Fitz insisted that she take time off from any work. She agreed that she wouldn't come into the office and could work from her hotel room but he was adamant she would not work at all. They were alone for two days. Mellie and Cyrus were in California. In the two days, Fitz never left her side as he cared for her. Her bruises change from red to purple/blue then faded to green/yellow. After a week the bruises in her face were able to be covered with makeup and while the bruises on her neck were much more distinct but it was later October and she decided sweaters and scarves could hide it just fine. They never spoke about Gerry and she didn't want to but a week after the incident Fitz brought her a check for a few million dollars signed from his family trust. He said that it was the least she was owed after what Gerry had done. She initially refused but Fitz insisted that if she didn't accept the check he would just have the money wired instead. She relented and accepted the check.

All she knew from the news was that he was in the hospital for a week with a broken nose and a fractured jaw. They claimed he fell down stairs and that he was healing well.

Olivia returned to work and faced a hectic and eventful October. November began and with only one week left until the general election, Fitz was 3 points ahead of Reston but it was a statistical dead heat. Hollis and Verna had been parked on the campaign trail for the past two weeks. With the election so close, there was anxiety and excitement around the campaign. Fitz had left for New York attending the Al Smith dinner when Cyrus called her for a meeting in his office. When she got to his office, she was surprised by the other attendees, Hollis, Verna, Mellie, who had just come back from a rally and Big Gerry. Olivia froze when she saw him and Cyrus ran to her.

"He doesn't remember anything," he whispered. "His jaw is partly wired so he can talk but not too much. Just hear us out."

Olivia shook her head.

"Please," Cyrus whispered, "this is important and he's harmless right now."

She hesitated but then sat down slowly at the chair Cyrus pulled out for her and waited for them to begin. Gerry waved to her innocently but all she could see was the monster he'd been to her.

"Olivia as you know the election is only one week away and it's going to be close," Cyrus began.

Olivia could barely hear his words to her. She was still wondering how she ended up in a room with Gerry again and why Cyrus asked her to do it and if he cared about what had happened to her. She wondered if Fitz knew he was here. He was in New York but she imagined it wasn't a coincidence that it was after he'd gone that Gerry showed up.

"Olivia?" Cyrus called.

She looked up at him.

"I know you think undecided voters will come through for us but we think differently. Three points ahead is better than three points behind but it's still a statistical tie and we should treat it as one."

"Yes thanks to Mellie's dumb stunt, we lost our 5 point lead that Olivia worked so hard to get," Gerry interjected. His voice sounded muffled, as if he couldn't open his mouth wide enough to speak clearly.

"I have apologized for that more times than I can count, I'm sorry," Mellie replied in defense.

"Yes, the only reason I allowed you to marry my son was because I thought you could help him win this thing but it turns out you're doing the opposite so tell me again what purpose you serve?"

"That's enough!" Cyrus said loudly. "Gerry, you shouldn't be speaking."

"Why did you call this meeting Cyrus?" Olivia asked.

Cyrus was about to speak but he hesitated so Hollis interjected.

"I know a way we can secure this election for our boy," he said in his deep country accent.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"What Hollis means is that we have a way we can secure the election in our favor, so to speak." Mellie answered.

Olivia was quiet for a moment.

"What do you think?" Cyrus asked.

Olivia stood, "I'm going to pretend that we never had this meeting." She turned and walked out and Cyrus followed her.

"Olivia please listen," Cyrus pleaded as he chased after her.

"No Cyrus, how can you ask me to sit in there with him when you saw what he did to me? How can you ask me to agree to what you're asking? Why would you even tell me," Olivia said as her eyes filled with angry tears.

"We can't lose," Cyrus said, "he can't lose. We're desperate."

"He will win. I know he will but if he doesn't he'll survive, just like every other candidate that's lost. He said so himself."

Olivia turned and continued down the hall. She took the rest of the day off and went back to her hotel. Seeing Gerry was much harder than she anticipated. She's never been physically assaulted anywhere close to as violently as Gerry had done.

