"Olivia dear, you look wonderful." Cyrus greeted Olivia standing up from the dinner table to hug her.
"Careful flattery will get you everywhere, Cy." Liv smiled hugging her mentor before sitting down.
"Well that's the plan" Cyrus thought daring to embark on the impossible mission ahead.
"So, Olivia Pope and Associates is doing fantastic I hear?" Cyrus treaded sipping his glass of wine.
"It is." Olivia smiled briefly admiring how quickly her hard work had paid off. "It's amazing how fast the business has taken off."
"Well I'm not surprised the least bit. After all you did have the best teacher."
"That I did. What about you I heard that they offered you the Harvard job and you turned it down?" Olivia asked the question that the entire law field wanted to know.
"Well uh-" Cyrus uncharacteristically stumbled "I have my eyes set on something bigger than that. Which is why I called you here today." Cyrus looked up to see Olivia with open ears.
"What's bigger than director of Harvard Law?"
"Liv, how much do you know about Fitzgerald Grant?"
"2 time governor and 4 time senator Cy his political career is over, and it seems like his wife made that very clear." Olivia laughed remembering the very public interview Elizabeth Grant did swearing that if her husband ran for one more political office she would leave him.
"Yes, but what about his son, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III?"
"The Governor? I'm not really sure to be honest. I know he's done some amazing things in California with their schools, and he obviously has something special if California elected a Republican, but other than that I'm kind of in the dark about his background. Why do you ask?"
"Call me crazy Liv, but I think he has a real shot at winning the 2008 election. I know we're a ways away but, with me and you combined nothing can stop us from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We've just got to convince him and the public that he's the man for the job."
"So let me get this straight you're throwing away Harvard for a one time governor who technically isn't even old enough to hold the office of President yet, nor is he sure he wants to run?", The Cyrus Beene she knew would never take such a risk.
"Liv I've got a hunch. He has a real charisma about him, and for the record he's 34 so he'd be 38 when he gets sworn in. Yes he'd be the youngest President, but trust me this man is something America would get behind. I've been in politics a long time and he's the breath of fresh air the people want. A little naïve? Maybe but I chalk it up to an innocence Washington hasn't corrupted yet. Technically he hasn't made a definite decision yet, but I truly think he could go all the way with our help." Cyrus rambled.
Olivia was baffled, she knew Cyrus Beene liked to plan ahead but this was a long shot. This was 4 years down the road and it sounds like Cyrus had this more planned out than his proposed candidate. "Cy I love you, but you have to think about what you're asking me to do. I'd be throwing away my business for a shot I can't afford to miss. Moving out to California and leaving the business alone just wouldn't work."
"You wouldn't be throwing it away! Liv, that's the beauty of being the boss delegation is a beautiful thing. If there's one thing I know about you, it's you don't back down from a challenge and getting FTGIII to the White House is the ultimate challenge. "
"Cy I-"
"All I'm asking is you consider. Go home do your research and see for yourself. I know OPA has clients on the West coast calling every day, think of this as expanding your brand. We take the next 2 years putting him in the public eye as governor then the campaign starts and in 4 years we're in the White House."
~The Next Day~
"Alright everybody listen up I want everything you can find about Governor Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III!" Olivia told her staff firing on all cylinders.
"Oh did Governor hottie finally get into some trouble?" Abby asked raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"Governor Hottie?" Olivia asked taken aback a little
"Yeah have you seen that man?" Abby moaned "Mhhmmm If he wasn't a Republican I'd say he's the most perfect human being on this planet."
"Abby shut up we've already heard one of your fantasies about this guy." Harrison rolled his eyes ready to barf if Abby repeated what she said about the guy last week.
"Ok but like if Megan Fox was a politician you'd totally feel the same way." Abby countered sipping her coffee.
"Ok that's enough focus!" Olivia tried to clear the impending debate that was sure to start "And no he's not in any trouble. I need him vetted for anything and everything. There's a chance he might run for President. Cyrus wants me on this campaign if it happens and I need to know what I'd be getting myself into."
"I'd say take the job Liv" Abby said
"I'd second that" Quinn agreed
"You guys literally have done 0 research on the man considering Liv walked in the door 2 minutes ago." Harrison pointed out rolling his eyes.
"Yeah why would you two say yes so quickly?" Olivia questioned
"Because he's hot as hell!" Quinn said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And you need yourself a mansies Liv. Its time" Abby added seriously.
