Everyone Notices Part 9
See part 1 for details.
Part 9
"There you are, I've been wondering where you've been these past few of days," the President says as he bounds into Leo's office early on Monday morning.
"Good morning, Mr. President," Leo replies, as he stands and buttons his suit jacket. "Sir, you may not recall this, but these last two days is what is known as a weekend."
"True, but you were gone Thursday and Friday, too," the President broadly smiles, "and… you used to be in here every weekend," He teases, as he walks over and sits down on the couch. "Did they finally repeal that Federal Law where Leo McGarry isn't allowed to take more than one day off at a time?"
"Very funny, Sir." Leo rolls his eyes. "But, it seems to me that you've forgotten that I took a few months off just this past year."
"That doesn't count." The President shakes his head and frowns.
"And why not?"
"Cause… it doesn't."
"Well, now there's a line of reasoning befitting a world leader," Leo smirks as he walks over towards him.
"Shuddup," The President wise mouths.
"Whatever," Leo says flippantly, as he sits down in the chair across from his best friend.
"So, I hear I'm one up on you," the President smiles.
"Whatdaya mean." Leo has no idea what the President is talking about. He wonders if something's happened, while he was gone. Was there some crisis that they didn't feel like they needed to call him back to the White House?
"I got to hold your namesake before you did," the President teases his former Chief of Staff.
Leo looks up at the ceiling, takes a breath and then looks back at the President, "Yeah, I guess you did, Sir."
"He's very small," the President says, as he holds out his hands, depicting the size of Thomas. "I don't remember any of the girls being that small."
"Well, Sir, when ya get older, they say that the memory's one of the first things to go." Leo smirks.
"Leo, we're the same age." The President quickly points out.
"Not really Sir, I'm almost a year younger than you, remember?" Leo grins an evil grin.
"Yes, and thank you for reminding me."
"My pleasure, Sir."
"Leo," the President smiles as he leans forward in the couch, to get a closer look. He's just now noticed something different about his best friend. "What the Hell is that on you face?"
"Ah…" Leo's hand quickly goes to his face and rubs his chin, 'Damnit,' he curses to himself. That's why he received some funny looks this morning on his way into his office. He's neglected to shave since Friday morning.
"Are you trying to look like Toby?" The President softly laughs, as he leans back in the couch.
"No, Sir. I… just forgot." He blushes slightly.
"There seems to be a lot of gray in there." The President snickers as he points towards Leo's face.
"Thanks for noticing, Sir," Leo takes a beat and then continues. "Ya know… neither one of us is as young and trim as we used to be," Leo smiles says, as he puts emphasis on the word trim.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I've lost some weight," the President announces proudly, as he sucks in his stomach.
"If you say so… Sir."
"I do." He smiles at his friend. He's happy to have someone around to banter with. He doesn't see Leo as much as he used to and no one else will talk back to him the way Leo does. "So, how's Margaret and the baby?"
"I assume they're fine, Sir," Leo comments as he tries to act causal as he plays with the crease in his pants.
"You assume," the President tilts his head. "Didn't you take them home from the hospital?"
"How did you know that?" Leo asks in a surprised voice. He only told Mallory and CJ that he was going to take them home.
"My new Chief of Staff does a much better job of keeping me informed on what goes on around here," he smiles.
"Yeah," Leo says sarcastically. "It's more likely… that she caves in easier under your constant pressure for gossip," Leo says, as he shakes his head. "I need to have a talk with her. She doesn't need to be cluttering up your plate with a lot of useless gossip."
"You'll do no such thing," the President whines.
"Whatever," Leo mocks.
"So… do younger women like that?" The President asks as he rubs his own clean-shaven face. He's not about to let Leo off the hook so easily.
"Sir," Leo rolls his eyes.
"Well, rumor has it that…"
"Sir," Leo quickly interrupts the President, "he's… he's not." Leo stops and drops his head.
"Huh?"
"Sir, what were we just talking about?" Leo gruffs.
"Younger women liking the unshaven look. What are you talking about?" The President asks with a zealous glee.
"Umm… nothing, Sir," Leo swiftly stands. "Mr. President, if you'll excuse me I need to go…"
"Shave?" The President throws him a mischievous look.
"CJ needs me to sit in on Senior Staff this morning," Leo says, as he quickly starts for the door.
The President stands and follows Leo, "Are you supposed to leave a room before me?" He quips.
