizes that his life has changed drastically for the better in the last twelve short hours.
Leo has never experienced this type of closeness with Jenny. Whenever they were intimate, even before his drinking became a problem, as soon as it was over, Jenny would scoot out from under Leo and get out of bed. Then she would shower, put her pajamas on and then crawl back into their king size bed, lying as far away from him as she could. She never wanted to snuggle afterwards, let alone the rest of the night.
During the last few years of Leo's marriage, after rehab, Jenny rarely wanted to make love and only seemed to go though the motions when they did. So after a while, Leo stopped trying. That's one of the reasons he was so drawn to Jordan, he was lonely and needed a physical release. It had been over five years since he'd made love to anyone, but he quickly discovered with Jordan that having sex wasn't making love. He's not proud of why he had pursued Jordan, but she really didn't seem to mind. They decided after a while that it wasn't working for either of them, and they parted amicably.
Last night, after Margaret and he had made love for the first time, and when Leo had eventually moved off of Margaret, she quickly snuggled in next to him, wrapping her long slender body around him, each of them holding on contentedly to the other as they drifted off to sleep.
Leo looks down at the woman in his arms again and can't believe how lucky he is. He realizes now that he's only ever had sex before, even with Jenny, he recognizes now that it had just been empty sex. He has never known any different, not until now. But, last night Margaret and he had made passionate love and he can't believe how incredibly different he feels now. He gives her a tender kiss on the cheek, she stirs in his arms and he pulls her closer to him.
"Morning," she says, barely opening her eyes.
"Morning," he happily replies, kissing her on the lips and then rubbing his nose on hers.
"Did you sleep well?" She asks, returning his kiss.
"Best sleep I've had in years," Leo sighs contently.
"Hmmm... me too," she rises up, looks at the clock and lies back down next to Leo.
"I'm glad," he remarks. "What time is it?"
"It's almost seven," she sadly informs him.
"Really, I can't believe I slept this long," he says with a surprised voice. "I got more sleep last night than I normally get in a week," he admits.
"Must be something in the southern air down here," she laughs, trying to keep the worry out of her voice after his confession about how little sleep he's been getting. She's going to have to make sure that he starts getting more sleep.
"Oh yeah, that I'm sure of," he tells her, kissing he neck.
"Leo, as much as I'd love for you to continue this, I really should get up and shower, I need to be downstairs in an hour." The last thing she wants to do is to get out of bed or leave his arms, but she knows she has to.
"I'll order us some breakfast," Leo offers, stopping his amorous assault.
"Great," she kisses him again and gets out of bed.
Leo lies back, folds his arms behind his head and watches her walk into the bathroom. He closes his eyes and sighs. He knows he should get up and order their breakfast, but what he really wants to do is join Margaret in the shower. He decides however that he should order breakfast, cause there's not a lot of time and he doesn't want to make Margaret late. He knows how she loves to stay on schedule.
After Margaret gets out of the shower, Leo jumps in and takes a quick one, too. When he gets out and finishes drying, he puts on some causal clothes and then wanders back to the bathroom. He leans against the door jam and watches Margaret getting ready for the day. He smiles at how beautiful she is, even this early in the morning, without her makeup even on.
"Margaret, did ya bring your laptop?" He asks, as he watches her start to put on her makeup.
"Yes, why?" She asks and wonders why he wants to know.
"Well, I need to write my speech for tomorrow night and I thought maybe I could, ya know, use it," he suggests. "That way when you go to check it for me, it will already be input for ya."
"I don't think so," politely informs him, with a knowing smile.
"Why?" He responds.
"Because, you've crashed several White House computers during the past six years and you're not going to do that to my own personal laptop," she informs him with a smirk of a smile. "I saved for over a year for it, and you're not going to kill it with those hands."
"Margaret, I still say those computers were defective," he explains. "Those geeky system administration people keep sticking me with all the defective ones, cause they know how much I hate their blasted computers," he tries to explain. His lack of skill and lack of love for computers is widely known throughout the White House.
