For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Olivia wondered how on earth she had ended up where she was. From her position at the back of the room, she let her eyes wander to take in the scene ahead of her. Posters placed in every possible corner of the room, encouraging the reader to 'Vote Grant;' the very same Grant that several other posters promised was 'For the People.' Her attention was drawn to the buzzing activity among the staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to spread that message to America.

She could not help the small snicker that escaped her as she rolled her eyes at herself. What was she doing there? A Democrat in a room filled with Republicans? How could she, a Democrat, seriously consider helping some flyboy Republican to be elected as the President of the United States? This went against everything she had ever politically believed in. It went against everything she had been taught to believe in since infancy. It went against everything her family had ever worked for, and yet here she was.

Her attention shifted as the answer to all these questions entered the room. Cyrus Beene, the man who had become her mentor and her confidant while she was struggling to earn her degree from Harvard University. He had been her friend when she needed one the most and so when he had begged her to help him realise his dream of a position in the White House, she did not have the heart to turn him down. Yet she could not ignore the repugnance that nagged at her mind for the fact that Cyrus believed his ticket to get there was in the hands of another man.

Fitzgerald Grant, the Governor of California and long-time friend of Cyrus. No matter how able Olivia found Cyrus to be, he himself believed that he would have to work his fingers to the bone to get this Fitzgerald Grant whatever he wanted with the hope that he would let him ride his coattails as he moved into the highest office in the land.

She quietly scoffed as she took in the sight of this Fitzgerald Grant, as he entered with Cyrus. Sure, she thought him handsome as she took him in, with a great head of hair, but what had that overgrown little rich boy ever done to get where he was standing today? What had he done to deserve the reverence of the people in the room who all quieted down as he took centre stage to speak? What had he done other than riding his self-made father's coattails into public office to deserve Cyrus' deep loyalties?

"Well, there's no way to sugar-coat it," Fitzgerald's deep voice boomed out into the room. "We got our ass handed to us by Sally Langston in Iowa last night. So anyone have any great ideas? Anyone?"

The room filled with a seemingly uncomfortable silence that lasted until a young red-haired woman must have felt that somebody needed to break it.

"We have to swing farther right," she said. "We haven't said a thing about gay marriage, school prayer-"

"Oh, come on. It's not our stances on the issues," Fitzgerald interrupted, and Olivia could not help but be relieved that somebody else than her saw what the problem was, only to be disappointed when he continued to speak. "We are not getting our message out there. People don't know where I stand. The problem is-"

"Your marriage," Olivia deadpanned. She had barely been there ten minutes and she was already sick of everybody failing to address the elephant in the room. "It looks like you don't screw your wife. Which would be fine, except that family values matter to Republicans. It's why they vote for who they vote for. And since Sally's got Jesus firmly on her side, that just leaves family, marriage. And yours, whatever the truth may be, from the outside, it looks cold, distant, dead."

The room's attention was planted firmly on Olivia as moved out of the back corner to step into the group to make her point and speak to Fitzgerald directly. She was not perturbed by the intent gazes of every single person in the room on her. After all, she had known nothing else from the day she had been born. Simply because of the luck of birth, people always stopped to listen what she had to say and in moments like these, she absolutely revelled in it.

"Where is your wife, by the way?" Olivia chuckled at the dumbstruck look on Fitzgerald's face as she quietly congratulated herself on a point well made, because his wife was nowhere to be seen. "People want to like who they're voting for. Voters thought Al Gore was a big stiff until he stuck his tongue down Tipper's throat. They put George W in office because he and Laura seemed like a fun couple to have a beer with. People have to want to invite you in for dinner, and right now, you and your wife are standing in there doorway, three feet apart, not looking at each other, letting in the cold air. That's why you lost Iowa. It's why you'll lose New Hampshire."

"And you are?" Fitzgerald asked incredulously, even though he, like every other person in the room, knew exactly who she was.

"Olivia," she stated matter-of-factly without hesitation. "Kennedy."

Fitzgerald opened his mouth as to say something, but nothing came out as his eyes remained on Olivia's face. She respectfully stayed quiet and held his gaze as she awaited his next move. After all she had just ridiculed his marriage in front of everybody and it seemed only fair that he should have the opportunity to speak his mind in return.

"Well, I don't know if we'll get any further on this right now," Cyrus ended the deafening quiet and began preparing to leave the room. "I know we all got work to do and I'm going back to mine, I suggest that all of you do the same. We'll revisit this issue later."

