Six Weeks Too Long

Leo was startled out of his reverie by the door opening to reveal Jed in chinos and a polo shirt. Jed turned and said to the secret service agent, "Go guard me from the other end of the hall, will you? I promise to scream really loud if Mr. McGarry attacks me with a soup spoon."

Jed closed the door firmly behind him, then walked purposefully over to his Chief of Staff.

"What part of 'weekend' are you having trouble with, Leo?" Jed asked, reaching up to slip Leo's suit jacket off his shoulders. Leo tried to take the jacket from him, but Jed shrugged him off.

"Let me," said softly, "Please."

Jed1 folded the jacket neatly over the back of a chair; and then gently loosened Leo's tie and slid it off. Itned ned the jacket. He carefully slipped his fingers into Leo's shirt collar and undid the top button. Then Jed took one of Leo's hands in his, and started to unfasten his cuff links. Jed paused, recognizing them as the pair he had given Leo for his 50th birthday. He looked up to see Leo smiling his small, slightly crooked smile, as if he were asking to be excused for showing this touch of sentimentality. Jed undid the cuff link, and its mate, and carefully set the jewelry on the bedside table. Then he went back to Leo's shirt cuffs, and turned up one, then the other. Rather than step back to admire his handiwork, Jed raised one hand to his friend's face. Cradling Leo's cheek, he leaned in for a kiss. It was a soft, sweet touch of lips. Leo brought his arms up around Jed and drew him into a hug. Jed sighed and melted into the embrace.

"Six months is way, way too long." Jed said into Leo's ear.

"Oh yeah--" Leo answered, but anything else he was about to say was interrupted by a knock on the door. The two men stepped apart and Jed turned to answer the door. A waiter pushed a covered trolley into the room.

"Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Not tonight, thank you. Go have a nice weekend."

"Yes sir, thank you sir," the waiter answered as he left.

Jed closed the door firmly behind him, and turned back to Leo.

"Where were we?"

"We were agreeing that six months is way too long. Dinner smells good."

"I thought you had a big lunch," Jed was slightly annoyed at Leo's interest in the food.

"I did. You, however, had a sandwich from the commissary. Sit. Eat." Leo said, transferring the plates of food to a small table in the corner of the room.

"And you know this because?"

"Mrs. Landingham told me."

Jed sighed and sat down. "She's worse than Abbey. Hell, she's worse than you."

"How's Mallory?" Jed asked as they both began to eat.

"She's fine." Leo answered. Silence fell between them for a minute.

"How's Zoey?"

"Zoey's good."

"I think we'll get a majority on the Roads bill without any trouble." Leo offered.

"Oh, no you don't. No talking about work. Not until Monday morning. We are taking this weekend off. Unless someone declares war on us - and I mean a country that actually has an army and some guns - I'm not working this weekend, and neither are you."

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything - we used to talk through the night, Leo."

"We used to talk through the night about politics and what was wrong with the world and how we would change it if we were in charge."

"Point taken." Jed paused, put a forkful of food in his mouth and chewed, regarding his lover thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "Let's talk about us."

"Us." Leo parroted incredulously.

"Yeah, us. You know, you and me. Us."

"Jed, in all these years, we've had exactly three conversations about 'us'. The one where I convinced you that we weren't going to hell for what we'd just done together." Leo grinned a little at Jed.

"The one where you tried to convince me to break up with you so that I could propose to Abbey." Jed shot back.

"And the one where you convinced me that we could still do this," Leo waved his fork to indicate the two of them, "while you were in office."

"Not touching you for four years was never an option."

Leo shrugged, "That still doesn't mean this is a good idea."

"And I still don't care whether it's a good idea or not."

"We gonna re-hash you proposing to Abbey next?"

"Sorry," Jed's voice softened, "I just worry sometimes... We never get a chance to talk."

"What do you want me to say to you?"

"I don't know, whatever you want to tell me. Whatever you can't tell me in the West Wing."

Leo put his cutlery down neatly on his plate, and Jed looked up from his food to find Leo regarding him steadily.

"I love you more than I have words to say."

Jed looked into Leo's bright eyes. "Leo, I..." and for once in his life Josiah Bartlett utterly failed to frame a reply.

"It's OK Jed, I know." Leo said, his voice rich with sincerity. He looked down at his plate for an instant, then met Jed's eyes again. "I want all of you tonight. Ifif yif you feel up to it. I know it's been a long time..." his voice trailed off, but he didn't drop his gaze.

Jed looked at his best friend, his lover. Leo had just said, using a delicate euphemism he had come up with long ago, "I want to fuck you."

Jed reached his hand out toward Leo and laid it on the table, palm up. Leo put his hand in Jed's and they both gripped tightly.

"Leo, I'm yours." Jed said. A moment later Jed was out of his chair, and pulling Leo into his arms. Leo held on tightly, almost clinging to him.

That was unusual for Leo, as was the open declaration of love. He showed his love daily with actions, but seldom with words. Something must be very wrong, but Jed knew that he couldn't press Leo on it; that the best he could do was to make Leo feel safe, and loved, and hope that Leo would tell him what was the matter.

