"This is a BNC news special report." "What did we say about staying up all night?" " Grant under fire, impeachment..." " What did we say about keeping a schedule?" " Momentarily we'll take you to the senate chambers..." " Didn't we agree that we felt better" " for a special announcement." " When we slept and... and took a shower?" "Shh, shh, shh." "I want to hear." "We talked about this." "We talked about keeping it together, didn't we?" "We talked about the fact that the senate voted last night." "We talked about the fact that this is a remarkable and uncommon day." "That is what we did." "So now I am not taking my eyes off that TV!" "Okay, it's a big day." "It's your Super Bowl." "I get it, but..." "Okay, Super Bowl..." "that happens every year." "This is the moon landing." "The Berlin wall is coming down." "Hannibal's crossing the Alps." "This is the day the Lord has made and he's made it for me." "Do you understand?" "Please, you need to rest." "You're starting to lose it here." "You'll see!" "You will see." "Last night, the senate judiciary committee voted to open an investigation into President Grant's relationship with former White House Communications Director" "Olivia Pope." "Ms. Eakins." "Aye." "Mr. Gibson." "Aye." "Ms. Grant." "Aye." "The vote was unanimous." "Senator Gibson and I have our political differences, but we are united, Democrat and Republican alike, in our commitment to ensure that even the president of the United States abides by the rule of law." "And we promise to fairly and thoroughly and relentlessly pursue any violation of the public trust in this affair." "Will the president testify?" "He has been subpoenaed." "We expect him to appear before the committee." "Are you seeking impeachment?" "We are seeking the truth." "If the truth of this relationship is that the president committed impeachable offenses, we will pursue them." "Impeachable offenses?" "I knew they were gonna come after me, but..." "You need a lawyer, Mr. President." "I have done nothing wrong, and I certainly haven't committed any impeachable offenses." "Do you know what an impeachable offense is?" "You don't need to spend time thinking about that because the answer is you don't." "And I don't mean that disrespectfully." "No one does." "Gerald Ford once said an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of congress considers it to be at a given moment in history." "This isn't a normal trial, Mr. President." "It's a political trial." "Congress is prosecutor and judge and jury." "They decide what an impeachable offense is, and they decide if you've committed one." "If you survive these hearings, you're still president." "If you don't, you're not." "You need to talk to a lawyer." "Now." "You're a lawyer." "I'm not his lawyer." "I'm the country's lawyer." "And I shouldn't even be here talking to him about any of this." "I'm just here to say you need a lawyer." "Who should I get?" "You talk to anyone in this town, they'll tell you to get Raymond Williams." "I'll contact his office." "Who would you get?" "If it were me, I'd hire Patty Snell." "She's a little bit different, but she's the best lawyer I've ever seen." "Oh, and, Mr. President?" "Don't talk to Olivia." "I know." "Not one word about this case." "Because obstruction of justice, perjury, witness tampering... these are offenses everyone understands, and they won't just cost you your presidency." "They'll put you in jail." " Abby." " We shouldn't be talking." "I can't talk to you about him, about the investigation." "This isn't about him or the White House." "I need a loan." "Okay, what's the plan?" "Liv, who do we need to go after?" "We're not fighting dirty on this one." "I'm bringing in someone from outside of O.P.A." "Good." "A man who's his own lawyer has a fool for a client." "Liv." "If I say anything to you about the case, it means you'll have to testify." "This is huge." "Quinn, I'm going before congress." "I need legal counsel, but I also need a political insider, a P.R. magician..." "Someone who can limit the damage done by all these photos." "A lawyer can't do all that." "No, but I can." "You hired Leo?" "Thing 1 and thing 2." "And a new addition to the bestiary." "Hold on." "Familiar face." "Recent headliner." "Yes!" "The man who hid in the closet while the mayor's wife was being filleted, the coward of the county, Marcus Walker!" "If this bunch is your go-to, you obviously called me just in time." "No." ""Grant's groupie!" "Sidepiece-in-chief!"" ""Olivia Poke!"" ""Here we ho again"?" "Mistress mania has taken the nation by storm, making you, Olivia, the