Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal

Chapter Thirty-Three: The One With the Secret Meeting

Present Day - 2025

"So we're going to jump ahead now October of 2008, just weeks before the General Election."

"So does this mean we're closer to the end of the story?" Harrison whined.

Olivia chuckled, "Technically, this story could go all the way to today, sitting right here, right now, telling this story." She taunted.

"I swear to God, I will leave you. I will walk home if I have to." Harrison threatened.

"Oh, come on, we'll take a break soon." Fitz promised.

"How soon is soon?" Harrison grumbled.

"Two more stories." Fitz told him, "This one and then another and then we'll stop." He paused, "For now at least."

SCANDAL

October 2008

Huck and Quinn both sat in Huck's office, headphones on, listening to recordings from a tap he'd put on Hollis's home phone. Harrison and Abby were in Abby's office reading his texts and emails.

An hour later, the four of them admitted defeat. They couldn't find anything regarding Hollis's deal with Reston, they knew there was something going on, they just weren't sure what.

Abby let out a dramatic moan, "Why can't we figure this out? It's right in front of us. I know it is."

"Stop whining." Quinn snapped irritably, "We all know we're missing something. There's no need to point it out."

"Snapping at me won't make the problem go away." Abby shot back.

Harrison rolled his eyes, "You two need to stop, you're giving me a headache."

"We're giving you a headache? Seriously? You don't think the fact that we don't have anything was what gave you the headache and for the last time"

"Guys?" Huck flipped a page on one of the reports Abby and Harrison had been going through.

"Don't you 'last time' me, woman, I am not Jake. You can't just walk all over me." Harrison interrupted.

Huck flipped another page, "Guys?" Huck asked again.

"Don't yell at her, it's not our fault you're intolerant." Quinn backed Abby up.

"Guys?"

"What?" Harrison, Abby and Quinn screeched at him.

"I found something!" He picked up a highlighter and marked a few things. "Look at his financials, he's moved money to this account here. Who does this account belong to?" He asked. Reaching over, he grabbed a laptop and started typing.

Abby grabbed the papers from him, "It's probably one of his accounts."

"It isn't." Quinn read over Abby's shoulder. "And if it is, then he's done everything he could to hide it."

"Who's Jesse Tyler?" Huck asked.

"Name doesn't ring a bell." Harrison replied.

Huck started typing again, "That's who owns the account." He murmured.

SCANDAL

"What's this?" Olivia asked.

"Jesse Tyler, he's a tech for Cytron in California." Huck explained. "Hollis has been putting small amounts of money in his account over the past month."

"What for?" Fitz asked, taking the file from Olivia to read through himself.

Huck shook his head, "I'm not sure yet. I put Quinn on Tyler, though. I doubt he's as careful as Hollis."

"More than likely true. I really just want to know if this has to do with Reston or not." Olivia admitted. "If it doesn't, it may not matter. Keep on Hollis. That's where are focus needs to be."

SCANDAL

Present Day - 2025

"Wait," Jerry held up his hands, "so what was Hollis up to?"

"And who is this Jesse guy?" Elise asked.

"No, Elise, no!" Harrison whined, "Trust me, the story is not worth our time."

"This story?" Mellie asked, "This one in particular? Are you kidding me, this may be the best story of all time. We stopped a treasonous act! How is that not an awesome story?"

"And I got to be a spy again." Jake nodded enthusiastically.

"Wait, you stopped them from committing a crime?" Karen asked, "That's so awesome, what happened next?"

SCANDAL

October 2008

"Fitz," Olivia slid into their bedroom after putting Jerry down for the night, "I have a problem."

Fitz glanced up from the book he was reading, "A problem? What kind of problem?"

Olivia let out a frustrated sigh, "My gut isn't working."

Fitz frowned and shut his book, setting that and his glasses on the nightstand, "What do you mean your gut isn't working? Livie, do you not feel well."

