Title: House of Cards
Author: GEM
Date: 12-31-12
Pairing: Olivia/Fitz
Rating: T
Summary: Olivia's world is crumbling around her. Fitz let Olivia go. They vowed to go their separate ways, but all roads lead to Fitz. Olivia/Other Olivia/Fitz
A/N: Your comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you to those of you who have reviewed. I enjoy reading the reviews, so keep them coming. Please don't be shy. I am attempting to write to settle my feelings about the rollercoaster ride the SR has put us all on. I will do my best.
Disclaimer: Scandal is Property of Shonda Rimes and ABC et al.
Chapter 9
"Becky, Becky, Becky" Huck stepped toward her on the roof across from the hospital. It had an excellent vantage point to the President's hospital room.
"Huck, Huck, Huck." Becky stepped closer to him. He was pointing a gun at her.
"I need you to talk to me. I need to know who hired you."
"I have to go. You know I can't tell you that." Becky walked away.
"I don't want to hurt you, but I will." Huck grabbed her from behind and put the gun to her head.
"Huck, don't hurt me." Becky fell to her knees.
"You killed my family and hurt my friend. Tell me why I shouldn't hurt you."
"I'll tell you who had me shoot the President. I'll give you what you want."
"You wouldn't give it to me two nights ago. Why would you do it now. What do you want?"
"You. I want you to help me escape. My employer and their goons. I know the game they are playing. I know they expect to get out of this clean and they expect me to take the fall, because I couldn't lay this on you. They expect me to rot like Oswald and all the other presidential assassins. I am not going to do that.
"Who hired you?"
"His name is Doyle. I have a feeling it goes a lot higher than him. I don' know for sure but, he kept saying I was part God's plan. I notice that Acting President Langston likes to use God a lot. I'm wondering what I got myself in Huck.
Huck looked around nervously. "You need to think Becky. Did you ever hear Langston's name mentioned or a woman's voice.
"No."
OOOO
Lesley climbed over Fitz as they got the official all clear. "Okay, Tom we need to check him.
Tom help Lesley check over Fitz. No bleeding, you didn't get hit again." Lesley took about a syringe. "Tell me when you feel anything." Lesley moved from his ankles up to his waist.
"There." Fitz said when Lesley hit just above his waist." she put the needle cap back on and stuck in her lab coat.
I'm thinking we may have a possible spinal hematoma. I'll need to order an MRI but I think that would be safe to do once we get you to your secure location. Tom how long is the trip?" Lesley asked as she helped Fitz into a pair of sweats.
"Less than an hour Ma'am. That's all I can give."
Okay, that's good enough. Lesley and Tom got Fitz ready for transport. "Okay, I have to sedate you before the paramedics come up."
Fitz reached out and touched Lesley hand. "Olivia...she...I don't want her to worry but she should know."
"I got your back, Fitz. You ready?" He nodded his head and Lesley put the syringe into to the IV Port. Fitz's eyes closed. "Okay, Tom let's bring them in."
The transport team can in a quickly transfer the President to a stretcher. When the team stepped into the hall. Secret Service, SWAT and FBI lined the halls and were armed. When they made it to the waiting ambulance SWAT was covering their exit. "I take it they haven't found the person yet."
"No Ma'am." Tom answered as the lifted the President into the Ambulance.
Lesley Tom and Hal climbed in behind them. "Where is Olivia?"
"She in the car ahead of us."
OOOO
Olivia sat in the car. "Huck, tell me you have something."
"I found her. I stopped her but not fast enough."
"I know I was in the room. Olivia strained to look to see if they had put Fitz into the waiting ambulance. She turned to the agent in the car. "Is he out of the building yet."
The agent listened intently to his radio. "We are ready. We are moving."
"Is the President Okay, Is he still alive?"
Olivia took a deep breath. "I don't know. Huck, did she give you anything?"
"Yes, but I can't talk over the phone."
"Huck!"
"It's not safe. Trust me Liv. I will work this out."