"Right," she sarcastically says. "You better not let them hear you refer to them as geeky," she advises.
"I'll keep that in mind. Heaven forbid, if they would revoke my account or something," he smirks.
"Well, they should after all the trouble you've caused them. I bet tech support draw straws to see who has to come to your office when you're having a computer problem," she laughs.
"Hey what about you? Aren't you the one who brought down the White House mail server?" Leo offers with a smirk.
"Hey that wasn't my fault and you know it," she quickly counters, pointing her hairbrush at him. "You know that Jolene Millman caused that problem when she forwarded my email message about the actual calorie count in the raisin muffin that they were serving in the mess. It wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't replied to the email message and flooded the server, it would have been fine."
"Yeah, well... I still say you caused the White House to be without email for the whole day and that's much worse than a couple of lousy crashed computers on my part. Cause, remember the President wasn't able to a..." Leo abruptly stops; it hurts too much think about, much less, even talk about him and the adventures that they have shared in the past. He still can't believe his best friend has abandoned him like this. He would have understood it if it had happened during his drinking years, but now, it's just too hard to deal with. They've been best friends for over forty years, and he misses Jed's friendship.
"Leo," Margaret quickly moves to his side and places a loving hand on his arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nah, we talked enough the other night..." A knock on the their hotel door interrupts Leo. "That's probably our breakfast."
"Let's eat it out on the balcony," Margaret suggests, hoping that the view will take Leo's mind off his problems.
"Yeah, that sounds good," he says going to the door. He has some very fond memories of that balcony, especially from last night.
They sit side-by-side, eating breakfast and stealing glances at each other. Neither of them can seem to stop smiling this morning. Eventually, Margaret looks at her watch and frowns, "I need to get going. Do you want to meet for lunch?"
"Sure, do ya wanna eat downstairs somewhere or here in the room?" He suggests, as he wipes his mouth with his cloth napkin and then takes a drink of his coffee.
"Lets meet by the Delta Island water fountain and then we can grab a quick bite to at one of the eateries there and watch the fountain. You shouldn't be cooped up in this room all day," she tells him.
"I don't mind being here as long as you're here with me," he says in his best gravelly voice.
"Well, I'm afraid we won't actually eat lunch and we'll wind up doing... other things," she softly laughs.
"Ya never know," he says, with a lopsided grin and a twinkle in his eyes.
"Leo, you are so bad."
"Me?" He smirks. "Hey... you're the one who attacked me right after our meal from room service showed up last night. It's a good thing we had a microwave to heat it back up."
"Well, I don't remember hearing any complaints last night," Margaret says, placing a hand on his knee and then slowly walking her fingers up his leg.
"I'm not... complaining," his voice goes an octave higher as her fingers reach their destination. "Margaret," he breathes out. "Ya shouldn't start something that you can't finish."
"Oh, I'll finish it all right, but, it won't be until later tonight," she teases in her best seductive voice, as she enjoys watching him squirm in his chair.
"Margaret," he whines.
Margaret continues to tease him and quickly gets the reaction she's hoping for. "Well, I gotta go, bye," she says as she abruptly withdraws her hand, kisses him on the cheek, and stands up to go.
"Margaret," he moans. "Look at me," pointing at the very noticeable distension in his pants.
"Very nice, Leo. I bet you're really proud of that," she snickers, as she quickly leaves the balcony.
Leo gets up from the table and follows Margaret who is rushing for the door. "You'd better run," he calls after her, moving as quickly as he dares to because his hip is a little sore from all their passionate activities, late last night.
Margaret stops at the door, "Bye Leo, Love you!"
"Bye, I love ya too," he says, as he catches up with her, pulls her in his arms and tightly hugs her. They share a few warm, and loving kisses, and after a few minutes, Leo pulls back from her arms. "You'd... better go," his voice cracks.
"Yeah," she exhales, trying to catch her breath. "I'll ah... see you at lunch." She smiles through her flushed face as she turns and walks right into the door.