She heard a knock on her door, she knew it must've been Cyrus coming to try and convince her that what they were suggesting was necessary. It wasn't and they couldn't convince her that it was.

She looked through the peephole and it was him so she opened the door and let him in.

"We don't have anything to talk about other than your apology to me for being Gerry here."

"I didn't bring him here Olivia, Mellie did," Cyrus sighed frustrated, "all of that aside, I know it's wrong but he deserves this Liv, you know that the only reason we're in this mess is because of Mellie, why should he be punished for her mistake."

"I said no. Don't convince me, don't tell me details because if I find out you guys go through with whatever it is your planning I'm telling Fitz and then I'm telling the FBI."

Cyrus cut her off.

"Just think-"

"Leave!" She walked over to the door and held it open for him to leave. Cyrus got the message and walked out.

Fitz returned from the dinner late that night. She was hoping he wouldn't visit her but she knew he would, as long as he was in the same hotel as her, he was going to come visit her. He came later than usual, around 12am, his flight back from New York was a late one, she had given him a copy of her room keys at every hotel since they made up after the first presidential debate so he let himself in.

She was lying, wrapped up in her comforter, half asleep. He didn't say anything, he just walked over to the bed and got under the sheets with her. Fitz usually slept on his back, so she moved over and rested her head on his chest, the way she usually did when they slept together. Within no time, they were both asleep.

The next morning, Olivia woke up around 6, Fitz was still sleeping so she went ahead and showered. She came out of the shower at 6:30 and was surprised when Fitz was still fast asleep. She walked over to the bed and tapped him gently on the shoulder.

"Fitz, wake up."

He didn't respond, which was unusual because he was usually a light sleeper.

She nudged him again.

"Fitz you have to wake up."

He stretched in his sleep and then opened his eyes and sat up.

"What time is it?" he asked as he yawned.

"It's 6:30."

"I'm so tired, I could sleep until 12."

"But you can't because you have 3 early voter rallies today, you have to revise your victory and concession speeches and you have a satellite interview tonight."

He sighed.

"Okay, I'm up."

She turned around to head back to the bathroom.

"Livie, are you okay?"

She stopped and turned around to face him.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

He got up from under the sheet and walked over to her.

"I don't know, I feel like something's off with you."

"I want to ask you something and I want you to be completely honest with me."

Fitz nodded.

"Do you want to be president or are you just running because you could run?"

Fitz didn't reply for a while, she could tell he was seriously thinking about his response.

"The truth is that I don't know. I don't know if I'm doing this because it's what everyone's been telling me I was supposed to do since I was 10 years old. I know I want to help people, I know I want to make this country better but I don't know if this is something I really want or something I have been groomed to want."

She smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Thanks for being honest with me. I love you."

"I love you too Livie." He puckered his lips and gave her a playful slobbery kiss on the lips.

"Oh my god," she chuckled.

"Finally, an actual smile."

She rolled her eyes."Just go to your room.." she scolded.

"Fine," He said, then slapped her on the ass and then hurried out before she could scold him.

Gerry and Hollis left before Fitz got back. Around 9am, Fitz left on his flight to Florida, Mellie accompanied him. She avoided Cyrus and Verna entirely and kept herself busy with organizing the election night event that was to be held in California. After running around all day, the minute she stepped into her office, Cyrus cornered her.

"Liv, talk to me, I know you're mad."

"I'm not mad.. I told you no and I don't want to talk about it."

"So you're not mad at me?" Cyrus asked.

"Nope, I just don't want to talk to you or see you."

"So you're mad at me?"

"Just leave me alone Cyrus. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight. "

She grabbed her purse and coat and headed back to her hotel. She repeated the same routine for days as she tried not to think about what would happen if Fitz lost. They would all blame her, she was sure of it. If he won, she couldn't be sure if it was because they had gone ahead and fixed it or if he won on his own. The thought of Fitz finding out was terrifying and the thought of fixing an election wasn't something she could wrap her head around. She'd threatened to tell the FBI but that would hurt Fitz so it wasn't an option.

