Title: Recovery     Tuesday - Day 1/4 Days   Twilight Series 2 /?

By: chipmunk  and Lynn                                            

Pairing: Leo/Margaret

Rating: R

Spoilers: None really

This is not strictly cannon by the show.

Doesn't matter the year or the situation.

Plot Development By: Lynn    [email protected]

Beta and Mentor By:  Lee      [email protected]

Disclaimer:

The characters are from the NBC, WB, Bravo, A John Wells Prod.,

TV show, ‘The West Wing’.

They own them; therefore, they do not belong to us. 

They are the creation of Aaron Sorkin.  We only borrowed them.

No copyright infringement is intended.

No monetary benefit is received or anticipated.

A ‘grateful’ and ‘enormous’ thanks, to the actors and actresses,

who portray the characters ‘brilliantly’ and bring them to life in our heads. 

Feedback: We would love it hear your opinion!  PLEASE! 

It helps to improve the writing!

Archived at: http://www.geocities.com/chipmunkswhimseys/

Summary: Sequel to Twilight Series - Leo’s Dilemma - The next week

Note: This fic is even hotter.

Warning: Sexual content and cursing!

 

*****   

 

Tuesday morning finds Leo and Margaret’s bodies spooned together in the center of the bed.  With him holding her for the first time since the attack.  Margaret wakes and glances at the clock on the bedside table and then at the man still sleeping behind her.  She’s surprised that he's still asleep at 7:30 in the morning, but it just shows how tiring yesterday was for him, despite his afternoon nap and early evening.  They have been awake throughout the night with his nightmares and he's been up to the bathroom, more than once.  The night seemed to her, like a series of catnaps.  Once, they even ‘both’ came close to being physically hurt, getting him out of and back into bed.  

 

Margaret quietly slips out of bed and goes out to the kitchen to start the coffee maker.  It's a good thing Abbey insisted on reducing his hours this week at the office.  In spite if his complaining Leo is aware of his limitations during this frustrating phase of his recovery.  She picks up the cordless phone on the desk in the foyer and calls Josh.  Margaret knows that he’s already at his office by this time.  ***“Morning, Josh.  Will it be Ok for you to come over to the apartment with Leo’s driver in about 30 minutes?  I’m going to need help getting Leo up and ready.  We had a long night.  I almost hurt my back, trying to keep Leo from hurting himself. …… No, we’re all right……I’ll tell you ‘all’ about it, in the car, on our way to work.  ……Oh, I’ll need a little time to get ready myself.  Maybe you can get him to eat something to go along with his meds? ……Good.  ……Right.  Then we’ll need to get him down and into the car for the ride to the White House.  ……I know, it’s a big morning just getting him out the door. ……Thanks, Josh, see you in a little bit.” ***

 

After she hangs up, she goes in to lay out Leo’s clothes for work on the daybed in the spare room.  ~I’ll need to call this the guest room, now or maybe the study.  It’s not Leo’s room anymore.  Hopefully never again.~  She returns to her bed and snuggles in beside Leo.  He’s now sleeping on his back, with his hand lying just below her pillow, as if he was reaching for her in his sleep.  She hates to wake him but they have to get started soon, to have him to the office by 9:00 for staff meeting.  She just watches him sleep for a few minutes.  He looks so peaceful and relaxed as he sleeps.  She runs her fingertip across his brow and pushes his hair back. 

 

He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes and smiles, as he sees her watching him.  In a gravely voice from sleep, he greets her, "Good morning, Baby."

 

"Morning, Sweetie," she greets in return.  She leans over to kiss his lips.  "You ready to get a start on the day?"

 

"Not just yet," he smiles and pulls her in for a deeper kiss.

 

As she pulls back, she notices the bulge under the sheet and teases, "Finally having a nice dream, were you?"

 

He raises his head and glances down at himself and turns to her with a moan for his painful efforts and has a smirk on his face, "Well, yes I did, but that's not the only reason for my current condition."

 

"Oh?" she says with a confused look on her face.

 

"You know how mornings can be for a male," he says with a shrug and a smile.

 

She pauses and thoughtfully replies, "Uh, not really, no."

 

He's surprised by her answer, but doesn't show it.  "You never noticed with other guys that this happens in the morning, especially when they're younger?"

 

She admits quietly,  “The others either didn't spend the night or they got up and left, before I was awake." 

 

Leo realizes what Margaret is revealing to him.  That he’s the first man she has ever woken up with in the morning.  He remembers the first time that they did.  They had been ‘totally’ exhausted the night before.  He’s so glad that he gave into temptation that morning and kissed her bare shoulder.  It must have let her know that she was defiantly desirable in the morning light, if she had never awakened in a man’s arms before that.  He will think some more on this later.  Somewhere that she can’t read his face.  The jackasses.

 

Margaret continues to wonder what Leo meant and is curious, "Why?  Do guys just wake-up always thinking or dreaming about sex?”

 

"No, it doesn't really have that much to do with sex at all, but it can definitely go in that direction," he smiles and continues, "More like they just need to pee and then there's a certain pressure inside that causes guys to get hard, once they start to wake up."

 

She's a little more curious now, "Every morning, Leo?"

 

"Well, that depends on the guy and it usually happens less as you get older.”  He grins at her, “I haven't been this responsive in a while.  It must be you that's got my body lacking its usual control."

 

She’s blushing a little, for his crediting with the effect on him, for his physical response, "Okay, thanks, Leo, for explaining that to me.”  She tries to redirect their train of thought, "Do we need to get you up to the bathroom now?"

 

"No, not just yet." While he’s been explaining to her about his morning condition, he has been stroking her face and arm.  He leans into kiss her lips as he slowly runs his fingers along her arm and slowly down and around the curve of her breast, causing her nipple to harden in response to his touch through the satiny material.

 

She leans in to kiss him, deepening the kiss as she snuggles up to him, pressing her hips almost suggestively into his. 

 

He slowly begins to unbutton her pajama top to explore further. ~Damn, these sore fingers.  Good thing it has large button holes.~

 

Her fingers brush over his nipple and it gives the same response as hers did. She gently lays her hand on his abdomen below the wrap and slowly rubs back and forth in a comforting way, as their kiss deepens.   Her mind is taking note, of her hand rubbing over the line of hair that runs from under the wrap, down past his navel and disappearing under the satin band.  She likes that his pants always seem to ride low on his hips.  She’ll have to explore his navel at a later date.  Leo has so many places that he wants to investigate at their leisure.

 

As their necking gets warmer, Leo suggests, “Margaret, can you help me get my long pants off, now?” She hesitates knowing that Josh is coming to help get him up. He continues with a tease, “I’m roasting with you getting me all hot and bothered and I’ll just be taking them off shortly for my shower.” 

 

Margaret has a wide eyed look on her face, “Leo, Josh is coming over to get you out of bed, like we discussed last night.  Do you really wannabe in your boxers and with your morning condition when he gets here?” 

 

“I don’t care about Josh seeing my natural state and he has seen me in boxers.   He’s family anyway.” He sees doubt and confusion in her face.  He quickly growls out to her like he does at the office when she asks about things he has no good answer for, “Guys don’t care about that kinda thing.  It’s just not mentioned.”

 

“OK, Leo.  If your comfortable with it, how can I find fault in it.”  She agrees, knowing that is the end of the discussion and gets a dig back at him, “Since, I’m the one getting you all warmed up this morning.”

 

He smiles at her, glad she’s not upset at the tone he used, to stop her line of questions.  They have their own way of debating.  Margaret never surrenders till he breaks it off, “You’re just been kind with helping me get the endorphins flowing this morning.”  He gives her a logical reason to appease her. 

 

“Anytime, Leo,” she teases back. “Happy to help you.”  

 

Margaret raises to her knees, and advises Leo, “You better reach under and see if you can hold onto the band of your boxers, or you’re gonna be educating me a little more than either of us are expecting you to this morning.”

 

“Anytime, Margaret,” he returns her tease.  “Happy to help you.”

 

“Leo, you’re so bad,” she scolds with laughter in her voice and she slides the long satin pants off his hips.  He grunts as he tries to help and lift his hips slightly off the bed.  She succeeds in removing the pants from his legs and playfully tosses them over her shoulder and onto the floor, with a wide grin. 

 

Leo smiles at her pleasure in undressing him.  He can tell she's enjoying herself, by the silly grin on her face as she slowly crawls back up to lie beside him again.  She’s being careful of his ribs.  His eyes relish the view of her top hanging open and her breasts peeking out as she walks up the bed on her hands and knees.

 

They both enjoy a short time of heavy necking to encourage the endorphins, or at least that’s the reasonable excuse they’re hanging on to.   It’s brought to an abrupt conclusion when they hear the front door opening and the sound of Josh cheerfully calling, in his grand style that he ‘has’ arrived.  Margaret rolls to her back and hurriedly buttons up her top, while they both quickly catch their breath.  Leo’s panting some, with his ribs hurting and the exercise he just experienced.   Margaret gives him a quick peck and a grin.  “Is it OK, to let him in now?  I’m decent again.” 

 

He agrees a little breathless, “Yeah, but you might wanna wipe your hair out of your face.”  Leo grins at her, “It’s not like he doesn’t know that we’ve been necking in here.”

 

Margaret blushes at the thought, “Thanks, Leo.  Just what I wanted to hear, now.”

 

She rises off the bed and runs her hands over her hair and pulls the door open, “Josh, he’s ready for you in here.  If you can get him onto his feet and into the bathroom, then when he’s ready for me, I can take over.”

 

“Sure, Margaret.  Good Morning.”  Josh can’t resist as he take in her disheveled appearance, “Looks like you guys did have a good morning, even if you two did have a rough night.”

 

“Good Morning, Josh, and its none of your business how my morning is going.” She gives him a pointed look as the blush creeps up her face.  “I’m going for coffee.”

 

“Good idea, Margaret.” Josh agrees, as he knows that you ‘do not’ mess with her before her coffee, but he’s grinning and not in the least sorry, about teasing her first thing in the morning. That’s what families do. 

 

“Hey, Baby, bring me back a mug of coffee, when you come to help me in the shower?” He has a pleading sound to his voice, “I gotta have a least a sip or two.”

 

“Sure, Sweetie,” she quickly agrees, since he can’t go get his own.  They both need it desperately in the mornings.

 

“Oh, it ‘has’ been a good morning, if you two are calling each other ‘Baby’ and ‘Sweetie’,” he teases as he looks at Leo grinning face.  “Did I show up too early?”  Josh has a pleased look on his face when asking, like that might be more fun than making them to jump apart at the White House.

 

“Unfortunately no, Josh.  We were ready to get up.”  Leo raised his voice some, so she could hear the tease.  “You’re rescuing me from her. See, she had me half stripped already.” He works to throw back the sheet to reveal his bare legs. Leo hears Margaret growl his name from the kitchen, she heard.  “You better get me into the bathroom, I’m sure she’s now impatient to get back in here to kill me.”  The guys grin at each other, knowing that Leo just might need real rescuing this morning, if he keeps teasing Margaret before her coffee.

 

****   

 

Josh calls to the kitchen, “Margaret, Leo called out from the bathroom that he’s ready for you now and he said to remind you to ‘please’ bring him some coffee.” Josh exaggerates the ‘please’, like Leo was begging with his last breath. “I’m getting him unwrapped for you.” 

 

“Thanks Josh, You can watch some news and eat a muffin, while you wait.  Donna sent plenty.  I’ll call you when I have Leo ready for you and you can help get him dressed in the guest room.  His clothes are laid out on the daybed.” Margaret always has a plan and a schedule.

 

“Sure Margaret, I’ll dress my kid this morning.  Actually, it must be my turn.  You dressed him yesterday,” Josh teases.

 

She gives him a look.  She knows that Josh getting Leo ready for work, will be interesting for both of them.  Leo may kill her. “Ok Josh, I’ll call you when he’s done and then I’ll finish my shower.”

 

****     

“Leo, here’s your coffee.  You can drink on it, while I get the shower warmed up.  We’ll have to hurry some to get you to the White House for the staff meeting. 

 

“Are you telling me now, that we can’t fool around in the shower this morning,” he razzes her with the question.  

 

“Leo, could you please focus here.  We need to get you in and out of the shower. Then I have to shower and get ready as well. She hangs up his wet wrap that she just rinsed out over the towel bar.  Abby ordered him a new one that Josh can put on him.

 

“OK, Margaret, I’ll be good.”  Over the edge of his coffee mug, he can see, by the way she’s setting the towels out and moving his clean boxers from one side of the sink to the other, she’s trying to be casual about this.  “Margaret, I know you’re a little nervous with Josh just outside, even if you’re trying not to show it.” 

 

“I know, Leo, everything is new to us,” she admits.  “I’m glad we’re moving up our relationship.”  She looks at the floor and then at him with a sheepish smile, “You know how I am with getting used to new things.  I’m fine, really.”

 

“OK, I’ll make it easier this morning.”  He takes another sip of the wonderfully warm coffee. “I’ll take my shower with my boxers on.  That way you can supervise me.”

 

She smiles at his plan. She needs a plan this morning to keep her mind focused, “Good idea, Leo.  Put down the coffee mug and lets get you into the shower.”

 

“But, Margaret, I only drank half of it,” he frowns sadly and looks into the mug.

 

“You can have more coffee after you’re dressed and I am showering,” she promises as she removes the mug from his hand and she notes that it’s still really bruised looking and slightly swollen in areas. 

 

“All right.  Help me off the stool and watch out for your back,” he resigns himself to the fact the coffee drinking is over for now, but he can console himself with the prospect of Margaret helping with his shower.  Not a bad trade-off in his mind.  He can always get more coffee later.

 

“Remember, we almost both ended up in the floor last night, “ he cautions with real concern.  He would really feel bad if he were the cause of her hurting her back again.  

