Title: Hide and Seek Ron Butterfield sighed. ‘Mr President, would you excuse me a moment Sir? I have a…’ ‘Go.’ Jed said distractedly. Two days before his birthday, Leo in a meeting over the OEOB and a perfect opportunity to search Leo’s office was not something he was prepared to miss.   Quickly reminding a young agent not to let the President out of his sight, Ron hurried away.   Looking both ways before opening the door, calling for Margaret and getting no reply, Jed walked quickly into Leo’s office. ‘Stay here. If Leo comes, stall him.’   The young agent began to protest. ‘Sir, my instructions…’   Ignoring him, Jed closed the door and began to search, turning, Jed’s eyes lit up as he remembered Leo’s closet. Pausing to light a cigarette, Jed opened the door and walked inside. Intent on his search of the various boxes, Jed didn’t realize the door behind him had swung closed.   As he rifled the piles of cardboard boxes and folders, Jed muttered: ‘Where is it Leo?’ Straightening up, he felt a twinge in his back, reached round and cursed. As he opened his mouth, the cigarette fell to his feet, burying itself instantly in the chaos around him.   After a few seconds of fruitless searching for the cigarette, Jed sniffed and smelled smoke. Turning quickly, he reached for the door handle, rattling it hard when it didn’t move.   The closet was, for reasons no-one could work out, soundproofed to the same level as the walls of Leo’s office. The agent standing outside heard only vague sounds of someone moving around inside the office and stood unmoving, hands folded in front of him, looking out nervously for the Chief of Staff.   ******************   Seeing the Agent outside his closed office door, Leo frowned and increased his pace down the corridor. ‘What’s going on?’   The Agent swallowed hard. ‘Um…Mr McGarry Sir…um, you…can’t…’   Leo sighed crossly. ‘I didn’t hide the damn present in my office!’ Pushing past the Agent, he opened the door and immediately heard the sounds coming from the closet.   ‘Jed?’   ‘Leo??!! Get me out of here!!’   Leo laughed. ‘Find your birthday pres…’   ‘The floor’s on fire Leo!!’   Leo grabbed the door handle, remembered it was waiting for attention from the maintenance staff and looked around, yelling out the door. ‘Get a fire extinguisher!’   The Agent ran down the corridor, shouting into his wrist mike.   Leo’s eyes fixed on the marble pen holder on his desk, rushed across, grabbed it, ran back and hit the door handle several times. It snapped off and Leo reached awkwardly into the lock, turning the mechanism inside the housing, opening the door. He dropped the pen holder as Jed staggered out, coughing, surrounded by a cloud of acrid smoke.     The Agent ran into the room, quickly extinguishing the fire as others followed him and began to help the President onto the couch beside Leo’s desk. Leo pulled at Jed’s tie and shirt buttons, anger at Jed’s recklessness warring with his worry over Jed’s grey look. He looked over his shoulder. ‘Who’s on duty tonight? Get a doctor in here now.’   An Agent relayed Leo’s instruction through his wrist mike and called across: ‘Admiral’s on his way Sir.’   ************************   Leo sank down onto the couch beside Jed and looked down at him. ‘You couldn’t wait two days? What the Hell were you doing smoking inside?!’   Jed realized the tone was as much worry as anger and tried for a genuinely contrite look despite his nausea and dizziness. ‘Sorry Leo.’   Leo sighed crossly. ‘Abbey is going to *kill* me.’   Jed frowned, wondering if he had heard wrong. ‘You?’   ‘Stop talking. Yes me! If I didn’t have to hide your present you wouldn’t have got locked in my…’   The on-call doctor arrived and began to check Jed. Leo stood back and saw Ron Butterfield’s large frame hovering in the doorway. He walked across. Quietly, he hissed: ‘Come with me.’ Reluctantly, Ron followed the Chief of Staff into Josh Lyman’s office, flinching as the door slammed shut. ***************** Jed sat up in bed, propped up with a mound of pillows. ‘I heard you yelled at Ron Butterfield. Actually the whole of the West Wing heard you yell at Ron.’ Unrepentant, Leo shrugged. ‘Yeah.’   ‘It wasn’t his fault. It was mine.’   Leo nodded. ‘Yeah.’   ‘And yet you yelled at him.’   ‘Well, you were gasping for air at the time so…’   ‘Leo!’ Jed chastised mildly.   Leo sighed. ‘Next year, I’m not getting you a gift. I’m telling you this now so you won’t…’   Jed coughed and Leo walked to the bed, holding Jed upright. ‘I was gone a half hour. Thirty minutes…’   Jed looked up, judging Leo’s level of actual anger. ‘You need to clear out that closet.’   Leo chuckled. ‘The Agents pretty much did that last night. Who knew one cigarette could burn through all my stuff so quick?’   ‘Was there anything important in there?’   Leo shook his head. ‘Nah. Just your birthday present.’   Jed looked up at Leo. ‘I knew it!’   ‘You also knew you’re not supposed to smoke indoors and the lock on my closet was playing up.’   ‘I forgot.’ Jed said sulkily. ‘In the heat of the moment, I forgot.’   Frowning Leo straightened up. ‘In the heat of the moment, Jed, you almost died.’   Jed made a dismissive sound. ‘Nah.’   Deciding not to argue, mainly although not entirely because Abbey was standing in the bedroom doorway, Leo took a step back. ‘You need anything before I go?’   ‘My birthday present?’   Smiling slightly, Leo reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a small box, perfectly wrapped, with a bright yellow ribbon decorating the plain navy blue paper. ‘Happy Birthday Jed.’   He looked back as he walked out, smiling nervously at Abbey, who he sensed was still angry with him, hearing Jed’s excitement as he opened his present.   Smiling broadly, Leo kept walking as he heard the President’s incredulous shout: ‘Leo!!’   End