Author: Madelin Breaker

Fandom: The West Wing AU – pre-administration

Pairing: Leo/Margaret

Rating: PG for now

Achieve: Anywhere – Just let me know. I like to see my name on the Internet

Spoilers: None- unless you haven't seen all the episodes

Summary- What if Jenny and Leo had never married?

Disclaimer: The West Wing belongs to people with much more money than I have. I just like to play with them.

Author's notes- This may take awhile so bare with me. I never really planned on writing a pre-administration story, but this idea just suddenly popped into my head. However, I discovered I couldn't quite make my fic match up with the show so ... This really is an alternate universe fic. I've also done this to cover up any of my mistakes and my lack of time to do research. I'm really not sure when computers came into play within the general populous or if we know what Josh's mother's name is. I also wanted everyone to know this is my first West Wing fic, but I have written in other fandoms. This means that I don't have a beta so please excuse my inability to write in the correct verb tense all the time. I think I can let you read the story now.

A young lady with bouncy read hair meekly walks up to an office building in down town DC and pauses to collect herself. Margaret O'Connor had finally graduated college. Her Grandmother had thought it was silly to go to school for a profession that women had been doing for ages, but Margaret had wanted to be prepared. However, this hadn't made finding a job any easier.

The temp service had finally called her and she wanted to make an impression for the future. Of course, being the new girl meant that she was stuck with the assignment no one else wanted. Leo McGarry never seemed to be able to keep a secretary and had chased away ever other secretary at the temp service. This made her nervous, but having two older brothers had given her an iron will despite her shyness.

Margaret takes in the interior of the building and decides it is nice enough. However, she has every intention of taking the stairs from then on; the elevator's music is far above her tolerance level. She opens the door labeled "McGarry" and finds herself in a darkly decorated waiting area. Her desk is in the far corner and looks rather empty. She hesitates on what to do next. The dark-stained door that leads into the inner office is looming before her, but she can't seem to make herself knock. However, the phone begins to ring before she can move. An average-heighted man with graying strawberry blond hair bursts through the door.

"Are you going to answer that?" he asks gruffly.

Margaret dives for the phone, "Leo McGarry's office. How may I help you?"

- - -

"I'll check his schedule and get back to you. - - - Alright - - - Bye."

Margaret hangs up the pone and looks expectantly at her temporary boss.

Leo just scowls at her and returns to his office.

Margaret is not surprised that this man cannot keep a secretary; however, Margaret is not so easily frightened away.

She sits down behind the desk and pulls her stack of neatly sharpened pencils out of her bag, laying them neatly on the desk. She quickly locates the appointment book, which is a disaster. It had obviously passed through several hands and probably a number of who just didn't care. The book was messy enough on its own with Mr. McGarry lecturing at various colleges and events as well as keeping his law practice open for a few loyal clients. The real problem was that Mr. McGarry didn't have a clone. He was supposed to be in Chicago while appearing in court back here in New York.

The rest of the desk held little answers for Margaret. It had a tape dispenser and a stapler, but no files what so ever. She had no way of knowing if any correspondences needed to go out or any phone calls needed to be made. Margaret braces herself and then knocks on Mr. McGarry's door.

The knock brings a sharp "what?" She tries not to let her jaw drop when she opens the door. The room looks like several overlapping avalanches of paper. Margaret has no idea how this man has become a legend when it's impossible to find anything in the office. Margaret decides that organizing the office should be her first task. "Do you want me to straighten up?"

A look of surprise passes over his face before he gives a flat, "whatever."

Margaret moves to a bookshelf where she begins to remove papers so the books can be put back. She finds lecture notes dated for a year ago, a last will and testament that should probably be stored somewhere safer, and miscellaneous papers that would have to be sorted through. She wonders if this man has ever heard of a folder.

This continues for most of the morning in an uncomfortable silence. Margaret is thankful for her photographic memory as the number of folders she created becomes unimaginable. She has no idea whether her boss is actually doing anything especially after the several bottles of liquor she found hidden behind the law encyclopedias.

Around lunchtime the only area left is the desk. The idea of her tuna sandwich hidden away in her bag is making her mouth water, but she wants this finished. The phone ringing makes her jump. She quickly answers and promises to call back later. This however had brought Leo's attention to her for the first time in hours. The tension in the room rises as Margaret tries to gather up papers from his desk with him starring at her.

Margaret nearly humps a miles when he asks, "Do you have a name?"

"Margaret, sir."

"Margaret," he repeats like he is pondering the name, "And how long have you been working as a secretary?"

"I just graduated college, sir"

He nods scrutinizing her from her brown shoes to her curly red hair, "I thing you'll do."

"Thank you, sir" is the only thing she can think of to say. She returns to her desk having no idea what that meant.

While I write because I enjoy it, I don't mind reviews at all.