delusional paramour, the wily home wrecker who snaked her way into the president's bedroom." "You're his Monica, his Marilyn, his m-m-m-m-my Sharona, and the country does not approve." "We get it." "You have a plan to fix all that, right?" "Of course I have." "Do I... yes!" "I..." "We're going to take what the public views as a cheap and tawdry affair between the president and his former communications director, and we are going to spin it into the greatest romance ever told..." ""Olivia and Fitz, a love like no other."" "See?" "My plan even has a name." "No." "What do you mean, "no"?" "I mean no." "That's what will resonate with the country." "That's what you'd be telling you if you were me." "That's what you've sold to the American people time and time again!" "Everyone loves a love story." "Everyone relates." "That's not on the table." "What else you got, Leo?" "You know how they say doctors make the worst patients?" "How about Olivia Pope..." "philanthropist, humanitarian?" "It worked for Angelina." "And wake me when you're done." "Olivia Pope... woman of the people." "That I like." "That's what we're doing." "That's the thing about the great ones." "They perform no matter what utter crap they are dealt." "I can work with that." "The country does not love you because the country does not know you." "Unfortunately, if the country did know you, they wouldn't be able to love you because nobody loves an entitled, out of touch, card-carrying member of the 1%." "I am none of those things." "Really?" "Then how do you explain all of this?" "Everything in here is off-limits." "From now on, if you cannot buy it at the mall, you cannot wear it out of the house." "Get thee to the galleria." "Go." "Go!" "What else do I need to know about your relationship with the president?" "I'm not sure there's anything more to tell you." "Did he shower you with gifts?" "Is there a Bentley somewhere nobody knows about?" " Did he pay your rent?" " He never gave me anything." "Where's all her food?" "You mean her wine and popcorn?" "Whatever." "Where does she buy it?" "She uses a delivery service." "I don't have time to go grocery shopping." "Of course not." "You're too busy getting your freak on with the pres." "That's the country talking, not me." "America's starting to see you as an everywoman, but to seal the deal, they need to be told by someone, someone they respect, that you are, in fact, human and not some man-eating, husband-stealing" "hunk of artificial intelligence, and not by one of these mongrels or any of the other dirty deviants you represent, myself included." "I'm talking about someone with gravitas." "Someone respected, admired, beloved." "Someone who actually knows you." " No." " He's perfect." "National profile." "Women love him for his passionate defense of planned parenthood." " No!" " Who, who, who?" " America loves him right now." " Weirdos!" "Focus!" "Who?" "!" " Edison." " Olivia." "You look uncomfortable." "Coming here wasn't easy." " Should I feel sorry for you?" " That's not... you want me to go on national TV and speak to your character, help you out of this mess, the mess you created?" "Edison..." "A criminal, a whore, an idiot, and a liar." "Excuse me?" "A criminal, a whore, an idiot, and a liar." "That's what you said to me." "You dressed me down and implied that I was clinically insane for suggesting that you were screwing the president." "I should go." "Sit down, Olivia." "If you want me to help you, you're gonna be honest with me." "You're gonna admit to my face that you were never in love with me, that you never had any intention of marrying me, that you tried to make a fool of me for seeing you as exactly what you are... a criminal, a whore," "an idiot, and a liar." "You want me to lie?" "You owe me the truth." "It's difficult to see Olivia being put through this right now... the pain, the humiliation, racism, sexism, all by folks who have no idea who she is, what she's about." "I pray for her." "But more so, I pray for those who are blindly attacking her character." "Olivia is honest, forthright, a person of the highest moral conviction." "I just wish the people hell-bent on tearing her down actually knew her." "I wish they knew the warm, caring woman who slept on the floor of my hospital room every night..." "When I was recovering from my car wreck." "After she put in a 20-hour work day, all because she didn't want me to be alone when I woke up." "That's the Olivia Pope I wish you all could see." "That can't have been easy, going to him." "He called me a hypocrite." "But he did what you asked." "Even