Executive Orders

CH 14 | Speculations and Conversations

"Are you sure that this is a good idea? Because I'm not."

"It'll be fine, Fitz. I'm just doing my job - it's even Cyrus approved." Olivia tried to keep the laughter out of her voice as she flashed her pass at the guards at their post.

She and Harrison were on the scouting mission Cyrus had come up with; Harrison's mission was to work his charm on a few of the top aides and executive secretaries that he knew, while Olivia had her mind set on bigger game. They'd split up at her car in the underground Senate private parking garage with plans to meet back in an hour -

"A quick in and out." Harrison had said. "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Not my usual style, Liv."

"You are terrible." Olivia had replied. "Handle your business however you have to - after hours."

Now she entering the private subway system and Fitz was sounding more than a little displeased.

"You're going to see Edison Davis. You ex-whatever the hell he was to you."

"The key word here is "ex." Olivia bit her lower lip in another effort to keep from laughing.

"The key word is Edison."

She couldn't help the laugh that burst out of her. Fitz was jealous. He'd been trying to hide it but was failing miserably.

"Livvie." Now he was trying for outraged and offended but she also saw through his pretending. "Go ahead and mock my pain."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not." She admitted with one final giggle bubbling up from inside of her. "And that's because I know that there's no need for you to be jealous - and you should know that."

"I do know that." Fitz said. "But does he?"

***

Olivia arrived at Edison's office a few minutes later. Or more correctly, his executive secretary's office, where she politely but firmly insisted on waiting to see him.

Yes, she knew that she didn't have an appointment. And yes, she understood that the Senator was a very busy man with a very full schedule - but what she had to speak with him about would take a very little time - and yes, she was very, very sure that the Senator would mind very, very much if he found out after the fact that Olivia Pope had come to speak with him and he had not even been informed of her presence.

"Let's just wait until his current meeting is done and then we'll see whether or not Edison can make the time to see me or not." Olivia took a seat close to the paneled double doors leading into Edison's office, making it clear that she had every intention of staying right where she was and where Edison couldn't possible miss her when the doors opened. Olivia kept her eyes on his secretary until the other woman dropped her gaze and reached for her phone, discretely informing the Senator of her presence.

Mission accomplished, Olivia turned her attention away. Not that she was trying to eavesdrop, but while she couldn't quite understand the words, whatever meeting Edison was currently in, it wasn't a very happy one. She even heard a few angry words spoken in Spanish - there were Latina bloodlines in his ancestry - but it was rare that Edison lapsed into such speech. It only happened when he was very, very angry - and Edison was a man who rarely let himself lose his temper.

***

"Before you ask - don't."

Olivia found herself holding back another smile; there were some things about her that had never changed and Edison had known her long enough to know that no matter the reason she'd come by unannounced, she would have been more than a little curious at seeing that Francis Garner had been his visitor.

Considering their last less-than-pleasant meeting, both she and Garner been surprised to see one another. They exchanged polite greetings, then Edison was inviting her in, not speaking until he'd closed the office doors behind them.

"Ask why a Republican is visiting a Democratic Chairman? I wouldn't dream of it." Olivia didn't bother to hide her amusement. To show respect to his office, she purposefully waited while Edison walked back to his desk and invited her to take a seat.

A reluctant smile tugs at his mouth as he sat down. "Yes, you would."

"Well, just maybe." Olivia returned his smile with a small one of her own. She might wonder all she liked, but she knew Edison well enough to know better than to come right out and ask five seconds after he had allowed her in.

"So, what is it you want, Olivia? Are you here in your official capacity or is it anything else?"

Obviously the five second rule only applied to her.

"You have some nerve, Olivia - showing up without an appointment, just dropping by is what you told my secretary, isn't it?" Edison didn't give her a chance to answer before he was firing another question at her. "You work for the opposition and you really thought you could do that, didn't you?"

Edison watched her reaction to his words while trying not to be obvious about it. If he were being honest, nerve was something that his Liv had never lacked, so he hadn't been surprised at all when she'd been announced.

His first instinct had been to refuse to see her, but between one halting breath and the next, his heart and head had decided otherwise; it had been a petty thought and beneath him. Beneath them - and what they used to be.

And that had left him trying not to stare at her, but it was hard to keep his eyes off of her. Olivia was as beautiful as ever - as understated, unknowingly sexy as ever - she was even practically glowing in a way she'd never seemed to do when she was with him.

It wasn't hard to guess at the reasons; there was no doubt that Olivia was thriving - a known and powerful element in close orbit to the main source of DC power - the Oval - obviously agreed with her. At the same time, from what he'd heard, her crisis management business was doing incredibly well.

That thought made him smile inside; Olivia was a vibrant, multi-talented woman - but she would have never been able to live the role of a quote-unquote proper Senator's wife. That realization came with a genuine sense of regret, but the truth was Olivia living a life in the muted shadow of a powerful man joined with the necessities of a political marriage would have never worked for her and in the long run, it wouldn't have worked for either of them.

"Edison, if you're not interested in talking with me, all you would have had to do is instruct your secretary to send me away when she told you that I was here."

She was right, of course. And Edison was forced to acknowledge to himself that he'd found himself totally unprepared to tell her no.

"Since you're here, why don't you just tell me what it is you want, Olivia?

Her mouth, tinted in a soft yet sultry red, curved itself into another smile.

When he allowed himself to remember all the times he'd kissed those lips, Edison found himself distracted all over again. Mentally he might understand, but there was still something in his that made him wonder - after all the times he'd kissed those lips, all the times that they'd made love to one another, with one another - where had they gone wrong? What kind of fool had he been to have ever let her go - not once, but twice.

"Edison, I'm not here because I'm working for the opposition." Olivia corrected him while she gave him another brilliant smile at the same time. "Yes, I work for the president - but it could be argued that a part of your job is to find a way to work with him, isn't it? And isn't the end goal the same - to do the best you can for the American people?"

He was always getting tangled up in her arguments. She always could find a way to find an angle to work. Edison felt a reluctant smile come to his face. "What do you want, Liv?"

"I actually came to ask you about something else. Although since you mention it..."

"Ask your questions, Olivia."