"Liv, we can take the lead on this one if you want to sleep." Olivia stifled a yawn, "I'm fine Abby."
Abby gave her a look. "Get some sleep."
After a what seemed like a brief nap, Abby woke her by placing Thomas on her. Olivia waking up after Thomas accidentally poked her in the eye. His curious blue eyes peered at her, a small smile on his face. "We found some stuff on Sully St. James, Thomas needs a diaper change and I'm not gonna do that."
Her team had managed to make Sully somewhat presentable, a bloodstain still visible on his neck. "She's my best friend..." he kept repeating over and over again. Huck showed her a security tape taken a few hours before, Sully and an unknown man kissed outside the apartment.
"Paige knew, didn't she? About you and that man?" She turned to her team. "Sully wasn't there when Paige died, if we can prove that to the police then we can get him off."
After nearly landing himself in prison for a murder he didn't commit, Sully was finally ready to tell Olivia who his boyfriend was.
"John— his name is John Latimer. No one knew except Paige. There aren't any openly gay men in the military, you know? I'm Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan St. James. I'm a hero. I'm a damn hero. I honor the uniform. I can't be gay."
"But you are. You can't change who you are. It's time you tell the press that. Don't ask, Don't tell is over. Show them who you really are."
Olivia advised Sully to hold a press conference and come forward. "I am honored to have served my country. I am honored to have been injured serving my country. Just as importantly, I am honored to be a gay man who has served my country."
"I am honored to be a gay man who has served my country." Fitz knew this was Olivia's handiwork. He had seen her almost hidden behind the other members of the military. She looked just as he remembered her. She looked happier, the last time he'd seen her, she'd looked worried and scared.
A year, it had been a year since he'd last seen her. Fitz felt lonely and in an attempt to breathe without her, he slept with someone else. A White House aide named Amanda Tanner. She wasn't Liv, there was absolutely no electricity between them.
—
"Cyrus?"
"Liv, I need you to come to Camp David... we have a situation."
"Cyrus, I don't work for his administration anymore."
"Consider it an I owe you one, James has been itching for a baby and he wants to get practice. We'll take Thomas off your hands for a couple hours."
"Fine, I'll be on my way."
Olivia hung up the phone. After convincing Abby to watch Thomas, not without Abby asking if this was some sort of code for hooking up with POTUS.
"Abby for the last time I'm not hooking up with Fitz. I'm doing a favor for Cyrus." "Yeah, sure 'Cyrus', whatever you say Liv." "You're incorrigible." Olivia murmured.
"Liv" Mellie hugged her. "You don't call, it's been rather lonely in the White House without you." "How are the kids adjusting to the White House?" "Well, Gerry seems to be adapting but Karen on the other hand, not so much. She hates the secret service, misses her friends."
"Livvie" She hadn't heard that voice in a year. Olivia flinched slightly in her coat. "Mr. President." "It's good to see you. I know you had your hands full with Sully St. James. I can't thank you enough for taking this." Fitz smiled at her. The same damn smile that still made Olivia weak at the knees.
"Her name is Amanda Tanner, 27, there are rumors that she might be talking." Cyrus was busy briefing Olivia. God the irony of briefing his ex-girlfriend on another woman while his wife was back at the main cabin. Fitz thought. "Makes me look like a dirty old man." he grumbled. "I have to ask..." "No, you've known me a long time Liv, longer than most. I didn't fall for some young girl. You know there's only one person I love."
Olivia wasn't going to lie, it stung a little. Why the hell was she suddenly upset over the fact that Fitz had moved on? She was the one who broke up with him. It seemed like he was trying to apologize for moving on. By saying that he still loved her. The romantic in her loved the fact that he still loves her. The practical side of her reasoned that it was normal for him to move on, it had been a year. Even though she couldn't ever completely move on from him.
"Mellie and Fitz are happy together, he'd have no reason to cheat." Cyrus kept rambling on. Olivia couldn't help but think that it was the exact same thing she'd told herself while struggling with her budding feelings for Fitz back on the campaign trail. "Nothing keeps her down, not even a fake miscarriage. What a real catch my wife is." "Consider it handled."