This chapter was going to be a tad less fluffy, but given what happened last week and the fact that there's no Scandal this week, I decided to make this chapter a bit more fun. It is inspired by the movie, Life Unexpected, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, put it on your list.

But first, enjoy ;)

"Olivia!" Fitz called, yelling down the long hallway. Freezing in place, he watched as Isabella waddled back and forth, looking to make her first step. She had been standing up for quite some time, but she looked as though she was finally going to venture into unknown territory.

Where is she? He wondered, eyes darting from his daughter to the hallway. If he moved to grab his Android, he was afraid he'd scare her. Isabella looked up at him expectantly.

"Wait for Mommy Bella." He coaxed as he raised his hands out in front of him. But her mother's defiance pushed her to take a successful first step before she felt her father's hands gently bump against her to pause her action. The sudden shift in balance caused her to fall with a loud thump onto the hardwood floor, just as her mother made it down the hallway. Looking up at her father, she began to wail.

"What did you do?" Olivia boomed, surveying the scene. A puddle of water formed at her feet from her half-shampooed hair as she angrily eyed her husband. Fitz stood frozen in space, his hands still out in front of him. Isabella continued to cry.

"She was going to walk and I didn't want you to miss it." Fitz explained. Olivia threw her hands down and scooped the distraught baby up into her arms.

"You're going to stunt her growth Fitz. You don't push down a child who is about to take their first steps." Olivia yelled, rubbing Isabella's back as she sobbed into her robe.

"I didn't mean to! I was just holding my hands out trying to tell her to wait and-"

"Now she's never going to walk!" Olivia exclaimed. Fitz furrowed his brows.

"Oh don't be so dramatic Olivia." She shot him a look and stormed back down the hallway, taking Isabella with her.

"We have a final meeting with the event coordinators in an hour, so get out of your pajamas and into the shower." She ordered before disappearing into their master bedroom.

He sighed and decided to give her space. It did not help that they had already had a fight that morning. He knew that Olivia was stressed about the upcoming Leaders of Tomorrow Ball, as it was their first real entrance into public as an official couple. They had gone to tons of events together, but had generally held a low profile over their years of marriage. This was their return into the political arena, and they both knew it wouldn't be easy. With Mellie now thinking about running for governor in California and Leaders of Tomorrow starting up, the news cameras would be turned back towards them.

Fitz cleaned up the remains of breakfast and then padded into the master bathroom, where Isabella lied in her bouncer giggling happily as she hit the objects above her. He bent down and kissed her chubby cheeks. He apologized profusely as he continued to pepper her with kisses. The previous mishap seemed to be forgotten as the tiny baby kicked her legs in glee. He stood up and pulled his Yale shirt over his head to join his wife in the shower.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, wrapping his arms around Olivia, who was staring at the wall under the showerhead in deep thought. She melted into him, placing her hands on his above her belly button. They stood for a few moments in silence, the only audible sounds being the tap of water on the tiles and Isabella hitting her toys.

"I'm scared." She admitted in a barely audible whisper. He kissed the crook of her neck.

"Don't be. We're in this together." She craned her neck to look up at him for a few moments before smirking.

"You accidently pushed our 9-month child down because you didn't want me to miss her take her first steps?" She joked. He laughed.

"We're going to both miss milestones. We can't be there for everything. It's just a reality." She said with a sigh.

"Doesn't make us bad parents." He responded. She kissed him lightly and turned back to finish washing the conditioner out of her hair. He yanked her back into him, pressing her to his skin.

"Fitz…"

"We have an hour."

"Isabella is right outside the shower!"

"She won't see anything." Olivia gasped as she felt pressure grow between her hips. She could feel him smirking into her neck. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she let him relieve her stress.

"Make it quick."

"So far we have 1,200 guests on the list, including all guest speakers. Hillary has faxed me her speech and it looks impeccable, if I do say so myself." Olivia walked around the grounds of the Sheraton Hotel in Burlington with her event planner, Rosalie McDermott, as she rattled off details to her. She was the wife of one of Olivia's best guy friends at Princeton. Whenever it came to event planning, Rose was eager to help her. She had planned some of the most successful events during Fitz's campaign, and was one of the few professional friends Olivia knew did not let any judgment get in the way of her professionalism. She had lost some contacts when her relationship with Fitz was revealed, but Rosalie had never left her list. "Anyone who doesn't see that you were made for each other is a fool." She had told her.

"Has Rand Paul committed to speak as well? It's important we show bipartisanship." Cyrus asked, putting his phone to his chest.

"Yes. He signed on two days ago. The Republicans are eager to appeal to youth."

