I thought I'd start giving a cheat sheet on which present character corresponds with their past life. There are a few that might remain a mystery until the right time.

Olivia Pope = Liviana Bishop
Fitzgerald Grant III = Fitz Grant
Quinn Perkins = Twitchy
Huck = Spin
Stephen Finch = Fincher (already left story)
Harrison Wright = Harry Walker
Abby Whelan = Amber
Edison Davis = Lewis (died in Tombstone)
Jake Ballard = Jack Story
Fitzgerald "Big Jerry" Grant II = The General

A/N: Short update, but I think I'm back on the roll so expect another one shortly. ;-)

Chapter 15: Tangled Up In Blue

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split it up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walking away
I heard her say over my shoulder
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue"
Tangled up in blue. – Bob Dylan

"I've got some Chamomile somewhere around here. That should help you sleep." Olivia opened up her mostly bare cabinets searching for some tea bags. She moved into the new apartment five months ago after she split with Edison and still had boxes in the corner of the kitchen. This was the last room to unpack, not that she really used it that much. She didn't really have time to cook, even if she had the inclination. Her workload doubled when Cyrus left the firm to head up the Grant Campaign.

She turned to the red-headed woman sitting at the table, hunched over and holding her arms tightly across herself. Abby looked up; her blood shot and battered eyes following Olivia as she gathered a mug and sugar. "Do you have anything stronger than that?"

Olivia smiled, thinking this was more like the Abby she knew in law school. She put away the mug and took out two wine glasses. She then found a bottle of 2005 Pio Cesare Barolo. Liv popped open the bottle and started pouring for Abby. "Tell me when."

She filled it nearly to the top. "When."

"I don't know, maybe those pain medications and alcohol shouldn't mix." They had just come back from the hospital after Olivia helped her escape her husband.

Abby shook her head. "I didn't take any yet. I wanted to feel everything he did to me tonight to remember."

Liv poured her own glass and took a sip as she watched Abby nearly down her entire drink. She rolled it on her tongue, tasting the hints of blackberry, licorice and cloves.

"I never thought I'd be this person. Only idiots stay with men who hurt them, that's what I always thought anyway. But here I am." Abby covered both of her eyes with her hands as if that could hide her from the world.

Olivia reached out for one of her hands and held it. "Yes, here you are. You got away from him. And I'm going to make sure you get the best divorce attorney to make him pay for this." She gently squeezed her hand and smiled reassuringly.

Abby's eyes were brimming with tears she refused to shed. Her voice cracked when she said, "Thank you. You don't know what this means to me." They sat silently drinking their wine for awhile before Abby spoke again. "I thought I could handle it, you know? I never put much stock in fairytale romances anyway and I thought to myself, well here's a chance to pay off all my college and law school debt and hob-nob with the most rich and famous people in the country. And Charles was charming at first, so much so I could almost pretend I was in love." She gave a short derisive laugh before her face grew serious again. "I had no idea of the darkness that lived in that man."

Olivia involuntarily shuddered, thinking of her father and her recent revelations into his own nature. She thought of the painfully awkward Sunday dinners she endured to get her own student loans paid off. Now that she knew what he did for a living she wondered about how many lives had been lost in exchange for her education, from her boarding school all the way to her Contracts class with Professor Patterson. "Well, you are safe now. I won't let him hurt you again," she said with conviction in her voice.

Abby gave a half smile. "When I was sitting in that bathroom with my cell phone trying to think of who to call, I realized how small my world had gotten. I hadn't talked to my friends in years and I really never had much of a relationship with my family. And then I started thinking of this game I used to play about who I would want with me if the zombies attacked and it was the end of the world and your face was the first thing that popped into my head."

Liv laughed at that. "That's me, zombie killer." She poured more wine for her friend and for herself.

"I wouldn't doubt it, the way you took care of Charles. You were amazing!"

Olivia shook her head, still marveling that she had the strength to lay that man twice her size down flat. She supposed it was the adrenaline. "Well, I couldn't think of a better person to spend the end of the world with than you, Abby. You'd be there for me, right? At the end of the world?"

"To the end of the world." Abby held out her glass.

The glasses clinked as Olivia joined her in the toast. "To the end of the world."

Liv gingerly pried herself away from a sleeping Fitz and dressed quietly in the dark cabin. She could hear Spin snoring and could just make out two other slumbering bodies. She stepped out onto the porch and found Amber sitting in the same position she was the night before. The woman's eyes did not leave the horizon as she greeted Liv with a terse, "Good Morning." She had her hands lightly resting on her shot gun and her legs stretched out and crossed before her. Amber wore a brown leather brimmed hat that rested just above her eyebrows.