 

“I will, Leo.”  She helps him to step into the tub, “Now hang onto the rail in the back till you get steady.”

 

“I’m fine Margaret.  I’ll hurry.” He holds his face out of the spray and slightly orders her.  He can see she’s really worried about him falling, “Close the door or you’ll have to dry the floor.”

 

“Leo, you know this is the part I hate.”  She checks around the tub enclosure as if she’s looking for hidden dangers, “You be careful.   I’m right here waiting on the stool.”

 

She closes the door and never takes her eyes off him, through the clear shower door.

 

 He manages to get washed the front of his body that is bare skin.  “Margaret, I don’t think I can do my hair.  I still can’t lift my arms and I can’t get to my legs and feet at all.  I can’t bend down to reach them.” 

 

“Now what, Leo?  You can’t stand forever, either.” She now has a slight panic to her voice.

 

“Margaret, you could share the shower with me,” he suggests with a sexy tone to get her attention and calm her with a dig.

 

“Leo, you better not be fooling around,” she warns.

 

“Margaret, I promise I’m not gonna fool around, at least not yet today.  You’re safe to come in here.  I do need your help.” He knows that will clinch the decision for her.

 

“All right, hang on.” She sheds her pajamas and leaves on her bright blue panties. He ‘has’ seen her topless before in bed. She takes a deep breath and opens the shower door to join him in the warm spray.

 

Leo sucks in his breath and then he admits, “Margaret, you’re gonna drive me crazy with the panties you wear.  Damn, I love you in bright blue.  This ‘is’ more of what I had in mind, for us being wet together, in the shower.” 

 

“Leo, me too, but we need to get you well first.”

 

“Yeah, but I can enjoy the view and also the way you wash my body.”  He’s also enjoying the blush that is now covering most of her.

 

“Leo, this hard enough for me to focus and not get carried away.  We’ll just have to wait till another day, to enjoy the benefits of showering together.” 

 

“Ok, there will be lots of other days.  You scrub and I’ll hang on.” He’s being very agreeable at this point.

 

She grabs her bath puff and squirts some bath gel onto it.

 

“That’s a puff, Margaret.  It’s for females,” he looks at her like it might denude his body of hair or some other torture.

 

“Leo, it feels wonderful.  It’ll lightly scrub you.  It’s soft,” she assures him, like scared child.

 

“Yeah, Josh would call it soft and girly,” he’s grinning as she lathers the soap in the puff.  He would suffer the tortures of hell, if Margaret were doing it to him.  He totally trusts her.  But, his male machoism just has to protest. “You’re not using some flowery soap on me, are you Margaret?  I’ll never get Jed or Toby to understand.  Josh is a little more flexible, as I have a few things on him since Donna and he have started hanging out with us, on the weekends. Sam is game for what ever the females want him to smell like.”  

 

Margaret chuckles at the thought, “No, Leo, its just Ivory liquid.  It just smells like soap.  Turn you back to me, Leo, and I’ll do it first”.

 

“You wish is my command, at least in the shower anyway, Margaret.”  He’s definitely gonna enjoy this arrangement.  He loves that she’s teaching him new things.  He lives in a man’s world.  She can show him some of the softer things in life.

 

 

“Leo, this might be the way we need to get you showered this week.   It’ll be faster and you won’t need to stand as long.”  She starts between his shoulders and runs back and forth getting his neck and shoulders, he can’t reach to do that part of his body. She lets her mind enjoy the action of covering his entire back with bubbles, noticing he way his back curves in, right before it reaches the waistband and his slender waist.  She brazenly inches the waistband down to scrub as far as she dare, since he can’t reach there either, is her valid reasoning.  She finds he has cute baby dimples that she will explore some day.  Gathering her resolve and resisting the urge to kiss the dimples, she then go over and makes swirls around the jet tattoo that she loves. Leaving a swirl of tiny bubbles that make it look like wispy clouds around it. 

 

“Margaret, I really love what you’re doing to me.   But if you don’t quit, I’m gonna have my morning condition again.  If you know what I mean, Margaret?”

 

She has a wide eye look as it registers to her what he means. “Ok, Leo.  Lets get back to business.  I definitely don’t want Josh to see you that way after being in here with me.  I would just be mortified.”   She’s washing his legs from behind, in a no nonsense manner. 

 

“I could do this every morning, injured or not,” Leo dreams of the future to come.

 

“I hear you, Leo.”  ~So could I, but I’m not telling him that now, or we may not get out of the shower before Josh knocks to see if we’ve drowned in the shower.~

 

She instructs him, “Turn around now and rinse off your back.  Be careful how you turn around, hang onto the bars as you do it.”  She’s holding her breath while he turns.  “I’ll do your hair next.  Then we should be able to get you out shortly after that.” She’s determined not to look down at him. She knows that the front of his wet satin boxers leave little to the imagination, as they stick to his body in the shower.

 

Leo turns and grins, as he takes in the view of her wet front.  Her breasts are peaked from the stimulation of the shower spray.  The water cascading between her breasts, as it flows down her smooth creamy middle and ripples at the band of her panties, fascinates him.  He loves the wet panties.  He hangs on to the back bar and the door bar and leans forward to kiss on an inviting peak.  ~So shoot me, I’m human.  I just can’t resist a wet breast right in front of my face.~

 

She gives a small moan as he sucks a tug on the peak, before leaning back away from her.  She comes back to reality as their eyes lock, “Leo, no fooling around.  You promised.   We don’t have time for this now.”  Both of them are suffering, from a quickening of their breathing.

 

“I’m sorry, Margaret.   Forgive me,” he has a grin on his face that tells her he’s definitely ‘not’ in the least sorry.

 

“Leo, you are incorrigible,” she scolds.

 

“I know and you love me for being incorrigible,” he grins at her.  He’s happy that his lips have healed.  All this grinning and smiling would have been painful this morning.

 

 

“Yes, Leo, I love you for many things,”

 

 She rubs shampoo on his hair and he has his eyes closed now, enjoying the way she massages his head. He has enjoyed this shower immensely.   She moves his head back into the spray to rinse the shampoo out.

 

She quickly uses a cream rinse and repeats the head rinsing as he holds on. 

 

“‘Leo, I guess you need to wash under the boxers now, before you get out,”   

 

“This will be interesting, Margaret.  Put some liquid soap on my hand and turn your back to me.  I’ll wash inside the boxers.”  He has a simpler plan than any of hers. Just do it. 

 

“Leo, how do you plan to rinse yourself off, with your boxers still on,” she blushes at asking him.

 

“Well, since you must know,” he goes for the big blush, “After I wash, then I’m gonna hold out the waistband and the warm spray will hit my chest and run down the front of me.  It will flow right down under the boxers and rinse me off.  The water will follow my body.  It’s simple.”

 

“Leo, I could have done without that visual in my head,” she honestly admits.  Her whole body must be a bright red now.

 

He chuckles at her. “Someday you can watch and see that I’m right,” he teases and sounds hopeful.

 

“Leo, you’re pushing it again.  You could get left standing here by yourself,” she warns that she’s at her limit with the sexual banter.  It’s defiantly getting to her. “Let me get out while you do that.  I’ll dry off enough to put my robe on and then have a towel ready for you and another one of the floor for you to step onto.”

 

“Ok, Margaret.  That way you won’t have to resist looking to see if my theory is correct.” He just has to get in the last tease.

 

Ignoring his last remark, she goes for the shower door, “Leo, I’m getting out now, so don’t you fall.  You hang onto the bar with the other hand.”  

 

“I’m fine Margaret.”  He knows it’s time to get the shower done and move on with dressing for work, “You get yourself decent and have a towel ready for me.”

 

Margaret keeps her back to the clear shower door while she quickly dries and dons her robe. Dropping her wet panties onto the floor from under the robe.

 

Leo finishes and looks out at her, “You can turn around now, Margaret.  Get the towels ready.  I’m coming out.”

 

“You want me to hold the towel up to you, like I did yesterday?  I’ll hold it at the open door and you drop your wet boxers, “ she reminds him of the procedure.  

 

He can’t resist a tease at her, “You ‘are’ going to remember to look me in the eye, when you wrap the towel around me backward?”

 

She rolls her eyes and gives him a pointed look, “Like I’m going to forget that part.  We have pushed it, just about as far as we can this morning, Leo.”

 

“I know, Margaret.”  He tilts his head to side grinning, “But, it was fun.  We need more fun in our lives.”

 

“I agree with you there, Leo,” she has to admits she did like washing him.  It’s one of her dreams that came true.  “OK, drop em,” she smiles as she looks into his dark blue eyes.

 

He lowers his voice to his sexy rough tone, “I love how you say that to me.  It just gives me goose bumps in places I shouldn’t have them.” 

 

“I can see that, Leo.”  She has her arms around his waist “Your jet has a new texture to it,” she teases him back.  She leans around him to fasten the towel and drops the expected kiss on the tiny jet.

 

“Leave my jet alone, you already scrub it spotlessly clean,” he teases back at her that he knows she enjoyed using the puff on it. 

 

 

“OK, but it’s so cute,” she adds softly but she knows he’ll hear her. 

 

“It’s not cute,” he protests in defense.  “It’s manly!”

 

“Ok, Leo.  It’s manly and so are you, even if I did use a my puff on you.”   She has been drying his legs.  She rises back up to look at his face and to dry the top of him.  He grins and she sees the gleam in his eye.  “Leo, do ‘not’ get my robe wet with your chest this morning. This satin robe will look like a wet t-shirt to Josh and you don’t want that to happen, any more than I do.”

 

“Good point, Margaret.  But, I still want a kiss.  Lips only.  I promise,” he then holds out his face to her.

 

She leans in and locks lips with him.  He looks ‘so’ good to her when he’s wet.  They both may need to cool down before they open the door to Josh.

 

She next holds out his clean boxers.   “Put your hand on my shoulder and step in the legs and I’ll go around behind you and help pull them up.” 

 

“You just wanna see my jet again, he accuses her looking at the top of her head and dropping a kiss on it while he balances himself.  

 

“Anytime I can, Leo.   I’m just a weak female, when it comes to that jet,” she sounds like it’s a great vice of hers.  She moves around behind him to pull up the boxers, while he drops the towel at the last second.

 

She again samples his warm moist skin as she steals a second kiss on the jet, before snapping his waistband over it. 

 

“Hey, watch the snapping on damp skin,” he protests as he sucks in a fast breath with the stinging.

 

“Your jet is tough and manly, Leo   It can take it,” she rubs the sting out of the jet and walks back around to face him.

 

“Here’s your matching satin robe.  Put it on to get to the guest room.  We won’t tie it,” she holds up the robe for him to put his arms in, like she’s done with his suit coat for years at the office.

 

“Guest room?”  He likes the new name she’s given it, but has to ask in a backhanded way.  “I thought it was my room?”

 

“Not any more, Leo,” she grins and he grins back at her.

 

Margaret informs him of her other decision. “The other bath is still yours, when you’re all recovered.”  She gives her logic. “We can’t both get ready, at the same time, in this small area.” 

 

“It’s a deal, Margaret.”  He’s not gonna complain, not at all.

 

Margaret goes to the door, “Josh, he’s ready for you, now.”

 

Leo rests on the stool, waiting while she picks up the towels from the floor so he’ll not trip on them going out.  His eyes get wide when he notices her panties on the floor and glances to her, in her satin robe, realizing that she’s bare underneath.  “Margaret,” he has a surprised and questioning sound to his voice.

 

“What?” she stops up short in front of him.

 

He looks at her face and glances at her wet panties on the floor.  Her eyes follow his eyes down.  His hand has a mind of its own, as it quickly flips back her robe edge for a quick tiny peek.  It’s enough for him to know she’s a natural red head.

 

“Leo!” She glances at the door as she scolds.  Slightly shocked that he peeked, but not angry.  She knows he’s only human in his reaction, to the panties on the floor. 

 

 He doesn’t dare look at her, he’s having some trouble with his libido right now and takes a few calming breaths as he hears Josh approach from the living room.  He stares at his battered but healing hands that are resting on his satin covered knees. He’s trying to clear his mind of his discovery.

 

She steps out into the bedroom so Josh can get Leo up and moving. 

 

When Josh arrives at the bathroom door, Margaret gives him a run down of what else Leo needs, “Josh after you get him dressed, get him to eat a muffin with his meds and remember to put an ice pack on his ribs, to make it easier for his walk to the car.”

 

“Ok, Margaret, I’ll feed the kid too,” he sounds like an overworked parent.  “Come on, Leo.   You can teach me how to dress a big kid.”  

 

“Funny, Josh,” Leo glances at Margaret as they past through the bedroom to the door.

 

She just gives Leo a cat like grin.  She saw his mental battle, trying to control his breathing and a few other body parts, I’m sure.   ~Pay back is hell, Leo.~

 

*****   

 

Josh gets Leo into the guest room.  “ OK Leo, what do you need first?” 

 

“I guess we should get me into the bathroom and see how much I can do to get myself shaved.” 

 

“With those hands?  You’re dreaming, Leo. We both know that I’m gonna have ‘that’ job this morning.  For your own safety, I hope you have an electric razor.”

 

“Definitely, Josh.  I’m not turning you loose on my face with a blade.” 

 

“Chicken, Leo?”

 

“Absolutely, Josh, with the roadmap of a face that I have.   I’d be crazy to let you even try a blade.   Get the electric razor out of the drawer and plug it into the safety outlet.”  Leo orders from his perch on the stool. 

 

“Ok, I’m ready to go here.  Tilt your head to the side to let me see what I’m doing and quit growling.  I can’t hurt you with an electric razor.”

 

“I'm sure you could find a way, Josh.  Just remember the different colors on my face are indicators that there are bruises under them.”  

 

“Quit talking, Leo.”

