What goes around
Disclaimer:- Don't own them just borrowing!
Episode:- None
Pairing:- Nicola/Ollie
Rating:- M
Achieve:- http(:/) . /group/rebeccafrontlewisffarchive/
Summary:- Not only had she got through the interview without ending up with yet another article in print portraying her as a sour faced personality devoid harridan but Glen's over confidence had come back to bite him in the ass and proved that what goes around truly does come around.
Author's Note:- In answer to Gee's "Karma" challenge in which you had to include Karma kicking someone's butt, The radio times, A code word two characters use to stop and argument, Expensive Brandy and a broken iPod. Rated for language as usual with TTOI stories enjoy and reviews would be lovely.
"Why can I never get these fucking things to work!" Nicola shouted "I swear I am the kiss of death to anything technological and that bitch from the radio times will be here in half an hour."
"Will you leave it the fuck alone and relax the iPod and the speakers are off limits to you after you completely screwed up the department video camera just by looking at it last month." Glen replied taking her arm and leading her toward the door where Ollie was standing.
"I wasn't touching the fucking video camera it just stopped if you'd bothered to listen to me at the fucking time you'd know that!" She called back as Ollie guided her toward her own office and she let him as she always did. It had always surprised her that no one had noticed that she was much more willing to let him do anything than she was any of the others but then since she was surrounded by what she considered to be possibly the most self-centred group of people she'd ever known it didn't surprise her that much.
"Nicola calm down." Ollie said quietly closing the door of the office behind him and tilting the blinds. At 7:30 in the morning he was completely confident that no one else was going to be in and with Malcolm away and orchestrating proceedings from his trip to Dublin with the PM like the most foul mouthed puppet master in history they would have a few minutes before the Radio Times journalist arrived for him to calm her down.
"I didn't break the fucking video camera Glen did we all fucking know that and just because he'd got a new fucking iPad he can't even switch on he's suddenly Steve fucking Jobs!" Nicola snapped pacing back and forward in front of her desk as he sighed heavily. This morning was supposed to be simple, stress free, a simple half hour long meet and greet with a journalist from the iconic TV listings magazine that he knew would be barely above intern level who was there to ask her about her favourite music, TV and movies. They'd agreed to the "Coffee with…." featurette because it was easy and yet here they were at full on nuclear meltdown stage.
"Stop fucking pacing! Look we all know Glen broke the camera and blamed it on you Suzy from the fucking media department saw him do it but that will come back to bite him in the ass because he's getting way to fucking full of himself. The thing to do is to not get annoyed about it but sit back and wait till he fucks up and hope there's a million fucking TV cameras on him when he does so we can play it on a fucking loop for a month on every screen in the place to rub his nose in it. Now are you going to tell me why you are really melting down this morning? It's not fucking news night with Paxman tearing fucking strips off you it's telling someone what you like to watch on the fucking TV!"
"I don't care if it's Paxman or a fucking 16 year old GCSE journalism student it's something that's going to be in print which means I am going to fuck it up." Nicola snapped allowing him to stop her briefly in her tracks then pulling her into his arms as she looked up at him. She'd been dreading the interview more than she would one with Paxman or any other political interviewer but she didn't expect him to understand that. When it came to political interviews she wasn't exactly proficient but at least what they were going to discuss and ultimately what the public were going to criticise wasn't personal. When the shit hit the fan she could always convince herself that she wasn't always responsible, not solely anyway. Government policy was what it was she was just the public face of it but when it came to things that were completely personal talking about herself or her kids or whatever that criticism would be personal and she knew it would come it always did. "You just don't understand what it feels like to constantly be a punching bag for the press and…"
"I do know because I watch what it does to you day in day out but then I'm not that important so…"
"Don't try to tell me you think I can pull this off because I saw your face when Malcolm told us I had to do it." Nicola shouted pulling out of his arms again her anger rising, he always told her he was behind her no matter what was going on and that he believed in her it was one of the reasons she'd fallen for him in the months since she'd met him on the first day of the nightmare she was living through but she'd seen the way his face had fallen at the idea of the feature in the radio times and if she was honest she'd been dwelling on that as much as the prospect of doing it at all.
