It had been a long, exhausting and logistically complex operation trans-locating half the staff from the West Wing out to the middle of nowhere – or, more specifically, Manchester, New Hampshire – along with a horde of journalists and other associated hangers on. That, coming on top of a whirlwind few weeks since the President had held the press conference announcing both that he had concealed the fact that he had multiple sclerosis from the nation and that he was running for re-election, meant that Leo was pretty tired before he even arrived at the hotel in Manchester where he was staying with the rest of the West Wing staff just up the road from the President’s farm – and somehow he had the feeling that he was going to be wearier still by the time he left.

Leo slung his case onto the bed, and threw himself down next to it. They had decamped to Manchester to work on the President’s re-election campaign, which they would open on Monday with a big, important speech at a local school – a speech that the West Wing staff had been working on for days and which still wasn’t anywhere near ready.

Leo glanced around the little room – which was considerably smaller and more homespun than the hotel room he occupied in Washington – and then, with a sigh, he forced his tired body off the bed and got on the phone to make several important calls before hitting the hotel bar to check on his staff.

They were grabbing something to eat and while they looked relaxed, Leo easily picked up on the tense atmosphere. They didn’t like the Bruno, Doug and Connie – the people Leo had brought in to work on the campaign with them – and they were all stressed out from the pace of the past few weeks, just as he was. In addition, he knew they felt personally betrayed by the President’s multiple sclerosis revelation – Leo had felt that way himself when he’d first found out. They still believed in Jed Bartlet, but they were wounded right now and Leo wasn’t sure what would make everything all right again. He suspected an apology would go a long way to helping, but thus far Jed hadn’t shown himself to be in any mood to apologise.

Leo spent a few minutes with them, just checking in. He didn’t expect to work miracles and knew that it would take some time before the current tension played itself out. He knew he had to be on top of his game right now – what they needed was for him to be a firm, decisive presence in their midst, generating a feeling of certainty and calm. He couldn’t change anything and he couldn’t wave a magic wand and make the past few weeks disappear – all he could do was be a steady compass for them to take their bearings from when they were feeling as if they were all over the place. It would be so easy right now for morale to sink to an all time low, and for them to feel as if they were on a sinking ship. Leo needed to remind them that there was a firm hand still on the rudder – and that hand was his. Now wasn’t a time to give into panic – now was a time to stand resolute and to make it clear that he expected them to perform to their best ability and not get mired in self-doubt and uncertainty. That was one of the reasons why he’d decided to stay in the hotel and not at the President’s farm – the staff needed someone on hand to steady them right now. The President probably needed that too, but Leo figured there was only so much of him to go around and he’d deal with the President tomorrow. He had a meeting scheduled with his old friend first thing in the morning.

Leo retired to bed to work on campaign papers, before finally getting some much needed sleep. He woke the next morning feeling more refreshed but still apprehensive about his meeting with the President. As he walked down the hotel hallway he could hear Josh and Donna arguing companionably as always, while CJ was giving Toby a hard time about something. They were familiar sounds, but edged with an underlying tautness and Leo got into the car with a sigh, wondering when everything would calm down and get back to at least some semblance of normality.

The last few weeks had been so hectic that he’d had no time at all to touch base with the President – and they hadn’t been able to squeeze in any of their usual Friday night sessions either, which, as Leo knew all too well, was a recipe for disaster. It was at times like this, when he was stressed and enduring some savage personal criticism from the media, that Jed needed the comfort and closeness he found in his sessions with Leo, however hard it could be bringing him down to the level where he could accept that comfort. Normally it wouldn’t matter so much because Abbey had always been able to take care of Jed so magnificently, but things weren’t so good between the President and the First Lady right now, so Jed was hanging in the wind just at the time when he most needed support. It bothered Leo that he wasn’t sure where the President was mentally at the moment – that was always a concern with someone as mercurial as Jed Bartlet. Leo had the nagging suspicion that if he didn’t get to talk to Jed alone soon, he might be in for some nasty surprises.

The President’s ranch was a beautiful property but Leo was a city boy so its rustic charm largely passed him by. The security officer at the gate advised Leo’s driver that Jed was out on the farm and Leo sighed inwardly as the driver took him there. This wasn’t a good sign. He wanted a focused, committed Jed, and instead he was getting a distinctly ambivalent vibe off the President. Jed had known Leo was due, but instead of meeting him in the house he seemed to have deliberately taken himself off to the great outdoors. It didn’t bode well.

The car drew up by a barn, and Leo got out. He spied the President, perched on the back of a truck and Leo’s heart did a little flip – Jed was dressed in faded blue jeans and a polo shirt; his hair was tousled and he was puffing on a cigarette. He didn’t look like the President of the United States – he looked like a rebellious aging teenager, doing his best to shock a reaction out of whoever was around. He also looked utterly beguiling. Leo was used to the way he felt around Jed – he’d lived with his emotions for a very long time, and he was adept at handling them – but even so, nothing prepared him for the spark of attraction that he felt for *this* Jed, standing moodily by the truck, looking for someone to snap at. Leo suspected that person was going to be him, but he wasn’t overly concerned about it. Jed was clearly in a state of conflict right now and it was better that Leo witnessed that and dealt with it than that someone else did. As for *how* he’d deal with it – Leo wasn’t sure. He knew what generally worked with the President but he’d never seen Jed looking quite this moody before, and he suspected it might take a little while for whatever was troubling Jed to rise to the surface.

“You live in the middle of nowhere, you know that?” Leo grumbled amiably, opting for a harmless opening gambit to test the waters.

Jed responded with one of the many pieces of trivia for which he was famed and Leo headed him off at the pass, to avoid it getting out of hand – Jed could regale you with trivia for hours if you didn’t step in there and wrest control of the conversation away from him. They talked for a couple of minutes and then Jed threw his cigarette into his coffee mug, and got up, still glowering at the world in general: Leo decided that he was going to have to tread very carefully around his friend during this meeting. Jed was clearly in a combative mood – Leo hadn’t seen him smile once since he’d arrived and even his mildest enquiries were met by snapped or growled responses. They went to stand by the paddock, looking out over the acres of the Manchester farm.

