Olivia woke up on a cold concrete floor. She was in a hallway and she could see the open door with light peaking through from outside at the end of the hall . She felt a throbbing pain in her head, she guessed that they must have hit her in the head and knocked her unconscious, that's the only way she could explain the lost of time on her end. She felt Abby shuffle beside her and then she sat up.

"Abby?" she whispered.

"Liv?" she said with tears in her eyes.

Abby's right ear was covered in dried blood.

"Abby did they hurt you?"

Abby reached up and touched the side of her face.

"I think they knocked me out."

"Me too."

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Olivia asked.

"No, I just woke up, minutes before you."

Olivia looked around, she didn't see any guards.

"Liv your face is covered in blood."

Olivia reached up and felt her face, the blood from her wound hadn't quite dried as yet.

"Have you seen any guards?"

"No."

Olivia took a deep breath.

"Abby, if we're going to leave, we have to do it now."

"What if they catch us."

"We have to try, for all we know, they dumped us here and left."

Olivia was about to get up when she heard the thud of boots coming her way from outside. The man walked down the hallway and stopped right in front of them.

"You girls are up? Did you sleep alright?"

Olivia recognized his voice, he was the leader.

"What do you want from me?" Olivia asked.

He smiled and stooped in front of her.

"Well little lady, I was hired to kidnap you,"

"You were hired to kidnap me?"

"Yes, which was fine but then my client called it off, which was also fine, what wasn't fine was the fact that after all the time and effort I put into gathering all my men and trailing you all the way from Tehran, my client decided not to pay me. To a man of my sort, you can see why I would take issue with that."

"Who hired you to kidnap me?"

"Not important, what's important is that we need to get paid," he replied evenly.

"Is that what this is about, money, I'll pay you whatever you were supposed to get paid, just let me and my friend go."

"If I take your money and let you out of here in one piece then he wins, I don't like being made a fool of, my men don't like being taken advantage of and my boss won't like our reputation being tarnished so let me tell you how this is going to work, firstly, I am going to kill your friend,"

Abby let out a loud sob.

"If not as a shocking death to let my client know that I mean business then I can give her to my men and they can do whatever they want with her and they are true savages, they are just the worst of the worst. I'm still deciding though so you have a few more hours redhead."

He turned to face Olivia who was holding on tightly to Abby's hand.

"And you, Olivia is it? That's your name right? Anyways, I don't have personal beef with you so hopefully for you, my client pays me my due sooner than later and I'll let you go no harm no foul. If he decides not to then-"

He stopped and smiled.

"You're a doctor so let me ask you this. How long does it take for someone to starve to death? A tiny little thing like you?"

Olivia didn't answer.

"Well, whatever the answer is that's how long you will have. Maybe 3 weeks or a month, we'll see. Don't worry though, you won't die thirsty."

He pulled a small bottle of water from out of his vest and handed it to Olivia.

"Drink up."

He smiled and stood up and continued walking down the hallway. As soon as he was far enough out of range Olivia hugged Abby tightly and hushed her.

"Abby, I'm not going to let them kill you," she whispered.

Abby couldn't form coherent words through the tears and she didn't try, she just continued crying.

"Abby tell me that you believe me."

Abby tried to draw back her tears and speak.

"I believe you."

"And I need you to promise me something."

Abby nodded.

"When you get the chance Abby, run and keep running and do not look back, even if I don't make it with you."

Abby started crying again.

"Liv, I'm not leaving you here."

"Abby, promise me."

"I can't Liv."

"Abigail, promise me,"

Olivia looked her in the eyes.

"Please Abby, promise me."

Abby closed her eyes and shook her head in defeat.

"I promise."

"Okay, we need to come up with a plan."

Olivia stopped to think.

"The only reason they would leave us untied and so close to the door if they had guards outside. Last night there were 5 men," Olivia said mostly to herself.

"What if they have more men?" Abby asked.

"I don't think they do, they don't need that many men to kidnap one person as they had planned and these guys are mercenaries, they all want a part of the check, the less they have to split it, the better so, they usually keep the group small."

Abby nodded.

"Abby, I need you to look out, I'm going to crawl to the door and peek outside, let me know if anyone is coming."

