******

“Amy and I broke up,” Josh stated.

Leo looked up from his papers and stared. “And this concerns me how?”

“She dumped me. I’m apparently too needy, and she said something about me not measuring up,” he whined, oblivious to Leo’s pointed glare.

“Josh, as much fun as it is to listen to your war torn love life, I do have work to do.”

“Yeah, but. . .”

“But what?” Leo sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get out of the conversation anytime soon.

“There’s a dinner on Saturday night and I was suppose to go and now she’s going and I. . .,” he trailed off.

“No.”

“But it’s what men do for sons of old friends,” Josh pleaded.

“That doesn’t work on me.”

“Remember Karen Cahill?”

“All too well,” Leo groaned. “If I remember I asked you to do me a favor and you delegated.”

“That wasn’t a good example,” Josh admitted, scratching his forehead. “Is there anything I can say that would convince you to go to this dinner in my place?”

Leo looked at him, the first hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

“This isn’t going to be good, is it?”

“Mallory needs a guest speaker for her class. I was going to ask CJ, but you’ll do. Monday at two,” Leo returned his attention to his papers. “Was there anything else?”

Josh shook his head, “I know how Toby felt now when he said it was like getting screwed with his pants on.”

“Welcome to the world of politics.”

*~*~*~*

Leo straightened his bowtie and scanned the ballroom for a familiar face. He nodded to a senator from Chicago and smiled at the minority leaders’ wife, debating how long he would have to stay before he could escape.

“Hello, Leo.”

Leo turned slowly to look at the owner of the voice. His eyes wandered over the bare shoulders to the low neckline before returning to her face. ”Amy.”

“I thought Josh was attending, don’t tell me he sent you in his place,“ she laughed and sipped from her wine glass.

“Yeah, Josh is so devastated that you broke up he can’t face the world,“ Leo snorted.

Amy smiled, “Oh well, I’m sure the Bartlet brigade is rallying around.”

“I hear you were fired.”

“I resigned on Thursday,” she said, her voice confident and forthright. “EMILY’s list hired me on Monday. They were closed on the weekend.”

Leo’s lips quirked up into a smile, which he quickly stifled, “Congratulations.”

“So now, I won’t have to put up with the President sending his flunkies down to tell me what I should be campaigning for. Instead, I get to shepherd women candidates who know what it is to be disrespected and partially ignored by this administration after the President’s complete failure to address the issues that matter to the average woman.”

“Josh mentioned you like a challenge,” Leo acknowledged, catching the eye of a passing Congressman. “I should go talk to some people.”

“Yeah.” Amy watched him go, her eyes firmly fixed on his small, perfectly formed backside in tuxedo pants, her mind firmly fixed on what he could do for her career.

Leo extracted himself from a quartet, set on rectifying the NAFTA while disbanding NATO, and found himself a quiet space by the window. He searched the room for a particular woman and finally caught sight of her. Her back was towards him, the charcoal gray gown fitting across her ample hips before dropping to the ground in a sheaf of organza. It was easy to see why Josh couldn’t tame her. For one, she wasn’t needy, and if he learnt anything about Josh, it was that he liked his women dependent. The second thing was that she needed a firm hand, someone who knew a little about women and how to treat them. Josh was definitely a long way from maturity on that score.

What Amy needed was a man who would take charge, both in the board room and the bedroom. Leo checked himself. Now wasn’t the time to prove a point, not with a campaign to win and certainly not with Josh’s ex. It would only spell disaster. His eyes wandered up her back to the barely visible shoulder beneath a curtain of hair as someone announced dinner.

It was unfortunate, or maybe that should be, predictable, that he would find himself seated next to her at dinner.

Amy looked up from pouring a glass of wine and held his gaze. “We meet again.”

“So it seems.” Leo pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning back as a server draped the starched white linen napkin over his lap.

“I had lunch with Mrs. Bartlet yesterday. She tells me CJ is getting back to her normal self,” Amy said, holding her glass to her lips and watching him over the rim. “I didn’t know Simon but from what J. told me, he was a good guy.”

