Title: Leo Cooking –Middle of the Night Daylight series 5/?
By: chipmunk
Pairing: Leo/Margaret
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Beta By: Lee pigletnpooh@comcast.net
Disclaimer:
The characters are from the NBC, WB, A John Wells Prod., TV show, 'The West Wing'.
They own them; therefore, they do not belong to me.
They are the creation and property of Aaron Sorkin. I only borrowed them.
No copyright infringement is intended. No monetary benefit is received or anticipated.
Please keep in mind that, 'Imitation is the highest form of flattery'.
A 'grateful' and 'enormous' thanks, to the actors and actresses,
who portray the characters brilliantly and bring them to life in my head.
Any mistakes found in this fic, are totally my own fault and ignorance.
This is a learning process for me. Additions and Corrections are encouraged.
Feedback: I would love it hear your opinion! PLEASE! It helps to improve my writing!
Archived at:
Summary: Leo shows up exhausted at Margaret's at 2am and wants to stay till morning to prepare breakfast. Things do not go as planned in the night.
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Margaret was exhausted. They'd worked for nineteen straight hours on Friday. Margaret had returned to work after four hours of sleep, on Saturday, to find that the situation was no better and it would not be an early evening. At 11 pm, Leo had ordered Margaret home and said he would get the President to back him up. Leo would be in the situation room for two, or three more hours, but they were hopeful that it was finally coming to a peaceful conclusion. For once, she agreed and surrendered her 'I leave when you leave' motto and left work before Leo.
*********
When she drags into her apartment a short time later, she's almost to tired to undress, but after years of practice, she can change for bed, while asleep on her feet. ~I'd go to the kitchen for something to eat, but I'm too tired to chew. Now that's tired.~
*********
Margaret digs to the surface of sleep, when she hears her apartment door close. ~That better be Leo. If it's not, I'm too tired to even defend myself. He's the only one with a key. There's no way he wants to cook in the middle of the night.~ She now can hear Leo softly calling her name, as he walks toward her bedroom.
He looks into the room, by the dim light from the hallway; he can just tell that Margaret's lying in the bed. He still softly inquires, "Margaret, are you asleep?"
She mumbles her answer; she doesn't want to get fully wake, "Is there a problem, do you need me at work?"
"No, No, It's OK now," he assures her in the same soft voice, he can tell she's still practically asleep and he doesn't want to wake her.
"Leo, this better be a dream or I just might beat you with a baseball bat and tell the police that I didn't recognize you in the dark. Yes, I think I'm awake," she raises her head, from the king size pillow, that she's lying face down on and she's hugging under her. Squinting an eye at the clock on the nightstand, she remarks to Leo, like he's nuts, "Leo, it's 2 am. Why are you in my apartment?" She then gets a better look at him, as he shifts in the doorway, to lean on the doorframe and the faint light falls on his face. ~He looks so exhausted.~ "Leo, I hate to tell you this, but you look like 88 miles of bad road. You didn't go home last night did you?" She knows that what she just said was true. "Oh, Leo," she moans as she drops her head back down on her pillow. Leo then moves farther into the room and sits on the corner of the bed and drops his clothes bag, at his feet.
"I confess, Margaret. I just went to the hotel to shower and change last night." He gives a weak soft chuckle, "Oh, and thanks for the compliment, you didn't need to sugarcoat it. I know. I feel like crap." They're both a bit verbally punchy in the middle of the night. Both were too sleepy to really notice. "I was going to be nice to you, Margaret!"
~I can think of several ways he can be nice to me, in the middle of the night and just my luck we're both too tired to even fool around.~ Margaret tells herself, being a little truthful. She softly asks back, "OK, Leo, it's late enough for me to bite at that line. What do you mean, be nice to me," trying not to fall asleep, before she hears the answer.
"Well, Margaret, don't get your hopes up. Your virtue is safe tonight. I'm too tired to ravish you." ~Damn the bad luck,~ He swears to himself. ~Hopefully, there'll be other opportunities.~
"Ok, Leo, no ravishing tonight," she agrees. "Save it for another night," she adds, not really paying attention that she just said that out loud.
