This story is inspired by Season 1 Scandal, Vermont and the Olitz actors – Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn
NO-Mellie and NO-Joke: Public Service Announcement for any accidental non-Olitz readers
A handful of influential Democrats were having a secret meeting behind closed doors…
"We're going to impeach a United States President?"
"It's about sex. Just like Bill Clinton."
"You know that impeachment fiasco wasn't about sex. It was about Chinagate. The Republicans didn't have a smoking gun on the 1996 Campaign Finance scandal, so they caught him with his pants down."
"Such a shame. He just married that lovely little gal."
"We were talking about Clinton. Grant wasn't caught with his pants down."
"He wasn't? Then this is about China? I knew Grant was up to no good when he sent his wife over there."
"Grant sent his wife to China because we can't afford to fuck with the guys who own a trillion dollars worth of our national debt."
"Can we quit talking about China? This ain't about the Chinese. Grant is a renegade. He's doing his own thing. He's not accountable to any party, not any more. It's making the guys who really run this country nervous."
"So it's about money, but we're going to make it look like sex? Whose dress have we got this time?"
"There's no dress."
"If there's no dress how are we going to impeach the President?"
"Never mind how. Who's going to call for Grant's impeachment? The guy's popular as hell. Whoever calls for his impeachment can clear out their desk in the morning."
"It's okay. It's not going to be one of us. Edison Davis has someone else in mind."
"Edison Davis? That name rings a bell…"
"He was the senate majority leader until his stint in the Senate Intelligence Committee."
[Blank stare]
"He was Secretary for Homeland Security."
"Was that recent?"
"He was engaged to the President's wife."
"Oh him! Yeah, I remember him! So this is about sex?"
"I told you this was about sex."
"Okay, so this time it's about sex, but we're going to make it look like it's about war."
A handful of influential Republicans were having a secret meeting behind closed doors…
"We're going to impeach a United States President for going to war?"
"We can't impeach a President for going to war – that's his effin' job. Every single effin' President has taken us to war – you're saying they're all wrong?"
"Impeaching Grant for going to war would set a precedent – open the flood gates to all sort of allegations about war crimes. Do you think any of our Presidents will be spared? Then we'll have no one left to celebrate on gotdamn Presidents' Day!"
"What about trade? You think we'd get anywhere at the negotiating table if the other guys didn't know we could nuke 'em all in the blink of an eye?"
"Hang on, just wait one gotdamn minute – didn't you say this was about war? Grant hasn't taken us to war."
"That's the problem."
[There was instant silence]
"Wait. You're right, the bastard's been in office for four years and he hasn't started a single war."
"He's old school. Prefers diplomacy to military action."
"Old school? What the hell are you talking about? We've been at war for 223 out of 239 years since independence. War is old school."
"Yeah, we've never had a peace time President. Why start now?"
"The man is ruining the economy – we can't have a President who won't start a war, and keeps 'em coming."
"I'll bet Wall Street isn't happy."
"The Cosh Brothers aren't happy."
"Oh, hell no, we can't have that."
"So we're going to impeach the President for not going to war?"
"Yeah, but we're going to make it look like it's because he tried to start a war."
"Can't we make this about sex? I can keep up when it's about sex."
First Lady's Office - East Wing
Zeke knocked on Olivia's door. "You decent?"
"Very funny." Olivia had been pacing the carpet, rubbing her belly. Now she opened the door wider for Zeke to enter. "Is there a reason you're here wasting my time?"
"Ooh nasty," Zeke chuckled, dropping a kiss on her head. "Looks to me like you've reached the cranky pants stage of your pregnancy."
"Fitz is avoiding me."
"He thinks you're taking a nap."
"He posted a Marine outside to make sure I don't leave the office until my doctor's appointment."
"I told the guy to take a break. Under Fitz's orders."
Olivia looked at him. Zeke grinned.
"Fitz won't be happy," Olivia giggled, tucking her arm through his.
"You gonna snitch on me?" Zeke smiled.
"Nope." She laughed with a shake of her head.
Zeke chuckled, then sighed. "What I'm going to say next is going to take that smile off of your face, and I'm not happy about that but you need to know - it's about your Uncle Tom." At Olivia's confused frown, Zeke added, "Edison Davis."
