Disclaimer: Scandal belongs to Shonda Rhimes.
Author's note, Thanks for reviewing, it so nice to know somebody read this story. This chapter is not what you expect, but talking will come.
Take It Easy On Me
Chapter 4
"Mr. President," She said in a small voice.
Slowly Fitz got up, his eyes troubled and his expression painful, "I won't hold you, Olivia. See you tomorrow." Their eyes locked and Olivia held her breath, the tears was too damn close to the surface for her liking, and giving in she was lost in his eyes. His beautiful, emotional eyes, they expressed no happiness, but underneath the pain was the love that had always been there, and she could breathe again. Not minding the single tear that escaped her eye she let him into her heart. Just for one minute.
After what felt like a second Fitz withdrew his eyes and said softly, "Hal and Tom will escort you home, it's very late." Without waiting for her acceptance, he walked past her and into the oval room. Olivia gathered her things and followed him. "Mr. President." She bid him farewell. He just nodded briefly, his attention elsewhere.
Fighting back the wave of pain, she left him.
The next morning Abby met Olivia in the entrance hall with a stack of papers in her hand, which she held up in triumph "our boy Oliver doesn't have 2 millions in his bank account anymore. It will be a little hard for him to pay his victim with money he doesn't have." She paused dramatically and gave Olivia a wicked smile, "Guess, why he doesn't have the money anymore."
"He has already paid another victim." Olivia walked past her and into the conference room where she found the rest of the team.
Abby rushed in with anger and disbelief in her face, "you already knew but didn't bother to tell us."
"No Abby, I didn't know for certain, but suspected it might be the case, Emilio told me Oliver likes his boys young." Oliver's tension and lack of interest in the case had also made her suspicious.
"Oliver's bank account records that one and a half year ago one million dollars was transferred into an account belonging to a Jaz Hal."
"How old?" Olivia sighed.
Quinn moved slightly before she answered, "at that time Jaz was 15." She looked slightly sick to her stomach.
"From the phone record we know they go back a year prior to that."
"The boy was 14 when Oliver met him?" Olivia felt queasy to her stomach this was not something she wanted to be a part of. "Has anything been leaked to the press or online, find out. I'll visit Oliver."
Stepping into her office she closed the door behind her and at the same time her phone vibrated, "Pope" she sounded hash.
"Well hallo sunshine, I take you've a fine morning."
"No, I don't. But you on the other hand sound full of energy, Edison!" Her head started spinning, he obviously still cared about her and the thought of taking the next best man, a man who loved her, was so damn tempting, at times. Until, she thought how painful it would be in the long run. If only she could forget the man, she loved.
"I'm. Remember I'm your client, a pro bono client, and as such I require lunch with my fixer today. How about one o'clock at our Italian restaurant." He was charming.
Taking a deep breath, she debated quietly the wise in having lunch with her former fiancé, "I'll agree to lunch at one thirty but you're not my client, and never will be."
"We must talk more about this non client thing at lunch. See you Libby." He ended the conversation with laughter.
A knock on her door announced the entering of Huck, his appearance still alarmed her, and today he looked more worried and hunted than usual. His dark eyes had become two pools of anguish.
"I hope you know what you're doing. The First Lady is a story!" He stated.
"I know what I doing." She reassured him.
"She has been involved with Senator Marvin and Senator Miller since college, her relation with Senator Miller is none sexual but rumors has it, that he's in love with her. They were best bodies throughout Harvard, only a few selected friends knew about the friendship, Senator Marvin was one. They share a political agenda."
Olivia flinched but kept looking at Huck who said, "I'm looking into it."
"Thanks Huck," Olivia smiled fondly at him.
Picking up her phone she didn't waste more time, "Cyrus let me talk to him."
"Olivia!" His deep voice vibrated in her ear and for a split second she took pleasant in listening to his bass.
"Mr. President, you need to form a press release where you inform the press pool that your wife is taking a leave of absent in your home in Santa Barbara. The pregnancy is hard on her body in this semester and she needs to relax, to be away from the political scene. Especially the situation in East Sudan is hard on an expecting mother, and the case with Jenny didn't help, either. You've to make her sound weak and not in a state to be trusted if she interferes in political issues. She is most of all pregnant and vulnerable. Make sure you express concern for her and the baby. You want to do what is best for both your wife and unborn baby, and right now separation from the stress of the political arena is best for them. Use the baby to corner your wife."
"You want me to go on air?"
"No! A press release will be sufficient at this time."
