Olivia sat in the airport waiting area with Abby, boarding commenced in 15 minutes. She knew the guards Fitz sent would be showing up any minute so she decided to break it to Abby, she was sure she would have questions.

"Abby, I hired security for this trip."

"Why?"

"I just didn't think it would hurt to have security."

Abby eyed her skeptically.

"For three months, that's a lot of money."

"Abby, I don't live paycheck to paycheck, I think I'll be fine."

"Alright…"

Olivia's phone rang, it was Fitz.

"Hi."

"Hey Liv, are the guys there as yet?"

"No, not yet."

"They should be there in a couple of minutes. What's up, when do you board your flight?"

"In 13 minutes."

"It's not too late to change your mind, you really don't have to go," he whined.

"Oh quit being a big baby."

Olivia looked over and saw the clothed men walking towards her.

"The guys are here, I've got to go."

"Fine but when I call, you back better pick up."

"Sir, do you realize that I'm gonna be halfway around the world and most of the time, I'll be in rural areas and I might not have reception right?"

"Did you just call me sir?"

"Yeah you can chastise me out about it later, the guys are 10 feet away. Gotta go."

When the gentlemen walked up, Olivia introduced herself, Abby did the same and shortly after the introduction, the boarding began.

Olivia and Abby had booked seats in first class, since he guards had to book their tickets in such short notice, they were in coach.

It had been a long day for Olivia, between staying up all night having sex with Fitz (not that she was complaining) and the 4 hours drive to New York then the running around all day , she was exhausted. She got her sleeping mask and pillow ready and made herself comfortable. She was waiting until after takeoff to sleep. Abby sat at the seat next to her, watching her. She noticed a few things that were different about her and decided to call them out.

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean your different. You're glowing but you're different."

"I'm not different Abby, I'm just happy."

"So you weren't happy before?"

"I was but this is a different kind of happy."

"Let me guess, Keith?"

"Not completely but yes."

"It's just weird."

"Why?"

"You seem to really like him and he's the big part of your life but I've never met him before, I haven't even seen a picture, you used to tell me everything."

Olivia sighed.

"Abby, I've told you how I felt about him."

"Did you guys have sex as yet, you have this weird glow, I think you guys had sex."

Olivia rolled her eyes.

"We did it."

Abby smiled.

"You did 'it'?"

"Yes, we had sex and I told him I love him. You happy, goodnight, I'm tired."

"Woah, details Olivia, I want details."

"Abby I'm tired," she whined.

"I'm not letting you sleep till you tell me what's going on."

Olivia sat up and faced Abby.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did it happen? The sex, the 'I love you', tell me."

Olivia smiled.

"He came over on Saturday night, we got into a weird fight that wasn't really a fight but I'm not going to get into details-"

"Oh but the details are the best part..." Abby whined.

"Focus Lucretia, focus. Anyways. I told him I loved him and he reciprocated and then we had sex."

"Wow, how was the sex?"

"There are no words."

Abby squealed.

"Okay...details!"

"What more details do you want?"

"Is he big?"

"He filled me up, that's all you need to know."

"Ahh, you guys did it more than once."

"We had sex on Saturday night, all day Sunday and Monday morning in the shower before I left. He did things to me Abby, he made me feel things I didn't even know I could feel, disgusting, toe curling things, crying out for the lord even though I'm an atheist things that I'm not gonna tell you about."

Abby smiled.

"So that's why you love him, because the sex is great."

"No, I told him I loved him before we had sex. I don't know, I never thought love was something I was interested in but with him I don't think I could've helped it. I don't even know when I fell in love with him, I just sort of looked at him one day when he was smiling at me and that's when I realized it."

"Wow, you are whipped,"

Olivia smiled.

"I am, I totally am, he's amazing, he's funny, he's smart, he strong but not in the masculine testosterone driven way and he's kind and thoughtful and I'm madly in love him, he's the love of my life, I suppose 31 years old isn't a bad time to meet your first love,"

"Why are you hiding him though, is he ugly, I won't judge. Maybe he's short, is he? Is he, is he a republican?"

Olivia laughed.

"He is not short, he's 6'3 and he's got a great ass and a body to die for and he's not ugly either, he's very handsome and charming."

"Ahh I'm so excited for you, you're in love for the first time, how does it feel?"

"It's exciting, I can't stop thinking about him, just butterflies and warmness throughout my body."

"Awww."

"Alright Abby, I'm going to bed, I'm really tired."

"Did you blow him?"

Olivia sighed.

"I did and I pulled out the big guns too, I'm sure I changed his life,"

"I love it when you get all cocky," Abby said with a chuckle, "did he, you know, reciprocate?"

