Winner in The Jeds, West Wing Fanfic Awards, 2003, in the following categories:

Outstanding Jed/Leo story - 1st place
Outstanding Characterisation of Leo - 3rd place
Outstanding NC17 Romance - 3rd place
 

"Hear this, Leo?" Jed asked, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "This takes me back. Old friends…" He sang along. "'Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly? How terribly strange to be seventy…Old friends, Memory brushes the same years. Silently sharing the same fear...' That's us, Leo – old friends," he commented.

"Old friends who aren't being honest with each other," Leo said softly.

Title: Old Friends

Author: Xanthe

Rating: NC17 for graphic M/M sex.

Fandom: The West Wing

Feedback: Yes please!!! The friendly variety is always welcomed at xanthe@xanthe.org

Length: Novel length. Available for download as html files - divided into two for ease of posting - (Part One, Part Two), zipped file or plain text file.

Category: Story, Romance, Angst

Keywords: Jed/Leo slash. Childhood physical abuse. This is a long, psychologically complex story based on actual events from the show.

Summary: Demons from Jed's childhood threaten his ability to concentrate on his job and he turns to Leo - who has his own memories of the President's past.

Spoilers: Night Five, Two Cathedrals

Thank you: To Phoebe for the usual wonderfully detailed beta, the ego-bolstering, and the instructions to land the damn chopper already <g>
To dot for helpful comments, encouragement - and the Words <g>
To Bluespirit for the inspiring (and thankfully elfless <g>) pic
To Anne for providing script information and encouragement :-)

Author's Notes: This story is set in my June 17th universe. It isn't necessary to have read that in order to read this although some events from that fic are alluded to in this one. I was a bit disappointed that the subject of Jed being beaten by his father and his subsequent sleepless nights and therapy sessions with Stanley weren't gone into in the same psychological depth as Josh's PTSD troubles were in the episode Noel, which I loved. Soooo, I thought I'd redress the balance. Mind you, I had no idea when I started that this would turn into such a long, twisty-turny thing with so many balls juggled in mid-air that I almost lost track. I hope I managed to pull it all together despite the complexity of Jed's brain <g> Half of this story takes place in flashback form and the other half deals with the present day.