"He's not my anything."
"But you ain't disputing that he's an Uncle Tom?"
Side-stepping that response, Olivia folded her arms across her chest, asking, "What's Edison done now?"
"He went down to Georgia for the weekend."
"Georgia? That's a big state."
"Not if you know where Sally Langston's ranch is." Zeke opened a file and spread a sheaf of photographs.
A Washington DC Espresso Bar [outdoor seating, semi-secluded]
Edison Davis smiled at Congresswoman Natasha Gains. There was something about her that reminded him of Olivia. Of course, he'd be the first to admit it was crazy, comparing Olivia to a tall blonde with blue eyes. But Gains had a reputation for getting things done.
Gains smiled back, after taking a sip of her chai tea latte with soy, lite water, 2% foam, extra hot. "So we're really going to do this?"
"Getting cold feet? You've never made it a secret that you had a thing for Grant."
Gains' smile turned bitter, "If by thing you mean my unadulterated hatred for a man who tossed Melody Grant to the kerb, after he tried to gut the Constitution by stripping away our fundamental right to bear arms, I sure do have a thing for that dirtbag."
"I knew I made the right choice."
Gains folded her arms across her chest. "Why me?"
Edison sat back, idly playing with the handle on his coffee cup. "You've been trying to raise your public profile by talking about the same things everyone else is talking about – gun rights, pro-life, smaller government. You're getting lost in the crowd. You need to stand out."
A laugh escaped Gains. "This will sure make me stand out all right but I don't think Rob will like it. He likes to fly under the radar."
"How is your husband?"
"Like a rock… around my neck."
Edison reached out and placed his hand over hers, rubbing his thumb over her skin.
Gains stared down at his hand, then turned her hand over and gripped his. "Rob's gone to New England to see his mistress. And I changed the sheets on the master bed this morning."
"Are you tempting me with clean sheets, Tash?"
"For starters." She smiled.
Oval Office - West Wing
"Sir, we have something on Edison Davis, your former Secretary of Homeland Security." Tom walked into the Oval Office as Fitz was clearing his desk.
"You've been following Edison?"
"First Lady's orders, under operation 'better safe than sorry'."
Fitz gave a wry smile. "What's he done?"
Tom gave him a manila envelope. Fitz eyed him warily, then reached in and took out a bunch of photographs. "Who is she?"
"Congresswoman Natasha Gains."
"The Republican gun nut?"
"Yes, sir."
Fitz shoved the photographs back into the envelope, before dropping it into the bottom drawer of his desk.
"Sir, I was going to give those to Olivia."
Fitz closed the drawer with a firm click. "She's been through a lot in the last few days. I don't want her upset."
Tom hesitated again. "Sir, there could be something in it besides sex."
"I wouldn't be surprised, but I'd rather Olivia didn't find that out by seeing Edison with another woman."
Olivia Pope and Associates
Olivia stepped out of the elevator, flanked by Secret Service agents, to find Oscar waiting in the corridor to greet her.
"They're waiting in the conference room. Are you sure you want to do this?" Oscar asked, ignoring Olivia's security detail as he reached out to take her hand in both of his. "You know, Zeke would never forgive me if anything happened to you or the baby under my watch."
Olivia smiled, slipping her hand free and tucking it through his arm. "You worry too much," was all she said, as they headed towards the conference room where ex-Senator Edison Davis was staring at a Wall of Shame, displaying of his tryst with Congresswoman Gains, in A4-sized colour prints.
Abby, Quinn and Huck, who'd been glaring holes into his back, turned when Olivia and Oscar walked in. Instantly Huck sprang forward to pull out a chair for her, which she smilingly waved aside, while the two women shifted positions to stand between her and Edison.
Edison didn't turn around. Seeing his stiff back, Olivia murmured, "I'd like to speak to Edison in private."
"Not a good idea," Oscar muttered.
"I don't trust him," Huck added.
"It's okay. I'll be fine."
They left the room but didn't go far; standing just outside, crowding against the glass door.
Edison turned to Olivia as the door clicked shut. "What's the point of all this?" He waved a hand towards the wall. "Jealous that I've moved on?"
"She's married." Olivia observed conversationally.
"You're not my moral guardian, Liv," Edison bit out. "And you didn't let a little thing like 'marriage' stop you from chasing Grant's tail."