It was November 6th, the election was only 2 days away. The campaign office was desolate as most of the veteran volunteers and interns were being flown out to California for the election night event. The volunteers and interns that signed on later in the campaign, were thrown a huge party and given gifts cards for their service by Fitz.

Fitz got a call from Titi, telling him that Gerry had been rushed to the hospital after they found him drunk and unconscious. Later she called and informed him that Gerry didn't make it. Fitz flew to California earlier than planned but it took convincing to get him to go for Gerry. He assured Olivia she didn't have to come but she decided it would be best to go. Gerry was dead, there was nothing else he could do to her.

The timing for Gerry's death couldn't have been worse. With the election only two days away, Gerry's death covered the news cycles. They suspended all campaign events featuring Fitz, not because Fitz cared but for the optics. Mellie took it upon herself to plan the funeral, it was to take place a couple days after the election. Olivia didn't get a chance to speak with Fitz privately since Gerry's passing. He requested to be left alone, she didn't want to push him, so she let him be.

Election night.

With the exception of Fitz, all the heads of the Grant campaign gathered in the conference room at the Grant election night event. Olivia hadn't seen Fitz all day and she couldn't take it anymore. She saw Mellie conversing with Cyrus in the corner, talking about what they were to do once they got in the white house no doubt. They didn't look the least bit worried or nervous about the results. She decided to interrupt them, to her, they seemed to be advertising to the world that they had already won.

"You know, you guys can at least act like you're not first lady and chief of staff for a couple more hours," she scolded quietly.

"Relax Liv," he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention to Mellie.

"Can I talk to you for a moment, Mellie."

"Sure, Liv, anything," she smiled sweetly.

"Is the governor okay, I haven't seen or heard from him all day?"

Mellie playfully tapped her shoulder.

"Fitz is fine, he keeps to himself when he's dealing with things, don't worry about him."

"His father just passed, you should maybe talk to him, it might make him feel better," Olivia suggested with a little too much affection, it caught Mellie's attention.

"If there's one thing I know about Fitzgerald, it is that he hated Gerry with every fiber of his being okay. He is not mourning Gerry's death, if anything he should be celebrating, he's one of the 15 richest people in the country," Mellie was overjoyed, she leaned closer to Olivia.

Olivia looked at her seriously for a moment then just shook her head and walked away.

Most of the polls had closed and the results were only hours away. Olivia went back to her room at the Grant guest villa to watch the coverage by herself; she figured she could make her way back to the election event after the results were announced. All the exit polls had Fitz in the lead but if he was truly losing the exit polls would have him behind the actual vote. All the news stations began calling states, in favor of Fitz or Reston. After sometime she couldn't stand to watch anymore, Fitz was clearly winning and she didn't know if it was because they fixed it or because he was getting more votes. She turned the tv off and kicked her shoes off and wrapped herself in the bed sheets. She laid until she heard a knock on her door. She got up to answer and to her surprise, it was Fitz.

She opened her door so he could come in.

"I've barely seen you in days, are you okay? No don't answer that, it was a stupid question...but seriously how are you doing?" Olivia fired her questions so quickly it caused Fitz to chuckle.

"Livie I'm okay."

"Are you sure? I mean… I don't want to annoy you but I've been a little worried about you, your father just passed. I know when my mother passed I almost went crazy, I just want to make sure your head is in the right place even if you two weren't on good terms."

Fitz was a shocked at her revelation.

"I didn't know your mother passed, I've asked you how your parents were doing several times and you told me they were alright."

"Umm… that's what I usually tell people, it's not really easy for me to talk about my parents."

Fitz stepped closer to her and enveloped her in his arms and kissed her forehead and let his lips linger there. Olivia buried her head in his embrace, she felt like she needed the hug more than he did.

He was about to let her go but she stopped him.

"No, don't let go, not yet," she hated how needy she sounded but she couldn't help it.

She could feel him grinning as he kissed her again.

"You're the one who's father just died but I'm the one who needs to be coddled," she murmured softly.

