The meeting was finally over. The President glanced around the room at his advisors. Most looked refreshed, having gone home and slept before their early morning call. That was all except for three.

Leo was awake, and for the most part coherent. He needed coffee and a shower but that would come later, much later after he’d spoken to Jed and had his morning staff meeting. It was going to take more than half a grapefruit to keep him going today.

Nancy and Fitz were still sparring, their agreement on the course of action fogged by their need to argue their point.

“Keep me updated throughout the day,“ Jed announced, rising to his feet causing a flurry of movement down the table. “Nancy, Fitz, go home.“

“Sir?“

“You’ve been here almost twenty-four hours straight. Go home, take a shower, change your clothes and we’ll meet back here in say. . .” He looked at Leo for clarification.

“Four Hours.”

Jed nodded, “Four hours. Any earlier and I’ll have Security forcibly remove you.” His last words said with a grin.

“Yes, Sir,” they chorused, glancing at each other and exchanging concerned looks.

Fitz watched the President leave, Leo in tow, before he rubbed his hand across his face. The accompanying sigh was audible in the silence of the room.

“I don’t know about you, Admiral, but I feel ready to take on the world,” Nancy called down the table, her eyes betraying how tired she really was.

“I was thinking of a few hundred push ups instead, care to join me?” His eyes never left her face, asking something quite different all together.

She shook her head. “I’m going home to take the President’s advice.”

“Then, Doctor, may I offer you a lift?” he asked, standing and motioning with his hand towards the door.

They walked quietly through the almost deserted building to his car and waiting driver.

The rain, that had fallen since early evening continued to pound on the pavement, relentless in it’s velocity, much like the advancing Qumari political storm.

*~*~*~*

“Do I really look like an eccentric, wheel-chair bound German scientist?” Nancy asked quietly as she leaned back against the leather upholstery and closed her eyes. “It’s bad enough that Delaney mistakes me for a man.”

Fitz smiled and shook his head. “It was more the doom and gloom ‘Apocalypse Now’ thing you had going.”

She opened one eye to look at him. “If we don’t act, it will escalate. If the Qumari Administration go after Israel, then Arafat will see a possible ally and we’ll have a full scale war in the Middle East,” she stated.

“And your solution is to blast Qumar off the map?” His tone was incredulous, laced with a hint of amusement.

“Once you take out one, why stop?” Her eyes once more closed, she sighed.

“Because that’s not what we do. He’s not that sort of President. If he was, you wouldn’t be sitting there.” He turned to stare out of the windows, watching the empty streets pass by. It was still early, a few cars on the road, even fewer pedestrians. The President had been right earlier, he concluded. It had taken him time to get the other Chiefs on board, to convince them that Bartlet was the right man for President. There had been a few hours, a few long hours after the military plane was shot down over Oman, that they were really to voice their objections. Then the President had made the right decision and the rest of the Chiefs had come round quickly. In the Oval Office the previous night, he had proven himself once again.

“Do you think they’d make us share a cell or would I be given preferential treatment?” she asked, mischievously, trying to gage his mood.

Fitz turned from the window to stare at her. “What kinda question is that?”

“Can you imagine sharing a cell for the rest of your days with the President?” she teased. “First there would be trivia on The Hague, then the pop quiz about the origins of the term ‘cell block,’ until finally we get the unabridged history of bunks.”

He rolled his eyes and reached for her hand, wrapping his hand around her fingers. “It’s not going to come to that. I don’t care what the President said. Leo and I have talked about it. “ He braced himself as she stiffened and pulled her hand away.

He’d been on a plane bound for Manila when the military had staged a coup in Haiti and of course when the President had gone on television and announced he had MS. Nancy had phoned him on the plane after the pilot had already turned back. They had talked in code about their boy, how proud she was of him and he had kept quiet about the fact that he already knew. Only weeks later as they lay in bed had he admitted his knowledge out loud. She had been mad at him then for keeping her out of the loop, because she hated not to have the facts. Now, he suspected, she thought he was doing it again.