"Huck, you have to get her to talk. We have to find out who wants Fitzgerald
Grant dead."
"I will. We will get to the bottom of this Liv."
OOOO
Mellie Grant sat in the Residence looking at her husband's Chief of Staff. "What are you telling me?"
"I'm telling that there were shots fired at the hospital room that the President was in. He is fine but they haven't caught the shooter. I know they moved the President and he is unharmed. Cyrus sat down we just have to wait to hear from them.
Mellie took a breath. "Okay." Mellie turned to face Cyrus. "What do we do in the mean time?"
"We need start getting more on Sally. I've been talking to the Service. They are getting some of the footage from the Oval Office cameras. Liv's office is coming up with a statement to explain your calls to Olivia. We have to wait until Liv want us to release it officially.
"Sounds good. You'll let me know when you want to smack her down?"
"You know it."
OOOO
Olivia looked at her phone when it started going off. The text message was from Harrison. "First release ready will be out in AM. FLOTUS statement done. Anything else?"
Olivia looked at the agent sitting next to her. "I can reply to this?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
Olivia hit reply and started a response. "I need to talk to David. See if you can talk to Huck. The other "file" on Edison is in the safe in my office if you need it. Call before you release it. How does the news look?"
A few moments later her text message indicator when off again. "Okay, call when you can. News is good. Even the Dems seem pissed at the Majority Leader and No one is happy with the Primetime Address."
Olivia smiled looking at her phone "Ma'am I'm going to have to ask that you turn off your phone now."
"Okay." Olivia turned off her phone and looked up at the road sign. Her stomach did a flip. They couldn't. They wouldn't, would they?
OOOO
When they arrived at the undisclosed location. Tom quickly spoke in to his radio. "We are set, Ma'am."
Lesley looked up "Okay, we need to get him inside." The Ambulance stopped outside the compound's medical facility. The doors opened and Lesley couldn't believe her eyes. She stood up and looked over a Tom. "You guys certainly have a sense of humor. Olivia and the President are going to flip." She jumped down and out of the ambulance and quickly spoke to the head of the President's medical staff. He has lower extremity paralysis. We need to do a MRI.
"When did it start?"
"As far as I can tell about an hour ago. I'm thinking it's a spinal hematoma but I don't know for sure. "
Lesley notice Tom bring Olivia closer. "I have to take care of something. I'll see inside if that's ok."
"Of course Doctor, but you should know. We don't have a neurosurgeon on call."
"Yes you do. I'll be in, in just a moment." Lesley turned away and started walking towards Olivia. "Don't you love the irony of this?" Lesley asked as she smiled at Olivia.
" It's hilarious. Olivia said as we walked through the doors.
"Welcome to N.S.F. Thurmont." Lesley smiled. "All Camp David kidding aside
We need to talk. Lesley reached the elevator and Olivia, Tom and she got on when it opened. Lesley selected the floor. I need to check on something. You can wait in here." Lesley pointed to the waiting room on the floor around the corner from the elevator they just got off."
"What the hell, Lesley?"
Lesley touched Liv's arm. "Trust me okay?" Lesley smiled. "There is secure line in here. check in with Cyrus and Harrison if you need to. I'll be back soon."
OOO
"What's it look like, Paul?"
"It looks like just what you thought it was. I would say it's been there for a little while. How did you figure it out?"
"I would have noticed it in his reflexes if he hadn't woken up and told me." Lesley smiled. "That's classified by the way."
"He woke up?" He knew you?"
"Don't look so surprised. It was pretty amazing, actually. There seems to be very little damage to the brain, which I have to tell you, seeing the scans I was not expecting, but the brain is a funny thing."
"I take it he's sedated."
"Right again. Let's get him in a room and wake him up; so I can tell him I need to put him back to sleep again."
OOO
Olivia started pacing in circles yet again as she spoke to Cyrus. "I'm waiting for Lesley again. I know something is wrong. I can feel it in my gut."
