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 25, 2003

Margaret’s Apartment:

9:30 am

Leo is more than happy to stand here, holding Margaret for the rest of the morning, but he thinks it’s time to figure out a few things about their relationship. After all, they are getting married now. He pulls slightly back out of her arms and reaches over to wipe away her tears. "Margaret, why don’t you start fixing breakfast and then you and I can sit down and have a little talk?"

"Talk about what?" Margaret gets a worried look on her face.

"Would you stop worrying." Leo teases.

"Hey, haven’t you heard. I worry if the sun is gonna rise." She has a cute little knowing smile on her lips.

"Yeah?" He smirks back. "That does sound familiar."

"It should, you said it."

"Yeah, well Donna is a busy body, who apparently can’t keep her mouth shut." Leo smiles at the memory of their conversation about Margaret, who was worrying about him drinking, on the day that his divorce papers arrived some three years ago.

"Leo," she says as she moves over to the refrigerator and starts to pull out the things she needs to make their breakfast. "What do we need to talk about?" She can think of at least a hundred different things, but right now she is only interested in what Leo has to say.

"Well, first of all, you still have one question left unanswered." 

"Leo, I said I would marry you." She giggles, as she mixes up the pancake batter.

"Yes you did, but last night I asked if you were coming back to work for me and you didn’t respond." Leo is very happy that she said yes, to marrying him, but he’s a little nervous about whether or not she is coming back to work for him. Judging by the look on her face, he has every reason to be concerned.

"Leo, do you think that’s wise?" She replies, while biting her bottom lip.

"What do you mean?"

"What about the press? Won’t they have a field day with it? Won’t it cause problems for the White House if I continue to work for you? She stops stirring the batter and hastily puts it on the counter.

"Margaret, don’t worry about it. The press won’t care if you are working for me or not. They’ll still try to make a big deal out of it, so you might as well continue to work for me."  Leo moves towards Margaret and reaches out for her.

Margaret backs away from Leo. "Our relationship is going to cause all kinds of trouble for this administration and for you. I can just see the headlines. ‘White House Chief, Staffs his Assistant’." She starts to tremble. "Leo, what is Mallory going to say? Won’t everyone assume that I’m the reason you got divorced?" She intently stares at Leo, as she absent-mindedly wipes her worried forehead with her hand and leaves behind a trail of pancake mix. "Leo, maybe we should rethink this, I refuse to be the cause of any political or personal problems for you. I’ve spent most of my life protecting you; I won’t be the who that takes you down." Tears of sorrow are flowing down her face. Just a mere few minutes ago, she was on top of the world. Now she feels like she has lost the one thing she wants, no needs, most of all.

"NO!" Leo grabs Margaret by the shoulders. "I won’t lose you after only just finding you! I love you. I’ll quit before I let you go. Don’t you understand? It all means nothing if you aren’t by my side. Nothing!" Leo pulls Margaret into a fierce hug. Tears are soaking her shoulder and he too is trembling now. "Honey, I love you, nothing else matters now. I need you, please tell me that you will still marry me." Leo leans out of their hug and places his forehead against hers. "Please, Baby."

"Oh Leo, I do love you so. I want more than anything to be your wife. But...its just that..."

Leo pulls his head away from her forehead and interrupts her. "But nothing, listen to me! We are getting married. I refuse to lose my happiness again. This job has cost me so much, but I won’t let it cause me to lose you." He reaches up and wipes the pancake mix from her brow and softly says. "Margaret, will you still marry me?"

"Oh Leo, yes I’ll still marry you. I’m sorry I ..."

"Stop, you have nothing to be sorry about, except that I may starve to death soon if you don’t fix me some breakfast soon."

Margaret bobs her head, then smiles and goes back to fixing breakfast. "Do you want eggs too?"

"Yes please, I like mine..." Leo doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.

"Leo, after all these years, I know how you like your eggs. Hey, do you know why the French only eat one egg for breakfast?"

"Margaret!"

"Ok, so I guess I’ve told that joke one too many times."

"Yeah."

"Ok, I’ll go back to fixing breakfast."

