Christmas Without You

by: AdoreLeo

Characters: Leo, Margaret
Pairing: Leo/Margaret
Category: Romance
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: The characters are from the NBC, WB, TV show The West Wing; they do not belong to me.
Summary: Its Christmas time at the White House and once again something is not right.
Spoiler: Anything up to and including Abu El Banat
Feedback: I would love to hear your opinion!
Author's Note:Beta By: Lynn, who went above and beyond the call... THANKS!!!!
Additional Ideas By: Katie, who always came through whenever I got stuck. THANKS!!!

Dec 24, 2003

White House:

5:00 am

Leo has spent a restless night trying to sleep. He finally gives up and goes into work early. He knows Margaret won’t be in this early, so he is not concerned when he walks through her office and finds her desk vacant. He is probably going to really catch it from her for coming into work at such an early hour. But he really doesn’t care; he can’t wait to hear her voice today. Even if it is her high-pitched ‘you’re in so much trouble voice.’ He loves to hear that voice. Where did that come from, he thought? Love and Margaret’s name in the same sentence is having quite an effect on him. The thoughts and dreams he had about Margaret are the main reasons he couldn’t sleep last night.

He has tried to deal with these thoughts than once in the past couple of years. They are one of the main reasons he started dating Jordan again last year. He was trying to get his mind off Margaret. He succeeded for a little while, with his flirtation with Jordan, but then Zoey’s kidnapping happened, it just took too much effort to stay involved with Jordan. During the kidnapping, Leo had pretty much put his personnel life on hold. He didn’t call Jordan during the time Zoey was being held or in the weeks that followed. His involvement with Jordan had helped him push those feelings for Margaret aside and he had thought that he had been successful in killing them until they had come flooding back last night, invading his dreams again.

Leo has suspected that Margaret was not a big fan of Jordan. Margaret always seemed to disappear whenever she was around. He was never really sure what that meant exactly. It was something that he tried to put out of his mind. There was no way that Margaret could harbor any feelings toward him. He is a good number of years older than her, he is what some would call a grump, and he is a workaholic, drug addict and alcoholic. Not a very good combination for such a young beautiful woman like Margaret. She deserves better than him. He needs to get over this. He is now sure that this is what has been bothering him for weeks. How could he not have seen this?

After last night’s dream, Leo is very apprehensive about seeing Margaret. He’s afraid he won’t be able to control himself when she is around. She has had this effect on him before, but he has always been able to conceal it from her. The closest call he had, was early last year, before the reelection.

Most of the senior staff and the President were on the campaign trail. Leo had stayed behind to run things, which meant, Margaret had to stay behind too. It had been a very hot humid long day at work and tempers were short. He needed a file that CJ had borrowed from him. He yelled for Margaret. She must have taken a break he thought. He got up and made his way to CJ’s office. He was in a hurry and wasn’t paying any attention that CJ’s door might have been closed for a reason. He grabbed the door knob and threw open the door. What he saw has been burned into his memory ever since then. Margaret was in the process of removing her pantyhose.

"Leo! What the hell!" was all she could manage to get out of her mouth.

"Oh god, Margaret ... um ... I’m sorry." Leo shut the door quickly and went straight back to his office. He couldn’t get his mind off her long legs and it was having quite a strong effect on his southern region. He couldn’t let anyone see him like this. He sat behind his desk and scooted his chair under the desk as far as he could get it. Just then Margaret came into the room.

"Leo, ... um ... I’m sorry for yelling at you, well ... you sort of surprised me. Sorry. Its just it was so hot and ..."

"Margaret, I’m the one who’s sorry, I had no idea you were there, I was just ... I’m sorry".

"Leo, it’s ok, you just surprised me. Are you Ok? Your face is all flushed."

"I’m fine ... it’s the heat" He just didn’t tell her what type of heat it was. Thank God for his desk he thought.

"Ok, I’m going down to the mess, do you want something cold to drink?"

"Yeah, thanks that would be nice." In his mind he adds ‘and a bag of ice for my lap too please.’

It was soon after this incident that he decided he needed a diversion and started to pursue Jordan again. But now, he is not sure that he has the willpower or the desire to hide his feelings.

