Author´s note: Aaand, I´m back and here´s a brand new chapter. Enjoy, everyone. :)

Jennkyle: Welcome and thanks for your reviews. Hope you´ll keep enjoying it. :) And I didn´t travel, I moved. :)

LoreneMichelle41: Hehe, the suspense. ;) Yep, it´s not going to be easy for those two for sure. Thanks again. :)

Apollonialust: Nah, you didn´t scare me at all. :) Love to hear what people think of the developments in this, it means they show an interest in the what wills and what ifs. I really like your analysis of Olitz there, of dependency and Olivia´s abandonment issue, I think there is a lot of truth to that; she is more vulnerable than she would ever admit. Good to see you like my pace. :) I prefer to take my time, to properly explore things, hoping to not bore anyone with it, but i´ve never really been someome to overly rush my stories. Thanks for the detailed review. :)

Umusarah: Seems like I need to give you a raincheck on the call thing once more, because it appeared to me in the writing process it would be good to make a cut where I make a cut in this chapter, because it works better with the story angle. Hope you won´t be too mad at me for keeping you on your toes for a little longer. ;)

DayDreamLover: Yeah, I figured Abby being the character she is would be a bit upset there, which on the other hand only shows how worried she is. :) Thanks for your review. :)

Owenhunted: Wow, thanks for your words. :) And welcome, hope you´ll keep enjoying this story. :)

Chapter 9 – Homecoming

„By the hour it seems ISIS is tightening the noose around Baghdad. Troops of fighters advancing from the north have been reported for days, whereas reports about supporting troops to the south seem to be still rather shaky. News of another rebel camp had started to leak yesterday but so far we have had no confirmation of it. The Iraqi government who appeared self confident yesterday has mostly remained silent and at this hour it is impossible to tell how and if Washington will step in. We have our expert on the Middle East with us today who can maybe enlighten us on this most recent indecisiveness of the Grant Administration. Dr. Hays, expert for foreign relations who served as an advisor for embassies throughout the region in the late 1990s under the Clinton Administration is with us today. Dr Hays, can you comment on the recent development?"

It was like some kind of addiction Olivia had decided a while ago to herself already, because admitting that one had a sort of problem was half the way of fixing it. This addiction, to always have to stay in the loop of developments had been necessary when she had still been in DC and she had tried to break the habit once she had left. Now it was like returning to those same old routines, like a junkie getting a fix and even though she felt remorse along with it, it also felt good. She had never liked being isolated from what was going on and even though the small television set mounted to the airport café was just a small substitute for having her full channels and connections available, it was still a start. Or the beginning of the end - she couldn´t tell.

On the screen, a serious looking older man clad in a not too well fitting suit which he might have looked handsome in a few years ago, nodded in agreement to the 40 something ash blonde commentator who was regarding her guest with the serious impression of a woman who can´t stand not being taken seriously. Which probably meant this was her worst fear, Olivia knew the kind.

"Well, I personally am no advocator of US involvement in affairs like these, but we are a world power in a way, we still are. There are other ways, it does not have to be air strikes. There can be humanitarian help, the president could forward ideas for a UN special committee to send blue helmets into the region ... there is really a range of possibilities.." he spread his hands a bit beforefolding them again, expertly demonstrating said range. "but what hurts us right now is the indecisiveness. Maintaining diplomatic ties between the US and Iraq is a touchy issue, we all know that." A nod from the commentator. "but strengthening it does not only mean we can help stabilizeIraq, it can also help stabilize the entire region. It can help forward our efforts to communicate with other countries in the Middle East, Iran, for instance. The events unfolding there, threaten not only Iraq after all. What ISIS is seeking is to widen its influence through the entire region, establish an own state. Iran is not interested in having its own influence zone limited either."

"So you think that the Grant Administration is acting too timidly?"

Olivia nearly rolled her eyes. What had happened to investigative journalism these days?

The man in the slightly wrinkled suit shook his head in a so-so kind of gesture.

