Fitz insisted that she take time off from any work. She agreed that she wouldn't come into the office and could work from her hotel room but he was adamant she would not work at all. They were alone for two days while Mellie and Cyrus were in California. In the two day, Fitz never left her side. Her bruises change from red to purple/blue then faded to green/yellow. After a week the bruises in her face were able to be covered with makeup and while the bruises on her neck were much more distinct but it was later October and she decided sweaters and scarves could hide it just fine. They never spoke about Gerry and she didn't want to. All she knew from the news was that he was in the hospital for a week with a broken nose and a fractured jaw. They claimed he fell down stairs and that he was healing well.

Olivia returned to work and faced a hectic and eventful October. November began and with only one week left until the general election, it was a statistical dead heat between Fitz and Reston. Hollis and Verna had been parked on the campaign trail for the past two weeks. With the election so close, there was anxiety and excitement around the campaign. Fitz left for New York attending the Al Smith dinner when Cyrus called her for a meeting in his office. When she got to his office, she was surprised by the other attendees, Hollis, Verna, Mellie, who had just come back from a rally and Big Gerry. Olivia froze when she saw him and Cyrus ran to her.

"He doesn't remember anything," he whispered. "His jaw is partly wired so he can talk but not too much. Just hear us out."

Olivia shook her head.

"Please," Cyrus whispered, "this is important and he's harmless right now."

She hesitated but then sat down slowly at the chair Cyrus pulled out for her and waited for them to begin. Gerry waved to her innocently but all she could see was the monster he'd been to her.

"Olivia as you know the election is only one week away and it's going to be close," Cyrus began.

Olivia could barely hear his words to her. She was still wondering how she ended up in a room with Gerry again and why Cyrus asked her to do it and if he cared about what had happened to her. She wondered if Fitz knew he was here. He was in New York but she imagined it wasn't a coincidence that it was after he'd gone that Gerry showed up.

"Olivia?" Cyrus called.

She looked up at him. "what?"

"I know you think undecided voters will come through for us but we think differently, they flip flop too much."

"Yes thanks to Mellie's dumb stunt, we lost our lead that Olivia worked so hard to get," Gerry interjected. His voice sounded muffled, as if he couldn't open his mouth wide enough to speak clearly.

"I have apologized for that more times than I can count, I'm sorry," Mellie replied in defense.

"Yes, the only reason I allowed you to marry my son was because I thought you could help him win this thing but it turns out you're doing the opposite so tell me again what purpose you serve?"

"That's enough!" Cyrus said loudly. "Gerry, you shouldn't be speaking."

"Why did you call this meeting Cyrus?" Olivia asked.

Cyrus was about to speak but he hesitated so Hollis interjected.

"I know a way we can secure this election for our boy," he said in his deep country accent.

"What are you talking about exactly?" she asked, puzzled.

"What Hollis means is that we have a way we can secure the election in our favor, so to speak." Mellie answered.

Olivia was quiet for a moment.

"What do you think?" Cyrus asked.

Olivia stood, "I'm going to pretend that we never had this meeting." She turned and walked out and Cyrus followed her.

"Olivia please listen," Cyrus pleaded as he chased after her.

"No Cyrus, how can you ask me to sit in there with him when you saw what he did to me? How can you ask me to agree to what your asking?"

"We can't lose," Cyrus said, "he can't lose. We're desperate."

"He won't and if he does he'll survive, just like every other candidate that's lost."

Olivia turned and continued down the hall. She took the rest of the day off and went back to her hotel. Seeing Gerry was much harder than she anticipated.

She heard a knock on her door, she knew it must've been Cyrus coming to try and convince her that what they were suggesting was necessary.

She looked through the peephole and it was him so she opened the door and let him in.

"We don't have anything to talk about sorry, other than your apology to me for being Gerry here."

"I didn't bring him here Olivia, Mellie did," Cyrus sighed frustrated, "all of that aside, I know it's wrong but he deserves this Liv, you know that the only reason we're in this mess is because of Mellie, why should he be punished for her mistake."

"I said no. Don't convince me, don't tell me details- no!"

Cyrus cut her off.

"Just think-"

"Leave!" She walked over to the door and held it open for him to leave. Cyrus got the message and walked out.

Fitz returned from the dinner late that night. She was hoping he wouldn't visit her but she knew he would, as long as he was in the same hotel as her, he was going to come visit her. He came later than usual, around 12am, his flight back from New York was a late one, she had given him a copy of her room keys since they made up after the first presidential debate so he let himself in.