Margaret’s apartment:

5:00 am

Margaret hasn’t gotten any sleep once again. She lies in bed and tries not to think about the phone call she has to make. Her mind wanders back to her dream from last night. It had seemed so real. She has had several dreams and daydreams about Leo, even a few at work. One time she was experiencing one when Leo interrupted her.

Most of the senior staff and the President were on the campaign trail. Leo had stayed behind to run things, which meant, she had to stay behind too. It had been a very hot humid long day at work and tempers were short. She had been in and out of Leo’s office all day and was about ready to strangle him. She needed a break, so she went searching for an empty office. She had needed five minutes all to herself and she needed to get out of her pantyhose. She thought she had been successful in finding a safe spot, and started to pull them off. As she was doing this a thought popped into her head that Leo could be the one pulling down her hose at work.  If she hadn’t been daydreaming about this, she might have heard Leo’s distinctive footsteps coming down the hall. Her skirt was halfway up and the hose was halfway down when Leo came bounding to CJ’s office. At first she had yelled at him and then she apologized to him after she followed him back to his office. She could tell he was really embarrassed, so she changed the subject and offered to get him something to drink from the mess.

She can’t help but smile at the image of Leo turning red and be flustered. He is so cute when he is embarrassed. She rolls over and tries to get back to sleep. She doesn’t have any reason to get up for a while yet.

White House:

7:00 am

Donna hangs up the phone and just stares at it. What is she going to do now? That had been Margaret on the phone; she isn’t coming in to work again today. She is sure that this time she heard her crying while she was talking to her. What should she do? First things first, she calls the office pool and arranges for a temp for Leo. Once again, the only available one is Ms. Whitcome. Boy, won’t Leo be thrilled. But now her biggest problem is telling Leo that Margaret called in sick. Yesterday had been bad enough with all his questions and she is sure that Leo suspects that she knows more than she is telling. But she doesn’t know what going on with Margaret, she only knows that something has her upset and she has been very down lately.

Donna gets up from her desk and goes into Josh’s office. "Josh, I just got off the phone with Margaret. She won’t be coming in again today. I already called and got Leo a temp, could you tell him?"

"Why me?" Josh whined.

"Because you’re his deputy and besides I did it the last two days."  Donna is making her guilty face.

"Donna! Please tell me his temp isn’t Ms. Whitcome."

Donna nods her head. "Yes, she is the only one available, because of the holidays."

"Great, Leo will be very happy, I’m sure." Josh says sarcastically.

Donna starts to leave Josh’s office. "Donna , wait. Did Margaret say ... I mean ... do you know if it’s the flu?"

"Josh, she didn’t say. Listen... I’m not sure if ... ok, I’m just going to say it. I don’t think Margaret is sick. Something has been bothering her for some time now, but she won’t tell me what it is. I caught her crying at her desk a couple of times lately."

"Yeah, I’ve noticed too, that something hasn’t been right with her for a while."

 "Did you know that she didn’t make Leo do cards and gifts this year for Christmas?"

"You’re kidding! That’s like ... a huge tradition for them. Margaret has helped Leo with that since he got back from rehab when he was Labor Secretary." Josh stands up and walks over to Donna.

"Josh, I can’t help but feel that something bad is about to happen."

"Yeah, me too," Josh rests a hand on her shoulder. "Umm... I’m going to go tell Leo."

Josh finds Leo, as usual, hard at work behind his desk. He knocks and enters Leo’s office. "Good Morning, Leo."

Leo looks up from the file that he is pretending to read. "Hey Josh." He knows exactly what Josh is going to tell him. He can read Josh like an open book, no wonder he never wins on poker night.

"Donna just got a call from Margaret, seems she is still not well enough to come into work today." Josh wants to be anywhere but here right now.

"Did she tell Donna what is wrong?"

"No, Donna said that ... all Margaret said was she won’t be coming to work." Josh walks over to directly in front of Leo’s desk. "Leo, um ... did something happen between you two?"

Leo’s first thought goes back to last night and his dream about Margaret, there’s no way that Josh could know about that, ‘wait now’ he thinks to himself, Josh was referring to something here at work. He hopes his face didn’t register his shock. "Not that I am aware of."

"Ok."

"Josh, why would you ask that?"

