She sat on the couch with her resignation letter in hand. She waited nervously for Fitz to return from his late meeting. The west wing was mostly empty since everyone had gone home for the day. She briefly thought about just placing the letter on his desk and leaving but she knew he'd want answers.

After some time, she heard Fitz's voice in the hallway, outside of the office. Within seconds he strode into the office, completely surprised by her presence.

"Livie? What are you doing here?" he didn't seem to harbor any malice from their encounter last night.

"I have something I need to give you something, well...actually I thought about just leaving it on your desk but I feel like you deserved better than that so I wanted to give you in person."

She walked over to him and handed him her resignation letter. She saw a few different expressions cross his face as he read the letter.

"So much for two weeks' notice huh?"

"I think it's for the best, I love you but it was a mistake to come here. I can't stay anymore."

He walked over to the window, his back turned to her.

"What will you do after this?"

"I don't know, I'm gonna move back to New York. I need a vacation so I'll probably go to Bora Bora for a couple of weeks and get one of those overwater bungalows where you can see the fish swim under your room. Maybe I'll go back to my old firm, they told me I could come back whenever I was ready or maybe I'll do something else."

He didn't reply.

"Fitz, are you gonna be okay?" she asked softly.

After a while, he answered.

"Am I gonna be okay?" he repeated as if it was a ridiculous thing to ask. "Of course not but I'm sure that's not going to stop you from leaving."

"You know I have to. Fitz look at me-"

He wouldn't, he stood unmoving towards the window with his back firmly faced towards her. She walked over to him and tugged on his arm to try to get him to face her.

"Fitz, look at me-"

He didn't budge. "I'm not interested in having a heart-to-heart right now, if you're gonna fucking rip my heart out then just do it and leave."

"Fitz, that's not fair, you know this is the right decision-" she tried to get him to face her but he refused. He refused to face her and Olivia stood for a while, trying to figure out how to get a response from him. In her frustration, she began to cry. "If this is how you want to leave things then fine."

She walked out realizing that was about as much of a goodbye she was going to get.

A week later…

Fitz stood on the White House press podium, preparing to field questions from reporters and as he dreaded the very first question was about Olivia. He waited a few days to announce it.

"Mr. President, your communications director Olivia Pope resigned after just 6 short weeks on the job. Do you care to comment on the reason?"

Fitz leaned into the mic, "not really." The room laughed.

"Was she fired or did she resign sir?"

"She resigned," Fitz said, "she might be the only person in D.C that's resigned on their own accord."

"So she wasn't fired?"

"I think that's what 'resigns' means?" He said sarcastically.

The press pool laughed.

"How do you fire someone with that much talent? I'd have to be crazy." the room chuckled and Fitz continued, "no. Cyrus and I begged Ms. Pope to stay through the transition and at least the early months of my presidency so we could hit the ground running on our agenda and she did just that. She did amazing work on the campaign and while she was here in the white house. We wish her the best and whenever she'd like to return, I'll have a place for her in my administration. Next question."

"Will Ms. Pope run your reelection campaign?"

Fitz leaned to the mic, "I just got here."

The pool laughed again.

Olivia had watched the clip a few times, parsing every word and pausing to try to read his true feelings. It was hard when he was putting on a performance.

She was still at the Waldorf and she'd taken a few days to herself before she began planning her next move. She was trying her best not to wallow in sadness and she'd retained a psychotherapist to get ahead of any effects leaving him might have on her.

She wanted to be her own boss and that desire was driving her thoughts about where she wanted to go next especially since she'd been getting many business propositions since her resignation became public. She'd been thinking about opening her own firm for some time…since the transition when she wasn't sure she wanted to join Fitz's administration for all the reasons that eventually caused her to leave. Abby had already agreed to work with her in whatever she planned on doing and so the first thing she did after returning from her vacation in Bora Bora with Abby was to go apartment hunting. She'd been living out of the Waldorf for months. She ended her stay just before her vacation but now she needed something more permanent. After a week of looking for apartments and traveling back and forth from D.C to New York for viewings they found the perfect one. A gorgeous 2-bedroom in a luxurious building. Within a week of signing her lease, Olivia and Abby had flown from D.C. to New York 2 times, to successfully have movers pack and ship all the items from her New York apartment to D.C., cancel her New York lease, and complete all the paperwork required for moving. Once she had settled in the apartment, she made calls to Harrison and Stephen about her intentions to open her own firm and it took little convincing to get them on board.

The hunt for office space began, once that was done, she got to the paperwork, there was a lot of paperwork to be done and that alone took weeks of 12 hours days to tackle. Luckily she had the help of Harrison and Abby, who were both jobless before she called them. Stephen was working at a firm and she advised him not to leave until she got everything in order on her end. Abby was prepared to live with her but Olivia decided against it and instead paid the deposit and the 1st three months' rent for both her and Harrison, so they could each have their own space. The money Fitz had given her after Gerry's attack funded her business and all the related expenses entirely along with her move to a new city.

