(Hi Everyone. I am so happy and thankful that you like this story. It is so much fun to write about Fitz and Olivia. So I hope you will continue to enjoy them in this AU. Thank you for reading and please leave feedback and comments.)

Dating Rule: If He Can Cook; He's A Keeper

"What is that?" Olivia said.

"It's a dog Liv…You know what that is don't you…a dog," Lexi chuckled as she walked through the door. She would normally have used the key Olivia gave her but her hands were full with the dog and all the pet supplies she had bought.

"Yes I know it's a dog but what is it doing here?" Olivia looked a mess, much like she felt. She came home last night and almost drank a full bottle of red wine. She woke up with a headache. It was noon and she still felt like a truck ran over her.

"I got her for you, she's yours. Her name is Josie, you know like Josephine Baker," Alexis explained and Olivia immediately smiled. Josephine Baker was their mother's favorite entertainer. Alexis smiled too. "I knew you would like her. She's a Shorkie and she is absolutely beautiful and cuddly, see hold her," Alexis finished as she held the dog out for Olivia to hold.

Olivia couldn't resist; Josie was absolutely adorable. She took her into her arms and became instantaneously attached. "She is beautiful. But why did you get her for me?" She led Alexis to the service porch to find an area to put down the doggie bowls and other items.

"I bought her because last night you sounded horrible. Right now you look worse, no offense. You are lonely in this house by yourself and you need company and you need cheering up….No one can be sad around Josie." Olivia called her last night when she was driving home from the party at Harrison's house. She went on a tirade, yelling about how she had been 'screwed over' by Fitz and Cyrus; how they didn't tell her the truth; how all men were liars and cheats and finally how she was going to review her contract to see if she could prove deliberate deception for a possible lawsuit. Alexis knew better than to say anything when Olivia was venting, even when most of what she said was exaggerated and more than likely false. So she let her talk until she was literally exhausted.

Olivia took another look at Josie in her arms and smiled at the pink bow Alexis put in her hair. She was right; every time she looked at her she smiled.

Alexis continued, "And she is already trained to let you know when she needs to go potty. She's even had all her shots. She's just perfect. Perfect for you Liv. She's so small; she fits in your purse. You can take her everywhere you go."

"Stop selling me on her. I love her already. She's staying," Olivia said as she gave her sister a hug.

XXXXXX

"Oh my god…I had no idea that his family was super rich," Alexis said. They were sitting in Olivia's bed using her laptop researching Fitz' family. Josie was sitting in between them.

Alexis continued, "Grant is the "G" in the MGM movie studio company. His father also owns Sunset Studios and two publishing companies. Wow they have a media empire…."Olivia listened but stared off into space, stroking Josie's soft fur.

"Fitz has two brothers and one sister. His older brother took over operations at MGM. The other brother is apparently into acting….Oh I've seen him before. Look Liv don't you recognize him?" she turned the laptop so Olivia could see the picture.

"Yes I've seen him before – on TV or in a movie, I can't remember. I wouldn't have guessed he was Fitz' brother; Fitz is taller and much more attractive," Olivia said. Alexis shot her a look. She thought it was interesting that even though her sister was 'angry' at Fitz she found him attractive. She hadn't heard her sister complement a man in a long time.

"His sister is a movie Director….So his brothers and his sister are in the movie business and his father is the one operating the publishing business. I guess that's why he wants Fitz to come in with him, especially since Fitz is already a writer."

"Yeah I guess so," Olivia said. Her phone buzzed; she picked it up; looked at the caller ID, groaned in irritation and slammed it back down; ignoring the call.

"How many times has he called?" Alexis asked.

Olivia exhaled sharply. "I don't know….a lot….12…..It doesn't matter. I'm not ready to talk to him….He should have told me."

Alexis went to another webpage and saw a family portrait. They were a beautiful family. She wondered how well they got along with each other. She wondered if they were loving and affectionate with each other. She kept scrolling and found that Fitz' mother had died when he was young. It was yet another thing he had in common with her sister.

She closed the laptop down and turned to Olivia. "Look I know you don't want to hear this but here goes and frankly I don't care because you need to hear it. Please stop projecting Edison into all your relationships with the opposite sex…"

Olivia looked at her sister and opened her mouth in shock. "Don't speak his name to me and I am doing no such thing. That man had not been on my mind in years."

