*~*~*~

Leo removed his glasses and leaned back against his desk. “I’m sorry, Mr. President. What did you just say?”

“Don’t you think it’s about time you showed Margaret you’re committed?” Jed repeated, folding his arms across his chest.

“Has she said something, Sir?” Leo asked, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and staring at his friend in surprise.

“No, not to me.”

“To Abbey?” Leo prompted, wondering if there was anyway of starving off the headache that was threatening to settle itself over his eye.

“Not that I know of,” Jed replied, grinning inanely at his friend.

“Okay.” Leo scrunched up his forehead. “MARGARET.” He cringed at the stabbing pain the sound inflicted.

His assistant appeared in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Can you get me some Advil?” he asked, as quietly as he could.

“Are you not feeling well?” Margaret asked, her voice full of concern. She cocked her head on one side and studied his face for signs that he was getting sick.

“Margaret, just get the pills, please,” he added at Jed’s glare.

After she had left the room, Jed took two steps towards Leo. “You know, you could show her you care more at work.”

Leo groaned. It wasn’t bad enough that Sam and his daughter were on their honeymoon, or that Toby had the chicken pox, now the President was trying to give him dating advice.

“Sir, with all due respect, Margaret and I are fine.”

“Which is why after two years, you still live in a hotel?” Jed teased.

“It works for us. I like my space and there are nights when Margaret doesn’t want to see my face,” Leo explained.

“But you love her?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you tell her? I mean, every day. Do you say, Margaret, I love you?”

“Mr. President, I didn’t know you cared,” Margaret smirked, entering the room and holding out her hand to Leo.

He took the two small white pills and sipped at the glass of water.

“Margaret, I love you,” he muttered, after his final sip.

“I know,” she grinned, taking the glass and walking out.

Leo glanced at his friend and gestured with his hands. “See, we’re fine.”

Jed settled himself on the couch and grinned. “But wouldn’t it be nice to go home to her every night?”

Josh came through the door, slamming the top of the doorframe as he went. “Good morning, Mr. President. Leo.”

Leo rubbed his temples, in acknowledgement of the pending torment.

“Joshua,” Jed started. “How are the kids?”

“Ruth still has chicken pox, but the mittens are helping to stop her scratching and Noah, is apparently immune.” He grinned with pride.

“Leo and I were discussing commitment.”

Leo groaned. “You’re enjoying torturing me.”

“It’s a hobby,” Jed said, smugly. Turning back to Josh, he cleared his throat. “You like married life, don’t you?”

“Marrying Amy is the best thing I ever did. Actually, the second, hiring a housekeeper was the best. And having kids is great, I can play with boats in the bath and no one thinks it’s strange.”

Leo stared at him. “You play with boats in the bath?”

“Is there any chance that piece of information could stay in this room?” Josh asked in a squeak.

Leo gave him his famous, “Are you kidding?” look.

“You and I will talk about that later,” Jed announced, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a grin. “Today, is torture Leo day.”

“You should ask Margaret to marry you?” Josh said, dropping his lanky frame into an armchair.

“I’m frightened to ask. But, why?”

“It would mellow you.” Josh gulped at Leo’s death glare. “You could have all the sex you ever want.”

Jed rolled his eyes. “Josh, does Amy give you sex whenever you ask?”

“No. Maybe that doesn‘t work.” He folded his hands under his chin. “You guys could have a baby.”

Leo coughed and spluttered. When he had recovered he fixed Josh with a glare. “Because of your children, I am two staff down.”

“How do you figure that?” Josh whined.

“Ruth gave Toby chicken pox and it was at Noah’s christening Sam got the dumb ass idea to propose to Mal,” Leo explained.

“That’s not my fault.”

Jed rubbed his palms together and smiled. “As much fun as this father-son moment is, can we get back to Leo’s problem?”

“I don’t have a problem, Sir,” Leo said, returning his glasses to the end of his nose.

