Old Friends

 

Old Friends

 

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.

Extract: “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.” “Old friends who aren’t being honest with each other,” Leo said softly.

Fandom: The West Wing

Pairing: Jed/Leo

Genre: Slash

Characters: Jed Bartlet, Leo McGarry

Story Type: Angst, Romance

Rated: NC-17

Spoilers: Night Five, Two Cathedrals

Warnings: None

Series: June 17th

Word Count: 65,469

Chapters: 2

Recommendations: Award Winner, Xanthe’s Recommendation

Published: February 2, 2003

Awards: 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


 

Notes: Jed/Leo slash. Childhood physical abuse. This is a long, psychologically complex story based on actual events from the show.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 Half of this story takes place in flashback form and the other half deals with the present day.

 

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

 

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