“I’m going to stand for re-election, Leo, and I’m going to win,” Jed told him, his eyes flaring fiercely as he declared his intent. Leo glanced at his friend surreptitiously as Jed gazed out over the farm, trying to gauge the President’s mood. Jed was all fired up and he sounded so sure of himself, so confident – only Leo could see all the doubts and uncertainties his friend was struggling with right now. He wondered if Jed was even aware of what was causing his edgy mood – in his experience, Jed was someone who felt with his heart whereas Leo felt more with his head and as a result he could often interpret Jed’s moods in a way that Jed was utterly unable to do. They stood there for a long time, looking out across the beautiful scenery in companionable silence. If Jed needed to talk then Leo was here, but he suspected that Jed wasn’t yet able to formulate exactly what was troubling him.

Finally, after several long minutes, Jed grunted and shifted slightly.

“I found something you might be interested in, Leo,” he said.

“Yeah?” Leo glanced at his friend.

“Yeah,” Jed drawled, still doing his best impression of a surly teenager. Leo was suddenly reminded of James Dean in ‘Rebel Without A Cause’. Jed was all pent-up anger with no real target to take it out on and no understanding of why he was in such a foul mood either. Leo thought he knew but until Jed made a move he wasn’t about to offer an opinion on the subject. Jed pushed himself away from the fence and walked towards the barn and Leo followed him, frowning, wondering what the hell Jed had in the barn that he thought Leo would be interested in. He hoped it wasn’t some form of local wildlife; Leo was most definitely *not* a country boy, unlike his friend. He didn’t even own a pair of jeans – and his city-casual uniform of chinos, cotton shirt and blazer seemed out of place next to Jed in full James Dean mode.

Jed turned on the light in the barn and took Leo over to a large tarpaulin sheet covering a bulky object.

“What is it?” Leo frowned.

“It’s this.” Jed whisked the sheet away to reveal a gleaming, if rather ancient, motorbike. Leo stared at it, genuinely speechless, for several seconds. Of all the things he’d come out here expecting to discuss today, a motorbike hadn’t even factored into the equation. “Isn’t she beautiful, Leo?” Jed said, running his hands over the shining metallic body of the machine.

“It’s a motorbike,” Leo replied blankly, utterly nonplussed.

“Oh hell, Leo – were you *born* old?” Jed groused, clearly annoyed that Leo wasn’t more impressed. “Didn’t you ever drive a motorbike in your youth, Leo? Did the 60’s pass you by completely?”

“I was flying planes in Vietnam the 1960’s, sir,” Leo pointed out quietly. Jed had the grace to look a little guilty for forgetting that important fact about his friend’s past but it didn’t last very long.

“Well then you must know how exhilarating it is to ride a motorbike!” Jed exclaimed. “It must be a similar feeling!”

“I don’t know – do people try and shoot you down when you’re riding a motorbike?” Leo commented, still unsure where this was going. Jed’s mouth formed a hard line – he was clearly annoyed that Leo wasn’t giving him the response he had been looking for. “Sir, it’s a bike, and as I recall you aren’t especially adept at riding bikes so I hope you weren’t thinking of riding it around the ranch,” Leo said pragmatically. “I think we all remember the last time you got on a bike – I know I do but then it was my $3000 bike that you borrowed and then rode into a tree.”

“That was a pedal bike, Leo!” Jed snapped angrily. “That’s a completely different thing! I was a good motorcyclist in my youth. I can still remember the way it felt; the smell of the leathers, the feel of the wind in my hair…” His features relaxed into an expression of nostalgia.

“You didn’t wear a helmet?” Leo raised an eyebrow.

“It was the 60’s, Leo!” Jed protested. “Nobody wore a goddamn helmet. I’m just saying – she’s beautiful, isn’t she? She was a bit of a mess when we found her, but I got her cleaned up, and she purrs like a beauty now.”

“Please tell me you haven’t taken her out for a test drive,” Leo said despairingly.

Jed glared at him. “I can ride my own damn motorbike if I choose to, Leo!” He growled.

“With all that’s been going on lately? The last thing we need is for our already sick President to get admitted to the hospital with a broken leg – or worse,” Leo remonstrated.

“I’m not sick!” Jed snapped.

“I know. You have multiple sclerosis which we’ve spent the past few weeks educating the entire nation about – how it isn’t fatal, how it won’t affect your performance as President – so I can see how you driving your motorbike into a tree would really help convince people that your judgment hasn’t been impaired by your illness at all,” Leo commented grumpily.

“Thank you, Leo. I’m really glad I showed this to you now,” Jed snarled, with a savage glare in Leo’s direction. Leo took a deep breath and decided to take another approach before Jed took the teenage rebellion act a stage further and stormed off in a huff.

“I’m sorry. She *is* beautiful, sir. Did you clean her up yourself?” Leo ran a hand over the motorbike’s gleaming body.

“Yes I did.” Jed’s chest puffed out in an almost comical fashion and his mood changed immediately now that Leo was showing an interest in the machine. He bent down and pointed at something deep within the bowels of the bike. Leo peered at it in the dimly lit barn, not entirely sure what he was looking at. “See here – these are original parts. They don’t make them any more so I had Charlie track me some down on Ebay.”

“It’s good to see that you keep Charlie gainfully employed, sir,” Leo commented.

“Don’t you want to ride her, Leo? Doesn’t just looking at her make you want to go speeding down country roads?” Jed asked, running a hand through his hair, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

NO! Leo thought to himself, alarmed by the fact that this was clearly what Jed wanted to do with the damn bike. They had just announced the President had a degenerative disease, he was being investigated by a Grand Jury for deception, he was running for re-election – and all he could think about right now was taking his motorbike out for a spin. Leo was not at all surprised – this was Jed all over. The truth was that although Jed had decided to run for re-election, he hadn’t yet come to terms with his decision emotionally – or all the ramifications that came with it. Factor in an extremely pissed off First Lady, angry with her husband for making this decision without asking her and thereby breaking the ‘one term only’ deal they’d made and you had an extremely volatile Jed on your hands.