"Okay."

Olivia crawled quickly to the door that was about 15 feet away from her. She carefully peeked out, she saw two armed men drinking beer and laughing, standing idly by a wall. She saw the forest directly ahead. She looked up to the sun and then she crawled back to Abby.

"Okay, Abby two of them are outside and the other two are probably back there with the leader. There is a forest about 60 feet away from the yard. That's how far, you'd have to run. We're still in Ethiopia."

"How do you know?" Abby asked.

"Trigonometry Abby, if you know the height of the object and the length of the shadow- you also need time and date (which I don't have but I'm estimating) then you can figure out the location of something. The position of the sun and the length of the shadow off of that 12 foot wall outside suggest we are still in Ethiopia."

"That's good right?"

"Yes,"

"Olivia seriously- what if we get caught?"

"Abby, I literally just let 5 people die to spare your life, 5 people who had children and families. I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life. I'm going to hear them screaming my name for the rest of my life. I know that you are in the position because of me but I didn't let 5 people die so that you could come here and die too so pull yourself together and so we can get out of here because they will kill you and then they will kill me."

Abby took a deep breath.

"You're right, I'm sorry, thank you for saving me. I'm just scared."

"Don't thank me for what I did."

Olivia paused realizing she was being harsh.

"I'm scared too but we have to do this, you will not die for someone's entertainment okay."

"Okay," Abby repeated.

Olivia took a deep breath to compose herself.

"Abby I'm gonna teach you how to say 'take me to the american embassy' in arabic, can you learn that?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Repeat after me - 'yakhadhni 'iilaa alssifarat al'amrikia',"

Abby got tongue tied trying to repeat it. Olivia went over it with her over and over again until it was intelligible then Olivia explained to Abby exactly what she needed to do in order for their plan to work.

"Okay Abby, the forest isn't too far from the door. Honestly Abby, we probably won't both be able to get away, it'll have to be you. If I can draw attention to myself and have them run to my aid then you can probably slip away but you will have to run fast and you can't look back."

"Olivia, how can you expect me to just leave you here. I can't do that."

"Don't think of it that way. They won't kill me, not yet. They still have to try and get their money. That gives us a little time. When you leave here you have to do everything in your power to make it to the embassy and get back to DC. When you get to DC, I need you to ask to speak to the president and tell him what happened here okay. He's looking for us, so once you get to the embassy he should know you are there and he'll want to speak to you, a lot of people will so make sure that you tell them what that guy just said. "

"Okay."

"Make sure you know what direction you're walking in the forest as well, so you can tell them, okay?

"Okay."

"Are you ready?"

"No."

"Abby, you have to be ready, you don't know what those guys are back they're planning to do to you, you have to leave now."

"What if I don't make it?"

"You will and take the water with you okay."

Abby nodded.

"Okay."

They switched positions and Abby grabbed the bottle of water then Olivia took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could. Immediately all the guards came rushing to her. Once the were all hovering over Olivia , Abby crawled behind the leg of one guard and took off. Two of the guards turned to chase after her but Olivia put her leg in the way and they tripped over each other. When he tripped beside Olivia, she saw a knife in his holster and pulled it and stabbed him in his side then she turned her head to see Abby hesitate as if she was turning around to come and help her.

"RUN ABBY!" She screamed.

Abby turned back around and sprinted.

One of the men that tripped on the floor grabbed his gun and fired a barrage of bullets in Abby's direction. A bullet hit Abby's arm but she didn't stop running. He kicked Olivia and stood up and headed after Abby. The injured man laid in the floor bleeding. Two other men followed and chased after Abby into the woods.

Olivia held the knife to the throat of the man who was on the floor.

"Let me go or I'll kill him," she said to the leader who stood over her quite amused by what had just taken place.

She could see his gun in his waist and she knew she was hopelessly outmatched but she wasn't backing down.

"Go ahead doctor, kill him, honestly, he's annoying and that's one less person I'll have to pay."

Olivia had no plans on actually killing him. When she stabbed him, she purposely gave him a non lethal wound.

"I'm serious, I'll do it," she screamed.

He laughed.

"You should, I want you to," he said with a chuckle.

He waited and when she didn't make a move he kneeled in front of her and took the knife out of her hands.