Within a couple months, and after many sleepless nights her firm was up and running, Olivia used her contacts to get her a few articles in some of D.C.'s top newspapers, and with that the clients started coming in. She had a few large corporations and a number of politicians and superpacs on retainer and within 4 months, her business was self-sufficient. Abby, Harrison, and Stephen worked flawlessly but she felt like something was missing, and brought Huck unto O.P.A. as well.

She stayed far away from the white house, she hadn't seen or spoken to Fitz until one afternoon after a meeting in the capitol building with Senator Davis. He offered to walk her out and she accepted. As he typically did whenever she was in his company, he rattled off a series of unfunny jokes and anecdotes mixed with flirting and as usual she laughed and flirted back. In the midst of their conversation as they walked down the hall she felt someone watching her and when she broke her attention away from the senator, she saw Fitz, walking with a few of the senate leaders, surrounded by secret service agents. He was staring daggers into her as he walked down the hall, approaching her direction. She felt her heartbeat sink to her gut. She braced herself although she was unsure what she was bracing herself for. As he walked closer, he turned his attention back to the senate leader walking beside him and continued down the hall, ignoring her entirely.

She felt a panic attack impending and turned to the senator and smiled, "I need to use the restroom," she said and walked off without waiting for a response. She found one down the hall and walked in quickly and shut the door behind her.

She took deep breaths as she tried to control her breathing and make sense of what just happened. Was he upset with her? They didn't end on the best terms but she never imagined he would actually hate her. As it stood, it was hard to think he did anything but hate her after their interaction. She looked in the mirror at her appearance. She was stunning. Her hair was shiny and straight from her press at the salon only days earlier. Her makeup was light but flawless and her lips were lined with lip liner and the perfect nude lipstick for her skin to emphasize her perfect pout. She wore a wool gray long double breasted blazer and slim fit pants tucked into her black stiletto boots that stopped just below her knees.

She took another breath to calm herself and rested her bag on the counter and washed her hands then quickly headed back out. Senator Davis was waiting just outside the door.

"You ran Grant's campaign. He can't give you a greeting?" He asked, incensed on her behalf.

Olivia smiled charmingly, "he was not happy that I left. You'd be just as upset if I ever dump you as a client."

"True but not even a greeting. I hate him a little more now," he said.

"Of course you hate him, he's a republican that is capable of stealing democratic votes."

He rolled his eyes and laughed, "agreed." He said then they continued walking.

Two weeks later, she was surprised to see secret service agents in her office. For a moment, she thought it was Fitz but instead, Mellie walked in and closed the door behind her. Olivia was so stunned that she stood.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in lieu of a greeting.

When she looked through the partial glass door of her office she saw Abby with an opened mouth behind the secret service agents.

Mellie sat in the chair in front of Olivia's desk.

"I wanted to personally invite you to the state gala tomorrow. The royal family from Monaco will be visiting and I'd love to have you join us."

Olivia sat down and took a breath.

"Why on earth would I want to be anywhere near the white house or you?"

"Because Fitz has been an insufferable asshole for the past several months and most especially in these last two weeks. He's not sleeping."

Olivia steeled her resolve.

"What does that have to do with me? You're his wife aren't you, you made a speech about that."

Mellie groaned, "he needs to see you so you'll be at the ball tomorrow. Wear a pretty dress and get dolled up and smile at him prettily so that at least for tomorrow night he'll get some sleep."

"I'm not doing that," Olivia said. "He's your husband so you figure out how to get him to sleep."

"You'll come to the ball tomorrow or I'll leak to the press that you were having an affair with my husband. He'll deny it and I'll deny it but once it's out there it'll never go away. Once it's out there, if there's even one person who remembers seeing him touch you or even look at you inappropriately. If there's any security footage from the countless hotels and campaign stops of him going to your room or you going to his- when everyone is looking for it- it will come out. Fitz will be fine. He'll apologize and because he's a man, especially if I stand by his side he'll get away with it but you…they'll destroy you."

Mellie stood, "I'll see you at the gala tomorrow. One of my aides will bring over your invitation later today."

Mellie left without another word and once the secret service agents were gone Abby rushed into her office.

"What did she want?"

Olivia shook her head, "she invited me to the state gala tomorrow."

"Why?" Abby asked.

Olivia shrugged but didn't answer.

The following night as she sat in front of her vanity mirror staring at her appearance she wondered how to navigate the predicament with Mellie. She was seething but she tried to stay calm.

Her makeup artist and hair stylist had just left moments ago. She wore a fitted silk de chine gown that was perfectly tailored to her body just hours earlier. She wore diamonds around her neck and in her ears and draped a white fox fur stole around her shoulders.

Her makeup was clean with a matte red lip and her hair was curled in old Hollywood pin curls, parted to the side. They fell down her back.

She was caught off guard with her threat and she tried to think about how she should react, carefully and not out of anger. Her instinct was to call Mellie's bluff but the consequences would be too dire if she was wrong. She decided that her best chance was to go to the gala to try to feel Mellie out. If she felt like she would follow through on her threat she would let Fitz know what had transpired and hope he could control Mellie. Even the prospect of speaking to him was daunting because she wasn't sure what his reception would be but she hoped it was her last resort.

