Executive Orders

CH 01 | Episode 01: The End of The Beginning

"Hi."

"Hi."

He was in his office and she was in hers, but the sound of his voice made the distance between them disappear.

"It's done."

Despite the joy his words gave her, Olivia wondered at the tone in Fitz's voice; it can't have been easy, she thought.

The Fixer in her couldn't help itself. "Second thoughts?"

"Never." Fitz said. "You? Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

"Never."

"How soon can you pack your bags?"He laughed, but there was a seriousness behind his words and they both knew it.

Olivia's answer was a soft laugh of her own. "You do remember that we have a plan, don't you?"

"That's not exactly what I'm remembering at the moment." His voice went warm and suggestive and Olivia didn't have to wonder at what he was remembering.

"The plan, Fitz. We have to stick to the plan." She tried to sound firm, but with his voice making her insides coil into warm knots, along with the knowledge that they were one step closer to their dream, it was a difficult thing. Olivia felt hot and cold, a little fearful, if she would admit it, but hopeful and thrilled all at the same time. She felt so much that sometimes none of it seemed real...

"We have your perfect plan." Fitz agreed. "That doesn't mean we can't work around the plan."

"What kind of workaround did you have in mind?"

"How about a sleepover?"

"Fitz, you're terrible." Even though he couldn't see her, Olivia shook her head. He was such a bad boy sometimes. And the fact that nobody knew that but her... that was a delicious secret.

"No, I'm not. Want me to come over and prove it to you?"

"Fitzgerald Grant..." The way he laughed let her know that her attempt at scolding him was failing miserably, but undaunted, she tried again. "Mr. President."

"You know how much I love it when you call me that." Fitz's voice dropped to a purposefully suggestive tone. "You know what it does to me when you call me that."

And he knew what his voice did to her when he talked to her like the way he was doing right now. Olivia closed her eyes briefly while in spite of her words, a familiar and welcome warmth began to spark somewhere deep inside.

And then she let reality back in. "Fitz, you know we have to wait and see how the news of your separation goes over in the next news cycle before we even think about anything else. The both of us are going to have to be be very careful from here on out."

Even while she was reminding Fitz about their agreement of taking a brief step away from each other, there's a rising sense of relief in her. Olivia told herself that she was over-thinking things. She did that a lot, she knew it was a fault of hers. She even knew why, even if she couldn't help it. Overthinking was what she did when she couldn't fix matters, when the Fixer was forced to let matters fall out all on their own...

Earlier that day...

She's trying not to look at her watch.

It isn't that late, only just past early evening the sun having set no more than an hour earlier. She's still at OPA, but the time isn't the reason why she's trying not to look at her watch. Try as she might not to think about it, she can't deny the reason why. She will not think about it; she tells herself, it's a useless endeavor. It won't make the time pass any faster, it won't make matters move any quicker either. He'll call her when it's done.

"It" was specifically, the signing of Fitz and Mellie's separation papers. Today - this evening - probably right about now- is the day that they meet and sign them.

The timing was well planned out; Friday evening, with Halloween falling on a Saturday this year. Their meeting was taking place deliberately after the courts have closed, deliberately after the evening news was over, with the hope being that it would keep the buzz down to a reasonable roar, with the holiday weekend acting as a buffer before the Monday morning news.

Olivia let out a slow breath, staring down at the papers in front of her, deliberately forcing her thoughts in a different direction. They were wrapping up another convoluted case for the eccentric Caldwells and that included a final meeting between them tonight. Otherwise, she'd be -elsewhere tonight.

Nothing like repeat customers, the thought crosses her mind unbidden - and that sends a reluctant smile across her face.

But then her eyes strayed from the page in front of her and once again so did her thoughts.

***

Here they are. Sitting across the table from one another in a cold and soulless room, one as cold as their marriage had been. There are no lawyers present. Their jobs were done. All the negotiations, such as they were, are over now and their respective lawyers were waiting outside to receive the papers and then to deliver to a friendly judge to be quietly witnessed, notarized and filed.

Even the separation papers aren't necessary, Fitz thinks as he scrawls his name across the final one, but it's fine with him that Mellie demands this as a part of her deal. When the news breaks - and they both knew no matter what precautions they took, the news would break - it would salve Mellie's pride.

It was what the world would see vs reality. Reality was they both know that after her last debacle, Mellie was in no real position to make any demands at all, but Fitz simply doesn't care. Not anymore.

There are other requests that Mellie have made, but again, considering it's the beginning of the end to the misery they've both managed to inflict on one another for the past ten years, that's fine with him too. Obviously his soon-to-be ex wife has finally come to terms with the truth.

With an eye to her future and her vision of her reality, Mellie had made it a point to attempt to debate and negotiate wherever she thought she'd seen the chance. He owed her that much, she'd claimed and Fitz hadn't disagreed with her. It wasn't that she was necessarily right, he just wanted to not have to argue with her any more than he had to.

After twenty years of marriage, Fitz was more than ready to be generous. That meant granting her tenancy rights to the family homes in Colorado and Santa Barbara - the ranch - which meant that as long as she gave good advance notice, Mellie would be allowed to use them for the purpose of providing visitation for the kids through their minority.

There was no reason why their expectations of their lifestyles should be changed or rearranged because of their parents splitting up, she'd argued. She also wanted outright ownership of the condo in Virginia and the townhouse in upstate New York; if and when she decided on her own political path it would more than likely be in one of those two states, so she had decided that she would need them to establish residency.

Fitz wasn't fooled by her demands - there was another layer to those demands - they were also a way to keep her name tied to the Grant political legacy. Again, Fitz had no problem with her demands, his mind telling him to just let it all be done. He didn't need those houses, not really. At the end of the day, they were just things. And things can be replaced - and after all, he had Vermont.

Finished with his papers, Fitz took them in his hands and tapped them lightly on the tabletop, neatening them out. Across the table from him, Mellie was just finishing signing on the last page of her papers.

She looked up at him. "So, this is it. The beginning of the end."

Fitz didn't answer her. His mind told him that anything he could have said would be taken the wrong way and would lead to a fight.

For a moment, he thought Mellie would start one anyway. He could see the light of battle spark in her eyes, but to his surprise and relief, it died away almost as quickly as it had been born.

"I'll bring Teddy by the Oval in his costume tomorrow. That way we can all be wearing our masks for the camera..."

Before Fitz could answer, Mellie jerked herself out of her chair and stalked out of the door. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was indeed, the beginning of the end - but it was also the beginning of the next chapter of his life. His best life.