"Cyrus, I do not want to talk about it. And I definitely will not be talking about it with Fitz. We aren't together anymore. I appreciate him coming to check on me but that's about as far as it goes," Liv explained as she continued to rub the stain out of the carpet.

"This is Fitz we're talking about. You know as well as I do that you and he will never be over. I know it, you know it, and he knows it. Hell, even Mellie knows it."

"And he chose Mellie. That's why we're over. I asked him four months ago to pick me. To leave Mellie and be with me for real so I wouldn't be the mistress anymore and he picked Mellie. Fitz said it wasn't a good time. Well, when is a good time? We're never going to be on the same page. He wanted to leave Mellie on the campaign; I told him no, he needed to be President. He wanted to leave Mellie after the whole Amanda thing; I told him no, he would look like a whore. He wanted to leave Mellie after the baby was born; I told him no, the press would crucify him. He picked him and Mellie went on national television and told the world that he was having an affair. And he went back to her! I asked him to be with me and he told me NO! He flat out said NO! So I will not wait for him, or answer the phone when he calls, or give him and inch so he can take a mile. It will not happen!"

Cyrus watched her scrub the floor harder as she got angrier. "But this time is different…"

"Don't you dare start that shit with me too! Fitz tells me that every time. It's different; it's going to be different. I wrote that damn speech myself; I know how it ends. It will never be different. He will always be married to her that will never change."

"But Liv, he's asked her for a divorce and…"

"He's asked her for a divorce a hundred times. She blackmails him into whatever the hell she wants. She wants to be First Lady, fine, let that bitch have it. She had the nerve to come into that hospital room and pretend to be sweet and want to be my friend. Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining, I don't buy it."

"Liv, he's changing things. He's getting it done. You two will be together. Fitz wants to make sure that you are okay and that you aren't trying to hurt yourself. Mellie was worried too."

"Cyrus Rutherford Beene, if you are going to defend those two get the hell out. Actually, get the hell out anyway. I can feel the judgment radiating off you."

Cyrus stood up and made his way to her. He kneeled down to see her face and make her look at him. "I'm not judging you. I know it's been rough for you since his shooting. You took on a lot of responsibility and didn't get the chance to grieve like you should have. But Fitz is here and he's alive. He wants to be with you. His sole purpose in life is to make you happy. But he can't do that if you are cutting and trying to kill yourself. You had a life before Fitz, and you will have one after Fitz if that's what you want. You have to outlive me and take care of Ella. And attempting to kill yourself is not the example I want you to set for her."

Olivia got up off the floor speechless for a moment getting her words together. "How dare you! How dare you use my goddaughter against me! I have set a great example for her. And I'll continue to do so. And outlive you? I'm not the one working day and night to make sure that the President has everything he needs and keeping the First Lady on a short leash. You're the one who never goes home to your daughter and your husband. A gold fish is going to outlive you Cyrus. Why don't you take tomorrow off and try to remember your husband's name? And don't you ever EVER bring up my cutting again. Are we clear?" She watched Cyrus nod and stand up to his normal height. "Good, now get the hell out."

Once Cyrus stepped out of the apartment, Liv slammed the door shut and continued to work on getting the blood out of the carpet.

Fitz prepared himself for the day the next morning, both physically and emotionally. He knew Liv would be released from the hospital at noon so he was going to pick her up and take her home. Hopefully, when she was safe at home with him there, she would tell him why she tried to kill herself. While he waited for time to pass since it was only nine in the morning, he decided to catch up on the agenda. He had been so invested in how Olivia was that he hadn't read any reports for two days.

"Would you like me to go with you?"

Fitz turned around in his chair and faced Mellie standing behind his desk. "I think this might be something Liv would just tell me about."

"I was just thinking that she might need all the support she can get, and I can be support to her if that's what she needs. We could call her team and have a… what do they call that? A convention?"

"Intervention and the last thing she needs is everyone knowing that she cut herself. Luckily Cyrus was there in time to catch her so she didn't bleed out."

"She was very lucky that he was there. But what if she tries it again? What if next time, God forbid, she isn't so lucky?"

Fitz put his papers down and stared up at her. "You think she'll do it again?"

"I don't know. It's possible. We don't even know why she did it the first time. How do we know that was the first time? I want to know what made her cut herself so bad that she wanted to die. Was she stressed? Did she mean to do it?"

"Who 'accidentally' cuts a vein several times down their arm? Liv's probably been too stressed and didn't get her sleep. She probably hadn't slept in days and forgot to eat anything driving herself crazy."

Mellie wanted to say something but she bit her tongue. This is probably your doing. She probably did it because you told her no. "Well figure it out. And tell me if there's anything that I can do to help her. We don't have to tell anyone else but she'll need support. Everyone does."

"I will do that on one condition."

