Saturday

Early in the morning Dr. Porpentine began Luna's consolidation chemotherapy. She was weak but she was doing relatively okay. Karen was scheduled for her bone marrow transfer surgery in a week and Olivia could tell she was nervous.

"Hey Kare, what are you thinking?"

She laid on the floor on a blanket beside Lana.

"Nothing really, just trying to figure out how to get Lana to crawl," she said with a chuckle.

Olivia got up and sat beside them on the floor.

"I think she's been trying to do it on her own but if you want to help you can pick her up like this and place her on all fours. It'll take her some time to start getting into the motion and if you crawl beside her that'll really help too," Olivia said as she showed her the motions of how to place Lana on all fours.

"Got it?"

"Got it," Karen said with a wide smile.

Olivia gave Karen and Luna a kiss on the cheek and then sat with them for a while. She often felt guilty because she couldn't give Lana as much attention as she gave Luna but she decided not to dwell on the negative, Lana wasn't the sick one. Fitz sat on the couch while he chatted with Cyrus over the phone and his press secretary.

Today it was just Fitz and Karen visiting, everyone else was away. Abby was in New York with Richard, Harrison, Stephen and Huck were all at O.P.A working on a case and Cyrus was at the White House running things under Fitz's constant direction.

"So Kare, how's school?" Olivia asked.

"Boring, my friend Carla thinks she's so popular because she had her birthday party at school."

"Really?" Olivia asked to egg her on.

"Yea,h her cake was ugly anyways and it didn't even taste good because her mom bought a sugar-free cake."

"Eww, what does a sugar-free cake even taste like?"

"Like spinach," Karen said in disgust.

Olivia chuckled.

"Well then we'll just make sure that when your birthday comes up, your party is way better. We should have your party at school, with goodie bags and ice-cream."

Karen squealed in excitement.

After a while Olivia went back to sit by Luna's bedside. She noticed a bluish color on her lips.

"Fitz, can you come here for a sec?"

He nodded.

"Hold on, I'll call you back," He said as he hung up the phone.

She got up and began inspecting her.

Fitz walked over to her and looked down on Luna.

"Fitz, I don't think she's breathing," Olivia said in a panic.

"Karen call for help!"

Karen ran out immediately.

He placed two fingers on the side of her throat.

"I can barely feel a pulse."

Within a few seconds Karen came running with Dr. Porpentine and a team of nurses behind her.

"What's going on?" Dr. Porpentine asked.

"Her lips are blue, she isn't breathing!" Olivia yelled.

"Get me oxygen now!" He ordered the nurse.

He ran over and checked Luna's pulse.

"She's breathing but barely."

Once the nurse came back with the oxygen he placed the mask over her face and began working on her. The nurses begged Olivia to step back but she wouldn't, so Fitz had to pull her back and lock his arms around her to keep her still as she panicked. He pulled her away and then Let her go to grab Lana from off the floor and kept Karen who was crying by his side.

"Let's move her," They heard dr. Porpentine instruct the nurses.

They unhooked the brakes from the stretcher and wheeled her out of the room without a word to Olivia or Fitz.

"Daddy, is Luna gonna die?"

"No, sweetie she's gonna be fine, they just trying to help her breathe."

Olivia sat in the couch staring into space. Karen let go of Fitz and walked over to Olivia.

"See Olivia, it's okay, daddy said she's gonna be alright so don't cry okay."

Karen sat beside her and hugged her tightly, she let the silent tears flow as she held Karen's hands tightly.

Her mind was blank, she didn't want to entertain the thoughts that were buzzing around in her head so she shut them out completely.

Fitz didn't interrupt them, he let them have their moment and he stood watching with Lana in his arms.

It wasn't long before dr. Porpentine returned. Fitz breath hitched as he saw him headed towards the room.

"She's okay, she's okay," He repeated as he walked into the room, so as not to alarm them.

Fitz let out a deep breath and kissed Lana on the cheek. Olivia sat up and wiped her eyes and hugged Karen and kissed her against her hair.

"She's okay Kare," she breathed out.

They both stood up to hear what the doctor had to say.