"You do need a mansies Liv" Quinn agreed pulling up a picture of the governor quickly handing over her phone to Oliva. Olivia couldn't lie this man was attractive and she could definitely see why Abby and Quinn hyped him up. "Ok yeah so he's easy on the eyes." Olivia blushed, "I want the 3 of you to get as much info as possible on him. And Huck I need you to run him through all the major social media sites to figure out public opinion as well as the small Washington message boards to see if anyone has it out for him."
"I'm on it" Huck said retreating back to his room.
~~~~~~Two Days Later~~~~~
"Ok guys so what do we have on Governor Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III?' Olivia asked pinning his photo on the board.
"Well I'm honestly shocked by this, but he's not a man whore like we expected." Abby said, "He's never had a serious girlfriend and we know he's not gay so I don't know how the whole no family, no wife thing would play out with the conservative base."
"He might not have a wife or kids, but he seems to be very close to his own family." Harrison began, "His father obviously has a large amount of political capital given how much time he spent in politics. It seems the mom wears the pants in the family and sources say he's a mama's boy. He also has an older sister who's married with a daughter. There are some pictures out on Twitter of him playing with his niece and as you can imagine good lookin guy playing with a little kid plays extremely well with female voters."
"Adding to that, I talked to some Hollywood PR sources and rumor has it that some A list bimbos have been after him but he's turned them down. They say that the dad has been trying to set him up but he's a hopeless romantic waiting for an unrealistic perfect, so good luck trying to find him a wife by the time campaigning rolls around." Abby said.
"As far as qualifications go, he's got a pretty good track record Liv." Quinn pulled out her file folder. "He was a Rhodes scholar and graduated top of his class at Yale, went into the Navy for a couple years had a couple close calls and now he's a war hero, then he went to Harvard Law and graduated top of his class. The man's actually smart, it's not just daddy's money that got him in."
"Did you find anything about him Huck?" Olivia asked.
"Nothing bad online. I found a couple stories of Navy guy's vouching for him. As far as I can tell no one in DC has it out for him, obviously the Dems are a little worried, but the election is so far off that they're not acting on it. There are a few Hollywood ditzs that aren't the biggest fans of his just because he wouldn't sleep with them. But honestly they'd just look even dumber if they tried to get into politics so I wouldn't worry about that."
"Liv, if you were to take on Grant when would you start considering the election is so far off?" Harrison asked
"Well we have four years so most likely I would start now to get a good idea of public opinion and him. Cyrus says he's not sure he even wants to run and from what I've gathered Cyrus and his father know more about this presidential bid than he does. So I would probably go out to California for about a year and if a run looks promising I'll come back here for a year and then the election would probably be 9 months planning and 15 months campaigning."
"Wait so what happens to OPA when you're in California?" Quinn asked worried.
"Well that what I wanted to talk to you guys about" Olivia began, "We've been getting a lot of potential clients from the West coast so I was thinking about setting up an office in OPA. As you guys know Stephen is moving back to DC in a couple of weeks so we have a couple of options. I would stay out in California and bring someone out there with me for the entire time I'm there or we could alternate people that come out possibly?" Olivia paused waiting for her team's reaction.
"I'm all for expanding OPA" Harrison voiced
"It would require more responsibilities, but we'd also have more revenue so I'd expect compensation to increase a great deal." Olivia watched her friends' smiles break out when they heard more money.
"So are we voting on if we just bring one person out there, or alternate people.. or what's the deal…?" Quinn trailed off not wanting to take charge because that's Olivia's job, but trying to clarify.
"Guys I'm not sure that this will even happen. I'm not sold on Governor Grant yet, so I don't think we need to make any decisions yet."
"Liv, if Cyrus is sold about this guy and the White House is involved, I'm willing to bet you'll take it" Harrison said.
"Isn't betting what got you in trouble in the first place?" Abby smirked not missing a chance to mess with Harrison.
"Insider trading, but nice try" Harrison stuck his tongue out at Abby.
"Play nice you two." Olivia warned
"Harrison's right though Liv. Plans are good." Huck spoke up surprising everyone
"Okay well Stephen would most likely stay in DC full time. All in favor of one person coming out?" No hands lifted. "Alternating people" Everyone raised their hands.
"Okay so alternating people it is. Everyone has different skill sets so we'll alternate according to the case and if it's a big one we can bring as many people out as we need. This could work." Olivia was finally getting on board with the idea of California. Cyrus was right OPA was a strong business and her employees were competent. Expanding to the West coast could be big for OPA while possibly working on a presidential bid, but Governor Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III would be the determining factor.
This is my first time writing anything other than an essay so please let me know what you think! I'm not 100% sure where this is going so if you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free to PM me.