Can We 'Ship Cyrus & Michael on 'Scandal'?

There have been a lot of relationships on Scandal that have made me uncomfortable, but none that have made me feel quite as awkward as the one between Cyrus & Michael on Scandal. It's not your typical love story, as few Scandal connections are — the president's Chief of Staff accidentally ends up with sex worker, sex worker is supposed to be spying on Chief of Staff, we later find out that prostitute actually has a heart of gold. Not exactly a meet cute, right? I've been getting a lot of Pretty Women vibes from their scenes together, but with a sinister twist. It's good to see Cyrus falling in love (even with Michael) again, but is this relationship too messed up to support?

Cyrus Beene is a complicated man, so it makes sense that his love life would be complicated too. At first, I didn't like Michael. Cyrus isn't perfect, and he's done a lot of terrible things, but there are a lot of things to love about him, too. Buried under all those calculated plans and manipulative tendencies, there's a good heart in there, and he doesn't deserve to be alone forever. It's obvious he's been soul-crushingly lonely since James died — a plot twist I'm still not over, being that James was one of my favorite characters — and he saw a solution for that in Michael. Even if he had to pay for it, Michael could make the loneliness disappear, if only one night at a time.

But since Olivia discovered that Michael hasn't been spying on Cyrus the way he's supposed to, it's obvious that whatever feelings he's developed for Michael in the process are mutual. That, alone, makes their relationship, worth 'shipping. I don't think that Michael and Cyrus are any more screwed up than Olivia and Fitz, and plenty of people support that relationship. At least in this case, there's no cheating involved... and fewer national security risks, anyway.

It's certainly not smooth sailing from here, though. If you think Elizabeth North isn't going to explode the second she realizes Michael's actually developed real feelings for Cyrus, you have another think coming. Michael and Cyrus are definitely not destined for a happy ending, unless their budding relationship is strong enough to survive the wreckage the head of the Republican National Committee is capable of leaving in her wake.

In the meantime? I say let's celebrate that Cyrus has managed to find a little bit of happiness in a world he's created for himself that seems so devoid of it. I like Michael, and I wouldn't mind if he stuck around for a bit longer — and if he wanted to use his intel to help take down Elizabeth, I wouldn't be opposed to that, either.

Image: Eric McCandless/ABC (2)