"What the fuck Nicola?" Ollie shouted back not quite believing what he was hearing. He'd hated the thought of the interview because he knew how much she hated them and he hated them because they upset her so much. He thought she understood that and now it seemed she didn't it was making him irrationally furious. "I believe you can fucking knock this out of the park if you just calm the hell down but then in case you've forgotten I believe you can do anything. I'm constantly telling you that but it's like talking to the fucking wall! You'd rather listen to tossers who don't care about you and worry about what people are going to say about what you chose to watch on the TV when you get ten fucking minutes to yourself than the opinion of someone who happens to be in fucking love with you! Jesus Nicola you are a fucking nightmare at times."
"I'm a nightmare? Fuck sake Ollie you're the one who keeps telling me you're in love with me then stand there looking at me like I'm the biggest fuck up you've ever laid eyes on." Nicola shouted back shaking him off as he tried to reach for her again. "You don't love me I'm convenient, a regular fuck with a bit of excitement thrown in and…"
"Cantaloupe" Ollie said firmly stopping her words in her throat as she turned to face him sighing heavily. When their relationship had started they'd found themselves all too often falling into arguments over things that happened in the office when they should be focusing on enjoying what time they'd managed to get together and the addition of a word to stop those arguments had seem like a sensible idea. She wasn't sure how it had ended up being cantaloupe but it had. "Why are we arguing about this? If you weren't stressed about the interview we wouldn't even be having this discussion. You know I love you and you know I'm behind you and always am now can we stop this?"
"What if I say something stupid Ollie or I go to press play on the iPod and to let her hear the song and it explodes or something?" Nicola sighed finally letting him kiss her softly before pulling her toward the desk chair and sitting her into it then opening the bottom drawer of the desk and pulling out a bottle of Hennessey XO brandy that they had hidden there for proper meltdown emergencies.
"This calls for the good stuff." He smiled pouring some into the empty mug on her desk before handing it to her.
"Ollie it's not even 8am." Nicola laughed shaking her head as he sighed.
"Just fucking drink it this girl will be here any minute and you need to calm down." He replied standing over her as she downed the fiery liquid before handing her a bottle of mouthwash. "We don't want her writing that your breath smelled of booze at 8am though."
"Yeah I know; right I'll go to the ladies and sort this out you make sure Glen has the iPod sorted and let's get this over with." Nicola smiled still not looking forward to the meeting and dealing with the journalist but as always he'd managed to convince her that it would be ok when she was sure it wouldn't.
Two days later
"Nicola have you seen this? The radio times have sent through a preview of your interview you're going to love this." Ollie said setting a single sheet of paper down on the desk in front of her as she grimaced at the picture of herself at the top of the page.
"They took a dozen fucking pictures that morning and I know I was smiling in most of them why do they have to pick the one where I look like a suicidal rabbit caught in some very bright headlights?" She snapped ignoring the exaggerated eye roll from Ollie as she tried to hand it back to him.
"You look gorgeous in the photo just like you always do! Now read the fucking article the last paragraph in particular." He sighed snatching the paper back from her and starting to read it aloud when she refused to.
"With an openness and joviality that directly contradicts the stern image she has in the press Nicola Murray was a joy to be around. Her TV choices were diverse and showed a personality that has light and shade in equal measure making her a wonderful subject. In all honesty the morning was one of the most relaxed and entertaining this reporter had had except for the bungling attempts at technological prowess from aid Glen Cullen who managed to break the iPod they had set up and ending our chance of hearing Ms Murray's choice of theme for her life. The petulant reaction of the aid to his own incompetence made it seem slightly like having coffee with a mother and her grumpy toddler but all in all the morning was one of the most enjoyable I've had and I recommend anyone to watch Ms Murray's fantastic TV choices."
"Oh my god." Nicola laughed glancing out the window to where Glen was ranting at Teri while waving the sheet of paper in her face "He must be furious he told her that he didn't want to be mentioned in the write up before she left."
"Yep but there's nothing he can do about it now it's a courtesy proof they won't change it." Ollie smiled "But I told you if you bided your time karma would get him in the end over the whole video camera incident didn't I?"
"Yes you did and she's been really nice about the interview so it wasn't so bad after all." Nicola replied the surge of satisfaction that she couldn't hold back making her smile broadly. Not only had she got through the interview without ending up with yet another article in print portraying her as a sour faced personality devoid harridan but Glen's over confidence had come back to bite him in the ass and proved that what goes around truly does come around.