The RNC went off without a hitch. Everything was perfect, Fitz's speech received 2a standing ovation.

Mellie won the argument about whether or not Karen should be on stage and Fitz let Karen on stage at the end of the convention and all three of them stood on the stage like the perfect family and it was the first time she felt jealousy towards Mellie for being Fitz's wife. When she saw them on stage together, she felt foolish for ever thinking there could be something between her and Fitz. She quickly went into a panic at the sight of them and had to get out of the auditorium and go backstage. She felt the anxiety rise in her chest and she was hyperventilating. Then it dawned on her, there was only one reason she could be freaking out over just the sight of him touching his wife and it was what she'd been trying to avoid when she made the decision to stop sleeping with him. There was only one reason why she thought about him every free second of the day, every time he touched her it lit her skin on fire, she needed to find him anywhere he was in the room and she dreamt of him every night and when she was in his arms, everything inside her felt at peace.

She stooped on the ground and massaged her temples. One of the volunteers saw her on the ground and ran over to her.

"Ms. Pope, are you okay?"

She whipped her head up.

"Yea, no, I'm fine, I just needed a minute."

"Okay ma'am, feel better."

Olivia nodded, still not looking at the volunteer. He left and Olivia took a few minutes to pull herself together and then went on to do her press interviews. That night when Fitz came to her room, she didn't answer the door, instead she laid in bed and sobbed softly until she fell asleep.

Since the republican convention, she'd been trying to keep her distance from him. She could tell he was frustrated by it, every time he tried to talk to her, she found a way to get out of it. She couldn't stay away from Karen though, she was just too cute and really was not accustomed to hearing the word no. She would be leaving in a couple of weeks to go back to school and she was spending as much time with her as possible because she knew she would miss her when she left.

Her ex-boyfriend had been calling her for months and after her epiphany with Fitz, she finally started taking his calls. Maybe if she started seeing someone else, it would be easier to get over Fitz. Brandon adored her, he was also clingy, controlling, jealous and boring but he could be useful for sex and a distraction. The ultimate reason they broke up was because he used to complain that she worked too much and didn't have time for him. He lived in New York and was a resident at the Columbia university medical center. He was the same age as Olivia, she met him at a mixer party after work and he pursued her heavily till she gave him a pity date that turned out better than she expected. He flew down to D.C. to see her and they planned to have lunch together in the evening.

It was busy when Brandon showed up, so she asked him to sit in her office for a while until she managed some of the chaos. Karen was out at the park with her nanny while everyone was trying to wrestle up the volunteers and manage all the donations calls coming into the office. Cyrus and Olivia split up to place the volunteers, Fitz was doing phone interviews with a few news programs and Mellie was walking around. After about an hour, things were calming down, Fitz finished his interviews, Olivia and Cyrus set all the volunteers to task.

Fitz needed a memo of talking points for a late night appearance on a radio program. He had been looking for Olivia for a couple minutes but couldn't find her so he stopped by her office, she had actually stopped at the bathroom to touch up her makeup. He was surprised when she stopped by her office and there was a man in there, he'd never seen him before but he thought he was one of the volunteers.

When Fitz walked in Brandon thought it was Olivia, since he was facing the opposite direction of the door.

"Olivia, where have you-"

But then Brandon turned around and realized it wasn't her.

"Oh I'm sorry I'm just waiting for my girlfriend. Wait...you're Governor Grant?"

Fitz was a little taken aback.

"Your girlfriend?" he asked.

"Well ex-girlfriend but I'm hoping to change that."

Fitz raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry Governor Grant, I'm Brandon Duncan."

Brandon reached out his hand to shake Fitz but just looked at him. He remembers Olivia mentioning him by name.

"You're waiting for Olivia?" Fitz asked flatly.

"Yes, yes I am," Brandon said nervously.

Fitz smiled devilishly and reached out for a handshake which Brandon happily accepted.

"Good luck with getting Olivia back."

"Thank you sir."

He turned out and began searching the hallways for her. He walked down the south hallway and he heard the dainty clicking of heels and instantly knew it was her and when he turned the corner, she was walking towards him. He walked coolly but with purpose towards her, she was a little put off by his expression.

The momentum with which he was walking towards her told her he had no intentions of stopping, she was a little confused.

