Disclaimer: Shondaland and ABC own these characters. $%#!
NO-Mellie and NO-Joke: Public Service Announcement for any accidental non-Olitz readers
Media Headlines…
'Disaster strikes when US Presidents put their wives in charge of a Presidential Task Force...'
'History Repeats at the White House …'
'Bill Clinton in 1993; Fitzgerald Grant in 2014: why wives need to be kept out of public policy reform…'
'Hillary Clinton failed at Universal Healthcare Reform; Olivia Grant fails at Housing the Homeless...'
James looked up from his tablet and glared at Cyrus who was typing away on his laptop on the far side of the passenger seat. Ella was watching Sesame Street on her baby tablet sitting in her car-seat between them.
It was their daily commute to work, in a government vehicle driven by Secret Service agents. A routine established by Grant executive order after it became public knowledge that Cyrus was gay.
"Is there a reason you're trying to burn a hole into the side of my face with that glare?" Cyrus murmured not looking up from his laptop.
"Have you seen the headlines; they are trying to make out that Olivia is the new Hillary."
"I knew the fallout would be bad, but noooo, no one listens to fuddy duddy Cyrus. Now look where it's got us."
Ella looked up and grinned, 'Fuddy duddy.'
"Now look what you made me do?" Cyrus glared at James. "Say Federal Reserve, Ella sweetie. Federal Reserve."
"This isn't about public policy. This is about Olivia calling the police out on their racial biases. Doesn't it concern you that this is the world we're sending Ella out into?"
"Ella will not be a racial statistic, the same reason that Bill De Blasio's children will not be stopped and frisked by cops in New York – they are not poor black kids from the projects. It's not walking down the street while black that mattes to your survival. It's walking down which street..."
Hourly update on 24hr News Network…
"Not everything is about race. There are children being killed by gang violence every day on our streets. It's out of control but no one talks about that. Those statistics are buried in the graves of those dead children. We need to ask ourselves why there is silence when it comes to black-on-black crime, but an outcry over one white cop shooting one black kid. Let me remind you that the man was doing his job. If the cops get accused of racism every time they apprehend a criminal how will they uphold law and order in this country? Then how do we, as citizens, expect to enjoy our Constitutional freedoms? I can tell you that it will be impossible…
"… This conversation about race is a distraction. Olivia Pope is a smart woman. She sees her husband's Presidential future in ruins, and being the expert fixer that she is, she finds a distraction. A distraction from the deep and fundamental problems of the Grant Administration…"
Segueway to News anchor. "That was ex-Vice President Sally Langston speaking today at a Republican fund-raiser. Ms Langston resigned from office after her husband tried to drown the First Lady in the Potomac River earlier this year. However she remains leader of the Republican Party and, according to Murdoch Press, is the current front-runner in the Presidential race.
"In other news, current Vice President Lucas Zeke's partner was detained by Sameole Police today for a seatbelt violation. Mr Oscar Zidambe was on his way to Faraway County when he was stopped for a routine traffic check which ended with Mr Zidambe being taken into custody.
"Sameole Police chief later told the media that the situation could have been avoided if Mr Zidambe had confirmed his identity. "We made a mistake. He looked like a guy on our Most Wanted List… "
"So you're going for the all black men look the same defence?!" Zeke yelled at the Sameole police chief.
He'd arrived in Marine Two to collect Oscar, and had wasted no time in giving the Police chief a piece of his mind during a closed-door meeting.
The Police Chief bristled. "He wasn't wearing a seatbelt."
"The hell he wasn't! But since it's Oscar's word against a cop and we're going with the cop? I should sue your ass for harassment! Racial profiling of motorists is banned in this state!"
"Now that would be igniting an already volatile situation," the chief said, pugnaciously.
"You should have thought about that before going after my husband."
The man flinched in distaste. "The White House sure ain't what it used to be under the new Administration."
In the chopper flying back to DC, Oscar sat quietly listening to Zeke let off steam…
"Fuck it! History keeps on repeating itself! It ain't right! A black kid can't walk down the street; a black woman can't knock on a door for help."
"I ain't dead."
Zeke paused and looked at Oscar. "That ain't cause for celebration. There needs to be consequences. Like there was for that kid who frisked Forest Whitaker in a New York deli. They say this ain't about race. Yeah, well until there's consequences, it don't matter how high up we climb out of the cesspit of history, we're still boys these crackers can beat down every chance they get."
