Thanks to everyone who is reviewing, i'm loving your speculation on what is going to happen next!
"How the hell could it have been Sally?" Fitz questioned. In his belief there was only select few that really knew that he was the father, and none of them would go to the Wicked Witch of the West-Wing.
"Right now, it doesn't matter about how she found out, it matter's what we're going to do about it," Olivia said, her head was already spinning on where the leak would have been, or even if there was a leak. Sally knowing just didn't make sense, but it was out and they had to deal with that.
"We're not discussing this on the phone, I need to see you," he said, and he heard a sigh and looked up to see Mellie leaving the room.
"Sure, I'll just come over through the White House gates, that won't add any fire to the flames," Liv said sarcastically, there was no way he was thinking clearly.
"That's not what I meant. There is a way," Fitz said happily, ready to explain his plan to Olivia, which was a nice turn of events from the regular.
…
Fitz and Cyrus walked down to the bunker. He would have preferred to do this with Olivia alone, like it should be, but she was bringing Abby, and told him to bring his chief-of-staff. Thankfully, she didn't say to bring Mellie, because he would have drawn the line there. The bunker doors opened, and he saw Olivia standing at the opposite side of the table.
"Are you alright?" Fitz asked as he rushed to Liv's side and rubbed up and down on her arm. He hoped like hell that the stress hadn't got to her, it couldn't be too good for either her or the baby.
"I'm fine. If this is how it is from now on, I just have to get used to it," she said nodding up and down, to assure him she was okay.
"I can't believe this is happening. How did she find out?" Fitz asked and he pulled slightly away from Liv to face everyone else.
"We can't work that out. A leak was the only thing that made sense. And there's only a handful of people who really know and none of them would have run to Sally. All I can think of is if she somehow overheard us," Liv said. The whole car ride over she'd been thinking of ways the Vice President could have become privy to the information, but nothing seemed logical.
"I've barely seen her in the last week and a half, she's been out doing campaign stops since you returned," Fitz remembered.
"Could have been one of her aides," Cyrus added. "Whomever it was is as good as fired."
"Or Ethan or Lauren," Liv said, throwing out more names.
"The boys an idiot," Cyrus replied.
"And Lauren would have been able to sink us a long time ago," Fitz disagreed. She'd been his secretary for the past four years, she would have to have known about Olivia and himself far before now.
"Secret Service agent?" Cyrus said, throwing out another suggestion.
"What if she doesn't know?" Abby asked, and everybody stopped and turned to look at her as if she were crazy. "Think about it, she's losing the election, if it were us wouldn't we do everything and anything to stop that from happening?" She finished and Liv really thought about what she was saying. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it herself. Leo's press conference was just a way to get the rumours out there and spinning. And nothing kills a campaign more than rumours.
"She's right…this is all a campaign strategy," Liv said walking over to her friend, really thinking it through while she did. "We've done worse things to guarantee the win."
"Yes! I wouldn't put it pass that weasel," Cyrus added.
"If it was actually us in this situation, we'd have someone to corroborate the story, even if we had to pay them off. We'd have something. Let's assume they found my medical records or my OB, the best they could come up with is 'Father: Unknown', and that's not exactly a slam-dunk. If they had anything they would have already released it," Liv said, thinking as if she were in their position.
"Exactly," Abby said, glad her point hadn't been brushed away.
"We should have our own press conference and call them out on it," Liv said, all the gears in her head turning and lighting speed. How had she not put the pieces together herself? They'd been careful, aside from a leak, there was no way that Sally or Leo could have any real evidence to back up the allegations.
"I can have one set up in twenty minutes," Cyrus said, rubbing his hands together.
"But before you do, we need to be sure, if we call them out, and they really do have proof, we might as well forfeit the race," Olivia stated, before she, Cyrus and Abby broke out into the next stage of their strategy. A strategy that involved denying the rumours and calling Sally out at two individual press conferences. One at the White House podium and the other given by Abby defending Liv.
"Stop!" Fitz called out. "Can Olivia and I have a moment," Fitz said, and waited for Cyrus and Abby to leave. "What is happening? From the very beginning I have said I would not deny that I was the father. You know that. I have gone along with a lot, but I will not go along with this," he said putting his foot down.
Olivia walked back over to where she was once standing. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry but what other option do we have?" She asked. This was the make or break point of the election. It was only a few days until the votes would be cast and there wasn't any time to waste in not getting out there and covering their asses.
"We come clean. Less than an hour ago, you were the one saying that that was the best option," he said thinking about their earlier phone call. It coming out might have been messy but it was definitely something he was willing to go through.
"That was before," she declared. That was when she thought admission wasn't just the best option, but the only option. "That was when I thought it was the last resort," she said.
"Last resort? I glad you think that about our future," Fitz said his words full of hurt and disgust.
"Fitz, you know that's not what I meant," Liv said placing her hands on the outer part of his forearms.
"It sure as hell sounds like it though. Every time we get close to being made public, you pull away, or find a way for us to stay in the shadows just a little while longer," he said angrily, stepping back as he did.
"Right now, we are doing what's best. We can make it another couple of months. After we call them to see what they really know, we'll know what we have to do. Everything is going to work out, one way or another," she explained, trying to reassure him on the situation.
"I don't want to deny it," he said adamantly.
"You might not have a choice," she concluded. Liv walked over to the bunker door and let Cyrus and Abby back in. "We're going to call Leo," she explained and Abby nodded and pulled out her phone and dialled the number.
Abby placed the phone on the table and tapped the loud speaker button. They all listened intently as each ring would finish. "Leo, that was low, even for you," Abby said after Sally's campaign manager answered the call.
"Maybe, but you'd agree- everything is fair game at the moment. And I think the people deserve to know that your guy is a lying cheat," Leo said expressing his disdain for Fitz.
"And that yours is a conniving witch," Abby retorted. Olivia motioned for her to bring it down a notch and the red head gladly followed. "All that aside, you find out Liv's pregnant and you assume it's his? Why?"
"Everyone in Washington knows your boy Fitzy likes to fool around, can't imagine he'd be careful all the time," Leo said, and Liv grabbed for Fitz's arm to hold him back. "Liv was just a scapegoat to bring back those old infidelity claims, and if it turns out to be true, bonus for us," he said smugly.
"You're sick, do you know that? Liv's a good person, but you'd be happy to destroy her life, even though she hasn't been a part of the campaign in months," Abby said, and Liv motioned for her to wrap it up.
"There's always innocent victims in war," Leo mused.
"You disgust me," Abby said before hitting 'end call'.
They all looked around silently at one another letting the information sink in. "Cyrus, set that press conference up," Liv instructed, and Cyrus began to walk away. "Wait," she called out and he turned back around to look at his past student. She looked at Fitz and saw a look of disappointment splashed out across his face. "We're not going to deny it," she said, and Fitz's eyes flashed full of shock and bewilderment, much like everybody else's.
So I dont know if i'll be able to update next weekend. I'll be going away this week for a mini vacation to Sydney, and wont have time to do any writing and when i get back i'll have to catch up on the classes i missed.
Dont forget this is the second to last chapter you can enter my competition, so get your names in :)
Anyway i'll love to know what you think, or what you suspect is going to happen!
Please Review :D