Monday afternoon.
Mellie walked over to Tom and Hal. They were standing guard outside of the Oval Office.
"Hey Tom, Hey Hal, I'd like to ask you two some questions."
"Ma'am"
"Has my husband been seeing Olivia Pope?"
Neither answered.
"I'm going to ask you again, this time blink twice if yes. Let's try this again."
"Has my husband been seeing Olivia Pope?"
Neither blinked.
"Is my husband seeing any other woman?"
Neither blinked.
"Just answer me this, where is he going at nights."
"Ma'am we are not at liberty to disclose the president's whereabouts," Tom replied evenly.
"Do you really want to piss me off, I'm the First Lady, do you know what I can do to you."
"I must remind you that threatening a United States secret service agent is a class e felony and punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Respectfully madam First Lady, we answer to the president, not you."
"Fitz has no need to know anything about our conversation, is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am."
Mellie turned her heel and walked away.
Both Tom and Hal had grown to like Olivia, they saw no reason to reveal any information that would put her in any trouble and above all they were loyal to Fitz. They weren't going to betray his trust.
Fitz sat in the Oval Office, he didn't get to see Olivia on Sunday because she got held up at the hospital during the night and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. He'd been calling her practically every half hour to see how she was doing, he hadn't been able to stop worrying about her since Saturday. He'd been reading the same line in the briefing packet for about 10 minutes without having actually understood what he was reading because he was so distracted.
The sound of a knock on the door broke him out of his train of thought.
"Come in," he called.
It was Tom.
"Hey Tom? What's going on?"
"Sir, First Lady Grant confronted us with questions about your relationship with Dr. Pope."
Fitz raised his eyebrow.
"What kind of questions?"
"She wanted to know if you were going to see Dr. Pope's at nights. She wanted to know if you were seeing Dr. Pope or any other woman?"
"What did you tell her?"
"That I am not at liberty to disclose the president's whereabouts."
"Thanks for telling me Tom, I'll deal with it."
"No problem sir."
Fitz took a minute to think. His initial thought was to confront Mellie but he didn't want to just react. He didn't want to do anything that would put Olivia in jeopardy. He decided not to let her know that he knew she was questioning his guards, for now. He figured she must not have liked the fact that Olivia came to examine Gerry. He knew he was definitely going to have to find a way to deal with Mellie if she was in fact on to him and Olivia.
He kept checking the clock waiting for an appropriate time to call Olivia back, and once it was half hour since his last call he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
"Wow I wonder who this might be?"
"Ha ha, so funny, how are you feeling?"
He could hear her chuckling over the phone.
"Sweetheart I am fine. Stop worrying, you're making feel bad."
"Why do you feel bad?"
"Because if your worrying about me, you're not focusing on your work. I'm depriving the country of your attention."
Fitz smiled.
"I'm sorry, I just can't stop thinking about you."
"As flattering as that is, you really shouldn't worry about me, I've had this my entire life and I'm gonna keep having them until I can't figure out a way to stop it, so worrying won't do you any good."
"I know, it's just that hearing about it and actually seeing it are two totally different things. There was nothing you could tell me that would've communicated to me how bad it was until I actually saw it."
"You poor thing," she teased.
"Liv, it's not funny."
"I know but sometimes laughing is the only way to get through the tough things in life."
She wanted to change the subject and quick.
"Are you coming over tonight?"
"I plan to, why?"
"Oh, I'm writing my speech for the World neurological conference that's being held in India, I'm being honored and I have to give a speech, I'm writing it right now, it'll be finished soon and I want you to read it and give me your opinion."
"I'd love to."
"Great thanks."
"When is the conference?"
"In 26 days."
"So that means you leave in 26 days because after that it's Doctors Without Borders right?"
"Yes, I actually leave in 24 when you factor in travel time. India is not right around the corner you know and I have to go back to New York before I leave."
"I'm gonna lose my mind with you gone."
"Hey, on the bright side, by the time I get back, you should be a divorced man."
"Yea but that doesn't mean I want to spend three months away from you."
"Think about the children," she teased.
Gerry walking into the office clad in this football practice uniform.
"Liv, I gotta run, I'll talk to you later."
"Byeee."
Fitz hung up.
"What's up Ger?"
"I asked Kenna and she said yes. We're going out to watch a movie Friday night."
"That's great buddy. I told you she'd say yes."
"Yeah, I can't wait."
"So how was practice?"
"It was great, I got my jersey for tomorrow."
He pulled his jersey out of his bag.
"Check it out dad, Grant Jr number 24."
Fitz got up and walked over to Gerry.
"Nice, do I get one of these. I'd wear it to your game tomorrow."
"Hmm that would be kinda cool. They gave us two jerseys, I have the other one in my locker so I guess you could take this one."
"Great, what size is it?"
"It's a large, it'll fit you dad, you are only 3 inches taller than me."
"You get a growth spurt and it's the end of the world."
"Not true dad."