hypocrites get to call in their chits." "It's good." "It changes the conversation." "Those chits might have just saved us both." " Patty Snell, Mr. President." " Thanks." " Mr. President." " Patty, nice to meet you." "Already with the lies." "I can see I've got my work cut out for me." "What's she doing here?" "We wanted to brief you on our strategy." "What I want is to glue your hands to the briefing room podium and hear you say that the president and his administration are cooperating fully with the committee and the investigation over and over, a thousand million times." "Sing it, yell it, don't care." "Just as long as that's it." "We have executive privilege." "We don't have to hand over anything, let alone have the president testify." "Oh, funny." "You're gonna be the funny one." "Oh, I'm gonna laugh at you a lot." "He absolutely does have to testify, and who said anything about cooperating fully?" "You did." "Five seconds ago." "What'd I say?" "Why are you still here?" "Briefing room." "Now." "Go." "The president has ordered the administration to cooperate fully." "So he's waiving executive privilege entirely?" "The president has nothing to hide and invites congress to examine his record" " as fully as they desire." " So he'll testify?" "Whatever's asked of the president, the president will do." "We can't just open ourselves up like this to the committee." "We have executive..." "If I hear the words "executive privilege"" "come out of your mouth one more time..." "What?" "Did someone give you a list of buzzwords when you took this job?" "Things to say so that you sound like you knew how to help run a country?" "Stuff just spitting out randomly to people?" "Do you say these buzzwords to Putin?" "Uh, Mr. President, d-do you let this woman anywhere near the Prime Minister?" "Because I know David, and he would eat her for lunch." "Patricia." "You're testifying, sir." "The president is testifying." "I am not asking." "I am telling." " End of story." " Okay." "Sir, I just don't think we should bend over backwards to cooperate with..." "There is cooperating and then there's cooperating, which is why our forefathers invented discovery documents." "I want to gather every stupid file out of every stupid file room and send them to the committee." "All files." "I want trucks full of files pulling out of the gates." "What are you doing?" "These are just some menus from the fourth of July barbecue." "Yes, I know that, but put them back in there." "Ma'am?" "Stop thinking and keep stuffing." "Let me guess." "White House document dump." "We asked for digital files, but instead we got these." "And apparently there's still more to come." "This is all just a cute attempt to stall our investigation." "It also makes them look like they have something to hide." "We should cart these over to the senate gallery, hold a press conference, and show the American people how scared and sneaky this White House is behaving." " I'm sorry. "We"?" " Well, not just us." "The whole committee, of course." "You do realize you have to recuse yourself from this investigation?" "Recuse myself?" "Yeah, and resign from the committee." "Conflict of interest is as clear..." "This investigation is far bigger than my relationship with the president." "I represent the people of Virginia." "You can't expect me to step down from..." "Mellie, you're in the middle of divorcing the man we're investigating." "Your presence on the committee would be highly..." "A distraction, a sideshow." "It would taint an already salacious..." "I am not some scorned woman bitching about my ex." "I am a senator and a member of the judiciary committee." "As far as the American people are concerned, you are a scorned woman bitching about your ex." "End of story." "Listen, we'll get you a spot on defense, foreign relations." "We'll take care of you." "I promise." "But you have to step aside." "Wake her up!" " What?" " Olivia!" "Go upstairs, separate her from that presidential spoon," " and you drag her ass out of bed." " What's happening?" "Armageddon, Abby." "Armageddon is happening." "The presidential affair scandal that has gripped the nation." "As it turns out, the president liked it, and he did, indeed, put a ring on it." "Sources have revealed the president gave Ms. Pope a family heirloom, a diamond ring apparently passed down from his grandmother." "Well, the true significance of the gift is, of course, known only to the president and Ms. Pope, but a ring is certainly symbolic." "What is the first rule?" "Your first rule?" "Do not lie." "Do not lie!" "Olivia Pope, woman of