Toby sighed and kicked the door shut behind him, waiting for a moment, just listening. He could hear the fish tank's filter working at the end of the entryway, the sound of the TV turned low drifting to him from the living room. In the distance the grandfather clock he'd inherited from his parents began to chime the late hour.

With a contented sigh and a noticeable relaxation of over-taxed muscles, the weary man began shrugging out of his trench coat as he wandered down the hallway toward the living room. "Probably fell asleep watching C-SPAN," he muttered to himself with an affectionate smile.

But the couch in the living room was empty. Frowning, Toby turned toward the kitchen, but found no one there either, though the light over the sink was on as if someone had been there just moments before.

A blur of tan skin, dark hair, and oddly enough, lilac, shot through the corner of his eye. He barely had a chance to turn his head in response before he found himself being slammed backward into the nearby wall, a warm, solid body pressed tightly to his.

His first instinct was to push his attacker away, but his body seemed to have another agenda entirely separate from his brain's as his hands flew to grip the broad shoulders pressing against his own, tugging the other body closer to him.

Arching his neck as the sensitive skin of his throat was nuzzled enthusiastically, Toby fought back a groan. "Glad to see you too - mmph!" He only had a moment of startled hesitation before he was responding to the hot kiss that had so effectively cut him off.

As he found his mouth devoured, his lips parting to welcome a probing tongue, Toby wrapped his arms securely around his aggressor's bare back, groaning and thrusting his hips upward.

"God," he gasped, as the soft lips were finally torn from his. Blinking dazedly as his brain threatened to cut out from a lack of oxygen, he gazed into the blue eyes staring back at him from the face of his lover. "Good to know you missed me."

A slow, easy smile spread across Sam's face as his eyelids drooped to conceal his lust-darkened gaze half way. "If I had known you were going to be home a day early I could've prepared a real welcome."

Toby laughed and leaned forward to catch Sam's lips briefly with his own, one hand trailing back up the trim frame pressed against him to brush his fingers gently across Sam's cheekbone. "I liked this welcome just fine," he assured the younger man. His loving smile turned into a smirk. "So I caught you by surprise? Should I search the entire place to make sure you're not hiding any of your other lovers?"

Sam rolled his eyes and dropped his head to press his face into Toby's neck, his favorite place to be. His arms wrapped around Toby's waist and he sighed happily, his warm breath on Toby's skin making the older man shiver and suppress another groan. "Don't bother," he murmured, his tongue darting out to taste his lover. "Josh left twenty minutes ago."

With a startled bark of laughter, Toby wriggled free of Sam's full-body hold, pushing the younger man away by the shoulders. "That's not funny. I'm going to have to punish you for that one, Samuel."

Sam's eyes glittered with interest. "Oh yeah?" he asked, reluctantly stepping away to give the other man some space.

Despite Toby's ardent protests to the contrary during the early stages of their relationship, both men knew their roles well. Sam might sprawl himself atop Toby negligently after hours of bone-melting passion - might be prone to making a pillow or bed out of his lover's body as much as humanly possible, but it was Toby who was the real cuddling culprit.

His self-control usually fled him at the first under-the-lashes gaze Sam shot him. He simply couldn't keep his hands off the younger man, the desire to hold Sam close almost always too strong to win over. Now, as much as he appreciated Sam's attempt to give him breathing room, obviously out of concern for the exhaustion that Toby could feel in his every pore, distance from Sam was the last thing he wanted.

"Yes," he murmured huskily as he reached for Sam, hands curling around slender hips and tugging insistently. "Definitely in need of some punishment."

Sam made a show out of raking his eyes over Toby's body deliberately as Toby pulled him back into his arms. "I don't know, Tobes. You don't look up to doling out punishment right now." He was only half-teasing, his eyes still slightly wary as he allowed himself to be snuggled close.

Rumbling happily now that his Sam was where he belonged, Toby bumped noses with the other man, arching an eyebrow of challenge. "What was one of the first lessons you learned from working with me, Sam?"

With only a brief instant of confusion, Sam seemed to catch on quick. "Toby Ziegler's never too tired or too busy to make someone's life a living hell." A faint smirk teased at the corners of Sam's mouth now, the concern gone.

"You've learned much, my young student," Toby murmured, brushing his lips over Sam's in a light caress. One hand released Sam's hip to roam over the smooth planes of Sam's back, trailing back down the spine. "Maybe as a reward I'll forget your punishment and -" Trailing off, Toby blinked in puzzlement, drawing back to put an inch or two between their faces.

"Toby?" Sam breathed, brow furrowed now, the concern back full-force. "What is it?"

Both hands went exploring now, thoroughly investigating the oddity that had caught Toby's attention. He shot his lover a curious look. "Sam, I'm not sure there are words to say this… but you've become significantly fuzzier since the last time I saw you." He paused again, running both hands over the nicely rounded globes of Sam's ass. "In fact, I don't recall you being fuzzy _at all_ the last time I had the opportunity to-"

"Oh God," Sam choked out between guffaws. "Oh Toby!" Consumed by the peals of laughter, Sam doubled over in Toby's arms, his entire body wracked helplessly with tremors of ecstatic mirth.

