"Beat the fucking door down," Fitz commanded his guard.

It had been 3 days since his argument with her and during that time she refused to answer his calls or open the door when he came to see the girls.

She listened as he banged the door for the third night in a row and wondered if he would be crazy enough to knock down her door to see them. It was Thursday night and this night, he seemed more determined tonight than any other night.

"OLIVIA!" He barked.

Tom shook his head, "sir, someone will see you or hear you."

"I don't fucking care," Fitz barked.

He was being so loud, someone was bound to open their door. The girls were asleep in their room, she locked the door but she didn't think he'd be loud enough to wake them, especially coming from outside. She sat on her couch with a glass of wine in her hand as tears drenched her face. She sipped slowly to try to numb the devastation she felt and waited for him to leave. It had been quiet for 5 minutes so she figured he left but to be sure she went to the door to check the peephole. She saw two of his guards but she didn't see him, at least not through the peephole. She wasn't sure what he was up to but she didn't care.

She took one big gulp of her wine and set it down on the coffee table in front of her and then went to the girl's nursery and sat at her usual spot on the rocking chair, unable to fall asleep until early morning.

After waiting for hours outside of her door to no avail, Fitz left and went back to the residence. He was seething. When he threatened Olivia that he would take full custody he had no intention of actually doing it, he thought it would scare her into being agreeable at best but it did the complete opposite. She completely shut him off and it hurt. She didn't leave the apartment, he knew that because he had agents watching her 24/7. She didn't allow anyone to leave with them. He planned to wait her out but he didn't know how long that would be and with each passing day it became less of an option because he missed his girls too much.

He knew eventually she would have to take them out for a doctor's appointment or something but knowing Olivia, she would probably get a house doctor to come to the apartment. On top of that, he had Karen begging him everyday to go see Olivia and her sisters but he kept making excuses and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. He walked over to the decanter and poured a generous amount of scotch and threw it back. He took a couple more generous shots and then went over to his bed and fell asleep.

The next morning he woke up early and went to the bathroom shower and got dressed. Once he was done we made his way back to the oval, he paced back and forth trying to find the resolve to call the judge and file the paternity suit. He knew filing the suit would be the end of any sort of amicable co-parenting relationship or any other relationship he could have had with Olivia. Even more importantly he didn't want to hurt her but she gave him no choice.

An hour later, he was at his desk waiting for judge Bennett to arrive. He had Lauren call his office and ask him to stop by the White House for a meeting with the president and he gladly agreed.

He heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called.

Judge Bennett walked in and Fitz immediately walked over to greet him.

"Good morning judge Bennett, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

"It's an honor to be of any kind of service to you mr. President, what can I do for you?"

Judge Bennett was a longtime colleague of Fitz when he spent time clerking for a Supreme Court justice.

"I need a favor."

"Of course. Anything."

Fitz offered him a seat on the couch and once they both sat, he began.

"I have two children with Olivia Pope. I need you to draft a court document ordering her to meet me for a custody hearing. Tell her you'll hold her in contempt and force her to hand over custody to me."

"I must warn you that the paternity suit you file will become public."

"Don't file it. Draft it and I'll take care of the rest."

Judge Bennett began again. " Would you need an unofficial mediation between you and the mother?"

"Not yet. I just need a document. Tell her tomorrow morning at 9am. I'll meet her in your chambers and take care of the rest."

"I'll give you two a chance to work out some sort of arrangements and if that doesn't work then I'll suggest a custodial arrangement."

"If she doesn't want to share custody, then I want full custody. Can you do that for me?"

"I can," Judge Bennett replied almost too quickly.

Fitz stood up.

"Thank you judge Bennett, I owe you."

Judge Bennett smiled and took Fitz's hand for a shake.

"I'll have someone serve her with the order to show up tomorrow," he said as he left.


Olivia sat in her living room with the twins. They were watching little Einsteins and loving it, they giggled and screamed as the theme song played. Bonnie sat on the couch next to her, eating her lunch.

She heard a knock on the door. She'd been very careful about who she opened the door to. She walked over and looked through the peephole and it was a delivery man. She opened the door because she had ordered several things online and she expected them there any day.

"You've been served," he handed her the documents and walked away.

She took a minute to chuckle to herself, he had on the full navy blue postal service like uniform and she was a little surprised at how far they were willing to go to make sure you opened the door to them.

She stood at the door and read the document Fitz sent her. She had been ordered to appear in the judge's chamber at 9am in the morning. Half or her wanted to rip it in half but that wouldn't do her any good.

She went back to sit on the couch.

"Olivia, what happened?" Bonnie said, frightened.

Olivia didn't realize her face was drenched with tears.

"Their father just had the court serve me, I'm to meet him in court tomorrow, he wants to see them."

"What are you going to do?"

"Something that he won't like," Olivia answered.

After sitting silently for a while she got up and headed to her room. She pulled out her cell and called Fitz, he picked up on the first ring.

"This is what it fucking took for you to call?" He barked angrily through the phone.