Still, she slipped on her white mesh arm's length gloves and went downstairs to the car service she'd hired for the night and headed to the ball.

Security at the White House was tight but when she arrived at the gate a group of secret service agents were waiting to escort her to the ballroom, no doubt it was under Mellie's instructions.

She walked through the halls until she reached the doors of the event and two doormen dressed in white tuxedos opened the large double doors for her. When she walked in the party was in full swing. There was a live jazz band playing. Some guests were seated and eating but most were standing.

She only made it a few steps into the room before Mellie approached her with her icy smile.

"You sure know how to draw attention to yourself, don't you?"

Olivia looked around and noticed quite a few eyes were in her. She turned back to Mellie and she pointed over to Fitz. He was deep in conversation with some member of the royal family he was hosting and hadn't yet seen her.

"He's over there," Mellie said.

"I see him," Olivia said.

Mellie stared for a moment before speaking, "what are you waiting for? Go to him."

A waiter walked up to them both and offered champagne flutes. Olivia took one and took a sip.

"I left the white house and I gave you your husband back. You're his wife, you were very clear about that so now do your job and fix him."

Mellie held onto her hand, pretending it to be a warm gesture."You need to do what I asked."

"And I will," Olivia said as she stepped closer to Mellie, "I'll make sure Fitz sees me smiling prettily and flirting and dancing with every man in this room and then I'll leave you to deal with his tantrum."

Olivia snatched her hand from Mellie.

"I meant what I said," Mellie threatened.

"Do it. I own a crisis management firm and so I think I can handle a crisis. And while your leaking secrets about what I do with my vagina I'll be doing the same to you. I'll make sure everyone knows you faked a miscarriage and that you fucked Paul Mosley and that he was just one of many. When I'm done with you, people will be asking why he didn't cheat on you sooner, which is the same question I asked myself, ironically."

Mellie's mouth fell open and before she could respond Olivia walked and found her name on a placard very close to Fitz's table but he was away entertaining his guests. She dropped her tiny crystal encrusted clutch on the table and took another sip of her champagne. When she turned, Cyrus was behind her.

"Liv," he said excitedly. "How are you here?" He hugged her but she didn't return the hug.

"Mellie invited me," Olivia said with a dry smile.

Senator Shaw was approaching and Olivia turned away from Cyrus to meet him. He smiled his dimpled smile at her. He was a freshman senator and was collectively regarded as the most eligible bachelor in congress.

Olivia returned the smile as he took her gloved hand and kissed it.

"Wow! I'm blown away, you're stunning. l absolutely stunning."

"Keep going," Olivia joked.

"I can," he said with a chuckle, "there is no shortage of adjectives to describe you."

"I'm still waiting.." she entreated playfully.

"Beautiful. Extraordinary. Very well tailored."

She laughed. "I love this."

"Now that I've warmed you up, can I have your number?"

"That was very direct," Olivia said.

"With all the men watching you tonight, I wanted to be first in line for your number." She watched as he stole awkward glances at her chest.

"Is that so-" she said then suddenly she felt like she was being watched. She had the urge to turn around because she knew he would be looking but she didn't.

"Well you're forward thinking and you should be rewarded for that-". She was interrupted by Senator Davis.

"I knew it was you before I even saw your face," he said as he leaned in and hugged her. Senator Shaw groaned audibly but Edison ignored him and took her hand and kissed it. "Wow," he said with a smile. " So you're a crisis manager by day and a Hollywood starlet by night."

Olivia laughed, "a true pioneer."

"We were talking here Edison," Jacob said, trying to hide his annoyance behind playfulness.

"Oh, Olivia and I know each other well so excuse me if I interrupted." Edison responded with a jab. Suddenly both men were competing for her attention. She smiled mischievously as they bickered quietly and reached for another glass of champagne from the waiter passing by. As she reached for the glass and stepped away from them. She walked and moments later she was approached by a well dressed man in a suit.

"I believe you've caught every single eye here tonight, the men and the women, you're certainly the belle of the ball."

He had a french accent and she quickly surmised that he was a member of Monaco's royal family.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you to say," she said with a smile.

"I grew impatient waiting for my turn to speak to you."

"Your turn?" She asked, pretending she hadn't intended to get attention

"Certainly," he responded with a smile. "I'm Angel, crowned prince of Monaco."

They spoke for a while and then sat at one of the tables and continued speaking. Half an hour passed before one of his handlers came to get him. They both stood. "I would love to continue our talk…over dinner. I'll be in town for a few more days. Can I have a way to reach you?"

In a split second decision Olivia decided to give him her phone number. He pulled out his phone and she told him the numbers and then he told her goodbye and kissed her lightly on cheek before he left.

Once he was gone and she was no longer distracted from Fitz's glare on her she felt it again. This time, she felt terrible and realized that he must've watched their entire exchange and it must not have been easy to see. She walked quickly to her table and took her clutch and headed toward the exit before anyone could stop her.

Once she was outside of the door and the doormen closed it behind her she headed down the hall. When she turned the corner there were two secret service agents waiting.

"Ms. Pope, can you come with us?"

"Why?' Olivia asked.