 

Josh’s face is switching between grinning and concentrating as he tries to get the job done and not hurt Leo anymore than he has to, while getting the light stubble off.  The whole time, Leo’s facial expression is switching between wincing when Josh has to go over a bruise and scowling at Josh’s entertained look.  Leo eyes keep changing from closed, to keep from going cross-eyes looking at Josh’s face and glaring at Josh’s running comments.

 

Josh wets a washcloth.  “Look up here, Leo.  I need to wipe your face to get off the loose stubble.   Leo, the bruises are slightly better than yesterday, but they’re turning the most ghastly colors.”  This morning Josh as been taking careful note of Leo’s overall condition. Over the last two days, he has seen some Leo’s injuries at different times, but never all of them at the same time.  ~I have no idea how Leo was not hospitalized Saturday night.  I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to deal with a beating like this and bear it as well as Leo has.  Thank God, Abby’s a doctor and was able to treat Leo, even if it was, at first, over the phone.  No wonder the first couple came back early that night.  She probably suspected that Leo was worse than he was letting on. ~

 

“Just leave the nose, Josh.  I pity the kids you’re gonna have. They’ll be all faceless, the way you wipe a face, you’ll wipe it off for them.”  Leo’s grumbling but it’s just his way of dealing with not being able to take care of his own personal needs.  

 

“Leo, this is good practice for me, like how they let kids start off in kindergarten using the big crayons.  I’m just starting on a bigger kid.”  Josh laughs out loud at the look on Leo’s face and Leo can’t help but join in at the fun Josh is having at his expense. 

 

“Ok, Leo, now the cologne.  Wow!  You really use expensive cologne.”

 

“Just don’t get sticky fingers with the bottle, Josh.  I have it shipped to me from New York City.   I’ll have them send two bottles, the next time I order some.”  Josh pours some into the palm of one hand and rubs his palms together and then rubs his hands on Leo face to apply the cologne.  When he finishes with Leo’s face he quickly dries his hands on his own face, grinning at Leo. 

 

“I can just tell that I’m gonna need to order the cologne really soon, now that you know were I keep it.  I can also predict that you’ll be making a pit stop in here, every chance you get, to use my cologne.

 

“You bet, Leo.  I have to make sure I smell wonderful for the ladies.

 

“You better make that ‘Lady’, as in one.  Donna will kill you otherwise.”  

 

“Of course, she’s gonna love this cologne.  The others can smell, but not touch.” 

 

Leo just rolls his eyes at him, “Josh, you’ll just smell like me.”

 

Josh grins and he can’t resist adding, “Well, I can tell them that I learn from the best and you’re finally rubbing off on me.” 

 

Leo agrees, “Yeah. The politicians at the Hill will just say we all smell alike.” Leo grins up at Josh from the stool and states the last word, “Rotten.”

 

They both chuckle at that.

 

Josh is still smiling at Leo crack at the Republicans, “OK, Leo, lets get your robe off of you and get some deodorant on you.”

 

Leo pipes up, “I think I can hold the stick of deodorant.” Josh look skeptically at container that he’s holding.  Josh takes the lid off and hands the deodorant to Leo and moves behind him to help him get the robe off his shoulders.  Leo works hard to hang onto the stick and after getting both underarms covered, he hands it back to Josh.  “I don’t remember something that simple, as being so hard to do.  Guess, I’ll think of these things more often now.” 

 

“Well, Leo, this has been fun, but I need to help you up and get you relocated to the guestroom to get you dressed.” Josh is feeling daring now that he managed to successfully get Leo finished in the bathroom.  “Speaking of fun, Leo.  I did notice that Margaret had wet hair and a robe on, when I came to help you out of her bathroom.”

 

Leo gives him a pointed look, “Josh, you keep up this line of questioning and I’ll let her kill you, just for the ‘sport’ of it.” 

 

“OK, Leo.” Josh attempts to clarify why he asked, “I’m not into details and I’m not crazy enough to mention it to her.  I just thought you might like to gloat about it.” 

 

“I’ll remember to call you, ‘Sport,’ when you’re about to be killed.”

 

“Good to know, Leo.” Josh seriously states, “ The ladies know how to extract revenge in the most painful manner.” 

 

“I meant from me also, Sport.”  He’s grinning at Josh.  “Let’s just say that she was doing her best to help me to get showered and I’m not dead, just injured.”

 

“I hear you, Leo.”  Josh is grinning again and promises, “Mum’s the word to Margaret.”

 

Leo sounds relieved, “Thanks, she’ a little nervous as it is, teasing her about us getting more physical, might mess things up or slow down our relationships progression. Leo’s talking seriously to Josh,   “We mentioned it before to you guys that we are taking each step slowly.  I just don’t want her to step backwards.”

 

“OK, Leo.”  Josh adds, “I’ll drop a hint to Donna, for us to curtail our sexual teasing with Margaret, for now.”

 

“I’d appreciate that, Josh.”  Leo comments on how he views the future after this fiasco and with his new living arrangement, for the two couples, “Life’s too good for all of us here at the apartment right now.  I don’t want anything to rock the boat.”

 

With Leo sitting on the edge of the daybed, which is actually easier for Leo to sit on with the higher mattress, Josh proceeds to get the new wrap out of the package and it’s rolled to make it easier for him to wind around Leo’s ribs.

 

“OK, Leo, hold your elbows up and no complaining about how tight I get it.”

 

“Well, if I turn blue, Josh that probably means I can’t take a breath and you have it too tight.” 

 

‘Yeah, Leo, if your eyes start to bulge out I’ll take that as a clue.”

 

He starts at the top of Leo’s ribs and with Josh arms being longer than Abby’s and he can easily reach around Leo’s body to pass the roll from one hand to the other. He quickly has half done when he asks, “Is that about tight enough, Leo?”

 

“Yes, that feels pretty good.  Abby would be proud.  Go ahead and finish.”

 

Next Josh grabs Leo socks and gets them on.  ‘Well that takes care of the underneath layer.” 

 

“What’s next, Leo?” Josh is debating from the clothes laid out on the bed.

 

“The shirt, before the pants, Josh.”  Leo rolls his eyes and suspects that this might take a while.

 

Josh holds the shirt out for Leo to insert his left arm first and then swings it around behind Leo to help him get his better arm, back and into the sleeve. Josh has a look of immense concentration on his face, trying not to hurt Leo.

 

“Josh, this is not brain surgery.  It’s just like dressing a kid.   You’re in luck, at least I know ‘how’ to get dressed and I’m not trying to squirm away from you, like little kids do.”

 

‘You mean they don’t just stand there and let you put the clothes on them.  You’re kidding me?”

”No, I’m not.  Just about the time they learn to run, you get to chase them through the house to dress them.  Mallory would dash off and laugh the whole time.  It was a game with her.”

 

Josh looks at Leo like he has to be kidding.  He chooses to let his comment on Mallory pass. “Lets get your pants on.  Looks to me like Margaret already attached the suspenders for us.”  Josh crouches down hold the waistband.  “Step in Leo and I’ll pull them up.”

 

“You have to finish pulling on the legs Josh, before I try to stand.  You really don’t know how to dress a kid, do you?” 

 

“No, Leo, you’re my first kid.” Josh admits as he crouches down to pull the legs up.

 

“Just my luck and here I thought you were doing so well.”  Leo has to get a dig at Josh as he stands back up.

 

“Lets try it now, Leo.  Take my hand and I’ll pull up the pants with the other, till you get steady.” 

 

As Josh gets the pants to the waist, Leo slips his arms into the suspenders and slides them over his shoulders to keep the pants up. 

 

Josh starts to zip the pants and is having trouble. 

 

“Josh, you button them first and then zip them, just like you do your own.  It just seems backward to you.”  Leo rolls his eyes. 

 

“Not bad, Leo,” Josh smiles and looks at his handy work of dressing Leo and getting him ready for work. 

 

“Now that you have me almost ready for work, I may need a nap.  You two have worn me out getting me ready.  Grab my shoes and tie and we can put them on in the living room.  That’s one less time I’ll need to sit down. 

 

Leo starts slowly for the living room under his own steam, hanging onto the doorframe and the furniture with his right hand fingertips. 

 

Josh has him by the elbow for the longer stretch of area across the living room to the table and he helps Leo to sit in a chair.

 

Leo holds his side, but is pleased with the almost solo walk. 

 

Josh suggests, “Let me get your shoes on you, before you turn around to the table.”

 

“OK, I not moving for a few minutes anyway.” He pants out his reply.  ~I really am tired from the adventure of getting dressed, when you add in the two walks, to and from the guest room.~   Leo grins at Josh as he rises up from slipping on the dress loafers that Margaret had out for him to wear in the office today. “What’s for breakfast, Dad?” 

 

“Donna sent my ‘kid’ some muffins from the mess and Margaret gave me orders to have you eat one with your meds.”  Josh has him by the neck at the moment, tying Leo’s tie.

 

“Ok, Dad, as long as I get coffee with the muffin.” 

 

“Sure thing, Brat, I’ll bring your Aleve at the same time.” Josh is enjoying the new banter that they have developed for meeting Leo’s needs.

 

They grin at each other, now that they accomplished their mission of getting Leo dressed this morning.

 

“Thanks, Josh.”

 

Josh nods at Leo’s appreciation while he turns toward the kitchen to get Leo’s breakfast.

 

Leo turns his attention to the news on the TV, while Josh is banging around in the kitchen.  Leo doesn’t take his eyes off the TV as he calls a warning into Josh, “Hey, don’t break anything in ‘my’ kitchen.  I have plans for that kitchen, now and I don’t wanna spend my free time, fixing what you broke.”

 

“Hey, Leo.”  Josh scolds, “Today, I’m the dad and you’re the kid.  I get to yell at you, to not break anything.”

 

“OK, whatever, Dad.”  Leo plays along, “ If you break it, then the ‘Dad’ gets to fix it.”

 

Leo grins at the kitchen wondering how long Josh is gonna keep it up with the dad thing.  They both might get some mileage out of this.  

 

*****    

 

A short while later, Leo’s savoring his second mug of coffee and has finished his muffin and taken his morning Aleve. Josh remembered to give him an ice pack to hold on his ribs while they wait.  Soon, Margaret emerges from their bedroom, ready to go.  She steals a long sip of Leo’s coffee.  He smiles at the look of satisfaction on her face after she lowers his mug back to the tabletop.  “OK, guys.  We can leave now.  Josh if you’ll get Leo to his feet.  I’ll put his ice pack back in the freezer and grab both of our bags.”  She puts actions to words.  Leo was just finishing the last of the coffee in the mug and she removes it from his cupped hand.  He grins that he was able to get it finished while she was picking up his muffin plate and he was holding the ice pack out to her. 

 

Josh agrees, “Yeah, Leo, it seems Margaret’s awake now.”  He safely surrenders his coffee mug when she passes him, on her way to the kitchen.  Josh gets Leo on his feet.  Margaret meets them at the open door and they can see the agent talking into his mic to inform the driver that ‘Pilot’ is on his way.

 

*****    

Leo and Josh enter Leo’s office from the Oval office and deposit Leo on the couch. They did make a discrete pit stop to answer the President’s inquiry about Leo’s night.   Leo has found that sitting on the arm of the couch in the Oval Office makes it easier to get up from.  It’s the little things you notice when you’re hurting.  But it was a shorter walk from the car and he did make it farther into the room before sitting on the couch.  Needless to say, the President had been waiting for him in the Oval Office.  He was unhappy that he had a rough night and Margaret was having some trouble getting him out of bed.

 

Margaret has gone to get Leo another ice pack. Josh waits with Leo while she’s gone.  Staff meeting will wait till Leo calls for them. He needs to recuperate for a few minutes.  Josh has an idea he voices as Margaret returns, “Leo, I think that it might be better all around, if I stay over with you guys for a night or two, to help Margaret get you up at night.  I’m not happy with her risking her back and I know the President is not happy either.” He sees the indecision on their faces.  “The look the President had in there was that he thinks he let you leave the Residence too soon and he’s probably on the phone with Abby, as we speak.  So we need a solution to offer him.” Josh watches Leo and Margaret communicate with their eyes to each other and he sees a final decision of consent. 

 

“Yeah, Josh.  You’re right.  I do need your help for a night or two.  I don’t want Margaret to get hurt and I really appreciate your offer.” Leo holds the ice pack against his side. 

 

Josh grins, happy that he came up with a plan, “Hey, can Donna stay, too?  She can use the hot tub with me.  She’ll feel left out if she doesn’t stay, after all the movie nights.”

 

“Yeah, we’re happy to have the both of you anytime.  You know that.” Leo smiles at Josh’s pleased face. 

 

“I’ll go to my office now and get my staff notes and let her know the new plans.” Josh is smiling as he hurries out, full of plans for the evening.

 

Margaret looks at Leo, “You really think they’ll both get any rest sleeping in a twin size daybed.  Believe me, they’re not sleeping for two nights on the couch either.   I may need to go to the kitchen in the night and I’m not going to walk in on them, if you know what I mean.” She gives him a knowing look and he grins at her in understanding.  “Leo, there’s ‘breaking in the daybed’ and there’s ‘breaking the bed’.”

 

Leo is by now chuckling at her predictions. “ I’m sure you’ll think of a solution, Margaret.”

 

She gives him a pointed and thoughtful look.  She bends over him and reaches behind him. 

 

Leo is pleasantly shocked, “Margaret, this is no time for you to go roaming your hands over my body.”  She stops and looks him in the eye, like she can’t believe he just said that in the White House.  She doesn’t even grace that with a comment since he’s grinning like a Cheshire cat.  She continues to slide her hand behind him again and reaches into his hip pocket for his wallet.  She hands it to him and demands, “Get your credit card out, Leo.” Now, she ‘has’ shocked Leo.  He’s not complaining though and he trusts her completely.