Fitz eyed a supply closet on her right and gave her a once over and before she could open her mouth, Fitz grabbed her arm and pulled her into the closet in one swift moment.

His lips were on hers, kissing her fiercely. He lifted her against the wall and she wrapped her legs around his waist as Fitz held her hands together. Their tongues dueled savagely and then suddenly Fitz eased her off him and placed her on the floor. She was thankful that he stopped because she surely didn't have it in her to stop.

She tried to even her breathing but Fitz was still calm. As soon as she was able to think again, she started to panic.

She covered her face.

"Oh my god."

"Take your panties off."

"What?" she choked out.

He stepped forward and leaned so close she could feel his breath on her skin.

"Take them off."

She felt her pulse race and she couldn't deny how bad she wanted him. After a brief and futile internal struggle she pulled them down slowly. Fitz watched her every move. When she had them down, she looked back up at him.

"Turn around and pull your dress up"

She obeyed and braced herself against the wall. Fitz unbuckled his pants and pulled them down. He widened her legs from behind and she arched her back in response. She promised herself this would be the last time.

He entered her with a quick jolt, Olivia sucked in air through her mouth. Fitz wrapped both arms around her tightly, grabbing her breast. He moved his hips back and forth in sharp punctuated thrusts. Olivia's body undulated to the rhythm of his. She turned her face to meet his so she could taste his lips and he willfully obliged. Fitz continued to pound her from behind as she moaned into his mouth.

Olivia felt her inside tighten, Fitz felt it too.

"Fitz I'm coming-" she moaned against his lips.

Fitz stopped and pulled out.

"Good. Now answer this. Why is Brandon here?"

"Huh?" she was a little disoriented she never had a man stop at the peak of having sex before, no one ever had that much discipline. Her breathing was still uneven.

"I didn't stutter."

He turned her around to face him. She then realized why Fitz had come to search for her.

"So that's why you pulled me in here, because you met him," she said angrily.

"Why is he here?"

"That's none of your business," she said defiantly.

He let out a sardonic chuckle and pressed against her then lifted her leg over his arm and entered her again with a hard punctuated thrust and she whimpered in response.

"He's a boy Olivia, you need a man."

He started pounding her again and she screamed out and Fitz stuck his tongue in her mouth to muffle her screams.

"Do you want him or me?"

"You-" she moaned.

In no time Olivia was quaking and shuddering as she hung onto Fitz and came vigorously.

Fitz was on the edge of his own orgasm and after a few more thrust, he came. When he emptied his load into her, he pulled out and pulled up his pants and fixed his shirt and hair. Hot liquid spilled down her legs as she tried to compose herself.

He walked back over to her and stopped in front of her.

"Get rid of him," he said flatly.

He gave her a big slobbering kiss and then bent down and grabbed her panties and stuffed them in his pockets.

"Fitz no, give them back," she tried to grab them from him but he was too quick.

"Nope," he walked out the closet.

"Fitz-" she called but he ignored her.

He had to take a long walk back to the main office area because he was still heated when he left Olivia. Before he arrived at the main office, he stopped by Olivia's office to see Brandon. He was still waiting in the chair in front of her desk.

"Hi Brandon, still haven't seen Olivia yet?" he asked, feigning concern.

"I think I've been waiting for almost 2 hours."

Fitz heard the familiar sound of dainty heels clicking down the hallway and turned and saw Olivia heading towards him.

He turned back and faced Brandon.

"Oh look, here she comes."

Brandon got up, he walked over to Fitz and reached out and shook his hand.

"Thank you Governor Grant."

"No problem. It was a pleasure. Go get her tiger," Fitz said with a smile as he walked off.

Olivia was heading after Fitz but then Brandon stepped out of the office.

"Brandon?" she wasn't sure how else to greet him after having him wait for 2 hours.

"Olivia, I have been waiting for more than 2 hours."

"What did governor Grant say to you?"

"What?"

He was a little annoyed that that was what she cared about but then realized that she was serious about getting an answer.

"I told him that I came here to get you back and he wished me good luck."

Olivia rolled her eyes at how immature Fitz could be.

"You thought it was a good idea to come here and tell my boss about my personal life?"

"He seemed like a nice guy, it was just small talk," Brandon said in an attempt to avoid an argument.

"I think you coming out here was a bad idea. I'm busier now than I've ever been and I honestly don't have time to socialize. I'm really sorry if I led you on."