"Only when you're being a pain in the…"
"Watch that, Leo," he lightly scolds. "Remember, the Secret Service work for me." He says, as he turns and heads in the opposite direction.
"Yeah, but they're afraid of me." Leo looks at the President's lead shadow agent and winks, "Isn't that right, Trent?"
"Yes, Sir, Mr. McGarry," he deadpans, without missing a beat.
"See," Leo smiles.
"Hey, I'm the President." He whines.
"Yes you are, Sir." Leo calls back to him just before he quickly disappears around the corner. He continues to walk down the hall for a few steps and then doubles back to his office. He quickly walks into his office, goes over to his desk, and opens the bottom drawer. He grabs his toilettes bag and heads off to the men's locker room.
----------
The next two weeks fly by quickly for Margaret and Leo as they soon fall into a nice little routine, even though the nights are still very challenging for them since Tommy wants to be awake more during the wee hours of the mornings. Leo makes Margaret take a nap in the evenings after dinner, while he cleans up the dinner dishes and watches Tommy for her. After a short nap, Margaret and Leo spend time together on the couch, either trying to keep Tommy awake, talking, watching TV, and sometimes making out like teenagers.
They all go down for the evening around eleven o'clock, every night. Leo continues to sleep on the couch, much to Margaret's chagrin, but Leo wants to wait to share her bed. He doesn't want to rush their relationship. Tommy is usually back up around midnight, just wanting to be held. Margaret gets him to nap in her arms, but as soon as she lays him in the crib, he starts to fuss. It's usually after his two am feeding that he'll finally sleep in his crib.
However, what Margaret doesn't know is that Tommy gets back up around four o'clock, and Leo has been getting up with him to give him a bottle, play with him for a while, and then putting him back in his crib around five am. Since it's only an hour before he needs to get up, Leo has just been staying up to do some work that he's been sneaking home. Therefore, after a couple weeks of only getting four or five hours of sleep at night, Leo is starting to show signs of tiredness at work.
----------
"Leo, do you have a minute?" CJ asks, as Senior Staff is breaking up from a two-hour long meeting.
"Yeah," Leo answers while trying to suppress a yawn. He was halfway off the couch and sort of just falls back into it.
"I think someone's in trouble with the Principal," Cliff Calley taunts as he walks by Leo.
"Shut up, Cliff," CJ dismissively counters, as she walks over and sits next to Leo on the couch.
"Yes Ma'am," Cliff mockingly replies with a bow, just before he disappears into the hallway.
"You wanted me to hire him," CJ slowly shakes her head. "He acts younger than even Josh did."
"CJ, you let him get to you… and he knows it," Leo halfway smiles, as he turns towards her. "So, whatdaya need?"
"Leo… are you okay?" CJ's eyes are full of concern. Now that she is closer to him, she sees the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes.
"Yeah." Leo is surprised by her question.
"I'm only asking 'cause… well… you seem a little tired." She explains.
"I'm fine, CJ." He sighs.
"I know my meetings aren't as fun as your Big Block of Cheese Day meetings were," she softly smiles, but then turns serious. "But, you've nodded off a couple of times this week during Senior Staff." She reveals in a concerned voice.
"Sorry," Leo says, lowers his eyes. He didn't realize anyone had noticed. He thought he was doing a better job of hiding his weariness.
"Leo, I'm not looking for an apology. I just want to make sure that you're not working too hard. I know I've been slow to give Cliff more of Josh's old duties that you've been covering, but…"
"CJ, really I'm fine," he tries to smile. "I must have stayed up too late last night."
"Seems to me you were telling people that early last May and… we almost… lost you," CJ's voice softens.
"CJ, really… don't worry about it," he smiles. "Trust me, it's nothing like that at all." He reaches out and lays a hand on hers. He's very touched by her concern.
CJ stares at Leo's hand that is resting on hers. It's quite rare that Leo touches her this way. But, then again, Leo's been a very different person since his heart attack. "Leo, we just don't want that to happen again."
Leo removes his hand, "CJ, I just haven't been getting enough sleep these past couple of weeks. I've… got a new hobby and well, I've been letting it interfere with my sleep."
"Do I need to call Margaret and have her reinstate her version of Donna's rules again?" She threatens.
"No, I don't think we're anywhere near that," Leo contends as he shakes his head.