“You’ve done a great job on her, sir,” Leo said carefully, gazing at Jed intently. “But you do know she has to stay in the barn, right?”

Jed started to bristle; Leo put a gentle hand on the President’s arm, and gazed at him steadily. “Right, Josiah?” He said again, in a firm tone. Jed’s expression wavered for a moment and then he gave a tragic sigh and slowly pulled the tarpaulin back over the machine.

“I guess you’re right, Leo,” he muttered. Leo put his hand on Jed’s back and stroked comfortingly for a few seconds, trying to convey his empathy but Jed’s muscles remained taut under his hand and didn’t relax. Leo sighed – it looked as if Jed’s rebel-without-a-cause phase wasn’t over yet. He just hoped that Jed would have the big explosion he was brewing before long; he had a big speech to give on Monday, and a campaign strategy to work on. He wouldn’t be able to do either while he was struggling with his emotions like this.

“I’ve missed you, Leo,” Jed muttered, glancing at Leo sideways. “How many Fridays has it been since we…?”

“Too many.” Leo shrugged. “There’s been too much going on. When things calm down…when we get back to Washington…”

“I told you that you could stay at the house. I don’t like the idea of you in that hotel,” Jed grumbled.

“I know.” Leo smiled and rubbed Jed’s back some more. “But I’m fine in the hotel. I’m used to hotels and I should be with the staff. If I’m not there to keep an eye on them who knows what they’ll get up to.” He grinned.

“You can’t take responsibility for everyone, Leo,” Jed groused.

No, Leo thought to himself – Jed wanted him all to himself right now, and understandably so, but they were both grown men and they both knew it wasn’t possible.

“Which room are you in?” Jed asked. “Did they put you in the one with the memorial civil war quilt on the wall?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t look,” Leo said with a shrug. “Although now you come to mention it I think there *was* something hanging on the wall.”

“I thought so. That’s the best room. They gave you the best room, Leo.” Jed rocked back on his heels triumphantly.

“You told them to put me in that room didn’t you?” Leo sighed.

Jed grinned. “You *should* have the best room, Leo!” He exclaimed, clapping Leo on the arm.

“It’s a kind thought, sir,” Leo said quietly. It *was*, and it was typical of Jed to think of it, although Leo doubted he’d be spending long enough in the room to appreciate the sentiment.

Jed scuffed the floor idly with his shoe and glanced up at Leo from beneath his thick, dark eyelashes.

“Josh is at the hotel,” he murmured.

“Everyone is at the hotel, sir,” Leo replied firmly. “Don’t do this, Josiah.”

“Do what?! I’m just saying, you have Josh,” Jed said heatedly.

“And you have Abbey,” Leo pointed out.

“Not right now I don’t,” Jed muttered moodily.

“Sir?” Leo raised an eyebrow.

“Oh she isn’t talking to me and you know it!” Jed snapped.

“Then you should talk to her,” Leo said pragmatically. “As for Josh – he has his own room and I’m damn sure he’ll be using it every single night.”

“It’s Friday at the end of the week, Leo,” Jed pointed out.

“It’s Friday at the end of *every* week, sir,” Leo reminded him.

“Yeah, but you and Josh can have Friday in your hotel while I’m stuck up here with a dozen secret service agents and a wife who can’t stand me right now,” Jed snapped.

“We’re not talking about this, Josiah,” Leo told him with a stern look. “I warned you when we started this thing with Josh that there could be some jealousy issues but you assured me it wasn’t going to be a problem.”

“It isn’t. I’m just saying…” Jed shrugged. “I’m just saying. That’s all. Why do you have to be such a hard ass about this, Leo? I’m just damn well saying…oh I can’t talk to you right now!” And with that he stalked out of the barn.

Leo watched him go, his eyes drawn to the President’s jean-clad ass, wanting nothing more than to chase out of the barn, up-end the President over the paddock fence, and deliver a few firm swats to said ass. Then, finally, he gave a sigh, and with one last glance at the tarpaulin-covered motorbike, he left the barn. Somehow, he had the feeling that things were going to get worse before they got any better.

It was late by the time Leo returned to the hotel. Josh and Donna were still bickering away amiably about something or other. CJ had finished with Toby and was now having a go at Sam – Leo thought that maybe he would be next. One thing was for sure – he had to stop CJ exploding at the President when she was in this mood. With the President’s current surliness, the combination could be explosive – and neither CJ nor Jed was renowned for being able to hold back once roused.

Leo ate alone in his room, still mulling over the President’s strange mood as he worked his way through the re-election strategy papers Bruno had drawn up. He was interrupted half way through by a knock on the door and Josh stuck his head into the room.

“Leo…sorry to…” Josh’s hair was standing on end and he looked agitated. Leo sighed and put his papers to one side. He knew what *this* was about.

“Come in, Josh,” he said, beckoning his deputy into the room.

“Leo – about what I said earlier. I know you think I want to get the FDA to move the announcement because I screwed up over tobacco but…”

“Josh. Let me stop you right there,” Leo said, holding up his hand. “We’ve talked about the way you screwed up over the tobacco thing and we agreed to let it go – yes?”

“Yes.” Josh shook his head – his body language at odds with his speech. Leo sighed. He got up, walked across the room, and shut the door behind Josh.

“We can deal with it. Do you want to deal with it?” He said softly directly into Josh’s ear. Josh jumped.

“What…you mean…?” He flushed.

“I can punish you. Will that help?” Leo asked pragmatically.

Josh swallowed hard. “What, here?” He managed to squeak. “Now? With Donna in the building and CJ roaming the hallways looking for people’s heads to bite off?”

“I’ll lock the door. I have a paddle in my bag and we can always stuff a handkerchief in your mouth to keep you quiet,” Leo said, rocking back on his heels and gazing at Josh steadily. He suspected that, like Jed, Josh’s angst wasn’t yet sufficiently simmered to be dealt with in this way but he thought Josh needed the option. He knew that he was going to have to spank Josh for the tobacco screw-up sooner or later because he could tell that it wasn’t going to go away until he did – but he thought that Josh probably needed to beat himself up some more first.

“You have a paddle in your bag?” Josh frowned, his forehead creasing up almost comically. “You brought a paddle out here?”

