Title: Winter Weekend 1/3 Winter Series
By: chipmunk and leosimpishgrin
Characters: Leo, Margaret
Pairings: Leo/Margaret – Jed/Abbey
Rating: TEEN – P&SC (See Rating Chart Below)
Spoilers: None
really
This is not strictly cannon by the show.
Doesn't matter the year or the situation.
Plot Development and Beta By: Imp
Disclaimer:
Without Prejudice, the names of all characters* contained here-in are the
property of NBC, WB, Bravo, A John Wells Prod., from TV show, The West Wing.
They are the creation of Aaron Sorkin. No infringement of these or any copyrights is intended, and are used here without permission.
No monetary benefit is received or anticipated.They own them; therefore, they do not belong to us. We only borrowed them , with our humble thanks to them. *Any Original Characters developed by us and found in this or any of our fics, belongs solely to us.
***
Note: A 'grateful' and 'enormous' thanks, to the actors and actresses,
who portray these characters 'brilliantly' and bring them to life in our heads. *** Feedback: We’d love it hear your opinion! PLEASE!
It helps to improve our writing! Archived at: http://www.geocities.com/chipmunkswhimseys/WinterMain.html
Summary:
A much needed restful weekend, away from
the White House, for the two couples at the farm in
*****
It’s late Wednesday and Leo walks into the Oval Office to
inform the President of a change in his official schedule.
“Hello, Mr. President,” Leo greets, as he walks over to the
desk, where the President is reading.
The President, happy for the break, replies, “Hello,
Leo. Sit here next to me. You know that we’re going to have snow the
next two days?”
“That’s nice, Mr. President.” Leo replies politely to his friend. He settles into the offered chair and rests
his forearms on the arms of it, pausing a beat, before he continues with what
he came in for.
Sounding just a little serious, Leo asks, “Sir, you know
how you had planned on a winter weekend retreat at your Manchester farm, for
the Senior Staff with Abbey and you, back at the first weekend in February?”
The President just looks at Leo, waiting, knowing that Leo
really didn’t expect him to answer and that he’s just building up to a
point.
Leo adds pointedly, “And that you had to cancel because of
the flu you contracted?” He points a
finger at the President, and sounding very much like a friendly reprimand. “I might add… from you shaking hands with
every living sole that you came in contact with!”
The President just grins at being ‘guilty as charged’, as
he breaks into Leo’s recitation, “Yeah…
Leo, even you have to admit that shaking hands ‘is’ better than hugging,
and I did give that up for the winter, except for close family members. So, you know you don’t have to wait till
spring, like the rest of the staff, for a hug.”
The President is so pleased to be jerking Leo’s chain.
Leo chooses to ignore his friends taunt, “Yes, Mr.
President, I had noticed that you were making an effort… to resist hugging
every kid that you stumbled across in the tour groups.”
Delight twinkles in the President’s eyes, at Leo’s
backhanded scold. It’s a refreshing
break in his a day of reading reports.
Leo flips his palms up for emphasis, “Sir, they carry the
worst variety of germs imaginable, on their hands!”
Leo then stabs a hand out in front of him, to make a point,
“Just ask Mallory, Sir. She knows. She’s an elementary teacher, Mr. President.”
“But, I like kids, Leo.”
The President is now down right perky.
Leo pulls his hands back to his lap, as he leans forward to
speak closer to the President. “I like
kids too, Mr. President,” Leo stretches
his arm out in front of him, for a grander emphasis, “Ours!”
The President leans toward Leo and lowers his voice, as he
makes a fine point, “Leo, we don’t have kids together! You ‘do’ know about the birds and the
bees? Right?”
“Sir!” Leo sounds a little offended, as he
straightens his back up. His hands now
firmly grip the ends of the chair arms.
He’s sorely tried, at this moment, with his best friend’s happy
mood. His eyes focusing on a point on
the carpet in front of him, he takes a tiny moment of silence, to hold in his
sarcastic retort.
The President sits back with a smirk, knowing that he
scored a point with that last question. ~~Leo
has always been touchy about being a little old-fashioned with women. Being so proper… so conservative, may be
what’s hampering him now in the romance department. ~~
The President now happily debates, “I mean, Leo, there is
Mallory! I’m pretty sure that she’s not
adopted!”
“Sirrrrr!” Leo’s
warning tone is wasted today, and he now flexes some loose fists, working his
fingers to control his thinning patience.
The President keeps pushing the limit, “Unless, Leo, you’re
counting the Senior Staff... and I’ll give you that one.”
He just can’t resist saying, to see if Leo will really blow
a gasket in the Oval Office, “Just remember, Leo, you’re the mother and I’m the
father!” The President chuckles just
under his breath, knowing this will really get to Leo.
It does, and Leo rolls his eyes heavenward for divine
patience. He needs it, when the
President is inflicting his happy mood on him and trying to be cute. Leo needs a moment, knowing that his friend
is enjoying provoking him. He drops his
arms down over the sides of the chair arms in defeat, head bowed, staring at
the carpet between his shiny shoes. ~~Jed
is being the ‘mother’ of all pain in the ass.
Count to ten, Man! There are
armed agents at his beck and call. ~~
Blowing out a silent breath, Leo tries again. Determined, he props his elbows again on the
chair arms and looks at his friend, “Sir, back to the cancelled weekend, you
need to take at least a weekend trip to
The President cuts in to ask with cheerfully sarcasm, “Did
you get a note from my mother, while you were at it, Leo? Can I go out to recess now?” He stops and looks knowingly down at the
stack of reading materials waiting for him and sadly sighs.
Leo again tries to get a word in, without being rude in the
Oval Office, “Sir.”
The President again ignores him and continues with a more
somber tone, “There’s no way that I can possibly go this winter, Leo…with the
sixteen things that I have going on and they all need my personal
attention. I have so much to do that
it’ll take a crowbar to pry some free time for me, in my schedule, in the
foreseeable future.”
“Sir, you do know that to free you and the First Lady for a
weekend away together, from the White House that ‘several’ departments have to
rearrange the schedules?”
The President pats his coat pockets like he’s looking for
something. “Must be why they took my car
keys. Leo? You know, so that Abbey and I can’t make a
break for it and go back home whenever we want to!”
“Sir,” Leo, growls
softly to himself and then to get it said, he just blurts out to the President,
“You and Abbey are going this weekend!”
Leo knows that the President hates to be the last to know
about changes to his schedule, even if it is good news, so to head off any
reasons to postpone the retreat, as he quickly points out, “You know your
doctor said that you have to take some ‘much needed’ downtime and soon, or
you’ll just end up sick again.”
The President jabs a finger out in the air, “That’s the
first smart thing that man has said in a long time.”
He now points the finger at Leo, “That military doctor
mothers me, almost as much as Abbey and you do.”
Leo nods his head in agreement, glad that he has the
President back on track, “We just care about you, Sir. You need time to regroup and recharge
yourself from time to time. It’s been a
long winter.”
He seriously points again at his friend, “OK, Leo, if I’m
in such a great need of recharging and downtime, then so are ‘you’! You’re coming along, Leo.” The President reaches forward and places both
of his hands wide on the desk in front of him, as a final statement.
Leo holds up a hand, to ward off the President’s decision,
“Sir, this is to be a weekend for you and Abbey. I’ll just be in the way.” Leo is not looking forward to being ‘a third
wheel’ during the coming weekend. “Sir, I need to stay here and keep things
running, while you’re away.”
Leaning his weight on his hands on top of the desk, the
President turns to look at his best friend, “Nonsense, Leo! Abbey is as worried about your stress level,
as she is of mine. She said so, just the other evening.”
Leo looks everywhere, but at his friend’s eyes, “Well, Sir,
tell Abbey thanks … but I have Margaret watching over my health. She’s been doing it for a very long time
now.”
The President grins at Leo’s very true statement and a has
an idea, “Exactly, Leo. Margaret may
need the weekend break more than you do.
Bring her along. She’s just like
family, after all these years of keeping your sorry ass in line.”
Leo strongly protests the President’s seemingly harebrain
idea, “Sir, it just won’t look right. The
four of us, it’ll look like… two couples,
merrily boarding Marine One for a private weekend away.” Then Leo’s voice gets very soft, as he has to
grudgingly admit. “Sir, she’s my
assistant. Well… that is… I mean… to the press and the country, she is.”
The President won’t even consider hearing that excuse, “And
she can assist your ass right onto the helicopter. Bring her, Leo. It’ll be fun, the four of us.” It’s a done deal to the President. This is now, not a debatable point.
Leo can see that the President is not going to change his
mind, now that he has the idea firmly in his head. A part of Leo is already pleased at his
insisting. Leo covers it by grumbling
his agreement, “Yes, Sir. I’ll go tell
Margaret to pack a bag for herself, as well.”
The President has laughter in his voice, as he asks, “Leo,
you have her going into your bedroom and packing your unmentionables and yet
you still call her an assistant?” ~~That woman is his right arm or whole right
side of his body? They’re like Yen and
Yang!~~
The President thinks a moment, as he remembers something,
“Hey, Leo, didn’t I hear something from the Sisterhood gossip that you
challenged Margaret to a skating race on the pond?”
Leo grudgingly admits, “Yeah, but that was when everyone
was going back in January. She might
have forgotten by now?” He then grouches
out, “And Abbey tells you too much!”
His friend taunts him, “Jealous, Leo, that I have an
informant in the Sisterhood?”
Leo fakes disinterest, “Not really, no, Sir.” Then he sounds almost boastful, “Margaret
tells me plenty, but we both know that we only get a small amount of what’s
really going on in the Sisterhood.” Leo
is sincere with this last remark.
The President agrees wholeheartedly, “Probably, Leo, but I
found out. So tell Margaret to pack her
skates. Yes, I also heard she has her
own figure skates. You two are going to
have that race this weekend.”
Leo resigns himself to his friend’s decision for his own
better good. That he ‘is’ going to take
time off this weekend. “I’ll just go and
give Margaret the good news, Sir, and then try to hide in my office and free up
my schedule. Josh is going to be so
pleased that he’ll get the run of the White House for the weekend.”
The President chuckles, at the thought of Josh playing free
and loose with the White House, in their absence.
Leo ends their little meeting, “Thank you, Mr. President,”
and heads to his office door.
The President calls to Leo’s retreating back, “Tell Josh no
wild parties while we’re away. You know
how kids can be, when they’re left home alone.”
“Yes, Sir,” is Leo’s only reply, as he shuts the door, with
care, between the two offices. It’s
going to be one of those days.
*****
Friday, just before
The President, while waiting for Abbey to
arrive from doing some last minute arrangements with her East Wing office,
strolls in to see how it’s going in Leo’s office and if they’ll be able to
leave at their scheduled time.
~~Debbie
has made sure that my schedule was
cleared.
He asks, as he opens the
C.O.S. office door, “Leo, you about ready?
I’m done and changed for the flight already.”
Hearing someone looking
for Leo, Margaret pops in from her office and lets the President know, “Mr.
President, Leo will be right back. He’s just
run down to change his clothes for the trip.
He knows that you’ll want to leave soon… as planned.” Margaret has just returned herself, from
changing into casual clothes, and with a polite nod to the President, she
crosses the room to hang her work clothes in Leo’s closet.
Once done and turning back
to the President, Margaret points to her office, “Sir, I need to clear up a few
thing, to close down my office, before Leo gets back. If you don’t mind?”
The President waves
Margaret back to her office, “Sure, sure, I’ll just wait here. Abbey ran over to her office for a minute.”
Margaret reassures him, as
she leaves the room, “Thank you, Mr. President.
It should only be a few more minutes, until Leo returns.”
