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
Also very politics-centric
"Gotta say our family vacations are better than the movies."
"This is not a vacation, Jerry."
"Dad, it's a road trip, Dad. The last time you got us arrested by Canadian Border Control. This time we're going to prison."
"Prison!"
"You won't be going inside, Jerry. Teddy, prison is a bad, bad place."
"Prison bad?"
"Very bad."
"But, Mom, all they're doing is meditating."
"I think Gracie's pooped."
It had turned into a 'family vacation' after Fitz had refused to let Olivia go alone, Olivia couldn't leave Gracie, Karen and Jerry had volunteered to babysit 'on the road-trip', Rowan decided the whole situation needed adult supervision, and Felicia didn't want to stay home with Teddy, imagining the worst, when there was a media blackout on the entire prison hostage situation.
Zeke had sent an armoured military bus – for the entourage including Tom, his agents, and members of the Rainbow Crew, with Huck in tow.
When they got to the prison. Tom instructed Fitz and Olivia to wear bullet-proof vests, then started setting ground rules for his extended crew.
Except for Huck who made his own rules.
"I got your watch, Liv."
"I have a watch, Huck."
"This one contains pepper spray. All you have to do is press this button."
"I won't be needing that."
"Wear it, Olivia." Fitz said.
Olivia wore it.
"You remember the moves I taught you?"
"I remember."
Huck nodded approvingly. "I got your shoes."
"I have shoes."
"These have titanium steel rods in the heels…"
"I can't walk in there in those!"
"Olivia won't be allowed past the metal detectors."
"It's a prison. They can make weapons out of a toothbrush."
After Olivia was kitted out Huck's satisfaction, she kissed the kids, gave her father and Felicia an awkward hug. Then she joined Fitz, Tom, Huck and most of the agents and they headed towards the prison gates.
Outside the prison gates, the kids, Rowan and Felicia waited inside the bullet-proof vehicle, which was locked for safety by the rest of the Secret Service detail who had strict orders to leave at the first sign of trouble.
After a debriefing from the prison authorities, and a diplomatic intervention to resolve an argument with Tom about the weapons his agents refused to surrender, Olivia stood in the corridor leading to the visitors' room with Fitz on one side and Huck on the other.
At a nod from Fitz, Tom knocked on the door. An inmate, watching through the small glass panel, turned the locks on the door, and four men stepped out – Hollis Doyle, Mack, James and a man holding a mini-cam.
After Tom's agents had frisked them all for weapons, and given the all clear, James came forward to hug Olivia. "I'm sorry you had to be caught up in this."
"You're safe," she murmured back. "And I'm not leaving here without you."
Standing a few steps from James, Mack muttered, "Don't you worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to him."
"Thank you, Sargent Ryan."
"Call me, Mack, ma'am. I told Texas this was a damned fool idea but he don't listen to me."
"That sounds like the Hollis I know," Olivia smiled, before turning her attention to a thinner, longer-haired Hollis wearing wire-rimmed glasses.
"Hollis, you've lost weight."
"They don't serve Gettysburgers in here, Olivia. The slop they serve ain't fit for a hog." He smiled at her. "I reckon farm life is agreeing with you, you are positively blooming. How's the baby?"
"Step back," Huck snapped.
"Hold your horses, my intention was to give Olivia little peck on the cheek."
"There'll be no pecking." Huck returned.
"Gracie is cute, and growing," Olivia said softly, trying to diffuse the situation.
"I hope you tell that little gal, I helped save her life." Hollis glanced at Huck.
"I will, right after I tell her, you tried to get her father impeached for your war crimes."
"Aww, now, Liv sweetheart, you can't stay stuck on that like a fly to warthog. You took away all my worldly goods and put me in prison for my natural born life. Can't we let bygones be bygones?"
Fitz intervened. "You wanted us here, Hollis. We're here. Now let James go."
"I wasn't raised on concrete to let y'all rush off without a taste of good ole Southern hospitality. We've howdied but we ain't shook, and my buddies would like to have a chat with Olivia too."
"About what?"
"Well, for a start – why in Sam's Hell are you letting Edison Davis get away with murder?"
Before Olivia could answer, Tom caught her attention, drawing her aside to murmur in her ear. "Ma'am, Gracie needs you. We've left the bottles of her feed at home."