He chuckled. "I hated my father. It's okay.."

"Fitz?"

"Yeah," he answered softly.

She looked up at him, she met his gaze and saw how sad his eyes were.

"It's okay to feel sad about Gerry's death, even though he was horrible. You should forgive him…for you."

He held her tighter.

"That's exactly what my mother would have said to me if she were here, you sound like her sometimes." He was quiet for a moment as he stroked her hair. "I can't forgive him. I don't know if you can. He was horrible Livie. For as long as I've known him, he was horrible. I feel relieved he's dead and I feel like you're the only person I can admit that to." Fitz needed to change the subject, things were getting too emotional for him, Olivia had the tendency to do that to him.

"Why aren't you watching the election coverage?" he asked randomly.

"I couldn't, why aren't you watching it?"

"I was at the lake all day."

"You need to go back to the election event, I missed you all day and they have too."

Fitz released her from his arms and walked over to the tv remote.

"You're the campaign manager, you should be there too," he countered.

"Fair enough."

He was about to turn on the tv.

"No, don't, I can't watch it."

Fitz raised his eyebrows."Am I losing that badly," he chuckled.

"No that's not it, you're winning all the exit polls last time I checked but-"

"But nothing come watch with me, Karen's with Titi and everyone else is at the election event, it's just us."

"Okay," she relented and laid on the bed. Fitz turned on the tv and joined her in bed.

They watched as they announced, county by county, state by state. Fitz was calm, Olivia, on the other hand, was a nervous mess. Fitz was winning by a lot more than the polls predicted though they didn't feel comfortable enough to call the election in his favor it seemed like he was going to win by a landslide, at least electorially. The closer they got to calling the election for Fitz, the more Olivia's anxiety rose. Fitz had been noticing but it was getting bad. She was trembling.

"Livie, it's not the end of the world if I lose, you know that right."

"I know, I know," she said nervously.

"This just in, we can officially call this election, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the third, the republican nominee and 45th president of the united states. President Elect Grant has so far secured 344 electoral votes thanks to a shocking win in deep blue New York and New Jersey and unsurprisingly though still an incredible achievement, his home state of California.

He was too stunned to move and it took a moment for him to react as he watched the talking heads on tv discuss his win.

He looked at Olivia and she was frozen just as he was. He took a breath and wrapped his arms around her.

"We won," he said in disbelief.

"Of course you won," she said tearfully, "I knew you would."

He grabbed her and kissed her deeply. A part of him had accepted and even secretly wished to lose. If he lost, now that Gerry was dead and unable to fight him on it, divorcing Mellie would have been much easier. He would have done it right away to be free of Mellie and make Olivia his but now plans would have to change.

Fitz reluctantly broke this kiss as the news anchors called another state for him in the background. After winning New York, New Jersey and California where he was already outperforming expectations because he'd tied with Reston democratic strongholds he won the swing state of Pennsylvania while keeping all of his conservative and swing states like Florida, Arizona and Texas. His electoral count widened to 364. which had been polled as ties between him and Reston, there was no path forward for Reston to win. They sat a moment longer as they called Ohio then North Carolina then Michigan and his electoral count rose to 410. A landslide by margins not seen since Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Reagan.

Calls were coming in so fast that his phone was in a constant state of vibration.

"Everyone is calling me, we should probably go," he pulled her up off the bed.

There was still something off about her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea I'm fine, I'm just processing this. I knew it would happen but it's still shocking. I'm so very happy for you," she smiled.

"Well I couldn't have done it without you. I wouldn't have made it out of the primaries with you."

"Yes, you could have."

"No," Fitz said sternly. "I couldn't have done it without you. Cyrus couldn't have gotten me here by himself."

Olivia sighed, unwilling to argue with him.

"Let's get back before they send a search party for you. You're the president elect now so I know you secret service guards are hunting you"

"I ditched them earlier," he said as he lifted her around his waist and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you, you know that right?"

