Thanks to everyone who wished me a good mini holiday, I had an awesome time! And within an hour or two of landing back home I was at uni for class, yep thats my life ahah.

Also thanks for the reviews, and to the new readers who are following along. And to the older readers -I hope you are all still enjoying this :)

Enjoy-

"There is still no word from the White House about the relationship between President Grant and Olivia Pope and if in fact the President is the father of Ms Pope's unborn baby. Many will remember a year ago when the First Lady announced the President was having an extramarital affair, and Olivia Pope's name was mentioned at the time. Now were we all too quick to assume he's only had the one mistress? Only time will tell. But sources inside the White House are saying that we will have our answer by late afternoon."

…

Once the press conference was set up, Cyrus came back down to the bunker. Everyone was waiting for him to come back so they could continue working out what exactly was going to be said during the press conference. It was easy to see where everyone stood on that issue. But really only Liv's and Fitz's opinions mattered at this point.

As soon as Cyrus sat down Olivia started to talk about how this was going to work. She was the only one to remain standing. Her hands rested on her belly as she paced back and forth. "Right now we're in a balancing act. Go out there too soon and we'll look like we're trying to cover something up. Go out there too late and the media will have too much time to run with it and control the story. And if we hold our press conferences not long enough apart then it looks like we are working together. For this to work, everything needs to be perfect," she said mostly voicing her thoughts. She worked through situations better when she could voice them.

"Do you have a preference on who goes first?" Abby asked her friend.

Olivia stopped pacing and took the seat next to Fitz. "We should," she said, directing her words to Abby. "We'll get our side out there sooner, without it looking like this is a top White House priority. The longer the President takes to respond to this story, will make it seem more ridiculous," Liv replied, and held Fitz's hand under the table. She knew this isn't what he had in mind when she said they wouldn't deny it, but this way was the best of both worlds. Liv got what she wanted, and Fitz got what he wanted.

Olivia set out exactly what they would need to say. She worked two different angles into this situation. One for each press conference. They could not cover the same points, or even say the same things. And this way they could attack Sally from different fronts. It was these situations she lived for, the political genius it took for this to turn out the way they wanted. She only wished she wasn't the headline in this scandal.

Once everyone was in agreement of what would be said and by whom, Fitz asked Cyrus and Abby to leave to give him and Liv some needed alone time. As soon as the bunker door closed he turned to face Olivia. He took her hands in his and pulled them to his lap.

"I wish I could hate this more," Fitz said. He was getting what he wanted, just not in the way he wanted.

"I know," Liv said brushing the back of his hand with her thumb. She could understand where he was coming from. "But we have to do this," she continued.

Fitz went silent, he looked glum. All he could think about was how things would be different if he wasn't the President of the United States. Liv read his face and pulled his hands over to her stomach, and laid them to rest there. Almost instantly Fitz could feel a little kick against his palm. He looked up and smiled at Olivia before leaning over and pecking her on the lips. Win or lose, he was going to have Olivia and the baby, and that was all that mattered.

…

Abby walked up to the makeshift podium and Olivia stood a few feet to the side and a couple of steps back. This was how she would set it up if this was any other situation and she was not in the spotlight. The aim was to humanise Olivia to the public, to show she was innocent in all of this, and that defaming her was wrong on so many levels.

Abby waited around twenty seconds before starting. She looked back to Olivia for confirmation, and Liv slyly nodded. "We're here to talk about the rumours that came out today. And all we can say is that they are just that…rumours. We don't know why Mr Bergen has alleged to the paternity of Olivia's child, but he's attacking a good person with these slanderous things. Olivia is a victim to a political war. She is just a regular citizen of this country, like everybody else out there. She has not been a part of the Grant campaign in months, there is no reason to bring her into this with nonsense. All this has become very stressful and is an unimaginable situation for Olivia to be in. At this stage in her pregnancy she should not be subject to these things. Olivia is a person, not some playing piece for someone to use at their own will. Because of these malicious rumours her business has begun to suffer, and she can no longer go to her workplace or home without being bombarded with questions from the press. Olivia is not a public figure and her life should not be made to feel like a spectacle. She wishes her personal life to remain private, as it should be," Abby finished. She had hit all the points Olivia had told her to, and all that remained now was the not so surprising reporter's need for their questions to be answered. "We'll take a few questions now," Abby added, pointing to a female reporter at the front of the crowd with her hand up. Olivia stepped forward to the podium ready to answer the question.

