Fitz flipped through the photos Olivia sent him and in her usual teasing fashion they were just the right amount of sexy to light his skin in fire. He guested that Abby must've been the one taking the pictures. It was taken from behind, she stood facing the horizon, she had sand all over her ass and her curly brown and black hair flowed down her back.

He closed out the pictures and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Must you?" He thought to himself.

He had no idea why she was such a tease, she knew pictures like that would unhinge him but she sent them anyways because she was horrible and an absolute tease but she was also beautiful, strong and funny and he was proud to admit he was obsessed. He tried to shake the thoughts of her from his head and went back to work.

Back in the residence, Mellie and big Gerry went at it in the sit room.

"You need to figure something out Gerry because he redrafted the divorce papers and Cyrus said he's threatening to go public."

"I'm handling it okay maybe if you tried on your part this would be easier."

"I'm telling you this is because of Olivia Pope, it has to be. I'm a woman, I felt it in that room with them, something is going on."

"I'm telling you it's not, don't worry about that, worry about how you are going to keep your man because this divorce isn't happening, not if it's going to cost him a second term so there are some things on your end that you should be doing to make sure this doesn't happen."

"Like what, like spreading my legs for him even though he's made it clear that he doesn't want me. I tried for years, I loved him but he never loved me. I don't want a divorce obviously but I don't know if not signing will be enough to stop this thing. Cyrus said he's ready to announce it, he's been delaying him but you know Cyrus, he's going to side with Fitz, if he really wants this divorce, he'll try to talk him out of it but if it doesn't work he'll side with Fitz and I'll be left in the dust and if that happens, I'll bring Fitz down with me."

Gerry stepped in her face.

"Do not threaten my son in my presence. Are we clear?"

Mellie huffed.

"Have I ever told you how much I despise you. Just get him to drop this so we can all go back to being the happy first family and I'll be fine."

"I'm working on it."

After spending two glorious days in Bali, Olivia and Abby headed to Dubai. They had a room reserved in the Armani hotel located inside the Burj Khalifa. The rooms were beautiful and the view was breathtaking but they decided not to stay inside and gaze. They were tired from a 12 hour flight but they only had a day and a half in Dubai before they had to go to Iran for official Doctors Without Borders business so they thought that they might as well make the best of their time in Dubai. They dropped off their luggage in the suite and then went out for lunch at a local restaurant that was a few blocks away from the hotel.

After lunch they went on a helicopter ride over the city that Olivia had booked online. The helicopter ride was exciting and gave them an eyeful, they saw the man made world islands in the ocean and the beautiful building and landmarks underneath them. They were back at the hotel in the evening, tired from all the traveling and excitement for the past two weeks. They spent the rest of the night lounging around and watching tv. Olivia waited until Abby was asleep then went up to skylight deck on the 125th floor. It was a cool night, the second she stepped out on the deck she felt a little chilly. She wrapped her scarf a little tighter around her body, pulled out her phone and dialed Fitz.

"Livie, it's about time you called."

She smiled.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in the oval."

"Are you all alone?"

"Yes."

"Are you expecting anyone?"

"Not for a while."

She took a deep breath and walked over to the railing.

"I want you to lean back in your chair and close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it," she said with a chuckle.

He obeyed and leaned back and closed his eyes.

"Done."

"The first time I saw you, I was actually a little scared that I wouldn't be able to save you and then I thought about how tragic it would've been for the world to lose someone like you. Not that I knew you personally at the time; I just thought 'wow he's so much fun to look at, he probably shouldn't die,'."

Fitz smiled.

"It was absurdly superficial, I know but that was before I got to know the real you."

"The real me?"

"Yes, the sweet, smart, strong, compassionate, thoughtful and funny you."

She paused and smiled.

"Remember after the first time we made love, when you wrapped me in your arms and you held onto me so tight-"

Olivia paused and closed her eyes.

"I felt so safe and -"

She paused.

"And what Livie?"

"Loved," she said as she held back tears.

He could hear the sniffles through the phone.

"Are you crying?"

She chuckled.

"There are a multitude of emotions your can express through tears, happiness is one of them you know."

She paused again.

"I know that we've moved pretty fast - I mean I've known you for three months and it feels like I've known you my entire life. I know your working on your divorce- and I just want to make sure that you don't regret anything. I want to make sure that we're on the same page."

"Olivia, the only thing I regret is that I wasn't divorced when I met you. I want you to know that I didn't fall for you because I thought you were hot, I fell for you because you are an amazing woman, you're selfless and courageous and beautiful inside and out and as soon as I my divorce is final, I'm going wine and dine you and treat you like the queen you are and then once I think you're ready to marry me, I'm going to propose to you and then if you want we could have a couple of babies and then we could move to Connecticut or Vermont or even Bali, I don't care where we are or what we do, as long as I'm with you and as long as you're happy. I'm assuming that before all these things happen you don't realize your too good for me and kick me to the curb."

