Thank you all so much for the following and the review! I know we have to get through a lot to get to some Olitz goodness but just trust me when I say it's coming! I love seeing reviews so go ahead! Anyway, on with the story! Disclaimer: I don't own Scandal or these characters.

Within 20 minutes, Olivia was back in her office. The drive there was mostly silent. She had turned the radio off to try to think of an easy way to explain to them that she would be leaving. She knew they could handle things alone for a little while. She had faith in them.

She pulled into the small parking lot next to the unmarked building that held her office. She didn't need any advertisements. People came looking for her so she never felt the need to get a huge 'Olivia Pope & Associates' sign for the outside. She rode the escalator up to the top floor and got out when it reached her destination.

It was mostly a quiet day, but that was to be expected. They had just finished some damage control for Senator Davis. Edison Davis. He had somehow managed to get caught up with one of his secretaries. Everything was going fine until Edison wanted to break the relationship up but keep things 'professional in the office'. She was too embarrassed to come back in to work the next day and he fired her. Once the case was closed, he had the nerve to ask Olivia out on a date. Proudly proclaiming that he had changed his ways and that 'the third time's the charm', he puffed his chest out when he said that he was still saving his grandmother's ring for her. Olivia wanted to gag. He had always been an idiot.

Things had been mostly quiet since then though.

Huck was the first to greet her, as usual.

'You left your blazer here by mistake last weekend. I took it to the cleaners and returned it yesterday afternoon during the monthly sweep of your apartment.'

Huck had always been a loyal friend and Olivia truly trusted him with her life. After some death threats made a couple years ago, Huck did monthly to bi-monthly sweeps of her apartment. She objected at first but she welcomes it now.

'Thanks, Huck. How much do I owe you?' She started digging through her Prada bag to find her wallet but Huck waved his hand in dismissal.

'Don't worry about it. You've given me enough.' Without another word, he went back inside his office.

She walked a little further onto their floor to find Abbey, Quinn, and Harrison all gathered around the television. With no new work to do, they've busied themselves by watching some of the early campaign coverage. They hadn't even noticed her come in yet.

'Do I have any messages?' She broke the silence. They all jumped at the sound of her voice, her question not registering in their heads yet. Harrison spoke up.

'No. Only another bouquet of flowers from Senator Davis and more of his 'Thank You' notes'

Abbey and Quinn scoffed in unison. They had a lot more in common that what either of them would like to admit. They would work great together if Abbey would stop being so mean, or if Quinn grew a thicker skin.

'I'm assuming you threw all of the Senator's gestures out?'

Abbey grinned at the thought, 'He hadn't yet, but I'll gladly take care of it.' She walked with extra pep in her step as she headed towards Olivia's office to retrieve the unwanted gifts.

Olivia sat quietly in her office on her computer, reading emails and then re-reading them. 'I'm going to tell them over lunch.' She nodded to herself. She picked up her phone and made reservations at a restaurant called 'La Reve'. People usually had to make reservations months ahead but with all of Olivia's connections, getting a table for five would be no problem.

12:30 p.m.

They were all gathered around a long table in the private dining section at 'La Reve', with Olivia in the middle, Huck and Harrison on the two ends, and Abbey and Quinn on Olivia's opposite side. While Abbey and Quinn ate, Harrison and Huck just sat and studied Olivia. They could tell something was up and she just hadn't said yet. Going out for lunch was almost unheard of for the people at Olivia Pope & Associates, let alone with Olivia.

She knew she couldn't hold her news in for much longer. She replaced her fork on the table and carefully wiped her mouth then placed her napkin in her lap.

'I have news for you all.'

Harrison leaned forward in his seat 'Go ahead'

She analyzed the faces of her gladiators. As much as she hated to leave them, the promise of returning helped her get through the fact. Huck sat back quietly with his arms folded while Abbey and Quinn fiddled with their forks and napkins, ready to return to their meals.

'I'm going to be leaving Olivia Pope & Associates –'

Before she could get the remainder of her sentence out, Harrison threw his hands and napkin in the air in frustration. He was always easy to anger when he didn't understand a situation.

