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

Residence:

2:00 pm

Abbey is sitting on the couch in their bedroom, inside the Residence. She’s trying to read a magazine article, but can’t keep her mind focused on what she’s reading. She can’t get the image of Leo, passed out on the floor of his office, out of her head. What if it had been a heart attack and had di....? No, she shakes her head trying to rid it of that mental picture. Leo’s fine, it wasn’t a heart attack, but it was a jolt of reality. It’s time settle some things between them, today.

During the past few months, she has been so unaware of what was going on around her. All she was concerned about was Zoey. After her rescue, she had whisked her away to the farm and they had stayed there for almost three months, during which time she had little, if any contact, with her husband. They had only spoken on the phone a few times and she resisted any attempt he made at coming to visit. Looking back now, she feels that it was probably horribly unfair to Zoey and Jed that she had done this, but at the time, she did what she thought was best, to help her daughter heal.

Abbey had so much pent up anger about the situation with Shareef, that it was best for her not to have to deal with Jed, or even see him. She had blamed him for Zoey’s kidnapping and had punished him by taking his youngest daughter away from him. But Jed wasn’t the only one to receive blame and feel her wrath. Even through she had told Leo not to think that he had taken the bullet, lately she realized that not only had he taken the bullet, but that he was still bleeding from it.

The last time Abbey saw Leo, before her self-imposed exile to the farm, had been at Zoey’s new security details meeting, in the Residence. She had purposely moved the time of the meeting, so that Leo wouldn’t be there. He did arrive at the very end of the meeting as Ron Butterfield was leaving. Leo was very pensive acting as he hesitated to sit down. She told him that she moved the meeting forward because she didn’t want him in the Residence. Abbey told him, not to ask her to trust him anymore. The image of Leo’s pained face has started to haunt her. At the time, it didn’t even register with her, but since her return to the White House, her memory had become less clouded by anger and she realizes now that her actions were not exactly rational.

The last time Abbey saw Leo look that way, was when Jed had been shot. Leo would have given anything to have traded places with Jed, on that day. Leo had held them altogether in the hours after the shooting and the days to come after that, too. She had worried about him so much during the aftermath of the shooting. She could tell that he was hurting and feeling extremely guilty. Leo’s good at always stepping up and taking the blame for anything that goes wrong. He reasoned that he got Jed shot, because he pushed him into running for President. Leo’s self-sacrificing tendencies had cost him a lot in his life and Abbey is afraid that someday, it would cost him everything.

Abbey gives up trying to read the magazine and puts it down. She gets up and wanders over to the window and stares out at the newly fallen snow. Somehow, she needs to figure out what she’s going to say to Leo tonight. She knows that she lashed out at him and blamed him for what had happened. She’s caused him tremendous pain and suffering but at the time, she wanted everyone to hurt as much as she did. She had been so full of anger that her judgment had been impaired. But now, she knows that most of her anger came from the pain of almost losing her daughter. She realizes that Zoey’s kidnapping occurred because she was the President’s daughter and while she still held Jed and Leo somewhat responsible for the whole ordeal, it was now a more rational anger, that she felt, not the all consuming ‘kill anyone who gets in my way anger’, that she first felt. She knows that neither one of them would have ever done anything that they felt would have put herself or her kids in jeopardy. Jed and she have finally resolved things between them and now feels she needs to set things right between Leo and herself.

Abbey’s also concerned about Leo’s health. The years of alcohol and drug abuse have taken their toll on him, but the years in the White House are slowly destroying him. Leo’s stress level is extremely high and she suspects that his cholesterol and blood pressure are way too high, as well. She’s going to have to work on him, about taking better care of himself.

Abbey is still standing at the window, when Jed enters the room. She’s so deep in thought that she doesn’t hear him. He walks up to her and stands beside her. Finally, she senses his presence and turns toward him. There are tears flowing from her eyes.

"Abbey, what’s wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Leo." She lays a hand on her husband’s chest.

"Abbey, did something happen? Is he ok?"

"Jed, no, nothing’s happened, I was just thinking about these past few months and its impact on all of us."

