A/N: Thank you to everyone who has written to me in the last 2 weeks to say you've missed the updates. As many of you know my "day job" is crazy and insane and sometimes keeps me away for stretches at a time. However, this time you're going to get two chapters as my "mia culpa" to you. So enjoy this one and hold on tight!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am only playing with the characters Shonda has provided. The sandbox they're currently playing in, however, is mine.

Plans and Change

Chapter Twenty-One

Olivia was still doing therapy three days a week, but had also started going back to class. It was hard getting around, but everyone had pitched in to help. If she had a class with Harrison or Abby, they would pick her up and drive her to class, then either drop her off at her next class or carry her bag to meet up with the next person who would get her to the appropriate place. At the end of the day, Fitz would meet her at debate practice, then they'd go home together, usually with people following behind. The lake house had become a "gathering grounds" of sorts, and he didn't mind it as much as he'd thought he would. Hearing her laugh and joke was all he needed to know that it was right.

Huck approached him between classes during the third week after Olivia had returned to classes. His face was grim and Fitz felt his stomach drop. "Huck." Fitz was getting to know the man better, even fell into the "economy of words" that Huck preferred when they were together. A strange thing, to be sure, and completely against what Fitz had been schooled in his whole life, but it was getting easier.

"I got a lead, I think." Huck kept his voice low, sounding uncertain. "On the guy who tried to take Olivia."

"Ok. What's the lead and why are you… you sound off." Fitz walked them over to the wall of a building. Huck was always more comfortable when his back wasn't exposed. Fitz let the man stand and survey out over his shoulders.

"I can't be sure, but I think it might have been the son of a Senator."

"Huck, on this campus, that doesn't exactly narrow it down." Fitz ran a hand through his hair. "First, why? Why do you think this and why would he want Olivia?"

"Ok, so, I may have worked my way into Olivia's mother's office's network." Fitz quirked a brow at him, but let Huck continue. "And I might've narrowed the parameters down to clients with sons that could fit the age range."

Fitz tried really hard to keep his patience. "Huck…? The point?" He wanted this guy found and he wanted to know what was going on.

"There were three names that came up that also attend Harvard. Three names and I looked at pictures, but it was dark that night, so I'm not one-hundred percent sure."

"How close to one-hundred percent are we talking?"

"Ninety?" Huck sighed. "I'm trying to figure out who he's friends with. But, the thing is, Olivia's mother "fixed" the case for his father by getting the kid thrown into rehab for almost a year with community service attached. It was kept quiet and out of the press."

"If he'd gone to jail, it would've been all over the news. Fix for Daddy meant the kid had to take the fall. It would give him a reason to want to hurt Margaret, but why Olivia?" Fitz wasn't tracking the whole conversation. He knew he was missing something.

"Maybe he doesn't know they're dead? I don't know." Huck said, obviously not happy with the last part of that statement. Huck didn't like working in unknowns or possibilities. Fitz knew he liked 100% and he liked having all of the facts.

"Are we sure he doesn't have ties to Mellie?" Fitz still wasn't sure why but something said Mellie factored in. She'd continued to send her texts, which he promptly deleted before Olivia could see them. When he'd seen her at the fraternity house one afternoon while picking up a few of his things, he'd finally confronted her about it.

Fitz had latched on to Mellie's arm as soon as he'd seen her and dragged her aside, out of the common area and into the kitchen, which was deserted.

"Fitzgerald Grant, what on earth are you doing," she'd shrieked. "Don't you dare manhandle me."

"You used to like it when I left bruises, Mel." He knew the heat in his voice was from anger, but she took it in a whole different vein.

"Well, now, if you've finally come to your senses…"

"No, Mellie, I have always had my senses. It's yours which have been in question lately." He shoved her into one of the stools that sat around the island and paced in front of her, but close enough so she wouldn't bolt. "You know we're over, and you're still texting me. Then what? What's the rest of the plan, Mel? You've had my father call. I'm sure your parents have been at him for weeks. What's next, Mellie? Huh? You going to hold a séance and call my mother back from the other side to plead your case?"

