Olivia took a deep breath, "As you know, I worked on the presidential campaign for Fitzgerald Grant."

"Yes, I know."

"Because he was so far behind in the polls. The team—his team—hatched a plan to rig the election. I was against it the entire time. I believed that he could win on his own. I was wrong. I was against it until his father died. He was so broken but adamant that he wanted to be the president. At the last second, I gave in and agreed to fix the election." Olivia bowed her head in shame and didn't want to look up and see a disgusted look in Rip's eyes.

Rip silently looked at her for a few moments. "What did they get out of it?"

Olivia was confused at his deduction. "How did—"

Rip shrugged, "If they were willing to fix an election, then they got something out of it. What did they get?"

Olivia let out a breath, "Mellie got FLOTUS. Verna got a Supreme Court Justice seat. Cyrus got Chief of Staff. Fitz obviously got POTUS. Hollis Doyle got his special interests."

"What did you get out of it?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, "I just wanted to make him happy again."

Rip flexed his jaw, "Wanting the man you love to be happy is normal. What do you really think you got out of rigging the election? You didn't get him—obviously—but what did you get?"

Silent tears rolled down her face and she whispered, "Quinn. I got Quinn. Her life was being ruined for no reason."

Quinn had tiptoed into the kitchen area on the hunt for some snacks. She overheard Rip and Olivia talking about her. Her eyes filled with gratitude as she listened to Olivia talk about why she saved her.

"Quinn is what I got out of Defiance. She didn't deserve to rot in jail for something she didn't do. She was innocent and didn't need to be the fall guy. I tried not to truly care about her. I tried to keep her as just a client but I can't compartmentalize Quinn. I feel fiercely protective of her like she's my little sister."

Rip leaned forward slightly, "Would you do the election rigging all over again?"

Olivia wiped away her tear tracks, "If I still got Quinn out of it, then yes. I would do it all over again to save Quinn."

Quinn felt her heart constrict with the amount of love she had for Olivia. Quinn knew that she was just as protective of Olivia and would go to the ends of the Earth to save her if she ever needed it. Quinn decided that she would be the best Gladiator for Olivia that she could be. She quietly retreated back into the room with Abby.

Olivia turned her body on the couch to face Rip. "How can you just be cool about what I told you?"

Rip smirked, "I was born cool Bambi."

"Rip I'm serious. How can you just accept what I told you?"

He shrugged, "Because I accept you as is. You wanna know what I think?"

Olivia shrugged, "What's your take on all of this?"

Rip grabbed both of her hands. "You keep letting people chip away at you. You've been doing that since you lost Mac. You've been punishing yourself by letting people tear you down. Let me guess, your ex and the rest of the Bullshitters Brigade have painted you out to be the Anti-Christ? It's easier to blame you than own their own shit. I know you. Falling for a married man ain't your thing. What made him so special?"

Olivia shrugged and decided to be honest, "In the beginning, I felt that he needed to be fixed. He was fighting an uphill battle with the election. His marriage was a depressing farce. Fixing him was supposed to be where it stopped."

"Why didn't it?"

Olivia squeezed Rip's hands, "Because he was the first person I let in after Mac. I never let Edison in—"

"Good because…fuck him. I can't stand his ass."

"I can't explain why I let Fitz in but I did. I knew it was wrong—we knew it was wrong—but there was a connection that we couldn't fight. So, I allowed myself to be his mistress—his dirty little secret."

"If the connection was so strong, then why aren't you together?"

Olivia started to get emotional, "Because it's too painful. I used to think that I wanted devastating, painful, life-changing, extraordinary love but now I know that I was willing to accept whatever kind of love that he was willing to give. Now don't get me wrong, I despise his wife but we disrespected her with our affair. Every time he wanted to walk away from everything and be with me, I shoved him back into the façade that he was living in. It was easier to want him when he was unavailable—"

"Because you always had that last layer of defense." Rip supplied.

Olivia nodded, "Being with him will turn me into another Mellie. I wouldn't be Olivia Pope anymore. I'd be the President's girlfriend. Everything I worked for will all become moot and I'll become brainless arm candy. I don't want a life like that. I love him, I truly do, but maybe all this Defiance stuff coming out was necessary. It gave our relationship finality."

Rip leaned forward, "You don't trust him do you?"

Olivia looked away, "The way he's acting now makes me not trust him. I understand that he's upset but shattering the last piece of my heart by treating me like a whore on the street was just him going way too far." Olivia shook her head with a low chuckle. "I mean he fucked me in an electrical closet and acted like I was a prostitute."

Rip was angry, "He what? That's not love. That's manipulation and ego."

"He always said he wanted a family with me but how can I have a family with someone who lashes out that horribly when I make a mistake?"

Rip cleared his throat, "I'm just going to keep it real with you. It's gonna take you a long time—possibly years—to fall out of love with him. You don't love easily so it makes walking away that much harder. Don't run from all the growing pains of trying to move on. It's going to hurt but you have to do what's best for yourself. You been leading with your heart…now it's time to lead with your head."

"What's wrong me with Rip? Why do I lose the people I care about? Am I poison? Am I the problem?"