He sighs, "Oh well." He pauses and then continues with the real reason he's there. "I thought I could finish sleeping the night on your couch and fix breakfast for us in the morning. I'm sure you have eggs in the frig and I make a mean Mexican omelet." He's trying to sound persuasive.
"Sounds good to me, if you don't start cooking at the crack of dawn. I plan on sleeping in," she agrees. She notices that Leo's kicking off his shoes, now that she's consented for him to stay on the couch, by the sound of his shoes dropping to the carpet. "Leo, hang your suit coat over the back of my vanity chair, you don't want it to get wrinkled."
He slips the coat off and without getting up; he stretches over and hangs it on the chair. Every movement is in slow motion; he's wearing down fast, now that he knows he's staying. He just sits for a moment, head down and eyes closed, then in the quiet he agrees, "Sleeping in would be wonderful and tomorrow is Sunday."
"See, Leo, you remember what day of the week tomorrow will be, without me handing you a schedule with it printed on the top," she's being sarcastic in her sleep. "Good, no alarm in the morning."
Leo's brain is barely working at this point. ~I better move or I'm going to be asleep sitting up. I haven't been this tired, in forever.~ Leo still doesn't get up. He removes the cuff links from his shirt cuffs and reaches over to slip them into his coat pocket. Next, he starts to slowly, unbutton the front of his shirt.
Margaret's aware of his movements, but is not really caring. She's just trying to stay comfortable.
"Margaret, are your eyes closed," she can tell by his voice, he's bent over digging in his clothes bag.
"Yeah, they are now", she mumbles into her pillow.
"Good, keep them that way for a minute," he advises. The bed rises as he stands and she can hear him unzip his pants, then she hears them hit the floor, by the sound of the change jingling in the pocket.
~Damn, why can't I be wake while he's undressing in my room. Wait a minute, that sounds like it should be more fun than this. I know I'm not going to see this in the same light, in the morning. I'm glad the light's off, if I could see what he's doing, my face would be fire engine red.~ She then feels him sit back down and from the slight sound of clothing moving and the bed wiggling, she knows he's putting on his sweats. ~Dreams do come true. I won't have any trouble dreaming, any night soon.~ The bed really bounces then, as he pops quickly up and down to pull up his sweats. He's quiet again, sitting on the end of the bed and she thinks it's safe to ask, "Is it safe to open my eyes now?"
He chuckles and replies, "It was always safe, but I didn't want you to be uncomfortable while I changed." He's reaching out to lay his pants and shirt, over his coat. He looks around at Margaret as the bed began to wiggle, at her end. "Where're you going?"
"Well, it's this way, Leo. You have me awake, in the middle of the night. You have been wiggling and bouncing the bed, so now I have to go to the little girls' room. Wait! Hold it! The first part of that sentence will 'not' be repeated at work on Monday," she warns, as she crawls out past him, at the top of the bed.
He chuckles and falls weakly back, on the now empty bed, with his feet still on the floor. ~Her bed feels so soft; I hate to move to the couch yet. I'm just going to lay here, till she returns.~
Margaret stumbles back to bed, to find Leo half lying on the bed and very quiet. She also sees, by the hall light that his shoes are under the bed and smiles at the sight. ~This is not a dream. This is not a dream. Oh, this is not a dream.~ She climbs into bed and is thinking that Leo, just has his eyes closed for a minute. "Leo, you need to go to the couch now." No response. ~Oh, no, he's out like a light.~ "Leo!"
"Mmmmmm," he almost responds.
"Leo," she tries again a little louder.
"Mmmm," he responds less and softer still.
~Well, he's not going to go to the couch anytime soon, but he can't sleep with his legs over the end of the bed. Now what? Oh, I 'have' to get back to sleep.~ She's trying to think of what to do with him, as she rests her head on her drawn up knees. ~OK, if I can't move him, he'll have to stay here. I can't believe I'm doing this.~ She shakes him on the shoulder, "Leo."