the people... she is gone!" "She is history!" "It's time for Olivia Pope, lovestruck teenager." " I can't sell that." " You will sell that." "You will sit down with an interviewer of my choice, and you will speak as if you were chatting with your bestie about your innocent and uncontrollably Doe-eyed love for the President of the United States." "That is the plan." "That is the only way to spin your way out of the diamond ring you neglected to tell me about!" "Does this mean that the president is both engaged and married?" "No one is certain, but there are a lot of questions here tonight, Mike." "Back to you in the studio." "This is amazing." "Astounding." "Amazing." "I don't know how the hell they found out about that ring." "But she's actually managed to go from being a slut to an everywoman to your sister-wife in under 48 hours." "I didn't even know that was possible." "They threw you off the judiciary committee." "Me." "That's how they found out about the ring." "From me." "That's a real big-girl move." "I got sparkling wine." "I got five different kinds of cheeses." "Prosciutto, pâté." "I'm gorging on brownies." "Mr. Walker." "Mind if we steal a minute?" "This is a joke, right?" "I've been working there for two days." "If Olivia or her people did anything illegal," "I don't know anything about it, so go ahead." "Subpoena me." "I can't be bullied." "All due respect, you've never met bullies like us." "You will help us get to the truth or we will sift through every inch of your past until we find something, anything, to hang you with." "And if for some reason you come up clean, we'll do the same to your brother, your cousins, friends, anyone you ever cared about." "You think your career is in a shambles now?" "You want me to be a spy." "I want you to be a good citizen." "If Olivia Pope and her people are obstructing justice, we want to know about it." "So, no, Mr. Walker." "This is absolutely not a joke." "Hi." "What's up?" "You gonna let me in?" " It's not the best time." " You need to let me in because my posse is up to 27 reporters, a dozen bloggers, 40 relentless bearded men with cameras, and two dogs that are apparently world-famous on Instagram." "They're probably two minutes from coming up those stairs, so..." "Come on in." "Olivia Pope." " I know." " Oh." "Jake has said so many wonderful things about you." "But television does you no favors." "Elise is an old friend from Paris." "I bet you two have a lot to catch up on." "Bye." "Old friend?" "Old friend." "You're the most hunted woman in the world, and you just decided to drop by?" "I have to go on TV and sell a love story, make a Valentine." "Pretend I got struck by cupid's arrow and I've been staring at Fitz with hearts in my eyes ever since." "Okay." "Okay?" "Well, you're saying it like it's a problem." "It is." "It's not me." "You love him, right?" "Yes." "You threw yourself in front of a pack of reporters and publicly said that you were in a relationship with the president, right?" "I did." "It's probably your only way out of this mess." " Right?" " Maybe." "Yeah." "Then I don't see the problem." "Unless you're the problem." "What?" "If you do this, if you sell this love story on national TV, all of your exits become walled off." "You will be tied to the White House... and him... for the rest of your life, and that is absolutely terrifying to you." "I don't blame you." "I'm gonna go." "If it's not that, what is it?" "What if it is that?" "Then I see your problem." "Just tell the truth, Olivia." "Tell your story." "Tell the world..." "How you really feel about him." "There a password for this secret meeting?" "Close the door." "Look, Leo's P.R. plan is too unreliable." " We need a backstop." " Assurances." "Guaranteed support from the committee." "Backroom dealing?" "More like planting evidence." "Honey traps, extortion, coercive actions... whatever we can use to turn them to our side." "You okay with that, Marcus?" "I thought a lot about what you guys said, and you're right." "I want to be a good citizen." "That's great to hear, Mr. Walker." "And you need to smile when you say his name..." "Fitz." "I'm not asking you to jump up and down on a couch." "Just a little more smiling..." "Fitz." "See?" "Please stop that." "Much has been made of that ring, the one on your left forefinger there." "Yes." "It was a gift from the president." "An engagement ring?" "No." "Just a gift." "It belonged to his great-grandmother, Annette." "She was French." "Her father bought it for her at an auction in Paris." "She wore it to her debutante ball." "She gave it to president