Olivia was nearly in shock at how civil everyone was being at breakfast. It was civil but still cold. Her mother and Fitz were discussing his time in the navy. She had first asked about his family, but after glares from her three children changed the topic. Huck had done a background check on Fitz the moment his name came out of Olivia's mouth eight months ago, they each knew, but none of them were going to make him tell his story to the woman sitting across from them.

Maya still had on her face the look of arrogance and imperviousness that only comes from having grown accustomed to getting her way. Her attitude however seemed to have mellowed. In the past no amount of glaring would have stopped her from doing whatever she wanted. Only half listening as Fitz recounted the various places he had been and how he got into flying, they had spoken about it before, she wondered what changed. Had she gotten older and saw her mother in a different light now? She needed an ally, not a maternal figure now so maybe nothing really had changed except for her own willingness to accept her mother for who she is. On the other hand does that make it okay for her mother to be in their lives, she could tell Claudia was disinterested and Michael impatient. So why did she feel desperate and optimistic? In the back of her mind he blamed Fitz and his damn idealism.

"Okay as interesting as flyboy's stories are, we need to get to the point because they have a flight to make." Their mother's face remained unchanged at the slight and Fitz seemed to be proud to have gotten a nickname in the group, even if Michael didn't intend to.

"What do you need from me?" Her voice had changed from what was intended to be maternal, but was really just a whisper back to her normal tone. A mother's voice should be comforting Olivia thought blandly, but her mother's voice was always some how caught in a tone somewhere between lethal and sensual. It wasn't that her mother was never kind to her children; it was just always overshadowed by her indifference.

"We need to know that we can trust you, but frankly I have no idea how to achieve that." Claudia was the first to reply, as per usual she hit the nail on the head, Michael sat in stone-faced agreement and Olivia shrugged in agreement.

"Look I'm sure you understand why were hesitant. You and Dad have always been in agreement when it concerned us so I'm not really clear. Why now? Why help Liv get out if the plan was always for her to come back?"

"I would have thought my Mother," Olivia visibly shuttered at the way Maya had said mother, "would have taught you this, my motivations don't matter as long as our end game is the same. I want Olivia back in Providence, or wherever she wants to be for as long as she wants to be there."

"That may be the rule in this business, but this isn't business Mom this is my life, and its already gotten turned upside down twice now. Fitz and I intend to stay at Brown at least for the next four years for law school, than wherever I go will be a choice we make together, him and I. As a couple. It wont be up for debate. I wont come home to return a favor that you did for me, this is it. If you're letting me go you let me go." Fitz beamed next to her, hearing her say those things out loud was everything, especially to her mother of all people.

"Olivia you know why I want this for you…" Claudia cut her off.

"You do?"

"It doesn't matter." Olivia told her plainly.

"It does to you. You've never wanted a relationship with her and now you're running around happy to have a mommy, what did she tell you?"

"It matters to me, but it wont matter to you. It won't change anything about the way we were raised. Let's just finish this. Nothing is going to change here. Michael is right. We have a plane to catch." Olivia was sick of the family dynamic already.

Cammie had retreated into her self. She sat in her chair clutching her knees trying not to pay attention. Michael had on an expression that made him look so much like their father it scared her. And her mother would never be maternal. Maya had already insulted her Grams twice since she'd been in her company. Her Grams was the only adult she had in her life, the only source of normalcy, she had her faults, but she was human, she wouldn't let Maya tear those memories apart. It was that last shot Maya had taken at her own mother that solidified her opinion.

Fitz was the only one that looked concerned with Olivia's last statement, even Maya didn't show any response. She simply acknowledged what Olivia had said with a single nod, a motion he had seen Olivia do a number of times, as she focused her attention on Michael. Fitz was only focused on Olivia as she watched their exchange. He didn't really catch everything they were saying, but he knew the plan hinged on knowing what Eli planned to do with the Russians and Maya would provide the info. When they finished Maya stood up and gave each of her children one last look,

"You know I always knew my mother would turn you all against me, I thought now that she is gone we would have a shot, but she's still got her claws in you all so deep." Without another word Maya left the restaurant, leaving Claudia pissed and Olivia nearly in tears, while Michael sat watching the two of them carefully.

