Disclaimer: Scandal belongs to Shonda Rhimes
Author's note: This is the last chapter. Originally, I wanted to start the story with the Fundraising Event but changed my mind, and therefore I had to edit and shorten the event. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Take It Easy On Me
Chapter 17
Friday night at seven O'clock, Olivia arrived at the White House, she was dressed in a long white evening dress and white high-heeled pumps, and she wore a small purse under her arm.
In the State Dining Room Fitz was standing to greet his guest, Cyrus stood very close by to assist the President and welcome the guests. It was odd seeing the President at a formal function without Mellie at his side. Olivia paused just inside the room to look at him, it was close to two hundred years since the White House had been the home of an unmarried president, in some ways the world had come far in those two hundred years and in some ways it had not.
Fits looked up and caught sight of her, he paused in his greetings and his eyes widened in approval when he looked at her, but then a pretty woman demanded his attention briefly. Olivia resumed her walking and greeted Cyrus warmly.
"Where is James?" Olivia asked and looked around.
"He's over there talking to the owner of a big newspaper, of course." Cyrus waved his hand in the direction of James and looked annoyed, "you will be at the same table as James."
"This is Washington we all have ambitions, Cyrus, give him some credit." Olivia was amused.
Then the row moved and Olivia was standing right before the President, she looked up and met his eyes, and for a brief moment, she forgot where she was until Cyrus coughed beside them. Stretching her hand out, she smiled, "Mr. President." Fitz took her hand but bowed down to give her a brief, formal hug, "Ms Pope, thank you for coming." Olivia glanced to her sides in chock, but no one seemed to have found anything strange with their greeting, and she gave him a warm glance before she moved on.
Olivia recognized most of the people in the room and small talked with the most important ones she met, her smile warmed up when she saw Verna and she walked straight to her.
"Verna, how are you?" Verna turned her head to greet Olivia, "you look very beautiful, Olivia. I'm an old woman but everything works so far, so I don't complain." Verna gave her a firm stare, reminding Olivia that she might be sick but not dying yet.
"How did it go with Sofie?" Verna asked in concern.
"Mr. Skov will remain Ambassador and the young girl's papers are spotless again."
"Thank you, Olivia. You are busy these days, he's lucky to have you." Verna narrowed her eyes and leaned back on her heels, "I must say you look more content and happier than I've seen you in a long time. I'm happy for you."
Uncomfortable Olivia said, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Shall we find our table?" They gave their empty champagne glasses to a bypassing waiter.
It was a pleasant evening, James was sitting next to Olivia on one side and on the other side sat a Senator, and they all small talked through the dinner. Olivia sat at the table closest to the table of honor, and from her chair, she had eye contact with the President.
When the waiters had served the desserts, the Senator excused himself and walked to another table to talk to a Senator, Olivia was answering a question from James when she felt a warm hand on her arm. Swiftly, she turned and stared directly at Edison and her narrowed eyes flew to his hand on her arm. Amused he removed his hand but kept his head close to hers.
"Don't look so annoyed, Liv, it's only me." He raised the glass he had carried with him. and said, "you do look fantastic, Liv. White has always been your color."
She couldn't help smiling and raised her glass too, "thank you, is something wrong with your table?" They each took a sip of their wine glasses before he answered.
"Yes, you are not there!" He relaxed into the chair and watched how she became restless. "Relax, Liv. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Did you scare the good Senator away? Not that I'm complaining but he a Democrat"
She couldn't help smiling, "oh, that's why he kept giving me the cold shoulder when I asked about his work, he doesn't believe in co-working with the enemy?"
"No, he not as free minded as I'm." Edison chuckled. "I don't mind close contact with the opponent, if it's for the benefit of the greater cause." His answer made her laugh, and shake her head until her eyes settled on a set of cold eyes she would recognize anywhere. Fitz was not pleased, her eyes soften to calm his worry down, it didn't work. Fortunately, Cyrus demanded his attention to introduce him to a woman Olivia didn't recognize.