"Mmmmm," is his only response again.
"Leo," she calls as loud as before, shaking his shoulder. ~If I keep this up, I'm going to wake the neighbors!~ Leo moves his head, slightly raising it. "Leo!" "Leo, move up to the pillow," she moves the comforter out from under him, as he starts to move. He crawls up and at the same time turns on his side, toward her, tucking the other king pillow under the side of his face. He doesn't even open an eye; she covers him with the comforter. ~We'll deal with this situation in the morning.~ Putting it out of her mind, she rolls on her side away from him, toward the wall and is soon fast asleep, just like Leo, in mere seconds.
At 5:30am, Margaret wakes slightly from her internal clock, that's trying to tell her it's time to get up. ~It's Sunday and I hate waking up when I don't have to. But this morning, I don't mind missing some sleep. I can lay here and not worry about what's expected, just enjoy Leo being with me. I don't want to spoil this arrangement we have, of Leo spending time here at the apartment, especially by letting things move to fast and regretting it later.~ Lying quietly, she smiles when she becomes aware that Leo has his face buried in the nape of her neck, she can feel his even breathing on her skin. His arm is loosely around her waist. His warm hand has snuggled under her baggy, pajama top and is spread out on her bare abdomen. ~It feels nice to wake up being held. We were both so tired that we didn't even rolled over all night.~ She cuddles back into Leo and in his sleep he tightens his hold, pulling her against him. She can feel him place a feather-light, soft kiss on her bare shoulder, where her sagging collar has slipped away. ~His breathing hasn't changed, so I know he kissed my shoulder in his sleep. I could sleep like this forever.~ Margaret closes her eyes again, with a gentle smile, goes back to sleep in Leo's arms.
Margaret wakes later to realize that it's now 8am and this is the latest that she's slept in forever. ~It must be that I'm so happy to be cuddled up to Leo.~ She breathes a soft sigh of contentment and snuggles down into the bed. She can tell that Leo's starting to wake up. He shifts a little and draws her in close again. His hand has moved, while they were sleeping and is now resting higher, just under her breasts. ~If his hand moves any higher, I may not be able to tell him no, if he makes advances, but I don't want to risk our new relationship. Oh, help, what'll I do?~
"This is nice, Margaret," he assures her in a husky voice, letting her know he's awake. "Cuddling is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world." He places kisses on her exposed bare shoulder, the same as he did in his sleep. ~ I can't resist bare skin in front of my face. So shoot me, I'm human.~ "Don't worry, Margaret. I remember promising you last night, that I wouldn't ravish you." He slides his hand slowly down her ribs and it's now resting at the side curve of her waist. "Do you trust me?"
"Mmmmm, always, Leo," is her soft reply, as she's have trouble thinking coherently with his hand moving. He now moves his hand to between them, still on her bare skin and is rubbing circles on her back, he knows she just loves that. Both are 'so' content to just enjoy cuddling for a while.
"Leo, as nice as this is, I need to get up now," she urgently states.
" The little girls' room again," he guesses with a soft laugh.
'Yeah, it's been too many hours," she confesses, being embarrassed and regretting getting up.
"How much water 'do' you drink in a day? Margaret, you don't have health problems, do you," he asks both questions with concern.
"No problems, I just make sure I drink my eight glasses everyday, it's good for my skin," she's trying to sound logical. She's climbing out from under the comforter, trying to keep Leo covered and warm, because she has her furnace set to automatically turn down at night. She then proceeds to climb over top of him, to get out, as he has ended up in the middle of the bed cuddling up to her. He grunts, groans and moans, like she's killing him. When she's finally standing at the side of the bed, to be sarcastic to him since he was to her, she pats him on the back, sounding sad and comforts him by saying, "Poor Leo, so abused." He chuckles and rolls face down onto her abandoned pillow, which is still warm from her. ~ I may not be washing those pillowcases for a while; he's been on both of them now. Sweet dreams ahead.~ "Leo, you go ahead and take your time getting up. I'm going to go and make the coffee."