"I can't believe she would say that! Is she out of her ever-loving mind! Grams took care of us because she didn't! Its her own damn fault! Whatever she told you clearly doesn't matter because she's still a sociopath! Its like she's glad Grams is gone!" Claudia was railing against their mother, as Michael couldn't help but agree with her, however he was more concerned with Olivia as she sat there silently with unshed tears blocking her vision. Fitz had her nearly in his lap, but she was barely responding to him. Cammie, too was looking between her two cousins trying to figure out which one to comfort. Claudia would want someone to add to the yelling, and Olivia just needed to move around, but Michael was looking on helplessly. She went to him first wrapping her arm around him and putting her head on his shoulder.

They sat there together as a family for a few minutes; eventually Claudia stopped ranting and sat stirring her coffee. Once she got out her yelling she was fine, her attention now on her siblings. Fitz would help Olivia, he had promised her. Michael on the other hand would act out his anger in the most self-destructive way he could find, and right now they didn't have time. For the first time it had occurred to her she didn't know how to fix things. Olivia always did. As much as she told Olivia to stop trying to fix things, it might not have been giving her enough credit. Sometimes they needed her to fix them.

Olivia had sobered up a bit, but was still leaning heavily into Fitz. As soon as she made eye contact with her sister, she sat up straighter and moved off a Fitz a bit, but he held her in place.

"Let's get out of here guys. I only have a few hours and I want to go back to the hotel, get Huck and do something fun together before we go home." Upon seeing both Claudia and Olivia bounce back, Michael recovered as well. It was like this all through childhood, once two of them got it together the third recovered as well. They were one unit, no matter what. Fitz quickly motioned for the bill and they made their way out, silent, but better. It seemed Claudia was the only one that wasn't truly affected by their breakfast.

She was a realist. The only way she would ever forgive their mother would be her actions, no amount of talking or hopes or dreams would do it. Michael however had gotten caught up and hopeful. He was by far the worst of the three of them. Olivia too was angry and devastated, but Fitz was holding her in place, keeping her from spinning out. Michael didn't have that.

The five of them made it back to Fitz and Olivia's room. Cammie went off to find Huck, but the rest of them collapsed on the couch, exhausted. Huck walked in followed by Cammie, after quickly assessing the mood in the room he plopped down in one of the chairs near by without saying a word.

"Alright Liv, its your last few hours, what do you want to do?" Claudia asked her desperate to end the silence that had swallowed the room whole.

"I did promise you a trip to your favorite book store." Fitz said when she paused before answering.

"There's uhm something else I want to do today, but I don't know if you guys will be down for it."

"Whatever you want Livvie I'm there." Fitz told her leaning back into her side on the couch. Everyone else was a bit more resistant to agree. The last time Olivia had said that she had them all parasailing in Mexico last Christmas.

"Remember how Grams always used to tell us Fortune Favors the Brave? Well I've wanted to get it tattooed on my foot for a while, and this morning pretty much cemented that for me. Will you guys go with me? Its really important to me that you guys be with me when I do it."

"We're game." Michael told her, but Claudia jumped to disagree.

"Liv are you sure, this is permanent."

"No really? I thought it was henna. I know CeeCee… I've wanted it for a while, but I wanted to be together when we did it. We can go where Michael went for his. I've done my research." Michael had gotten his tattoo on his eighteenth birthday, it was a single band going across his bicep, simple but they had done well, it healed nicely. Fitz had a tattoo as well, he had gotten in while in the navy, it was on his right pectoral. It has the symbol of the navy and a plane flying over it. Olivia loved running her fingers over it.

When Claudia agreed to go with them, they headed back to pile into Michael's car for the trip downtown. It was clear that all it took was some time spent ignoring their problem for them to calm down. Claudia and Michael were in the front fighting over the radio or the route Michael was taking, or the traffic, they were always bickering, no matter how old they got.

Olivia and Fitz sat together in the back row. She had her head resting on his shoulder.

"You excited Livvy?"

"Is it going to hurt?"

"Nah, feels like getting tickled."

"Liar." She laughed at him.

"It won't be so bad, and you can squeeze my hand and call me names." He paused, not really sure how to approach her. "I was actually thinking about getting another one myself. What do you think?" He was being bashful, there was something more to the question, but Olivia figured she would let him get there on his own. She ran her hand over his gray t-shirt where his tattoo is,

"Well you know I love this one, and unless you want to get something embarrassing like Hello Kitty or Property of Olivia Pope on your ass I think I'll be okay." He burst out laughing.