"May I have this dance, Liv?" Edison asked unaware of the brief drama that had just happen before his eyes.
Olivia cast one last glance at Fitz who was still in a conversation with the woman, and nodded her head in agreement. He placed his hand on the small of her back and leaded her to the dance floor, a band played big band music and Edison swirled her around, and she placed one hand in his and the other on his upper arm. It felt familiar and strange at the same time, they had danced on many occasions in the past, and they fell into a comfortable routine, yet her body didn't react to his closeness like it had in the past.
Edison was a good dancer and easy to follow, Olivia relaxed and settled her eyes on his chest. "I can't believe it must be three years since we danced the last time, we haven't lost our famous moves." He joked.
Chuckling she looked up, "the dance isn't over, I can still step on your toes."
"You never did that, except when I disagreed on your analysis of our former presidents, but I always thought you stepped on my toes on purpose, as a punishment?"
"A well deserved punishment." She agreed. She saw movement from the corner of her eyes and heard a cold voice say, "may I interrupt and have this dance with Olivia?" Olivia stopped immediately and let go of Edison, Edison turned towards the president but kept his hand on the small of her back.
"Of course, Mr. President." He bowed lightly for Olivia and walked away.
Olivia met Fitz's eyes they were unpleasantly cold. She stepped closer and placed her hand on his upper arm, he took her other hand in his and placed his other hand on the small of her back, a bit lower than Edison had held her, and she shivered. Slowly he followed the music, it was a slow tune and he pulled her a little tighter.
"Fitz!" She warned but he just raised his eyes brows, "are you having a good time?"
"Stop looking at me," she hissed aware of all the eyes that always followed the President. He kept his eyes on her face, "enjoying yourself?" He asked again. This time she locked eyes with him, "it was just one dance, Fitz."
"Was it?"
"Yes!" she stated.
"Mr. President, Ms Pope may I've a private word with you?" Cyrus interrupted with a firm voice. Olivia and Fitz both turned towards him and let go of each other. "Sure." Fitz answered. He stepped in behind Olivia, but didn't touch her on their way out of the room.
As soon as they were in the hall and out of the guests' hearing, Cyrus rolled his eyes. "What was the drama on the dance floor about? Mr. President control your jealousy and Olivia start thinking." He waited for them to respond but was disappointed. "I'll stay here, and the two of you can move to a corner, and quietly dissolve your little dispute, please."
They obeyed and moved to a spot where they were out of sight. Fitz pressed a hard kiss against her lips and pressed her into his body, first taken by surprise she stiffen, but soon her body melted into his, and she soften the kiss and moaned. He relaxed and caressed the bare skin on her back, and she could feel his arousal. Slowly, he let her go and rested his forehead against hers.
"Sorry, I should've known it was just a dance, but you looked so absorbed in him."
"I wasn't, I was just dancing with an old boyfriend."
"You were engaged." He sounded contrite. "Yes, we were and you're married to Mellie." She stated firmly.
"Divorcing" he stated and locked eyed with her, she saw the love and a glint of insecurity. "I'll always be honest with you, why were you not honest with me, Fitz? It would have made it easier for me, if you had been the one to tell me."
He didn't look away, "Amanda Tanner?" He sighed, "I was a coward, ashamed over how weak I had been. I was never attracted to her, but she kept running into me at odd hours and places. I was afraid you would leave as soon as I told you what a jerk I had been. I'm not proud of lying to you."
"Your lying was the worst, it broke my heart. I knew I had no right to you, but I thought I could count on your honesty."
He took her face in his hand, and forced her to read his eyes, "Liv, I'm so very, very sorry. I didn't want you to walk out of me again, I love you."
Tears welled up in her eyes, "you said you would dedicate yourself to your marriage?" His thumps dried her years away, "I was a fool. I thought it was the right thing to do for Mellie, for my marriage and for my country. You kept telling me we had no future together. I tried to be happy without you but failed so miserably, that I lost my common sense."