“Sure.” Leo shrugged. “You never know when it might come in handy.” He smiled. Josh swallowed hard, gazing at him uncertainly, clearly trying to figure out whether it was himself or the President that Leo had brought the paddle along for. “So – what’s it to be? You want me to spank you now?”

Josh’s eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head – he never could deal with the fact that Leo could talk about this kind of stuff so easily and calmly. Then, finally, he shook his head and straightened his shoulders.

“No, I can handle this. You’re right – we dealt with this. I’m over it. I’m telling you, Leo, I’ve put it all behind me. I’ve moved on.” He waved his hand dramatically in the air. “I’ve SO moved on,” he said, striding towards the door.

“Okay then. If you’re sure.” Leo sat back down at the table and picked up the papers he had been working on. “I’ll be here if you change your mind, Josh,” he said firmly. Josh gazed at him for a moment, an uncertain look in his eyes, and then he nodded and exited the room. Leo sat back in his chair and exhaled loudly, feeling as if all his skills were being mightily stretched at the moment. On the one hand he had a President who was doing his best James Dean impression – which was rather surreal of and by itself in a man of his age and position – clearly bottling up some huge storm that he was going to unleash at the most inopportune moment; and on the other he had his Deputy, unable to handle a serious mistake he’d made, and brooding on it endlessly as a result. Factor in CJ, still smarting from the stupid comment she’d made during the press briefing on Haiti, and an entire staff on edge, and you had a powder keg just waiting to go up in smoke. Between them, Leo thought they’d be the death of him – and, one way or another, he suspected that his right arm was going to be getting one hell of a work out before he left Manchester.

The week passed in a miasma of tension; little quarrels flared up everywhere. Every time Leo turned around he found Bruno sparring with Josh, or Doug with Toby and Sam; even Connie had had the occasional run in with Donna while CJ and the First Lady – never the two most placid women on the planet at the best of times – had already had at least one contretemps. Abbey had won that one but then CJ had been hampered by having to pull her punches because Abbey was the President’s wife. Otherwise Leo suspected it might have been closer to a draw. The President had been at the centre of it, generating that feeling of imminent combustion that was keeping them all on edge – not that it took much as they were all pretty much on edge anyway. Leo had taken to sitting in the breakfast room at Jed’s farmhouse, working his way through the campaign speeches and strategies, one ear permanently monitoring the endless quarrelling taking place in the next door room. He chose not to step in – not yet anyway. These guys had to figure out how to get along all by themselves. No, Leo’s priority was the President. Josh was a smaller problem – he knew what Josh needed and suspected it wouldn’t be long before they could resolve that issue, but the President was his real worry – and he had no idea how that one was going to play out.

By Friday morning Jed was practically incandescent. Leo watched him go off like a firework, burning anyone who came within a 10 feet radius. He wished they were back in Washington so he could take Jed aside and deliver a thorough spanking to the President’s rebellious ass, but they weren’t and it wasn’t possible to deliver that kind of corrective measure right now, however much Jed needed it.

By Friday evening Leo was happy to escape back to the hotel and barricade himself in his room. He emerged only briefly to break up a sparring match between CJ and Josh in the hotel bar and then declared, in an extremely terse voice that he was retiring to bed for the night. Josh gazed after him mournfully and Leo was halfway down the hallway when his deputy caught up with him, grabbing at his sleeve.

“Leo – uh, you want to be alone tonight?” He asked timorously.

Leo gazed at him steadily. “Yes, Josh, I do,” he replied. Josh’s eyes flickered.

“Only, it is Friday,” he muttered.

“Yes, Josh, it is,” Leo replied. “Funnily enough the President keeps reminding me of that fact as well. I’ll tell you the same thing as I told him – no.”

Josh gave a wistful little sigh but nodded anyway, his face set in a glum pout.

“If you want me to take care of that thing I will – but it’ll just be that, nothing more,” Leo told him. “You’ll leave straight after we’re done.”

“What? You mean the tobacco thing?” Josh stuffed his hands into his pockets and gazed moodily into the distance. “No,” he said finally. “I told you – I’m over that, Leo.”

“Okay then. Well, anything else can wait until we get home,” Leo told him firmly. Josh clearly wasn’t over the tobacco thing as was evident by the amount of times he kept mentioning it by mistake when talking about something completely different, but Leo wouldn’t force the pace on that issue. Josh needed to come to him and ask for a spanking or agree to accept one when it was offered – he was completely different from Jed who often needed to be pushed a little first and who would go through hell and high water before asking Leo to give him a spanking – verbally at least. He made it clear in a hundred other ways that he needed a spanking, even if he wasn’t aware of it.

“Yeah. Okay.” Josh made a little face and then turned and went back to the bar, like a little lost puppy with his tail between his legs. Only then did Leo allow himself a wry smile. He loved both his subs deeply, but they relied on him to be the sane one, the one setting the boundaries and the limits, and he was doing just that. When they got back to DC he’d ensure they both got more than enough of his attention to make up for the long weeks without any Friday night sessions.

Leo worked for several hours, before finally dropping off to sleep some time around 1am. He was, therefore, in a deep slumber when the sound woke him. He lay there, gazing blearily at the window for several long minutes wondering what noise had woken him, and then he heard it again. It sounded very much like a stone being thrown at his window – although at 2.30 am he couldn’t quite fathom why anyone would be throwing stones anywhere, least of all at his window. Leo got up with a frown, shouldered himself into his robe, and walked over to the window. He twitched the drapes aside and gazed out. It took a few moments before his eyes adjusted to the dim light enough for him to make out the figure of a man standing below his window, leaning against a motorbike, but when he did his heart did an anxious flip and he grabbed onto the window sill for dear life.

“Leo!” A familiar voice hissed from several feet below. His hand shaking with a combination of anxiety and anger, Leo opened the window and gazed down on his recalcitrant sub, who just happened to also be the President of the United States.

“Sir, I swear there had better be a good reason for…” he began.

“Ssh!” Jed hissed. “You’ll wake everyone up.”

“What are you doing?” Leo hissed back. “Where is your security detail?” Jed gazed up at him with a grin of pure, seraphic triumph on his face.

