A/N: Thank you to everyone who gave me their feedback on how to finish this story. A large number of you would like me to wrap this story up before Sept. 27. With less than five days to go though that will be physically/mentally impossible for me to do. But I'm going to try very hard to write as much as I humanly can before Season 2 starts. I anticipate that the coming chapters, with the exception of one in particular, will be on the shorter side as I try to push through to the finish line. There will be multiple chapters posted over the next few days, so sign up to get a story alert emailed to you if you don't normally visit this site daily.

This chapter brings back a character introduced in "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered," which is Chapter 5 of "An Ounce of Truth for Every Treason." Just click on my name and you can find that story under my user profile.

Chapter 24: Listen

Growing up in the wealthy D.C. enclave of Bethesda, Maryland, Olivia Pope never wanted for anything. At least no material things. The daughter of two high-powered black professionals who had come of age during the Civil Rights era, Olivia was raised to be perfect. Her parents had very high standards and never coddled her emotionally. Mediocrity was frowned upon and being just good enough was never enough in the Pope family. Olivia was raised to excel and to exceed expectations.

Now here she was, 35 years old, sitting at the top of her profession. She was the founder and owner of one of Washington, D.C.'s best crisis communications firms with a wealthy clientele who trusted her to find the right solution to their problems. She had worked long and hard to get to this level and had made numerous sacrifices. One of those sacrifices was a personal life. She had had none until Fitz, and now here he was giving up everything he had worked an entire lifetime to gain, just to have a life with her. In the grand scheme of things, he had more to lose than she did. So although their uncertain future frightened her, she would continue moving forward with Fitz. She had to, because the alternative, a life without him, wasn't any life at all.

Olivia thought over Fitz's offer to become his senior special advisor and then decided against it. It was way too risky. Yes, of course, she would advise him, but she needed to do it in an unofficial capacity, off the record, away from the prying eyes of the public. After all, she still had a professional life separate from Fitz. She had a business to run, a business that was based on her sterling reputation for having good judgment and discretion.

In fact, it worried Olivia greatly to think about what was going to happen to her professionally once she and Fitz truly went public. Yes, he was now divorced, but nobody was going to believe that their relationship had started in the weeks after he and Mellie divorced. Her dirty little secret, that she had been the President's mistress long before he got a divorce, was going to come out somehow. And then what? How would the world view her? Would she be ostracized? Cast out from "respectable" society?

And then there was the issue of race, America's own dirty little secret. Olivia knew how ruthless and nasty the media could be, especially at the first whiff of anything involving sex and a politician. Add in the element of race, and she knew that the media would come up with their own tawdry and sordid story line to fill in the blanks if they found the truth less than scintillating. Would she be reduced to a stereotype and labeled as the black Jezebel temptress who had entrapped and bewitched a formerly "happily married" white man to leave his "devoted wife" of 20 years? She could already see the headlines and anticipate the code words the media would use to make it seem like she was the trashy slut who had stolen the First Lady's husband and ruined a presidency. Her memory briefly flashed back to that time when Cyrus, in a fit of anger, had called her "the president's whore."

The truth was complex with numerous shades of grey, but in the 24-hour news cycle where everything got reduced to a snappy soundbite and 140 characters or less, she knew it was highly unlikely that there would be nuance in any of the reporting that would eventually come out.

The day of reckoning was coming for Olivia and it remained an open question - would she be able to handle it? She shuddered to think about it. She was truly at the outer limits of her normal comfort zone.

All of these thoughts were swirling in Olivia's head as she drove up to Camp David. The French president François Bertrand and his wife Margaux were in the United States on a special trip and Fitz had invited the couple to spend the weekend with him and Olivia at Camp David. Olivia had met the couple roughly 18 months earlier and she was eager to see them again, especially the wife.

Margaux had been François' mistress before he divorced his wife to marry her. She had had a very high profile and successful career as a TV journalist before her marriage to Francois. In a lot of ways, Margaux's life mirrored Olivia's own, with plenty of similarities. Now here she was, sitting on the patio and enjoying a glass of fine wine with the French First Lady.

"I think you would've made a great First Lady," Margaux said with a knowing smile.

"Who me? No way," Olivia said, blushing. "I love my career too much. I don't crave the spotlight."

"But you see, there you are wrong, I think," Margaux said in her unconventional English. "You are a fixer, no? You help people and people trust you. They seek you out. If you were First Lady, you could help millions of people."

Olivia didn't immediately respond. "Well, fortunately, I will never have to worry about that because Fitz is not running for re-election."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Pres. Grant is only 50 years old. So what will you do after he leaves office?"

"We'll go be normal people," Olivia said.

"Normal people?" Margaux laughed. "Why on earth would you ever want to be normal? Normal is ordinary. Normal is boring. You Americans are funny. Never satisfied with what you already have. Constantly striving for more of what you don't have."

Olivia was offended. "You don't know me and you don't know Fitz, so please, don't judge our choices."

"I'm not judging you, simply making an observation," Margaux said gently. "The man that you love is soon to be the former president of the most powerful country on Earth. He's only 50. That's way too young to retire and never be seen or heard from again."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying don't be naïve. He's going to need another challenge. From what I know of his biography, he sets a goal, accomplishes it and then moves on to the next goal. Navy pilot. Harvard Law, California Attorney General. California Governor. President of the United States. You.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You are probably his greatest accomplishment in a lot of ways. Everyone, including him, thought your relationship was an improbable impossibility, and now look at you. Facing the odds and beating them."

"So, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Pres. Grant has achieved his goal of capturing your heart. He is a restless soul. He will need another challenge," Margaux said.

Olivia said nothing and took another sip of wine from her glass. She continued to look straight ahead avoiding Margaux's glance.

Margaux continued. "I was Francois' mistress for 10 years before he left his wife and married me. Ten years. I thought everything would be perfect once we married and I was willing to wait for him. But marriage is just another stage in a relationship. It's not a final destination. Things will change between the two of you. My advice to you is don't limit him."

"Limit him? You forget that I was the person that got him elected?"

"Exactly. And that's part of the reason why he fell in love with you. Your ability to move mountains."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying allow him to find a new challenge. Don't stifle him. You say you both want to be normal. But that isn't true. Normal is ordinary and neither one of you are that. You are both extraordinary people. Do you think Pres. Grant would've given up the presidency if you had been his wife?"

"Of course not!"

"Well this is what I mean. He's given up his dream to be with you. If you're not vigilant, something else will rise to replace it. Just make sure it's something else and not someone else."

A chill ran down Olivia's spine. She most definitely didn't like the way this conversation was going. She put her wine glass back on the glass tabletop and leaned in and looked directly at the French First Lady. "Marguax, why are you speaking to me like this?"

"Because I've already lost François," she said, emotion coloring her voice.

An awkward silence descended and then enveloped the two women. Olivia was confronting an uncomfortable truth. What if Margaux was right? Would building a life with her bore Fitz? Would he wind up cheating on her too?

A/N: That little tête-à-tête between Olivia and Margaux didn't go exactly as Olivia had planned. Do you agree with Margaux? Do powerful men like Fitz need to have a constant challenge in order to feel fulfilled and happy? Meanwhile, Olivia's ambivalence about being in a high-profile relationship is beginning to rise to the surface. She just can't seem to shake that. On one hand, she wants a life with Fitz but then on the other hand she also doesn't want her professional life to change. But something is going to have to give.

Next update in less than 12 hours. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

p.s. Find me on Twitter at NeoScandal.