In a MidWest living room
Virginia Guildford turned from her computer to her husband beside her. "I've been asking myself that same darned question – why is Olivia letting that criminal get away with murder?"
"They are still conducting the investigation, Ginny. These things take time."
"Time for one of those criminals to become President."
"That's what worries me." Hank sighed.
In a van outside prison gates…
"It's a good question isn't it, Mom? Why are you letting that Edison dude get away with murder when you know he shouldn't be President?"
"Not now, Jerry." Olivia muttered, as she paced, patting Gracie's back within a circle of agents and Huck watching her.
She'd been escorted out to check on Gracie.
The prison authorities were getting a room ready for Olivia to talk to the inmates after Fitz had refused to allow her to go inside the Visitors' Room.
"If not now, when, Olivia?" Rowan said as he sat on the vehicle running board between Jerry and Karen. "Time is running out."
"She's thinking," Felicia said from inside the vehicle.
"You want me to lock them in the bus, so you can think?" Huck murmured, as Olivia passed by him.
"It's okay, Huck, I've got this handled."
"Dad's coming out!"
Karen jumped out, running towards Fitz, who caught her up in his arms. "Everything okay out here?"
"Yeah, Dad, we're waiting for the ad break to end."
"This is not a TV show, Jerry."
"Does Mom have to go back inside?"
Fitz nodded solemnly, setting Karen back on her feet so she could slip away and take Gracie from Olivia.
"The guys are ready for you," Fitz told Olivia, brushing at a bit of baby spit on her jacket. "They've got a room that's been secured by Tom and Oscar's crew." He looked at the kids, then drew Olivia aside. "Oscar's got men inside. They've confirmed that no one, least of Hollis, wants to harm you. But I'm not sure I want to take any chances. We're talking about men who've been convicted of Felony 1 charges."
Olivia reached out to stroke his arm. "We came all the way over here, Fitz. We might as well here what they have to say."
Fitz released a heavy sigh.
"It's okay, I've got her back," Huck said solemnly.
"Can I come in with you guys?" Jerry asked.
"No," said his parents in unison.
In a DC Lawyer's office
"What if Edison does become President?" asked Preethi, digging into the home-made dinner that Sameera's husband had brought to the office, when he came with the kids, in their jammies, to kiss Sameera goodnight. "Can we sue?"
Sameera chuckled. "Who can we sue? The voters for making a bad choice between two bad choices? Or the parties for nominating criminals?" She paused, considering. "Maybe that is not a bad idea…"
"While we're at it, we should sue the Commission of Elections for letting this travesty occur."
Olivia walked into the interview room with Fitz and Huck on either side. A handful of agents and prison guards joined the ones already in the room. Olivia and Fitz had been advised the prison authorities would monitor the situation through the security cameras.
After several minutes, three men of varying hue and height were escorted in with Hollis Doyle, James and Mack', who now had an awkward hold on the camera. The inmates were in handcuffs and leg chains.
"Take them off," Olivia instructed.
"Olivia," Fitz cautioned.
"I don't like to see anyone in chains."
As the handcuffs and chains were removed, a hulking skinhead, with tattoos covering every inch of visible skin, looked down at Hollis. "You didn't tell me she was black."
Olivia faced him, with a small smile. "Joshua Jonathan Jones, serving time for first degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated sexual assault, carjacking and petty larceny. You think your biggest enemy is black people? The bank manager who foreclosed the loan on your parents farm – he was white. The public defender who buried the evidence that it was a cop gun, not your bullet that killed the bank clerk during your last heist - she was white The lawyer who wanted you to accept a guilty plea for a reduced sentence – he was white. The judge who refused to give you parole – he was white. But you go right ahead, hating on black people, thinking we are worse than all those white people who screwed your ass and locked you in here for the privilege."
The silence that followed, echoed around the room for a moment, then one of the men cackled and shook his head, while the other looked at Joshua and said, "Hombre, I reckon you'll be needing a pot of grease for that burn."
"Cold water," James offered beside him. "Grease will make it worse."
Joshua frowned at Olivia. "Who told you about me?"