Grant before she died, so..." "And then he gave it to you." "Yes." "He wanted me to have it." "I was touched when he gave it to me." "I teared up when he told me the story behind it." "It was..." "One of those fairy-tale moments you see in the movies." "And Mrs. Grant never noticed it?" "There are photos of you wearing it in her presence." "I regret that." "And what about getting involved with the president in the first place?" "Do you regret that?" "I wish I never laid eyes on him." "On President Grant?" "I wish we never met." "If we never..." "I can't tell you how hard it's been to watch my friends, my family, my acquaintances being dragged into the spotlight because of me, clients being investigated and harassed by the media because of me," "loved ones potentially having to drain their savings to hire lawyers and face congressional committees because of me." "I wish I'd never laid eyes on him because of them and what they are going through right now." "But also because..." "I've worked very hard to build a business, a business whose only aim is to help people become the best version of themselves, to stand in their truths and face the consequences of their actions so they can gain forgiveness and move past their mistakes." "Building that business was hard work." "I didn't do it alone, but I built that business." "And it's something I'm proud of, something that..." "Could all go away because I laid eyes on that man, that married man." "If I never laid eyes on him, then I wouldn't have fallen in love and he wouldn't have fallen in love." "That may have made for two more lonely people in this world, but also a lot..." "Less pain..." "And heartache for many, many others." "Senator Grant and the Grant children, for the people I love, for this country that I love, a country that expects us in Washington to solve problems, not make them, is... is the love of two people worth..." "All this destruction, all this attention?" "I mean, if it were a choice, who would choose this kind of love?" "So I wish we never met." "But we did." "And I tried." "I tried and failed and tried and..." "Failed again to hide, to stop loving him, but I couldn't." "I was weak." "I hated myself." "I-I wore this ring to remind me of my weakness." "And when our affair was exposed," "I had to follow my own advice and stand in my truth, to own who I am, to accept my faults." "And I won't ask for forgiveness." "Just don't ask me to..." "Undo the past." "Don't ask me to fall out of love with Fitzgerald Grant, because if I could, I would." "Does that answer your question?" "This was a home run." "The kind of TV moment that could go down in American political history." "Pope did what she had to do, which was to make herself relatable to the American public." "But historic?" "Look, I-I don't think so." "No, come on." "Ernie, this is no longer about some ambitious, home-wrecking bimbo." "This is a story about co-workers who couldn't help but fall in love with each other." "Be that as it may..." "Well, there's actually one thing Olivia and I agree on." "I wish they'd never met, too." "I'm sorry." "What for?" "I brought her on to the campaign." "I think about that from time to time." "I'm the reason why all this happened." "They might never have met if not for me." "And for that..." "I am deeply sorry." "Thank you, Cyrus." "We have a problem." "What's going on?" "It's a photo of the committee's evidence log." "I can see that." "Where'd you get this?" " Moskowitz's office." " Her office?" "She approached me, asked me to be her eyes and ears in here, threw a couple threats at me." "I let her think I was cooperating, used that as a cover to collect a little Intel." "It's all CIA documents, notes from a meeting with the president and the CIA director on the night..." " forward that picture to me." " Where are you going?" "Liv!" "They committee has the tape, doesn't it?" "My kidnapping." "I'm gonna pretend you didn't ask me that and allow you to turn around and walk out that door." "David, if they have that tape, then we are all going down, you included." "You signed that warrant for the raid of the warehouse." "You provided favors to my mother, a terrorist, to gain access to the auction." "You're in this, David." "And if I'm being honest, you're probably the only one who doesn't deserve to be." "Your voice is calm, measured." "You're complimenting me." "Is this some new genius way of putting the screws to me?" "David, I need to know if they have that tape so that I can protect us." "Do they have the tape?" "!" "Some dogged aide picked through the pile of documents