"Take a deep breath Liv. I just got the statement for Mellie. It might just save our asses."
"That was the plan. I'm going to call Harrison and get in touch with Huck and David.
James says he will do whatever you need. We need to worry about Hollis, Sally and Edison now."
Olivia took a deep breath. "Edison will be looking like a jealous boyfriend out to get his ex-girlfriend by morning."
"You okay."
"Not really but Edison has nothing to do with it. We still need to work on the Hollis and Sally connection. I talked to Tom he says he's been talking to Peter Witt. He's on Mellie detail. He is going to try to get us more poof by way of Oval Office video, audio and phone records.
"I can tell you we are going to have to get the place fumigated from what I have heard. Hollis has moved into the Oval. "
"I'm going to have Lesley start making call to the Hill when things calm down here."
"Good idea Liv. That shouldn't be that much longer now."
Olivia stopped pacing and watched Lesley walking toward the waiting room. Olivia stomach did a flip; she had seen that look before. "I wouldn't bet on it. Olivia fell back into a nearby chair.
Lesley walked into the room and knelt down next to Liv. "I need to talk you about something."
Liv felt the world stop. "Cy, I'm going to have to call you back."
"Liv are you okay." Liv didn't have the strength to answer the question and hung up the phone in the waiting room.
Lesley took Liv's hand. "He needs more surgery.
"What?"
"He can't feel his legs. He has a clot near his spinal cord. I clear that and he should be fine in a few days. Then we move onto Physical, Occupational and cognitive therapy.
"He can't feel his legs!" Olivia let the tears she was holding in flow freely.
Lesley took her hand. "Liv, I know it sounds scary but we know why and we are going to fix it."
"I need to see him."
Lesley looked at Tom "Okay, but only for a minute."
Liv wiped her tears away. "One minute, she walked out of the room with Lesley and Tom
Lesley led them to Fitz's room. Olivia walked over to the bed and took his hand. When Lesley woke Fitz tears began to fall from Olivia's eyes once again. "How come every time I wake up you're crying. No more tears, Sweet Baby." He pulled her closer to him. He needed to have her close. He needed to calm her down. He kissed her temple. "I take it Lesley spoke with you." Liv nodded in response.
Fitz turned to Lesley. "What the word Doc?'
"You have a bleed compressing your spinal cord. We need to get in and drain it.
The sooner the better, Mr. President."
"Alright. could I have a moment with...?"
Lesley smiled and Tom followed her out of the room.
"Not exactly how I had envisioned a secure, undisclosed location but it does have special meaning for us. Fitz smiled. Liv wanted to smack him.
"How did you...?"
"There are certain things that even a bullet to the head won't make you forget. I always did like the landscape of NSF Thurmont."
Olivia clung tighter to him. "I can't do this again. I can't watch you go in there and not wake up again."
Fitz kissed her again. "I don't have much of choice in the matter. I want to walk and be able to do other things, especially with you." He added with a mischievous grin.
"Fitz!"
"Well, it's true, Livie. "I will go in there, I will come out and when I wake up there will be no tears in your eyes." Fitz saw Tom stepped in. "Tom, come over here please.
"Yes, Mr. President?"
"Take care of her while I in there will you. Help her anyway you can by the looks of things before we got here I may not have a Presidency to go back to."
"Yes, Sir." Tom watched the President kiss her goodbye as the transport team arrived.
"No more tears, Livie."
"Okay." Olivia said as Tom helped her off the bed and they watched Fitz be taken from the room."
Olivia turned to Tom when he was gone. "I need a place to work. Is it possible to get computer access in a secure, undisclosed location."
"Yes, Ma'am we have all the comforts of home with the guarantee no one will find us.
Olivia patted him on the shoulder as they left the vacant room. "Good let's get to work.
OOO
David Rosen was woken by the sound of his cell phone ringing. "Hello."
"David."
"Olivia, are you okay. I saw that they tried to get to him again. "I'm fine just tired. I need a favor."