Olivia searched his eyes for the truth, she saw love and regret and that was enough, "ok," she whispered."We will go back. You'll dance with at least five women, it will be expected of you. I'll dance with a few men including Edison to avoid talk. We made a scene in there, and this is fixing it. We won't be dancing together anymore tonight."
He looked like he was about to disagree but didn't, "Edison is in the past? I asked you once, if he was everything you ever dreamed, you never answered?" It was more a statement than a question."
Olivia narrowed her eyes in disbelief, "you were harassing me in the woods, don't pretend otherwise. No, Edison is not the man of my dreams."
He couldn't hide his joy, "what about later?"
"You've a key, figure it out," she smiled.
Cyrus walked over to them, "everything ok here?"
"Yes, thank you, Cyrus" Fitz said.
"Mr. President, you need to clean up."
Olivia reached up and removed the lipstick from his lips with her finger, and they shared one last look before they followed Cyrus back to the fundraising event.
They kept meeting at the dance floor with their various dance partners, and each time they shared a brief look and a small smile. Except the one time, she danced a second time with Edison then they stayed close together on the dance floor, and repeatedly shared brief glances.
They were sitting around one of the round tables, the guests had left the Fundraising event and now Cyrus, James, Olivia and Fitz were the only guests left, the cleaning crew would start their work within the next hour but right now, the room was empty and quiet.
"The first formal event without a First Lady, it went well, but I wonder how we'll manage breaking the traditions of having a First Lady." Cyrus shared his thoughts.
"The world is changing, we see female leaders around the world, they don't have husbands who put their careers on standby to be the First Husbands and host various events and small committees, they pursuit their own careers." Olivia pointed out.
"We expect the leaders we vote for to reflect the image we hold of the world and not the reality. We want them to be perfect, but I think that too is changing, I hope." James said.
Fitz leaned back in the chair and nursed his Scott whiskey, "we'll deal with the First Lady issue as it comes along. James Buchanon managed two terms with his niece acting as First Lady."
"Do you have a niece, Mr. President?" Cyrus gave him a hard glare.
"I was merely suggesting that I won't be the first President without a wife, Cyrus."
"Oh, I feel assured now."
James leaned forward in his chair, "tonight, I heard talk about Mellie, it seems she will appeals to the Court to consider the divorce fault by both filing spouse and non-filing spouse, she is concerned about her reputation and future career." James looked at Cyrus, "I didn't know she had political ambitions?"
Cyrus looked at Olivia but tried to hide his concern because of James, "she has a lot to learn about politics and playing with the adults."
"I'm on it." Olivia sighed.
"Thank you, it's time for us to leave this party, James." Cyrus got up, "Mr. President, Olivia." He said.
James gave them both a hug in farewells.
Olivia got up to, "it's time for me to leave too, Mr. President" She extended her hand.
With an amused look on his face, he accepted her hand, "Olivia" he said. "Let me walk you to the door." He too was aware of the noises outside the open door, the cleaning crew was eager to start their work.
Olivia had been home for ten minutes, when she heard the key in her door and heard Fitz walking into her apartment. He wasn't playing this safe, tons of people could have seen him leave the White House but she wasn't complaining, he wasn't having a little dirty affair with her.
He found her in the bedroom still in her dress, and he paused just to look at her, he had his hands in his pockets and the tie hung loose around his neck, and he looked hot. She stood very still and let him take her in, his eyes on her body felt very arousing and her breathing became faster. Suddenly, she felt warm. Slowly, he took a few steps forward but stopped before he was within touching range.
"You are so beautiful, Livvie." His breathing was affected too. Her mouth opened slightly to allow more air into her lungs. This time he moved at took her into his arms, his lips finding hers and he took advance of her open mouth.
"Let me undress you?" She nodded weakly and felt his warm hands lifting the dress up over her head, his hands caressed her skin in the doing and she shivered. His lips touched hers softly, "no words."