"Well, timid is not word I´d choose," he said. "because timid would mean there was some diplomatic activity going on right now which we are not sure of at all, so it merely does look indecisive what they´re doing. No statement, no news, apparently there is either a lot of negotiation going on behind the curtains or none at all. And I personally believe that if it was the first, the Iraqi government wouldhave mentioned some of that in order to put pressure on ISIS. So yes, right now we do not look strong there. I wonder what is keeping the president from taking a stand."

Besides her annoyance with the people on screen (probably hard working people all the same, and she did not give them enough credit in her current state), the news made her worry and that was exactly why she should have stayed away from it in the first place. But Fitz had mentioned the issue over the phone before the conversation had been so uncharmingly ruined. He had been in the middle of something, had planned to make a call. That there was no statement yet, nothing could mean many things, but made her wonder whether he had made the call at all. Or wether he had been so upset that he had cancelled it. She closed her eyes, the very thought of this possibility, of what Jake had done affecting how Fitz was doing his job angering and sickening her. The latter, because once more it made the connection towards why she had left. Because once more she was at the centre of things. If she hadn´t called him, he would have made that call. He probably would have made a decision different or slightly different but he would have made that call. He would have taken a stance. He would not have caused this Dr Hayes, expert on the Middle East to use charming, elaborate words to call him weak. It was high time for her to get back to DC. Or maybe…if this was already what the first ripples of the incoming waves caused, she should run away from it as far as she could. Or: if looked at from a different angle: maybe it was time to stop putting the blame on herself she thought with sudden resolve. It had not been her call disrupting Fitz´ job there, it had been Jake´s decision to mark his territory, territory he couldn´t even claim as his, in the worst moment possible.

A service announcement snapped her out of her thoughts and she got to her feet before she could consider differently. There had been no direct flight possible from Vienna so she had had to connect from Reykjavik, after about half the way. Maybe that was a good thing, because apart from geysers and ponies, neither of which was on her priority list, there were few excuses for her to try escapism on this island between home and exile.

She had a few more looks around as she made her way to the boarding area once more, for the uptenth time scanning the crowds for the face she wanted to see least of all. But either Jake had stayed in Vienna or he had taken another plane. She sure hoped for the latter, but knowing him (or what part of him she thought she knew) this seemed unlikely.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He had been certain she would take the fastest route, because even though she was not always easy to get, when it came to him, she was easy, oh so easy to predict. So easy it hurt Jake´s pride and he wasn´t sure what else. But this time, it had turned out, he had misjudged her. She must have taken a later plane, a plane to another airport, a plane leaving the next day maybe, which meant she was maybe still somewhere in Vienna and had fooled him. It made him angry to think of that and he had had the entire flight, the entire roundabout 8 or so hours it took across the Atlantic to mull over how things had gone wrong and he knew his own problems and issues only added to it.

The stewardess, a pretty, young thing who could not have been doing that job for too long had stopped approaching him after his slightly flirty smiles had become taxed. He had run, but it wasn´t that easy. It never was. Running with Olivia, leaving the States, had been a sweet thing, the sweet taste of revenge and freedom all at once, knowing that if he couldn´t have freedom, not for eternity, because nobody could ever stop being Command they said, he could at least have his revenge. And hours ago when he had stepped into that room to find her sitting on her bed with that bittersweet smile on her face which told him with absolute certainty who was on the other end of the line, that revenge had been complete for a few precious moments, filling his blood with adrenaline and the feeling of victory.

It had not lasted. He had never really been foolish enough to believe she was truly his. He had tried to tell her that she was though, tried to make her believe. That they had, they needed a future together. Had believed that if he talked it into her for long enough, managed to keep her on the other side of the ocean as had seemed likely, she might grow into it. She was a great woman after all.

