A/N: 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. If you are appreciating this story, I'd really love some feedback. Feedback is my pay. ;-)

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
Rowan - Elijah Ash

Chapter 16: Hands From Above

And you,
You knew the hand of the Devil
And you,
Kept us awake with wolf's teeth
Sharing different heartbeats in one night.

To call for hands from above
To lean on,
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no. – Jose´ Gonzalez

"So tell me." He kissed the small of her back which made her squirm.

"What is it you want to know?" She laughed as he literally kissed her ass.

"Everything." Fitz traced his hand down her smooth dark leg. He laid his check against her back listening to the rhythm of her heartbeat and her steady breathing. "I want to know everything about you. I want to know how you got this scar." His thumb circled a small raised blemish on her calf. He then started kissing her up her spine. "I want to know your favorite food." He moved her hair and nuzzled her neck. "I want to know who you are more like – your Mom or your Dad."

She stiffened at the mention of her parents. He could sense that her mood changed, but before he could question further, she rolled over on top of him. She kissed chest and rested her chin there gazing into his eyes, assessing how much to tell him. Every time she spoke of her past to anyone, she felt like she carved a little bit of her soul up. And now, knowing what she knew about her father, it made it that much more difficult. She smiled brilliantly as a distraction, "Well, if you must know about that scar. I punctured my leg against a starter's block when another swimmer knocked me down before a meet."

"You were on the swim team?" Fitz had a sudden vision of Olivia gliding effortlessly in the water and smiled.

"Ummhmmmm," she said as she lightly traced a finger around one of his nipples. "I was the Captain of my team in high school."

"Why would anyone knock you down," he asked indignantly.

"Because she knew that I was going to kick her ass." Olivia remembered the sour girl who was the daughter of some royalty from Norway. "And I did. My coach bandaged me up quickly and then I left her in the dust."

He delighted in the idea of young Olivia leading her team to victory. He absolutely needed to see her in action. He sat up excited by the notion. "Let's go to the pool, Livvie. It's supposed to be pretty nice at this hotel. I'll ask my security guys to lock it down."

Now that he was clearly going to be the nominee for the Republicans, the Secret Service along with his staff pressured him into having light protection assigned. Fitz and Olivia acted like nothing was happening between them in front of security and it became a pretty farcical dance. Some of them obviously knew, but she didn't really want to dwell on it. She reached for her gold watch on the nightstand as he casually caressed her derriere. "Fitz, it's 4 o'clock." The time surprised her. The night had flown by and she didn't feel that tired at all. But there was no way she was going to the pool; there were too many risk factors.

"Yeah, so?" He flipped her over and claimed her mouth, hoping to silence her inevitable protest. He nibbled her lip and then plunged his tongue in, slipping it past her teeth and pressing against her own. His thumb found her nipple and it started hardening against his touch.

"So . . . ah . . ." Olivia couldn't remember what she was thinking as he lips moved down her throat and settled on her breasts taking a nipple between his teeth and lightly biting before sucking it deep into his mouth. She ran her fingers through his curls, pressing him closer. "So . . . ummm." Concentrate, Olivia, she thought. "So your wife is going to be here in two hours."

That killed the mood rather quickly. She felt her nipple slip through his lips as he let go and turned on his back staring at the ceiling. He let out a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of his eyes. It was only a short plane trip from their home in Santa Barbara to Las Vegas where the Grants had early morning meetings with some of local Party officials followed by some of the richest financial backers of the Republicans.

His wife. He thought again of the crazy notion that had seized him to go on national television and announce he was getting a divorce. He would tank the election for sure. He glanced at Olivia. But maybe it would be worth it. Maybe they could run off to Costa Rica together and live happily ever after on some remote beach. Even as the fantasy made him smile, he knew that Olivia would never go for it. What kind of coward was I . . .

He shook his head, banishing the thought. It was useless to dwell on a situation he could not change. "Fine, no swimming. . . . for now," he added with a roguish grin. He rolled on top of her and straddled her waist, his half erect cock lightly touching her stomach. He pinned her arms above her head and kissed her deeply again. "You still haven't answered me."

"What," she asked distractedly. She knew she should scramble out of there but his mouth was moving down her body again, searing her flesh.

"You haven't answered my other questions." He released her arms and then spread out his hands just under her breasts. She was so small he could almost wrap his entire hands around her width. He smiled and then kissed each of her pert nipples. "What's your favorite food? Which parent do you take after?"