She was lying, wrapped up in her comforter, half asleep. He didn't say anything, he just walked over to the bed and got under the sheets with her. Fitz usually slept on his back, so she moved over and rested her head on his chest, the way she usually did when they slept together. Within no time, they were both asleep.

The next morning, Olivia woke up around 6, Fitz was still sleeping so she went ahead and showered. She came out of the shower at 6:30 and was surprised when Fitz was still fast asleep. She walked over to the bed and tapped him gently on the shoulder.

"Fitz, wake up."

He didn't respond, which was unusual because he was usually a light sleeper.

She nudged him again.

"Fitz you have to wake up."

He stretched in his sleep and then opened his eyes and sat up.

"What time is it?" he asked as he yawned.

"It's 6:30."

"I'm so tired, I could sleep until 12."

"But you can't because you have 3 early voter rallies today, you have to revise your victory and concession speeches and you have a satellite interview tonight."

He sighed.

"Okay, I'm up."

She turned around to head back to the bathroom.

"Livie, are you okay?"

She stopped and turned around to face him.

"I feel fine, why do you ask?"

He got up from under the sheet and walked over to her.

"I don't know, I feel like something's off with you."

"Oh no I'm okay but I want to ask you something and I want you to be completely honest with me."

Fitz nodded.

"Do you want to be president or are you just running because you could run?"

Fitz didn't reply for a while, she could tell he was seriously thinking about his response.

"At first I was just running because that's what everyone around me had been telling me I was supposed to do since I was 10 years old but then once I got on the trail and started meeting people and hearing their problems, I realized that I wanted it. I want to win. I'm not crazy about all the excitement that comes with being President and I don't like the attention but if that's what it takes to be able to help those people then I'll do it."

She smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"I love you. You're gonna win and you're gonna be a great president."

He chuckled.

"I love you too Livie."

He puckered his lips and gave her a playful slobbery kiss on the lips.

"Ew Fitz, you're disgusting," she chuckled.

"Finally, an actual smile."

She rolled her eyes."Just go to your room.." she scolded.

"Fine," He said, then slapped her on the ass and then hurried out before she could scold him.

Gerry and Hollis left before Fitz got back. Around 9am, Fitz left on his flight to Florida, Mellie accompanied him. She avoided Cyrus and Verna entirely and kept herself busy with organizing the election night event that was to be held in California. After running around all day, the minute she stepped into her office, Cyrus cornered her.

"Liv, talk to me, I know you're mad."

"I'm not mad.. I told you no and I don't want to talk about it."

"So you're not mad at me?" Cyrus asked.

"Nope, I just don't want to talk to you or see you."

"So you're mad at me?"

"Just leave me alone Cyrus. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight. "

She grabbed her purse and coat and headed back to her hotel. She repeated the same routine for days as she tried not to think about what would happen if Fitz lost. They would all blame her, she was sure of it. If he won, she couldn't be sure if it was because they had gone ahead and fixed it or if he won on his own. They thought Fitz finding out was terrifying and the thought of fixing an election wasn't something she could wrap her head around.

It was November 2nd, the election was only 2 days away. The campaign office was desolate as most of the veteran volunteers and interns were being flown out to California for the election night event. The volunteers and interns that signed on later in the campaign, were thrown a huge party and given visa gift cards for their service by Fitz.

On their way to the airport, Fitz got a call from Titi, telling him that Gerry had been rushed to the hospital after they found him drunk and unconscious. Later she called and informed him that Gerry didn't make it. Fitz flew to California earlier than planned but it took convincing to get him to go for Gerry. He assured Olivia she didn't have to come but she decided it would be best to go. Gerry was dead, there was nothing else he could do to her.

The timing for Gerry's death couldn't have been worse. With the election only two days away, Gerry's death covered the news cycles. They suspended all campaign events featuring Fitz, not because Fitz cared but for the optics. Mellie took it upon herself to plan the funeral, it was to take place a couple days after the election. Olivia didn't get a chance to speak with Fitz privately since Gerry's passing. He requested to be left alone, she didn't want to push him, so she let him be.

Election night.

With the exception of Fitz, all the heads of the Grant campaign gathered in the conference room at the Grant election night event. Olivia hadn't seen Fitz all day and she couldn't take it anymore. She saw Mellie conversing with Cyrus in the corner, talking about what they were to do once they got in the white house no doubt. They didn't look the least bit worried or nervous about the results. She decided to interrupt them, to her, they seemed to be advertising to the world that they had already won.

"You know, you guys can at least act like you're not first lady and chief of staff for a couple more hours," she scolded quietly.

"Relax Liv," he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention to Mellie.