Leo’s eyes drifted to the jug of water across the table as he tried to mask his uncomfortableness. “He was a loss to the service. So what are you actually doing for EMILY’s list?”

“Developing policy.”

Reaching for the jug, he avoided her eyes, “And do your bosses know what happened last time you tried to develop policy?”

“I have their full support, Leo. Which, is more than Josh had from you,” she hissed, leaning back as the server placed the steaming bowl of soup before her.

“Josh needs to keep his mouth shut, occasionally,” he added, glancing between her and the other dinner companions.

“He really does talk too much,” she chuckled, before shifting her body across the seat until she was inches from his ear. “Of course, he did put his mouth to other uses.”

Leo coughed and his cheeks took on a rosy glint as he interpreted her meaning. Dabbing his lips with his napkin he shook his head. “I am so not having this conversation with you.”

“Pity, I heard you wanted to tame me.”

“Leo?” a voice called from across the table and for the next fifteen minutes Leo was caught up in a conversation about the Family Wellness Act and the possibility of additional funding for dyslexia. His eyes wandered around the table as he argued his point, falling intermittently on the brunette beside him.

Amy lifted her glass in toast and pushed back her chair, crossing her legs. The side split gaped open and a pale fleshy thigh was revealed for Leo to see. She smirked happily at the look of interest that crossed Leo’s face and the way he looked quickly away. Josh had once accused John Tandy of being a power dater, what she had failed to tell him at the time was that they all were, at least when the stakes were high. There were few people in D.C. who didn’t date someone to get on. It was common nature. Josh’s reasons for dating her were still circumspect. There were the obvious ones, that he wanted the women’s vote sewn up and that he wanted to know what had kept his roommate so satisfied, but there had to be others.

Amy poured herself more wine. Of course you didn’t always have to date someone to get on in life. There was also sex, actually, whether or not you got something in return there was sex. Did she want Leo to better herself? Yeah, of course. Did she find him attractive? Who wouldn’t was a better question. His voice reminded her of thick chocolate syrup, and his eyes gave the impression of someone who wasn’t afraid to throw caution to the wind. Whether or not she could actually get him out of his hand-woven suits, or not was another issue all together, but then like he’d said earlier, she liked a challenge.

“Amy?”

She heard her voice and guessed rightly that it wasn’t the first time Leo had said something in order to attract her attention. “I’m sorry, Leo, what was the question?”

“We’re discussing resurrecting the ERA,” he said, grinning at her flushed cheeks and embarrassment at being caught unawares. “I asked what your opinions were?”

Amy tilted her head on one side, “You’re really asking me that?”

“40 per cent of all women oppose the ERA.”

“And most of them are republicans,” Amy scoffed. “Women are largely ignored or undermined by this government every day. It’s about time they passed a law to ensure we have equality of rights. Those who argue it’s redundant, need to wake up and smell the roses.”

Leo adjusted his position so that he could see her face more clearly. Her eyes had widened as she began to argue to a table of democratic statesmen that the ERA should be resurrected. Men, who wouldn’t in this lifetime support such an action, for fear that the “Pork barrel buffet” they enjoyed could be compromised. Leo had to give her ten out of ten for spirit and passion.

Her hands were gesturing wildly and he briefly wondered what it would be like to have her hands on him. He covered his mouth with his hand and cleared his throat. It had definitely been far too long. Since Jenny there had been a lack of women in his life. Well that wasn’t strictly true, CJ had offered to cook him dinner a few times, and he’d had dinner with Jordan Kendall, which wasn’t his most successful of dates. What had been lacking was sex, it hadn’t gotten so bad that he was counting the days, but somewhere in the region of three years wouldn’t be far off.

Leo brought his attention back to the discussion as Amy lifted her glass to her lips and fixed the senator opposite her with a glare. “So, you wouldn’t agree that the Federal Government should butt out and let everyone keep a little more freedom?”

“This is actually something the government should be behind,” she slurred slightly.

“And yet, you are a staunch believer in the powers-that-be not acting like Big Brother, say for example in Marriage Incentives?” He licked his lips and waited for her to back down.

