"I told you not to go. I warned you that this would happen," Cyrus yelled at him all the way to the Residence. "I knew this would happen. You left and told her that you were going to see Mellie and she went into labor. And you weren't here for it. I wasn't even here for it. Now we are both in trouble!"

"You're more than in trouble!" Karen yelled when she heard them come up the stairs. "And not just with her. Do you have any idea what I had to do to make her have that baby? The both of you are in so much trouble!"

"Is Liv okay? The baby? How are they doing?" Fitz asked in the scariest voice he had. He knew he messed up big time with this one and he was sure to get a big lecture from Liv.

"They are both doing perfectly fine, no thanks to you. She's asleep in her room with my sister."

"It's a girl?"

"Yes, she's perfect. Seven pounds, eleven ounces, sixteen inches. She has Liv's eyes and mouth but your hair. Liv let me pick out her name because you weren't there. Where were you?"

"I'll explain that to you later. What's her name?"

"Her name's…"

"Liberty," Liv said when she came into the living room. "Now that I can see for myself that you are alive and not in the middle of the desert laying for dead, I'll be going back to sleep."

"Wait, Livie. I'm sorry. I know I messed up. How are you?"

"I'm fine, just tired. I just fed Liberty and she went back to sleep. I'm going to do the same. If you come into the bedroom be quiet. Thank you for all your help today Karen. I think your Dad can do something now. Go have some fun with Jerry on the tennis court. I'll see you at dinner." Karen went in search of Jerry and left them alone. "Cyrus, James has been looking for you. Go home." He didn't need to be told twice and ran out of the room.

"Liv, I just…"

"I don't want to talk about it. We can discuss whatever you want later. Liberty is asleep and I'd like to be too. I'm glad you're home safe. We have a press conference tomorrow to announce that she is here. I've handled all the details and it's ready to go primetime tomorrow night with Kimberly. Hopefully, you will make it. I cleared your schedule for tomorrow night." Olivia lay down in the bed and gently rocked the bassinet for her daughter.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'll be here from now on."

"I said, I do not want to discuss it," Olivia yelled in a whisper.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

Fitz and Olivia gave an interview with Kimberly Mitchell the next night and showed her the nursery, even giving her the chance to hold Liberty.

When the interview was over, Olivia went to lay in bed and read a book before Liberty's last feeding for a couple hours. Fitz came in and sat next to her looking at his daughter. He'd tried to apologize to Olivia multiple times for not being there when she needed him but she only told him she didn't want to talk about it. She hardly spoke to him about anything since he returned. And if they did talk, it was only about Liberty.

It had gone on like that for three weeks. The silence was deafening to him. Fitz could feel that she was shutting him out. He asked Karen how she thought Liv was doing and she told him that he was still in trouble. Karen, Jerry, and Tom were about the only people Olivia talked to since Liberty's birth.

"She's shutting me out," Fitz told Cyrus a couple weeks later after a meeting in the Oval. Liberty was a little over six weeks old now and he would spend as much time as he could with her.

"It's your own fault," Cyrus responded. "You left to go to Mellie. You wanted to be rid of her and then you turn around and go see her. Don't feel too bad though. Olivia's been avoiding me too. She hasn't said a word to me since we came back. She's probably blaming me for you not being there at the hospital."

"Karen said she's more than pissed with me. I feel like we're nearly back to the whole Amanda thing. She barely talks to me. Even when we're in bed, she faces away from me and doesn't say a word. No matter how many times I apologize, she won't let me. She changes the subject to Liberty or she leaves the room. I don't think I can take this much longer. Being married to her lately has turned into almost like being married to Mellie. We don't talk unless it's about the kids. We don't have sex or even kiss. I'm tired of this. Tonight, I'll have to make her talk to me."

"Good luck with that. Remember though, she's a Grant by marriage; you're still dealing with Olivia Pope. That will never change."

Fitz asked Karen and Jerry to take care of Liberty for the night so he and Olivia could talk. They agreed and went to Liberty's room. He went to their bedroom to find Liv but instead found her in her office.

"We need to talk."

"Where's Liberty? She needs to be fed in half an hour."

"Karen and Jerry are taking care of her now. We really need to talk. Can we please do that?"

"I'm really busy here. The state dinner is next week and the guest list hasn't been approved yet. And there's nothing to talk about. Unless we are discussing the dinner."

"Livie, we have a lot more to discuss than that. You're shutting me out."

"I am not. We sleep in the same bed, we talk, we communicate. I'm not shutting you out. I'm just busy. We both are. Our schedules haven't been fixed to do more than that."

"Courtesy of you," he added. Fitz saw her face turn into confusion. "Your secretary told me that you've been adding things to your schedule when you know that I'll be back in the Residence. You are shutting me out. At least don't deny that. I get that you're angry with me. If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you hit me. I won't stop you. Come on; give me your best shot." Fitz sat down ready to take whatever blow he was going to get from her. "You know you want to hit me, do it."

"Fitzgerald, you are being ridiculous. I don't have time for your games. Hitting you solves nothing. If you want to talk, make it fast."

"I know that you're still mad at me for not being here when you went into labor. And I am truly sorry about that. You needed me and I wasn't here. I can't change that, as much as I want to. I had an emergency that had to be taken care of in California. I'm sorry. I should have told you where I was going before I left."

"You're right, you should have. Because you didn't, I was stressed out and went into labor early. Luckily it wasn't early enough to harm Liberty. You could have just told me what kind of emergency it was."

Fitz ran a hand through his hair, slowly breathing. "It wasn't a big emergency, it was just made to sound like one so I would get there sooner."

"You were gone for two days. I had to give birth with the help of an agent and your daughter. They were wonderful and very helpful but they weren't you. You were supposed to be there. No one could get in touch with you or any agent. We didn't know where you were. What am I supposed to do if something happened to you? I waited as long as I could for you to get there. But the doctor said that if I waited any longer it would kill our daughter. I had to choose. Wait for you or keep our daughter alive."

"You chose right. I'm glad you came to your senses about that. I'm sorry I missed it but you were right to proceed."

"Karen had to convince me of it. She bargained with me. I can go Olivia Pope on you when you got back." Olivia moved toward him and slapped him upside the head. "What do I know about giving birth? You were there for three of them. I've read the damn books and the shit they tell you to do to prepare for it but it never said how much it was going to hurt and you of all people had to be on the other side of the country. I know your job is important and people all over the world count on you but what about me. The one day that I need to count on you and you can't even pick up the damn phone."

"I know. We were in a hurry to leave and I left my phone on my desk. Cyrus and I didn't realize we didn't have our phones until we returned. Livie, I'm really really sorry. I promise on my life, I will be there for the next one."

"Who said I wanted to have another?"

"We can talk about that much later." Fitz pulled her to his lap and kissed her for the first time in seven weeks.