 

He’s still grinning at her boldness to go digging into his pocket and at her asking for the credit card.  He flips his wallet open and with thumb and finger chooses a card from the selection lined up in the slots of the wallet.  He reflects while getting the card out and closing the wallet. ~She has never even once asked for it.  In fact she has refused it previously, when I offered it to her.~  “Here, Margaret.  There’s more if that won’t cover anything you want to buy.”  He smiles and has to ask, “Can you give me a hint at how my credit card will fix the problem of Josh and Donna ending up on the floor.”

 

“Sure, Leo.  First I’m putting in a call to this credit card company and you can tell them to add my name to this card.” That really has Leo’s eyebrows raised and she loves it. “I’m going to call the furniture store and get them to deliver a trundle bed to use with the daybed.”  At his look of confusion she explains, “You store it under the bed.  It’s another twin bed that pops up to the same level of the daybed and makes it a king bed.”  She pauses to think about something, “They'll need sheets to go with that size bed.  Maybe the store can bring them, if the price is good enough or they can use two twin sheets, till I can pick some up at the store.”

 

He teases, “So, they get a king size bed and we have a smaller one.  He considers how the new trundle bed works and exclaims, “ It will fill the whole back end of the guest room.”

 

She’s returning his wallet to his hip pocket and wiggles her fingers while they’re inside to tease him back. “Possibly Leo.  But it’ll miss hitting the chest of drawers.”  She logically knows it’ll fit. 

 

“Lord, with that size of a bed.  Josh may never want to go back to his place,” Leo lowers his voice, “Especially with Donna there to share it with him.”

 

“Leo, enough with the visual,” she lowers her voice now, “and the size of ‘our’ bed is just fine to cuddle in.” She steals a quick kiss and waves his credit card at him.  Teasing him in a way that any member of the Sisterhood would, with their guy’s credit card, on her way out.

 

He would never fear of Margaret and his money.  He would like to do more and he’ll work on that more on another day.  He smiles at her referring to the bed as ‘our bed’ and calls out to her retreating back.  “Enough with the mental visual, Margaret.  I have staff soon.”

 

*****    

 

Later in the morning, Leo and Josh are in Leo’s office, each of them trying to read their way through a stack of files that Margaret brought in for them to scan.  Josh is at the table and lost in thought, his back is to Leo who’s on the couch with a stack of files sitting near by on the coffee table. The door to the Oval Office quietly opens and the President sticks his head in and looks around to see if Leo’s napping.  Leo smiles and he decides to have some fun with Josh and signals the President, by placing a finger to his lips, to be quiet and sit down.  His best friend is game for some fun.

 

Leo uses a whiny singsong tone of voice, “Oh, Dad, my shoe needs to be tied.”

 

Josh replies in a monotone voice, “Your wearing loafers, Leo.” without looking up from the report.

 

“But, Dad, my tie is too tight,” Leo tries whining about another problem.

 

“Yank on it, Leo.”  Josh still doesn’t look at Leo.  He knows Leo’s trying to interrupt his train of thought and he ‘not’ rising to the bait.

 

“Dad, can I have something to drink?” Leo is trying not to let his merriment be heard in his voice.  

 

“In a minute, Leo.”  He refuses to stop till he gets to the end of this report.

 

“Dad, are we there yet?” Leo’s sure that one will get a response from Josh.

 

“Leo, I’m trying to read.”  He has a slightly warning tone to his voice and he still continues to read. 

 

“Please, Dad.” Leo really whines with that one.

 

 

“You just read your reports quietly, Leo.”  He makes it sound like something any parent would tell their child, to get a few more minutes of peace.  Josh then hears two male voices start to chuckle behind him.

 

Josh turns to see the President’s sitting beside Leo and they both are red faced with the effort of restraining their laughter.  Josh drops his head to the tabletop.  He knows he has been ‘so’ had, by the two best friends.

 

*****   

 

Tuesday after lunch, the Physiotherapist visits Leo’s office to evaluate him and advise a plan to help him recover sooner.  Margaret shows her into Leo’s office.  Leo swings his feet to the floor, trying to hide the effort it took.

 

“Mr. McGarry, I’m Lisa Patton.  I’m here to see what we can plan out for your therapy sessions.”

 

“Glad to meet you, Lisa.  I’d shake hands, but I’ll need to save that for when I’m more recovered.” Leo tries to sit straighter with her in the room.  He knows better than to try and stand.

 

“Not a problem, Mr. McGarry.  A lot of my clients have that problem.”  Lisa gives him a sad but knowing smile, “After I’m done with their first session.  They don’t want to anyway.” 

 

“It’s Leo, Lisa, and that doesn’t sound like a promising forecast for your visit today.” Leo is hoping that she’s teasing, but the look on her face is not promising.  

 

“It’s a sad fact, Leo, that after I assess what you can do and what you need to work on, you’ll be glad to see me leave today.” Lisa is pulling out a clipboard, a small, hinged ruler and a stethoscope.  “Leo, I’ll need to have your shirt off to see the extent of your injuries and what we’re dealing with.  You can stay seated.”

 

Leo wants to get it over with, “Let’s get started then.”  Abby arrives just as Lisa is ready to start and the introductions are made.  Abby informs Lisa of the preventive treatment that Leo has been using for the first two days to minimize the damage. Margaret sits beside Leo on the couch to help him out of his shirt and to get the wrap off his ribs so Lisa can assess him.  She moves back, to place his clothing on the back of a chair, when Leo is finally bare chested.

 

Lisa inspects the area of his major bruising and has Leo raise his arms to gage his range of motion, using her ruler to record the angle.  She examines how well he can flex and straighten his hands and fingers.  Lisa finally has him to as breath as deeply as he can and to assess the pain level that he has.  The worst was when she needed him to cough, to see if he had been exhaling properly.

 

Josh shows up to see what the therapist is finding and recommending to Leo.

“Hi, I’m Josh Lyman,” Josh extends his hand to shake.

 

Lisa smiles and takes his hand, “Hello, I’m Lisa.”  She turns back to Leo, “Is it alright to speak about your treatment with Mr. Lyman here?”

 

“Yeah, it’s fine.   Josh is one of my caregivers this week,” he informs Lisa.  He smiles at Josh for a dig, “Hi, Dad.” 

 

“Well, Leo, here are some of the items you need to include in your sessions.  You definitely need to do the deep breathing and the coughing exercises that I showed you.  You can hold a pillow to your middle when you cough.  They need to be done several times a day and you can do that here in the office, as often as you think you can do it.  It will help to prevent fluids from settling in your lungs and developing pneumonia.”  She glances at Abby, “Your suspicions are correct.  He has diminished air entry to the lower parts of both lungs but definitely more pronounced in the left lower lobe.”  She looks back at Leo, “I’d be happier if there had been an x-ray done, but since it's not going to be done, we'll just have to deal with this situation, using experience and others clues.”  She gives him a pointed look and he doesn’t flinch at her mild scold. “Now, Leo, for your range of motion, you can begin to raise your arms to the sides and to the front, within a few days you can use a small weight.  Whatever you find handy.  A can of soup will work.  Do reps of 10 each, increase the range as you can comfortably endure.  As the recovery time lengthens you will add more reps and increase the weight. These can also be done here in your office, a couple times a day.  At home in the evenings, for your hand exercises, you can warm them first with warm water or dipped them in warm wax.” 

 

Leo looks at her strange. “Dip my hands in what?”  Margaret smiles in anticipation.

 

Lisa smiles, the male clients are usually thrown by this new treatment. “I can tell by your face, the wax has you stumped.  It’s a new therapy.  Women use it to for their hands at the spas.  You can wear disposable gloves and dip your hands into the warm wax. Do several dips to coat the hands, it holds in the warmth longer. When the wax cools on your hands, the wax will peel off of the gloves and you put it back into the melting machine for the next session.” He still looks skeptically at her.  He notes the happy look on Margaret’s face and can tell that he’s going to be finding out real soon.  Lisa continues with the instructions when she sees the exchanged look, “After your hands are warm you then practice flexing the whole hand into a fist and then curling and straightening the individual fingers.  When they are limbered some, you can start practicing picking items up with your fingers.  First, some larger items like eating utensils, which would be helpful, and progress up to coins.” She looks at Leo and smiles voicing an idea that’s new to most men, “Someone could massage your hands and fingers with warm lotion or oil, to help with the stiffness as well.”

 

Margaret volunteers, “That can be my job in helping with his recovery.”  She has been taking notes of what Leo needs to include in his daily schedule.

 

Abby asks, “What might Leo be able to do with exercising in water?  We have an indoor pool here at the White House.  I hear it’s wonderful therapy for rib injuries.” 

 

Lisa’s pleased that the First Lady is up on the newer treatments, “It really does speed up the healing and recovery process. They usually start with holding a kick board under them and kicking gently and progress up to extending the arms out and kicking harder.” Abby is listening with real interest.  Margaret can be seen over Lisa’s shoulder, still taking notes.  Lisa continues to explain the next stage, “When they can finally use their arms for swimming, they move up to short laps and then finally to longer laps. Someone needs to supervise them in water.  First they help to hold the board steady and later to be there, if they get over tired or cramp up.”   Lisa looks seriously at the people in the room and warns,  “He’s never to go in the water alone until he’s fully recovered.” 

 

Leo’s shaking his head, “I’m not gonna exercise in the White House pool, looking like a rainbow and a little kid learning to swim.  I have to reserve some measure of dignity in front of the rest of the White House employees.  Remember, we’re not letting it be common knowledge that I was injured. So you need to keep this under your hat, Lisa.”

 

“No problem, Leo.  It falls under the Patient Privacy Act,” Lisa assures him.

 

Not looking at Leo, Josh reveals to Lisa, “You may not know this, but Leo has a hot tub and pool available to him, at the apartment building.  He would have more privacy there.  If he’s willing, I can supervise him in the pool.  I’m happy to help, especially if I get to enjoy the hot tub as well.”

 

Lisa eyes light up, “Holding out on me, Leo?  That would be a great combination.  Leo could first go to the hot tub and warm up his ribs and do his hand exercises, go to the pool and do what he can and then return to the hot tub to warm his muscles back up after the cooler water of the pool.” 

 

“Joshua, you’d sell your mother to get to use that hot tub on a regular basis.” Leo gives him a scowling look, but is not really mad at Josh.  He has his own reasons for wanting to speed the healing process.  He looks at Margaret and she’s smiling back at him.  They are so good at communicating with their eyes.

 

Abby makes the decision for Leo, “ Well, Josh, looks like you have a new job.  You can escort Leo to the pool each evening.  I’ll let Jed know the good news, but he’ll be so disappointed that he couldn’t be the one to help Leo in the White House pool.” She smiles at Leo, knowing she has just pinned him into a corner, with her underhanded threat.

 

Leo gives in, “It’s a plan then, Josh.  Margaret can get with Donna and schedule us out of the White House, in time for us to do my water exercises.”  He looks at Abby with a sarcastic smile.  While they continue to talk, Lisa watches with a smile on her face, while Leo gets rewrapped and redressed by Josh, Abbey and Margaret.  She can tell that he isn't about to get away with anything and that he’s indeed in good hands, as the team works on him.  Lisa then concludes the session, “Leo, it sounds like you have your sessions all worked out and a great support team in place. I’ll be back on Friday to check your progress.”  She’s sliding her clipboard into her case, in preparation to leaving. 

 

Leo has one last question, “Lisa, do I take my pain meds before I go to exercise, to ease the pain?”

 

“No, Leo, you take them afterwards.”  She gives him the valid reason, “The pain during the exercises keeps you from overdoing.  It’s your body’s way of protecting you.  So, listen to the pain and use common sense for how much you can do each day.  Try to improve each day, but don’t overdue it and have a set back.”

 

“Thanks, Lisa, for your help.  Maybe I can shake hands with you on Friday,” Leo hopefully predicts.

 

*****    

 

With Lisa gone, Leo looks at the three people remaining, “Seems kinda funny that you all arrived when Lisa was here,” he growls in mock anger.  They aren’t buying it, as they all three look cheerfully guilty.  He adds, “You weren’t happy with the amount of torture that you have inflected on me so far.  You now get to continue the fun.”  

 

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world, Leo.” Josh happily assures him, “We’re here for you anytime.”

 

“You’re killing me with kindness, again.”  Leo leans his head back on the couch and closes his eyes.

 

The others slip out and make their escape.  Margaret is going for an ice pack and to order Leo a wax system on his credit card.  Josh’s hurrying to tell Donna all about Leo therapy sessions and his good news to help.  Abby’s circling to the Oval Office to inform Jed that she’s pleased with the therapy schedule set up for Leo and to let him down gently that he doesn’t get to help Leo in the pool.

 

*****   

 

At home that evening, after Leo is again forced out of his office at an unheard of early hour, Margaret decides it’s a good time for them to start to unpack his things from the hotel.  She has helped him change clothes and has left Leo sitting in the computer chair, while she changes her into her own soft clothes.  Josh and Donna are coming over later to take Leo down to exercise. 

 

Leo watches as Margaret’s looking under the day bed at the new trundle bed that was delivered today.  She figures that Josh and Donna can figure out how to operate it themselves.  She’s leaving a second twin sheet out for them to use. She looks up and notices Leo intently watching her.  “Figuring out how to set it up can be their problem tonight.  If we hear a crash in the night, we can assume that Josh didn’t read the instructions.” She grins knowingly at Leo. ~Like Josh would read any instructions.~

 

Leo grins back, but figures he better keep this neutral for the time being, “Margaret, when I talked to Mallory this afternoon, she mentioned bringing over some of my things that she has stored at her place.”

 

Margaret is opening a large suitcase on top of the daybed and transferring the clothes to the chest of drawers. 

 

“I take it she approves of you staying here,” Margaret asks without any worry in her voice. She knows Mallory has been fine with the idea of them seeing each other.