"As they should be." Cyrus quipped before returning to his phone call. Olivia smirked.

"Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Brad and Angelina, heck even William and Kate will be at this thing. It's all the buzz." Rosalie said excitedly, opening the door to the ballroom. Everything was already set up for the event. The white and black theme no doubt was Olivia's idea. Servers worked in a flurry to place the thousands of name cards on the tables according to the seating chart that had been slaved over. All of Fitz and Olivia's hard work was finally starting to show. She turned to talk to Fitz, but found him missing. Furrowing her brow, she turned back around to find him in the middle of the dance floor. Isabella was standing in front of him as he crouched down and held her arms up. He began to hum Daughters by John Mayer as he guided her to dance with him. Isabella smiled widely as he dipped and moved her in time to the music. He scooped her up into his arms, causing her to squeal. He held her close as he continued to hum and move to the music. Olivia watched on lovingly, Rosalie and Cyrus' chatter blurring into the background.

"Liv?" Rosalie asked, breaking her out of her gaze. As Olivia turned towards her, she caught her first glimpse of the father-daughter interaction.

"Well aren't they darling? I'd give anything to have Charlotte that tiny again. Five year-olds aren't as easy-going." Olivia smiled and turned her attention back to her clipboard.

"We still need to confirm if Karen is coming, speaking of Fitz's offspring." Cyrus added. Liv sighed and flipped to the guest list, where her name still remained unchecked. "It would be in the best interest of both her and her m-"

"Mellie and Jim have already RSVP'ed yes. I'm not going to push Karen. She's an adult and can make her own decisions." Olivia reported. She handed her clipboard to Cyrus and made her way towards Fitz and Isabella. Fitz eagerly pulled her into them, guiding her hips into a swaying motion. She kissed the top of Isabella's head, who was nestled in between them.

"It's going to be a great event Livvie." He said, looking into her eyes. She smiled.

"Did you hear that Brad and Angelina are coming?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Fitz laughed.

"You're kidding." She shook her head and laughed.

"Rose just told me. Can you imagine Cyrus talking to Brad Pitt?"

"I can't imagine you talking to Brad Pitt." He murmured against her ear.

"Jealous much?"

"Well I've heard that Olivia Pope has a thing for older men, so I guess I'm safe." She slapped his shoulder playfully as they continued to dance to non-existent music. Isabella's eyes began to close as the rhythm of her parents' joined bodies lulled her to sleep. They both watched on lovingly as she fell to sleep against her father's chest, oblivious to the fact that Rosalie, Cyrus, and the servers had left the room long ago. Details had to be finalized, but that could be done later. All that mattered was the tiny heartbeat that vibrated against their bodies.

Fitz sat on the floor as Olivia and Nanny Dorin prepared a late lunch. Olivia had never been much of a cook, and neither had Fitz, but they were slowly learning from their Spanish nanny. Olivia had grown to love cooking. It was a good outlet to put stress towards, and her Vermont kitchen could not be any more perfect than it was. She loved making breakfast while looking out over the snow-covered hills to the mountains in the distance. It made her dream even more surreal than it already was.

"Just move this foot," Fitz began, tapping Isabella's left foot, "and then this one." Isabella's face wrinkled in disapproval and she decided to return to her seated position. Fitz sighed. Olivia smirked.

"If you think you can redeem yourself, you can't." She said en route to the dining room, patting him on the back playfully.

"But I can win the first word game, can't I?" Fitz said excitedly. "Can you say DaDa?" Isabella shook her head and crawled over to her playmat. Olivia smiled in approval as she came back to get their plates.

"We'll see who wins that one, Mr. President." Fitz rolled his eyes in defeat and rose to his feet. Olivia picked up Isabella and placed her in her highchair. Suddenly, her phone began to ring.

"Can you feed her why I take this?" Olivia asked. Fitz nodded and took the applesauce out of her hands. She slid the glass door open and stepped outside.

"Abby." Olivia greeted cheerfully.

"We have a situation." Abby informed. Olivia's face dropped.

You probably hate me right now, because I just Shonda'ed by leaving you with a cliffhanger. I actually have most of the next chapter written because it used to be a part of this chapter, but I didn't want to bring down the mood :P What do you think the situation is? Let me know in the reviews section. Curious to see if anyone gets it. I did hint at it in the chapter.

In case you didn't already know, it came out today that 4x17 is called "Put A Ring On It". While it's probably Cyrus' wedding, does this have a double meaning? I'm going to be putting a predictions/midseason review up on my YouTube channel tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Make sure to check me out on my other social media sites as well! Thanks for reading ;)

XXX, Becca

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