In the trees at her mother's burial, blending into the crowd at her father's funeral. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and even that little bakery he knew she loved to frequent- She saw him. Lurking in the shadows, now considered the thing that goes "bump" in the night, her guardian Angel was keeping an eye on her now that she was back in DC.
Liv honestly wondered how much she would see Huck knowing that he was now command. Between the ages of 12 and almost 35, Liv had seen her father a little over a handful of times. Part of her wished Huck wasn't the one who cut the head off the snake, but Liv knew that this was reality and in reality, wishes never came true. There was however some comfort in the fact as she now had an entire army lurking in the shadows ready to jump when she yelled. She'd always had this luxury, but as she watched Charlie lurking across the street from her office building, along with Huck lurking on an adjacent street, it finally set in.
Just like all of the other mornings, Huck was again standing in the shadows. She saw him standing in the window of a corner store on K street as she walked into the OPA. If her father followed her just as much, he was apparently better at hiding his presence. Then again, he didn't want to be seen. Liv's gut told her that Huck wanted her to see him, wanted her to know that he was still there looking after her. Her guardian, her soldier, more importantly, her gladiator had never left her side. Liv nodded to her friend standing in the window as a crowd of people came rushing by. As the crowd cleared, Huck had vanished. Just as quickly as he came, he was gone.
As she made her way up to the office, the office with her name still on the door, Liv was stunned to see Quinn and Abby sitting at the conference room table, talking over a cup of coffee.
"I miss Liv." She heard Quinn say.
"As much as I want to hate her right now for just packing up and fleeing to God knows where with that Joke of a pretty boy, I miss her too. But that's the way my life goes Quinn, those I love, I lose."
"You still have David, and you still have me. Huck is the thing that goes "bump" in the night, and Charlie..."
"And I know you are mad for the way I left, and I owe you both a sincere apology and an explanation, but, you still have me." Liv said as she finally stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the conference room.
"Liv?" Quinn stood feeling infinitely smaller as the flashes of their last encounter entered her mind. "Liv I-"
"Quinn, it's over. You came home and that's all that matters. But if you ever-"
"I won't, I swear!"
Liv nodded at that and turned to Abby, waiting to hear her thoughts. Abby stood stoned face for a moment, really wanting be furious with Liv but she couldn't. Liv was after all her best friend, possibly her only friend other than David. She tried to hold up a front as long as possible, but Abby slowly felt her anger slip away.
"I hope the cobra baguette was worth it Liv, and I want to know EVERY LITTLE DETAIL about your national treasure." Abby said with slight smirk to let Liv know she was partially joking.
"He is Abby... and you have a deal."
"You'll tell me everything?"
"I'll tell you almost everything."
Abby sat quietly for a moment before her mouth formed a full smile. "Fair enough."
"I missed you." Liv said as let out a deep breath.
Abby stretched out her arms which to her surprise Liv entered willingly. Quinn joined in on the embrace causing Abby to tense and then relax. For as much trouble as she had given her the past two years, Abby had to admit that "Lindsay" was just as much a gladiator as the others. Of course she'd never say that to her face. Liv looked around and realized someone was missing.
"Wait a minute, where's Harrison?" Liv asked as her face began to scrunch up with worry. She knew he had a thing going with Adnan, but he'd never just leave... Would he?
"No clue Liv. I guess he snapped when he found out you left. He hasn't been back since you tossed your keys and abandoned us."
"Abby..."
"Sorry Liv. It's been three months and you left. You just left even after I begged you not to. You said over a cliff and it was, but you took all the parachutes with you when you jumped. We were just stuck watching you drift away with no way to get to you. You left us Liv."
"I guess now is a better time than any to explain my actions."
Liv walked into her office and grabbed two bottles of wine and three wine glasses. She returned to the conference room and took a seat. She took a deep breath as she watched the red liquid fill each glass. After chugging down the first glass, Liv quickly refilled her glass, leaving Abby and Quinn speechless. When she felt her anxiety level lower, she knew it was time.
"I'm in love with a married man. I've been in love with a married man for the past five years. I didn't join the campaign looking to seduce Fitz, I joined the campaign to create a president."
"Which you did... Sorry"
"I did Quinn ,but the moment I stepped up and revealed the Grant marriage as a sham that even the tiniest of toddlers could see through, we locked eyes and I knew he was my end game. Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III is the love of my life. His marriage to Mellie was one of convenience, a political marriage. They never felt as if they were in love, although they did feel love for one another in the beginning. Whether it was forced or genuine, it was there. But that love faded almost as quickly as it surfaced. Fitz and I tried, we tried to fight it but the connection between us was just too strong"
"So why didn't he just drop out of the race? You two could be happily married with your own little fat smushy Olitz babies by now." Quinn asked as everyone truly needed insight into this part of their relationship.