"Well Leo, I'm not convinced, so I want you to start taking naps again in the afternoon."
"CJ, I don't need…" He protests.
"Leo, I will not have you endangering yourself again. Margaret will kill me if I let something happen to you."
"Yeah, she probably will," he softly laughs.
"So, does that mean you'll nap again." CJ is surprised that he's given in so easily.
"Yeah," he reluctantly agrees. He doesn't want CJ calling Margaret. "But, this is just temporary. Okay?"
"Leo, is there something you want to talk about," CJ asks. She's not buying the new hobby story, but she's going to let him get by with it for now, unless he starts getting worse.
"No, don't worry about it," he smiles. "I'm sure it's only temporary." At least he expects that Tommy will straighten out his nights and days, eventually. Leo hopes it happens sooner rather than later.
"Maybe so, but I want you to go home and get some rest today."
"I'll make sure I'm out of here on time."
"No Leo, that's not what I meant. I want you to go close down your office and go home."
"You mean now?" He can't believe he's being sent home.
"Yes, now."
"But it's only…" he quickly looks at his watch. "Ten in the morning. I still have…"
"Wow, you can tell time," she smirks.
"CJ," Leo growls.
CJ stands, folds her arms across her chest, "Leo, I don't want to see you here again at the White House until tomorrow morning when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the eight."
"Very funny, CJ," Leo gets up and starts for the door.
"Leo."
"Yeah," he yawns, as he turns.
"I mean it. Go home. I'll call Margaret if I have to," she threatens.
"Okay you win. I'm going home. There's no need to involve Margaret," Leo yawns again and then leaves.
----------
Leo decides to go to his hotel room to sleep, because he doesn't want Margaret needlessly worrying about him. He has Eddie drop him off at his hotel and asks him to come back to get him at five o'clock. Leo takes the elevator to his floor, and slowly limps down the hallway to his room. He throws his suit jacket over the back of the couch, slips out of his shoes, removes his belt and jerks his tie off, letting them both drop to the floor. He pulls back the eiderdown, crawls on top of the sheets, and is asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.
----------
Margaret calls Leo's office for the third time in the past hour, but still no one answers. "I wish that man would break down and hire an assistant." She loudly grumbles, as she hangs up the phone.
Margaret waits a few minutes, and then tries again, but still no answer. She starts to get a little worried, because Leo is usually in his office during this time of the day. She decides to call his cell phone. She hates doing this because she's always afraid she might catch him in a meeting. She calls his cell, and he doesn't answer it, either. Margaret stands by her phone for a few seconds, trying to think of a good excuse to call CJ.
"CJ Cregg."
"Hey, CJ, it's me."
"Hey, Margaret. How's motherhood treating you?"
"Good, how's things at work?"
"Hectic as usual."
"Well I won't keep you long. I just wanted to see how your temp is working out?"
"Let's just say that she's not you and leave it at that," she brushes her bangs out of her face, as she sighs.
"Thanks." She pauses. "CJ…"
"Margaret, I'm sorry but I really need to go…"
"Okay, I was just wondering if you've seen Leo today. I tried to call his office for the past hour or so, but there was no answer."
"He's…" CJ bites her lip.
"He's what, CJ? Is Leo okay?"
"He's fine. Margaret I don't want you to worry, but he was acting really tired lately, so I made him go home to rest today."
"Oh," she says, suddenly feeling very guilty.
"He assured me that he was fine and that his lack of sleep is only temporary."
"Okay, I'll call him later at his hotel and check on him. Bye."
"Bye and call anytime."
"That man," Margaret almost screams as she hangs up the phone. She looks at Tommy and debates about going over to his hotel, but quickly decides against taking Tommy out. She sits down on the couch and stares at the clock, wishing time would go by quicker.
----------
"CJ," Abbey says, as she passes her in the hallway outside of her office.
"Ma'am," CJ halfheartedly responds as she keeps walking. She just got off the phone with Margaret and is still worried about Leo.
"CJ?" Abbey stops.
"Yes, Ma'am." CJ stops and turns to face her.
"You seem a little distracted. Is everything alright?"
"This is the White House, so…"
"True," Abbey agrees.
"Abbey, do you have a minute?"
"Yeah."
CJ steps into the Roosevelt Room and closes the door after Abbey. "Abbey, I'm worried about Leo."