 

Leo’s looking into a box on the computer stand, but he can’t do too much with it, to help unload it. “Yeah, I was honest with her about us.  She knows where I slept last night.  She approves of us and she’s definitely happy that I’m out of the hotel.  I think that’s why she’s rushing my stuff over.  To keep me here.”

 

“What kind of stuff does she have of yours?” Margaret knows it can’t be large items.  Mallory’s apartment is not much bigger than this.

 

 

“It’s entertainment things, like books, CD’s, DVD’s and videos.  It’s things that I didn’t have room for or need at the hotel.”  Leo adds with reluctance, “I left the larger electronic equipment at the house.” 

 

Margaret crosses to the closet with an assortment of shoes from the box on the floor. She lines them up in pairs, for easy access. “That’s good that she stored it for you.” She next starts to unpack the suit bags.  She lines up the suit jackets and pants at one end, with his sports coats and casual pants to the other. His shirts are in the same order, in the middle.  He ‘really’ has a variety of suits. 

 

Margaret starts to lay out the items in the box he has been reviewing.  She puts part of the items on the computer stand and heads to the living room with some of his books and CD’s.  She opens a box on the floor by the door and gives Leo a dirty look.

 

“What’s with the look, Margaret?  I didn’t have anything at the hotel that should warrant that look.”

 

“Leo, it’s porn.” Margaret has the sound of disgust in her voice.

 

”No, I definitely did ‘not’ have porn items in my hotel room,” Leo flatly denies.

 

Margaret reaches into the box and hides her smiling face with her draping hair.  She pulls out a video.  “Leo, it’s your porn cooking show tapes.”

 

“Woman!” Leo tries to bellow, but does a weak imitation.  “It’s not porn!”

 

“Leo, I just couldn’t resist.”  She moves over to the chair and rests her hands on the arms and kisses him as an apology.  “Am I forgiven for besmirching her good reputation?” 

 

“Only if I get more kisses.” Leo suggests, “We could move to the daybed and neck awhile?”  She smiles and wheels the chair over to the bed.  Leo grabs the bedrail and Margaret helps on his other side and he swings his hips around to the high mattress, with only a little struggle.   He smiles and lets her help him to lie back on the bed. She grins and climbs over his legs to fit in behind him.  They both chuckle at the lengths that they go to, for a little extra necking time.  It’s a nice way to pass the time while waiting for Josh and Donna to arrive.

 

After a full hour kissing, stroking and murmuring endearments, Margaret can tell that Leo needs some cooling off time or ‘they’ might be the ones to break in the new daybed. “Leo, we need a breather and the others will be getting here anytime.”

“You’re right, Margaret.  I’m about as worked up as I can handle in my sorry state.” 

 

“I can tell the worked up part, Leo.” Margaret smiles and notices the tightness to the front of his jeans.

 

He looks at her flushed face and scans her, noting the disarray of her shirt and hair. “You aren’t hiding any secrets yourself, Margaret.”  He takes his hand and tries to brush the hair away from her eyes and steals one last kiss, on her kiss-swollen lips. 

 

“Yeah, I better slip into the bathroom and straighten up.  You just lie here to catch your breath and think of boring things, like stuff from work.  That should dampen your ardor.”

 

“Thanks, Margaret, use work to an advantage here,” he chuckles as she climbs back out over his legs. He closes his eyes and works at getting his breathing back to normal.  He can’t wait till he’s recovered.  He decides to review how he’s gonna approach discussing a new plan of finances, now that he’s moved in.

 

Margaret returns and sits in the computer chair and props her feet on the edge of the bed, by Leo hips.  “Well, your breathing seems better, Leo, and I have myself back to presentable.  It’s almost sinful to be home this early in the evening.”

 

“I know,” Leo agrees as he gently rolls himself over on his side to look at her, while still lying on the bed. “ I feel like I’m playing hooky and the President will call any minute and tear into me for leaving the office early.  But then I recall that he threw us out.  I think he and Josh are trying to work me out of a job.  Josh has stepped in and come into his element with running so much of both jobs.  He’s doing at least half of my job and Donna is taking up the slack in his schedule. Tomorrow we should call down about getting some help up from the temp pool, to help Donna and you with the phones or filing.  You’re still doing your job and taking care of me.  Everyone’s paying a price for what was done to me.”

 

“We’re happy to do it for you.”  Margaret wiggles her toes playfully against the side of his jeans, “Josh is getting a chance to spread his wings and Donna is gaining more confidence by handling some of Josh’s workload.  I’m just happy to have you here.”

 

“Margaret, speaking of me being here.” Leo reaches down to stroke the top of her foot against his side. “You’re gonna be unhappy with me, but we need to discuss some domestic arrangement details.”

 

She narrows her eyes to slits, looking at him pointedly, since he has warned her ahead, “What kind of details, Leo?  You better not mean sleeping arrangements, because you’re not sleeping in here.”

 

“No way am I sleeping anywhere, but with you, unless you throw me out of your bed.”  He looks questionably at her and she gives him a  ‘that’s a dumb question’ look. “I meant, Margaret, that I need to cover my share of the apartment,” he holds up a still colorful hand.  

 

She can’t resist but to grab a hold of it and caress the damaged knuckles with her fingers. “It’s our bed, Leo.”

 

 He eases in the discussion, by leaving the financial part till last, “ I mean, not only financial, but with the workload around here.   With the two of us living here and with the hours we keep at work, time here will be in short supply.  After I’m well, I expect to do my part.” 

 

“OK, Leo. I can compromise with the workload.  I know you wanna do the cooking, so you can be in charge of the kitchen.”  She quickly adds, “We can both keep our own bathrooms clean.”

 

“Do take note, Margaret, that I will work on you about me getting someone in, once a week for a couple of hours, to do the heavy cleaning.” She gives him a dark look and before she can refuse, he gives her the best reason that she can’t argue with.  “Margaret, we’ll have so little free time to relax here in the apartment that I do not plan on us spending it by you pushing around a sweeper and me scrubbing a toilet.”

 

Even Margaret can’t see Leo scrubbing the bottom of the toilet, “I’ll compromise and let you have someone do just the heavy cleaning.  You’re right we don’t want to use all our free time scrubbing.”

 

“OK, I agree, you’re best at planning, so continue.” Leo hopes this occupies her mind away from the money details for now.

 

“All right then, since you’re agreeable, so far.  I’ll keep our bedroom clean and tidy and you keep this one clean.” She gives her logical reasoning, “Your computer and clothes are in here.” 

 

“OK, anything else?” Leo’s pleased with her being so agreeable.  He thought she would fight him.  But he’s realistic.  He’s not living in a hotel now with maid service. 

 

“Yeah, Leo, with you in charge of the kitchen, I’ll keep the living room and foyer clean.  You’re doing the cooking, so I’ll do the laundry.” She waits to see if he’s protesting yet. “I do reserve the right to help in the kitchen, when allowed.  After this whole mess is over, I can do the main shopping at my lunchtimes.  That’s what Donna and I have been doing.”

 

“OK, with one condition,” Leo knows she might bulk at this, “I pay for all the groceries and I do not mean for you to start buying generic brands.  I have to cook with it and I want quality.” 

 

“Leo, you should only pay for half of the groceries,” she protests, crossing her arms across her middle. 

 

‘No, I’m buying all the food.”  Leo’s not budging on this point, “You’ve seen what Josh can eat and I certainly can afford to feed him.  I’ve been buying most of what we eat as it is.  You drink coffee in the morning and a muffin at work and you’re lucky to get home to sleep, let alone eat here.  On the weekends, I buy what food I’ve been cooking.”

 

She looks at him and he can imagine the thought process going on in her head.

She’s quietly thinking.  She can’t find a flaw in his reasoning.  “OK, I surrender.  You buy the groceries.  But, I will still look for quality items on sale.”

 

He grins at her, “Deal, Margaret.  Now, you can keep the credit card for groceries and any other of the things that we need.”  He’s finally won the battle, of getting her to let him give her a credit card.

 

Margaret looks at him pointedly, “Now, do you wanna talk about financial details?”

 

“Maybe, we can wait until the first of the month to discuss it,” Leo retreats on the issue.  He’s won one battle today and that’s probably his limit.  He has plans to help more financially, than she’ll tolerate, but he’ll wait till another day for that battle.

 

“Smart answer, Leo,” she gives him a firm look. The battle is not over.

 

*****     

Shortly, Josh and Donna arrive at the apartment after they did a quick swing by their individual apartments to pack bags for the possible two-night stay at Margaret and Leo’s.  

 

“Greetings one and all, we have arrived,” Josh loves a grand entrance and with family he’s impossible.  He sees Margaret coming out of the guestroom. “Hey, Margaret, where do you want us to stow our gear?”

 

“Here in the guest room, Josh.”  Margaret rolls her eyes at Josh’s happy mood. “Leo’s sitting on the bed, now.  I have most of his things unpacked.”

 

Margaret takes Donna by the arm and they follow Josh into the room.  “Donna, let me warn you the bathroom arrangements are gonna be weird with taking care of Leo.”  Donna gives her a strange look, but is looking agreeable as well. “Here’s a run down of this morning’s routine.”  Margaret takes a deep breath, “ I have Leo sleeping in with me.” Margaret points to her room.  Donna nods her head. “After Josh gets him up, he showers in my bathroom and then Josh comes back and takes him to the guy’s bathroom to shave and then get him dressed.”  Margaret points to the nearby bathroom. “You’ll have to plan your shower and dressing around that.”  Margaret now points to her room again, “You’re welcome to use mine with me when Josh has Leo in the guy’s bathroom.”

 

Donna breaks out laughing at Margaret arm gestures.  “Margaret, you’re gonna get yourself confused, let alone me.  I’ll make it simple.  I’ll shower in here, while Leo’s showering in your bathroom.  Then, I’ll trade and finish my hair and makeup with you.  After Leo’s dressed, I’ll come back in here to get dressed.” She looks at Margaret’s stunned face. “I’ll just do the opposite of Leo.”  They others in the room look at her in amazement that she got it straight the first time.  She laughs in delight, “Josh can get up and have the first shower before anyone.”

 

Josh falls into the computer chair and moans when he hears he has first shower, “Leo, she’s gonna make our bathroom smell all girly.” Donna and Margaret just grin at him.  Revenge can be sweet.  Sweet smelling that is.

 

Leo’s watching the exchange with amusement, “Josh, I take first shower on the other side and I don’t complain,” Leo smiles at Margaret and Josh brightens up at Leo’s hint.

 

Margaret decides this is a good time to let the visiting couple in on the other fun they get to have, “The new trundle bed for the daybed arrived today.”  She scowls at Leo, “He paid extra for same day delivery.  The agent came over to check the delivery guys out and he let them in”

 

“Might as well take advantage of them,” Leo growls from the bed.

 

Margaret continues to Donna, “The instructions are here on the dresser, but it should just pull out and pop up.”

 

“Josh, do make sure it locks in place.”  Leo warns with a grin, “We’re not coming over to rescue you, if it folds down on you in the night.”

 

“Leo, you’ve said enough.” She glares at him with her back to Josh and Donna.  “Come on, Leo.  It’s time for us to get changed for the hot tub.  I’ll help you.”

 

Leo has a smile on his colorful face, “That just might make it worth the pain of the exercises, Margaret.”  She blushes slightly and helps him to stand with the help of the high mattress.

 

“Josh, could you hand me his swimwear out of the bathroom,” she looks him in the eye with a dare to add something cute to Leo’s remark.  She lets go of Leo long enough to grab his flip flops from the closet.

 

“Sure, Margaret, anything to hurry us down to the hot tub,” he grins and quickly returns with the trunks.  

 

Margaret smiles her thanks to him and looks at Donna,  “You need to run over and get your suit from my bathroom.  You’ll have to rough it in the guy’s bathroom tonight.”

 

“I’ll manage with Josh,” Donna assures her.  “He’s so in love with that hot tub, he’ll be ready before any of us.”  She looks at Josh in the chair.  He has already toed off his shoes and unbuttoned his dress shirt.  His tie has been hanging undone since he climbed into the car.  “One of these days, I need to time him.  It has to be a record of some kind.”

 

“Leo has the record, Donna.”  Margaret grins at Leo’s side-glance and grin. “He disappears and the next moment he’s back and changed already.  He says he learned it in the service, but I think it’s a male thing. They just like to strip in a hurry, if you know what I mean.” 

 

“Margaret, you’ve said enough,” Leo growls at her, trying not to laugh at the same time. 

 

Josh is now standing to pull his shirt out of his waistband and whips it off and tosses it onto the bed.  He’s starting to peel off his t-shirt.

 

Margaret knows better than to stay and see if Josh is serious in undressing with everyone there.  He considers them family.  “We’d better leave now, Leo, or Josh is gonna give us a peep show.  We know he’s not shy.”  Margaret guides Leo out and Donna slips out with them, she shuts the door with a grin.  Josh is grinning at her shutting the door and drops his pants.

 

*****    

 

 Over at Margaret’s bedroom, Leo’s sitting on the edge of the bed.  Margaret follows Donna back out of the bathroom with a bath towel.  He waits for Donna to shut the door on her way out.  “Margaret, a towel?  You’re no fun.”

 

“Leo, you’re incorrigible,” she walks over and helps him get his shirt off his good side first and then unwraps his ribs. He gently rubs the newly exposed skin.  Margaret hates to interrupt his pleasure, “You need to stand-up, now.”  She helps his to rise, against Abby orders, but he’s able to help some today.

 

“Sure, Margaret.  Ya know, I’m gonna have a hard time getting myself undressed in the future,” Leo says this with a sad and serious tone.

 

Margaret looks at him with concern, “Why, Leo?”

 

“I just love you undressing me and it’ll be hard to do it myself, later.” Leo has his crooked smile on. 