"Huck was a big favor. I don't know if I can swing another one."
"This one is more on the Personal side. "Okay..."
"I know about the story you and James Novak are working on. I know he gave you a memory card from a voting machine in Defiance, Ohio."
"No."
"Hear me out David. I know that James talked to you. I know you know he's not writing the story. This isn't going to give you back the Lindsey Dwyer case. If you give us that memory card it will give you something bigger and I'll make sure you get a big piece of it David. All you have to do is Trust me. This is bigger than Lindsey. It's bigger than Defiance. All I need is the memory card and when this is over you'll have a big piece of the pie."
"What are you saying? Do you know who shot the President. The real actual person."
" I can't answer that but I need to know if you're in. Are you in?"
"I'm in. What do I need to do?"
"Meet James at the Lincoln Memorial and give up the memory card. James will be your contact. When it's time for you to act he will call you with information from me. It might be a week or so and I may need little things in the meantime. Can you do that for me?"
"This is big isn't it?"
"It is, David. James will call you with details for the met. Talk to you soon."
"Be careful, Olivia."
"You too."
One call down two to go Olivia thought as she continued on. It was midnight now but she knew the people on her call list wouldn't mind. She dialed the next number from her secure line.
"Hello."
"Huck."
"Liv."
"Yes...the line is secure the people I'm with assure me it can't be traced. I trusted them Huck so tell me what you have.
"Becky, gave me the name of the person who hired her. I've been looking into his finances.
"Who is it, Huck?"
"His name is Doyle. He is a big oil man from Texas. In looking into his background you probably know him. He controls one of Washington's biggest super Pacs and contributed a lot of money to Grant for the People."
"I know him. He is currently camping out in the Oval Office with Acting President Langston from what we've been hearing."
"Have you been able to find a money trail?"
"He is using off shore accounts and he made all his calls to Becky with a burner phone. The money is not untraceable; it will just take time. That's not the only interesting thing I've learned.
"What else do you have?"
"I took a look at Becky's phone records. I compared them with Doyle's records from his office here in DC He always called the White House after talking to Becky. The only time it deviated was the night of the shooting. He called the Vice President's office at the EEOB. The call lasted approximately seventy seconds and it took place at approximately 8:07 PM.
"Thank you Huck." Can you pull some news footage for me and check some time stamps.
"Okay."
"I need to know the exact time the Vice President Landed on the South Lawn that night.
"Got it."
" You can use my office email. It's secure. I'll call you back in a bit."
Olivia sat back and took a breath after she hung up with Huck. She need a moment to process what she had been told. She notice Tom entering the conference room with coffee in hand.
Olivia took the coffee he offered to her. "Thank you, Tom."
"You're welcome, Miss Pope."
"Olivia is fine...really we are going to be spending a lot of time together. We have been already.
"Yes, Ma'am."
Olivia smiled. "Tom, I have a question about the video footage. " Olivia stood up and started pacing back and forth in the room. "Is the footage from the night of the shoot archived?"
"It's procedure to keep all footage from that night for investigative and historical purposes. " Tom answered as he sat down with his coffee.
"What about the days since the shooting. Is it business as usual review, erase or archive?"
"Some of it but the Oval Office tapes are kept on file from what I've been told."
"So no one has been erasing the Oval Office footage since Sally Langston took office?"
"That's correct Ma'am."
Liv sat down and took a sip of her coffee. She looked over at Tom. "I need Peter to pull some footage and make two copies. One needs to be sent to my office, the other to Cyrus Beene, at home."
"Dates and times ma'am. All it takes is dates and times."
"The night of the shooting. The VP's office from about 8 o'clock until see was escorted out of the building. I also need Oval Office footage for that night, as well as these times. Olivia showed Tom an email she just received from Huck
"Consider it handled ma'am."
Olivia smiled. "Thank you Tom." she leaned forward picking up the phone again and dailing an all too familiar number at twelve thirty in morning.