Olivia gave him a look that would have seared a lesser man. "Who you fuck isn't my concern, Edison, unless both of you are in some way getting ready to screw Fitz."
"Your language has improved since you married the President."
"I want you to know that if you destroy Fitz, I'm going to make your life a living hell."
"Are you threatening me, Olivia?"
"That's a promise."
"I wouldn't expect anything less from a woman who's flaunting her indiscretions in my face."
"I'm pregnant, Edison. Fitz and I are married."
A look of anger passed briefly over Edison's face, then he smiled. "I'm happy for you, Olivia. Now we've caught up with how we've both moved on, I'd like to leave as I've got things to do and people to meet."
"Sally Langston and Sam Reston?"
For just a moment, Edison looked surprised, then the bland smile returned. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Olivia reached for the photographs in her shoulder bag. Spreading them on the table surface, she murmured, "You were photographed driving out of the gates of a property belonging to Sally Langston in Georgia."
"I got lost on my way to a pecan farm."
"Did Sam Reston get lost too?" Olivia sifted out a picture of Sam leaving the ranch.
"That sure looks like Sam, but he's campaigning so that could be photo-shopped."
"I didn't think you and Sally were friends not after you asked her to step down as acting President when Fitz was in Roswell, New Mexico."
"We're not friends."
"Frenemies?"
"Like I said, Mrs Grant, I'm a busy man. If you're accusing me of something - spit it out. But it looks to me like you're fishing because you got nothing. So call off your puppy dogs, I'd like to leave."
As Abby and Huck made sure Edison left the building, Olivia sat down slowly, realising for the first time that her hands were shaking.
"Are you all right?" Quinn surged into the room. "Do you want me to call the doctor?"
"I'm fine." Olivia dropped her hands onto her lap.
"Drink this." Oscar appeared at her elbow with a glass of water.
"Then I'll need to pee."
"The toilets still work."
That made Olivia smile as she reached for the glass with both hands.
"Do you know what Edison's up to?" Quinn asked, pulling her chair close.
Olivia shook her head. "He's changed a lot from the man I knew."
"The man's an Uncle Tom, Liv," Oscar said. "Zeke knew Davis would try to get back at you on the down low from the moment he walked out of the White House."
The reference to the White House made Olivia get to her feet. "I should go before Fitz realises I'm not at the doctor's." She paused before adding, "I need a favour."
Oscar and Quinn didn't hesitate. "Anything."
"It's to do with Cyrus…"
Oval Office - West Wing
"I'm back," Olivia sang on entering the room. "Good news - I'm fine and the baby's fine."
Fitz turned slowly from his inspection of the Rose Garden to stare at her silently for a long moment.
"Fitz?"
"Olivia."
She gave a slight nervous laugh. "What's going on? You're acting weird."
He walked up to her slowly, then reached up and cupped her face. "Is everything really okay?"
The bright smile fell from Olivia's face as she burrowed closer.
"What's wrong?" he whispered, gathering her close.
"Just hold me."
She said nothing of her meeting with Edison.
And Fitz said nothing about the photograph of Edison leaving the OPA Building that was sitting in the bottom drawer of his desk.
Military Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland
Abby and Quinn met with James Novak in the visitors' lounge.
"How is Cyrus?"
"Asleep."
"Oh. He's going to live?" Abby sounded disappointed as she ignored Quinn's glare.
James nodded. "I don't want to stay away too long. What's the emergency? Olivia sounded worried."
"There are only two witnesses to what went down at the Diner that night. One of them has just returned from the dead," said Quinn.
"And he's willing tell a bunch of lies under oath," Abby sniffed.
"The only person who can contradict those lies is my husband."
"Yes."
"What does Olivia want me to do?"
Quinn told him.
James went pale, but eventually agreed. "Okay."
"Are you sure?" Quinn asked.
"Of course he's sure," Abby insisted.
A wan smile appeared on James' tired face. "I realise the choice is between the possibility of death or its certainty; I'll take the possibility."
Abby handed over the pills, while Quinn asked a second time if he was sure.
James wasn't. Even as he crushed the pills, and added the powder to the sludge of pudding that was on Cyrus' dinner tray while Cyrus was taking a potty break.