 

“Leo,” she scolds.  She looks at the smile on his face, “We’ll just have to save it for fun.”  She kisses that smile she loves so much. She can’t resist.

 

She unzips his jeans and slides them down his legs.  He puts his fingertips on her shoulders to balance as he slips his bare feet out of the legs. She holds up the pants and comments with a grin, “I do love you in tight jeans, Leo.”  She’s pointing out that the jeans stay rounded out, in the shape of Leo’s body when you hold them up.  She may not fold them up.  Just hang them on a hook inside the bathroom door to admire his rear, whether he’s in them or not. 

 

“Ah, Margaret.”  He says in his low sexy voice, “The real thing is over here, if we can get on with the undressing.” 

 

“Sure, Leo.” She answers in a teasing tone of voice, “You turn around and I’ll hold the towel.”

 

“Damn, I though you might forget there for a moment and then have to return the favor.” He sounds truly disappointed.

 

“Dream on, Leo,” is her sassy reply as he turns his back to her and she helps him to step into the swim trunks.

 

“Yes, now I do.”  He looks around at her. “Every night with you in my arms, Margaret.” They do their ‘drop the towel’ routine.

 

He gets a tattoo kiss and a snap of the waistband for his last two remarks.

 

*****    

 

The agent precedes Leo out of the elevator and sweeps the foyer between the elevators and door to the hot tub room.  He then quickly crosses to the door and opens it to check for occupants in the room.  Finding it empty, he nods to Leo that it’s safe for him to enter.   The agent takes up a post outside the door, as it is the only entrance.

 

At the hot tub, Leo is panting a little and rests on the bench along the wall before climbing into the hot tub.  The girls get in and Josh waits with Leo for a few minutes.  Leo knows Josh is making a real sacrifice here, with the warm water just a few feet away.  He relents, “ OK, Josh, I think I can get in now, if you help.”  Josh gets behind Leo and holds him under the arms and helps him down the stairs with the girls on each side of Leo to balance him as he steps down.  “Oh my God, Josh, you’re right this is the best thing this side of Heaven.”  The warm water soothes Leo sore muscles better than Jed’s spa tub.  He can stretch out in the hot tub.  “Do we really have to go to the pool?” He closes his eyes at the sound of the others laughing at his enjoyment. 

 

“Just what we needed, Donna, another male in love with the hot tub,” Margaret teases him.

 

“Margaret, move over here next to me,” Leo commands with a sexy tone in his voice.

 

She slides in next to him, “Why Leo?  What do you need?”

 

“I’m sleeping here tonight and I can’t sleep without you beside me,” Leo states with his eyes closed and then opens one eye to glance at her reaction. 

 

“Ahhh.  That’s sweet, you two,” Donna remarks softly. 

 

Josh slides closer to Donna, “I’m willing to sleep here with you, any night.”

 

Margaret snorts and points out, “Josh, you’ve been looking for an excuse to camp out in this tub since you first tried it.”  She kisses Leo’s temple, “Leo, it is so sweet that you need me beside you to sleep, but we’d drown in here before the night was over.” She looks with delight a Leo’s crest fallen face and gives him another kiss to apologize for bursting his bubble.  “Yes, you are going to the pool, so don’t get too comfortable.  You need to start your hand exercises, under the warm water, anyway.”

 

“Yes, Baby.  I know.   We’re here for a reason.”  Leo grins to himself and risks a tease, “Come closer, Baby, so I can grope you for my exercises.”

 

“Leo,” Margaret exclaims and has a shocked look on her face. “You want more bruises added to your body,” she threatens and blushes nicely. 

 

Leo’s sitting straightened up now and laughing at her outburst.  Josh is dying laughing on his side of the tub.  Donna gives him a whack on a wet shoulder for his going along with Leo’s comment. 

 

Josh pipes up, “All right, Leo!  Margaret, you walked right into that one.” 

 

Margaret smiles at herself and the teasing.  “Yeah, I did.  So, for punishment you two can leave for the pool, now.  We’ll walk over with you, this first time, to see if you need help getting him in the pool.” 

 

“I’d rather you did, Margaret, since the agent goes with me,” Leo hates to remind her that he worries about her safety.

 

Poolside they find some other residents at the deep end, but luckily no one is using the shallow end.  The agent might be a helpful factor in clearing this end of the pool.  The residents feel that they are helping by keeping clear.  Josh steadies Leo down the steps and Leo sucks in air.  “Damn, Josh this water feels like ice water after the hot tub.” 

 

“Tell me about it, Leo.  I’m right behind you.”  Josh shivers and adds, “I have goose bumps all over, so do you.”   

 

The women are comfortable watching from the bench in their terry robes.  

 

“Hey, Margaret, hand us a kick board that’s leaning against the wall,” Josh asks as he spots them over by her. 

 

“Sure, hang on.”  She walks over to the corner where the boards are stacked.

 

While he waits on her, Josh glances up at the agent at the side of the pool.  He really looks out of place in his black suit, in here, but Josh is not going to mention that.  The man carries a gun.

 

“Josh, I need you to do something for me when she gets over here. Since I’m unable to,” Leo doesn’t take his eyes off Margaret walking over to pick up the board.

 

“Ok, I’d do anything for you.  What, Leo?” He quickly add, “Just keep in mind, I’m not groping her for you.” Josh teases and Leo hangs his head and then glances at Josh, with no comment.  Josh looks at him honestly, “They’d both kill me.”

 

“Me, too, Sport!”  Leo grins at him, “But good to know.”

 

“So what? She’s on the way here,” Josh asks in a hurry. 

 

“Splash that warm smirk off her face.  Just a small splash.”  Leo shivers and smiles, “It’s so tempting with us in here freezing and I can’t get my arms to do it.”

 

“She’ll kill me, but I’ll be behind you,” Josh agrees and rationalizes his safety.

 

“Nah, she won’t come in here.”  Leo’s sounding confident, “She knows how cold it is for us, so she won’t risk it.  She’s too cold natured.”

 

 “Here guys,” she tosses the board in to them.

 

**splash**

 

She jumps back and misses most of the splash, just her legs get wet. “Joshua, if that water wasn’t so cold.”

 

“Don’t blame me, that’s from Leo,” Josh cheerfully passes the blame.  

 

“Thanks a lot, Leo,” she scolds, but grins at the two men with goofy looks on their faces.  “Getting your henchman to do your dirty work.”

 

“He always does,” Leo admits.  “He’s so good at it.” 

 

Leo gently grabs the board, bending his arms to rest on it.  Josh takes the front of it to steady it. 

 

“OK, Leo, let’s get this over with and get back into the hot tub,” Josh gives him an excellent incentive. 

 

“OH, God,” Leo moans as he tries to lift his legs up and put his weight onto the board.  “This is harder than I imagined it would be.  I really will have to practice getting my arms up higher in the hot tub.  This is painful.”  Leo kicks three reps of two minutes of gentle kicking sessions.  “That’s all I can do or you’re going to have to pull me out of the water.  Let me rest a minute on the steps.”

 

Josh guides him over to set him down.  While Leo catches his breath, Josh walks over to the side.  He splashes water on Donna’s Legs with a grin. “Hey, Donnatella.  How’s the water.” 

 

“Josh, that’s not funny,” Donna scowls at him and wipes the water from her legs.

 

“You should be in here.  I’m freezing.”   He gets serious, “I may need you girls to help me get him out.  He’s hurting pretty bad right now.”  He looks at Leo resting with his left arm tucked into his injured ribs.  “He’s not going to admit how much pain he’s in.  Just bring the towels and robes over to look helpful and be there if I need you.” 

 

“Hey, Leo.  Let’s get to the hot tub before we both freeze.  I can feel that warm water already,” Josh is ready to get them both out of the cool water if he has to carry Leo on his back.  The hot tub is calling him.  He signals to the agent that they are preparing to change locations.

 

They manage between the three to them to get Leo out and his robe over his shoulders.  The hot tub becomes a quest for Leo at this point and he moves faster than expected.  He’s panting by the time he’s sitting again in the hot tub.

 

“Margaret, I’m not kidding.  I’m not moving from here tonight.  I’ll just go to work wrinkled, “ he jokes seriously in a raspy voice from the effort. 

 

*****    

 

Back in the apartment, Margaret gets Leo into his lounge pants and leaves him lying side ways across the bed to rest while she changes.  She returns shortly, “Leo, you wanna rest on the couch, while we get dinner ready?” 

 

“Yeah, that sounds good.   Margaret, I wanna leave the wrap off till bedtime.  My skin feels a little damp.  I want the skin to get good and dry before you rewrap it. ”  He raises his head a little to look at her.  “I’d like to sit at your end of the couch and then with the pass thru window open, I can keep an eye on you guys in my kitchen.”

 

“Oh, Leo, you and your kitchen.”  She smiles and leans over him to kiss him quickly, his hands instinctively touch her waist.  She pulls away and smiles at the disappointed look on his face.  “Let me get Josh in here, to get you to the couch.  Donna and I will see what’s available in the kitchen.  I’m not eating delivery again tonight.”

 

Josh helps Leo to the couch and to get his feet up.  Leo is more tired than he thought he would be, but Margaret made sure he did his hot tub exercises before they got out.  He rolls over on his good right side a little to face the TV easier.  They have CNN on, of course. 

 

Josh leans forward to look closer at Leo ribs, “Man, Leo, with your wrap off, I can really see all the colors of the rainbow on your whole side.” 

 

“Yeah, Josh.  Maybe more colors than a rainbow.  Leo grins and slightly raises his left arm to view his side under it, “Technicolor.  I don’t do things half way, it seems.”

 

Donna stops in front of the coffee table and sets down a glass of soda for Leo.  She moves around the end to sit down where she can see his side.  “Wow, Josh is right, Leo. You ‘are’ every color.”  She gently reaches out to stroke the bruised area, brushing it in sympathy.  He catches her hand as it nears his and squeezes it in thanks. 

 

“Yeah, Donna.  It’s going to get some nasty shades as it gets better and fades away.  You two will be begging me to wear a shirt.”  

 

She studies his face that is so close to hers, now.  “The swelling to your face looks almost gone, but you’re showing some great colors there as well.”

 

The doorbell rings and Donna rises to see if Margaret wants her to get it.  Margaret is busy at the moment, “ Donna, go ahead and answer it, the agent has cleared them before they rang the bell, I’m sure.”

 

“OK.” Donna swings the door open and her face lights up at the visitors. 

 

Mallory and Sam step in and are carrying boxes with them.  Mallory sees her father on the couch and hands her box to Donna.  “OH, Daddy.  You look terrible.  No wonder you didn’t want me to see you till now.”

 

He gives her a kiss as she leans down and cups his face. “Yeah, you’re right, Baby, but it’s getting better now.”

 

Mallory looks at the others in the room and Margaret assures her, “It’s really better, Mallory.  He’s just really tired now.  We just got back from his therapy session in the hot tub and the pool.” 

 

Mallory sits on the coffee table where Donna had just been sitting.  She takes inventory of his injuries, “Damn, Daddy.  Is there any part of you not bruised?”  She takes his hand in hers and rubs the palm. 

 

He chuckles at his daughter sounding like himself, “Well you found one spot and I think the soles of my feet.   I’m told at even my butt has a bruise.”

 

After Sam puts his box with the one Donna sets in the guest room, he pulls a dining chair over to where he can see the others on the couch.  He looks a little pale at the site of Leo’s bruised body.   Not only has he never seen Leo this casual and in a home atmosphere, but he can see the exhaustion and pain on Leo’s face.  It's like Leo's a stranger here in front of him, but he can see some familiar features that reminds him of someone he knows. 

 

“Sam, you’re being quiet this evening.”  He sees the sad sympathy on Sam’s face.  “It just looks terrible as the bruising dissipates, before it fades.”  Leo adds a good point for new visitors. “Even Donna thinks the swelling on my face is about gone.” 

 

“Ok, Leo.  It just shocked me a little.  I guess I didn’t realize how bad that bad was, “ Sam tries to rationalize his reaction.  

 

He looks at Josh and Josh reminds him, “I told you at work that he was really badly bruised.  Abby thinks he might have a cracked rib or two with all the bruising and pain he’s having.” 

 

Mallory asks, “Margaret can’t be caring for him all by herself, is she?”  Mallory can tell that her dad’s not able to do too much for himself, yet.

 

Josh looks at Margaret before answering and at her nod, he answers her with a grin, “Well, Mallory, we’re usually ‘his’ two kids, but this week he gets to be ‘my’ kid.”

 

Mallory looks with disbelief at her dad.  Leo rolls his eyes to verify what Josh said. 

 

Sam smiles at the thought of Josh being the dad, “Leo, now that’s being brave.”  Sam pauses with a soft chuckle, “That’s one scary concept of Josh taking care of a kid.  Even one of your size.”  Josh reaches out like he’s going to swat Sam for his teasing. 

 

“I’ll have you know that I was here bright and early to finish getting Leo shaved and dressed.”  Josh boasts, “He looked presentable at the office today, didn’t he?”

 

“Yeah, I talked him though it.”  Leo smiles at his beautiful daughter, “I even told him how we had to chase you through the house to get you dressed, when you were about one and a half.”

 

Mallory blushes at the picture he described of her, ”Daddy, you told ‘that’ to Josh and now Sam?  Thanks, Dad.” She scolds, but places a kiss on the fingers of the hand she’s holding.  She can’t be mad at him, when she can see why he needed help dressing. 

 

“The best part is that Donna and I are going to stay over tonight and possibly tomorrow night to help Margaret.”  Josh quietly adds, “She mentioned that they had a rough night last night.”

 

Mallory leans over and gives Josh a hug, “Thanks, brother.  I really appreciate you taking good care of Dad.  Thanks to all of you.  Especially, you Margaret, even if you do it like breathing.”  She turns back to her dad who has his right hand stretched out enough to rub her lower back.  “Daddy, I’m so glad you’re living here with Margaret.  It’s where you belong.   I know that Margaret and I are both glad your out of that ‘damn’ hotel.” 