World News special feature…
"A new study shows that anti-black sentiments have increased since US President Fitzgerald Grant married his second wife, an African-American.
"The level of 'explicit racism', according to the survey, is higher among Republican voters than respondents who identified themselves with the Democrats.
"Here are the figures – close to 80% of Republican voters say race matters; nearly half of all independents say the same, while only 32% of Democrats see race as an issue. The figures also reveal a change in racial attitudes with an increase in the number of Republican voters admitting to anti-black attitudes after the Grants' marriage earlier this year.
"By all indications this is bad news for ex-Republican and newly-Independent President Fitzgerald Grant, and here to discuss the issue we have Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Samuel Reston who is joining us from Maryland via satellite.
"Governor Reston, you've seen the figures and I understand you've read the report. Do you feel it's an accurate representation of the general mood of the American voting public?"
"Oh I would say it was very accurate. There are a lot of deep-seated issues that keep rearing their ugly heads every so often and Faraway County is one such instance. Racial tensions are never far from the surface in this country. It's a serious and sometimes deadly issue when you're African-American…"
"Will you like at that? Not only do they omit Olivia's name but they get a white man to talk about what it means to black in this country,' Rowan shook his head as Felicia sat down next to him on the couch.
"They are giving Sam Reston's campaign a boost at the same time. This is just the kind of show that would appeal to the liberal elite," Felicia murmured, wrapping the crocheted shawl closer around her.
When Rowan didn't respond immediately, she looked at his pensive face. "You don't look happy. Isn't this what you wanted – to get the nation talking about race?"
Rowan looked at Felicia, a grey tired cast to his face. "I wanted Olivia to get the White House to release a statement, not make a target of herself for every crazy ass bigot in the country."
"She was never a girl to hide behind her Daddy, and wanting to do the same with Fitzgerald. You know that she always led the charge, even as a teenager. You have to let her fight this one on her own terms."
Olivia marched down to the ground floor of the West Wing, heading towards the Secret Service Command Post. "Tom! Why can't I leave the White House? I have a speaking engagement to attend. This was approved months ago."
Tom, who had been on the verge of spilling his coffee on his shirt, set the mug down carefully and stood up. "Ma'am, you can't leave the White House, President's orders."
Olivia glared at Tom.
He held her glare trying not to blink.
After a long moment of antagonistic silence, Olivia snapped, "Fine! I'll handle this."
Tom's impassive expression disappeared. "Ma'am, what are you going to do? Ma'am?" But Olivia had already left the room.
Tom dived for the phone and barked, "Don't let her out of your sight!'
Leaving the West Wing, Olivia took her Fitz phone and made a phone call. Then swept into the Master bedroom suite where her hair-and-makeup team were waiting.
A couple of minutes later Tia, the hair stylist and Alisa, the make-up artist, gaped at Olivia.
"Lemme get this straight - you want to look like one of us?
"So you can get outta here without anyone knowing?"
Olivia nodded.
The women glanced at each other, then back at Olivia.
"Are we aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime?" When the other women stared at her, Tia said diffidently, "I heard that on a show last night."
"No, I have a convention to attend."
"Cosplay? Hey, I love those," Alisa grinned. "You wanna look like me? I'm channelling my inner T'Pring of Star Trek today."
Olivia looked at the woman critically. "Yes, that could work. We're about the same height and build."
"Oh, that ain't important," Tia dismissed with a toss of her hand. "No one notices us around here. Even with Alisa's crazy make-up."
Olivia looked from one to the other. "Who is licensed to drive the Beauty van?"
Tia raised her hand.
Olivia smiled. "Okay, so that's decided."
An hour later, Olivia looked across at Tia behind the wheel of the van and murmured, "That was surprisingly easy."
"I told you, no one looks at the help. You gotta be some kind of famous to get noticed in this town." Tia gave Olivia a quick once-over before turning her attention to the road. "It'll only take a few minutes to fix up your hair under that wig. Glad I carry those around for emergencies."
"I'm more worried about the neon blue lipstick and purple eye shadow."
"Honey, I am too but we'll pray to the Lord for guidance."
