"We can't do that."
"Why? It makes perfect sense. The guys being blackmailed, so I'll take care of it. He stays governor of Illinois end of story."
"Quinn, you know why I can't let you do that."
"Liv, nobody has to know, not Governor Rauner, not his wife, not even Huck. Definitely not Huck."
"Huck would find out. And it would open doors, doors that cannot be reopened or he won't be able to close them."
"Liv, I know what I'm doing."
"I know. That's why I don't want you to do it."
Quinn stared at Olivia, who had made her decision. Quinn sighed in agreement.
"Okay, now I need you too—" But she broke off at the sight of the White House bedroom door opening. Fitz walked in, his face lighting up at the sight of Olivia. Quinn, who was sitting on the couch facing Fitz's back, went unnoticed.
"Hi," she said with a smile.
"Hi," he replied, walking over and giving her a small kiss. Quinn smiled to herself.
After a second, Olivia broke it off. "You haven't introduced yourself yet to Quinn," she said with raised eyebrows, not at all bashful of her PDA in front of Quinn.
Fitz turned around quickly. "Oh! Sorry. Yeah, I've guess we've never had a formal introduction. I'm… well you can call me Fitz. And you're Quinn… wait don't tell me…" Olivia rolled her eyes at Fitz's attempt to remember Quinn's last name. Fitz chuckled.
"No, I know it! It's… starts with a 'p'… Perkins? Perkins! That's it!" Fitz had a grin on his face, and both Liv and Quinn looked surprised that he had managed to remember.
"You can call me Quinn. But I'll stick with Mr. President for now," Quinn said with a smile. She paused awkwardly. "Okay, well, Liv, I have everything I need, so I'll call you if anything else comes up," Quinn said, wanting to let them be alone.
"Oh, you can stay if you and Olivia still have work. Just pretend that I'm not here. Liv does it all the time," Fitz said. Olivia shoved him. Quinn laughed, immediately liking him.
"No, it's okay, I have plans… my boyfriend is taking me out to dinner," Quinn said truthfully, not really sure what Charlie was to her, if not her boyfriend.
"Well then don't let us stop you. Have an amazing evening, and, Quinn?" Fitz looked at her when she turned around. "It was really nice to meet you. I can see why Liv cares about you so much," he said. Quinn blushed, and left with a smile, closing the door behind her.
As soon as she left Olivia threw a pillow from his bed at Fitz. "What was that for?" he asked with a laugh, tackling her.
Olivia immediately burst out laughing, as Fitz continued to tickle her. "Stop! You're… so… fake… S—Stop!" she said between laughs. Fitz finally stopped to hear Olivia's response.
"Stop being so nice to my people. I won't allow them to be your friends."
"I was just being nice! Besides, I don't think that they want to be friends with me in the first place."
"You're friends with Abby."
"Because she works for me!" said Fitz. Olivia grinned.
"I know. Just… don't be so nice."
"It's not my fault that I'm naturally charming." Olivia rolled her eyes, trying not to get lost in Fitz's blue eyes, which were staring at her with a look of complete admiration. She was lying on her back and he was hovering over her with a stupid grin on his face. God did Olivia love him.
"You wish," she whispered. Fitz rolled off of her and sat in one of the chairs across the room, pretending to be hurt. Olivia immediately missed the feeling of his body pressed up against hers, and walked over and sat in his lap.
"I'll prove to you that I'm charming," he said, rising his head on top of hers and wrapping his arms around her small frame.
"Yeah, how?" Olivia said with a smile.
"I'm taking you on a date. Stay here tonight, in the White House. You can go back home tomorrow. Tonight we're going to a place that has never been explored before… the kitchens!" he said with an attempted dramatic voice. Olivia laughed, and turned around, wrapping her legs around his waist in order to face him.
"That sounds right up my alley."
"Okay then, let's go."
"Now?"
"Right now," he said, picking Liv up in his arms. She laughed, and he set her down, opting to hold her hand instead.
