Olivia woke up around seven the next morning; her internal clock telling her it was time for class, even if it was fall break. Fitz was always up bright and early even when they had nowhere to go, she assumed it was a carry over from his time in the navy. This morning, however, he was sound asleep face down with one of his arms thrown over her side. When she tried to move his arm to let her sleep more his grip tightened, he was still mostly asleep.

"Livvy don't go!" He was whiny in the mornings, but she thought it was adorable. She kissed his shoulder and nuzzled her face into his neck,

"Fitz, I can't just lay here and not do anything. I'm sorry." He knew she would just lay there and obsess unless she did something active.

"They have an indoor pool. Why don't we go do a few laps? Make out in the deep end?" She laughed as he winked and gave her a goofy grin.

"We don't have bathing suits Fitz what do you suppose we swim in, this?" She gestured down to their bodies, she was only wearing a thong and her bra, and he was wearing boxers.

"And you definitely can't swim like that," she gave him a look as she noticed something pressing into her hip. He pulled his hips away a little sheepishly, he wanted her, but he didn't want to press her when she was going through something this difficult. If she wanted a distraction he would provide it whichever way she needed.

"A little cold shower should do the trick. Wouldn't be the first." He kissed her ear when he whispered to her.

"I have an alternative solution, after all I was promised a naked weekend." She started kissing his neck trying to get him on his back so she could straddle him. He pulled away for a second to look into her eyes; he didn't see anything but love and lust. "Unless you really wanna go for a swim?" she smirked at him. He pulled her back down on top of him again and started kissing her neck.

"I can't think of several better ways to get you wet Livvy," he breathed into her ear and she moaned, she loved feeling his breath on her. She threw her hips into his, without even thinking about it. He used his mouth to work her bra off her shoulders. She threw her head back when his mouth finally made contact with her nipple. There was a knock at the door, just as she was moaning his name and trying to peel off his boxers. They both groaned when they heard Michael at the door,

"Wake up, we need to figure out what we are doing today!"

"We are up, just give us time to get dressed! Meet you in the lobby!" Liv yelled back without stopping her progress on Fitz's boxers. She refocused her attention on him, but as she went to kiss him he pulled away with a defeated look on his face.

"Your brother is better than a cold shower."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say it was on purpose." She let her head fall down and kissed his chest.

"Although if you keep that up, I may be able to rise to the occasion." She lifted up her head and rolled to her side of the bed to get up,

"I need to take a shower," her tone was regretful. He nodded his head and rolled over moving towards his bag to find clothes for the day.

"Fitz?"

"Yeah Liv?"

"Are you coming?" He was up and running towards her waiting outside the bathroom, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her into the shower stall with him. She was trying to bat his arms off, but wasn't putting in too much effort. Olivia let him drag her under the spray. They stood together enjoying the peace and the hot steam, before the chaos of the rest of the day.

They both washed up and quickly got ready to meet everyone downstairs, but found themselves having a harder time than usual keeping their hands off each other. Olivia left her hair down and threw on one of the sweaters she brought with her jeans. She looked at Fitz and wondered how a man could look so good with wet hair and a t-shirt. He caught her staring and pulled her into him by the collar of her sweater. She giggled in that carefree way that was music to his ears, especially as her sobs from the night before were still fresh in his ears. They kissed until they both needed to come up for air, Olivia stepped back to try and gain a modicum of self-control. His proximity always made her unravel.

"We need to go, we've been up here too long. I'm surprised they're not banging down the door," she gave the door a wary look. He looked into her eyes trying to get a glimpse into what she was thinking.

"Livvy," he pulled her into him again and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I… we don't have time."

"No, I just need one minute for you to look at me and tell me that you're still going to be you when this is over."

"Fitz, I don't know what you want me to say. I… I didn't expect this. It hurts. It hurts so damn much." She was beginning to tear up again. He pulled her in and held her close. It scared him to death that this would change her, and she wouldn't be The Formidable Olivia Pope anymore, she would be a stranger. He had watched as his mother went from the woman who read to him almost every night, even when he was a teenager to a murderer. He couldn't watch another person he loved go through that, he couldn't go through that.

