Title: WHkid@aol.com Part Five Sitting at his desk, Leo unfolded his phone, grateful for the distraction. ‘Leo McGarry.’ ‘Mr McGarry, it’s Sarah Bennett. I’m finished at the house.’ ‘Okay. I’ll let the President know.’ ‘Thanks. And the rest of my money would be nice.’ ‘I’ll get onto it.’ ‘Thank you.’ When he folded his phone closed, Leo realised he wouldn’t have minded talking to her a little longer. At least it would have put off the moment when he had to return to the briefing in front of him. At least that’s what he told himself. ************* ‘Sir?’ By the second interruption, Leo was finding the briefing document even less appealing. It was late, and he was tired. But he knew he would have to discuss it in the morning and took it home with him. ‘How is everything Leo?’ ‘The house is done.’ ‘I thought it was gonna be a few more days.’ ‘Apparently not.’ ‘Have you been over there?’ ‘Not in the last few days.’ ‘If it’s terrible, you know who Abbey’s gonna blame, don’t you?’ ‘Er, you?’ ‘Guess again my friend.’ Leo groaned. ‘I’ll go check it out tomorrow. You’ll be home the day after, right?’ Yeah. See ya.’ ‘Goodnight sir.’ ‘Leo, what time is it?’ ‘Just after two sir.’ ‘What hell are you doing up?’ ‘Talking to you.’ ‘Sorry.’ ‘Don’t worry about it. Night.’ ‘Night Leo. Abbey says goodnight too.’ ‘Night Abbey.’ ************* ‘Uh, hello?’ ‘Sarah? It’s Leo McGarry.’ ‘Mr McGarry, you do know that it’s 2am, right?’ ‘Oh, dammit! Sorry. Night.’ Sarah laughed quietly as she folded her phone closed. ************* Sitting beside Ron Butterfield, Leo handed Bartlet a sheet of paper. ‘It’s the guest list for the housewarming.’ Bartlet skimmed the sheet. ‘Who is Sarah Bennett?’ ‘She did the decorating sir.’ ‘Oh, okay.’ ‘Sarah Bennett?’ Ron couldn’t resist. ‘The woman whose FBI file you had me close?’ Leo shifted uncomfortably in his seat, aware of the President’s eyes on him. ‘Yuh.’ Jed’s face tightened. ‘Ron, would you excuse us please?’ ‘Sure Mr President.’ Ron walked out, closing the door behind him, suddenly uncertain he had done the right thing. Leo had been right, the woman wasn’t a threat to national security. Still… He could hear raised voices as he walked away, nodding politely at Mrs Landingham who was also listening to the argument going on in the office a few feet away. ‘You closed her file?!’ ‘Yes sir.’ Bartlet’s voice rose in volume. ‘You told Ron to close that woman’s FBI file. And you let her work on my house?’ ‘Yuh.’ Leo nodded. ‘Abbey wanted her, and there was no reason why not.’ ‘Why did she have an active FBI file?’ Bartlet snapped. ‘She runs a website.’ Leo wondered exactly how little he could get away with. ‘What kind of website?’ Bartlet’s voice dropped a little in volume, but not much. ‘You know the TV show ‘1600’?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘She writes stories about it. Zoey posted a story to her site.’ Bartlet’s eyes narrowed. ‘This is what you wouldn’t tell me the other night, right?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And you think you did the right thing? I’m taking about the closing her file and the not telling me about Zoey parts of it?’ ‘Yuh.’ Leo nodded. Finally, Jed’s voice dropped to normal volume, and he grinned. ‘Is she cute?’ Leo ducked his head, his cheeks coloring bashfully. ‘Oh yeah.’ ************** ‘Leo, Ms Bennett’s here.’ ‘Thanks Margaret.’ ‘Hello.’ Leo smiled. ‘Hi. You look great.’ Sarah frowned, looking down. ‘Jeans and a t-shirt?’ ‘Yuh. Come on in.’ The interconnecting door opened suddenly. ‘Leo, I need…’ Bartlet stopped as he realised they weren’t alone. ‘Hello.’ ‘Mr President, this is Sarah Bennett.’ Sarah smiled nervously, getting quickly to her feet. ‘Mr President.’ ‘Good job on the house. My wife was really pleased.’ ‘Thank you sir.’ Bartlet nodded. ‘You got your invite to the housewarming, right?’ ‘Yes sir.’ Leo decided Jed had stared enough. ‘What do you need sir?’ ‘Manila?’ ‘It’s here. I’m still working on it.’ Leo groaned inwardly. Jed hadn’t needed anything. He was just being nosey. ‘Oh, okay. It can wait.’ Jed saw Leo’s barely-hidden reaction to his presence and left quickly. ‘You wanna get some lunch? I have some time free.’ Sarah sighed. ‘Mr McGarry…’ ‘Call me Leo.’ A little more firmly, Sarah said: ‘Mister McGarry, I think perhaps you misunderstand my reason for being here.’ ‘What’s wrong?’ Sarah looked down at Leo’s hand. ‘That. I won’t be your mistress. My wife doesn’t understand me? I’ve heard that one.’ Leo was totally lost. ‘What?’ ‘You have a wedding ring. You’re married.’ ‘I’m divorced.’ ‘And you still wear your ring because..?’ Leo looked across the room to the picture of Jenny. Finally, he said sharply: ‘I’ve got stuff to do.’ Crossly, Sarah snapped: ‘Me too, Mr McGarry. Now I have no idea why your assistant asked me to come over, but I have to tell you that I don’t appreciate you interrupting my day for no good reason.’ ‘I wanted to give you your invite to the housewarming party.’ ‘Which you haven’t yet done. May I have it please?’ ‘Okay.’ Leo said, shrugging. ‘Margaret!’ His assistant was in the room in an instant, the invite in her hand. ‘Margaret, do you have…’ Leo stopped as he realised that Margaret had obviously heard Sarah’s outburst. ‘There’s a map, which I don’t imagine you’ll need.’ Margaret said nervously. ‘No. I won’t.’ Sarah nodded politely at Margaret then walked out of Leo’s office without another word. ************ A few days later… Sarah was measuring up the house she was in, and was making polite conversation to fill the time. ‘So, what does your husband think of the idea of being redecorated?’ ‘I’m divorced. O’Brien is my maiden name.’ ‘Oh, okay.’ ‘You did the work on the President’s Manchester farm right?’ ‘Yeah. I just can’t tell anyone about it. How do you know?’ ‘My ex-husband works at the White House.’ ‘What does he do?’ ‘He’s Bartlet’s Chief of Staff.’ Sarah hesitated only a moment. ‘I’m sorry, Mrs O’Brien. I won’t be able to do the work. I’ll have my associate call you later today with some other names.’ ‘May I ask why not?’ ‘Because I’m dating Leo.’ As she said the words, Sarah realised it wasn’t strictly true. They hadn’t yet been out on an actual date, but she felt as if she knew him well enough to make the statement. Jenny stared at Sarah for a long moment. ‘I know.’ Sarah smiled. ‘You don’t really want the house re-decorated. You just wanted to see what I looked like.’ Jenny shook her head. ‘No, I really do want to change the wallpaper. But I understand if you don’t want the job.’ ‘I’m not sure…’ ‘Think about it. Call me tomorrow.’ ‘Okay.’ *********** ‘What’s this?’ Leo eyed the candlelit table suspiciously. ‘Take your coat off.’ ‘Is this gonna be one of those times I’m gonna regret giving up drinking?’ Leo hung his coat up and sat at the table. ‘Yeah. I’m gonna be decorating your ex-wife’s house.’ ‘No!’ ‘Leo, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the twenty-first century. You can’t tell me what to do.’ ‘No way!’ ‘Leo, it’s a job. I need the money.’ ‘What for?’ ‘Um, to eat, to pay Ian’s wages. You know, little things like that.’ ‘There’s gotta be loads of people you could work for.’ ‘Not as many as you’d think.’ ‘Sarah…’ ‘Leo?’ Sarah moved to stand behind Leo, her arms around his neck. ‘When do you start?’ Sarah leaned down and kissed the top of Leo’s head. ‘A couple of weeks.’ Leo sighed heavily. ‘I need a drink.’ Sarah laughed quietly. ‘Thank you.’ ‘For what? I still think this is the worst idea ever.’ ‘So I’ll tell her yes?’ Leo groaned. ‘Yes.’ Then a thought occurred to him. ‘Why did you make out like it was a done deal, then ask me if it was okay?’ ‘Because if you had said no, I would have said no.’ ‘I did say no.’ ‘Yeah, but only in the beginning.’ Leo held his hands up. ‘Whatever. Can we eat now?’ ************* Leo and Bartlet were playing chess. Leo was losing diplomatically, and Bartlet knew it. Neither let on. Leo reluctantly took one of Bartlet’s pieces. ‘Sarah’s got a new commission.’ ‘Where?’ ‘The house.’ ‘You’re hiring her to decorate your place?’ ‘No. Jenny hired her to redecorate the house.’ ‘Is that a good idea?’ ‘No.’ ‘Did you try and talk her out of it?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘And?’ ‘I don’t have a problem with it.’ Jed looked at Leo. ‘Yeah, you do.’ ‘Yeah I do.’ Leo admitted. ‘But she needs the money.’ ‘I would have thought after she tells people she did my place, the offers would come flooding in.’ ‘She can’t tell anyone.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Cos that’s not how it works.’ Bartlet frowned. ‘That doesn’t seem fair.’ ‘Yuh. Anyway…Manila, sir?’ ‘Why can’t she tell anyone?’ ‘Security.’ Bartlet frowned again but picked up the briefing folder from the desk. ‘Abbey?’ Abbey looked up from the folder she was reading. ‘Hi sweetie. What brings you over.’ ‘You liked what the decorators did at the house, right?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Tell everyone you know.’ ‘Jed?’ ‘Everyone, Abbey.’ Used to her husband’s weird instructions, Abbey nodded. ‘Okay.’ *************** ‘Sarah, the damn’ phone hasn’t stopped ringing all day. What did you do?’ ‘Nothing. Ian, did people say where they heard about us from?’ ‘Someone called Abigail.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Who’s Abigal, Sarah?’ ‘The First Lady.’ ‘Okay.’ ************** ‘Hi. I’m Caitlin Morris.’ Sarah looked up from the samples of wallpaper. ‘Hello.’ Undaunted by the lack of response, the girl held out a sheet of paper. ‘Um, here’s my resume.’ Sarah frowned, taking it. ‘Thanks, but I’m not hiring right now.’ ‘I’ve worked on…’ ‘Did I not just say that we’re not hiring right now?’ ‘Yes, but if you’ll…’ Sarah was about to call Ian when Leo walked through the door. ‘Leo?’ ‘D’you have time for lunch.’ The younger woman’s eyes widened. ‘Aren’t you…’ ‘Leaving.’ Sarah said firmly. Ian walked in then, disturbed by the voices. ‘What’s going on? Sarah we need to talk about…um…hi Mr McGarry.’ Leo smiled. ‘Ian. I need an estimate on the house.’ Sarah frowned, looking down at the sheet she held. ‘I’m not sure I’m even going to do the work.’ Then she smiled. ‘Caitlin is.’ Leo turned. ‘I didn’t know you had someone else working here.’ Sarah nodded. ‘Yeah. We do. Ian, show Caitlin into the office please.’ ************** ‘She just hired the kid on the spot.’ ‘She’s got a sense for these things, obviously.’ ‘What things?’ Leo asked. ‘Y’know. Woman things.’ ‘This isn’t a woman thing Jed. It’s business.’ ‘Okay.’ ************* A month later… ‘McGarry.’ ‘Leo.’ ‘Jenny?’ Even though it had been a while since he had heard her voice, Leo sensed his ex-wife’s bad mood. ‘You paid the bill. For the house. Is that what you do now? Pay for sex? Did you leave the cheque on the nightstand?’ Jenny heard the click as the line disconnected. ********** Leo pushed the office door open hard enough to mark the wall it crashed into. ‘I want my cheque back. You can bill Jenny for the work.’ Sarah jerked her head at the door. ‘We’ll do this later Ian.’ Ian gathered up the sheets covering the desk, closing the door behind him as he left the room. ‘What’s the matter Leo?’ ‘Do you think I’m paying for this so you’ll sleep with me?’ ‘What?’ Sarah began to laugh, saw Leo’s anger and forced the smile off her face. ‘Well?’ ‘One, no. Two, stop shouting. Three, sit down.’ Leo dropped into the chair and looked at Sarah. ‘Are you going to tell me what this is about, or do I have to guess that Jenny was a little angry that you paid her bill.’ ‘How did you..?’ Sarah smiled, shaking her head. ‘Poor Leo. You do a nice thing and it backfires.’ Leo’s beeper chirped. ‘I have to get back.’ Sarah unlocked the safe in the wall of her office. ‘Here.’ She handed Leo his cheque, holding it as he took it. ‘If you let her pay then whatever Jenny said she’s going to believe.’ Leo put his hand in his pocket. ‘Yeah. Bank it.’ ‘Sure?’ Leo nodded. ‘Yes.’ ‘Okay. I’ll see you later.’ Distracted as his beeper chirped again, Leo said absently. ‘Yuh.’ To be continued in Part Six Part Six will be posted shortly Home Send me feedback on this fic Return to the X-Files Fic Index Return to the West Wing Fic Index