Nick left Fitz in the dining room to go visit his mom. He wanted to know more about his dad and the things that he and Liv had done while he was President.
"Nicky, did I ever tell you about my college professor?" she asked. Sometimes a memory would come back and she would say it right away so Nick could help her remember it.
"Which one Mom?"
"Professor Beene?"
"You've told me about him. I know he was your favorite professor and you were his favorite student. What do you remember about him?"
Olivia smirked at a memory she had. "I remember there was one time that Cyrus had asked me to lunch in his office. I brought my lunch and sat down with him and all he did was quizzing me on the Presidents of who was…"
"A Republican or a Democrat," Fitz finished. Nick and Olivia turned their head to hear the answer as Fitz stood in the doorway listening to her. He kept his hands in his pockets to keep himself from running to her and holding her forever. "Cyrus did that with a lot of his students. I never did see the point in it. But I guess it was to help with memories later. To see how well you knew what you were talking about."
Olivia gave him a puzzled look; she still wasn't sure who he was. "You shouldn't stand in doorways. People who stand in doorways are going nowhere and doing nothing." Olivia turned back to Nick. "Why is he still here?"
"I know you don't remember him but you actually mean very much to him. And he means the world to you. Just as much as I do. But, I have a surprise for you first," Nick said.
"You know I don't like surprises. Can you just tell me what it is? Please Nicky?"
Nick gave a small smile. "What if I told you that Cyrus is here?"
"Nicky, that's not funny. Cyrus is too old, by now he might even have died."
"Hey! I resent that," Cyrus said as he walked into the living room. He sat down next to Liv on the couch. "I am very much alive."
"Cyrus!" Olivia yelled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "How could you be here? You were so old before but you are here now?"
"Liv, I'm only 70. Don't make me older than that. I talked to Nick earlier this week. Did you know we've been looking for you?"
Nick stood up and went out of the room with Fitz. "If we leave them to talk for a bit, he might be able to jog something in her mind to remember you." Fitz agreed and they went out to the porch to talk.
"Cyrus, why would people be looking for me? I've been here for years, I haven't moved in a long time. Can you tell me who that man is? Nicky said we mean a lot to each other but I don't remember him."
Cyrus took Liv's hand in his while they spoke. "What's the last thing you remember before this accident?"
"Edison and I were happily engaged. I was working at a law firm with Stephen. Edison and I were getting married in the summer. I remember adding you to the guest list but I was also hoping that you might walk me down, even though it was only going to be a very small wedding."
"Things have changed a lot since then. You didn't marry Edison, and the invitations were never sent out. I pulled you away from him to do me a favor when Edison cheated on you. That man here, he does mean a lot to you. You are his world. For sixteen years, he's been looking for you. He's had a private investigator looking around the world for you and apparently, you've been here for the past 5. That guy, his name is Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the Third, but we call him Fitz. I pulled you away from Edison for a favor to help me get him elected President. We all believed that he would do a great job at it. And he did until you disappeared. When he couldn't find you, he started to suffer being the President, he wanted to look for you himself but the Secret Service wouldn't let him out of the White House."
"But why would he want to look for me? If I only helped get him elected, my job would have been done. I can't matter that much to him. I was only, what you seem to say, a campaign fixer. I know I was a fixer at one point but I don't think I did a good job. Nicky wasn't sure."
"Nick wasn't born when you were a fixer. Actually, we didn't know he even existed until he called me earlier this week. We think that you were nearly done with your first trimester of pregnancy when you left D.C. And you were the greatest fixer in the world. You probably still are, you're just a bit rusty. Whenever anyone in D.C. or around there had a problem, you got called in to save the day. You were the best at it. You matter to him because you were with him. In every way possible. Fitz is Nick's father."
"No, Edison is. I was only with Edison."
"Liv, you're missing a big chunk of time and actually Fitz is." Cyrus pulled out his phone to show Liv a picture of Fitz. "See, Nick looks exactly like Fitz."
Olivia looked at the photo Fitz and saw the girl with him. "I guess he does. Fitz and Nick look exactly the same. Who is the girl with him?"
Cyrus smiled as he looked at the picture of his daughter with her godfather. "That's Ella. She's your goddaughter. That's my daughter with my husband James." He scrolled across the screen to find a picture of James. "That's him. You and he were good friends. He was a reporter at the White House when Fitz was President. But he died. Well, he was killed before Fitz finished his term."
"I'm so sorry to hear that Cyrus. Where is Ella? I'd like to meet her. Or meet her again, I guess. She's adorable."
"That she is. Right now she's at home with James's parents. She's 17 now. You were at her christening. You held her with Fitz."
"So Fitz and I were together? How together were we? I mean, if he was President, he was obviously married."
"Fitz was married to Mellie during his Presidency. But Mellie knew about you two. I think you might have just had enough of the sneaking around with him and him showing up without notice. You seemed to have been fighting with him a lot before you left. You left just before Fitz was going to run for his term and no one saw you again until now. You did love him, and he still loves you. But for a long time, unfortunately, you were just the other woman. But Fitz never saw it that way. You are the love of his life."
Olivia laid her head on Cyrus's shoulder. "Cyrus, you've been very helpful. I still don't remember him but at least I know his name now. I'll go talk to him and see if maybe something he says will help. Nicky says he's very concerned about me but there's nothing he can do. I remember the accident but I can't remember a lot of things. Will you stay longer?"
Cyrus nodded as Olivia got up and went out to the porch. She watched Fitz and Nick talk on the swing for a minute until Nick saw her and got up. Nick kissed Liv on the cheek and went to the house. She stood still for a minute and locked eyes with Fitz.
She finally broke the silence after a moment. "Hi."