"Fitz, please. I don't know what you're talking about, but this is absolutely ludicrous." She squirmed a little and Fitz knew he wasn't wrong about the motivation behind his father's call the day of Olivia's first therapy session. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, you do." He leaned in, just a foot or so from her face and lowered his voice. "I didn't spend three years between your legs and with you attached to my hip to not know you, Mel. I know you and I know that you'd have no problems calling in the big guns, and by that I mean our parents, if you thought it would do a damn bit of good to help your cause. You've never, ever fought your own battles."

"Oh, like she is right now?" Mellie's voice was acrid and sarcastic. "You're here fighting her battles for her, Fitzgerald. So, really? How's that any different?"

"No, Mellie, I'm fighting my battle, with you. I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't become collateral damage."

"Then stop this, now, Fitz, and she won't be." Mellie's face was fixed, firm, her eyes snapped. "You want to protect her so much? Then leave her. Let her go find some other guy and get back into the gameplan. Because there is a gameplan, Fitzgerald, and it does. not. include. her," she punctuated each word with her nail into his chest.

He grabbed her wrist, fingers circling all of the way around it. He was furious and his skin crawled at the touch, but he was not going to let it go. Not this time. "If I find out you had even a hint of something to do to hurt her… if you ever have a hint of something to do, I will destroy you, Mellie. We both know I can." Fitz could too. He knew enough, knew where her skeletons were hidden, all of them, and he wouldn't hesitate for a minute to use every last thing he knew about Mellie and her family.

"What the hell does she have that I don't?" He could hear the anger in her voice.

He tossed her hand away and stared at her. "She has my heart." He stepped back from her. "You know me, Mellie. You always said I didn't have a poker face. You think I'm bluffing? Then make a move." He let her scan his face before he stepped back.

"I used to have your heart, Fitz. I did. I know I did." She sounded so pitiful, just shy of whining. "We could have that again. It would just take some time together. We could take a semester off; spend it in Europe. A villa in the south of France, maybe."

Fitz looked up at the ceiling, ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Mellie, I'm done. I'm done with you. I've been done with 'us'," he hooked his fingers around the word, "for longer than… well, for a long time, I just couldn't stand up to our parents and say so. For that, I'm sorry. But here, now, this, this is done, Mel. There's no us. There will not be an 'us.' And you need to stop contacting me and don't ever contact Olivia. Don't have our parents do your work for you either. Go, find someone else, be happy Mel."

"I was happy. With you. You want me to be happy? Then stop all of this and just come back. We can fix whatever this is, Fitz. I love you." Fitz stared at her as she stood there, stoic, almost sounding sincere.

"No, Mellie, you don't. You don't love me. You don't even really know me." He softened his tone, remember that at one point, he did actually care for her. "This, what you're doing right now, it's beneath you. You're better than this Mel. There are hundreds of guys on this campus, hell half of this house, who'd want you for you. You need to stop this. Stop chasing the guy who doesn't want you because it's what they told you to do. Do what makes you happy, Mel. Find someone who loves you and wants that for you."

"But I. Love. You." He heard her voice crack. "You're the one I want."

"But, I don't love you. And you can't make me love you, Mellie. No one can." Fitz turned and started towards the door. "Goodbye, Mel. Be happy."

"Fitz?" Huck's voice was more insistent. He snapped out of the memory, something in him still feeling off. "Do you have a reason to think he would be connected to Mellie?"

"No," he answered honestly. "Just… Mellie doesn't want to move on and she's not one to give up without a fight. I don't get it, but that's the truth."

Huck scoffed, a first that Fitz could remember. "You're a pretty boy, in one of the most prestigious frats, from the Grant name. Gee, I can't imagine why she isn't ready to move on."

"I'm not that guy, Huck. Jesus. I thought you knew me enough by now to know that." Fitz really wanted to hit something. Did everyone think he was nothing more than his name or his looks?

"Hey, I get it. I do." Huck shrugged. "Just sayin' I can understand the other side of it." He waited a minute, then cleared his throat. "There is something else."

Fitz could feel his neck stiffening. "Something else?" Was this never going to end?

"Well, I wanted to rule out your father, you know because he knew Olivia was at the house and the flowers, etc."

Fitz rubbed his temple. "What the hell did Jerry do this time?" He almost didn't want to know. If not for Olivia, he wouldn't care to.

"He didn't send the flowers. At least not from his office, home or cell lines." Huck shifted a little uncomfortably. "He has, however, had several conversations with Mellie and her parents. Their number shows up in his call history more than a few times."