“Fitz?”

“It was my order and you executed it flawlessly. And I stand by it. I stand by you, I stand by you all, I’ll stand by it until I die,” Fitz recited. “It was almost predictable. Yes, Leo and I discussed it without you, but the buck stops here with the three of us. For now we let this thing run its course, then if and when the time comes, Leo will call us into his office and we’ll make the decision.”

The car pulled up outside her apartment and the driver switched off the engine.

“If the time comes, I still say we reduce our nuclear arsenal.” Her lips twitched upwards to let him know he wasn’t quite forgiven but that for now she’d let the subject drop.

“I hear you.”

The driver opened the car door and Nancy stepped out onto the sidewalk. Reaching back for her briefcase, she let her fingers gently brush his. “Can I offer you a coffee?”

He nodded and climbed out.

The driver waited for his instructions.

“Come back in a few hours.”

Nancy was already turning the key in the front door when he took the last few steps to join her.

Silence filled the air until they entered her apartment and she kicked her pumps into the corner, her jacket thrown over the back of the couch.

Nancy took a step towards the kitchen and he reached for her, running his fingers over her shoulders.

“So, Admiral, any preference on the coffee?”

He shook his head. They both knew the coffee would go undrunk.

“In that case. . .”

His hands slid from her shoulders, down her arms to take her hands. “You should try and sleep awhile.”

Nancy shook her head, the point of weariness long passed.

“Then at least take a shower,” he suggested, turning her hands over in his own and lifting her palm to his lips. “I’ll scramble some eggs and we can talk.”

“I don’t have any eggs and I don’t want to talk.” She had spoken so quietly that he strained to hear her.

Lifting his gaze from their hands to her face he saw the fear she had been trying so hard to hide all day, the same fear he had buried deep inside him. “It really will be alright.”

“Will we be?”

It was then that he saw it. Her fear was for him, for them. His fingers ran along the inside of her wrist to fumble with the button, pulling it through its hole and sliding his fingers further up her arm.

Her eyes followed his movements, the beginning of a smile tugging at her lips as she watched him tugging at her deep red blouse, pulling it from her trousers.

“I thought you didn’t want to talk,” he whispered, matter-of-factly, languidly undoing her blouse to reveal the soft skin underneath. Sometimes it was easier to use actions rather than words.

“Of course, we could sit on the couch. . .” he stopped, his hands resting on her waist.

Nancy pulled the clip from her hair with one hand, her fine grey hair tumbling onto her shoulders. With her other hand she cupped his cheek, her fingers stroking the same weathered skin that he had rubbed as he’d listened to her rant in the Situation Room. Gently, almost reverently she moved her mouth over his, kissing him lightly.

They shed their clothes slowly, his jacket, her blouse creating one pile on the floor. As they backed towards the bedroom, his pants, her trousers forming another. Their love making was equally as slow, working the stresses of their lives from their bodies as they found the one thing that kept them from drowning. Each other.

They were, she had declared on many occasions, too old for this, but they kept coming back for more. Her hands moved down his back as he kissed her shoulder. It was too good to walk away from, in a life where little was good.

*~*~*~*

The rain pelted the sidewalk as Nancy climbed out of bed and pulled her robe around her. Her lover, that was how she thought of him, was staring at her, one arm tucked behind his head, her comforter pulled up across his chest.

“Admiral Sissy Mary?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Nancy shrugged. “Anything else would have had Leo’s eyebrows at his hairline. And as amusing as that would be, it didn’t seem the right time.”

“Yeah. We should be getting back to work soon,” he offered, not moving, just watching her as she stood before the window.

“Yeah.” Work. The last twenty four hours had brought them closer to the trigger than she had ever considered possible. As much as they had joked about the possibility of imprisonment, it wasn’t exactly far from the realms of possibility. Qumari intelligence knew who was behind the disappearance of Shareef, and it wouldn’t take them long to work out who the main instigators were. Fitz would be subjected to a trial if he ever stepped foot in Qumar, of that much she was sure. She wouldn’t get a trial. Probably a stoning, maybe a little torture thrown in. She shuddered and pulled the robe tighter around her.