"He did."

Abby blinked rapidly, signaling to Olivia to go on.

"I'm not giving you details about him going down on me."

"God you're annoying, just tell me."

Olivia threw her hands up.

"Goodnight Abby."

Abby chuckled.

"Goodnight Liv."

She made herself comfortable and 5 minutes later, once they took off, she fell asleep.

Olivia woke up an hour before landing. Abby was snoring beside her and she nudged her and woke her up so she could get her herself ready before landing. She stretched and yawned and went to be use the bathroom. Once she was done, she sat in the seat and listened to music as she waited for the plane to descend.

Mumbai was hot and night lights filled the streets. She stepped out of the airport with Abby and her two guards in tow. They had a car waiting to take them to the hotel. The streets of Mumbai were lined with vendors selling food and clothing. There was music in the air and the honking of cars, trying to get through the crowds of people moving through the streets. She decided to call Fitz to let him know she landed, it was almost midday in D.C.

"Livie, finally."

"Yes, I landed not too long, wait, you knew that didn't you."

"Of course, I told them to call me when you landed."

"Of course but we're headed to the hotel right now, it's so beautiful here and warm. Do you hear the music in the background?"

"Yes,"

He said with a chuckle.

"I'm glad your okay, call me when you get to the hotel, I'm heading to the press room, I have to make an announcement."

"Okay, later."

They arrived at the hotel shortly after. Olivia stepped out of the car and waited for the bellhop to remove her luggage from the car. The Royal Indian hotel was beautiful, the walls were covered with mosaics, it was all very Arabian nights themed. The bellhop escorted her and Abby to their double room where they began unpacking a few things and preparing for the day ahead, they were going sightseeing and shopping in the Mumbai market place.

Fitz finished his press conference and made his way back to the Oval Office. He had his secretary buff his schedule to make sure he was going to be excessively busy in the coming months. He made sure he had a full day for everyday that was to come. He sat reading through a security briefing when he had an idea but he was going to need help so naturally, he went to his go to person.

"Tom?"

Tom walked in shortly after the call.

"Sir?"

"Can you find out if Olivia has social media: Facebook, Twitter anything else?"

"She does sir."

Fitz looked up.

"How do you know that?"

"Sir, it is our job to keep you safe…"

"You guys vetted her?"

Tom nodded.

"What's she on "

"She has a personal account on Facebook and Twitter, she has a website for her office in New York."

"Do you have social media Tom?"

"Yes sir I do."

"Can I borrow your phone, I don't have social media so I don't think I'll be able to see her profile from my laptop."

Tom pulled out his iPhone and entered the passcode and pulled up Olivia's Facebook page.

"Thank you Tom,"

Fitz leaned back in his chair and scrolled down her page. He immediately went to photos. The last was from before the shooting. Olivia was wearing a black sports bra and black capri leggings and sneakers. She was hugging a red head who was wearing the same thing but they had pink Susan G. Komen breast cancer bands and hats on. They seemed to be in Central Park at a breast cancer walk. It made him smile. The next picture he saw was of her more than a year earlier in Ethiopia based on the location tagged in the picture, she was wearing a doctor without borders t shirt with a stethoscope around her neck. She was stooping on the ground beside a group of Ethiopian girls, they all looked to be between 3 and 8 years old and they were all smiling widely for the picture. He scrolled down further and saw a picture of her in front of a Tibetan monastery, it was on the side of a cliff, the pillars were gold and the walls were painted red. She had on a hiking outfit and a backpack, she was smiling widely and held out her hands out as if she was musing at the beautiful structure behind her. Then he found another picture of her surfing and another picture of her petting a bengal tiger as if the tiger was a common household cat. She was definitely an adventurer and she looked so happy in the pictures but unfortunately for Fitz there weren't many pictures, only 7 pictures in total.

"Tom, doesn't she have more pictures? What about Twitter?"

"Yes but that's all you can access from my profile, we aren't friends so you can't see anymore but our tech guys can access all her pictures if you want, I've seen them she had a lot more."

"Okay, have them work on it for me and let me know when it's done."

He handed Tom his phone and Tom made his exit.

Olivia and Abby readied themselves to go out to the market place. They had to be mindful about how they dressed in India, Olivia wore an off the shoulder, ruffled chiffon maxi dress in a rich orange color with strappy sandals. Abby wore a cotton, forest green maxi dress and brown sandals. They stopped at an hotel cafe and grabbed breakfast before heading out to the market. The market was filled with vendors, lined on the street, shouting out the products that they were selling. The sounds of drums and singing and chanting also filled the air. They walked through the market, talking pictures and looking around at all the produce. As they passed through the market and hit the main road, there was a man walking around selling rides on an elephant. The elephant was dressed in a red jeweled cloth thrown over it's back, there were jewels going down the snout, it looked as if it was about to march in a parade.

