Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the positive reviews! I have been terrible at responding to each of them (trying to get better about that), but I seriously appreciate them. I am officially done with school until later next month, so I'm hoping to update on a pretty regular basis. Also just to reassure any concerns after vague mentions of Olivia's father this chapter, B613 will never ever ever ever be a thing in this fic lol.

Anyway, hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think!

"I don't know, Cy…" Fitz trailed off as he leaned back on the couch in Cyrus's office. "I'm really not interested. I need some time." Cyrus scoffed in disbelief.

"Time for what? To move on from Mellie? We both know how much you hated her."

"No, not to move on from Mellie- just to settle in here. Tell James we can do the double date in a couple weeks." Fitz suggested, even though he had little to no intention of following through with it. The truth was he wasn't interested.

When he moved to DC he planned to be single for a while, a long while. Although he didn't love Mellie, honestly he found it hard to like her most of the time, they still had been in a long term, committed relationship (he was committed anyway) and he wanted time to figure himself out alone. Besides blind dates were always terrible, plus there was only one woman who had captured his attention recently. Olivia.

Olivia, his student and Cyrus's protégée and someone he definitely needed to stay far away from, but she was constantly on his mind. She was beautiful and smart and fiery and he wanted to know everything about her, even if he shouldn't.

"Seriously, just drop it for now." Fitz instructed, hoping Cyrus would listen. Cyrus sighed and shook his head.

"Fine, but that means you have to come to dinner with me and James."

"I can get on board with that." He thought about it for a second, his eyebrows creasing. "Are you going to make me play third wheel?" Cyrus dropped the pen he was holding and looked up in annoyance.

"You didn't want the double date, but you don't want to be third wheel?"

"I think that's a reasonable thing to ask for." Fitz began to defend himself again, when there was a knock and Olivia popped her head through the door, completely ruining his train of thought. She stepped into the room when Cyrus waved her in. She looked at him for a second, but then quickly looked away.

He took a moment to appreciate her casual outfit, yoga pants and a Georgetown sweatshirt. For the first time since he met her, her hair was in its natural state and pulled into a low ponytail at the back of her head. He realized he could stare at Olivia all day and never get tired of it.

"Great," Cyrus smiled and clapped his hands together. "Now that you're here you can escort Fitz back to his office and leave me alone."

"But-" Olivia started to protest and Cyrus cut her off.

"You still need to talk, don't you?" She nodded, so Cyrus shooed at them in response. Olivia looked at Fitz and gestured to the door with her head, walking out without waiting for him. He quickly hopped off the couch and jogged to catch up to her.

"What did we need to talk about?"

"Where's your office?" She asked, ignoring his question, and he tried not to get frustrated.

"Two doors down, to the left." He indicated with his hand. "So, what do we need to talk about?" He tried again. Olivia sighed and spun around so quickly that it caught him off guard and he stopped short of running into her.

"I want to drop your class, but Cyrus won't let me." She turned back around and took the remaining couple steps toward his office. He hadn't bothered to lock the door earlier, so Olivia opened it and walked in without saying a word to him.

"Wait, you want to drop my class?" He asked confused, following her. He was halfway through closing the door when they finally made eye contact again, she was watching him and he realized neither of them were prepared to be behind a closed door. He stopped what he was doing and left the door ajar, sitting down behind his desk.

"Nothing personal, I find it boring and I already know most of the material." She shrugged.

"Ouch." He placed a hand over his heart, faking hurt. He linked his hands together and placed them on top of his desk. "So, if Cyrus won't let you drop the class, what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, I was hoping we could work something out, at least so I wouldn't have to come to every class. I could really use that extra time." Fitz smirked and leaned back in his chair.

"Okay, convince me." He cheered a little on the inside when Olivia looked genuinely surprised at his response. He may not know her, but he was pretty sure he knew her and he would bet she had spent the past couple of days running scenarios of this conversation in her mind, so the fact that he managed to surprise her satisfied him.

"What?" She asked, lowering herself into the seat across from him.

"You heard me, convince me. Tell me why you need the extra hour and a half, three times a week, or why you think you know the subject so well I can excuse you from class." He could read the anxiety in her face and he almost apologized for putting her on the spot. She cleared her throat and started speaking.

