Alright, finally the next chapter of this story. So sorry it took so long. Between school, writers bloke in regards to this story and becoming engrossed in the other story I have in progress on this site, it took me a long time to finally get this done. Hope it is ok, I am still trying to work out how the rest of it is going to come together. Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions and sticking with me even though it has been months. I promise the next chapter will not take me anywhere near as long. Please, Please, Please read and review, your feed back helps me in determining what comes next.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with Scandal. That amazing honor goes to Shonda Rhimes and ABC.
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(O) "I am on my way. Just keep reassuring the Senator that this is just a routine follow up to the press conference he gave about it last month. The hard part is over, the polls are already starting to show that the public is forgetting about it and moving on. He needs to stop worrying. It was handled perfectly." Olivia explained to Quinn over the phone and she climbed into her car.
She was running a bit late this morning and she hated running late. Getting ready in the morning was becoming an increasingly time consuming process. Not only was she slowed by the pregnancy itself; it now also took extra time to put together outfits that helped to hide her ever-expanding baby bump. She had been successful though and in the few public appearances she had made for her clients since her condition became more evident; the press had not caught on.
As she went to turn onto the street from the parking garage, she stopped, waiting for an oncoming car to pass. Her brakes felt mushy when she applied them, and she frowned, experimentally pumping the pedal again. This time it felt fine. She probably just needed to have the brake fluid levels checked. She mentally made a note to do just that when she had the time.
She gradually accelerated and turned onto the street, her thoughts drifting to her schedule for the day and what needed to be done.
A car in front of her stopped at the intersection to wait to cross to the other side. Though she was still a distance away, she put her foot on the brake pedal to slow down. But the pedal went all the way to the floorboard without any resistance at all. Alarms shot through her and she pumped the break again, still no response. She could not stop the car from moving forward.
Time warped, stretching like elastic. The road elongated in front of her, while the oncoming cars loomed twice their normal size. Thoughts flashed through her mind…..Fitz, the baby.
A deep ditch was to the right, and the shoulder was narrow, there was no room for her to swing past the cars stopped at the intersection, even if there hadn't been the danger of shooting across four lanes of traffic. She gripped the steering wheel, anguish choking her at the thought that if she died, she would take her child with her and it would never have a chance to experience life. She couldn't die now….she had to do something.
Then it clicked, she already knew what to do. She had taken extra driving courses in college. She knew how to handle skids and lousy road conditions, she knew what to do in case of break failure.
She knew what to do!
The driving instructors voice sounded in her head.
"Don't take a solid hit if you can help it. Don't let yourself hit anything head on, that's when the worst damage occurs. Turn the car, slide into a collision, and dissipate the force."
She reached for the gearshift. 'Don't try and put it into park.' She thought. The instructor had said that if the brakes failed it likely couldn't go into park anyway. She could hear his voice as clearly as if he were sitting beside her.
"Put the gear into low range and pull the emergency brakes. The emergency cable brakes work on a cable, not on pneumatic pressure. Loss of brake fluid won't affect them.
The stopped cars where just fifty feet head now. The oncoming cars even less than that. She pulled the gear shift into low and reached for the emergency brake lever, pulling it with all her strength. Metal shrieked as the transmission ground down, and black smoke boiled up from her tires. The stench of burning rubber filled the car.
"The rear end of the car will likely come around. Steer out of the skid if you can. If you don't have room, and you see your going to hit someone or be hit, try to maneuver so it's an indirect collision. Both of you are more likely to walk away."
The rear end of the car swung into the other land, in front of the oncoming car. A horn blared and Olivia caught a glimpse of the furious, terrified face of the other driver. She turned into the skid, felt the car begin to slide in the other direction and quickly spun the steering wheel to correct that skid, too. The oncoming car swept past with only inches to spare, their horn still blaring. That left only the car in her lane, still sitting patiently at the stop sign.
Twenty yards, no more room, no more time. With the left lane clear now, Olivia sent her car into a spinning slide across it. There was a field of the other side of the road and it was nice and flat. She left the road and plunged across the shoulder, the car still skidding sideways. She crashed into the fencing, wood splintering and a whole section came down. The car plowed down head a coupe of bushes as it finally started to slow down. Clods of dirt where flying in all directions. Olivia was thrown forward, the seat belt bit hard into her hips and torso, jerking her back as the car shuddered to a stop.
She sat there with her head resting against the steering wheel, to dazed to get out of the car just yet. Numbly she took stock of herself, nothing seemed broken or hurt. She was also relieved to feel the baby deliver a swift kick, likely upset at being tossed around.
She heard someone yelling, than there was tapping on the window beside her.
"Ma'am? Ma'am? Are you alright?"
Olivia looked up and saw the scared face of a teenage girl peering at her through the window. Willing her shaking limbs to cooperate, she unclipped her seat blt and tried to get out. The door didn't want to open. She shoved, and the girl pulled from the outside, and together they forced it open enough for Olivia to climb out.
"I'm ok, just a little shaken." She managed to say.
"I saw you run off the road. Are you sure you are ok? You hit that fence pretty hard. I already called 911. They should be here any minutes." As she said this, they both heard the sirens in the distance and they were coming closer. Olivia groaned, she knew that for the baby's sake she should get checked out, but had hoped to just call Abby or Quinn to come pick her up and take her. She didn't even want to think about the issues that would arise if the press discovered that Washington's premiere fixer and former White House Communication's Director was seen treated by paramedics at the scene of an accident.