they got from the White House, found some e-mail exchange between the president and CIA Director Lowry about a meeting they'd had to discuss the "O. P. matter."" "Hoping that didn't stand for "orange peel,"" "Moskowitz and Gibson subpoenaed all documentation related to that meeting and managed to unearth the mother of all smoking guns." "The good news... it doesn't mean anything unless someone can corroborate that the president watched the video." "He confided in someone?" "Who was it?" "Who'd he tell?" "Hi." "Hi." "We're listening to records?" "We are listening to records." "Hopefully that's not all we're doing." "They know about West Angola." "The senators?" "They have the tape of me from when I was taken." "That's impossible." "They found something in the documents you gave them." "It led them to the CIA." " How do you know all this?" " It doesn't matter." "I know." "Going to war for your mistress is an impeachable offense." "That tape is all the proof they need." "So we find a way around it." "We can say it's been doctored." "And no one will buy it." "Then I never saw it." "What?" "I never saw the tape." "I never knew you were taken." "The war..." "Had nothing to do with you." "That could work." "It will work." "As long as Cyrus doesn't say otherwise." "Cyrus is the only person that connects you to that tape." "He can say you saw it." "He wouldn't." "Okay, he would." "We should have locked ourselves in a room and gotten drunk together years ago." "I haven't had this much fun spending the night with a woman, hell, ever." "Oh." "You should come and work for me." "A junior senator?" "Not for long, not if you come and work for me." "Hello?" "Mr. Beene?" "Please hold for the president." "Who is it?" "Nobody." "It's just a friend." "I saw your interview." "It was good." "You were good." "You were you." "So, where's your old friend tonight?" "She had a meeting." "How do you know her?" "She's my wife." "You never told me that." "You never asked." "Hmm." "I'm asking now." "About my wife?" "Yes, as ridiculous as that sounds." "Uh, she's great." "That's good." "Yeah." "You'd like her." "Okay." "Is this the part where you say..." "She's a lot like you?" "Not sure how to respond to that." "Guess that means you have a type." "So do you." "Married guys." "Did you get extra... thanks." "Cy." "Mr. President." "Have a seat." "Why am I here?" "I want you back." "Back?" "In the White House." "Here." "Working for me." "You're offering me my job back?" "I have a chief of staff, but yes, something similar." "High level." "Senior adviser." "Why?" "Because I could use you right now." "The country could use you." "We have unfinished business in this administration, and I want you to be a part of it." "I know we've had some difficulties recently." "I think we both acted emotionally and precipitously." "I want to put that behind us for the good of the country." "I want you on my team." "Difficulties?" " Yes." " Hmm." "This is interesting." "What do they have?" "What?" "The senate committee." "They have something on you." "That's why I'm here." "I don't know what you're talking about." "It's not the ring." "She fixed that." "It's bigger than that." "What is it?" " Cy..." " Amanda Tanner, maybe?" "Remington?" "Do they know about Rowan?" "Defiance?" "Oh, no." "It's the tape." "West Angola." "Oh, I see." "That's really not good, is it?" "But this?" "This is good." "This is her, not you." "It's smart." "I'm the only one who can say you saw it." "Well, me and the vegetable Andrew, but he's just drooling now, so it's just me." "You give me back my job... or some job... and I say I never saw the tape." "That's the deal, right?" "Yes." "What do you say?" "How many times did you mispronounce "Delano"" "in that governor's debate?" " Excuse me?" " Against Astley." "You kept saying the city of "Dell-ano"" "instead of the city of "De-layno."" "Do you remember?" "No, I have no idea." "That was 16 years ago in the primary..." "It was 17 years ago, and it wasn't the primary." "It was the general, the second debate." "You fumbled it three times... twice in the first five minutes and once again about 45 minutes later." "But you caught yourself that last time, and you never did it again." "And you carried Kern county by 11 points." "Did you know you carried Kern county by 11 points?" "Why are we talking about this, Cyrus?" "Because I want to." "If you don't want to talk about it," "I can leave and you can rehearse your resignation speech." "Do you remember what you ate the morning after you become governor of California?" "No." "I remember." "You had a