"How's Ella?" Cyrus asked hoarsely, making James jump. He recovered quickly helping to plump up the pillows as Cyrus climbed back into bed. Then added belatedly, "She likes her new nanny."
"Tell her I miss her."
"She misses you too."
"I feel better. They think I'll be able to go home in a few days."
"That's good."
"Will you be going back to Africa?"
James look at Cyrus. "We're married for better or worse."
Cyrus stared at him owlishly, then muttered, "I don't know what that means."
"I'll be staying."
"Good."
James tucked Cyrus in bed and read out the day's headlines in the politics section of the newspaper, by way of a bedtime story.
Cyrus' eyelids droop sleepily. In no time at all, he nodded off and started snoring. Then the snores stopped.
There was a moment's silence before the room erupted with emergency staff.
James was hastily moved out. He stood in the corridor listening to the crew trying to revive Cyrus. After several turbulent hours, James saw medical personnel emerge with defeated glances and shaking of heads.
"I'm so sorry." A hand touched his shoulder. James listened to the words, absorbing the sentiment while keeping a lid on his rising panic. "He was on the road to a full recovery."
"He had a bad heart."
"The post-mortem will tell us more. I guess."
James panic went into overdrive. "You're going to cut him open? Tonight? I mean, I wanted our daughter to be able to see him just like this one last time."
"It's late. Why don't you go home and get some rest. We'll talk in the morning."
"Is it all right if I go down with Cyrus to the morgue? I, er, don't want him to go in there by himself."
There was a long pause, then a weary sigh. "I'll see what I can do."
Hospital Morgue
James took hold of Cyrus' still warm hand, desperately feeling for a pulse.
"James, you can't be here, man. It would look suspicious."
James turned to see Huck standing by the doorway in a nursing scrubs. "Are you sure he's going to wake up?"
Huck nodded. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of him."
Reluctantly James let go of Cyrus' hand, kissed his forehead and left the room.
Hours later, Huck and Oscar were in the corridor tossing a coin about whose turn it was to go for a snack when Cyrus appeared in the doorway, his hospital gown half off his shoulder, his hair all mussed up.
"Where am I?"
Oscar had yanked out a dressing gown from the laundry basket he'd parked nearby. "It's okay, old man, we're going to get you home," he said soothingly as Huck lifted out a collapsible wheelchair. In minutes they had Cyrus all wrapped up and ready to leave via the exit, where all the Medical Waste industrial containers were lined up in a row.
Samuel Reston on the Campaign Trail...
Sam received a call from Hollis Doyle.
"The chicken's flown the coop."
"Is that a Texan way of saying the man is dead?"
Hollis pushed back the janitor's cap he'd stolen to go with the uniform he was wearing, as he turned to stare at the high-rise hospital building he'd just exited. "He ain't dead. He's gone."
After that call ended, Sam rang a 'good friend' in hospital administration to ask about the welfare of their 'confidential' patient, Cyrus Beene.
"It's the weirdest thing, the guy just upped and died. Took us all by surprise because he was finally on the road to recovery."
"When did he die?" Sam asked abruptly.
"Last night. And what's even weirder is that the body has disappeared from the morgue. He's done a Lazarus on us."
"Lazarus?"
"Yeah, the Lazarus Syndrome. When someone who's clinically dead, wakes up. The problem is the guy seems to have woken up and wandered off and no one seems to know where he's gone. Our security footage is missing from the time he was wheeled into the morgue…"
Reston's next call was to Edison.
"Cyrus has gone, as in disappeared."
"When?"
"Last night."
Edison sighed. "Olivia knows. But that's okay. We'll just work our way around this."
House of Representatives
Introduction of H. Res 6874
Congresswoman Natasha Gains thanked the Speaker of the House and the smattering of other representatives half asleep in their seats, before beginning her speech: "I want to speak today about a matter of grave concern to the American people – the upholding of law and order...
"For the past few months, our attention has been on a little trial in Faraway County, a trial that pits the might of justice against the will of law enforcement. Our thoughts have been with a young man in uniform accused of killing another young man, a suspect in a crime. My thoughts are with the families of both victims, and the broader community. There has been outrage, there have been calls for justice, and a growing momentum to acknowledge that Black Lives Matter...