"You cold?" Liv asked rubbing her hands together against the winter morning air.

"I'm used to it." The serious woman still didn't look at Liv as she brought the binoculars up to her eyes and scanned the distance. Ancient red sandstone formations peppered the landscape, dramatically contrasting with the brilliant white snow.

"I can take over now and you can go back in the cabin to get some Zs if you'd like."

Amber finally made eye contact with Liv. "No, I don't like. I don't like anything about this. We've been here for nearly two weeks and while we managed to skirt Denver proper, we are still deep within the Denver Territories. It's just a matter of time before they find us. We can't stay here."

Liv couldn't really argue with the prickly woman. They had managed to press hard to get away from the militia, but everyone needed time to recover from injuries. Particularly Spin, who had suffered fresh ones from the sadistic Jack Story. "You are right. Spin seems well enough that we can head out soon. When everyone wakes up, we'll talk about where we want to go."

Amber looked like she wanted to say more, but instead just pursed her lips and nodded in agreement. Liv pulled up a chair and sat next to her. The other woman kept mostly to herself in the past two weeks, only really talking to Harry. After a few moments of silence, Liviana spoke. "Thank you for saving my friends. You didn't have to stick your neck out, but you did and they are alive because of it."

The red-headed woman smiled wryly. "No need to thank me that was all Harry. He has a tendency to stick his neck out for people probably don't deserve it." She rubbed her upper arm where Twitchy had stabbed her. Her smile faded. "But, I owe him. I owe him everything, actually."

Something about the woman finally clicked in Liv. "He saved you too, didn't he?"

"Harry was actually hired to do a job for my husband, but he found out I needed his help more," Amber stated simply. "He's one of the good guys."

The soft tone Amber adopted made Liv wonder. "Are you two . . . ?"

At that Amber laughed. "Oh God, no. Have you seen us boinking like rabbits?" Liv could feel the warmth of blood rushing to her face thinking of her own activities with Fitz. Despite the close quarters, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. "Besides, I'm not his type."

Liv looked confused. "Not his type?"

Amber gave her an incredulous look. "Oh come on, you must have seen him give Fitz the once over when he's changing his shirt or something."

Her jaw dropped a little. "Oh. OK." She tried to think back and couldn't remember any clues, perhaps because she was too distracted by Fitz herself to pay any attention.

"I don't think you need to worry, that man seems completely gone when it comes to you." Amber's eyes twinkled with a light Liv had rarely seen in her. Just then, the cabin door opened and Fitz stepped out, running his fingers through his tussled hair and letting out a big yawn. "Speak of the devil."

"What?" Fitz looked back and forth between the women.

"Nothing, Fitz." Liviana dismissed Amber's words, shaking her head.

He shrugged and bent down to kiss her on the lips. "Good morning," he smiled.

"Good morning." She gave him another kiss, running her hand across his face scratching his growing beard.

"I should probably shave, shouldn't I?" He ran his hand across his jaw contemplating getting his blade and soap out.

"I don't know, I kind of like it." Liv flashed to him under the covers and how his beard felt between her thighs.

Amber rolled her eyes and stood up. "Well, I'm going to leave you two lovebirds. I think I will try to catch some sleep. Just wake me up when we are going to have that conversation, ok Liv?"

When she closed the door to the cabin, Fitz turned to Liv and asked, "What conversation?"

"We need to make up our minds where to go and go there."

Fitz couldn't deny this. It seemed everyplace they talked about had a lot of cons. A part of him just wanted to stay right here and pretend that The General wasn't breathing down all of their necks. But they had to deal with reality, no matter how unpleasant that might be. "I say we stick to the original plan and head to Albuquerque."

"Maybe," she said noncommittally. "Let's wait until the others are up before we talk more about it, ok?"

"Fine by me." He sat down next to her and reached for her arm. He gently traced it from the inside of her elbow to her palm before interlacing her fingers with his and kissing the back of her hand. He honestly never felt happier, despite the fact it could all go terribly wrong at any moment. As long as Livvie was by his side, the world seemed full of possibilities.

"We have some jerky and some dried berries we can have for breakfast in the knapsack by the bed."

Fitz grimaced in response. The thought of more jerky didn't seem very appealing at the moment. "I'd like to hunt for some fresh game. I think I saw deer tracks yesterday, I'm going to see if I could get one."

"OK, but you still need to eat before that." At that, he left his chair and dropped to his knees in front of her. His wicked grin was infections. "Fitz, people could walk out anytime."