He could feel her abdomen tighten and see her lips purse. It appeared he had touched a nerve.

I could tell him, she thought. Olivia could tell him about the mother she adored, but talking about her would be like recounting a favorite childhood book; it would be a memory born more from her imagination than the actual words on the page. She could tell him all about the distant father who shipped her away to boarding school as soon as possible. She could tell him all about her father's dark secrets. She could tell Fitz about the cold reality that the world he thought he lived in was a lie and that if he had any sense he would drop this silly notion of becoming President at once. What would it be like to just be honest with him? To tell him everything? He would run so fast, she was sure of it. "Neither. I'm like neither of my parents," she said solemnly.

He frowned at that and was about to ask another question when she suddenly sat up and pushed him backwards so she was on top of him. She needed him to stop asking more questions so she flashed her brightest smile before she kissed him. "As far as my favorite thing to eat . . ."

Olivia's mouth found the pulse in his neck and playfully bit him there, followed by her flat tongue. He quickly lost all of his previous train of thought as she nibbled and licked his flesh until she reached his nipples. Her teeth tugged one of them while she pinched and rolled the other with her fingers. He sharply took in his breath and groaned. He propped himself up by his elbows as watched her move lower down his body. His erection grew stiffer, but she deliberately avoided the juncture between his legs. Instead, she kissed and scraped her teeth down his thighs and legs until she reached his feet. "What's your favorite thing to eat," he asked again, anticipating her answer.

Liv slyly smiled and moved up his body again. He resisted the urge to throw her back and ravish her. She finally touched him, circling his tip lightly with her index finger. She then stuck her finger in her mouth, tasting the briny pre-cum. She grabbed the base of his cock firmly and looked up at him wantonly, "You."

Fitz shuddered as he felt her hot sweet mouth envelope the head. She pressed her tongue against his opening and swirled it around his tip while she stroked him slowly up and down. She then sucked him hard like he was a straw. His face contoured in almost painful pleasure, his lips curling as he struggled to hold on.

"Fuck, yes," he yelled again and again; grabbing her hair. She secretly loved when she was able to get him to talk dirty. She released him with a pop and then licked his shaft like it was melting ice cream. Definitely her favorite thing, she thought smugly. She took one of his balls and rolled it around her mouth. She might have been a little too rough when he yelped in response. She moved back up his shaft and then plunged it down her throat, seeing how much she could take. She relaxed her muscles so her lips reached all the way to base of his cock.

He grinded his pelvis against her mouth as she alternated between bobbing up and down on him and sucking his shaft. He felt just on the edge of the precipice. Fitz then grabbed her by the forearms and tried to pull her up. "Livvie, I can't hold on much longer." He usually tried to make sure her needs were met first.

But this time she shook her head. "It's ok. Just let go," she encouraged him. She rubbed his smooth shaft harder as she encircled her mouth around him again. She applied pressure with two fingers just below his sack which finally sent him over the top. He exploded in her mouth, his salty essence sliding down her throat as she continued to suck him until he was fully spent. He stroked her hair as he finally began to drift to sleep, completely content. The rest was short lived when his alarm clock started blaring at 5 o'clock.

To his dismay, Olivia was already gone. The next time he saw her, she was speaking with his wife going over talking points for the meetings. Mellie had been laying her Southern charm persona rather thick lately around Liv. He wondered if she was starting to suspect something. He silently watched Olivia do her job with grace and impeccable professionalism. He again wondered what it would be like to have her as his partner openly. What kind of coward was I . . .

Liv glanced up at Fitz. Something was troubling him, she could tell. Well, she didn't have time to worry about that now. She turned back to his wife who was prattling on about something. Mellie was all smiles as she talked about the meeting she had at headquarters the other day with the Women for Grant steering committee. Liv felt a sudden wave of guilt. She was having an affair with the woman's husband right under her nose. What would her Dad think of her if this got out? What would her Dad do if this got out? The image of Edison, bandaged and bruised came to her mind and a gnawing fear grew in the pit of her stomach. "Your name is everything, Olivia," her father's voice rang in her ears. "Every day you walk this Earth, think of the legacy you leave behind."

"So tell me." Fitz crossed his arms and leaned against the rock; his lips pressed thin and his jaw clenched. All hell broke loose in the cabin after Spin's revelation, everyone demanding answers at once. Fitz couldn't think with all the noise, so he grabbed Liviana by the arm and walked her some distance from the cabin to talk.