"Would you please?" Leo smirks back.

Margaret turns her back to Leo and starts fixing the eggs. But she can’t help but finish the joke. "Cause in France, one egg is an oeuf." She murmurs.

 "I heard that!" Leo says, standing in the doorway. "Hey, do you think I have time for a quick shower?"

"Sure, there are towels in the little closet in the bathroom. Do you need any help?" She asks wishfully.

"No thanks, I think I’ve had all the help that I can stand for a while." Leo heads off to the bathroom and mutters to himself  ‘three times in the last twelve hours, she’s going to kill me, but oh what a way to go.’ He has a huge grin on his face as he steps into the shower.

After his shower, Leo heads back to the kitchen. He is dressed only in his pants and undershirt. Margaret has breakfast ready and the table set when he enters the room.

"Perfect timing, I just finished setting the table."

Leo walks over to the table and sits down. "It smells wonderful, I could get used to this."

"Well, I wouldn’t mind that."

Margaret sits down and they start eating their breakfast. They both are enjoying this time together. They discuss each other’s family Christmas morning traditions. After they are done eating, Leo helps to clear the table.

"Margaret, why don’t you take a shower and I can wash the dishes?"

"Just rise them off and put them in the dishwasher." Margaret can’t help but smile at what happened the last time she used her dishwasher. She heads off to the bathroom. Her smile grows larger when she thinks about these past few hours and the things that they have done here.

Margaret walks past the bay window in her bedroom and stops, remembering waking up last night, just before midnight and finding Leo missing from her bed. He was standing, only in his boxers, in front of the bay window. She got up, put her robe on and wrapped her arms around him.

"Leo what ya doing?"

"Watching the falling snow and thinking." Leo’s voice was just a little bit above a whisper and full of emotion.

Margaret turns him around in her arms and sees unshed tears in his eyes. "Honey, what’s wrong? Do you regret what we did?" Margaret’s voice is filled with panic.

"No, Honey. I don’t regret it. I love you."

"Then what’s wrong?"

"I ... was just thinking about some of the mistakes I’ve made over the past few years."

"What mistakes, Baby."

Leo lowers his head and whispers. "Mostly thinking about... Jenny. I wasn’t a very good husband to her. I widowed her the second I took over the campaign and I put my role as Chief of Staff first. Do you know what I told her the night before she left me?"

Margaret shakes her head and whispers. "No."

"I told her that my job was the most important thing I would ever do and that right then for these few years it was more important than my marriage."

"Oh Leo." Margaret has never heard about what happened the night that Jenny left him. He has never talked about his marriage or its breakup before now.

"Margaret, I don’t want to hurt you like I hurt Jenny. You’ve always understood me so much better than anyone else and I really don’t want to mess up what we have only just begun."

"Leo, I’m not Jenny. I’m right beside you both here and at the office, I realize how important your job is to you. You need to trust me. We need to trust each other. We aren’t the same couple that you and Jenny were. I love you!"

"You know, a while back the President said to me ‘Be subject to one another, Leo. What can I do to be of subject to you?’ and I told him I’m fine, I’ve got Margaret." He never realized how true that statement was, not until tonight. Leo lightly brushed his fingertips along the side of her face.

She starts applying soft kisses to his neck and lifts a hand to the back of his head pulls him closer. He responds by kissing her neck and moving his hands to her backside and pulling her body into his. Then he turns them both around and gently pushes her down on the bay window seat. He opens up her robe and begins to explore her breasts. She pulls his boxers down and traces her fingers tips over his inner thighs. He pushes her back further and she wraps her long legs around his waist as he makes love to her on the window seat.

These thoughts from last night have Margaret about ready to call and see if Leo would like to take another shower this morning, only this time with her. But she decides against it and heads off to the bathroom and muttering to herself  ‘three times in the last twelve hours, he’s going to kill me, but oh my what a way to go.’ She has a huge grin on her face as she steps into the shower.

Margaret’s apartment:

10:00 am

"Margaret, I need to call the President and let him know that he still has a Chief of Staff."

Margaret has a puzzled look on her face. "OK?"