'So, that's it? You're just leaving us out to dry?'

'No, I am not. Just listen to me for a minute. It's only for a little while.' She went over the conversation she and Cyrus had earlier that day.

'I have the utmost confidence in you all that you can handle things while I'm gone. And of course, you can always call if you need me.' She said reassuringly.

After an hour of discussing Olivia's new plan, they all headed back to their building. Olivia immediately went to her office and began packing up some of her belongings, and organizing some things into color-coded folders. If they needed anything to reference back to, it would all be labeled and easy to identify.

Harrison, Quinn and Abbey all quietly watched Olivia through her open door from a distance. Harrison slowly shook his head.

'This doesn't make any sense.'

'I agree' Abbey chimed in. She was always prepared to support anything her partner was saying.

Quinn quietly sat, only watching Olivia. She seemed to fit in here but she found her security in Olivia. Knowing that Olivia held the cards and that she always seemed to know what to do in situations where everyone else panicked gave Quinn the confidence that if she ever messed up, Olivia had her back. She had grown to look up to Olivia and now she was leaving.

'For at least a year', Quinn broke her silence, mimicking Olivia's voice.

'That's a long time to just leave us here' Harrison adjusted his weight to his other leg and moved his hand up to support his chin.

'I just don't understand how she can just up and leave us here. I'm going to go talk to her.' Abbey reached and put her heels back on her tired feet and got up and started to make her way down the hall towards Olivia's office, Harrison and Quinn watching her go. Before she could make it down the corridor a voice stopped her halfway.

'Stop. Come back and sit down.' All three of their heads turned towards the voice to find it was Huck. He was mostly silent, only opening up to Olivia and occasionally giving Quinn surveillance or research tips, but when he did speak, he commanded respect. Mostly because even though his past was cloudy to them, they knew enough to know they didn't want to be on his bad side.

Huck would never actually hurt them, but only Olivia knew that.

'You're all just scared. You're doubting her decision but only because you don't want her to leave. You have to trust Olivia. She knows what's best and if she trusts we can handle things without her, then we can. We owe this to her. She's saved us. She rescued us all. She helped us and put us in a better situation. She gave us all second chances.'

By this time, Abbey had made her way back to her seat. Harrison was watching his co-worker, hanging on to every word he said.

'It would be selfish of us to not let her have this opportunity.' He turned his attention down the hall towards Olivia's office then back on them 'She deserves all the support we can give her.'

With that, he turned and went back to his office, Quinn following almost right after him. Harrison flopped down in the seat beside Abbey and let out a long sigh.

'This is crazy.'

Abbey touched his hand so he would look at her, 'But, we can handle this.'

Harrison turned his hand to hold hers 'Together.'

Their hands parted ways for fear of being found out and they turned the television on. Nobody could know their secret yet.

7:25 a.m., Saturday morning

Olivia was cool, calm, and collected. She was nowhere near as nervous as what most people would be to be meeting the President of the United States. She only packed one bag and her brief case since she would be back in her apartment Monday. The car that was supposed to be picking her up was going to be there in 5 minutes so she went downstairs to wait. When she got to the foyer, Huck was standing near the door, obviously waiting for her.

'Huck? Huck, what are you doing here?'

'I came to say goodbye and that I'm- I'm worried for your safety. Here.' He held out a small flip phone.

'This only has one number on it. Call it if anything happens. Don't use it for anything else and keep it charged.'

'Huck, I don't need it. I'll only be gone for the weekend and there's going to Secret Service everywhere' she tried pushing his hand away but it wouldn't budge.

'Olivia, please just take it. You may never need it but until you return to Olivia Pope & Associates, knowing that you have the phone IF you need it makes me feel a lot better.'

She knew he wasn't going to give up on the subject so she grasped it in her hand and put it in her purse. 'Alright, I'll take it.'

Huck nodded, 'Good, and use it if you need it. Your cars here'

Olivia looked out the glass paneling on the doors and saw 2 men get out of a black SUV and come inside. They found her immediately and came over.

