One week later.

"Can I get a status report?"

"Well Mr. President, you were right. Dimitri Darekov, and his followers are trying to overthrow Putin. He has the soldiers on his side and most of Russia. There still many who are loyal to Putin but even they didn't like what he did. They can't afford to look weak but they also don't want to go to war."

"Darekov is smart and is notorious for his hatred of Putin, if he successfully overthrows him, he'll give him to me to appease me."

"So we are on Darekov's side?" asked Cyrus.

"We are on no one's side, we'll watch how this thing plays out and we'll be prepared either way - Keep our forces on high alert, tell them to be prepared for anything."

"Yes sir."

"Great. We will reconvene at 0600 hrs."

Fitz looked around for any objections, when there were none, he got up and headed back to the oval.

It had been over a week since the conflict began. He had only been able to go to the hospital twice since then, the fact that he was in and out of endless security meetings didn't leave much time for anything else, not even sleep. Luna's chemo would be over in a week and he hoped that Darekova would successfully overthrow Putin and hand him over so that they could avert this war. Everytime he was away from Olivia and the girls, we couldn't focus, his mind always lingered. He tried to stay sharp but he couldn't help but worry about them. Hoping that they didn't feel abandoned. Thankfully Karen was back at the whitehouse. With her surgery over, she was feeling great. He hadn't gotten a chance to see her as much as he'd like because whenever she wasn't at school, she was at the hospital or in the residence sleeping.

"Things are looking up. Once we let her rest this week we'll give her the biopsy, if the results are what I expect them to be we'll go ahead and do the transplant right away. I want her to stay here for about a month before she can go home. She will have an entirely new immune system, I don't want to take any chances."

"Neither do I Dr. Porpentine."

He patted her on the shoulder.

"Things are looking up, smile mommy, you'll be home soon."

She gave him a small smile and then excuses herself back to Luna's hospital room.

Both the girls were sleeping and Karen was at school. Richard flew back to New York, Abby was at the office working and Fitz was probably in some war meeting. She couldn't wait for the war drama to be over. She could tell that Fitz was doing everything in his power not to go to war but he also had to look aggressive and ready. The weeks that he'd been there were great ones. He was careful and miraculously, no stories leaked about his frequent visits to the hospital. She loved the father he was to their children. He was good with them, especially Lana, she couldn't get enough of him. Whenever he was around she was jumping at the chance to be near him. If he smiled, she smiled and whenever she got close to his face, she would begin chewing on it, he would be covered in drool and it was the funniest thing in the world to him. She wondered how things would change once they left the hospital. She wondered what would come of their relationship, once they weren't consumed by Luna's sickness. Before Luna's sickness, they were making plans to begin going on dates. He'd been so supportive for the past couple months since he found out about the twins and she'd never felt closer to him But she was also terrified because now there was something at stake other than her broken heart if they didn't work out once they started trying. She was terrified of the attention she would get from being his public girlfriend and terrified about the attention the kids would get. She wondered how it would affect her firm once she began working there again. There was so much to consider.

3 weeks later.

Fits sat in the situation room waiting for the new Russian president to call. After two weeks of watching the chaos in Russia unfold and Putin overthrown, it took a week of negotiations to get Darekov on the phone to discuss an end to the conflict.

"Everyone quiet, he's calling right now," Fitz said loudly in the situation.

Fitz put the phone on speaker.

"President Darekov, I had not expected to hear from you so soon."

"President Grant, I have accepted your terms, I will deliver former president Putin and Alexander Mustafin to you. I do not wish to prolong this conflict the sooner we can get this over with the better."

He was direct with his thoughts, he didn't cut corners and Fitz liked that, he didn't have time for the games.

"My thoughts exactly, I'll meet you tomorrow at 0900 hours at the Munich army base, we can both sign the no retaliation agreement and you can hand over the prisoners and we can both move on with our lives, how does that sound, President Darekov?"

"It sounds like we have deal?" he said in his thick russian accent.

Fitz hung up.

"Yess."