"Um ... Donna said she’s caught Margaret crying a couple of times lately here in the office." Josh isn’t so sure that he should have told Leo this.

"Crying?" Leo takes his glasses off and pinches the bridge of his nose. He is shocked by what Josh has said. Margaret isn’t the crying type. A terrible though hits him; Margaret probably has a life threatening health problem. He practically jumps up out of his chair. "Josh, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a phone call.

"Sure. Leo ... um ... I’m here all day if you need me." Josh turns to leave.

"Thanks, Josh."

Leo reaches for his phone and calls the number, which he now has memorized. He didn’t care that it is early. Anyway, she just called Donna, so she is probably still awake.

Margaret’s apartment:

7:00 am

Margaret has already made her phone call and is busy making coffee when her phone rings. She lets the machine get it again.

"Margaret, its Leo, if you’re there please pick up the phone... um ... when you can, please call me at work."

Well, now she is in trouble. What should she do? Should she call him back and pretend to be sick? Could she do that without losing it on the phone with him? She didn’t even make it through her conversation with Donna without crying, how does she think she’d be able to talk with Leo. No. The best thing to do is not call. He will know soon enough, when he gets my letter of resignation, sometime today.

White House:

9:00 am

Leo isn’t sure what he’s been doing these past two hours. To the people who walked by his office, he’s sure they think he busy read briefing books, but if asked, he couldn’t tell you a thing that he just read. He looks at his phone and wills it to ring.

Ms. Whitcome knocks on his door and enters. "Mr. McGarry, you have senior staff."

"Yeah, thanks." Leo slowly gets up and heads to the Oval Office. He doesn’t even remember to take any files with him.

Leo walks over to his normal place of honor and sits down. The rest of the staff is already there and are busy discussing their Christmas plans. The President enters the room and everyone stands, everyone that is, but Leo. He has no idea that the President is even in the room. Josh speaks up and tries to get Leo’s attention.

"Good Morning Mr. President."

Leo finally realizes that the President is standing right next to him. He pops up with alarming speed. He jumps up so fast that he loses his balance and Jed grabs him to keep him from falling.

"Leo, are you ok?" Jed isn’t sure if Leo realizes who has grabbed him.

"I’m fine, Sir. Um ... I must have of gotten up too fast." Leo pulls out of Jed grasp.

"Are you sure?"

"Sir, lets get this meeting started, I’m sure we all have plans for today."

"Yes, lets get this meeting over with; I promised Abbey that it would be a short day today." Jed sits down and motions for everyone else to take their seats.

As promised, the meeting is short. Jed spends the whole time keeping an eye on Leo. When the meeting breaks up, Jed asks Leo to stay behind. Leo gives him a look. Jed sits back down and so does Leo.

"Leo, I hear Margaret called in sick again today. Have you talked with her today?"

"No Sir, I was going to try again after staff." Leo looks down at his shoes.

"Leo, what’s going on? Did something happen between you and Margaret?"

Leo jerks his heads up quickly. "No, nothing .... I ...don’t know what is ..." He stops and just stares at Jed.

"Leo, I don’t want to pry, but Josh said something to me earlier about Margaret crying."

"Yeah, he told me the same thing. I left her a message again and this time I asked her to call back."

Jed looks at Leo and realizes just how worried he is about Margaret. "Leo, why don’t you go over and visit her this afternoon?"

Leo seems shocked by this suggestion. "Sir, I’m ... not sure if I should."

"Why?"

"I think she’s hiding something from me or is afraid to tell me something. Who knows what hear quirky mind is thinking."

Jed notices that Leo puts his hand to his forehead and rubs it like his does when he’s really upset about something. "Leo, do you have any idea?"

"The only thing that makes sense to me is that ... she’s got a serious health condition and is trying to hide it from me." 

"Leo, you need to talk her before you jump to any more  conclusions. You will be leaving early today and I want you to go see her."

"Sir, I don’t ..."

"Do I need to make it an order?" Jed was not going to back down.

"Sir?"

"Leo?"

"Yeah."

"You’ll go then?"

"Yeah." Leo gets up and slowly walks to his office.

