When Fitz arrived in the bedroom, the adjoining bathroom door was closed and he could hear the bath water running. Assuming his invitation to join her was officially rescinded, he grabbed his cellphone from the nightstand and headed for the study to make a few calls.

He placed his first phone call to Grace, hoping she would be unavailable and he could leave a message. He was already dealing with an angry and pouting Olivia, he didn't have the bandwidth to entertain a suddenly needy Grace as well. At the same time, he knew if he kept ignoring Grace's calls she would keep calling and that would only upset Olivia further. He smiled in victory as Grace's phone continued to ring without response. He was mentally running through the message he was planning to leave when Grace answered.

"Please tell me it's not true!" Grace exclaimed angrily.

"Hunh?" he responded. Initially confused by her greeting, Fitz suddenly began to panic that Grace had learned that he was spending the weekend with Olivia. Oh well, he shrugged, he had to break-up with her eventually, now was as good a time as any. "What are you talking about? What don't you want to be true?"

"Don't play coy with me, Fitzgerald," she scolded

Fitz scowled at the use of his full first name. Only two women in his life, his mother and Liv, were allowed to use that name in that manner and he wasn't interested in adding a third. "Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about. If you explain, I'll try to address your concern."

"The DC elite are all atwitter because word has leaked that you are vetting Olivia Pope to be your next Chief of Staff. Please tell me you are not seriously considering hiring your mistress."

"She's not my mistress," he growled in warning.

"Semantics," she dismissed. "You can't really be planning to hire the woman you've publicly admitted to fucking for years to work for you in the White House."

"Work with me," he corrected softly.

"What?"

"Work with me, my Chief of Staff works with me, not for me."

"You are vetting her," she huffed.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't deny it either."

"I can't discuss this with you," he responded, the frustration evident in his tone.

"Don't give me that bullshit," she countered, ignoring his verbal cues. "I'm not asking you to disclose national secrets. I just want to know if you are vetting Olivia Pope, a woman with whom you have a history of cheating, for a position in your administration. As your girlfriend, I think I'm entitled to a response."

"Is this why you called me four times?" Fitz deflected, wanting to change the subject before he unloaded on Grace. The last thing he and Olivia needed was tabloid attention and he wasn't sure he could trust a wounded and jealous Grace not to make her feelings public.

"So you are receiving my calls, just not returning them?"

"Yes," he sighed in exasperation. "I received your calls, but I've been sequestered away dealing with something important for the last 48 hours."

"I'm sorry," she responded meekly. "I hate being this person, but the thought of you working with her makes me crazy. Are you planning to hire her?"

"I told you I can't talk about that."

"Fitz…" she whined softly.

"Grace, listen, I can tell you that I have a Chief of Staff, Cyrus. He has not informed me that he is resigning and I have no plans to fire him. If this changes in the future, I will need a new Chief of Staff. Olivia would be an excellent candidate, but obviously there's baggage there. I promise you that if Olivia is ever the selected candidate for any position in the White House, you will hear it from me, and not from the rumor mill. This is the best I can do. I'm sorry, but you knew going into this relationship that there would be things we couldn't talk about."

"I never expected Olivia Pope to be one of those things," she replied, defeated. "Will I see you soon?"

Eager to reassure her, he replied, "This thing isn't over and it will probably take a couple of days to resolve. I'll ask Charlotte to find time for us at the end of the week. I'll call you when I can."

"OK. I can't wait to see you. I miss you."

"I miss you too," Fitz lied before abruptly ending the call.

Frustrated, he hurled his phone across the room. Abby only had one fucking job to do, quietly vet Olivia to join him in the West Wing, why couldn't she get that right? How the hell did news of Olivia's vetting get leaked? Now that Cyrus was leaving, Abby was the most trusted member of his team. He was planning to offer her the Chief of Staff position before he changed his mind and spontaneously offered it to Olivia. Did Abby assume she would be Cyrus's heir apparent? Was she intentionally sabotaging Olivia in hopes that she would get the job? That couldn't be, could it? Olivia was supposed to be her friend and Abby was loyal, right? Had he trusted the wrong person?