The President, with the
novelty of some free time, just hangs around in Leo’s office to wait for
him. Looking over Leo‘s desk, he notices
a new photo from the Central Union Mission, where Leo and Margaret had
volunteered last Thanksgiving.
The President picks up the
framed picture to see it more clearly.
It looks very recent, showing Leo and Margaret with big aprons on and
both of them are looking very huggy and comfortable together. The sparkle in their eyes is the one thing
that catches the President’s attention, and he gets a hint about the truth of
that day.
Jed now knows why, the
other day, Leo was so worried about what the press would think, of them getting
on Marine One together today.
The President sets the
photo back down and raises his voice to talk to Margaret, while she’s working
in her office, continuing the conversation where she’d left it off, “Margaret,
you mean to tell me that Leo is actually on time, getting ready to go, without
me having to get the Secret Service to drag his ass out and stuff it on Marine
One?”
He’s watching her through
the doorway, as he asks, and then he moves over to the doorway.
Margaret whirls around to
look at him and answers, “Yes, Sir, I cleared off his schedule and well… I kinda… threatened him. So, we are…umm… he ‘is’ going!”
The President is happily
curious and leans on the doorframe, “So… what did you threaten him with? I’m just asking. You never know when I may need to use it in
the future, if it’ll work to get him to take some time off.” He motions for her to continue with shutting
down her office.
Margaret looks hesitantly
at the President, as she moves to put away a couple of files, turning her head
to hide her face from him… she’s a little embarrassed. ~~ Oh, I
don’t want to tell him the private threat that I made to Leo. ~~
Seeing the way Margaret is
letting her red hair hang down, to keep him from seeing her face, he knows that
this must be good, “Margaret?” The
President is trying to sound stern, but his happy face gives him away.
She can tell he’s enjoying
this and Leo may kill her for telling, “Well, Mr. President… if you must know…
“I must!” The President just grins at her and crosses
his arms waiting.
Margaret knows, ~~The President will wait till hell freezes
over, to get something to use on Leo. ~~ She takes a breath and
confesses, “Sir, I threatened Leo that I’d stuff him in my tote bag and
personally carry him to the farm, if I had to, to get him to take the weekend
off.”
The President face shows
delighted surprise, “And it worked? Just
like that?”
Margaret now admits, “No,
Sir, we had a stare down first, but Leo knows the size of my tote bag and I
think he finally realized that I would still have to ‘fold him up’, to get him
into it.” With just a beat pause, she
rushes to the end, “So that’s why he left when I did, to go get changed.”
The President straightens
up, but stays in the doorway with his arms crossed, “You made it back before him? Women usually take longer to, you know, get
ready to go somewhere.”
Margaret almost gives him
a look, “Sir, a bit of advice, if I may?
Don’t let the First Lady hear you say that, before we leave, or one of
us will be in trouble this weekend.”
The President braces one
arm out to lean on the doorframe and chuckles, “Now you sound just like
Leo. The two of you really do need a
weekend off. So… I wonder what’s keeping him?”
“Sir, he probably got
sidetracked by someone, either going to or coming from the men’s locker room,
as usual.” Margaret informs him of the
obvious, as she lifts her tote bag to the seat of her desk chair, to check the
contents.
The President rolls his
eyes in disbelief. “Leo went to the
locker room to change? When he can have
his pick of any of the many spare rooms in the Residence! Now my feelings ‘are’ hurt. He just probably wanted to primp in front of
the big mirror.”
Abbey arrives behind Jed,
“That better not be me that you’re accusing of primping in front of a mirror?”
Jed straightens up and
drops his hands to cover Abbey’s at the sides of his waist, “No, never,
Sweetknees. I was talking about our
dapper dresser… Leo.” Jed turns to his wife and winks. He motions with his arm of them to move back
into Leo’s office, to afford them more room.
Margaret follows in behind
them to set her bag on a chair at the table, before she goes behind Leo’s desk,
to put a few small things into the desk drawer to finish clearing it off.
Leo arrives in a hurry, looking so different to be in his office wearing jeans and a sweater, just like Margaret is. “Mr. President, Abbey, just give me a moment and I’ll be ready to go.”
Margaret
is quickly at his side, ready to take Leo’s clothes from his hand, and she notices
that Leo has some papers in his other hand.
She was right. Someone had
stopped Leo in the halls.
Turning
to Margaret, Leo hands her his suit bag to hang up in his closet and he can’t
keep his eyes from giving her a lingering once over, as she walks away, even
though the First Couple is standing there.
Leo finally tears himself away from the sight of Margaret, wearing a light blue fuzzy angora sweater and slightly snug jeans, remembering to turn his attention back to his friends.
To cover his hesitation, Leo starts to lay the papers in his hand on his clean desk, but changes his mind and moves over to quickly add them to his briefcase that’s open and waiting on the conference table.
During
this short time, the First Couple gives each other a questioning glance. They know that, at first, Leo wasn't looking
forward to going to the farm this weekend.
Both see the change in Leo’s face, as he appreciates what Margaret is
wearing, and they exchange a look of, ‘wonder when that happened’.
Being
near Leo’s desk, Jed hands the new photo to Abbey and he steps slightly in
front of her, to block what she’s looking at from the other two in the room.
As
a distraction, the President asks, “Leo, you have our White House in good hands
for the weekend?”
Leo
assures him, “Yes, Sir, I’ve arranged that the Senior Staff is to take shifts
watching the White House, but Josh
is covering it most of the time, as he’ll be in charge of matters here in our
absence.”
Abbey steps from behind
Jed and smiles to him that she too sees something in the eyes of the two of
them in the photo. ~~I wonder if this
was the beginning of what is going on with them. I wonder how far things have gone
between. Well, this weekend may well
enlighten all of us, as to the status of their personal relationship. ~~
The President’s gives him
a serious look, and Leo answers his unasked question , “Yes, Josh assured me
that he will ‘not’ burn the place down, especially since that first time was
Sam’s fault or so he says.”
The President asks, “No,
wild parties?”
Leo assures him, “No,
Sir.”
The President, trying not
to grin, can’t resist just one tease, “Your absolutely sure, Leo?”
“Yes, Sir. I threatened, ‘our kid’ that we’d take his
stereo away, if he dared to! So we’re
good to go.” Leo smirks, letting his
friend know that he can play this game too.
The President is delighted
with his answer, “Wonderful, Leo! Let’s
hit the sky then.” The men move to the
door to the Oval Office.
Passing through the small
entry way, Leo touches Jed elbow and softly mentions, “Margaret is as nervous
as a cat on a hot tin roof, at flying in a helicopter.” Trying to keep quiet, Leo nods in affirmative at the surprised look
on the President’s face.
The President reflects
back to his talk with Margaret, ~~I
didn’t pick up on that bit of body language and totally missed that one. ~~
“Really, Leo?”
Leo puts the tip of his
finger to his lips to keep it secret. At
least to the fact that he had ratted her out to the President. ~~Oh,
this could be a problem, and in public too.
~~
The President crosses the Oval Office to the agent at the portico door, “Agent, you can inform the flight crew that we’re ready to go, if Marine One is ready?”
The
President and the First Lady are also wearing jeans today. As they are waiting to leave for farm, the
First Couple seems very at ease, at being dressed so casually in the Oval
Office. Then again, the President tends
to come down to the office, after hours, dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt,
just like he is today. Not that he can
get Leo to change into casual clothes in the evening, when everyone is working
late. The best he can do is to get Leo
to remove his tie.
Leo,
without his suit coat to button up in the Oval Office is, at first, a little
uneasy and jams one hand in his jeans pocket and worries the handle of his
briefcase that’s in the other hand.
He
likes to keep, as much as possible, to the guidelines that he usually follows
in what is proper protocol for the White House.
Leo feels that, as C.O.S., he should abide by them as much as the lowest
aid on the staff. Even more so, since
he’s in the highest position of all of the staff at the White House.
Luckily,
Leo soon seems to be more comfortable, after putting on his winter jacket and
helping Margaret on with hers, as they prepare to leave.
The
one person who is really having some trouble adjusting to their casual clothes
in the Oval Office is Margaret and she worries about this, among other things,
while checking her tote bag one last time.
While
they’re waiting a few steps behind the First Couple, for the signal to exit the
building to board Marine One, Margaret steps up behind Leo and whispers behind
his ear, “Leo, I find it a little disconcerting to be in here in jeans. Mrs. Landingham would have a fit, to see me
standing in the ‘Oval Office’ dressed like this.”
Taking
his hand out of his pocket and reaching back around her, Leo reverses their
positions. He places Margaret just in
front of him, so he can use her same tactic to whisper to her, “She would be
‘so happy’ to see us taking time off that we’d only get, from her, a small look
of reprimand, before she’d smile softly and order us to ‘get going then’.”
He
gives the back of her sweater, where it peaks out from under her jacket, a
small comforting tug of adjustment. He
can’t resist any longer the urge to touch the soft downy feel of the
sweater.
Leo
tries to calm her with some soft-spoken words, “Its just nerves, Margaret. It’ll be fine. Breathe!”
He leaves his hand resting at the back of her waist, watching for the
signal from the agents and his little finger is still slightly moving, to enjoy
the feel of her soft fuzzy sweater.
The
President sees them adjusting their bags and asks, “You two got everything you
need?”
At
Leo’s nod, he continues, “Just wait a couple minutes after we walk out the
door, for the press to get most of the pictures taken, then follow us. That way, by the time you get to us, we can
just hop on board and there’ll be little exposure of you two with the press.”
Leo
confirms, “That’s fine, Sir. Thank
you. We have our bag and briefcase in
hand, and hopefully, the press will think this is a working weekend, since
you’re dragging us along. This way,
you’ll get the sympathy and their attention will not be on us.”
**
Dropping his hand from her waist, Leo and Margaret soon
follow at a short distance, while the press is busy taking pictures of the
First Couple crossing the lawn. The
First Couple stop before getting too close to the helicopter. They wave at the well wishers and the
cameras, while they wait for Leo and Margaret to join them.
Margaret eyes get bigger, and her steps slow, as they get
closer and closer to Marine One, with its slow turning blades, as it waits for
them.
Not really caring at this point if it’s visible to the
press, Leo now gladly replaces his hand at her back. He knows that Margaret is quite capable of
balking or completely bolting, if he doesn’t keep her moving. “Margaret, just
watch the ground in front of you and it won’t be so bad.”
They reach the First Couple and at Leo coaxing, Margaret
has a smile plastered on her face, as they turn to the cameras for one picture
of all of them.
The four of them turn to start the short walk to the flight
officer that is waiting to help them at the steps into the helicopter. Margaret, seeing the helicopter so close up,
is frozen in place, even before any of them take a step.
Leo and the President have both been watching her, and see
that Margaret now has a real problem.
Silently signaling Abbey, the three of them circle around
Margaret, to give the impression of them having a short greeting session.
As is her nature, Abbey quickly tries to assess the
problem, “Margaret, Honey, you OK? What
is it? Oh no, I’ve seen that panic look
before, on the kids.” She flips a quick
glance to the guys, “She’s not budging, is she?” Still, no answer from the men. “Margaret
hasn't flown on a helicopter before, has she?”
Her hopes drop, with the sad looks that they give her.
Leo tries talking softly, to encourage Margaret to move her
feet. “It’s fine, you can do it,
Margaret. We’ll be right here with
you. Others do it all the time!” That last part may not have helped her.
Margaret tears her eyes off the helicopter for a split
second, to give Leo the only reason that she can utter, as a near whisper in
her fear. “Leo, I’m tall.”