Again, she nodded. He stepped slightly back to look at her, and she saw the heat rise in his eyes, and swiftly he pulled her into a kiss. His lips traveled down her neck and shoulders and she started to unbutton his shirt, her hands caressed the bare skin on his chest. His breathing became faster, and she unzipped his pants and pushed them down with his boxers.
He kicked of his shoes and pants without breaking contact with her skin, then he lifted her up to rest at his waist and carried her to the bed. His mouth found her nibbles, then her bellybutton, her breathing became very soundly and she moaned when his mouth found her wet sex. Her hands moved to his hair, she couldn't keep her body still if her life depended upon it, she pulled at his hair. He moved his body and entered her with a loud moan, and she pushed up to meet him wanting to feel all of him. He let out a small cry, began a faster pace and locked eyes with her.
The next day Olivia made a small visit to Verna Thornton, she lived in a large apartment not far from Olivia. Olivia was welcomed into the study were Verna spent most of her time when she was at home. The furniture were large and built in Mahoney, but apart from that the room was light and well organized.
"Hello Olivia, I trust this is not a social visit entirely?"
Olivia smiled warmly at the elder woman, "no, it's not. When can we expect the test results from the hospital?"
Verna folded her hands. "On Monday, we can talk about my health then, I want to enjoy this weekend."
"If that is was you want, I won't disagree…" Olivia examined Verna, she looked well despite she had been through a round of chemotherapy, and might have to go through a surgery. So far, she had kept working without slowing down the least. Olivia admired her, she was a tough lady. "We have a situation."
"Thought so, I heard a thing or two yesterday."
"Mellie wants to force the President to take a bigger part of the blame for the divorce. She counts on the Superior Court's Family Division to take her part."
"I will do what I can, Olivia."
"We need to fix this fast, Mellie isn't a team player."
"She never was, Olivia."
Monday morning Olivia walked briskly down the halls of the White House, Fitz had left her bed an hour earlier, they were settling into a comfortable routine, in her hand she had a folder. She walked through the open door to the oval office, and found Fitz standing on the Presidential Seal in deep thoughts.
"Mr. President!" She called. His face flew up in surprise.
"Olivia." He returned her formal greeting with a warm smile, "please, close the door behind you."
Sighing she obeyed his order, "What are you doing."
"I stand on the Presidential Seal when my destiny is held in the hands of others, not always kind persons. I stood here and drank with Cyrus when you wouldn't talk to me, I stood here drinking when you left me for the second time, it took days of drinking to recover that blow. Today, I stand here without drinking, because I still have you, but still others will decide my fate today."
She raised her eyebrows.
"The Seal humbles me and reminds me of the faith the American people have in me, the sacrifices I've made so far, and I wonder how much more of myself, I can give to stay in this office. It's my tradition." He waved his hand at her.
Olivia stepped into the Presidential Seal and they locked eyes, aware of the cameras Olivia handed the folder to him. "Make sure to give this file to Mellie before your meeting in the Court starts today, it will remind her of how much she will too lose, if she doesn't play by the rules." She stepped out of the Seal, he didn't open the file but followed her.
"Have you had breakfast?" He asked.
"No, but you don't have time for breakfast, you have a meeting in the Court." She was tense.
"Will you be joining me or will Cyrus?" He asked curiously.
"You will be on your own, representation from the White House will remind people that you're the President, but by coming alone you will be seen as a husband dealing with his divorce. We want the voters to relate to the husband today, and not be thinking of politics and the White House."
"Will you walk me to the car?"
"No!" She stated firmly and met his confused eyes, "we don't want you linked to any woman today."
"You are not any woman!" He sounded offended.
"Today is not the day to start any rumors of a possible woman in your life." He watched her closely. "Fitz," she begged "trust me on this."
"Fine." He gave in.