"I have sources, Joshua. They told me about you, and they told me about Abdul Hassan." Olivia looked at the black man who'd cackled. "You were arrested for the first-degree murder of two Upper Manhattan retirees and the sexual assault of their 30-year-old daughter. You were already known to the police because of your gang affiliation, but the prints on the gun didn't match yours and the DNA evidence didn't match seminal samples taken from the victim, but you are here because you were identified by the rape victim, while she was in a cop car outside your house."
"They trippin'. I left the gang. I changed my religion. I was going to school. The victim told the cops she'd been raped by a short black guy with gap teeth, and the cops decided I was that guy," said Abdel, standing up to his full 6-foot something height and showing his gapless teeth in a ferocious smile.
"What you know about me?" The third shorter guy asked, with a touch of belligerence.
"You, Juan Garcia you were arrested for the rape and murder of a sex worker on the Mexican border. Your car matched eye-witness statements of suspect's vehicle. The car in question was linked to a Mexican drug lord but the cops knew you were only a mule. When the police took you in for questioning, you told them where you were, what you were doing, and who you with, in Spanish but the confession you signed was in English, a language you weren't fluent in at the time."
"It was my first time, crossing the border. They told me I could make easy money. Then I got arrested. I told the cops I don't read English, but they wouldn't give me the paper in Spanish. Few years back, I got a copy of what they said I said, from my deadbeat lawyer. I been learning to read using that, and I can tell you now, it's the opposite of what I told that Mexican cop. I am here under false confession. It's not right."
"No, it's not."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Your English has improved, mi amigo," Hollis grinned. "That's exactly what I was going to ask Olivia."
Fitz spoke up. "I understand this system has let you all down but it's not Olivia's job to fix it."
Juan frowned. "You said your wife would make a kickass President. You lie about that?"
"No, I didn't lie. But there are reasons Olivia could never be President."
"How about you tell me those reasons?"
"This could take awhile." Abdel looked at them. "How about we get comfortable?"
After Fitz, Olivia, James and Mack were seated around the interview table, Abdel continued, "We set this whole thing up, so we could speak to your wife. Convince her she should run for President. You know why? I'll tell you why? Every election we wait for someone to fix this system – the one that puts poor guys us like in prison, but lets rich criminals run loose outside these walls. But ain't nobody fixin this system. Rich people are getting richer with us poor folk locked up in here. We working for two bucks a day, making shit for Walmart, Wholefoods and McDonalds. It's a sweet deal - they don't pay our wages or our costs - food, housing, benefits, nothing. The state picks up the tab. They wrote the 14th Amendment to free our ass, after making sure the 13th was in place to keep us locked up as slaves for crimes we we didn't commit."
"Cut to the chase," Joshua snapped.
"His burn needs attention," Juan muttered.
Mack lowered the camera, so it focused on the table [in the van outside, Jerry groaned. "See this wouldn't have happened if I was in there" - the others shushed him as Mack's voice could be heard clearly]. "You been writing to the governor to free your ass? Has he listened?"
In the interview room, Joshua looked at Mack without answering.
Mack continued. "Probably threw your letters in the trash without reading them. But right here, right now, we've got an ex-President of the United States listening to what you have to say. And that ex-President thinks the next President of the United States should be his wife. She's right here too. You don't want to rush the cause when your liberty is at stake."
Tom cleared his throat. "I'm getting complaints about the camera angle from the guys outside."
As Mack quickly refocused the camera on the proceedings, Hollis smiled at Olivia. "Fitzy Boy ain't alone in thinking Olivia Pope would make a damned fine President."
Abdel smacked the table, startling everyone. "That's it! That right there is the whole reason I'm down with this shit. Here we have Hollis Doyle, a white dude from Texas, who has a direct line to the President of the United States, telling us he knows a chick with the balls to fix this system. And I believe him. You know why? Because this white dude – who knows Presidents and their wives – is locked in here with us, and he says the reason he's in here is you – Mz Olivia Pope."
"I didn't put Hollis in here all by myself. I had help."
"You getting help to put crooks in prison. These other folk, they getting help to game the system and keep the real crooks out."
