Off The Air

Get Back

2 weeks later

After weeks of taking care of Stephen he's finally ready to get back to The Late Show. A few days prior to his return he drafted a statement regarding the scandal, which debunked false claims and confirmed the separation between him and Evie. As he drafts this address at the kitchen table, you come from behind and give him a hug. "What are you working on?" You ask. "What I'm gonna say on Monday." He says as he hands you the paper. You start reading it and he stares at you to capture a reaction. What he wrote was pretty straight forward and it shocked you. "Are you sure you wanna say this?" You replied. "Yes. I wanna be straight forward, and I wanna let the people know how I feel." He says. "And I want you to be there with me." He adds. "On camera?!" You respond. "Yes. People want to hear your side of the story too. So I'll call you on stage and you can tell them." "I can't do that Stephen..." you put the paper down and put your hands on your head. "Sure you can. You're an amazing speaker and an amazing writer." He says. "Come here." You go over and sit in the seat next to him. "If we're gonna do this, we gotta do it together." He says. "Alright. We're doing this together." You reply.

Monday

Returning to the theatre was a great feeling. Everyone was so glad to see each other again, and they even threw a little celebration for Stephen's recovery. Although you were having a good time, you were a bit nervous because you knew the affair would have to be revealed to the staff. Stephen found it much easier to reveal this than you did. "Welcome everyone. It feels good to be back! I want the format to be different for tonight's show. I told the producers no guests, no monologue or desk piece. Instead y/n and I will use that space to address our relationship and everything that happened the day we went off. Then we'll air a rerun." He says.

"I knew it! I knew it!!!" A staffer says. "Relationship? As in work buddies or..." another staffer says. "No! They're in a relationship!" The rest of the staff looks confused, meanwhile Stephen tries to defuse the situation. "I love her. And she loves me. I need that to be known." Stephen says. "So you and Evie were just... cheating on each other?" Another staffer states. "Well, we just fell out of love. Evie obviously did before me. But I kind of had a thing for y/n a little before we really started seeing each other. I mean look at her-" "please don't." You say to yourself. "She's smart and funny. One of the hardest working people around here. She's beautiful, caring, she makes me happy, and I would really appreciate it if you all can respect us." He concludes. Matthew makes his way over to you as the rest of the staff processes the information. "So you've been seeing him this whole time?" He says in a disappointing tone. "Yes, I won't say that I'm sorry but I know that you had a crush on me, so I'll just tell you that I'm sure there's another woman out there for you." You reply. "I appreciate that. We can be friends though right?" "Of course." You say. "If we're being honest... I never liked Evie. My first day I asked her for directions, and she said 'find it yourself, you work here don't you.' I tried to explain to her that I was new but she didn't care. That was my first and only interaction with her, I've avoided her ever since." He concludes.

Matthew's story made you think about something. As you look around the room everyone looked sad, and disappointed. You begin to think of all the times Evie mistreated you and wonder if this has happened to everyone else, so you stand up and make your point heard. "I'm not very comfortable speaking in this situation but I wanted to say that Evie wasn't very nice to me. Matthew just shared a story of how she was rude to him on his first day, and I've witnessed Stephen be verbally abused by her. But what about the rest of you? It's over now so if you've ever been mistreated by her now's the time to speak up." You look around the room, everyone looks like they're debating whether or not to speak. The backstage manager raises her hand. "I knew about Tony." She says. "You what?" Stephen says. "She told me about him, I guess she couldn't resist bragging about something that he got her and it just... came out." "How long ago was this?" Stephen asked. "4 years ago." She replies. Stephen lets out a heavy sigh. Although this didn't make Stephen feel good, you're glad you did it because everyone got the opportunity to say what they were afraid to say. Everyone in the room told a story about a time when Evie made them feel bad about themselves. At that moment you realized the show was revolving into a new era, for the better.

Showtime

The opening statement didn't have an audience present, and it was taped during the time that's used for rehearsals. Backstage, Stephen is giving everyone fist bumps. He finally makes it around to you. Without saying anything he grabs you by the waist and kisses you. "Stephen. You're on." A crew member tells him. He stops and looks behind him, then turns back to you, as if he didn't want to stop kissing you. "See you out there." You say as you gently rub his beard. You watch him enter onto the stage. "Let's do this." He says as he sits behind his desk. As he sits there waiting for the director's signal, he looks back stage and winks at you. You smile and mouth the words "I love you."

"We're rolling!"

Stephen's speech

"Hey everybody, welcome to The Late Show, I'm your host Stephen Colbert. I know I look different since the last time you saw me, I grew my beard back out, I have longer hair and new glasses. But I also feel different, physically and emotionally. As you all know from the press release last month I ruptured my appendix and ended up passed out on a New York City sidewalk, but the broader context has been very vague and twisted into something that it's not. What led me to that point was seeing my current wife Evelyn McGee with another man. It infuriated me to the point of no return. Now I don't think I reacted appropriately, but when you've devoted 30 years of your love and life to someone it's hard to witness something so heartbreaking. So I approached them and I started to question them and yell at them. Then I started getting dizzy due to my position vertigo, and by that point I started feeling a pain in my lower left stomach. Next thing I remember is falling down and waking up in the hospital. They performed an operation to remove my appendix and luckily I had a beautiful companion by my side to help me recover throughout these few weeks. Not only my writer, but the love of my life y/n."

You come out from back stage. "There she is." He says. A crew member pulls out another chair so you can sit behind the desk with him. You thank him before taking your seat.

Stephen: "A lot of you already know who this is, she's a very bright and funny woman, and she's been my rock for the past year. Whenever you're ready you can say what you need to."

Y/n: Stephen has been an amazing figure for me during my time here as a writer. He's always encouraged and believed in me. I couldn't thank him enough for the opportunities he's given me. Last year, when I saw the toxicity of his marriage first hand, I didn't know what to do. I knew he was a caring and compassionate man that deserved so much better, luckily for me, he was looking for better. I'm anxious almost all the time, but he's always here to tell me to relax. I've never felt this loved in my life and I hope that we don't get too much criticism so that Stephen doesn't have to tell me to relax. All and all I'm grateful that we found each other because I can't imagine spending my nights with anyone else. Now I understand that a lot of you were fans of Evie, and they were seen as the perfect couple. However let this be a lesson, that everything is not what it seems. No matter how positively something is seen in the media you never know for sure. Same goes for mental health. Just because someone is smiling on the outside doesn't mean that they can't be hurting on the inside. It's ok to get help, and it's ok to move on.
I love you Stephen."

Stephen: "I love you too honey. We'll be back with a rerun."

He kisses you before it cuts to commercial.