“You need to show Margaret that you’re committed.”

“How much more committed can you get than the pitter patter of tiny feet?” Josh asked, grinning broadly at Leo’s discomfort.

Margaret hovered in the doorway. “Leo, your ten o’clock is here,” she announced, glancing between the men.

“Thank God,” Leo sighed. “Thanks, Margaret.”

She bobbed her head and returned to make sure Leo’s appointee didn’t steal anything.

“Mr. President, I have work to do,” Leo announced, failing to hide his grin at the reprieve.

“We’ll pick this up later,” Jed promised, motioning with his hand for Josh to follow him into the Oval office.

Leo walked to the door and greeted his appointee. As he showed him into the office, he couldn’t help but steal a glance at Margaret. Maybe he did need to show her how committed he was.

~~~~~~~

Leo slipped out of work early and drove across town to Margaret’s apartment, making a couple of stops on the way.

Removing the surprise from the back seat, he slammed the car door and walked up the steps to Margaret’s apartment building. Using his key, he opened the outer door and let himself into the lobby. He decided to forgo the elevator and instead walked the two flights of stairs to her apartment.

Leo placed the carrier on the floor as he unlocked the door and entered. He left the box in the kitchen as he headed back to the car and grabbed the other parts of the surprise.

For the next few minutes he laid everything out on the kitchen floor, then carried the carrier into the living room.

He settled himself on the couch to wait for Margaret to get home.

Five minutes later her key sounded in the lock and the door opened. “Leo?”

“In here.” He opened the carrier and listened for the sound of the door closing. Gently he tipped the contents of the box onto the floor and sat back.

Margaret dropped her keys on the hall table and walked through the apartment. She let out a squeal as something hairy brushed across her ankle and fled.

Leo chuckled as she spun around and watched the small black animal disappear into the kitchen.

“Leo, what was that?” Margaret demanded, trailing after it.

Leo jumped to his feet and followed her to the kitchen. He leaned back against the counter and watched as Margaret scooped the ball of black fluff off the ground.

“It’s a dog,” Leo dead panned.

“Yeah, I can see that. What is he doing in my apartment?”

Leo shrugged. “I couldn’t take him back to the hotel.”

Margaret turned to give him her version of CJ’s death stare. “LEO!”

“Don’t shout, you’ll upset him.” Leo stepped forward and patted the puppy’s head. “I thought we could call him Bruno,” he grinned.

“We? And why have WE suddenly acquired a dog?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. She was trying to be stern but her heart had melted the second she’d picked Bruno up.

“I thought it would show you that I was committed to us,” he offered, sheepishly.

Margaret laughed, and almost dropped Bruno. “And where on earth did you get that notion?”

Leo flushed pink. “Josh said, ‘How much more committed can you get than the pitter patter of tiny feet?’”

“I’m pretty sure he meant a baby, Leo,” Margaret admonished, lowering Bruno into his basket.

“Do you want a baby?” Leo asked, quietly. He nibbled his bottom lip as he waited for her answer, not at all sure he could handle a baby.

Margaret did a double take. “You’re kidding me, right?” She shook her head at the idea of the two of them with a baby and the President to take care of.

He shrugged. “I thought I should ask.”

“Come here,” she instructed, grabbing his lapels and pulling him in for a searing kiss. She broke away after a few seconds.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bruno’s disgraced himself.”

“Well he was always doing that on the campaign,” Leo started, then realized what Margaret was talking about. “Oh.”

“You should do something about that.”

“Why me?” Leo whined.

“Because, once again, you brought Bruno here, you get to clean up after him,” she giggled, scooping up the puppy and walking away, chatting quietly to him.

As she reached the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. “And Leo, you may want to think about moving in. After all, Bruno’s gonna need a lot of taking care of.”

Leo watched her go, grinning. He grabbed a handful of bounty and began to mop up the puddle. Now if that wasn’t commitment, he didn’t know what was.

The End