"But Olivia can't be President, just because we realize she'll be great," Fitz demurred. "There are rules…"
"Yeah?" Juan tossed the explanation aside. "In America, is there rules to say the cops must do their job? Is there rules to say lawyers must do their job? How about judges making sure innocent men like me don't go to jail? "
Fitz stared at Juan and sighed. "Yes. We have rules for those too."
"So if all these people can ignore the rules, why your wife has to obey them?"
"There are a lot of powerful people out there – Democrats and Republicans - who will make sure the laws are obeyed, when it comes to who'll be our next President."
Abdel looked at Juan. "What he's sayin' is that there are folk who don't want this system changed. It's not broke. It was built this way. It's supposed to catch suckers like me and put us in prison while the real crooks get to run and win elections. You think white collar criminals like Mr Edison Davis and Mrs Sally Langston will fix a system that keeps them out of jail; that don't even give them a slap on the wrist? Hell no."
Joshua who'd been silent for the last several minutes suddenly reached out an arm and hooked James by his throat.
"James!" Olivia cried, jumping up with a suddenness that toppled her chair. Then seeing prison guards and secret service agents pull out their weapons, she held up her hands. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot."
Laying a calming hand on Huck, Olivia took a deep breath, leaning into Fitz when she felt his solid strength at her back. She turned to Joshua and said quietly, "Let James go."
"Say you'll be President and I'll let him go."
"You cannot threaten me into becoming a Presidential candidate?"
"I dunno, when I put a gun to people's heads and say 'give me all your money', they usually do."
"I will not be blackmailed into becoming a candidate, Joshua, but I'm willing to negotiate. If you let James breathe, I will personally look into your case."
"You'll be my lawyer? You'll represent me in court?" Surprise made Joshua loosen his grip, and Olivia saw colour return to James' face.
"I can't represent you in court."
"Why not? You said you were a lawyer?"
"I'm not that kind of lawyer. I'm not a criminal defence lawyer licensed to practise in this state But," She raised her voice, seeing James' turn blue again. "I will find the best lawyers to represent you and I will get my crisis management team to look at the evidence in your case."
In the OPA office
"Did Olivia just turn us into an adjunct of the Innocence Project?" Abby asked.
"That would be so cool," Quinn muttered automatically, still glued to the computer screen.
"You think it's cool to go broke defending deadbeat murderers and rapists?"
"Ssssh!"
Joshua stared at Olivia suspiciously. "You'll pay for a lawyer? I want the best."
"I'll find you the best."
"For real?"
"For real. Now. Let. James. Go."
Joshua released James, who was quickly snatched to safety by a couple of agents.
"Wait, this skinhead gets a lawyer by threatening your friend? That all it takes? Hey, dude, come over a here a sec." Abdel turned to James.
"You don't need James to negotiate a deal – I will offer the same deal to you, Abdel and you, Juan."
"What you want in return, my first born?" Juan asked seriously, but cracked a grin when Abdel cackled.
"I do want something. I need you to become involved in changing the system."
"What if we try changing the system in three different ways?" Abdel said.
"Yeah, we are not the same." Juan said.
"You are similar in this way – you are all victims of injustice, and what we are trying to change is that system which locks up innocent people and allows criminals to rule this country."
"How we gonna change the system when we locked up in here?" Juan asked.
"Educate yourselves, educate the other inmates. You need to start learning about the law, not just criminal law but labour law, consumer law and Human Rights. I want you to take anger management classes, because we can't afford to lost control of our objective – and that objective is to change the system every which that we can. Do we have a deal?"
The three men sat, arms crossed over their chests, staring at Olivia.
Olivia stared back.
Then Hollis sat forward, "Naw, don't you let Olivia wriggle out of this as easy as that. We are talking about changing a trawler system of injustice. The poor can't change that system, it's Presidents who can. I'm talking about President Abraham Lincoln who helped abolish slavery which was sanctioned by our Founding Fathers in the United States Constitution. I'm talking about President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt took on the banks and built up the unions after the Great Depression, turning the raw deal my grandpappy got to a New Deal. The little guys can make noise but it's the Presidents who can make change."
Mack looked at Olivia. "Texas is right, 'ma'am. We can work towards changing the system, but we need direction, we need help finding resources, we need organization. You sound like a lady who knows what she's talking about."
"Hollis promised us you'd be President. That's why we didn't trash the joint." Joshua turned to Hollis, "Now that she's refusing to President, can we trash the joint?"