"Ah... Margaret, most people open them before trying to walk though them," he smirks.
"Right," she agrees. "I'll try to remember that."
Leo steps over to the door and opens it. He stands in the doorway and watches Margaret disappear down the long winding hallway. He closes the door, breathes a heavy sigh, looks down at himself, and then heads for the bathroom. "I hate to do this to ya, but it's time for a very cold shower," he mutters as he looks down at himself again.
Once Margaret steps into the elevator she remembers that she was supposed to meet Lynette and some others for breakfast this morning, "Damnit," she says, waiting for the elevator to reach its destination.
"I'm never going to hear the end of this," she mutters to herself as she gets off the elevator. She walks down the hallway that leads to the Convention part of the hotel and promptly runs into Lynette.
"Margaret, did you forget something this morning," she rhetorically remarks, as she gives her a quirk of a smile.
"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I... overslept," she comments, hoping that Lynette will just leave it at that.
"Overslept? And here I was thinking that maybe you and Leo were too busy this morning for you to make it to breakfast."
"Umm..."
"Margaret, before you perjure yourself anymore. I think you should know that I'm aware of what's going on between you and Leo, and I must say that... I don't know if I approve of this new development between you two, if it's going to make you miss our planned outings," she says dryly, with a small smirk of a smile.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that fact that I sorta saw you two on your 'not so private' balcony this morning," she softly laughs. "I went back upstairs after breakfast to get something that I forgot in my room. Did you know that my room is directly across from yours, only one floor lower?" She smirks.
Margaret's face turns crimson, "Oh?" She softly breathes out.
"Oh, is right," Lynette, teases. "Did Leo spill something on himself this morning, and you were just being the good assistant and trying to what... wipe it off his lap," Lynette giggles.
"Lynette, it's not what you think," Margaret stammers out, still trying to come up with a good excuse for why her hand was in Leo's lap.
"Oh, so you weren't trying to help him...out this morning," she hints. "He sure was squirming around a lot in his chair. Was it hot coffee that you spilled on him?" She laughs.
"Lynette," she gasps at her friend.
"What?" She giggles. "Come on, lets go get a cup of coffee before the first dreadful seminar starts this morning and you can tell me all about last night."
"Oh...I don't think so," Margaret quickly informs her.
"I don't want all the gory details, just the general idea of what's going on between the two of you," she laughingly requests.
"Right," Margaret smirks to her friend.
"You know, Jolene Millman and I have been talking about the two of you these past few years."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, we could see it written all over your face a long time ago."
"You could?"
"Yes, we could. I'm just glad to see that Leo has finally gotten a clue." Lynette tells her friend, knowing that Margaret has held a torch for Leo for years.
"He got more than that, last night," Margaret mutters under her breath, as she follows her friend to the coffee shop. It's going to be a long day of endless questions from her best friend. But, she doesn't really mind, because all that matters now, is that Leo loves her.
Leo spends the rest of the morning in their room working on his speech. At first, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to come up with something to talk about, but he's surprised that he's had very little trouble getting started with it. His lecture circuit skills come back very quickly. But, he thinks that main reason he's able to relax and write so well is that fact that he spent the night in the arms of the woman he loves.
Leo almost loses track of time, writing his speech and thinking about Margaret. He looks at his watch and decides he had better leave to meet her for lunch. He still can't get over has huge this hotel is. It takes a while to get from their room to the Delta Island area.
As he is heading for the fountain, he sees an advertisement for the General Jackson Show Boat. 'I bet Margaret would love to have dinner on that, and I would love to take her dancing,' he thinks to himself, while he stands there studying the sign. He can't wait to share a dance with Margaret. It's been years since he's gotten to dance with someone he loves. The only people he's danced with lately have been Dignitaries or staff members at official functions. Leo makes a mental note to talk to the concierge, after lunch, and have him book them a reservation for tonight. He smiles at the thought, and then continues on to the fountain.