They all started celebrating. Cyrus ran up and grabbed his face and kissed him on the cheek.

"You just won us a second term," he screamed.

Fitz wiped his cheek.

"Eww Cyrus," he said jokingly.

"Sir, should we pull back troops?"

"Of course not, high alert until we sign this thing and get Rob to prep AF1, I'd like to get there early."

A few minutes later, Fitz was back in the oval with Cyrus.

Fitz walked over to the decanter and pour himself some scotch and threw it back then loosened his tie and sat in the couch, Cyrus followed him.

"History."

"What?" Fitz asked.

"History, you just made, you just made a threat that shook a whole nation so much that they overthrew a leader that had ruled them for 10 years and they are going to hand him over to you, to fucking do as you please with him," Cyrus said as he laughed sardonically.

"When you put it that way it sounds bad ass," Fitz admitted.

"We save taxpayers billions and not to mention, no more American lives are lost. Shit, I think I might come with you to Germany."

"Remember what happened last time you left the country with me?"

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Fitz chuckled.

"I'm a lucky guy. Luna did her transplant and she's healing perfectly, her blood count goes up everyday. Karen's happy, Lana's happy, Olivia is - she seems happy now that Luna's better, either way things are going great."

"How are things with you and Olivia?"

Fitz had to think about that question.

"Things are quiet, right now. Good I guess, we've never been closer but something's missing."

"Are you two together?"

"Yes and no. We haven't really been focusing on our relationship outside of our children so we're in a weird place that's still very intimate. It's hard to explain."

"Have you two gotten past the break up?"

"I don't know- at one point she was dead set on convincing me she was over it and all I had to do was mention a couple things I said and her eyes filled with tears. I really fucking hurt her and I keep thinking 'was I that bad?' And I was."

"Did she ever tell you what happened…with the election?"

"No actually, the most she'd said was about Gerry. I accused her of plotting with him and she said that wasn't true."

"I don't think I ever really got the chance to sit down and explain to you how it went down, I think it's important you know that part if you are to understand why Olivia felt the way she did."

Cyrus paused to see if Fitz would object but he didn't so she continued.

"After the whole Karen press debacle, you know the popular opinion of Mellie was at an all time low and that's when you started to slip behind. Late summer, before the election Gerry, Verna and Hollis called me into a room and explained to me their contingency plan just in case in the last leg of the election, you needed a boost. I resisted at first but ultimately I gave in, then he called Mellie, he didn't have to tell her twice, she was in. They weren't sure about Olivia, she was young and they didn't trust her because she hadn't been doing this long enough to have skeletons in her closet. I practically begged them not to involve her but they thought that it was the only safe way for everyone to be on the line. I almost got them to leave her out of it but Gerry was adamant he wanted Olivia because she was smart, he figured that if we got busted he'd rather have her on his side than the side of the cops. When I called her into the room and she saw Gerry, she froze. She sat down for about a minute, just long enough for us to vaguely tell her we could make sure you won, then she got up and walked out. I ran after her, she was really upset Gerry was there after what he did to her. She said no, told me undecideds would swing it to you and that if they didn't and you lost you'd survive. She was adamant that we not do it and that she didn't want to hear anything else about it."

"Yea but why didn't she tell me?"

"Why would she? In the end it didn't matter what we did, you would have won anyways."

"I think she still resents me for leaving her."

"I don't think that's why she resents you."

"Then why?"

"It's the hospital, when you got shot, what you did by not speaking to her, really hurt her."

"Why? After not speaking to her for months, why does that particular instance make a difference?"

"You know why. If she was shot and there was no way to know if she was alive or not except for hearing her voice over the phone and she refused to open her mouth and talk to you how you feel? She would rather have you agonize than give you their courtesy of saying 'hello, I'm alive, goodbye'. Now imagine being alone, imagine being pregnant with that person's baby, no - I'm sorry excuse me babies, and imagine that person telling you to get lost and that they never wanted to see you again over something that you have no control of and then add some pregnancy hormones and a little over thinking and stubbornness and voila, Olivia Pope in the flesh."