Olivia smiled, "I know. I love you too." She leaned down and kissed him. "So much," she said as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

They made their way back to the event, separately. Olivia searched for Cyrus but she could barely find him through all the confetti and balloons and bottles of champagne being opened.

Once she found him she pulled him out of the crowd into a private room.

"Did you do it?" She asked.

"No," he laughed. "Hollis got cold feet and balked after Gerry died," he turned and saw Fitz hugged Karen across the room. "Fitzgerald you fucking king!" Cyrus yelled. "We won by a fucking landslide."

Cyrus patted her on the shoulder and ran off.

She stayed for a while and convinced herself that what he said was true. She sat on the couch in one of the green rooms trying to process what she was feeling. She was happy he won but she wasn't sure what that meant for their relationship. It was something she tried not to think about leading up to the election but now that it was over, that was the only thing left for her to think about.

Day of the inauguration.

"You know they're going to come and get you any minute now right?" she reminded.

He pouted.

"I have a gift for you."

He raised his eyebrows mischievously.

"Not that kind of gift," she scolded.

He chuckled, "it's the best kind of gift."

She took a tiny box out of her pocket.

"It's Eisenhower's pin, it has 48 stars on it, I wanted to give you something special. I won it at auction. I thought it was fitting since you both had similar electoral wins."

"You're my something special."

"Don't get me emotional, I have mascara on," she warned him playfully.

"Okay but really you didn't have to get me anything."

"I know but I wanted to and it's very rare so never take it off."

"This is an amazing gift, I love it and the press is gonna love it."

She smiled at him.

"Come on it's time to go, the inauguration is gonna start soon."

Olivia attempted to step off but Fitz stopped her and held her hand in his, "I can feel you slipping away," he said as he gazed into her eyes and tucked a strand of her long curly hair behind her ear. "Am I wrong?" He couldn't explain but there had been something distant about her for a few weeks now and it worried him.

He waited for a response but instead Olivia lifted the hem of her dress and moved his hand under her it then slipped his finger under the crotch of her panties so he could feel how wet she was.

"Does this feel like someone who's slipping away?" She asked breathlessly.

Fitz slipped his middle finger deeper inside her and watched her mouth fall open as her breath deepened.

He smiled and took a breath and removed his fingers from her warm, wet hole.

"I guess I was wrong."

He licked his fingers and then stood from where he leaned against the resolute desk. The moment he stood Cyrus walked into his office. Olivia suddenly felt goosebumps on her skin, thinking about what would have happened if Cyrus walked in a moment earlier.

"Fitz the chief justice is here," he said.

Fitz nodded and motioned for Olivia to join him in greeting the justices.

The inauguration was full of excitement. The national mall was filled to the brim with his supporters. After the inauguration they had a luncheon with the previous president and his family and that took them well into the evening when they dispersed to prepare for the inaugural ball.

As Fitz sat in the closet of his new bedroom, as stylists buzzed around him readying him and Mellie for the event all he could think about was Olivia. She was adamant that she wouldn't attend the ball and it wasn't hard to figure out why even though she would never admit it to him. He pestered her until she made a vague promise to consider coming but he wasn't convinced he would see her.

He managed to get through two dances with Mellie before he was ready to leave. Olivia wasn't there to dazzle his eyes with whatever new magnificent dress she'd found. She was always the best dressed and most beautiful woman in any room she occupied and he was utterly disappointed she wasn't there.

He tried to stay as long as he could stand at the ball but once Karen's nanny carried her away to bed for the night he quickly left.

He was surrounded by presidential secret service agents and had been since he won the election. Tom, his lead agent, told him Olivia was sitting in her office so that's where we went to find her.

As he walked past the clear glass windows of her office he could see her reading a stack of papers. She wore an absolutely stunning metallic gold gown that hugged her body. Her face was flawless and her hair was wrapped up prettily. Fitz stood in the doorway for some time, admiring her beauty before she noticed him.

She smiled, confused, "what are you doing here?"

"Why are you working?" He asked.

"You begged me for an entire month to be your communications director so now I'm directing your communications. There's a lot of it."