"Ms Pope, you've been linked to several high ranking Political figures, is it true you haven't disclosed the paternity of your child because you don't know who the father is?" A reporter asked.

"Excuse me? Of course I know who the father is," Liv answered disgusted by the question she just received.

"Is it President Grant's?" Another reported called out. It was a question she had not wanted. If she said 'no' it would be a denial, and she couldn't answer with the truth.

"I think I would know if the President was the father of my child," Liv answered. "The reason I haven't announced the paternity is because currently the only people who have the right to know, are myself and the father. And we would like to keep some privacy in our lives," she added.

"There are rumours that you visited the White House yesterday, did you go to see the President?" Someone else shouted out from the back.

"I did go to the White House yesterday, but I did not go to see the President. I went to see the First Lady. I wanted to see my friend. I would not have gone if I knew this would be the backlash I'd receive," she answered truthfully. She might have seen Fitz, but she did not go just to see him. She couldn't believe that visit to the White House was only yesterday, it seemed like a lifetime had passed since Mellie was their main problem.

"That is enough questions," Abby said taking the stand back from Liv. "We would appreciate leaving Olivia alone so she can get back on with her life and leave this all in the past. Thank you," Abby finished and she and Liv walked away from the herd of reporters.

…

Cyrus walked into the press briefing room alone. He stood at the podium and waited for the roar of journalists to die down. He then started straight away. "I am not going to stay up here long because that gives more air time to these hurtful rumours. What the news has been saying today, is a way for Vice President Langston's campaign to take the light off of her fledgling polling results and attack us. This is their Hail-Mary pass. Nothing more. They have added two and two together in the hopes it will equal five and that you'll believe them. But we know the truth. And America will see this as nothing more than an attempt to discredit President Grant, so she can win the election. If she's willing to lie like this to become President, what will she do if she ever became President? If the Langston campaign had any proof to these rumours, you would all know about it. But the reason nothing to credit this story has come forward is- they don't have anything, because there isn't anything. This election should be about the issues effecting this wonderful country, not the issues between the candidates. I hope the American people can see exactly what this all was about, and not believe this feeble story come Election Day," Cyrus said trying desperately not to say anything that would give the media a story to run with, but also any definitive denial, though that wasn't high on his priorities. He would rather say 'no' and move on.

As Cyrus was about to step down reporters started to yell out questions. "Where is the President right now? And why isn't he briefing us?" Came a question that caught his attention.

"The President is in the Oval working on things that actually matter. He is not briefing you because this story is so farfetched that he believes that it does not warrant his denial," he answered strongly before walking off, a loud cacophony of noise erupting behind him.

…

Fitz sat on the sofa in the residence on the phone to Olivia and watching the television. He wanted to make sure that Cyrus didn't say or do anything out of the plan. "He actually did it," Fitz said in complete surprise. "He didn't outright deny, I thought he would have," Fitz added honestly, he wouldn't put it passed his Chief-of-Staff to change things up as he saw fit.

"I'm sure he saw that in the long run, it was better not to lie. When we win, and come clean this can't come back to haunt us," Liv said.

"Well not as much," he said realistically, there would still be some repercussion for not coming straight out and admitting the truth.

"You know this means we can't see each other until after the election. I can't visit the White House, you can't come to my apartment at midnight. This is all we get," Liv said changing the subject.

"Yeah I worked that out after leaving the bunker," he replied sadly. "It's only a few days though," he reminded her. "We can make it."

So I think there's been a little confusion, so i just wanted to say- This IS NOT the last chapter. But this IS the last chapter to enter my competition. Once I write and upload the next chapter next week I will be pulling 3 names out of the vase and those three people will get to pick which of my ideas i write next (As i can not decide myself)

So what did you think of the chapter?

Have a nice week!

And Please Review :D