"Cy" Olivia almost broke when she heard his voice but she was a fixer and she needed to stay in fixer mode. "I hate when my gut is right."
"What happened?"
"He can't feel his legs something about a spinal compression. Lesley has him in surgery now. It's been a little over an hour. I would have called back sooner but a lot is happening here."
"He's going to be okay, Liv."
"I know. Huck found the trigger man or I should saw woman. She's a hired gun an enigma. She didn't exist until three months ago. She told Huck who hired her.
"Who?"
"Doyle."
"Like we didn't see that coming."
"It's going to take time to trace the money but we do know that he has suddenly found God."
"How interesting."
"Peter Witt is going to have footage from the EEOB and the West Wing delivered to your house."
"You got it. Anything else."
"James needs to set up a meeting with David Rosen for tomorrow at the Lincoln Memorial. He needs to keep his package safe."
"I'll tell him."
"The information about Edison hits with the early edition tomorrow. I will call talk to you and Mellie in the morning. Hopefully I'll get to talk to Fitz before she goes on."
"He's been awake then."
"Yes, he seems fine but he's got a long way to go."
"I won't tell Mellie until he wants her to know."
"Okay.
"Lesley and I will start working the Hill tomorrow too."
Sounds like a plan kid. I'll make some calls myself and I'm sure I'll be getting a few in the morning. The entire things seems to be playing well in the press. The Leadership seem unwilling to follow Edison's lead.
"That's is a good thing, Cyrus."
"Yes, it is. I'll talk to you later."
"Talk to you soon."
OOOO
Lesley stepped into the waiting room. Olivia was curled up on the sofa and Tom was sitting just inside the door. "How long has she been asleep?"
Tom looked at his watch. "About an hour."
Lesley knelt down next to her. "Olivia."
Olivia sat up with a start. "Oh, how long was I asleep?"
Lesley stood and sat next to her. "Tom says about an hour. Fitz is resting comfortable. He came through with flying colors. He will be laid up for a couple of days and then we work on intense rehab. " Lesley stood up. "Come on I put a bed in his room for you.
Olivia followed Lesley and climbed into the cot next to Fitz bed the moment she saw it. "Thank you."
Lesley smiled. "I'll be down the hall. See you in the morning."
"We need to start calling our friends on the Hill tomorrow."
"I'm looking forward to it." Lesley said as she checked Fitz before exiting the room.
OOOO
Sally Langston sat behind the resolute desk. "Hollis what are we going to do about this? The address didn't do nearly what we thought.
"You thought my dear." Hollis kicked he feet up on the coffee table. "Hopefully our boy will come through us."
"Don't get too comfortable Hollis. You have a lot more to lose than I."
"How do you figure that my dear Madame President?"
"I'll still be here when he returns. I will still be his Vice President...no one the wiser. Grant isn't going to give you what you want. That's why I'm here."
"From your mouth to God's ear."
OOOO
James met David at the Lincoln memorial at the appointed time. "David."
"James. " David handed him an envelope. "Are you sure about this. We are just giving it away."
"I'm sure, David. This isn't the story we want to tell. Trust me. Something better is coming our way. I'll be in touch."
OOOO
Fitz opened his eyes and had to smile. He watched the scene in front of him. Olivia and Lesley were sitting in his room with phones in hand, the TV was turned to BNC and watching the morning shows.
"The Senator should take a step back and take a good look at himself. He's turned this into his personal witch hunt. Looking at the information out today. It looks like he should have just left Olivia Pope alone when she broke off their engagement. This is a time for America to come together. I want to be clear, as it has been said by many of my colleagues over the last few days; we will not be investigating the Grant Administration for any of this. There is nothing here to suggest voter fraud. All this suggests is a jealous boyfriend. Yes, there are discrepancies. There are always discrepancies. Two people get married in October and vote in the November election, after moving to a neighboring state. That's not fraud. That's life. This is a joint decision by both Houses of the United States Congress. Furthermore, the Senate Ethics Committee will be looking into the actions of Majority Leader Edison Davis.