"I've been groomed for law school since I was kid, weekly readings and quizzes from my father were regular and expected. I have a strong law background. I spent the first year and a half of my college career doing my PR major and now I'm focusing on my law major, but I had to take last semester off and it set me back," she rushed out as if she didn't want to talk about it. And Fitz felt bad about bringing it up in the first place; he hadn't known the story behind anything. Although he did recall Cyrus saying she had a rough time last year. Fitz waved his hand back and forth rapidly, stopping Olivia's story. He wouldn't force her to open up if she didn't want to. He wanted her to want to tell him these things.

"You don't have to come to every class," he conceded and she looked at him with bright eyes that made his chest feel tight. "But I can't let you off the hook that easily." Fitz tried not to grin when Olivia rolled her eyes at his follow-up statement.

He couldn't just allow Olivia to miss every class and still get an A just because…Just because what? He asked himself. Because he was drawn to her? Because this was probably the most attracted he'd ever felt to a woman in his life, despite being engaged for years? He shook his head and drew his attention back to the present.

"What if we met once a week?" She cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. "You and me, half an hour, whenever it fits into your schedule. We'll discuss the readings and class material, so that I can be sure you're keeping up. Other than that, I'll only require you to be in class on the days that there are exams." He explained, hoping this compromise worked for her. She nodded eagerly.

"Yes, that sounds great. Thanks so much, Fitz!" He raised his eyebrows, surprised that she called him by his first name and by the blush that colored her cheeks, he guessed it was an accident. She cleared her throat and crossed, then re-crossed her legs. "I mean, uh, Professor Grant." Suddenly, Olivia's eyes darted around the small room they occupied and then went back to him. "Um, are we going to be meeting in your office or…?"

Fitz thought about it for a second. The idea of being in a room alone with Olivia for a half an hour every week was definitely appealing, but he also knew that was a very tempting position for two people who had almost kissed when left alone for a few minutes, so he shook his head.

"No, uh, what about we meet at that coffee shop you work at?" He suggested and Olivia immediately looked relieved. He wondered if it was because she didn't want to be alone with him or if, like him, she was worried about what would happen if left alone in close quarters again, especially for such regular meetings.

"Perfect!" She grinned and Fitz smiled back, unable to resist the infectiousness of her happiness.

"You can get in touch with me via email to set up a time." He grabbed a post-it note, quickly jotting down his email and then stood, walking around the desk to hand it to Olivia. She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. He stumbled back in surprise, but quickly gained his balance, securing his arms around her waist.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She chanted as he tried not to think about how perfectly their bodies fit together.

"It's really no problem, Liv." He said genuinely, separating himself from her before he did something he shouldn't. "So just, um, let me know when you want to meet." Fitz shoved his hands into his pockets to resist touching Olivia, who was still standing less than a foot away from him.

"Of course, I need to look over my calendar, but I should be able to get you some times by tomorrow morning at the latest." She flashed him a wide smile that he knew he'd do anything to keep on her face.

"Perfect." He agreed, looking at her. They held eye contact for a few moments, before Olivia lowered her head, blushing, and he cleared his throat, awkwardly stepping away from her and back to the safety of behind his desk.

"I'll see you later, F-" She quickly shook her head and threw her bag over her shoulder. "Professor Grant," she corrected, bolting from the room.

Fitz fell into his desk chair and let his head rest against the back of the seat. He and Olivia could never be alone in a room together, that's what the past few days had made clear to him, especially after their moment in the kitchen the other night. Now, whenever she spoke, Fitz found himself staring at her lips, while trying to listen to what she was saying. And he spent way too much of his own personal time thinking about Olivia. He kept reminding himself that she was his student, that she was much younger than him, and that pursuing anything with her could cost them both a lot. But it seemed that when Olivia was around, all his rational thought went out the window.

He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned in frustration as he thought of how much one-on-one time they'd be spending together. Thank god they were meeting in a public place, hopefully that would be enough to curb their sexual tension. Fitz picked up a paper on his desk, resolving to do work and stop thinking about Olivia.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to fuck him by the end of the semester." Abby responded, after Liv finished telling her about every interaction with Fitz over the last several days.

"Abby! Did you not hear anything I just said?" Abby snorted.

"What? Like how Cyrus left you two alone for less than five minutes and you almost made out? Or the part where you set up private meetings with him for the rest of the semester?" Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Private meetings in a public place."

"That's semantics, Liv, and you know it. You basically have a weekly date." Abby said as she scribbled down the notes she was copying from Olivia. She thought over what Abby had said and decided it wasn't true. She was an adult and she didn't need to have sex with someone just because she was attracted to them. She could control herself and so could Fitz. Last night was probably just a fluke; after all, he didn't mention it today.

