A/N – Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I do appreciate it! I spend a lot of time writing fics and hearing your comments is the only thing I really get back for it. So, it's nice to hear your ruminations. Glad you guys are excited to have me back.

Chapter 2 – Exposed

Fitz leaned back against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. Mellie was sleeping beside him and he had started thinking about his life up to this point. His thoughts always led him back to one person. She invaded them, sometimes leaving him breathless with want. Olivia Pope was the love of his life and he would do anything to see her again and find out why she had left almost three years prior. A memory ran through his head and he chuckled to himself. It was ironic that he was rotting away in some basement cell with his obnoxious wife and all he could think about was how beautiful and sexy Liv looked when she was calling out his name. But she had run away from him and he never got a chance to even say goodbye. That was something that needed to be immediately rectified if he made it home.

FLASHBACK

"Cyrus, can you get Olivia in here please?" Fitz asked as he stared out of the window of his study. Olivia was usually at the house by this time. She had helped him win the election and he wanted to thank her privately.

Cyrus cleared his throat. Telling Fitz that Olivia was gone was the last thing that he wanted to do. "Fitz, I'm sorr,y but Olivia is gone."

Fitz turned around quickly and Cyrus was met by a perplexing stare. "What do you mean she's gone?"

Cyrus sat down and rubbed his face with his hands. "I mean that she is not here. All of her things are gone from her hotel room. Apparently, she checked out and there's no trace of her."

Fitz didn't say anything at first. For a long moment, he just stared at Cyrus like he had been speaking another language. He was trying to think back over the last few days and see if she had given any hint that she was leaving. Running thought his thoughts, he couldn't think of anything that made sense. He dropped down into his chair and grabbed the phone. Dialing her number, he waited for her to pick up, but a voice informed him that it had been disconnected. "Why would she leave me?" he said barely audible as he slammed the phone back down.

Cyrus sighed. "Fitz, you're going to be President. What other choice did she have? Did you expect her to just stand on the sidelines and be your mistress for the next four to eight years? It wasn't fair to her. I think she jumped ship before she got in too deep and ruined your career."

"Find her," he growled as he tried to gain control of his temper. He was so angry and didn't know how he could even get through the day without staring into her eyes or hearing her voice.

Cyrus stood up. "I'll do the best I can."

Fitz watched him walk out and then slammed his hands down onto the desk. He couldn't believe that this was happening and he would never stop looking for her.

End Flashback

Cyrus sat at his desk as he momentarily closed his eyes. They had worked so hard to get to the White House, and never in a million years did he think it would end in Fitz's death. The kidnapping shocked the world. There were offers from numerous countries offering their services, but not one mode of contact from the kidnappers. No one had taken responsibility and it was like Mellie and Fitz had disappeared from the face of the earth. Nothing made any sense.

He picked up the bottle of tums from the desk and chewed on a few. "Think Cyrus," he said loudly. "If you were the kidnappers, why would you take the President and not make any demands?" Standing up, he walked over to the window and looked outside. He thought he saw someone out on the lawn dressed in black and he gasped and ran out into the hallway while calling the secret service.

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Olivia had gone upstairs to grab something from her bags when she looked up and saw Tom in the hallway. The look on his face scared the shit out of her. She walked towards him as another agent approached them with the kids.

"Let's go," Tom said grabbing Olivia's arm. They hurried to a stairwell and started racing down them. The only sound that was heard was Karen's whimpers.

There was a big pop and Karen screamed.

"It's going to be okay Karen," Olivia said grabbing her hand.

They ran into a hallway until they came to another door. It had a keypad and Tom punched in a code and the door slid open. It looked like a dark closet, but the five of them squeezed inside and the door shut. Tom pushed a button and the room jerked and Olivia grabbed Tom's arm with her left hand and held Karen's hand in her right. It was an elevator. It slowly moved down and soon stopped. When the doors opened, people were scurrying around and Tom led them to a room. "Stay in here," he said closing the door behind him.