"I want you to tell the truth, if you think this will break you I have a solution. If you think that you can do what needs to be done and still be you than great, I'm at your disposal." She was angry, so angry that his questions got to her she really couldn't answer them. How could she until this was all over.

"I don't know. Okay? You're worried because you think hurting my father will hurt me, but you have no idea what I'm capable of. No idea." She pushed him away and faced the wall. He looked at her with such love, but he had no idea. All those years people told her she looked like her mother, and she thought I'm my father's daughter. Resenting the similarities, but now she knows he's a monster. What's that make her? She knew she was clinical, able to separate her emotions from a problem. It was a source of pride for her and he had it too. Maybe that quality had allowed him to take the actions that he had.

"Olivia I know you remember? You think I don't know what you're capable of? I saw you beat a grown man with a tire iron before I even knew your name. And I didn't care. I saw the hatred you had in your eyes and I knew he must have done something that earned it. I'm your teacher too, I know you don't need a tire iron to cut someone down you can use your words, or just that look on your face. And maybe that isn't all that you're capable of, I don't know, but neither do you. No one knows what they are capable of until they do it. Take it from someone that watched that moment happen. It's the single most devastating thing to happen to a person. To find out what you're capable of. I never want that to happen to you. So if you think that's what's going to happen. We leave. You always talk about Australia right? Okay so we move there. That doesn't work out we try somewhere else. We can build a life together away from this if that's what you want."

"I don't want that. I want to be able to see my family. I want to fix this. That's what I do. I fix it. I make it okay for everyone. That's what I need to do." She still wouldn't look at him. He walked up behind her and placed his arms around her.

"I won't let you try and fix this and let it destroy you."

"It won't. I won't let it. As long as I have this and you to pull me back. It's going to get worse before it gets better, I know that, I do. But I won't run. That's not a life. We deserve better. I can't have this on my brain, always wondering why my mother is the way she is or why. I lost my father yesterday. And I mourn who I thought he was, but I may have gained a mother and I need to see that through." She finally turned around and looked up into his eyes. He still looked worried, but she had a feeling that look wouldn't go away until things were settled.

"You have me. Whatever happens, whatever you do, whatever he does, you have me." He pulled her into him and kissed her head and she wrapped her arms around his torso.

"We are going to be okay." She looked up to him trying to give him the one guarantee she had to offer. He kissed her head as it rested on his chest.

"I know Livvy." They stayed together for a few more seconds before Claudia banging on the door broke them apart.

"You better be decent when you open this door Olivia Carolyn Pope!" They both laughed and Fitz shook his head as Olivia went over to the door,

"You know I think that's exactly how I met Abby." Fitz told her in seriousness. It amused him endlessly to see that she had found a surrogate sister in Abby. Her and Claudia were very similar. Both tall and domineering, with a complete lack of a filter or embarrassment. When Olivia opened the door Claudia was on the other end with her hand over her eyes.

"Oh grow up. We were just talking!" Fitz was laughing behind Olivia as she yelled at her sister in annoyance.

"Yeah that's what you said that time you came out of your room with all those 'spider bites' in high school, interesting how they only got your neck." Fitz raised his eyebrows at Olivia,

"Please go on!" he told Claudia knowing it embarrassed Olivia, he loved the pink hue of her cheeks and how it ran down her long neck when she was embarrassed.

"I thought we were late!" Olivia looked between the two of them as they exchanged conspiratorial looks. Claudia nodded and headed out the door with them following, but before they got too far, Fitz grabbed her arm and pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear,

"Spider bites hmm? You know I'm the jealous type right?" He was nipping at her shoulder under he sweater as he spoke. He knew he was torturing her.

"Nope hadn't noticed." He gave a low growl as he pushed her sweater back to where it belonged.

"I think the hotel may have that problem too." He gave her a look and she looked at her shoulder as it started turning red. She rolled her eyes at him,

"I'll return the favor," she winked at him. They had to be extremely careful in Providence. Matching hickeys wouldn't help them keep a low profile, but here she felt a bit more carefree even with everything going on it was nice to be able to walk down the halls and not worry about a classmate seeing them.