2005, Washington D.C, The White House…
It was one of those late Washington nights. The cold nights that were hushed, void of the hustle and bustle, with nothing but snowfall and the violent whipping of wind as the background music. However, this was a different kind of night. A night that had been full of high drama and fighting between the President and the First Lady, they had yelled and screamed practically circling the wagons in the private Residence.
The topic in question was a touchy one and one they knew too well. However, they had immediately fallen silent when Cyrus Beene, the Chief of Staff had walked into the sitting room with the escort of Secret Service agent.
"Okay." He started wearily, as Hal left out the door as quickly as he came in. He was dressed casually, which was unusual in a black sweater vest and black slacks. He had folders tucked under his arms and his eyes were sharp with focus. He meant business, however his face still had that paternal warmth.
"Hi, Cyrus." Mellie said nervously, her voice a little hoarse from the yelling. She ran a hand through her auburn locks to keep from throwing something at Fitz.
A New York times reporter with a reputation of writing penetrating biographies about the younger years of presidential candidates was set to release a book on Fitz's younger years. The partying, college, his navy years had been the alcohol soaked womanizing epoch that strongly clashed with his family man persona of the present. Unfortunately, according to the manuscript, there had been interviews with friends, professors and women. And they were very detail orienteered.
"Hello Mellie, Mr. President." He said nodding, helping him to a seat in the crème sofa facing the beautiful views of the White House grounds.
"Hi, Cy, look, I'm sorry about this-"Fitz said wearily, running his hands through his hair. Mellie thought he looked like a teenager in his dark jeans and Harvard sweatshirt. A teenager that had been grounded. And rightly so.
But Cyrus smiled. "Mr. President, this is part of my job. And if this is your first major scandal of your administration, then you are the luckiest man in the world."
They both nodded. He had a point. Given some of the more salacious things about their past, this really was the least of their problems. But Fitz was shooting Mellie a look. It was as if he was saying "I told you so". But Mellie rolled her eyes. He had dragged her through hell to get this job. And with the high visibility of this job, one that provided, an actual office, schedules and goals, she was not going to give that up. To go back living as a lady who lunched all because of his inability years ago to behave himself.
"But we do have reason to worried, right; I mean do we really need this right now? When Fitz is trying to pass Medicare reform right out of the gate, after all, he needs-"
But Fitz cut Mellie off as he got up and began pacing.
"Jeez, Mel, relax on the politics of it. Right now we are trying to do damage control. So what do we do? I mean, I skimmed through it; there is not a lot in there that is false. So I might as well fess up." Fitz said matter of factly. Mellie looked at Cyrus, who looked as if he had swallowed a fly.
"What do you mean…so the threesome in the naval barracks with the Korean and Swedish-"
"Yes! Okay, look, I was young, I-"
"…was a man whore." Mellie finished his sentence sweetly. She was very careful about how she said this. To the untrained ear, it sounded like Mellie was just busting his chops. Cyrus laughed heartedly. But the narrowing of Fitz's eyes, which Cyrus did not catch for a brief moment told Mellie all she needed to know.
"Hey, watch it." Fitz said pointing to Mellie. She smirked. He had got him good.
"Okay, so let's get started. ABC is on deck, we do an interview with Diane Sawyer. You have to promote the reform bill so we negotiate to have that cleared. As far as the press conference goes-"
"….the press conference will be a speech and the President will not take any questions." Olivia Pope finished Cyrus sentence for them. She had walked into the room just in time. Of course, the great savior.
Mellie thought as she observed Olivia. Unlike the rest of the room, dressed in their Friday night casuals, Olivia was dressed to the nines. She was wearing a form fitting short coat with what seemed like mink lined collar, body hugging leather pants, and sky high heels. When she sauntered over to sit by Cyrus, Mellie caught the familiar red soles of Christian Louboutins.
"Hi Livy." Fitz said, practically gulping out the words as he sat back down, his eyes bugging out of his head. Mellie rolled her eyes. But she had to admit, her appearance was rather different from the professional woman clad in white suits and carrying brief cases. Her hair was in a large halo of tight coils and the smoky eye makeup made her pretty eyes pop even more.
"Hello everyone. So, clearly we are talking strategy." She said brightly, taking her coat off.
"Wow, Livy are you going to Studio 54?" Cyrus asked amused as she revealed a provocative silk halter top. Olivia laughed and slapped his arm.
"Oh, please Cyrus, you are showing your age. Sorry guys, I was at Love. My best friend Abby just turned 33 so we were doing a little celebrating." When she said the word "celebrating" she did a little shimmy.
Mellie smiled tightly. She's so annoying. With her perfect little friends, and her perfect little slutty outfit. Great, just what she needed the little tramp to be cleaning up Fitz's other bimbo eruptions.
"Love, what is that like a-"But before Fitz could inquire more, Mellie interrupted.
"Can we please stick with the focus here?" Mellie said sharply. The room was immediately drained of its jovial mood. They all looked at her, with mingled expressions of shock and confusion.
