Fitz was beyond shocked. Shocked would be an understatement. He was more like flabbergasted, if anything. Sitting in the private study in of the Residence studying relentless documents, pictures…

He took a drag from his cigarette, allowing the delicious poison of the smoke to overtake his lungs.

So Thump had his coming…

It was difficult to process the sheer magnitude of information sitting before him. The meetings, the back room illegal deals with oil companies, lobbyists and every interest group that had been in the back pocket of the Republican Party for years…

Everyone in Washington had speculated about Thump's excesses. The rumors were typical dinner time chatter amongst the journalists, politicians and lawyers that populated the city of Washington D.C.

So, did you hear? Good ol' Thump is screwing that twig that works for the state department? He had once heard a group of junior staffers in the White House mess gossiping about years ago. Lucky for Thump, the "twig" became wife number…three so fast, no one had suspected the potential overlap between his current relationship and his previous wife, who was suffering from Hotchkin's Lymphoma and lived alone on a ranch in Montana.

This Huck guy had really done his homework. Thump could be looking at ethics charges, or even possible jail time. Fitz turned the page of the nearly 400 page report. His mind, battling between the temptation to shut his eyes and fall asleep and the will to continue reading on could not decide. This was all a blessing, a political blessing. It would be so easy. Leak this through Cyrus to the press and let the chips fall as they may. It would definitely undercut the attacks that the Speaker had been throwing his way. But before Fitz could take another drag of his cigarette, he heard the gentle click of the door opening.

He looked up to see Olivia, dressed in nothing but one of Fitz's old dress shirts, her hair was free flowing down her shoulders as her face split into a smile at the sight of him.

"Hello, gorgeous." Fitz greeted as he stared at her slowly making her way to desk he sat behind.

She giggled. "You are still reading this stuff? Huck must have landed on a gold mine, huh?" She sat on the desk, crossing her long silky legs. Fitz hated when she did that. It drove him insane. He leaned back in his chair as he put his cigarette out in the nearby ash tray.

"Ha! You know me, work, work, work." Fitz smirked at her as Olivia shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Anything in there that is useful?" She inquired.

Fitz sighed deeply as he reached out and ran his hand over her soft thigh. "Frankly, too much of it is useful." He answered candidly.

Olivia nodded slowly, her dark eyes betraying her understanding of the situation he was in.

"Babe, I know this seemed like a good idea at the time but-"

"I'm not going through with it if that's what you were going to say." He said hastily. Olivia sighed deeply.

"If you don't mind me asking, when did you decide this?" She asked as she hopped off the desk and sat in his lap. She slowly began running a small warm hand through his hair as she buried her face in his neck.

Fitz smiled contently. On any other day, Olivia sitting in his lap would have resulted in her flat on her back and him in between her legs….

But he was too tired, too emotionally, mentally and physically drained.

It was one thing to be President. Of the United States, no less with a potential Russian invasion of Georgia, political gridlock of controversial legislation, after all, he was used to responsibility. However, being a devoted father to two teenagers who, try as they might to convince him otherwise, were clearly affected by the constant press coverage of their father's personal life.

It was another when the Speaker of the House, one of your own political party was running against you when you were up for re-election.

It was another when your girlfriend had been re-assigned to take on a different project at work because of a "conflict of interest". To watch her weep for two nights in bed with regret, wondering if she should have backed out of the relationship when she had the chance…

But it was another to deal with it all at once.

The past few weeks had been war for the Grant Administration. While the American people approved of his job as President, his likability rating was down to 18%. The words that were associated with him were "cold", "arrogant" and worst of all "selfish". Cyrus was beyond frustrated and to no one's surprise, Billy Chambers had resigned and joined Thump's campaign as a Senior Political Strategist.

But as he wrapped his arms around Olivia's small frame, smelling her sweetly fragrant hair, enjoying her soft breath on his neck, all of that melted away.

Did he really want to do this? Become like Thump? Sure, it would be easy…

But he had better things to worry about.

"I decided not to go through with it now, actually." Fitz answered quietly after a few moments of silence. Olivia detangled herself from Fitz and looked him in the face.

Fitz shrugged. Somehow when Olivia walked in all makes sense.

"Really?" She asked coyly, smiling. "At dinner last night, it seemed-"

"I know what it seemed like I was for this, but I know myself. And I know Thump. If I knew this would be easy, I would have done it already. If I go through with this, I become him." Fitz said softly.

Olivia smiled. "As noble a reason as that is, I was more concerned about Huck's identity. He had a rough life before, and I didn't want anyone chasing him down about this. But I guess that's a good reason."

Fitz smiled back. "Yeah. That and I couldn't deal with Cyrus with this stuff." He said gesturing at the documents on his desk.

Olivia laughed. "Yeah, he would practically explode with excitement. But as great and noble as your trepidation is, what is the solution? You have a another plan up your sleeve?"

Fitz laughed. "I could give a speech. That always works…." Fitz trailed off. His mind suddenly whizzed. It was swirling and doing that thing it did. The last time he felt like this…

"Fitz, Fitz! What's up?" Olivia asked. He had not realized that he had stopped mid –sentence.

"Oh…my…speech, Liv…it's perfect! State of the Union is just around the corner….

"Ok..kay." She said confused. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Yes. Got it, okay, Liv, get that guy, the one you were supposed to be sleeping with?"

"You mean Stephen?"

"Yes!"

"You should probably not-"

"Okay, so here's the plan…wait, why aren't you making any phone calls?" Fitz asked manically.

Olivia smirked. "Well, for one, if you had let go of my hands and I would be able to, two, it's like two in the morning and three, Stephen is having a little sleep over with a friend of mine. And finally, I have no idea what you are talking about." Olivia said bemused. Fitz let go of her hands and tried to calm his palpable excitement.

"Sorry." He apologized sheepishly as Olivia laughed. But Fitz knew that if he planned this right, the only one feeling sorry would be Thump.