"When I left yesterday, I told him that I couldn’t do this without you and that if you weren’t coming back, then he would need to find himself a new Chief of Staff."

Margaret leans over and gives him a kiss. "Did you really mean it?"

"Yeah, I told you earlier, it doesn’t mean anything to me, if you’re not there by my side." Leo pulls her into a hug. She fits so perfectly in his arms, like no one else ever has before. He definitely could get use to spending a lot of time here on the couch with her.

She shifts out of his embace and turns to lean against him. "Leo, I’ll always be by your side."

Leo reaches over to the end table and picks up the phone and dials the President’s private line to the Residence. "Mr. President, It’s me."

"Leo, where are you? Are you alright? I’ve been trying to reach at your hotel and on your cell phone for hours now. I was just about ready to have the Secret Service start looking for you."

"Calm down, Sir. I’m fine. I must have left my cell phone in the office."

"Did you see Margaret? Is she ok? I know that the driver dropped you off at her apartment last night."

"Yeah. I saw her, Sir. She looked pretty ok to me." Leo’s having a hard time not laughing at this comment.

"And?"

"And what, Sir?"

"Is she coming back? Do I still have my Chief of Staff?"

"Yes Sir, we’ll both be back at work tomorrow."

"Good. Is everything ok?"

"It couldn’t be better, Sir."

"Well, are you going to tell me what happened?" Jed is really starting to get upset with his friend’s evasiveness.

"No Sir, I don’t think I’ll share the details." Leo is about to burst out laughing.

"LEO!" Jed has had it; he wants to know what’s going on with his best friend.

"Yes, Sir."

"Ok, you win, but I’ll get it out of you later. Oh, by the way, you’re invited for Christmas dinner, we expect you here promptly at six tonight."

"Ah, Sir, I don’t know if I can make it." Leo’s mind starts racing. ‘Does Abbey know that he’s inviting me?’

"Leo, you are ‘not’ spending another Christmas alone or at work. Abbey says to have your butt here by six and dinner will be promptly served at seven."

"Sir, is it... I mean... can I... would it be ok, if I bring a guest?" Leo doesn’t want to be there without Margaret and he’s not sure he wants to face Abbey alone.

"Oh, and who might that be? As if we didn’t already know. Yes, Leo. Please bring Margaret along with you. We’ll see you both at dinner."

Leo puts the phone down and turns to Margaret. She has overheard most of the conversation and has a very panicked look on her face. "Honey, guess who else gets to hear inane, mindless, Christmas trivia over dinner at the White House tonight?"

"Leo, I can’t... I mean...not with the President and the First Lady..." Margaret’s hands are fidgeting in her lap.

"It will be ok, don’t worry about it." Leo reaches out and takes her hands in his.

"That’s easy for you to say, I’ve never even been inside the Residence before."

"Well, I haven’t been ..." Leo stops himself. He almost let it slip. The fact is, he hasn’t been in the Residence since the First Lady’s return in October except to call him to a meeting during their pre-Christmas dinner with the girls.

"Leo, what’s been going on between you and the First Lady?" Margaret lets her hands fall from his as she turns towards him.

"What do you mean?" Leo has told no one what happened between them after Zoey was rescued. He doesn’t blame Abbey for how she feels, because he knows that Zoey’s kidnapping was his fault. But what transpired between them, during that short meeting in the Residence, profoundly hurt him and for the first time in years, he came close to giving into his biggest weakness. A temptation that he thought that he had beaten and would never attract him again. He had almost to given into his demons, but somehow, he found the will not to give into them and he knew who had kept him straight. Margaret, she had stuck close by his side for those months; she was never more than a few feet away. Even in his mind at night, she was there to watch over him, keeping him on the straight and narrow path. She was always there for whatever he needed, supporting him every step of the way and taking care of him. She made sure he ate, got him to take naps at work and forced him to go home at night. He never would have wanted to feel her disappointment in him. That would just be his undoing.

"You know very well what I mean. Something happened between you two after Zoey was rescued, I’m not blind." Margaret reaches over and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Leo... what happened?"