“I ditched them, Leo!” He exclaimed. Leo shook his head wordlessly, struggling with his anger for a moment.

“Are you insane?” He hissed finally.

“Very probably!” Jed replied cheerfully. “Don’t be such a spoilsport, Leo. Come down here and come for a ride with me.”

“What?” Leo could hardly believe what he was hearing.

“I said, come on down. I’ll show you what this beauty can do!” Jed said.

“Are you crazy? You’ve ditched your security detail, you’re out riding that ancient machine around in the middle of the night without, as far as I can see, a helmet, and you want me to join you in this lunacy?” Leo growled. Jed gazed up at him for a moment and then grinned even wider.

“Yeah!” He replied. “Of course, if you don’t want to, I’ll go on my own. I just thought you might want to join me, that’s all.” He stepped astride the bike and Leo realized, in a panic, that the President of the United States might well decide to drive off into the night on his own with nobody to keep him safe and nobody knowing where he was.

“Wait!” He called. Jed glanced back up at him. “I’m coming, damnit,” Leo hissed. “Wait there.”

He got dressed hurriedly, then grabbed his cell phone and put in a call to the President’s secret service chief as he walked down the stairs.

“Ron,” he told the sleepy agent. “The President has escaped and is sitting outside my hotel room on a motorbike.”

“Is this a joke?” Ron replied blearily.

“No it isn’t. It’s the god’s honest truth,” Leo snapped. “Now, you and I will have a serious discussion about the performance of your agents at a later date, but for now, I am going to go out there and try and persuade him to come home.”

“You want me to send some agents out to escort you…” Ron began.

“No I do not!” Leo snapped. “Not until I can see what kind of mood he’s in anyway. I don’t want to freak him out into driving off into the great unknown. God knows what kind of trouble, I mean, uh, danger he could get into. I’m going to talk him into coming back. You have my cellphone number: give me an hour and if I haven’t called you’d better come looking for us.”

“Leo, I’m not sure…” Ron began but Leo cut the connection and stuffed the phone into his jacket pocket. Well, he thought to himself as he went outside, he had been waiting for the President to explode all week and he guessed the moment had come. There was only one thing to be done now and that was to give Jed his head and try and bring him safely back down to earth again when he was done.

Jed was smiling cheerfully as Leo emerged into the moonlit night.

“I’m sorry, Leo. Did I drag you away from Josh?” he enquired with overdone politeness. “It *is* Friday night after all.”

Why did things like this always happen to him, Leo thought? What the hell had he done to deserve a hotel full of bickering staff and a President who seemed to have regressed 40 years?

“Josh is fast asleep in his own room,” Leo growled back. “I told you – Friday night doesn’t apply out here in this godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere.”

“Oh.” Jed bit on his lip, having the grace to look slightly abashed. Then he looked up again, and this time his eyes were gleaming. “You ready to go for a ride, Leo?” he said, barely able to contain his evident excitement at the adventure he was embarked upon.

” If I must,” Leo muttered under his breath as he approached the bike in question.

“Hop on behind then – I’m going to show you what this beauty can do!” Jed said, turning on the engine. It sounded impossibly loud to Leo and he gave a startled gasp as the motorcycle jerked forwards. “You’re gonna need to hold on tight, Leo!” Jed laughed, as he began revving the machine up. Leo slid his arms around Jed’s body and realized, with some surprise, that Jed was encased in black leather. “Like it?” Jed purred like his bike. “I found them in an old closet.”

“You didn’t happen to find a helmet or two there too, did you?” Leo asked.

“Leo – I told you, I used to feel the wind in my hair when I was driving this baby!” Jed shouted over his shoulder, heading the bike out onto the open road.

“That was years ago though, right?” Leo yelled back, holding onto Jed for dear life. “I mean, aren’t there laws about this now? If there aren’t then there should be and I’ll be happy to pass them the moment we get back to civilisation.”

“I can’t hear you!” Jed replied, which Leo was fairly certain was a lie. Leo knew he had no choice but to relax and let Jed take them wherever it was he was planning on going. In fact, once he got used to the sheer fear factor of being driven around the countryside in almost total darkness on the back of a motorbike by Jed Bartlet, a man for whom the word ‘klutz’ could have been invented, Leo had to grudgingly admit that it was rather pleasant. Jed’s body was warm and his leathers smelled musky and rather erotic in the cool night air. Leo liked the feel of his lover’s hair pressed against his cheek, and while he wasn’t wearing any leathers himself, he kept himself warm by imagining all the exercise his right arm was going to be getting very, very soon. They didn’t exactly go very fast so it wasn’t as alarming as it could have been – for a start the machine was too old to do more than chunter along and Leo knew for a fact that Jed had never been a daredevil even in his youth. In fact, Leo was fairly certain that Jed was actually afraid of speed and he doubted that his friend had used the motorbike much when he was younger, despite all his rose-tinted nostalgia on the subject.

After about 15 minutes, Jed pulled up at a remote spot in what looked like the back of beyond.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Leo?” he whispered, getting off the bike and turning back to smile at his friend. He gazed up at the sky, where the stars twinkled like a giant sparkling blanket above them.

“It is, yes,” Leo said, barely sparing the heavens a second glance. Jed leaned against a tree at the side of the road and sighed heavily, a smile tugging at his lips. Leo admired the sight for a moment. It wasn’t often he got a chance to witness his lover in full motorcycle leathers with wind-tousled hair and he couldn’t stop himself smiling in return.

“Sir?” Leo said softly, coming to stand in front of him. “What’s this about?”

“I don’t know, Leo. I just couldn’t sleep and I was thinking about the bike and I wanted to drive her. I guess I snuck out.” He had the grace to look a little guilty.

“How?” Leo asked conversationally.

“The bedroom window.” Jed shrugged. “Abbey has me relegated to the spare room right now so I didn’t have to slip past her at least.”

“You didn’t drive the bike out of the front entrance though – there are guards all around,” Leo pointed out.

“Yeah. I rode to a gap in the fencing over by the North Paddock. The guards don’t know about that.”

