"So, you've actually filed for divorce." Liv said as she entered Blair House to meet with Mellie.

"You didn't really leave me with any other choice now did you?" Mellie said as she continued unpacking her belongings.

"Why did you decide to do it?" Liv knew better than to trust anything that came out of Mellie's mouth. Especially when it dealt with her and Fitz.

"I told you Liv, you've won. You've successfully stolen him away from me. I am no longer going to stay in a relationship where I am obviously not wanted. He's yours. He's always been yours, long before the two of you knew one another. You're soul mates."

"What brought about this change Mellie? You are not one to just give up without having something up your sleeve so what is it? Am I going to wake up to a slanderous article speaking many untruths of how you had no idea Fitz and I were an item? How I manipulated my way into his heart? Or... Is there something in it for you?"

"There's nothing in it for me except for the chance to finally be happy and begin making my mark on the world. Although I must admit that a tell all on my divorce and the whore who stole him away would earn a lot of political capital for me in the future. It's been a long time coming Liv. I didn't want to accept it before. I know that the more I fight him on this, the more he is going to resent me and whether he likes it or not, we are stuck having to deal with one another for Karen's sake."

Mellie's words stunned Liv. For Karen's sake... Why not Jerry? Why would Mellie only be worried about Karen's well being in all of this? Liv knew better than to ask Mellie about it even though it was killing her to understand what she meant. She'd make a note of it to ask Fitz later.

"So, why did you ask me of all people to come down here today?" Liv asked trying to get back to the task at hand.

"I just want to make sure that you don't screw up and allow some other whore to come in and steal Fitz away. You know, like how you did with Amanda Tanner."

Liv fought with every fiber of her being to refrain from beating the hell out of Mellie. Instead she turned and walked towards the door. Nothing Mellie said mattered anymore. Not after the phone call she had with Harrison on the way over.

"Liv wait, I'm sorry. Please stay. Im sorry."

Liv turned towards Mellie but stayed close to the door.

"I just want to make sure you won't mess up like I did and end up losing Fitz. I allowed myself to shutdown after something happened. I didn't open up to him, and I shut him out. That is why our marriage died."

"Mellie, I don't think that I am the person you should be opening up to about your relationship with Fitz."

Liv looked at Mellie with a blank face waiting for her to continue.

"Liv, I don't know what happened to you or what's going on with you, and that's none of my business. Just don't shut Fitz out. Take care of him Liv. Protect his heart, and don't walk out on him out of fear."

"Mellie, what I am going through has nothing to do with Fitz, nor do I plan on walking away from him. I stepped back at one time out of my attempts to respect your marriage and keep him in office. Once you accused me of "Falling down on the job", once you brought up that you were angry that I was trying to be respectful of your marriage all bets were off. In spite of what you think, Fitz and I were never your puppets Mellie. We don't dance when you attempt to pull our strings."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mellie asked curious as to what Liv was talking about.

"You bringing Fitz in the room when you approached me did not work the way you wanted. It worked the way I wanted."

Mellie looked at Liv completely baffled by what she was saying.

"See Mellie, in this day and age we are graced with the wonders of modern technology. Just like me telling Cyrus who I knew would run back and tell you, that I'd admit it was me on that sex tape, or Fitz coming and laying his head on your lap at Blair House, and just like Fitz and I having Tom out my name to the press, I was the one pulling the strings. Are you still not following me?"

Mellie shook her head hoping Liv would explain.

" Okay Mellie, let me give you a rundown on how the night really went. At the WHCD Fitz and I began texting pretty much as soon as I took my seat. Fitz wanted me on the trail and I had no problem going. I wanted to go, but there was a little problem that needed to be taken care of first, you. So, I told Fitz to suggest to you to try talking to me since we both knew it was you that wanted me there for the campaign. I told him for your reassurance, offer to be in the room when you did. You know, make it seem like he was trying to coerce me into agreeing what was already a given. Anyway, we expected the offer of the night together. We even expected you to go back on your end of the bargain. What we didn't expect was for you to go as far as filing for divorce after one measly flip out from me . I must say that filing for divorce had to have been the icing on the cake. You see Mellie, just like every one of your strings I have pulled since Fitz and I decided we are going to be together, you danced, and may I say what a beautiful dance it was. I didn't make you do anything but come to the realization that you are unhappy. I suggested nothing, I requested nothing. This was all your doing. You put the nation at ease so, in a year when Fitz and I do decide to begin courting publicly, no one will think anything of it because first lady Mellie Grant assured the nation I was not the one having an affair with the president at that time."