Margaret’s apartment:

9:00 am

Margaret looks up the number for the courier service she plans to use. Normally, she wouldn’t need to look up that number, but today her memory isn’t working too well. She nervously dials the number. She tells the person her address and where she needs the item delivered. The service is very busy and won’t be able to pick up her letter until this afternoon, but they guarantee that I will be delivered by close of business, today. She hangs up the phone and falls onto her couch. She had been hoping the letter would be picked up this morning, but she figures it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that it will get delivered today. There’s no turning back now.

White House:

10:30 am

Leo is sitting on his couch, once again pretending to be reading, when he hears a soft knock on his door. He looks up and is surprised to see that it’s Zoey. She hasn’t come to visit his office since ... well since earlier this year. Even in his mind he can barely stand the thought of her kidnapping.

"Hey Leo."

"Hey kid."

"Do you have a minute?"

Leo stands up and goes over to her. "Of course, I’ve always got time for you."

Zoey walks up to him and they exchange kisses on the cheeks. They walk over to his couch and sit down.

"What’s up?" Leo asks.

"Leo, um... I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Zoey, is everything ok?" Leo inwardly berates himself, ‘what a stupid question to ask’.

"Yeah, I wanted to ... just tell you something. Last night I overhead Mom and Dad talking about you and they’re both concerned about you." Zoey looks down and stares at her hands in her lap.

Leo is surprised by the statement that Abbey was concerned about him. She’s not really said much more than hello to him since she got back. The last time he saw her was the other night when he interrupted their almost dinner and she had practically sneered at him. Thanks goodness, Jed doesn’t seem to notice that Abbey didn’t want anything to do with him.

"Why?" Zoey doesn’t look at him and he reaches over and places his hand on top of hers. "Zoey, are you ok?"

"Yes, Uncle Leo." She blushes at the fact that she calls him uncle. She hasn’t called him that since she was a young child. "I’m fine. They were saying something about you and Margaret."

Leo is shocked by this statement. "Margaret and me?"

"Leo, if there is one thing that I’ve learned from these past few months is that life can take some very unexpected turns and you should treat each day as a gift." Zoey takes Leo’s hand and holds it in both of hers. "If you love somebody, you shouldn’t be afraid of what others think. You should tell them."

Leo stares at her and wonders when he got so transparent. He prides himself on never showing his emotions. He decides since that’s no longer working for him, maybe it’s time to come clean. "Zoey, how ... how did you know?"

"I heard Dad and Mom discussing it last night. And as soon as I heard it, I couldn’t believe that I could have missed it. Its been there for years. Mom said she realized two years ago."

"Abbey knows!" He can’t help but think this isn’t good.

"Leo, it’s ok. I’d be more worried about my Dad." Zoey smiles at him.

Leo reaches over and pulls her into a hug. "Zoey, how are you really?"

"I’m fine."

"Boy, that statement sound familiar."

"It should." She laughs. "You use it enough!"

"Hey, you shouldn’t pick on an old man."

"Oh, Uncle Leo, you’re not old!"

"Yeah, well ... thanks Kid!"

"No problem, hey so you know if Charlie’s busy?" Zoey gives him a coy look.

"Zoey, I don’t know, he was in here a little bit ago. I think your dad sent him in here to check up on me."

"He’s good at that isn’t he."

"Yeah."

"And there’s yet another infamous Leo McGarry comment."

"You know, you’re getting more and more like your Dad, everyday!"

"Well, thanks. I think." Zoey stands and turns to leave. "Merry Christmas."

"Zoey." Leo walks over to her and gives her a big hug. "Thanks and Merry Christmas."

Margaret’s apartment:

10:30 am

Margaret is going through her clothes. She trying them on and seeing if there is anything that she can donate to Goodwill. She is about to try on another outfit, when the entry door buzzer rings. She goes to the intercom by the door.

"Who is it?"

"DC One Courier Service, I’m here to pick up a package from a Margaret McGuire."

Margaret presses the button to allow him into the building. Within seconds there is a knock on her door. She lets opens the door and hands him the envelope. It’s already addressed and ready to go. She pays him and he gives her a receipt and then he’s gone. It was just that easy. Easy? Nothing about this had been easy, she thinks.

She’s done it now. There can be no turning back. She wonders when the relief will set in’. Isn’t she suppose to start feeling better now? It’s part of her plan, so when does it take effect? She wanders back into her bedroom and falls onto her bed. The whole bed shakes from her sobs.

