"Hey there" Olivia said timidly.

Rip turned around and responded, "Hey Bambi. What's up?"

"How did the gala go?"

Rip sighed, "Is that really what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Olivia broke eye contact, "No. I um…there's um…I have a kid. And I need your help with something."

Rip just looked at Olivia. "The kid that's been with JoJo right?"

"How'd you guess that?" Olivia asked.

"JoJo is pretty protective of all her kids. On the two quick glimpses that I've seen of a little girl, JoJo and even her kids were pretty tight-lipped about who she is." Olivia pulled out her phone and showed him a picture. Rip was in awe "She favors Mac a lot."

Olivia bit her lip, "That's because she's a direct blood relative of his." Olivia ignored his wide stare. "Ingrid came to me for help with wanting to be a mom. IVF never worked for her so I offered to be her surrogate. I carried and birthed Ingrid's baby…Mac's niece."

Rip was thinking, "So, why did you hide her after Ingrid died? Why hide her at all? You have second thoughts or something?"

Olivia was barely containing her anger, "Hell no I didn't change my mind." Olivia gritted her teeth. "I hid her because of Edison. Edison convinced himself that I ran off with our baby. I didn't know what he was capable of and I didn't want to chance it. JoJo agreed to help me keep her safe. Her safety is actually why I wanted to have this conversation with you."

"What's wrong with her safety now?"

Olivia flexed her hands, "Someone is looking for her. It could be Edison…or my father. I don't want to put JoJo's family in any more danger. No one would come looking for her on your ranch. As much as I want her to come home with me, I'm far too well-known to be able to successfully keep her hidden at my place."

Rip stood up straighter and walked closer to Olivia. He placed his hands on her shoulders, "Course she can come to the ranch. Any particular reason you told JoJo about—"

"Ivy." Olivia supplied.

"Why'd you tell JoJo about Ivy instead of me? Felt like you couldn't trust me?"

Olivia vehemently shook her head, "It wasn't that at all Rip. JoJo found out because she followed me when I left the burial site. She said that she knew I'd crumble into pieces at any moment because I was so numb at Ingrid's funeral. She followed me to the place where Ingrid helped me deliver Ivy. I didn't have the energy to try and lie, so I ended up telling her everything."

Olivia started to weep; Rip wiped away her tears, "Don't cry. You did what you thought you needed to do."

"It's not that." she said through tears. "I'm crying because I feel guilty. I've been experiencing her and being in her life in spurts. I haven't been around for all the important milestones."

"Don't do that Bambi. Let me ask you something. Does she love you?"

"Yes."

"Does she know that you're her mother? Her provider? Her protector? Her everything?"

Olivia nodded, "Yes."

"Then it seems to me like you're a good mother. Do you want me to intervene in this mess with Edison?"

"No." Olivia was thinking about what was happening with Verna's son.

Rip saw the contemplative look on her face. "What is it? What's going on?"

"Nothing. Just a client that I'm thinking about."

Rip knew not to push her. "When does Ivy get here?"

"In a few hours."

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

Olivia was on pins and needles as she watched the private plane touchdown on the tarmac. The moment Olivia saw that poofy top bun, she sprinted as fast as her heels would allow. The little girl bolted down the steps of the plane and jumped into Olivia's arms.

"Hi Mommy!"

"Hi there Happy Feet."

Ivy nuzzled her nose against Olivia's "I missed you."

"I missed you more!"

Ivy wiggled out of Oliva's arms and hastily rummaged through her bag. She yanked out a container of bracelets. "Look mom. I've been making you bracelets."

Olivia smiled widely, "I see that. They are all very beautiful."

Ivy, with great concentration, picked out a bracelet that matched Olivia's outfits and secured it on her wrist. "It matches your pants mommy."

Olivia stared at Ivy with watery eyes, "I've missed you so much Happy Feet."

"It hasn't been that many sleeps. Gracie said that we've been on vacation which means that the sleeps are cut in half."

Olivia chuckled at the logic of a small child. She grabbed Ivy's hand and walked her over to their car. Olivia had arranged for there to be two more cars at the airstrip that looked exactly like her BMW SUV with tinted windows. Huck was driving one of the cars and Harrison was driving the other. Oliva was surprised that Harrison took the news, about Ivy, just as well as Huck did. She was still nervous about telling Abby and Quinn. Olivia got out of her head and got Ivy buckled into her car seat. All three SUVs left the airstrip and went in different directions. Harrison claimed that Olivia was being paranoid but Huck assured him about how dangerous Olivia's father is. After that conversation, Harrison agreed to do whatever Olivia asked of him.