"What happened?" Fitz asked.

"She had a sudden cessation of breath, luckily you caught it before she lost any oxygen to the brain. We will keep her under extremely close observation and we will put her back on the monitors, she will be kept on a steady flow of oxygen."

"What caused it?"

"We aren't sure."

"Can we see her?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, of course."

The week since Luna's incident hadn't been an easy one. She caught a throat infection shortly after and still hadn't come back from it. It was day of Karen's surgery and everyone was antsy. Abby and Richard came back after they heard about Luna's incident, so did Huck. Stephen and Harrison tried to visit more but they also had to run things at O.P.A., so it was hard.

Karen's surgery was only hours away, when Tom walked into the room and headed straight for Fitz.

"Tom?"

"Sir."

Was all he said before he leaned over and whispered something in Fitz ear. Olivia watched intently, she knew something was up because Tom had never came in the room before. When Tom stepped back from Fitz ear, she saw his eyes open wide then she stood up immediately.

He walked towards her."Liv, it's important."

She stood up from her seat beside Luna's bed.

"It's okay, I understand."

She gave his arm a tight squeeze and he nodded in response and walked over to Karen.

"Karen, I'm really sorry but I have to go."

"What? Are you gonna be back before the doctors come and get me?"

"No," Fitz said sadly.

"But you said you'd be there," she complained.

"I'm sorry Kare, it's important."

She turned her back on him and folded her arms.

"I'm not talking to you."

"Karen please-"

Olivia walked over.

"It's okay, I'll talk to her, just go."

He was hesitant to go but Tom pulled his arm and Fitz had to hurry out.

"Kare, what's going on?"

She could see that Karen was crying when she turned around to face her.

"He said he was gonna be here when I had to do my surgery," she cried.

"I think he would've wanted that more than anything. You know how much your dad loves you, unconditionally right? But you also know that he has a really important job, millions of people count on him everyday and I think whatever happened must be really important or else he would've never left."

Karen dried her tears.

"I guess so."

"You know what else?"

"What?"

"I think you really hurt his feeling just now."

"I didn't mean to," Karen said sadly. "I just really wanted him to be here when I did it."

"It's okay, I think he understands that you're upset."

"Maybe I should call him," Karen suggested. "Do you think the doctor could wait until he comes back?"

"I don't think so Kare, I'm sorry but they would have to do it today."

Karen nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Can I still call him?"

"Yeah of course, give it a shot."

Karen pulled out her cell that Fitz got her a few months earlier. She dialed his number and waited. He didn't answer, she got a voicemail prompter instead.

"Hey dad, I'm really sorry I was so mean earlier, I love you, call me back."

Olivia chuckled.

"I think he'll love that message."

"You think so?" Karen asked.

"I'm sure."

Karen smiled widely in response.

Soon after Abby and Richard came back with food.

"Where is Fitz?" Richard asked.

"Emergency, he had a leave," Olivia answered.

"Must be really important then," Richard murmured.

Olivia went back to sit by Luna's side, Lana was fast asleep in her carseat and Karen sat with Abby and Richard as they chatted.

An hour later dr. Porpentine came for Karen.

"Hey Karen, it's time."

Karen stood up from the couch.

"Olivia will you come with me?" She asked as she walked over to the doctor.

"Of course sweetie."

She looked over to Abby. Abby picking up on what she was going ask answered before Olivia could ask.

"I'll watch them Liv, don't worry."

Olivia nodded and walked over to Karen.

"Let's go kare, you are gonna do great," she held on to her hand as they walked down the hallway together.

Olivia stayed by Karen's side as they prepped her for surgery.

It was Friday and she took the day off from school, she would have the weekend, Monday and Tuesday to heal from the surgery. Fitz still hadn't called Karen back, she could see that Karen was nervous.

"Hey kare is okay, you're really brave for doing this to help Luna. It's gonna be okay, it won't hurt."

"Okay, I just wish daddy would call back."

Karen was clad in her hospital gown. She hadn't been hooked up to anything as yet, they were waiting for the doctors to put her to sleep. Since Karen was so afraid of needles, they wanted to put her to sleep before they brought out the marrow needles because they were huge and they didn't want to frighten her.