Finally, it dawned on him, he hadn't alerted Olivia about the vetting. The timing of this leak couldn't be worse. She was angrily locked in the bathroom now because he asked Charlotte to clear her schedule. How was he going to explain that, once again, he'd acted on her behalf without consulting her? Would she completely shut down and erase the progress they made this morning? Their last attempt to be together was thwarted by an early leak. Was history repeating itself? Would this leak make it impossible for Olivia to return to the White House and to him?

There was only one thing for Fitz to do. He had to tell Olivia everything, now, before she heard from someone else. She planned this weekend so that she could stand in her truth and ask for forgiveness and understanding. It was time for him to do the same.

When Fitz returned to the bedroom, the en-suite door was still closed. He leaned against the door listening for any signs of movement before knocking tentatively. "Fitz, is that you?" Olivia called out.

"Yes," he replied, opening the door and entering the bathroom. He found Oliva, her bath ended, wrapped in a fluffy towel, adjusting the water temperature for her shower.

"I thought you were joining me for a bath?"

"The door was closed. I wasn't sure I was still welcome," he admitted bashfully. Without warning, Olivia dropped her towel and stepped into the shower. Fitz swallowed hard, willing himself to stay strong, continue the conversation, and not give into his desire to take her roughly against the shower wall.

Unaware of the effect she was having on Fitz, she continued, "We're not fighting and I'm not mad. I'm mostly annoyed. I understand that you were trying to be thoughtful and take care of things, but it didn't feel like that. It felt like you were discounting my job and life, assuming that because you could make yourself available, I could as well. My needs can't always come second to yours and you have to talk to me before making plans for both of us."

The sight of Olivia naked, lathering up in the shower, was starting to have an unwelcome physical effect on him. He needed to focus. Now was not the time to be distracted by sex. He needed to tell her about the vetting and the leak before they fell back into bed. Ignoring the stirring in his loins, he turned his back to her and prepared to shave. "Well…can you?" he asked, sheepishly.

"Can I what?"

"Can you stay or do you need to leave?"

"I can stay tonight, but I need to leave tomorrow night. I have a meeting with Mellie and her publisher Tuesday morning and I don't want to reschedule."

"Why do you have to leave tomorrow night if the meeting isn't until Tuesday morning?"

"I'm not as young as I used to be. I can't stay up all night with you and then get up early Tuesday morning to avoid the traffic when we return to the city."

"I hate I missed your early 20's. I bet you were wild," he said, winking at her in the mirror. "I saw your garment bag in the guest room. Is that outfit appropriate for your meeting on Tuesday?"

"Were you listening or did you get distracted by thoughts of the dirty things you would do to 20-year-old me? This has nothing to do with clothes. I don't want to be stuck in DC traffic Tuesday morning and risk being late for my meeting."

He grinned broadly. "I think you forget who you are traveling with. We can return with lights and sirens and guarantee you won't miss your meeting."

"Arrogant much? In order to return with lights and sirens, you would need the full presidential motorcade and you would have to make it public that you spent the last few days at Camp David. Plus, how do you expect me to get out of the car if you've alerted the press to your absence and return?"

"You wound me, woman. New plan, we stay Monday night, I promise not to keep you up too late, and take Marine One to Andrews Tuesday morning. I will have someone from my staff drop off your car and we both can leave discretely and separately from Andrews. You are on time for your meeting and I slip back into the White House unseen. No one will know that I was missing or that we spent this time together at Camp David. Does that work?" he asked, flashing her his lopsided smile.

"Who could say no to that face? I'll stay Monday night and we can fly into the Base on Tuesday."

Pleased with the compromise, he beamed at her reflection in the mirror. That's when he noticed her bottom lips was protruding slightly. "Why are you pouting? Do you want to leave tonight?"

"No, I told you I would stay. It's not that."

"What is it then?"

"You're shaving," she whined.

"What?"

"You're shaving. I find scruffy Fitz to be incredibly sexy," she flirted.

Fitz felt his dick twitch. Damn this woman, first she's naked and wet and now she wants to flirt. She knew how his body responded to her body. Why did she insist on torturing him?"

He broke eye contact with her. Focus, Fitz, focus. You have to tell her now or risk her finding out from someone else. "You should have said something before I started. I promise you scruffy Fitz all day long tomorrow."

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're all serious and won't make eye contact with me. What have you done?"

