"She won't talk to him?"

While Jerry was on the phone with Liv, Verna sat across the couch from him and listened to half of the conversation. Though Liv was right to be angry, it seemed she was more hurt than anything else. Fitz was hurtful and down right cruel from what she had been told.

"No, she won't. She says she still loves him, but she thinks he doesn't love her. I can understand that. He said some pretty nasty things to her. I wouldn't forgive him for that either. But she should still at least give him a chance to apologize," Jerry sighed and put his phone on the table.

"Did she tell you where she was?"

"Just somewhere here in the country. Real specific."

"I'm worried about her. She hasn't slept or at least had a good night's sleep without the nightmares. And if no one is with her, those nightmares are going to come back. Olivia can't keep driving until she's dead tired."

"I know but Livia is going to do what she wants to do until she just can't do it anymore."

"Are you going to tell Fitz that you spoke to her?"

"If he asks, I'll tell him. But there's not much to tell him. Only that she's alive. I can't even tell him if she's safe or not. Livia did say she deleted his message. I'm hoping he'll call her again and maybe she will answer."

While Jerry and Verna were at home, Fitz was still sitting in his office looking over the work Abby gave him earlier. The reports that Liv would put together for him from the other offices were always detailed with highest priority to the lowest. The ones he held now were so scrambled that he wasn't sure what he was actually trying to read.

"I'm about to head out. You sure you don't need anything else?" Abby asked standing in the doorway.

"What I need isn't going to appear," Fitz told her. Looking up at the confusion on her face, he gave her a slight smile. "I need Liv, Abby. I appreciate you doing this work but she's the one who knows what to do."

"I'm trying my best, Fitz."

"I know you are. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be difficult."

"Are you going to ever tell me why you fired her?"

Putting the papers down on the desk and leaning back, Fitz let out a loud groan and rubbed his forehead. "I didn't fire her. She quit. She quit because I broke up with her."

"Woah! Hold up! You broke up with her?" Abby scrambled to the chair in front of his desk to sit down. "When? Why? What the hell? You were so in love with her."

"I was an idiot and thought she slept with James to get me divorced. I called her a bunch of names and told her how damaged she was. I screwed up. But I didn't think she would quit."

"You are unbelievably stupid, Fitzgerald. Why would she want to work with someone who thinks so little of her? I'd quit too. You need to call her again. Beg for forgiveness if you need to. I don't get these cryptic codes and I want to go back to my job. I'm not cut out to do this desk work."

"I've tried to call her. She won't answer."

"How many times did you call?"

"Twice. I left a message the second time. I'm hoping she listened to it."

"Has your dad talked to her? You said they were pretty close. Maybe he can get a message to her from you."

"He might have but he didn't know she left town either. She just disappeared. She was in Florida last week but who knows where she might be now."

"Do you want my advice as your friend? And as a woman?"

"I have a feeling you're going to give it to me even if I say no."

Abby nodded and laughed. "Yep. You're going to get it either way. You know that you messed up, which is a good start. Keep calling her. If you love her then you need to let her be angry with you. Keep calling her even if she sends you to her voicemail a million times. You'll either annoy her to the point where she changes her number, or she answers the phone. Leave her a message each time she does and tell her that you messed up. Tell her that you love her. Tell her you miss her. She needs to hear that you still care about her. From everything you've told me about her, Olivia needs to know that you are still there. You're not abandoning her. Reassure her that you can work through this. Just keep telling her that you love her. Ask your dad to tell her the same thing if he talks to her. Remind her that you're here, willing, and ready to accept the consequences of your words. Send her texts, emails, phone calls, anything. If you love her as much as she loves you, prove it. So, what if she had to sleep with a judge to get you divorced? She was doing it for you. If she did, then to me, that just shows how much she loves you. She was willing to do that to get you what you wanted. She sacrificed her relationship with you to get you divorced. I know that sounds messed up but if she did, then she did it for you. Just let her know that you're still here if she wants to talk. But if she doesn't, you need to accept that too, Fitz."

With everything Abby had just said, he knew she was right. Olivia would probably feel abandoned if he just ignored it and let her come to him. She'd been abandoned by her parents, Edison, when he cheated on her, and ultimately Stephen. Even though Stephen was not an option, he could see how she would still feel abandoned by him.