"You may not do it consciously Liv but you do it just the same. Every man you meet you are just waiting for him to mess up in some way; just waiting for the shoe to drop; waiting for an excuse to hate him. You just did it….Do you realize that you just let his bitchy his girlfriend/fiancée, whoever the hell she is; get totally inside your head? You knew she didn't like you and is probably jealous of your relationship with her man and you still believed her over Fitz. You were looking for a reason to hate him because otherwise he was just too perfect. You were looking for something and you found it."

She waited for Olivia to say something but she didn't, so she continued, "You don't know if Fitz wants to join the family business or not. Did it ever occur to you that he might like working with you?...What you should have done was gone straight to Fitz and talk to him about it but it was easier for you to be angry at him. Instead of working on the relationship you push it away when it gets hard even though you walk around waiting for the day it's going to get hard! You're thinking is warped….as I said no offense," Alexis quickly said. She wanted her sister to be happy but she made it so hard on herself. Edison not only screwed with her heart but he screwed up her head.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Liv but you do this a lot, you condemn men before you even give them a chance. You've been doing it ever since Edison. Now granted that bastard deserved it, what he did to you was unforgivable but all men are not like him – they don't all lie and cheat….Fitz may be one of the good guys but you need to give him a chance to show you."

Olivia remained silent but Alexis knew she heard her. Once again, Alexis wished she had followed her instincts years ago and had some guys go handle Edison. It would have made her feel a lot better if Edison was only able to drink food through a straw for the rest of his life.

"Ok enough of that. I'm not getting paid to be your shrink…pull yourself together and get dressed. We're going out….you're starting to depress me."

XXXXXX

She couldn't recall ever seeing Fitz so pissed off. Even when he was irritated with her high-handedness, she was usually able to calm him down and get him to control his anger. But this time was different. Something changed and Mellie couldn't help but wonder if Olivia Pope had something to do with it.

They had been together for almost two years. In the beginning it was nice, never passionate or earth-shattering; she didn't think Fitz was that kind of man. But their relationship was comfortable. She thought they got a long pretty well. They learned each other's likes and dislikes and were finally able to deal tolerably with each other. It wasn't a love match; it never had been. They met on a blind date arranged by some friends. She researched him and his family thoroughly before the date and she could see his potential for great wealth and success. He was the youngest child but his affinity for writing made him the only one his father wanted to take over the publishing businesses.

Mellie learned the right things to do to please Fitz and before long he was attached to her. She made it easy for him to be in the relationship; never making too many demands, allowing him his freedom to come and go as he pleased. She only asked that for significant public events, they give the appearance of a united, happy couple. Until now, Fitz seemed perfectly fine with their arrangement.

Mellie really didn't believe that successful marriages were based on deep, all-encompassing love. To her the most successful marriages were the ones founded on tight, iron-clad business arrangements. If she wanted love, she could search for it outside of the marriage. Her inevitable marriage to Fitz would be a good union of two intelligent, attractive, well-bred people.

"I really don't understand what the problem is. All I did was tell Olivia the truth," she explained on the ride home from Harrison's party.

He didn't respond. She noticed that he gripped the wheel tighter. There was a vein popping out of the side of his neck; something she had never seen before. She would need to tread lightly. She was confident that she would handle him in the end, just as she always had, but this time, extra skill would be required.

"I like Olivia….she's a nice person", that lie earned her a sharp look from Fitz; clearly he didn't believe her. She continued, undeterred, but this time shifting the blame to him. "Look Fitz, I thought you already told her. It was a shock to me that she didn't know already. Why didn't you tell her?"

Still no response. His nostrils were flaring.

She sighed as Fitz pulled into the driveway of her home and waited for her to get out. He put the car in park but didn't turn off the engine. He remained unresponsive, not looking at her. "Fitz I don't know why you are so angry with me. I merely do what I've always done - help you, encourage you and push you when needed. We both know this is what you want. You don't want to be stuck at that magazine when you could be the head of two multi-billion publishing houses. Who would pass up such an offer? I know you will make the right decision in the end and I think Olivia needed to know that."

"No one asked you!"

"What?" the level of his anger startled her.

