for sandy; toby, during seventeen people.

 

Telling Toby is going to be the worst part.

Leo takes a breath, and steps into the Oval Office. "We've gotta tell Toby."

It's been a long day, meeting upon meeting upon meeting and on top of all of that, the FAA, so the President isn't even aware at first - "tell him what?"

Leo breathes again. In and out, like they talk about in rehab and like he never talks anywhere else. "We've gotta tell him."

Somewhere out in the great U S of A, there might be a truck full of explosives crossing the border, and yet this is the part that triggers the alarm bells. "Why?"

the reasons aren't important, Toby's not stupid, and Leo can't even hear what he's saying anymore. He watches the President slap his desk, feels the reverbration in the wood even though that's ridiculous. Toby's not stupid, that's why they have to tell him. The president needs handling, and Leo's already spinning it, putting it into a better light. Jed's not buying it.

"And the staff's reaction will be what, exactly?"

Even as he's trying to convince Jed that Toby's reaction will be typical of the staff, Leo knows it won't be. Outwardly he'll be shocked, angry, concerned, but inside Toby will just add it onto the pile of disappointments he's already amassed. It'll be just one more thing that Toby should have expected,, and thinking about it, Leo feels like he's swallowed tacks, it hurts his stomach. you're not supposed to have to do this to your friends, you're most of all not supposed to keep having to do this to them.

Jed nods. "All right."

 

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