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For notes and disclaimer, please see part one. Previously, on the West Wing: Mallory tries to keep it together while the Senior Staff figures out that they've got a big problem with the FBI. Leo led the way out of the chamber. His expression was hard to read. Margaret's, on the other hand, was an open book. Josh, Mallory, and Sam had barely made it up to the building before they exited. "Dad?" Mallory asked, approaching her father quickly. He wrapped an arm around her but said nothing as he led her down the corridor and out of the building. His car was waiting to take him to lunch. Josh reached out to Margaret. Tears were flowing down her cheeks silently. "What happened?" Josh asked her in a whisper. She could only shake her head. "It's going really bad in there, huh?" asked Sam. Margaret nodded. Josh sighed and looked at Sam. "We should go back to the White House, see what we can do about the FBI." Sam agreed. "Margaret, do you want to come back with us?" She couldn't really answer. "You want to stay here and get some lunch from the cafeteria? I mean, what, you only get an hour, right? I think Leo and Mallory are probably already gone," said Josh. "Do you need me to do anything?" she asked, speaking for the first time. "I don't know," said Josh honestly. "This thing is still... We don't know much of anything." "Why don't you come back with us?" asked Sam. "We'll get something from the mess, or find a place that delivers and be back here in forty-five minutes?" She nodded and Sam smiled a little. "Good," he said. "Come on." She dried her tears as the three charged down to Coyote. "How's he doing?" Josh asked. Margaret shook her head. "He didn't say anything to me afterwards." "Yeah, but..." began Sam. "It's not good, guys," she said. "What is it exactly? What were they saying--we were all outside, we missed it," said Josh. "They... They just won't leave him alone. Everything just... They like to crucify him over and over and over and over and over and over again," she said, her voice cracking. Sam placed a hand on her arm. "I worked for him then," she said. "He wasn't nearly as bad as they make him out to be. Should he have done it, no, but... God, we all make mistakes." "Hang in there, Margaret," Josh said. "We've still got miles to go before we sleep." ~~~ Mallory looked at her father as they were driven to a small, secluded restaurant just outside the District. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. He had to put on a strong face for his daughter. "I'm fine, Mal." "You wouldn't lie to me, right?" "Of course not." "Because I want to be here, to help you." "I know." "So everything's okay?" "Mallory, I've been testifying before Congress this morning on possible wrong-doing, possible fraud charges. Thurman wants to bring me up on coup charges. He was shot, Mal. The President was shot and we didn't have the time to do the things that we should've done. And we couldn't have had the paperwork sitting by in a drawer because we didn't think he'd ever get shot *and* it could have, potentially, shown us in the wrong. But, for crying out loud, that... None of this has been planned from the beginning. *I* went to Jed Bartlet. *I* convinced him to run. It's not like he went to bed the night before I got there and said, 'Gee, if Leo comes to ask me to run for the Presidency, I'm gonna hide my disease from everybody, defraud the public so as to assure my place in the White House.' I mean, c'mon!" Mallory was silent for a moment, listening to her father's sigh after his rant. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asked quietly. He shook his head. "I honestly don't know," he said. "The next move is entirely on them." "Dad..." "Yeah, baby?" "I'm proud of you." He looked at her with a somewhat amused expression on his face. "Thanks." ~~~ Newport sat quietly with other members of the committee during lunch, listening to their conversations and occasionally interjecting with a few minor points. He wished he had a tape recorder, or a notebook, something with which he could scribble down some notes for the White House Senior Staff. Unfortunately, those devices would be more than obvious and he knew that he couldn't afford that, and neither could the White House. He knew, though, that as soon as he was done with lunch, he was making a beeline for the nearest telephone. ~~~ "What've we got?" Josh asked as he and Sam entered the Roosevelt Room. "Whole lotta nothing right now," C.J. said, crumpling another sheet of paper and tossing it in the general direction of the garbage can. "Can it snow in summer?" asked Josh, looking at the vast sea of white. "In the White House, anything