"No one asked you! No one asked you to weigh in on my life! No one cares what you think! It is not your place to tell anyone anything about me and my future because you have no idea what the hell you are talking about! I never agreed to go work for my father, so please stop assuming that I will. You're making an ass out of yourself."

"I can't….I can't believe that you are speaking to me this way Fitzgerald. Why would you hurt me like this?" she started to tear up. She knew he hated tears. He would instantly calm down at the sound of emotion in her voice; he would comfort her and apologize. At least that's how it usually went.

Fitz sighed. He knew he shouldn't have yelled and he said some hurtful things. This woman always had the ability to push all his buttons. "Mellie I'm sorry I shouldn't have yelled at you. I apologize."

She hid her smile behind her hands as she waited for him to say more. She was the winner of yet another fight. She waited and she waited.

He finally spoke, "Goodnight Mellie." He wouldn't be walking her to her door. He just wanted her to leave.

She looked at him in disbelief. It was rude. Not knowing what else to do, she slowly opened the passenger door, trying to give him time to say something else; to make up with her.

"Mellie," he finally said and she turned back to him with a bright smile, believing that her patience had paid off. He continued, "Please stop telling people we are engaged, we are not. I have not proposed to you."

She was hurt, "Goodnight Fitz." She slammed the car door shut. Fitz drove off, not even waiting to ensure that she was safely inside.

Fitz cursed himself repeatedly. He should have known something would happen tonight. He saw the moment Mellie made her way over to Olivia. He tried to watch their interaction but he was caught up in another conversation. Before long, he looked up and saw Olivia staring at him coldly and that's when he knew Mellie had said something to set her off. He saw Olivia leaving the party and when he caught up to her and grabbed her arm, she snatched it back forcefully. The look in her eyes gave him the chills. She said nothing and walked away.

Fitz tried calling Olivia repeatedly after he dropped Mellie off but she wouldn't pick up the phone. He sent her text messages asking her to call him. He could only imagine what she would be thinking. She probably called him every bad word in the book, thinking he was going to use her for the magazine article and then cut out leaving her high and dry with her career in the balance. He wouldn't do that to her. He cared about her too much to hurt her like that. It was true that his father kept hounding him to come and work at the publishing house when his contract ended but he kept declining. He liked his career. He liked working at CM and he liked working with Olivia. Who knows what the future held but right now he couldn't see himself working apart from her and it had only been a little over a week. She had become invaluable to him.

By the next afternoon when she still had not responded, he got even more worried. He was desperate to talk to her before Monday morning.

He checked his phone again and saw that Mellie called him twice but he ignored it. He cared about Mellie but he was not in love with her. He never was. And he wasn't sure that love even mattered at this point. His family taught him that love weakened relationships and made a person vulnerable to manipulation and deception. Their family could not take the risk. All it took was one bad marriage to ruin what his grandfather and father took a lifetime to build. To them, it was better to keep emotions out of relationships. Try as they may, that motto didn't seem to result in successful relationships for his family. His mother died when he was young and soon after her death, his father had a procession of girlfriends – never one lasting for very long. He married and divorced 3 times; each time protecting his assets with unbreakable pre-nup agreements.

His siblings didn't navigate their love lives any better. His oldest brother, Benjamin, refused to get married; feeling like women were always trying to trap him into commitment. He was a notorious bachelor – going through women like Kleenex. There was a scandal several years ago when he got a girl pregnant but the girl disappeared before she had the baby and no one ever told Fitz what exactly happened. His sister, Catherine Lilliana, affectionately called Lily, had a horrible record of ruined relationships, two failed marriages and a stint in Malibu Passages for alcohol abuse. And finally his brother, Thomas, the actor, claimed that it was better for his public persona to give the appearance of being single. He was a casual dater by trade and was known to leave one girl for another in a 12-hour time span.

Fitz never knew what being in love looked like or what it felt like. Even among his friends he couldn't point to a relationship that he admired. It seemed like it didn't exist, at least not in the world he knew. So when he and Mellie seemed to get along just as well as any couple, it seemed natural to keep the relationship going. But all of sudden he was no longer content to be with her; he suddenly wanted much more but he didn't know what that was and he definitely didn't know how to get it.

