"Ivy. It's time to get up. It's your first day of school."

Ivy slowly walked over to her closet and stared at all the clothes. She looked at Olivia, "Can I match you mommy?"

Olivia looked down at her form-fitting suit and smiled, "I don't think this is the right fit for school. We can do something cuter for you." Olivia picked out a pair of lilac capris, a graphic tee, a denim jacket, and paired the outfit with matching lilac Converse. She styled Ivy's hair into two long braids before grabbing her backpack.

Ivy was happily eating her breakfast while Olivia went through emails from her team. She was surprised to see that her team had practically connected all the dots of Verna's case. The doorbell suddenly rang and Olivia headed to answer it. She said over her shoulder, "Finish your breakfast Happy Feet." Olivia opened the door and saw one of her neighbors. "Hey Serena. Everything okay?"

"I'm so sorry to be a bother. I just got called into the hospital for an early shift. Is there any way that Carmen can ride with you and Ivy to school?"

"Sure."

"Really. Thank you so much! I hate that I'm missing the first day of school but—you know—duty calls."

Olivia loaded both girls into her car and headed toward their school. Olivia kept a steady eye on the rearview, as the girls talked about everything under the sun, and noticed a familiar vehicle keeping a careful distance. To make sure, Olivia began to take a complicated route. Once she got to the school, she got the girls out of the car. Their teacher was waiting by the front gate.

Olivia crouched down in front of the both of them, "I want both of you girls to have the best day ever. Learn lots and remember to have fun."

Carmen smiled at Olivia, "Are you picking us up Ms. Olivia?"

"If your mom needs me to, then I'll pick you up when I come by to get Ivy."

Ivy pushed back Olivia's bangs. "Mommy, I made a knuckles to knuckles with Quinn, so I'll have a really good day. I love you Mommy."

Olivia kissed her cheek, "I love you Happy Feet." Olivia waved goodbye to both girls and their teacher before she got back into the car. Olivia felt the tears well up. Don't you dare cry Olivia. It's just her first day of school. When her phone started ringing, she saw that it was Mrs. Delaney. She answered and tried to hide the tears building up again. "Hey, Mrs. Delaney. Is everything okay?"

The older woman chuckled. "I figured you were having a hard time with babygirl's first day of school. You don't have to hide the tears from me."

Olivia gave up the ruse, "She wasn't even sad and I'm losing my mind over here."

"It gets better. Trust me. I was thinking that we could have the both of you over for dinner sometime."

"We. So, you and Mr. Sidarthur huh?"

The woman hesitated, "We…have a lot in common. Don't deflect. We would like to have you over for dinner."

Olivia laughed, "I'll look at my schedule and let you know what works best for us." Olivia ended the call and looked into her rearview mirror again. She let out a growl and angrily dialed another number. "Stop following me!"

Eli Pope spoke, "I wanted to make sure that she got to school alright."

"Will you stop this twisted attempt at being a good father via my child?"

"You still don't know how to say thank you. Edison will not stop."

"Well, he learned his cues from you" she retorted.

"Whether you like it or not, I've always been looking over you. Now, that extends to my granddaughter."

"She's not your granddaughter" Olivia hissed.

"If she is considered yours, then she is considered mine. You are my seed whether you like it or not."

Olivia hung up the phone and headed to her office. When she arrived, she pulled Quinn. "What's up with the knuckles to knuckles with Ivy for school today?"

Quinn smiled a little, "She was worried that you wouldn't have her if you were to get scared. She says that whenever she gets scared, she has you and JoJo. I told her that if she promised to have a good first day of school, then I'd be there if you got scared."

Olivia smiled at Quinn and squeezed her shoulder, "I'm happy about the bond you have with Ivy. I know you have my back."

Abby popped her head out of the conference room, "Liv we need you in here." Olivia and Quinn headed to the conference room.

Harrison said, "Hollis Doyle knew an important secret about Verna. Verna may have killed her husband's mistress and paid a cop to cover it up. We assume that's what he leveraged Verna with in order to get her to push his order through to frack in that town."

"What's Verna's connection to Texas? She wasn't from there."

"That's where her husband's mistress was killed. Verna was a federal judge and I'm sure that she could pull whatever strings necessary to do that favor for him."

Olivia started to pace in a circle, "Okay. That explains Hollis' hold over her but that doesn't explain why Fitz killed her."

Abby stared at Huck, willing him to say what the rest of them couldn't. Huck sighed and said, "The President's secret goes back quite some time."

"Huck, please don't talk in circles" Olivia stated.

"In short, President Grant became Governor of California with help from your father. Your father—Command—ordered that his opponent be dealt with. Liv, it was diabolical and extremely violent. That man watched his family get murdered in front of him before he finally conceded to drop out the race and was killed. The President knew about this."

Olvia felt queasy, "How can you be so sure about that?"

"His father knew. That cocky asshole would've definitely told President Grant about the inner workings of how he became governor", Abby said.