'Hello Ms. Pope. We are agents Vince and Brown and we are assigned to escort you to Camp David today.' Before Olivia could say anything, they had her bags and were headed back to their vehicle outside. She turned to say her final goodbyes to Huck but when she turned around, he was gone. She sighed and followed the agents to the car.

They put her bags in the trunk then helped her in the backseat while they both sat in the front with Vince driving. The hour long drive was extremely quiet except for Agent Brown speaking into his ear piece to someone that 'Ms. Pope has been picked up and we are on our way.' She was glad they weren't trying to keep up too much conversation, though. Her mind was trying to imagine all the reasons why Huck thought she was in so much danger. She would be right next to the Leader of the Free World. How much safer could she get, right?

Meanwhile, at Camp David

Fitz wasn't nervous at all as he sat back and drank his water after his morning run. He hated running but Karen loved it so it was the perfect 'daddy-daughter' activity. Both Karen and Jerry were home for the summer and Fitz couldn't have been happier about it. He loved seeing his two oldest kids and having them back from school was an amazing feeling. This was Karen's last summer before college so he felt very pushed to spend as much time with her as he could. He wanted to do everything with her, even though she seemed to want to hang out with her friends a bit more than him. As usual, Mellie paid minimal attention to either of the children. If it were up to her, Karen would be with her friends, Jerry would be at some expensive summer camp, and Teddy would just be in the care of Tom and Hal while she prepared for one of the many interviews she had planned for herself.

His family and some of the campaign staffers would all be staying at Camp David this weekend. He would miss having Hitchenson around but he completely understood his wanting to retire. Cyrus said he had gotten someone new to replace him and that they were an old student of his.

'Smart as a whip and more ferocious than a dragon' Cyrus explained.

When Fitz looked at the name list for the people arriving he knew them all except for 'O. Pope'.

The morning was going to start off when the rest of the staff arrived. They would all have breakfast together and then start working on some strategies. He hated he would have to spend this weekend working instead of with his kids but he knew he couldn't get out of it.

Karen and Mellie walked out on the porch where he was sitting and relaxing. He was always happy to see his daughter but Mellie could've stayed inside.

Karen grinned, 'Tired, dad?'

He laughed. He was, but he would never let his little girl know that 'Of course not.'

Mellie sneered, 'Karen I don't know why you took your dad running. He has the stamina of an old horse'

The past 4 years with Mellie had been nothing but fighting and jeers back and forth at each other. It was like that before, but the White House made it much worse. He could easily dish the remarks back out at her but not in front of Karen. He was better than that. He just hated he was stuck to a woman who didn't even have the decency to be cordial around his kids. It was an unspoken agreement that they would stay together for Fitz' presidency but as soon as his last term was up, they were divorcing.

'Actually, dad makes a pretty good running partner. It's nice to have someone to talk to out there on the trail.' She smiled in his direction. She was old enough to realize that their marriage had failed and she hated the way her mom treated her dad.

Fitz grinned, 'That's my girl' he thought.

Mellie rolled her eyes. 'Anyway, the first of the staffers are starting to arrive. Karen, take your brothers out of the house and keep them occupied. And you should probably start getting ready, "honey"' she put emphasis on the last word, almost like a painful reminder that he was bound to her. She walked past his chair and purposely bumped her hip against it, making water spill all over his chest.

'Whoops!' she scoffed and went inside the kitchen.

Karen handed him some napkins and kissed his cheek 'I'll see you later daddy'

'Alright. Be safe. Remember Jerry's allergies!'

'I will!' she called out.

Fitz sighed and went to take a shower in one of the guest bathrooms because he knew Mellie would be in the main one.

'This is going to be a long weekend' he grumbled as he got undressed and got in the shower.

When Olivia finally arrived at Camp David it was 8:35. Agent Vince stopped in front of the main house and Brown got out and opened her door.

'You are scheduled to have breakfast here in the main house and we will take your bags to your cabin.' He handed her a key with the number '2' on it and gestured to the much smaller cabin right next to the house.