Leo lowers his head in defeat; he doesn’t want to admit to Margaret that it was his fault that Zoey was kidnapped. That he convinced the President to kill Shareef. How would she feel about him then? He slowly looks at her, he knows he has to tell her; she has the right to know just what type of a man she’s going marry. Then he starts to panic. What if she doesn’t want to marry him after she finds out what kind a monster he really is? He jumps up off the couch and heads to the window in Margaret’s living room. He stands there and stares out at the snow-covered streets. His face begins to show the emotions that he thinks he has successfully covered up, since that day in the Residence.

Margaret moves to his side and gently starts rubbing small circles on his back. "Leo, please tell me. I think I can guess some of it, I know you blame yourself for Zoey’s kidnapping, but it wasn’t your fault and you need to let go of your guilt."

At the sound of her last word, Leo turns and faces her. The tears that are in his eyes, the ones that he is trying so hard to hold inside, are now finding their way down his face. He has never been able to hide anything from her. Of course she would realize how he feels; she has always been the one person who understood him, the one person who’s always been by his side, the one person who always supports him and the one person he can trust.

Jenny never knew him this well, not even after thirty some years of marriage. He had always been able to hide things from her, or maybe she had just given up on him years ago. But not Margaret, she never gave up on him. He needed to tell her the truth. "But, it is my fault. I convinced Jed to kill Shareef. He didn’t want to do it. He said there were moral absolutes. But I talked him into it!"

Leo starts for the door, but Margaret grabs him and holds on for to him dear life. "Leo, you’re not leaving here. Please come sit down on the couch with me. Earlier today you said that you wouldn’t lose me, well now I’m telling you the same thing. I’m not going to lose you now not when we have just found each other. "Please Baby!" Tears are now flowing from her eyes too, as she guides him over to the couch and makes him sit down. "Leo, it was the ‘President’s’ job to do what he did. He did what was best for his country."

"But it wasn’t what was best for his family, look what happened."

"Leo, there’s no concrete proof that connects Zoey’s kidnapping with the killing of Shareef. Its just supposition on your part."

"Tell Abbey that."  These words rushed out of his mouth before he could stop them. Margaret has such an effect on him. He’s more open with her than anyone.  He hasn’t even been able to talk to Jed about what he has been feeling. He can’t sensor himself with her, she knows him too well.

"Leo what happened between you and the First Lady? Come on just tell me... you will fell better if you let it out. And don’t you dare say nothing!"  Margaret is now sitting next to Leo on the couch.  She has one hand resting on his shoulder and the other one is rubbing soothing circles on his leg.

"She..." Leo whispers in a voice rough with tears. "She moved up the meeting, the one discussing

Zoey’s new security measures, with Ron. So I only caught the tail end of it. I assumed it was because she didn’t want me in the meeting, but... she told me that it was because she didn’t want me in the Residence." Leo voice breaks. "She asked if there were other things we’d done and I told her that there wasn’t anything else. She told me not to ask her to trust me and then she left." Leo is sobbing now. His whole body is racked with tears now, that he has finally told someone about what is quite possibly, one of the most painful moments in his life. He buried it along with everything else that has happened, He needed this cleansing of his emotions, his soul.

"Oh Leo." She wraps her arms and around him and tries to comfort him. "She was just upset and was looking for a scapegoat. I’m sure she realizes that now, that she shouldn’t have said what she did."

"No, don’t you get it? She’s right! I don’t deserve..."

Margaret cuts him off. "Leo, she cares or she won’t have told you to be there. I overheard her on the phone! You two need to work this out."

"Yeah?" Leo has calmed down and is now holding her hand that is on his leg. "She did tell me yesterday that we needed to talk." Leo thinks back to their conversation they had about Margaret yesterday.

"You talked with her yesterday?"

"Yeah, she was in my office giving me hell about you and..."

"And what Leo?"

"She was on me, about taking better care of myself." Leo almost smiles at the memory.

"Well, you do need to take better care of yourself!" Margaret scolds.

"Great, tag team Leo time." Leo smirks. He’s actually thinking that maybe Abbey does want to work out the trouble that has come between them. God, how he has missed his friendship with her and Jed.