"Well, let's try again," Olivia suggested.

Olivia looked through Karen's things until she found her phone and dialed Fitz then handed her the phone.

Karen waited as it rang but when there was no answer she hung up.

"Maybe his phone died," Karen said sadly.

A few moments later, dr. Porpentine and his team walked in.

"Okay Karen, are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Okay so we're going to give you medicine that's going to make you sleep."

Karen nodded.

She laid on the bed and watched as the doctor got the syringe ready. Olivia walked over and held her hand as they waited.

They set up the drip and then when it was time to insert the needle in her arm, Karen squeezed Olivia's hand tightly and closed her eyes.

Once it was inserted, Karen opened her eyes.

"You will feel sleepy Karen, it might take you a couple minutes to-"

When dr. Porpentine turned around Karen was fast asleep.

"Or less than a minute," he chuckled.

Olivia felt Karen let go of her hand and got up to give the doctor space to work.

"Turn her on her side and sanitize the area," he instructed one of the nurses.

He asked Olivia to leave the room shortly after.

She went back to Luna's room to find her sleep. Lana however was wide awake. She laid out her blanket on the floor and sat with her and watched her play.

"How is Karen?" Richard asked.

"She's okay, she was a little scared but once the drugs hit her, she was fast asleep."

"When did Luna fall asleep?" She asked Abby.

"Not very long ago."

"Okay."

She watched Lana intently and then realized what was happening as she leaned over on her palms and moved off.

She gasped.

"Abby, she's crawling."

Abby jumped up and walked over to the floor.

"Get my phone and video her so I can send it to Fitz, Karen's been trying to teach her to crawl for weeks I'm sure she'll want to see it too."

Olivia put on of her toys in front of her so she could crawl to it.

"Come on pumpkin, go get your toy, go get your toy for daddy."

Abby and Richard stood to the side recording and cheering her on.

"Come on superstar, go get it," Richard said from the side.

Lana crawled slowly forward and after about two paces she got the toy and dropped on her belly and began chewing the toy.

"Daddy's gonna be so proud of you and your sister too."

Olivia picked her up and peppered her with kisses.

"I'm so proud of you baby girl."

Abby stopped recording.

"I'm gonna send this to Fitz okay."

"Yea of course, I think he'll love it."

"Let's turn on the t.v., I think Comedy Central is roasting somebody tonight," Richard suggested.

"I love those roast, they usually show earlier ones before the new one comes on."

Olivia sat all too consumed by Lana as Abby and Richard tried to find the remote.

Once they turned on the tv, the very first thing they heard was;

"Russia just declared war in the United States by attacking a U.S. Aircraft carrier that was in neutral territory in the Caspian Sea. There are reports that Russian president Vladimir Putin has assembled all his forces and it preparing to attack U.S. Territory. We expect a statement from president Grant at any minute but in the meantime, Mike what are your thoughts?"

"What do you want me to say, we have a president that's a pacifist, he and his family has made billions from war and now that he's in office, he's against it. For a navy man, I expect better from him."

"Oh please Mike, don't forget about the idiot George bush and how he sent us to war with the wrong country. You finally get a republican president who actually sees war as a bad thing because it is. President grant is a smart man, he isn't going to make a decision without all the facts and considering how many American lives could be lost if we go to war with Russia, I'm glad he isn't running into this conflict the way Bush did and don't be so callous about American lives being lost."

"That's the problem with you democrats, so politically correct, I can't stand it, he should bomb Russia to kingdom come, that's my stance and I'm sticking to it."

"Excuse me a moment, President grant is in the White House press room, he's going to begin speaking shortly."

Olivia, Abby and Richard stood frozen in front of the TV waiting to hear what Fitz had to say. He stood in front of the podium waiting for the chatter in the room to quiet down.

"Today at 10:31am standard eastern time, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave an order to Russian fighter pilot Alexander Mustafin to fire on a non threatening U.S. Navy aircraft carrier ship in neutral territory. The attack on the ship was no accident, it was done out of hostile intentions meant to provoke a war. The attack resulted in the loss of 357 U.S. Naval officers lives, lives that have been robbed of a future, lives that will not be forgotten. These were good men and women, with families and friends who chose to serve their country and protect those who can't protect themselves."