This is going to be one hell of a nigh, Olivia thought to herself, grinning.
END OF FLASHBACK
—
Olivia jolted awake, and then sighed, wishing that her dream had continued. She missed being with him openly, them wandering the White House at night. She got up and took an advil, her head pounding at the thought of being Mellie's campaign manager.
"You can quit whenever you want to," she told herself, seriously considering it. She got dressed, and was about to leave when Abby stormed into her house.
"What the fucking hell?!" she yelled, slamming the door behind her. Olivia sighed, ready for Abby's comments.
"Do you think this is a game, Liv? No, like I'm seriously wondering. Because you just fucking agreed to run MELLIE GRANT'S campaign. Are you high? Are you stupid? Is… oh my God," Abby said lowering her voice. "Is someone blackmailing you?"
"No!"
"No?! Then why the hell did you do this? You're delusional! This isn't a fucking game, Olivia! This is the real world. What was going through your head?"
"I owe her, Abby."
"No, no! You owe her nothing. Mellie likes to play games and oh man does she win every time. And she has hit the mother load this time. Olivia fucking Pope!"
"Abby—"
"YOU DON'T OWE HER! You and him both have this insane idea that you owe her one, but Mellie doesn't give a rats ass, and never has for that matter, about your relationship with him. They stopped loving each other long before you came in the picture. You're the reason she got into the freaking White House in the first place! And now you're going to be getting her in there for the second time… Jesus, Olivia. You need to shut this down while you still can. Because Mellie can run the world without you two getting mixed up in this again. If there's one thing you should of learned is that the White House is not a place for Olivia Pope, not these days at least." Abby let out a breath. Olivia ran her hands through her hair, and sat down on her couch.
"You think I should shut it down?"
"I know that you should shut it down. Find someone else. This isn't your problem to fix. Not this time. Focus on OPA. You don't want to get into this mess again. You did it last time as a favor to Cyrus, look where that got you."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
Olivia paused, thinking.
"You're not sleeping here anymore," she stated.
"I'm not," Abby said.
"So you and Leo made up?"
Abby looked at Olivia, confused. "Yeah. We did. I guess when you love someone, you always find your way back to each other."
Olivia ignored the last comment, clearly aimed at her. "Okay. I'm not shutting it down. I'm restarting it. Call Leo."
"What? Why?"
"Because he's my replacement. I'm not running her campaign. I don't know why I thought I should in the first place. Tell Mellie, and bring Leo with. I have a case," Olivia said, picking her bag up.
"Liv?" Olivia turned, about to head out.
"You made the right choice."
"I know I did," Olivia said, smiling, and shutting the door behind her.
—
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER
"You're not running her campaign anymore?" Fitz's voice filed Olivia's bluetooth in her black SUV.
"Nope. Leo Burgens is my replacement. I called in a favor with Abby."
"So they are back together?"
"Yeah."
"So she's not staying with you anymore?"
"No."
"Oh."
There was a pause.
"Okay, well, I'm going to hang up now. I'm about to pull into the office."
"Liv, wait. I don't know why you did what you did, but not running Mellie's campaign is the right idea. Abby was right."
"How do you know it was Abby who convinced me?"
"Because she's the only one that you'll listen to."
Olivia stayed silent.
"Well, Cyrus was praying on this outcome, so he's become suddenly very much more religious."
Olivia had to laugh.
"I think that the White House will explode before Cy will be caught dead at church."
"These days the White House exploding doesn't seem to bad of an idea."
"Bye, Fitz," Olivia said, smiling.
"Bye, Livvie," he said, softly.
Hey guys! Lol, y'all REALLY didn't like that last chapter. I was never planning on Liv going through with running Mellie's campaign anyways, so I'm glad we agree on that part.
Based off of your reviews, I'm very much wondering how well Scandal is going to do if Shonda really follows through with Olivia running Mellie's campaign for President. Lol. This next season is going to be rough.
Thanks for all your reviews, sorry that you hated the last chapter!