Half an hour later, Margaret's sitting on a stool at the counter of the kitchen, sipping her coffee and reading a section of the New York Times. When Leo enters, he has freshened up in the bathroom and is fully awake. He drops a kiss on the top of her head, as he passes behind her to get himself a mug of coffee. ~He's getting a nice habit of dropping casual kisses on me. Real nice.~ He scans the headlines of the newspaper over her shoulder.
Leo, not setting down, promptly informs her, "I'll start the omelets now, I wouldn't want you to starve or anything, after being 'nice' to me last night and letting me stay." He's grinning widely as he opens the frig.
"Thanks for the kiss, but I wasn't that 'nice', Leo. Let me warn you, I'm still on my first cup of coffee," she's just letting him know up front. ~He might as well find out now, that it takes a cup or two of coffee, just to jump start my mind in the morning and then it's full speed after that.~
"It 'was' nice! It was nice to sleep, in a warm soft bed and cuddle. To wake up with someone in my arms and to talk softly with, before the day invades," he honestly gives his feelings to her.
"Yes, Leo, those things are special to me too," she answers softly and smiles to him. Adding to herself, ~ It was more than 'I' ever hoped for and I hope we do to again sometime. It really was special to me.~ she continues with another thought, "Leo, keep in mind here that I'm not fully awake and I may think better about this offer later."
"You're going to make me an offer? Remember, you also promised not to ravish me last night. So, are the promises null and void, now that it's daylight," he teases with a hopeful sound in his voice. He knows she's going to blush at that. ~This 'is' so much fun to make her blush and I don't want to rush our friendship, but someday, the time might be right. I might get lucky. I can only hope.~
"Leo, the offer 'is' for you to keep some casual clothes here," Margaret tries unsuccessfully to sound serious, after that remark from him. She's trying not to grin and not to blush at the same time.
"Are you going to clean me out a drawer and leave some room in your closet for my clothes," Leo continues to tease her. "Are we going to be part-time roomies?"
"Leo, you're just trying to get 'to me' again. I'm awake enough to tell that. Keep it up and I'll withdraw my offer and you can keep toting your clothes in with you every time. I'll be nice and you can keep them in the bathroom closet. There's plenty of room in it"
"Yeah, that would be nice. Last time I came over, I had to go by the hotel and get my bag. I'd forgotten to repack it and put it in the car."
By this time, Leo has the ingredients ready to put in the skillet. "OK, Margaret, how 'hot' do you want your Mexican omelet? With hot sauce in it, on it, or both?"
"You've got to be kidding, Leo, none of the above. Not this early in the day. How can you eat that now," she asks with real concern.
"No, Problem," he smiles to her. "You're just a sissy. Really, Margaret, it's the 'only' benefit I ended up with, from my years of drinking. A cast-iron stomach and I like to enjoy it."
The omelets are done in just minutes and they carry their plates to the small dining area and dig into the steaming omelets. Leo brings the hot sauce with him to the table. ~He's got to be nuts to eat 'that' this early. I don't think I could eat like that even late at night.~ "Leo, did you bring plenty of milk, to cool your stomach down after you eat that or should I go find you the Tums now," she could not resist questioning him sarcastically, about his hot sauce.
"I have plenty of milk. I like my Mexican omelet warm," he boasts.
"Leo, there's warm and then there's hot, that looks definitely HOT." She knows she's right.
"I know what kind of warm you like, Margaret. Leo lowers his eyes and gives her a dreamy look, "that warm bed of yours. It was warm when I got into it. That's how I managed to fall sleep immediately. I remember it was warm and soft. You being in there also, was really to hard to resist," he was trying to get her blush to return.
"Leo, admit it, you were to exhausted to resist anything last night." She pauses. "I fully confess, I cheat, Leo," she looks him in the eye and gives a sneaky smile.
"How? You, Margaret, 'cheat', do I need to have Agent Butterfield come here and check out what you're doing," he tries to look serious, but fails with the laughter in his voice.
She boldly states, "Well, unless you want him to be checking out my private bed, you better not sic him on me," she bats her eyes at him, teasing him right back.