is possible," Toby grumbled. "Yeah," said Sam. "You guys see the testimony?" "Parts of it. What are you guys doing back?" C.J. asked, looking up at them. "It's lunchtime," said Josh. "Session's out for an hour." "How is he?" Toby asked. Josh and Sam looked at each other. "Mallory's with him," said Sam. "Where's Margaret?" asked C.J. "Right here," she said, carrying in a cardboard box. "Josh, your hamburger is a charcoal briquette," she said, handing him an aluminum foil wrapped meal. "Sam, you wanted the, uh... Fishy thing," she said, handing him a paper plate with cellophane wrap covering a tuna fish salad. "Thanks, Margaret," Sam said, taking his lunch and sitting down at the table. "Ginger said you'd take a club sandwich," Margaret told Toby, handing him a meal. "And Carol said a salad with Thousand Island dressing on the side," she said to C.J., handing her lunch. "Thank you," C.J. said. "You all right, Margaret?" Margaret pondered that question for a moment. "Comparatively speaking, I'm fine." "Did you get something to eat?" Josh asked before biting into his burnt hamburger. "No, I... I'm really not hungry," she said. "Is there anything I can do?" "We're trying to figure out the Justice thing," C.J. said. "And we're hitting our heads against brick walls every time we turn around. You know some sort of red-tape cutter that we don't?" asked Toby. "I'll see what I can do," she said. "But you really should eat," Sam said. "I'll eat later," she said. "You can't eat in the chamber," added Josh. "Guys, I'm fine," she said with a nod. "I'll see what I can do about the FBI thing." "Okay," Josh said as Margaret left. The four Senior Staffers in the Roosevelt Room glanced at each other. "I think she's taking it really hard," said C.J. "No kidding," said Josh. ~~~ "How much longer do you think you'll have to testify?" Mallory asked over her French onion soup. Leo sighed a little. "There is absolutely no telling, not with this Congress." "What about--" Mallory quickly stopped when she realized she was about to say something about Congressman Newport, which, save for the band, she wouldn't have otherwise known about. "Hm. Can't you say that a White House emergency has cropped up or something?" He chuckled for all of three seconds before shaking his head. "No. Today, I'm theirs. Believe me, I'd rather be anyone else's." Mallory bit her tongue to keep from asking, 'Even Mom's again?' "Okay," she said. "You don't have to sit there the rest of the day." "I really haven't done all that much sitting, actually," she said. "Oh?" "Yeah. Josh and Sam keep me on my toes." Leo nodded a little. "I know what you did, by the way." "What did I do?" he asked. "And will you be subpoenaed, too?" "Telling Sam and Josh to keep me out of the chamber," she said, sipping her water. "Mallory--" "It's fine, Dad. Really." "I just... It's bad enough you gotta watch on C-Span. It's bad enough you and your mother put up with it for so long." "I think you're talking about two different its there, Dad." "Technically, sort of." "Technically sort of? Is that like being kind of pregnant?" "Mallory--" "I'm just saying--" "Both were instances where I screwed up." "Dad... The whole alcohol and drug thing... Don't worry about it from me--water under the bridge, completely and totally. As for this... Dad, I just want to be here to support you. If you want me supporting you from inside the chamber, on the Hill, in the White House, or from Mars, I'm there for you, all right?" He looked at her, and nodded. "And I'm pretty damned sure that goes for several others." "Others?" "Josh and Sam, who enjoy camping out in the parking lot..." He rolled his eyes at her mention of the pair. "Margaret..." He sobered a little at her name. "Dad?" "I shouldn't have taken her in with me," he said. "Well, too late. And I'm pretty sure she won't let you keep her out after lunch." "She should've taken the day off or something." "If you had given her the day off, I'm sure she would've camped out with us in Andi's office." "What is it that makes you all so loyal?" he asked. "Seriously, is it something in the water? There's a big sign pointing at me that says: Dangerous. Stay away. Beware of political scandal. What makes you guys stick with me?" Mallory smiled--Why, the Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band. She didn't say that, though, she just smiled. "Gee, Dad, I dunno. I guess you've touched some lives in your day." ~~~ "There's no way this could be a fluke, right?" asked Josh, looking over a page of information C.J. had culled during the morning. "Nope," sighed Toby. "And there's no way this could be a bad dream..." He asked, crumpling the paper and throwing it in the ever-growing