Fitz met Mellie inside the Court House, he watched his soon to be ex-wife and saw a tense woman, and he knew she felt cornered. Today he hoped to end a long marriage he had wanted to end for years, but their marriage had not consisted of only sad moments or lonely moments. They had celebrated the birth of two children together and shared ambitious dreams of Congress and the White House, and once he had cared about her. Cared enough to marry her, she may never have been the love of his life but he had shared a long marriage with her.
"How are you and the baby, Mellie?" He asked in a kind voice.
Her eyes flew to her face and she tensed, "the baby is fine. I'm not sure how I am."
He stepped a little closer, "Mellie trust me, we have found a Campaign runner for you and I'll stand by my word. I'll support you. We don't love each other anymore but ending a marriage is never easy or joyous, it's a sad day and it means that we failed our vows. I never wanted to hurt you, but I did. I'm very sorry for that."
Mellie's face softened, "thank you, we never were good together or for each others. I'm sorry too."
"I know." He said. "Let's do this in the way that is best for the both of us?"
Mellie tensed. "Fine, I'll trust you."
Fitz sighed in relief, "I'm supposed to give you this folder, I haven't opened it and don't know what secrets it reveals. I hoped we could work this out together instead of threats." He handed her the folder, which she accepted. She looked at him for a brief moment, before she placed the folder in her purse without looking at it.
Fitz and Mellie were escorted into a conference room at the Court, four judges were already seated but stood up to welcome the President and Mrs. Grant.
"Welcome Mr. President and Mrs. Grant. We are here to talk about your divorce. We have no precedence to look at, but consider this divorce to fall under the National Security code. Therefore, we have decided to speed up the process which usually is impossible in Washington DC." Judge Keane paused to see if they understood.
"Mrs. Grant, you have claimed that the President has had relations outside the marriage, do you want to maintain that claim?"
"No, Fitz has always been a good husband." Mellie stated firmly.
"Does the settlement still stand?" Judge Keane asked?
"Yes, it does." Fitz answered.
"We are here to decide the grounds for your divorce. Mr. President in your file for divorce you claim that Mrs. Grant has committed adultery, do you stand by the claim?"
"Yes, I do."
"Mrs. Grant, in public you have admitted on adultery and told that the baby you're expecting is not the President's, do you want to change your statements?"
Mellie took a deep breath, "no, I don't."
"We have read you settlement and find it legally binding. The President is very generous in the settlement. The President will financially support Mrs. Grant until she remarries. Hereby, we authorize your petition for divorce, from today you are no longer married."
Mellie looked very pale and tense and Fitz said, "Thank you Judge Keane." His happiness was mix with sorrow. He got up, and offered Mellie a hand to help her up from the chair, and she accepted it gratefully.
Outside the conference room he stopped and turned to Mellie, "please know how sorry I'm. I wish the best for you and Marvin."
She gave him a tense smile, "so am I, Fitzgerald. Best of luck to you too." She turned to leave, but he took hold of her arm and held her back, he reached into his pocket and took out a small plastic bag. "Maybe you want to keep my wedding for the children, they might want it someday?" He asked.
She accepted the small bag without looking at the ring, "we did mess everything up didn't we?" She looked sad.
"Not everything, the children are proof of that we did something right."
"Yes they are. Goodbye, Fitz."
"Goodbye, Mellie." He gave her a small hug before she walked away.
Olivia and Cyrus waited in the small office for Fitz's return, Olivia worked on a press release, Verna had told her that the divorce would most likely be final today, but Olivia had not wanted to inform Fitz and Cyrus of that possible outcome. Mellie could've delayed the progress even though Verna and Walker had worked on the judges. Moreover, this was a personal subject for Fitz and he deserved, that it was a private moment for him and Mellie.
Both Cyrus and Olivia looked up when they heard someone entering the small room, and the both got up when they saw it was Fitz. Fitz found her eyes and walked to her in long strikes, and when he reached her, he took her into his in his arms and kissed her possessively in a long sweet, sweet kiss. She encircled her arms around him and kissed him equally possessively back. Behind them, Cyrus coughed.
Breaking the kiss Fitz smiled into her eyes, "I am now officially a free man. Thank you for fixing my divorce, Liv."