Leo tries not to grin at his Margaret, being Margaret. Her fear is real, and really not funny. He also knows that rationally Margaret knows
she’s in no danger, but now is not the time to test it. Her dashing back across the lawn to the White
House would not be a good thing, all the way around.
“I swear, Margaret. I would never let you get hurt. Not ever. Please, just try.” Leo doesn’t want to look too attentive to Margaret with the press watching, let alone the matchmaking First Couple. This is too new to Margaret and him. ~~ It’s not like I can wrap my arm around her, to hold her safe and help her get on board, like I’d like to. ~~
Margaret’s voice has a little more volume to it this time,
or it may be the onset of full panic, as again her only response is, “Leo, I’m
tall.”
The President and Abbey hear her this time. Abbey is the logical one and reminds the
guys, “The press is getting restless and we need to get her on board, as
there’s no turning back with them watching us like a pack of hungry dogs.” She gives Margaret’s hand a squeeze to reassure
her, “I promise, it’ll be fine.”
The President gives a quick try and speaks softly,
“Margaret, I want you to walk to the helicopter, please.”
Finally breaking her fear for only a small moment, Margaret
turns her head and looks directly at him,
“Sir, please no.” At least he got
a real response from her.
Abbey grabs Leo by the arm and pulls him to her side, “Leo,
we need for the two of us to board and then let ‘the President’ get her
on. With you out here, she has a slight
chance of talking her way out of getting on board, but with us inside, she has
to refuse ‘the President’ and I don’t see her doing that.”
“Agreed.” Leo lets
the other two know the decision, “Everyone wave to the press one last
time. Abbey and I are getting on board
now and Mr. President, you can be so nice as to escort Margaret on board” He shoots Margaret a look of sympathy, but he
knows it’s for the best… hers and theirs.
The President picks up on the hint, “Great, I ‘should’
escort her on board for her first trip.
Give Margaret the V.I.P. treatment.”
Leo and Abbey both turn to step the final distance and to
disappear inside the helicopter.
The President holds out his hand to take hers, then he
turns them to the crowd one final time to wave and warns Margaret softly, “You
just duck and I will too! Here we
go!”
Taking her arm in though his, he quickly strides them both,
the final few feet. The President shifts
her in front of him to board. Leaving no
way for her to bolt, unless she wants to climb over him and that’s not
happening.
Once inside, Margaret sees that Leo is sitting to the
right, facing forward, and is reaching a helpful hand to get her seated. One of the officers of the crew, who is ready
to buckle her in, is offering her a hand, as well.
Beside Abbey, the President is being buckled in facing
them, as the crew quickly gets the passengers ready for flight.
Sitting down, Margaret grabs Leo’s hand with both of hers and Leo pats her hands in comfort, hoping that the First Couple will just think he’s being nice, to someone who is so scared. Leo can tell she’s still stiff as a board with fear, and the First Couple is sitting quietly, with looks of compassion for her. Leo continues to caress the top of her hand, by stroking it with his thumb.
Once
they are all belted in, Leo pulls her toward him, trying to break her out of
her fear.
Margaret
leans her head onto his shoulder for comfort.
Her face is as pale as a ghost, and her eyes are wide open, just waiting
to crash.
The President knows that waiting for her fear to recede,
before lifting off, will not help. It is
not going to happen, until she sees for herself that it’s not so bad. The President goes ahead and gives the signal
to take off.
Luckily, it should only take a little over an hour for them to arrive at the farm. Additionally welcome is the fact that there are only calm winds in the sky, on this cold day, which allows them to fly safely. With no winter storms anticipated today, they should not have to deal with any air turbulence that would add to Margaret’s fear.
Leo has been murmuring words of encouragement to her,
during the initial blades coming up to speed and the straight up flight to the
flying altitude, then the turning maneuvers to get them on course.
With each new movement, Margaret grips tighter onto Leo’s
hand and is plastered up against his side, as much as her belt will allow. He’s not sure she’s breathing at all during
this short time, and Leo finally gives into his growing concern for Margaret
and puts his hand behind her, to softly rub comforting circles on her back, as
she tucks herself under his arm. ~~ My Margaret is so scared and I don’t give
a damn about who cares or who sees me comforting her. I wouldn’t doubt it that she has left her
nail marks in my hand. I didn’t think
she was afraid of anything. She’s
certainly not afraid of me! That’s for
sure! ~~
The passengers have to stay seated and buckled in for the flight. After they’re airborne and set on course, they’re better able to talk among themselves. The first thing that they want to do is to try to comfort Margaret.
The President is hoping to preoccupy her mind, and he talks a little louder over the sound of the blades, even with the sound insulated some with the doors shut. “You know, Margaret, Marine One is the best in the nation, for speed and durability, commercial or military.” Jed tells her all this like trivia, hoping it might be what she’ll want to hear, to keep her mind busy during the flight.
Abbey
adds logically, as she knows that Margaret finds comfort in logic, “It’s the
safest one in the air, Margaret and Jed ‘is’ on board with us, after all. They wouldn’t let him on an unsafe
aircraft. He ‘is’ the President. It comes in handy at times like these.”
Leo chuckles, and he feels Margaret relax some, “Yeah, Margaret,
they won’t let anything happen to him and he’s right across from us.”
Margaret gives a big sigh, as she tries to regain her
nerves. She finally finds her voice,
“Thanks, Everyone,” as she wipes a stray tear of relief from her eye and starts
to look around with some interest.
The President is pleased to see her relax a little and
decides to keep her mind entertained with more trivia about Marine One, till
they land, if need be.
Leo and Abbey both theatrically roll their eyes at being
captive spectators to the two worst/best trivia nuts in the White House, who
are going to make them crazy, but it’s worth it!
Margaret now grins at the suffering two, who are willing to
endure the pain of trivia for her benefit.
To be worthy of such a sacrifice, Margaret then focuses on the
President, as she concentrates to absorb all the juicy details about Marine One
and hopefully forget that she’s flying in a very large helicopter.
Leo is busy now, trying to get the blood circulating back
into his hand, after Margaret gives it back to him.
Abbey does give him a concerned look, just checking to see
if Leo thinks he needs professional care.
Medical treatment might just be a good diversion to keep them busy,
while Jed is in trivia seventh heaven, as they sweep through the sky for their
winter weekend.
The President doesn’t keep up the trivia marathon for the
whole trip, because he knows that Abbey would kill him, agents or no
agents. Agent Butterfield would just log
it as an act of nature.
Luckily, halfway there, Margaret is only a little nervous,
as it’s been going well with the flight.
The trivia did the trick!
Seeing that the First Couple is talking quietly together,
Leo leans closer to Margaret for some private conversation of their own. He speaks as low as he can to her, in a
slightly teasing voice, hoping to see a nice smile from her, “Just think happy
thoughts, Margaret. You know, about how you
like to punish me every Sunday morning, at my hotel.”
“Leo!” Margaret glances
to see if the First Couple is following their conversation and it’s hard to
tell if they are listening or not.
They’re smiling, but not actually looking at them. She gives Leo a look that he’s familiar with,
for him to ‘fix it’.
Leo quickly adds, after his own glance at the First Couple,
“To workout.” He reviews his torture, to
please her, “First, you make me ride the lifecycle. Next, I do some of the Nautilus machines at
your instruction, and then you move me onto the treadmill.” Leo knows that they now definitely have the
attention of their friends. Abbey is
looking especially pleased.
“Well, Leo, you won’t do the Stairmaster machine,” Margaret gets in a little dig at him for
starting this, with the First Couple sitting just across from them in such
close quarters.
“I’d like to live a few more years too, Margaret. You do make me ride the bike again, while you
workout on the stair stepper thing,” he grins, letting her know that it’s not a
real hardship to watch her workout, while he’s sitting across from her on the
bike. He glances to see if Jed is
agreeing with him.
Margaret gives him a look that tells him that she sees
right through his terrible pain, of their Sunday morning workouts. Abbey is practically smirking in agreement.
Leo tries to sound innocent, “Then, when you’re done
torturing me, Margaret, we to get to recover/relax, which is the best part.”
“Yeah, poor,
Leo. We relax in the spa pool, till
we’re both sporting wrinkled hands and feet.”
Margaret pats his hand, as if Leo needs compassion for his suffering.
Leo tries to protest more, but his smile is contradicting
him, “Well, then you next make me eat green leafy stuff for lunch. I mean, whatever happened to meat or even
chicken for meals?” He sounds like it’s
as bad as taking nasty medicine.
“And fruit, Leo.
Both are things that are good for you.”
Margaret adds, as she smiles at Abbey now.
“You’re what’s good for me, Margaret.” Leo grins at her, with a smile so bright that
it sparkles from his eyes.
The First Couple is not missing the teasing undertone and
some hints of their off time together that are passing between Leo and
Margaret. Talk about missing what’s
right under your nose and not only wondering how long these Sunday rituals have
been going on.
*****
During the landing at the farm, Margaret fairs better than
even she expects.
The pilot, now knowing that he has a nervous passenger on
board, sets the huge helicopter down as soft as a feather. He really likes proving to his Commander in
Chief that it actually can be done, by the best flight crew in the
Marines. It is an honor to serve the
President.
The only sensation that the passengers notice is the slight
tilting forward, as the craft settles fully on the heliport’s landing pad.
Leo is absolutely thrilled and impressed with the pilot’s
skill.
******
Once inside the farmhouse, they discard their outerwear and
exchange pleasantries with the wonderful housekeeper. She takes their coats to hang up in the
closet, conveniently located under the stairway.
The housekeeper returns and informs them, “Ma’am, a late
lunch has been prepared in anticipation of your arrival and can easily be
served whenever you and your guests are ready.”
Abbey is so pleased at the housekeepers thoughtfulness,
“Thank you, Mrs. Redden. We’ll go up and
show Leo and Margaret their rooms and do a quick freshening up and be right back down.”
Jed and Abbey escort their guests up the stairs, as their
luggage had just preceded them, while they were talking in the front
foyer.
Leo and Margaret are quickly shown to their guest rooms
that are across from each other, just down the hall from the master bedroom
suite.
As Leo opens his bedroom door to return to the hall, he
hears his friends, just at the top of the stairs, as they start to descend to
the main floor. Jed is trying to
rationalize the need for dessert at lunchtime.
Leo smiles when he hears Jed’s debate.
He knows that Abbey tries to restrict the President’s sweets at the
White House.
“Abbey, you know that I just come here for our cook’s
famous homemade banana cream pie.” The
President makes a heartfelt wish. “I can
see it now, with a three inch layer of fluffy, lightly browned, meringue, with tiny amber beads of sweetness sparkling on all over
on top.”
Leo pauses in the hall to listen to Abbey teasing reply to
Jed, as they move down the stairs, “Jed, you have to admit. Our cook spoils you terribly when you’re
here. You have her wrapped around your
finger, and it wouldn’t do me any good to forbid you from the pie. She would just sneak it to you later. Let me warn you though that I’ll expect you
to eat lots of healthy foods to counteract her plying you with sweets. It must be from her southern background that
every meal has to end with a sweet dessert.”
They must have reached the main floor, heading to the
kitchen to find out what’s for lunch, as Leo can just make out Jed’s final
remark on the subject, “But we won’t hold it against her that she wasn’t born
in
Leo steps across the hall to tap on Margaret’s door.
Margaret replies to the soft tap, knowing who it is, after years of traveling
with Leo. “Come in, it’s open.”
Leo slowly cracks open the door to make sure he’s welcome,
“Margaret, it’s me.”
“Hello, Me,” she teases him.
He nods his head to the side and joins in on her
playfulness, “Very funny, You. The First
Couple has just gone down, so I thought that I’d see if you were ready yet and
wanted to go down with me?”
