"Fitz! Over here."

Standing in the front part of the Mexican restaurant, Fitz looked around for James Richards for their scheduled lunch. Thinking back two days before, Fitz remembered how Olivia had shouted when he invited her to lunch with them. It's nothing. She doesn't like to take time out of her workday, anyway. Spotting the Judge, Fitz walked over to the table noting there was already an empty glass sitting in front of him.

"How long have you been here? Sorry to keep you waiting," Fitz apologized and took his seat.

"I had a meeting before you. He just left a few minutes ago. What are you drinking?"

"Water for me. I've got to head back to the office after this."

"Going soft on me? Come on, one drink won't hurt."

Fitz gave it a moment of thought and agreed. "One beer please," he told the waiter. "Well, how have you been, sir?"

"Fitz, unofficial business, it's James. I'm good. I was surprised though to see a divorce come across with your name on it. At first, I thought your dad was at it again, but then I saw 'the third' and was shocked. So, tell me, what brought this on? Why the sudden divorce?"

"I thought it was time. Mellie hasn't been, well, she's Mellie. But her drinking has gotten out of control. Dad's got some rehab at the house for her, trying to get her to sober up."

"I'm sure she's enjoying that. Jerry finally grew a brain cell and realize that rehab outpatient wasn't doing her any good and decide to do it at home. How's that going?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I moved out a week ago. I told her I wanted a divorce and grabbed my things."

Putting in the order when the waiter arrived to deliver their drinks, James was able to take in Fitz's demeanor. He seemed happy. More so than the last few times that they had lunch together. He looked relaxed and worry free.

"Well, I don't think you and Mellie were ever meant to be together, to be honest. You look much more at ease than before. Is that all that's changed?"

Taking a drink, Fitz smiled thinking of the changes to his life recently. "No, there's more. I'm moving on from my marriage. I'm enjoying life."

"That's always good. You're more upbeat. We can set a court date if you'd like. When would you like to get this started?"

"As soon as possible. Do you have any time the end of next week? I can have Mellie there whenever. I'll just check my schedule." As soon as Fitz picked up his phone, it started to ring in his hand. "It's like she has a sixth sense!" He laughed and answered the call. "Hey Liv, what's wrong?"

Sitting at her desk, Olivia went through the calendar finding time to get Fitz into the schedule with Richards. Though she was adamant that he couldn't take the case, the secretary didn't have a problem with it and doubted Judge Richards would too.

"You answered the phone, you aren't at lunch yet, are you? I thought you were swinging by the court first."

"Henry will take me after. I'm with James now," looking up, Fitz saw the smile on James' face as he mouthed words to him. "He says hi."

Rolling her eyes and muttering under her breath, she ignored his statement. "I just talked with his secretary. You are on the schedule for next Wednesday. I'm working on the paperwork now to get Mellie served. Should be done by the end of the day. I asked you if you would go to the court first to get those filed, Fitz. Those have a deadline. Are you drinking? Maybe I should just have Henry take them to the court. He knows how to file with the clerk."

"Livie, deep breath. I will take them after lunch. I'm having one beer and that's it. Please relax baby."

Hearing Fitz talk to Olivia the way he was, made the judge's ears perk up, trying to hear all he could.

"I AM relaxed. But I need to know if you are going to be sober enough to walk into the courthouse without help. Forget it, I'll send Henry."

"Olivia Pope, you need to calm down," he told her in a stern voice, making both Olivia and James pause what they were doing. "One beer is all I'm having. Henry has gone to run some errands and will be back before I am done here and will take me to the courthouse. I am fine and will be fine to do that. If you do not relax and stay that way, I am going to call Jerry to come get you and take you home. You barely slept last night and when you were, I know you were having nightmares again. Now, are you going to calm down?"

Liv stared at the phone annoyed with him. How dare he use Jerry against me! How dare he talk about that in public, especially in front of him! Oh, he has no idea what he's done. "I am not going home, and we will discuss the rest of that later," she told him and hung up.

"Livie? Liv?" Fitz tried to get her attention before he realized she ended the call.

"How is my little firecracker?" James smirked taking a drink. "Sounds like she's not sleeping again."

"Not very much and when she does, it usually isn't good sleep," he told him. Hearing the tone as James asked how she was, did not sit too well with him. "How do you know about her sleeping issues?"

"I've known since she started working for me. I used to find her in my office in the middle of the night working away. Every now and then I'd catch her taking a little nap. How do you know about the sleeping issue?"

"Liv's my girlfriend."

James nearly spit out his drink hearing his answer. "Surely, we must be talking about two different Olivia's. Liv doesn't date. And she would never date her boss. How long has this been going on?"

"It's new. About a week. I've been staying at her apartment. We are pretty much living together."

"Liv lets you stay at her apartment? And sleep in the same bed as her? She must really have gotten desperate."

"If you want to insult me, that's one thing, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you insult her, James. What is the problem between you and her?"