“The marriage incentives were wrong, they wouldn’t benefit anyone, especially not the women they were supposed to protect, so don’t start in on that old chestnut,” Amy snapped, leaning towards him. Her chest rose and fall as she took deep breaths and forced out her words.

Leo grinned before getting to his feet and turning to the petite redhead on his left. “Would you like to dance?”

She took his hand gracefully and he guided her onto the floor, leaving Amy staring agape at his back. Her argument carefully formed and her opposer ignoring her. She took a lengthy sip of her wine and excused herself from the table.

It was later when Amy caught sight of him again. She was standing on the hotel steps, her wrap pulled tightly across her shoulders as she waited for a cab.

Leo appeared beside her, his phone in one hand and the soft aroma of Tommy wafting through the air.

They looked at each other, but neither spoke.

After a few seconds a black limo appeared at the front of the steps and Leo’s driver stepped out of the car and walked around the vehicle to open the rear door.

Leo took one step down, then stopped and turned around. “Would you like a ride?”

Amy blinked and gazed at the pavement. “I’m waiting for a cab.”

“Okay, but I was just thinking, it’s eleven o’ clock. The bars are filling up, congressmen are crawling back to their wives. You may have a bit of a wait,” he offered, his eyes taking on the color of honey under the filtered light of the hotel’s canopy.

He wasn’t sure why that sounded like a come on.

“Okay, then,” she replied, her shoes clattering as she headed down the steps and allowed his driver to aid her into the vehicle.

“Where to?” the driver asked, glancing in his rear view mirror and wondering if Mr. McGarry was finally going to get laid. The poor guy needed to relax with the hours he kept.

Leo glanced at Amy and asked quietly, “He needs your address.”

She gave her address and settled back against the leather seats as the driver started the engine and they pulled away from the curb.

The first few minutes they rode in silence as the streets of D.C. went past. The roads were still busy with traffic, and as they drove through Dupont Circle, pedestrians converged on the sidewalk, leaving the many bars and restaurants.

“Somebody once told me, you don’t really get to know a city until you’ve seen it at night,” Amy commented, her face pressed to the darkened window.

“I’ve never really thought about it. I arrive at work when it’s dark. I go home when it’s dark,” Leo sighed.

“A hotel isn’t home, Leo.”

He shrugged and returned to staring out of the window.

Amy watched his reflection in the glass, wondering exactly it was that had made him build so many walls around himself. She knew about his divorce, even the fact he had a daughter. Josh had, in the hours of afterglow, talked in an animated voice about his colleagues and the latest legislation they’d wanted to pass. His affection for Leo was something she had always been a little jealous of. She didn’t love Josh and it was always pretty clear she was a stop gap to something more for him, but there were times she wished he’d held some sort of feelings for her.

“Would you like to come in for coffee?” she asked, shifting in the seat to look at the back of his head.

He turned sharply and raised an eyebrow.

“I promise not to raise marriage incentives or proposals for worksite lactation programmes,“ she was quick to retort.

“Amy?”

“Okay, I won’t jump you either.”

A pink flush started at Leo’s adams apple and worked its way up to the tip of his ears. “I. . .how the hell did Josh . . .? Never mind.” He shook his head and rubbed his eyes wearily. “Look, it’s late and I have a full day. . .”

“When aren’t they full days?” she asked, smiling at his obvious discomfort.

“Yeah. I’ll pass on the coffee.”

He wanted to say yes, if only to see the place where Josh had been so regularly tortured, but it didn’t seem like a good career move, or rather he was too tired to argue any longer. Something told him they would get into a discussion about a highly controversial topic, two minutes after she poured the coffee.

Amy nodded, a part of her regretting the impulse to invite him, the other wishing he’d said yes. She was tipsy, and more than a little horny. Well, Josh was many things, but at least he was accomplished between the sheets. She missed their passionate, fighting for supremacy sessions. “How about supper? I’ll cook so you won’t have to be seen in public with me.”

“No,” he thought but his curiosity got the better of him. “I’d like that.”

The car pulled up outside her building and she smiled, brushing her tangled hair from her shoulders. As the driver stepped out of the car to open the door she leaned in closer.

Leo, fully expecting her to kiss him, leaned back and his eyes widened.