“They should,” Leo muttered darkly, thinking he’d give Ron an earful when he saw him. “Sir – you didn’t just sneak out. This was hard – you had to have sat down and planned it,” Leo chided. Jed shrugged and then grinned.

“Okay, Leo. I admit that I planned it – it took me a couple of nights. I had to stay up and watch the shift rotation patterns and where the guards walked at what time…but I’m good at plans, Leo. The actual physical doing it was the hard part but the planning was easy.”

“Yeah, I can believe that,” Leo sighed. Jed was, after all, one of the brightest minds of his generation. Figuring out a way past the guards would have been nothing more than a crossword puzzle with a spin on it for Jed – although Leo wasn’t fooled by how deceptively easy Jed made it sound. It wasn’t – to slip out from under the noses of the most formidable security agents in the world was a remarkable feat of and by itself – not that he was going to let Jed know how impressed he was. “If you’d been seen they might have shot you not knowing who you were,” Leo said grimly.

“Don’t be like that, Leo,” Jed said in an imploring tone. “I wasn’t hurt. I just wanted to…” He shrugged again.

“I know,” Leo sighed.

“It all happened so fast!” Jed told him heatedly. “First Mrs. Landingham died which broke my heart, and then I was telling the nation about the MS and the next thing I knew I was running for re-election.”

“Yeah,” Leo said softly, surveying his friend’s troubled face intently.

“I was wrong,” Jed said, hunching his shoulders defensively.

“About what?” Leo asked, reaching out a hand to caress his lover’s shoulder. He hadn’t yet heard Jed say he was wrong about concealing his MS and he doubted he was going to hear that right now either. He thought that maybe one day he would, but not yet.

“About Abbey – and about the kids. I shouldn’t have made this decision without talking to them. It affects them, Leo. If I win the election it means Zoey and Ellie and Liz have to spend another 4 years with security agents and journalists following them wherever they go.”

“Yeah,” Leo murmured. “But they’re proud of you, sir. They know you’re only doing this because you believe, fiercely, that you can make a difference. And you can. You already have.”

“Half the nation thinks I’m a liar who can’t be trusted,” Jed said moodily.

“So we’ll convince them otherwise.” Leo shrugged.

“Hell, my own family think I can’t be trusted,” Jed said, kicking his boots in the earth.

“They don’t think that. They’re just a little mad at your right now, that’s all. It’ll pass,” Leo told him. “They think the world of you. You’ve done a great job as President – of course you want to continue.”

“When I saw the bike…it just reminded me that if I hadn’t made that announcement about running for re-election then I could be looking forward to a normal life again, Leo,” Jed said. Leo nodded slowly – this was the crux of it. “I’d forgotten what a normal life was like until this evening. I wanted to taste it, to feel it,” Jed whispered fiercely. “I needed to remind myself what I was missing before I go back and shoulder that great weight again.”

“Yes. I know.” Leo nodded sympathetically. “When you ran for President the first time you spent the first few months being monumentally bad tempered to everyone on the campaign team,” he commented.

“Yeah.” Jed grimaced. “I remember.”

“That was because you needed to be ready, sir. You needed that 4 years ago and you need it now. It’s just a little process that needs to go on in your head. Everything’s happened so fast the past few weeks that you haven’t had time to make that adjustment.”

Jed gave a tired little smile and nodded, looking relieved to find that what he’d been saying made sense and that Leo knew where he was coming from. “Yes, that’s it. Thanks, Leo,” he whispered in a heartfelt tone.

“You’re welcome.” Leo leaned forward and kissed Jed firmly on the mouth. Jed smelled of leather and cigarettes and some indefinable sweet smell all of his own. The President melted against him, and Leo wrapped his arms around him and squeezed his lover’s leather clad buttocks firmly. They kissed for a long time and then Leo drew back regretfully. Jed gazed at him in the darkness, his hands still resting on Leo’s hips.

“I knew you’d understand, Leo,” he said.

“I do.” Leo nodded, his own hands still caressing Jed’s leather-clad behind.

“You’re still going to spank me to hell and back for this though, right?” Jed asked wryly.

“You bet your ass!” Leo replied.

“When?” Jed asked.

Leo raised an eyebrow. “I’ll let you know,” he said, partly because he needed time to think this through properly and partly because Jed had been setting the agenda all evening and he thought it was time he reasserted his own authority. Jed gave a little pout.

“Now?” He asked in an anxious tone.

“Now would be great except for the fact that I told Ron I’d get you home as soon as possible and I intend to do just that,” Leo replied amiably.

“Oh man! You called Ron?” Jed glowered at him.

“Yes I did. I was worried about your safety.” Leo treated to Jed to his fiercest ‘don’t mess with me’ glare and his lover’s expression faltered.

“Yeah. Of course you were. I’m really sorry, Leo,” he said in an abject tone.

“I know you are – and you’re going to apologise to Ron too, just as nicely, as soon as I get you home.”

“Do I have to?” Jed grumbled as they walked back over to the motorbike.

“No.” Leo shrugged. Jed turned to him in surprise. “Well, not unless you wanted to sit down again any time soon,” Leo clarified. Jed shot him a wryly amused look.

“I guess I asked for that. Okay, Leo. Let’s go back and face the music,” he sighed. “And I promise to be my most humble and apologetic self.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that particular self,” Leo commented as he got on the bike behind his lover. “It’ll be an education.”

Jed elbowed him in the ribs by way of rebuke, and then started the engine again. Leo pulled out his cell phone and informed Ron they were on their way and then they set off.

Jed was true to his word; the moment they arrived back at the farm, he handed the bike over to an aide with a wistful glance, and then strode purposefully into the house. Ron met them in the breakfast room, the look on his face as stern as Leo’s was right now.

“Sir – you remember that little chat we had when you first got elected – the one about us working together,” Ron began.

“Yeah.” Jed shook his head. “And Ron I gotta tell you – I’m so sorry. I did a stupid thing tonight. You have every right to lecture me into the ground – although I would point out that Leo’s done the exact same thing already and I don’t think he’s finished with me yet so you might like to save yourself the effort.”