"Here, I'll do," he said.

"Rex, don't do this. Rex-" the injured man begged.

"Sorry, Max."

Olivia watched as he jammed the knife into Max's throat over and over again until he stopped moving then Rex stood and pulled her up off the floor and held her by the throat.

"You made a big mistake."

Fitz had been in the Oval all night waiting on the update from any who would give him one. He had soldiers scouring in the forest, they had spoken to everyone in the village and no one knew anything other than the fact that 5 armed men attacked the village and killed everyone in their path. Everyone except Abigail and Olivia, they were the only two doctors who were missing. He had all the military bases and embassies in that region of the continent looking out for them.

It had been fours days since they took her, fours days of sleepless night, four days of barely being able to function because all he thought about was the fact that she was either dead or hurt.

He took a deep breath and turned on tv in his office and turned up the volume to see if they were reporting anything he hadn't been briefed on.

"It has been 4 days since the attack on the Nala village in northern Ethiopia. A group of armed, masked men ascended on the village and killed 41 civilians including women and children and a group of 13 doctors who were volunteers from the Doctors Without Borders organization. The only 2 doctors who are missing but presumed dead are Olivia Pope and Abigail Whelan. You may know Olivia Pope, the young, genius neurosurgeon who successfully performed brain surgery on President Grant earlier this summer after his assassination attempt. There have been worldwide vigils in the wake of the horrible massacre that took the lives of 13 doctors, 8 of them American. The families of the American doctors gathered at the Dover Air Force base to collect the remains of their loved ones and in attendance at the collection ceremony was President Grant who gave his sincere condolences to the grieving families. We will continue to report on this tragic incident and we pray that Olivia Pope and Abigail Whelan can return home safely to their families."

They showed pictures of Olivia and Abby on their various Dwb missions and then they went into commercial.

Fitz sighed and turned the TV off, he didn't know why he bothered, he only felt worse after watching the news.

He got up and headed to the residence to shower and get coffee. As he sat in the kitchen drinking his coffee, Gerry walked in.

"Morning Dad."

"Hey Ger."

"How are you? Is anything there any new information about Liv?" Gerry asked as he sat across the table from Fitz.

"No, nothing yet."

Gerry paused unsure of how to continue.

"Dad, I'm really sorry this happened. I know I said that before but I really am and if you ever need to talk to someone you can talk to me, after all Olivia was the one that said that I'm really mature for my age and if Olivia said it then it's gotta be true right?" Gerry said trying to cheer him up.

Fitz smiled halfheartedly.

"Any good news and you'll be the first to know Gerr."

"Thanks dad."

Gerry stood up and walked around the table and gave Fitz a tight hug, he held on for a moment then let go.

"She's gonna be okay dad. I can feel it."

"Thanks Gerr."

"I love you dad, I'll see you after practice." Gerry left quickly after, not waiting for Fitz to reply.

Once he finished his coffee, he headed straight back to the to oval and waited for Cyrus.

He stared through the window blankly for almost an hour when Tom walked in.

"Sir, we have something, Situation room."

Fitz almost fell over as he ran to Tom and they headed to the situation room together. He had a bunch of state department workers doing shifts in the situation room in order to have a team working round the clock.

"Sir, the U.S embassy in Addis Ababa just called, they have an Abigail Whelan there, one of the doctors."

"Is Olivia Pope with her?"

"No, just Ms. Whelan, some local people brought her in."

He was disappointed but if Abby could show up after 4 days then so could Olivia, it gave him hope.

"Let me speak to her."

"Sir. She currently receiving medical attention."

"What happened to her?"

"Severe dehydration and she also had a gunshot wound to the arm and a head wound, the local people found her wandering by the roadside asking them to take her to the American embassy, she became unconscious on her way to the embassy."

"How are they sure it's Abby Whelan?"

"Photo ID."

"Wake her up!"

"Sir?"

"Wake her up!" Fitz ordered again.

"Sir, we'll try and once she's up we'll get her on the phone,"

"And I want her on a plane back to D.C. now. Get an army doctor to take care of her one the flight, I don't care what you have to do just get her here."

"Yes sir,"

Fitz walked back to the Oval Office with Tom in tow.