"Please come with us," one of the agents repeated again.

Olivia relented immediately. She knew it was Fitz and though she was dreading an argument she couldn't quell the urge she had to see him. They walked her down to the basement to the underground passageway. She wondered where they were taking her. Half-way down the long passage her feet began to hurt but she continued walking until she reached the other side. They went up a set of stairs and through a few doors when she arrived at what she recognized to be Blair house. The agents brought her to one of the bedrooms and closed the door. She sighed as she sat on the bed and unbuckled the strap around her ankles then slipped off her heels. As she waited her phone rang and when she reached in her purse she didn't recognise the number but after hesitating briefly she answered. It was Angel. She stood and walked to the window, instantly regretting answering the call. She didn't want to rush him off the phone but she couldn't risk Fitz coming into the room while she was on the phone with him.

He asked her out to dinner for the following night and she agreed quickly then hung up. When she saved his number and turned around Fitz was behind her at the other side of the room. She was startled but quickly recovered.

He leaned against the door post with a drink in his hand and the look on his face she'd been dreading. He looked at her as if he hated her and it made her uncomfortable.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked. "Like you hate me."

"Why did you come here tonight?"

"You didn't answer my question,"

"Why did you come here tonight?" He asked again.

"Your wife showed up to my office and told me that I had to come here or she would leak our affair to the press," Olivia said.

"Did she also tell you to flirt with every man you saw?" He said as he took another sip of his liquor.

"I did that because it was the opposite of what she told me to do. I can't have your wife showing up to my office and bullying me on her whims now can I?"

"What did she tell you to do?"

"She told me you weren't sleeping and you've been an asshole lately so I needed to show up and smile at you because that was supposed to fix you."

She watched his jaw tighten as he leaned up from the wall and gulped down the last of his drink then placed the glass on the table by the couch.

"You're going on a date with the prince tomorrow to piss off Mellie too right?"

Olivia walked over to the bed and sat down.

"What do you want me to do? Do you want me to be alone forever? Would that make you happy?"

Fitz walked closer to her on the bed. "I've left you alone so I want you to do the same. I want you to not show up at my events and I want you to not date guests I'm hosting at the white house."

Olivia huffed angrily, "that's what I was doing until your fucking wife showed up."

"She won't bother you again," he said, then he stepped away and headed towards the door.

"Fitz-" she called, suddenly drowning behind tears as she grabbed his hand. He turned to her. "Do you hate me?"

He let out a breath and pressed his palm against her cheek as he stared down at her, trying very hard to resist kissing her. "I don't hate you but I meant what I said. Don't make this any harder."

Olivia nodded tearfully as he let her go and left the room, leaving her alone.

Fitz returned to the whitehouse through the passageway and headed up to his bedroom. Mellie was preparing for bed when he walked in.

The entire reason he was sharing a room with Mellie was because they weren't sure how much they could trust their housekeepers not to leak that they lived separately. After what she'd done with Olivia, it was time to get her out.

"You won't be sleeping here tonight," Fitz said as he pulled off his jacket. "The queen's bedroom is down the hall, you'll sleep there tonight and tomorrow you'll have the staff move your things over there and that's where you'll stay."

"Fitz-"

"Don't ever threaten Olivia again. Don't invite her anywhere I'll be and definitely don't fucking tell her anything about me."

"I thought it would help- I didn't know she'd come here and do the opposite-"

"Why would seeing Olivia help me sleep?" He said as he turned to face her.

"I don't know Fitz, you spend most of your nights tossing and turning and when you do finally fall asleep you have erections and call out her name and so forgive me for thinking that seeing her would help you."

"Right so naturally you thought if you dangled her in front of me like a concubine, we'd fuck and it would make me all better?"

Mellie shrugged, "I was hoping but apparently not."

"Having sex with Olivia for a night won't fix me but divorcing you and marrying her will and that's exactly what I'll do if you leak to the press that we had the affair. The only thing that's stopping me from leaking it myself these last few months is my love for her, because I don't want to do anything that will hurt her. If you do it though, you'll be solving that problem for me so be careful about the threats you make."

He walked to the closet without waiting for a response.


It had been almost 10 months since she resigned and almost 4 months since her last encounter with Fitz when Cyrus called her, she was busy so she didn't answer, she assumed it was for their regular dose of awkward small talk. When she finished with her meeting and checked her phone, she saw 5 missed calls from Cyrus which was strange, it must have been an emergency because Cyrus never called more than once or twice no matter how important it was. If you didn't pick up then he would figure out how to do it himself unless it was an emergency.

She dialed his number as she walked back to her office and closed the door.

"Cyrus, why have you called me 5 times, what could possibly be that important?" she asked calmly, even though she was anxious.

"I have a situation and I need your help."

"When you say 'situation' what do you mean?"

"I mean I can't talk about it over the phone."

"Whatever it is that you've gotten yourself in, I'm not getting involved nor do I want to hear about it Cy, not after last time."

"It's not like that Liv please. It's a political situation and the story is gonna break any minute now and I can't let that happen."

"Fine, meet me at our spot in 20 minutes."