Ron cast a glance in Leo’s direction and their eyes met knowingly for a moment. Leo wasn’t sure what Ron’s agents reported back about what they heard going on in the Blue Bedroom on a Friday night but Ron certainly didn’t seem at all surprised that Leo had given the President a hard time about his nocturnal adventure.

“I’ll apologise to the agents guarding me tonight,” Jed continued. “I know they could have got into real trouble and I promise this won’t happen again.”

“We can’t protect someone who doesn’t want to be protected, sir,” Ron said. “I know it chafes at times, but it comes with the territory.”

“I know.” Jed sighed. “I know that, Ron.”

“I thought we agreed – there are ways we can be more unobtrusive, if you want some privacy…I thought we’d liased with you well on that.”

“You did. You do a great job, Ron. I’m really sorry,” Jed said again.

“Okay. Then let’s leave it there.” Ron nodded.

“Thanks, Ron. You know – when I was 15 I stole my father’s car and drove it to Vermont with some friends. He shut me in the garage until Easter for that prank. Now I feel the exact same way as I did back then.” He gave a little grimace and glanced uncomfortably at Ron, then over to Leo, and then back to Ron again. Ron gazed at Jed for a long moment and then his serious face broke into a little smile.

“How did the bike handle, sir?” He asked. Jed looked up, an expression of sheer delight on his face.

“Like a beauty, Ron!” He exclaimed.

“I’m glad to hear it, sir. Well, I think that’s all. Good night.” He nodded to Leo and then to the President and exited the room.

Leo considered Jed thoughtfully when they were alone, reflecting on the story he’d just told – he’d heard the President tell this particular anecdote before and he thought it might be important. Jed glanced over at him.

“You’re looking mighty serious, Leo. I’m guessing that doesn’t bode well for my backside.”

Leo shook his head wryly. “Sir – that story you just told about taking your father’s car; you always end it the same way – you always tell everyone that he locked you in the garage until Easter but that wasn’t how he punished you was it?”

Jed stiffened slightly and Leo knew this was very delicate territory. Jed had told him how his father regularly hit him as a kid, and he knew that in some way their current disciplinary relationship was Jed’s way of recreating that relationship with his father in a non-abusive way. Where Mr. Bartlet had been a cold, unforgiving figure, Leo gave Jed the boundaries he needed with the love he also craved. When you were President of the United States there wasn’t anyone to tell you if you went too far, or screwed up, or did something wrong – Leo knew that Jed needed him to be that person, and that his friend trusted him to do whatever it took, with both affection and responsibility.

“No, Leo, he didn’t,” Jed said with a wince. “He gave me a lecture that I swear lasted 2 hours solid, with me standing in front of his desk the entire time wondering just how long it was going to go on for, and all the time he had that damn cane of his on the desk right in front of me. It was all I could look at during that lecture, all I could think about.”

He stared glumly into space. Leo walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

“How many did he give you?” He asked.

“Twelve.” Jed gave a grimace.

“Sounds like a lot,” Leo commented neutrally. Twelve strokes of a heavy school cane from a man like Jed’s father had to be almost beyond endurance – but it was giving him an idea.

“Yeah. Twelve was pretty unheard of, even for my father. He was really pissed with me though. I still remember it like it was yesterday,” Jed winced. “I think it was the sound that got to me – I heard it before I felt it – but when the pain kicked in.” He winced again. “I guess I deserved it though.”

“I don’t think anyone deserves what you went through as a kid, sir,” Leo said softly, still squeezing his friend’s shoulder.

“I stole his car and took it out joyriding!” Jed protested. “I deserved it, Leo.”

“Sure you deserved a punishment – but you and I both know there are different kinds of punishment and different ways in which they can be delivered,” Leo told him softly. Jed glanced at him sideways and then gave a little smile, his expression softening.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Yeah. On that subject, Leo, when…?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leo interrupted him. “It’ll be fine.”

“Are you going to wait until we get back to DC?” Jed asked.

“No – there’s no way you’re going to be able to give this speech if we don’t deal with this first,” Leo told him firmly. “That’s partly what this evening was about anyway.”

“It is?” Jed looked surprised.

“Yes. You wanted my attention – and you got it.” Leo smiled. “Otherwise why else would you have come throwing stones at my window in the middle of the night, sir?” He pointed out. “If this was just about you sneaking off for a trip down memory lane you could have done that without taking me along for the ride.”

“I guess.” Jed looked confused.

“I said don’t worry about it,” Leo told him again, in a gentle tone. “You got my attention, Josiah, and you made it clear that you can’t wait until we get back. You’re antsy, my friend, and you won’t be able to start this campaign until I deal with that so I will.”

“And you still aren’t going to tell me when?” Jed asked with a mournful expression in those deep blue eyes.

“No.” Leo smiled. “I need to sort something out first. In the meantime…” He pulled the President around, held him in his arms, and gave his friend a deep, soothing kiss. Jed sighed and some of the tension went out of his incredibly taut shoulders. Leo released him and smiled at him tenderly for a moment. “I love you, old friend,” he murmured. “And everything is going to be just fine.”

Jed gave him an uncertain smile in return and Leo brushed his cheek gently with the back of his hand. “Trust me, Josiah,” he said, and then he disengaged himself reluctantly from the President’s warm, leather-clad body, and left.

It was 5.30 am by the time he got back to the hotel. Leo paused outside Josh’s room for a second and then knocked – he figured that he was up this early so there was no reason why his Deputy shouldn’t be up as well. Josh opened the door, squinting sleepily. He was wearing pyjama bottoms and nothing else and his unruly hair was standing up on end.

“Leo?” He said blankly. “What time is it? Did I oversleep?”

“Morning, Josh!” Leo said in a bright, cheery, utterly annoying tone. “It’s 5.30.” He stepped past his deputy into the room, closing the door behind him.

“Okay. I think my ears aren’t working properly because I could have sworn you just said it was…5.30?” Josh shot him an incredulous look. “I think we agreed a breakfast meeting with Bruno for 7.30 so that gives me…” He paused for a moment, his sleepy mind trying to do the math, “Uh…a whole 2 hours more of sleeping time. Yes?” He frowned at Leo.