"I have a DNA test that states that Stephen is father of my daughters so whatever delusions that you have about getting full custody of kids that you can't prove are yours, quell them fucking now."

Fitz was silent. Her words hit him like a ton of bricks, there was no way he wasn't their father, he was sure of it.

"You're lying. Dr. Porpentine will attest to that," he fired back.

"What can he really prove, other than the fact that you were tested as a possible match. Stephen was tested too. He didn't perform a DNA test did he?"

"Olivia, if you try to do this, I'll do whatever I need to do to get them back. I won't care what happens to you in the process. If you don't meet me tomorrow to figure out a custody agreement I will walk into the press room tomorrow and I will tell the world they're mine and I won't fucking care."

"When have you ever cared about what happens to me?"

She didn't give him a chance to respond, she hung up.

Fitz sailed the phone across the room and it shattered as it hit the wall.

He paced back and forth by the window. He felt the anger rising in him and fast. He flung everything on his desk to the ground.

"FUCK!" he barked.

Tom and the other guards finally rushed in.

"Mr. President,," Tom stopped when he realized what was going on. .

"I'm fine," he barked. "Call Lauren, tell her to get in here," he said as he continued pacing.

One of the agents opened the door and Lauren was right there, she heard the commotion.

"Lauren, call Judge Bennett, I need to speak to him now!"

Lauren scurried off and called the judge right away. Within minutes Fitz's phone rang. He picked it up from off of the floor and answered it.

"Judge Bennett, I'm not going to negotiate with her, she is not going to cooperate. I need full custody and I need it now."

The judge was hesitant but agreed. "I'll have someone serve her before the day is done."

Fitz hung up.


Olivia heard a knock on the door again. She stormed over to the door and opened it.

"What is it now huh? What do you want?" She screamed..

"You've been served."

She grunted and slammed the door. She paced back and forth for a little while before she actually opened the document.

Once she did, she read through carefully but one time wasn't enough, she read it over and over again before she could digest it. The words were printed in bold; 'Primary custody removal due to child neglect.'

She was ordered by a Judge Brendan Bennett to hand over the twins to Fitz's care at 9am the following morning or else she would be held in contempt of court and have the children forcibly removed and she would be arrested.

She knew that whatever it was that he was trying to was illegal. He wasn't even on their birth certificate, there was no way a non biased judge would give him custody. She knew she couldn't win a fight against Fitz because he didn't play by the same rules as everyone else. He must've bribed the judge or threatened him in order to get him to blatantly disregard normal court process. She was prepared to fight him in court but now she wouldn't even get a chance. She stood at the door with tears streaming down her face, unable to move from all the grief she was feeling. She walked slowly to the kitchen where she left her phone and called Abby. The moment Abby answered she broke and began crying hysterically. She tried talking but her words came out half spoken and choppy. "Ab-by - y-y-you- ha-have- to- come-" was all she was able to get out eventually.

"I'm coming now," Abby said.

Bonnie walked out of the nursery when she heard hysterical crying and rushed to her.

"Olivia? You alright?" She asked..

Olivia wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath. "Can you go home," she said.

"You sure?" Bonnie asked hesitantly, she could see that Olivia was upset but after working for Olivia for almost a year, she knew that she would share whatever was bothering her when she was ready.

She nodded.

Bonnie grabbed her purse and slipped on her sandals. She stopped by Olivia as she was about to exit through the door. She hugged her tightly.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be okay." Bonnie gave her an understanding look and then left shortly after.

The girls were down for their afternoon nap and she was thankful as she sank to the floor, still drowning in sadness and grief. She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she heard keys at the door and Abby opened it.

"Liv, what's going on?" She said as she quickly walked through the door. Olivia was still sitting on the floor with the paperwork still in her hand. Abby stooped down beside her and she burst into a fit of hysterical crying once again. Abby held her and let her cry. She knew the best way to get her out of a manic episode was to try to comfort her through it, validate her feelings and let it pass. She read through the first lines of the document and gasped. "He can't do that." She continued reading."Wha- how did he manage to get a judge to give him custody when he wasn't even proven paternity?"

Olivia leaned up and wiped her face. "I have to leave."

."I totally understand why you'd want to but why don't you just talk to him. Don't make a rash decision."

"You don't understand," Olivia said. "I won't survive if he takes them Abby, I won't so I'm not gonna take that chance."

Abby sighed, she was desperate and anguished. "Are you sure you want to run? Cause if you do, I'll be right there running beside you."

"I can't stay here."

"So if we run, what's the plan?"

"I'll leave the country, go somewhere- fucking anywhere he can't find me. I don't know."

"You keep saying 'I', I take it you don't want me to come with you?" Abby knew as soon as her episode was over she would be in a completely different state of mind. She'd talked to Richard and she knew Fitz didn't want to take them from her, he only wanted two days but in her current state Olivia wouldn't accept it. She knew that anywhere she went once her hypomania was over she would come back.

"I can't ask you to come," she said as she wiped her eyes.

Abby leaned over and kissed her against her temple. "If you need to get away then go and take some time and just let out a breath. Hopefully it makes you feel better."