Executive Orders

CH 50 | No Common Ground

Harrison began to turn to go, but Olivia's next words stopped him. "One more thing - do I need to worry about Quinn and Huck?"

She watched as Harrison paused, and it was obvious he thinking about what he should or should not say.

He sighed before he answered. "To be honest, I can't say for sure one way or the other - I don't even know if the situation is worth mentioning - except that it seems to have struck a nerve with Huck - and we both know that Huck doesn't usually show what he's feeling to anyone."

Olivia nodded. "Which makes this whole thing unusual."

He started off with that as explanation before he told her what he knew about their on-going disagreement. It concerned their last client - Shireen Davis. It seemed that ever since that case had been closed - in spectacular fashion, as they both remembered - she and Quinn had developed a friendship of their own. That in itself wasn't much of a surprise, both women were in the same age range, with the same interests in computer science. During the course of the case, it had also been revealed that Shireen was romantically involved with Jake, but now...

"But now, according to Quinn, the two of them are on a break." Harrison said. "And from what I can tell, the issue between Huck and Quinn is that he believes that it's a breach of Shireen's privacy to share that information -"

Olivia got it. "- and Quinn is focused on being on Shireen's side so the sight of Jake showing up here is not helping."

Everyone at OPA knew that Shireen was currently out of the country traveling with her mother as she rediscovered her paternal roots, so the question became why was Jake coming around? Was he just trying to find something to fill the vacancy in his life with Shireen's absence - or was this a man trying to mend a relationship and was hoping that to involve himself with OPA would help him do that? Either way, Olivia was left wondering - who was right in this instance, Huck, Quinn - or the both of them?

In hindsight, Olivia would come to wish that she'd paid more attention to those questions sooner rather than later, because there were other possibilities that hadn't occurred to either of them. But for now, she shelved it in the back of her mind, promising herself that if Jake and Shireen's relationship - or lack of one - became a problem, she'd find a way to handle it.

By the time Olivia arrived at the White House, she was focused solely on the plans for Fitz's reelection campaign; her meeting with Cyrus tonight was one plan, debating the use of the kill files was another. She knew Cyrus would want to use them - she knew that Fitz would more than likely not want to. But at least she'd convinced him to allow she and Cyrus to get together and discuss what they had on who and under what circumstances they might be called into use.

Her mind was still on those matters as she walked into the reception area of Cyrus' office. The sound of voices coming from behind his closed office door caught her attention before she could greet his secretary.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Pope - I know that you have a scheduled appointment with Mr. Beene, but that - that woman - she brushed by me as if I didn't even exist." The secretary's words came out in a heated rush. "I tried to tell her..."

"It's okay." Olivia told her as she turned and walked towards Cyrus' door. "Trust me when I tell you that I know without a doubt that none of this is on you. Some people make the mistake of thinking that rules are for other people."

"They just need a little reminder every now and then." Olivia told her - just before she gave the door a single sharp rap and stepped inside.

"I need better access than what I have now -" Elizabeth's voice cut off in mid-sentence as Olivia walked in.