“Sure, Leo. I was
just doing my unpacking. Did you work on
yours or just check out the view like you usually do?” Seeing his innocent smile, she knows the
answer. “Just as I thought. You left your small case untouched on the bed
and your garment bag is right where they hung it for you. Isn’t it?”
Leo defends himself, still smiling, “Well, that works for
me!”
“I think we’ll take a short detour, before going downstairs
and I’ll at least take your shirts and slacks out of the garment bag and hang
them in the closet, so any wrinkles can fall out.”
Leo watches her pause in front of the dresser to check her
hair with a quick swipe of a brush and for a fresh application of clear
lip-gloss. She breezes past him, daring
to give his smiling lips a quick peck in passing, before darting across the
hall into his room.
He quickly shuts her door and follows her with an even
bigger grin on his face, “What was that for?”
With her hands full of his clothes, she quickly hooks them
over the closet rod and returns to stand right in front of him, as he holds his
ground in the doorway. She flashes him a
grin, knowing what he’s referring to, “I was just sharing, Leo. We need to keep your lips in good condition,
as well.” She does it again and with her
hands softly on his chest, she pushes him back out of her way to pass him and
heads for the stairs.
Shutting the door with a snap, Leo is right behind her,
“Sharing is a good thing and I like how you share!” ~~Oh, this
could be a good weekend, if she’s going to steal kisses like this. ~~
When they reach the kitchen they find Abbey chatting with
the cook and her helper, and Jed is leaning against the counter, nonchalantly
guarding the large covered pie stand behind him.
Leo just exchanges innocent grins with his best
friend. Jed maybe waiting for his sweet,
but Leo is not telling that he’s had his already. Not caring if he does have the hint of a
shine to his lips.
Abbey announces happily, “Good, you’re here. Let’s get seated in the dinning room. With all the wonderful smells in here, I’m
getting really hungry.”
Abbey leads, and Leo guides Margaret ahead of him with a
hand to her back, with the President finally giving up his post, to bring up
the rear. Happy that it makes it all the
sooner, till they bring him his pie.
The late lunch is served in a lovely style to the two
hungry couples. It’s much appreciated by
all, in a casual and relaxed manner, wanting to enjoy the calm and unhurried
meal together. They take pleasure in
catching up on news and getting to know one another better without the hustle
and bustle of the White House to disturb them.
At the end of the meal, they all agree with Jed’s opinion
of the famous pie. Even Abbey enjoys
savoring the sweet treat, but after their dessert is finished she announces,
“Ok, now I need to get up and move to burn off some of these calories, before
they take up permanent residence on my person.”
Margaret giggles and softly agrees, “I concur, Ma’am.” At the pointed look she gets, Margaret
corrects herself with a shy grin, “Abbey.”
“Better.” Abbey
quickly suggests, “How about we all take a walk and enjoy some clean fresh
air? We have plenty of time before
dark. Its still afternoon.”
Jed pipes up, “Yeah, I seem to remember that someone here,
made a challenge to another person here, about who was faster on the ice. Unless he has chickened out?” He knows that his taunting will work.
“What? I’m no
chicken,” Leo protests to his best friend.
He then boasts, trying to get a rise out of Margaret, “I can out skate
her anywhere, anytime and anyhow!”
“Well, McGarry,” Margaret counters, “Anytime you want to
eat those words. Just let me know!”
Jed is delighted.
“All right, I see this will have to be taken to the pond to be resolved
and soon. Anyone have a good reason to
postpone this race or beating, as we shall see, or is now a good time?”
“Fine by me,” Leo declares.
“I wouldn’t want it to be hanging over her head the whole weekend.”
Margaret brags with a grin at Abbey, “An easy sprint across
the ice would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. It would put Leo out of his misery and not
prolong his worrying, about how he’s going to live down being a ‘man of
Chicago’ and being beaten on the ice by a woman.” She looks with a challenging smile, to see
Leo with a good-natured smirk on his face.
He takes the slur on his beloved Chicago with mock anger,
“Woman, get your skates. It’s time to
see who is best on the ice!” His happy
grin reassures them that he’s enjoying the banter.
Jed gives Abbey an evil grin, “Lets get
their asses out to the pond, as it’s ‘put up or shut up’ time!”
He’s on his feet already and signaling to the agent out at the front
door, “Just so you know, we’ll be going down to the pond to skate, in just a
little while.” He then steps to speak additionally to the agent for a moment.
The President declares, when he returns to the dining room,
as the others are standing from the table, “I think someone’s going to eat crow,
for an additional dessert today.”
The President holds his hand out, “Come on, Abbey. Lets find our skates and join them for a turn
around the pond.”
Abbey cautions, “Everyone, bundle up! We ‘are’ in the country now, and it’s colder
than you think outside.”
Jed teases, “Let me know if you need extra clothes to layer
on, Leo. We know how you freeze in the
cold, even if you are from Chicago!”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you and yes, I will bundle up.” Leo is not the least bit offended by the
teasing. How can he protest the
truth? “I know you just think it’s
brisk, Sir, but some of us have sense enough to acknowledge the real
temperature. I do have extra gloves with
me.”
Jed can be heard
chuckling, as the couples split up to meet at the pond, as soon as they can get
ready.
*****
The ‘Pond’ is a modest
title for the body of water at the farm.
It may be shallow enough to freeze over most of the winter, but it is
wide and long, wonderful for a skating pond.
It looks like the farm’s permanent agents have kept it cleaned off and
smooth for skating, maybe for their off hours enjoyment. You can see it, if you stand at the back
fence of the small paddock and look out over the pasture that is used for
cattle grazing in warm weather.
It’s lightly snowing when
all four of them arrive at the pond, with a few extra agents in tow. It’s
just the right amount of snow sprinkling down, to add to the fun of the
impromptu afternoon skating party.
There are some basic
benches on the bank of the pond, of cleaned and flat top logs on metal
legs. Not far behind the seating is the
beginning of a nice little fire in the stone fire ring . The fire will come in handy, when the skaters
are finally chilled enough to seek its heat.
Margaret is pleased to see
that the First Couple are wearing knitted ear bands around their heads and not
hats, since she’s wearing her earmuffs.
“Abbey, I like your head bands, they’re like modern earmuffs.” She pats her own bright blue earmuffs.
Abbey is delighted to see
Margaret with old fashioned over-the-head earmuffs, just like she wore as a
girl, “Where did you find them? I can
never find any at the beginning of the season, not even at Christmas.”
Margaret doesn’t hesitate
to reveal, “From the Winter Carnival that Leo and I went to in January. Leo got a pair of black ones, but we can
assume that he’s conveniently left them in his dress wool coat.”
Leo
smiles and says, “Sorry , Margaret, I did forget them in my dress coat pocket
at the office. Funny how they never
crossed my mind.” He keeps a big grin on
his face, hoping to look innocent.
Margaret says, ”Leo???” in
mock anger. “You have no more sense than
a five year old… it’s a good thing that I do,” as she pulls his black ear muffs
out of her other pocket. Moving over to
stand in front of him, she puts them over his already pink ears, earning a big
smile from him and small knowing smiles from Jed and Abbey.
Still just inches from
Margaret, he looks her right in the eye, reaches into his pocket and pulls out
his extra set of knit gloves to layer under his leather ones and says, “ See,
I’m not totally helpless when packing.”
Margaret
gives him a pleased smile, but still orders him with a laugh, “Ok, Leo, I
apologize.” The phrase pops into her
head, ~~Cold hands, warm heart~~
“Now put them on, so they’ll do you some good, Leo.”
She
shakes her head at his reasoning, ~~He remembers to bring one thing and of
course, he’s not wearing them. The man
is hopeless at looking after himself, but thankfully he has me and I’m going to
be here, hopefully, for a good long time1~~
With the others smiling at
him at being bossed, grinning at Margaret, Leo promises, “I will before we go
onto the ice,” and then asks, “Can we get our skates on now? Time’s a wasting!”
Jed and Abbey share a
bench and put on some older skates that have seen better days and are nearly
dull from use. The excuse for their
condition is that it just made them safer for the girls, when they were younger
and now for their grandkids.
The skates are still the
ones they used when Jed and Leo used to coax the girls into a three-on-three
pickup hockey game. Not easy for girls
to do in figure skates, but they would indulge their dads for a short
game. Good thing Leo was fast and wiry,
even on those old skates, since his team mates were his own little Mallory and
his even smaller goddaughter Zoey. Funny
how, even back then, Jed would make sure he had the larger team, with Liz and
Ellie on his side. He has always had a
thing about winning at all costs.
On the other nearby bench,
Leo and Margaret are each opening a skate tote bag to reveal the expensive
professional skates of their choice.
Margaret’s are professional figure
skates. Riedell’s that
set her parents back almost $500 dollars, back when she was a teenager. They may be older, but she has always fondly
kept them in good condition. After Leo’s
challenge, she sent immediately home for them, and took them in for new laces
and blade sharpening, as soon as they arrived.
Leo, on the other hand,
had gone out right after his challenge at the Winter Carnival and bought new
Bauer hockey skates, just to be ready for this.
They are just like the skates that he always wanted when he was a teenager,
but there were too many other needs in his family, for him to receive or buy
skates of this caliber.
Lost in time, Leo
remembers back, as he laces up his new skates. ~~ Man, what me and the guys would have given for
blades like these. For most
of us guys, winter was for hockey in the Chicago area where I grew up. I like to think that, as a teenager, I was tough and
scrappy back then, but actually I was just a thin wiry
guy. I would be again, but Margaret
keeps working to fattening me up. I was
built more like a speed skater, than the huskier build that my friends had,
which was needed for a real hockey team. Yeah, …well…, I didn’t have the extra time
that was needed for the high school
team, with my part-time job and the extra study load for the college prep
courses. I’m not bragging or anything,
but even though I was small, I was fast and strong. I really did love hockey’s rough,
and tumble contact playing and I did
play a lot of Saturday pick up games at the outdoor rinks. …Get your head back to today, McGarry. I just hope that I can still skate. It’s been years since I chased Mallory and
the other girls around on the pond. Luckily, if I look like
a fool, there’ll be only the agents as witnesses
here, along with the First Couple. ~~
**
Margaret is ready to take
to the ice before Leo, but she waits for him near the edge of the ice, just
taking a few testing glides back and forth, while he finishes lacing up his new
skates.
After standing and making
his way to the ice, Leo’s bad leg is not too happy at first and he finds that
it’ll probably take a little while to loosen it up. He just needs to let it warm up slowly,
because it’s not really painful, it’s just a little tight and stiff.
When Leo tries to cover up his need to go
slowly at first, his new razor-sharp hockey blades work against him and he
nearly falls backwards, as his feet try to get ahead of his body.
Margaret is watching him
on the sly, as she can tell that he doesn’t want to show any weakness in his
leg, especially in front of the others. ~~So stubborn, and macho of him! Oh no… he’s gonna go down! ~~
Margaret grabs a hold of
his well-worn, brown leather jacket and just manages to keep both of them on
their feet, with the help of the toe picks on her figure skates. She hangs on to Leo, just till she’s sure
that he has his feet under him again.
To help him cover,
Margaret teases, “Sorry, Leo, I didn’t mean to bump you there.” She pats his shoulder, as if in apology,
while she’s still holding onto him for a few seconds longer, “I wouldn’t want
you to land on your bony ass there, Leo, and then have you not be able to
race!” Then she starts to skate slow
circles around him, as if she’s teasing him, till he gets his legs
working under him.
Leo then gives her a grateful thank you grin and
skates away, improving more with every stroke of his blades. His legs are now remembering the once
familiar balance and rhythm. He doesn’t
make eye contact with the agents that were nearby on the ice, as he skates by
with more confidence.