XXXXX

She saw him before Olivia did and she smiled to herself. She knew he got her text message and would follow her instructions. She wasn't sorry for interfering; sometimes her sister was too stubborn and too judgmental. Olivia had a pattern: she would continue to sulk all weekend; think of all the reasons she was justified for hating him and carry that anger into work on Monday. It would affect their partnership and the work. So while Olivia was getting her nails done, she took her phone and sent him a text message with her sister's address. These two needed to talk face-to-face.

When Olivia looked up and saw him, she immediately shot daggers at Alexis. "Am I correct in thinking this is your doing?"

"Yes and I'm not sorry," Alexis said confidently.

"Of course you aren't," Olivia said with obvious irritation. She looked at him and couldn't help but think of how adorable he looked standing on her porch waiting for her. She almost smiled but remembered how mad she was at him. She frowned to let him know that she was not happy.

She got out the car with Josie in her hands. "What are you doing here Fitz?" she asked not bothering to look at him but moving past him to open her front door. She thought Alexis was coming in too but was surprised to hear sound of her car pulling away. Fitz followed her inside.

"We need to talk and you refused to return my calls and my messages, which, I have to say was very childish. Adults talk about things Liv."

Olivia got angry. The first words out of his mouth were supposed to be "I'm sorry" but here he was chastising her for not talking to him. "Don't you dare come in my house and call me childish! You are a liar Fitz! You and Cyrus took advantage of me. You knew you weren't renewing your contract and you let me believe that we were a team. We aren't a team; you are in this for yourself. You are biding your time until you can go and start your real career working for your father….I can't believe you wouldn't tell me. How could you do that?" Josie could feel her tension and started squirming in her arms, so Olivia put her on the floor. Josie ran to Fitz and began sniffing his feet. Fitz instinctively picked her up and began petting her. Olivia turned away and went into the kitchen like she couldn't stand the sight of him anymore.

He followed after her. "Damn, you are so dramatic Liv. Do I get to talk at all? Do I get to explain? Or do you think you have it all figured out?"

She slammed the refrigerator door closed and looked at him. She lifted her hand in a gesture to tell him to continue.

"Thank you….First you are wrong. I am not leaving in six months. I plan on renewing my contract for the standard 2 years. I want to continue working with you. I like working with you. I didn't tell you because it was never an issue for me. It was not something I was even considering as a possibility. It's not an option for me."

She was softening. "Give me my dog," she snatched Josie out of his arms. She was jealous that Josie liked him, which she knew was ridiculous but she didn't care. "Why would Mellie tell me that then?"

Because she is jealous of my relationship with you, he wanted to say but didn't. "Mellie wants me to go work for my father. She wants me to become my father. She doesn't think I have a real future at CM and thinks the publishing companies are the only way I will make something out of my life and be rich and successful. She thinks exactly like my father."

She looked at him, trying to find more words to challenge him with but couldn't find any.

"Liv, I'm telling you the truth. I'm not leaving you."

"Fine," she said unconvincingly.

"Fine? Are we good?"

"We're fine."

"Then why do you still have an attitude?"

"I don't have an attitude," she said and he looked at her like she was crazy. She still had a huge attitude. She ignored the look. "So who is she to you?"

"Mellie? Oh you mean the fiancée thing? No, she is not my fiancée. I have not proposed to her although if she had it her way we would be getting married tomorrow….She is or was my girlfriend. We had a big argument last night…." He trailed off, not willing to continue.

He had no idea why Olivia was still frowning at him. The only thing he could account for was the possibility that she did not fully trust him. It was understandable, trust takes time and they had only known each other for a short while although he could swear that it felt like they had known each other practically forever. He was not disheartened; he would earn her trust and friendship.

"I like your house….It's very YOU," he said smiling. The color scheme and the décor matched to Olivia's style of simple, chic and elegant. He was trying to change the subject to something more comfortable; something that could get her to start smiling again. He moved out of the kitchen towards the living room. "So what are you doing for dinner?"

Olivia had been watching him skeptically, trying to make up her mind whether or not she believed him. She wanted to and she supposed that he had no reason to lie to her but admittedly her gut was flawed when it came to men.