And with these words the room came back to life and once again the campaign staff was abuzz with their passionate aim to secure the Republican nomination for Fitzgerald Grant. Everybody was moving except for the two people in the centre of the room. Neither one of them moved as Olivia kept her focus on Fitzgerald as she mentally prepared herself for whatever insult he might hurl back at her. He once again opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it and finally turned his eyes away from her before turning to leave the room with a shake of his head.

The shaky breath that escaped Olivia's mouth, as Fitzgerald walked away, came as a surprise even to her. Maybe she had overstepped a line once again with her honesty. Just because she had seen through the façade of his marriage did not mean that he himself had. And whatever kind of person she might think him to be, throwing it in his face in a room full of people who were relying on him was a lower blow than she had intended. She steadied herself, returned to her previous spot to collect her handbag before hurrying to find Cyrus to ask for advice on how to handle the situation she now found herself in. But as she neared Cyrus' office, her determined walk slowed down as she overheard the conversation that was already taking place in there.

"Fire her," Fitzgerald said.

"'Cause she said what every staffer on your campaign was afraid to say?" Cyrus questioned.

"Just get rid of her," Fitzgerald demanded.

Olivia could not hide the hurt on her face as she came face to face with Fitzgerald in the doorway of the office. But she pulled herself together when she saw how the determination left his resolve once their eyes were locked on each other again. At least he seemed to have the decency to be ashamed to have been caught. The hurt and confusion she had initially felt was quickly replaced with anger. She may have crossed a line, but surely that did not deserve this kind of treatment. This was not the candidate she had ever intended on vouching for and yet here she was doing them all a favour. There were many other opportunities for her and she deserved better than this.

"I'll charge my hotel room to the campaign," she informed Cyrus coolly. "Don't worry. I haven't had the chance to raid the hotel minibar."

"Liv-" Cyrus attempted as he stood up, but Olivia was having none of it.

"Best of luck, Governor."

And with that her determined feet were bringing her away from the office and away from the campaign. She did not bother to look back as she passed the room of staffers at work, but kept her focus on getting to the exit. She was already thinking about what move she should do next to get on with her career when hurried footsteps behind her, and Fitzgerald's voice calling out her name, brought her out of her thoughts.

"Ms. Kennedy? Ms. Kennedy, wait. I…" he came to a stop in front of her, causing her to stop as well. "I apologize for firing you."

"Why?"

"Why do I apologize?"

"Why did you fire me?" Olivia clarified. I had a job, a paying job, from which I took a leave of absence to do a favour for my friend Cyrus because I am good. I am brilliant. I would eat, breathe and live Fitzgerald Grant every minute of every day. You would be lucky to have me. Just because you don't like hearing the truth about yourself-"

"I loved hearing what you had to say. I agree with every word. Very astute. And you're right. I would be lucky to have you."

Olivia no longer knew how to breathe. Here they were, standing face to face, chest to chest, and she could not believe what she was hearing. Did he mean what she thought he had meant? For the first time, she looked at him. Really looked at him. And she felt as if her heart would explode right out her chest. He was so beautiful. And did he actually want her? He's married. What was happening?

"Look…" Fitzgerald breathed as he forced himself to step back from her, ultimately helping Olivia to get her words back.

"This is why you fired me."

"Can we just…"

"Go back in there and work."

"Okay."

"Okay," Olivia nodded and swirled back around to quickly get herself away from Fitzgerald Grant.

The moment Olivia stepped back into the room of staffers, the red-haired woman from earlier caught up with her and introduced herself as Jeannine Locke. Olivia was thankful that she did not seem to take notice of how she was struggling to get herself to breath normally again. As Jeannine was talking about the one of the latest media strategies they were considering, Olivia reminded herself that walking away was not an option.

She had promised to Cyrus to achieve his dream and she would have to be able to handle the situation with Fitzgerald. She scolded herself and tried to tell herself that there was not any situation to be handled. What had just happened meant nothing. He was under a lot of stress and probably did not know what he was saying. Sexually frustrated maybe at the most. How she had reacted meant nothing. He had just taken her off guard. This meant nothing. She would be fine.

Her eyes met Fitzgerald's as he came into the room and a forceful gasp escaped her mouth as she quickly diverted her line of vision.

"Are you okay?" Jeannine asked, finally realising Olivia's breathless behaviour.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Olivia faked a smile. "What were you saying about CNN?"

The moment Jeannine opened her mouth again; Olivia was gone in her thoughts again. She glanced at Fitzgerald talking to another staffer; thankful that he did not return her gaze. He smiled in the conversation and Olivia looked down at her feet as she forced herself to take a deep breath. She was in trouble. What the hell was she doing there?