The Time of The Pill 3/?
Title: The Time of The Pill
Parings/Characters: Jon/Tracey, Stephen/Evie, Sam/Jason, Rob Corddry, Ed Helms, Steve Carell, Glenn Beck, Jon, Stephen, Evie, Tracey, original characters
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Some violence
Summary: In an alternate reality in 2005, the government releases a new drug: The Pill, a miracle drug that changed the country forever, but not in the way everyone thinks it will. In the aftermath, it's up to the remaining staff of the Daily Show to reverse the effect of The Pill. It won't be easy, they'll be against most of the country, including their families. In a America whose freedom has been under attack, will they succeed, or will they succumb to The Pill and the will of a corrupt government?
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Previous Parts: 1 2
Jon didn't really see it at first.
Work at The Daily Show was busier than usual since Cheney's first one hundred days came to a close. It came to a point where they didn't even have time for proper lunch break. Despite his hectic work schedule, Jon began to notice some odd behavior of people around him.
Because it's part of his job, the first place Jon saw it was on his television. It was barely noticeable, but a news expert like Jon would be able to spot it instantly. On any issue everyone, including the reporters, the panels and even the anchors if they have a chance, agreed with the president. The first time he saw this he was watching FOX News, and lack of debate this caused was what first captured his attention. Jon made a mental note to mention this on the show later as he flipped channels to CNN to see what they thought. Turns out, they agreed with the president too.
Knowing that this could happen from time to time Jon didn't take notice of it and changed the channel to MSNBC, convinced that he would find a different opinion there. When he found out even they agreed with Cheney, Jon began to suspect that something seriously wrong was happening. Jon watched the television closely over the next few days and figured out that everyone he saw, liberals and conservatives alike, on some level agreed with Cheney on practically everything. But only Cheney. When the story is about a new Democratic bill liberals and conservatives went back to their respective sides of the story.
It confused the hell out of Jon.
When he asked Tracy if she noticed anything weird with the television news anchors lately, she said that, "Everything seems to be normal to me," and that Jon's "just paranoid." That was her typical response to any odd observation he's had lately. Before she used to listen to whatever he needed to say and this new dismissal of his concerns was worrying.
Jon decided to keep any new things he noticed to himself. It wouldn’t be useful to discuss it with Tracey right now, she now thinks he's crazy. No, right now he needed to find someone else who has noticed the odd things that are happening lately. As Jon settled into bed that night he decided that he would talk about what he has noticed with his staff tomorrow and see what they thought. He hoped that they would agree with him because if not, then Jon will have to accept that maybe he was wrong after all.
*|||*|||*|||*|||*|||*|||*
Stephen saw it within one crazy afternoon.
After work on Tuesday he went at a bar to meet up with his friends Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. The three of them have created television shows and wrote a book together ever since they met in Chicago when they all worked at Second City. They've been close friends for years so Stephen trusted them completely. Maybe they'll help him through his inner turmoil.
"Hey guys," Stephen began casually as he sipped the beer Paul ordered for him, "what do you think about The Pill?"
"I think it's great," Paul said, sipping his own beer. "Everyone's trying it, and I hear that it's true to its word. I was just thinking about taking it, actually."
Stephen looked at Paul in surprise. "You haven't taken The Pill yet?"
"No, the only sicknesses I've had recently are colds. It's not worth taking a pill everyday to prevent a simple cold, is it?"
"For me it is," Amy said. "Why would I suffer through a pesky cold when a pill can prevent that from happening in the first place? Plus, The Pill really helps during my period for the pain in my va-"
"Amy!" Stephen warned.
"Sorry, but it does!" Amy defended.
"Why do you want to know what we think anyway?" Paul asked.
Stephen shifted in his seat. He was uncomfortable telling them the problems of his marriage so he made it look like it was entirely a work problem. "Well, I'm doing a correspondent piece on The Daily Show and-"
"Stop thinking about work, Stephen!" Amy interrupted. "We all came here to get drunk and be crazy-actually, your boss is the latter so I guess you can't completely forget about work..."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Stephen asked, latching onto the most important part of Amy's ramblings.
"You haven't heard?" Amy asked incredulously, and Paul decided to fill him in.
"Word has been going around that your boss Jonny Stew has a first-class ticket on the Crazy Train," Paul explained.
"What? Jon is not crazy!" Stephen exclaimed.
"He's not totally insane, but to everyone he's getting there," Amy said.
Paul added, "He's been acting a bit paranoid since The Pill was released, and it's not helping his ratings, that's for sure."
"Just because someone does not like The Pill doesn't mean that they are crazy," Stephen stated.
"It does when practically everyone's in love with The Pill," Paul replied.
"That can't be true," Stephen said automatically.
"I'll prove it," Amy said. She shimmied out of the booth and stepped onto their table, drawing attention to herself.
"Hey everybody!" she yelled and waited until everyone at the bar had their eyes on her. "Who here likes The Pill?"
Suddenly the room was full of raised hands. Everybody had raised their hand, Stephen checked. It seemed like The Pill is more popular than he originally thought. "All these people take The Pill?"
"Yep," Amy confirmed as she jumped down from the table, steadying herself with some help from Paul.
"It can't be true," Stephen denied. "Everyone can't like The Pill. It's impossible!"