Olivia threw her hands up, "Even if he knew, and I'm not saying that he did, that doesn't explain why Verna knowing would cause him to kill her."

Harrison pointed out, "Liv, we think it's best that you keep distance between you and the President. If he was willing to hide knowing what your father ordered to make him governor, what else is he willing to hide from you? Did he ever tell you that he knew your father? How many more things does he need to keep from you?"

"Rip's not innocent either." Quinn said

Olivia's head whipped in her direction, "What are you talking about?"

Quinn shrugged, "Rip and JoJo knew this information but didn't tell us. Why would they keep it to themselves? I understand not telling you but we're all supposed to be on the same page with protecting you."

"So now I'm made of glass and no one wants to tell me anything?" Olivia grabbed her purse and coat, stomping toward the door in a huff.

"Where are you going Liv?" Abby asked,

"To get the fucking truth out of people."

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"Any particular reason that you nearly broke the front door of my office?" JoJo asked with an edge to her voice.

"Why didn't you tell me about Verna and her husband's mistress?" Olivia demanded.

JoJo shrugged, "Why do you feel like I needed to?"

"What is with you and Rip being so nonchalant about telling me things that I need to know?"

"Do you see how high strung you are? I'm about to be honest with you and you're not gonna like it." JoJo turned to fully face Olivia. "You are extremely self-absorbed when it comes to 'fixing crises'. You thrive in the midst of utter chaos, which is why you're the best D.C. fixer or maybe even the best fixer period. When there isn't a problem for you to fix, you create them. This whole business with you, your dad, your married ex-boyfriend, and Rip stems from you needing to find a complicated problem to fix. Knowing the kind of man your father is, there is no reason for you to be digging that deep into things you can't handle knowing. I get it, you fell in love with a married man but you need to wake the fuck up. Even if he left her today, you would never fully commit to him because you have no clue how to let someone truly love you. Part of that is because of your dad but the other part is on you. At some point, you have to stop blaming your lack of having a healthy relationship on the trauma you experienced as a kid. Olivia, you will die having experienced that trauma—as will everyone else with their own trauma. You need to get it together and break the cycle so that Ivy doesn't have a cynical outlook on love. You have yet to take time away from everybody so that you can do some soul-searching and healing. You can say that you're doing this to give the President another term or getting your mom and aunt some justice. I simply think that without all this chaos and drama going on, you wouldn't know how to function. Your only focus should be Ivy, yet you're running around playing detective. I didn't tell you because I convinced Rip not to bring Verna's innocent family members into all of this. I don't know what the hell is going on with you lately, but you're not the Olivia Pope I know. Seems like the Olivia Pope I knew disappeared when Fitzgerald Grant came into the picture. I will not apologize for not telling you because you would've only reacted off emotion…just like you're doing now."

Olivia shook her head. "5, you don't know what I went through being raised by my father. 4, every time I fall in love my heart gets shattered. 3, my commitment issues stem from my psychotic relationship with Edison. 2, Ivy will always be my number one priority. 1, I fix problems because I'm the best at it. Lying or lying by omission is complete bullshit because of how long we've known each other. For fucks sake, I let you keep my kid for years!"

JoJo yelled back, "I wasn't the one who jumped headfirst into a world that would instantly make her a target. Don't act like Ivy living with me couldn't have been avoided if you walked away from the political world. When it comes to having control and being a source of dysfunction, you're like your father." Olivia raised her hand to slap JoJo, but JoJo caught it midair. "I told you that you wouldn't like what I had to say."

"I am nothing like my father" Olivia said through gritted teeth.

"You are. You have to come to terms with the fact that some parts of you are just like Eli Pope—just like some parts of you are your mom. Olivia, I love you like a sister but you've needed a massive reality check for a while now. Fitzgerald Grant is no good for you. You want some honesty? The real driving force behind why Rip is funding him is because of you! That man is crazy in love with you. Of course he wants the fracking to stop and for this country to stop going straight to hell, but you—and now Ivy—are his core reasons. I'm involved because I'm always going to look out for you and I foolishly believe you when you say that Fitz Grant can make a true effort to improve this country. I'm in this because I believe that he was worth believing in before you got involved with him."

Olivia got emotional, "My father will never stop ruining my life. He's been pulling the strings with just about every relationship I've had except, you, Rip, Ingrid, Mac, and OPA. He's pulling Edison's, Fitz's, probably Cyrus', and God only knows who else's strings. He is always 5 steps ahead of me."

"Then change that. Flip his own game back onto him…and use the people who truly care about you to do just that." JoJo reassured.

"He knows too much about Ivy and I don't like that."

JoJo crossed her arms, "So what do you want to do?"

"I want to put as much distance between me and everyone that poses a threat to my child."

JoJo smirked, "There's the Olivia Pope I know."

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

Edison was in the midst of a tense conversation with Cyrus. "How could you send someone so incompetent to botch a cakewalk job?"

