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- Oops, forgot disclaimer at first posting of this chapter!
"...Presidential Piggyback is what's trending this morning. First there was the picture of him looking like a doggy bed, now we have him racing across the snow-covered South Lawn with the First Fiancee on his back. That was enough to sent Twitter into meltdown at another glimpse of the private life of our current president. But questions are being asked on Capitol Hill, is this just a distraction to keep our attention away from the real agenda - taking away our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms? Sources say there is an Executive Order on gun control being drafted as we speak..."
"...The President playing happy families is cute, very cute. I was even thinking of voting for the guy now that I know he's a dog person. But, hey, I don't care how much he loves his dogs, I'm not going let him take away my right to own a gun! Not happening! And this sure isn't the Wild West. He can't just ride on up with his posse and lay down the law in a frontier town. No way, not happening. If he wants a law on gun control, he has to pass it through Congress; he has to work on getting the numbers. The truth is, he doesn't have the numbers. Not even from his own party. So tough luck, Mr President, you can't throw a hissy fit and make your own rules, because you don't like the ones we've got..."
"...Is the President trying to pull a fast one - distract us with pictures of dogs and piggy back rides, when in actual fact the man is trying to invalidate one of our fundamental rights? That's the question everyone's asking around here. But is that what he's doing? From the draft details that have been leaked from the White House, the President isn't talking about taking away our rights to own a gun. He's talking about keeping guns out of the hands of our children. Out of the hands of convicted criminals and people with a history of mental illness. Now why would anyone have a problem with that?
Fitz switched off the television in the ante-chamber and walked into the Oval Office just as Cyrus slammed his way in from the direction of Lauren's office.
"Have you lost your mind?" Cyrus glared at Fitz. "You're a first term president! You don't take an initiative like this, not unless you want to commit career suicide! You wait! You wait until you win a second term before you say fuck 'em all all to hell, I'm going to do things my way!"
"I can't wait for a second term. It may never happen. Just like the first term shouldn't have happened."
"Sir!" Cyrus hissed. "We don't even hint at that in this office!"
"But we have to consider the possibility that unless a similar backroom deal is done, I won't get a second term."
"So you're determined to lose what little hope you have and be a one term president?"
"Might not be such a bad thing. I'd like to spend more time with Olivia and the kids."
"You are spending more time with her! More time than is good for my health! I can't believe she's helping you nuke all your chances for re-election!"
"Cyrus, she's helping me be the President I've always dreamed of being. I cannot fault her for that and neither will you."
"Mr President, you are running an administration! You can't go around acting like you're the Lone Ranger. And that we're in another episode of the Brady Bunch."
"I think you mean Arrow and Modern Family."
Cyrus looked at Fitz blankly, then his scowl became even more ferocious. "Sir, this is not a joke! You can't have Jerry encouraging kids to talk about how much they hate guns on his Facebook page! We like guns. That's our platform. The Republican platform!"
"I'd like this Administration to have a different agenda to the Gun Lobby. They can't keep winning all the fights. The District of Columbia had to settle the class action suit with KKK because they didn't have the time, resources or money to keep fighting in court."
"That wasn't a win for the Gun Lobby. We kept the DC firearm restrictions in place. And we kept their guns and turned them into gardening tools."
"But we had to go easy on sentencing. As for the confiscated guns, that's a hollow victory, when gun manufacturers armed those criminals again as a publicity stunt." Fitz gave a wry grimace, which changed into a genuine smile when he added, "I think Jerry's idea is awesome, and it's working. He's had kids from all across the country get involved, and some of his classmates have already told him they'll be taping sessions in the cafeteria today."
Cyrus stared at him for a moment, then threw up his hands and stalked out of the Oval Office.
He was still fuming when he nearly crashed into Olivia heading towards the Oval Office. Catching her elbow, Cyrus steered her further down the passageway, growling, "We need to talk."
Her surprise turned to outrage as she stared pointedly at his grip on her arm, but Cyrus didn't let go until they were in his office with the door shut behind them, after a curt command to his secretary to hold all calls.
"Olivia," Cyrus began.
But she cut him off. "Cyrus, I do not appreciate being manhandled like that! If you want to talk, we'll talk but I will not be hauled in here like a truant child being taken to the principal's office!"
"A truant child?! Have you any idea what you've done?! That man thinks he's the next Franklin Delano Roosevelt! He's forgotten that he's a Republican President! And Republican presidents don't push social agendas! No, what we do is make people who sell weapons and oil and tobacco and stocks and bonds and every other wealth-generating enterprise, happy. They are the ones we look after!"