"Abby, I'm gonna ride that elephant, take a picture."

She handed Abby her phone and crossed the street to the man with the elephant.

"Namaste," she said in Hindi as she gave him a namaskar.

The man realized she was a tourist and replied in English.

"Hello, I'm Rajeek."

Olivia smiled.

"I'd like to ride the elephant, how much?"

"500 rupees."

"Theek hai," she said which was Hindi for thank you.

She paid him and waited as he prepared her to go on the elephant. She climbed up and sat on top of the elephant. She posed for Abby to take a picture.

"Abby, get my good side," she shouted.

Abby snapped a couple of pictures and then watched as Olivia rode the elephant down the street. She came back a short while later and descended elephant.

"Do you want to ride?"

"Hell no," Abby said as if it was the most outrageous question ever.

"Okay, I want to buy a saree and some jewelry, let's go."

As they walked around shopping, Fitz called.

"Namaste."

"It's really noisy, where are you?"

"I'm in the market, I just rode a gorgeous elephant name Pi and now I'm buying jewelry, what are you doing?"

"In the oval working."

"It's late, why are you still working?"

"Keeping myself busy is necessary to not going crazy while you're gone."

"Is your laptop close?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm gonna send you some pictures. Sit tight."

She kept him on the line and emailed him two pictures.

"You should be getting in a few seconds, depending on how strong your wifi is."

"Okay, I'm pulling up my email right now."

She stayed on the line and waited until he got the images. Once Fitz received the email, he opened it the pictures and smiled.

"These pictures should be on the cover of a travel magazine, an elephant Liv, really?."

She chuckled.

"It was very fun, I'll send you more when I can but right now, I have to go."

"Wait."

"Yeah?"

"What are you wearing?"

"You know what I'm wearing, I can't with you, goodbye."

He chuckled.

"Bye."

The next evening…

The neurological award conference was set to begin in 2 hours. Olivia and Abby helped ready each other by curling each other's hair and fixing each other's makeup. Once they were dressed and ready, they headed to the car downstairs and rode to the conference.

When they arrived at the event, they did the usual meet and greet and several people pulled Olivia to the side to take photos with her because after all, she was the star of the show. She was considered royalty among medicinal scholars and scientist alike because of all of the groundbreaking work she'd done in such a short span of years. She was one of the youngest but most accomplished neurologist there.

The dining portion of the event began, they all sat and ate the four course meal and listened to the smooth jazz music that filled the ballroom and the sound of chatter in between tables. Once the dining portion was over, the awards segment began. Several speakers took the stage and made their remarks and then awards began to roll out. Olivia's award was the last of the night. To her surprise Daniel walked out from behind a screen to the stage and began speaking in his thick French accent.

"Good night everyone, I'm here to honor someone I have known for many years, a very special, very smart, very compassionate woman, did I mention beautiful."

The crowd laughed.

"I have watched Olivia Pope defy everything we think we know about the human body, how it works and what it is capable of. Her advancement of stem cell research has catapulted us eons into the future and that ladies and gentlemen is what we ought to celebrate tonight. Please welcome the recipient of the outstanding visionary award Olivia Pope to the stage."

The crowd stood up and applauded as she walked to the stage. Daniel gave her a kiss on the cheek and presented her with her award and stood back to give her space to make her speech. At the end of her rather short speech, Daniel walked her back to her seat and shortly afterwards the event was over. He lingered around her.

"Mon Cherie Olivia, you look absolutely beautiful? Your speech was magnifique."

"Thank you Daniel, I didn't know you were coming today."

"I wasn't invited, I asked to present this award to you."

"That was very sweet of you, merci."

"It was the least I could do for a dear friend," he said with a smile and took her hand in his and kissed it.

He had a suggestive undertone and she was sure she knew where this conversation was headed so she wanted to try and end it but he was her friend so she didn't want to ruin their relationship, so she wanted to tread carefully with her words. He was very sweet but he was relentless in his pursuit of her.

"Well thank you for coming I was honestly pleasantly surprised, Abby and I have to head back to the hotel, we have a late flight to Agra,"

"The Taj Mahal, you were always so fascinated with that mausoleum."

She chuckled.

"Well, we have to get going but it was so nice to see. Au Revoir."

"Au revoir Olivia."

He gave her a hug and another kiss on the cheek and with that Olivia left.