Margaret starts warming up, as she skates around the
ice. First forward and then backward
crossovers with deeper and more confident edges, stopping for a simple
arms-crossed scratch spin, then slowing and moving into a camel spin. Last she stops with a toe pick jabbed into
the ice.
She then skates cross-foot forward around the ice,
to pick up some speed, before making a long graceful spiral using almost the
entire length of the pond.
Margaret is imagining that she can do it just like
Michelle Kwan’s signature spiral. She
bends forward with one leg raised up behind her and her arms trailing to her
sides like a gliding bird. Leaning gracefully from one side to the other, as
she moves from the right side of the pond to the left, as she travels. When her gliding leg gives a big wobble,
Margaret has to quickly drop her other leg back to the ice. She thinks, ~~’not exactly’~~ and giggles to herself.
Leo is skating around the perimeter of the pond,
leaving the center free for Margaret. He
keeps one eye on her and one on the surface of the ice for imperfections, so he
doesn’t end up tripping over some reeds still sticking up through the ice.
The First Couple have
their mouths nearly hanging open, as they watch Margaret skate. She is so graceful and confident on the
ice. This is a wonderful way to spend
the afternoon, and they see that Margaret is so thrilled and completely lost in
the past, in a world of her own enjoyment.
No wonder she wanted to bring her own ‘professional’ skates with her.
Margaret is staying pretty
much in the center of the pond and is thankful that the First Couple is content
to skate cautiously around at one end of the pond, linked to each other, as
they watch. She’s thoroughly enjoying
herself, as she tries to push her limits, as to what she can still do.
Next Margaret glides backwards, wanting to see if
she can still do a simple single toe-loop jump.
She’s so pleased when she lands it and curves away backwards
successfully that she beams proudly. She
plays with her favorite of warming up her legs with some serpentine footwork,
while changing directions. ~~I bet Leo is surprised that I can do more
than glide around the ice looking pretty.~~
It has been years since she has tried her rusty
skills from childhood. ~~I do so love to skate! Too bad that lessons and the rink time were
so costly, even back then. When I had
that growth spurt at fourteen, it seemed best to give up the sport at the start
of junior level, even with my goal to compete at Nationals as a novice. When I grew too much and lost my center of
balance, I was better off focusing on my studies anyway. Look where my academic achievements got me
today. Skating on the President’s home
pond, on a beautiful winter’s afternoon.~~
Margaret circles once to set up for another
scratch spin, wanting to add a some flare to it by curving backwards a little
in a graceful arch and holding her arms straight up from her center line.
The
First Couple had no idea she could skate like that. Their eyes are glued to her, with her eyes
shining and her cheeks flushed from the cold and the exercise. Abbey slips a small digital camera out of her
pocket and sneaks a few pictures of her and of Leo, both of who are completely
unaware of the camera, as they continue to eye each other on the ice preparing
for the race.
She’s not surprised that
she’s a bit wobbly, when she attempts to make her next camel spin, into a
Hamill camel, by trying to squat down into a sit spin without stopping the
rotation. She has to end this one
quickly and just keeps from landing on her butt on the ice, coming out of
it. ~~Talk
about looking like a dizzy dame! ~~
Leo tells himself, ~~I just found a new definition for eye candy! ~~ Margaret is so beautiful, while skating in
her fleece lined suede jacket and snug fitting blue jeans. Her secret talents just keep amazing him, the
more he learns of her private life. He
never knew that she loved sports so much and was so very talented and athletic
as a child.
To the others present, Leo looks like he’s just
goofing off, as he circles the pond watching his Margaret. ~~If I
lose, the President will never let me live it down, here or back at the White
House! ~~
Leo is warming up his legs, and a time or two he
reverses his direction to let the other leg be the inside power leg. He soon remembers that his war injury will
not tolerate being the inside leg, and he has to quickly reverse back.
The President can tell that Leo is actually warming
up to race, while Margaret is enjoying herself entertaining them all.
When Leo skates near by,
Margaret glides up beside him and eyes the far end of the pond, since they’re
now near the First Couple and their extra agents. She gives Leo a small shove in the opposite
direction and challenges him, “Come on, ‘Bobby’, catch me if you can,” and she
takes off skating, as fast as she can in figure skates. ~~He’s
gonna kill me, if he catches me. Oh,
what a wonderful way to go! ~~
After a few seconds and
with the President laughing heartily at Margaret’s tactics, Leo recovers his
balance. He takes off after her in a
precision cut straight line. Gaining on
her fast, with his ‘made for speed’ hockey skates. Leo’s grinning and also breathing in time to
his blade strokes. He’s determined to
win and make her pay for cheating at the start.
~~Paybacks can be fun! ~~
Margaret is giving Leo a
run for his effort, with her longer legs eating up the distance to the far
shoreline. Just as Leo is starting to
pass her, Margaret grins, swerves toward
him and grabs his sleeve to pull him off course, with a happy laugh and boasts,
“I’m gonna win this, ‘Bobby’!”
Chasing after her again, Leo catches
her near their goal and pulls her in for a hug, “Gotcha!”
She tries to break away, with Leo still gripping her
jacket and makes a last lunge for the bank by stretching out her leg and unseen
by him, touches it first.
With Leo and Margaret so wrapped up with each other
and winning the race, they forget that they’re still moving forward, with considerable
speed.
In the next instant, they soon find that the bank
is blanketed in thick soft snow, as they
land without injury on the bank, with Leo on the bottom to pad Margaret’s
landing. They’re still hanging onto each
other, but they’re both still mindful of where their sharp blades are.
Leo rolls Margaret over and rises up on an elbow
without letting go of her. They’re both
still panting from the exertion of the race.
Leo gazes into her eyes that are shining with merriment, and tells her,
“You may be beautiful on the ice, but I’m the more cleaver racer and caught up
with you. Even though you tried to stop
me from winning, I still did, you know!”
“And how do you figure that, ‘Bobby’?” She loves calling him that, as she admires
this rugged outdoor side of him. She
reaches up a gloved hand to brush away some snow from his cheekbone, as the
snowflakes continue to fall down on them.
Leo focuses on her lips, when she calls him Bobby,
“Well, I’m the one that ended up on the bank first, since you landed on
me… I win.”
Leo
decides he just has to steal a kiss, while Jed and Abbey are far enough away to
not really see what they’re doing. He lightly kisses a few
of snowflakes from her face.
He hesitates with his enjoyment to ask, “And what’s
with the ‘Bobby’ name?”
“Well, you know, Leo… like Bobby Hull, the scrappy
skater from the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1960’s. It just came to me, when you got all
competitive acting and rugged looking, like now.”
Leo is so pleased with it being from the Chicago
player, known as the Golden Jet. ~~
Bobby’s sons still play today, Brett and Bobby Jr., I think. Their dad was something special in the world
of hockey.~~
Margaret can’t resist it any longer and reaches up
her lips to his, for a real kiss. She’s
being so bad today!
When she breaks the kiss to lay softly bock on his
arm now under her neck, Leo gives Margaret that cocky, crooked smile of his and
states, “I think someone owes me for her tactics used during the race and you
know the spoils go to the victor!” Leo
lowers his head, to slowly and thoroughly kiss her senseless, as the winner of
the race.
Margaret breaks the kiss to point out, “I touched
the bank first, Leo, with my foot, so I’m the winner. Sooo…I’m collecting my prize now!” She rolls him onto his back and leans over
him to savor another breathtaking kiss.
Then again, Margaret,
whether to now savor defeat or victory, might have actually ‘let’ herself be
caught by Leo???
She’s just glad that
either way, it’s just as sweet with Leo rolling in the snow with her and that
their lips are busy collecting payback.
The
First Couple watches them from a distance and waits for the agents to relay who
the winner is, while Abbey continues to click off some pictures of them at the
far end of the pond, playing and hugging, ~~and… is that kissing? ...in the
snow?~~ Little do they know and the
agents are not telling!
***
Leo
and Margaret are back on their feet, when the First Couple finally reach
them. They congratulate Margaret on
winning the race.
While
the President gives Leo a questioning grin, about the winner, Abbey is first
with the praise, “Margaret,
congratulations on the win. You were
wonderful out there… so graceful and as fast as the wind. I’ve never seen anything like that out here
on this old pond, or anywhere really.“
The
President takes over on the admiration, “How many years did you train as a
skater, Margaret, and don’t tell me it was nothing?” The President asks her, while Abbey nods in
agreement.
“Thank
you, Sir, Abbey. I’m really quite rusty,
it’s been many years since I’ve been on skates, but I did train for about 8
years or so. I stopped when I was
fourteen, after a big growth spurt,” Margaret shyly ends with a healthy glow to
her face.
A
little braver now after her triumph, Margaret leans closer to the First Couple
and mock whispers, with one eye on Leo, “I might have done better during my
warm up, without my coat on, as it was holding me back some. I didn’t want to tip my hand to Leo, before
we got here that I was better on the ice than he knew.”
Jed is
beaming at Leo rolling his eyes at hearing Margaret’s tactics and Abbey is
trying not to laugh with approval at Margaret being sneaky, so she asks, “Did
you skate competitively?”
“Yes,
but never at a national level. I might
have had the opportunity, if I hadn’t grown so much that year. But, I have no regrets. It opened up my time to invest in my
studies,” she states logically.
Jed
nods in agreement and then turns to smirk at Leo, “Well, Leo, you seem to be
taking that beating with good humor, from the grin on your face.”
The
President then asks Leo, with a hint of sarcasm, “With all that snow still
clinging to your jacket, I take it Margaret not only beat you skating, but then
she held you down for the count, just to make sure you were soundly bested by
her?”
Leo is
a gracious looser, “What can I say? She
may have won the race, and then she held me down, so I couldn’t protest the
race, but she cheated! Just like someone
else I know does at sports!” He’s
looking his best friend right in the eye.
Abbey
scoffs at Leo and his protest. “Leo,
even from a distance, you sure didn’t look like you were protesting very much
to me. Care to share?”
“Oh… I don’t think so!” Leo dares Abbey right back, “You two were
kinda chummy together on the ice, right before we raced.” Still looking Abbey in the eye, he points a
finger to Jed. “The twinkle is still in
his eyes, which tells me you two were talking about more than just the winter
scenery. Care to share?”
Abbey
is grinning at him and his challenge.
This is more like their old Leo that they so love, from before their
time at the White House. “I think not!”
“That’s
what I thought!” Leo lets it drop right
there, as he brushes off the sides of his jeans, before any more snow can melt
through them to his long john pants underneath.
He’s not taking a chance of getting cold.
The
President jumps in with a question for him now, “So, Leo, think you can take
more than one beating in a day?” Jed
drops a black disk onto the ice that he had hidden in his pocket.
Leo
grins, but points out, by holding his gloved hands out wide, “Sorry, Sir, but I
seem to have left my stick at home.”
“No
problem, Leo,” and the President waves his arm to the agents that are circling
the perimeter of the ice. One grabs up
something from the bank and glides over, still keeping one eye to the
surrounding area, as are the other agents.
He hands two hockey sticks to the President.
Jed
hands Leo a hockey stick, which are the same in length, as the men are close in
height. “Here we go, Leo, care to take
on your Commander in Chief, your superior… on the ice that is?” The President continues his taunt, “And get
your Midwest ass kicked!”
Leo
takes offence at his friends slur, “In hockey?
Superior? Not in this lifetime,
you pansy, …Sir.” Leo taps his stick on
the ice that he’s ready to take him on.
“You know where the goal lines are from before, ‘Sir’, but the only one
you’ll see is yours, as I score a goal.