Mellie couldn't do anything but stand in amazement of how she had been beaten at her own game by Olivia Pope. She never would have taken Liv to be the manipulating type of person outside of her job. Mellie was actually kind of proud.

"Look Liv, I called you down here so I could go over with you my reasoning for filing for divorce. You have to give a statement and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

Liv watched as Mellie went over to the table and picked up her petition for divorce. Liv finally reached the explanation part of the petition. There was part in particular that caught Liv's eye.

"Fitz is not the father of Fitzgerald Thomas Grant VI, nor is he the father of Theodore Grant. He is however the father of Karen Grant."

Shortly below another paragraph jumped out at her.

"After spending the past three years in close proximity with the father of Theodore, we have decided it was time for us to make our family whole."

Liv couldn't believe what she was reading. This was why she was only worried about Karen. Liv needed to know although she was afraid to ask.

"Mellie, who is Baby Teddy's father."

Mellie took in a deep breath and bowed her head before answering. "Hal. Hal Renbow is Teddy's father."

Liv immediately thought back to the night she and Fitz were in the bunker with Mellie. Everything was beginning to add up. Hal was the reason Mellie knew every little detail of her relationship with Fitz. Hal she would definitely deal with later. Then something else hit her.

"So you mean to tell me that you've spent the past four years making Fitz and I miserable, you brought a child into this world to deliberately break us up, and the whole time you've been getting it on the slide?"

Liv was never one to show rage but Mellie was definitely getting her close to that point. Liv realized even though she didn't want to admit that Mellie had in fact been pulling the strings. Liv almost threw away the one great thing in her life because Mellie needed to be in control of a man she wasn't even in love with.

Liv knew Mellie was up to something and before she allowed herself to give in she turned and walked out the door. Liv got to the car and realized she had 22 missed calls from Fitz and another 15 from Cyrus as well as texts from them both.

Fitz: Liv, I'm on my way, hope you missed me as much as I've missed you.

Fitz: Ok, I guess your busy. Let me know when you finish up. I found a great little spot to have dinner.

Fitz: Liv is everything ok? Im beginning to worry about you. It's been four hours and I still can't get a hold of you.

Cyrus: Liv, please let us know you're ok. Fitz is going crazy.

Fitz: Liv, where the hell are you?

Cyrus: Liv you need to reply to let us know you're ok. We're Worried.

Cyrus: OLIVIA CAROLYN POPE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!

Liv knew she'd better get a hold of Cyrus before Fitz had every branch of the military looking for her. She pulled out her phone and proceeded to dial Cyrus' number and hit call. Liv waited as the phone rang but was interrupted by a man walking towards her across the parking lot.

Liv jumped in her car locked her doors and started the engine. Just as she was about to put the car in reverse, she felt a sharp pain shoot through her head and everything went black.


Cyrus checked his phone and realized he had a missed call from Liv and a voicemail. He dialed the voicemail and began to listen. What he heard frightened him.

"Is she dead?"

"I don't think so."

"Dude, she's not breathing! You idiot! You weren't supposed to kill her! You were supposed to gag her and throw her in the back seat, knock her out at the most."

"Dude I've never seen so much blood!"

"Look, we got Olivia Pope didn't we? They just wanted to see her before we took her out anyway. We'll just do it backwards."

"Whatever, they said bring her unharmed. Do you think we're getting paid now? You harmed Olivia Pope!"

"Wait dude, stop talking."

"Hello? Hello?"

"Shit, she was on the phone with someone."

"What the hell do we do now?"

"Leave her! Forget the money. Someone will find her, we are a parking lot. There are a lot of people in DC."

...

...

"You dumbass! You never hung up the phone! Lets get out of here before we end up locked up again!"

Then the line went dead.

Cyrus called Tom and had him send for paramedics and the Navy Seals to go find Liv. Mellie and these men would be dealt with later. Once Tom headed off with his orders Cyrus went to go find Fitz.

