AN: Here is chapter 3 (aka the snow day) Olivia gets to know Fitz a little better and there is a small clue about her past, also she gets to meet the kids and hang out with them. I hope you guys enjoy :)

Olivia worked for a little while until James arrived, he got there around 8:30 and they left for the residence, she was feeling quite nervous about it so she was thankful it was James taking here there instead of Fitz. When they got there they found the first children in the living room watching tv.

"Uncle James" the 9-year-old girl exclaimed when she saw James.

"Hey Karen, hey Jerry" he walked to her and gave her a hug.

"Hey uncle James" the 10 year-old boy finally looked away from the tv to give James a hug.

"Are you and uncle Cy staying here because of the snow?" Karen asked him

"We are, and she is too" he said motioning to Olivia "Olivia is an old friend on your uncle Cy and me, and she is working with your dad now" James explained to the kids.

"Hi" Olivia extended her hand to them, she wasn't really sure what to do, and the boy was looking at her funny.

"Is this the girl dad was talking about" he whispered to his sister, but it was loud enough that Olivia and James heard.

"I don't know, ask her last name" Karen whispered just as loud.

"What is your last name?" Jerry asked

"Pope" she kindly answered.

"Its is her!" the little girl exclaimed, and after that they just looked at each other and smiled, Olivia was getting concerned.

"Guys, what do you mean your dad was talking about her?" James inquired.

"They met on thanksgiving cause she wanted to buy crumb cake and ours was the last one" Jerry explained and Olivia's eyes went wide, she couldn't believe he had told his kids the story.

"A little context here" James turned to Olivia.

"Remember I told you my sister is pregnant" James nodded "Well she was craving Carlo's crumb cake and I was in New York for a client, so I went to buy one but they didn't have any, except for an special order that happened to be for the President and he got there while I was trying to buy it" Olivia explained.

"Then dad got her a ride to the airport because there was lots of traffic and she couldn't get a cab" Karen continued.

"And then she lost her flight so dad brought her on Air Force one" Jerry finished the story.

"Huh" was all that James said. Olivia just hoped he could keep it from Cyrus at least for a while.

"Miss Pope, would you like some hot chocolate? we were about to get some" Karen asked her.

"Sure, and you can call me Olivia or Liv" Olivia had expected the kids to be mad or something but they seemed cool so she agreed.
"What about you uncle James?" She turned to James.

"Not now, thanks" Karen just nodded and ran out of the living room with her brother to find the chef and ask him for the hot cocoa and some cookies.

Olivia stayed there with James and they sat on the couch facing the tv, next to where they kids where when they arrived. She asked him to not tell Cyrus what he heard, since she knew he would not react well, James said he would try as long as he could but to be aware he had a big mouth. The kids came back a little while later with one of the aides behind them carrying a tray with three cups.

When they returned they sat on their spots again, Jerry ended up next to Olivia. The show they had been watching had ended so he said they planned to watch a movie and asked the grown-ups if they wanted to stay. It was nearing 9pm so she asked if it was ok thy were up so late, so Karen just told her it was fine since there would be no school because of the snow, so she agreed to stay. James said he was tired so he left. Surprisingly for her, they wanted to watch home alone, they were a little to young for it so she guessed Fitz had shown it to them. Karen grabbed the remote and looked for the movie on the dvr.

Time passed quite fast, it was almost 10:30 and the movie was almost over, also she figured Fitz would be back soon. Olivia thought about going to bed already, but then she remembered she had no idea where she was supposed to sleep, and James was gone already so she tried to put her focus back on the movie.

A few minutes later Fitz finally walked in, he had his suit jacket hanging over his shoulder, he was loosening his tie, he seemed tired, and then he just rubbed his neck with his free hand. At that moment she was hit with the sudden realization that she was being witness of this rather private moment; because even thought they were in the White House, that was his home, where he went every night after an exhausting day at work, the place where he didn't have to put on an act for others, maintain an image or watch his every move to make sure people respected him, it was a place where he could just be himself, and she found herself even more drawn to him than she did before.

