Part 5- Reconcile CJ hears the front door slam and immediately the sleeping child beside her begins to whimper. “It’s okay,” CJ soothes, pulling Allison closer against her chest as she pulls the bed sheets up higher around them. “Don’t worry, honey, it’s just Daddy.” But her eyes are wide open now and she wonders if the slamming indicated that Leo is mad at her for taking off at the Bartlet home. She hadn’t waited for him to follow. She had simply called a cab to take her back to their hotel, packed her bags and gotten the next available flight from New Hampshire to Illinois, which, conveniently, had been late that night. A minute later the door to the master bedroom opens and she can hear Leo’s heavy breathing and soft footsteps. It’s obvious to CJ that he’s trying to be quiet as he places his suitcase on the armchair and starts to undress. “How was your flight?” CJ whispers dryly, not at all seemingly interested. Leo whips around and begins to slowly step toward the bed, surprised to see CJ awake. “It was fine, especially with the empty seat next to me and all.” So, there was some bitterness in his cool tone. CJ slowly begins to sit up and is surprised that her daughter isn’t leaping into Leo’s arms at the sight of him. Usually Allie would squeal and be overjoyed whenever one of her parents came home from a trip, or whenever Leo came home from D.C at the end of the week. Leo takes in a deep breath, gazing over CJ, wondering what she could possibly be thinking. He thinks it is ironic how nowadays he has no idea what goes through her mind, whereas a year and half ago the two of them used to swear they were telepathic with each other. “How did you get home? I only ask because I don’t know. I tried calling here several times. I tried your cell; you didn’t pick up. I called your office and Carol told me you hadn’t checked in yet, that she thought you were still in Manchester.” “Leo…” CJ begins, motioning for him to sit down on the bed. Leo has to try hard not to lose it. “ For twenty-four hours I didn’t know where the hell you were, CJ!” CJ sighs, pulling Allie up and into her arms, despite the little one’s protest. “I guess we’re done with ‘how was the flight?’?” She pushes herself off the bed and strides past Leo, making her way out of the room and down the expansive hall. “CJ…” He calls after, his voice strained and desperate. She can hear the tiredness in his voice, but she continues into Allie’s room, ignoring Leo’s call. “What are you doing?” Leo asks as CJ lowers the now cranky child into her toddler-sized, princess-looking bed. CJ snaps her head around. “You think we’re doing this here… with her?” “No, Mommy… I wanna sleep with you.” The little girl whines as CJ pulls the pink, fluffy comforter up over her. She bends and kisses her daughter on the cheek, smoothing back the locks of loose, curly sandy, strawberry blond hair. “It’s okay, baby. Mommy and Daddy will be just down the hall, you know that. But you gotta go to sleep now, it’s way past your bed time. Now, goodnight. I love you.” Allie’s face soon smoothes in relaxation as Leo bends to place a kiss on her cheek, as well. “I love you too, Princess. Go right to sleep, now.” As soon as their daughter’s eyes shut, CJ and Leo make their way back to their own bedroom. Once inside, Leo stops just short of the door and sighs, dropping his shoulders. “ You want me to sleep on the couch?” CJ sighs just as heavily, making her way over to the end of the bed and sitting down. “No, Leo, I don’t. I want to be able to sit down and have a rational conversation without interruptions. I want you to take the TIME to sit down and talk, instead of assuming we can working things out by avoiding each other and hoping the problem will go away.” She pulls on the bottom hem of her nightgown out of nervous habit. “I don’t do that. I try to talk to you, but you don’t always want to hear what I have to say. Listen, last night wasn’t my fault. I swear to you I had no idea that the guys were gonna do that. I had no idea they had a campaign in mind. I tried to tell you this.” Leo extends his hands in a defeated gesture. He’s so desperate to just get this over with. This fighting was getting very old very fast. He loved his wife more than anything in the world and the fact that they couldn’t understand each other was driving him insane. “Yeah, and then Sam came in and started it all up again. Look, you’ve got to call and tell them all that you’re not interested, and they should drop it right now and keep the good jobs they have.” She is just short of pointing a finger at him. Leo has to take in a very deep breath. “ I don’t have to do anything, honey.” CJ’s eyes glisten with anger. “ Oh, we’re doing this again? Ya know, this is why you spend nights in the guest bedroom, Leo. Look, I left last night because I just couldn’t stand to be in that house surrounded by people who are some of my closest friends, but can’t see how much you hurt me by considering this.” She’s practically crying out to him, begging him to understand her feelings. “But I didn’t say I WAS considering this.” Leo spits desperately. He sighs, his hand grabbing his head. When was this migraine ever going to go away? When were things ever going to get better? “If you’re not considering this then why won’t you tell them that?” CJ inquires with a daring smirk. He throws his hands up in complete surrender. “Okay, we’re not doing this tonight. Let’s just… let’s just go to bed.” “Is that your solution to everything?” She asks in all seriousness and anger. Leo sighs, the tiredness sinking in. This was too much. He was too old for this. All he wanted to do was hold her and not worry about any of this. “ It…it is for tonight. Ceej, I’m just too tired, and I really, really, truly don’t want to fight with you anymore.” So this was the way it was going to be for them. She wasn’t going to be able to tell him how hard it was for her to crawl into bed alone at least four out of seven days a week. She wasn’t going to be able to tell him how much she wanted him home so they could work everything out and just be themselves again. CJ rubs her temple, feeling wide-awake now. “ And you think I do?” She says in exasperation. “ Okay, let’s, let’s just forget about it. We both have to get up in the morning and be prominent people in American society.” Leo nods in agreement. “So…can I sleep here?” He asks tentatively, pointing to the spot on the bed beside her. It amazed her how horrible it was that he had to ask her permission. She merely nods and begins to crawl under the dark blue covers, leaving plenty of room for him to lie next to her. He finishes undressing down to his underwear and slowly unfolds the covers on his side of the bed. He feels like it’s the first time they’ve slept together. It’s rather awkward, and he wishes they could talk about it, but he’s not prepared to fight again. CJ smiles as Leo settles in and slides in closer beside him so their sides can touch. She brings her right hand up to graze his left arm and smiles adoringly. “Leo, you know, this is your bed, too. We’ve been sharing it for almost four years. Loosen up.” She breathes against his lips. A faint smile creeps its way across his lips, and she longs for the days when he’d give her his signature smile. “I know, it’s just… I didn’t wanna…” He smiles sheepishly, hoping she’ll understand how he was just grateful to be laying beside her again. He wants more than anything to let his finger linger along her lips and have his own lips trail kisses along her collarbone and neck. That’s the way their nights used to end, with whispering tales of love and devotion to one another. “Sssh…I love you.” She breathes into his cheek before trailing her lips along his chin and to his lips, where she captures them in a gentle, tempting kiss. Leo groans before readily accepting CJ’s mouth in his. It was all the encouragement he needed, because it had been too damn long. His hands easily find their way to the familiar curves of her hips before he begins to slip her nightgown over her slender frame. “I love you, too, Claudia.” He breathes into her neck. One of her hands ruffles his soft, sandy hair while the other playfully caresses the muscles of his chest.. They both give into the emotions and sensory- overload as they wordlessly express the deprivation they’ve been feeling for months. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~