a/n THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR FEEDBACK! I am so sorry it has taken me this long to reply. Your wonderful comments have encouraged me to continue writing. I am a really big fan of stories that can fit into the real story line, Ms. Rhymes has thrown me off with a lot of her twists and turns from the season, so its getting harder and harder to make this in any way believable. He's to another attempt :-)

Again thank you!

Early in the morning. The mist of dew is still fresh above the grass, as Olivia Pope steps before a yawning crowd of reporters.

"Ms. Pope!"

"Miss. Pope!"

"Ms. Pope!"

Olivia raises a quiet hand to silence the repetitive calls. The crowd obeys, leaning in for her statement. "Earlier today there was a rumor that claimed I had died. " Olivia smiled but couldn't help but scan the crowd for any familiar faces. If the shooter was there she was ready to face her fate. "I am not dead as you can see. I am very much alive. I feel more alive than I've felt in years" she added as a reassurance to her audience. This was a play, an act to get both of her soon to be murders' attention.

Meanwhile at the white house, the president laid next to his wife. Well not really next to her, more like in the same bed but on the opposite side.

His eyes were red from a mixture of things. Lack of sleep, resentment, grief, regret. The love of his life was gone.

"Mr. President!"

Fitz and Mellie jumped up startled from the intrusion. Captain Jake rounded the corner and turned on the tv.

"What the hell is this?!" screamed Mellie as Fitz leaned over to a half empty glass of scotch. A drink he had started sometime in the night and had yet to finish in his devastation.

Jake switched the channel over a couple of stations, until media coverage popped onto the screen.

"Mr. President don't-" Cyrus rounded into the room to find Jake at the tv, and the coverage of Olivia Pope on the screen.

"Olivia, Olivia. Do you know the source of this rumor?" asked a reporter.

Olivia's perfect lips break open. " No I do not, but I will."

"Ms. Pope, Ms. Pope. This is more than a joke, this is more than a prank, this is a serious ordeal. What justice would you like to charge these perpetrators with?"

Olivia paused. Her eyes focused on the reporter.

Before another word left Olivia's mouth, Fitz leapt out of bed. "Where is she!"

Cyrus leapt before him, "Sir, two British soldiers are dead in Afghanistan and Pakistan because from an IUD, the press-"

"That's Brittan's problem not mine." Fitz threw on a pair of pants.

On the screen Olivia leaned towards the reporter her eyes narrowing. "How did you know there were more than one?" she asked.

The reporter looked around him as though confused. "The details were so elaborate , your blood was found and confirmed in all the test kits, there was so much blood that it was impossible for any one human to survive. Your apartment was trashed, nothing seemed to be taken. Yet you're here unharmed… The report doesn't add up. It's impossible for one person to have done this, don't you think?"

Olivia ran over the facts he had presented in her mind. His response was well covered to the media, and to all those listening in, but his intentions were plain to Olivia. This man was smart, and he definitely wasn't a journalist. He was too smart of the job, no offence.

This reporter single handedly put Olivia in a tough spot. By tossing out a bunch of facts that indirectly lead every reporter to the same conclusion… apartment trashed, nothing taken, her blood everywhere and she unharmed... when he put it that way it sounded like she faked her own death, or at least had some sort of involvement in this stunt.

Olivia watched him trying to figure out her next move. If she left, she would look guilty, if she stayed a reporter would ask the question, 'did she have anything to do with this', if she lied the investigation scene could be investigated, where there were plenty of witnesses that not only seen but spoke to Abby and Huck, which could land them in prison and connect her to this crime. This was a chess game. He had her penned, but not check mate yet. There had to be another move.

"Ms. Pope." Olivia heard another voice resound over the crowd. "Where you trying to fake your own death?"

There it was, exactly what she was afraid of. She had to tell the truth, but she could not risk telling the world that she was the mother of the president's illegitimate child, or children if she counted the one in her womb right now. The president's approval rating was high this month. The highest it had been I years. The people were happy with how happy Fitz and Mellie seemed together. Olivia and her children would be despised, their lives ruined forever.

Olivia had to protect her children, and the man she loved from ruining his re-election.

"Ms. Pope?"

"Yes." Olivia stated, gasps cycled around the yard,

As well as the white house room. Fitz was in the closet dressing, as Mellie and Cyrus shared a glare. Mellie discretely moved over to Cyrus, pulling him aside. "Pull your dog off of her now, before you ruin this thing."

"My dog? I thought he was yours." Cyrus growls in a whisper. There's a pause.

"Wait you don't know who that guys is?" asks Mellie.

"I know who he is, he's a fucking contractor, but what I don't know is why he's browbeating Olivia Pope about a hoax."

Jake was stationed at the tv, but his head slightly turned to key into the conversation. Cyrus and Mellie were quiet enough to hide their conversation, but his hearing was stronger than normal.

"She set this up to get away from the assassin." Mellie informed.

"You sent an assassin on her?" asked Cyrus

"Not recently. If there are any deals I've initiated in the past, I can assure you. They expired the day Fitz and I admitted we were on the tape. Couldn't have any ties to Olivia ." Mellie swore.

Cyrus glanced to the tv. Olivia Pope was glaring at the reporter, the known contractor. Horn rimmed glasses, full head of hair and piercing grey-blue eyes.

"You didn't put a hit on her?" Cyrus asked.

"Not lately" Mellie admitted.

Cyrus turned back to Mellie "We have to find out who hired this asshole before Hades breaks loose from the depths of hell and we find ourselves a part of the country's biggest scandal since Watergate." Cyrus scratches his head. "Who would want her dead?"

Mellie reaches over grabbing what's left of the president's drink "Who wouldn't?"

"Jake follow me." Fitz orders as he emerges from the long walk in closet fully dressed. Jake doesn't question a thing, he follows the president out, with a one quick glance back at Mellie and Cyrus.

His glance was caught by them both… Jake?