He smiled, "why weren't you at the ball. You're too stunning to be hiding in here."

She sighed, "I was going to go- I just felt like doing this instead. Why aren't you at your ball?"

"There are five balls."

"Why aren't you at the main one?"

"Because you're in here."

Olivia sighed, "you shouldn't have left."

Fitz walked to her and took the stack of papers from her hand then turned out of the room.

"Join me," he said.

Olivia slipped in her heels and followed him down the empty West wing halls. She continued to the Oval Office. When she walked inside he was standing by the resolute desk. Olivia walked over to him and outstretched her palm. "Can I have my papers back?" She asked.

Fitz smiled, "no."

She smiled as he pulled her body against his and wrapped his hands tightly around her waist. "Did I mention how dashing you look in your tux?"

He ran his hand down her back and cupped her ass then he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers as he caressed her cheek.

"What if someone sees us?" Olivia asked, already breathless.

"No one will," Fitz whispered against her lips as pulled her into a kiss and lifted her on top of the resolute desk. Olivia pulled up her dress, allowing her to open her legs wider and pull him between them. Fitz reached behind her and unzipped the back of her dress just enough for her large breasts to spill out of the bodice. He leaned her back so he could have a full view of her before he licked over her erect nipple and kissed up her neck.

Olivia closed her eyes and enjoyed his kisses as she reached down and undid the waist of his tuxedo pants. Once his pants fell down she reached into his boxers and began to stroke him. His shaft was thick and stiff in her hand.

"Is this all for me?" She whispered against his lips as she continued to stroke.

"It's all for you," he groaned as he lifted her and pulled her panties from under her dress. He dropped it to the floor and pulled her closer, lining her up perfectly before he slid into her.

"Fuck," she moaned softly as she grabbed him tightly and clung to him.

He kissed her hungrily as he began to thrust into her with passion and purpose. She felt divine around his cock. It took mere moments for them both to reach the edge. Olivia's legs began to tremble. She arched her back as his sweet, punctuated thrusts drove her mad. Seconds later, they orgasmed together as was usual for them. When Fitz finished inside her he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath after a quick and dizzying orgasm.

"I can never get enough of you," he whispered as he kissed her lightly on the lips and then down the line of her jaw and trailed kisses down her neck. Olivia giggled as she ran her fingers through his hair gently. She felt him continue to kiss down until he reached her breast and sucked her nipple so hard that it tingled after he released her. Finally he leaned up and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and placed it between them as he slowly removed himself from her. Olivia pressed cloth between her legs to prevent his cum from dripping out under her. Fitz stuffed his penis inside his underpants then fixed his pants and picked up her panties from the floor. He opened them and smiled when he saw the wetness glistening in the crotch. Olivia slipped her heeled feet through the opening and Fitz pulled them up her legs, lifting her slightly off his desk to pull them up her ass and then he reached behind her and zipped the back of her dress. He took his handkerchief from her and stuffed it in his pocket then they both walked together and sat on his couch.

"You need a place to stay," he said. "It must be driving you crazy to live at a hotel after living in them for practically all of last year.

"I do but the stress of moving is not something I can handle right now. I need to get settled in here first."

"Let me buy you a place. A house in virginia…maybe. Something not too far away."

"Fitz, you're already paying for me to stay at the Waldorf Astoria…which costs a fortune. I don't need a house. I'll start looking for an apartment in a few weeks."

"You need a house."

Olivia shook her head, "I'm sure you can find a big, beautiful mansion to put me in…but I don't want to be in a house all by myself. I prefer an apartment."

Fitz sighed, "okay but if you need anything you have to let me know."

"I will," she said with a nod.

Fitz rested his hand against her knee and absently began to stroke her skin.

"You want more?" She asked.

"I always want more," he responded with a smirk.

DAY OF THE STATE OF THE UNION.

"Cyrus, if you see Olivia please tell her that I need to speak with her in the oval."

"No problem sir, I should be meeting up with her in a few."

