FOUR HOURS LATER

Olivia and Fitz's interview was in one hour. The camera team was prepped, the room was chosen and ready, down to the color of the pillows (which were black to complement the silver shirt that Olivia was supposed to wear). Barbra Walters had her questions ready, all about the past to not bring up any touchy subjects, per Cyrus' request. Fitz's suit was picked out. Olivia's shirt, pants, and shoes were waiting for her when she got there. The lighting was right. Everybody was ready.

But Olivia and Fitz weren't.

—

OLIVIA'S HOUSE

"They are having a car come pick you up," said Abby.

"Jesus Christ-" Olivia sighed, running her hands through her perfectly straightened hair. "I know how to drive, Abby. Will you please call Cyrus and tell him that I know how to work a car?"

"He thinks that you are going to bail... The secret service, once they get here, are to, ah, make sure that you get to that interview on time," Abby looked uncomfortable.

Olivia rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry that you have to do this."

"It's not your fault," said Olivia, putting her coat on.

"I know, but I'm sorry," Abby said, looking Olivia in the eyes. She sighed.

"I know what I'm going to say, Abby. Cyrus made sure that Barbra only asks questions about our past. I'll... We'll tell the truth. How we met. We'll make jokes, we'll hold hands, we'll give each other looks every once and a while. I know how this works. I taught him how to fake it with Mellie," Olivia laughed. "I though that moving out of that place would ensure that I would never be like Mellie Grant, yet here I am." Olivia gave a sad smile.

Abby cleared her throat. "Liv, uh, the car is here for us."

"Of course it is," whispered Liv, giving her apartment one last look before turning out the lights and closing the door.

—

THE PRESIDENTIAL BEDROOM

"How do I look?" asked Fitz with a smile.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" groaned Karen, who was sitting on her dad's bed. Fitz laughed, straightening his tie. It was striped green.

"I feel like the tie is off, you know? Like it should be a different color or something," he commented.

"How should I know?" muttered Karen. Fitz laughed.

"Dad?" Karen asked.

"Yeah?" he said, turning around to face her.

"I don't want to go to boarding school anymore."

"What do you mean? I thought you love your school."

"Loved. I loved it. I had freedom. But now I hate it. I want to go to school here, in D.C. And things are better with us. It used to be my only option, but now… I have you, for the first time I have a father." Fitz sighed.

"I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to become a good one for you. I've done a lot of bad things, but my biggest regret will always be not being a father for you, Gerry and Teddy. Karen, I'd love for you to go to school here. I'll talk to your mother. I'm sure that she would like it too." Fitz sat next to her on his bed. "I'm going to make this right, Karen. I'm going to be a good dad."

"Better late than never," said Karen, giving her dad a smile.

"Thank you for giving me a chance. I promise that I will always be there for you, for the rest of your life. I love you, Karen. I always have, I just haven't shown it in the best ways. But… I really want us to be a family now. You, me, Teddy…"

"Anybody else?" asked Karen, nudging him on the shoulder. Fitz looked at her.

"I want Olivia to be part of our family, too," Karen said. Fitz looked down.

"Karen, I don't—"

"Don't say anything, dad. I know. Trust me, I know."

Just then Teddy came running into the room, with his nurse following closely.

"Little man! Just on time," said Fitz, grinning and picking his son up. "I've missed you this week! What have you and your mom been up to?"

"Kawen is here!" the little boy cried, ignoring his dad's question. Karen grinned.

"You ready to have fun tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Teddy cried. "With daddy too?"

"Um, daddy has to do something tonight. But do you want to go make cookies?" Karen turned the conversation around. Teddy screamed cries of joy, and him, Karen, and his nannie went down to the kitchens.

After they left, Fitz stood up and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, giving his room one last look before closing the door.

—

THIRTY MINUTES LATER (TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE INTERVIEW)

"You ready?" asked Cy, coming up from behind Olivia, who was seated and looking on her phone.

"Don't ask me that," said Olivia.

"Liv, don't pull anything," said Cyrus.

"What? I'm not going to pull anything, Cy, trust me the last thing I want to do—" as she looked up she stopped talking, seeing Fitz walk into the room. "Jesus…" she muttered under her breath. "What the hell is that tie?" she asked, louder, getting up. She looked at Cyrus, who was wearing a plain red tie. "Give me your tie," she said.