"Look, just because there is a weird pull between us-" Abby cut her off and rolled her eyes.

"That's called sexual tension."

"It is not sexual tension!" She vehemently denied. It was chemistry, but not sexual tension. Right? Abby ignored her.

"Maybe you need to have sex once to get it out of your system." Abby suggested and Liv's head whipped around, staring at her best friend with wide eyes.

"Are you suggesting that I causally have sex with my professor because we have 'sexual tension?'" She asked exasperated, putting air quotes around the words 'sexual tension.'

"Okay, first of all do not put air quotes around those words, you know I'm right. Second, from what you've told me it seems like you two can't even be in the same room without wanting to jump each other, and you've only known him for what? A week?" Abby asked and Liv nodded reluctantly. "You're not going to be able to ignore it."

"I know, but maybe if we stick to a professional relationship, then we'll fall into those roles and there won't be anymore sexual tension."

"Even you don't believe that, Liv." Abby looked up from the notebooks and gave Liv all of her attention, which is how she knew whatever Abby was about to say was serious. "Look, the only other option is that you convince yourself it's purely a physical connection and that he probably has a shitty personality not worth your time and you have nothing in common." Liv looked at Abby doubtfully.

"Well, his father was awful…" Olivia finally conceded and her friend raised an eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be the thing you have in common or the reason he has a shitty personality?" Olivia's head popped up, meeting Abby's satisfied smirk. Liv pulled her notebook from Abby's grasp and slammed it shut, getting up from the table. "Try not to have sex with your professor!" Abby shouted loudly to her retreating back. Olivia glared over her shoulder at her as she stormed away.

Hours later, while Olivia sat on her bed at home and read over some things for class, she was constantly distracted by thoughts of Fitz. She was so annoyed at herself for allowing a man to usurp her attention, her professor of all people. After unsuccessfully reading the same paragraph for the fifth time, she got up and headed downstairs to Cyrus's study where she knew he would be since the man didn't know how to take a break.

She was right. Cyrus was sitting behind his desk, eating while meticulously criticizing whatever paper he was reading in bright red pen.

"So, you've known Fitz his whole life?" She asked. Cyrus looked up at her, suspiciously, from his dinner plate as she lingered in the doorway.

"Most of it," he shrugged. "I ran quite a few of his father's campaigns. Big Jerry hired me after his wife died."

"Fitz's mom?" Olivia asked, interested even though she didn't want to be. She hoped Cyrus wouldn't think she was fishing for anything. If he thought she had any sort of ulterior motive, then he would push her until he knew what it was.

"Yeah, she died when Fitz was a kid, leaving him with Big Jerry. Unfortunate." Liv felt sad thinking about young Fitz with no mom and stuck with Big Jerry as a father. She couldn't help but parallel his upbringing to her own; although thankfully her father had made one good decision in sending her away to boarding school.

"Anyway I worked most of Jerry's campaigns while Fitz was growing up, then I moved out here. Didn't see Fitz again until right before his campaign for governor ended." Cyrus explained and Olivia thought carefully about what question to ask next. She figured a question showing only mild intrigue would work best.

"Fitz campaigned for governor?" Cyrus sighed heavily while he nodded, this spurred Olivia's curiosity even more and she entered Cyrus' study, deciding to make herself comfortable in his large reading chair.

"I don't even know if the poor guy wanted to but his dad and his fiancée," Olivia tried not to visibly react to the word 'fiancée', but she felt her heart sink. He hadn't mentioned a fiancée, she rationalized. But then again when would he have? It's not like they'd really had in-depth conversations. Olivia realized that Cyrus was still talking, so she tuned back in to what he was saying.

"He looked miserable at every campaign event and speech and rally," Cyrus shook his head sadly. "He would've made a great politician. Jerry and I had a plan to make him President but-" At this point, Olivia had to speak up.

"President of the United States?"

"Of course! He was charismatic, charming, time in the military, law degree, his father was political dynamite; Big Jerry even found him the perfect First Lady."

"So, what happened?"

"Jerry died two weeks before the election. Then, Fitz dumped Mellie and dropped out of the race." He shrugged and Olivia tried to ignore how relieved she felt when Cyrus said Fitz broke up with his fiancée. "I didn't want him to spiral with the whole single, unemployed, orphaned thing and a job opened up in the department."

"Well that was nice of you, Cy." Cyrus grinned at Olivia.

"It's also great to have both of my surrogate children in the same place." She rolled her eyes and got up, figuring she'd gotten as much information as she could without arousing suspicion.

