Downfall

Chapter Eleven:

Shout Out to my Ex

"I'm not doing this." Mellie stood resolute, glancing into her study through the small crack in the door.

"Mrs. Grant…" Olivia began, crossing her arms as she watched Mellie. She had been bucking against this role she was supposed to play for the last hour or so – bouncing between agreeing to their plan and disagreeing.

"I will not do this, Olivia. It doesn't matter what you say." And with that, Mellie turned on her heel, flouncing from the doorway. Olivia sighed, rubbing her forehead. That wasn't how this was supposed to go. She did the only thing she could – she grabbed the file in her hands that was nestled under her arm and threw the door open to Mellie's study. She would be damned if Mellie's stubbornness prevented Fitz from doing the one thing that had to be done to ensure he win the governorship.

"Mrs. Ryan, it is a pleasure to finally get to meet you," Olivia plastered a smile to her face, extending her hand and shaking the older woman's, "I'm Olivia – Fitz's campaign manager."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. You've proven quite the challenge for my husband's team." There was a hint of gratitude in her eyes as she made that statement.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Grant couldn't meet with you today – she's a little under the weather."

"So, you're under the weather, huh?" Cyrus goaded, hearing the approach of Mellie's too-tall heels as he leaned against the wall, effectively spying on Olivia and her little impromptu 'meeting'.

"Wha –" Mellie started, hearing the voices coming from her study and whirling around on Cyrus, "What is she doing?"

"Finishing what you were too weak to even start." Cyrus chuckled when Mellie glared at him. He didn't know what had gotten into her lately. There was a point that he could have counted on Mellie to do whatever it took. Not anymore.

"What makes you think I would blindly follow her plan?"

"Because at one point, you would have noticed that her plan is putting in motion events that will guarantee your spot as the First Lady of California." He shrugged. Mellie had become a liability recently. This latest stunt that Olivia had arranged almost had Cyrus respecting her – she was a more reliable ally than Mellie, at least.

"If Mrs. Grant can't –"

"Please sit, Mrs. Ryan. Although Mrs. Grant is too sick to be here in person, there was a very specific reason that she called for this meeting." Olivia gestured toward the couch, taking a seat beside the other woman once she had.

"Our campaign was recently sent an anonymous file. We, thus far, have refused to act upon the information in that file –"

"Would it happen to be a file containing pictures and information regarding my husband's affair?" Olivia sat with her mouth slightly open – shocked. Had she miscalculated? Had that file been sent to the Ryan campaign as well – a way to play the two campaigns against one another?

"Don't look so shocked, dear. I sent that file. I had hoped your campaign would have acted upon that information – were Cyrus Beene still the campaign manager, I am certain it would have."

"Fitz wouldn't allow anyone to use it, until now."

"Ha ha," Mellie laughed, smirking at Cyrus, "It's lovely when Miss Perfect's world falls down around her."

"Oh for the love of…" Cyrus roughly grabbed Mellie's arm, yanking her down the hall, farther from the cracked door. Shoving her against a wall, he held her in place as he began talking, "What is wrong with you, Mellie? You have slowly been losing it and now…are you drunk?"

"I had a drink, Cyrus. I'm not drunk."

"Oh really?" Cyrus began, releasing his hold and stepping back. Immediately, Mellie began to wobble in her heels, giving up seconds later and kicking the shoes off her feet. "Yeah, you're drunk."

"I am not."

"The Mellie I know, wouldn't kick her shoes off in the middle of the hall or act like a spoiled little child to the extent that the woman she hates more than anything has to step in and play your part – at which point you then started to act even more like a spoiled child."

"You're the one who speaks about her like she's some…some saint or something."

"Right now, she's a safer bet than you and she's in. You aren't. This is where our professional relationship ends. From this moment on, I'm with her." Cyrus turned on his heel, heading down the hallway toward Mellie's office. He had every intention of being there when Olivia was finished – of being the first person to speak to her.

Mellie narrowed her eyes at his retreating back.

"You are planning on releasing it then?" Mrs. Ryan sounded hopeful, sitting on the edge of her seat and watching Olivia.

"We didn't want to release it without your knowledge."

"I more than knew of the file and, if it helps, your campaign has my blessing to release it."

"Why?" Olivia tilted her head to the side, twisting her mouth as she thought.

"I have no desire to be the First Lady of California, again. It isn't as glamourous as it looks."

"The media backlash will –"

"I am prepared to deal with the media as I have for the better half of my life."

"Your marriage –"

"Will be alright. We can work through this, but we cannot if he is still governor. That office has the power to ruin even the best of people. Please, release that."

"Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?"

"I've thought about this a lot, and yes."

"We're releasing that file then?" Cyrus asked as Olivia exited Mellie's office. She looked up at the older man in surprise, the thick manila folder tucked under her arm.

"You were eavesdropping?"

"I tried not to, but Mellie came back here, drunk. I didn't want her barging in."

"That sounds…almost considerate of you, Cyrus. What's the catch?"

"No catch." He held his hands up, opening himself as if to say, 'see, no problem'. Olivia shook her head. She couldn't shake the nagging feeling in her gut warning her against trusting anything Cyrus had to say.