When they arrived at their destination, and Olivia was ready to leave the back of the van looking more like herself, Tia frowned in concern, "So how you gonna get back? You sure you don't want me to wait for you?"
"I've organised transport. And I'll arrange for Alisa to get a ride home too."
"Least I'll have a friend when your husband finds out what we've done and puts us both in Gitmo."
Breaking News…
"Mrs Olivia Pope caused a major panic at the 'We are Women' feminist convention, when she arrived without her usual retinue of Secret Service Agents. Organisers had to call in their own security after the First Lady was heckled by a group of bystanders. Several more were later removed from the auditorium during Mrs Pope's speech when Security Service arrived late, after a reported vehicle breakdown…
Comments on Web Discussion Board…
FoxyBee6 : "She's not a role model. I don't know why any self-respecting feminist would mistake her for one. The First Lady gave up a successful career as a crisis manager to be a mother and live off the state and her husband. She's turned the clock back on everything women have fought to achieve for generations."
Response to FoxyBee6 from LetLive: "A modern feminist has the power of choice; you can be a wife or a mother or both. The choice is yours to make."
Response to FoxyBee6 from BeenThereDunThat: "It felt like she didn't want to rock the boat. They're already unhappy with her for having the audacity to marry her lover."
Response to BeenThereDunThat from StayinSingle37: "You mean her lover who is a white man. And we're not talking about any white man. It's the President of the United States. White women see themselves as the ultimate prize – not only because our men were lynched for looking, never mind touching. Now we're free, our men don't just look, they line up around the block to marry them, and suddenly we, black women, end up at the bottom of the heap."
Response to StayinSingle37 from GotYoMan2: "F*ck yeah! A white President told the world he loved a black woman, then topped that by marrying her. Sure upset a lot of white women and their social order. We started in the bottom of the Slave Ships and now we are in the White House."
Response to GotYoMan2 from FoxyBee6: "Marrying 'up' or 'in' as the case may be, isn't any kind of protection. Look at that Django Unchained actress who got arrested because she got frisky with her husband in the front seat of her car."
Response to FoxyBee6 from GotYoMan2: "That was such a beat up. Daniele Watts gets arrested for kissing her husband but no one mistook Kristen Stewart for being a hooker when she got caught with Rupert Sanders. The cops see a white woman with a white man and it's mistaken for love, but a black woman with her husband – then it must be a John who paid for that Good-Good."
Response to FoxyBee6 from StayinSingle37: "No one's marrying 'up' or 'in' by taking on a white man. They've been lusting after our black asses for centuries. Heck, I have to beat the horny bastards off with a stick when I walk down the street."
Response to StayinSingle37 from FoxyBee6: [Deleted by Administrator due to complaints]
Response to FoxyBee6 from StayinSingle37: [Deleted by Administrator due to complaints]
[Comments have been disabled on this thread]
"Ma'am, the President is on his way."
Olivia grabbed her pocket mirror from her bag and checked her reflection. She smoothed a couple of stray hairs, re-touched her lipstick and then shoved the evidence in her bag before opening a random file on her desk.
She was reading the first line for the fifth time when the door opened without a knock and Fitz walked in.
Olivia took her time raising her head.
"Hi," he said, leaning against the door.
"You're back," she said, as if he'd gone down to the store and returned without milk and bread.
"You didn't come with the kids to meet me."
"You grounded me."
A wry smile ghosted over his lips. "Yet, you managed to attend the feminist conference yesterday."
She stared at him mutinously.
He looked at her for a long moment. "You walked out of here without the Secret Service. If it was someone other than Tom, I would have fired him and I'm considering banning those two women who helped put you in danger, from setting foot in here again."
"Fitz, it's not their fault."
"No, it's yours, Livvie. Next time the protestors may not stop at verbal abuse."
"I know."
There was a pause. Then Fitz gave a wry smile. "Can I at least get a hug before we continue this fight?"
Olivia wrinkled her nose, "That would ruin the mood."
"Livvie, this is an Executive Order. I could get the Marines involved."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Fine, since you put it like that." She got to her feet and walked barefoot around the desk towards him.
Her pink toenails made him chuckle softly as he met her halfway.
"Hi," he whispered, taking her face between his hands.