"What's wrong with Leo?" Rushes from her mouth and she mentally kicks herself for not keeping a closer eye on him with Margaret being gone.
"He's been falling asleep during Senior Staff, and he looks… fatigued."
"Did you talk with him?"
"Yeah. He said he has a new hobby that's been keeping him up at night but…"
"Leo has a hobby," Abbey repeats with disbelief.
"That's what he says. I sent him home today and told him that he was going to start taking naps again here at work."
"Oh, I bet he loved that."
"Well, that's what's got me bothered. He didn't really fight me about it. Even his protest about going home early today was mild for Leo."
"Yeah, but that doesn't seem like the Leo we know and love."
"And with Margaret gone… there's really no one to watch his every move the way that she can."
"That's for sure." Abbey smiles. "CJ, do you want me to have a talk with him?"
"I don't know, maybe. I don't want to upset him."
"Well, we don't want him having another heart attack either."
"That's true, yeah, maybe you should talk with him."
"I'll stop by his office tomorrow."
"Okay, thanks," CJ bobs her head. "You know, I think that Margaret's starting to rub off on me."
"How so?"
"I worry more than I ever used to," she smiles.
"Well, at least it wasn't her fashion sense that you picked up," Abbey smiles.
"Right."
----------
Leo opens the door, carrying his suit for tomorrow. He finds Margaret sitting on the couch feeding Tommy a bottle. "Dinner time already," he comments as he walks over and throws his garment bag over the back of the chair. "Hey, Sweetie," Leo bends to kiss Margaret.
"Don't you Sweetie me," Margaret snaps, as she draws her head away from him, not letting him kiss her.
"What's wrong?"
"I tried to call you at work today, but you never answered the phone in your office, or your cell phone, so I called… CJ." Margaret is on the verge of tears.
"Margaret, I'm fine…" He sighs. Why did he ever think that he was going to be able to keep this from Margaret?
"If you're so fine, why are you falling asleep at work, and why did CJ feel the need to send you home today and why the hell didn't you come here?"
"'Cause… I didn't want ya to worry," he calmly says, as he sits down next to her and places a hand on her leg. He realizes that part of the reason she's so upset is that CJ sent him home, and he went to his hotel instead her apartment, where he's been staying for over two weeks now.
"Leo, you need your rest," she implores with her voice and her eyes.
"You do too," he whispers.
"But, I don't have a heart problem, although mine would break if something were to happen to… you."
"Margaret, I'm in better shape now than I was when we got to the White House."
"I know."
"And… I have two very good reasons to make sure that I stay that way. I'm not going to get to where I was before. I promise."
"I trust you Leo, but you need to stop getting up with Tommy every night," she puts a hand on hers.
Leo tilts his head a little, "Umm…"
"And don't look so surprised, I know about you and your four am playtime with Tommy. I should have gotten up with him myself, but you looked like you really enjoyed the time alone with him."
"I do. Margaret this is not going to last forever. Soon he'll get his days and nights straightened out and besides, I'll be napping at work until we start getting more sleep."
"Napping?"
"Yeah, CJ is forcing me to nap, she mentioned something about following your rules," Leo smiles and then kisses her cheek.
"She is?"
"Yeah."
"Good," she smiles, and then lowers her eyes. "Leo, I'm sorry I yelled at you. It's just..."
"I know Sweetie, lets forget it. Okay?"
Margaret bobs her head.
"So, how was my favorite little man today?"
"He's been really good. He took a really long nap this morning, and so did I."
"So, we're both refreshed."
"Yes."
"Great! That means that maybe we won't fall asleep early tonight and have some playtime for us," Leo grins.
"Leo McGarry, what have you got on your mind?"
"Oh, just some harmless kissing and…" Leo bends over and whispers the rest in her ear.
"I love a man with a plan," Margaret smiles, even though she knows that what they really want to do is still off limits until she is cleared from the doctor. But, for right now, this will just have to do.
TBC in Part 10
Author'sNotes: Hi, First of all, thanks so much for the overwhelming feedback and reviews that I have been receiving for this story. I just wanted to let you know that I am going to start posting the rest of the parts every other day, instead of every third day. I need to get it all out there before my family and I go to Disney World! Special thanks to my beta (Lynn) who has been working extra hard, so that I can get this all posted before I'm gone for almost 2 weeks.
Thanks again for your kind words and encouragement!
Bev