Olivia would be driving Ivy straight to Rip's ranch. Harrison would be going to pick up Abby and Quinn from OPA. Huck would be going by the office and Olivia's home to do a surprise security sweep. Ivy talked Olivia's ear off about everything under the sun until she glanced out the window and saw a horse.

Ivy happily pointed out, "There's a horse Mommy!"

Olivia smiled, "I know. There are plenty more horses here."

"Cool! Where are we?"

"Remember how Mommy said that my job sometimes makes people upset with me?"

"Well yeah but…you're so nice mommy."

"Well, Mommy wants to keep you safe. This is a place that will keep you safe."

"Like our Top Secret Treehouse?"

Olivia let out a small chuckle, "Just like that. We're on a ranch baby."

"Like Ms. JoJo's?"

"Yes. Except this ranch belongs to mommy's friend named Rip."

Ivy scrunched her nose, "Rip is a funny name."

"His name is Mr. Ripley."

A lightbulb clicked for Ivy. "Oh I know him. Ms. JoJo and Gracie talked about him a whole whole lot." Ivy looked out the window again, "Will he like me?"

Olivia looked over her shoulder at Ivy. "Are you kidding? Everybody loves my little Happy Feet."

Olivia stopped the car in front of the porch and got the both of them out of the car. Rip came outside and Ivy couldn't help herself. "Whoa! Are you a giant?"

Rip laughed, "No. You've just got some more growing to do squirt."

Ivy looked around at the horses at the nearby stable, "Are all these horses yours?"

"Yes they are little lady. You like horses?"

Ivy shook her head up and down with glee. "Yes! They're so pretty and fast."

Rip held out his hand towards Ivy. "Tell you what. You can help me make one of the ponies real pretty."

Ivy's eyes went wide and she turned to Olivia, "Mommy can I do it? Please? Pretty please?"

Olivia pretended to think about it before breaking out into a big smile. "Of course you can." Before Ivy could run off, Olicia kneeled down and grabbed her hand. "Happy Feet, mommy has some other friends that you can meet. You don't have to."

Ivy played with Olivia's hair. "How do you know them?"

"They work with Mommy at my firm."

"Where the two men at the plane place your friends?"

"Yes baby. Those are two of them."

Ivy stopped playing with Olivia's hair, "Did they help make the sleeps without me better?"

Olivia nodded, "Yeah baby. They helped."

Ivy grabbed Olivia's face and pressed their noses together and smiled, "They made you happy and not sad. I want to meet them."

Olivia let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "Okay baby. I'll let them know. You can go and help Rip now."

Ivy started to take off running but stopped herself just as quick, "Mommy, do you live here too?"

Rip saved Olivia from responding. "Your mommy has to be in the city a lot so she isn't always here. She's welcome to come here as much as she wants." That answer seemed to satisfy Ivy and she finally went towards the ponies.

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

"For crying out loud Harrison, what the hell is going on?" Abby demanded. "Tell us where we're going."

"To meet someone special to Olivia. I'm not telling you anything else so just shut up and wait until the car stops."

Quinn had been looking out the window and noticed that they were on what looked like a farm. "Where are we Harrison?"

"Rip's ranch."

Abby groaned, "What the hell! Are we really here to give the two of them an intervention? I could've been getting a manicure instead of dealing with this Walker Texas Ranger soap opera."

Quinn chuckled, "You do your own manicures and someone has been watching the western channel. Besides, Harrison said we were meeting someone close to Liv. We already know Rip."

"Maybe it's JoJo." Abby surmised.

"It's not JoJo" Harrison said as he put the car in park and exited the vehicle. They all nodded to some of Rip's security as they headed towards and through the front door. They walked into the living room and saw Olivia and Rip talking. Olivia felt their eyes on her and turned around.

Abby looked around the living room, "Who's the mystery person that we're supposed to be meeting?"

Olivia was beginning to sweat. "Um, I need to get this out so please don't interrupt me. Years ago, my deceased boyfriend's sister wanted to have a baby. She had medical problems so I offered to be her surrogate. I left D.C. for a while to hide the pregnancy and protect my peace. Mac's sister, Ingrid, died when the baby was a month old. I kept her and I wanted to raise her completely on my own. That plan when to hell when Edison got vindictive and convinced himself that I was hiding our child. I decided in that moment that I needed to keep her hidden. JoJo offered to look after her and help me keep her safe."

"Is that all? Can we talk now?" Abby asked.

Olivia answered, "Yeah sure."

"Is your kid the reason why you leave the city so often?"

"Yes Abby."

"Why would Edison think you ran off with his child?" Harrison asked.

"Because he's a narcissistic sociopath who needed to have an actual conspiracy as to why I left him."

Quinn was gentle when she asked, "What's her name?"

Olivia smiled, "Ivy. Ivy Ingrid Pope."