White House:

3:00 pm

Ms. Whitcome knocks and enters Leo’s office.

"Mr. McGarry, do you think we’ll get early departure today?"

Leo looks up at her from his favorite chair, the one that has his Navy blanket on display that sits in front of his window. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Ok, well I just have some last minute things to do." She gives Leo a frown. "Sorry to have bothered you." She said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Ms. Whitcome, you seem to ..." Leo stops and thinks about Margaret.

"You were saying Sir?"

Leo stands up quickly. "Ms. Whitcome, in these past few days you have managed to alienate half my staff. And I don’t appreciate you running down Margaret. She is a very kind and compassionate person, who would go out of her way, to help anyone here in the White House. You may think her strange, but you could stand to take a few lessons on how to treat people, from this person who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Not everything, evolves around business. You are excused for the day." He sits in his chair and looks back down at the briefing book that is now back again on his lap. He refuses to look at her.

Ms. Whitcome finally takes the hint and leaves his office. He hopes that it is the last time she is every in here. Leo continues to feign reading the briefing book and doesn’t realize that he has a visitor standing in the main hall doorway of his office, she has been there since he started his outburst against Ms. Whitcome.

Leo’s visitor moves inside his office and walks over to him. Leo is so distracted; that he has no idea that anyone else is there. "Leo."

Leo jumps and the briefing book hits the floor. "Abbey?" Leo is very surprised to see her. She hasn’t come to his office since... well, not since June.

"Hey Leo, do you have a minute?"

Leo stands up and picks up the book he dropped and places it on his coffee table. "Yeah."  He motions for her to sit on the couch and he starts to get his suit coat to put on.

"Leo, I’m not the President, why don’t you just sit down."

Leo sits back down in his chair. He is suddenly very nervous to have her here. They haven’t said much more that hello, in months. "Ok."

Abbey sits down and looks over at Leo. She really hasn’t seen him much lately and she is shocked at how thin he looks. His eyes have dark circles under them and his face looks more tired than she thinks she’s ever seen. For the first time, she actually wonders about what Leo has been going through since this whole ordeal happened. She knows that Leo doesn’t spend as much time with Jed as he used to, but she knows that was her fault. She had told Leo that he was not welcome in the Residence. She had heard rumors that Leo’s grumpiness had reached new high levels lately and that, the only one who had a positive effect on him, was Margaret.

"Leo, I want to talk to you about something."

Leo looks at Abbey and knows what she is going to say. He’s sure that she is here to ask him to resign. He had been expecting this request from her ever since she got back from the farm. He really doesn’t blame her. She’s had every right to be upset with him; because it was his fault that Zoey had been kidnapped. He knew it and so did she. He had talked Jed into killing Shareef. It was his fault and Zoey had paid for it.

"Yeah." Leo looks her right in the eye and is ready for her request.

"I want to ask you about Margaret."

Leo is very surprised by what she has just said. He was sure she was here to ask him to leave. He knows his face shows his surprise. "What about her?"

"I just want to know why you haven’t told her how you feel about her?" Abbey has a sneaky little grin on her face.

"What!" Leo jumps up from his chair. "What are you talking about?"

"Leo, it’s as plain as the dark circle under your eyes, which by the way, we will get back to them."

Leo sits back down. "Abbey, I think that all that time at the farm has..." Leo doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.

"Leo Thomas McGarry, don’t you try and lie to me. You are no better at it than Jed is."

"Abbey."

"Don’t Abbey me. You know perfectly well that you are in love with Margaret. I’ve known it for some time now, but I thought you would figure it out and do something about it by now."

"Abbey... it’s not that simple and besides... things really have not been slow around here." Leo gets up and starts pacing.

"Leo, you need to start thinking about yourself."

"Abbey, what would she want with me. I’m old and ..."

"Yeah, Yeah, Leo... When are you going to realize that you deserve happiness just as much as the next person does!" Abbey gets up and moves over to him.

"Abbey, she’s so young and beautiful, she can’t possible feel the same about me."

Abbey puts her hand on his shoulder. "Leo, give yourself a chance. She might surprise you."