“Tomorrow, at seven, okay?” she asked, grinning and patting his thigh with her hand. Her fingers increased their pressure and she smiled. “Josh was right.”

He watched, bewildered as she climbed out of the car and disappeared up the steps, wondering what exactly he was letting himself in for.

*~*~*~*

It was ten after seven when Leo found himself standing on the stoop of her building. He was late, but that was to be expected. After depressing the intercom for the fourth time and getting no response, he decided she hadn’t given up on him, but was merely making him suffer for being late. Well, he certainly wasn’t going to hang around for one of those evenings. Just as he turned to leave, Leo caught sight of the limo as it turned the corner and disappeared from view. He closed his eyes and cursed under his breath.

“Hello?”

“Amy, it’s Leo,” he announced, moving back to the door.

“You’re late,” she chided, her voice imparting that she didn’t take too kindly to being made to wait.

If in doubt, blame Josh, Leo always thought. “Josh wanted to talk to me.”

She let out a sigh and he heard the door click open.

“Apartment three.”

Leo climbed the stairs, debating the sense in his coming. It would have been just as easy to phone and cancel. But something about her offer had him curious as to what she wanted. It certainly wouldn’t be his body, a girl like that went for young, up and coming men, not old war horses like him. Of course in the time she’d been on his radar screen, she’d dated a congressman and his Deputy. The thought had crossed his mind that she wanted someone with more clout, and that was something he certainly had plenty of.

Leo shook off his doubts and pledged to make the best of the evening, after all he could always leave if things became too uncomfortable. He took the last few steps to her door, lifting his hand to rap as she opened the door.

“It’s not polite to keep a woman waiting,” she said, ruefully.

“This is the reason why I’m not married anymore,“ he groaned, taking one step over the threshold.

“Because you made a habit of dining with scantically clad young women?” she teased, her brow furrowing in mock horror.

It was then that he noticed her attire for the first time. The cotton vest dipped low across her

chest and clung to her waist and the curve of her breasts. Leo’s eyes travelled south over the black skirt, split high on the thigh. He brought his gaze back to her face. “Well, it’s not as if you’re dancing around in your bathrobe.”

“I thought that might have been a little too unsubtle,” she smiled, crossing to the kitchen and opening the fridge. “Drink?”

“What do you have?”

“Beer, juice, schnapps and red wine somewhere,” Amy listed, her head disappearing into the fridge as her skirt rode up her thighs.

“I’m an alcoholic,” Leo declared, wondering exactly what game she was playing.

“You don’t say!”

Leo covered his eyes with his hands and once more wondered what the hell he was doing there. When he opened them again, she was crouching down, her bare feet in full view.

“Well?”

“Juice,” he stated, his eyes still trained on her dirty black feet.

Amy busied herself fixing him a drink as Leo wandered through the open plan living space, finally finding himself back in the kitchen, looking over her shoulder. “Nice place.”

“Wow, a compliment, from Mr. McGarry no less,” she snorted, handing him his juice. “Dinner should be ready in a ten minutes.”

Leo sipped his juice and peered into the large pot on the hob. “We’re having stew?” he asked, incredulously, almost spitting out his drink. Wiping his mouth, he asked, “What’s in it? Any electronic ingredients? An aerial, a cell, maybe? I only ask because, well, I’m on a non-Nokia diet.”

She spun around to look at him and shook her head. “It’s Goulash. But hey, you should have been a stand up comedian.”

“I wasn’t Jewish,” he grinned.

Shaking her head, Amy led him to the small round dinning table and motioned for him to sit down, before disappearing back into the kitchen area. “So what topics should we avoid?” she called through the doorway.

“What’s the point in me telling you, you’ll just ignore me,” he yelled back.

“Well, in that case. How’s the campaign going? Bruno managed to piss off anymore donors recently?” Amy walked back in with the stew pot and placed it down in front of him. “Or, Toby, any more news affiliates?”

Leo mumbled under his breath as he watched her drop some of the Goulash into a bowl.

“Don’t wanna talk about the campaign, um, how about the sex ed report?”

