Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal

Chapter Twenty-Five: Vienna

Slow down you crazy child

Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two

When will you realize, Vienna waits for you

And you know that when the truth is told

That you can get what you want or you can just get old

You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through

Why don't you realize, Vienna waits for you

"Vienna" Billy Joel

"So, when's the wedding going to be?" Abby pestered as she chased Olivia around the office. Olivia moved around, unlocking the office doors and turning on the lights, opening the blinds to let the sunlight in. The office had been closed up for a few weeks now, she noted she should hire a cleaning crew to come in and dust everything off for their reopening.

Olivia pushed the door to the kitchen open and flicked the light on, moving directly to the coffee maker to start it up, "There is no wedding yet, Abs. Fitz and I want to enjoy being engaged first. We're going to start thinking about wedding dates in two months." She held up two fingers.

"Two months?" Abby screeched, "You could be married in two months." She protested.

Olivia opened her mouth in shock, "I don't want to be married in two months." She told Abby calmly, "I want to have an actual wedding, I want to spend time planning it with Fitz. I want it to be something we do together. When he was with Mellie it was this big production that she wanted. I want this to be our wedding. And right now he's working a huge case and we're about to dive into something big, so the more time we have the better and why does it even matter? I mean we're already living together and we're together in every other conceivable way." She rolled her eyes.

"But it's about the rings." Abby sighed, "It's about the commitment."

"Abs, we're already committed. We've been committed since day one. The rings will just be another symbol of our commitment to each other. One that may not be visible to the rest of the world, but is to us. Now come on into the conference room. I have our newest project." Olivia poured a cup of coffee and led the way down the hall to the conference room, calling out to everyone as she passed their offices.

"What project?" Abby tailed after her, her own cup in hand, "I thought we were taking time off."

"We were, but I'm curious about something so we're going to look into it." Olivia set her mug down and pulled out her chair, settling in for a quick meeting with her team.

"What's going on, Liv?" Stephen asked, "Why are we even in today? I thought we were taking time off.

"We were, but something's come up." Olivia explained as everyone sat down.

"And unfortunately it's not wedding planning." Abby moped.

"Let it go, Abs." Olivia advised. Once everyone was settled she leaned forward, "We don't have a client, and there's no huge rush if we don't stumble upon anything, but I'm curious about something."

"What?" Harrison asked, taking a sip of Abby's coffee before taking a bit out of an apple and handing it to Abby, who took her own bite.

"You two are nauseating." Stephen muttered.

"Ignoring the miserable man whore over there," Abby faced Olivia again, "what's got you so curious?"

"The open Senate and House seats." Olivia answered simply.

"You want to find out why all of those people resigned?" Quinn asked, her mouth gaping open, "None of them are going to talk. They're all being super cryptic about it. Whatever Reston was involved in, those Senators and Congressmen were in it up to their eyeballs as well. They're more interested in saving their reputations than in staying in public office at this point. That's how bad it is."

"Look, I would be curious about the entire thing, but not tempted to look into it if Mellie weren't running for office, but this helped her. Somehow she knew that was going to happen. I mean Carlos had barely resigned when she announced. No one noticed because the bigger news was how many resignations there were and the damn President of the United States being convicted of first degree murder. No one paid any mind as to who all announced their candidacy until later. Now it's the hot button topic." Olivia mused.

"So maybe we should look into all the candidates who are now running and see if there's any connections there." Harrison mused.

"We should see if they have any connections to Doyle." Huck spoke up. "And Andrew and Mellie. I assume the only reason we're looking is because of the three of them."

"That sums it up nicely." Olivia agreed, "So, let's start by running through their financials, checking into their emails and calendars, just the basics. Let's see what we dredge up and we'll go from there." She stood up and picked her mug up, "I'll be in my office."

SCANDAL

Mellie paced around the back room of a town hall in San Diego, "You're sure Carlos won't talk?"

Hollis rolled his eyes and threw back the rest of his tumbler of scotch, "You need to relax, sweetheart. And drink more." He picked up the bottle and poured more scotch, thrusting it in Mellie's direction. "Drink."

"I have to give a speech." Mellie snapped, "You can sit here, but if something goes wrong it's my head on the platter. I'm the one who will go to jail if they find out that we"

"Oh, shut up. Good God, woman, I was under the impression that you had balls of steel. I thought it was your ex-husband and your new husband who were incompetent and spineless." Hollis muttered.

"Oh, go screw yourself, Doyle." Mellie snarled at him.

Hollis stood up, "Why would I do that when you do such a better job of it?" He winked at her before smacking her ass. "Just get out there and give your speech. Don't worry about a thing, little darling, I got you covered."

Mellie sighed as Hollis moved to stand back stage before she took a few deep breaths and shuffled through her notes for her impending speech one more time.

SCANDAL

Fitz took a bit out of his sandwich and glanced across the the small table in Olivia's office, "You really think it's all connected?" He asked.

Olivia shrugged and stabbed a piece of fruit with her fork, "I don't know for sure." She admitted. "Doesn't it just feel fishy?" She asked.

Fitz chuckled, "Your gut is speaking, huh?"

"Yup," Olivia nodded and chewed a grape slowly, "maybe if Hollis, Mellie and Andrew weren't involved." She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know, I just think we're going to find something."

"Well if I can help with anything let me know. As always, my department and I are at your disposal." He gave a small bow as he sat.

Olivia giggled, "Sounds good. I'll let you know." She sighed, a content, lazy smile playing across her lips. She reached across the table and laced her fingers with his, "I love you, you know that, right?" She asked.

Fitz gave a hum of agreement, "Oh I know. And I love you too, sweet baby." She picked up her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

"So, Abby's been pestering me about the wedding." Olivia admitted, "She's turning into bridezilla even though she's not a bride."

Fitz let out a loud laugh, "That sounds about right. Is Harrison sure he wants to date her?"

Olivia chuckled, "He said something about sex with crazy people being the best." She shrugged, "I didn't really want to know." She admitted.

"So are you going to tell her we picked a date?" Fitz asked with an arched brow.

Olivia bit her lip and thought about it, "Nope. I think I'm going to make her sweat it out for a while."

"You're so badass, Livie." Fitz nudged her foot with his.

Huck tapped on the door, "Sorry to interrupt. I've got something."

SCANDAL

XOXO

MAS