"What? No," he protested.

"Give it to me!" Cyrus sighed, and took it off. Liv ran over to Fitz.

"Take off your tie, it's absolutely disgusting," said Liv, starting to take it off for him.

Fitz gave a smile. "I knew it was the tie that was off."

Olivia rolled her eyes, starting to put Cyrus' tie on him. She still wouldn't look him in the eye.

"I have this weird sense of déjà vu," Fitz said. Olivia heard the smile in his voice.

"Maybe you should start wearing better ties," said Olivia, finished.

"Maybe," he said, softly. She finally raised her eyes to look at him. There were tons of other people milling around the room, but it felt like they were the only two. She hadn't been so close to him in ages.

"Thanks for doing this, Livvie," he said. Her heart hurt, hearing the name that he called her.

"Yeah, sure," she whispered. "It's nothing." She looked into his eyes, those gorgeous eyes.

He shook his head. "Yeah, nothing. That's what it is." There was a silence. "You look beautiful," he said, and walked away.

—

TEN MINUTES LATER (START OF THE INTERVIEW)

"I'm here live with our very own President Grant and his new leading lady, Ms. Olivia Pope," said Barbra Walters into the camera. Olivia was seated in a small couch next to Fitz, their legs up against each other. Fitz's tie was complementing Olivia's red heals, paired with her silver dress. Barbra was sitting across from them in an arm chair.

"I know that I along with the rest of the world have been dying to hear their story; how they met, how they fell in love, and how they decided to give it all up for each other. Tonight we will finally get to ask the questions that have gone unanswered and really get to know these two better now that their secret is out," Barbra continued. She turned to face Liv and Fitz. "Thank you both so much for having me, and Mr. President for graciously inviting me to the White House." Olivia smiled.

"Of course, Barbra, our pleasure," he said.

"So it really has been a journey, now hasn't it? But you relationship now is all people are talking about, so I want to focus really on the past. How did you two meet?"

They both looked at each other, wondering who would answer the question. Olivia took a stab at it.

"Well, when we first met Fitz fired me," Olivia said. Barbra gave a shocked laugh.

"No, no, no, let me tell this one, you'll twist it up," Fitz said, grabbing Olivia's hand. She felt electricity shoot up her arm, and it took everything for her to not show it.

"So my current Chief-of-Staff, and then campaign manager, Cyrus Been had known Liv and asked her to come on the trail to be the campaign fixer. This was in, what…"

"2010," Olivia said, finishing the sentence for him.

"Yeah, wow that was a while ago. So she comes and starts criticizing me—"

"Um, helping you would be the correct phrase," Liv said with a grin. "I said what every body else was too afraid to say to fix up your campaign."

"Which was what, exactly?" asked Fitz.

"Something about you and Mellie, needing to be seen together more," Liv said, rushing over the touchy subject.

"Well, I didn't like that, her embarrassing me in front of every one, understandably," said Fitz with a smile.

"So he rushed to Cyrus like a baby, begging him to fire me—"

"I was making a calculated choice that I now know wasn't the smartest one—"

"So basically you were being stupid about me saying what everyone was thinking," said Liv. Fitz grinned.

"Maybe," he said. Barbra and the rest of the people watching the interview, and all of the world who were watching from their TVs were hanging onto their every word.

"But Liv heard, and well, was slightly distraught—"

"Because you were being unreasonable—"

"Only a little," he said.

"But he apologized, like the gentleman that he is," she said.

"Yeah, I told her how lucky I would be to have her on our team. She is Olivia Pope, after all," Fitz looked at Liv, and once again she got the feeling of them being the only two in the room. She smiled, remembering that day vividly.

"That's right," she said, breaking off their stare and turning back to Barbra for the next question.

"This is gold," said Cyrus to Abby, watching from the side.

"They way that they are finishing each other's sentences..." said Abby.

"Perfect," whispered Cyrus. "This is amazing, as long as they keep this up, everything will be perfect."

"This interview is going to be the most talked about one for years to come," said Abby. "This is history in the making. And all because these two are being so... In love with each other. Cyrus, this is..."

"Bigger than anything that we've ever dealt with," he agreed.