"No." Olivia shot back. "You can't change the system if you're dead, because that's what will happen. The troopers will charge in hear with their guns blazing and there won't be any questions asked."
"Speakin' for myself, I'll be a dead man the moment Edison becomes President."
"You know I can't be President, Hollis. I'm not on the ballot."
"You could be a write-in candidate," James said hoarsely, rubbing his throat.
Juan turned to him. "Man, she saved your life and you're going to sell her out like that?" Then he turned to Olivia, "He's right tho', you should be President."
"Even if the impossible is achieved and I get enough popular protests votes as a write-in candidate. I won't have any electoral college votes to become President."
"They've got a college for electors?" Juan frowned. "How come they still make murderers and criminals President?"
"It's not an actual college," Fitz explained, "When you vote, you nominate a group of people to vote for President, on your behalf."
"You mean because I'm in prison, I can't vote but someone who is not in prison can vote for me?"
Fitz shook his head, "Only the people eligible to vote can choose the electoral college in their state."
"So who's in this college?"
"Different people, most are chosen by state legislators of the two major parties."
"We vote so they can pick their friends to choose their friends? No surprise why these guys get away with murder. They've got their buddies all over the place."
"Back up a bit," Joshua said, "Some guy who I don't know, gets to vote for me, after I voted, if I could have voted?"
"That about sums it up." Fitz nodded.
"That's crazy."
"That's the system." Fitz said.
"We're talking about a system that prevents me from being a free man, and a system that prevents your wife from being President," Abdel said. "We agreed this system needs changing. I know it won't be easy because some folk have spent a long time making it work just the way they like it, but we gotta start somewhere."
"We work to change the system in here, and you work to change the system out there, starting with finding ways to be President," Juan said.
"Sounds like a damned good deal to me," Hollis grinned.
Fitz with his arm around Olivia, looked down at her. She leaned against his shoulder and sighed. He bent closer, and he whispered, "Maybe we can do this."
"We?" She gazed at him sharply.
"We. We're in this together, remember?"
She frowned.
"Livvie, we'll lose but at least we tried."
Olivia stared at him, then nodded slowly.
Fitz bent to kiss her softly on the lips, and then on her forehead, before he drew his arm away from her as she stepped forward.
"Okay, if I agree to run for President - run, not win - you'll promise not to trash the joint or put anyone else in chokeholds?"
"I dunno. Chokeholds sure get people's attention."
Ignoring Joshua, Juan stood, spat on his hand and held it out to Olivia. "We have a deal."
Olivia shook it without flinching.
"Abdel?"
"It's haraam for me to shake the hand of a woman who is not a close relative but, yes ma'am we have a deal."
Then they all looked at Joshua.
"Yeah, whatever, we have a deal."
a/n: To all those still persevering with my politics, thank you. And thank you for putting up with frankly ridiculous plot twists. :)
It's been awhile since I wrote a note. Figured my story is enough of a soapbox. The inspiration for this chapter, is Gandhi's Salt March, which took 24 days, starting on 12 March 1930, to protest the British government's salt tax on the Indian people.
Actually it was a march to protest British Rule. And it worked - Salt March got a lot of publicity, Indians started protesting more than the salt tax, and it's said to have done a great deal in loosening the tentacles of empire from India's throat. But the tax remained until Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru repealed it 1946, as India transitioned from British colonial rule to independence.
That's the basis for Hollis' speech.
BTW, the bit on the electoral college is NOT an endorsement for Hillary to be President. Nope. Never.
I realise a lot of people are freaking out that Donald Trump is President. I was freaking out that Hillary would be. I'm sure that comment will offend readers, but your opinion of me does not matter; people have been killed and countries destroyed under eight years of the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Administration. I am sorry for the people who don't get this. I am even sorrier that so many people continue to blind themselves as to what the Obama administration has done. At least with Trump, people's eyes are wide open and there are already protests - at what he MAY, POSSIBLY do based on all the criminally irresponsible racism and sexism he voiced to get out of being President.
In the world of politics, preventing #notMyPresident Trump from doing evil is always better than pretending #MyPresident Obama and #I'mwithHer Hillary Clinton have done no evil.