"Can I talk to you for a moment, Mellie."

"Sure, Liv, anything," she smiled sweetly.

"Is the governor okay, I haven't seen or heard from him all day?"

Mellie playfully tapped her shoulder.

"Fitz is fine, he keeps to himself when he's dealing with things, don't worry about him."

"His father just passed, you should maybe talk to him, it might make him feel better," Olivia suggested with a little too much affection, it caught Mellie's attention.

"If there's one thing I know about Fitzgerald, it is that he hated Gerry with every fiber of his being okay. He is not mourning Gerry's death, if anything he should be celebrating, he's one of the 25 richest people in the country," Mellie was overjoyed, she leaned closer to Olivia.

"Between me and you it was about time the mean ole bastard kicked it," she chuckled.

Olivia looked at her seriously for a moment then just shook her head and walked away.

All the polls had closed and the results were only hours away. Olivia went back to her room at the Grant guest villa to watch the coverage by herself; she figured she could make her way back to the election event after the results were announced. All the exit polls had Fitz in the lead, which was strange, if he was truly losing the exit polls would have him behind the actual vote. All the news stations began calling states, in favor of Fitz or Reston. After sometime she couldn't stand to watch anymore, Fitz was clearly winning and knowing what she knew, she couldn't pretend to be anxious about the results. She turned the tv off and kicked her shoes off and wrapped herself in the bed sheets. She laid until she heard a knock on her door. She got up to answer and to her surprise, it was Fitz.

She opened her door so he could come in.

"I've barely seen you in days, are you okay? No don't answer that, it was a stupid question...but seriously how are you doing?" Olivia fired her questions so quickly it caused Fitz to chuckle.

"Livie I'm okay."

"Are you sure? I mean… I don't want to annoy you but I've been a little worried about you, your father just passed. I know when my mother passed I almost went crazy, I just want to make sure your head is in the right place even if you two weren't on good terms."

Fitz was a little shocked at her revelation.

"I didn't know your mother passed, I've asked you how your parents were doing several times and you told me they were alright."

"Umm… that's what I usually tell people, it's not really easy for me to talk about my parents."

Fitz stepped closer to her and enveloped her in his arms and kissed her forehead and let his lips linger there. Olivia buried her head in his embrace, she felt like she needed the hug more than he did.

He was about to let her go but she stopped him.

"No, don't let go, not yet," she hated how needy she sounded but she couldn't help it.

She could feel him grinning as he kissed her again.

"You're the one who's father just died but I'm the one who needs to be coddled," she murmured softly.

He chuckled. "I hated my father. It's okay.."

"Fitz?"

"Yeah," he answered softly.

She looked up at him, she met his gaze and saw how sad his eyes were.

"It's okay to feel sad about Gerry's death, even though he was horrible. You should forgive him…for you."

He held her tighter.

"That's exactly what my mother would have said to me if she were here, you sound like her sometimes." He was quiet for a moment as he stroked her hair. "I can't forgive him. I don't know if you can. He was horrible Livie. For as long as I've known him, he was horrible. I feel relieved he's dead and I feel like you're the only person I can admit that to." Fitz needed to change the subject, things were getting too emotional for him, Olivia had the tendency to do that to him.

"Why aren't you watching the election coverage?" he asked randomly.

"I couldn't, why aren't you watching it?"

"I was at the lake all day."

"You need to go back to the election event, I missed you all day and they have too."

Fitz released her from his arms and walked over to the tv remote.

"You're the campaign manager, you should be there too," he countered.

"Fair enough."

He was about to turn on the tv.

"No, don't, I can't watch it."

Fitz raised his eyebrows.

"Am I losing that badly, I thought some people would at least vote for me because of my hair," he chuckled.

"No that's not it, I think you were winning all the exit polls last time I checked but-"

"But nothing come watch with me, Karen's with Titi and everyone else is at the election event, it's just us."

"Okay," she relented and laid on the bed. Fitz turned on the tv and joined her in bed.

They watched as they announced, county by county, state by state. Fitz was calm, Olivia, on the other hand, was a nervous mess. Fitz was winning by a lot more than the polls predicted though they didn't feel comfortable enough to call the election in his favor. The closer they got to calling the election for Fitz, the more Olivia's anxiety rose. Fitz had been noticing but it was getting bad.

"Livie, it's not the end of the world if I lose, you know that right."

"I know, I know," she said nervously.

"This just in, we can officially call this election, the new president of the United States is Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the third, the republican nominee and 44th president of the united states."

Immediately Fitz's arms were around her again.