Within less than a minute, an ambulance and fire truck had arrived at the scene and despite her protests, Olivia found herself escorted to the ambulance where the paramedics began to check her for injuries, checked her blood pressure and other routine tests.
"Ms. Pope, it is likely just a result of the stress of the accident, but your blood pressure is elevated and your coloring worries me. Especially given the advanced state of your pregnancy, I highly recommend that you let us take you in to get checked out." The paramedic urged.
(O)"I will get everything checked out, I will just arrange for a friend to pick me up and take me, I would rather not go by ambulance." Olivia responded.
"Ms. Pope, an ambulance is equipped with things we might need if anything unforeseen happens. Sometimes injuries may not even present until a while after an incident. Additionally, I am sure you are aware just how dangerous elevated blood pressure can be in your condition."
Olivia sighed. If it weren't for the baby, she would not give in. However, for her child's sake, she would do what he asked. "Fine. But no sirens."
"Deal"
Within minutes, Olivia found herself situated on the gurney in the ambulance after making the call to Abby to arrange for her car to be towed and inspected. Abby had initially panicked when Olivia had explained that she had been in an accident and was being taken to the hospital. However, Olivia had quickly reassured her that it was merely a precaution for the sake of the baby and she was sure she wouldn't be there long. After obtaining a promise from Olivia that she would call if anything was truly wrong or when she was ready to be discharged and needed to be picked up, Abby hung up and set to work arranging for the tow.
As the ambulance doors were closing, Olivia caught a glimpse of a car parked not to far away. The occupants of the vehicle were just sitting there looking in the direction of the accident. Olivia considered that they might just be curious bystanders, but her gut told her there was something fishy about that car and she made a mental note to have Huck look into it when she saw him later that day.
Three hours later, Abby was picking Olivia up from the hospital after she had been discharged. The doctors had run multiple tests to make certain that both Olivia and the baby were fine. Olivia's blood pressure had quickly headed back down into a healthier range and the doctor determined that it elevated status at the accident scene had in fact been a result of the shock from the accident itself. He did however tell both Abby and Olivia that Olivia should rest for the remainder of the day to allow herself to recover from the scare she had received.
"Getting this one to settle down and relax is easier said than done." Abby had responded with a chuckle.
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That evening at the White House…
Fitz was sitting in his private office off the Oval working on a speech he would be giving to a group of veterans the next day when a Tom entered the room.
"Sir, Agent John McGuire is on his way up to see you. He has information on the surveillance you ordered yesterday."
"Thank you Tom. Have him come right in when he gets up here." Fitz responded. He had been anxious about Olivia and the threat he had received against her all day. He had tried to keep himself calm by telling himself that if something happened that would tell him, but he found it did little to ease that panic he had been feeling since John had shown him the photo and note the night before. Within minutes, Agent McGuire had arrived and was immediately shown into the office.
"John, what have you got? Any leads on who could have sent that note? Anything suspicious happening around Ms. Pope?" He quickly shot off as soon as John walked in.
"Sir, we still do not have leads on the note. As for Ms. Pope sir, well….she was in a car accident today and we think it was the result of foul play sir." The agent explained quickly.
"What?!" Fitz exclaimed as he sat down heavily in his chair, "Is she ….how bad was she hurt?" He asked the agent, his heart pounding.
"Ms. Pope was taken by ambulance to the hospital, but from what we have been able to determine so far, that was just as a precaution. She was discharged only a couple hours later and the agents who watched her leave with a Ms. Abby Whelan noted that she looked tired and frazzled, but uninjured sir." John quickly explained.
"Get your hands on those hospital records, I want to be damn sure there was nothing wrong. And you said you suspect foul play?"
"Yes sir, the agent following Ms. Pope's car said that it she appeared unable to brake as she approached an intersection. Their report states that it appeared that everything Ms. Pope did afterwards was in an attempt to avoid a collision with other cars and she ended up in a lot with a fence to help slow her down. They said her quick maneuvering likely saved her life and maybe that of other drivers in the area. The agents were prepared to go and assist Ms. Pope after her car came to a stop, but another driver apparently had the same idea, so in an effort to keep their surveillance secret, the agents stayed back until after Ms. Pope had been taken away from the scene. They were able to get a look under the car before the tow truck arrived the said it appears that Ms. Pope's break line had been cut, sir. We will work on getting the mechanic's report once the car has undergone further inspection."
"Let me know the moment you do. The same goes for the medical reports from the hospital. Is there anything else John?"
"No sir, that is all we have to report thus far sir." The agent responded before he was dismissed.
After John had left, Fitz went to stand by the window over looking the White House lawn and tried to control his breathing. Someone was trying to hurt his Livie. Some unknown evil was out there trying to take away the thing he treasured most in the entire worlds and they had almost succeeded today. It took everything it him not to storm over to her apartment to check on her himself, press and secret service be damned.
"We will find you, you son of a bitch." He whispered fervently into the night. "And when we do, so help me god, you will pay."
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Alright Gladiators, there you have it. Hope you enjoy. Please read and review.
Disclaimer: a good chunk of the description of Olivia's brake failure and car accident comes from the book Shades of Twilight by Linda Howard. I had writers block on what I was going to do in regards to the first attempt on Olivia's life and had been rereading that book and things seemed to click. Hope it works, let me know.