“I probably shouldn’t ask, but what’s your problem with the sex ed report?” he asked, stirring his food and looking up at her, fully expecting a full frontal assault.

“It’s a campaign year,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

“When isn’t it? Abstinence Plus isn’t the answer, Leo. But it’s a start.”

The goulash, he had to admit was really rather good, not too hot but spicy enough to have him reaching for a cold drink. A bit like the woman serving it. The unsettling fact was that he was talking sex with Josh’s ex. Well, she was doing the talking and he was imagining just how far he could take Abstinence Plus with her.

“Josh was right about you,” Leo commented, as he cleaned his plate.

“And what, pray tell, did J say?” she asked, fully conscious that there had obviously been a discussion about her and knowing J, he hadn’t held back on the details.

“That you’re always irate about something.”

“That all?”

“Among other things,” he casually remarked, the obvious smirk on his face not going unnoticed by her.

Amy lowered her fork to her plate and pursed her lips. “You realize he was probably bragging about half of them? J has an overactive imagination.”

Leo nodded and leaned back in his seat.

Well, she concluded, it was now or never. And never wasn’t in her vocabulary. When she wanted something, she went after it and generally she got it. Amy wanted Leo and somehow she was going to get him. Taking a deep breath, she asked casually, “Do you want to sleep with me?”

His eyes widened as her words sank in. “Excuse me?” His voice had become unusually high as he spoke, but it certainly wasn’t from shock. On some level he’d been expecting, or hoping, she’d ask, but it was the lack of preamble that caught him unawares.

Amy sighed, and started to collect the dishes. “I asked, if you want to sleep with me?”

“No,” he shook his head, vehemently. “What do you think I am? Crazy or something. I’m old, not suicidal.”

“Okay,” she shrugged. “How about we have coffee on the couch?”

Leo hesitated.

“It’s fine. I just thought I’d ask. So coffee?” Amy walked away from him, her careful seduction routine out the window. She’d have to try harder not to fight with him, and maybe try subtlety instead.

“I meant to ask, where’s the hound?” he asked after what seemed like an endless silence.

“Henry’s with a neighbour. She has a Westie, he’s rather friendly with,” Amy called with the sound of mugs clanking and the coffee machine in the background.

Leo dropped onto her couch and scanned the coffee table for something to read while he waited. His eyes fell on Cosmo and Entertainment Weekly before he finally settled on the Washington Post. He was so engrossed in reading the editorial that he didn’t hear Amy enter the room until she placed the tray on the coffee table and settled on the couch beside him.

Amy glanced across at the man beside her, his glasses propped on his nose as he scrunched his face in concentration. Briefly, she wondered what Josh would say if he found out she’d slept with his boss. Actually, if she phrased it like that, he was more likely to jump to the wrong conclusion and think of the President. A crooked smile crossed her face as she imagined the look of abject horror on Josh’s face. The smile widened as she acknowledged that he wouldn’t let it lie there, he would want to know details. Josh never knew when to stop.

“Please tell me, I’m not about to be ambushed,” Leo mumbled, shaking her from her thoughts.

“Ambushed?”

“You have that look, it’s a woman thing. CJ has it down pat now. It starts with a wry smile, then a gentle lean across the desk, just enough to reveal a little cleavage and the next thing I’m promising to consider a leave request or some policy amendment,” he sighed. He really did need to get some soon, if only to be able to relax.

“Ah, like this,” Amy grinned, shifting position until she was half facing him, one leg tucked beneath her body.

“Yeah.” He peered at her over his glasses and returned to the newspaper.

Pouring two mugs of coffee, Amy started, “So, do you think Abbey did the right thing?”

The newspaper dropped to his lap as he looked up suddenly. “When? Please tell me there. . .”

“Giving up her licence,” Amy interrupted. “My understanding was that she’d get a year’s suspension, then suddenly CJ’s announcing she’s forfeiting her licence for as long as they’re in the White House. Optimistically, that’s five years.”

“Yeah,” Leo growled, staring at the cream jug in her hand.

“At her birthday party, we got to talking and she told us how important her career was to her. She was pretty pissed at her career being sidelined. It didn’t matter how much she could achieve as First Lady, she wanted to be a doctor.”