Some one call out ‘go’!” ~~Superior, my ass! ~~
A few
of the agents on the ice, are trying not to smile with anticipation at the
challenge game that is about to take place.
Abbey
grabs Margaret’s arm to pull her out of harm’s way. “We better watch this from the safety of the
benches. This could get ugly!”
Hooking
her arm through Margaret’s, Abbey glances over her shoulder, as the two of them
skate to the bank, “When this is over, let me recommend some wonderful muscle
cream for Leo. He’s gonna need it, as
much as Jed will. I can predict an early
evening for our ‘boys’.”
Margaret
is laughing at Abbey’s prediction, as she agrees, “You’re absolutely right,
ah… Abbey. They’re definitely gonna wish they had better
sense later tonight.”
When
they reach the edge of the ice, Margaret turns to look back and her eyes are
targeting on the two combatants, “You’d think that the agents would forbid
this, as a safety precaution to the President?”
She asks this, as they sit to watch the action on the ice.
Abbey
spreads out the lap throw over their legs that she brought from the house, so
that they can trap the heat from the small fire behind them. “Nah, they’re loving it, as they get to
referee and he’ll be easier for them to watch over, if he’s localized tonight
from being tired and sore from the game.
So it’s to their benefit, all the way around, to let them play.”
Abbey
pauses, as they watch the guys skate, jab and nearly wrestle their way up and
down the pond, as she has a new thought, “He just better not hurt anything that
I’m hoping to use tonight!”
Margaret
is shocked by what the First Lady is implying and is trying not to laugh at the
smirk that Abbey is wearing on her face.
Margaret speaks without really thinking about what she’s saying. “You’d better hope you have some muscle cream
that’s odorless for tonight. That could
put a real damper on the mood.”
Margaret
can be cheeky too. It’s just that this
is the first time she’s dared to with the First Lady. She peaks a glance to see if it’s taken in
the spirit it was intended in.
Abbey
gives her a look of admiration, at joining in on the teasing, “You got that
right, Girlfriend. Good point!”
Smiling,
they silently watch their two men act like boys again and warm up by the
fire. Margaret is a little damp from her
tumble in the snow with Leo and is hoping he’s not too damp, while skating all
over the cold ice. ~~I’ll kill him, if he ends up sick over playing out in the cold. Then again, I can nurse him back to health
and that has a whole new meaning, since we’ve started spending time together.
~~
*****
After the afternoon of
skating in the fresh cold air, everyone is in need of a warm bath to soothe
their sore muscles and warm up.
Abbey actually kinda likes
the smell of Icy/Hot that will be radiating from Jed’s body tonight. She finds it a unique turn on, which is lucky
for her, especially with Jed’s frequent history of treating his body badly,
like he’s still in his twenties, and he’s certainly not.
Abbey knows that Jed will
definitely need a hot bath, A.S.A.P., or his back will knot up tight and he’ll
suffer all night with it. This is not
the first time he’s overdone the fun of outdoor sports, nor will it be his
last. He never learns.
Jed and Abbey adjourn to
the lovely bathroom that was just added to their new Master suite, and its
wonderful oversized tub big enough for two!
They may be a while, soaking away their stiffness and soreness in the warm
bubbles. They know a few entertaining
ways to make good use of their time together in the bubbles!
**
Leo being a gentleman
insists that Margaret use the tub first, in the shared bathroom at the end of
the hall, which the Bartlet girls use when they’re at home.
A nice soak in warm water
was just the thing to revive Margaret before dinner. Back in her room and dressed for dinner,
Margaret remembers that she has forgotten her hairbrush in the bathroom and as
she thinks Leo should be out of the bath by now, she pops down the hall to
retrieve it.
Margaret quickly opens the
bathroom door, walks in and immediately reaches for her brush on the
counter. “Eeeek,” is Margaret’s startled
reaction, when she glances at the mirror and spots Leo still soaking his sore muscles,
slumped down in a full tub of water, with his bare knees breaking the surface
and his eyes closed.
Leo pops upright at her
squeal and sloshing some of the water over the edge in his haste. Since he doesn’t take bubble baths, Leo
quickly grabs the facecloth off the edge of the tub and uses it to cover his …
you know!
They’re both immediately
flushed bright red.
Margaret instantly turns
her back to him and remains frozen in place.
“I’m so sorry, Leo! It’s
fine. You’re under the water! I can’t see anything… ohhh… you know what I
mean.” She’s just digging herself in
deeper, with her fast nervous rambling.
“What’d you expected, Margaret? Bubbles?”
Leo asks, to cover his shock of her in the bathroom, with him naked, and
this effectively breaks Margaret out of her dilemma.
“Well, I used bubbles,”
Margaret informs him, once she’s safely out in the hall and she quickly snaps
shut the door behind her,
Leo calls loudly to Margaret, through the
closed door, “Well, Abbey suggested I add some Sea Salt to the bath water, to
help with my soreness!” He knows that
she’s still just on the other side of the door listening.
He rolls his head back, as he looks around
the tub area with disbelief at just what happened. He never even thought to lock the door. He’s so used to living alone, he barely
remembers to even close the door anymore.
Then, as he remembers her
last words, he moans and sinks farther down into the warm water. ~~Oh
God…Did she have to tell me she used bubbles in this tub, just a little while
ago?~~ As he tires to control his body’s response to her recent proximity, and
the image of her sitting here… in this tub… naked… in a bubble bath.
~~Well, this isn’t helping the situation, is it?~~
*****
Dinner and an early
bedtime are all that is on the schedule for the evening, as the First Couple
want some down time together, and Abbey wants Jed to catch up on his sleep, and
honestly, she does too.
As they leave the dinning
room after dinner and head for the stairs, Abbey mockingly comments when they
reach the foyer, “I must be getting old, well not that old, but that’s the
excuse I’m sticking to tonight. Really,
I just want to crawl into bed, burrow under the covers and enjoy having my husband
all to myself for a while.”
Jed comments, “Yeah I
have been promised that I can actually sleep in tomorrow morning!”
Abbey tells them, “ I plan on lounging in late in the morning, so not to hurry in the morning, breakfast will be later than usual, as we are on a break. Plan on brunch at about 10AM or so, but I’m sure that coffee will be available all morning.
Jed warns the other
couple, but really he’s teasing Leo, “Let me remind you that it gets cold at
night, here in New England. Better pile
on the extra blankets. We wouldn’t want
a guest to freeze to death under our roof.”
Leo retorts back, “Yeah,
I‘ll do that. You probably have your
window cracked open at night, because I know how you like to sleep in a fresh,
cold-air filled room.”
“Not with me in there he’s
not,” Abbey warns.
“Well, if you insist
Sweetknees. I’ll leave it closed.” Jed gives Abbey a kiss on the forehead, to
seal his promise, “It’ll just be good that we won’t be working all tonight.”
Leo admits, “I …ah just
want to just read over some notes that Josh shoved at me, as I was returning to
my office earlier today. I do have to
call him and check to see if the White House is still standing. It has been a quiet afternoon, Sir. Almost too quiet.”
The President shares the
same thought that Leo has, “Yeah, it is kinda spooky at that. Well, read fast, so you can call him and then
you can get some rest.” Jed worries
about his friend, and he seriously does want him to rest this weekend. ~~Not
that either of us will have any trouble sleeping tonight, not after our little
hockey game this afternoon. We may be
getting too old for that crap. Nah, …not
me, but Leo might be! ~~
The First Couple isn’t
really happy that Leo is going to do some work tonight, but it’s a necessary
evil of their jobs and they know that Leo is only happy if he still has his
thumb on the pulse of the West Wing.
Leo assures the President,
“It shouldn’t take too long, Sir. I’ll
also try to run the staff out of there and get them to call it an early night.”
Leo waves Margaret to the
stairs, as a signal that she can precede on up ahead of him.
She agrees with him and
excuses herself with, “Good night, Sir, Abbey.”
Jed teases Margaret, “I
will never break Leo of constantly calling me Sir, even here, but you call her
Abbey and I’m still ‘Sir’ to you, even in my own home?” He’s grinning at her, as he asks, so she
knows he’s not really upset.
Margaret answers off the
top of her head, ”Yes, Sir, you and my father both.” She grins happily at having a good comeback
to his teasing scold.
The President is delighted
that she’s more comfortable with him and smarted back to him, “See you in the
morning, Margaret. Sleep well.”
“Yes, Sir! Thank you,” she moves to go up the stairs.
Leo starts up the stairs
and Jed requests, “Leo, tell Josh, there’s to be no ‘camp outs’ in the Oval
Office this weekend. They can party in
someone else’s office.”
As Leo continues to follow
Margaret up the stairs, he looks back down at the First Couple still standing
in the lower hallway. He just has to
have the last word, to make his friend crazy.
“You know, ‘while the cat’s away, the mice will play’!”
“Call him first, Leo,” is
the President’s final order for the night.
“Good night, Mr.
President.” Leo still has the last word,
smiling, he reaches the top of the stairs and turns to disappear down the hall
to where the guest rooms are located.
Abbey is thinking about
Leo’s teasing quote, “Jethro, I wonder if Leo meant the White House or here,
where the mice are going to be playing?”
She steps to look around at where Leo had disappeared.
“Come on, Kitten, let’s
just let them find some cheese to nibble, on their own tonight!” Jed has his arm around Abbey’s shoulders, as
they climb the stairs and one hand on the railing. He’s starting to stiffen up a little after
all the outdoor exercise today.
Surprisingly his back is not acting up.
~~Wonder if Abbey will rub it for
me later? The night is still young and
anything could throw it out yet tonight. ~~
Jed thinks to himself with a smile!
**
Half an hour after they
all retire to their rooms, Leo is already changed into his pajamas and has made
his call to Josh, before doing the reading.
~~He better not tear up the West
Wing this weekend, or I’ll take it out of his hide. I may just strangle Josh after all! I can’t make heads or tails of this memo.~~
Leo is pacing the floor
reading, with his glasses perched down near the end of his nose. He bends closer to the light of the lamp,
trying to make out the handwritten notes in the margin of the memo. ~~Josh
was in such a hurry to have me read this tonight that he couldn’t even wait for
Donna to retype it. He just shoved it at
me, on my way out this morning. ~~
Leo rants out loud, “For the love of Mike! How does he expect me to read his chicken
scratches? Donna may be able to figure
it out, but there’s no way I’m gonna tonight!”
He straightens up with a
small moan. His back muscles are already
starting to get sore and stiffen up. ~~The hockey game probably wasn’t such a
good idea, after all, for men of our age and occupations. Fighting with congress is just not enough to
keep us in ample shape for rough and tough sports like hockey. ~~
Leo rubs the back of his
neck to work out some of the stiffness that he can reach. His face breaks out into a smile, as he has
an idea. ~~Maybe Margaret can read
it? ~~
Leo doesn’t hesitate, as
he flips on his robe, grabs the memo and quickly crosses the hall. Tapping on her door, he asks, ”Margaret, can
I come in? I need your help with
something!”
Margaret is already tucked
into bed, but her reply is purely instinctive, “Sure, come on in. What do you need, Leo?”
Before she can flip back
the covers to put her feet to the floor, Leo is standing in her room, at the
foot of the bed, and he’s looking so adorable in her opinion.
Margaret can immediately
tell that Leo is taking the President at his word and is bundled up to keep
warm, while at the farmhouse. ~~Does
he not think that the First Couple has central heat operating here in the most
well maintained country home in the U.S., so we’re not going to actually get
cold tonight. Not like it is at my
family’s old country home, where on frigid nights, it can get shivering cold.~~
In that moment of savoring
the site of Leo in sleepwear, Margaret wonders where he got them. He must keep them here, as she knows that she
packed his usual silk pajamas. She sighs
with appreciation to herself, as Leo is looking wonderfully rugged, standing
there in thick flannel plaid pajamas and a warm looking, black quilted robe
that is reminiscence of a smoking jacket.