"Everyone's asleep still," he brushed off. "But if it makes you feel better . . ." Fitz got up and quickly propped a chair under the handle of the front door.

"Fine." She shook her head, wondering if she had any inhibitions left. She then forgot all embarrassment as she watched him unbuckle her belt and peel down her pants. The cold morning air made her gasp, but his warm hands grabbing her ass and his hot tongue exploring her depths soon made up for that. As his beard scrapped against her inner thighs she thought she could definitely get used to it.

After they finished, Fitz set off to hunt while Olivia remind on guard duty. Whatever tracks he saw yesterday had been covered with fresh snow. He searched for awhile, hoping to pick up more evidence of the deer he saw, but found nothing. When he spotted a grouse, he crouched down, steadied his breath and killed it with one clean shot. He smiled at his own handiwork. When he was young, he didn't think he would ever get good at hunting. His father would berate him on his lack of shooting skills. "In this world, you have to be good with a gun, son," The General would tell him. "You have to watch your back and realize that sometimes you only have one shot. Your grandfather never learned that lesson and he paid the price."

Thinking about his father left him feeling uneasy. He wanted to get back to Liviana. When he saw her sitting on the porch, he smiled. Even though he saw her only a short while ago, he never grew tired of seeing her face. He held the bird by the neck and called out. "No deer, but this will make a good morning meal."

Liv watched as he deftly plucked the bird, explaining how to shed the feathers the fast way. By the time he skewered it for roasting in the fireplace; everybody was awake in the cabin. Spin stiffly got up and stretched before he went outside to take a piss. Twitchy was humming some melody to herself as she ran a comb through her tangled hair. Harry sipped some kind of hot drink he concocted.

Amber watched Liv make her way to the fireplace and sit next to Fitz. "So, where are we going and when do we leave?" She sat in front of her bedding with her bags in front of her, as if she were about to pack up. The door opened and Spin made his way back inside. Amber jerked her head in his direction, "This guy looks like he's well enough to hit the road, so let's do it."

Fitz assessed the man before him. It was true; he seemed to be doing a lot better. At least well enough that he wasn't worried Spin would drop dead on the road. "We had talked about going to Albuquerque before, and I still say that's a good idea. We might even be able to find freelance work down there."

"Yeah, but Fitz that was before all of Denver was after our asses. You know it'll only be a matter of time before the militia catches up to us there," Harry piped up before he took another swallow of his drink.

"We still might be able to last the winter there. It's true, they'll probably come after us, but knowing the militia, they might just wait until the spring for better conditions." Where ever they decided to go, dealing with the winter weather would be tough going. The General always believed in the efficient use of his resources and he probably knew there were a limited number of places they could go.

"What about Kansas Energy Cooperative territory? I've done some work for them before and they seem like a peaceful people." The thought of traveling so long on the open plains didn't appeal to Liv, but the respite once they got there might be worth it.

Fitz shook his head. "It's too far for winter travel. Besides, that's the group my father wants to make an alliance. They are a peaceful people and have been raided numerous times because of it. The General wants to combine their energy and knowledge on how to get it with our strength in arms and people." And he wants to seal the deal with me, Fitz silently added.

Twitchy began braiding her hair as she shared her opinion. "Why not stay here? It's a good place to spend the winter. They could overlook us. And those red rock towers would be a cool place for a last stand."

The gleam in her eyes told Liv she was imagining the scenario play out. "I'd rather avoid a last stand if we could." Liv sighed, already frustrated with trying to pick the best of bad options.

Spin sat in the corner silently observing the conversation while he whittled away on a piece of wood exercising his recently broken fingers. He finally spoke. "We could go to Texas." She shook her head and shot him a warning look, don't go there, Spin.

"Are you crazy? Wait, no of course you are crazy," Amber said, remembering who she was talking to. "There is no way we are going to Texas. Their boarders are closed and they'll shoot us all on sight."

Spin held Liv's eyes with a steady gaze. "They won't shoot her on sight."

"We're not going to Texas," Liv snapped.

Fitz knotted his brow. He felt like he was missing something. "What's he talking about, Livvie?" She wouldn't look at him; instead she shot daggers at Spin. He knew she was from there. Was Jack right? He wondered in dawning horror. Was she some kind of spy?

She could have killed Spin. No one knew about her past outside Texas except for him. She was working her nerve up to tell Fitz about it, but held back, nervous that it could change things. And now she felt totally exposed to the whole group. She finally met Fitz's eyes with trepidation. "He's right. They probably won't shoot me. My father is Elijah Ash, the leader of the Republic of Texas."

A/N: Rowan - Elijah Ash