"Livie we won!" he said happily. He playfully wrestled her to the floor in celebration, she found herself giggling even though all she wanted to do was cry. Fitz picked up his phone and the calls were coming in so fast, his phone was in a constant state of vibration.

"Oh shit, everyone is calling me, we should probably go," he pulled her up off the floor.

There was still something off about her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea I'm fine, I'm just so very happy for you," she smiled.

"Well I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yes, you could have now let's get back before they send a search party for you."

They made their way back to the event, separately. Olivia searched for Cyrus but she could barely find him through all the confetti and balloons and bottles of champagne being opened.

Once she found him she pulled him out of the crowd into a private room.

"Are you kidding me, he won by a landslide Cyrus, don't you think that's going to raise questions? How can you guys be so careless all the polls said it was going to be close. If you are going to do what you did, don't be so fucking conspicuous about it," she was screaming but the music playing blocked anyone but Cyrus from hearing.

"Calm down Liv." he laughed.

"The polls were wrong, we only tampered with one county in Ohio, it was barely 5 thousand votes, just so he would win the Ohio electorates, the rest was all him. Now who doesn't have faith, our boy did it Liv, lighten up."

Cyrus patted her on the shoulder and ran off.

She stayed for a while and convinced herself that what they did wouldn't have made a difference in the end and eventually went outside to join everyone else.

Day of the inauguration.

"You know they're going to come and get you any minute now right?" she reminded.

He pouted.

"I have a gift for you."

He raised his eyebrows mischievously.

"Not that kind of gift," she scolded.

He chuckled.

She took a tiny box out of her pocket.

"It's Eisenhower's pin, it has 48 stars on it, I wanted to give you something special. I won it at an auction."

"You're my something special."

"Don't get me emotional, I have mascara on," she warned him playfully.

"Okay but really you didn't have to get me anything."

"I know but I wanted to and it's very rare so never take it off."

"This is an amazing gift, I love it and the press is gonna love it."

She smiled at him.

"Come on it's time to go, the inauguration is gonna start soon."

DAY OF THE STATE OF THE UNION.

"Cyrus, if you see Olivia please tell her that I need to speak with her in the oval."

"No problem sir, I should be meeting up with her in a few."

Fitz got back to work in the oval while Cyrus headed to meet Olivia and Verna in his office. He could hear Olivia and Verna bickering.

"I can't force him to make you a supreme court justice, you're gonna have to wait your turn because he's dead set on Judge Miller," Olivia snapped.

"Can you guys stop the bickering, shit!" Cyrus said in frustration. "Olivia, Fitz needs you in his office."

"Here's the thing and I need both of you to hear me when I say this. If President Grant doesn't announce me as the supreme court nominee there will be hell to pay, I didn't compromise my morals so that I could be left with nothing."

"I can't force him to do anything he doesn't want to do so you'll just have to wait until the next justice retires or dies if you don't like that then too bad," Olivia said, "I remember telling you not to compromise anything."

"If you can't make him nominate me, then you're out of luck-." Verna threatened.

"Here's the thing Verna, I don't disagree with you because I have been feeling out of luck lately, you know ever since you guys pulled me into the never ending shitstorm that you let those two idiots convince you to agree with. I'm done, from now on any favors you need or threats you need to make you can go to Cyrus because I can't deal with this anymore," Olivia stormed out.

She remembered that Fitz wanted to see her but she was sure it was nothing work related. She'd been avoiding him since the night of the inauguration when they christened everything in the oval office. She remembered how disgusted she felt afterwards and wondered if that was what her life would be like; fucking him whenever and wherever he wanted, while his wife walked the halls clueless and they prayed the day never came where they got caught. She didn't know what she was thinking when she quit the firm and came to work at the white house, it was mostly because Fitz begged her weeks after the election, she was adamant about not working for him but one night in a post orgasm trance, she said yes and he held her to her word.

She went back to her office, she was in the middle of a phone conference when Fitz came looking for her.

"Olivia-" he said as he walked into the office.

She motioned with her hand that she was on the phone. He stood and waited for about 30 seconds before he got annoyed and unplugged the power cord from the phone.

"Fitz!" Olivia almost yelled but she remembered her door was open.

"Why have you been avoiding me, did I do something?"

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy with work."

"Well that sounds like bullshit," he said flatly.

She rolled her eyes.

"Just go."

"Are you gonna let me know what's wrong with you?"

Olivia looked up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong with me? Oh I don't know, maybe I'm tired of being the Sally Hemmings to your Thomas Jefferson, maybe I'm tired of banging a married man or maybe I'm just tired of not being able to look your wife in the eye knowing what I do to her husband when nobody's watching."