Olivia chuckled.

"I love you."

"I love you too Olivia Pope."

She smiled.

"Guess where I am?"

"Where?"

"I am on the skylight deck on the 125th floor at my hotel. The night is so clear I feel like I could reach out and touch the stars."

"Mhm and I'm sure being the know it all you are, you could name those stars," he goaded.

"I could. Let's see, hmm - I see Ursula, Ankaa, Atik, Bellatrix and Alula, not all of the stars have names but the ones that do have really cool ones. The names are mostly Latin and Arabic."

"Shit, I learn something everyday with you."

"You know what's funny? I actually called you to have phone sex but it went south once I had you on the phone."

"It's not too late, I didn't want to tell you this but I have something brewing in my pants."

"Well take him out and let's if he wants to play."

Fitz chuckled mischievously at her cheekiness.

"He always wants to play."

"Unzip your pants."

Fitz did as he was told.

"Liv I don't have any lube-"

"You'll be fine, you're circumcised. I actually think if you be really hot if you use your spit."

Fitz did as he was told.

Since there was no one else in the deck, Olivia walked over to the sunbed and laid down. She spread her legs open, reached under her shirt and touched her breasts.

"Are your eyes still closed?" She asked.

"Yes," he said as stroked himself.

"Imagine me naked on top of you. Remember how it feels to be inside me, how tight I grip you. Think about how my lips feel, how they taste."

"Are you touching yourself?"

"Yes, I'm outside, someone's definitely gonna see me,"

"I wanna see you,"

"Shh, visualize,"

Olivia moaned as she rubbed her clit and Fitz stroked himself to the sound of her moans. They came together.

"Woah," she said with a chuckle.

Fitz was out of breath on his end but managed to get up and go to his private bathroom to clean up.

"Are you still alive?" She teased.

"Shut up."

When he finished cleaning up he went back to his desk.

"We have to do this more often."

"Woah, I'll officially be off vacation tomorrow, you'll be lucky if you get it again, at all."

"Oh come on…"

Cyrus walked into the office.

"Sir-"

"I'm on a very important call right now right Cy,"

"No, Fitz it's okay, I'll call you when I arrive in Tehran."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."

After she hung up, she stayed on the deck, looking up at the stars and going over her and Fitz's conversation in her head.

The next morning, Olivia and Abby decided to stay in. They ordered room service and lounged in the room for hours. That wasn't the plan but they were so tired that they abandoned their plans to go shopping in the city mall. They had a late afternoon flight from Dubai to Tehran via Qatar airways. They landed in Tehran around 9pm. They made sure their hair was covered and their arms and legs were as well. They took a taxi to the Tehran DWB center and began their check in. After check in, they went to the great hall, which was just a big room with a lot of beds. It wasn't comfortable or allowed for privacy but it was livable. They would be spending a week in Iran, two days at the center then traveling to the more rural part of Iran to two villages then they would go back to the center to leave for the Tehran airport to Somalia. Once they dropped all their luggage by their assigned beds, they went back to the auditorium to socialize with the other doctors. Olivia was the superstar there, everyone wanted to chat with her. She saw a long time colleague with whom she'd done several missions in Africa with and went over to greet her.

"Siobhan?"

Siobhan was an Irish - American doctor that had been working with DWB for about two years. She had very pale skin and brunette hair with a very visible birthmark that covered most of her neck. She was an ob/gyn.

"Liv. How the hell are ya?"

She hugged Olivia.

"I'm great actually, how are you "

"I'm good, ready to get back out there."

"Aw man me too, it's been too long since we've gotten our hands dirty and I mean that quite literally."

Olivia turned to Abby.

"You remember Abby, my partner in crime, the ying to my yang etcetera."

Siobhan stretched her hand for a shake and Abby took it.

"Of course, I remember you Abby. It's nice seeing you again."

A man walked up to them.

"Liv, Siobhan? How are you guys?"

"Hi Caleb," Olivia and Siobhan said in unison.

He gave them both hugs.

"You don't keep in touch, we're not friends anymore," Olivia joked.

"My phone got stolen, I lost all my contacts."

"Mhmm and then a dragon came and bit your finger off too right?" Olivia said sarcastically.

"I'm serious, I did lose my phone."

"Well this is my friend Abby,"

"Hi Abby," Caleb greeted.

"You guys look awfully tan and glowy," Siobhan said.

Olivia flipped her hair.

