Leo let himself into the Oval Office, surveying the small gathering. The President glared at him over the top of his glasses; thank God, he'd apparently been handed something to read. Charlie stood behind the President, his eyes glued to his shoes. Leo grinned at the boy's bashfulness, and checked out the rest of the culprits.
Before entering he'd known he'd see his Deputy, hands stuffed in his pockets, petulantly leaning his hip into the edge of a chair. CJ, Sam and Donna were seated shoulder-to-shoulder on a couch, looking very much like kids waiting their turn with the Principal.
Behind him, the door he'd closed opened again, and Margaret snuck in, taking an empty seat. Leo glared at her, but wasn't at all surprised that she was a participant. The man leaning against the wall, however…
"Toby? You're part of this?"
"He's the best one," CJ grumbled.
"Just 'cause he figured out that one level he's the best?" Josh complained.
"Maybe 'cause all my scores beat yours?" Toby wondered quietly.
"Hey, I have the Easy high score," Josh countered.
"Yeah, you only spent all morning playing it," Donna scoffed.
"Guys, it's really all about the Snoods you get," Sam said reasonably.
"No, that's only one factor," the President cut in. "You need to know what to do with them, too."
"Okay!" Leo interrupted. "No more talking about this."
"But, Leo…"
"No!" He watched the argument fall out of Josh's face. "Now, is this all of you?"
"Well, Ginger was playing too," Sam said, "but she went home already."
"Fine. You'll fill her in tomorrow." Leo centered himself among the group. "I've contacted the tech department, and by tomorrow they will have removed this game from every computer. None of you are to download it again. What you do on your own time is your own business, but when you're in the White House, you will not be playing any games. Is that understood?"
"Why'd you look at me when you said that?" Josh wondered.
"Because, Josh, I have a hunch that this whole thing is your fault."
"No, it's Donna's fault!"
"Josh!" CJ scolded.
"She's the first one to play it, and she showed me!"
Leo sympathized as the poor girl stammered, her face turning red. "I did not at all mean for this to become such a big thing! I was just playing…"
"She didn't hold you down and force you to play, did she, Josh? You still possess the power of making your own decisions?"
"Well, yeah, but, Leo…this game. You don't get this game."
Leo rolled his eyes, but noticed that the rest of the group was smiling in Zen-like appreciation. He scoffed.
"Well, if I'm going to turn into a zealot like you all, I'd rather not get it."
His statement was met with blank stares.
"Okay. So, once again, is everyone clear? No one will play the game, and certainly no one will be registering."
"Leo!" The President was glaring at him again, and Josh was nodding his head enthusiastically.
"This man is a genius. He deserves to get paid for his work."
"Maybe, but none of you are going to be using his work, so you shouldn't be the ones paying for it."
"But I did use it, and I'm going to pay for it, Leo."
The President was being insistent, and Leo was briefly tempted to just resign and let them all handle the fallout. Instead, he took a deep breath and tried for reason.
"Sir, if you register, it will leave an official trail linking you to the game. This guy wouldn't exactly have to be a genius to contact the press when he gets a check from the President."
"I want him to get the press!"
"It's not going to be good press, Mr. President! This game will become synonymous with shirking responsibility and laying down on the job. Is that really what you want?"
"Of course not. That's why we'll have to spin it a different way."
Leo turned away, clenching his fists in frustration, when he saw a hand rising into the air. Donna timidly bit her lip, lowering her hand slightly as she noticed the room stopping to look.
"You don't actually have to raise your hand," Sam said quietly to her.
"I'm sort of remembering that now," she replied, mortified.
"Don't be mean to the girl," the President said to the room. "She's simply being polite. I know the idea is foreign to some of you."
"Uh, I'm not gonna start doing that."
"No one thought you would, Tobus," CJ said, eyes rolling.
"Good," he replied.
"Donna," Leo got everyone's attention again. "You had something to say?"
"Yes. Mr. President, Zoey's birthday is coming up soon, right?"
"Two weeks," he nodded.
"Well, maybe you could make it a present. For her. There isn't an image problem with Zoey playing Snood, and it'll still get the press."
CJ was nodding along. "We can make an announcement—the press will eat up anything we feed them about your family. The website will crash from the traffic it'll get after everyone hears it's the First Daughter's favorite birthday present."
"It's the perfect coverage," Sam said.
Leo nodded slowly. "You get your precious registration, the game gets its press, and we don't have to deal with any negative fallout."
"Yes, it would all be perfect except that we're using my daughter's birthday for political gain."
"It's not 'political gain' so much as 'avoiding utter embarrassment," Leo put in.
The President ignored him. "There has to be a way to do this without forcing an unwanted present on my daughter?"
"Um…sir?" All heads turned to Charlie. "I'm fairly certain she'd love it."
"Yeah? How can you be so sure?"
"Well, when I was talking to her earlier, and I mentioned that you wanted a registered version, she said, 'Oh, I'd love that.'"
Leo held in a snicker, but the President shot him a warning glance anyway. "Yeah, yeah," he grumped. "Like she's a reliable source. She said she'd love a horse, too."
"She has a horse," Sam frowned.
"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "She loves it."
"He's in Manchester, she hardly sees him, how much could she love him?"
"Well," Leo answered, "She manages to be fairly fond of you, sir, and the horse never gives her pop math quizzes, so…"
"Wiseass," he muttered.
"Are you okay now?" Leo wondered. "Zoey will be happy, this guy will get his money, and we can go back to, you know, running the country."
"Yes, yes," he said, waving his hand. "That's what we'll do. Good job, Donna."
She looked up, her eyes wide and her lips turning up in a smile. "Thank you, sir."
Leo couldn't help but smile himself, faced with Donna's delight at having simply pleased the President. But then he looked towards the President and received a 'you old softy' eyebrow raise, and the smile quickly dropped off his face.
"All right, so this is settled. You all are going to leave, come back tomorrow like today never happened, and we'll never speak of this again?"
"Yes, Leo," they all chorused, except for Toby, who did manage to look up from his shoes with a contrite look, and the President, who rolled his eyes, still convinced everyone had overreacted. That was going to have to be enough, Leo guessed.
"Okay. Let's go then, let the President actually do some work."
"Thank you, Mr. President," they muttered, shuffling towards the door. With a final, disapproving glare from the President, Leo returned to his office. Within a few moments, Donna appeared at his other door.
"Leo," she sighed. "I am so sorry—"
"Don't," Leo interrupted. "You did a good job fixing this."
"I started it," she protested.
"I'm sure, regardless of what you mayhavedone, Josh would have found some way to turn today into a disaster. I guess I should be happy he didn't start playing hallway hockey again."
"Or try to find the pool under the press room again," she offered.
"Or invent a secret…cure for hangnails." They both smiled. "You wouldn't think the Deputy Chief of Staff would need so much baby sitting," he muttered. "But you do a lot more than that, Donna. You're a valuable part of this team. Don't doubt that."
"Thank you, Leo," she whispered, even more touched than before.
He smiled, and she nodded, walking to the door. "Oh, Donna," he called after her. "Next time you get bored, read a book or something, will ya?"
"Yes, sir," she called back, a smile in her voice.
The End.