His spine rigidly stiff with indignation, Toby stood ramrod straight against the wall, frowning fiercely, his hands still clutching Sam's mysteriously fuzzy posterior. "What's so funny?" he demanded gruffly.

Having gained control over his laughter, Sam was flushing beautifully now, his head ducked just slightly, blue eyes peering at Toby through his eyelashes. "Um…" He licked his lower lip, the pause giving him a moment to think over his response. "I can't sleep when you're not here with me, so…"

"What does that have to do with you being fuzzy, Samuel?" Toby pressed, hands moving back to gripping him by the hips, steering him backward two steps so he could look down at him. "Lilac?!?" he exclaimed. "Right now, Samuel. You're going to tell me why I came home to find you fuzzy and lilac-colored. Right. Now."

"One of the last times you went away without me, I didn't get any sleep, and when I came into the Senior Staff meeting looking like death warmed over - pardon the cliché - Leo wanted to know why so I had to tell him that it was because I was so damned lonely without you, and then he told me about what _he_ does when the President is away and as it turns out he's taken to wearing warm… um, fuzzy, pajamas so he won't feel so cold and alone in bed without President Bartlet there, and it sounded pretty good to me so he gave me the name of the store that he buys his at, and I went and I found these and now I wear them so that I won't feel lonely…"

Toby stared in astonishment as his lover trailed off, wondering how the hell Sam could look not at all phased after the run-on sentence from hell. As far as he could tell, Sam hadn't taken a breath the entire time, but still the man gazing back at him apprehensively didn't look the least bit winded.

As he blinked dazedly, getting over the shock not unlike what he supposed a person might experience after witnessing a train wreck, Toby fully processed what Sam had told him. "You wear fuzzy pajamas to help you sleep when I'm not here?" he repeated incredulously, and after a moment, when the information was completely settled in his mind, his entire body jolted with the shock of realization. "LEO? You told _Leo_ that you can't sleep without me in bed?!? And then… and then he said… he told you about him and the President… oh God."

The abrupt widening of Sam's already quite wide eyes would have been comical if Toby hadn't been relying completely on the wall at his back to keep him upright, his own eyes blinking owlishly as he gazed around the room at nothing in particular. Feeling two strong arms wrap around his waist and haul him properly upright, Toby transferred his stare to his knees, which oddly enough seemed unable to support him at the moment.

"Just lean on me, Toby," Sam was saying, and Toby felt compelled to take him up on that, sagging against Sam's chest as the other man steered them into the living room toward the couch. "God, are you okay?" Sam asked as he allowed Toby to sink from his arms down into the cushions.

"Leo and the President…" Toby muttered softly to himself, his head lolling along the back of the couch. Staring up at the ceiling, he snickered, his face crumpling as he dissolved into hysterics. "Oh God! Leo and the President! Leo wearing fuzzy pajamas…"

Sam's hand cupping the nape of his neck and drawing his head up to face the other man's harried and confused gaze did nothing to help his rapidly retreating self-control. "Leo sent you shopping," he gasped desperately, "for fuzzy lilac pajamas to keep you warm at night!"

Toby bit his lips together to stem the tide of chuckles, watching as Sam began to frown, but in the end it proved too much for him. Falling to the side, Toby lay half on the couch, pressing his face into the leather cushion to muffle his snickers.

When Toby looked back up, finally back in control, he found that Sam had quickly overcome his concern for him, a distinctive pout having replaced his previous confusion. "Sam, I'm sorry but you have to realize - "

Sam shook his head with an obviously affronted sigh, his wounded dignity not allowing him to meet Toby's eyes as he rose from the floor to perch on the coffee table. He grimaced and shifted upward, one hand reaching underneath him to remove something he'd sat on. "No, Toby, that's all right. Laugh all you want. I'll be sure to let Leo know that you find his coping methods to be so humorous."

Righting himself, Toby smiled at his lover tolerantly, reaching out a hand to cup Sam's face, turning it toward him, forcing their eyes to meet. "You know that I wasn't laughing at you, or even Leo. It's the situation that got me, and you have to admit that it is pretty funny from my point of view."

Pursing his lips, Sam looked ready to hold out, but after only a few moments faced with the light twinkle in Toby's previously tired eyes, he relented with a shy smile. "You're not making fun of my pajamas?"

Toby shook his head, taking a moment to study the garment in question, his free hand drifting over to rest atop Sam's thigh, lightly stroking over the soft material. "Now that I really look at them," he murmured, leaning close so their mouths nearly touched, "I think they're kind of…"

Sighing as Toby's lips brushed over his, Sam let his eyelids fall shut slowly. "Kind of…?" he pressed curiously.

"Sexy," Toby answered decisively, a firm kiss punctuating the word. "On you, they're incredibly sexy."