A few moments later he looked up and found her staring at him, he hadn't been expecting to find her up, so he just stared back. Olivia realized she had been busted staring at him, but for some reason she couldn't understand, she didn't look away and she held his gaze. Fitz gave her a sweet smile and she blushed; but managed to smile back.

She knew something was going on, but before he brain could dwell on it too much, Cyrus walked in rather loudly and interrupted their beautiful moment. Both of them were forced back to reality and he finally saw his kids sitting next to her, awake way past their bedtime.

"Why are you guys still up?" Both kids turned to him, eyes wide as saucers.

"We were just watching a movie with Liv and there is no school tomorrow" Jerry answered quickly. Before Fitz resumed talking to his kids, Cyrus interrupted again.

"Is James down for the night already" He asked Liv.

"Yeah, he went to bed right after we got here" Liv told him.

"Ok, I'm out too, good night everyone" Fitz, Liv, and the kids mumbled goodnights and Fitz went to get the remote.

"Come on dad the movie is almost over, and are you going to interrupt the movie for our guest too?" Karen whined.

"And there is no school tomorrow" Jerry added.

"Our guest is free to keep watching the movie" he said looking at Olivia "But you need to go to bed, school is out tomorrow, but you did get up early today and I don't want you guys to be too tired to go play in the snow tomorrow" That last argument got their attention, and they finally agreed.

Fitz left with the kids, but not before telling Olivia he would be back soon; and it wasn't like she could go anywhere because she still had no idea where to go. She didn't feel it was right to keep watching the movie without the kids so she just sat there checking her e-mails, basically wasting time until he returned. There was nothing interesting until she came across an e-mail from Cyrus that had the article he was angry about the previous day. She started reading, and found herself just as outraged at all the lies that were said about Fitz, she was so focused on it she didn't realize Fitz had returned.

"You know, it's not true, what they say about me" She abruptly turned around, he was standing right behind her leaning on the back of the couch.

"Hmm… Yeah, I know, I mean, I figured" she stammered

"I didn't mean to interrupt the movie for you" he said after being silent for a moment, just looking at her. "You can finish it"

"It's ok, it wouldn't feel right, I rather watch it tomorrow with them" She replied, he smiled at the fact that she planned to stay long enough to finish watching the movie with the kids.

"So they didn't give you any trouble?" he asked

"No, they are great kids" she answered with a smile, she actually thought they were really sweet.

Fitz sighed with relief "And I thank god for that every day" he looked down at his feet for a moment and stepped away from the couch "I was going to get some tea, would you like some?" he finally spoke again.

"Sure" Olivia got up to follow him to the kitchen, and she finally noticed he had changed into pajamas. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt and flannel pants, and she thought he looked even hotter than usual.

Fitz was walking in front of her and she could see the perfectly shaped muscles of his back, his arms, and before she could stop herself her eyes wandered to his butt, which look great on those pants. She was so distracted she nearly crashed into him when he stopped at the entrance of the kitchen to let her go in first. She chastised herself and started repeating "get it together" in her mind like it was a mantra.

He noticed how she suddenly looked very nervous, but decided to say nothing about it and focus on boiling the water fort the tea. She sat at the kitchen island and avoided looking at him.

"What kind do you like?" She finally snapped out of her thoughts, and looked at him confused "I think we have about any type of tea you can think of" Fitz added and she understood what he had asked.

"Chamomile would be nice" she told him.

"That was exactly my choice, it's a good bedtime tea, its soothing" she just nodded

The tension was palpable in the room so she was desperate to do something to break it, she figured conversation might do the trick. She thought about trivial topics, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he sounded weird when he said he thanked god that his kids were great, like there was more to it, so going against her better judgement, she asked him about it.

"May I asked why you sounded so… weird, when you said you thanked god for your kids being the way they are?" he turned to look at her and chuckled softy.

"You noticed" he sighed and walked towards her, he sat on a stool next to her. He stayed quiet for a while gathering his thoughts and she patiently waited.

"I kind of dropped the ball as a father for a while" Olivia could see the guilt in his eyes, there was another pause. "I was too occupied with my career to see what was going on right in front of me"

"One day I was in my office, it was at the end of my term as governor I was busy with this campaign, and my kids barged into my office in tears begging me to not let their mother fire their nanny. I told them I'd see what I could do, I talked to Mellie and she had this rage fit about how awful the woman was."