Olivia sat on a bed with the kids on either side of her as their agent stood by the door. She looked down at Karen who was trembling and rubbed her arm.

"What do you think is going on?" Jerry asked.

"I don't know. Maybe someone tried to breach the perimeter," Olivia said softly. "But, we're underground. We're safe here."

Jerry nodded.

"Is this how my parents felt?" Karen asked looking up at Olivia. Her eyes were full of tears which she swiped at with her hand.

"It was way worse than this," Jerry said before Olivia could answer.

There was a knock on the door and Cyrus came in.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked.

"Not in front of them."

Jerry rolled his eyes. "Here we go again. You need to tell us something Uncle Cyrus. You can't keep shutting us out."

Olivia stood up and walked towards him. Cyrus took a deep breath. "There was a shooter outside that made it onto the lawn. He killed a few pedestrians. He has been apprehended, but we brought you down here just in case there were others."

"Thank you for telling us the truth," Jerry said before pulling Karen into his side.

"Do you think this was related to the kidnapping?" Olivia asked quietly.

"I don't know. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out who he was soon," Cyrus said whispering back. "Can you break away?"

Olivia turned to Jerry. "Is it okay if I go with Cyrus for a little bit? I promise that I will be right back."

Jerry nodded. "I'll take care of her."

Olivia smiled. Jerry was a great big brother. Fitz would be really proud of him. She followed Cyrus out of the room and into a large conference room. There were several senators and some military high ranking officers in the room. The defense secretary was seated across from where Olivia now sat.

"What we know is that the perpetrator is Iraqi. He's young, maybe eighteen. It looks like he was working alone," Jonas said.

"For what purpose?"

"He had a manifesto on him detailing how horrible America was and how all Americans were going to pay for their sinful nature."

Sally Langston, the interim President, cleared her throat. "Did he mention any particular faction that he was involved in?"

Jonas shook his head. "No."

"This doesn't make any sense," Olivia said. Everyone turned and looked at her.

Cyrus cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Olivia Pope. She is helping review all the video and audio surveillance we have for clues."

"First they take the President and don't ask for anything in return, and now some lunatic shows up at the White House, clearly exposing our vulnerability. He doesn't say where he is from, only that the country sucks. What if he were being used as some kind of distraction or catalyst for something far greater in magnitude?"

"What are you getting at?"

Olivia shrugged. "I'm not sure yet, but I do think that we may be looking at this all wrong. There has got to be someone on the inside involved who knew exactly where the President would be: who knew how to get a gunman so close to the White House. Are they trying to embarrass us or show weakness? And if they were, why?"

Jonas sighed. "You've made some good observations Olivia. Maybe we should be considering a different angle on this."

Sally shifted in her seat. "It is a possibility that you're right. But, I don't want to abandon the easy assumption which is that they are just letting us sweat so that we are more apt to give them what they want in the end. Terrorist may be violent, but they aren't always the smartest. Eventually, they are going to do something stupid. Count on it."

Olivia stared at Sally. While the woman was great on paper, and her family values helped them win the election, she had never particularly liked her. She stood. "I need to return to the kids. I'll get back to you later," she said to Cyrus before walking out the door. She looked up and saw Tom down the hall and walked back to the kid's room.

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Olivia laid down on her side and watched the kids sleeping in the other bed. Tom was in a chair next to the door. Although the day had been stressful, she really wasn't tired. Her mind kept running through scenarios. What if someone in the administration orchestrated the kidnapping? What if they needed Fitz out of the way to accomplish their agenda? Did they plan on killing him or was this merely a diversion?

FLASHBACK

Fitz stared down at Olivia. Every inch of his body felt like it was on fire. "I need you Olivia." The low timbre of his voice matched with the desire in his eyes. Olivia tried to open her mouth, but it was like she was hypnotized by his eyes and she couldn't move. "Olivia?" he asked reaching up and touching her face.