Fitz took the jersey and walked back over to his desk.
"So dad, I got all the questions right. I get a homework pass for the rest of the marking period just in that class though."
"I bet your glad about that."
"Are you kidding me? That homework was kicking my ass. What am I talking about, all the homework is kicking my ass."
"I don't know why you won't let me get you a tutor."
"Because people will find out and think I'm dumb."
"No they won't."
"Yes they will and I don't need a tutor, I can just ask Olivia for help."
"Olivia has a very demanding job, sometimes she's in surgery for up to 13 hours, she won't always be available."
"I know but I won't always need her help with homework, I'll just need help with the math and science stuff. Like my biology homework. Do you think I can call and ask for help?"
"I was just speaking to her and she was in the middle of writing a speech so maybe give her an hour or so then call."
"Okay, I'm gonna leave my bag in here and go shower and get something to eat, I'm starving by then she should be free."
"Yea bring me back something from the kitchen."
"You got it."
He texted Olivia to let her know Gerry would be calling her soon for help with homework and she was more than happy to help. He didn't want to annoy her by asking her to help with Gerry's homework but she seemed genuinely willing to help so he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. Once Gerry got back he took his usual seat in front of Fitz desk and began working on his homework. He pulled out his worksheets and dialed the number that was on the card Olivia gave him and waited for her to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hi Olivia, I was just calling because I was hoping you could help me with something."
"Sure, what do you need help with?"
Gerry put the phone on speaker and placed it on the desk in front of him.
"We're learning about evolution and the early ancestors of man. My teacher was explaining it earlier but I didn't really understand, can you explain it to me?"
"Yea, so you generally have the timeline of man, which begins with the Homo sapiens, then homo sapien Neanderthalensis, homo erectus, homo habilis and Australopithecus robustus…"
Gerry listened carefully, taking notes as she spoke. In no time, they were done with his homework and then he got a crazy idea.
"Hey Liv, I have my first football game of of the season tomorrow and I'd really like it if you could come."
"I-"
She sounded skeptical.
Fitz didn't expect Gerry to invite her, he would love for her to come but with Mellie asking questions it would raise to much suspicions.
"You don't have to answer now just think about it. Bye," Gerry hung up quickly before she could reply.
"Gerry what the hell was that?"
Fitz wasn't angry, he was shocked.
"I just figured it would be cool to have her at the game. Don't worry if anyone asks I'll tell them I invited her, uncle Cyrus can come too."
"I don't want to put Olivia in situation where she feels uncomfortable."
"Dad, it's just a football game. I've been inviting everyone, it's not that weird."
"Do you remember what happened when your mom saw her on Saturday, do you want that to happen again."
"Mom, has some education conference thing she's leaving for tonight remember, she won't even be here tomorrow."
"She's gonna have fit if Olivia's at that game and she isn't."
"We'll just tell that she monitoring me, since I had a concussion last week, come dad on, have some guts."
Fitz smiled mischievously.
"So how are we gonna get Olivia to agree to come?" Fitz asked.
In his mind he knew it wasn't feasible but he decided to indulge Gerry.
"You're always telling about that Grant charm right? It worked for me, maybe it'll work for you."
Fitz laughed.
"We'll see."
Later in the night he went to visit as soon as Mellie left for her trip. When she opened the door the let him in he was pleasantly surprised by her new look. Her hair was loosely curled and she changed her hair color from black to a black to brown ombré color. Fitz loved it.
"So no more black huh?"
He stepped in the apartment.
"Well, I usually like the color of my hair black to match the color of my soul."
Fitz laughed.
"But I decided to change it up a bit. Do you like it?"
He lifted her in the air.
"I love it, it looks great on you."
She kissed his nose.
"Thanks."
He let her down and followed her over to the couch.
"So what was up with Gerry asking me to go the his football game? He knows I can't go right?"
"I was surprised too but if I'm being honest, I would like for you to come, I know you can't but it would be nice."
"It's too reckless, I can't agree to that. If people find out that you've been to my apartment as many times as you have, they won't care whether or not we're having sex, they'll see me as your mistress."
"You are not my mistress."
Fitz decided to get technical on her.
"The Oxford dictionary describes a mistress as a woman with whom a married man has continued sexual relations with that is not his wife. We aren't having sex so there."
"I know what the word means but people won't see it any other way."
"Who cares what people think."
"I do, if people think we're together while your married it could ruin my career. No one would care about what work I've done as a doctor, they'd just care that I had sex with you."
"But you haven't. I understand why you're worried about people finding out, which is why I'm gonna be honest with you. Mellie's been asking my guards about my whereabouts. She asked them about you."
"I'm not surprised."
"Why not?"
"Please, her little performance in the oval on Saturday made it pretty clear she felt threatened by me, I'm not surprised that she would inquire about us."
"Don't worry, I'm gonna take care of it."
Olivia was silent.
"Liv?"
"Fitz you know this means you can't come here anymore? Right?"