"Abbey, it’s going to be ok. He’s coming over tonight and you two will both find peace with each other and he needs to make peace with himself, as well" Jed reaches over and pulls his wife into his arms.

"I hope so. I feel so bad about wha ...."

"Shh Abbey, its going to be fine." Jed says, as he’s rubbing gentle circles on her back.

"Jed, have you made peace with yourself? Are we ok?"

"Abbey, we’re fine. I love you."

"Oh Jed, I made so many mistakes..."

"I did too! Now lets just move on. We can’t go back and change the past. You can regret it, but you can’t impact it."

"The words and wisdom of Josiah Bartlet."

"Yeah." Jed smirks.

"Ok."

"Ok."

"Oh Jed, I’m so tired and drained." She says, as she lays her head on her husband’s shoulder.

"Well Sweet Knees, why don’t we take a nap. I bet when we wake up that things will feel better."

"You mean a nap, not a ‘family barbeque’. Right?" She teases him.

"Abbey!"

"Cause, remember your Christmas present doesn’t get unwrapped, until later tonight."

"Abbey, now how am I suppose to nap now with that image in my head?"

"Sorry."

"Are not!" Jed whines.

"Probably not,"  She smirks.

"Yeah?’

"Yeah." She coos softly to him.

Jed pulls from her arms and takes her by the hand and leads her to their bed. They curl up in each other’s arms and slowly drift off to sleep.

Leo’s Hotel:

3:30 pm

Margaret soon forgets her playfulness on the ride over to Leo’s hotel. The closer they get to his hotel, the more anxious and fidgety she gets. Leo had arranged for his driver to pick them up at Margaret’s apartment but once they got to his hotel, he dismisses the driver. Margaret glares at him when he does this.

"Margaret, I’ll drive us to the White House. It’s Christmas, I didn’t want to keep him away from his family." Leo’s not going to tell her that he also has another reason why he doesn’t want the driver waiting around for them.

"Ok." She barely squeaks out.

Margaret hesitates outside the hotel’s entrance. Leo places a hand in the small of her back and guides her to the revolving door. Once she gets inside the door, she freezes. Leo has to gently rotate the revolving to door into her backside to get her to move. They enter the lobby to find it empty of guests. He’s sure that he hears Margaret breath, a sigh of relief.

Leo has to practically run, to keep up with Margaret’s long, nervous strides across the hotel lobby, to the bank of elevators. They take an elevator up to his floor. When the doors opened, Margaret just stands there. Leo has to steer her out of the elevator and down the hall to his room.  As he’s getting his key card out and unlocking the door, she constantly glances back and forth, down the hallway.

"Margaret, will you calm down?"

Margaret gives him her patented ‘you’re got to be kidding’ death stare.

For a spilt second, Leo considers dropping the card key and delaying their entry into his room just to see her reaction, but he thinks she might kill him, if he did. As soon as he opens the door, she dashes into his room.  He smiles at the fact that he didn’t have to guide her into his room. As soon Leo closes the door behind them, he grabs Margaret and pushes her against the wall in his entryway and begins kissing her. After a few seconds, he comes up for air and leans his forehead against hers.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

"Ok then." He leans back and raises a hand to her face and gently traces her jaw line. "I’m going to go pack a bag for tomorrow, shave and change my clothes for tonight. You want to come with me?" Margaret nods her head yes. Leo takes her hand and tows her into his bedroom.

Margaret’s been to his hotel room several times before and knows her way around.  She’s had to pack for him when last minute trips have come up. She’s also had to run over and get him a change of clothes, if he spent the night at work. But, this is the first time she’s been here as his girlfriend. She can’t help but smile at this notion, his girlfriend. Then the panic hits her again, they’ll have to leave the safety of his room and make the return journey through his hotel. She flinches and her hand falls from Leo’s.

"Baby, what is it?"

"We have to go back through the lobby." Her statement sounds more like a question than a fact.

"Yeah."

"Oh Leo, maybe I should have waited for you at my apartment." She says, as she nervously bites her bottom lip.