Fitz raised his hands in surrender, slowly turning toward Olivia. "Hear me out before you get angry."

"What have you done that might make me angry?" she asked suspiciously.

"What had happened was...," he said with a wide grin.

"Don't be cute. Just tell me what you did."

"Before we left for the weekend, before we talked about me acting independently, I asked Abby to put together a small group to start vetting you for the Chief of Staff position."

"You what?" she asked angrily. "How could you? This is exactly what I'm talking about."

"I know and I won't do it again, but I asked Abby to start the vetting before I knew the real purpose of this weekend. I thought we were escaping to have a romantic weekend before our relationship shifted from the personal to the professional."

"Fitz…," she replied exasperated. "I haven't even accepted the position. You should have warned me. I need to call Huck," she spat, moving quickly to wrap up her shower to make the call.

Fitz again raised his hands, this time to halt her activities. Proceeding cautiously, he added, "Don't worry Abby talked to Huck. Everything is clean. You'll pass the vetting without problem."

"So...let me see if I understand correctly, you're talking to Abby and Abby's talking to Huck, but no one is talking to me. Did any of you stop to consider if I even want the job? Or did you just decide that you wanted me to have the job and everyone took action to give you what you wanted? This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. I can't be expected to fall in line because you ask me to. I have a life and not all of it is about you," she explained in a huff.

"I understand and I'm sorry. I started everything in motion before we left, before we talked. I was just trying to help, trying to make it easier for you..."

"Don't do that," she interrupted. "Don't betray me and then act like it's a fucking gift. You were only thinking about yourself, about what you wanted. You should have talked to me. You should have asked me if I was ready to move forward. I should have been the one to talk to my people, not Abby," she said, angrily grabbing her shampoo.

"Can I do that?"

"What?" she asked, snapping her head in his direction.

"Can I wash your hair?"

"You want to wash my hair?"

"Yes, if you will let me."

Olivia released a deep exhale, trying to move past her anger. "I guess you can," she replied, laughing at how eagerly Fitz moved to strip off his pajamas. "But I'm still mad at you."

Fitz joined her in the shower, grimacing as the scalding water assaulted his skin. "I really am sorry," he responded, pausing to kiss her on the forehead before standing fully under the spray.

"I know you are, but I need more than your apologies. I need you to stop acting for me," she explained turning away from him.

He took a few steps backward and pulled her towards him and into the spray, careful to allow some space between their bodies. He fought against the urge connect with her, to finish what they had started earlier, but he knew that would only delay the inevitable. His conversation with Grace had the potential to disrupt Oliva's transition to the West Wing before she even accepted the job. When her hair was soaked, he moved them forward, reaching around her for the bottle. He poured a dollop of her shampoo in his palm and gently started working the shampoo into her hair and massaging her scalp. Olivia released a soft moan of appreciation.

"Livvie..."

"Yes," she replied softly, leaning fully against him, trusting him to support her weight.

"There's something else I need to tell you."

Her body tensed against him. "What?"

"There's already been a leak about your vetting."

"What?" she asked flipping around to face him quickly.

He slowly spun her away from him and pulled her flush against him, continuing to lavish attention on her hair. "Relax, Livvie, I know you want in. When we finish here, I'll read you in completely and then we'll call Abby together to discuss how you want to proceed." Before she could respond, he pulled her fully under the spray to both rinse her hair and silence her.

Olivia stood in the front of the mirror looking at her hair. "Don't straighten it, please," he requested quietly.

"I thought you liked it straight."

"I did, I do, but I thought this weekend was about meeting the real you. Do you really straighten your hair on Sunday?"

"I do. I never know when I'll be called into the office and it takes too long to style to wait until I get called to do so."

Determined to be right, he cheekily asked, "Even on vacation?"

Olivia smiled sadly, her mind involuntarily recalling the time she spent on the island with Jake. "No, I don't straighten it on vacation."

Oblivious to her changed demeanor and pleased with his victory, he said, "Then it's settled, you'll leave it curly."

Suddenly needing space from him, she asked, "Will you go to the guest room and select something for me to wear?"

"You want me to dress you? Is this some kind of test?"

She playfully shot a hair tie in his direction. "You've seen me dressed casually plenty of times. Just grab my favorite things and bring them to me, please."