"Poor Leo."

"Hey."

"What? I do hope you realize that there are going to be some major changes in your lifestyle. We won’t worry about them today, but there will be a forthcoming memo on the subject," she adds with a smirk.

"Great" Leo has moved his hands her face. "Will there be anything in that memo about some new ways to promote stress relief?" His hands start to roam from her face.

"Mr. McGarry, whatever do you mean?" She teases.

Leo moans when she refers to him as Mr. McGarry. "Come her and let me show you." He moves his hands to the buttons on her blouse and starts to unbutton them. At the same time he leans in and presses his lips against hers and starts to thoroughly explore her mouth. She responds by pulling off his undershirt and unbuckling his pants. He removes her blouse and quickly divests her of her bra. He pushes her back onto the couch and proceeds to show her just what method of stress relief he was referring to.

White House Residence:

10:00am

Jed finishes his conversation with Leo and places the receiver back in its cradle. He stands there for a couple of seconds and looks intently at the phone, then he quickly picks up the phone and calls Ron Butterfield, the head of his security detail, and tells him that Operation Awry is over and please pass along his thanks to Coop. He hangs up the phone again and turns towards Abbey. He is wearing a huge smile on his face. Nothing makes him smile more than tormenting his best friend. "Leo’s coming for Christmas dinner and he’s bringing a guest."

"A guest, oh and who might that be, as if you didn’t already know." Abbey, who is sitting on the couch and has been listening to both phone conversations.

"Abigail, whatever are you referring to?"  Jed walks over towards the couch.

"Jed, why did you tell him you had been trying to call him? You knew exactly where he was and who he was with."

"I didn’t want him to know that."

"Why?"

"Because he will kill me if he finds out."

"You should have thought of that last night."

"We both know why I had him followed." Jed didn’t need to spell out the reasons. They both were afraid that if he went to Margaret’s and found out she was seriously ill, that he most likely wouldn’t be able to handle it. They knew that Margaret meant more to him than anyone. Leo’s had so much stress these past few months, that they were afraid he would crawl back into the bottle.

"Yeah, but he’s still gonna want to kill you if he finds out you had him tailed. At least you have the Secret Service to protect you."

"Yeah! But I’m not sure even they could stop him. Remember, this is Leo we are talking about!"

"It’s your own fault if he comes after you."

"Well, what good is having the Secret Service, if you can’t use them."

"True, but somehow I don’t think that they are there to follow your best friend and spy on him."

"They weren’t spying!"

"You had him followed after he left the White House last night and you made that poor agent call in every hour and give you an update." Abbey smirks.

"Abbey, Coop wanted to help." Agent Cooper, who is usually assigned to the President, had willingly agreed to follow Leo after the President had quickly explained the situation and his concerns to him. He told Coop to follow him and if it looked like Leo was going to fall into his old ways, that Coop was to stop Leo and call him immediately.

"Volunteered, did he?" Abbey says, with more than just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah. Besides, it’s not like Leo hasn’t ever had Secret Service protection before."

"I think there’s a difference between having protection and being followed."

"I was just taking a page from Leo’s book. Remember he once had Josh and Sam followed."

"True. But I don’t think he used the Secret Service."

"He’s not the President either." Jed smirks.

"Ok, so how did Leo sound?" Abbey’s voice full of concern now.

Jed glances at Abbey. He knows that there had been a rift between Leo and Abbey since Zoey’s kidnapping. He has tried to stay out of it, deciding that he might get into more trouble by trying to get in-between his wife and best friend. But, these past couple of days, has given him hope that soon, things will go back to the way they were. He knows that Abbey went to visit Leo in his office yesterday afternoon and she had been genuinely concerned about Leo when he had passed out yesterday. Hopefully, they are in the process of mending fences.

"He sounds fine."

"Jethro, details."

"He said he wouldn’t share details." Jed smirks. "He’s bringing Margaret to dinner with him."

"Did something happen between them?"