She crawled up from the end of the bed to curl up in her husband's lap, "There's something fishy about Doyle's connection with Cytron. He only seems to be connected to this Jesse Tyler guy, but I can't figure out why. I'm missing something. I feel like my gut is just way off somehow." She tucked her head under his chin, "It's not working. It can't figure out what we're missing. And now we're down to the last few weeks and I don't want them to rip the carpet out from under us."

Fitz idly stroked her arm as he weighed her words. "What are you guys doing?"

"Right now? We have a tap on Jesse's phone and Hollis's phone. We've read emails and text messages. None of this is admissible in court though." She sighed, "And we can't let it get out." She admitted.

"What about putting a tail on Jesse?" He suggested. "Send Red and Jake. We can spare them. That way if they find something out, we can just tell the police they spotted him."

Olivia looked up at her husband, raising a hand to idly stroke his chin, "You need to shave." She commented, "Otherwise we'll have a caveman for a candidate."

Fitz flipped them over, so he was hovering above his tiny wife, "Well, I could be a little caveman like." He growled in her ear, yanking one of her legs over his hip.

SCANDAL

Abby leaned her head against Jake's shoulder as they settled into their car across the street from Tyler's house, "This is boring." Abby whined, "Tyler is boring."

Jake sighed, "His life does leave much to be desired." He held out a bag, "Dorito?"

Abby stuck her hand in the bag and pulled out a few chips. Slowly, almost methodically, she ate each chip, "You know, he might not be up to anything. For all we know he just ran some sort of nerdy update on Doyle's phone. I mean we should've found something at this point."

"What about burner phones?" Jake suggested, he ate a couple more chips before he continued, "What if the reason we can't find an electronic trail is because they're using burner phones. Hollis probably has some experience about nearly getting caught, he would've learned all the tricks. I bet he's got a whole bag of them up his sleeve."

Abby turned fully, tucking her legs up under her. "So, maybe we need to search his office?" She suggested.

"That's what Fitz and Liv are trying to avoid though. Unless we can get a cop in there, but we don't have anything solid to give the cops." He sighed, "Having to follow the law is such a pain in the ass."

"You're telling me. I should just shoot them." Abby muttered.

Jake raised a brow, "Shoot them?" He asked, "Really? Murder?"

"Not murder!" Abby objected, "I'd only shoot them a little. Just to get them to talk."

Jake laughed, "Only a little bit? As opposed to shooting them a lot?"

Abby stuck out her tongue, "You're a mean husband."

He shook his head, "And you're a crazy wife." He smiled fondly at her, reaching over to cup her cheek, "I love you, Abby."

Abby hummed and leaned forward, "I love you, too." She pressed a hard kiss to his mouth, crawling from her seat over to his.

Before they could get anything rolling, Jake nudged her up, "Red, he's on the move." He motioned to Jesse Tyler, who was getting into a car that pulled up outside of his apartment complex.

"Shit," Abby scooted over to her seat, tugging her skirt down, "we better follow. That's definitely not one of his friends." She muttered, motioning to the limo that was just pulling out into the light traffic.

They followed the car up to a hotel. Parking a little bit away from the limo, waiting to see who would get out. Abby focused in her camera, "It's Doyle."

"Well, they're definitely connected and it's a secret." Jake leaned back. "Wanna go listen in?" He asked.

Abby nodded, "Definitely." The two scrambled from the car and dashed towards the hotel.

They watched as Doyle and Tyler stepped onto the elevator. "We can watch the elevator climb." Jake pointed out, motioning to the numbers that lit up above the elevator they stepped on. They waited patiently. "Fourteenth floor." He glanced at his wife, "Ready?"

"Oh yeah." They stepped on the next open elevator and took it to the fourteenth floor. Just as they stepped off, they watched as Doyle and Tyler entered a room with an older woman.

"What are they up to?" Jake mumbled as they moved down towards the door.

SCANDAL

XOXO

MAS