"Sorry, I have just been on edge. So what were you going to say Olivia?" She said putting the emphasis on her name. Olivia nodded and immediately went into business mode.
"The story itself is not all that bad, frankly, it kind of makes Fitz look cool. Americans love this; however you have to appear presidential and competent despite it all. That's part of the reason they liked Clinton after the impeachment mess and love Kennedy years later. But those men had cheating scandals while they were married. The book in question is talking about a young rich brat who didn't know any better. The caveat in this little fairy tale is he met the love of his life in Mellie, who redeemed him and showed him the error of his ways. We do the interview but the President makes it sound as trivial as possible. You acknowledge it by saying 'I liked women, lots of women, but I was young stupid, blah blah blah, and then you pivot to the reform bill."
She said this so fast that Mellie could not help but be impressed. These were the moments she hated this woman the most. Just when she wanted to dismiss her as nothing but a pretty face, she showed that political genius. Even in her ridiculous outfit she gave off the aura of authority and control.
"That makes sense, although, I think I'll leave the rich brat part out." Fitz said with a crooked smile. His eyes were doing that thing again, as he drank in Olivia. He knew what he was doing. Cyrus was frantically taking notes so he was taking the opportunity to check her out. Mellie could her heart thumping rapidly. Her barefoot was tapping frantically on the plush carpeting. He could not stay focus for one minute.
"Sure." Olivia said brightly, as she pulled out a Blackberry from her coat pocket and began typing away. Fitz cocked his head as if to try to get her attention, but she remained focus. Clearly, tonight would be business only.
"Good job, Liv, now, what do we do about some of the claims?" Cyrus asked matter of factly. But Olivia remained focused, still highly engrossed in her Blackberry.
"Gosh, there were so many I could barely keep track, but I think my favorite one was the Brazilian model, the weed and something about eating strawberries off of her stomach at Studio 54. But the Spanish banker on the boat was pretty funny." Olivia smirked. She looked up and stared at Fitz who was steadily turning red with every second.
He rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He looked even younger in that moment. Even Jerry did not behave like this when he was in trouble anymore.
"Look, I was young and stupid-"
"Keep saying that Fitz, you're going to need that for the interview. But I think my favorite one was him breaking into the prep school pool with the librar-"
"Enough! Guys, I'm already embarrassed as it is! So it's settled, interview, press conference, pivot." He said throwing his hands in the air as if he surrendered.
Mellie smiled. He needed to be embarrassed. Years and years of nonsense…
"Yes it is, I'm going to do a conference call in the morning and send out a few emails. Then we'll have a meeting with the rest of the communication team, Merv, my deputy and such to focus on a single message. The whole administration needs to be speaking with one voice. Maybe we even get Langston on board to release a statement." Olivia said.
But Cyrus shook his head. " Langston will be hard to bring into this, family values."
"Don't worry about her, I know how to work that out. Just have to get through to Billy, is all." Olivia said smiling. Her eyes were focused in on Fitz, who was clearly squirming in his seat. Mellie could feel the tension. As much as Olivia was playing power broker and joking about it. The sharpness of her eyes revealed a woman who was far from pleased with her lover's past life. One she had probably been naïve enough to think was chalked full of exaggerations. But then again what did she expect? Mellie thought as she leaned back into her chair to enjoy Olivia staring daggers into her husband.
"If you say so, but I trust you." Cyrus said as he gathered his things and made his way toward the door. "Well, it's late, I think I should be heading out." Olivia followed his lead, grabbing her jacket and following him.
"Wait, don't you want to hang around, have a little fun, this could be stressful next week?" Fitz offered friendly, but his eyes had a pleading look to them. He wanted Olivia to stay so he could apologize. She clearly did not believe the stories, until now. Mellie gaged as Olivia turned around to address him. Her body language was all business. But her eyes seemed full of disgust.
"Oh, I think you've had enough…fun for a lifetime." Olivia said coolly. Cyrus laughed as he made it out the door, but Olivia stared at Fitz a while longer, before heading out, leaving the couple swimming in a pregnant silence.
"Well, that was interesting!" Mellie said brightly. But Fitz was already heading toward the door.
"You know what, Mel, I'm not doing this with you anymore. I get it, stop rubbing it in."
"Why? Because your mistress is clearly upset with you too? I could tell. But I guess your perfect relationship is not that perfect is it? She didn't know about extracurri-"
"That's enough, Mel." He said turning around, his voice full of hurt. His eyes were shiny with sadness. Olivia's coldness had clearly hurt his feelings. Good, it was about time.
Mellie shook her head, as she got up and walked toward the hallway. "You know, I may have gotten used to your ways, Fitz, but that doesn't mean she will. Olivia is cut from a different cloth. She's not going to take kindly to knowing she was one of many. And most importantly, sooner or later, she's going to get tired of being the mistress. So you better figure out a way to make things right, or before you know it, she won't be fixing your mess, she'll become one herself." Mellie walked out, leaving Fitz to stew in the mess that he made.