"Well yes, we just took a shotgun trip across India and then to Bali and earlier we were in Dubai and boy oh boy was the sun hot."

"Damn that sounds fun, you were always the adventurous, lover of culture type, I need to be like that instead of working back to back 12 hours shifts and turning old and grey in the meantime." Siobhan said.

They bantered and reminisced about old times until it was lights out.

Olivia wanted to call Fitz just to check in, she knew the guards were giving him updates but she knew he was particularly worried about her being in Iran. She dial Fitz and laid in bed, with her sheet over her head waiting for him to pick up.

"Hey babe," she whispered.

"Where are you, why are you whispering?"

"I'm in Tehran, at the doctors without borders center, it's lights out and I don't wanna wake anyone."

"They have you all in the same room?"

"Yea, it's like 15 bunk beds in here, this isn't a 5 star hotel you know?"

"So you get no privacy right?"

"None and when we leave here and we're traveling village to village, we'll be sleeping in tents and mud houses but that's apart of the sacrifice, it's for a good cause."

"Well you make me very proud, I sure as hell couldn't be doing what your doing."

"You've been in the navy, it's sort of the same thing."

"I was special ops, I didn't socialize with local people-"

Fitz caught himself and stopped talking.

"You were special ops? I didn't know that."

"Your not suppose to know that, I shouldn't have told you that, that was a mistake,"

"It's okay, I'm not gonna say anything."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, I know, that was weird."

She chuckled.

"It's okay," she said in a hushed tone.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm writing my speech for the western nations conference. I'm gonna be in a room full of dictators and generals, it's gonna be a dick measuring contest that I'm not looking forward."

"Well, I suppose if you guys are measuring dicks then you should be fine right?"

"What does that mean?"

He knew what it meant, he just wanted to hear her say it.

"Uh, I'm saying you have a big penis, I mean, it's symmetrical, great length and girth. It's fierce and intimidating and you know how to use it."

Fitz was laughing so loud in the phone that she had to turn down the volume on her phone so no one could hear.

"That's the funniest thing, I've heard all month. It's the way you say it, you're serious and sarcastic at the same time."

"I'm pretty fucking hilarious, aren't I?"

"You are, your really are."

"Olivia, I'm trying to sleep," Abby said as he reached over and nudged her.

"Let me guess; Abby?"

"Yeah, I have to go,"

"Good night Liv."

"Good night."

The next morning they had a 6am call time. Olivia wore cargo pants and her doctors without borders uniform t shirt and sneakers. She threw a white cloth scarf over her head. She packed her backpack with the basics, water, food, clothes, etc. They all gathered in the hall, waiting to board the bus to Baldat Attlin, a rural village in northern Iran. The drive was hours long and once they were out of Tehran, the landscape was more rural, with sheep and cattle wandering the land. It was afternoon when they reached the village. The villagers greeted them with open arms and they quickly began getting settled in to begin working on the injured villagers from a run in with a militant group but they were also doing regular check ups and vaccinations on the children and women.

Although there was a DWB translator, Olivia helped with the translation between the Iranian villagers and the doctors and aid workers while she helped her own patients.

They had a late lunch cooked by the villagers. A few of the small girls tried to teach Olivia, Siobhan, Abby and a few other doctors a traditional Iranian dance as they ate. Olivia was the first to get it and then joined them, then Abby and Siobhan. After lunch they continued working until late that night.

The next morning they continued working through the day and slept the night once again. In the early morning, they all gathered and after they told the villagers goodbye they left on the bus to the next village. They drove for a few hours till they arrived around midday.

They began the usual routine. They stored their belongings in one of the villagers house and began working.

Olivia was working on a 1 year old, giving her necessary vaccinations when Abby walked over complaining.

"Olivia these bugs are killing me."

Olivia chuckled.

"There are worse things that can kill you Abby, you'll be fine."

They both heard the sound of propellers in the air and looked up. A drone flew across the far side of the village and dropped a package, Olivia couldn't see clearly what it was.

"Run!" One of the older male villagers shouted in his heavy accent.

The guards grabbed Olivia and the one year old and ran to the direction of the woods, Abby followed. Everyone scattered for cover and waited for the inevitable explosion.

There was a loud boom and then a cloud of dust. The explosion was precise to one isolated house, it was the cloud of dust that was more so damaging. They laid in the forest until most of the dust settled and then they gathered together by the bus.

"What was that?" Olivia asked to no one in particular.

"U.S drone strike," the villager answered. He was one of the village translators.

"Does that happen often?" Abby asked.

"No here but other place yes," he said in broken english.

"Okay, well we have to help all the people who are hurt, let's go Abby."