Fitz was sitting in his hotel room downing his fifth or sixth glass of scotch. He looked up when Cyrus entered the room, and Cyrus could tell he had been crying.

"Do you think she left me again? I couldn't take it if she did. You know I built a house for us. I took her there yesterday to show it to her for her birthday."

"Mr. President..."

"You know I bought her a horse. Liv loves horses. She combined our names and named hers Olitz Love because she has a heart shaped mark on her head."

"Mr. President..."

"Cyrus, I can't. I don't want to hear about how you've found a note or she sent you some text..."

"Fitz!" Cyrus yelled becoming irritated with his very inebriated friend.

"What?!" Fitz shot back just as irritated.

"There's been a situation. Tom is contacting the Seals to have them find Liv."

Cyrus pulled out his cell phone and dialed his voicemail handing Fitz the phone so he could listen. Halfway through the message Fitz threw Cyrus' phone down, grabbed his coat, and made his way out the door.

Cyrus ran after Fitz who was being followed by a flabbergasted Jason who pulled out his phone to call Tom. Luckily Tom had been on his way up because Fitz walked directly into him knocking him down on the floor.

Tom and Jason helped him up and got him to compose himself before Tom spoke.

"Mr. President we are looking for Ms. Pope now. Marine One is on the way, and I will update you to her condition once we recieve word."

"Thanks Tom. Call her team and notify them of the situation. Restrict all access except for those four. When she is found, I want armed guards at her door at all times. Do I make myself clear?!."

"Yes sir, I'm on it." Tom said as he began placing phone calls.

Fitz sat back his head spinning trying to wrap himself around what was happening.

"Who the hell would want to hurt Liv? What has she done that was so bad someone would try to harm, or even kill her?" Fitz's hands began to shake as the rage started to fill his body. Cyrus didn't want to notify him of who was responsible but he knew Fitz would find out sooner or later.

"Fitz, there's something I need to tell you about that sir."

"What, it was you? Let me guess,you couldn't stand the thought of me being happy with anyone other than Mellie. RIGHT?!" Fitz barked causing Cyrus to take a few steps back. He knew his friend was drunk, and this news wasn't helping the situation any.

"Fitz, I think you need to listen to the rest of this message. Please."

Cyrus begged his friend in hopes of reasoning with him. Fitz looked at Cyrus and took the phone from him placing it to his ear. He listened for a few moments and Cyrus noticed all of the blood rushing to his face.

"MELLIE!? MELLIE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!"

"I'm afraid so Mr. President."

"I swear Mellie will pay for this... Wait, what is Liv doing in DC Cyrus? Why doesn't she have a guard!"

"Mr. President, she slipped out when we were in meetings. The security detail was supposed to be assigned tonight sir."


Liv placed her hand on her head and felt a warm moisture seeping down her face. She looked at her hand and realized she was bleeding. Liv picked up her phone and dialed 911.

"Police, fire, or ambulance?

"Police...ambulance. I've been attacked."

"Ok ma'am can you tell me your name?"

"Olivia Pope..."

"Shit!"

"Ms. Pope, the entire DC area is searching for you. Do you know where you are?"

"I... I..."

"Ms. Pope stay with me. Can you hear me Ms. Pope."

"Yes..."

"Ok, Ms. Pope, where are you?"

"The South Lawn parking lot."

"Of the White House?"

"Yes..."

"Ok Ms. Pope, I'm going to stay on the line with you. Where are you hurt?"

"I think my head. There's blood every..."

"MS. POPE CAN YOU HEAR ME? MS. POPE?! MS POPE IF YOU CAN HEAR ME HELP IS ON THE WAY."


F

Marine One had just taken off when Tom approached him.

"Mr. President sir, they've found Ms. Pope. She was able to dial for help and gave the operator a little information before she became unconscious."

"Thanks Tom."

"Sir, there is something you should know. Ms. Pope has not regained consciousness as of yet. Sir."

"Thank you Tom."

Fitz could feel his blood boiling at the news he just heard. He picked up his phone and proceeded to dial a number. Cyrus sat anxiously wondering if he actually planned to confront Mellie while 30,000 ft in the air. Unfortunately the person Fitz called scares him far worse than Mellie.

"Hello Rowan, we need to talk."