Title: Wine and Roses Part Four ‘Margaret!’ ‘Leo?’ ‘Close the door.’ Margaret pushed Leo’s office door closed. ‘What is it?’ ‘It’s Zoe’s birthday thing. I can’t decide. I need a woman’s opinion.’ Margaret sighed inwardly. It was almost eight o’clock. Leo saw her quickly-hidden dismay at his request. ‘Okay, I have an idea. You got a date tonight?’ ‘No.’ ‘Wanna go out for dinner?’ ‘With you?’ Leo looked crossly at her. ‘Yeah with me. It’s not a date, it’s work.’ Margaret laughed. ‘I’m going to have to start calling you Edward.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because that’s a line from…’ Leo sighed. ‘The film?’ ‘Yeah. Well, almost.’ Leo shook his head slowly. ‘Well? You wanna?’ ‘Sure. Want me to wear a cocktail dress?’ ‘To a Chinese restaurant? If you wanna, I guess.’ Margaret thought about it for a moment. ‘Maybe not.’ ‘You want me to drop you home so you can change?’ ‘Do we have time?’ ‘Yeah, I haven’t made reservations.’ ‘Will we still get one?’ ‘Yeah. I’ll tell ‘em it’s your birthday and I forgot.’ Margaret smiled. ‘It might be. You don’t know when my birthday is.’ ‘Actually, I do.’ ‘How?’ ‘I checked with Personnel.’ ‘What else did they tell you about me?’ ‘Nothing I didn’t already know.’ Uncomfortable, Margaret walked out. *************** That was smart. Now you’ve pissed her off. And that’s not something you wanna do. Too late. In a couple of minutes, she’ll be back in here with some excuse as to why she can’t come. And you’ll have to decide the Zoey birthday thing yourself. Which you were going to do anyway. But Margaret doesn’t know that. ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ It’s only because he wants my opinion on Zoey’s birthday. It is, as he said earlier, not a date. But it is a meal. Together. Outside the office. Just the two of us. In a restaurant. With no other staff around. Just Leo and me. Dinner. With Leo. What the Hell am I gonna wear? ************* As I get out of the car, I realise Leo’s planning to sit in the car while I change. ‘You want to wait inside?’ He folds his paper closed. ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah. Come on in. It’s not as nice as…’ Just in time, I stop myself. I was about to say ‘as nice as your place’. Which, of course, I haven’t seen. Except I know exactly what it will be like. Tidy. Unlike my apartment which was not expecting visitors today, and therefore, will not have cleaned itself. Unlike Leo, I do actually spend time in my apartment. I just don’t clean it. Well, not often anyway. I’ve never been inside Margaret’s apartment. I couldn’t have been more wrong about what it would be like. It’s messy. My fastidious assistant lives in a messy apartment. Who would have guessed? I wonder what she’s gonna wear? ************** The restaurant was nice. Quiet, with soft oriental music playing in the background. ‘So, do you think we should go with Jed’s idea or Abbey’s?’ Leo looked up as he spoke, and saw Margaret, her face bathed in the soft light, her hair a million different shades of red, her eyes meeting his as she, too, looked up. Green suited her, he decided. He had thought black, but he definitely liked her in green. ‘Well, I like the idea of a fancy-dress party, but I think Zoe would prefer to have an ordinary party with her friends.’ ‘Yeah. So can I organise a fancy dress party when it’s your birthday?’ ‘Sure Leo. What would you come as?’ Leo pondered for a few seconds. ‘Depends who I came with.’ Rich food, the late hour and the second beer loosened Margaret’s tongue. ‘Me.’ Leo almost choked on his rice. ‘Er, okay, um…then it would have to be…’ Almost together, they both said: ‘Edward.’ They quickly stifled their laughter as they saw the other diners staring at them. Margaret leaned forward. ‘Can I ask you a question?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘You must have a favourite film, everyone does. What is it?’ Leo sat back, thinking about all the films he could remember seeing. ‘The Godfather.’ ‘Which part?’ ‘The one with the horses head.’ Margaret giggled. ‘That’s disgusting Leo.’ Leo shrugged. ‘Yeah, so? I’m a guy, Margaret.’ Margaret smiled. ‘I noticed.’ ‘You ready?’ Margaret sat back. ‘That was great. Thank you for inviting me.’ Wanting to play down the evening, but not really knowing why, Leo said quickly: ‘I told you. I needed a woman’s opinion.’ Realising if Leo had been about to make more of the evening, he would already have done so, Margaret resigned herself to the idea that it had been just a way of getting himself some food and her opinion at the same time. ‘And you got it. And several others.’ ‘Yeah. You make a crappy feminist.’ Margaret was cross. ‘I do not!’ Leo put his credit card on the small plate the waiter bought without looking at the bill. ‘Do too. All that stuff about equal rights, and your favourite film is one in which the guy totally takes care of the woman.’ ‘That’s different.’ Leo looked up as he signed the credit card slip, handing it to the waiter. ‘How?’ ‘Vivienne doesn’t have to live in the real world. Our world. Where Kenny is the only male assistant in the West Wing and men think you’re weird if you don’t come across on a first date.’ Leo said softly: ‘I don’t think you’re weird.’ Margaret’s voice matched Leo’s. ‘You said this wasn’t a date.’ Leo tucked his credit card back into his wallet. ‘It isn’t. Unless you want it to be.’ ‘Leo, we can’t date. I work for you.’ ‘I could fire you.’ Leo helped Margaret on with her coat. ‘Yeah, and how would I make rent?’ ‘I’d take care of it.’ ‘Like Edward.’ Leo pulled his own coat on and walked towards the door of the restaurant. ‘Yeah.’ ‘Would you climb up a fire escape for me?’ ‘Sure. Holding roses in my teeth.’ *********** Leo pulled up outside Margaret’s apartment. Margaret got out, walking round the car to Leo’s side. ‘Thank you. I had a lovely time.’ Leo smiled. ‘Me too.’ Margaret nodded at her building. ‘You wanna come in for coffee?’ Leo wanted to make certain. ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah. Just coffee.’ ‘Okay. Just promise me you won’t make me watch the stupid film.’ Margaret pushed the key into her front door lock. With her back to him, Leo couldn’t see her smile. ‘Can I just put it on with the sound turned down really low?’ Equally, she couldn’t see that Leo’s smile didn’t match his sharp response. ‘No!’ Continued in 'Unfamiliar Territory' Click to go there Home Send me feedback on this fic Return to the West Wing Fic Index