This was not how she wanted her life to go. She was not the mistress type. What the hell was she doing? It was like the man was a magnet and she couldn't resist him. She saw his lips moving towards her and her eyes grew wide. You can stop this Olivia, her mind was screaming. You have to stop this. But, she wanted it so badly. Unconsciously, she licked her lips as Fitz's tilted head slowly inched its way towards her. She could feel his hot breath on her lips and just before they touched, there was a knock on the door that made them both jump back, rattled by what almost had occurred.

"Fitz, I need you to sign these," Cyrus said. He wasn't looking up so he didn't notice the flushed looks on both of their faces.

Olivia took a step backwards and Cyrus met her gaze. "Oh, hi Olivia," he said smiling.

Olivia smiled back. "I should go." She turned and walked towards the door.

Fitz took the papers out of Cyrus hand while he watched her walk leave. He had almost done it. He still wanted to do it. And now he knew that she really wanted it too. He smiled and sat down at his desk.

END FLASHBACK

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Reporter Gideon Wallace walked into the clerk's office in Salem, Oregon. He had heard a rumor and wanted to see if it was true. Apparently, before the kidnapping had occurred, Fitz and Mellie had quietly filed for divorce. If they had, it would be public record and he would get the story of a lifetime. He smiled at the thought of Anderson Cooper interviewing him on CNN.

"Hello," the clerk said looking up at him. "How may I help you?"

"I need to look at divorce fillings for the last month."

She nodded and led him to a table. An older computer sat on it and she turned it on and they waited for it to boot up. It seemed like it took forever, but finally a software program popped up and she entered a few commands before listings started to pop up.

"So, everything has been filed?"

"Yes sir."

"And everything should be public record right?"

She nodded.

He flipped through all the names but didn't see anything. Not trusting his eyes, he painstakingly read through all of them to make sure nothing was missing. Frowning, he sank back against the back of the chair and ran his hands through his hair. This couldn't be. His source was rock solid. He sat back up and focused on the screen again, but this time he paid attention to each docket number. It could be sorted by name, so he looked through the G's and saw that a file was missing. He jotted the number down and went over to the clerk.

"Hi, did you find what you were looking for?"

"Maybe, you said that everything was filed right?"

She nodded.

"Then how come this docket number is missing?"

She frowned and took the piece of paper from him. "Let me check my system."

She typed the number and pressed search. Gideon watched the perplexed look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked curiously.

She nodded. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" she said as she got up and walked to the back of the room. Searching through some drawers, she located the area the docket should be filed and came back with nothing. Walking back out towards her desk, she went over to her boss's desk and looked around. She prided herself in making sure that everything was done correctly, so she wasn't happy that something was misplaced. Walking over to his file cabinet, she pulled the set of keys out of her pocket and opened it. She searched every drawer, and when she came to the last one, she saw the file with the docket number and proudly grabbed it. Not even bothering to read it, she walked towards Gideon with a smile. "I found it," she said handing him the folder.

"Thank you," he said smiling graciously.

He walked back over to the desk and sat down and took a deep breath before reading it.

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Olivia walked into the war room. They had finally gotten the all clear to come upstairs.

"Hey," Harrison said smiling up at her. "Did you enjoy your little adventure?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "The bed really wasn't that comfortable."

Quinn smiled. "Well, it's good to have you back."

Olivia returned it. When she had first brought Quinn into the fold, she wasn't sure if she'd fit in. But, she quickly proved that she had great potential. She was a good study and had a good eye for detail.

Abby walked in behind her and sat down. "Where do you need us to start?" she asked as Huck made his way to the table from the security room.

Olivia turned and looked at Lauren at the desk. "First, I want to make sure that you all have introduced yourselves to Lauren who is usually the President's executive secretary but will be helping us out as much as possible."

Lauren smiled. Quinn quickly introduced herself and then Olivia cleared her throat."Something isn't right. I can't shake the feeling that someone on the inside is orchestrating this mess. I think we should think conspiracy with top suspects in the upper echelons of the white house."