"Hi." She smiled, reaching up to stroke her fingers up over his cheek and into his hair
In the next instant, his mouth crashed down on hers, hungry and wanting. She moaned, standing on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck.
When they broke apart, breathless, he growled "You made me wait an extra half an hour for that."
"I was mad at you," she gasped, trying to keep her brain functioning as his mouth moved to the sweet spot on her neck.
"Sir…!" The door opened and Cyrus walked in. Then turned on his heel and walked just as abruptly, slamming the door behind him.
"We need a lock on that door." Fitz raised his head, his eyes dark as his gaze focused on her mouth.
Olivia gave a soft laugh, which disappeared into his mouth in another bone-melting kiss.
"You missed me," he said eventually, resting his forehead against hers, his breath warming her face as he wrapped his arms around her.
"No," she denied, while her hands swept over him, drawing him closer.
"Then I'm going back to Mimi."
"Okay." She laughed just as Cyrus swept in a second time.
"Sir! We have an emergency. The situation in Faraway County is escalating. We need to do something or we'll have another Kent States on our hands! The National Security Council is waiting for you in the Situation Room."
Looking at Olivia, Fitz sighed, "All right, we'll be there."
"We?" Cyrus looked at Olivia.
"We," confirmed Fitz, tightening his hold on Olivia's hand.
"Wait, I need to get my shoes," Olivia murmured, avoiding eye contact with Cyrus.
"I'll get them," Fitz grazed a kiss on top of her head, before heading behind the desk to get her shoes from under the chair.
Returning with the low-heeled pumps, he knelt before her, helping her feet into the pair before placing his hands on her waist to kiss her barely noticeable baby-bump. Then he stood up and placed a soft kiss on Olivia's mouth, before re-claiming her hand and leading her out of the room.
"Good to have you back, sir," The National Security Advisor said when Fitz, Olivia and Cyrus walked into the Situation Room. "Uh, sorry to have disturbed you." He flushed as his gaze took in the trail of lipstick on Fitz's face.
"This is an emergency," the Attorney-General reminded, gruffly.
"Yes, the situation has escalated after the First Lady made an issue of race," said the Homeland Security Advisor as if Olivia wasn't in the room
Fitz drew Olivia into the crook of his arm. "My wife was stating the obvious. Race was already an issue."
Ignoring Fitz's glare, the Homeland Security Advisor added, "Then let me continue in the same vein. We've got every trouble-maker in the country pouring into Faraway County from both sides of the spectrum. It's a tinderbox waiting to go off."
"We should send the National Guard down there to help the local sheriff's department," said the National Security Advisor.
"Then we'll have a civil war on our hands," said the Attorney General.
Olivia glanced at Fitz. "I need to fix this."
"Begging your pardon, ma'am," The Homeland advisor snapped, "But you've done enough fixing already. Now we need the guys in pants to handle this."
"You're fired," Fitz said.
"No," Olivia whispered.
"Yes."
"Fitz."
Cyrus gave a distracting cough. "Why don't we give the President and First Lady a moment to talk."
The other men exchanged glances, then trooped out after Cyrus.
When they were alone, Fitz sat on the edge of the conference table and drew Olivia into the circle of his arms, while she stood in the space between his legs. "He's fired."
"Fitz," Olivia cautioned, rubbing traces of lipstick from his face with her thumb. "You can't keep threatening to sack people who don't like me. You won't have many people working for you. That goes for majority of people in this country. Are you going to deport them too?"
"I'll draw up the deportation order once this is over. Maybe the Indian space mission can take them to Mars but it will have to be upgraded to fit them all."
When she slid her arms around his shoulders without a smile; he kissed her softly. "That was a joke."
When she still didn't smile, he mumbled against her lips. "What's wrong?"
Olivia sighed as their foreheads came to rest together. "This is a seriously huge problem. The police are targeting black kids. We have more Faraway Counties than I realised."
Fitz drew back with a solemn look. "That's just anecdotal evidence."
"Then let's gather real evidence."
"What did you have in mind?"
"A congressional hearing."
"Congress won't go for that."
"They will if you frame it like you're fixing my fuck up."
A laugh escaped him as he leaned forward and kissed her nose. "No swearing in front of the baby."
"You yelled worse over the phone."
"I'm a bad boy," he groaned, "When we have time to get naked, you can punish me."
