Disclaimer: Shondaland/ABC owns these characters. But I've taken the Gladiator oath as a writer: #OLITZ4LIFE #JAMMMMmmmm
No Mellie or Joke: Public Service Announcement for any accidental non-Olitz readers
"Dammit, Jerry! I told you to open a Twitter account, I didn't tell you to reply to any messages!"
"Tweets, Dad, they're called tweets. And I thought the guy was a crank. I didn't think he was the real President of North Korea."
"Supreme Leader of North Korea," Olivia murmured.
"Yeah, him. I wasn't going to reply but he said the United States was the sworn enemy of the North Korean people. I didn't want that guy saying shit like that on your Twitter feed. I told him to get a life."
"You told him to Fuck Off!"
"Yeah, but I didn't want to say that in front of Mom," Jerry cast an embarrassed glance at Olivia, then added defiantly.
"Jerry, Mom saw it. I saw it. Our intelligence staff saw it. From what they tell me – practically the entire world saw it!"
"Look, all I wanted to say was that we're not as bad as the dude running the country. I told him to Google the President of North Korea like I did. They say he fed his uncle to a bunch of dogs and that he's starving his people. I told him you wouldn't do shit like that, and not just because you don't have an uncle and people here get food stamps."
Fitz glared in outrage, as Jerry carried on valiantly, "That's when he sent me the link to that creepy Youtube video. I don't know what it said because it was written in Korean or something, but the background music is 'We are the World'. I know because I've got it on my Classics playlist. And I'm pretty sure the copy they're playing on that video has been pirated. Shouldn't you be concerned about that? I mean it's taxable revenue you're missing out on, Dad."
"Jerry, you called the North Korean leader an asshole because of a copyright violation?!"
"No, I called him an asshole because he is an asshole. You should have seen the video. It's got this guy dreaming about blowing up Manhattan. It's 9/11 all over again. Only worse – there were bombs dropping everywhere. Karen would have been scared, if she'd seen it. But I knew he'd ripped it off the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. That's a second copyright violation; so yeah, Dad, he is an asshole."
"Jerry, this isn't a joke! North Korea has declared war on us! Nuclear war!"
"Yeah, well he said he was going to do that anyway. But I told him we weren't scared. I looked in Wikipedia – North Korea has less than 10 nuclear warheads. We have 7,700. We can beat his ass easy."
Fitz gritted his jaw, then uttered an expletive and slammed out of Jerry's bedroom.
"Where's he going?"
"He's going to contact the DPRK government."
"Hey, I know what that means now – the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. But I still think it's easier to say North Korea."
"But what your Dad has to do is not easy. Your Dad has to apologise for something you did and explain that several hundred million lives are at risk because of a misunderstanding. And he's going to have to do the same, with the governments of South Korea, China, as well as 50 other countries in the region. Then he's going to have to contact the European Union, the NATO alliance, and the G8. And he's going to have to call the United Nations Secretary General and—"
"Okay, I get it, Mom. I screwed up."
"Yes, Jerry, you did. Nuclear war isn't a video game. It a gigantic fireball that kills people, destroys buildings, and changes the climate. And when you insult world leaders with access to weapons of mass destruction, they retaliate."
"Yeah, but they can't just go to war with us — the North Korean congress needs to vote on it, right? I mean that's what Congress here has to do, before we declare war on anyone."
"Jerry, there are different systems of Government. In some countries, only one person makes the rules. And that person decides when to pull the trigger and start a war."
"You mean people don't have to work at it and get a consensus, like they did over here with the Iraq invasion? They don't have to find bogus evidence to tie Saddam Hussein to 9/11 and tell a bunch of lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction. Just one guy has to get mad, that's it?"
"Yes.
"Wow, Mom, that's dangerous."
"Yes, Jerry it is. And you need to remember that when you communicate with the world at large. Most of the time you won't know whom you're talking to, and what they'll do after reading something you've said."
"I should apologise, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, but you probably should wait a couple of hours until your dad has calmed down."
"Sir, the CIA has confirmed that North Korea has moved five medium-range Musudan missiles on to the country's East Coast. Considering the range of the missiles, which we estimate is between 2500 to 4000km, the likely targets appear to be our military bases in Guam."
Fitz steepled his fingers and looked around the Situation Room at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the US ambassador to the United Nations, his intelligence chiefs and Sally Langston.