Leo puts his arms around her waist and draws her near. "Don’t worry about it. It’s Christmas and it should still be empty. Even if it was full, it wouldn’t matter, to me."

"Leo?"

"I love you and I don’t care who knows. Now, just relax. I need to get my stuff together." He moves away from her and goes to his closet and retrieves his overnight bag and starts to pack it.

Margaret walks over to his bed and sits down. Leo notices her on his bed and images flood his brain from the dream he had, only two nights ago. In his dream, Margaret had on an evening gown, very similar to the one she has on now. He stops packing and stares at her in disbelief seeing that she’s really here, now with him. Knowing that they are really a couple and that they are going to get married. He walks over to her and sits down next to her.

"I can’t believe you’re here. I love you." A tear of happiness silently makes its way down his face.

"Oh, Leo, I love you, too." She reaches over and wipes the tear from his face.

Leo draws Margaret close to him and tightly wraps his arms around her. He just holds her there for a while whispering words of love, in her ear. They begin to kiss. At first their kisses are gentle and soft. After a while, the intensity of their kisses grows. He can’t get over how perfectly their lips fit together and how good she feels in his arms. They roll over to their sides on his bed. His hands find her bottom and he squeezes it. His earlier problem is back in full force.

He sits up and takes her hand and pulls them off the bed. They are standing face to face. He slowly lifts her dress up over her head. The sight of her firm breasts almost pushes him over the edge. He can’t believe how excited he gets, just looking at her body. No one has ever had this affect on him before. Margaret reaches out and unfastens his pants and they quickly drop to the floor. She slowly unbuttons his shirt and slides it off his shoulders. His boxers and under shirt are the next things to go. Leo moves them back over to the bed and pushes her down on the mattress.  He removes her panties and pantyhose and moves on top of her. She soon wraps those long legs around his waist and they are off flying, once again, in tandem.

After it’s over, Leo gets himself under control as he rolls off Margaret and lays next to her. "Margaret, that was... I mean it..." He can’t come up with the appropriate words to finish his sentence.

"Yeah!" She whispers, as she snuggles up close to him and lays her head on his chest, where she can feel his racing heart. She places a hand on his face and traces his jaw line with her fingertips. His face has a day’s worth of stubble on it. She thinks it makes him look sexier.

Leo takes her hand from his face and kisses it. "We’d better get up. I still need to finish packing, shave and get dressed for dinner. We don’t have a lot of time, but I think we have time for a quick shower together."

Margaret thinks back to the last hour they just spent in his hotel room and smirks. " It’s all your fault if we’re late for dinner."

"How do you figure that?"

"You’d have a lot more time to get ready, if you could have controlled yourself earlier."

"I don't seem to remember hearing any complaints from you, then." He gives her, his infamous lopsided grin.

She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his lips. "Well, I’m not really complaining mind you, I’m just setting the record straight."

"Come on Baby, let’s grab a quick shower. I can shave while you are finishing up." Leo says, as he grabs her hand and pulls her to his bathroom.

"Don’t get my hair wet, I don’t have anything with me to redo it. And we are just showering, there’s not time for any of your funny stuff." Margaret gives him a pointed look.

Leo feigns a hurt look. "You think my love making is funny?"

"No honey, but, you better keep your hands to yourself or we’ll never get out of this hotel room." She then adds, "not that that would be so bad." She really isn’t looking forward to having dinner at the White House.

Leo showers quickly and then steps out to shave. Margaret is getting out of the shower, just as Leo has finished shaving. Leo takes her in his arms and starts to kiss her.

"Honey, you’re getting shaving cream all over me." She laughs.

"Sorry, I just couldn’t resist holding your wet body against mine." Leo admits.

"You’re forgiven." She whispers in his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." Leo pulls from her arms, and finishes wiping the shaving cream off his face. They walk into his bedroom. Leo goes to his dresser and gets a pair of silk boxers and pulls them on. Then goes back to packing his overnight bag.

Margaret puts her clothes back on and sits back down on the bed. Her dress is a little more wrinkled than it was earlier, but it will have to do. "Honey, what did you mean earlier when you said that we don’t have a lot of time. We don’t have to be at the Residence until six o’clock and it’s just now, four-thirty."