Olivia took a deep breath and stepped closer to Cyrus. "Well, we don't want to do that anymore. Fitz was never about that, you know he wasn't! That's why you wanted me to run his campaign, because you saw that he had heart, he had vision, he wasn't the kind of guy who would stand up there and make empty promises."
Cyrus glared at her, then he gave a weary sigh and sat down in the nearest armchair. "Do you know that Sally Langston has been meeting with Chuck and Doug Cosh, and several other bank rollers to get support for her insidious campaign to undermine Fitz. We're not talking about a bunch of crazy nerds on the Internet now, Olivia. We're talking Big Business, and if we upset those guys, and I mean really upset them, you know we won't have a hope in hell of winning the next election."
Olivia stared at him for a moment, then walked over and sat on the edge of his desk.
"Cyrus, Fitz was shot. I can still hear every single bang in my head without even trying. He could have died. He nearly did." She took a deep breath. "Anything he wants to do, to make it safe so that I don't have to see him in a hospital bed, wondering if he's going to make it out of there alive…" she broke off, and stared straight ahead at the picture of Fitz hanging on the wall.
Cyrus looked at her. "How is this Executive Order going to achieve that? The guy who tried to kill him was an assassin for hire. He wasn't a registered felon or a known lunatic."
"Which is why Fitz wants to increase funding for Police and FBI cyber investigation units." Olivia left the desk, and took a seat opposite Cyrus. "This is just the first step. This Executive Order is not going to have all the answers, but it's a step in the right direction. Fitz doesn't want to sit back and wait for Congress to stall another bill. He wants to take action, and I support him on this. I really do."
"Supporting him in a vague 'good job, sweetheart' kind of way, is different to taking off in Marine One on a fact finding mission. You are not part of this administration, Olivia. You are the fiancee, and soon to be wife. That means you concern yourself with what you're going to wear today, how the flowers look and ways to make your staff run around organising little social events that lift your profile as a good little First Lady."
Olivia sat back. "That's not going to happen. I see that you've given me most of Mellie's ex-staffers to work with in the East Wing, but I am not going to fill her shoes, Cy. And I'm not going to let you squeeze me into a straight-jacket, to be as useful as a Christmas tree. Not when I was the one you used to call when you had a problem."
Cyrus looked at her owlishly. "Yes, but now you are my problem. Fitz is not consulting me. This entire gun control thing happened without my knowledge. How am I supposed to do my job when you are undermining the very existence of this Administration?"
Olivia got to her feet. "I will not be a vaguely supportive ornament just because you feel your position as trusted confidante is threatened. If you want to be on Team Fitz, know that I'm part of it too."
Fitz looked up from the papers on his desk when Lauren knocked and opened the door. "Sir, one of the interns would like to see you. He said his name is TJ Broadhurst."
"Send him in."
Fitz stood up, coming around his desk to greet the tall, lanky intern who entered.
"TJ, I've been going through your brief. It's impressive. There are several points we agree on – all gun owners shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of the criminally-insane or just plain criminal. And I'm glad to see that you agree with stricter background checks, especially at gun shows. But the part that impressed me was where you said victims should be able to sue the gun sellers for negligence if they fail in their duty of care."
"Thank you, sir." TJ gave a small smile, looking uncomfortable.
Fitz paused, then said, "Take a seat."
They sat on the couch together, and when TJ still appeared reluctant to speak, Fitz prompted, "TJ, what's on your mind?"
"The interns here do a lot of work."
"I know. The White House couldn't function half as well without them."
"That's right. We do the work of a regular staff member, but we don't get their pay or their benefits."
"There around 300 interns like you working here, TJ, we can't afford to put all of you on the payroll. That's why we stress that this is a volunteer work-experience program. That's what you agreed to be before you arrived."
TJ looked even more uncomfortable, then he muttered, "Sir, have you heard of the Fair Pay Campaign?"
"Yes, I have heard about that. And I know more than a 100 Interns who have filed lawsuits to claim what they see as unpaid wages."
"A federal judge ruled that companies like Fox Searchlight broke labour laws by using unpaid interns, and the Lean In Foundation of Sheryl Sandberg has started a paid internship program after legal action was taken against them."
"Fox Searchlight didn't follow the six-point checklist set by the Labor Department, for employers hiring interns. Here at the White House, we don't fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act, we come under the Congressional Accountability Act as you must know, TJ, because you would have done your homework before you decided to have this conversation with me."
"Yes, sir," TJ sighed. "But the current system favours rich kids. It doesn't help the kids whose parents can't afford to rent a place in DC for three months, pay for their food, clothes, transport, or even a night out."
Fitz looked long and hard at TJ. "Doesn't your father play golf with Daniel Langston?"
TJ face turned red. "Uh, yes, sir."