"For you, anything," he replied, placing a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose before exiting the bedroom in search an outfit.

When Fitz returned to the bedroom, Olivia was seated on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a fluffy robe. "We need to talk," Olivia said patting the bed beside her in invitation for him to be seated.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I get it now, no more making decisions about you without you."

"It's not that it's…"

"Trust me, Liv," he interrupted. "This leak is just a minor setback. We don't know yet how people are responding to the news. Everyone in DC owes you a favor. I can't imagine this will be a problem."

Olivia smiled weakly. "I'm not worried about the leak. Abby can handle that. We need to talk about the time we spent apart when I left for the island."

"About what?" Fitz's face twisted into a painful grimace as the realization of what she was asking washed over him. "Where is this coming from?"

"You brought it up." Fitz's expression turned to one of confusion, he knew that nothing he said in the last hour prompted her to bring up that painful part of their past. He remained silent, inviting her to continue uninterrupted. "You asked if I straightened my hair on vacation. The last 'vacation' I took was when I went to island, when I left you."

"I don't understand what your time on orgasm island has to do with me. You left me to run away with him, remember?" he questioned angrily.

"I remember," she responded sadly. "I didn't run away with him, I was running away from you and he was a convenient companion."

Realizing that Olivia has once again dropped her defenses, he seized the moment. "Why did you leave?"

"I didn't have a choice. I was afraid of what they would do to you if I stayed."

"They? I'm the most protected man in the world. Who were you afraid of?"

"My parents, they were determined to keep us apart by any means necessary. First, my mother tried to alter the make-up of our government with an explosion that would have killed you, Sally, and numerous other legislatures and justices. If she had been successful, it would have taken more than a decade for our country to recover from the devastation. Then, she gets close enough to you, to your family, to kill your son. It could have just as easily been you."

"That wasn't your mother."

"Different parent, but the same goal, to alter the course of our government and drive a wedge between us that our love couldn't overcome."

"They were wrong, our love never wavered."

"But my faith did." She reached over and grasped Fitz's chin, gently applying pressure to turn his head so that he was facing her. She confidently held his intent gaze and said, "I'm sorry."

Fitz gasped in surprise. Olivia had never, not once, apologized for anything she had done, not for Defiance, not for keeping the abortion secret, not for anything and the magnitude of this moment wasn't lost on Fitz. He smiled softly at her before responding, "I forgive you. I forgive you for everything, for leaving, for Defiance, for not telling me about the abortion…"

Olivia's body tensed, "Only for not telling you about the abortion?"

"That's the only thing you need forgiveness for. You made a decision that was yours to make. If allowed, my only role would have been to support you during the decision-making process and afterward."

"There's something else we need to talk about."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"We need to talk about what Tom said when I visited him in prison, about what happened with you while I was away."

Fitz leapt from the bed, eager to put as much distance between them as possible. "We can talk about anything but that." Simply put, he didn't talk about the suicide attempt and he wasn't about to change that just because she was feeling guilty about leaving him. Desperately trying to push away the painful memories she was trying to dredge up, he continued, "It wasn't a good time for me. Tom already told you more than you should know. I don't talk about what happened" he responded coolly.

"Not even with me? Not after everything we've been through?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Especially not with you. I've done the work I needed to do. I don't need or want to rehash all of this with you."

"I can't believe you're shutting me out."

"I'm not shutting you out. I'll talk about anything you want, my life is an open book, except for this. That's not the person I am now and that night didn't involve you." Olivia's head snapped up, her eyes locked onto his, and a small gasp of surprise escaped her lips, causing her to flush with embarrassment.

"Ahhh…I see, you thought it was about you. Is that what Tom told you? Let me guess, you thought Jerry died…" Fitz took a long pause, collecting himself emotionally before continuing. "You assumed Jerry died, you left, and I lost my reason to live? Of course you did. This isn't about me at all, it's about assuaging your guilt for leaving. I can help you there." He looked deeply into her sad brown eyes, holding her gaze for a full 10 seconds before speaking. "You are not responsible for what I did that night. You leaving with Jake didn't push me over the edge. I didn't even know you were with Jake until you returned. And, I always knew that you would return, maybe not to me, but I knew you weren't done being Olivia Pope."