Leo’s in the bathroom getting his toiletries bag and yells back. "I want to stop by the office first."

"I should have known you wanted to work, even on Christmas Day." She rolls her eyes.

Leo’s now standing in the bathroom doorway, still clad only in his boxers and looking very sexy. "I need to stop by and pick something up."

"Great. What report do you need me to retype on my home computer tonight?"

"I need to pick up your present. I left it there yesterday. I had planned on bringing it to you yesterday, but I sort of got distracted."

Margaret lowers her head. "Sorry."

Leo crosses the room and with his fingertips he slowly lifts her chin and makes her look into his eyes. "Don’t worry about it. Ok? If you hadn’t tried to resign, I may never have found the nerve to tell you that I love you." Leo gives her a widespread smile, the one that goes clear to his ears.

Margaret can’t help but smile back at Leo. She loves to see his smile. It’s one of the many things about him that drives her wild. "I’m glad you did."

"Me too!" Leo holds her chin for a few more seconds and then bends down and presses his lips to hers. He can lose himself very easily in her kisses. But he knows they need to be leaving soon, so he forces himself to pull away.

Leo goes to his closet to pick out a suit for tonight’s dinner. He chooses his double-breasted light gray pinstriped suit and his lavender tie. It perfectly matches Margaret’s dark gray evening dress. He lays his clothes on the bed and starts to get dressed. He notices Margaret stealing glances at him, as he changes clothes. He grabs his tie off the bed and heads for the bathroom mirror. Margaret gets off the bed and follows him and stands in the doorway.

"Yeah?" Leo says.

"Nothing, I just like to watch you tie your tie."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. I find it... extremely sexy."

"You’ve seen me tie my tie several times over the years that you’ve worked for me."

"Yeah."

"Have you always thought it to be sexy?" He motions to his tie with his hand.

"Yeah." She shyly admits. "Even before I fell in love with you."

"Well then, I’ll have to keep that in mind when I’m trying to think of a way to seduce you." Leo turns back to the mirror and finishes with his tie.

Leo leaves the bathroom and grabs his bag. "You ready?"

"I just need to reapply my makeup and fix my hair a little." She heads to the bathroom and is back out in just a few minutes.

"Margaret, you look stunning." He holds out his hand for her to take. "Ready to go now?"

"I guess. I just hope the lobby is still empty." She lowers her head and stares at Leo’s shoes. She’s even more nervous now about walking through the lobby, she’s afraid that she’ll have that ‘I just made love’ look on her face.

"You know, if I don’t call the parking attendant for my car. We can take the elevator all the way down to the garage and get it ourselves. That way we don’t have to walk through the lobby."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Come on, let’s go get my car." Leo takes her by the hand and drags her to his door. He turns, drops his bag and wraps his arms around her. "Baby, I love you."

"Oh Leo, I love you too!"

"Well, lets get going. We don’t want to miss out on any of the inane Christmas trivia." He smirks as he opens the door.

Leo’s Office:

5:00 pm

They enter the White House and head straight for Leo’s office. Leo enters his office while Margaret heads for her desk. She hasn’t been here in four days and wants to make sure that it’s still neat. After checking her desk area, she checks on her files. She wants to make sure that the temp didn’t mess them up. She checks a couple of drawers and is satisfied that things are in order. She wanders into Leo’s office and finds him behind his desk, sitting in his chair and staring at a wrapped gift on his desk.

"Leo?"

"Umm."

"What ya thinking about?" She moves over in front of his desk.

"I was just thinking that this present isn’t really what I want to give you for Christmas. I really wish I had a ring for you." Leo frowns at this statement.

"Honey, its fine. This way, we can go ring shopping together."

"Good idea, Margaret." He’s really looking forward to her wearing his ring.

"I have your present back at the apartment. Actually I have two for you."

"Really." His face lights up, like a little kid.

"Don’t get too excited, one of them, I made."