Was it love he felt for her? He wasn´t sure. He liked how she made him feel, he liked the way his skin felt against hers, how she would give into him when the mood struck her, the way she would switch off rational thinking and almost believe in a normal life with a man who was not the goddamn president. And he sure did love the feeling that came with knowing how it made Fitz feel when he knew she had chosen him even if it only seemed like this. The feeling that came with knowing Fitz, perfectly pampered Fitz, realized that he had lost her to the man he had called a friend, but the man he would not tell so many things. The man he would keep secrets from, the man he would ask to watch over the woman he had grown fond of in a way. But was it love? Or was it a love of the feeling, that sweet mix of triumph and desire? Jake Ballard could not tell and it did not matter.

He did not even know why he was attempting to track her down. She had made more than clear that she was running again. Which meant he could still use the same old tune of appealing to her reason and sanity that Fitz had so long ago destroyed and twisted. Love might come with time. Normalcy might come with it and that was all the more important. No more of that messed up life in DC, no more of murders and intrigues and B316. Yes, if he was honest with himself (and that was the only way of evaluating things in a reasonable manner), getting her back, making her believe, was the only way to establish a life for himself in the long run. She was his anchor, as little as he liked admitting that to himself. His anchor and he sweet, sweet triumph.

She had not been on the plane, but she would be, soon. He needed a safe place to stay, probably a new identity, too, because even though B316 had been dismantled, he didn´t fool himself about the likeliness of this giant´s fall causing an earthquake in its wake. He had given Rosen a lot of delicate information and even though he trusted the other man was still far too scared to drop Jake´s name in the revelations that the information he now possessed would likely bring, he knew it would be stupid to feel safe. Rosen would reveal things, would blow the whistle on B316. Jake knew his type. Closet cowards who took the easy route when there was a way to shine to appear brave. Yes, Rosen would want to play the hero, the guy with the white hat and he would no doubt know how to turn this into one big scandal. Well, if nothing else, there was sweetness to that thought too, because everyone in town knew Rosen was not particularly fond of this administration. Funny, Jake thought as he entered the arrivals area after passing through immigration, how one shared things with even the most antagonist of persons.

He had rented a car on the plane already, had plotted a strategy on the flight. He would take the car, stay in a small apartment he had used as a secret retreat for himself, a place nobody really knew he lived at, because he had always known there might be a time when he was in need of a place to hide. There was no real need in it with B316 gone, but one never knew. If nothing else, at least Olivia should be unaware of him having returned, because sure as hell she would show up in DC earlier rather than later, even though some later than him it seemed. And when she arrived, he´d be there, he had observed her before and back then he had made a copy of her keys, never telling her about that extra pair. A few cameras would be quickly established, then he would observe her, find where she was vulnerable and then make a plan on how to get her back and keep her this time. At least his head start meant he would have time to have all of that set up. It would not take him any longer than three hours, four at the most and her place would be all wired up again without her even knowing…

Jake paid in cash at the car rental and made his way to the parking garage where they had told him his ride was parked. A good car, he could afford himself the luxury after all the involuntary annoyances of the last 24 hours he had decided. He was almost tempted to put on a whistling tune as he entered the empty garage, thinking that despite everything he was already on top of his game again. B316´s dying convulsions would blow up all over Fitz who right now was probably too emotional to deal with Olivia, would drive her away again while he, Jake would be watching her every move and then lure her back to him, for good this time, because surely this would be the last, dramatic act of this unruly dramedy that was the affair of Olivia Pope and President Fitzgerald Grant III. In the end, he would be the one to get the girl and the glory.

Approaching, Jake could see the car, a brand new Chevy, parked between two others on the other side of the garage, a few steps away from where he was. The place was deserted but that did not bother him. A swift ride to his apartment and he´d not even catch the early morning rush hour. It was far too early for that. This sure would not be his worst of days.

Then, everything happened in the blink of an eye. When the sudden attack came, he had no chance to react, even years of training were dulled by one too long second of believing himself top of the world. The attacker came from behind and Jake only heard the last two steps. He tried to whirl around but it was too late. The punch that was supposed to hit the back of his head, hit his temple instead, giving him the arguable joy of feeling his skin split next to his eye before the iron bar knocked him out cold.