Olivia left quickly and gave the baby she was treating back to her mother who came running over. They went to the house where the strike to place and began treating all the injured villagers. One person died, 7 were injured. They were all men. They worked tirelessly until everyone was taken care of. All the doctors were staying with different villagers, Olivia, Abby and Siobhan were in the same house. They took turns showering and then they gathered in the main room to be served dinner. After dinner they went to their room, they all shared a bed together.

Abby and Siobhan fell asleep quickly but Olivia couldn't. She hadn't heard from Fitz for a couple days because she didn't have any reception but she wondered if he knew about the drone strike. She laid staring at the ceiling until hours later she drifted off to sleep.

Fitz was in the oval when they called him to the situation room. When he walked in, everyone stood and waited for him to motion for them to sit.

"What going on ladies and gentlemen?"

"Sir there was an unauthorized drone strike by the U.S military in Iran."

"Where?"

"120 km outside of Kashan."

"If I didn't authorize this drone strike then who did?"

He could see his defense secretary take a deep breath.

"That's the thing sir, it was an accident."

"An accident?"

"Yes sir."

"How many casualties?"

"We sent a scout, there seems to have only been 1 casualty and several others injured. There was a squad of Doctors Without Borders physicians that were in the village but they haven't been harmed."

Fitz whipped his head around.

"Wait what?"

"There was a squad of Doctors Without Borders physicians in the village but they were unharmed."

"When did the strike happen?"

"26 hours ago."

"And I'm just hearing about this?" He screamed.

"Sir?"

"Dismissed. Meeting dismissed. Any more developments and I want to know the second it happens."

He pulled out his cell to call Olivia not bothering to wait until they had all left the room. There was no answer. He tried the guards and still no answer. If it happened over 24 hours ago why hadn't she called him to let him know she was okay. The defense secretary said the doctors were unharmed but he needed to hear her voice to know for sure. He kept calling Olivia and the guards and it wasn't until 5 in the morning that he got a call back from one of the guards.

"Is she okay?" He said quickly.

"Yes, sir she's okay."

"Why the hell didn't you call me as soon as it happened?"

"There was no reception sir, we tried."

"Where are you know?"

"We are back in Tehran."

"Where is she?"

"She just went inside the center, they will be leaving for Somalia soon."

"Let me speak to her."

"Okay sir, one moment."

Fitz waited until he heard the guard call Olivia.

"He wants to speak to you,"

He could hear her take the phone.

"What?"

"Why didn't you call me as soon as you got reception, do you have any idea how close I was to having a heart attack."

"Did you do that?"

"Did order a drone strike on a civilian population? No. I'm not Hitler, Olivia."

He could hear her let out a breath.

"I was going to call you, I just needed to drop my bags off."

"You aren't hurt right? They told me you weren't hurt."

"No, the little scratches I have don't compare to the guy who died or the other man who lost his leg."

"Are you angry at me?"

"No, I don't know, it's just that they were good people and it's just really sad that happened."

"I know, I ordered an investigation into how it could've happened. The defense secretary is saying it was an accident but we don't exactly get to have accidents that cost innocent people their lives."

She smiled.

"You seriously called me 34 times Fitz,"

"I was worried."

"I'm okay, seriously I am, but I'm flattered you were so worried about me."

She waited for him to respond but he never did. She could hear him breathing though.

"Fitz?"

"Come home Olivia, please. This was too close, this strike could've hurt you and it would've been my fault."

"Fitz, I made a commitment-"

"Then break it."

"I can't, you know I can't, I love you but I can't."

"I know, I just hate the fact that you are so far away."

"I know, me too, don't think about it, think about something else."

"Like what?"

"Anything else."

"Um, the state dinner is next week."

"Who will be there?"

"President of France, Diana Ross and Robert Downey jr, I know how much you love him. We have a pretty extravagant guest list this year."

"Quit lying, Iron man is gonna be there? I might have to bump this trip and come home."

"So you'll come home for Robert Downey jr but not me?"

"I absolutely would."

Fitz chuckled.

"He just got uninvited."

"You can't uninvite Iron man."

"Why not?"

"He's iron man."

Fitz laughed.

"You're right I can't."

They were quiet for a while.

"After Somalia then?"

"Then Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya."

"And that's just the first half right?"

"Yep."

He sighed.

"How about I'll come and see you after Sudan? How does that sound?"

"Wait, how are you going to get away?"

"I'm gonna lie."

He chuckled.

"Was the the plan all along?"

"Sure was."

"How about this, in a few weeks, I have to meet the president of France in Paris, I'll send the jet to pick you up and you can meet me in Paris. How does that sound?"

"Meet you in the city of love, I can't think of anything worse," she said sarcastically.

Fitz smiled.

"So it's a date then?"

"It's a date," she said with a smile.