Author's Note: This is the first section of And More, the final installment in my Campaign Trail series for Olivia and Jake. I didn't want to publish it all at the same time, especially since tonight is Scandal Night, so be on the lookout for Part II at some point in the next few days. Also, I apologize for any mistakes and for not replying to reviews; I was trying to get at least part of this out before the new episode likely disheartens me. I will try to reply soon! Again, constructive criticism is appreciated, but shipping wars in the comment section are not.
Disclaimer: Anything familiar isn't mine.
Olivia Pope blinked tiredly when light flooded the hotel room and reached the bed that she was tucked into, reaching a hand towards her head to run her fingers through her wayward curls and wincing when they became caught in the tangled strands. She ran her other hand over her face, blinking continuously for approximately fifteen seconds. It wasn't until she was able to blink without discomfort due to dryness of the eyes that she finally took time to notice the human furnace known as Jake Ballard occupying the other side of the bed that was most definitely not hers. It was at that exact moment that she began to panic. She was a fixer, after all. She fixed things and people and situations, and she should have learned her lesson about sleeping with the male member of a Republican presidential ticket. In that bed with Jake, though, they weren't Campaign Manager Pope or Admiral Ballard; they were them. After so long apart, it had felt so right to be them that Olivia hadn't considered anything other than becoming lost in that moment with him and allowing him to find her as he always did. Then again, time and past experience had taught them both that many things could change between the night of and the morning after.
The thing was, Olivia didn't do things without thinking about them for long periods of time. In fact, most people would be right in their assumptions that she overthought most-if not all-of her cases, her friendships, and her relationships. It was probably one of the problems that had carried over from the traumatic childhood; being able to trust people just because they cared for her and seemed trustworthy was nearly impossible to her. Abby, Huck, Quinn, Harrison, Stephen, and even Marcus had proven their loyalty to Olivia and to OPA multiple times in the past; that was why she had deemed them all to be worthy of her trust. That was also why none of this made sense, because while Jake wasn't an employee at OPA, he had proven that he was loyal to Olivia no matter the circumstances dozens of times in the past. Hell, he had been shot and stabbed and turned into a version of himself that she knew he had hated because of her, and he still looked at her with a kind of absolute trust that she wasn't altogether certain she deserved from him after everything that had happened in the past. So the question wasn't whether he was worth having faith in. The question was why his faith in her had never once completely broken, and yet her faith in him had never once completely developed. Unfortunately, that was not going to be an easy question to answer.
Jake shifted in the bed, pulling her attention away from her own rather depressing mental dialogue, and she flashed him what she hoped was a cheerful smile when he sleepily blinked open those green eyes that she had been lost in the night before. He raised an eyebrow at her as he rolled over onto his back, exposing his naked chest, and she had to bite back the urge to press a kiss over his heart when he did so. "You're thinking very loudly over there, Miss Pope. It's keeping me from getting my rest," he deadpanned, tossing an arm carelessly across his face to cover his eyes. He blinked up at her when she yanked his arm away so that he would be forced to look at her. "What?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow at her.
"Jake, we are in the same bed. No, we are not just in the same bed; it's worse than that. We are naked in the same bed. How are you so calm?" Olivia questioned frantically.
"Um..." He looked at her like she was crazy. "You do remember that we lived together for two months, right? This isn't that abnormal for us."
"The election is tomorrow. Tomorrow, the American people are going to be voting. We can't be naked in the same bed together," Olivia explained, eyeing him as though he was an idiot. In all fairness, though, he was acting like one. "You have a wife. A beautiful, educated, Republican wife, a wife whose bed you usually share. You don't see even the slightest problem with being a Republican and waking up naked next to someone other than your wife?"
"Considering I don't wake up naked beside my wife and I am apolitical, no," Jake dragged out slowly. "Olivia, what are you panicking about? I'm two days away from being divorced." His eyes hardened. "Unless this has nothing to do with her and everything to do with you, in which case it makes total sense." He scoffed as he rolled out of the bed. She refused to allow herself to be distracted by his nakedness as he glared down at her. "Are you pissed that we slept together? Are you scared that it might mean as much to you as it does to me? What... what is going on here?"
"You are running as the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency, Jake!" Olivia replied, raising her voice slightly.
He stared at her in confusion and anger. "Yes, I am. Guess what, Olivia? I was running as the Vice President when you were underneath me last night, too." She scoffed and threw the covers away, and Jake followed her when she entered the bathroom. She slammed the door in his face, but he continued to speak anyway. "No, Olivia, I was running as Vice President last night. I was married last night. I was a Republican last night. Nothing has changed, so why are you acting like everything has?"
She threw open the door. "Do you not remember what happened last time I fell in love with a politician holding the White House? Did you not watch the news at all for six weeks?" He blinked at her, and she sighed. "I am not made to be the First Lady of the United States, Jake."
"First of all, you'd be the Second Lady. Second of all, fine. Let Mellie get into office, and I'll resign my post before the end of the first week." When Olivia stared at him incredulously, Jake smirked without even a hint of amusement. "You know I would do it. You just don't want me to."
"You worked for this, Jake," Olivia protested weakly. "You shouldn't give it up."
"I did work for this, but it wasn't because of me. This isn't my dream. It's yours, and it's hers, and so I did what had to be done to endear myself to the public, because Melody Grant will make a damn good president and I want that kind of leader for this country, and I wanted to be free of your father, so I went along with the plan. But right now, I hate that I did, because if I hadn't..." He trailed off. "If I hadn't, then last night wouldn't have happened, and I wouldn't have let myself fall for you for the thousandth time, and I wouldn't be standing here once again begging you to choose me. If I hadn't, then I wouldn't have let myself believe for the millionth time that you might actually want me, all of me, without the limitations." His smile was anything but happy. "You may have said what you did that day because your father threatened you, but there was a hint of truth in every word. You will always leave me, and I will always forgive you for it. And you were mostly right, Liv, because I can forgive you for not believing in me. I can forgive you for not believing in us. But the reason you refuse to take that final jump, the reason you refuse to let go of logic in any form to be happy, it isn't because you don't believe in me or us. It's because you don't believe in yourself. And I just don't think that I can forgive you for that." He backed away from her and headed for the hotel door. "Feel free to shower. I suppose that I will see you tomorrow at the party, Liv. After all, you are our campaign manager."
"Jake," she called after him. "I'm sorry," she murmured when he turned towards her.
He flashed her a sad smile. "Don't be, Olivia. Loving you is always going to be the greatest thing that I've ever done. That's not going to change, even if you never love me back." With that, the door closed behind him, and Olivia was left staring after him, tears in her eyes and regret on her mind.
How the hell had she managed to screw this up so massively two times in a row?