Leo arrives just a couple of minutes before Margaret. They have a nice lunch together by the fountain, listening to the peaceful music and watching the water dance to the beat. Time flies by quickly and soon, Margaret has to leave to go to her afternoon seminar.
Leo escorts Margaret back up to the convention area adjacent to the Delta Island. He gives her hand a gentle squeeze and leans up to give her a quick peck on the cheek, after looking around to make sure no one was looking. Margaret gives him a sweet smile and returns his kiss.
"See ya later," he winks.
"Love you," she softly whispers.
"Love ya, too," he replies and then turns and walks back toward the hotel.
Margaret stands there for a couple of minutes watching him walk away. She has always loved watching him walk. She notices that his usually slight limp is a little more pronounced in his rolling gait today. She almost goes after him to ask him if he's in having more than his normal amount of pain today, but she quickly decides against it.
Margaret frowns. His limp has been showing a lot more lately. It's something they've never discussed, but Margaret has always wondered about it. She's had to bite her tongue more than a few times lately to keep herself from inquiring about it. She knows that he injured it in Vietnam when he bailed out of his plane with his friend Kenny. But, it wasn't until this past winter that she learned more about the incident when she overheard, okay so maybe she was eavesdropping at his office door, Leo telling the President about his time in the jungle.
She shivers at the thought of him being dragged around the jungle for three days, while bleeding profusely and his lower leg dangling. It's a miracle that he didn't lose his leg. She closes her eyes tightly, trying to get that image of him to leave her mind.
Last night, she saw the scar on his shin and noticed how his leg is bowed below his knee. He must have experienced a lot of pain from his injury. It seems his whole life has been full of pain and loss. 'Well, that's going to stop right now, if I can help it,' she says under her breath.
She bobs her head in agreement with her thoughts, turns and hastily walks into the room where her next seminar is being held. She looks around the room for a good seat and finds one up front. She sits down, folds her hands in her lap and looks at her watch. There are just a few minutes before the speaker should start.
Margaret looks around the room for anyone she might know, there's a few familiar faces, but discovers no one that she really knows by name. She turns back around, focusing on the lecturer. She's never heard her speak before and wonders if she will be any good. She checks her watch again. 'Two minutes till it starts,' she thinks to herself. She picks up her purse, hunts for her cell phone and is about to turn it off when it rings, scaring her and causing her to drop it on the floor.
She scurries after it on her knees, grabs it and flips it open, "Hello," she answers, in a panicked voice.
"Margaret, are you okay?" Leo asks, while he presses the elevator button in the main lobby of the hotel.
"Yeah, the phone ringing just scared me is all," she tells him, as she gets back up into her chair, pulling her skirt down. She notices the lecturer is staring at her.
"Sorry," he softly laughs.
"That's okay. What did you need?" She lightly grumbles, as she pulls her bangs out of her way.
"I really didn't need anything." He teases, noticing the slightly aggravated tone of her voice.
"Leo," she says, louder than she intended to, as she pronounces every syllable in his name.
"I just called to tell ya that I have a surprise for ya tonight," he grins, thinking about the reservation he just had the concierge make.
"Really?" Her responds, as her eyes dance with excitement. She's not used to getting surprises.
"Yeah," he tries to keep the laughter out of his voice. She is far too easily delighted. He makes a mental note to make sure she gets a lot more pleasant surprises in her life in the near future.
"What?" She asks.
"If I tell ya, well... then it wouldn't be much of a surprise now... would it?" He explains in his very distinctive pattern of speaking.
"Well, okay. Oh," she puts her hand to the phone, cupping it and then whispers, "Leo, I need to go, I'm getting evil looks from the speaker. I guess she wants to start talking right now."
"Okay, I'll see ya later," he tells her.
"Bye," she whispers, as she lowers her head. She quickly turns off her phone and puts it back in her purse. She straightens back up and gives the speaker a warm smile.
"Bye," he whispers into the dead line, and then flips his cell phone shut.