"Have we managed to get through to the North Korean leader?"
"No, sir. But the North Korean government has sent a communication to all foreign embassies in Pyongyang to evacuate their staff as, and I quote, 'their safety couldn't be guaranteed in the event of a conflict'."
"What about the North Korean diplomatic mission in New York?"
"They're not answering the phone, sir. Or the gate."
"What about the Chinese government? Are they having better luck?"
"The Chinese government have expressed their dissatisfaction with us and the North Koreans."
Another official added, "But we have the British and Swedish ambassadors attempting to make a diplomatic contact on our behalf."
Fitz sighed. "Right, so the message for tonight's press conference is that we are using every initiative to contain this situation."
"I wouldn't be too conciliatory, Fitzgerald," Sally said ponderously. "They did after all threaten a nuclear strike before your son sent his ill-advised messages."
"Yes, but it's those messages that have brought us to the brink of war."
"Well, let's hope that your son does not send any further inflammatory communications. The last thing we need is for the Syria and Iran to join North Korea in this horrific situation," Sally intoned, to which an intelligence officer quickly added, "We've deleted the messages, sir, and deactivated your account."
Fitz shook his head. "No, re-activate it. See if the North Koreans will at least try to contact us through that channel."
"Mom, the guy replied again!"
Jerry burst into Karen's room, startling Olivia and Karen who had been going through the wedding folder, borrowed from James.
"What? You wrote to him, after your Dad told you not to?!" Olivia frowned at him.
"Mom, it's okay I used my Twitter account, not Dad's. And I wanted to apologise. I told him I was sorry, that I shouldn't have used Dad's account to insult him. I didn't think he'd respond, but he has –what should I do?"
"What did he say?" Karen tilted her head in query.
"He wants to know how old I am?" Jerry said as he squeezed in between Olivia and Karen on the bed, the wedding folder hastily pushed aside.
"It's okay to tell him that you're only 14 years old." Olivia said, watching Jerry type.
"Now he wants to know if Dad beat me for what I did. Should I tell him Dad has?"
"No!" Olivia scolded. "Tell him you've been grounded."
"He wants to know what 'grounded' means."
"Say it's when you can't leave the house."
"He wants to know if I'm being kept in a CIA torture cell in the White House basement. Wow, do we have those here?"
"No, Jerry, we don't. Tell him you have to stay in your room. It's got a bed, a desk and books for you to read."
"He wants to know if I'll get food and water while I am imprisoned in my room."
"Say, yes. And that you can go to school."
"Really? Can't I be grounded from school too, Mom?"
"Jerry."
"All right, all right. I can go to school. And I can eat and drink." Jerry read while typing, then paused. "He wants to know if I'll get McDonalds?"
"Say the punishment includes a ban on McDonalds."
"He wants to know what's for dinner"
"We're having spaghetti and meatballs – my favourite," Karen smiled.
"It's not my favourite, I'll tell him we're having yukky spaghetti-"
"No, don't say that," Olivia stopped him. "You'll hurt chef's feelings if he ever saw this Tweet."
"Jeez, Mom, you know I hate gunky sauce on my spaghett!"
When Olivia just looked at him, Jerry demanded, "You want me to lie?... Okay, okay, we're having yummy spaghetti and meatballs."
"Ask him what he's having for dinner?' Karen asked.
"No, don't ask him that. Ask him what the national dish of North Korea is."
"Why can't I ask him what he's having for dinner?" Jerry frowned.
"Remember those stories you read about his people starving – well, there are also stories that the top guy is living in luxury. We don't want to look like we're being judgemental or worse spying. So ask him about the national dish of North Korea."
"Okay," Jerry typed it in, then said after a pause. "He says it's Kimchi – pickled cabbage. He wants to know if I've had it. I'll tell him no, because it sounds gross."
"Jerry, remember, you're being diplomatic, so say you haven't but you'll try it out."
"Mom, I'm not having pickled cabbage."
"Jerry, you made this guy mad enough to declare nuclear warfare on us, eating pickled cabbage is the least you can do."
"Mom, you have to let that war thing go already," Jerry muttered as he typed. Then waited and read out after a pause. "He wants to know if I know Michael Jordan? I wish. I'll tell him 'no'." But before he could type that, Olivia interrupted.
"Wait, ask him why?"