"What is it you want to know?" She looked down at her boots, caked with snow, not sure she could meet his eyes.

He scoffed at her reticence. "Everything."

"Well, I think you heard most of what there is to tell. My father is the commanding officer of the Republic." She really didn't want to continue, but he stared at her expectantly. "He came to Texas as a young man, organized the communities there, got the oil production back online and started turning the energy back on."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He couldn't help the wounded expression that crossed his face.

"Oh, like how you told me that the General was your father? When was I supposed to tell you; the first time you captured me to bring back to Denver or the second time?" She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, giving him as good as she got.

She had a point, but he wasn't in the mood to be reasonable. "Maybe you could have told me, I don't know, during the two weeks we've been sitting here?"

"I was going to tell you, I just . . . I just hadn't figured out a way yet."

That admission softened his stance. He knew what it was like to hold back unpleasant truths from this woman. "Didn't it occur to you that this might be the reason the General wants you?"

"Yes, but I don't see how he would know. I left Texas eight years ago and never looked back. I made my own reputation." She stood up a little taller, proud that she never took anything from her father, not even his name. "The only other person who knew about my father was Spin and this was the first time he's ever said anything about it, I'm sure." She felt a flash of anger thinking about how Spin put her on the spot, but it really wasn't that surprising considering he thought Texas was the best choice in their dwindling set of options.

Fitz ran through all the calculations in his head, thinking of the General. "If he's thinking about making a move against Texas he could want to use you as leverage."

"Then he's a fool. My father would never risk his position or the security of the Republic for me." Liv stated this with clear eyes; she knew exactly how much her father valued her. While he took a certain amount of pride that she was a product of his gene pool and he would no doubt take her accomplishments as his own; she knew that his goal of preserving and protecting the nation he founded outweighed any personal connections.

Fitz considered this wondering what the General would do if the tables were reversed. He couldn't say for sure what the outcome would be. He had a flash of his father physically attacking a drill sergeant who went too far in punishing Fitz for an imagined slight. It was the first time he could ever remember his father defending him in any way. When they were alone together, Fitz tried to thank him and went to hug him. His father shoved him away and told him to do laps in the rain with a sixty pound pack on his back for an hour. "Well, the General thinks you'd be useful for something."

Fitz suddenly burst out into laughter like a madman. "What's so funny," Liv asked, bewildered.

"You, me, our fathers." He shook his head marveling how strange that two children of rival nations met on a lonely stretch of road in the wasteland. "I guess it must have been fate that we met."

"Fate or bad luck," she responded glumly. She couldn't help but think that the path they were on would lead to one or both of their deaths.

"No," he stated simply. "It wasn't bad luck." He reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips to kiss. He rubbed her hand, warming it against the cold. "Meeting you was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me."

Liv grew very still. She wanted to speak, but the lump in her throat prevented it. Instead, she rubbed his cheek with her free hand and traced her thumb across his lips. He leaned down and kissed her gently and then folded her in his arms. He felt braver around her, like they could take on anything. "If it all ended tomorrow, I'd die a happy man, Livvie because of the time I spent with you."

The torrent of emotions that washed over threatened to drown her. She gasped and buried herself under the crook of his arm, hoping he didn't notice the tears streaming down her face. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tighter, hoping that it would somehow prevent her from slipping through his fingers.

"Let's go South. I've heard that the jungles of the South have never been touched. We could find a beach somewhere and live by the ocean." He again wondered what it would be like to hear the sound of the ocean, to spend the endless warm days exploring everything there was to know about this woman, inside and out.

Liv let out a short laugh and wiped her eyes. "Not you too. My friend Fincher was always talking about getting away to the South until finally he and his woman took off there."

Fitz smiled, continuing the fantasy. "We'll go there and find your friends and spend the rest of our days swimming in the ocean."

Liviana let herself imagine the possibility for a moment. "That would be nice, but it's probably not real anyway." She could feel herself falling back to earth. There was no promise land. There was only the here and now.

Just then they heard the cabin door open and shut with a loud bang. "Come on, Red! We can't just leave like this!" Harry pleaded with the woman who slung her bags over her shoulder as she made a bee-line to their rover.

"Yes, we can. We can and we should." Amber opened the back of the rover and shoved her things in it. She turned towards her partner. "We'll be better off on our own anyway Harry. We might just slip past this whole mess and let Romeo and Juliet play out their tragedy." She acknowledged the approaching Fitz and Liv with a quick nod of her head as she strapped down her bags.