"Her father is a big campaign contributor," Fitz dismissed that one easily enough. "They've been family 'friends' for most of my life."

"Yeah, but why would your father call Mellie's mother's cell at 3 am?" Huck's expression and tone never changed, but Fitz's did. He knew it.

"Because he's Jerry," Fitz practically spit out the words thinking back to the night they'd all been at the Chancellor's dinner. He could feel his jaw ticking. "Because my father has no problems having an affair with a married woman."

"I'll keep working on the flowers. If I find anything I'll let you know." Huck was already moving from his spot. "We'll figure it out."

Fitz nodded watching Huck walk away. His father and Mellie's mother. Couldn't really say he was surprised, disgusted maybe, but not surprised. He walked in half of a daze to the debate practice. Could the day get any worse?

Olivia was sitting off to the side where Cyrus had a table set up for her, notes spread out. She only wished she could concentrate on the practice. When her phone buzzed with a text, she nearly jumped out of her seat, sending her crutches clattering to the floor. Cyrus looked over at her but she waved it off. She closed her eyes after reading the number that registered on the phone before opening them and reading the text.

Of course I'll meet you, but are you sure you wouldn't rather meet with Lawrence, or Gayle?

She scanned the room, Fitz was still not there. She hurried her reply:

No, it has to be you. Please. I need to see you. I think you're the one that can help me and I can't tell you why right now.

She waited, a minute passed and then another. She was sure he'd say no, but then she got the response she'd waited for.

So very Pope of you. Fine, I'll come up there this weekend and then you'll tell me what's going on.

Shit. No, that wouldn't work. She was still staying at the lake house. Fitz wouldn't be thrilled about this, but she had to do it.

No, I'll… I want to come to DC. I want to go to the house. I can come into the office.

Damn it. She'd pressed send before she'd really thought the whole thing through. She wasn't sure she really did want to go back to her old house in DC or into her mother's old office. She didn't know how she was going to even manage to work this out with Fitz – or Cyrus. The plan wasn't fully formed, she was just going on her gut – and her gut said to get the hell down to DC, so that's what she intended to do.

You know you're always welcome here Livia. The firm is technically yours, after all. But are you sure?

The firm was hers? Did she know that? Was she even told that? Was she sure about this? No. She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about a frigging thing except she couldn't continue like this. She needed her life back.

Yes, I'm sure. I'll see you this weekend.

When she felt Fitz's lips on her neck she shoved the phone into her pocket without waiting for any kind of reply.

"Hi." His simple greeting washed through her, soothing the serrated nerves she'd been harboring all day.

"Hi."

He sat down in a chair that was next to her as she hastily shuffled all of her notes together and shoved them in a binder. "Missed you." He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, like he was holding on tighter. She laid her head on him.

"Missed you too." She had. She never realized how much until she saw him again and then it seemed like they'd been gone for days or weeks rather than just hours. "Hey, you know, I was thinking. I want to go to DC this weekend."

He turned his head a little but she kept hers turned into his chest. "DC? Liv, really?" She nodded against his chest but still wouldn't look at him. "I'm just…" she could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "You're still recovering. We could take the trip after you're better and cleared."

"Fitz, I want to go. I want to go back to my home there. I want to see my mother's friends. I didn't realize how much I'd missed them until I'd seen them at the game." She looked up at him, her chin still resting on his chest. "I'm going to DC this weekend."

"No," he kissed her lightly. "We are going to DC. But no sightseeing and no major outings. If you want to see a few people, we'll arrange it, but we're not wearing you out, Liv."

She smiled. "Fine. I think I can live with that. But at least a lunch or something with your father, Fitz." She leaned up and kissed him much more deeply than he'd just done. "Consider it investing in political capital."

He leaned his forehead down on hers and chuckled. "You've been listening to Cy too much. Political capital. When the hell did you start saying shit like that?"

Liv shrugged. "When I became the girlfriend of a guy who was going to become president," she replied sweetly before nestling her head back into his chest. "So, we'll leave Friday and come back Sunday night? That work with your schedule okay?"

"That's fine Livvy. We can leave right after your classes." He shifted her into his lap so she could still see the debate and prop up her leg. "Now, watch the debate like a good captain."

She relaxed into his arms. This was going to work. It was, as her mother used to say, handled. She'd handled it. Thank god.