Crossover 6: Forever Knight/The West Wing
Drabble for cher_nala (Forever Knight x The West Wing) Prompt: LaCroix/Leo McGarry, "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." Set TWW: Season Three, during Manchester 1 & 2, FK: Post Finale. Somehow, cher, I think I missed the prompt. But it's like, pre slash, so...
The Offer
He was going to kill Toby. And Doug. And Bruno. In fact, if it hadn't been, oh, against the law and probably a major act of treason, he might have shut them all in Sam's office and gassed them.
CJ was okay. She got a reprieve. And Donna. But Josh was in there for that big tobacco fiasco alone. When they were all around him and arguing, Leo could see the paperwork physically multiplying on his desk. Paperwork that should have been theirs. Three files on his desk were meant for Toby, who had stopped all work just to write the goddamned Manchester speech.
He used the balcony as an escape, and Bruno still followed him out here. He had thought about giving Margaret a tazer for just such occasions, but he was kind of unsure about how she'd put it to use.
By the time he'd pretty much ordered him off the balcony, he was regretting ever agreeing to have Bruno go through him on everything. In fact, the only upside to it was that Bruno wasn't going through the President, who would have then never let Leo hear the end of it. On the other hand, Bruno had just left him with a nice Havana Cohiba, and although he was pretty much violating the law, sometimes laws just had to be broken. And this one had to be broken on the Roosevelt balcony, or Margaret would smell it.
"Young Bruno is persistent," said a voice from the shadows of the balcony. "Rather like a young Kissinger."
Leo sighed. "Kissinger wasn’t as good with the ladies."
"Too true. Is Margaret still with you?" The shadows moved and Leo nodded when LaCroix finally emerged from the light, the black of his coat seeming to cling to the edges of the shadows as if he was peeling himself away. "You always have the best taste in draconian redheads."
"Don't worry," Leo said and fumbled with the lighter. "Margaret doesn't like Bruno either."
"Hrmn."
"Margaret dislikes most people," he offered cheerfully. It was a lie, and Margaret seemed to rather like Bruno now, but he didn't need to elaborate on that just then. Then again, LaCroix had never brought her jewelry.
LaCroix stared at him with those hooded eyes and slid his hand along the railing to collect the snow that has accumulated there. "Do you think it's wise to partake of an embargoed product on the balcony of the very building that has issued such a decree?" His mouth quirked up in a smile. "I don't think the press secretary would be happy with you."
Leo shrugged and clipped the end off the cigar, pocketing the nub and lighting the thing with a sterling silver lighter Jenny had given him for their anniversary fifteen years ago. "I don't think the Secret Service would be happy to know that a vampire penetrated the White House," he muttered, pulling his coat about himself and clamping down on the cigar with his teeth. "You know, since we're on the subject of things that aren't quite right."
LaCroix sniffed the air. "Ah yes." A shuffle, but that was just Leo wiggling his toes. "Your Secret Service name is really 'condor'? As in three days of?"
"They get bored."
"Ah. And you?" the vampire asked. God, all the national secrets he knew and he had to add this one onto the whole pile, this one standing right there. "Are you bored?"
Leo exhaled and rolled his eyes. "I'm the White House Chief of Staff," he offered. It pretty much answered the question.
The vampire offered his own expression of sarcasm. "Oh yes, busy running the last superpower in the world. It must be so hard to keep those launch codes in check." He dusted his hands off, the snow falling like ash.
Leo couldn’t argue. These days, that's what it felt like anyway, what with Haiti and Pakistan, and Qumar, for God's sake. He wondered where the next scare was going to come from. On the other hand, in a little over a year they wouldn't have to worry about this, at the rate they were going.
LaCroix brushed his collar and Leo shuddered. More often than once had had wondered how he'd gotten into this friendship, but then most of the time when he'd wondered this previously he'd had alcohol available to drink the question away.