"He says he's a fan. He says he has a basketball signed by Michael Jordan that was given as a gift by Madeline Albright."
"Who's that?" Karen looked over at Olivia.
"She was a Secretary of State when Bill Clinton was President."
"He says he's seen all Michael's games, and would really like to talk to him."
A couple of hours later, while Fitz was in the middle of his Live Media Conference, Olivia and Jerry were called into the Oval Office to face a grim-faced Sally Langston and Cyrus Beene.
"Young man, I don't believe you understand the gravity of your actions," Sally looked at Jerry with pitying sternness. "I cannot understand why your father didn't counsel you on the error of your ways and forbid you from indulging in this nonsense after the last catastrophic outcome,"
"Didn't your Dad tell you not to tweet," Cyrus bit out, glaring at Jerry.
"Dad told me not to use his Twitter account. I didn't. I used my own account."
"You wrote to the man again, after you all of us into so much trouble the first time?"
"I wanted to apologise."
"And he did so under my supervision," Olivia said, mildly.
Sally turned on her at once. "Your supervision?! My dear Ms Pope, you cannot possibly consider yourself to be an expert on matters of international security."
"It wasn't Mom's fault. The guy wrote me back. It would have been rude if I didn't respond, so I asked Mom to help me."
"You didn't want to be rude, so you went and created a situation that's deadly. Yes, that makes so much sense to me," Cyrus muttered, wearily.
Sally shook her head. "I could not believe my eyes when my staff showed me the messages. Right there for the entire world to see. This is not how we correspond at the highest level of government, Ms Pope. We have protocols. We have advisors. We have secrecy."
"We don't put our message out on Twitter, so the world can read it," growled Cyrus. 'We aren't WikiLeaks. We prosecute people who put Classified Information out in the public domain. Do you even know how much of an embarrassment you've caused this administration?" He glared at Jerry.
"Yeah, I gained like 2 million followers in five seconds. That was cool," Jerry grinned.
As Cyrus threw his hands up and sat down, Sally said with biting diction. "Listen, young man, this is not cool. What you did was dangerous. We could be facing World War III as the sole result of your actions."
"But we aren't. The Korean dude really likes Michael Jordan. He wouldn't destroy Michael's home."
'And that's the other issue. Getting an American sporting icon to speak to the leader of a country in our Axis of Evil? What were you thinking?" Cyrus looked at Olivia.
"We can't have civilians making unilateral decisions on matters of this magnitude," Sally inserted with patronising patience. "We have cut all diplomatic ties with North Korea since they began nuclear testing in violation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. We use Sweden as the Protecting Power for consulate matters with North Korea, not Michael Jordan."
"Neither Jerry nor Michael ever claimed they were speaking on behalf of this Administration," Olivia snapped. "The North Korean leader responded to Jerry's tweet from his personal account. He is well within his rights to respond without asking for security clearance. When the North Korean leader mentioned Michael, I saw an opportunity to diffuse the situation and I seized it. And Michael was only too willing to help. Besides, they only talked about his game scores and plays. No one told the North Koreans where we hide our weapons. "
"Don't be facetious, Ms Pope," Sally snapped with equal ferocity. "It was reckless of you to encourage two civilians to talk to a world leader who has threatened military strikes against us; using a public, uncensored platform. You're playing in the big leagues now, Ms Pope. You are no longer dealing with tax-dodging mayors, drunken sports stars or naive interns. The decisions we make here have a global impact."
Then the conversation stopped as the door opened and Fitz walked in. He frowned as his gaze focused on Jerry and Olivia.
"What's going on here?"
"Ms Pope—"
"My fiancee."
"Has escalated the ongoing crisis, with added assistance from your son."
Sally then proceeded to tell Fitz about the 'crisis', adding, "We are taking the trouble to advise Ms Pope of the consequences of her actions. She needs to be aware that she cannot interfere with operations best left to an Administration of elected officials. These matters are not in any way similar to the usual garden-variety white-collar criminals she has as her clients."
Just then an intelligence expert thrust his head through the door and blurted, "Sir, we have word that the North Koreans are pulling their missiles away from the East Coast. And uh, the Supreme Leader has issued a formal invitation for Michael Jordan to visit the country, with your son."
"I see," Fitz said, "Thank you. Tell the guys in the Situation Room, that I'll be joining them in a second."
"Yes, sir."