She hung up and headed out. When she got to the bench, Cyrus was there waiting.

"You're early? This must be serious."

Cyrus started blathering before she could even sit down.

"He started divorce proceedings. It'll break before the end of the day."

Olivia's mouth fell open but she was too stunned to speak.

"A sitting president has never divorced during his term."

"So you want me to go talk him out of it?" Olivia asked.

"He listens to you," Cyrus said. "I know you two haven't been on great terms since you resigned but you have to try."

Olivia shook her head, "I'm not gonna convince him to stay married to her Cyrus."

"Why not?"

She leaned closer, "I'm not convincing him to stay married to her. Get someone else to do it."

"It's you," Cyrus said, slowly coming to the realization. "Mellie told me he was having an affair but I didn't believe her. It's with you isn't it?"

Olivia didn't answer him and immediately he stood and stormed away. Cyrus ran back to the white house and burst into the oval, wild-eyed.

"Everybody out!" he ordered.

Fitz was in the middle of a staff meeting and he looked up at Cyrus confused but when he saw how angry Cyrus was he became intrigued as to why. They'd been bickering about his divorce fiasco and he expected it had something to do with that.

"Let's take a break, we can resume in an hour," he announced.

All the staff members quickly scurried away.

When they were all out, Cyrus closed the door.

"You and Olivia, really Fitz," Cyrus said through clenched teeth. He really wanted to scream but he couldn't have anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"What are you talking about?"

"Guess who I just finished speaking with?"

Cyrus didn't give him a chance to answer even though Fitz didn't plan to he assumed it was Mellie

"Olivia, I told her about the divorce-"

Immediately Fitz's whole demeanor changed

"You did what? I told you not to say anything to anyone until I said so," Fitz yelled, not caring if anyone heard.

"Well I did, she runs a crisis management firm, we have a crisis on our hands. When I explained to her what was going on she refused to help, do you wanna know why even though I'm sure you already do."

"Calm down Cyrus."

"Calm down? Calm down? I did not bring her on the campaign so you could fuck her," Cyrus said in an angry whisper.

"This conversation is over, you can show yourself out," Fitz commanded calmly.

"This is not over. You cannot divorce your wife-"

"I said GET OUT!" Fitz yelled so loud the sound echoed through the room.

With that, Cyrus stormed out angrily.

Cyrus tried calling Olivia a few times. He needed to know more but she wasn't picking up. He went to O.P.A to look for her but she wasn't there so he went back to the white house to figure out another way to deal with the situation.

Fitz was irate. He didn't want Olivia to find out about his divorce the way she did. He wanted to tell her himself but thanks to Cyrus' overzealousness that was no longer an option.

He hadn't seen her in months since the state gala and though he was excited about his divorce, he needed to temper his excitement until he was sure that she was even available to him. Now that they were a possibility he was beginning to get nervous about all the things that could go wrong. She hadn't gone on the date with Prince Angel and he was grateful for that but he wasn't sure who else she was seeing. For the rest of the evening his focus was taken with Olivia. He had to reschedule meetings so he could just sit in the oval by himself.


She left from her office later in the evening after spending all day avoiding Cyrus. The story broke around 5pm and it had been all the channels we're talking about since then. She had leftovers for dinner and showered and wrapped in a silk robe then laid in bed for hours, consumed by her thoughts. She was trying not to get ahead of herself or get hopeful. Fitz wasn't the one who told her about the divorce. When she heard a knock on the door. She decided not to answer because it was 11pm in the night and she wasn't expecting anyone.

The knocking continued and continued and continued…

She jumped up and stormed to the door. She stopped and checked the peephole and saw Tom.

She her mouth fell open in shock and she quickly closed it and opened the door.

"Tom, what are you doing here?"

Tom didn't reply, he just stepped aside to reveal Fitz. They stood staring intensely for a moment. She looked absolutely stunning and the enormous feeling of longing he'd had for her in the past ten months hit him like a punch in the gut. He quickly tried to regain his composure.

"Can I come in?"

She was too shocked to respond. Instead, she stepped aside so he could enter and then closed the door behind him.

They stood in silence for a while. He couldn't read her expression as she stood with the blanket wrapped around her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"I planned to…just not yet. Cyrus took care of that though."

She was quiet for a few moments then she responded."why are you doing it?"

He sighed."You know exactly why. I'm a year into my term, if it happens now I can do damage control before it's time to campaign for reelection."

"So this was your plan all along?"

He saw the tears well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me?" She said angrily as shoved him hard against the chest but he didn't budge.

"Livie-" he tried to comfort her but when he reached out she stepped away.

"I'm fine," she said as she wiped her eyes and cheeks. "You would've saved me from a really shitty year if you just told me. I would've been fine waiting for you."

"What was I supposed to tell you Olivia? That I planned to divorce my wife eventually? Well I didn't because I didn't want to."

She walked away from him and went to the couch and sat with her arms wrapped around her legs. Fitz followed her.

"I didn't come here to fight with you," he said.

"What did you come here to do?" She asked. "Because you're obviously still mad at me for leaving, that's why you didn't tell me yourself."