"My pleasure." She smiled back. Fitz turned around and took Olivia with him, he had still one arm around her waist, "Cyrus, meet my girlfriend, Olivia. I told you I would not stay single for two years."
"Congratulation, Mr. President." Cyrus smiled and added, "your taste in women has improved, this is a wise choice. I hope the same can be said for Olivia." He chuckled and walked out of the room.
Epilogue
The Treaty Room was full of people and cameras, the television crew was busy with the last minute adjustments of cameras and lights angles, and Kimberly Mitchell was looking over her question chards and memorizing the questions. It was three months ago since she had been here for the exclusive interview covering the presidential divorce. Cyrus was supervising the preparations in a corner, and his eyes turned to the door when Olivia and Fitz walked through it hand in hand. He had never seen any of them looking this happy or content before. Kimberly looked up and noticed the couple. "We're ready Mr. President and Ms. Pope."
"Thank you Kimberly, be nice to us." Olivia joked. Fitz placed his hand on the small of her back and walked her to the couch he waited until she was seated before he sat down very close to her, and enfolded her in one of his arms. Her upper body rested against his, she took his other hand in hers, he looked down at her, and they looked into each other's eyes.
"Mr. President and Ms Pope, thank you for hosting this interview."
"You're most welcome, Ms Mitchell." Fitz said in a relaxed tone of voice, he smiled to Olivia and squeezed her hand.
"Mr. President, today you informed the American people that you are involved in a relationship with Ms Pope. You're not engage?"
Olivia turned her head, and looked up at Fitz with an amused look on her face, he too looked amused, "no we are not engaged yet, it's too soon into our relationship for engagement. But we are committed to each other, and due to our commitment we decided to make our relationship official."
"Ms Pope has worked for you for a long time, how do you explain that you suddenly fell in love with her, Mr. President?"
"Ms Pope has resigned from her part time job as Advisor for the White House, she is now fully engaged in Olivia Pope and Associates." He paused and looked at Olivia. "I have always been very fond of Olivia, but I was a married man and as such never regarded Olivia as more than a friend. When my divorce was final and I settle into a new life, my fondness of Olivia grew into love, and I was so lucky that she fell in love with me too. She has made me a very happy man."
"Ms Pope, how do you explain falling in love with your boss?"
Fitz caressed her hand, and she gave him a brief glance before she turned to Kimberly, "I didn't work in the White House every day, only when my advice is needed. Fitz was my boss and though I have always been fond of him, I never thought of him in a romantic way until recently. Fitz is a very caring, loyal and funny man he is very easy to fall in love with."
"I've always regarded Olivia more as a friend that as a member of my staff, maybe that's why the boss- staff issue never was a big issue for us." Fitz added.
"Will Ms Pope be given a title now that you're involved?"
"No, I hope that in time Olivia will say yes to be my wife, but until then, she will act as hostess for me in the White House." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple and she caressed his hand.
"Ms Pope, have you been married before?"
"No, I was engaged once but we never married. I have not been in many relationships, in that regard Fitz and I are very similar." Olivia smiled into the camera.
"You are an independent woman and you have made a thriving career, do you think it will correspond well with the responsibilities of the White House?"
"I do think it will correspond well with my responsibilities toward Fitz and the American people, many married women and mothers work today and they find a balance, and embrace both worlds. I will be no different to these hard working, honorable women and mothers of the United States of American. Like these woman and mothers, I will always put my family first."
"Olivia knows better than any how the Administration at the White House works, she will not need time to figure that out, she is ready and fit to her responsibility to hostess formal events. Moreover, she is taking very good care of me, I lack nothing because she works." Fitz praised Olivia.
"Mr, President, has your family met Ms Pope yet?"
"He looked at Olivia with love. "They have and they love Olivia."
"Mr. President and Ms Pope, congratulations to you both."
"Thank you." They answered in chord. Olivia turned and kissed him softly on his lips.