“No.” Leo smiled at him pleasantly. “Josh, something has come up and I need you to do something for me.”

“Okay.” Josh nodded and sat down on the bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“I want you to buy me a cane,” Leo told him. Josh’s hands stopped their rubbing and he sat there for a moment, completely still.

“Okay, I think I heard wrong again,” he said finally. “Did you just say a cane?”

“Yes. A cane.” Leo nodded patiently.

“And you didn’t mean a walking cane right?” Josh checked.

“No. Definitely not a walking cane,” Leo agreed. “Here’s some cash…” He got out his wallet and handed a wad of notes to Josh. “I have no idea how much these things cost but I’m sure that’ll cover it. Be discreet, Josh – and make sure you get your job done as well. This isn’t an excuse to disappear for the rest of the day.”

“No…because I’m likely to be able to buy a cane in the drugstore down the road so it’ll only take a couple of minutes,” Josh said sarcastically. “Leo…!”

“So it’s a hard assignment. That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” Leo told him calmly.

“Well, you don’t actually pay me, Leo, the government does, and if you could see my pay check you’d realize the bucks aren’t that big and I’m sure as hell that I don’t get paid for buying implements of…” He lowered his voice, “discipline,” he finished.

“That’s why I woke you early,” Leo told him implacably. “So you can work on it in your own time.”

“A cane?” Josh exploded. “You seriously want me to go out somewhere and buy a cane?”

“Yes I do.” Leo nodded. Josh’s expression changed abruptly to one of panic.

“It’s not…?” He began. Leo shook his head and put a hand on Josh’s shoulder.

“No, calm down – it’s not for use on your butt, Josh, although I might change my mind on that if you say ‘a cane?’ in that tone of voice one more time.”

“Thank god.” Josh sat back on the bed, and then looked up at Leo again, his eyes just as alarmed as before. “But seriously – a cane…? Uh…I mean…what the hell did he do, Leo?”

“I’m not talking to you about that,” Leo told him firmly.

“Okay.” Josh nodded thoughtfully. “What kind of cane?” He asked. Leo thought about it for a moment.

“A heavy one – it has to look as much like an old school cane as possible – you know the kind that might have been used back in the 50’s in one of those exclusive private schools – and it has to look mean,” he said. Josh shivered but Leo noticed that his pupils were dilated and his expression one of fascination.

“You know how much damage one of those things can cause, Leo?” Josh asked softly. “I mean, I know he’s been difficult to work with lately but he does have a pretty important speech to deliver on Monday.”

“Did you think I’d seriously hurt him?” Leo snapped. “The reason it has to look mean is because he has to think it’s much worse than it is – I have no intention of giving him the kind of punishment he’s got it into his head that he deserves but I have to do something or he’ll be useless on Monday.”

Josh nodded, very slowly, and then broke into a grin. “You are *so* good at this, Leo,” he commented.

“I know,” Leo replied without the faintest hint of modesty. “Now go find me a cane, Josh.” He gave his other sub a firm look and then left the room.

Leo spent the rest of the day dealing with the usual 200 difficult things he had to deal with in any one day, on top of pondering how to play out the scene with Jed. He meant what he had said to Josh – he had no intention of giving his adored friend the kind of treatment he had received at his father’s hand as a kid – but at the same time he knew that Jed had certain expectations of the event that had to be fulfilled or he wouldn’t feel he’d had the catharsis he needed. Leo didn’t mind being the bad guy or the hard ass when a situation demanded it but he needed to think it through first to make sure he did the right thing by his friend; Jed meant too much to him for him to get this wrong. It didn’t help that time was so tight – Leo decided in the end that the only time to slot this in between everything else that was going on was to schedule it for the following afternoon when the senior staff would all be at the school preparing for the President’s rehearsal there later that evening. Leo wished he had more time to spend with his friend, helping him come to terms with all the demons currently plaguing him, but those few hours would have to do.

Josh reappeared and disappeared at various intervals during the day and, late that evening, he knocked on Leo’s door and then entered the room, triumphantly bearing a package neatly wrapped in stripy red and white paper.

“That’s it?” Leo asked.

“Yup.” Josh looked absurdly pleased with himself.

“I don’t even want to know where you got it or why it’s wrapped up like a giant piece of candy,” Leo commented, taking the parcel from his Deputy. He ripped into the paper, drew out the cane, and examined it carefully. Josh had done well, he thought to himself as he slid his fingers along the wood. This was a most exquisite implement – clearly it had been lovingly hand-made and polished – there wasn’t a single snag in the wood that could give splinters and it had a springy feel. It also looked the part and that was the main thing. It looked heavy but was surprisingly light to hold and its very solidity gave it a threatening air.

“Is it okay?” Josh asked anxiously, his eyes never leaving the implement. Leo swung it through the air a couple of times and Josh closed his eyes, moaning slightly from between his parted lips. Leo grinned, shaking his head – if he’d waved this cane around when Jed had been in the room he knew his *other* sub would have reacted in a very different way. It amused him how Josh and Jed, who had such similar needs, expressed them in such unique and individual ways. Luckily he understood them both and was more than able to give them what they needed.

“It’s fine, Josh,” Leo told him.

“Sounds…kind of scary,” Josh commented, opening his eyes and gazing at the cane again.

“Mmmm.” Leo glanced at him thoughtfully and then couldn’t stop himself teasing his sub. “Perhaps I should try it out first – get some practice,” he commented. Josh’s eyes widened in alarm.

“On me?” He asked, in a voice akin to a squeak.

Leo grinned at him, and then burst out laughing. “Don’t worry about it,” he chided. “I was messing with you. Any time you want to feel this beauty just ask – you know I wouldn’t whale into you with this unless you asked.”

“Did Josiah ask?” Josh asked softly, managing to wrest his gaze away from the cane for long enough to give his top a searching look.

“Yes he did, Josh,” Leo told him. “He might not have realized that was what he was doing, but yes. He did.”

Josh nodded. “He must really be in a bad way then, huh?” He said softly.

“Yeah.” Leo shook his head. “But he’ll be fine, Josh – and he’ll be ready for this re-election campaign – I can promise you that.”

Continued in Chapter 2