CHAPTER 2

Olivia was starting to get restless when some agents came to their side of the hangar and told them their friends and family had been contacted and they would be able to see them in an hour. Time went by slowly, everyone was impatient to see their family and put this experience behind them. All Olivia wanted was to go back to her apartment and sleep, she couldn't wait for Abby or Quinn to get there and drive them back to Washington.

However, just as time for the families to arrive got closer, three agents came to their little group and asked Olivia to follow them.

"Why?" Harrison asked before Olivia could even move. "Why would you only need her when we're about to leave?"

The agents didn't answer him and asked again for her to follow them.

Olivia touched Harrison's arm to reassure him and said "It's okay, I'll go with them and see what they want. I'll meet you back here afterwards."

Neither Harrison nor Huck and Alexis seemed very reassured. They all looked suspiciously at the agents and were reluctant to see her go but there wasn't much they could do so Olivia followed the agents, smiling to her people, all the while trying to figure out why they would need her specifically.

They led her to a private room upstairs, asked her to wait inside, and left. Olivia leaned against the wall opposite the door. What was this all about? Maybe she shouldn't have yelled like that at the agents in the interrogation room. They were looking for anything or anyone to blame for their five-years-in-the-future nonsense and get angry at them might not have been the wisest thing to do.

She glared at the door, seriously considering just knocking on it and demanding for the person opening it to let her know what was going on. This wasn't the most danger she'd ever been in but it didn't felt good all the same and she really wanted to get out of there and just-

The door opened and what seemed to be an army of men in suits came in. She didn't have time to look at them all or count how many of them there were before two of them were right in front of her asking her to stand still while they searched her. Dumbfounded, she didn't move while one of them patted her and the other scanned her with a metal detector wand.

Once they were done, they stepped back and stood on each side of the door, not taking their eyes off her. One of them knocked twice on the door sharply, still watching her. Their expressions did not let anything transpire as to what was about to happen and Olivia held in her breath.

After a couple of seconds of nothing happening, Olivia regained her senses and breathed deeply. She didn't want to appear too rattled and surprised when whoever was about to come in would arrive. If she was about to be interrogated as a suspect of some sort of crime, it would be better for her to look calm and composed.

It didn't take long for the door to open again but no matter how well prepared she thought she was for what was about to happen, when it opened, she couldn't hold back her gasp of surprise.

"Fitz?" she whispered.

It was indeed Fitz. Except he was surrounded by four more agents and somehow looked very different - older, more experienced, more powerful, exhausted.

He stopped a few feet away from her, his eyes going up and down her body twice before they stopped on her face. He took a big breath then...

"Hi."

"Hi."

They hadn't done that in a very long time, and for the first time in years, she felt the connection they'd had when they had first met. She took a step forward, her eyes still anchored to his. All that she needed right then was to hold on to him and just breathe but she needed to know that was what he wanted too. She waited for him to take the next step.

Fitz still seemed to be drinking her in but then turned his face away, his eyes closed and wincing as though in pain, his breathing heavy.

"Can Ms Pope and I have the room?" he said, still not looking at her.

When none of the agents standing around the room reacted, he raised his eyebrows and demanded once more, his voice harder.

"Can Ms Pope and I have the room."

It wasn't a question this time. It was the demand of a powerful man who was used to be obeyed and knew this order wouldn't be any different.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea, sir. It would be safer if you'd let us stay with you, sir," one of the agents who came in with him intervened.

"I wasn't asking, Tom. Leave us the room."

"Yes, sir." Tom gestured for the other agents to leave. They all got out one by one, as quickly and quietly as they had come in. Right before he closed the door, Tom turned back.

"We'll be right outside if you need anything, Mr President."

Olivia held her breath and felt her heart stop for a moment.

"Mr President?" she whispered questioningly as the door closed behind the lead agent.

Fitz did not answer. He was turned towards the door, and she wondered what was happening. She heard him let go of a shaky breath before he turned around to face her.

"'Mr President'?" she whispered again, needing a verbal confirmation that this was in fact real and she hadn't misheard.

Fitz still didn't answer her - he stared at her with a hunger she had never seen in his eyes before. For a second, she thought he was about to launch himself at her and devour her but before she had even finished formulating the thought, he crumbled to the ground.

Olivia froze in shock - she had never seen him like this before - but snapped out of it when Fitz's entire body started shaking with uncontrollable sobs. She hurried to him and kneeled beside his trembling body. She reached for him, uncradling his head from his hands to have him rest against her chest. She stroked his hair back and forth, shushing, and gently rocking him in a vain effort to comfort him.

In between sobs, she could hear him whispering her name again and again and again as though he couldn't believe she was there. She couldn't understand what was happening or what had happened to Fitz and even though they hadn't left it in good terms the last time they had talked, Olivia couldn't not comfort him. Seeing him being this hurt pained her.

It went on for what could have been hours until Fitz reached to her and held onto her shoulder. A gesture that would have normally been unnoticeable, but as he did, Olivia could feel the distinct imprint of a ring on his finger, pressing against her skin. She had never given him a ring. Their wedding had been a spontaneous decision, they had gone to city hall and got married with two witnesses and that was it. He had given her a ring a week afterwards but she had never came around to doing it herself.

She stiffened and pulled back, looking at his hand resting on her shoulder and there it was, a golden band wrapped around his finger. He must have realized what was going on because he raised his head from her chest and, with a finger below her chin, tried to make her look at him. When she resisted his attempt, he whispered her name softly.

"Who?" she asked, just as quietly, not wanting to let her feelings transpire.

She couldn't take her eyes off that gold band. Nothing had ever hurt her as much as seeing that ring on his finger.

"Livvie..." he whispered again.

"Who, Fitz?"

"I thought you were gone..."

"Who?"

"Mellie," he sighed in defeat, knowing there was no avoiding this conversation.

She startled and pushed back violently, looking at him as he landed on the ground. She took a few steps back and ran her hands in her hair. Mellie. Of course, it was her. It had always been her. And yet, somewhere along the way she had convinced herself that he would never do anything of the sort to her, that he would keep all his promises. Even though they hadn't always been in sync about what they wanted out of their life together, she had always envisioned their little house in Vermont and their life together as a married couple. And here she was, standing in front of the love of her life who was married to someone else. Someone he had promised he didn't have any interest in, nor would he ever.

"I want to go back with the others," she demanded. She had to get out of that room as quickly as possible. Her breathing accelerated and she paced around the room, her hands going from her hair to her wedding ring and back to her hair again. Realizing how she must be looking, she stopped pacing and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Olivia, we need to talk, please."

"There's nothing to talk about, get out. Let me go back to the others."

He moved towards her, his hand reaching for hers. She tried going back to her best defense mechanism - pretending she wasn't affected by the situation - but as soon as his skin touched hers, she felt tears rising to her eyes and a pain like she had never felt before take hold of her heart. So she did the only thing she could think of - she screamed.

She was right to do so because as soon as she started screaming, the door flung open and the army of secret service agents invaded the room, pulling the president out, keeping her at distance.

In a matter of seconds, the President was gone, the agents holding her arms had released her, and she was left alone in the room, her pain as only company.

Here it is, hope you enjoyed! I'm sorry it's not as long as the previous chapters but it's their first meeting after five years so I hope it reached your expectations! As always, thank you very much to everyone who supported this story, it really helps keeping me motivated and excited about publishing! Review? :)