A/U: Set after Closetgate. Fitz has pushed Olivia to the point of being able to move on to someone else other than him. OCs are my own invention and provide Liv with more support than just her Gladiators.

It had officially been almost a year since she had seen or spoken to Fitz. It had been nearly a year of her wallowing and grieving the death of her relationship with him. At first, she was hurt—truly crushed—that he wouldn't let her explain her part in the Defiance debacle. After the hurt feeling passed, the guilt and what-ifs made their presence known. She started to fantasize about what could've happened if she said no and Fitz lost the election. She'd stayed in this frame of mind for nearly 6 months. The next phase to rear its head was pure anger. Olivia was pissed that Fitz would have the audacity to sit on his high horse and judge her. She was pissed that he could rationalize that he was blemish-free in spite of the fact that he'd been cheating on his wife with HER for years! After the anger passed, Olivia was left in her current state—wondering if she could ever truly be happy again or have faith to be in another relationship. Her track record wasn't the greatest and she'd hoped that Fitz would be the one to end her horrible streak.

Her first serious relationship was with a man named Mac. They'd met in freshman orientation when she was an undergrad. They were happy together for nearly 3 years. Their happiness was shattered when he was murdered. His unsolved murder still haunted Olivia to this day because the circumstances surrounding his death made absolutely no sense. After Mac, she eventually got involved with Edison. On the surface, Edison was a great guy…but Olivia knew differently. After she eventually agreed to his proposal, Edison made it very clear that she was to submit to him. Olivia allowed herself to be emotionally abused by Edison for 3 months out of fear that he was the closest she would ever get to her happily ever after. Eventually, her cousin talked some sense into her and she left Edison. Olivia let herself go down a path of meaningless hookups until she met Fitz. She tried to fight her attraction to him with everything she had because he was a married man. The connection was too strong to ignore and she allowed herself to become weak and fall in love with him. Now, she was in an even worse position. She allowed herself to break her own rules and fall madly in love with him. She gave him all the power to break her heart and he did just that. She's been the one stuck jumping through hoops for nearly a year to avoid running into him, seeing his face, or hearing his voice. She's had to try and find a way to piece herself back together while he moved on with his life in complete bliss. She'd thought that she was hiding her heartbreak well—just not well enough for her gladiators to pick up on.

Olivia had introduced her cousin Nyla to her team a couple of years earlier. She didn't handle Stephen's departure well and needed someone to 'ground' her into her new reality. Nyla and Olivia were birthday twins—2 years apart—and conjoined at the hip for most of their childhood. They both had one or both parents who didn't have a nurturing bone in their body. Nyla had met Huck, Quinn, and Abby when she came to lift Olivia's spirits. Her team could tell that Nyla was the person to always rein in Olivia when she spiraled too far. Therefore, when they noticed that Olivia wasn't getting better nearly 4 months after her split from Fitz (something they were unaware of), Quinn did what she felt was the only logical thing. Needless to say, Olivia was pissed when she started receiving weekly phone calls from her favorite cousin. At the time, she wasn't in a place where she wanted to hear rational advice about moving on from Fitz. They began to tread lightly around Olivia until the façade slipped and they noticed that she was still suffering…almost 11 months since whatever storm rolled through her life. Abby took the bullet this time and called Nyla. She all but demanded that Nyla come physically put eyes on Olivia and see how badly she was struggling. Nyla lived in LA but agreed to make the trip anyway. After seeing that her cousin was simply a shell of herself, Nyla decided to stay around DC a little while longer. It took Nyla 2 weeks to pry all of the secrets out of Olivia. Begrudgingly, Nyla agreed to not lash out at Fitz the way she wanted.