"Because I wouldn't let him. Fitz was on a path to greatness. He was on the journey to become president, but he wanted to give it all up for me. He began throwing debates and giving half assed speeches. He was deliberately tanking his own campaign. I couldn't let him give up on his dream."
"Is that why you rigged a national election?" Abby asked, always being the one to pull out the most painful memories.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. But that wasn't the only reason. I knew Fitz could do far more for this country than Reston ever could have. It wasn't bias, it was fact. Look at how much he has done."
"He is definitely one assed backwards Republican if you ask me."
"He is. I consider him to be a Democrat in denial. Everything he has done has pissed off the Republican base, but his approval ratings couldn't be higher with the Democrats."
"So what did everyone get out of rigging this election?"
"Well, 300 million people got a leader who has decreased unemployment, raised the number of high school and college graduates, ended two wars without beginning another, someone who is truly on their side. Hollis Doyle thought he got a man on the inside bur Fitz shot that to hell. Cyrus became chief of staff, Mellie first lady, and Verna Thornton became Supreme Court Justice."
"And you?"
Liv sighed as she was just thinking about this for the very first time. What she got from Defiance was...
"Nothing. I got nothing out of it. The love of my life was forced to remain in a dead marriage to his ice queen of a wife. Granted I had a nice job in the White House with excellent benefits, but it was actually a pay cut. I was making $25,000 less a year than I would have had I gone back to my old job. Being the Communications Director did help forge my profile for the OPA, but I'd like to think the work we've done for each client is what boosted our reputation and ultimately our revenue." Liv paused ad she downed her second glass and then third before filling up a fourth time.
"So is that why you left? Because we handled Defiance and Billy Chambers a year ago."
"No. I left because my existence ruins the lives of others. If I hadn't fallen in love with the very married POTUS, my father and my mother wouldn't have conspired to break us up. Fitz's son would still be alive. But my... And my... They stopped at nothing to push me to my breaking point. Even Jake was a part of their sick plan. My mother was being held captive by my father. But she didn't escape. At least not on her own. He let her out to cause as much bloodshed as possible with the sole purpose of shipping me away... Again."
Down goes the fourth glad, on to the fifth...
Abby and Quinn both nodded slowly as they took in what Liv was saying. They never thought about how much Liv held inside and had to deal with on her own. She always maintained the "I don't talk about my private life" mentality so they couldn't have known, could they?
"So, how's the POTUS in the sack? I mean he is much older than you Liv. Is he really throwing down that good in the bedroom for you to endure this craziness you call life? Is he worth it? Is he that well endowed?"
Fifth, sixth, filling up the seventh and Liv was feeling good at this point. She probably wouldn't even remember their conversation when she sobered up.
Again Liv took a deep breath before speaking. "Abby, he may be almost 51 but let me tell you, the man does not move like he's almost 51, and he is very well endowed. It took a while to get used to his... girth. And his body? The man is virile and can go all night if that is what I desire. All over my apartment, or all over the oval office, his private office, all over the OPA, the rose garden, or the utility closet, Camp David, Presidential motorcade, our home in Vermont... He's... insatiable. But it is so much more than sex."
"Wait, you have a home? Together?"
"Yes. He had it built for us. It's where I've been the past three months. Like I said, it's more than sex. I can't explain it. There's a connection there. When we are in the same room, there's a magnetic force that pulls us together. It feels like everything will be ok and even if it won't be, we'll survive as long as we have each other. The stars align and we breathe only what the other offers. Our hearts and our souls beat in sync. We know what the other is thinking, how the other feels without words. We speak to one another through our gazes. We only exist because the other is alive. I'm not strong on reincarnation or the prospect of heaven, but I believe Fitz and I were together in another life. However many lives one gets, if your soul gets more than one, I believe we've been together thru them all. There has just been an intimacy and an in depth knowledge. There's a way of speaking just through way the way he breathes, or the way I look into his eyes. We just click, and it's everything."
Abby and Quinn watched as Liv spoke so passionately about her love for Fitz with tears streaming down her face. The more in-depth she became with her feelings, the more she cried. The more she cried, the more they realized just how much she had been suffering for the past four years.