"We release the file," she sighed. Fitz wasn't going to like that – he had been hoping that Mrs. Ryan would have thrown a big enough fit to turn Olivia away from that choice. In fact, Fitz had thrown nearly a big enough fit to turn Olivia away from using the file. It had taken much pleading and explaining on her part to make him see the importance in releasing that information. Hopefully, once he discovered that Mrs. Ryan was on board and even wanted that file in the hands of the media, Fitz would be more willing. She sighed when she noticed that Cyrus was walking alongside her.

"Don't you have something to do?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

"Right now? I don't recall you giving me anything to do."

"Shouldn't you be fundraising or something?"

"We hit the ceiling."

"Damn." That surprised her. Cyrus had been slow on the start when it came to fundraising for the campaign. He apparently was doing better than she thought he was if they had already reached their limit. It was a nice victory to add to her list.

"Don't sound so thrilled." Cyrus rolled his eyes. There was a lot of work to do if he was going to make her think that she had converted him to her cause. Though in a way, she had. Maybe Olivia hadn't completely realized her potential yet, but Cyrus saw it – she could be as deceiving as any of them if she chose to be. He followed along beside her, sighing when he saw that she was headed to Fitz's office. He had hoped she would have made the decision by herself and dropped the file off to their press relations team. She still had some to learn.

"Shouldn't we be handing that file over to Kiara and Albert?"

"I have to run it by Fitz first."

"He told you to do whatever you want and she gave her permission, Olivia. Let me take the file to –"

"Why are you so anxious to get your hands on this file?" She turned to him, an accusatory glint in her eyes.

"I'm anxious to get that file to Kiara and Albert. To ensure that Fitz wins this campaign." For once, Cyrus was telling the truth. He had no ulterior motive this time – he wanted Fitz to win. He thought he and Olivia would have been in sync for this one.

"You can do that," A small smile filtered across Cyrus's face for a split second, "after I speak with Fitz."

With that said, Olivia opened Fitz's office door and entered, Cyrus right on her heels. He was determined that she release that file. Olivia squared her shoulders when she saw Fitz and Tyler, a member of the statistics team, pouring over a paper on his desk. He glanced at her long enough to give a small smile.

"We're still ahead in the polls."

"That's great, Fitz. I spoke with Mrs. Ryan." That admission was enough to snap Fitz's attention to Olivia.

"Why did you speak with her? I thought Mellie was doing that."

"That was before she found the bottom of a whiskey bottle," Cyrus shrugged. Olivia shook her head – she hadn't intended on telling Fitz about that.

"What? And why are you here?" Fitz tilted his head in Cyrus's direction, trying to puzzle the answer to his question. Olivia had made no secret of her dislike of Cyrus and Fitz had felt inclined to agree. In the beginning, he had liked Cyrus. He had been a mentor, a father figure where his own had failed, and he was pivotal in every campaign Fitz had ran. Lately, he had begun to see Cyrus for what he really was – a lying, manipulative man living his dreams through his younger protégée.

"I stopped Mellie from barging in on Olivia's meeting and completely ruining it."

"I don't understand what exactly is going on," Olivia stated in response to Fitz's quizzical look, "but I have bigger things to worry about than him right now. Mrs. Ryan gave us her blessing to release that file."

"That's…better than I had hoped." Fitz sat in his desk chair, crossing his ankles and sighing. "Tyler, Cyrus will you give us a moment?"

The two nodded. Tyler was out the door while Cyrus dragged his feet ever so slightly, bending to whisper in Olivia's ear and smiling triumphantly when she allowed him to carry the file out of the office with him. There was no reason for him to stay behind and eavesdrop as long as he had that file; he shut the door firmly behind him.

"Before you say anything, Fitz, you may want to send an email advising the rest of our team that no information be given to the press without your consent."

"Why did you give Cyrus that file?" he questioned as his fingers began flying across his keyboard; typing a quick memo to the rest of his team.

"I knew he would be standing outside that door eavesdropping if I hadn't."

"Hm…" Fitz mumbled, leaning back in his chair, "What do you mean that she gave her blessing?"

"Apparently she's the one who sent the file in the first place. She wants us to release it."

"No."

"Fitz…"

"No, Olivia. We won't be that campaign."

"What the hell?" Olivia thought, sitting up in bed at the sound of her phone ringing. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she groggily reached for the phone, hitting her knuckles on the nightstand. Cursing, she snatched the ringing phone and quickly slid her finger across the screen, looking at her alarm clock as she did so. 6:45.

"Hello?"

"I told you not to release that file."

"Fitz, I didn't."

"Then explain why it is all over the morning news. They've already decided that I will be the next governor thanks to the sudden, anonymous pictures and texts that they have received."

"Fitz, I –"

"I hate what I'm about to say, but I should have thought about this before I asked you to be my campaign manager. I didn't want you to be corrupted…I didn't want you to turn into them, but now…you're fired, Olivia."

She let the phone fall from her hands, bouncing slightly on her mattress. She felt numb inside. Before meeting Fitz, she hadn't pictured herself having a career in politics, but now…she had enjoyed being a campaign manager, meeting new people, and feeling important. She had thought she was good at her job – had been proud of what she had accomplished. But now…now what did she do?

A/N: This was a bit of a shorter, transitional chapter. There was a bit of action in this one setting up the events for later chapters. I hope you all enjoyed – G. xx