Abbey starts to walk out Leo’s door. "Oh and Leo, we still need to settle things between us, but I think more importantly, right now, you need to figure out what you are going to say to Margaret when she comes back to work after Christmas."

"Abbey, I..."

Abbey puts her hand up to stop him, "and another thing, you are going to start taking better care of yourself. Leo, you are wasting away. How much sleep have you been getting? I’m surprised Margaret hasn’t been all over you, about that!"

Leo thinks back to last night and the image of Margaret legs all over him, is just about his undoing. He’s about to answer but Abbey is already out the door. He mutters to himself, "if you only knew."

Margaret’s apartment:

3:00 pm

Margaret is wrapped up in her down filled lap comforter and sitting in her wingback chair by her window and just staring out at the snow. She is wringing her hands in her lap. She is very nervous and wonders how Leo will react to her letter. She’s sure he will hit the roof. She is trying to play it out in her mind and no matter what she comes up with, it’s bad.

But, part of her dreams that he will get her letter and realize that he can’t live without her and come rushing to her. "God Margaret, get a grip. Like Leo McGarry would ever do that!" She says out loud. Then she stops and thinks,  ‘I sure have been talking to myself a lot lately, I’ve got to stop that’.

She continues to stare out the window. She’s waiting to get her confirmation call from the courier service. She realizes even once they call, it will still be a couple of hours before Leo gets the letter. His mail is checked by the Secret Service.

The silence in her apartment is broken by the ringing of her phone. The machine picks up. It’s the courier service with her confirmation of delivery. They thank her for choosing them and wish her a Merry Christmas. Tears of hopelessness are falling freely down her face and she can’t help but think her life is over.

White House:

6:00 pm

Leo is in his office sitting on the couch, He has been shut up inside his office ever since Abbey left. He has been trying to come up with a plan to tell Margaret how he feels. He has finally admitted to himself that he is in love with her and he is going to do something about it. He is still very concerned about her health. He’s convinced that something is really wrong with her. He has decided that he is going over to her apartment on his way home. As a matter of fact, he is going to leave right now. He gets up and starts to gather his things together. There is a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A young intern that he has seen around lately enters the room. "Mr. McGarry, I have a letter for you. It was delivered by courier this afternoon."

"Thank you." Leo takes the package from the intern and walks over to his desk. He is about to lay it down and leave, when he realizes that it’s Margaret’s handwriting on the package. He opens it up and finds a letter.

Memorandum

To:         Leo McGarry

                        White House Chief of Staff

From:      Margaret McGuire

                        Lead Assistant to Chief of Staff

          Date:     12/24/2003

Subject:  Resignation

It is with deep regret that I must tender my resignation from service at the White House effective immediately. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve you all these years. It is with immense sorrow that I am unable to fulfill the normal requirement of giving two weeks notice, but circumstances preclude me from fulfilling that obligation. Arrangements will be made for the collection of my personal items at a later date.

Respectfully,

Margaret McGuire

Leo’s hand starts to shake. Margaret is resigning. She’s leaving me! He starts to feel lightheaded. He grabs a hold of the desk. The paper falls from his hand and floats to the floor. Leo watches it fall. It seems to be falling in slow motion. Leo follows it down to the floor.

The President is in the Oval is ready to call it a night. Abbey has already been by once to remind him that it is Christmas Eve. He knows that she stopped by and talked with Leo this afternoon. They both think that he is unaware of the rift between them. He’s glad that Abbey and Leo talked this afternoon. Abbey didn’t say what they talked about, maybe Leo will tell him. Anyway, he needs to tell Leo goodnight. Jed heads through the connecting door. Just as he is entering Leo office, he sees Leo standing in front of his desk. He is startled by how pale Leo appears. He is about to say something, when Leo drops the paper and collapses.

"LEO!" Jed shouts as he runs to his side. He bends down and checks for a pulse. "Charlie!"

Charlie comes running into the room. The President’s shout conveyed the urgency of the situation. "Mr. President?"

"Call Abbey!"

Charlie rushes to the phone and calls the Residence.

Jed is crouched down by Leo and is trying to get him to come around. "Leo, Leo.. Can you hear me?"

Leo lets out a moan and starts to move a little. Abbey flies into the room. "Jed, what happened to him?"