Right now, Liv was arguably the most powerful woman in the world. She had the POTUS tightly wrapped around her left pinky nail, and the guardian of the republic wrapped around her right. Abby wondered if Liv knew just how much power she held in this moment. The women unplugged the phones and sat, enjoying their extensive girl talk. Liv had never had one with them before, but she knew they definitely needed to do this more often. At least if she decided to stay. The way things were looking, she just might.
After the girls finished both bottles of wine, they headed towards Liv's apartment to help her unpack. When she got off the plane, she called her realtor and took the place off of the market, but everything was still in boxes.
"What did the POTUS say about you returning to your home instead of staying with him?"
"He doesn't know yet." Liv said very calmly. Abby turned as she knew there was a storm a brewing. There was a knock on the door and Quinn and Abby looked at one another with knowing eyes.
Liv opened the peephole and simply muttered "shit" before closing it and opening the door. Tom was standing right in front of her and Liv felt the sudden urge to slap him, so she did. Twice to be exact. Abby and Quinn watched on in shock as they awaited the agents next move.
"What do you want?!" Liv spat as she locked eyes with the agent standing before her. Her eyes had become cold and dark in a matter of a few seconds.
"He is on his way up."
"Why are you with him?!"
"Ma'am I'm always with him."
"After you... You... How can you stand there so calmly knowing what you did."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about Tom. I always thought you were on our side."
"I am ma'am."
"Not after what you did to-"
Tom pulled Liv out into the hallways, gently closing the door behind her. Abby and Quinn wanted to follow, but soon thought better if it.
"Ma'am I'm not sure what you are referring to, but I have ALWAYS been on your side."
"You killed Jerry." Liv said so quietly Tom almost missed it. Tom knew Rowan was Liv's father. After he was assigned the task of following and protecting Liv, along with being the inside man to the White House, his job became easier as the two were almost always together. But make no mistake no one...
"No one turns down an order from command... Ma'am." Tom said with a hint of remorse and shame in his eyes. "That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But make no mistake, I was your detail long before I became Grant's. When your father found out about the affair on the trail, he shifted it so I could watch you both. I never thought he'd order the death of the president's son. I have to live with that every day for the rest of my life."
Liv glared at Tom, seriously wanting to scratch his eyes out but she couldn't. She knew all about her father's work ethic and had heard many tales from both Huck and Jake of what happened when you disobeyed orders from command. Tom didn't feel as though he had a choice. That didn't change the fact that Jerry was gone, and there was nothing anyone could do to bring him back.
"Where is he?" Liv asked averting her gaze from Tom's. No sooner than the last word escaped her mouth, the elevator doors opened and Fitz stepped out. Liv looked Fitz square in the eyes before turning and entering her apartment, leaving the door wide open.
"What is this?" Fitz asked as he noticed Abby and Quinn unpacking boxes in the dining room.
"What does it look like? I'm unpacking."
"Don't be cute Livvie. Why are you unpacking here?"
"This is my home Fitz. Did you expect me to come traipsing back to DC to shack up with you until your divorce was final? To technically be under the same rood as your wife day after day until she was evicted from the White House. I can see the headlines now Fitz! "POTUS moves mistress into the residence while first lady is left out in the cold at Blair House." The press would eat it up."
"How many times do I have to keep telling you that you are more than that!?"
"Call it whatever you want Fitz. It doesn't change the fact that this is label for what is going on."
Fitz looked at Liv then over to Abby and Quinn who just stood their blank faced. If Liv wanted to be this way... Fine.
Fitz nodded towards the women and made his way back towards the bedroom. Liv stood in the living room trying to absorb what was going on. A few moments later the three of them heard the shower running. They continued to stand there for quite a while until the shower was turned off. Fitz emerged a few moments later wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He plopped down on the sofa as if he owned the place, propped his feet up on the coffee table, and turned on the tv.
"Fitz..."
"Livvie..."
"Maybe we should go." Quinn and Abby offered as they made their way towards the door.
"No stay. I was just about to order dinner. Besides I'd love to get to know you both, seeing as how you're so important to Livvie and all... Sit, I'll send someone over in the morning to finish this." Fitz ordered as he gestured to the chairs in the room. The women looked to Liv who gave a simple nod, and they each took a chair.
"Come Livvie, sit and watch TV with us. Game of Thrones is about to begin." Fitz stated matter of factly as he patted the seat next to him on the sofa. Liv looked at all three of her "guests" and realized she had been outnumbered. Liv walked over to the sofa and took her seat next to Fitz who quickly pulled her against him. Liv was tense at first until she realized that Abby and Quinn would never say anything to jeopardize their relationship and she relaxed.