"The stories from Mellie and the kids were so contradicting I realized something was wrong so I talked to her. I can't recall everything she said, but the essence of it was that Mellie was a crappy mother, she neglected the kids. She sounded sincere so I let her keep her job and made a point to pay more attention, and time proved her right"

"I began noticing things, and that's when the fighting started. It also made me realize our marriage had been dead for a while, that we simply had been ignoring each other. I wanted a divorce, but I knew it would be carnage, she would fight me for it, she would try to take the kids and it would destroy my career. I told her to just play her part for the campaign and try to be better for the kids, she wanted to be here so badly that she agreed. I figured that being president I'd have enough power to get rid of her, but really I think I was just being selfish, I wanted this pretty badly too." he moved his hands motioning to what was around him. "So I worked on being there for them even if she wasn't and just pushed through it"

"After I won it was clear it would still be pretty bad, but Jerry came up to me one day and asked why didn't I divorce her, that they would be ok with it because all she did was make us all feel bad all the time… My heart broke for my kids at that moment so I decided to do it no matter the consequences, but then I found out about the cheating, and it became easier. One her boys found out he wasn't the only one she had so he decided to come clean" The kettle whistled loudly and he went to serve the tea.

Olivia was dumbfounded, she hadn't expected him to open up to her like that, she didn't even know how to respond. He returned with two cups of steaming hot tea and placed one in front of her, she muttered a thank you. She was struggling to find the right words, but before she had a chance to say anything, he began talking again.

"When we got together I thought we wanted the same things, I thought I had found the right one, even though I was told I should be careful I didn't listen. My family never liked her, they told me I was rushing into things, but I was so desperate to prove I was being a grown up and settling down to move forward in life, that I ignored everyone"

"Whatever I went through I had it coming for being such and idiot, but I had my kids to think about and can't forgive myself for what I put them through, it wasn't their fault I picked wrong; and for a while there I was as guilty of neglecting them as she was" Fitz looked down, his eyes were beginning to water, the guilt of his past mistakes was weighing down on him, without thinking Olivia reached for his hand, he found the simple gesture quite soothing.

"You have to stop blaming yourself" she finally spoke "You made a mistake, those happen, you trust someone, you think you know them, that you want the same things and then it turns out they were just lying to your face, using you for whatever it is they wanted"

Olivia was speaking from experience, and he noticed, but decided against asking about it. He figured she would tell him if she wanted to. She still didn't feel ready to share about her life so she stopped talking, her hand was still on top of his so she slowly removed it and began sipping her tea. He did the same, they stayed quiet until they were done. Fitz was unsure on what to do next, but then he remembered he still hadn't told her which was her room so he told her he would take her there.

"Thank you for listening to me" he told her as they stood awkwardly outside her door.

"Anytime Mr. President" she answered.

"Seriously, after the conversation we just had I think we are past that, just call me Fitz" he tried again to get her to stop addressing him so formally.

"I still think it's inappropriate" she really didn't think it was a good idea.

"Come on Olivia, I don't like my friends calling me Mr. President" He insisted

"So we are friends" she asked with a tone of surprise.

"Yes… For now" he winked at her and she blushed.

"Cyrus calls you sir" she argued.

"Because if he didn't, he would loose the little respect he has for me, it's his choice not mine" Fitz smiled at her and she was loosing her resolve.

"I will think about it, good night Mr. President" she was about to go into the room, but before she had a chance to move, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Good night Olivia" She was expecting him to walk away, but he stood there until she went inside the room.

Olivia was willing herself to stop thinking about him to no avail, she just couldn't do it. She went to the bathroom hoping there was a toothbrush for her to use, and found it completely stocked with anything she could possibly need. Then on the bed she found a navy blue t-shirt with the presidential seal on it and a pair of flannel pants similar to the ones he was wearing. She made a mental note to thank him for it in the morning.