Fitz got back to work in the oval while Cyrus headed to meet Olivia and Verna in his office. He could hear Olivia and Verna bickering.

"I can't force him to make you a supreme court justice, you're gonna have to wait your turn because he's dead set on Judge Miller," Olivia snapped. "You're a little bit too much to the right for him right now. He wants a moderate."

Cyrus sighed in frustration. "Olivia, Fitz needs you in his office."

"Here's the thing and I need both of you to hear me when I say this. If President Grant doesn't announce me as the supreme court nominee there will be hell to pay. We may not have gone through with the plan but one whisper of it and this all comes crashing down."

Olivia laughed, "I can't force him to do anything he doesn't want to do so you'll just have to wait until the next justice retires or dies if you don't like that then too bad," Olivia said.

"He listens to you Olivia so if you can't make him nominate me, then you're out of luck-." Verna threatened.

"Here's the thing Verna, I don't disagree with you because I have been feeling out of luck lately, you know ever since you guys pulled me into the never ending shitstorm that you let those two idiots convince you to agree with and then you didn't even go through with it, allegedly. I'm done, from now on any favors you need or threats you need to make you can go to Cyrus because I can't deal with this anymore," Olivia stormed out.

She remembered that Fitz wanted to see her but she was sure it was nothing work related. It took about two weeks of sneaking around the white house to have sex before she came to the realization that couldn't be her life she'd been avoiding him since. She didn't know what she was thinking when she quit the firm and sold her partnership and came to work at the white house, it was mostly because Fitz begged her weeks after the election, she was adamant about not working for him but one night in a post orgasm trance, she said yes and he held her to her word and announced it promptly the next day.

She went back to her office, she was in the middle of a phone conference when Fitz came looking for her.

"Olivia-" he said as he walked into the office.

She motioned with her hand that she was on the phone. He stood and waited for about 30 seconds before he got annoyed and unplugged the power cord from the phone.

"Fitz!" Olivia almost yelled but she remembered her door was open.

"You've been avoiding me. Why?"

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy with work."

"Well that sounds like bullshit," he said flatly.

She rolled her eyes."Just go."

"Are you gonna let me know what's wrong with you?"

Olivia looked up at the ceiling.

Fitz walked closer and closed the door behind him. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong with you. I'll stay here all day if I have to.."

"What's wrong with me? Oh I don't know, maybe I'm tired of being the Sally Hemmings to your Thomas Jefferson."

His eyes opened wide and she could tell he was hurt by her words. He opened his mouth to respond when Cyrus walked in.

"Sir, we're waiting for you at the meeting."

Fitz turned and stormed out the door.

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't even know she had been feeling that until she said it out loud but now she regretted it because she knew Fitz wasn't going to let it go.

Later that night, she snuck out to the rose garden to get some air. She stood quietly as she faced the roses. She was staring at nothing in particular but before she knew it she had tears in her eyes. She had been thinking about resigning for about a week, she didn't want to make a rash decision, she knew she needed to think it through but it felt like torture to stay. Everyday was more suffocating than the one before and she worried that eventually it would break her. After earning a yearly 7 figure salary for the couple of years that she worked at the firm as partner, in addition to the very generous salary the Fitz offered her for her work at the campaign and all the other gifts he'd given her, finance wouldn't be an issue. She knew finding a job wouldn't be hard either but she didn't want to work for anyone, she wanted to be her own boss. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see Fitz standing behind her.

"Olivia that Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemmings comment was really fucking below the belt."

She wiped her eyes and turned around to face him."Because it's so untrue."

Fitz noticed she was crying and felt panic. Why was she crying alone in the rose garden? "Yes it's untrue, this is not one sided, I told you I loved you and I meant it when I said it!" he said angrily but really he was panicking.

"Yea I'm sure that's what Thomas told Sally."

In a sudden motion he grabbed her so fast that it frightened her. He brought her closer and looked into her eyes."Don't you dare question my love for you!" His voice cracked with a deep hurt that she'd never seen from him before.