Nyla and Quinn had become close enough that Quinn felt comfortable asking Nyla what was bothering her. Nyla eventually copped to having her own relationship woes. Although Quinn was careful not to pry too much into what was going on with Nyla and Olivia, she did happen to intercept Nyla's phone during a drunken girls' night at Liv's house. Quinn answered a call from someone named Rip and surmised that he clearly knew that something was truly bothering the two of them. Quinn and Rip hatched a plan to bring Nyla and Olivia down to Houston on a 'girls' trip'. Rip had told Quinn that he had known Olivia since college and that he is good friends with the man that Nyla had been dating. She was wary at first but knew deep down that Olivia deserved a break from DC and desperately needed to unwind and clear her head. Quinn agreed and formed a plan to get them to agree to the trip. With much cajoling from Quinn, Abby, and even Huck they both agreed to go on the trip. Olivia agreed under the guise of catching up with an old friend; Nyla flat out wanted a trip to forget about her relationship struggles.

For the first time in almost a year, they all saw Olivia genuinely happy and carefree. Her reunion with Rip was just what she needed. She hadn't seen him in person since Mac's funeral; the last time she talked to him on the phone was after his wife passed. Rip's late wife, Chastity, was also a close friend of Olivia and Mac during college. Olivia didn't hesitate to give him a crushing hug. "Hey there cowboy. It's been a while."

Rip dwarfed just about everyone he came into contact with. Rip stands at 6'5, sun-kissed tan skin, deep dimples with a nearly perfect smile, well-designed tattoos covering most of his skin, a bulky frame with well-defined muscles. Rip was simply a sexy ass Texas cowboy that could give any woman wet dreams for years. He hugged Olivia back, easily lifting her off the ground, "It's been too long since I've seen this cute little face cowgirl." Rip could tell that she was emotionally hanging on by a thread. He kept her wrapped in his embrace as he husked in her ear, "You don't have to be Olivia Pope with me. Just be Bambi."

Olivia unconsciously wrapped her legs around his torso and she buried her face deeper into his neck and sobbed. "I've missed you so much Rip."

"Same Bambi. It's okay. Whatever it is, whatever happened…I've got your back. No matter what." Rip eventually lowered her to the ground and finally acknowledged the rest of the group. "Howdy everybody. I'm Rip."

Nyla made a joke, "Don't be yanking me up in the air like that Jolly Green Giant."

Rip gave Nyla a side hug and spoke into her ear. "The two of you have weathered worse storms than this. You'll come out on the other side."

"What if we don't?" she asked softly.

"Then…I have other single friends."

Nyla playfully punched him in the arm. "You're a jackass."

Rip laughed and addressed the group, consisting of Olivia, Nyla, Quinn, and Abby. "All right ladies. Most of the trip will be you left to your own devices. There is a rodeo show that I'm competing in and a little surprise for you all that I'm keeping to myself. Try not to get into too much trouble. H-town is very tempting when she wants to be."

Olivia looked at Rip, "I didn't know you got back into rodeo shows. I just thought—"

"That I was a rich cowboy that sits around playing golf all day? Nah, that's the people in that bougie town you live in."

Olivia laughed, "They play more than just golf."

"My bad. Pickleball too. Who the hell names a sport Pickleball?" Rip quipped.

Olivia laughed, "Please don't start a rant about sports that you don't deem to be real sports."

Abby was still hanging on to something Rip said. "You said rich cowboy. How is that possible and how rich are you?"

Rip gave a shy shrug, "Nothing too crazy. I can just live a comfortable life."

Olivia rolled her eyes, "He's being modest. He inherited his father's cattle ranch. He also is the owner of a very popular whiskey brand. Not to mention that he's one of the owners of the Houston Astros." Olivia looked at Quinn and Abby's shocked faces, "Like I said. He was being modest."

Rip blushed slightly, "Cut it out Bambi. Anyways, you guys can stay at my place."

"The ranch?" Olivia asked.

Rip laughed. "No, not the ranch. I wouldn't want you guys to be too far out from the excitement. I have a bungalow in the city that you guys will be staying at."

Abby noticed how Olivia and Rip couldn't stop staring at each other. She nudged Quinn, "I think Liv may have quite a bit of fun while we're here."