paper pile on the floor. "We covered that earlier, Josh," said C.J. "Damn," he said. "I second that," said Sam. Margaret entered and handed a file folder of information to Josh. "Fifteen minutes before we need to be headed out the door." "Thanks," Josh said as Margaret excused herself with a nod. "She doesn't like our daytime meetings," Sam commented. "Well... It might be weird if she were here all the time," said C.J. "Raise suspicions or something." "And Leo doesn't know anything, right?" asked Toby, looking at Sam and Josh. "He's with Mallory," said Sam. "He doesn't suspect anything." "You're sure Mallory can keep our secret?" asked Toby. "If she can or if she can't, she had to go so we could come..." Josh trailed off, looking at the information Margaret had handed him. "Margaret!" he called. He looked at Sam quickly. "Being a part of the Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band... Does that mean I can, at random, channel Leo?" Sam shrugged. "What's in the folder?" he asked. Margaret appeared in one of the doors a moment later, looking quite perplexed. "Did you call for me?" "Yeah," Josh said, sitting up to look at her. "Where did you get this?" "From about three assistants at the J. Edgar Hoover Building," she said. "What is it?" asked C.J. "Copies of internal memos," said Josh, flipping through the papers in the file. "We've got some missing information." "What do you mean, 'missing information'?" asked Toby. "U.S. v. Callahan and company... The first court date was two days ago. The defense is accusing the FBI of withholding information," said Josh. A bad feeling suddenly washed over C.J. "Are they?" "They're withholding information from us," said Sam. "Who was in charge of this from our end?" Toby asked. No one knew. "Great," Toby muttered sarcastically. "We've got to get back to the Hill," said Margaret. Josh handed the file to C.J. and Toby. "Get on this," he said as he and Sam stood. "Call if you need anything." Sam's cellular phone started ringing. "Sam Seaborn," he said, grabbing his suit coat. "Sam, it's Newport." "Congressman..." Sam suddenly had everyone's attention. "Sam, it's... The Republicans. They want him rattled. I couldn't hear all of the conversation, but they're saber rattling." "They want the bigger fish..." "Yeah." Sam inhaled deeply. "Thank God he's out of the country still." "Sam, this is going to get much worse before it gets better." "We'll take any victory we can get. If they'll leave Leo alone... Well, they won't, but... Is today going to be it? Do you know?" "Sounded like it. I don't think there are many more skeletons they can pull out of Leo's closet. Are there?" "No," said Sam. "Okay. 'Cause I think they've already talked to Lillianfield." Sam tried not to sigh. "They probably have, yes." "So, that's it?" "Yes. Thank you, Congressman." "My pleasure, Sam. See you here." "Yes, sir," Sam said, hanging up. "Well?" Margaret and Toby asked at the same time. "Sounds like today will be it for Leo... For now, anyway. Josh, we're gonna have to work on more strategy for the President." Josh nodded solemnly. "Get going, you three," Toby said. ~~~ Margaret, Josh, and Sam were waiting outside the chamber when Mallory and Leo appeared. Mallory shot her three fellow band mates a thumb's up without her father's knowledge as they approached. "You going to be all right inside?" Sam asked Margaret quietly. She nodded. "Of course." "E-mail us if you need anything." "I will. Thanks." "Did you have a good lunch?" Josh asked Leo and Mallory. "It was a calming meal, yes," Leo said, looking at his daughter--a silent thank you. She smiled at her father. "You guys don't have to be here, you know. This whole thing may take a day or two still." Margaret smiled a little. "Who knows? Maybe today will be it." Leo raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to hold my breath." "We're going to stay anyway, Leo," said Josh. "And however many days you're here," added Sam. "That goes for me, too," said Mallory. "And me," Margaret said. Leo looked at them, unsure whether to be touched or shocked. He just nodded. "You play the cards your dealt. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. So long as I'm playin' with you guys, I guess it doesn't matter much," he said, giving his daughter one last squeeze. "We should go inside," Margaret said to Leo. "You don't have to," he told her. "Where else would I be?" Mallory sent her father a look, as if to say she told him so. "Okay," Leo said. "We'll see you guys on the next break." "Good luck, Leo," said Josh. "Godspeed," added Sam. Leo looked at all of them gratefully, just for a moment, before disappearing inside with Margaret. ~~~ C.J. sighed heavily, allowing her head to drop on the table. She had made at least two dozen telephone calls to various contacts. Toby looked at her. "I hate hold." "I know," she said. "I mean, I loathe it." "Yes." "I hate it." "Yes." "With a passion." "I get it, Toby." "Did you get anywhere?" "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," she said. "They're running it?" C.J. nodded. "Wires will have it... by the morning," she said, consulting her watch. "It's going to be a mistrial," Toby said. "Yup." "The FBI's going to take some serious heat." "Yup." "We're going to come under fire, the Attorney General." "Congress will want to look into FBI practices," C.J. said. "Maybe they'll quit looking so closely at us." Toby looked at her. "Maybe you should call and tell Josh and Sam that." "Who are you holding for?" asked C.J. "U.S. attorney handling the case." "Is it just me, or do we go in cycles?" "Yeah, they're called news cycles." "No," she said. "I mean... For a day, for a week... Sometimes for a couple weeks, we're on the top of our game. And then stuff like this happens when we... When we're getting little sleep and working our asses off, trying to make sure the White House doesn't literally fall apart." "I don't think you should be talking about trying to make sure the White House doesn't literally fall apart since you *broke* a part of it yourself." "Are you going to hold that over me forever?" "We work in a national treasure." "I was pissed." "Apparently." "You should be nicer to me." "It would take all the fun out of my day, C.J." "The next time you call me, I'm going to put you on hold." "Mr. Jenkins, Toby Ziegler," he said. "Yeah, I wanted to discuss U.S. v. Callahan et. al." ~~~ "Did I do okay, Coach?" Mallory asked, sitting down next to Sam as he sat on a bench in the hallway outside the chamber, writing on a legal pad. "I'm sorry?" he asked. "I didn't let it slip to Dad." "Didn't let what slip?" he asked, looking up at her. "The Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band." "We are greatly appreciative," said Sam. "Does that mean I can play the tambourine?" He looked at Josh, who was sitting on a bench on the other side of the hallway, or rather, more like lounging on it with a hand over his eyes and his ear to his cellular phone. "Yeah, why not." She grinned. "Thank you." "Thank you." "What are you working on?" "Our game plan for the next few days." "Yeah?" "We've got information that this'll be the last of your father's testimony. Just today. The Republicans are out for the President's head. If they take down Leo while they're doing it, great. But, if they can't get it done today, they won't waste their time. They'll drag his good name through the mud, but they won't spend taxpayer dollars for a vendetta... Unless, of course, it's against the President." "Will they impeach?" "We're not to that stage yet," Sam said. "Either way, we're not there yet." She nodded. "You want to lay down on a bench like Josh? You must be tired. I don't think you slept at all last night." "That's because I didn't." "I think I grabbed a couple hours of sleep." "From about three to five, yes." "Aha. Okay." "C.J. slept from about two to four-thirty... Toby claimed he really wasn't sleeping when I went in there at five-thirty... And Josh... I didn't bother Josh. I've heard stories about his sleeping in his office. I didn't want to be another Joey Lucas." "You don't compare at all," Sam said. "Thank you... I think..." Sam smiled. "Yeah, I suppose it was a round-about compliment." "And Margaret... Y'know, I'm really not sure when she slept either. I didn't venture down to Dad's too often, but I did see her flit in and out of the bullpens for most of the night." "That's Margaret. She's like the Energizer Bunny around here." "Ah, so she plays the bass drum?" Sam laughed. "Something like that." Mallory nodded and leaned against the wall. Josh sat up. "Mistrial." "What?" asked Sam. "U.S. v. the Idaho standoff people. It's going to end in a mistrial. FBI withheld information, so the government withheld information... The U.S. Attorney's office is going to have its way with the G-Men, so... That chapter is closed. Sort of, anyway." "Great," sighed Sam. "Yeah," said Josh. "I gotta get some air. You guys want a drink or something?" "Nah, thanks," said Sam. "I'm fine," Mallory answered. "Okay," he said. "Page, call... Whatever." "Yeah," said Sam as Josh wandered off. "It's nicer, really, not watching Dad. I know that he'll survive. I know that Margaret will keep him together in there. I know that it was nerve-wracking to watch him this morning." "Yeah," he said, looking at her. "You have a nice band, Sam." "Thank you." "Do you play the guitar?" "I