“And?” he asked, waiting for the question.

“I wanted to know what you thought of her giving up her licence,” Amy finished, returning the jug to the tray.

“What you really want to know, is did I tell her to do it,” Leo said, agitation clearly evident in his voice.

“Did you?”

“Jesus Christ, Amy. No, I didn’t. The first I heard about it was when the President pulled me to one side at the party and told me. I spent all evening trying to prevent her from losing it at all,” Leo admonished, indignantly. “I would never tell my best friend’s wife to give up her career. I couldn’t even tell her not to campaign.”

Amy’s hand reached over and stroked his cheek. “I like it when you get all worked up,” she whispered as she parted her lips and kissed him hard on the mouth. Her left hand moved to the back of his head as she deepened the kiss and worked her way onto his lap.

Leo placed one hand on her shoulder, ready to push her away even as the other snaked around her waist, holding her in place. His brain was torn between the feel of her soft lips against his and his mounting arousal, and an image of Josh looking betrayed.

Her lips moved to the edge of his lips and slowly kissed their way over his jaw and down his throat, as her hands burrowed beneath his jacket.

“Amy?” he whispered, his voice catching as she began tugging his shirt from his pants.

“Mm,” she mumbled against his neck, sending a surge of heat through his veins.

Groaning and losing the battle with himself, Leo slid her off of his lap and shifted position until she was on her back on the couch and he was pressing down on her.

Amy broke the kiss and looked up at him, her eyes dancing in challenge as she licked her lips. She was definitely going to get what she wanted, and if the look of desire in Leo’s eyes was anything to go by, much more besides.

Leo lowered his head to her neck, nibbling his way towards the swell of her chest, gently at first. As her nails scrapped his back, he sucked hard on her flesh, causing her to yelp and clutch at him harder.

It soon became a battle for control. Amy fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, popping the top few as Leo worked his knee between her thighs, edging her skirt up her hips. Her panties soon joined his jacket on the floor as she moaned at his rough palming of her nipples.

The sex that followed was fast and furious, the couch creaking beneath their weight. In a matter of minutes Leo collapsed on top of her, breathing labored, a satisfied grin on his face.

He now knew why Josh had walked into the office every morning looking like the cat that got the cream. Amy certainly knew how to leave a man wanting more. Kissing her briefly, Leo got up off the couch and pulled up his pants. It was only as he was buttoning what was left of his shirt buttons that common sense reappeared. “Amy, are you. . .? We didn’t use anything,” he stated quietly.

“It’s fine,” she said, sitting up and pulling her vest back over her breasts.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I have those female condoms.”

Leo stared at her blankly then nodded, “Okay.”

“I put it in before you arrived,” she smiled, adjusting her skirt.

“You what?” he gasped. “You mean?”

She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the couch to watch him finish dressing. “A girl likes to be prepared, Leo.”

“Which begs the question, what do you want from me?” he asked, fully dressed and swallowing the luke warm coffee.

“Can’t it just be about two people having sex?”

“Where you’re concerned. . .NO.”

Amy brushed her hair off her face with her hand and looked up at him, her face inscrutable. “I’d like you to attach a rider on the upcoming health bill, earmarking two million dollars for research into juvenile diabetes.”

“And I’d do this because?” he asked, fully expecting her to ask for something for herself.

“Because we had great sex. . .and you’re a good man,” she smiled and leaned forward in her seat, pulling her vest down.

“That isn’t going to work, this time,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t see how this is gonna help you.”

“It doesn’t right now, but one day I’m going to run for congress,” she smiled sweetly at him. Then she really would be calling in favors.

Leo picked up his glasses from where they’d been rudely discarded and placed them on his nose. “A candidate?”

“Yeah. If you don’t help, I’ll go to Abbey, and we both know it’s an issue she can’t ignore,” she offered smugly.

“So go to Abbey, I can’t help.”

Amy stood as he moved towards the door, “J was right about you.”

“Right about what?” Leo asked, pausing at the door. “Actually, I don’t wanna know. Thanks for dinner.”

“Anytime, Leo.” And she didn’t just mean dinner.

The End

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