Huck had arrived unbeknownst to everyone else. He made his presence known by asking. "Can we meet her?"

Olivia motioned to Rip, who knocked on the glass window. Pretty soon they all heard the girl's laughter as she got closer to the patio door. Ivy had managed to get Rip's head of security wrapped around her little finger. The usually stoic man was openly smiling at Ivy until he felt the adults' eyes on him. His stoic mask slipped back into place and he was business as usual.

Ivy looked around at all the adults and walked closer to Olivia. She wrapped her arms around Olivia's thigh and looked up at her, "These your friends mommy?"

"Yes. They are."

The usually shy Ivy suddenly walked closer to them. "Thank you for making my mommy less sad when I'm not here."

Quinn melted on the spot and kneeled down, "Hi Ivy. My name is Quinn. This is Harrison, Abby, and Huck."

Ivy giggled, "Huck is a funny name."

Huck smiled, "Ivy's a funny name too"

Ivy laughed loudly, "No it's not. It's the best name."

Olivia took a step back and allowed her team to get acquainted with Ivy. Rip pulled her to the side. "You ok Bambi?"

Olivia pulled him into a tight hug a buried her face in his neck. She murmured, "I'm gonna cry and I don't want to do it in front of Ivy."

Rip hugged her back, "We'll keep her safe Bambi…all of us. No matter what it takes."

"I can't lose my child. I won't survive it."

"You won't lose her."

When she felt more composed, she pulled back from Rip. "Please be careful with them. There's something brewing in Fitz' inner circle but I don't know what it is."

"I gave him a set of conditions. You are one of those conditions Bambi."

"Rip, I'm not—"

"Not like that" he reassured. "I told him that under no circumstances is he to involve you in any part of his administration. You did a damn good job creating your business. It shouldn't have to be put on a back burner to accommodate his needs."

"Rip…how bad is this going to get with you and Hollis?"

"Don't worry about that Bambi. All you need to worry about is that beautiful little girl in there."

"David Rosen isn't it?"

David turned around to see Sally Langston standing in his office. "Madame Vice President. What can I do for you?"

"Oh David it's what I can do for you." she pointed to his couch, "May I?"

"Of course. I don't understand what you could do for me Madame Vice President."

Sally smoothed her skirt, "As you know, I'm running for office against the current President. He is not as progressive as I am. I am willing to give you Attorney General when I become the President."

"As tempting as that sounds, and it is tempting, how much of my soul am I going to have to sell for that?"

"Oh nonsense. I won't ask you to do anything criminal. This is all above board."

"How so? What is it that you want from me?"

Sally had a devilish gleam in her eye, "Olivia Pope and Edison Davis share a child. A child that she ripped away from that man's arms and vanished. She disappeared that child like a treacherous thief in the night."

David was baffled, "Even if that were true what am I supposed to do about it?"

"A court order for her to produce the child, for a custody hearing, should suffice."

"All due respect, what would any of this have to do with you?"

"Well Mr. Rosen, I plan to bring Senator Davis in as a potential member of my Cabinet. This is the only skeleton in his closet—and it isn't even his skeleton. This isn't blackmail Mr. Rosen. This is you doing your job as an officer of the court. I came to you first because I think that we could work really well together."

David was confused as he watched Sally leave his office. Something about this whole situation was off and he was tempted to call Abby but relented. He called his assistant Alyssa. "Hey Alyssa, you want to play detective again? I think you'll agree to this because it involves your fashion idol Olivia Pope."

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

"Hey Liv" Quinn said as she pulled Olivia aside. "I've been flirty with one of the nurses on the floor of the hospital that Verna died on."

"Okay. Did the flirting get you anything?"

Quinn bit her bottom lip. "She swore to me that the President was on Verna's floor that night and in her room for at least 20 minutes. Liv, if Verna was murdered then he was probably the last person to see her."

Olivia shook her head, "He's done a lot of shit but why would Fitz kill Verna?"

Quinn shrugged, "What would it take to make him kill someone? Who does he love that much? Maybe she had something on his kids?"

Olivia started to pace, "Verna was meeting with the AG to probably confess something. That's got nothing to do with his kids."

"Then it's you." Quinn said. "He killed Verna because of something she may be confessing about you. He wouldn't kill for his wife, so it has to be you Olivia."

"Rigging an election isn't worth murder charges."

"Come on Liv. In his mind, because it's true, he's above the law."

"That can't be the only reason. Verna had a lot of secrets and leverage over plenty of high-powered people. It has to be more to it than just killing her over the election rigging."

"How far do you want us to dig Liv?"

Olivia had fire in her eyes, "Until you can't dig anymore."

Quinn looked at her with pity, "What if the truth changes your opinion of him?"

Olivia sighed, "My opinion of him has already changed."