She decided to only use the shirt, since it was very large for her, and she got under the covers. All her efforts to think about anything else had gone out the window when she put the shirt on since it smelled like him, so she just gave in to the fact that she would be dreaming about him. Fitz was in his room thinking about her too, wondering if she was wearing his clothes or not; the image of her in his t-shirt was keeping him awake. After a while both of them drifted off to sleep wondering what would happen the next day.

The kids got up early in the morning, both of them were eager to start the day and go out to play in the snow. They went to wake Fitz and he decided to cook breakfast and have the kids help. The chefs looked concerned that they were taking over the kitchen, and reluctantly left; after not being able to decide between pancakes and waffles they decided to make both. Fitz also decided to make scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and a fresh fruit salad. He wanted to go all out for his guests, mainly for Olivia, he didn't mind Cyrus and James that much.

When they were almost done, he asked Karen to go get Olivia while He and Jerry prepared the table. Olivia had been up for a few minutes, she had gone to freshen up and she was just coming out of the bathroom when Karen knocked.

"Good morning Liv" the girl said out loud. "Are you up?" Olivia went back to the bathroom to grab the flannel pants and put them on before she went for the door.

"Good, morning Karen" she said as she opened the door "I am up"

"Cool, lets go eat breakfast, we cooked" she grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her out of the room.

"Who cooked?" Olivia asked

"Me, Jerry, and dad" Karen answered.

Olivia followed the girl into the kitchen, it looked like tornado had gone through it, Fitz was busy putting the food in plates with Jerry's help. He had his shirt all splattered with batter and bacon grease.

"Good morning Mr. President" He turned to look at her and smiled.

"Good morning Olivia" he told her "I think that shirt looks way better on you than it does on me" she blushed.

"Is there anything I can help with?" she asked, ignoring his comment.

"Hmm I guess you can help the kids take the food to the table" He suggested. She went to grab a plate that was next to Jerry and noticed he had batter on his hair and face, she turned to look at Karen and realized she was covered in batter too.

"Mr. President, where are your paper towels?" She asked him.

"There" he said pointing to a spot close to the sink " Why?"

"Your kids have pancake batter all over the face" Fitz laughed and she went to get the paper towels and dampen them on the sink. Then she went back to the kids and had them sit on the stools again to clean their faces. It was a simple gesture, but it was something their own mother never did so he found it endearing.

Fitz told Cyrus to take the day off, and him being his good old grumpy self, declined having breakfast with them and stayed with James in the room, so it was just the four of them. They all had a great time, the kids were very excited about the snow and asked her to come play with them too. Olivia told them she didn't have the right gear, she actually was thinking she had no clothes to change and wanted to go home soon, but Fitz said they had plenty of snow clothes and that she could borrow his, again. She wanted to say no at first, but the kids kept insisting so she gave in.

Less than two hours later Olivia was standing in her room looking at the pile of winter clothes sitting on the bed. Fitz had been half teasing her about giving her his snow clothes, the White House had an assortment of winter outwear in stock, just in case a guest came unprepared, the snow overalls and Jacket seemed to be her size or close to it; but the rest of it was indeed his clothes. There was a pair of sweatpants, a thermal shirt, a sweatshirt, and a pair of wool socks, all too large for her. After she got dressed she felt ridiculous, but she went out of the room, she had only put on the overalls and she was carrying the Jacket in her hands.

Fitz was in the living room making sure the kids had all their gear, he looked like he had come out of a ski magazine.

"There you are, I forgot to give you these" Fitz handed her a beanie and a pair of gloves.

"Oh God, I can't go out like this" she told Fitz after he and at the kids had started moving.

"What are you talking about?" he asked with concern.

"Seriously, you look like you came out of a ski magazine and I look like a hobo" Fitz broke out laughing at her argument, and she just glared at him.

"You look great I promise" he said after he had calmed down

"I look like a hobo" she said looking down at her attire.

"Maybe, yeah, but a very cute hobo" he said holding back a laugh. "Come on lets go" he put his hand in the small of her back and walked her out of the residence, the kids were running in front of them to excited to walk.

