As Josie comes to the door, Kerry picks her up and loves on her as she walks over to the couch. Tony walks over behind her, and turns on the television with the remote. When they sit down, Kerry says, "Well, that went surprisingly well." Tony replies, "Yeah it did. I am quite surprised at how well it went." Kerry tilts her head looking at him, as she says, "Hey, you said from the start you were confident it was going to be fine. Are you telling me you had doubts?"
Tony responds, "I didn't have doubts, but I was concerned and had hope it would all work out." Kerry smiles at him, as she moves closer to him, still holding Josie. She ends up in his lap, still holding her, as she says, "It's going to be a challenge, but it's one that I think we both owe ourselves to rise to." Her response makes him smile as he says, "I'm so glad to hear you say that Ker. I didn't know what your reaction was going to be to Judy's suggestions or her plan, and I was worried you wouldn't want to do it." Kerry now lets Josie go, as she gives Tony her full attention, and she says, "Baby, I know in the past I've been a little skittish." His eyebrows raise, and he gives her a look that makes her smile as she says, "Okay, a lot skittish." He smiles at her admission, and allows her to finish.
She continues, as she says, "For the first time in years, I feel like we're close. Like we are so close and I don't want to ruin that for us. I know this time things will be different, I can feel it." He adores her admission and her openness, and she can see his acceptance in his eyes. He doesn't have to say anything, and he doesn't. He just takes her face in his hands, and he kisses her sweetly. She melts into him as he holds her lovingly, as they sit in their moment loving one another and being happy.
Their happiness is real, but short lived. Their moment is interrupted when Tony's cell rings. He answers seeing it's Judy. He puts the phone on speaker as he says, "Hello Judy." She responds, "Hello Tony; I didn't expect to be calling you this soon. But, Shonda is available to meet at her house tomorrow at 11:00am. Will that work for both of you?"
Kerry nods yes, and Tony says, "Yes, it will work for both of us. But does she know we're coming?" Judy responds, "Not exactly, she knows that she will be meeting with someone from the cast. But she doesn't know who it is. I couldn't disclose that to her. Remember, I work for you, not her. Everything about our relationship is confidential."
Tony nods as he says, "Sounds good Judy. I guess we will see you at 11am tomorrow." She replies, "See you then. Bye." The call ends and Kerry says, "So tomorrow's the day huh?" Tony asks, "Are you nervous?" She responds, "A little. Shonda can be a real bear at times." Tony replies, "Yeah, but she doesn't have a leg to stand on with this Ker. Judy works for us, and she's somebody she would've called to handle this anyway. So, while she can be upset to a degree that we have to go this route. Is there really anything she can go nuts about?"
Kerry thinks for a moment, and then says, "It's Shonda honey, so anything is possible." Tony replies, "Good point. But, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. She can say whatever she wants; we may have caused this mistake. But, we are doing a great job of cleaning it up. So I don't want to hear her babbling about anything unnecessarily." Kerry sighs as she says, "Babe. I don't want this to turn into a pissing match between you two. Promise me, you won't take it there."
He sees the pleading in her eyes, and he feels a tugging on his heart. She always knows how to get to him. He'd like nothing more than to go at Shonda, but if it is at the cost of unnecessarily upsetting Kerry, it's not worth it. So he says, "Ker, I won't go there with her, unless she takes me there. Is that fair?" Kerry takes a deep breath, and says, "I guess so T. Just don't be the instigator." He smiles as he says, "Who me?" She grins at him as she says, "You know you can be a poor winner at times." He laughs as he says, "Nah, not me. I just tend to bring out the soreness felt by sore losers." She playfully rolls her eyes as she says, "Whatever, are we watching a movie tonight, or what?" Tony sinfully responds, "That depends on what the, or what is." She laughs as she says, "You're incorrigible." He smiles as he says, "When it comes to you, yes. Guilty as charged."
She smiles at him, and grabs the remote. He says, "Hey, what are you doing?" She replies, "I'm finding a movie. It's my pick." He responds, "Can we not make it a chick flick?" She laughs as she asks, "Why not. I like it when you cry at movies." He grins as he says, "That happened once. Will I ever live that down?" She smiles as she says, "No. Because it was sweet." He smiles as he says, "Okay. Whatever you say. I'll go pop the popcorn." She smiles as she says, "Deal." As she looks through the pay per view options. She finally finds an option she's sure he'll like.
She orders the movie, and he comes in with a tray with popcorn and two iced teas. He sits down, and asks, "So what are we watching?" She smiles as she says, "Man of Steel." He grins as he says, "Hey, good job babe." She gives him a kiss, as she says, "Thanks. I wanted something we could cuddle and watch, with action." He nods as he says, "Good selection. Let's do it." They get comfortable, and they start their movie. All is right with the world in this moment, because it's just them and the drama is on pause for at least 24 hours.
It's 11:00am and Tony and Kerry have arrived at Shonda's house, driving separately as Judy proposed. They are standing on her doorstep, and Kerry takes a breath as Tony rings the doorbell. Shonda greets them at the door, and the halfhearted smile they receive is indicative of what they expected from her.
They walk inside, after exchanging brief pleasantries, and when they enter the living room with her Judy is already seated. Judy greets them, and Shonda notices the friendliness between the three of them. She offers them a beverage, but they decline. When seated, Judy says, "Now that we are all present. Shonda, I wanted you to know that Tony and Kerry are my clients. I am representing them in a situation that could be trouble for the show."
Shonda sits upright, as she asks, "What trouble?" Judy fills her in on the issue regarding Bellamy and the solution to the problem in question. When she hears the entire story; Shonda angrily says, "I told you that party was a bad idea."
Judy interjects as she says, "Shonda, this isn't about the party. It's about Bellamy. The bottom line is, she's the one who hired the photographer. If she hadn't done that there wouldn't have been any photos taken. So, this isn't anyone else's fault but hers. Not to mention the fact that if you knew they were a couple; it was negligent of you not to implement non-disclosure agreements in the first place." Shonda says, "So this is my fault now?"
Judy says, "Nobody at this table is blaming you Shonda. But tell me this, if this does reach the public. How will you answer the network when they ask if you knew about their relationship? Who do you think they will blame for this becoming a mess in the media?"
Shonda responds, "I can say I didn't know about it." Judy nods as she responds, "That's true. But knowing how hands on you are. What's the likelihood of that being believed? It's not like you don't have a history of knowing about your cast members being intimate outside of their character roles, it's happened on every show you've done. So why would you want to be in jeopardy of being fired, by violating the ethics clause of your contract. You do know that lying to the network or misrepresenting the facts, is grounds for termination, right?"
Shonda is dumbfounded; she didn't even expect Judy to speak, let alone argue with her. She was all set to argue it out with Tony or Kerry. But not her. Both Tony and Kerry sit in silence as they watch Judy handle Shonda, secretly loving every minute of it.
Seeing that Judy was all about business and it was clear Tony and Kerry were only present for the purpose of being face to face with her while Judy lays out the plan. It's obvious Shonda's visibly upset and confused as to how to respond.
They all see her struggling to process what's happening; then she says, "This is bullshit. I have an idea. Why don't you two just stop fucking around, and that will solve all of it. That's the plan I will consent to implementing." Tony is tired of this, as he replies, "This isn't about what you want to implement here Shonda. Nobody's asking your permission for anything." Kerry thinks to herself, Oh God. Here we go.