It’s his way of roughing it in the county, but it works wonderfully for
him, and for her. ~~Be still my
heart!~~
Unknowingly, Leo breaks
into her inspection of his sleepwear. He
hands her the memo and explains, “I can’t read Josh’s notes! I’ve tried everything to make sense of them. Margaret, can you figure them out?” He gives one last glance at the memo, to
assure himself that it’s still open to the page in question.
Margaret is still sitting
in the bed and quickly glances down at her own warm flannel PJ’s and is sad to
admit that this is not exactly how she wanted Leo to see her in bed, for the
first time since they started seeing each other. ~~There’s
no way Leo could ever find me desirable in flannel, no matter how practical
they are here in New Hampshire. Just my
luck! ~~
She tucks the quilt snugly
around her waist and holds out her hand for the memo, knowing that Leo is not
going to wait till she gets out of bed and puts on her robe and slippers. ~~ A
little late for propriety now, I guess.
He’s so used to popping in and out of my room on the campaign trail, but
now… it’s different… we’re just trying to make a start as a couple. I’m sure he wouldn’t understand the
difference, even if I could explain it.
Not with a memo problem in his hand. ~~
While she’s working on
deciphering the memo, Leo can’t resist checking out her bed. After his wayward thoughts in the tub, he
decides it’s better not to linger on the sight of her in the bed, now that his
mind is off the memo. His eyes find a
thick paperback book spread open and upside down, where she must have laid it,
when he knocked on her door.
Leo glances to see if
she’s still busy with the memo and twists his head to better read the title,
just to see what she enjoys for her regular bedtime reading. He knows that she’s a trivia enthusiast, to
put it mildly, and he always wonders where she finds all the little know facts
that she just has to share with him.
The first thing he notices
is the author’s name in large bold letters across the bottom of the front
cover. Danielle Steele! ~~Oh,
Lord! My Margaret is reading a paperback
romance novel. I never would have
guessed she would read those kind of books.~~
He grins with delighted
interest at the fact that Margaret has some romantic longings and that she’s
turned to reading about them. ~~That’s good to know. I’d be more than happy to help her with any
longings that she has! ~~
Leo can’t help, but grin
and ask her, “Is this where you find all your interesting trivia?” He points to her book, with a cheeky grin.
Margaret’s eyes snap to
where he’s pointing and sees him reaching for her book. She leans over and grabs it out from under
his hand. As if that will change the
fact that he now knows she loves a good sappy romance with a happy ending.
“I think we’ll take this
memo problem over to your room, Leo.”
She’ll feel better with him away from her book and her comfy bed, before
he gets any notions, or maybe it’s her that needs to distance him from her bed,
and from her own wayward thoughts of them holding each other all night long.
She doesn’t even take the
time to grab her robe, as she quickly grabs his hand and drags a grinning Leo
from her room and back across to the supposed safety of his.
“In a hurry to work,
Margaret?” He asks, as she moves over to
the small table in his room where he has his briefcase open, and she grabs out
a notepad to translate the memo notes for him.
He shuts the door with a smile and moves over to sit on the bottom
corner of the bed near her.
As he watches her working
on the first page of the memo, he apologizes to her, as he remembers why
they’re there for the weekend, “Margaret, I’m sorry I needed you to help with
work. I didn’t even think about you
wanting to relax and read tonight, before I asked you to help me. I just needed help and the next thing I knew,
I was in your room.”
Margaret just shrugs her
shoulders and replies, “No problem, Leo.
I’m sure I can figure it out.” ~~Little does he know that I’m perfectly
content to spend any quiet time with him.
We need this weekend away from the White House. I really liked the fun we had this afternoon and
I’m looking forward to our having more time for getting closer. ~~
Leo is feeling bad about
getting her out of her nice, warm, comfy looking bed, “Really, Margaret, I’m
sorry. This is supposed to be a restful
weekend for you. Don’t make yourself
crazy with it. I can muddle though it
and try to get the gist of it.”
He reaches over and gently
takes the memo back from her.
When he does, she sees him
hesitate with his reach and a slight grimace crosses his face. “Leo, you’re hurting already, aren’t
you?” Margaret actually states more than
asks, as she lays the pencil down on top of the notepad.
He nods his confession and
gets up to get something from his nightstand.
He’s not sure how to ask her to do something kinda personal. “Ah…
Margaret, ah… do you mind putting some of this cream, that Abbey gave
me, on my shoulders? You don’t have to,
if you don’t want to. I mean, I can
probably get to most of them, if I work at it…
It’s just that… it would be a little easier….”
Margaret holds out her
hand for the tube, “Give it here, Leo, and sit on the end of the bed.” She has a happy look on her face.
He removes his robe and
sits down, as she requested and watches her to see where she’s going, to be
able to reach him.
She crawls up to sit
cross-legged behind him on the bed, “Leo, you need to also remove your PJ top,
you know, so I can rub this on your bare shoulders.”
With his back bowed a
little forward, he glances back behind him with a grin, as he starts to
unbutton his pajama shirt, to slide it off his shoulders. “What if I said my legs are hurting too? Will you tell me to take off my pants
too?” He has that cheeky look again on
his face.
“Don’t push your luck,
Leo. Now ditch the shirt!” Margaret smirks a smile right back at
him. ~~He’s
sitting in front of me half-nude, and now I get to run my hands all over his
back. Talk about a wonderful way to
spend an evening. ~~
Leo is just loving it, but
more so, when she starts rubbing the Icy/Hot cream onto his sore muscles. He may not be able to move tomorrow, but the
short hockey game was a tie, so he’s happy with the results. I guess it was worth it, especially now, when
I get to have Margaret rub my shoulders.
Leo almost has to bite his
lip to keep from crying out in relief, as Margaret rubs the cold cream into the
tops of his shoulders and the upper half of his arms. She then starts on the back of his shoulders
and continues down the large muscles on each side of his spine. ~~Damn,
she’s great at detail work! ~~
Margaret slows down to a
stop, as his grunts, moans and groans get louder.
Leo exclaims quickly,
“Don’t stop, please, you’re not really hurting me that much.”
Margaret gives a huff of
disbelief, “Like that would be my reason for stopping.”
“Well, then why are
you?” He rolls his shoulders to limber
them some more, after her rubbing them.
The coolness of the cream is now starting to heat up and allow him some
relief.
She tells him in a mock
whisper, “Because, Leo, if you get any more vocal, they’re going to think that
at least one of us is going to be smoking a cigarette soon!”
“What?” Leo can’t believe what Margaret is implying,
but he’s grinning at her quirky way of telling him to be quiet.
She gives him a pointed
look and whispers, “Leo, the agents in the hall are going to think that
someone, besides the First Couple, is getting lucky tonight.”
Leo is laughing now, “Ok,
OK, I’m sorry, Margaret, but you’re so
good with your hands that I couldn’t help myself! Please don’t stop now!”
“Yeah and that statement
is just what I was talking about, Leo.”
Seeing his disappointed face that she’s really done with the back
rub. Margaret relents, since she still
has lots of the goop on her hands. “All
right, just keep the sound effects down, Leo.”
“Ok, Margaret, but you
know… people can have sex quietly too.”
He grins innocently back to her.
“Ouch!”
Margaret gives him a small
smack on his damp back, for his cute remark.
Then she starts to rub the sting out of it.
While she rubs, Leo is
resting his weight on his forearms by leaning onto his knees and he’s looking
at his hands that are hanging between his knees.
Leo notices, on the hand
that Margaret had a death grip on during the flight here, that he has small red
crescent marks still left there, no doubt, from her nails digging in.
He smiles softly, happy
that he’s marked by her and that he was able to give her something to hold onto
in her fear. Leo twists the hand to
check the other side. ~~The last time I was marked like this, was
the day Mallory was born and Jenny did this to my hand during labor. Wonder if all the important women in my life
will mark me like this? Maybe someday
Mallory will do it too, when I lead her down the aisle one day. ~~
Margaret is now gently
rubbing his back. The muscle cream in
now disappearing and she’s winding down as well, it’s been a long day. As much as she loves to touch his body, she’s
getting tired. She sees Leo examining
his hand, “What are you looking at, Leo?
Did you hurt your hand on the ice this afternoon?”
“No, Margaret, I didn’t,”
he straightens, which is easier now and holds his hand back for her to
see. “You marked me today or is that
branded me during the flight up here, so other women will know that I’m taken
now?” He teases her with a smile.
Margaret takes his hand in
hers, as he turns himself to sit sideways on the edge of the bed, “Oh, Leo, I’m
so sorry! I had no idea. I didn’t mean
to hurt you. It’s just that I was so
scared that I didn’t even think that I might be hurting you.”
She lifts his hand to her
lips and places a tiny kiss on a mark, to make it better. Margaret smiles softly, when she hears Leo
almost silently catch his breath, while she’s carefully continues tending to
each mark. ~~ I am sorry that I hurt him, but hearing how my small kisses affect
him, just warms my heart. The fact that
he’s romantic enough that a tiny kiss can take his breath, gives me great hope
for our future. ~~
**
Since they’re done with
his back rub, Margaret offers, “How about I wait here, while you try and read
it again? If you get to a place you
can’t figure out, I’ll be here to see if I can help you decipher it.”
Leo smiles at her
generosity, as he willingly accepts her suggestion. “Only if you pop over and get your book to
read, while you wait. At least that way
you’ll get to read some of it tonight.”
As she helps him to slip his pajama shirt back on, he pauses and tilts
his head to the side, as he looks fondly at her face. “I promise you that I won’t make fun of you
for reading your romance book.”
At her look of indecision,
he adds, “This is a weekend to relax, and I’m sure that you get very little
time in D.C. to indulge in bedtime reading.”
“Deal, Leo, I’ll be right
back.” ~~I’ll just make sure
that he doesn’t get his hands on my book. ~~
As Margaret leaves, she
detours a minute to the bathroom, when she realizes that she needs to wash the
remains of the cream off her hands, before darting into her room to grab her
book. She not wanting to waste any time
away from Leo. Margaret’s as good as her
word and is back to his room in a few minutes, flushed from rushing. She tries not to glance at the agents in the
hall, when she opens Leo’s door and slips inside without knocking.
*****
In the Master suite the
First Couple is encamped in bed, both reading for a little while, as they
listen to some soft soothing music. They
didn't jump each other, when they went to bed tonight, like most in the house
might assume, since they took the edge off their ardor in the tub this
afternoon, when they got back from
skating. Now they’re content to enjoy
this real treat for them, almost like their evenings before the White House, if
it weren’t for the agents outside the door.
Raising her head from her book to listen to the sounds in the house, Abbey makes an observation, “Jed, is it just me, or is it the doors to Leo’s and Margaret’s rooms that I keep hearing, opening and closing all evening?”
“Well,
you might be right there, Abbey, now that you mention it. Sounds like they’re as busy here, as they are
at the office.” Jed gives her a knowing
look, “I just wonder if they’ve found something more to do with their free
time, than shuffle files back and forth?”
He turns his attention back to his book on President George Washington.
“Lets
hope so, Jed! They’re so geared to
working that I was starting to wonder, if they’re even aware of life outside of
the West Wing.” Abbey smiles
remembering, “I was so happy this afternoon to see them enjoying the fresh
outdoors together. They looked so happy
and young again. I think I got some cute
shots today at the pond this afternoon.
We can look at them tomorrow and maybe print some of them up for all of
us.”