"Why not. I'm being careful."
"If anyone finds out that you're coming to see me at night, it'll be over for both of us. I'll be the slut and you'll be the cheater and that's all we'll be remembered for."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that we can't see each other anymore."
Fitz got up and walked straight to the door without another word. Olivia got up and ran behind him.
"What are you doing?
"I'm leaving."
"Why?"
"You wanna end this right? So I'm ending it."
"I don't wanna end it. I just said we can't see each other anymore, it's too risky for you to come here but we can still call each other and talk."
Fitz turned around to face her.
"You leave in less than a month for a trip that's gonna last for at least another three months. You expect me to not see you for 4 months. I'm not okay with that."
"Neither am I, the best part of my day is when I get to see you and I'm gonna go crazy not seeing you but we have to be careful."
"So what? We're just gonna play phone tag for the next four months."
Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Oh my god do you have any idea how much of a brat you are? I don't know how anyone puts up with you, I really don't."
"Fine, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
He turned around to open the door. She stepped in front of him.
"Where are you going?" She asked clearly annoyed.
"I'm leaving, isn't that what you want."
"You are sooo dramatic. You promised me you would read my speech and you're already here, it makes no sense to leave."
"Yeah well I'm leaving anyways."
Fitz stared her down and Olivia didn't back down. The stood still as the moments passed and then suddenly Olivia burst out in a wild giggle. Her laugh made him laugh and they both stood laughing at each other. She grabbed his hand and walked him back to the couch.
"Come on read my speech and tell me what you think. You've given some pretty good speeches over the years, you should know."
She handed him the speech.
"You are one of the smartest people on the planet, why do you need my help with a speech."
"Because I'm not a cocky little bitch, that's why, your a great speechwriter, I value your input."
Fitz smiled.
"Okay, let's see what you have here."
Fitz read through the speech.
"This is really good."
"You think so."
"Yes, it's greater than I expected and I had high expectations so that's saying something. It's very thorough and inspiring."
She blushed.
"Thank you."
"How long did it take you to right this?"
"15 minutes and 37 seconds."
"Show off."
"I'm sorry, I'm very exact sometimes I can't help it."
She sat beside him on the couch and scooted under his arms.
"So how exactly is this going to work?" he asked.
"I'd call you everyday and every night and you can call me every half hour like you do now," she teased lightly.
"I'm not gonna not see you for four months."
Olivia pondered.
"Okay, once a week until I leave but you can't stay all night."
"What?"
"Fitz it's too risky."
"It's risky right now, I'm here aren't I?"
"Yes but this is the last time, please just be patient, I'm not going anywhere okay. I'll wait till you get divorced, that was plan and it's not like we're having sex anyways so why does it matter if you see me or not?"
"You think that's why I come here at night, hoping I can fuck you?" He asked a little too callously.
"Well you don't have to say it like that."
"I'm sorry but I just hate that you think that's what I want from you."
"So you don't want sex?"
"Of course I wanna have sex with you, look at you but I also want you know how much I care about you and that I'm not just interested in getting in your pants."
She smiled and caressed his cheek.
"I know, I just like bothering you about it sometimes."
He smiled.
"I have shown Olympic gold medal worthy restraint in the last month, sure I have the worst case of blue balls known to man but…"
She chuckled.
"Sorry, I can't help that I'm hot."
"Shut up. I would've like you even if you weren't."
She reached over and turned on the tv.
"What are we watching?" He asked.
"Spartacus season one blood and sand."
Fitz sighed.
"This can't be good."
Gerry sat in his office at Grant Corp, waiting on his guest to arrive. He was interested to see what his private investigator found out. When Mellie revealed her suspicions of Fitz and the doctor, he agreed that it was odd that he was suddenly pushing so hard for a divorce so he decided to look into it. His secretary knocked on his glass door.
"Come in Carla."
"Sir, you have a Mr. Black here to see you."
"Send him in," he instructed without looking up.
A few moments later, Carter Black entered the room.
"Have a seat," Gerry offered.
Black sat at the desk and placed a folder on the table.
"What did you find?"
"Well we did a search on Olivia Pope, she owns an apartment in New York but since the incident with the president, she has been staying at a temp apartment in D.C. I had my men surveil her apartment and in fact, in the four days that we have been conducting surveillance on her apartment, the president visited twice in the night and left before morning."
"How the hell does he manage to sneak out of the White House unseen."
"Not sure sir but from what we've seen, he travels in two unmarked sedans with his guards. He enters through the service entrance at the side of the apartment, that is all we know."
"Thank you, keep an eye on her, I want to know everything."
"Yes sir. I have all the photos we have compiled in the folder."
"No more photos. I don't want this to get out if these pictures are mishandled, watch her and keep me posted."
Black nodded and took his leave.
"He's fucking the doctor. Who would have thought," he said to himself.
He was impressed that Fitz would be bold enough to cheat on his wife but also annoyed that it was causing him to want a divorce.