LaCroix's face was too close to him to see fully, but Leo couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. "Just be careful," the vampire breathed into his ear, "or you'll have a heart attack. All this stress." His eyes went dark a bit, something for Leo to add to the list of things he never understood the mechanics of. "And my offer still stands."
The Offer
He was going to kill Toby. And Doug. And Bruno. In fact, if it hadn't been, oh, against the law and probably a major act of treason, he might have shut them all in Sam's office and gassed them.
CJ was okay. She got a reprieve. And Donna. But Josh was in there for that big tobacco fiasco alone. When they were all around him and arguing, Leo could see the paperwork physically multiplying on his desk. Paperwork that should have been theirs. Three files on his desk were meant for Toby, who had stopped all work just to write the goddamned Manchester speech.
He used the balcony as an escape, and Bruno still followed him out here. He had thought about giving Margaret a tazer for just such occasions, but he was kind of unsure about how she'd put it to use.
By the time he'd pretty much ordered him off the balcony, he was regretting ever agreeing to have Bruno go through him on everything. In fact, the only upside to it was that Bruno wasn't going through the President, who would have then never let Leo hear the end of it. On the other hand, Bruno had just left him with a nice Havana Cohiba, and although he was pretty much violating the law, sometimes laws just had to be broken. And this one had to be broken on the Roosevelt balcony, or Margaret would smell it.
"Young Bruno is persistent," said a voice from the shadows of the balcony. "Rather like a young Kissinger."
Leo sighed. "Kissinger wasn’t as good with the ladies."
"Too true. Is Margaret still with you?" The shadows moved and Leo nodded when LaCroix finally emerged from the light, the black of his coat seeming to cling to the edges of the shadows as if he was peeling himself away. "You always have the best taste in draconian redheads."
"Don't worry," Leo said and fumbled with the lighter. "Margaret doesn't like Bruno either."
"Hrmn."
"Margaret dislikes most people," he offered cheerfully. It was a lie, and Margaret seemed to rather like Bruno now, but he didn't need to elaborate on that just then. Then again, LaCroix had never brought her jewelry.
LaCroix stared at him with those hooded eyes and slid his hand along the railing to collect the snow that has accumulated there. "Do you think it's wise to partake of an embargoed product on the balcony of the very building that has issued such a decree?" His mouth quirked up in a smile. "I don't think the press secretary would be happy with you."
Leo shrugged and clipped the end off the cigar, pocketing the nub and lighting the thing with a sterling silver lighter Jenny had given him for their anniversary fifteen years ago. "I don't think the Secret Service would be happy to know that a vampire penetrated the White House," he muttered, pulling his coat about himself and clamping down on the cigar with his teeth. "You know, since we're on the subject of things that aren't quite right."
LaCroix sniffed the air. "Ah yes." A shuffle, but that was just Leo wiggling his toes. "Your Secret Service name is really 'condor'? As in three days of?"
"They get bored."
"Ah. And you?" the vampire asked. God, all the national secrets he knew and he had to add this one onto the whole pile, this one standing right there. "Are you bored?"
Leo exhaled and rolled his eyes. "I'm the White House Chief of Staff," he offered. It pretty much answered the question.
The vampire offered his own expression of sarcasm. "Oh yes, busy running the last superpower in the world. It must be so hard to keep those launch codes in check." He dusted his hands off, the snow falling like ash.
Leo couldn’t argue. These days, that's what it felt like anyway, what with Haiti and Pakistan, and Qumar, for God's sake. He wondered where the next scare was going to come from. On the other hand, in a little over a year they wouldn't have to worry about this, at the rate they were going.
LaCroix brushed his collar and Leo shuddered. More often than once had had wondered how he'd gotten into this friendship, but then most of the time when he'd wondered this previously he'd had alcohol available to drink the question away.
LaCroix's face was too close to him to see fully, but Leo couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. "Just be careful," the vampire breathed into his ear, "or you'll have a heart attack. All this stress." His eyes went dark a bit, something for Leo to add to the list of things he never understood the mechanics of. "And my offer still stands."