"Did your father ask you to speak to me about this?"
TJ squirmed. "He, uh, supported me, sir. I think it's not fair that interns don't get paid, and Dad agrees with me. I just thought, after the weekend, now would be a good time to ask you about it, sir."
Fitz turned away, and stood up. "Leave this with me, TJ. I'll get back to you on what I can do."
"Thank you, sir," The boy said looking more relieved than when he'd arrived.
Once TJ had left the room, Fitz asked Lauren to put a call through to TJ's father, Samuel Broadhurst.
"Sam. It's been a long time... I'm just touching base with the parents of a few of our interns… No, no, nothing's wrong. TJ's a great kid. Thank you for letting him help us here at the White House. You know, we couldn't do half the work we do without the help of kids like him…yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. The problem isn't about the ethics of paying interns. I agree they should earn a wage, at least a minimum wage, for basic living expenses but the problem is that it's going to cost between $3-4 million to pay them... Yeah, chicken feed to a guy like you, Sam, but a hefty chunk from our tax-payer funded budget… so I have a solution, but I wanted to run it by you first, see how you feel about it… "
Once Fitz finished the call, he glanced at his watch with a frown. Then leaving his seat, he walked towards Lauren's office, saying, "Lauren, can you check where—" He paused as Olivia walked through the outer doorway, "No, never mind. She's here." He grinned, as Olivia walked straight into his waiting arms.
Closing the door on Lauren's smiling face, Fitz rumbled a sigh of satisfaction as he settled his mouth on Olivia's. Then groaned when her hands smoothed over his shoulders, sliding down his back to squeeze his ass. He chuckled against her lips, biting gently. "I have a meeting in fifteen minutes."
"We have fifteen minutes."
"It's with the council of church elders."
"Oh." Olivia drew back.
He chuckled kissing the tip of her nose, before taking her hand and leading her behind the desk, to settle her on his lap. "I did a thing."
"Good thing or bad thing?" she asked huskily, watching his fingers unbutton her jacket.
"Good thing," Fitz mumbled against her lips as she drew close, while his hand slipped inside to cup a lace-covered breast. "I asked Samuel Broadhurst to think about being a Friend of the White House?"
"The financier? Isn't he a friend of Sally Langston's?" She moaned, as his clever fingers caressed her.
"A friend of Sally's husband. They're golf buddies," he drawled huskily, as she shifted to nibble his ear.
"And what does a Friend of the White House have to do?"
"Help the White House set up a scholarship fund to sponsor less well-off kids on internship programs. I've asked him to consider giving up $5000 a kid. And the sponsors get a table at the Governors' State Dinner."
"That's…clever, pimping out a State Dinner." She smiled, meeting his wicked gaze. Then placing her hand over his, she made him pause long enough for her to say on a serious note. "Cyrus said Sally has been meeting with the Cosh brothers, and a few other heavyweights."
"I know," Fitz leaned his head against the back of the chair.
"You need to watch her, Fitz," she said, lifting a hand to stroke his face.
He turned and kissed her palm, making her giggle as he made circles on her skin with the tip of his tongue.
Then they both jumped as the phone rang.
As Olivia quickly buttoned her jacket, Fitz reached for the phone.
"Sir, the US Attorney General is on the line and he wants to speak with you urgently," Lauren said, calmly.
Fitz sighed and asked her to be the call through. Then sat back as Olivia straightened his tie and smoothed down his hair, but when she went to stand, he held on to her, just as the attorney general said, "Sir, we have a problem. A federal court in the state of Georgia has issued a Temporary Restraining Order against the issue of any and all Executive Orders on gun control."
"We didn't have any warning?"
"No, sir. The complaint filed by a local chapter of the Gun Lobby, and it looks like they have powerful friends in the area."
Olivia pressed her ear to the receiver as Fitz asked tersely, "Who's representing us down there?"
"Patrick Dent. He's the federal prosecutor assigned to the case. That's not good, sir, we've heard rumours that he's sympathetic to gun rights advocacy groups, and he's not afraid to be seen supporting them."
A/N: So there really is an issue of unpaid internships which apparently was in the news last year. You can read about it in Should White House Interns Be Paid? By Nathan Parcells written in FedSmith on Oct 28, 2013; Cost to pay White House interns: $2.5 million by Emily Jane Fox, CNN Money on Aug 21, 2013. And I thought I'd throw that issue in there like I was making a stew with everything that's left in the 'fridge. ;))))
The information on a temporary restraining order (TRO) was mashed and (probably inaccurately) used in this story from info gathered off Wikipedia, on Injunction and Preliminary Injunction.
And THANK YOU again, to those still reading this story and leaving your encouraging comments, I really REALLY appreciate it !