"Are you in a position to negotiate with me?"

"If you want Olivia back as your friend, you'll have to negotiate."

"Fine, what is it?"

"While I'm helping Olivia with whatever it is she needs from me, you cannot pull any of your shit anywhere. I have a hard time trying to help her and keep you on your leash at the same time. And that may even make things worse for her if you do."

"I promise to be well behaved and help any way I can."

"Good, now I better get going so I can take her home before she calls one of her team to do it."

Fitz called out to Tom and had him bring the limo around so they could leave. On the way to the hospital the memory of seeing her in the hospital popped into his head again. Her arm wrapped up and an IV in her to make sure that she had enough blood running in her, it scared him. He could have lost her for good. Thankfully, Cyrus was there to get her. He owed him one. A big one. On the way to the hospital he had the driver stop and get her favorite flowers, as many as the store had. They continued to the hospital with four dozen peonies with them.

"I'm here to pick up Olivia Pope, is she ready to leave yet?" Fitz asked the nurse behind the desk outside the doors of the psych ward.

She immediately stood seeing that the President was standing in front of her. "Good morning, Mr. President. Olivia Pope?"

"Yes, she is scheduled to be released at noon. I'm here to take her home."

"Let me look," she told him. She sat down and typed furiously at the keyboard putting in her name. "Olivia Pope. Actually, sir, Miss Pope was released yesterday. Dr. Hatch wrote her pass himself."

"He wrote her a pass? What the hell does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, sir. I can get him if you like."

"No that's fine. Have a nice day."

Fitz turned around heading back to the car with his agents. He instructed the driver to take him to Olivia's apartment. When they got to her floor of the building Fitz could smell some kind of chemical. It wasn't strong but enough to notice. He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.

Liv was still on hands and knees scrubbing the floor when she heard the knock. "What!"

Fitz didn't say anything and knocked again.

"What do you want?" she screamed ignoring the door.

Again, Fitz knocked and kept his mouth closed.

"For fuck sake!" She got up and went to the door.

"Hi."

"Bye."

She closed the door and went back to the floor. Within seconds Fitz opened the door and walked in.

"Tom, can you and Daniel bring those in and set them on the table?" Fitz ushered them in and let them return to their post. "Livie, I think we need to… what is that awful smell?"

"Ammonia."

Fitz looked down and saw her trying to get the blood stain out of the carpet.

"You should have someone do that. Like a professional." He went over and picked up the bucket she had and took it to the kitchen dumping it down the sink.

"I wasn't done with that!"

"You've already tried to kill yourself once this week. I won't let you try it again."

"What do you want from me? Why are you here?"

"Why didn't you tell me the doctor let you out early? I just went to the hospital to get you and the nurse said you left yesterday. I couldn't sleep at all last night knowing you were in the hospital and I couldn't see you. Don't you have any courtesy left?"

"Nope, I threw it out the window a while ago. So why are you here? I'm a little busy if you can't tell."

Fitz looked over at the blood trail and followed it to the bathroom and came back. The majority was well set in at the front door. "This is where Cyrus found you? At the door?"

Olivia started to fidget with her fingers and looked away. "You didn't answer me. Why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you. I just got out of the hospital and don't really give a damn why you're here," she told him full of sarcasm.

"Obviously you do or you wouldn't have asked three times. How are you? Are you feeling okay?"

"Are we walking on egg shells for a reason or just for the hell of it?"

Fitz stood by the window and ran his hands through his hair before he said anything. "Olivia, I don't know what I'm allowed to say. I don't know what's going to set you off and make you hurt yourself again. Am I allowed to ask you how you are? Dare I ask we just the fence and I ask the straight question."

"I'm not fragile and definitely not soft so ask whatever you want. Just ask your damn question Fitzgerald. It's the same damn question everyone else has been asking. Why should you be any different? Ask me."

He turned around and looked her in the eyes knowing she was pushing him to ask so she could blow up. "Why did you try to kill yourself?"

"Because I did NOT try to kill myself! If I wanted to kill myself I would have done it with a damn revolver in my mouth."

"Well now I know to get rid of all the guns around you," he tried to joke but she was not laughing.

"You don't believe me. You think I tried to kill myself just like everyone else does."

"It's kind of hard not to when your vein was sliced several times. So I'm wondering why you would do that." Fitz sat on the couch next to her and grabbed her wrist bringing it to his lips and kissing her marks. Just as he kissed the cut at the top of her forearm, he saw the other cuts. For several minutes he stared at her arm. "This wasn't the first time you've cut yourself is it?" He kept a tight hold on her wrist looking at the previous cuts. "Was that the first time?"

"Fitz, just leave it," she told him trying to pull her arm out of his grip.

"Liv, have you cut yourself before? What are these marks from?"

"I said leave it alone."

"Damn it Olivia. Answer me!"