Olivia text message indicator sounded after that announcement. I found a money trail between Doyle and Davis. Olivia resisted the temptation to throw up for the first time today.
"You okay over there?"
"Yeah, we'll take later Let's make sure he plants this thing."
"He will I talked to him for thirty minutes this morning."
"Is there anything in all of this that you would like a clarification on for the American people, Senator Haffley?"
"Look, I think we need to concentrate on President Grant's recovery right now, so at this point it would be nice to get a statement about the late night phone calls to and from the White House to Olivia Pope. I am sure we will hear about this when they are ready. Let's remember that they currently have their hands full.
"Do you think there is anything questionable about these calls?"
"You are looking for a quote sir. You're not getting one from me. "It's a phone call. There is no blue dress here.
Fitz watched as Lesley and Liv jumped up. "Yes."
"You're not going to get a quote. Yeah, right. We need to send the Minority Leader a bottle of scotch." Fitz watched as Olivia spoke into the phone. "Harrison could you send Haffley a bottle of Johnny Walker Black with a thank you note. He's done a very nice job."
"Consider it handled. Did you get Huck's Text."
"Yes, He's still working on the other connection."
"Yes, he needs a day or so."
"It's the best we could hope for,Cy." Lesley said into her open line. "Yeah, I know. I think it's time. I'll talk to Liv and get back to you. It's still a long road. I don't want her in that office any longer than necessary. I really don't want her to be there at all. We still have six or eight weeks. He won't be out of bed for another day or so." Lesley turned around as the morning show came to a close.
"I'll call you later about the First Lady." Lesley hung up her phone.
"Well good morning, Mr. President."
Olivia turned around quickly. "Harrison I'll have to call you back." Olivia hung up her phone quickly and walked over to Fitz's bedside. Olivia looked into his gray-blue eyes. "Good Morning."
"It certainly seems like it is. The U.S. Congress doesn't want to hang us. It's amazing. " He smiled and took Olivia's hand and brought it to his lips. He placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "I see you have stopped crying."
"Just for you, Fitz. Just for you."
"I hate to break this up but I need to know if you can feel this at all. Lesley took a needle and check for feeling in Fitz's legs.
"Ouch." Liv and Lesley laughed.
"Excellent." Lesley smiled. "You need to stay in bed for today and tomorrow but Liv and I will start filling you in on the goings on. You will have Occupational Therapy in a little while to evaluate for any deficits. Also, we have a few cognitive evaluations to do and then there is the psychologist.
"No."
"Fitz." Olivia knew he would be resistant to this. "You need to talk to someone.
I know that it would do me some good if I could talk to someone about this. I have Lesley and Cyrus they have helped a lot but you need to talk about this."
"I don't remember much. I don't need to."
"Still it might do some good." Liv sat on the side of the bed and gave him a hug.
"Mr. President..." Lesley paused. "Fitz. You are going to be going through a long rehab and some days it may be painful. You may be thankful to have someone to talk to. I know you don't want to take out your frustrations on Liv ,me or any other members of the staff. Your family can't be here with you, given the secure, undisclosed location. We are going to be here for a while from what we've been hearing. All we are asking is that you think about it.
Fitz looked at Livie and then to Lesley. This wasn't going to be easy. "I'll think about, but I don't like the idea. Now, tell me what's going on. Olivia you said you needed to talk to me about something when you were on the phone with Harrison and Cyrus asked Lesley a question about Mellie.
We have a way to explain away the phone calls from both sides."
"So you fixed it for me."
Liv smiled. "That's what I do, Fitz."
Fitz pulled her closer to him. "Am I going to like this or are we going to get into an argument. Lesley smiled at his question knowing full well the last time Olivia fixed his problem Fitz was less than pleased.
OOOO
Lesley stepped out of the room and ran into Tom. "Dr. McGarry, Peter Witt send us our own copies of the video surveillance from the Oval and EEOB. I think you and Olivia should have look.