There was a long pause and Olivia could hear him taking a few fast intakes of air, "I take it you've a new set of information?" He sounded more tired than interested in her information.
"I'll inform you later." She broke the contact without saying goodbye.
A knock on the door interrupted the President a few minutes later and Cyrus walked into the middle of the oval room, for a moment he just watched the President, who calmly returned the stare before Cyrus rushed to the desk. Cyrus leaned in over the desk to be as close to The President as appropriate, opened his mouth and almost yelled.
"Tic tock, Mr. President. Now I've two bombs to deal with, you and your charming wife. Tic tock. Will you explode in my face? The lovesick President who has been stood up by his mistress and his manipulative wife. I always thought Olivia Pope would be your undoing, guess I was wrong. The First Lady can do more harm than a mislead mistress. Tic tock, tic tock."
Fitz leaned forward and yelled into Cyrus's head. "You'll never call Olivia Pope my mistress, she was more than that and I'll not have you disrespect her in any way."
"For Christ sake, behave like a man and be the President of the United States. I won't be your middle man, give Olivia your direct number."
"Olivia has my direct number. We've a press release to write before noon; Olivia Pope is ahead of us."
"Thank God, she is worth her money."
Oliver Lawson came into his father's study with messy hair and in wrinkled clothes, it was clear that his mother had awoken him when Olivia knocked on their door. He was avoiding any eye contact and seems to wish she would disappear into thin air.
"Oliver?" Olivia required from her chair, she didn't have patient for his sulkiness.
"Sorry Ms Pope, my dad is at court."
"I know, I came to talk to you." She gave him a brief moment, before she picked up her speech, "do you remember Jaz Hal? A very young boy you met in a chat room for young gays."
All color drained from Oliver's face and he bowed his head guiltily, in an almost inaudible voice he answered, "yes."
"How much did you pay to make Jaz Hal disappear from your life?" Olivia showed no mercy.
"A… a million."
Olivia kept her eyes on the young man, "you like them young, how young?"
Finally, Oliver looked up, "Jaz was the youngest. I really cared for him, I know it's wrong… but I can't stop. Please, help me Ms Pope. I know what I did was wrong and I feel ashamed."
"Why didn't you seek help, Oliver."
His whole body became tense, "my mother would die of shame if she knew I was gay, she keeps inviting promising young women over to dinner. She wants the perfect family. How worse would it be for her to face I am a pedophile, yes, I know what I am. And my father is a highly respected Supreme Court judge, for Christ sake. Do the math, Ms Pope."
Coldly she replied, "I won't. How many."
"Just Jaz and Emilio. After Emilio I didn't dare taking a too young lover, Emilio looked so young that I could pretend he was. I tried to take good care of him."
"I'm sure you did Mr. Lawson. Can I trust you this time?"
"Yes, I've no more lies. I can only pay Emilio 500,000 dollar. What will happen to me, Ms Pope?"
"Your father hired me to fix this," was all she offered.
Outside the grand Lawson mansion she called Harrison, get Huck and Quinn to find Jaz Hal and meet me at the Supreme Court. " She barked into the phone.
She met Harrison outside of the Supreme Court, having called Judge Lawson in advance, they were showed directly into his office. The judge looked tense and nervous.
"How bad is it, Olivia?" He greeted her. "Sorry, I forget my manners, please take a seat," he pointed to the two chairs ahead of him. The desk was neat and family pictures had the place of honor, Lawson was a man of order and he was trustworthy.
"You son has serious problems, Walker." Olivia tested the waters.
"Just tell me, Olivia." His calm facade faded briefly showing a scared father.
Olivia braved herself, "your son is a pedophile. His youngest victim was 14, he was paid a million to shut up. Oliver knows what he does is wrong but he can't control the urges, according to him."
The breath was caught in the judge's lungs and he turned sickly pale, grabbing the desk with both hands, he stared straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room. "I've sent many a pedophile to rotten in jail, every case leaving me sick to my stomach. I always thought bad parents made monsters, have I been a bad parent?"
"You have done your best, Walker. I've seen you with Oliver. You and Georgia have been good parents, Georgia always stayed home to take care of your son and home." Olivia's voice was soft but powerful, she too failed to see where they had failed.
"How do we proceed, Olivia?"
Harrison sat silently beside Olivia, he was only here to take care of the legal details of the agreements.