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They all sat and watched Game of Thrones as they ate the Chinese food Fitz had ordered. When it was over, they engaged in deep conversation with Fitz surprisingly talking the most of all three of them. After a few hours had passed, Fitz simply stood and wished the women a good night before kissing Liv softly and heading to bed in her bedroom.
"Um Liv, is the POTUS really sleeping in your bed, in your bedroom, in your home tonight?"
"It certainly looks like it Abby." Liv sighed. She was on to Fitz. Since she wouldn't stay with him at the White House, he was going to stay with her. She'd bet anything he'd be awake and waiting for her when she went into the room.
"Well Liv, we're going to get going. We have to prep you for your interview with Time Magazine. We only have a few more days so just let us know when you're ready tomorrow and we'll come by and help you finish unpacking."
Liv wanted to argue with the girls and beg them to stay, but she also wanted to have some time alone with Fitz. Liv walked Abby and Quinn to the door and began to say their goodbyes. When she opened the door and instantly her stomach dropped to the floor.
"What are you doing here?" Liv yelled much louder than she meant to causing Fitz to run from the bedroom in only his low riding sweats. He had tossed the shirt as soon as he hit the bed. In his mind it would possibly mean less work for later.
Fitz rounded the corner like a bat out of hell, almost running into the women standing in front of the threshold. The three of them looked as if they were providing some barrier of protection behind the line Tom and Daniel had already forged.
"What the hell are you doing here Jake?" Fitz spat as he pulled Liv behind him. He knew Jake wouldn't pull anything right now. Not with Tom's gun aimed directly at his skull. Fitz ordered Daniel to check Jake for weapons which the man did quickly. Once Daniel had done a full search which included a very uncomfortable yet impromptu cavity search, Fitz asked Tom to step aside.
"What do you want Jake?" Fitz asked with a scary amount of venom on his voice.
"I just came to check on Liv. See how she was doing. I haven't seen her since the day we got on the plane for Italy." Jake spat hoping to egg Fitz on.
"You mean the same flight you cried and begged like a three yr old wanting a new toy to get on? The same one where Liv came to her senses and departed the flight before take off leaving you behind to deal with your own screw-ups?" Fitz said with a calm voice. There was no way he was letting Jake win this round.
"Jake, you shouldn't have come here." Liv replied as she walked towards the door and pressed a tiny black button just above the light switch on the wall. It only took a matter of seconds before the elevator door opened revealing Huck.
"I heard you've been a bad boy Jakey. I think it's time we had a little talk."
"Oh yeah? Says who?" Jake asked, refusing to allow his fear of Huck to be displayed in front of Liv, Abby, and Quinn.
"Says command..." Huck said, causing Jake to swallow hard."Time to go soldier." Was the last thing Liv heard before a team of men came and whisked Jake away. Huck nodded to Tom and then to Fitz. No words were needed because Fitz knew what that nod meant... Take care of her.
Huck escorted Abby and Quinn out, leaving Liv and Fitz to their night alone. They turned off the lights and made their way towards "their" bedroom and cuddled up into bed.
"You do know that you are the most powerful human being in the entire world right now don't you?" Fitz asked as he snuggled in closer to Liv.
"How so?" Liv asked as she was a little stunned by Fitz's proclamation.
"I am arguably the most powerful man in the world and I would do anything for you. Huck is the most powerful unseen man in the world. Between the two of us you could have any and everything you'd ever want. You are the most powerful man being alive Livvie. What do you want? Anything you want I'll give it to you."
"I want to spend the entire night wrapped in your arms. Cuddling, kissing, talking, making love, sleeping. I want to wake up in your arms tomorrow morning and not have to worry about the optics. I want to have breakfast with you after the sun rises and spend the day vegging out on the sofa watching old movies while fighting over who gets the last scoop of Ben & Jerry's 'That's My Jam Core' ice cream. I want you to take mw out of dates and do little quirky things to try to impress me. I want to be wooed. I want to feel like more than a mistress. I want... I want... I want normal Fitz. If only for just a day. I want you. Just for a day. An entire day where you're not the POTUS and I'm not your "closest advisor". Just one day and I can wait another four years if need be."
Fitz pulled Liv in closer and kissed her forehead. Wishes normally never came true for Olivia Pope, but this was a wish Fitz was going to do his best to grant. It was after all what he wanted too.