"Fitz…"she replied, her tone more pleading than she intended.

"What Olivia? What do you want from me?" Olivia stared at him blankly, her reply stuck in her throat. "Ahhh…yes…how could I forget. You can't answer that question, can you? Not if you can't answer with sex."

"You don't have to be cruel," she fired back.

He laughed bitterly. "I'm not being cruel. I'm just not giving you what you want. I can't give you want you want. You're asking for too much."

Olivia sighed deeply. "You don't trust me."

"Of course I do. I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't."

"Oh…you trust me with your secrets. You let me be your sin-eater, chasing away the darkness you fear resides within you. You spend your anger, frustration, and guilt inside me. Eagerly allowing me to drown those in my body, leaving you euphoric and unburdened. But, your fears, insecurities, and doubts," she pausing, inhaling deeply. "You don't trust me with those. You used to let me see you, but not anymore, not since the night your son died."

"My son was killed," he retorted.

"By your girlfriend's mother, or so you thought. The same girlfriend, the one person you counted on to be there for you, that left you," she pushed. "What else happened? What pushed you to that point?"

Finally, she'd pushed the right buttons and all of the emotion from that night came rushing to the surface. The pressure was too much to be contained and she had skillfully placed herself between him and the door. Overwrought with emotion, Fitz sobbed, "You already know. Why can't you let this go?"

"I need to hear it from you. Please, Fitz," she begged, taking a step toward him.

There was no escaping her and only one way to finally be free, to once again give into her. "I was a complete fraud, every aspect of my life was a carefully crafted and well-orchestrated lie to achieve one goal, a Grant in the White House. It wasn't even my goal. I never wanted to be president, that was my father's dream, but his serial adultery made him unelectable. So, instead, he and Cyrus decided to right my father's wrongs with me. It started off with small subtle things, pressure to go to Yale undergrad, when I would have rather been closer to home, and the Rhodes Scholarship application handed to me by my mentor."

"You joined the Navy after that. That could haven't been part of their plan."

"No, that was the first honest thing in my adult life, something that I did just for me. But, your father ruined that for me with Operation Remington. I thought I was a sailor following orders, but instead I was just a pawn in his plan to leverage the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure the B-613 coffers were always full. My father was pissed that your father threatened to tarnish his golden boy's reputation, but didn't hesitate to use the fact that he saved me from scandal and potential time in the Brig to force me into attending Harvard Law and marrying the beautiful and charming, yet vapid, Melody Carmichael."

While the topic of Fitz's relationship with Mellie wasn't taboo, Olivia was shocked that he was including their marriage in this discussion. Olivia knew their marriage was dead long before she came into the picture, but she always assumed that there were happier times in the early days of their courtship and was surprised that he was now labeling their entire relationship as a fraud. "Were you ever happy and in love with Mellie?"

Fitz searched Olivia's eyes to determine if she really wanted an answer to that question. Understanding what he was looking for, she smiled sadly and nodded her head for him to continue. "We were never in love, but we were happy. We both understood and accepted the expectations placed upon us by our fathers and were grateful to have each other as companions. For a long time, she was my ally and partner as I tried to navigate the path my father laid before me. You wouldn't know it today, but back then she was my wife, best friend, cheerleader, and therapist. The marriage may have been arranged, but we were determined to create the loving and supportive family that neither one of us had growing up. Jerry was conceived out of that love." Fitz smiled weakly, "Being Jerry's father was the second honest decision I made for me."

Olivia sniffled, fighting back tears, "My father took him from you too."

Not wanting Olivia to get lost in her guilt, Fitz quickly replied, "Yes, but my relationship with Jerry was altered long before that. After Jerry was conceived, something in Mellie changed. I now understand what happened and I hate my father for forcing himself on my wife and ruining my family before it even started, but, I'm not completely blameless. I noticed the changes in Mellie, but kept pretending that we were fine, the All-American family. When Mellie suggested we send Jerry to boarding school when he turned seven, I thought it was absurd, a child that age needed his parents, but when she pushed, citing the growing demands on her time as First Lady of California and my evolving political career, I acquiesced. I loved my son, I love all my children, but I'm a fraud as a husband and father."

"That's not the whole truth. You're not looking at the full picture."