Lauren's eyes grew big and she made sure she was paying attention.

"Why do you think that?" Harrison asked.

"Because of the lack of contact by the kidnappers and the sniper. I'm wondering if there is some hidden agenda. Maybe this was to serve as a diversion."

"So, you're saying that the President is probably safe?"

"I won't go that far because of the violent way this all went down, but I'm just wondering if his absence serves a greater purpose."

Everyone was lost in thought when Lauren piped up. "Excuse me."

They all looked up at her.

She walked over to the printer and grabbed the sheets she just printed and handed them out.

"What's this?" Quinn asked.

"It's all the bills that are coming up for vote in the senate. I highlighted the docket number of all the ones the President was opposed to. I keep track of all of this for him and update it daily. It also lists key supporters which include special interest groups," she said proudly.

Olivia smiled. "You'd make a great gladiator." She began to peruse the information. "I want you guys to focus on this list. Split it up and get me a suspect mockup. And I want to remind all of you, once we start posting pictures up, no one gets into this room but us; not even Cyrus. If no one is in here, I'll have Tom have someone guard it. If the word gets out that we're really onto something, it could get ugly really quick."

They all nodded.

"And let Lauren help research. She knows the players and could be a big help."

Olivia stood up. "I'll be back." She left them in the room and wandered until she ended up in the rose garden. Turning she looked up at Tom and asked him to have a seat on a bench.

"I need to ask you something off the record."

Tom nodded.

"Tell me what you can about the relationship between Grayden Osborne and the administration."

Tom thought for a moment. "He isn't very well liked. He has a reputation for being obstinate and unapproachable. I don't think Cyrus trusts him at all."

"Speaking of which, I need to know because I've been out of the game for a few years and people change. Did Fitz trust Cyrus completely?"

Tom nodded. "Yes. They are very close. Cyrus pushes his patience sometimes, but I don't think he'd do anything to hurt him."

Olivia let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

"Is there anyone you didn't trust?"

Tom seemed to squirm a little.

"Tom, this is just between you and me and it's really important if we are going to get Fitz back. I know you hear a lot of things and you are supposed to keep it quiet. I respect that, but this is Fitz's life we are talking about here."

"I don't trust Sally and Mellie."

"Was Mellie doing something behind the President's back?"

His face turned a little red and Olivia turned away for a second. "Was Mellie cheating on him?"

Tom grimaced and Olivia took that as a yes.

"What else?"

He held up his hand and listened through his ear piece. Olivia could tell whatever they were telling him wasn't good.

"There was a story leaked to the press. We might have a problem."

Olivia frowned. "What is it?"

"Someone found out that the President filed for divorce in Oregon a few days before they were kidnapped."

"What?" Olivia said loudly.

Before Tom could say anything Abby was walking towards them. "You need to get in there now."

Olivia nodded and followed her back inside.

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Olivia sat at the table watching CNN

Reporter: Sources for the Post say that the story released just a half hour ago, alleging that the President had filed for a dissolution of marriage just a few short days before the kidnapping, is true. The court document lists irreconcilable differences as the grounds for divorce. This news has shocked an already rocked nation. It is true that they have not been seen together a lot in the past year, but no one thought that their relationship was broken. The couple has been accused of not seeming like they were in love early in the presidential campaign. However, they appeared to step up and managed to convince the nation that they were indeed happy together. Now, we are all left to wonder if that was just a clever ruse in order to get votes.

The reporter droned on and Olivia turned off the sound. "Great, not only do we have to deal with getting him back, but we are also going to have an image crisis."

Olivia turned to Lauren. "Did you know that they were getting a divorce?"

She nodded. "I suspected it, but I wasn't really sure."

"Was Mellie fighting him?"

"I really don't know. You might have to ask Cyrus about that. The President and the First Lady really didn't hang out at all the last year. I rarely saw her near the oval office."

Olivia wondered what the hell had happened to them. "I'll be right back," she said quickly disappearing into the hallway. Cyrus had a lot of explaining to do.