"I don't know. I'll probably cook something. I forgot to go to the store but, I'll figure something out," she didn't want him to offer to take her out to dinner. She didn't feel up to being out at a restaurant.

"No problem, we'll stay in. We can make a quick run to the store and get what we need and we'll cook together," he said as he sat down on the couch.

"We?...Don't you have something better to do?"

"Better than cooking with you? No," the sexy smile was back.

She shook her head and smiled despite herself. It was hard for her to be anything but happy in his presence.

"Alright fine," she said reluctantly with a slight smile.

"So what's your dog's name?"

"Josie."

Fitz smiled and called Josie by name. Josie barked jumped out of Olivia's arms and ran to Fitz. Josie clearly trusted him and that was a start. He laughed out loud at Olivia's reaction. Her irritation was obvious by the frown on her face; evidently she didn't like the fact that Josie had switched sides.

XXXXXX

It was now clear to her that when he said they would cook together, he meant that he would cook and direct her on how to help him. His sister Lily was apparently an excellent cook and taught him several dishes including his 'amazingly good' chicken cacciatore. He moved through the grocery store effortlessly, gathering all the ingredients necessary for the meal. Her mind was moving constantly, firing off unanswered questions, as she watched him; his affluent background made him seem different in her eyes.

"You have a lot on your mind," he said as they stood in line at the checkout. It wasn't a question and there was no way she could deny it.

She looked away, "mmmm."

"You have a lot of questions you want to ask me," he concluded.

She still hadn't looked at him.

"Alright one hour."

That response made her look back at him with a questioning gaze, "What?"

"One hour. For one hour you can ask me anything about my family and I will try to answer your questions. I don't really like talking about my family and much of it is not something they want publicized but I know I can trust you with the information," his blue eyes pierced through her. He wanted her to understand how connected he felt to her.

She looked down because she couldn't do the same for him. She wasn't ready.

As they drove back to her home, she asked "So why does everyone believe you are engaged to Mellie?"

"Is the one hour starting now?" he said smiling.

"No, unless you consider Mellie as part of your family," she smiled back, knowing she had bested him.

He chuckled and said, "Years ago Mellie interned at CM. But she wanted to pursue broadcast journalism. She works as a researcher now at a local station but she's ambitious enough and I know she will end up anchoring for them soon. Anyway when she was here she made several friends that she still keeps in touch with. One of them is on our floor, her name is Amanda Tanner."

"Oh yeah, I've seen her several times," Olivia recalled. She didn't mention that the girl seemed hostile towards her and continued to give her the silent treatment.

"Well Amanda is one of Mellie's closest friends. It's my guess that Mellie told Amanda about the non-existent engagement and Amanda spread the rumor."

Olivia regarded him silently. There seemed to be a cat-and-mouse-game going on that she was slowly finding herself standing in the middle of. "Mellie believes your engagement to be a foregone conclusion. So what's your hesitation?"

He was silent; never answering the question. He couldn't put it into words. On the one hand, it seemed like the natural progression of things and it was unfair to string Mellie along; but on the other hand, the idea of marrying her left him feeling trapped and unhappy. He just couldn't imagine his life with Mellie tied to his neck like a noose.

XXXXXX

She was preparing the salad, while he located the red wine and poured them both glasses. She had never worked with a man in the kitchen like this but it was nice. It seemed easy and comfortable. Being with him, required no effort at all, she guessed it was because there were no expectations to their relationship. They could both relax and just be friends.

When she finished, she sat on the bar stool at the counter and watched him continue to work on the chicken. She started asking questions about his family, to which he answered openly. She asked about his upbringing, his parents and his current relationship with his siblings. He seemed closest to his sister Lily and Olivia hoped she would meet her one day. She kept inquiring on his relationship with his father and his work at the publishing houses. Fitz knew this was her way of testing how interested he was in taking over the business and he didn't mind. He continued to answer her questions as truthfully as he knew how.

Olivia was relaxing and he could tell.

"Here can you taste this?" he asked holding up a large spoon filled with red sauce.

She walked over and he spoon-fed her, "mmm that's really good," she said with a note of surprise to her voice. She licked her lips.

He didn't move; he just stood there staring at her still holding the spoon close to her mouth. "Can you just...just one more taste. I have to see you do that with your lips again?"

She couldn't help but laugh.