"It is a legally established custom for public officials to be judged differently to ordinary citizens. We have statute and case law that give law enforcement and public representatives a certain level of immunity in order to carry out their duties. Yet there has to be a limit to that immunity, there are certain actions that need greater public scrutiny, certain outcomes that need to be investigated and adjudicated in a court of law.
"Today in Faraway County, there is a trial to judge whether a law enforcement officer acted within the law. Today in Congress, I see a need for a similar trial to judge those who make the law...
"I ask this House, are we to have one law for cops in uniform and another for the leaders of this great nation? Cops put their lives on the line every day, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in America but we as citizens expect them to uphold the law that they defend. In these circumstances, shouldn't we, as citizens and voters, have the same expectations of our legislators in whom we have placed our trust. To put in bluntly, should those who break the law be in charge of making our laws?
"That question needs an answer. It is with this intention that I introduce H-Res 6874 calling for an investigation into the Denyan and Manzania bombings and the Impeachment of President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III…"
Screaming Headlines
Impeach the President! : Speaking on the steps of Capital Hill, Congresswoman Natasha Gains said she called for the impeachment of President Fitzgerald Grant because the Black Lives Matter movement should include the lives of innocent Africans killed in the bombing of the US embassies in Denya and Manzania. Official reports put the death toll at 100 civilians, mostly African, with 2000 injured…
A President's Right to Kill Questioned: President Fitzgerald Grant could face a Senate inquiry into the bombing of two US embassies in Africa. The car bombs that killed over a 100 people and injured thousands more, were blamed on the Warriors of Mass Destruction but Ms Gains claims she has new evidence that proves the President acted with 'malicious intent' to "intentionally mislead" Congress and the Pentagon on the need for "punitive action in order to take America to yet another war"…
Congress to hold Senate inquiry to impeachPresident: Republican Congresswoman Natasha Gains is accusing President Grant of having 'intentionally misled' the American public on the US embassy bombings earlier this year. Rather than the work of a Jihadist terrorist group, the culprit or culprits may be closer to home. According to the Congresswoman. In a six-page document, Ms Gains has accused the President of recruiting terrorists, presenting false evidence, cover-ups, and devaluing Black Lives in Africa…
Sally Langston's campaign trail...
"It's done."
Sally didn't respond.
"Sally, did you hear me? Is this a bad line?"
"I heard you, Samuel." Sally splashed another finger of malt whiskey into her glass. She couldn't afford to get drunk; not when she would be speaking to a mass gathering at a televised Evangelical event that evening, but this situation called for a stronger brew than water.
"Looks like we might finally get our Nemesis," Sam continued.
"I do not share your confidence. Grant has been thrown in worse, and he's come out looking better than before. He's the Teflon King that nothing sticks to for long."
"This one might." Then in an abrupt change of subject, he asked, "Where are you?"
"In Alabama."
There was a pause, then Sam said, "That's a lovely little cabin you have by the lake."
"It was Daniel's little love nest. I wanted to burn it to the ground but I have never managed to find the time to do it."
"How is Daniel doing?"
"As well as your wife I dare imagine."
"Touche, Sally."
Sally merely drained her glass, and put it aside. "Well, Samuel, I believe this is the last time we will be on the same side. Once Grant is out of the picture, it will be a test of our mettle to see who gains the White House. I doubt we will be on such cordial terms then."
She disconnected the call in the ensuing silence.
Gentlemen's Club
Two men sat in two antique armchairs, smoking Cuban cigars while sharing a bottle of Russian Stolichnaya vodka.
"This is moving a lot faster than I imagined."
"There's a lot more money greasing the wheels."
"Did Reston come up with this plan on his own?"
"I don't think so. Edison Davis was mentioned."
"This Davis guy never quite goes off the radar, does he?"
"Nope. I've been keeping my eye on him since he left the White House."
"You think we have a winner?"
"Could be. Now we have a white President who's telling folks he's black, we might get away with having a real black guy as our next Presidential candidate. Makes us look progressive."
The two men chuckled, then sobered quickly, when the first speaker added, "But we need that dead duck Reston to get the electoral message first."
"I don't think we have long to wait."
A/N: The liberties I take with actual legal, medical and political procedures is Scandalous...! Let me know if there's anything glaringly wrong!