Leo wanders back up to the room and works some more on his speech. He's busy thinking about what he's going to say at the end of his speech, when his cell phone rings, startling him. He looks at the incoming number and sees that it's from the Residence. He hesitates, but finally answers, "Yeah, McGarry here." He lightly growls into the phone.
"Leo where the hell are you?" The agitated voice demands.
"What'd ya mean where am I?" He grumbles into the phone. "I'm in Nashville, remember?"
"Leo, I know that. I mean what hotel are you staying at. I called the number you left with your temp, but they said you aren't registered there."
"Oh, that, well there was a little problem when I got here, it umm... seems the hotel is sold out," he explains.
"And?" The voice on the other end of the phone demands.
"And... since Margaret is staying in a suite with two bedrooms, she well, she sorta offered for me to stay here with her," he logically explains.
"Wasn't that convenient?" The caller smirks.
"Abbey," he snorts. "That's not... oh never mind."
"So, Leo. How's Nashville?"
"It's great," slips out of his mouth before he can stop it.
"Did my ears deceive me or did I just hear Leo McGarry say the word great?" She teases.
"Yeah, I did. What do you need, Abbey? I'm sure you didn't call just to torment me, did ya?"
"Well... as much fun as tormenting you sounds, I did call for another reason. I just wanted to let you know that I'll talked with your surgeon, and I'm ready to discuss the surgery with you when you get back."
"Okay, thanks Abbey," he sighs. He'd almost forgotten about having to have his hip and knee replaced.
"Leo, I went and visited your doctor," she informs him.
"You did. Abbey, you didn't need to go to all that trouble. I bet the Secret Service loved that trip," he smirks.
"Don't worry about them," she informs him, and then her voice grows serious. "Leo, I got a look at your latest x-rays and... it's a wonder you don't walk with more of a limp than you do. Does that loose-body floating around in there, give you much trouble?"
"Yeah, sometimes, but not often," he lies, not really wanting to discuss his limp. It's something that he's been very good at disguising with his rolling gait for years. Very few people know why he walks the way he does.
"Are you still taking the Naproxen that the doctor gave you to help with the pain and swelling?"
"No, I really haven't had too," he lies again. He probably should have taken some this morning with breakfast, but he didn't want to take the meds in front of Margaret.
"Which means... that you haven't told Margaret yet. Have you?"
"Abbey," he growls.
"Okay... okay I'll drop it," she sighs. She knows when not to push him. "But, I was wondering how in the world you managed to get by with making a doctor's appointment without Margaret finding out? Everyone knows how she likes to kept a tight control your schedule," she teases him.
"I sorta... mislead her," he shyly admits.
"You mean you lied?" She laughs.
"Well, I prefer to think of it as creative thinking and good planning on my part," he tells her, with a smile.
"Yeah, well when she finds out that you went to the doctors and she didn't know about it... you're going to be in big trouble," she warns.
"Nah, I can handle Margaret," he feels pretty confident after last night.
"Oh really, since when?" Abbey's curiosity is raised by his last comment and the soft tone of his voice.
"None of your business," he says, hoping, but knowing she's not about to drop it until she gets an answer she likes.
"Leo, did you and Margaret talk already? And you know what I'm talking about, so don't play dumb with me."
"Yeah, we did," he admits. He's actually happy to tell her about it. He just wanted her to suffer a little at first.
"And?"
"She and I... well... we're kinda," he awkwardly stammers, not really sure how to phrase it.
"Oh, Leo's got a girlfriend, Leo's got a girlfriend," she sings loudly into the phone.
"Abbey," he growls, as he shakes his head. "I sure hope nobody's around."
"You're in luck, it's just me here."
"Good," he says, he's not sure that he wants Jed to know yet.
"Leo," Abbey's voice turns serious now. "Have you done anymore thinking about, you know that other thing and what you plan on doing?"
"No, not really." He honestly tells her. His mind has been full of Margaret since he got here. He did talk a little bit with Margaret that first night he arrived, but he really didn't tell her that he was thinking seriously about quitting.