played the clarinet in junior high." "Really?" He nodded and noticed that she was in the midst of a yawn. "Seriously, if you want the bench, I'll sit on another one." "No, it's fine," she said quietly. Sam nodded then went back to work on his legal pad, trying to come up with some strategy for when the President came under even more scrutiny. A few minutes later, he felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked slowly to his left and saw Mallory's red hair. He smiled. ~~~ Leo emerged from the chamber with Margaret on his heels. Josh, Sam, and Mallory were all waiting just outside the door. "That could've gone a lot worse." Sam and Josh looked to their thermometer--Margaret. She wasn't crying; in fact, she was smiling. Josh clapped Sam's shoulder. "Are you done for now?" Mallory asked. "I am indeed done for now. They may call me later, but I don't have to come back tomorrow or anything." He looked to the deputy Senior Staffers. "What have I missed today? Anything good? And the Justice thing has been taken care of, right?" ~~~ C.J., Toby, Josh, and Sam were sitting in the Roosevelt Room around midnight that night. "They're coming, right?" asked Josh. "They should be," said Sam. "I mean... They said they'd be right back." "Where were they going, anyway?" asked C.J. "I'm really not sure," Sam said, leaning back in his chair. As Sam finished his sentence, Mallory and Margaret slipped into the room quietly. Margaret had her battery-operated radio and a bottle of sparkling grape juice. Mallory was working to snap together cheap plastic champagne flutes, the bag held precariously under her arm as she held the completed glasses between her fingers. "We said good bye to Leo. We saw him get into his car," said Margaret. "Which means it's time for a little celebration," Mallory said, putting the glasses on the table. When she had enough snapped together, Margaret handed the sparkling grape juice over as she turned on her radio and adjusted until she found the right station: WWDC, 107.6. A familiar voice wafted through the old room as Mallory filled the little glasses. "WWDC," said the Political Animal, the radio station's nighttime disk jockey. "Yes, I'd like to request a song." Margaret looked down at the radio in shock as her own voice came through the little radio, then up at Mallory. "I didn't know he taped it!" she said. "Sure thing, sugar plum, wha'cha wanna hear?" Margaret had laughed a little. "I'd actually like to dedicate a song... Dan Fogelberg's Leader of the Band to the Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band." "What's your name? Where are you calling from?" "Margaret, from inside D.C." "Normally," said the Political Animal, "I wouldn't think too much about it... But this seems... Almost eerie... Last night, about this time, I had an e-mail request from Sam Seaborn, the President's speechwriter for this very song. But, I promised her I'd play it, so I'm going to play it. So, from Margaret, who is inside D.C., to the Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band... Here is the Leader of the Band. Mags, doll, are you the leader?" "Hardly!" Margaret answered. As the song played, they lifted their little snapped together champagne flutes. (Josh lost his base, but he still held the goblet part.) "To Leo McGarry and Josiah Bartlet," Sam said. "To the best bosses workers could ever ask for," added Margaret. "To the best fathers--surrogate and otherwise," Mallory said. Toby, Josh, and C.J. decided to add something too, not to be outdone. "To the Dan Fogelberg Tribute Cover Band, who works ever so diligently into the night," provided C.J. "To... Tech support, for fixing Coyote for us," said Josh, struggling to come up with one. It did earn a few giggles, however. "To those who stand silently behind, to those we may not always see or hear, but we know they're there," Toby said, lifting his glass. "Man, that is deep for midnight on *no sleep* for the past couple days," said Josh. "To this administration," said Sam. "May the name Josiah Bartlet live on in history with its two t'd companion." They all chorused their cheers before sipping the drink and listening to the end of their song. When it ended, Margaret capped the bottle and turned off her radio. Mallory gathered up the used little plastic glasses to dispatch of them. After a moment, they all dispersed. The day had been won (mostly), but the war was still on. End. Scenes from the next story in the series, Band-Aid: "I don't feel..." Her breathing was labored but quick. That's when he noticed her eyes. "Well," she said. "At all." Her eyes looked dead, empty, not at all like they normally did. ==
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