 

He rolls he eyes at her opinion of the hotel. “Mallory, it’s a five star hotel.  I wasn’t suffering there.” 

 

“It was not a home, Dad, and it’s over now, so I won’t mention it again.” She kisses his brow to make peace.  “I bought a couple of your boxes over. They have in them the CD’s and DVD’s and a few books.  I’ll make another load later on this weekend.”

 

“All right, more CD’s and DVD’s.  Where are they?”  Josh is overjoyed at the prospect of added new media to the entertainment center.  

 

Leo rolls his eyes as he remembers that Josh is in charge of the entertainment center.  “I think they set them in the guest room, Josh.  Go ahead and drag them out here and play with your entertainment center.”   He watches Josh quickly stride over to do as Leo suggested.  At the looks from Mallory and Sam he explains, “Margaret put him in charge of the entertainment center, when she was moving and he has it so organized that we don’t mess with his system.” 

 

Margaret calls to Josh, “You’ll find the ones he brought from the hotel lying in the entertainment center.  I put them there, before you got here this evening.”

 

Leo grins at the Margaret, “That should keep him entertained for the evening.”

 

Donna’s was sitting on the arm of the couch by Josh, till he got up and she now slides down to take his place by Leo’s feet.  She smiles and looks at the others, leaning forward and in a mock whisper, “ His office is a shambles, but when it comes to audio and media equipment.  He’s painstakingly neat about them.”  Sam is in total agreement with her on that.

 

“Well, Daddy, we need to get going.  I’m letting Sam buy me pizza for dinner.” She leans forward and kisses her Dad and leans her forehead against his for a moment.  Like she did as a kid, when she sat on his lap and needed comfort.  This time the comfort was for him.  When she raises her head away he kisses her cheek in understanding. “Love you, Daddy.” 

 

“I love you, Baby.”  Leo’s still holding her hand, “See you this weekend.  I expect to see you more, now that I’m not in that ‘damn’ hotel.”  He grins at her. 

 

Mallory grins back at him.  She looks over at Josh digging in the boxes that he now has in the middle of the floor. “Hey, Josh, we’re leaving now.  Take good care of Dad.” At his mischievous grin she adds, “Or you get to answer to me, Bro.”

 

“No problem, Mallory.”  Josh grins at Leo, “He’s getting used to me roughing him around getting dressed.  I think he’s actually learning some patience.”

 

Leo growls at that comments, but holds his opinion. 

 

Mallory glances at her dad and sees the effort he’s making to not reply. 

 

Sam sees the look on Leo’s face also, “Anything you say, Josh.” He takes Mallory’s hand and starts her for the door.  “Come on, Mal.  I’m starving.”

 

“OK, Sam.  Bye, everyone.  We're out of here, bye.  Sam is getting brave with hunger.” The door closes on her laughter. 

 

 Margaret sees the soft look on Leo’s face and is glad that he now agrees that Sam is good for Mallory. She hears the timer on the fish in the oven. “Donna that’s our cue to get these guys fed before they die of hunger.” 

 

*****  

 

Later on that evening, Leo finally gives in and lets Josh help him to the bathroom and into bed, “Thanks, Josh.  I hope I don’t need you too much tonight.  I wouldn’t wanna interrupt anything interesting for you.” 

 

“Leo, if I don’t show up in a reasonable amount of time,” Josh looks at the door to see if the girls are near by, “I’m not going to.  If you know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah, Josh,” Leo, teases him, as he can’t resist. “Just remember you’re breaking in a new bed, not breaking it down.”  He also looks at the doorway, “I was serious, before.  If we hear a crash from the guest room, we’re not coming to investigate.”

 

“Thanks, Leo.”  Josh grins, “I’m sure Donna would appreciate that.”

 

“Good!  Now, get out of here, so Margaret will come to bed.  Out.” Leo points to the door in a friendly manner.

 

*****    

 

Leo has soft soothing music playing in their bedroom, from his small Bose bedside CD player that came with his things from the hotel.   He always plays it to get to sleep.  It mutes any outside noise that might keep him from sleeping.

 

Leo grins at Margaret when she enters the bedroom and shuts the door on Josh and Donna listening to the late news.  She steps in the bathroom for a few minutes and when she emerges minus her robe, Leo can’t resist, “Come here, Baby, and let me kiss you.”

 

“I can’t wait, Sweetie.” Margaret climbs into the bed and doesn’t stop till their lips meet.  She slides down beside Leo as he moans and cups her face.  They naturally slip their arms around each other.  Fitting together so perfectly.  They do eventually have to break for air and Leo starts to trail kisses up to her ear and his hand is now gently cupping behind her head, his fingers slightly spread to thread through her soft, red hair.  When he reaches her ear he breathes softly, “Margaret, I love you.”

 

She tilts her head and drops small kisses on his neck, “Tell me again, Leo.  I must be dreaming. The last few months are all dreams about you, and I’m afraid to wake up.”

 

Leo kisses her neck with slow soft kisses, “It’s no dream, Margaret.  I do love you and I’m right here in your arms.” 

 

Margaret sighs in happiness, “Leo, I love you so much.”  She indulges in enjoying the feel of Leo’s skin under her lips and the scent of his cologne at the end of the day.

 

Leo needs to shift positions for his ribs and Margaret takes this opportunity to slip from bed and retrieve the lotion she has warming in hot water in the bathroom.  She returns, to see Leo with a questioning look of his face, he has pulled himself up a little higher on his mound of pillows that make his breathing easier.  Margaret climbs back into bed and is now sitting in the opposite direction, facing him and has her legs tucked under her sideways, leaning the side of her hip against his.  She takes his one hand and nestles it on her hand, imitating their bodies cuddling.  Her warm palm is now softly supporting his warm palm.  Margaret dribbles a few drops of her favorite raspberry lotion on the top of his still swollen hand.  He looks into her eyes and her eyes answer for him to trust her.  She slowly and gently massages the lotion in, moving with both slow circles and long strokes from wrist to knuckles.  Her fingertips can feel the masculine hairs on his hand, as she swirls the lotion slowly, in a caress.  He’s watching her fingers as they caress his hand in a soothing manner that is wonderful to feel.  He never knew that someone rubbing his hand could be so relaxing and so stimulating at the same time.  It’s a new experience for him.  He smiles softly at her shy glance at his face.  She smiles softly in return and places a kiss on his hand. She next places a drop of lotion on each of his healing knuckles.  He smiles as she continues her ministrations to his hand.  She now dabs at the drop on the first knuckle and slides her fingers down his finger spread the lotion to the tip and then twists her fingers around his as she moves back up the finger. She repeats this in a slow caress till the lotion is adsorbed. She kisses the top of his hand and moves to the next finger, repeating the pattern till all of the fingers are completed.  Margaret is good at details and has not forgotten his thumb she leans in and places a kiss on the pad of his thumb and then draws a small line down the top of it, before she massages the lotion down and around the base to where it connects his wrist.  Leo is breathing a little faster as he watches her lovingly caress his hand. This is a part of his body that he never considered an area for love making, but that was definitely what Margaret was doing with the hand massage.  His is mesmerized as her long graceful fingers stroke smoothly down his long fingers.  Her perfectly shaped nails in a rich color pull his eyes along with them.  She turns his hand over and kisses the palm.  Leo shifts in the bed. The room is getting warmer to him.  She drips a small amount of the warm lotion onto the palm of his hand and uses her thumb to massage deeply the joints and muscles of his hand.  When she completes this, she kisses his palm again and rolls the now limber hand into a fist to hold the kiss securely.  She glances at his face and see the understand shining from his eyes.  She kisses his wrist at the pulse point to lock in the love she is sharing with him.   She looks at him again and smiles at him as she holds out her hand for his other hand.  Inviting him to willing let her love it as well.  He kisses her quickly, his eyes showing that he accepts her gift of love in this deed.

 

 

With Margaret snuggled against his side he can hear Josh snap off the TV and the guest room door close.  “Well, I wonder if Josh is going to read the directions,” Leo speculates.

 

“No,” Margaret assures him, “Donna will read the directions to Josh, as I’m sure she not going to get into the bed till she confident that it’s not going to collapse.” 

 

They can hear Josh whine out loudly, “Donna, it is locked in…...”

 

Leo cheerfully whispers to Margaret, “Donna must have whacked him for being so loud.”  Margaret nods her head in agreement against his chest.  They could tell that when Josh dropped his voice in mid sentence.

 

Leo and Margaret chuckle as they imagine the conversation going on in the guest room.  Leo rolls more toward Margaret and kisses her passionately.  “I’ve been waiting all day to hold you in my arms and kiss you senseless.” 

 

“Oh, me too, Leo.”  Margaret places small kisses around on his face.  “When you do, it just makes the craziness of the day fade away.”

 

“Come here then, Baby,” Leo covers her mouth with his and raises his slowly healing hand to cup her face. With a low moan he breaks the kiss and adds, “We have a lot of craziness to erase from today.  If we run out, we can certainly borrow some from tomorrow.”

 

“We don’t have to borrow, Leo.” She starts to trail kisses down his neck and Leo rumbles with pleasure.  He starts to rub her breasts under the satin pajama top, enjoying the feeling of satin over the hard nub of her nipple.  She moves her kisses down to his nipple. 

 

He responds by sucking in air and with a raspy whisper, “God, Margaret, I didn’t know you could drive me crazy with your lips on my nipple, but ‘damn’ you find my weaknesses fast.”   

 

She chuckles and then swirls her tongue around his hard nub. He groans in pleasure.  She then lightly blows on the wetness and he near shivers at the sensation she’s creating.  She reaches for his other nipple and rubs her finger over and around it in a duplicating manner.  

 

“Margaret, have I told you recently that I love what you do with your ‘waist and up’ rule.”  He moves his hand to cup her under the chin and raise her mouth to his again and while he shows her how much he wants to love her in return, he moves his hand down and slides it under her satin top to fondle her breasts on her warm bare skin.  He moves his hips closer to hers and has to stop himself from letting her feel his arousal against her hips.  He pulls away and rolls back a little but not letting go of her. 

 

She giggles and kisses his cheek.  She knows what his problem is.  “Break time already, Leo?” 

 

“I’d say,” he softly answers with a low chuckle.  “Especially, with you exploring my body like your licking up ice cream.”

 

“I may have to change my favorite flavor.”  She gently lays her head on his chest to listen to his heart.  It always soothes her to hear it.   After a few minutes, Margaret whispers, “I haven’t heard a crash yet, so the trundle bed must be holding.” 

 

“Margaret,” Leo tries to sound shocked, but his chuckle gives away his delight, at her comment.  He grins at her and suggests, “You wanna have some fun with Josh?”

Margaret rises up on her elbow and looks at him with happy anticipation, “OK, what do you have in mind?”

 

He chuckles at her eagerness to be his accomplice,  “Listen.”  He raises his voice, “Hey, Josh.”  They listen and in a few moments they hear the guest room door open and close and then the sound of a quiet knock on the bedroom door.

 

“Yeah, come in,” Leo calls. 

 

Margaret snuggles into Leo side and watches the door with a smile, waiting for Leo to start the fun.

 

“You need me, Leo,” Josh asks trying to sound helpful and not show his impatience, to go along with his flushed face and disheveled hair.  He’s wearing his big silk basketball pants that are riding low on the hips, at the moment. 

 

Leo grins at Josh’s appearance. “I just forgot to say, …..  Night, Dad.”

 

Margaret can’t help it and lets out a giggle as she buries her face into Leo’s side. 

 

Josh blows out his breath the exasperation at Leo.  He gives Leo a cold stare and growls in a great imitation of Leo.  He smiles sarcastically, “Good night, Son.  Now, go to sleep,” he commands and spins and leaves with a sharp snap of the door.  

 

Margaret and Leo can’t hold in the laughter any longer.  “Oh, Leo, that was cruel of you.   I’m sure he had Donna all warmed up and now she’s probably cooled off.” 

 

Margaret and Leo chuckle at Josh’s frustration. “Margaret, I must be a bad influence on you.  You’re getting bold and brassy on me.” 

 

“Leo, you just bring out the best in me,” she giggles and kisses his cheek quickly.

 

“God, I hope so,” he kisses her in happy anticipation of the future. He pulls his head back and asks, “So, how long do I give him, before calling him again?” 

 

“Maybe, another minute or two.  He has to growl about it for a minute while he tells her what you pulled.”  Margaret is logically calculating the time, “Then another couple of minutes to get warmed up again.”

 

“OK, two more minutes of kissing and then I start on him again.”  Leo gently wraps her to his sore chest and kisses her in small fast kisses in a circle around her face and she’s trying to catch his mouth, in a game like manner.  She’s finally successful or he willingly surrenders, but the end result was enjoyed by both, while they explored the more sensitive points beyond their lips. 

 

“I guess now would be a good time to start on Josh again.”  Leo pants from his activities.  When he has his breath back he calls out, “Oh, Dad.”

 

They again hear the guest room door and this time they hear Josh’s firm footfalls as he crosses the living room.  

 

At the knock on the door, Leo sweetly calls, “Enter, Dad” 

 

“Leo, what do you need, now,” Josh is getting out of humor fast. They can tell by his accelerated breathing. 

 

“Hey, Dad.  Can I have a drink of water,” Leo asks innocently and grins. 

 

“Leo, you have water.   Go to sleep.  I’m not kidding, Leo,” Josh warns and he really means it. 

 

Margaret is hiding her face against Leo again and making small snorting sounds as she tries to hold in her laughter.

 

Leo grins and in a whiny voice, “I’m not sleepy, Dad.  What are you and Mommy doing awake?” 