He took a breath and sat beside her.

"I'm not mad at you for leaving and I already told you I don't hate you and I don't even understand how you could think I hated you."

She shook her head, "you were looking at me like you hated me. When we are at the capital building…the gala I probably deserved but you caught me off guard at the capital building you looked at me like that and then you ignored me."

"What was I supposed to do? You caught me off guard too."

"Because I was talking to senator Davis? He was just a client."

"Olivia we've already established the fact that taking to anyone with a dick who isn't me or a gay man drives me insane so I don't know why you're surprised. You leaving just…exacerbated that."

"You know I needed to leave-"

"-Please don't go there-we can talk about everything except that."

"You didn't want to talk about it then and you don't want to talk about it now."

"I know but sitting here and listening to you try to convince me how great it is for us that you left me is not something I can handle right now so let's just not talk about it," he murmured.

Olivia rolled her eyes and wiped away the tears that fell.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you cry-," Fitz said.

"You still didn't tell why you're here?" she said through sniffles.

They were both quiet for a while until Fitz spoke."I have something for you."

"Fitz no gifts especially now when every reporter in the country will be digging into why you're getting divorced."

"I didn't buy it, it's a family heirloom."

Fitz took the small ring out of his pocket.

"I wanted to give it to you the morning you resigned but obviously I couldn't. Then I thought I could give it to you at Cyrus' wedding but when you didn't show up I surmised it had everything to do with avoiding I saw you at the gala and you pissed me off that night so I didn't even remember it was in my fucking wallet."

She laughed, "I was trying to fuck with Mellie for threatening me. Figured if I flirted with enough people and you saw you'd be livid and she'd been too busy dealing with your tantrum to bother me again."

"It worked."

Olivia sighed and looked at him skeptically. "You didn't buy it, you say?"

"No, my great, great-great-grandfather bought it for his wife and when she passed, he gave it to his son to give to the woman he loved and it's been passed down ever since. Gerry gave it to my mom and when she died, he told me to give it to the woman I love. I obviously couldn't give it to Mellie."

Olivia rolled her eyes and laughed.

"So Livie, what do you think?"

"I think I love it."

The smile that spread across his face made her blush.

She held out the index finger of her manicured hand so he could slip the ring on. She noticed something as she inspected the ring on her finger.

"There's an inscription here, what is this?... French?"

"Yeah, it means-"

"Sweet baby- I grew up in Switzerland, I know French Fitz," she chuckled.

"It's a funny thing to write on a ring but I think it gives it character - I just wanted to give you something special because I really have missed you and not being with you for this past year has been hard."

"Fitz I-"

"No, I'm not telling you this for you to feel guilt- and I know we're not supposed to be talking about this. I don't know… I just really want you to know how much and how deeply I love you and I know I've been selfish. I never considered your feelings in this and I'm sorry for that. I understand why you left. I'm getting divorced now but I'm not assuming that means you want to be with me."

Olivia shook her head and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. She held his cheek and stared into his eyes. "If you assumed that then you'd be right. As soon as the ink dries on your divorce papers you're taking me on a fucking date."

He laughed and brought his hands up to her cheeks, "so you'll wait for me?"

"I told you I would," she said as she leaned down and kissed him softly, over and over again.

Fitz delighted to finally feel her lips after almost a year.

She had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she straddled him. The kiss was passionate and intense as their tongues danced together slowly. It felt like no matter how much she deepened the kiss, no matter how far inside him her tongue reached or how much of him she tasted she couldn't get enough. "Fuck. I missed you," she groaned breathless against his lips. She could feel his erection stiffen as she braced herself on top of him.

"I missed you too," he said as he pulled her closer.

She pulled his jacket off his shoulders and when he got it down his arms, she threw it on the floor then she undid his button-down shirt and threw that on the floor as well. She took her time to kiss down his neck and run her hands over his rigid torso and when she was convinced she'd felt every part of him he untied her silk robe and let it fall down her shoulders revealing her breasts and pink lace cheeky panties. Fitz began kissing and sucking on her neck, eliciting a moan from her. It felt good. He inched his way down making small love bites on and around her breasts and sucking her nipples so hard that she pressed her hand against her crotch to try to tame her throbbing clit. He kicked his shoes off as she undid his pants and pulled them down his legs and then he kicked those off too. Once she could see that he was completely naked, she stood so he could pull her panties down her legs and when she was completely naked, he pulled her on top of him.

"Are you ready?" he whispered breathlessly as he gripped her ass, ready to sit her down on his cock.

"Yes," she moaned against his lip.

He slid his tip up and down her slit over and over to tantalize her. He heard her breath quiver as she held on to his neck to balance herself.

He slowly eased her down on him, he was greeted by warm liquid gathered in her core, and immediately he could feel it seep down on him. The sensation made him throw his head back in ecstasy. Olivia had her forehead pressed against his as she took a breath and gave herself a minute to adjust to his enormous cock.

"You feel so fucking good," Fitz whispered.

She worked her hip back and forth on him, riding his cock and slowly building speed as she grew wetter and wetter.

"Oh..yessss," she cried out breathless.

