"I give up."

"What?"

"I can't do this anymore, I give up."

Fitz sat in the Residence with Cyrus going through paperwork.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't have the energy to do this anymore. I can't keep fighting everyone. It's too much. I quit."

"You need to just relax and stop drinking because that's the liquor talking."

"I haven't been drinking, Cyrus. I just can't keep trying to fight for Grace against Olivia and get Mellie moved out of the White House before the divorce is final. And running the country is exhausting. I left my resignation papers in the top drawer in the desk in the Oval."

"Are you insane?"

"Cyrus…"

"Do you know what it took for us to get you here? How much we have sacrificed for you?"

"What about my kids? Karen and Jerry, I never get to see them. And Grace. It's almost her first birthday and I've seen her three times. And that was seven months ago! This isn't fair."

"This job isn't meant to fair. It's meant to be done by someone who can take control and show no fear."

"I've been shot in the head, Cyrus! How else is there fear there?"

Cyrus tossed down the papers and left the White House. Fitz called for his agents to get Marine One ready to go and to pick up Olivia and Grace.

Olivia sat in her office reading over her clients' financial records when Tom and Daniel came into her office.

"Hell no," she told them when she saw them come in.

"It's not a request ma'am. He's demanding this time. Where's Grace?"

"None of your concern. Let me make a call."

The agents stepped out of the office while Olivia called Abby and told her to keep Grace until she came to pick her up.

"Alright, let's go."

Olivia got on Marine One, mostly against her will, and let the pilot fly her to wherever she was going.

Getting off on the lawn she saw Fitz standing outside a house.

"Is there a reason you had me kidnapped and brought to the middle of nowhere?"

Fitz turned around and went inside where he had started a fire in the fire place. "I think it's time that we talk."

"We talk."

"Not through our lawyers."

"Well that's that only way I'm talking."

"Then just listen."

Olivia looked around the house seeing that it was a house that someone might live in but only in a certain time of year. "What is this?"

"Your house."

"What?"

"It's your house, our house. I had it built last year before Verna died. I wanted you to be able to see it."

"Why?"

"This was our dream. At least, I thought it was. Living in Vermont with our kids. I had it built for us so that when I was done with the Presidency, we could be together and continue our lives the way we planned."

"And you didn't tell me this why?"

"I was shot before I could bring you here. I wanted to take the weekend off and come here with you but things were crazy and then I was shot."

"So that's why I'm here? To be tortured for the past?"

"No, not at all. I'm resigning in two days."

Olivia stared at him for a minute judging if he was actually serious.

"That's not funny."

"It's not meant to be."

"You're going to resign. Why exactly?"

"I can't fight with you anymore, and with Mellie, and run the country. I can't do everything no matter how much I want to. It'll be better after I resign and the divorce is final."

"So you divorce her and resign and take Grace away."

"Don't get me wrong, I want to see Grace. I want to be part of her life. I want to be her dad. I missed so much already. I have made so many mistakes and I can't make up for them all but I'm going to try."

"You're not taking Grace. That's it. I will not let you take my daughter away from me."

"I don't want to take her away from you. I want shared custody. Obviously, we won't be together but we are going to have to share Grace."

"I'm not sharing my daughter. Especially with you. You are the one who told me to get rid of her. You never wanted her. Why should I even let you in the same room with her?"

"I didn't know you were really pregnant. How am I supposed to know you weren't making it up so we could still be together?"

"Do you really believe I would stoop that low? I told you I would wait for you like you wanted and then you told me to get rid of our daughter. The answer is no. I'm not going to get rid of her. I loved you so much that I wanted to keep our daughter. And that's what I'm doing because she is part of me and of you. So regardless of what you wanted to do, she is my daughter. I thought we would be raising Grace together but someone had other plans."

"My plan was to marry you and have kids with you. But you decided that I had to be President enough that you rigged an election."

"Defiance? That's why you're punishing Grace?"

"No, it's punishing you."

"Oh please, you're punishing her."

"No, you are, Olivia. You are the one who is refusing to let me see her. If you would just let me see her, she wouldn't be punished."

"Are you hearing yourself right now? Are you thinking about what you are saying or is this just random shit that comes flying out of your mouth?"

"Of course…"

"I don't think you are! Grace is not being punished by me. I'm being punished by you. You are not capable of being a real parent to her. You're the President. You aren't even a real father to your own children."

"Olivia, don't you dare…"

"Speak the truth? Oh, believe me, I dare. You let her send your children to the other side of the country for school. You see them at most 10 times a year. And Teddy, well it's only a matter of time before she ships him off to some random school in California. You're not there for them. Mellie isn't there for them. You don't even talk to them when they are in town, in the same house. You send them to school in California so they…"

"They are safer there! California is a safe place for them."

"Really? That's what you think?"

"It's what I know."

"Karen got drunk at a party two weeks ago and slipped her detail. She got high from pot and started throwing up. Jerry got into a fight with another kid because he was defending you and where you stood on immigration. The kid hit him so hard that he ended up going to the school nurse with a busted lip. But by all means, California is the best and safest place for them to be."

"How do you know all this?"

"I video chat with them. I text them, call them, visit them. There's nothing that they do that I don't know about."