 

Josh looks at Leo and is about to pull his hair out, but is also suppressing a grin at Leo being playful and get a good one over on him. Leo’s been at this all day.  Margaret is coming up for air and has a grin on her face for Josh.  He turns the table on the two, “Leo, from the looks of it, we’re doing the same thing that you and Margaret are doing.” He looks back at Leo and grins a wicked grin, “OK, Son…, how about I confiscate your security sheet for the night?”  Josh acts like he’s going to lunge for the foot of the bed and grab the sheet covering them. 

 

Margaret knows that Leo’s condition will be revealed if Josh whisks off the sheet.  She squeals softly, not wanting to call in the agent and she gets a death grip on the sheet. “No, Josh.  We quit, honest.”

 

Leo’s doing his best to hold in the laughter, while Margaret is in a panic at Josh’s threat.

 

Josh turns his grin on her, “Hi, Margaret.  Nice pajamas you’re wearing.  Nice blush too.” Margaret squeals again and dives under the sheet. She’s dying laughing, as she knows Josh is teasing since he’s seen her in these pajamas before around the apartment.

 

Leo holds his side cracking up at the final dig that Josh got on them. “OK, Josh, we quit.  Get back to Donna before she comes over here to kill us.”

 

Donna shows up beside Josh and lets Leo know she heard the last remark, “Too late, Leo.  Who wants killed first?” 

 

“Not me,” answers Margaret from under the sheet, still giggling. 

 

Donna steps over to pull the sheet off Margaret head, being careful not to shake the bed and cause Leo pain. She’s not too sure she should expose any more of Leo than what he’s showing above the sheet.

 

“Margaret,” Donna asks her in mock anger, “can’t you keep his mouth occupied, till he goes to sleep?” 

 

At that, they all start laughing.

 

Margaret states in all honesty, “I tried, Donna, but we have to come up for air sometime.”  

 

Leo decides to finish them off with, “Margaret, we’ll just have to practice some more,” he rolls to her and locks lips with her. 

 

Josh calls from the door, “Now stay there and don’t call me again unless you really need me, Son.  Good night, Leo,” he answers sweetly, as Leo waves his arm slightly to gesture for them to leave, as he’s not coming up for air any time soon. 

 

Josh and Donna leave and shut the door.  Laughing as they cross back over to their room.  

 

*****

   

Leo raises his head and looks into Margaret’s eyes, the merriment is still there,  “Can I practice my hand exercises now?” 

 

“What exercises, Leo,” she asks with a giggle.

 

“The one where I unbutton all your buttons, it’s to help with my finger dexterity.”  Leo grins and warns, “It may take awhile that’s one thing that I’m really having trouble with.” 

 

He sees anticipation in her eyes.  “I’m very versatile, Margaret.  I can practice both at the same time.” He happily puts actions into words.   

 

*****  

Ron knocks on the door to the apartment and his face looks a mixture between exasperation and reluctance.  The agent beside the door is not about to question why his boss is politely knocking on a protectee’s door, in the middle of the night. 

 

Margaret awakes in a groggy state.  She had waited till Leo had fallen sleep before she allowed herself the same luxury.  She’s barely listening to the music that’s lightly playing, as she walks across the living room. They had all decided to leave music on to help Leo calm down and blocked any noise that might keep him awake. Bumping sounds in the building tend to wake him, she found out last night.  She nearly stumbles on her way to the door to answer it.  She’s barely awake and plans to immediately resume sleeping, when she returns to the bed.  Her brain had shut down when sleep had overtaken her tonight.  It could no longer function with the little sleep she had allowed herself the last few nights, while trying to listen if Leo needed her.  She really could ‘not’ care less who was at the door, but they might wake up Leo.  She does recall that if it were an emergency, the agent would have entered without knocking.  Ron was standing at her door and Margaret brain finally awakes enough to wonder. ~ This has to be a nightmare and Leo’s not gonna be pleased with him here and I’m not dealing with either one of them tonight.~

 

When the door swings open, Ron nods his head and addresses her, “Miss Ryan.”

 

“My name’s Margaret, Ron.”  She’s in no mood to be tactful.  It ‘is’ the middle of the night.  “That’s what you and Coop have called me, at the White House, since the day we arrived.  Agent Collins, can call me Miss Ryan, since he doesn’t know me, but you ‘will’ call me Margaret.”

 

He nods as he notes she’s not awake and her normal cheerful self, “Margaret, I agreed to a quick detour, on my way home, to pacify the President.” Ron explains why he’s there, “The President called here and was upset that you did not answer the phone.  We checked with the agent outside and tried to assure him that you and Mr. McGarry ‘were’ still in the apartment.  We also informed him that you two were not alone and that Josh Lyman and Donna Moss were in the apartment, as well.”  Ron sighs silently, “Needless to say, the only way I had to keep him from coming over personally, with a full security detail, was to personally conduct a visual check on everyone here.  The President said to consider myself so ordered.   That’s why I am at your door at this hour.”

 

She scrunches her face trying to make her brain to function, “I turned down the ringer volume, so Leo wouldn’t be woken up by the phone ringing.”  She shrugs her shoulders in her loose satin pajama top that’s showing her lovely cream skin at the neck.  Her hair is mussed with sleep.  Her lack of awareness is evident.  She has a dreamy look on her face, showing the sleep that she was just minutes before enjoying. 

 

Ron averts his eyes from her and the unusual state of her rumpled undress that he’s not previously viewed of her and tries to stop his own weary mind from going where it has no business going.  His downward view rests on her bare feet and he has to shift his weight from foot to foot, in order to redirect his mind to the reason he’s here.  Being tired, he has given in to his admiration of her and he swallows quickly. The soft music in playing in room beyond is not helping him to focus.  He swallows again.  It’s not helping.

 

She’s still asleep on her feet, “Guess the phone didn’t wake me either.” She finally gets it figured out why Ron is telling her all this and his need to see Leo in person.  She knows that Leo can’t come to Ron, so she agrees, “Sure, Ron, this way.” She leads Ron into her bedroom.  ~This is gonna be good, after all the teasing we have done about Ron in my room.~  She raises her voice and informs a sleeping Leo, “Ron’s here in my room to see you, Leo.”  Ron is taken a little unaware, by the fact that Leo is sleeping in her room and not in the spare room, as implied at the meeting that morning at the Residence. 

 

Leo’s still sound asleep as he warns her, “Margaret, you leave Ron alone and he better not be here in your private bedroom.” 

 

Ron does a double-take look at Margaret and back to Leo.  He’s not sure he understood what Leo just implied, but his thoughts return to his awkward moment in the living room.  Ron expresses regret and takes safety in his professionalism, “Mr. McGarry, I’m sorry.  But, yes, I’m standing here.” 

 

Margaret having done her part crawls back into bed to snuggle in beside Leo, being asleep on her feet.  Leo moans now that he realizes that this is real and not Margaret joking.  

 

Ron informs him, “I’m here by Presidential order, to verify your person and presence, at this residence.  Please identify yourself to me.” 

 

Leo sighs and replies, “I'm Leo McGarry, White House C.O.S..  Now, get out of Margaret's bedroom and don’t let me hear of you being in here again.”

 

 Margaret pipes up sweetly from her pillow to get a dig in at Leo, “Ron, please close the door quietly on the way out.”

 

“Sure, Margaret.  Sorry to disturb you, Mr. McGarry,” and he closes the door with relief.

 

Leo plans to remember in the morning the fact of Ron calling her ‘Margaret’ so friendly like.  He may need to remind Ron to be more formal with her, in the future.

 

Ron eyes are definitely opened as to the status of their relationship.  Giving him more insight into why Leo’s so upset about the threats to Margaret.  His mind just brushes on the implied threat to him by Leo concerning Margaret.  That was definitely a warning that Margaret was a no-other-man’s area.  He's a little nervous of the famous McGarry temper.  Ron had agreed to call the President to report Leo’s safe location, but he’s definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning’s security briefing.  He reminds himself that he serves at the pleasure of the President.  To a point.

 

*****    

 

Josh and Donna are leaning on each side of the guest room doorway.  Both half awake and wondering what the problem is that warrants Ron paying Leo a personal visit in the middle of the night.

 

Josh is at their bedroom door after Ron leaves, “Leo, everything OK?”

 

Leo sighs and replies, “Yeah, it was just Jed panicking when we didn’t hear the phone and answer.  I need to talk to him tomorrow,” Leo growls. 

 

“I just bet you do want to talk to him.  Poor Ron,” Josh’s almost sympathetic for him.  “Leo, you need anything while I’m here,” Josh asks as he can see that Margaret’s has gone straight back to sleep against Leo’s side. 

 

“Yeah, help me up and I’ll take a trip to the bathroom.”  Leo reveals his little plan he worked on today. “I watched my fluid intake at work today and I made up for it here in the evening. “

 

“Sure, Leo.”  Josh moves into the room. “Let me come around to your side of the bed.”

 

Josh notices as he swings Leo up and around to sit on the side of the bed a moment to get his bearings that Margaret is quickly out like a light.  “Leo, I’m glad I stayed tonight.” He grins at the questioning look from Leo, “Besides all the fun and it being like Grand Central around here.”  He looks around Leo to the other side of the bed, “Margaret must be exhausted, she hasn’t moved since I came into the room.” 

 

Leo glances around to her face, “She won’t let on, but you’re definitely right.  She didn’t get much sleep last night or all weekend, for that matter.” He smiles at her, “She’s so relaxed in her sleep.  It’s like she doesn’t have a care in the world.”

 

“Yeah, Margaret worries a lot during the day, it just seems to be her nature, but she looks so peaceful, now. “ Josh grins at Leo, “It must be the middle of the night.  We’re getting poetic here.” Josh helps him to his feet and around the bed. 

 

“Well, she deserves it.  That and more, with me to take care of and to keep in line,” Leo admits and walks carefully into the bathroom.

 

Josh waits at the doorway and replies, “But she loves it and you, Leo.”  Josh pauses just thinking and adds, “It shines from her eyes when she looks at you.”  Leo emerges softly smiling at what Josh said.  While they walk around the bed Josh glances at Margaret in her sleep, “Leo, you're a lucky man.  It can't be disguised when she sleeping.”

 

“What’s that Josh,” Leo asks as Josh is getting him turned around.

 

“Margaret's absolute innocent love of you.  Even I see it.” Josh gets him safely back into bed.

 

“Yeah, Josh, I really am lucky.”  He smiles up at the man he knows as a son, “I appreciate the love she has for me and I try everyday to justify that love, by loving her just as much in return.”

 

When the bed moves as Leo sits down, Margaret stretches out a hand and murmurs his name in her sleep.  He curls over to her, to keep her from waking.

 

Josh sees Leo drop a kiss on her forehead and she calms right down.  Leo lays his face snuggled up against hers.  Josh’s face reflects a soft smile at the comfort his friends find in each other.  He shuts the door with a soft click.

 

*****      

 

In the early morning hours Margaret wakes with a start as Leo is swearing in trying to get reach down under the sheet.  His ribs are painful from not moving for several hours and he’s having a hard time.

 

“What is wrong, Leo,” Margaret is in immediate panic mode.  She can tell that Leo in real pain for some reason.  She flings back the sheet and she flies around the bed as Leo has rolled over and is trying to get himself out of bed. 

 

Leo, pants out, “Leg cramp….. Oh God….  Need to walk…...  Damn….  damn........damn........ Get Josh, quick.  Please.  ughhhh….”

 

Margaret rushes to the bedroom door and frantically calls out, “Josh, Josh, Leo needs you now.  HURRY!” She runs back over to Leo and tries to help him to straighten up. She can tell that he’s hurting his ribs by attempting to get up by himself.  

 

Josh bounds through the open bedroom door.  He can hear Leo giving the Devil a free cussing. “I’m here, what’s wrong?” 

 

Leo and Margaret answer at the same time. “Leg cramp.”   Leo adds, “Need to walk.”

 

Josh immediately takes Margaret place in helping Leo to stand. “I’ve got you Leo. Time to walk the floor with the kid.” 

 

Leo sees the worry on Margaret’s face as they pass her on the way to the door and he reaches out a hand and cups his hand under her face a places a soft kiss.  “Margaret, go back to bed.  This might take a while and no sense in all of us missing sleep.” 

 

Josh reassures her, “Yeah, Margaret.  You need to sleep and we’ll walk around the apartment and get it to work out.”  He gets Leo to hobble around the bed on the way to the door.  “I’ve got him and he’ll be fine.  I’ll return him in a little while.”

 

“Yeah, Baby, and I expect you to be asleep.  No, faking it,” Leo warns with a tight smile as the cramp is still making itself known.

 

That brings a smile to her face.  He knows her too well.  She was going to lie awake till he returned.

 

“OK, Leo.  I’ll sleep, so you’ll relax and get rid of your leg cramp faster.”  She climbs back into bed as the guys leave the room.  “Here, Josh,” she hands him, her bottle of raspberry lotion from her nightstand.  She knows it will be needed to massage the cramp out, a little later when it eases up some. 

 

Josh reads the label and raises his eyebrows and smiles when he reads that it’s raspberry scented.  “Man, Leo, I thought your room smelled great when I was in there earlier.  So Margaret’s into raspberries?  It’s a shame that it’s not the edible kind.”

 

 Leo pops out the question, without thinking.  He’s in too much pain at the moment. “It comes editable?  No. Stop.  I don’t want to hear the answer to that.  It’s definitely too much info!”  ~But, I’ll ask Margaret sometime, you can bet on that.”~

 

They slowly cross over to tell Donna the same thing, for her to get some sleep and not to wait up for Josh.

 

“Leo, this is taking the Dad and son thing a little too far.”  Josh is just teasing to help Leo think of something else, as they move around the apartment in a slow circle.  “The walking the floor part could have waited.” 

 

 

*****     

TBC with Wednesday

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