"Abbey, I was walking in and he was in front of his desk and he looked really pale and the next thing I knew, he hit the floor."

Abbey is now by Leo’s side.  "Leo." She reaches into her bag and gets her stereoscope. She is about to listen to his heart, when he starts to come around.

"What’s... going on?" Leo tries to sit up.

Abbey holds him down. "Leo, it looks like you passed out."

Leo stares at Abbey and then he remembers. Margaret’s letter. He tries to sit up again and this time Abbey lets him. He finds the letter on the floor next to him and hands it to Jed.

"Leo, why would she do this?" Jed hands the letter to Abbey.

Leo is trying to regain his composure, but is failing miserable. "She’s resigning."

"Why?" Abbey asks.

Leo gets up off the floor. He is a little wobbly at first, but makes it up. "Margaret is leaving me. First Jenny and now Margaret. Its my fault, I drive away everyone!"

"Leo that’s not true." Abbey goes over to him.

"Yes, Yes it is, you should know that too. You don’t even want to be around me either. I’m ... I’m." Leo is having trouble catching his breathe.

"Leo, you need to calm down, before you pass out again. Come over here and sit on the couch." Abbey leads him to the couch. Jed moves over and sits next to Leo.

"Jed, Abbey. I’m scared. I can’t make it... without her and I don’t just mean here at work. I ... I love her."  Tears have overflowed from his eyes and are running down his face, is chest is heaving and he is trying to get air into his lungs.

"Leo, first you need to calm down. Take some slow deep breathes. You’re going to hyperventilate."

Leo starts to breath deeper and is starting to calm down a little. "Jed, I need to go see her. I need to find out what’s going on? I’m so afraid she is ..." Leo stops and tries to breathe deeply.

"Leo I’ll get you a car as soon as you calm down." Jed says.

Leo shakes his head. "Ok."

A couple of minutes pass and Leo has regained his color and is breathing normally. He is still sitting on the couch between Jed and Abbey. "I’m feeling better now. I need to go find Margaret and talk to her. I know one thing for sure, if her resignation stands, then you’ll need to get a new Chief of Staff, I can’t do this without her. I love her because she completes me, she makes me the kind of man I want to be, she the reason I wake up and breath air, she is the other half of my heart. I won’t and can’t stay if she leaves." Leo stands and puts on his coat.

"Leo, Charlie got Margaret’s address for you and your car is waiting at the Northwest door."

Leo heads out the door.

Jed and Abbey are left alone in Leo’s office. "Jed, I’ve never seen Leo like this before. I think he’s serious about leaving, if Margaret goes."

Jed looks at Abbey an says very softly "I know he will." He reaches down and takes a hold of her hand and leads her out the door and to the Residence.

Margaret’s apartment:

6:00 pm

Margaret is now in her bedroom cleaning out her closet. She has the scarf wrapped around her neck that she had knitted. The scarf that was suppose to be Leo’s Christmas present. It makes her feel better just by wearing it. And right now she can use all the comfort she can get. It’s been a few hours since she received confirmation that her letter had been delivered. She is pretty sure that Leo has already read it or will within the next hour. The secret service is very thorough and efficient. It normally only takes a couple of hours for a package to make it to its owner, if there is a special code written on the package and of course she knows that code by heart.

Margaret is in the process of trying on old clothes to see what still fits or what may be out of style. Whatever doesn’t fit or is out of style is marked to go to Goodwill. She has already gone through her shoes and thrown out what she no longer wants. She comes across the two gowns that she wore to the Inaugural Balls from the first and the second elections. She decides to keep them, even though she will probably never have another reason to wear either of them. The last outfit she pulls out is the green suit that she wore for almost forty-eight hours in a row this past June. She had put this suit in the back of her closet for a reason. This was the suit she had on when Zoey was kidnapped. She almost thrown it away and she probably would have except for the fact that she knew that Leo loved this suit. Whenever she wore it, he always had some nice comment about it.

Margaret puts the suit back in the closet and stare at the large boxes on her top shelves. She needs to get them down and go through them. She is about to start getting them down when she realizes that she hasn’t had anything to eat today. Her stomach is starting to protest this fact, so she decides to make herself a sandwich. She’s putting together her sandwich, when her phone starts ringing. She does answer it and her machine doesn’t pick up because she decided to turn it off after she received the message from the courier service. She’s sure that this call is from Leo. She listen to the phone ring and ring, after what have been fifteen rings it stops. Margaret sits down at her table and starts to eat.