As the intelligence officer departed, an uncomfortable silence permeated the room. Sally pursed her lips, straightening her jacket while Cyrus glanced at the carpet, the far wall and the ceiling.
Then Olivia got to her feet. "Now that a catastrophic nuclear situation has been averted, I believe this discussion is over. Come on, Jer, we're leaving." She held out her hand to Jerry, who grasped it immediately.
Then Fitz interrupted. "Wait. I believe an apology is due from Sally and Cyrus."
"With all due respect, Fitzgerald, she's a civilian who got lucky," Sally sniffed.
"She can't take it on herself to do this again," Cyrus muttered.
Olivia looked at him. "I can assure you, I won't."
"An apology," Fitz repeated, and waited.
Olivia was pacing in the Treaty Room with Jerry and Karen sitting on the couch watching her, when Fitz entered.
"Daddy," Karen ran over and hugged him.
"Hey, pumpkin," Fitz hoisted her up. "What are you doing up so late?"
"Is Jerry going to prison?"
"No, Jerry is not going to prison." Fitz smiled wryly.
Jerry angled a look from the corner of his eye. "How long am I grounded for this time?"
"You're not grounded."
"I'm not?!" Jerry's eyes widened.
"No, and I'd take myself off to bed if I were you, before I change my mind. Both of you," He gave Karen a kiss on the cheek and set her down on her feet, watching her run to Olivia and give her hug. Followed by Jerry.
"Thanks, Mom." He hugged her tight. "I promise I won't do anything like this again."
"We'll see," Olivia chuckled, hugging him back, which made Fitz smile.
Then he grinned, watching Jerry sidle past and reached out to haul him into a hug, muttering, "No more Tweeting tonight."
"Got it," Jerry mumbled. "And I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to get you in trouble."
"Yeah, I know."
When he let go, Jerry was gone in a trice.
"Hi." Fitz faced Olivia.
"Hi." She smiled at him.
"Are we good?"
"We're good."
He sighed, coming towards her, reaching up to cup her face in his hands. "You were brilliant."
"So was Jerry… Are you going to send him to North Korea?"
"I'm considering it. Maybe for a couple of decades. What do you think?"
Olivia snuffled a laugh. "I think you should talk to him in the morning. Explain everything that went down after the Tweet, and explain the limits of what he can and cannot Tweet as the son of the President of the United States."
He chuckled softly. "Did I mention, you are brilliant?" He kissed her softly.
"Maybe."
"So why were you pacing?"
She drew back to look at him. "I'm just trying to come to terms with my limitations here; my imposed limitations. I'm so used to taking charge of situations, that I have to remember I'm not in charge anymore."
"Livvie, you saved us from the brink of war."
"By pure luck."
"Said those who don't know you better." He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Are you still marrying me?"
She nodded. "Yes, I told James I'm going to look for a dress tomorrow."
A/N: So I've done a Scandalous take on a real life situation – well, it was inspired by 'true events' as reported in the media (heh, heh).
Yes, there really is a Youtube video- Destroy New York: North Korea's creepy new propaganda video written by Peter Weber on The Week on Feb 6, 2013. What I loved about this is that the copyright lawyers are taking action about this video, ahead of everyone else NOT concerned about the war threat.
The basketball topic was inspired by this article - Kim Jong Eun inherited an eccentric obsession with basketball from father Kim Jong Il - written by Max Fisher in The Washington Post on Mar 1, 2013. And it's true the North Koreans leaders are HUGE fans of Michael Jordan, but they got Dennis Rodman instead - Rodman's North Korea Trips Signal Basketball Push by Leader Kim- by Mason Levinson published in Bloomberg Business Week on Jan 13, 2014
And the whole North Korean – US nuclear war situation was blown all out of proportion in this story (than in real life) and was inspired by the following: The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 from the US Department of State, Office of the Historian: Milestones 1961–1968 (which says that Russia and US almost went to war over 'miscommunication'; resulting in a 'hotline' being set up between The Kremlin and The White House); North Korea: Foreign embassy staff may not be safe if there's war written by Ian Johnston and Becky Bratu, NBC News, updated 5 April 2013; and info on missile ranges were swiped from this article Devil in the Dark – North Korean Missiles Threatening Nuclear Strike on American Territories and Allied Holdings in the Pacific - by Joe Calandra Jr, published on Liberty News on April 11, 2013