doughnut, a cinnamon doughnut, which was weird because you didn't eat doughnuts." "You wanted yogurt and fruit that morning... a parfait... and you wanted to eat it at some snooty place in Santa Barbara, but I said no." "Why did I say no?" "Because I was already looking ahead because governor of California wasn't the goal." "So we drove over the hill into ranch country, into real-people country, to the Longhorn Café in Santa Ynez, where you would be seen eating a doughnut like a real person." "I picked out your doughnut." "It was cinnamon." "But then I snuck into the kitchen and got you a bowl of fruit because I didn't want you to whine... some oranges and apples and berries." "I removed the bananas, of course, because you don't like bananas." "And you ate the fruit in the car on the ride home." "Do you remember the ride home?" "No." "I remember you had fruit, but you didn't finish it because you said it smelled like banana." "This is what I know..." "About you." "This is what I remember." "This is what is in my head." "You." "Everywhere, everything, what you say, what you eat, what you wear, what you think." "I dream your dreams and I sweat your nightmares." "This is what you are to me." "And what am I to you?" "I am the man to be thrown on the grenade and the guy you use and abuse and toss out and try desperately to reel back in to save you one more time." "That is what I am to you." "That is all you know about me." "If I left this room, you wouldn't even remember I was here, but I could tell you everything you said, the color of your shirt, the part of your hair." "I can look in your eyes and know how you slept the night before." "I know exactly how many times you mispronounced a single word in a debate 17 years ago, and you couldn't tell me my mother's name." "I know why we're sitting here... to fill in this Olivia Pope masterpiece." "I get a job, some job." "You get to keep yours." "We all march forward into glory." "All is forgotten." "That's the deal on the table, and I'm not going to take it." "Because this band is never, ever getting back together." "I do not need this." "I do not need you." "Not anymore." "We were on a bus between King City and Salinas in my first run for governor, and you had a package from her." "It was an Agatha Christie novel, and she'd written a little review on an index card and tucked it inside the front cover." ""I think you're gonna really like this one, Cy, but I don't know how she killed him with a candelabra."" "You laughed." "You said she sent you a package like that every week since you left home." "Always a mystery, usually Agatha Christie, and always with a little index card that ruined the story." "And you loved it." "I used to see you open those packages, behind a campaign bus in Barstow, in your office, backstage at a rally at San Marcos High School." "Sometimes it was the only time I'd see you smile in a week." "Sometimes in a morning briefing," "I'd know you'd gotten one of the packages just by your mood." "I know what she meant to you." "I know that you loved her." "Your mom's name..." "Was Helen." "I am sorry." "Truly, deeply sorry." "I am sorry." "I'm sorry for what happened to us." "I'm sorry for what I did to us." "We both made some mistakes along the way, but your mistakes..." "Were for me." "My biggest mistake..." "Was forgetting that we were family." "Everything you did, you did for me." "You are my guy." "I can't do this, not like this, not alone." "I want you back." "That seat on the couch is yours if you want it." "The job is yours if you want it." "Please." "The job is chief of staff." "That's the job." "Elizabeth North is terminated immediately." "She doesn't transition... to another position in the administration." "She's gone." "I will keep Ethan and Red." "I want new carpet in that office." "You will issue a full presidential pardon to me for any and all crimes committed in the time of my service to you." "It will be signed." "It will be sealed." "It will be nonrevocable." "And I will keep it secret." "That's the deal." "The situation in West Angola was an urgent and growing threat to the national security of the United States." "Your decision to go to war was based solely on a methodical and reasonable assessment of that threat and was supported by actionable intelligence." "You never saw that tape of Olivia Pope." "You did not know it existed." "You were never aware she was even kidnapped." "It's good to have you back, Cy." "I serve at the pleasure of the president." "The honor is all mine." "Charlotte." "Please ask Elizabeth North to come to my office."