He opened his mouth to respond when Cyrus walked in and grabbed Fitz out the room.

"Sir, we're waiting for you at the meeting."

Fitz turned and stormed out the door.

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't even know she had been feeling some of those things until she said them out loud but she also partly regretted it because she knew Fitz wasn't going to let it go.

Later that night, she snuck out to the rose garden to get some air. She stood quietly as she faced the roses but she was staring at nothing in particular. She had been thinking about resigning for about a week, she didn't want to make a rash decision, she knew she needed to think it through but it felt like torture to stay. After earning a yearly 7 figure salary for the couple of years that she worked at the firm as partner, in addition to the very generous salary the Fitz offered her for her work at the campaign finance wouldn't be an issue. She knew finding a job wouldn't be hard either but she didn't want to work for anyone, she wanted to be her own boss. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see Fitz standing behind her.

"Olivia that Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemmings comment was really fucking below the belt."

She turned around to face him."Because it's so untrue."

"Yes it's untrue, this is not one sided, I told you I loved you and I meant it when I said it!" he said angrily.

"Yea I'm sure that's what Thomas told Sally."

He scoffed "Don't you dare question my love for you!"

His voice cracked with a deep hurt that she'd never seen from him before.

She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. "Fitz, where can this go? Really? You're married, you have a child with her and you're the president. You're growing old with her and-"

"So this is about Mellie? " he said, cutting her off.

"No, I smile at her and take off my clothes for you. I wait for you. I watch for you. My whole life is you. I can't breathe because I'm waiting for you. You own me, you control me, I belong to you and I can't hold my breath and wait for someone that I can never have. I can't be near you anymore because I feel like I'm fucking falling apart, " she cried. "It's torture being here with you and I can't fucking do it anymore."

"You own me! You control me. I belong to you." Fitz yelled so loud it startled her.

"You think I don't want to be a better man? You think that I don't want to dedicate myself to my marriage? I can't Olivia because I love you. I'm in love with you. You're the love of my life. My every feeling is controlled by the look on your face. I can't breathe without you. I can't sleep without you. I wait for you, I watch for you. I exist for you. You're nobody's victim, Liv. I belong to you. We're in this together."

Olivia was speechless, she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She couldn't form a coherent thought or word and after waiting for a response and receiving none he scoffed and stormed off.

She stood there for some time just trying to process everything that just happened. She heard the clicking of heels coming towards her. She turned around to see Mellie.

"Hello, Olivia."

"Mellie-"

"You know I was willing to turn my head the other way when I found out you were fucking my husband becuase let's face it, we needed you on the campaign. It was a sacrifice I had to make."

She could see the shock on Olivia's face.

"Oh, you didn't know that I knew? I hate to be underestimated Olivia, I'm a smart woman, my husband never saw that though, he's too busy worshiping at your altar."

"Mellie I don't know what you're talking about?" was all Olivia managed to come up with.

"You two have done a terrible job of hiding it, you're a little less obvious than my husband, but he, on the other hand, can't keep his eyes or hands off you, and the way he says your name; 'Livie' it was just too obvious, I'm surprised rumors haven't started already." She scoffed.

"When did you find out?" Olivia asked quietly.

"In the days after you came, I realized he was watching you, which was unusual because Fitz never really paid other women attention even though we haven't been together for years. His request, not mine because between us gals; he's quite the lover," she joked.

Mellie shrugged off a memory.

"Anywho, I wasn't worried at first, you're a pretty, young girl, what man wouldn't look but then he started to hang on to your word like it was gospel and he only ever cared about what you had to say and everything that came out of your mouth was the most brilliant thing that was ever said. Still I wasn't convinced until he said what he said at the debate. I knew he didn't mean it but I still thought it was nice of him to say to me until I realized he was looking directly at you and that was all the proof I needed but as life would have it I happened to overhear my husband's poetic confession of his love to you and well, it hurts. He's never given me a not even a piece of that affection in our entire marriage and although my pride is wounded now that I know how madly in love with you he is, I can use it against him."

Mellie paused and smiled charmingly.

"If he utters another word about getting a divorce, I will throw you and him out to the press to putrefy and don't take it the wrong way, I like you but there is no way I'm getting left out in cold after 14 years of being the trophy wife when everything finally started paying off, we have the money, we have the power and we have the fame, I'm not gonna step aside so Fitz can replace me with you. You better tell him to never mention a divorce to me again. You can keeping fucking my husband, I don't care but that's all you'll do, you'll never be his wife. "

Mellie didn't wait for a reply from Olivia, she just turned and walked away.