"I don't have a problem with Liv. I just mean that there's only two people who were ever allowed to sleep in the same bed as her after her fiancé died and I know you aren't one of them. Seems as though, now, you are. I had offered her a couple of times to sleep on the couch while I worked but as I recall her words were 'it doesn't work like that'. Then I let it go."

"Yeah, I heard that one too. But seeing her in the same bed as my father did not sit well with me."

"Well, that must have been a shock!"

"It was, and let's just hope I never see that again."

"They weren't screwing, were they?" James smirked and took a drink as he saw Fitz's eyes go wide.

"Why the hell would you ask that? She's not some whore or something. Shit, James. Don't even put that disgusting image in my head!"

"Fitz, calm down. I'm just saying, Liv has a thing for older men. Maybe she hasn't screwed Jerry yet."

"I will walk right out of here, I'm not listening to this," he scolded as he stood up.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I won't say anything else about it her and your father, I swear. Come on, sit down and we'll discuss something else."

While Fitz was having lunch, Liv had time to arrange for Mellie to be served divorce papers. Ensuring that it was an officer that delivered them to her, she gave them what they needed and went back to her normal working day until her phone rang.

"Hello, Cy. What brought you back to this world?" Liv laughed.

"A rumor that you are dating Fitzgerald Grant the third. Thank you for not dating the second. Please tell me the rumor is not true."

"Would it be so bad if it was? Why couldn't I date him?"

"For one, he's your boss. Second, he's twice your age."

"If you recall, I have dated twice my age and then some. I'm not saying it was the wisest choice, but I made it. I'm still standing."

"Yes, well, being 16 and dating a 32-year-old is much different now. But seeing that I probably cannot talk you out of dating Fitz, I'll try my next. How are you?"

Hearing the tone in his voice, Liv knew something was going on, he knew something more than she was dating Fitz. "I'm fine, Cy. I'm great! Work is going very well. Fitz has a trip in two weeks to Miami that I'm preparing him for. But that's about it. Other than that, it's business as usual. How are you doing?"

"Good, I'm good. I'll be back in DC this weekend. I'm taking you to dinner on Saturday."

"And if I have plans on Saturday night?"

"You do; you're going with me to dinner," Cyrus told her leaving no room for arguments.

He's not asking me, he's telling me. Damn it! "How much did Jerry tell you?"

"Enough that I'm making a special trip back to DC."

"Cyrus…"

"What really pisses me off is that it was him who told me and not you. We agreed that we weren't keeping things from each other. How could you not tell me this?"

"The same way that you didn't tell me you had a heart attack."

"That was different, your fiancé just died. And quit bringing it up."

"Then quit trying to guilt trip me," she yelled. Giving them both a couple minutes to cool off, Olivia sat with her head in one hand and the other holding her phone to her ear. "It's not a big deal, Cy. If it was, I would have called you myself. But it's not."

"Did the doctor say it wasn't a big deal?"

"It doesn't matter what the doctor said. I'm saying it's not a big deal. Why can't you believe me?"

"Because you've lied to me about this before, Liv. You say it's not a big deal and then you spent two days in the hospital without telling anyone. I consider that to be a big deal."

"That was only because of the medication, that wasn't because of the surgery. I don't even understand why I am having to remind you of that. You were there!"

"Remember that, I was there. I have been there every single time," Cyrus reminded her. "I know you've had this surgery half a dozen times and it never seems like a big deal to you but to the rest of us it is."

"And if you had breasts that you had to have lumpectomies for, you would agree with me. It's a simple procedure. An outpatient, two-day recovery surgery."

"If it's so simple then why are you hiding it?"

Getting annoyed with this conversation, Olivia stood up and started to pace back and forth between her office and Fitz's before she stood looking out the glass wall of his office to see DC. "I'm not hiding it, obviously. You know about it."

"Are you going to tell Fitz?"

"Of course not! I'm not telling Fitz anything about it."

Coming into the office, Fitz put the filed paperwork with the court on her desk and slipped his jacket off heading into his office, pausing when he heard her say his name on the phone.

"You've scheduled it though, right? You have a date?" Cyrus asked her.

"Yes, I have a date for when he's in Miami. I suppose there's no way of talking you out of coming this weekend?"

"Plane ticket is booked already, no refunds."

"Why are you so difficult? Let me know what time you land, I'll come pick you up."

"I'll send you the info and see you Saturday. Love you, kid."

"You too, pain in the ass," she shook her head and hung up looking at the top of the Capitol building.

Waiting a few moments so she wouldn't suspect he was eavesdropping (though he was), Fitz came behind her, hugging her to him. "What's got you tense?" he asked her, kissing her cheek lightly.

Liv crossed her arms to rub her hands over his and leaned back against him. "Cyrus is coming in this weekend."

"Great, if he thinks you and him are going to convince me to run for some political crap, my answer is still no. It's going to be no, and it isn't going to change."

"Fitz if you don't want to run then don't run. Cyrus isn't coming for you, he's coming for me."

"Everything okay? What can I do?"

The concern in his voice made her stop and look up at him. "Nothing you aren't already doing."