"What?" He exclaims with a surprised and shocked look on his face. "I had to practically pass-out on your bed, to get into it," he finishes with an indignant look.
Smiling at the look on his face. "Ok, I'll tell you the truth. I have a Restwarmer on the bed, so I can set my auto furnace down at night." She adds, "no sense heating the whole apartment all night," was her frugal reply.
"What's a Restwarmer? Sounds like a good thing, Martha Stewart," he's back to teasing her again.
"It's a mattress cover that has tiny wires in it, to gently warm the bed from under you. It helps when you sleep alone. You know my work motto, I leave when you leave. I get precious little hours in the bed anyway, so I make them count," she quickly explains as she can feel her face getting red.
He notices her face and to really get it red, after her remark about Agent Butterfield, he can't resist his next comment of, "I guess, I really shouldn't mention the fact at work, that you had your legs wrapped around my waist this morning."
"Leo!" Now she's shocked and appalled. She looks at him and all she sees, is that he's smiling at her stricken look. "No, I didn't… I mean… You wouldn't," she stammers to a halt. She indignantly snaps out the fact, "I didn't have my legs wrapped around you."
"You did," he confirms.
"I did not," she states, her face is the reddest Leo has ever seen it. He loves it.
He starts calmly to assure her, "yes, you did," he hesitates then finishes, "when you climbed over me to get out," his voice dropping to a sexy level.
"It was not like… the way you make it sound," she defends herself. ~Oh, none of the guys at work are going to see it 'my' way. I can be guaranteed that. They'll all just congratulate Leo.~ "You were still covered up," she points out.
"Did I not, have my hand on your bare skin and kiss your bare shoulder," he's grinning, he really has her cornered now.
~Note to self, I may have to keep a list of what we're not going to let slip at work. Oh, help! Leo will rally get some mileage out of this, in blackmail. On second thought, better not make a list, someone might find it and there's no way, I could explain it.~
"Leo, if you let this slip," she warns. Her eyes are wide as she contemplates the ramifications. "That's a really good way to give me a heart attack. Don't even joke about that statement getting out at work," she threatens.
Leo smiles to himself. ~Someday, she can try to give me a heart attack, in that warm bed of hers, but maybe I better not mention that right now. I could find myself on the other side of her front door, with my bag in my hand. I can hope for someday, until then, cuddling is good!~
Being serious and to reassure her, he touches her hand, "Margaret, you know I would never do anything to harm you," he vows with a gentle smile. "Waking up and cuddling with you, was a wonderful way to start the day,"
"I know, Leo," she admits softly, as peace settles in her world again.
They are quiet for a short while, just thinking and enjoying this time together.
Margaret announces, "I just figured out something about Josh," she has an astonished look on her face.
"What about Josh? What did he do," he quickly questions, as he turns his head toward her.
"Nothing really," she pauses constructing her words. "I hope I ask this right, Leo. You know how he likes to exchange playful and sexual, verbal banter with Donna," like she's just casually asking.
"Yeah, I picked up on that," he answers her question, not knowing where Margaret's leading.
"Leo, did Josh by any chance, learn that from being around you and his father, Noah?" She knows his answer, before he confirms it. By the playful way he is, here at the apartment.
"Yeah… he did… but we only do it to women that we really care about," he confirms and defines his answer.
"But... Donna and Josh have been doing it since the very beginning. Even when we were first campaigning," she's thinking out loud now.
Nodding his head and remembering, "Yeah, they clicked right away."
"OK, I just wanted to clarify that," she drops the conversation short. ~Does that mean he really cares about me and that's why he's so playful around me, here at the apartment?"
Leo has a worried thought, ~She may be on to me now! Oh, well, too late.~
To change the subject he suggests. "Now, how about we start making a grocery store list for dinner and I can work on my puzzle."
"Oh, Leo, you and your morning puzzle," she smiles at him and about his plans for the whole day!
The end
p.s. till next Sunday or maybe Saturday
Betty Lou Riley
24th April 2003