Jed trailed soft kisses along Leo's jaw. Leo turned his head to capture Jed's lips with his. They kissed hungrily. Jed brought his hands to the front of Leo's shirt and began to undo the buttons. He pushed the shirt off his shors, rs, and Leo dropped his arms for a minute to shrug it off. Jed put one hand on the small of Leo's back, fingers splayed, and ran it slowly and smoothly up his spine and into his short graying hair.

Jed broke the kiss and dipped his head to kiss, lick, and nuzzle Leo's neck. Leo tipped his head back a little to give Jed better access to his throat, and a low rumbling growl eed hed his lips. It had never ceased to amaze and delight Jed how sensually Leo responded to having his throat kissed. Jed paused and raised his lips to his lover's ear.

"I'm going to mark you." It was part warning, part promise, part request for permission.

Leo's only response was to slide his hands down to Jed's ass and pull their groins into closer contact. Jed could feel Leo's cock starting to stiffen and he smiled as he kissed back down to Leo's throat. Picking a spot just above his collar bone, where his shirt collar would hide the mark, Jed tormented Leo's skin with tongue, lips and teeth. Power, dominance, and pain had no place in their lovemaking. This was a ritual; Jed would mark a spot on Leo's sensitive throat, and then for the rest of the night he would go back to that spot over and over, until the slightest brush of lips or fingertips would make Leo moan. For as many days afterwards as it took the mark to fade, Leo would see it every morning when he put on his shirt and know that he was loved.

Leo growled again, halfway to a moan this time, and tightened his hands on Jed's ass. Jed trailed kisses back to Leo's ear.

"Bed?" Jed suggested, careful not to make it sound like an order.

Leo drew an audible breath. "Not yet. Take your shirt off. I want to feel you."

Jed smiled and disengaged his arms just long enough to peel his shirt off and drop it to the floor. Leo's hands were on him, skimming his chest, dancing over his ribs, and finally kneading his back and drawing him close, as Leo pressed skin to skin with a soft sigh.

Many years ago, the morning after the first time they made love, Jed had made a discovery. He woke first, to the sight of Leo stretched out asleep next to him. The early morning sunlight streaming in a window transformed the young man's slim body into a work of art. Jed, whose mind would have otherwise started on self-recriminations, was transfixed, and began xploxplore with his hands, lips, and tongue. Leo had woken up to Jed lightly sucking one hardened nipple and tracing the muscles of his abdomen with light fingertips. Leo, for whom sex had always been a matter of physical release, had never been touched that way by anyone, male or female. He had moaned a low, rumbling, contented-lion-in-the-sun moan, and Jed thought it was the most incredible sound he had ever heard. By the time Jed had explored every of of Leo's body, he had reduced his friend to a quivering mass of nerve endings and need.

All these years later, Leo still craved the connection of skin-on-skin; and Jed could still reduce him to moans and quivers with simple touches. Under the gray suits and suspenders, behind the mahogany desk and the glasses, past the steely eyes and the wisecracks, Leo McGarry was a sensualist. His body was a unique, beautifully crafted instrument from which Jed Bartlett alone could draw beautiful music.

Leo's hands found Jed's belt buckle and undid it and his chinos. He eased the pants and boxers down carefully over Jed's erection, and let them drop. Leo settled his hands firmly on Jed's hips, and started to get down on his knees.

"Leo..." Jed looked down.

"Let me," Leo said softly, looking into Jed's eyes, "Please."

Jed cupped Leo's face briefly in one hand, and then dropped his hands to Leo's shoulders, knowing from experience that he would need the support.

Jed moaned as the wet heat of Leo's mouth engulfed him. Leo loved doing this for him, and he did it with a devotion that bordered on reverence. Of all the ways Leo showed his love, from standing quietly and solidly at his friend's shoulder, to not backing down in an argument, to the gleam in his eye that Jed knew no one else had ever seen, this was how he pledged everything that he was. For a while, nothing in the world existed for Jed except Leo's mouth and the sensations it created as he swirled his tongue lightly, and drew Jed in deep.

But Leo was bringing him too close to the edge. Jed tightened his grip on Leo's shoulders, and pushed back. Leo looked up.

"I want you inside me." Jed whispered.

Leo nodded, the same curt nod Jed saw ten times in the course of any working day, and itmade him smile. He slid his hands under Leo's arms to help him up, then down Leo's flanks to the waistband of his trousers. Jed unfastened Leo's pants and slid them down his slim hips, then pulled his lover to the bed.

They took time arranging covers and pillows, divesting Leo of his shorts, and making themselves comfortable. Leo dug a small tub of vaseline out of his bag and set it oon ton the bedside table. Lovemaking at 55 wasn't the energetic tumble it had been at 22, but they had learned that slow and sensual could be even more rewarding than fast and furious had once been. Leo reached for Jed, but Jed gently pushed hito hto his back, smiling down at him.

"You're still beautiful." he said, skimming his finger tips slowly from the point of one slim hip up along a taut stomach to a dark nipple.

"And you're still crazy for thinking so."