"That's the point. I wasn't in a place where I could see the full picture. The pain and grief of losing Jerry amplified my failures and losses and blinded me to my successes and the good in my life. Which, brings me to the third and final honest decision I made just for me, loving you. For most of my life, I was told that a love like ours wasn't real. That it was the stuff of fairytales and romance novels. Then New Hampshire happened and you blew into my life like a tornado, spewing truths and alarming the staff." Olivia chuckled softly, recalling the shocked look on everyone's face when she spoke up from the back of the room. "I knew immediately that my life would never be the same and that I would never want it to be. After a few weeks on the trail, it became obvious to me that I was falling in love with you and there was nothing I could do to stop it. What I never thought would happen is that you would fall in love with me too. Think about it, I was this old, married, white, father of two running for president. But, somehow, you saw past all of that…"

"Because you let me see you. The real you, which is far more than the man you just described. Fitz, you are honest, smart, charming, funny, kind, and sincere, not to mention gorgeous and rich," she teased, tears filing her eyes. "You may not be perfect, none of us are, but you were perfect for me. Loving you wasn't a choice I made; I was just as powerless to stop that as you were."

Fitz looked at her with tears glistening in his eyes. "Those were things I could only believe when you said them. You were, and you still are, the truth and light in my life. When you left, you took the light and the truth with you. I was surrounded by examples of my lies and failures and, without you, all that was left was the darkness and doubt. Who would want to live like that? I didn't," he whispered softly. Olivia was shocked by his sudden admission and yearned to comfort him, but remaining rooted in place, fearful any movement would distract him. Instead, she pleaded with her eyes for him to continue.

Fitz paused to gather himself before continuing, "After being angry with my mother for nearly 30 years I finally understood her decision, understood the darkness that takes over a person when her light leaves. I was my mother's light, but I was so eager to escape my father's darkness and abuse that I didn't stop to consider that would happen to her. I left her there, all alone with him, and it killed her."

"I thought your mother accidentally drowned," Olivia said, more a question than a statement.

"That's the official version."

"She had a dangerous combination of alcohol and painkillers in her system, but her death was accidental."

"That's the unofficial version."

"What else is there?"

"The truth. My mother killed herself. Her death was a suicide, not an accident."

"Having drugs and alcohol in her system doesn't prove her death wasn't an accident."

"No, but a suicide note does."

"A suicide note? You found a note? Cyrus never mentioned anything about a note."

"That's because he doesn't know. I was stationed overseas at the time. My mother sent the letter to me at the Base. I didn't receive it until after the funeral and I never told anyone about the letter."

"Oh…Fitz," Olivia replied, her eyes filled with tears. Her heart broke for the young man that lost his mother in such a tragic way and for the man she knew that found himself in a similar situation 30 years later. Fitz rarely talked about his mother, but Olivia knew she was the supportive parent, the one that showered him with unconditional love. While his father certainly deserved credit for creating Fitz the president, it was his mother that was responsible for shaping Fitz the man, the man with whom she was irrevocably in love. Having also lost her mother at an early age, she always wondered why he felt abandoned by his mother's death, now she understood. "All these years you've carried that burden by yourself. Why didn't you tell someone?"

"Who was I supposed to tell, my father? If she wanted him to know, she would have left him a letter. Who else should I have told? Mellie, my loving and supportive wife? Cyrus? You? It wasn't my secret to tell, just like it wasn't Tom's place to tell you about that night." Fitz had never been this open, this raw and exposed, in front of anyone. In his youth, his father frequently berated him for his sensitivity but, as he matured, he learned to wear that label proudly. He understood that being comfortable with his masculinity involved being comfortable with his emotions and sensitive to the feelings of those who surrounded him.

"Fitz, look at me," Olivia implored. Fitz's eyes remained downcast as he refused to make eye contact with her. He couldn't look at her, couldn't bear to see the look mostly certainly on her face now. He didn't want her pity and couldn't handle her guilt. He never wanted to have this conversation with her, never wanted her to see him like this.

Olivia waited patiently while Fitz battled with himself. Gone was the confident and sexy president, the broken young man that was never allowed to heal, never allowed to develop fully into the man he had the potential to be, replaced him. "I'm sorry," she stated, hoping that the love and remorse behind that sentiment could penetrate through the defenses he was quickly rebuilding.