Rip hated seeing the pitiful look in her eyes. He hated that anyone was able to break her confidence. "Your fatal flaw is your heart Bambi." He caressed her jaw with his knuckles, "You care deeply for people and you are fiercely loyal. People don't deserve the kind of heart you have. Your loyalty to people forces you to have blinders with the way they treat you. Case in point…Cyrus. That punk bitch has been a snake in the grass from the moment you met him. He has no soul or conscious. He doesn't have the same loyalty for you that you have for him. You gotta learn how to outgrow the loyalty you have for people that treat you like shit. As a friend, I want you to truly learn your worth and add tax."

The emotional weight of this conversation had Olivia crying silently. Rip pulled her into his chest and held her close. She murmured against his chest, "Why can't just be happy? Why can't I have happy love? Why is my life so dark?"

Rip held her tighter and kissed the crown of her head. "You deserve the world Bambi."

Rip was woken up hours later, not by the sun pouring in through the living room windows but by the sounds of yelling. Rip felt a weight on the front of his body and realized that Olivia had fallen asleep on top of him. She finally looked at peace—a peace he hated to disturb. He didn't want to wake her up but knew that it was only a matter of time before the yelling did. The loud voice was Diesel going at it with Nyla. Rip gently nudged Olivia. She nuzzled her face into his chest and slowly blinked her eyes open. It only took her a few minutes to hear the yelling. She sighed and forced herself into a sitting position. She was sitting between Rip's legs with her back facing him as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She got to her feet and turned to look at him. "How long has that been going on?"

Rip shrugged, "I don't know. I'll diffuse it as best as I can. You should go take a shower and put on some comfortable clothes."

Olivia nodded and headed towards the room that Quinn and Abby were in. She slowly opened the door and chuckled at the sight. Abby was on the edge of the bed with her face in the trashcan. She heard the shower going and assumed that Quinn was in the bathroom. Abby slowly turned her head and saw Olivia in the doorway. "Ugh. I feel like death warmed over." Abby grunted at the yelling she heard, "Please tell me that they haven't been doing that all night?"

Olivia shrugged, "I don't think so. I just woke up though. How you feeling?"

"Like I shouldn't have had those Long Island shots."

"That's what you started drinking? Are you nuts?"

Abby felt the vomit rising before she could respond verbally. Olivia walked over and held Abby's hair back. Abby eventually raised her head from the trashcan, "Why are you still in the same clothes?"

Olivia took that as her cue to leave and take her own shower. Olivia went into the room that she was supposed to sleep in and grabbed what she needed to take a shower. She doesn't know when Rip sent someone to get their bags from his other house. Olivia let the scalding water beat down on her body. She let herself get lost in her thoughts. I can't believe I was that honest last night. Rip is a better friend than I deserve. He did make valid points about the demise of my relationship with Fitz. I still love Fitz but now is definitely time to re-evaluate my relationship with Cyrus and Fitz. Cyrus is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is only out for himself and whatever agenda he's pushing at the moment. He never wanted us together. Maybe it's because of jealousy, maybe not. Fitz treating me like a $2 whore forced me to realize that he sees me the same way that everyone else does—like a whore. I just want some happiness for once. I have no idea whether or not I can have that happiness with Rip.

Olivia forced herself to stop overanalyzing and finished her shower. While she was applying lotion to her body, she heard a light knock on the bedroom door. Olivia looked down at herself and realized that although Rip was her friend, it was still weird for him to only see her wrapped in a towel. Her mad dash for clothes was halted when she heard the voice say, "It's Quinn."

Olivia smiled to herself and called Quinn into the room. Olivia smirked, "For a woman that went shot for shot with Abby, you seem quite chipper."

Quinn shrugged, "Snacks help. I got up and got something when I was hungry." Quinn's nervousness was starting to rise but she ignored it. "Liv…I got up to get some snacks."

Olivia was confused and continued to put lotion on her body. "Um…okay. Make sure that you tell Abby that snacks prevent a hangover."

Quinn was twiddling her fingers, "Liv…I got up last night for snacks. When I got up—I heard you and Rip talking…about me."

Quinn watched as the realization finally dawned on her what Quinn was talking about. Olivia bit her lip, "Quinn, I—"

"I'm your gladiator Liv." Quinn interrupted. "I can never repay you for saving me but I'm beyond appreciative."

Olivia wasn't great at expressing her feelings. She uncomfortably shifted, "You didn't deserve to be mixed up in all of that. How much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you'd do it all over again to save me. I'm sorry that things didn't work out between you and the President?" She recognized Olivia's surprise. "I mean it is him right? I kinda drew that conclusion when you started naming names."

Olivia nodded her head, "Yes. It was Fitz."

"Why didn't it work out?"

"You serious?" Olivia asked with an open mouth.

Quinn started walking towards Olivia. "I'm going to do something. I'm going to hug you."

Olivia was hesitant. "Why would you do that?"

Quinn was now within arm's reach of Olivia. "Because that's what friends do. They hug their friends after their friend finally leaves the scumbag who hurt them to their core." Surprisingly, Olivia allowed Quinn to pull her into a hug. Olivia welcomed the support from Quinn. They were both just in the moment until they finally heard the screaming from Nyla. Quinn looked at Olivia, "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have them here together."