"Suck it up, Stephen," Paul said, "and just admit that Jon could be a little off the deep end."
"Never!" Stephen yelled because someone-anyone-has to share Jon's and his view on The Pill. A businessman, a janitor, even a Republican senator could share their opinion and Stephen had to find them because if he didn't then Jon and he are truly paranoid. And that can't be true since he has had a sinking feeling in his gut ever since he had first heard of The Pill and his gut was never wrong. Usually.
So Stephen grabbed his brown coat, which was beside his seat in the booth. He then stood up and, ignoring the apologies and protests from Amy and Paul, ran out the bar. He grabbed the nearest pedestrian that was walking down the sidewalk outside the bar and asked a simple question: "Do you like The Pill?"
The person he grabbed, a blond male in his late thirties, responded, "Of course I do, who doesn't?" That wasn't the answer he wanted so Stephen shoved the man away and traveled down the street and grabbed another person, a woman in her early twenties this time.
Stephen asked the same question and she said, "Yeah, so what?" Still dissatisfied, Stephen abandoned her and moved on to next person and asked the same question.
He kept this up until he got home, and the strangers had varying reactions to being grabbed at random. Some shook him off and ran, others threatened to call the police, and one man took it as Stephen trying to pick a fight and almost punched Stephen in the face.
Stephen managed to avoid any physical wounds by the time he opened the front door to his home, but still got some emotional ones. He couldn't believe that no one shared his opinions. On top of that, New York City in March is freezing cold, and even with his coat Stephen still felt frozen to the bone.
So when Stephen gave Evie and his three children a quick kiss and plopped down on his seat around the dinner table what he wanted most was a relaxing dinner with his family. Stephen sighed at the usual sight of Evie's offered pill by his glass and by chance glanced at his kids and their dinners. What he saw had banished all thoughts off this being a normal dinner.
He was seething by the time everyone was settled in their seats and dinner had begun, but he decided not to draw attention to his anger and waited to talk about it with Evie at a time when the children weren’t in the room.
He was privately seething when Evie asked him how his day went. He responded tersely, telling her remarkably less about what happened at work than he usually did. When she tried to ask him about meeting with Amy and Paul, Stephen tried to avoid the subject entirely. His anger must of been radiating out of him because Evelyn started to talk- to their children, leaving him to stew over his angry thoughts in peace.
Soon enough dinner was finished, and as usual he placed his empty plate and glass in the sink and dropped The Pill in the trash. He unknowingly did it within the line of sight of his wife who, as usual, was hurt by the rejection. But Stephen didn't notice that, as usual, and set about getting his kids to bed before retiring to the master bedroom to talk to Evelyn. When Evie came in Stephen sat at the corner of their king-sized bed, his head in his hands, elbows on his knees and completely faced away from the door.
Evelyn, seeing that she was entering a tense situation, said tentatively, "Stephen..."
Stephen looked up at her sharply. "When did you start giving our children The Pill?"
Evelyn chuckled slightly, relieved. "Is that what all of this is about?"
Stephen stood up, finally turning around to face her. "Of course that's what this is about! Why didn't tell me?"
"It didn't seem like a big deal!" Evie answered.
"So? It wouldn't be hard to tell your husband, 'Oh honey, I decided to start feeding our children potentially harmful drugs! Just wanted to give you a heads up!'" Stephen said.
"For the record the kids asked for it. They said everyone in school is taking it, and they wanted to too."
"That doesn't mean it's safe!" Stephen exclaimed in frustration. "How can you trust The Pill when there's no actual proof of it working?"
"I'm living proof of The Pill's success, Stephen," Evelyn told him, "and I trust it with my life. So what are you going to believe, my judgement or that The Pill is untrustworthy?"
Stephen knew what answer that will get him on Evie's good graces, but he couldn't follow through with saying it. He wouldn't be completely truthful, and the worst thing he could do right now was lie. So he settled with, "Honestly, I'm not absolutely sure yet.” Evie nodded, understanding despite her disappointment that he couldn't answer what she thought was a simple question.
The argument was over, for now, and they both got ready for bed. Stephen settled into bed, and as soon as the lights were turned off he was painfully aware of the space between him and his wife, something that has been happening lately ever since he expressed displeasure over The Pill. He didn't care much about at the moment, too focused on thinking about everything that's happened since that afternoon. One thing was for certain, The Pill was thought to be perfect and only Jon and he were the only people he knew so far that were against it.
On that subject, he also needed to tell Jon that he was on his side. He didn't want Jon to think that he was alone on this. With people whispering behind his back that he becoming paranoid, Stephen suspected that Jon would need someone to reassure him that he was still sane. Stephen decided to tell Jon sometime tomorrow because, truth be told, sometimes he also needed somebody to reassure him he was sane too, like when he ran out of the bar earlier.
With that settled, Stephen turned his thoughts from work to his home-life. He knew tensions were rising between Evie and himself, he just didn't know why. Well, he knew that it was about The Pill, but that's it. So, to ease the tension, Stephen was going to stop talking about The Pill entirely. His opinion on it is still the same but Stephen knew that if he still couldn't answer Evie's question he would make the situation worse. With a clear path to follow in the morning Stephen slept soundly that night. Unbeknownst to him, it would one of the last good nights of sleep he'll get. Because The Time of The Pill was dawning upon America, and there was no escape of its wrath.