Jed thinks back to the reports that he received from Coop last night. Abbey had gone to bed after they were informed; ‘Lights were turned off and Thunderchief is still inside Miss McGuire’s apartment’. But Jed was still too concerned about Leo’s welfare and had stayed up. Abbey had accused him of being more nosey than concerned.

The majority of updates from Coop had been; ‘Thunderchief is still inside Miss McGuire’s apartment.’ But around 1130 last night, Jed received an update that made him relax and he too finally went to bed.

Agent Cooper dialed the Presidents private number once again. After only a couple of rings, the phone was answered. "Mr. President, it’s Agent Cooper."

"Yeah, Coop."

"Mr. President, I’ve just had my first visual of Thunderchief since he entered Miss McGuire’s apartment. He is standing at a bay window and Miss McGuire appears to have um... her arms wrapped around him. Sir, they are... engaging in activities of a personal nature."  Usually, agents wouldn’t have given out such details, but he is keenly aware of the tremendous friendship that the President and Leo share and this was a special circumstance. The President had been extremely upset and worried when he asked him to follow Mr. McGarry. He had explained to him that Miss McGuire had resigned and Leo had passed out after receiving her resignation. Coop personally likes and respects Mr. McGarry very much. His assistant’s dedication and loyalty was legendary and widely talked about in the White House. Miss McGuire would have made a very good Secret Service agent.

"Ok, thanks Coop. I really appreciate your help tonight, I’ll have Ron is send over another agent to relieve you."

"Sir, I don’t mind staying. It’s really fine and there’s no reason to involve more agents, Sir."

"Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks Coop. Oh, and Coop. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Sir."

"Jed." Abbey is watching her husband whose thoughts have been elsewhere. "JED!"

"Uh, yeah." Jed has been thinking about Coop’s last phone call.

"I asked you, if something happened between them!" Abbey is losing her patience with her husband.

"Maybe."

"Ok Jackass, keep it up and you won’t be getting the Christmas present that I have planned for you tonight!"

"Oh Abbey." Jed whined.

"Give!"

"Coop called late last night and said that he saw them standing in front of a window and they were and I quote ‘Miss McGuire has her arms wrapped around him and they are engaging in personal actives’ " Jed has a huge smile on his face. He can’t wait to start tormenting his friend about this.

"Jed, you’re not thinking about tormenting him, are you?"

"Maybe."

"Jed, leave the poor man alone."

"Abbey, can’t I have some fun?"

"No, he’s been through a lot lately. I’ve really been worried about his health since I talked with him yesterday. He’s had far too much stress for way too long. He doesn’t look good and when did he lose so much weight?"

Jed decides that it’s time to find out some answers about what happened between her and Leo. "Abbey, if you would have bee... No wait, I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight about this, but I do want to know what happened between you two before you went to the farm?"

"Jed, it’s something that Leo and I need to sort out ourselves." Abbey hopes that Jed will leave it lay.

"Abbey, it’s wasn’t Leo’s..."

Abbey interrupts her husband. "Jed, lets not do this, please!"

"Ok." Jed really doesn’t want to fight about this on Christmas. He doesn’t want to ever fight about this. He just wants to enjoy this Christmas because they have so much to be thankful for.

"Ok. I need to speak with Leo tonight, before dinner. Do you think you can entertain Margaret while we talk?"

"Sure. Hey maybe I can get some information from her, about what’s going on with them." Jed face lights up at this prospect.

"Jed you’re impossible." Abbey smiles as she gets up from the couch and walks over to her husband and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "You better behave tonight or remember, there’ll be no unwrapping of your present tonight!" Then she swats him on the butt.

"Abbey!"

Margaret’s apartment:

12:00 pm

They are still lying on the couch and neither one of them wants to get up, yet. They are swapping soft kisses and caressing each others body, while quietly talking to one another.

"You know, one of the things I missed most this week, were the messages that you always hand me." Leo whispers into her ear as his fingertips trace her jaw line.

"Really, I never realized you like them so much."

"Yeah... I even have a special file, in the office, full of the more unique and special ones. The President refers to it as the Margaret Museum. Sometimes, he’s even helped decide if a note is truly worthy for the file."