"Sssh." Jed stopped Leo's mouth with a kiss, and let his hands roam. Leo closed his eyes abandoned himself to his lover's touches. After all these years, it still surprised him that Jed, who was a complete klutz at just about everything else, could do such things to him with his hands. Leo sighed and floated, until the touches began to make his need more urgent. He put one hand lightly on Jed's back, and ran his fingers slowly down to Jed's ass. Leo opened his eyes and looked up at Jed.

"Yes." Jed answered the unasked question. He kissed Leo once more, then moved until he was laying on his side, his back to Leo. Leo dipped his fingers into the vaseline and quickly slicked himself. Then he spooned up behind Jed, his well greased fingers delving gently between Jed's buttocks. Jed hitched up one knee to give Leo better access, and then settled back into the embrace with a contented sigh. Leo slid his other hand under Jed's shoulder and wrapped his arm around Jed's chest, holding him tightly. Jed had always loved to feel Leo's wiry strength when they made love. Like the mark on Leo's throat it wasn't about dominance but rather an expression of the complete trust they had in each other.

Leo slid the tips of two fingers into Jed's ass, making him moan softly.

"Good?" Leo asked quietly.

"Oh yeah, real good." Jed replied.

Leo dropped a light kiss on Jed's shoulder and gently pushed in a little further before withdrawing his fingers and teasing Jed's opening for a minute. Jed whimpered a little in protest, and Leo slid his fingers back in, a little deeper this time. Leo took up a slow rhythm that was almost an internal massage: in, twist, press, twist, press, out; slowly and gently in time to his own and Jed's matched breathing.

"You like that?" Leo whispered, his voice gravelly with desire.

"You know I do. S'wonderful, Leo."

"I love you like this. So soft and warm," Leo said, pressing gently into Jed with his fingers, "so relaxed and open and ready for me."

Jed's breath hitched. It drove him crazy to hear Leo talk to him like this while they were making love, as Leo very well knew.

"I'm gonna slide into you so easily, and go so deep." Leo brushed Jed's prostate with his knuckles and Jed gasped.

"You're gonna be so hot and tight around me." Leo's gravelly voice continued to murmur in his ear, "I'm gonna stroke inside you, long and slow and deep." Leo brushed Jed's prostate once more and Jed moaned.

Leo dropped another light kiss on Jed's shoulder, and withdrew his fingers. Leo shifted his hips into position and eased the head of his cock between Jed's asscheeks. With one long slow thrust he buried himself in his lover, then paused, holding Jed tightly.

"Feels so good Leo, so good."

"Yeah." Leo replied, not able to form anything more coherent. Leo wrapped his slick hand around Jed's erection, an beg began to thrust. Long and slow and deep, as he had promised, matching his thrusts with slow strokes of his hand. Leo tightened his arm around Jed's chest, and he could feel Jed surrendering to the sensations. Safe in Leo's embrace, Jed gave himself over completely, holding nothing back. Leo kept his pace slow, letting his need for release build slowly. His hand on Jed's cock kept the same pace, and his arm across Jed's chest kept his lover's body anchored to him.

Leo began to stroke faster as his need built, until he was pounding into Jed with a strength he didn't know he still had. Jed gasped and came in Leo's fist, and Leo muffled the cries of his own release in Jed's shoulder, thrusting until he was utterly spent. Finally he was still except for his labored breathing. For a long time he didn't move, holding Jed tightly to him, but finally he sighed, and carefully disentangled his body. Jed turned over carefully, and reached out to stroke his lover's cheek gently. The contented smile on Jed's face faded as he saw Leo's eyes fill with tears.

"Leo?" Jed whispered, concerned, "Leo, what's wrong?"

"I got a little wild there, towards the end. I'm sorry." Leo said in a ragged voice, avoiding the question, and letting Jed know he wasn't ready to explain.

"Leo, it was wonderful." Jed laid his hand gently on Leo's cheek, then leaned in and kissed him softly. He gathered Leo into his arms and gently stroked his back for a long while.

"You ready to tell me now?" Jed eventually asked.

"I'm going to lose you. The MS, or an assassin's bullet, or God knows what is going to take you away from me. We've had forty years; that should be enough. I should be grateful, I know. Most people don't get a fraction of the joy you've given me in that time. But I know I'm going to lose you and sometimes that scares me so much I can't breath."

Jed swallowed the lump in his throat and gently stroked Leo's cheek for a minute before he could trust himself to speak.

"Leo, I need you to promise me something. If I do go first, there are going to be some people who are going to be hurting, and I need you to promise me you won't shut them out. Abbey and Zoey, Charlie and Josh and Toby; they're all going to need you. I need you to promise me that you'll love them for me. And that you'll let them love you."

"Jed..." Leo's voice cracked, and his eyes grew bright again with tears.

"Promise me Leo, please. Promise me you will go on living after I die. Promise me you won't crawl into a bottle or throw yourself off a bridge. Promise me you will love my family for me when I'm gone."

"I promise" Leo whispered, his tears spilling over. Jed pulled him into his arms, cradling Leo's head against his chest, stroking his hair, and crying with him.