Fitz paused, he knew the words he was about to say had the potential to end thousands of lives, but he had no choice.

"This hurts me, this hurts you, I can't imagine an American who isn't hurting because of this. Honest, good Americans soldiers killed for absolutely no reason other than the whims of a mad man"

He paused again.

"I have 27 long-range torpedoes aimed at 27 of Russia's most populated cities. I'm sure you are watching this Vlad. You have 1 hour to contact me so we can discuss the price you will pay for the 357 American lives you took, if you fail to do so, I will fire every torpedo we have in our arsenal until it rains blood on the Kremlin."

Fitz checked his watch.

"Your hour starts now."

Fitz walked out of the room leaving everyone astounded. Reporters pulled out their phones and started making calls. Cyrus ran behind Fitz.

"That's going down in history Fitz, let's see if he takes the bait."

Fitz didn't answer he just kept walking.

"Go back to the situation room, I need a minute."

Fitz didn't look back as he spoke, he just walked straight into the oval.

He pulled out his cell and saw a couple missed calls from Karen and a voice message and a message from Olivia.

He listened to Karen's voice message and it made him sad that he couldn't be there with her. He had promised her that he would and he hated breaking promises to her. He opened Olivia's message and played the video and it brought the widest smile on his face, it made all the stress he was feeling from the Russian conflict disappear into thin air in that moment. He decided to try to call Olivia before Cyrus came for him.

He dialed Olivia's phone and she picked up on the first ring.

"Fitz?"

"Hey Livie."

"So I guess we won't be seeing much of you anymore huh, with this war about to start and all?"

"The optimist in me hopes it doesn't come to that but the realist knows it will."

"Karen's doing good, they put her to sleep and began the surgery, I'm just waiting for the doctor to call me when they're done."

"I'm glad, Lana is a little sneaky thing isn't she, I've tried to get her to crawl for weeks and as soon as I leave she decides to go for it."

"Yes well, you aren't the only one feeling a little hurt, I'm sure Karen will have a lot to say when she wakes up as well."

He sighed.

"I want to be there with my children Olivia. Lately it's been one thing after the other, I convinced Karen to do this surgery and I couldn't even be there with her, Luna is fighting for her life and Lana is achieving these crazy milestones and I'm not there for any of it. Would it be so bad if I just resigned and just walked away from all of this?"

"With everything that's happening right now, it's easy to feel helpless but you shouldn't. You are the only one that can help us all, you can make this country safe for our three girls, if you hand it over to Sally, she'll send thousands of lives into harm's way without a second thought, Vladimir won't respect her as an equal the way he'll respect you, you are the only one that can do this. Luna's sickness, is temporary, pretty soon she'll be out of here and she'll be healthy and happy, Lana is an overachiever and I'm sure she'll do a lot more things that you will be there for and Karen comes out of surgery soon so don't think like that okay."

"Fitz we need you," Cyrus said as he burst into the room.

"I love you Livie, always."

"I love you too, always."

Fitz hung up and headed back to the situation room.

"What's goin on?" He asked.

"He hasn't made a move yet sir, but an agent undercover in the Russian force says that he is preparing to make the call soon although his intentions are still unclear."

"Alright, so now we wait. In the meantime, get the English prime minister on the phone. I'm sure Vlad wouldn't do this unless he was sure his allies would back him, let us be sure ours will back us too."

"I still don't think you should have warned them about the torpedoes," Cyrus added.

"It'll give civilians time to get out of there. I'm not a monster Cy."

45 minutes went by, there still was no call from President Putin.

"Fitz, get ready to fire those torpedoes because it doesn't seem like he's gonna call."

"He's going to call, I know men like Vladimir, he strives off of power, he can't afford to look weak to his men, so he's going to run down the clock. He also can't afford the unrest it would cause in his country if he idly stood by and let me fire 27 torpedoes in his country, he will call and hear what I have to say, he will agree to the terms and then he will double cross me and attack when he thinks I don't expect it, well, he'll try to attack but we'll be ready, The UK, France, Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Norway, Spain, all our allies are ready to support us."