Margaret’s apartment:

7:30 pm

Leo is out the door of the car the second the driver stops the car in front of Margaret’s apartment building. Leo is a little surprised of the neighborhood that she lives in. He goes to the door and tries to open it. It’s locked. He notices an intercom by the door and presses. He can’t help but think to himself ‘See Ms. Whitcome, I do know how to use an intercom’. He waits for Margaret to answer. After a couple of minutes, he presses it again. Still no answer. Leo is starting to get worried. It’s Christmas Eve, she should be home.

Margaret hears the buzzer for the door and ignores it. She is not expecting anyone and she’s sure it’s the neighborhood kids goofing off again. She goes back to pulling boxes off her top shelf in her closet.

Leo gets out his cell phone and starts to call her. But, before he dials her number, someone come up to the door and uses their key and gets in. Leo grabs the door before it shuts and heads for Margaret’s apartment. Thanks goodness Charlie looked up her address for him. He had no idea where she lived. He finds her apartment on the second floor and is about to knock on her door when he hears a loud noise from inside her apartment. He pounds on the door. She doesn’t answer. He yells for her. She doesn’t come to the door. Leo runs down the stairs and to the super’s office. He starts pounding on the door.

A fat man with three-day-old bread and a can of beer in his hand answers the door. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"I’m Leo McGarry, White House Chief of Staff, my assistant lives here in your building and I think something is wrong and I need to check on her. I need your pass key!" He pulls out his wallet and shows him his id.

The super just stands there and stares at him. "How do I know that’s not fake?"

Leo’s patience is gone. "If you don’t hand over that pass key now, I’ll make sure that the proper authorities are notify of all the code violations I’ve seen so far in my short time here in this building. Now, give me that key!" Leo sticks his hand out.

The super digs in his pocket and hands over the key to Leo. Leo takes the key and runs back up to Margaret’s apartment. He knocks again, but there is still no answer. He uses the key and lets himself into her apartment.

Once he enters hears her sobs coming from the back of the apartment. He rushes to the room where the sound is coming from and finds Margaret sitting on the floor with clothes, shoes and boxes surrounding her. She is sobbing so hard, she isn’t even aware that Leo is here in her bedroom.

"Margaret." He says as he rushes to her side.

She looks up and is shocked to see Leo crouching down next to her. "Leo, what ... how...?"

"Margaret are you ok, I was in the hall and heard this loud noise." Leo has taken a hold of her shoulders with his hands.

"I was cleaning my closet and the boxes fell."

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I don’t think so." Then it finally hits her. Leo is in her apartment. He is in her bedroom. She resigned. She looks at him with a puzzled face. "What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"

Leo decides it’s now or never. He has to tell her how he feels. "Margaret... I have something to .... I mean I need... that is ... Oh hell, Margaret I love you!"

At first Margaret doesn’t react to what Leo has just said, she gazes at him too stunned to reply, the tears are still flowing as she absorbs what he has just said. She has waited years to hear him say those three words, but she never thought he would. She reaches out and touches his face. "Oh Leo, I love you too!"

At first, Leo just stares at her. ‘Did she just say she loves me too’? He thinks to himself. He slowly realizes it’s true. Her hand is on his face. He leans over and brushes a gentle kiss on her lips. He pulls back and looks at her. She is smiling. He leans in again and this time presses his lips against hers for a more passionate kiss.

"Oh, Margaret." I’ve missed you so much these past few days. I have been worried out of my head about you." Then it hits him. The thought of her being seriously ill rushes back. "Margaret, what’s going on? Whatever is wrong, I will be by your side. Please let me help you through this, I love you and whatever health issue you have, I want to be there for you." Tears are starting to flow from Leo’s eyes at the thought that Margaret might be gravely ill.

Margaret takes Leo’s face in her hands and wipes away his tears. "Oh Leo, there is nothing wrong with me, that your love won't cure. I was leaving because I was heartsick over being in love with you and I didn’t think you could ever love me in return. There's nothing wrong with me baby, please don't cry!"

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

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