"Have you talked about it with Margaret?"
"A little the first night, but I didn't mention... that I was thinking about... leaving the West Wing," he somberly professes.
"How about last night," she asks, knowing that he's trying avoid something.
"Umm... we never got around to it last night," he admits.
"What did you get around to last night?" She teases.
"None of your business, Abbey," he warns.
"Oh okay," she says, thinking she can't wait for them to get back so that she can question Margaret about them. "Well... you're gonna have to talk with her about your impending surgery before you come back. You don't want it being a surprise when you two come back to work Monday."
"Yeah, I know. I plan on telling her tonight," he softly confides.
"Okay, I'll give Margaret a call at work on Monday and find out when you have an opening in your schedule that day," she informs him, letting him know that he better tell her before they get back.
"Well, I'm sure the whole day is pretty wide open," he sadly discloses.
"Leo, please let me talk to Jed. This is silly and has gone on long enough," she implores.
"Abbey, No. It's up to him. He's the one who... Look... I said something that I probably shouldn't have to him, and he's not going to forget it or forgive me any time soon for it."
"Leo, whether you believe it or not, he's really been worried that something is wrong with you. You should have seen his the look on his face when he found out that you were taking leave. It shocked the entire White House," she informs him.
"Just cause I took leave?" He says, shaking his head. "The White House grape vine is probably just buzzing with rumors."
"Yeah, well... you taking leave is a rarity," she tells him.
"Well, I'll be taking a lot more leave soon," he says, 'And maybe even resigning,' he adds under his breath.
"Yeah, but then everyone will know the reason."
"I guess."
"Leo, you're going to need lots of help, whether you like it or not, so people are going to have to know and you're going to have to be willing to let them help, too," she implores.
"Abbey, I really don't want to talk about it right now. Besides, I need to get back to working on my speech for tomorrow night."
"Okay, but make sure you talk to Margaret about the surgery," she reiterates.
"I will. We've having dinner tonight."
"Leo, you move fast."
"Abbey, it's not like that."
"Okay, I'll call Margaret on Monday after you two get back to work."
"Okay, Bye."
"Have fun and try to relax while you're there. Be good to her and yourself," Abbey smiles.
"I will. Bye, Abbey."
Margaret gets out of her class about an hour early, because the instructor needs to catch a flight. She hurries back to the room because Leo mentioned something about having a surprise for her when she gets back today. She steps onto the elevator, inserts her card key and presses the button for her floor. She stands there impatiently tapping her foot, "This thing is so slow," she says to herself, crossing her arms, anxiously wanting to see Leo.
Margaret looks at her watch again, checking it for the hundredth time today. She can't believe how fast her life has changed and how slow today went because she was away from him. It was a little less than twenty-four hours ago that they took their relationship to a new level that, before yesterday, she dared only dream or fantasize about.
The doors finally open, she's quickly out of the elevator and down the hall to their room. She inserts the card key and opens the door. She finds Leo sitting on the couch, asleep. He's got his speech on his lap. She quietly shuts the door and walks over to the couch, staring down at him. She thinks about picking up the speech and reading it, but decides she shouldn't.
Margaret smiles at the sight of him. He looks so peaceful with his head is resting on the back of the couch. She softly laughs a little at how short his legs look stretched out and resting on the coffee table. No wonder he's shorter than her. She always wondered why when they sit down they are the same height and well... in bed last night they fit perfectly together, too. She makes a mental note never to say anything to him about how short his legs are; he might be sensitive about it.
Margaret gazes at him for a few more seconds, and then walks into their bedroom and lies down on their bed. She knows he's not been sleeping much lately and doesn't have the heart to wake him and find out what he's got planned for them. She'll just rest for a few moments, while she waits for him to wake up. She really wanted to snuggle with him on the couch, but was afraid that she'd wake him. She quickly drifts off to sleep thinking about Leo and their future together.
TBC in Part 9
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, I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!