"You know I might have to do that for our one year anniversary, the Olivia Pope one, not the Hello Kitty." She was laughing with him, but made eye contact with him just in case he was being serious.

"Remember when I gave you The Symposium by Plato and I highlighted the story about the humans and Zeus and I told you it was my favorite myth?" Olivia was a huge fan of Greek and Roman mythology, preferring those as bedtime stories instead of Cinderella and Snow White, but she had never heard the story before he told her.

It was their six-month anniversary. He had taken her to a Rolling Stones concert in New York, because he knew it was her favorite band, they had danced to Jumpin Jack Flash on their first date. Olivia could recall thinking how had any other man done something like this it would have annoyed her or seemed trite or cheesy, but from Fitz it was so genuine the thought never crossed her mind. When they made it back to their hotel room he pulled out an old and beaten copy, that he had for years. It was well worn. He had open it up to his favorite part and as they laid half dressed on the floor, having not made it to the bed, he read to her his favorite part. "Humans once had two heads with two faces and eight limbs, but Zeus being Zeus feared their power and separated them using his lightening bolt. Humans were than forced to seek their other half so that they could be complete again." He told her that's how she made him feel. He told her all the reading he had done in various religious and mythological traditions. He told her that everyone had a version of this story. He told her that means on some level it must be true. She told him she loved him, it was the first time she had said it.

With that memory firmly rooted in her mind she saw the look in his eyes and knew exactly what he wanted to get. He pulled out his phone and showed her a sketch of half of one of the original humans. In the picture there were two. One drawn on the right wrist on the picture, and the other drawn on the left wrist of another. Olivia immediately knew what his intention was with the drawing, but he back pedaled knowing what a big deal it would be to her. As Claudia had said these things are permanent, while he had no doubt he knew Olivia wasn't as sure. He also didn't know if she would think it was tacky to get matching tattoos.

She loses her breath for a second. If anyone else had asked her advice in that moment what to do she would have told them to run. Don't do it. You'll regret it. But there she was in the back seat of her big brothers car and all she wanted was a symbol of what they were to each other, what they were together on her forever.

"Is it weird to get two tattoos on the same day?" He paused before he could answer her,

"Wait are you saying? This isn't me saying we have to get them both at the same time. I don't want you to regret this. I want you to be sure. You can wait if you want. I won't be hurt or offended." He was racing to try and reassure her.

"Fitz, stop. I'm sure. I want this."

"So two tattoos hmm? I think that's okay." His voice was calm, but his smile was beaming.

"So left or right?" She asked him grinning right back.

"Oooooowwwww! Why did I agree to do this twice. Shit Fuck Dammit!" Olivia was gritting her teeth as she squeezed onto Claudia's hand and leaned back into Fitz. They were both laughing at her along with the tattoo artist. He was almost done and Olivia was trying to stay as still as possible. Her foot was done. Calligraphy lined on fourtuna fortes aduivat on the top of her right foot. It was wrapped in gauzed and burned a bit. The tattoo artist, Dallas, was going over the head of her half of the tattoo.

"Keep laughing ass your next!" Olivia told Fitz as she could feel him chuckling behind her. He stopped nearly immediately, which caused Claudia to bust out laughing as well. She was making a point to look everywhere except for the needle that was barely puncturing her sister's skin. She hated needles.

"Okay all done." He wiped off the remaining ink allowed her to get a good look at it than wrapped it so it matched her foot.

"Your turn!" She grinned at him, the pain ebbing leading way to the euphoria that is clearly the reason people never seem to have just one tattoo. With slight hesitation Fitz allowed Olivia to hop off his lap so that the tattoo artist could get to Fitz's left arm. She moved to his other side so that he could squeeze her hand if he needed. His wrist was done and identical to Olivia's thirty minutes later, as they walked out of the tattoo parlor hand and hand.

"You happy Livvie?" He looked at her before opening the back door for her to climb in.

"Take me home please." She was exhausted. The endorphins from the tattoo had faded and the morning started to hit her. Every time she thought of her mother the weight of what happened pressed down on her, but when she looked at the bandage on her foot and wrist is relieved itself. Two hours later they had said a tear filled goodbye to her family and were making their way through security to get home. They were all going to be in Providence for Thanksgiving in five weeks, that's the promise they had made to make the separation easier, they would always know when they were going to see each other again.