Fitz took a deep breath.

"If Abby found her way back then that means Olivia is still out there."

Tom didn't reply.

"Right?"

"Yes sir," Tom replied.

"Tom your making me feel like I'm crazy for thinking she's out there. If Abby just showed up, she can too."

Tom hesitated before deciding to say what was on his mind.

"Sir, I just want you to be prepared for the worse."

"The worst being that she's dead?" Fitz said callously.

"Sometimes death can be a best case scenario, a quick clean death like the other doctors got."

"You can't possibly be suggesting that she'd be better of dead."

"If they took her, men like that, men who would kill that many innocent people so recklessly then she would be better dead. I don't think it's a coincidence that she didn't die at that village. I think they took her."

"You think I don't know that Tom. I know but then I'd have to wonder why they would take her and leave everyone else and I'd have to start imagining the things they are doing to her and I can't do that right now, I can't think about that right now or I'll go crazy so I'm going to sit here and wait till her friend wakes up so she can tell me what the hell happened."

"Yes, sir, we'll get her an army doctor and get her on a c-17 back to washington immediately."

"Thank you Tom..."

Olivia looked around the dark room. It had been 5 days since she last had something to eat or been in contact with a human being and it was getting to her. It was too quiet. She tried to entertain herself by singing, humming, reciting her favorite poems but it didn't work. She was surrounded by darkness and quiet and the only thing she could feel was hunger and pain. The sound of Siobhan and Simone screaming her name played in her head on a loop. That constant sound in her head was more painful than the three broken ribs she was given by Rex and his men after Abby escaped. She had a severely bruised sternum caused by a kick to the chest. Everytime she coughed, she tasted blood. She told herself that her sacrifice was worth it, at least Abby got away because if she hadn't gotten away they would have killed her. The only silver lining was the fact that, they didn't hover. She hadn't seen or heard a sound from them since they beat her and she woke up in the dark room and she wondered if that was a good or bad thing. She wondered if they left her to die, she didn't think they were above it, they killed 13 doctors without so much as a second thought, Rex killed one of his own men just so he could pocket a few more dollars. The joy she felt when they returned without Abby was short lived because of the onslaught they unleashed on her due to her part in the escape. The first kick was painful, the second even more so, Olivia stopped counting when she tasted blood and then next thing she knew, she woke up in darkness. She wasn't even sure if she was in the same country let alone the same continent but at least Abby was out there somewhere and she could tell Fitz what happened and that gave her comfort.

On her first day in her dark room, she felt her way around the room and realized there was a toilet and sink for which she was thankful. Even though she couldn't see, she knew where everything was, not that there was much. She didn't move unless she had to drink water or use the bathroom. She knew if she over exerted herself in her starving condition, she would only die faster.

As she laid on the ground drifting back to sleep, she heard a soft thump at the door then the sound of a latch opening. She sat up, anxiously waiting to see who it was.

As the door opening and light flooded in, she saw the silhouette of a tall, familiar figure. He smiled at her, the charming, knee weakening, heart melting smile that she loved.

"Fitz?"

He walked over to her and kneeled beside her, he had tears in his eyes.

"Did they hurt you Livie?"

He caressed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her protectively, the way he always did.

"Yes, they hurt me," she cried as she held onto him.

"Don't cry Livie, I'm going to find you and get you out of here."

She looked up and squinted her eyes in confusion.

"But you're here right now, you found me. Please don't leave me here Fitz. Please, I can't stay here another day."

"I haven't found you as yet. I'm not real. You're dreaming. I have to go now but I'll be back tomorrow."

"Fitz do not leave me here!" she screamed.

He stood up and headed to the door.

"Fitzgerald do not leave me here. Please!" she screamed.

He turned and smiled and then headed out the door and locked it.

She jump out of her sleep and found herself in the same dark room she was in before she fell asleep, having the same dream turned nightmare she had been been having every time she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She took a moment to catch her breath and sat up in the dark room. She began reciting her favorite poem, the poem she had been saying to herself every time she fell asleep and woke up in that dark room:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light…"

She said it until her mind drifted into nothingness and she fell asleep and had the same nightmare and she woke up and begin the cycle again.