"And I've been consumed by guilt so much that-"

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Sir, AF1 is prepped and ready for flight, you have an hour sir."

"Thank you Lauren."

Cyrus regretted making the mood so somber and decided to change the tone.

"You just had a victory, celebrate for a second. Go shower and put on your best suit, meet me out back in an hour."

On his way back to the residence, he called Olivia. It almost went to voicemail before she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Liv, I was just calling to see how the girls were doing?"

"They're doing great, I just fed them, Lana is asleep but Luna is up. She gets more and more energy everyday."

"That's great, I think this thing might be over, I have to go out of the country but once I get back I think this is going to be behind us."

"Really?"

"Yeah, hopefully. I can't promise what hasn't happened yet but I think so."

"That's great, I think things will be normal soon."

"I think so too."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm about to shower for my trip."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then."

"Alright."

Fitz took a quick shower, shaved and dressed himself. By the time he finished getting dressed and went down to the car, Cyrus was there waiting for him.

"You don't miss a beat do you Cy."

"Nope."

"You look sharp," Fitz complimented.

"Thanks, this is my kick ass suit," Cyrus chuckled.

"I can't deal with your antics right now Cy," Fitz couldn't help laughing.

Moments later they boarded marine 1 for the airstrip. Fitz immediately headed to a seat and got comfortable. He didn't want to use the bed in his cabin because he didn't want to have to change out of his suit, so he settled for a chair and got some much needed sleep on the flight.

When he touched down in Munich, he still had several hours to prepare for the meeting. He wasn't nervous, only Olivia made him nervous, he was anxious. He just wanted to get it over with and go back home to his family. He waited patiently, reading over the agreement several times and listening to status updates from his advisors. Once it was time, they all headed to the meeting location. Fitz waited for 20 minutes before Darekov arrived.

"President Grant"

"President Darekov."

Both men said to each other in greetings. The room was silent and the tension was thick in the air. Fitz and Darekov stared each other down for a few seconds before Darekov began.

"Now that I have the opportunity to say it to your face, I must say I was not happy that you so boldly threatened thousands of Russian lives, it is not something we will forgive."

"You don't have to. I might have threatened Russian lives but hundreds of American lives have been lost to us forever, that is not something we will forgive either."

"I would expect you to be more diplomatic."

"The fact that I didn't fire those torpedoes into Russia is about as diplomatic as I will get, hand over the prisoners, sign the no retaliation agreement and we can both go back to our countries and try to put this conflict behind us."

"If you truly mean that then you will pull back your troops."

"I'll pull back my troops when I'm good and ready."

Fitz handed him the papers and after waiting as he read it over and over again, Darekov signed.

"The prisoners are outside of the facility in an armored car surrounded by your guards."

He got up and stormed out and his entourage followed. Fitz didn't wait, he went outside immediately to see Putin and Mustafin. Both were handcuffed and were inside a prisoner carrier. Press was everywhere. After a few minutes of the usual pleasantries and being briefed on the route the prisoners were to be taken back to the U.S., Fitz boarded AF1 and left for DC.

Once he landed and gave a statement to his press secretary, he headed straight to the hospital. It was 10pm and both the girls were sleeping. Karen was back at the White House with her nanny. When he walked into the room, Olivia was on the couch reading.

"Hey Liv."

She looked up and smiled.

"I've been calling you."

He smiled back.

"I know, I wanted to surprise you and the girls but I guess I'm too late for the girls."

She put the marker in her book and placed it on the table beside her.

"Yeah, they've had quite an active day and they gave me hell to go to bed."

He walked over to Luna, who was sleeping on her bed. Lana was sleeping on the couch next to Olivia. Fitz was about to touch Luna.

"Wait - wash your hands."

"Oh yea."