They went outside to a spot where no press could see them, there was a large group of agents with them. Karen insisted they do a snowman first, so they all agreed and worked on it together. Olivia was really enjoying herself, she didn't remember the last time she'd had that much fun, after the snowman the kids made snow angels and Fitz took photos of them, then they just rolled in the snow. Jerry ran over to Fitz after a while and tackled him, Karen ran over to them and both kids started throwing snow at him, Olivia made a quick decision to snap a few photos with her phone and even take a short video, she just thought he might like to have them.

She was peacefully taking the photos when the first snowball hit her, she gave her phone to Tom and asked him to continue taking them, and she went to chase after Jerry. They all chased each other throwing everyone snowballs until Karen had the idea of making it girls vs boys. Each team took the time to build a fort before starting the snowball war again. The kids were having fun like crazy and Fitz also couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed himself so much.

They had been outside for hours when they finally got too cold and hungry and decided to go back inside. All the snowy wet clothes were left behind the minute they were indoors again so Olivia had to walk back all the way to the residence wearing just Fitz' oversized clothes, so naturally he started teasing her about looking like a hobo.

Fitz had the staff light the fireplace and bring them blankets. He also got the chef to make them hot cocoa and different kinds of muffins. The four of them settled in front of the fireplace with their hot chocolate and freshly baked goods. If anyone saw them, they looked just like a regular family just hanging out after a day out, and Fitz was loving every minute of it.

"Did you like Air Force One?" Jerry asked casually "I thought it was awesome the first time I traveled in it"

"It was indeed pretty cool" Olivia answered

Cyrus had gone into the living room looking for Fitz and froze on the spot when he heard Jerry, at first he thought he might have been mistaken, but then Karen told Olivia she had to take a ride on Marine One TOO, that little word confirmed he heard right the first time.

"Mr. President, may I have a word with you in private" Cyrus said through gritted teeth.

Fitz knew what was coming, he cursed in his head and turned to Olivia, who looked quite a bit worried "I got this" he whispered to her and got up to go with Cyrus. Fitz took him to the library to make sure they weren't heard.

Cyrus demanded and explanation and Fitz patiently told him the whole story about what happened in New York, the crumb cake, the ride airport, the missed flight and the ride to DC on Air Force one. When he was done he looked at Cyrus who seemed to be about to pop and told him to let it out. He started yapping about how irresponsible he was, that yeah it was Olivia but what if it had been a stranger. The old man wouldn't shut up and Fitz just stayed there quiet waiting for him to be done. After a while he realized Fitz wasn't even paying attention to him.

"You don't really care about what I'm saying" Cyrus said trying to stay calm.

"Nope" Fitz answered sincerely

"You are not thinking straight Fitz, this could be a huge mess, just imagine what will be said about you, we got her to try to clean up your image not make it worse what are you trying to accomplish?" Cyrus said getting exasperated again.

"Fine, I am interested in her, my image is in trouble, but I couldn't care less about that, I just wanted to get close to her" Cyrus tried to start talking again but Fitz held his hand up to stop him

"Im not done"

"I intend to get to know her, I intend to woo her until she thinks I'm deserving of going out on a date with her. She is the most incredible woman I have ever met and I'd be an idiot if I let her go; and as someone who has met the absolute definition of the wrong one, I think I know what the right one looks like. I don't know if I'm the right one for her, but I will try my best every day to be worthy of her because I wan't to be happy and have a family with a woman I love and that she loves me back, and I just feel it in my gut that she might be it. So I am thinking straight, I know exactly what I'm doing, I do not give a rats ass what people think, including you and I am not backing down. Does that answer your question?" Fitz had a stern look on his face and it was pretty clear to Cyrus that he would be in trouble if he kept talking, so he just nodded and left the room.

Fitz knew Cyrus very so he was well aware the old man was perfectly capable of going to Olivia and telling her something to scare her off, so he also knew he had to plan very well what he would do next.

AN2: So the kids were cool about Olivia so they will not be an issue, Cyrus wasn't too happy to find out about New York but Fitz set him straight, and will try his best to keep him from scaring Olivia away. Up next we will have the National Christmas three lighting lets see how Fitz handles that ;) Do you guys think he should just ask her out or wait a little bit? let me know what you think :)