Cyrus retorted, "My guy is trained damn well. It is not my fault that she has complete thugs working for her. What's with the bright idea about killing a child? You said that you would kidnap her to get Liv's attention not—"

Edison pounded his fist on the desk. "She left me! She spouted all these lies about our relationship. She couldn't wait to start whoring around! She had MY child and hid her away like some big bad secret."

Realization dawned on Cyrus, "The whispers on the Hill were true. You abused Olivia?" Cyrus ran a hand through his thinning hair and started to pace the office. "You beat her?"

Edison's face twisted into a snarl. "She started every fight we had and she threw things at me. She put her hands on me. I was defending myself."

Cyrus barked out a humorless chuckle, "Defending yourself against all 100 pounds, soaking wet, barely 5 feet Olivia Pope? How many times did you have to tell yourself that lie before you actually believed it?"

"She stabbed me 3 times!" Edison pointed a finger at him. "Don't pretend like you love her. She was someone for you to use, just as she was to me. She was a younger version of your political mind with the balls that you were starting to lack. She was essentially your smart, sharp-tongued figurehead to challenge anyone you saw fit in the political world. You intentionally chose her to work on his campaign in the hopes that the attraction would be enough to keep him interested in having a political future. YOU used the both of them and didn't know what to do when your plan backfired. You didn't anticipate them falling in love with one another." Edison looked at his surprised face, "Don't be so surprised. I'm not an idiot. I am well aware that she had a serious relationship with someone that she needed to keep confidential. When you take into account how long she worked on his campaign for presidency, along with how long she worked in the White House, it wasn't hard to piece together—at least not for someone who was previously in a relationship with her. Don't get all high and mighty Cyrus. You had just as much to do with the hit than I did."

"Let me get this straight. You're convinced that Olivia had your child yet you still put out a hit on said child? Not exactly father of the year."

"Says the man who adopted a black baby to use as an accessory for his gay husband."

"Don't talk about my family."

Edison changed the subject, "The kid wasn't killed if that makes you feel any better."

"Got a sudden change of heart?" Cyrus asked.

Edison scoffed, "No. Someone else—" Edison didn't finish his statement before his office door swung open with a loud bang. Fitz came barging in, yanking Edison by his shirt and shoved him into a more secluded part of his office. Tom and Hal quickly shut the main office door and kept Cyrus in place. Hal kept a firm hand on Cyrus while Tom stood in front of the other door in the back of Edison's office.

Fitz hastily let go of Edison's suit jacket and punched him in the stomach. "You went after her child? You went after an innocent child?" Fitz punched him two more times and shoved him to the ground. He kicked him hard in the ribs.

Edison smiled, "Olivia deserved everything I did to her. I should've done more. Should make her undesirable so that you couldn't make her your on demand three-hole wonder." Fitz quickly saw red and began kicking him over and over.

After a while, Tom came into the office and pulled Fitz off of him. "Sir. Mr. President. It's getting loud in here and soon we will have a lot of unnecessary attention. Let's go out the back to avoid any mishaps."

Fitz took a moment to collect himself and follow Tom out of the office. He glared at Cyrus, "You are bringing your ass back to the White House. You and I are not finished by a long shot. Let's go right now Cyrus." Tom, Hal, Cyrus, and Fitz left Edison in a heap on the floor of his office.

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

Roughly a few hours later

Olivia was in her office catching up on client files when she heard a tap on her office door. Since she wasn't expecting anyone, she encouraged everyone else to leave the office. She looked up to see the last person she expected and boy was he pissed off. Olivia stood up, praying that her legs wouldn't buckle, "Why are you here?"

"You've been dodging me for way too long." He didn't give her a chance before he pounced. He quickly grabbed ahold of her and threw her tiny body against her desk. He slapped her hard across the face. Olivia fought back by successfully punching him in the jaw. He punched her in the nose and yanked her head back by her hair. He punched her hard in the stomach, causing her to fall into a heap on the ground. He pulled his leg back as hard as he could and kicked her in the ribs. Olivia pleaded for him to stop but it fell on deaf ears. She was in a lot of pain and put up no resistance when he lifted her off the ground with a hand wrapped around her throat. He wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled at her limp form. "Just like old times Liv."

Olivia slowly opened her eyes, "Why now Edison?" she rasped out.

Edison shrugged, "Why not?" He dropped Olivia again and she crawled over to her desk. Edison chuckled as he watched her struggle. When she reached her purse, she was able to wrap her hands around the gun she kept in there. Before he knew it, she rolled over and shot him in the lower thigh.

Rip was on his way to her office. JoJo had called to fill him in on her conversation with Olivia. He heard a gunshot as he stepped off the elevator in front of OPA. He kicked open the door and raced toward the sound. He saw Olivia in the fetal position on the ground and Edison clenching his thigh. Edison saw him and tried to rush him. In that moment, it became a battle royale and only one of them would come out on top.