Fitz threw himself back on the couch, officially irritated. "I don't know why I ever let Mellie put them in that school, I told her it was a bad idea."

"And you would have put Teddy and Grace right there with them. You are not accessible to them like a real father should be. You're not there for them. I'm there for Grace. And for Karen and Jerry. You are not taking Grace away from me."

"I'm going to resign."

"And that makes up for nothing. You need to fix the relationship you have with Karen and Jerry and Teddy before you can even think about being a parent to Grace."

"Grace is a baby. She'd get to know me more if you would just let me see her. I can build a relationship with a baby but it's going to take a lot of time to fix what I have with my other children."

"Then I guess you better start working on it."

Olivia sat across the room from him picking at her nail and staring at the fire. They sat in silence for what felt like forever but was probably only ten minutes. She wondered how fast she could get back to D.C., hopefully before it was time for Grace's bedtime. Liv could see him staring at her out of the corner of her eye. He wanted to keep the arguing going so they could be done but hearing her say how in touch she was with his children softened him.

"Why didn't the kids tell me that you talk to them?"

"They didn't want you to be mad. They knew what happened after Verna died, when you banished me from the White House and refused to talk to me again."

"So you told them?"

"I didn't tell them I was pregnant for several months. And the only reason they found out I was pregnant was because I had to fly over there for Karen's concert."

"Concert?"

"You and Mellie had to attend the correspondence dinner. I went to Karen's concert and Jerry's soccer game."

"No, I mean what kind of concert?"

"Her choir concert."

"I didn't know she was in choir."

"There's a lot you don't know about either of them. Jerry is great at soccer. And Karen loves to sing. They are both doing great in school. I've been to their parent teacher conferences."

"You aren't their parent."

"Do you honestly think I don't know that? Someone needed to be there for them and I was able to when you weren't. At least someone was able to be there for their games and concerts."

"You are Grace's mother."

"And don't ever forget that."

"I can't keep fighting you like this. Look, I just want to be in her life."

"I don't want you to be."

"She's my daughter too."

"By blood only."

"Therefore, I have rights. I will fight for her. I don't want to hurt her like I have Karen and Jerry. I want to make it right and let her know that I'm going to be here for her. Anytime that she needs me."

"No."

"Let's negotiate. No lawyers, no judge, just you and me, right here."

"There's no negotiating. You can't be a parent that she needs. At least not yet. Maybe… if after you're finished with your terms… we can discuss you being in her life."

"That's five years, if I'm reelected. And I'm not running for reelection and I'm resigning in two days."

"You are not resigning."

"That office wasn't meant to be mine."

"I worked my ass off for you in more ways than one. You are not resigning." Olivia gave him a death glare knowing that he would back down.

"Even if I don't resign or get reelected, that will be another year. I can't wait that long."

"I don't care how long it is. I don't care how long you have to wait to see her. That's not my problem. You try and take me to court for custody of her, you better damn well be prepared to be impeached. I will cast the ugliest light on you possible that everyone in the world will know your dirty little secret. I will make sure you feel the exact pain that I went through with you. Do NOT test me, Fitzgerald."

Fitz slowly moved to the edge of the couch keeping his distance with the coffee table between them.

"Did I really hurt you that much?"

Olivia turned her head to look at him unable to believe he could possibly be that dense.

"Hurting you was never my intention."

"Bull shit."

"Livie…"

"Don't lie to me. You and I both know that your true intention was to hurt me. I told you I was pregnant and you told me to get an abortion. Don't you dare try to tell me otherwise. Your only intention was to punish me. To hurt me. You wanted me to feel like a mistress and you damn well did. Congratulations."

Fitz moved over towards her, sitting on the couch beside her looking in her eyes. "Livie, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. You didn't deserve that. And you didn't deserve me abandoning you when you were pregnant. I don't know… I want to make it up to you and Grace. I know I've screwed up, especially with you but I want to try to get back to what we were."

"This is just a tactic for you to get to see Grace."

"Yes and no. I do want to see Grace but I want things to be fixed between us. I know that's going to take a lot of work. But I'm going to fix it. I'm going to earn your trust back. You are not a mistress so stop thinking that right now. You and I are supposed to be together; we will get back to where we were before all of this shit happened."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

Fitz picked up her hand and moved the ring around on her finger that he gave her three years before.

"You still wear it. So there's hope, isn't there?"

"I can't go back to the way things were before. I have to think about Grace."

"WE have to think about Grace. And she is going to be fine. She has you and me."

"Are you going to call off this custody bull shit?"

"I want to see her. If you will agree to letting me take Grace every other weekend and maybe sometimes during the week, then I will call off the custody order."

"She's only been away from me over night that one time. And the no Mellie rule still stands."

"We can set that up again. You and she can come here every other weekend. I won't have any Presidential crap to do since I'm resigning."

"I will not let you resign. It's not going to happen."

"Well, I'm not going to let Grace grow up without me."

"Compromise?"

"Such as?"

"Stay in office until the end of your first term. It's only another year. If you don't want to run for reelection that's fine but you have to finish your first term."

"And I get to see Grace whenever?"

"Every other weekend and once during the week."

"Twice during the week. And video chat every day."

"Deal."