"Get naked?" she arched a brow.
"Perks of fixing your fuck ups."
"Fitz!" she laughed.
He grinned. "I'm building up demerit points."
President Grant addresses the nation with his wife, Olivia Pope-Grant, by his side.
"The issue of race carries a lot of pain in this country. It goes deep into our shared history. Occasionally the inconvenient truths of our past surface in places like Faraway County; in Missouri, Alabama, Florida, New York. The places and names change but the underlying problem remain; festering in our national psyche until the next civil disturbance.
"I believe we have reached a point where we can no longer ignore what's happening in our backyard; in our neighbourhoods; on our streets, especially not in the institutions established to protect our citizens.
"No man, woman or child should suffer the indignities of prejudice in this great land of liberty and individual freedom. I say this not because I am a man who shares these views with my wife, but because it's my job to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Not as a historical document on display in a museum of antiquity but as a living representation of our freedoms; freedoms that must be shared by all our citizens.
"No one suffers in silence for long. No one turns the other cheek to have it slapped again and again. No mother watches her child bleeding to death and thinks there is no cause of justice. No mother stands silent while waiting for her child to be next. Nor should we expect them to. Liberty and freedom are not compatible with injustice and suffering…"
President Grant hit the ground running after arriving from his tour of Asia last night. This morning he announced a raft of measures to resolve the increasing civil unrest in Faraway County. The headline event is a Congressional Hearing to investigate police and judicial misconduct involving minorities, slated to begin next month. Official sources say the President is trying to prevent Faraway Country from turning into the Los Angeles riots in 1992, when civil unrest swept through the city after the mostly white police officers were acquitted of brutalising Rodney King...
A/N: My dear readers, thank you for your kind reviews, and thank you for the Stevie Wonder song – I posted it on Tumblr (around the time of the review) and agree Love is in need of Love today! I also have to confess that other people's conversations inspired the last chapter (as in I pilfered their thoughts shamelessly!) so I deserve very little credit!
Glad the readers of this story had mostly positive feedback about me shoving real-life events into fictional situations. That's the only way I can stop myself writing what feels like a tween romance sometimes.
One of my 'guests' (heh,heh) sent me a request for smut and I chickened-out AGAIN (picture Norman Rockwell's boy gripping edge of diving board) and kept it PG-rated! Sorry!
Actually, I should have been inspired after seeing all those naked body parts on my Tumblr dash from shows with no visible people of colour (guess the PoC must work for the art department – like Disney's animation teams).
But as I've written this and the last chapter on the train – I don't want to get turned on by my own writing, sitting next to a man reading the Fin Review with binocular-range bifocals; or worse, a toddler playing-peek-a-boo in her pram.
(BTW, to anyone else who wants to write on public transport – what worked for me is writing freestyle in the morning; editing in the afternoon)
Okay so I'll stop blabbing because this time my references are longer than my story!
References in no particular order:
Fact Checker: Is police brutality toward blacks rare? (X)
1 Black Man Is Killed Every 28 Hours by Police or Vigilantes: America Is Perpetually at War with Its Own People (X)
Michael Brown, Police Violence, And Why It's So Hard For Victims To See Justice (X)
Killers Behind The Badge: NewsOne's Investigative Series On Police Brutality In Black America (X)
What Happened to Health Care Reform? (X)
Hillary Clinton's Fight for Universal Health Care (X)
Smart enough to know better: Intelligence is not a remedy for racism (X)
Attitudes toward African-Americans have worsened since 2008, research finds (X)
US gives $4.75m for study on race bias by police (X)
Stop-and-Frisk Campaign: About the Issue (X)
Black Americans Split Into Rich and Poor (X)
Forest Whitaker Falsely Accused Of Shoplifting; Deli Employee Who Frisked Star Fired (VIDEO) (X)
Republicans Mad That Obama Mentioned Ferguson in U.N. Speech (X)
Marine One (X)
Which states ban racial profiling? - The Times (X)
Obama's West Wing: Can reality match the liberal White House fantasy? (X)
Day Five - Presidential Protection Duty at the White House (X)
United States National Security Council (X)
Article Two of the United States Constitution (X)
1992 Los Angeles riots (X)
Los Angeles Police Officers' (Rodney King Beating) Trials (X) .
United States congressional hearing (X)