Brandon let the words sink in.

"You know I don't even know why I even tried with you Olivia, you are cold and heartless and incapable of feeling anything for anyone but yourself," Brandon said through clenched teeth.

"Don't create a scene Brandon," she didn't raise her voice.

"Why, because it'll ruin your perfect little image," he got louder. "Olivia little miss perfect," he teased. "The big shot $1000 an hour partner."

"Get out of my office."

She walked past him to her desk and sat down. She decided the best way to piss him off enough for him to leave was to ignore him.

"Bitch," he spat angrily. She had stacks of paperwork neatly sorted on the conference table to the side of her office, he stormed over and flung them off the table and then stomped out of the office and left.

She sat at her desk trying to figure out how and why she gave Fitz so much control over her. He told her to get rid of Brandon and she didn't even give it a second thought, she just did it.

She was annoyed, hungry and thanks to Fitz, exhausted. Then right on cue, he walked in, with the biggest smile on his face, but when he saw all the papers on the floor, his face dropped.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well Brandon called me a heartless bitch and then threw all my papers on the floor and it's all your fault, I mean seriously 'go get em tiger' you thought it was a good idea to say that to him. Come on Fitz, you're better than that."

"I am better than that but not all the time."

She laughed.

"I hate you. How do you manage to be such an arrogant ass?"

"It's not very hard but I actually am sorry about what Brantley did."

"It's Brandon," she corrected.

"I don't care."

She chuckled again but ended with a yawn.

"You're tired Olivia, you should go get some rest. I'll have a volunteer sort these, hopefully they can find the talking points memo in this pile for tomorrow."

She nodded.

"Can I have my underwear back," she asked.

"No."

It was early September, Karen was scheduled to head back to California with Fitz in a couple days, he was going to take her to school on the first day then head back to D.C. straight after but for now he was throwing her a casual goodbye party in the office.

Fitz bought boxes of pizza, sandwiches, sodas and cupcakes. Karen walked around with a princess crown and wand, knighting staffer in the office. Karen was obsessed with the American girl doll collection, so Olivia ordered her the American girl back to school set which included a doll, a bag and a few other supplies. She waited until the party was almost over and then she grabbed it from her office.

"Kare bear I have a surprise for you," Olivia dangled the red American girl shopping bag in the air.

The second karen was the bag she jumped up and down in excitement.

"American girl," Karen screamed.

She walked over to Karen and stooped down beside her and handed her the bag.

Karen gave her a tight hug.

"Thank you Olivia."

She opened her gift and she loved it.

"Woah this is so cool."

She said loudly and to herself then ran off with it to show it off to Fitz.

"Did you say thank you to Olivia?" Fitz asked.

"Thank you Olivia!" Karen yelled.

Karen and the younger volunteer and interns danced around for a while until the party came to an end.

Later that night Fitz came to her room. Since the whole Brandon incident, she'd been letting him in when he came to her room but they refrained from sex. She was dressed in her white silk pajamas shorts set, it was very skimpy and she wore it for him. When he knocked, she let him in as quickly as she could, since he was coming to her room so often, she didn't want anyone seeing him so the less time he was in the hall knocking on her door, the better.

"What?" she said as she opened the door.

"I come bearing gifts."

He held up a bottle of bordeaux.

She grabbed the bottle and he stepped in and closed the door.

"Oh my god, my favorite," she squealed and jumped on him. They both fell to the floor laughing.

Fitz got up and threw her over his shoulder and brought her over to the bed. As soon as he laid her down, she popped the bottle open and started guzzling.

Someone spilled wine on her shirt as she drank but she didn't care. Fitz realized she wasn't stopping so he took the bottle from her. She looked at him confused.

"What did you want?"

"No, how can you drink that much at once? You're cut off. No more."

She pouted.

"Fine," she giggled. "I'm an adult and I am very aware of my limits but fine."

After Fitz took the bottle, it didn't take very long for the alcohol to begin its effects on her.

"Can I have some more wine?" she giggled.

"How have you not passed out yet, that was a lot of wine for your size."

"No it wasn't, I barely feel any different.".

"I didn't bring you wine to get you drunk but since you are I'll leave. You should probably just rest."

"What. no. come lay beside me, I'm not drunk. I'll behave," she whined.

It was too tempting to turn down. He laid beside her and pulled her close and thought maybe that she was so drunk she would fall asleep soon.