She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. " I can't do this anymore," she cried. "Fitz, where can this go? Really? You're married, you have a child with her and you're the president. You're growing old with her and I can't watch it anymore-"

Fitz let her go and turned and stepped away so he could take a breath. She was saying all the things he was worried she was feeling and now the thought of their relationship ending sent a deep and unsettling panic through him. She was the only place he'd found comfort in the last year. He wasn't sure what he would do without her. He didn't think he could be without her.

"This about Mellie? " he said, cutting her off.

Olivia shook her head as more tears streamed down her cheeks. "I can't spend entire day working for you and fucking you and then go home and be all alone. My whole life is you. I can't breathe because I'm waiting for you. You own me, you control me, I belong to you and I can't hold my breath and wait for someone that I can never have. I can't be near you anymore because I feel like I'm fucking falling apart, " she cried. "It's torture being here with you and I can't fucking do it anymore."

"You own me! You control me. I belong to you." Fitz yelled so loud it startled her.

"What do you want me to do? Do you want me to divorce her in the first six weeks into my presidency so that everything we've worked for in the last year can be for nothing? Is that what you want? I'll fucking do it Olivia just say the word."

She shook her head, feeling emotionally overwhelmed by the conversation, "that's not what I want."

"Do you want me to dedicate myself to my marriage? I can't Olivia because I love you. I'm fucking in love with you. You're the love of my life. My every feeling is controlled by the look on your face. I can't breathe without you. I can't sleep without you. I wait for you, I watch for you. I exist for you and I have since you fucking walked into my campaign. You're nobody's victim, Liv. I belong to you. We're in this together."

Olivia was speechless, she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She couldn't form a coherent thought or word and after waiting for a response and receiving none he scoffed and stormed off.

She stood there for some time just trying to process everything that just happened. She heard the clicking of heels coming towards her. She turned around to see Mellie.

"Hello, Olivia."

"Mellie-" she said as she wiped her eyes and tried to fix her face.

"You know I was willing to turn my head the other way when I found out you were fucking my husband becuase let's face it, we needed you on the campaign. It was a sacrifice I had to make and we hadn't slept together in years so it's not like I was missing anything."

She could see the shock on Olivia's face and suddenly Mellie was drowning in tears of her own.

"Mellie I don't know what you're talking about?" was all Olivia managed to come up with.

"You two have done a terrible job of hiding it, you're a little less obvious than my husband, but he can't keep his eyes or hands off you, and the way he says your name; 'Livie' it was just too obvious, I'm surprised rumors haven't started already." She scoffed and wiped her eyes. "It's so funny, I'm his wife and I literally was begging you to ask him for things because he only said yes to you."

"When did you find out?" Olivia asked quietly.

"In the days after you came, I realized he was watching you. He was always watching you which was unusual because Fitz never really paid other women attention." Mellie said. "I wasn't worried at first, you're a pretty, young girl, what man wouldn't look but then he started to hang on to your word like it was gospel and he only ever cared about what you had to say and everything that came out of your mouth was the most brilliant thing that was ever said. To be fair, I thought most things you said were brilliant as well so that wasn't exactly my come to Jesus moment. I wasn't convinced until he said what he said at the debate. I knew he didn't mean it but I still thought it was nice of him to say that to me until I realized he was looking directly at you. As life would have it I happened to overhear my husband's poetic confession of his love to you and well, it hurts. He's never given me not even a piece of that affection in our entire marriage and although my pride is wounded I needed to hear that.." Mellie paused and smiled charmingly. It was jarring to see because she was tearful just a moment earlier.

"If he utters another word about getting a divorce, I will throw you and him out to the press to putrefy and don't take it the wrong way, I like you but there is no way I'm getting left out in cold after 14 years of being the trophy wife when everything finally started paying off, we have the money, we have the power and we have the fame, I'm not gonna step aside so Fitz can replace me with you. You better tell him to never mention a divorce to me again. You can keeping fucking my husband, I don't care but that's all you'll do, you'll never be his wife. "

Mellie didn't wait for a reply from Olivia, she just turned and walked away.