Fitz spanked her on the ass and caused Olivia to fall against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and took a moment to slow down the pace. He was still inside her and the intimacy and the sensuality of being inside her while doing nothing at all was palpable.

He slowly and gently pulled her into a kiss and after a few moments, he began to thrust slow, sweet circles into her wet hole. "Fuck-fuck-" she moaned as she grabbed him. He began to feel running liquid seep down on him. Olivia was close and so was he. He was careful to not quicken his pace even though that was his instinct when his orgasm was close.

They came in rapture together. Fitz didn't pull out after cumming inside her, instead, they stayed wrapped up together kissing slowly and deeply.

As they lay there, Fitz couldn't hold back anymore. His love for her swelled so big that he left like it would burst out of him.

"So when I leave Mellie officially, you'll be with me?" he asked just to make sure they were both clear.

"Yes," Olivia whispered. "I'd want that more than anything."

Fitz stroked her hair and kissed her head, "okay." was all he said.

He pulled out shortly after.

Olivia sat up slowly and gazed down at him. He leaned up until they were at each other's eye level and gazed back. His eyes washed over her round, large breasts then trailed down her torso to her crotch. He found his way back to her brown eyes and for a while time seemed to stop as they gazed at each other. When he finally broke their gaze and looked down he was erect once again. He pulled her against him and turned her around and reached up and fondled her breasts and squished them together from behind. Once she was seated perfectly against his lap, he entered her slowly, Olivia arched her back perfectly for him and he held on to her hips and thrust into her deep and slow and welcomed the sound of Olivia's sweet moans in his ear. It was clear that she couldn't help herself. He pulled her close and turned her head to him, so he could kiss her, and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

She began to feel waves rippling through her body. She tried to fight it off as long as possible until she couldn't hold it off anymore and came hard. Fitz came right after and held her tightly as she whimpered in exhaustion.

She could feel him smiling as he tried to catch his breath and when she turned around he showered her with kisses all over her shoulders and neck while he was still inside her.

He finally pulled out after and stood and lifted her off the couch.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To the bedroom," Fitz answered.

"Down the hall," Olivia instructed.

Fitz walked down the hall to her bedroom. Once they were in the room, he laid her on the bed and joined her. She screamed excitedly as he pulled her towards him and spread her legs open. He kissed down the inside of her thigh, giving her a few hickeys as he made his way down to her core. Olivia curled her toes and stiffened in anticipation and when she finally felt his tongue against her clit she sucked in a deep breath.

Fitz sucked and licked fiercely as Olivia tried to squirm her way out from under him. She felt overwhelmed by his attention to her clit.

"Fitz-"

And before she could finish her sentence her orgasm took her. It left her quivering as Fitz hovered on top of her and kissed her as she tried to catch her breath. She grabbed his cheeks and joined in on the kiss. She wrapped her legs tightly around him as she felt him enter her. He thrusted his hips back and forth, he could hear her moaning softly in between kisses. She held on to his waist and guided him deeper and deeper into her. She could feel her orgasm coming but it was too soon, she wanted to make sure Fitz came too.

"Baby…I need you to cum with me," she moaned. "Cum with me…"

She pulled his lips down on hers and held them there. She could feel his muscles tensing and she knew he was close.

"Fuck-" he moaned breathlessly.

She felt her insides tighten up as her orgasm rippled through her body and Fitz threw his head back as his orgasm took him fiercely as well. When he pulled out, his cum seeped down her legs and onto the sheets and then Fitz dropped beside her, they both panted loudly. He was utterly sated.

"I love you," she said as she turned to face him.

Fitz puckered his lips and she leaned in and kissed him. "I love you too," he whispered, and then they both lay staring at the ceiling.

Some time passed.

"Do you want to take a bath with me?" Olivia asked.

He got up and helped her up. It was a yes. She walked lazily behind him as they went into the bathroom together. She flipped the bath stopper and turned on the faucet to fill up the tub then added soap and waited for the tub to fill up.

She walked over to the mirror. Fitz leaned against the wall waiting for her to react to the trail of hickeys he left on her shoulders and breasts but she didn't, she pulled her hair up in a ponytail and stared into the mirror. Fitz moved behind her and clasped his hands around hers.

"You have the most perfect breasts I've ever seen," he said as he kissed the blade of her shoulder. He moved her hand up and ran both their fingers over her nipples and moved her other hand down between her legs so both their hands were pressed against her wet vagina. He wasn't erect but he pressed her ass against his groin just to feel the curve of it.

He was in a constant state of hyper-arousal around her and even though he's just had three orgasms, he knew he'd be forming another erection soon.

Olivia turned and leaned her head up to him for a kiss as Fitz moved both their fingers between her legs, arousing her even more and teasing her to an orgasm. Her nipples stiffened as Fitz ground against her back and sucked her lips. She moaned as she got closer and closer until she finally came and squirted on both their fingers. He broke the kiss after she came and smiled against her lips.

"You're my fucking soul mate," Olivia whispered to him.

Fitz smiled even wider and was about to respond when the tub overflowed and splashed water on both their feet.