"I know you're right and I should keep trying. I just don't know if I can handle that kind of resentment. Especially from her. I love Liv and I want to be with her. Now that I know what happened between her and James, I feel even more horrible than I did before. I felt bad calling her a slut and a whore when I said it. When I looked in her eyes and told her she was damaged, I swear I could see her crumbling. Liv never wanted me to know what problems she had. Even before we started dating, she told me she wouldn't be able to tell me everything. I accepted that for the longest time. I should have pushed her a bit more to open up and tell me why she hated him."

"Well, you know now. Whatever reason she had for hating him, you need to stand behind her. Be in her corner. Yes, you work with him from time to time, but you can be professional and smile while staring daggers at him. You did it with Mellie for ten years."

Silently agreeing with her, Fitz nodded his head and saw the time on the clock. "You should get going. David's probably looking for you."

"He's fine. But are you?"

"I will be. I'll try again to get Liv to come back, even if it's just temporary. I know you hate sitting behind a desk. I appreciate you stepping in."

After saying goodbye to Fitz, Abby hustled out to gather her things and head for home before another call came in that she would need to take care of. Taking his phone out, he stared at the picture of Liv on his screensaver. One of the more peaceful night sleeps she was able to get. She looked so comfortable lying beside him that he had to get a picture of how beautiful she was. Getting her contact pulled up, Fitz hesitated a moment before calling her.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

"You've reached Olivia Pope. Leave me a message."

Sighing at the messaged voice again. Well six rings this time. At least you aren't hitting decline.

"Hey Livie. I'm trying again. Hopefully, you'll answer. Eventually I know you will. I needed to tell you again how sorry and how wrong I was about what I said. Dad told me about James. I'm so sorry. I get why you never wanted to have lunch with him. Or be around him at all. I wish you would have told me. I know I can't change what happened but maybe I could have protected you more. I could have taken all the calls and cases from him. Dad said you probably have evidence of what happened. I'm sure you do. You're so smart. I think you need to take that to the police. He needs to be held responsible for what he did to you. But if you don't want to and you want to just forget about it, I understand. I'll support you with whichever you choose." Pausing for a moment, Fitz took in a breath. "I miss you, Livie. And not just here at work. I miss you at home. I miss you so much. I know that I messed up and I am apologizing again for it. I know I hurt you. I'll apologize every day for the rest of eternity for that. But I would really like to apologize in person. Not Facetime or a phone call either. Face to face. I need to see you. I'm hoping you're listening to this and haven't just deleted it. But who knows, maybe I screwed up so badly you'll never forgive me. If you don't forgive me, I'll understand. Just know that I love you no matter what. Please call me back, sweet baby. I don't care what time or what I'm doing. You are more important to me than anything else. I love you."

Hanging up the phone and gathering his things, Fitz headed for the door. Hearing his phone ringing in his pocket in the elevator, he was full of hope that it was Liv calling him back.

"Hey, dad."

"Don't sound so disappointed. I could be worse."

"I thought you might be Liv calling me back."

"I'm sorry. I'm not her."

"That's alright. Has she talked to you? I've left her a couple messages, but she hasn't returned my calls."

Clearing his throat, "Actually, I have. I talked to her a little bit ago."

"You did?! Where is she?"

"That I don't know. Livia wouldn't tell me. Only told me she was in the states."

"She's not more specific?"

"Well, I can narrow out two states. She's not getting on a boat to go to Hawaii. And I'm pretty sure Alaska is out of the question. So, 48 more to go."

"I am not really in the mood to play 'where's Waldo', dad."

"Neither am I. She's somewhere in the country and that's all I know. But she's got to be getting tired. She said it's been eleven days since she slept. She's gone three weeks without sleep before and let's just say it isn't pretty when she did."

Getting in the car, Fitz moved the call to the stereo. "How bad would it be if she didn't sleep that long again?"

"Last time she went that long without sleep, she had some hallucinations and memory issues. Her blood pressure went sky high. She was having horrible mood swings. I just couldn't keep up with her. One minute she was fine and with it and the next she was swinging at me."

"There's only three people she would allow to sleep in bed with her right? You, Huck, and me?"

"Cyrus and Michael. But that's it. And since she left those two last week, I doubt she has plans of sleeping anytime soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she said she will be okay."

"We both know she won't be."