This fact surprises Margaret. "You’ve kept some of my messages and the President not only knows about them, but has read some of them!" Margaret starts to sit up, but Leo holds her against him.

"Yeah." Leo is enjoying tormenting her with this bit of information. She is so easy to have fun with. "Do you want to tell you about some of the ones I’ve kept?"

"I can’t imagine any note of mine being unique enough to keep."

"I’ve only kept the really quirky ones. So it’s a pretty big file!"

This comment earns him a gentle swat on the chest. Margaret is well aware that she is considered to be quirky, but it doesn’t bother her, because its true and she knows it. "Quirky?"

"Yeah, but its one of the qualities I love most about you!" Leo leans over and kisses her on her nose.

Margaret blushes at what Leo has just said. She always thought that she drove him crazy with her quirkiness. "Oh Leo, that’s so sweet."

"I kept the one where you told me to ‘Just eat your damn grapefruit’."

Margaret giggles at that memory. She had heard later that he had referred to her as Jack LaLane.

 Leo continues, "Then there the one where the ‘Iranians have taken to the streets’ and then there is my favorite one. Remember two years ago, when you were taking that correspondence course in Learning to Speak Italian?"

Margaret nods her head. "Yes." Once again, she is surprised that Leo has remembered something that she would have thought to be so trivial to him. But now she knows she shouldn’t be surprised, after all he was in love with her for the past three years and she knows how that feels. She’s sure that Leo would be surprised with all the details that she remembers about him from the past three years too.

"I was in that meeting from hell with the Swiss Diplomats and you brought me a note, written in Italian, that was meant to defuse my temper. It sure did do the trick. You wrote, potrei avere il bibbunino, per favore?" Translated means, ‘Could I have your baby, please?’"

The look of horror that crosses Margaret’s face is quite funny and quickly turns to into a look of embarrassment, complete with red skin. "I did not!"

Leo can’t control his laughter. "Yes... Yes you did. I have carried it in my wallet ever since that day."

"You what?"

"Let me show you." Leo get up and retrieves his pants from the floor and takes out his wallet. He pulls out a neatly folded, but worn, note and hands it to her.

Margaret sits up and takes the note from Leo’s hand. She unfolds it and reads it. "Oh My GOD! It was supposed to say ‘Could I have the check, please’ ... I..." Margaret is now turning three shades of red.

"Honey, I have to tell you, it did me more good the way you wrote it!" Leo sits back down beside her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "So, what do you say, do you want to have my baby?"

"Leo!" Margaret can’t believe he just said that. He’s been so different here at her apartment. So loving, open and caring. She wishes everyone could see this side of Leo McGarry.  The side she’s always suspected was there.

Leo decides its time to bring up a few issues. "Um... Margaret, speaking of babies, I was wondering, I mean its kind of late now, but do we have anything to worry about. I mean, I didn’t use ... a ... anything when we ah... made love and ..."

Margaret interrupts him before he turns completely red. She thinks he has suffered enough. "Leo, It’s ok. I’m on the pill." She can’t help but giggle at his embarrassment. He’s just too cute this way.

"Ok. I... well we did have unprotected ... um... sex and I just wanted to let you know that there has been one and only one time since Jenny that I ... had ... and we ... I used a ... some protection. Also, I wanted you to know that it’s been over for a while."

Leo’s face is completely red right now, but there is also some sadness showing through. She knows whom Leo is referring to and she can’t say that she’s thrilled to know that Leo had sex with her, but it sounds like he only did it once. She finds this rather particular, since they seemed to be together for a few months. She knew he hadn’t seen her for a while, but she is very relieved to hear him say that it’s been over for some time now.

"Ok." Is all she can mange to say. As she looks down at her hands.

 "Margaret, there is something that we need to talk about. Actually, more like something I need to explain to you. Something that I need you to understand." Leo’s eyes have sadness about them as he looks at her. He seems almost afraid to go on.

"Leo honey, remember I told you, that you need never be afraid to tell me anything."

"Margaret, I want to explain my relationship with Jordan, to you."

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

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