He was wrong.

She propped her head up lazily with her hand and threw her leg over his torso then began to rub circles with her fingertips on his chest.

"You have the most beautiful chest hairs I've ever seen in my entire life."

"Is that so?"

"Oh yes daddy," she giggled.

"Okay that's my cue to go."

He attempted to get up but she pulled him down.

"I'm horny don't leave me."

"You're drunk, I'm not gonna touch you," Fitz insisted.

"I'll touch myself and you can watch," her words low. "Or you can kiss me."

She brought his hand to her mouth and started sucking on his middle finger.

"Or maybe you could put that finger inside me so I can cum on it."

"Mmm - could I" Fitz said, a little disoriented.

She reached down and stuck one of her fingers in her center and then brought it up his mouth.

"Taste me."

Fitz opened his mouth in a trance and she brought her finger to let him taste it but then she jerked her hand back and licked her finger seductively.

She moaned exaggeratedly, snapping Fitz back to consciousness. She leaned on him, bit his ears then kissed his lips softly, "I miss you."

He jumped out of the bed.

"Okay so you're very drunk so I'm gonna go!"

He headed to the door.

Fitz turned and looked at her one last time before he left.

The next morning Olivia woke up, she didn't feel as terrible as she thought she would once she threw up but she also didn't remember anything that happened after she took her first sips of wine.

She showered and since it was going to be a hectic media day so decided to get pretty dressed up. After she did her hair and makeup. She wore a skinny fitted black Ralph Lauren Collection pants suit, a Theory white silk camisole and her Manolo Blahnik suede black pumps.

When she got to her office, she started her day by reading a few different new articles to catch up. She was deep in thought when Fitz walked in. He stood at the door for a while wondering when she would recognize he was in the room.

"Olivia."

She jumped.

"Governor, I'm sorry I didn't see you there."

"That's very formal after what happened that night," he countered.

She closed the newspaper."Uhm what happened last night? Did we have sex?"

She had a certain edge to her voice that made Fitz feel like she was accusing him of something.

"No we didn't have sex, I'm not a fucking rapist. I didn't bring the wine for you to drink it in one gulp and get drunk so I could have fuck you," he said a little defensively.

Olivia grimaced at his harsh words. "If we didn't have sex, then what did we do?"

"Well, after you drink about 75% of the bottle by yourself. I realized you were drunk and told I was going to leave, you begged me to stay with you. I laid in bed with you and you started fondling me. You bit my ears, you sucked my fingers and then you stuck your fingers in your vagina and tried to get me to lick them but then you said sike and sucked them off yourself."

"Oh my god stop," she whined.

"And don't even get me started on the things you were saying while you did all of this."

Olivia was flushed with embarrassment.

"God that's so embarrassing, I can't believe I did that. I'm so sorry."

"Yes, so it turns out that you're actually the pervert, don't you love the irony in that?"

Fitz got up and headed to the door.

"Fitz."

He stopped.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's fine." He turned around and gave her a sly grin. Fitz and Cyrus left shortly after to the airport. He had an important luncheon in New York that both he and Governor Reston had to attend. Olivia decided to let Cyrus go to New York with Fitz because she knew nothing good would come out of being in New York 'alone' with Fitz. Olivia took sole charge of the office for the day. Mellie had several small interviews that were scheduled for the evening, nothing serious. She had kept Karen unusually close all day, she kept repeating something to her over and over again and wouldn't let her go with anyone else.

Olivia noticed but didn't say anything, after all, Karen wasn't her child, she was Mellie's.

After an eventful day of phone interviews and satellite appearances, Olivia was tired. She was standing in the background as Mellie did her interviews and as each news organization finished their interview, she checked them off the list. When her list was complete she realized that there was still one news crew left and she was confused as to why. She looked over to Mellie but the intern told her she had gone to change her outfit. She walked over to the crew.

"What program is this? I don't have you on the list."

Before the crew member could answer Mellie, Karen and the host walked out from behind the screen and sat on the couch. The room got quiet and the host signaled for the interview to begin.

Olivia was a little too shocked to be upset.

"Goodnight, I'm here with Presidential Candidate Fitzgerald Grant's wife Mellie Grant and their adorable daughter Karen Grant," The host began.

"Mellie with just over 2 months left till the election on November 8th, how are things on the home front?"

