Executive Orders

CH 37 | Episode 10: Home Is Wherever Our Hearts Are

Once she was gone, Fitz steeled himself to do the rest of his job; there were others that Fitz knew that he would be expected to speak to. For a moment, he heard Olivia in his head, reminding him of who else he should speak with before the evening was done.

That brought a brief smile to Fitz's face. Whatever he'd said about him not wanting her to focus on anything resembling on working tonight, Fitz knew that once she would be waiting for him, probably with pen and pad in hand, expecting a full breakdown on what she'd missed this evening.

It would be too unlike her- too unlike them - to not analyze the evening's events. This was normal, and normal was what Olivia needed more than anything else. Fitz knew how her mind worked and it would help ground her like nothing else could. and anything Olivia needed was a priority with him.

Fitz glanced at his watch and made a few decisions - he figured he had maybe an hour left in him before his patience ran dry, so he spent that time doing what he had to do, talking with donors and deal-makers, using the time to gauge the mood and viewpoints of not only his supporters but even a few key representatives of Elizabeth's guest-list.

She was going to be trouble; every instinct in him told him so. Olivia wasn't the only one who had learned to trust her gut.

Finally, time was up. Fitz went looking for Cyrus and as expected, he found him in the center of a group of on-the-fence donors, happily wrangling them into submission. All it took was one glance from Fitz and Cyrus excused himself from the group and came to him.

"Mr. President?" he asked.

"I'm done, Cyrus." Fitz had no doubt that Cyrus knew that before he spoke a single word. "I've done my duty to the Country, the Party and my presidency and as of this minute - I. Am. Done."

Happily, Cyrus didn't disagree. "To be honest sir, I'm surprised - and very grateful - that you managed to last this long."

"Do I get a cookie?"

"Nobody likes a smart-ass, sir." Cyrus said."I can handle the rest of the evening, but I do have one final request."

"And that is?"

Cyrus knew he was pushing Fitz's boundaries, but wasn't that a part of his job? "Let's mind our table manners and at least say goodnight to our co-hostess, shall we?"

"As long as we can be done in sixty seconds or less." Fitz's expression showed that he knew that Cyrus was right but he still didn't have to like it.

Cyrus sighed but had the good sense not to argue with him. They'd find Elizabeth, Fitz would offer his good-nights - Elizabeth would accept them and then the president could make his escape.

"Not that I particularly care, but you should know that Elizabeth may not be overly pleased with me at the moment." Fitz gave Cyrus a quick briefing about the details of the encounter between her and Olivia.

That didn't surprise Cyrus at all. "As long as there was no overt carpet-bombing, pyrotechnic or any other incendiary devices deployed, I think that we can still count tonight as a win."

If he'd had any sense, Cyrus wouldn't have wanted to imagine what the two women had said to one another. Then again, a clearly psychotic part of his brain did want to know what had happened when two powerful, dynamic women had gone toe to toe in a basically public, political venue.

The devil that was ever-perched on his shoulder chuckled to himself, wishing he'd been a fly on the wall for that conversation. In response, Cyrus felt his lips twitch in a reluctant smile. What was wrong with him?

The two of them found Elizabeth soon enough, holding court over her own circle of political sycophants. Cyrus stood back, carefully hiding his concern as Fitz offered his good-nights to Elizabeth, hoping that no one else caught the lack of either care or sincerity in Fitz's words - or the subtle chill in Elizabeth's response. It left him not looking forward to their next conversation.