"Shit-" Olivia yelped as she quickly turned off the faucet and let out some of the water.

Fitz laughed as he watched her. Once she let enough of the water she stood and slapped his arm playfully, "you're no help." She glanced at her appearance in the mirror and gasped.

"And look at what you did to my lips. They're swollen."

He wrapped her hands around her. "Your lips are perfect."

She rolled her eyes and smiled, "get in the fucking tub."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, then walked over and stepped in.

She laid on top of him with her head on his chest, surrounded by bath bubbles. He wrapped his hands around her as silence surrounded them.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked curiously after a while.

She looked up at him."I'm just listening to your heartbeat and trying to fathom that the president is lying naked in my tub. What are you thinking about?"

Fitz laughed, "I'm not the president to you. I'm just Fitz and to answer your question… I'm thinking about you."

"Yeah you're Fitz to me but it's still fun to think about."

They sat in the tub a while longer until they finally washed off. When they were finished she tied a towel around her body and Fitz tied one around his waist as well, they walked into the kitchen to search for food since he mentioned he was hungry.

"I think Abby stocked the fridge up the other day… let's see what she bought."

"How's Abby been?"

"Good she works with me now."

She opened the fridge. "Abby made me roast chicken and potatoes last night. Would you eat that?"

"I will literally eat anything you give me right now. I'm starving."

"Okay," she said, "let me heat it up for you."

Fitz watched as she heated the food then she transferred to a plate and placed it in front of him then handed him a fork. He dug in.

"Did you have dinner?" she asked.

He shook his head. She opened the fridge again and took a glass bottle of sparkling water and placed it in front of him and sat across from him at the bar. She watched amused as he devoured the food in front of him and then gulped down the sparkling water. When he was finished, she placed the dishes in her dishwasher.

"How's my kare bear?" She asked.

Fitz smiled, "Karen is busier than me these days and she swears she's a celebrity."

Olivia laughed and puted, "aww, I miss her."

"She misses you too. She asks about you but I never know what to tell her."

"I'll come spend some time with her one day when it's safe."

Fitz nodded.

"So there was something I wanted to tell you," Olivia said when she finished loading the plate in the dishwasher and walked back to him at the table.

"What?"

"Gerry knew about us- he saw us when we spoke at the party and that is why he came to me. It was to tell me to stop whatever was going on with you."

Fitz took a moment before he responded, "Fuck-I'm sorry-"

"No," Olivia said, "I don't want you to be sorry. I was just telling you.."

Fitz nodded.

"Did you know that Mellie knew…before the gala."

He nodded.

"How did she know?"

"I used to dream about you and call your name in my sleep. I used to also get erections because of it. This was after you left of course which I guess is why she approached you."

"She first approached me after our fight in the Rose Garden. She says that if you tried to divorce her, she'll tell everyone about us. It scared me so that was what really pushed me to resign as quickly as I did.."

"I didn't know that," Fitz said. "Fuck. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Olivia said.

He nodded, "I don't want to drag you in the middle of our shit and I don't want to lose or split custody of Karen."

"I didn't know about Karen," Olivia said softly.

"It's okay because I can't stay married to her anymore and I can't fucking function when you're not with me so divorce is the only answer. I can't promise you that she won't go in front of a camera and scream your name out to the media but I can promise that I'll do everything I can to protect you."

Olivia nodded.

"Mellie's not innocent. She's had her own affairs and she has her own shit going on. Besides, I don't want Karen growing up with two parents that fucking hate each other and she's beginning to be more aware of us so I'm doing it."

Olivia walked to his side of the table and wrapped her arms around him and felt Fitz lift her on his lap where he sat. "Why didn't you tell me about Karen?"

He chuckled and kissed her against her lips, "for the same reason I didn't tell you my plan to divorce her. I try not to tell you anything that will manipulate you or make you feel like you need to stay with me while I'm married. I was only interested in telling you when I was finally divorced or even filed, not all the details leading up to it."

He stood and carried her in his arms back to the bedroom and they lay together in bed. Olivia fell asleep but Fitz stayed awake until the light from the sunrise began to peek through the window. He knew time was up. He gently stroked his finger against her arm until she opened her eyes.

"Baby, I have to leave."

Olivia looked out the window and saw the sunlight."No!" She protested. "One more minute." Fitz smiled as they laid together in silence for another minute until finally they both rose and she helped him get dressed, she could see he was in no rush. When he was fully dressed, she walked him to the door.

"I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered. "so fucking much."

Fitz grabbed her and kissed her and hugged her tightly, "stop being so perfect so I can leave."

Olivia smiled, "okay, get out."

Fitz nodded and kissed her again and allowed her to let him out.


Fitz walked into his bedroom only to see Mellie sitting on the couch, with her arms folded and legs crossed. They lived in separate bedrooms in the white house.

He ignored her and continued to eat his apple but paused after a while."When did you find out about Olivia?"

"I knew from the start Fitz."

"Okay."

Mellie raised her eyebrows."Is that all you have to say?" she asked angrily.

"Yep now get out of my room."

Fitz walked off to his closet to get dressed, not bothering to stay to argue with Mellie.