Lesley had known Tom for two years. This was the first time he looked shaken. "Set it up. We'll meet you when Olivia is finished with the President.
OOOO
Olivia snuggled in closer, enjoying the feeling of his warmth. "I think you will approve. Mellie has been chomping at the bit to get into with Sally. I'm sure she will do well when it's time. First thing is we need to answer the question about the phone calls. Senator Haffley was working with us. He planted the sound bite so we could answer the question as we see fit. Mellie has a statement which she will deliver tomorrow morning it basically says that I have been acting as a special counselor to the President since I left the White House in the Spring of 2010.
"Well to be fair it was way before that, but that will work." Fitz kissed her lovingly. "What would I do without you Livie? I'm sorry I ever let you go. Do you forgive me?"
"I forgive you." Liv moved closer "I'm here to stay."
OOOO
Olivia looked up to see Lesley in the doorway. "Tom has a package for us. You really need to look at."
"Okay," Olivia untangled herself from Fitz and climbed off the bed. He never stirred as they left the room.
"He got some video footage from Peter, this afternoon. " Lesley said as they walked into the conference room.
"I got it up to the time stamp ma'am. This would be about two minutes after the shooting. The transport team didn't get to her for another two minutes. The conversation lasts a little over a minute."
Tom hit the play button. Sally appeared behind her desk in EEOB. The phone rang and she picked it up.
"Madame Vice President.
"Mr. Doyle, do you have news for me?"
"May I be the first to congratulate you. Acting President Langston."
"He's dead then?"
"No, not yet but he does have a bullet in his head."
"I see. I guess that is part of God' s plan. Thank our, girl. She did very well sir."
The look on Langston's face made Olivia and Lesley want to throw up.
"Mother of God."
"Does Cyrus have this and my office." Olivia asked Tom trying to wrap her mind around what she just witnessed.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"He's bringing all of us down and at any cost. Cyrus, Fitz, Verna, Me."
"Who's left?" Lesley asked as she began to pace the room.
"Mellie." Olivia said as they all looked up at the news feed. "We need to get her to make that statement." Olivia picked up the phone in the conference room. "I need a secure line to Cyrus Beene please."
Cyrus picked up the phone on the first ring. "Hello."
"Hi. We need Mellie to make that statement today, now if possible."
"What's the rush?"
"Hollis, has gotten to all of us, you, me, and Verna; Mellie is the only one left. Tom is working on getting her extra security. She needs to make the statement. Lesley is making the call to the networks. Get her in front of a camera in the East Room in..." Olivia looked over to Lesley. She flashed her hand twice, "ten minutes."
OOO
Cyrus was waiting behind the cameras eight minutes later as the First Lady was getting ready to speak. They were extra agents thanks to Tom's quick action. Cyrus just hoped it would be enough. Doyle was a sneaky bastard and it was no secret he was not a fan of Mellie in her current state.
"Good Afternoon. I am speaking to you today to reassure the American People that the President is improving. Over recent days, my husband's and my actions have come into question. There is a question about our connection to Olivia Pope. Many people already know that she worked on Fitz's campaign as well as White House Communications Director after his election. A number of phone calls placed to Olivia since her departure from the White House in 2010 have come to question. I can assure the American People there is nothing odd about them. Over the last two years both Fitz and myself have come to find Olivia Pope an invaluable consoler. To that end she has been acting as a special consoler to the my husband and at times to myself. She has made herself available whenever we need her. There is nothing else to this matter. I would like to thank her for her service then and now during our time of need I want to thank you all for your continued prayers for my husband's recovery. It means a lot to him and our family. Thank You."
Mellie stepped away from the podium and joined Cyrus. "Step One...done. Shall we go on to step two.
Cyrus smiled and took her arm as they walked out of the East Room. "I think it's a perfect time for step two. Lead the way. " Cyrus follow Mellie out of the room. Mellie smiled in her own way when she thought she heard Cyrus say. "I should sell tickets to this meeting."
