Rating: R (rated due to angst)
Category: angst/drama
Spoilers: nothing overly specific...
Summary: Leo is having some problems with his Deputy...
Archive: Please let me know.
Disclaimer: *sigh* They haven’t been mine yet, what made you think this time would be any different?  Besides, I told you already, I torture them way too much for you to want them to be mine.
 
 
 
 

 Leo looked up from his paperwork, removing his glasses to rub his eyes as he sighed.  “Margaret!” he bellowed.

 Margaret appeared in the doorway, waiting.

 “Is he back from the Hill yet?”

 Margaret gave him her what-did-I-tell-you look and asked, “When did you ask me this last?”

 “I don’t know...five minutes ago?”

 “Five minutes ago.  And what did I say five minutes ago?”

 He sighed, resigned.  “That he would be sent here as soon as he got back.”

 “Do you see him here?”

 “No.”

 “Then you should assume that he’s still on the Hill.”

 “Yeah.”

 “And he’ll come see you when he’s back.”

 “Yeah.”

 “Is there anything else you need?”

 Leo stared at the papers in front of him for a moment before responding.  A drink.  That was the second thing that came to mind.  He disregarded that for fear of scaring Margaret – who was already paranoid enough – and decided to go with the first.

 “Leo?”

 “My Deputy.”

 She didn’t respond, and when he looked up she was no longer in the doorway.  He sighed again and went back to reading reports.

*****

 He was almost done with a phone call when he saw Josh in the doorway.  He said goodbye and hung up, staring blankly at his desk for a while before lifting his eyes to meet Josh’s.  It looked like it was bad news all around.

 “Is something happening?”

 “You know exactly what’s happening, Josh.”

 “Yeah.”

 “It’s falling apart.”

 “Yeah.”

 “Three days, Josh.  We got them to honor their promises for three days, but...”

 “It doesn’t look like the treaty will be lasting for a forth.”

 Leo leaned back in his chair, contemplating the man standing before him.  This was only the latest crisis.  When he said that it was falling apart, he could have meant almost anything.  It was all falling apart, these days.  Things had finally been looking up after the grand jury investigation, but they couldn’t catch a break and they were beaten down once more, forced to struggle, somehow, through the last month.  Both home and abroad, things were getting rough again, and Leo wasn’t sure how well they’d be able to weather these latest storms.

 “Leo?”

 The sound of Josh’s voice broke him from his meditation.

 “It’s going to be okay, you know.”

 “Is it?” he asked, “is it really?”

 Josh sighed, running his hands through his hair.  “Yeah.  It will be.  You just have to give it some time...it’s been a month.  Just a month.  A lot has happened that has nothing to do with my –”

 “I know, I do,” Leo interrupted irritably, “It just makes everything harder.  Things were mishandled – some are still being botched.  I’ve got a Deputy Chief of Staff who’s flying off at the mouth, antagonizing members of Congress, which is typical enough, but also pissing off the rest of the senior staff...who barely talk to him anyway.  What am I supposed to do, where am I supposed to side?”

 Josh met his gaze calmly, unflinchingly, but his words lacked conviction.  “I don’t like...I mean, I don’t think...time.  Just give it time.”

 “For what, things to smooth over or resentment to take root?  I can’t have my staff at odds like this, especially not with the President the way he’s been recently.  I refuse to continue to play referee.  We have real things to take care of.”

 “Well, you know I only said to give it time because that’s what I thought you needed to hear.  Toby is silent and brooding, and when he’s not he yells – followed almost immediately by apologies and more brooding; CJ looks like she doesn’t sleep, she walks around like she is paranoid that it is all going to fall apart, to disintegrate before her eyes; Sam...God, Leo, I barely recognize Sam...he’s lost his enthusiasm, his passion, he’s quiet, withdrawn and anxious, and it’s my fault.  Don’t you think I realize that it’s all my fault?”

 “Josh, you didn’t –”

 “We need a lasting peace.  We can’t just continue to delay and calm and patch.  Nothing we’ve tried so far has worked, so we need something different.  A completely new approach.”

 Leo knew that he had changed the subject back to the treaty violations, but thought that Josh’s words could fit well into their other conversation as well.  “Yeah.”

 “The President has to change his focus.”

 “Do you have a plan?”

 Margaret came in with some papers which she handed to Leo and waited for him to sign.  “Sam said he’d like to talk to you if you’re free.”

 Leo looked up at Josh before answering her.  “Yeah...tell him he can come down now.”

*****

 Sam walked in without acknowledging Josh.  “Hey Leo.”

 “Tell me you have good news, Sam.”

 Sam shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but didn’t respond.

 “How bad is it?”

 “No one will get serious with me.  I’ve tried, but they’re all still pissed over what he said last Tuesday and refuse to cut any deals.  Leo, it’s going to stay in committee forever...nobody wants to touch it because the White House is ‘sending out mixed signals and undermining authority.’  There’s nothing I can do!  I can’t even pretend to have the same influence as the Deputy Chief of Staff, and he’s screwed up again.  You have to –”

 “No.”  Leo looked past a fuming Sam to Josh, who was standing quietly in the background, daring Leo to meet his gaze.  “Don’t go there, Sam, it’s not your place.”

 “Yeah,” he conceded quietly, “I know.”

   “Look, I know that this is important, but it will have to wait for another time.”

 “Yeah, okay.”  Sam’s voice lacked all of the passion and drive they needed, all the assurance of his convictions that he used to have.  He sounded tired, too, almost lost.  It seemed like the only times he got fired up anymore were when things got personal.  Leo wondered just how much longer they could go on like this.  He couldn’t just stand around and watch his staff fall apart, but he didn’t know how to eliminate the problem other than by...well, by eliminating the problem, and he really didn’t want to have to do that.

 Leo sighed again as he stared intently at Sam, purposefully avoiding looking at Josh.  “How’s Donna doing?”

 “Okay.”

 He wasn’t really expecting more than a one-word response.  Moving her over to Communications had been the best move, but that didn’t mean it had been easy.  “And you?”

 “Well, I’d be a whole lot better if I could get this damn piece of legislation back on track...”

 “Yeah.”  That wasn’t what Leo meant, and he knew Sam knew that.  “I might have a strategy for you.  See me again in a couple of hours?”

 “Yeah.  Thanks, Leo.”

 Josh spoke up as soon as Sam left the room.  “He’s pissed.”

 “Well he has a right to be, and don’t you give me some ‘it needs time’ crap.  I want a strategy.  A good one.  This one should have been an easy win, and it’s turning into a disaster.”

 “I know that.  This is a good bill, I worked a long time putting everything together and – ”

 Leo cut him off with a wave of his hand.  “I have to go see the President now, go over what diplomatic options we have left.”

 “Yeah, okay.”

 Leo thought about the way Josh said that as he went into the Oval.  He had sounded just like Sam.  Things weren’t going to get any easier unless he took a stand.  He just didn’t know what stand to take.