"Don't be," he replied, turning his back to her and walking away. "I told you, that night wasn't about you. That night was all on me, I and I alone am responsible for what happened. It was about me seeing myself, my real self, not the man that my father, Cyrus, Mellie, and you created. It was a terrible, awful night and I made an incredibly selfish decision, but, thanks to Tom, I survived and I'm stronger for it."

"How did you get enough privacy to try? Where was everyone that surrounds you all the time? Where was Tom?"

"I was in the only private space I've found in the past seven years. Only one person would dare interrupt me there and she was out of the country, so I knew it was safe."

A look of shock and then horror flashed across Olivia's face as she realized where he was. "You…you...," she stuttered, "you were in my condo?"

Fitz turned around slowly. "I'm sorry. I realize that was a complete invasion of your space. I never intended for you to know. I just needed to be close to you and I thought being surrounded by your things would bring back the light. But it didn't, and when it didn't, I started to suffocate, to drown in my own despair. In that incredible moment of weakness, I could only see one path out of the pain and I took it."

Olivia's tears began to fall freely as the reality of how close she came to losing him washed over her. Fitz slowly walked over the bed and sat at the edge. "Come here," he beckoned, patting the bed beside him and extending his arm to embrace her. Without hesitation, Olivia tucked her small body into his. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible. "You don't have to worry. I saw someone, a therapist, she…"

"She?"

Fitz playfully tapped Olivia on her nose. "Are you jealous?"

"Should I be?"

"You wouldn't be if you knew what she looked like. I used to have this fantasy…" Fitz shook his head rapidly trying to clear his mind of that image, making Olivia laugh. "Fantasy is the wrong word, hope is better. I used to have this hope that the two of you would meet. That maybe we could see her together."

"Fitz…"

"I know…you're not interested in talking with someone."

Olivia paused for a moment, considering what Fitz was suggesting. "Did it help?"

"Did what help?"

"Talking with someone."

"I think it did. Virginia helped me work through some things, which allowed me to find other things that I needed to work on. Together we did the work and that work allowed me to be here, in this moment, with you."

"Do you still see her?"

"Sometimes, not as often as before. Now, I just call her when there's something I need to talk about, when I need help working through something."

"When's the last time you saw her?"

"After our dinner, after I asked you to be my Chief of Staff."

"You talked about me?"

"Yes. Does that make you uncomfortable?"

"No, I'm more curious than uncomfortable."

"You could join me next time. Check her out. Maybe we could talk about what happened here this weekend. No pressure of course, I understand you have your own way of working through things." Fitz released a loud yawn.

"Are you tired? It's only two o'clock," she asked.

Fitz noticed that Olivia had deftly changed the subject. He knew bringing up therapy would be risky, but it was a chance he needed to take. If he and Olivia were going make it as a couple they had to find a way to do things differently, to find a way to heal their past individual and shared wounds and move forward together. Working with Virginia was one way to do that, but he was wise enough to know that this was a decision Olivia would have to make for herself.

"A little. I didn't sleep well last night, couldn't stop my mind from spinning, and now I'm a bit wrung out from this conversation."

Olivia unwrapped herself from Fitz's side and crawled to the head of the bed, propping herself up on the pillows. "Come here," she said, opening her arms for Fitz to join her. Fitz crawled to the top of the bed, laying his head on her chest and draping his arms and leg across her body. "Close your eyes," she whispered, running her fingers through his hair, lightly scratching his scalp. When she felt Fitz relax in her arms and she began to hum lightly, absentmindedly reflecting on the end of their conversation. It wasn't long before they were both sound asleep, finding a temporary respite from the emotional upheaval of the weekend.

A/N: I'm baaaaaack. Are any of you still interested in this story? Sorry it took me so long to update this story. This was such a heavy chapter and I struggled with where I wanted it to go and I couldn't find the path forward. Then, as some of you know, I got distracted by my new story Weekend Fiancée. I'm glad I came back to this story. I'm not finished with this version of Fitz and Olivia yet. I believe they can be a happy and healthy couple and I look forward to going on this journey with them. As I always, I welcome your feedback on what you liked and what you didn't like.