“Nancy.” This was the only place he called her that. Beyond the four walls of her apartment she was Dr. McNally or whatever pet name fitted her that day.

“I’m going to take that shower now,” she announced, turning and heading for the bathroom.

“Nancy?” he tried again, his voice strained. He hated it when she bottled things up and pulled away, severing their connection.

The bathroom door closed firmly behind her and seconds later he heard the faucet running. For the briefest of moments he considered joining her, opening the door and climbing under the water, letting the near scolding rain cleanse them both. Instead he climbed out of bed and gathered his clothes, dressing quickly.

She didn’t deal with crises well. Well. In public, yes, she was together, strong, always knowledgeable, but when they were alone it was a different story. They had found themselves drawn to each other early on in the Administration. They had both known Leo for years, trusting him and in so doing were willing to put their faith behind the President. Their support for the President and their equally dry wit were enough common ground for them to become friends. Friendship had developed into so much more. Not so much love, at least not voiced out loud, as companionship.

He busied himself with the coffee maker, changing the filter and locating two clean mugs.

When Nancy walked out of the bathroom minutes later, her hair was wrapped up in a towel, her robe covering her body. “I have bagels,” she said.

Fitz turned slowly and grinned. She was smiling, the worry lines replaced with fresh make up, her eyes wide. “You went shopping?”

“I sent an aide.” Like she had time to go shopping. She opened the freezer and lifted out a bag. “I thought you might need sustenance.”

“You’re really not that demanding,” he said, taking a step towards her, hoping she wouldn’t pull away.

Her smile lifted his spirits. “By the way, Yeoman. . .”

He raised an eyebrow as his fingers brushed her arm, holding her close to him.

“I like it when you say I’m right.”

She kissed him, gentle and undemanding before she pulled from his grip and untied the bagels, dropping them into the toaster.

Fitz followed her, wrapping two arms around her waist from behind and holding her against his chest. “And I like it when you tease me.”

“Me, tease?” she asked, the incredulity evident in her tone.

“You know how I like it when you wear silk. So you button your jacket, every last button until all I see is the silk collar.”

“You noticed that, huh?”

“I’m paid to be observant,” he stated, kissing her neck. “Which is how I know about a particular spot just here.” He brushed his lips across the base of her collarbone and smiled as she whimpered. “Also, how I know something’s burning.”

Nancy yelped and thumped the toaster, sending black chards of bagel flying through the air. “I guess breakfast’s off.”

“Doesn’t matter, my driver will be here soon,” he said softly, pulling her back against him. “Shall I get him to wait and we’ll give you a ride?”

“No, I’ll get a cab.” It wouldn’t be the most sensible decision in the world for the two of them to arrive together. She didn’t much fancy being the source of the White House gossip for days to come. “I need to check my messages, dry my hair. . .,” she trailed off as he kissed her on the mouth.

The sound of the buzzer made him step back. “Right on time.”

“I’ll see you later,” she offered, turning and heading into the bedroom.

“I don’t doubt that.” The way things were going they were going to be spending most of the next few weeks together, either in the Situation room or in Leo’s office. Not that he minded spending more time with Nancy. He would just have preferred it to be alone, at her apartment, with her wearing little more than her bathrobe. He pulled the door closed firmly behind him and made his way out to his car.

The streets around the White House were busier than when he’d left a few hours before, pedestrians rushing to work and the last of the summer tourists milling around, taking photographs. He preferred Washington in December, or in the early hours of the morning, when the streets were empty and he could enjoy the beauty of the city. Often Nancy would ride with him, quietly taking in the sights, enjoying the brief respite from their jobs. Their time alone together didn’t happen often enough, but in light of what his future might hold, he was willing to take whatever he could get.

The End