"Things have been pretty crazy, as you know Karen starts school in a few days and Fitz and I will be flying back to California to see her off on her first day and then after that it's back to crazy campaigning but it'll will all be worth it because I truly believe and so does Karen that Fitz is the best candidate for the office of the president of the United States." Mellie said with a smile. Karen sat still in Mellie's lap.

"Now Mellie, we know you take being a mother very seriously. Can you tell us a little bit about you and Karen's daily routine in the midst of such a busy campaign."

Mellie began answering the question. Olivia was furious but she couldn't stop the interview. She started ordering the interns around but then she heard the interview direct a question to Karen.

"Karen, what's your favorite thing to do with your mom? The host asked.

Karen sat timidly.

"It's okay Kare bear, you can tell her." Mellie encouraged, with a smile..

"I don't really play with my mom, she never plays with me, I mostly play with my daddy, he tickles me a lot and gives me piggy back rides and hugs and kisses."

Mellie froze.

"Well there you have it. Mellie would you like to say anything in response?"

Olivia ran over to the camera crew and forced them to cut off the feed. Mellie ran into the office with Karen, once the feed was cut.

Olivia went after them.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm sorry Olivia," Karen cried.

Mellie was in the corner hyperventilating. Olivia stopped in front of Karen.

"No sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong okay, I promise."

Olivia paused trying to calm herself so she sounded believable.

"Why don't we have someone get some ice-cream at that little ice-cream parlor you love."

"Can I have chocolate ice-cream," Karen asked softly.

"Okay come on let's go."

Olivia glared at Mellie before she turned and left the room with Karen. She had one of the interns go to the ice- cream parlor and order ice-cream for Karen and she gave Karen her ipad so she could play games on it in her office while she tried to do damage control. When she called Cyrus, they were 20 minutes away and she could barely hear what Cyrus was saying over his incoherent screaming.

She had been calling every news network, she had the interns and staff scouting online trying to get a comprehensive read on what the repercussions of the interview were so far. Surely enough Mellie was trending on twitter and every news channel picked it up within a few minutes, which was the downside to live broadcasts. Olivia released a generic campaign statement to give her a little time to actually figure out a solution with Cyrus and Fitz, she already knew what needed to be done, she just wasn't sure Fitz would do it.

When Fitz came into the office, she had never seen that look in his eyes before, it was true rage.

"Where is she?" His voice was flat and calm at first. No one answered.

"WHERE IS SHE?" he yelled, the anger in his voice sent quivers around the room. One of the volunteers pointed to one of the closed office rooms.

"She's in there," he said nervously.

"Everybody go home!"Fitz said as he walked to the office. The interns, staff and volunteers scrambled, quickly with a few nosy ones trying to hang around to hear the fight that was about to take place. Cyrus however realized and sent them out quickly.

When Fitz got into the room, the door slammed loudly.

The screaming ensued, it was worse than Olivia thought it would be. Even Cyrus seemed surprised.

Olivia and Cyrus headed to her office and closed the door.

Cyrus saw Karen in the corner and greeted her then sat in front of Olivia's desk.

"Liv how did this happen?" he asked, not angry but frustrated.

"She obviously planned the interview behind our backs, she had Karen with her all day, prepping her I guess and by the time I saw the extra news crew, she was heading out to do the interview."

"This is going to be a disaster, with the debate coming up and this is the first thing they are going to throw in his face, the poll number is going to drop and we can't afford a drop in a race this close, it's -."

Olivia signaled to Karen, so Cyrus knew not to divulge too much into the negative, since Karen already felt bad.

Cyrus stopped talking.

"I know what we have to do but he isn't going to like it," she began.

The yelling and screaming continued for some time until Fitz came into the office.

He was still infuriated.

"Come on Karen, we're heading back to California a little early."

"Fitz, you can't," Cyrus protested.

"I can't what?" Fitz challenged.

Cyrus backed down.

Karen got up and walked over to Fitz.

"Bye Olivia, thank you for the ice-cream, bye uncle Cyrus."

"Bye Kare, give me a hug before you go."

Olivia saw Fitz's expression soften.

Karen ran over and gave Olivia a hug, then ran back to Fitz.

"Keep in touch fish butt," Olivia called out and Karen giggled.

"I'll be back in a couple of days," Fitz said and then walked out.