With a delighted grin, Sam scooted forward to slip his arms around Toby's shoulders, bringing them closer for a more thorough kiss, tongues exploring each other's depths hungrily.

"Mmmm," Toby moaned, pajamas and the Chief of Staff far from his thoughts as he reached around to grasp Sam's ass and pull him off the table and into his lap, settling him there so Sam's thighs straddled his own.

Their kiss continued, Sam's long fingers buried in the curls at the back of Toby's head and Toby's hands roaming freely over Sam's back and pajama-clad thighs and ass. "Welcome home, Toby," Sam purred into his mouth, rocking forward to press closer, gasping lightly as one of Toby's hands stole inside the loose bottoms to cop a feel.

A sharp rapping at the door startled them apart, their lips swollen and parted, and their chests heaving with ragged breaths. Toby recovered first, a dangerous scowl darkening his features as he looked in the direction of the door. "Whoever that is, I swear I'm going to kill him," he growled.

His soft smile affectionate, Sam slid off his lover's lap to drape himself languidly over the couch cushions, watching as Toby stood with obvious reluctance. "You'd better go answer it, Toby," he murmured when the older man continued to stand there, gazing hungrily down at him.

"You are _so_ in for it when I finish bludgeoning that poor bastard with the coat rack," Toby threatened him, tearing his eyes away from Sam's supine form and twisting around to stalk toward the door.

Sam chuckled and leaned his head back, stretching luxuriously and generally making himself comfortable as he waited for Toby to take care of the interruption and come back to him.

"Are you an IDIOT?" Toby's raised voice rang through the apartment moments later. "How could you NOT NOTICE until you were HOME that you didn't have your KEYS?"

At the sound of stomping feet, Sam raised his head and watched as Toby marched back into the living room, an abashed Josh Lyman trailing after him. Toby halted at the end of the couch, trailing a burning look down Sam's body before turning back to Josh and spreading his arms out wide.

"I know we've already established that you're an idiot, Josh, but don't just stand there gaping like one. Find your keys so you can LEAVE."

Josh's body gave a sort of unsteady jerk and he looked around the living room with a confused frown, very obviously avoiding looking at his friend on the couch, or the dark menace standing over him. "Umm…" he mumbled helplessly, his expression humorously panicked as he found himself at a loss to think of where his missing keys could be.

Stifling the threat of a snicker, Sam turned his head toward the coffee table, eyes resting on the object of his discomfort from only a few minutes earlier. Smirking, he flung an arm out and dragged his prize to him. "Hey Josh?" he sing-songed, eyes half-lidded and twinkling with mischief.

When his friend looked to him reluctantly, he dangled the key ring from one taunting finger. "Lose your keys?" he teased.

With a huge sigh of relief, Josh stumbled forward and snatched his keys away, blushing furiously when he couldn't help but take in Sam's recently ravished lips and mussed hair, his eyes resting on Sam's bare chest before he could stop himself. "Uh… I think I left my tie here too, but you can just bring that in tomorrow at work."

Darting one last look in Toby's glowering direction, fairly bouncing on the balls of his feet in response to the heavily charged room, Josh beat a hasty retreat, the front door slamming behind him.

"His _tie_," Toby demanded as he turned to Sam slowly.

Sam grinned impishly, shrugging and biting his lower lip. "He came over straight from work to look over the Newton memo," he explained innocently. "In the course of eating dinner and butting our heads against a brick wall over the damn thing, Josh took off his tie and jacket."

Nodding slightly, Toby moved to stand at Sam's side. "Doesn't look like you were all that lonely after all," he mused, lowering himself down with slow movements, covering Sam's reclining body with his own, his elbows bracketing the younger man's head as he supported himself above the sprawled delight that was his lover.

"I know what you're thinking," Sam chided, shaking his head, his grin not weakening a bit at the dark look in Toby's eyes. "No, Josh didn't see me in my pajamas until just now."

"Good." His chest rumbling with pleasure, Toby leaned in to snatch a hot, moist kiss from the lips below. "I fully intend on being the only one to ever see you in them again," he announced when he pulled back.

Sam wriggled beneath him with a mock pout. "But I promised Leo that I'd show them to him the next time you were out of town with the President!" he cried, bringing out his puppy eyes. "It's only fair, since he showed me his!"

Eyes widening and flaring jealously for just an instant before his muddled brain clued him in on Sam's act, Toby glared down at him, shaking his head. "Damn you Sam," he growled, swooping in for another kiss.

*****

The next morning, Josh watched a bit uncomfortably as Toby strolled into Leo's office with a smug smirk spread across his bearded features, satisfaction rolling off him in waves. Sam stumbled inside in Toby's wake, bleary-eyed with a death-grip on the mug of coffee in his hand.

This time Leo had no cause to inquire about the reason for Sam's sleepless night. Sitting possessively close to the young speechwriter on the couch, he was a bit hard to miss.