"You did it again? What does that even mean?" Quinn asked with a laugh.

"It means that I have a serious problem with keeping a leash on my vagina" Olivia replied.

"Thanks for that unneeded visual." Quinn sat down and grabbed Olivia's hand. "Can I ask you what is so special about…both of them that has you so conflicted?"

"It's hard to explain Quinn. If I could explain it in a way that doesn't sound completely insane, I would."

"Can I tell you what I think?"

"As long as you keep helping put together these to-go bags, then you can say whatever you want."

Quinn went back to her task and said, "I think the problem is that when you're with them, you're two different people. For instance, Rip has seen you at your lowest but have you ever let Fitz see you that way? With him, I assume that you've only been the strong, fearless Olivia; with Rip you have been his Bambi. Look, I've seen both versions of you so I get it. I've seen how warm, gooey, and funny you can be as well as how tough, calm, and a flat-out force of nature you can be. I think when you're with Fitz you have no idea how to let him see the side of you that misses your mom like crazy."

"He killed my mother Quinn." Olivia corrected.

"He didn't maliciously go into the situation with the sole purpose of personally killing your mom."

"What's your point Quinn?"

"My point is that if you've never let him see you at your lowest, then how can you truly know if he's the kind of partner to support you through anything? On the contrary, if you've never let Rip see the more composed side of you, then how can you know that he won't always handle you with kid gloves or always make you feel like he's always waiting for you to sink back into the kind of depression that you had when Mac died? I suggest letting Rip see that you can put yourself back together when you need to and allow Fitz to see you far more vulnerable than you've probably let him in the past. Once you do that, it may be a lot easier for you to make a decision."

Olivia was getting uncomfortable with being put under a microscope, even though Quinn was right. "What about you Quinn? Who's the special someone in your life?"

Quinn was slightly uncomfortable but chose to be brutally honest. "At first, I thought that person could be Huck." Olivia's shocked expression made her chuckle. "Nothing has happened between me and him. We got closer and I really fooled myself, momentarily, into believing that we could be more. That thought died when I realized that Huck has had to been extremely guarded for years and that his paranoia would never allow him to truly give his heart to me willingly. I made up in my mind that it's better to be his friend than to subject myself to a broken heart every time he refuses to open up and let me in. As of now, the only special person in my life—aside from OPA—is Ivy. I love that little girl so much."

Olivia nodded in agreement, "She's easy to love. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to have her unconditional love and that I'll somehow ruin her."

"I don't think that's possible Liv. She loves you just as much as you love her."

Quinn nudged Olivia, "How do you think Abby will choose?" Olivia narrowed her eyes and Quinn giggled, "What? We might as well dissect the love lives of all the women of OPA."

"I think she'll choose David. Leo is just a phase and a distraction. Leo loves Leo. Trust me, that will run its course with Abby soon enough. I think that David scared her because she hadn't been in a relationship since Chip. With the toxicity of her marriage to Chip and her unresolved feelings for Stephen, Abby may have felt like being with David was a bit much because of how fast she caught feelings for him. I think that they'll make their way back to one another. Abby needed to get her independence back after having it ripped away by an abusive ex-husband."

"I'll be honest Liv. Your rollercoaster love life is far more entertaining than mine or Abby's."

"Good to know that my moral qualms are entertaining."

Quinn couldn't help herself, "I mean is there a special technique that both of them have?"

Olivia playfully pushed Quinn. "Quinn! Grow up and finish your assignment before I find a way to have you in the dunk tank."

"How did Ivy talk you into this carnival thing?"

"Ugh. She doesn't even have to try hard to convince me of most things. She wanted to do this carnival because she's never been to one but has seen them in movies. Rip's really anal about security right now—as am I—so I just figured that it'd been easier to just reserve a full day at the carnival without any unknown people. Ivy wants everyone she knows invited, which is not an easy feat. That kid could ask me to go to the moon and I'd do whatever necessary to get us there. Do you think that I should invite Fitz to the carnival?"

Quinn's jaw dropped, "For what reason? To start a brawl?"