'Thank you Agent Brown. And you too, Vince.' She smiled at both of them then went up the steps leading into the house. The front door had a scanner on it where you were to obviously scan your guest pass. She pulled the little red card that Cyrus gave her out of her purse and the doors automatically unlocked. Standing inside was Cyrus and 4 other men. All of their heads shot up and they looked in her direction. Cyrus grinned and walked over and pulled her into a hug.

'Thank God you're finally here Olivia.'

'Yes. Now we can eat.' A man with a southern accent remarked, making the rest laugh.

Cyrus rolled his eyes, 'Oh stop it you all. This is Olivia Pope, our new campaign fixer. She, of course, will be taking Hitchenson's place this time around.'

'Well she sure looks a hell of a lot better Hitchenson in a skirt' the same man snorted.

Cyrus sighed 'Olivia, that buzzard there is –'

'Hollis Doyle at your service, ma'am' he got up and grabbed Olivia's hand and kissed it, though Olivia quickly took it back.

'Oooh and she's a firecracker to boot! You sure can pick 'em Cyrus.' He turned his attention back to Olivia.

'I think me and you are going to get along just fine, darling.'

Olivia could smell a snake a mile away and Hollis' scent hit her from outside the door. She knew who Hollis was before today. His name was all over Washington but Olivia always tried her best to never be associated with anything he had a hand in.

Cyrus introduced her to the three other men and the way they were staring holes through her shirt, she could tell getting work done was going to be difficult for them. She turned to Cyrus.

'Can you just point me in the direction of the restroom? I need to freshen up before breakfast.'

'Of course, down the hall to the right. Meet us in the breakfast hall when you're finished.'

She nodded and went to the restroom while the men headed to breakfast hall where Fitz and Mellie were already sitting. The cooks had made a huge spread of food for them to eat and it was all lined up in the middle of the table. Fitz smirked

'Seems like you're missing someone. Now where's this great student of yours? He hasn't backed out has he?'

Hollis took his seat and grabbed a piece of bacon from the table and laughed, speaking with his mouth full 'The little lady went to the restroom to 'freshen up' before breakfast.'

Fitz rolled his eyes, assuming Hollis was just being mean when he said 'little lady'. He hates having Hollis around almost as much as he hated having Mellie.

'Be nice Hollis. You can't start calling him a little lady and expect him to stay around. He was nice enough to join the campaign last minute and help us. Mr. Pope needs to be treated with respect'

Cyrus towards Fitz, 'Ms. Pope, sir. Ms. Pope. Olivia Pope.'

Fitz raised his eyebrows 'Ms. Pope?'

As if right on cue, Olivia walked in and smiled, unaware of their conversation. She walked up to where Fitz and Mellie sat.

'Mr. and Mrs. President, it's very nice to meet you both.'

Mellie immediately rose to shake Olivia's hand, 'Olivia Pope. Thank you for joining us such short notice. We're so glad to have such a well known name on our side.'

Fitz was taken aback to say the least. She was so breathtakingly beautiful and she walked with such grace and poise. He finally shook her hand- God, her skin was soft and she smelled so good. He was trying his best not to stare but it was difficult.

She was sitting all the way on the other side of the table, eating and talking and laughing, and he couldn't stop looking at her. All he knew was that her name was Olivia Pope and she went to Harvard, but he already wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything about her, but right now, she was across the table and his hellish wife was sitting beside him.

Mellie pinched Fitz's inner thigh, breaking him out his trance and making him jump. She grumbled where only he can hear 'You staring at the new campaign fixer isn't going to get you reelected. Either get your damned act together or she's going to have to go.'

Fitz glared at Mellie and started to quietly eat, but listening to Olivia while he did. He knew he wouldn't be able to control himself around her and as much as he hated to admit it, Mellie was right.

For the sake of the campaign, Olivia would have to go.

Sooooo how was chapter 2 guys? I never really like Edison so I had to throw that in there haha. And what in the world are Harrison and Abbey doing? What does Huck know, and why is he so worried? And Fitz is being distracted by Olivia and it's only been ten minutes. Nobody has ever disproved love at first sight.