Abbey
thinks out loud, as she processes all the differences that she has noticed
today, “Jed, you don’t think… I may be wrong, but… could they care for... I mean… after all these years?” Her face brightens, and she adds, “And right
under our noses. Oh, lets hope so!”
Jed is
not going to add fuel to her theory, as time will tell. Leo will spill to him sooner or later, if
she’s right. “Yeah, they did seem to
take a real joy in skating together. I’m
just saying… that’s definitely more than shuffling files between offices or
rooms.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her
and taking her book from her, he pulls her closer and slides them further under
the down-filled comforter.
Abbey
gives him a big kiss, which gives him hope for more loving tonight. She’s just so pleased to be in his arms and
the thought of possibly a new love blooming with their friends that she just
has to voice it to Jed.
She
holds him at bay for a moment. “Jed,
with Leo and Margaret, we don't want to interrupt what might be growing between
them, by questioning it or them about it too soon.”
“Don’t
go warning me. You’re the matchmaker in
the family, Abbey!” He runs his hand
lovingly down the side of her body, loving the feel of her satin pajamas.
Abbey
caresses the side of his face, “Yeah, right,
Jed. You’re the one that just wants
everyone around you to be happily paired with someone special.”
Jed
can’t wait. He leans to her and starts
kissing her face with tiny kisses that he knows she just loves. He soon pauses to admit, “Yeah, I do, just
like us and I agree. Let’s just be
content and happy to watch them for now.”
Abbey
whispers with a giggle, as Jed’s hands go exploring under the covers, “If it is
a relationship? I wonder how far they
have gone? No… I take that back, none of our business, but I
can't see Margaret having sex in the President’s house.”
Jed
grins, “Yeah, poor Leo. Now, enough with
the pillow talk about them, you’re giving me ideas.” He rolls to lean over her.
Abby
does a little wiggle under him, “Like you needed a hint!”
*****
Margaret is sitting on
Leo’s bed, leaning on the headboard with her slippered feet just off the side
of the mattress, she’s reading her romance and enjoying the soft classical
background music that’s coming from the small CD/alarm clock on the nightstand.
It’s not too long before
Leo stands and steps to the bed to ask her, “Can you made this out?” He hands Margaret the memo, with his finger
pointing to a section of Josh’s pen scratching that should be notes.
With the memo folder in
one hand, Margaret tucks her book in against her middle. Resisting the instinct to lay it on the
bedclothes, like she did earlier in her room, where it would be temptingly in
front of Leo.
She leans over directly
under the bedside lamp. “According to
the Minority Whip… Josh tends to just
squiggle in the middle of longer words, when he’s making notes. That’s the clue that Donna goes by.”
“Thanks!” Leo takes back the memo and resumes reading.
Margaret is trying to keep
Leo from hearing her sniff at a sad chapter, and she sneaks her hand over to
his nightstand to get a tissue and gives a glance to Leo to see if he has heard
her.
~~He’s got that little grin on his face, and I’m sure its not from the
memo. DAMN! ~~
Leo is actually smiling,
because when he hears her sniffing and he peaks to see her shiny eyes, it
reminds him that she’s a softie and he loves that about her.
Getting a handle on her
emotions, by telling herself that they’re just characters in the book, Margaret
gets back into the story of the suffering couple.
A little later the plot
unfolds for the star-crossed lovers in the book, and in her anxiety for their
dilemma draws out, Margaret just has to move around some. She becomes aware that in her pjs, she’s
getting pretty cool after all. The President must dial down the heat some at
night.
Seeing that Leo is still
slumped comfortably in the padded reading chair in the corner, Margaret tries
not to disturb him, as she softly drops her slippers off her feet, before she
pulls her legs up tight to her body and wiggles the comforter down from under
her, so she can crawl under the covers.
She definitely resists the
urge to look at Leo, to gage his reaction to her invading his bed. Margaret uses logic, ~~This could take awhile and the President did remind us that it will
be cold and to use the blankets tonight.
He has the best ideas lately! ~~
Margaret didn’t have to
fear seeing Leo’s face about her warming his bed, since he had the reflex to
raise the memo folder higher, to cover the naturally occurring wide grin on his
face.
She continues to read in
blissful ignorance, as the stumbling blocks for the fictitious couple are
overcome one by one, much to her enjoyment.
Margaret imagines it’s them, when she reads the love scenes.
Her fingers slip up to her
lips, as she smiles. Leo sees that smile
and wonders what she’s reading to put a soft smile on her lips. Leo longs to be able to touch her lips like that
and know that he put the smile on them.
Leo is finally near the
end of the memo and finds a half of a page of Josh’s opinion on the whole
topic, and he has to give in and get up to ask for Margaret’s help again.
His eyes are still on the
memo, as he moves to the side of the bed.
When his thighs met with the side of the mattress, he glances to
Margaret to explain where he needs her help.
Understandably, he finds that
she has nodded off, with her book still in her hand.
Now he hates to wake
her. Leo smiles softly, as he pulls back
the comforter, so he can get in beside her, just to keep warm, and work again
on the illegible notes, till he absolutely has to wake her.
Before
getting back to Josh’s notes, Leo gazes softly at Margaret in her peaceful
slumber. ~~Now that I know we have
ice skating in common, I’ll rent ice surface time for we at night in D.C. I can see how much she loves it, but really
it’ll indulge us both. No doubt she’ll
agree, as it’s great exercise and she’ll see it as a bonus for both of our
health. Hey, I can hire an instructor to
help her sharpen her skills, if it’ll make her happy. We can even practice for a race rematch.~~
Leo is exhausted and won’t
admit it, not even to himself. They have
worked late the last two nights, to clear off his desk, getting ready to go to
the farm, and he too is soon sound asleep.
An hour or so later,
Margaret wakes to the sound of a door closing a little loud near by and soft
voices in the hall. Her first instinct
is to scan for Leo and she finds him sleeping in bed with her. Not a bad way to wake up in her private
opinion.
Leo is making a quiet
snore, like a soft purr that she just listens to for a few moments. She could definitely get used to listening to
that all night.
The more Margaret listens,
the more she thinks of it as a very comforting sound. At least she would know he’s close at hand,
as she sleeps. She’s worried so about
him for years and now it’s as natural as breathing to her.
She just watches him sleep
for a little bit. As they’ve been
getting closer lately, she not too shy now to brush back his tousled hair and
then gently stroke her fingers along his brow.
The worry lines seem to be softer in his sleep, and she wishes she could
do more to ease them in his life.
Margaret knows that since
they were kissing freely this afternoon, and it was wonderful out in the wide
open air, this seems allowable now to her, but it still seems so intimate and
so private between them.
Hoping that she doesn’t
disturb his sleep, Margaret dares to gently trace Leo’s lips, with the tips of
her fingers. With his strong chin just
beneath her hand, she tests the texture of his short stubble and loves its
tingling feel against her soft palm.
Margaret saddens slightly,
to note the dusting of silver that’s creeping into Leo’s beard. She knows that the White House is hard on
them, but time is also showing on all of the staff.
She can’t resist leaning
in close to Leo’s neck, to smell his lingering cologne. Before Margaret pulls away, she tenderly
brushes her lips to the warm pulse that she finds there.
Loving the chance to be so
close to him, she gently brushes her face along his. The feel of his short, but soft whiskers,
gives her a unique sensation that teases her, even though it’s just a touch of
cheek on cheek.
In his sleep Leo reacts to
her touches and moans softly.
Margaret grins slyly at
the soft sound from him. She’s so bad to
do this to him and he’s missing it. She
knows that she’s bringing it on, by being there while he’s sleeping.
Leo mumbles her name
softly. He has dreamed about her at
night for so long now.
Margaret smiles happily in
knowing that she has invaded his dreams and places a feather soft kiss to his
lips.
Leo is having such nice
dreams, of Margaret actually beside him, caressing him and tenderly kissing him. ~~Oh, if wishes do come true!~~ He wouldn't dare take the liberty, while
she’s sleeping, but she can get away with it anytime, in or out of his dreams.
Leo’s mind moves to a lighter level of
sleep, with her attentions and he responds naturally to having a woman in his
bed. He instinctively turns to her,
wanting to pull his Margaret toward him.
Leo’s
thoughts in his sleep are telling him that this is a wonderful dream, almost
real. It’s too much for him and he wakes
up slightly, when she kisses him again.
He reaches for her and responds to kiss her gently in return, as sleep
still has its hold on him.
Margaret
succumbs at first to kissing intimately in bed with him, but she finally pulls
reluctantly away from her own dream.
She
speaks softly, to just wake him enough for him to hear, “Good night, Leo. I ah…
I’m going back to my room now.
I’ll see you in the morning.
Sweet dreams.” She kisses his
temple, like a blessing and strokes his hair back lovingly. Pausing to see if he returns to sleep.
As
she turns to slide from the bed, he drowsily murmurs, ”Don’t go. Please, stay here with me.”
Afraid he might fully
wake, Margaret continues to move away, smiling at the soft moan from him, as
his arms find only warm empty space, as she slips out of the bed. It’s just too tempting to her and she doesn’t
want to leave him, but it’s too much, too soon, for them.
They have time and she has
the hope that someday she’ll be able to touch him like this again and see the
light of understanding in his eyes.
Margaret quietly turns off
the lamps and in the dark she opens the door to the soft light of the hallway
and sneaks back to her room.
Margaret leaves the room with a small smile
that he wants her back in bed and wishes, ~~Maybe someday soon, Leo!~~ This makes it so much harder for her to
return to her cold bed.
*****
Jed is just reaching the top of the stairs, after a middle of the night snack and he just sees Margaret crossing to her door and quietly slipping inside.
Once
he’s back in the bed with Abbey, Jed just has to wake her enough to tell her
the latest clue, “Guess who I just saw, going back into her room, in the middle
of the night?”
“You
mean Margaret? From Leo’s room?” Abbey is more awake now.
“Yes,
quiet as a mouse,” he confirms with a knowing smile, “but she could have been
just checking on him.”
Abbey wonders, “That’s possible, I guess.” She adds, as she settles in to sleep again, “Maybe she’s been checking on him, all of the times that they’ve been out of town, all through the years?”
“In
her pajamas and her hair messed up, like she just got up? I don’t think so!” Jed pulls Abbey over to snuggle in against
him. “But, as you said, it’s not our
business.”
Abbey
gives his chest a swat at his teasing her in the middle of the night and goes
back to sleep, snug in his arms, with a happy smile.
*****
Margaret
climbs back into her own bed, reliving the wonderful enjoyment that they shared
today. Almost an afternoon out of
time. She’s so pleased to discover that
they share a love of skating and hopes, ~~I wonder if I can switch him over to figures skates and
maybe we can learn some simple ice dances together.~~
She
tries to settle into a comfortable spot in her bed, but finds it too cold for
quick sleep, after being in with Leo.
She warmed up his bed for him. It
would have been nice for him to return the favor.
Just
wishful thinking on her part, but it feels so lonely now, under the quilt, in
the middle of her bed. ~~I do so much
for him, even warming his bed. ~~ She grins at her wayward thoughts, but stops
herself, ~~ Not that way! Damn the bad luck! ~~
*****
TBC in
part 2/3
Blessings
!
chipmunk
Imp
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chipmunk
aka:
Betty Lou Riley [email protected]
Imp aka:
Lynn Jessome [email protected]
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Posted:
Rating
System!
CHILD - suitable for all ages
YTEEN (younger teens) - some
content may not be suitable for children
TEEN - suitable for teens
and above
MATURE - suitable for
mature readers
ADULT - adults only
P — Profanity
SC — Sexual Content
V — Violence
GV — Graphic Violence
GS - Graphic Sexual Content