Since the bone marrow transplant, they had to be extra careful with Luna and her exposure to bacteria. Her immune system was extremely fragile and the last thing they needed was an infection. It was three weeks after the transplant, Dr. Porpentine had been watching out for signs of the graft vs host disease, which is a disease that is the result of Luna's cells attacking Karen's cells as a foreign object but luckily there had been no sign of it. Every complete blood count test that had been done so far came back with a steadily rising number of white blood cells, red blood cells and blasts, which was great news. They removed the feeding tube because Luna began eating on her own and finally started to gain some weight and looked healthier and healthier everyday. Dr. Porpentine told Olivia that if the results of her next bone marrow biopsy and complete blood count test were positive, which he believed they would be, then she could take Luna home along with a home nurse and she could finish healing at home. Of course they would have to make several weekly visits but at least they would be in the comfort of their home for the most part and that would go a long way to helping Luna recover.

When Fitz finished washing his hands, he went back over to Luna. In the month since the conflict began he'd barely seen them. Luna looked bigger.

"Is she gaining weight?" he asked.

"Yes, she's been eating a lot more, she gained about three pounds since the transplant."

"Really?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah but that's not the good news that I wanted to share."

Fitz raised his eyebrows.

"What good news?"

"Dr. Porpentine said we can go home in a week."

"Really?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we have to hire a home nurse but yeah, we can go home. With her blood count rising and no sign of graft vs host, he sees no reason to keep us here, we'll have to come here for a checkup like every other day but that's fine by me," she said with a smile.

"Wow, that's amazing and exactly what I needed to hear after the crazy month that it's been."

"Yeah it has been. What's going on with this whole war thing? Is there going to be a war or not because it's been almost a month…"

"Didn't you watch the news today?"

"No, I've been reading this book all day, you know, when I'm not with the girls."

"Well, you missed a lot. For my trip I met with new Russian president Dmitri Darekov, we both signed a no retaliation agreement and he handed over Putin and Mustafin. As far as intelligence goes, he doesn't seem to have anything up his sleeve so as of now, there will be no war. Of course I still have to have troops line up because after all this is a dick swinging contest and I have to prove a point that I'm the bigger dick but yeah, I think we're in the clear."

Olivia chuckled.

"You know you can never go anywhere near Russia again right? Not in your lifetime and I'd also advise you not to even fly over it, they'd shoot your plane down."

"Listen, I won't even go near Russia on the atlas let alone in a plane."

Olivia chuckled.

"That would be wise."

He kissed Luna on her forehead and walked over to Lana.

"They've both been cooing a lot more, I think their gonna start saying words soon, the doctor thinks so too."

He picked Lana up and cradled her.

"Oh yea, who do you think it going to start speaking first?"

"Honestly, Luna, Lana has been so active that I don't think she cares to start speaking but Luna has been very loud lately and she's trying to utter more sounds, I think she'll first Lana on this one."

"Is it weird that this is all still so surreal to me? The fact that I have twins with you, it's been over three months and I still can't believe it."

"I think if you had gotten to see me pregnant then you'd get a chance to actually process it the way it did. I had barely changed a diaper before they were born and now I have twins."

"I always used to imagine you with kids, I wanted you to have a boy, my boy, we'd name him Fitzgerald Thomas Grant ৷⋁, just to keep the family tradition going."

Olivia chuckled. "Oh please, if we named him Fitzgerald Grant, what would his nickname be, we call you Fitz, your dad was Gerry, what would we call our son, 'Fitzgerry'."

Fitz rolled his eyes.

"Funny but no, we'd call him junior, technically he's a fourth but it still works. If we could call him Tommy.

"Junior's not bad, I like junior."

Fitz kissed Lana's cheek.

"Junior would have been nice but I love my girls, I wouldn't trade them for anything."

Fitz paused.

"Thank you for having them and for telling me about them and allowing me to be a part of their lives. They really mean the world to me."

"You're an amazing father, to them and to Karen, you should see the way Lana's face lights up whenever she sees you on the TV."

Fitz smiled and kissed Lana again.

"She's just a daddy's girl that all."

Fitz spent the entire night at the hospital, talking with Olivia about mundane things that had happened over the last few weeks until they both fell asleep on the couch.