"Emilio will settle with two millions, he wants to escape poverty and study. We have yet to talk to the young boy Jaz Hal"
Harrison shifted in his chair, "Emilio was abused by an uncle when he was twelve, when the uncle was sent back to Mexico a year later, the abuse stopped. But the damage was done, Emilio started to frequent older men who would pay for a young lover, after two middle aged men he met Oliver. Before the uncle's visit, Emilio was a bright kid now he finds it hard to concentrate and lack self-confidence."
"Oh my God!" The judge turned greenish.
Olivia felt her own stomach twist and turn, "Walker we can fix this, but we have to make sure Oliver won't do something like this again. We can't turn the blind eye to this destructing behavior, there are millions of boys like Jaz and Emilio out there, and millions of men like Oliver. Oliver's sexual orientation is not on you or Georgia but it's on Oliver. You need to do what is right, Walker."
"You want me to send my son to jail?"
"Will it fix Oliver's problem? He admits what he has done is wrong." Olivia returned the responsibility to Walker.
The television was on when Harrison and Olivia stepped into the conference room at her office.
"We have just received a press release from the White House; the First Lady suffers from minor pregnancy affects, America's baby is showing signs of stress and the First Lady needs all the rest she can get. To spare his unborn baby and wife the President has ordered his wife to take a vacation in Santa Barbara, he hopes to avoid any more stress on both of them. He is very worried and state, that the resent issues with East Sudan and Alexander Lavich have troubled the First Lady in unexpected ways. There is the risk of a immature birth if his wife doesn't slow down and stay out of the public light. We have tried to get a direct comment by the President, but the White House states that this is a private matter and the President would like to keep it that way. It was due to this sad news the President rushed home early from Tokyo."
The screen showed a picture of the President caressing his smiling wife's abdomen.
Olivia switched of the television her nausea had returned with the picture of Fitz and Mellie, once again she felt exhausted and her chest hurt.
"Have we located Jaz Hal?" she asked tiredly.
"We have," Quinn said, "earlier this month he broke down and told his mom what had happen to him, he had been having a sexual relationship with a much older man who didn't treat him nice. The man wanted to loan him out to his friends and Jaz became very scared and didn't know what to do. He lives alone with his mom. He hasn't used the money, too confused to know what to do with them. His mom and Jaz agreed to use some of the money to move to a nicer neighbor hood and start over. His mother is a hard working woman and wants to help her son."
"Does she wants more money?" Olivia asked.
"No, she just wants to move on!" Huck looked at the boy's picture on the wall.
The waiter escorted Olivia to a table in a quiet corner of the small restaurant, Edison was already looking at the menu, he had always had a healthy appetite.
"Edison," she greeted allowing the waiter to push the chair in under her. "A bottle of sparkling water" she ordered, "and a Cesar salad, no starters, please."
Edison watched her the whole time, "you sure are a sight for sore eyes, Libby."
"Thank you," she replied neutrally.
"I thought we had agreed that I was your client by now." He joked.
Olivia smiled a thank you to the waiter for bringing her sparkling water. Focusing on Edison she gave him a fake smile, "are you still friends with Senator Miller?"
"Yeah, why?" He laughed. "You know we made friends at Harvard, we share the same political views and work united to achieve our political goals at the Senate. It's not a secret."
"Olivia felt a wave of worry in her gut, it was too much of a coincidence the link between Miller and Edison.
"Oh, are you still in the Republican Lobby you used to be in, isn't it what you called it?" She smiled sweetly at him.
His smiling eyes looked into hers, "Yes and I'm, you've to keep your political friends close."
"Of course, do I remember correct when I remember Senator Marvin belonging to your lobby?"
"Yeah, he's been a member since the begining, and he's a very good friend of Miller. Both seem to have easy access to the White House. Whereas, my access was cut recently." He studied her.
Olivia pause to take a bite of her salad, "are you pro or con the President?" she asked innocently.
A chuckling was heard from the other side of the table, but she kept her eyes on her food like she didn't really care to hear the answer. "That's a very personal question, Libby. You know I supported Governor Mayor, who lost severely to the former Governor Grant when the party voted for the candidate to run for President. You used to be on the same political page as I was, Libby?"
Forcing a chuckle forward, she sweetly answered, "your memory fails you, I remember heated discussion on our political differences. I've always been more in favor of social reforms than you've."
"So you have, Libby. I want you to represent me." He gave her one of his winning smiles.
"Sorry can't do, Edison. I'm too busy and we share a history."
He looked intensely at her, "still, no ties to the White House?"
Laughing she shook her head, "I run into Cyrus on occasions."
Her phone vibrated briefly, indicating she had received a text massage, looking discretely at her cell she saw the text was from the President, he wanted a meeting.
To be continued