"I’m sure I’ll love whatever you got and made for me. Because I know that your presents come from your heart." Leo pauses for a second. "I actually went out and picked out your present, myself, this year." He says, with pride.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The President sent me home early Tuesday night and I stopped on the way home and picked it out."

"I think this is shaping up to be one of the best Christmases ever."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Margaret walks behind Leo’s desk and places a hand on his shoulder. She notices a picture of Leo and the Bartlets sitting on the shelves next to his desk.

"Leo, you never did tell me what Zoey said to you, yesterday morning."

Leo gets up and takes her hand and walks them over to his couch. They both sit down.

"Zoey overheard her Mom and Dad talking about us the night before last, so she decided, I needed a shove. She told me that during these past few months, she realized just how precious life is and that you shouldn’t listen to what others might say, about who you fall in love with. She told me, I needed to tell you that I loved you. She said that as soon as she heard her parents mention us as a possible couple, that she couldn’t believe how she how missed it before. She could see how we loved each other."

Margaret can’t help but start to cry. Zoey has been through so much and yet there she was trying to help someone else.

"Margaret, please don’t cry. I think Zoey showed great strength by coming and talking to me and I think it helped her just as much as it helped me. And maybe it helped her realize some things, too."

"Charlie?" She whispers.

Leo smiles and nods his head yes. "But don’t tell the President. He’ll be right back in the thick of things, trying to get those two kids back together again. It’s bad enough that he’s been playing Little Miss Mary Match Maker with me these past couple of days."

"Ok, I wouldn’t say anything to the Pres..." Margaret stops talking, when it sinks in that she will soon be with the President and the First Lady in the Residence.

"Baby, what’s wrong?"

"Oh Leo, I’m going to spending time with the President and the First Lady, inside the Residence, a place I’ve never even stepped foot in before." Margaret’s hands are fidgeting in her lap.

"Baby, you’ve talked with both of them many times before , you really shouldn’t be nervous."

"Yeah, but you were usually in the same room, or I just stepped in for a second or so. I don’t know what to talk to the President about or for that matter the First Lady."

"Yeah, like you think he’ll let us get in a word." Leo snorts. "He’ll be busy spouting Christmas trivia. That is, when he’s not busy interrogating us, about our relationship."

"But... you don’t think he’ll know that we... um... oh, no Leo, how am I going to face them both? What are they going to think about you dating your lowly assistance?" Margaret jumps up off the couch and starts pacing.

"Margaret, calm down. It’s going to be fine. I’ve known Jed and Abbey for over forty years. All they will care about is, if I’m happy. They both love you already. You’ll see, it will be fine." Leo follows Margaret from the couch and catches her in his arms. He wraps his arms around her waist and presses his lips to hers. After a few seconds, he leans back and gazes into her eyes. "Baby, don’t worry about it. Soon, this evening will be over and we will be back at your apartment opening, our gifts and planning our future."

Margaret relaxes in his arms and listens to his gravelly voice. She could listen to him talk for hours. His voice soothes away her nervousness. She got excited when he mentioned planning their future. "Leo, I can’t wait to get home tonight and plan our feature. We have so much to talk about. Are you planning on telling the President and First Lady that we’re getting married?"

"To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about it."

"What do you want to do?" Margaret asks.

"Honey, whatever you decide is fine with me. I don’t care if they know, but I’m not sure we should tell the whole staff, just yet." Leo wants to give Margaret time to adjust, to their new life together.

"Yeah, I think we should wait to tell the rest of the staff." Margaret agrees.

 "We will need to tell CJ soon, though." Leo wants CJ prepared to spin their relationship. He doesn’t want her to be caught off guard. Plus, he wants to protect Margaret.

"I’m fine with telling CJ." Margaret knows that CJ needs to be prepared, for when the story breaks.

"Well, let’s just see how the evening goes. If an opportune time presents itself, we’ll tell them." Leo knows that as soon as Jed finds out he’s getting married, his best friend will find all kinds of ways, to torment him.

"That sounds like a good idea to me."

Leo reaches down and takes her hand. "Well, let’s go. The sooner we get this evening over, the better."

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

| << back | send feedback | The National Library |