Fitz frowned at possibility of losing two other sets of hands. "If you think that The General is just going to stop with us, think again. You turned on his militia and he has a long memory."

"Then where are we supposed to go? To Texas and pray that they decide not to shoot us long enough to ask questions and let us speak to her Daddy first?" She jerked her head towards Liv.

"No, we're not going to Texas." Liv was resolute. She wanted nothing to do with her father. She also honesty didn't know what he would do with the son of someone that was looking to pick a fight with him. They needed a plan and hope that it would work out. So she improvised. "We're going to Albuquerque, like Fitz suggested. We'll keep a low profile and wait out the winter. First light of spring, we'll keep going south and see if what they say about it is true."

Amber sighed. "Don't tell me you are one of those Southern dreamers."

"Well, it's a dream just as good as any other, isn't it?" Liv met Fitz's eyes and smiled in spite of herself. Having a limited set of options made the choices seem simpler in the end.

Amber turned to the man who had saved her life, whom she trusted above all others. "Do you really think this is a good idea? To just jump over a cliff with these people?"

"Like the lady said, it's just as good idea as any other. We might as well go with it for now," Harry shrugged and then flashed Amber a brilliant smile.

"OK, fine. We'll go with Romeo and Juliet – for now," she qualified as she pointed at each of them. "So, are we going or what?"

"We're going," Fitz answered confirming Liv's plans and buzzing at the prospects of a new adventure with the woman who seemed to be taking over all his thoughts.

When they finally reached the town of Albuquerque, they approached it with some caution, unsure if the militia might be waiting for them. Spin still thought Texas was the best idea for them, but he was overruled and he eventually followed the motto he ruled his life by: follow Liv's lead. At one point the Southwestern town was a sizeable city, as evident by the ruins of buildings stretching for miles. But like most areas in the wasteland, Albuquerque was a dusty shell of its former self, its people scratching out an existence. They had a small band of deputized officers' that patrolled the town, making sure that order was kept. And for the most part, it worked.

Each new visitor had to check in with the Sheriff's office to state their name and business. The man behind the desk didn't strike Fitz as someone he'd typically peg as law enforcement. He was of a slim build with mousy brown hair and a pale face. He wore glasses, a rare commodity, Fitz noted wondering how much the man paid a scavenger for that. On his black vest he actually had a shiny silver Sherriff's badge on. The man briefly glanced at the oddball group, his beady brown eyes peering over his glasses, before he returned to writing in his ledger.

"Name?" He asked in a brisk tone.

Liv stepped up and offered a name, "Ah, Lyn Harmer." The others followed her lead and gave false names that the man meticulously entered into his ledger.

"Business?"

"Just looking to stay the winter and then move on. We sometimes are hired to collect bounty and scavenge if you are looking for anything in particular," Liv offered, trying to keep as close to the truth as possible.

When he finished writing the information down, he put the cap on his pen and finally got a good look at the group. "I doubt anyone is looking to hire right now in the winter, but if you have items to trade you might find accommodations."

"Where's Judy Sackhoff? I think she was the Sheriff last time I was here."

"Dead," he stated matter-of-factly. "Some two bit hustlers outside of town got her. But justice was properly served after I was elected." He stood up and smoothed out his vest. "Dalton Rosburger. As Sherriff, let me welcome you to town. Let me also remind you that we expect you to obey all the laws here and not cause any trouble. If you can do that, we'll get along just fine. If not, well, we swiftly deal with lawbreakers."

If the militia was in town, Fitz got no sense of it from Dalton and whatever kind of man was he didn't seem like a liar. "We don't want to cause any trouble, Mr. Rosburger. Just looking for a little Winter reprieve."

"Good, then we'll get along fine." Dalton finally offered his hand to each of them. When he came to Amber he actually broke out in a smile. "Amelia, isn't it? What a beautiful name."

"Um, yeah, thanks." Amber tucked a stray hair behind her hair. Liv noted their interactions, thinking it might be useful in the future.

They made their way to a local inn and bartered some rooms for the night. By the time Liv and Fitz made it to bed, they were exhausted. They had enough energy to peel off their clothes and curl up together before they both crashed. The last thought Fitz had before he drifted off to sleep was that he was glad he waited for her to show up.

A/N: David Rosen = Dalton Rosburger