"You're getting sentimental in your age, old man."

As Olivia sat at her desk later that night, an email to Fitz half-typed, she groaned at how hung up she was on this stupid man. A stupid man who she had way too much in common with and was way too attracted to. She ignored those thoughts and quickly typed up the rest of the message, hitting send before she could overthink it anymore.

Fitz kicked off his shoes and collapsed, face first, on the couch that was doubling as his bed for the time being. It had been a long day. He was still getting the hang of the teaching thing and he had agreed to help run the undergraduate debate team, which had its first meting today. On top of that, he had been dodging calls from Mellie for the past three days, he was living in a hardly furnished apartment, and his father's lawyer had faxed him at least 20 pages of paperwork relating to his father's will.

And despite all of that, at least 80% of Fitz's thoughts centered around Olivia. It was ridiculous. He was a grown man. He had been in actual serious relationships before. And he could not for the life of him figure out why he was so drawn to her.

He grunted, annoyed, when his thoughts of Olivia were interrupted by the phone ringing and he almost ignored it when Mellie's number popped up. But, in the end, he decided he would finally answer it and hopefully put a stop to her incessant calling.

"What do you want, Mellie?" He rolled his eyes when he heard her over-the-top surprised gasp at his curt tone.

"There is no need for that harshness, Fitzgerald. I was calling to check on you." Fitz snorted.

"Don't pretend to care about me now."

"Of course I care about you! We were together for ten years." A very unfortunate ten years, Fitz thought, but say anything out loud.

"Yes, ten years in which you thought I was your ticket to the White House. Well, that's not happening anymore so we do not have to continue pretending to care about each other." Mellie scoffed and Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Sometimes he seriously wondered how they had been together for ten years when they were the most ill-matched couple in the world. If Mellie showed up at his house now, he'd probably implode in frustration, but he had managed to go home to her everyday for the better part of a decade. The line was silent for a few moments and he heard Mellie take a deep breath.

"I received some information regarding Jerry's will today and I know you did too-" Before Mellie could finish her sentence he started laughing, effectively cutting her off.

"Of course Big Jerry made sure his precious Mellie was taken care of when he died," Fitz responded sarcastically, He heard Mellie's indignant gasp and prepared himself for the long-winded rant that was sure to follow, when his phone beeped. He pulled it away from his ear and saw that he had a new email. And it was from Olivia.

"Yeah, I gotta go, Mel." He hung up on Mellie, not waiting for her response. He clicked on the email and an incoming call from Mellie, again, interrupted him. He quickly rejected it and went back to the email.

Hi Prof. Grant,
Checked out my schedule and Tuesday/Thursday late afternoons work best for me. Everything is semi-flexible and I'm sure you're also very busy, so I'll leave it up to you to pick them specific time. I'm sorry I sent this email so late and I hope I'm not ruining your evening. Get back to me when you can!
Liv

The small smile that he had on his face when he started reading blossomed when he noticed that she signed her email as Liv. He would have to work on getting her to call him Fitz, but he hoped the fact that they were meeting in a less formal setting would make her want to open up to him.

Hey Liv,
My Thursdays are pretty busy, but I'm free after 1 on Tuesdays. Should we plan to meet at the coffee shop around 2? Make sure you come prepared, it's my first year teaching so I have to be tough ;)
Fitz

He hesitated sending it for a second, wondering if the message was too flirty. In the end, he hit send. He figured harmless flirting over email wasn't a huge issue and he knew being casual about the whole thing would be the best way to encourage Olivia to do the same. Fitz was playing with fire. He knew it. He also knew he was probably going to get burned, but if he got burned by Olivia Pope…well, there were worse things that could happen.

Fitz almost cheered out loud, which would have been thoroughly embarrassing, when Olivia answered his email almost immediately.

Professor Grant,
Tuesday at 2 is perfect! And it is you who should be worried; I'm more than prepared. Although, I have to warn you, if you're unable to answer any of my questions, I'll be forced to give a bad review to Cyrus.
Liv

He laughed at the italicization of his title and typed out his response, sending it without even thinking.

Bring it on, Ms. Pope.

Olivia grinned and held the phone to her chest, like a stupid teenager with a crush, after reading Fitz's final message. She decided not to reply, figuring any further conversation would definitely deviate into inappropriate territory more than it already had.

Olivia closed her eyes, forcing herself to go to sleep. As she drifted off she tried not to think too hard about what she was going to wear tomorrow afternoon when she met with him.