The phone rang.

Fitz smiled.

"Everyone be quiet, put him on speaker."

"President Grant, would you really be so cruel to fire torpedoes into a civilian population," he said in a thick Russian accent.

"We only return what has been given to us in kind."

"Let me hear what is that you have to offer and if you are wasting me time I-"

Fitz cut him off.

"I need a public apology, you will say the name of every soldier that you murdered and apologize to all their families. Then you will step down as president and surrender yourself and Alexander Mustafin to the U.S. authorities to stand trial for war crimes committed against this country."

Fitz paused.

"Think very carefully about what you say next Vlad," he warned.

"I will give you my answer tomorrow."

"You will give me your answer in 10 seconds or I will fire those torpedoes."

The room was eerily quiet for 9 seconds.

"Alexander Mustafin was a rogue pilot and I will hand him over to stand trial. That is all you will get."

"He won't do, Vlad. You're gonna step down and hand yourself over too."

"I'm afraid that's all you'll get-"

"You'll never sleep another day in your life. I will find you, I will find and I will kill you for what you did- if you people don't kill you first after what I do to them-" Fitz said angrily. "End it-" Fitz barked.

"Wait-" the Russian president said. "We have a deal."

Fitz hung up immediately.

"Okay, we are at war. I need a every f-16 rapper and Thunderbird plane fueled and ready for flight, get them on aircraft carriers with their pilots on standby. I need every cia operative working in enemy territory giving frequent intelligence reports, I want to know every move Vlad is planning on making. Release the recording of that phone call to the press corp. Now!"

"So we are really at war?" Abby asked Olivia as she hung up.

"I think so."

There wasn't much to say so they kept their eyes glued to the TV waiting for an update. An hour went by before the news began reporting on the recording of the conversation between Fitz and Vladimir.

Olivia had never heard Fitz like that before, it gave her goosebumps. She listened as the news pundits argued over the recording.

"Now that we've played the recording in its entirety, what are your thoughts Chris?"

"Frankly, I'm surprised president Putin called but the threat of 27 torpedoes would frighten anyone I suppose."

"Do you think President Putin will follow through with president Grant's terms and what do you, yourself think about his terms, do you think they are fair? Are you satisfied with the price President Putin would be paying for taking 357 American lives?"

"Yes, I've got to say I agree with president Grant's terms. If Putin does surrender, I don't think president Grant would give him a trial, I think he would hold him indefinitely under the patriot act, I think he would keep him there and give him the death penalty."

"We also have Bill Maher here with us, what do you think Bill?"

"Well thanks for asking Rachel, first I would like to say that this is how it feels to have a president with Balls, that's not an idiot like Bush was. I don't think you'll hear me say this often but I agree with president Grant, do I think we're still going to war, yes, but I think president Grant knows that too. He ordered all the f-16's on standby and the aircraft carriers have left their ports. This is how you deal with people like Putin."

"A lot of republican don't agree, they think he should have just fired the torpedoes."

"Of course, they don't agree with him, he has a brain. For the party that touts God on their logo, they sure are heartless, look Rachel, I think Grant made the right move, he threatened Russia with those torpedoes and got Putin to call him, giving him the upper hand. Even if he had fired those torpedoes the fact that he gave Putin the option to call and stop it puts the burden of the killing of all those people on Putin. Putin agreed to the deal and we have this recording, his soldiers won't respect him, Russians are nothing if not unforgiving, they won't forgive the weakness he displayed by bowing to President Grant's demands and even if he backtracks and does differently, we have the recording so I'm interested to see how this plays out. Of course I hope that Grant can somehow prevent this war but if he has to go to war with Russia, at least I know he knows what he's doing and that all any of us can ask for, a president who knows what he's doing."

"Oh shit this really happening," Abby said incredulously.

"Yep," was all Olivia could say.

Dr. Porpentine walked into the room.

"Karen is out of surgery and is resting. You can see her if you'd like."

"Thank you doctor."