Olivia threw her hands up, "You just said that I need to let him see a side of me that he hasn't seen."

"I know what I said but Ivy doesn't even know him. She only saw him for a few minutes at her birthday party."

"The man has children. His children enjoying the carnival, without the press, is a plausible reason for an invitation."

Quinn tsked, "All I'm saying is that when they start fighting over you, I will be right in your ear to say I told you so. Also, there probably won't be copious amounts of places for you to get your rocks off."

"Quinn! That's not funny. You make me sound like a sex addict."

"It's a little funny. You know you're addicted to both of the men in your life. I'm just reminding you that children will be everywhere at this carnival."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"We're pulling out of funding your campaign" Rip stated plainly.

Cyrus looked like a fish out of water. He forcefully raked his hand across his thinning hair. He loosened his tie, feeling like he was suffocating, and flat out yelled at Rip. "For what reason?"

Rip simply smirked, "Several. For starters, it seems like all of you have ignored my stipulations…stipulations that I made very clear." He pointedly looked at Mellie. "The First Lady can't keep her mouth shut about your impending divorce. There are at least two tabloids that claim to have 2 direct quotes from FLOTUS about her 'hush hush' divorce. Then there is you—Cyrus—who decided to send a hitman after a child. A child that I care about very much. Finally, there's the fact that POTUS has been in bed with Olivia's father for years."

Fitz cut his eyes at Rip. "I had no idea that she was his daughter when I first met her."

"That's irrelevant. Once you found out who her father was, you had ample opportunity to tell her and you never did. You only told her because your back was against the wall. My stipulations were ignored, therefore my money will no longer help you with your re-election campaign."

Fitz rolled his eyes, "Fine. You're withdrawing your funding. Do what you feel you need to."

Mellie interjected, "What are you going to do now Fitzgerald? You needed his money for this—"

"My campaign being funded is my problem, not his or yours." Fitz looked at JoJo, "I assume that you will be pulling your funding as well?"

Jojo looked conflicted. She looked at Rip and displayed some grief about what she would say next. JoJo spoke up, "Rip doesn't speak for me; I'm not pulling my funding but I will not be your biggest funder either. I'm not pulling my money because in the event that you win, I need you to make good on doing your best to get a handle on this police brutality as well as women's reproductive rights—which are hanging on by a thread."

"I appreciate your contributions Ms. Lodge. As for you Ripley, I figured that this deal wouldn't truly work out but not for the reasons you named. I figured that you'd keep pretending that Olivia isn't the reason for your involvement as well as your sudden withdrawal."

Rip got up and headed toward the office door, "Good luck Fitzgerald."

Fitz was determined to have the last word, "Can you do me a favor and thank Olivia for the invitation. My kids will have a blast."

As they were leaving the White House, JoJo pushed him to the side "What was all of that about?"

Rip flexed his jaw. "The President is really starting to piss me off."

JoJo shrugged, "Everybody keeps saying that he doesn't have balls. Seems like he does now. Hey, are you mad that I didn't pull my money out?"

"You grown JoJo. You can do whatever you want with your money."

"Okay but are we good Rip? You don't feel like I'm a traitor do you?"

%%%%%%%%%%%%

A few days later, Olivia was finally able to schedule a meeting with Verna's son. "Thank you for coming in."

"What did you find out about my mother's death."

"Unfortunately, I found out that your mom died from hospital negligence. She was experiencing potassium overload, which is difficult to detect in some autopsies. I was able to get ahold of her hospital charts and it showed that her potassium was dangerously high. I am so sorry that I wasn't able to get the answers that you hoped for."

"What about the thing with the camera?"

"The hospital altered the footage to protect the negligent employee. Don't worry, she's been fired and is being dealt with by the authorities." Olivia was thankful that he bought her bullshit explanation. Olivia sighed and went into Huck's office. "I'm going to straight to hell for lying to that man like that."

"I'll be right behind you considering that I forged the hospital chart. Liv, he wouldn't understand the truth so it's for the best."