"Hi," Fitz says softly.

"Hi," she responds, comforted by his greeting but still apprehensive after the way they ended things last night.

"I couldn't sleep," he admits.

"Me neither." Both are silent for a moment, waiting for the other to say something. Finally Fitz breaks the ice.

"I brought you something," he says, handing her the brown notebook he asked Marcus for last night.

"What's this?"

"During the brief period I considered running B613, I jotted down some ideas for how I thought I could do things differently. I didn't have a lot of time to flesh them out, but maybe you'll find it helpful."

"Rule of three - what's that?" she asks, totally confused about his notes and why he's giving them to her in the first place.

"I was thinking there would be less potential for abuse if kill orders required unanimous agreement from three people instead of being a unilateral decision."

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted me to shut it down. What's changed?"

"Nothing's changed. I hate the idea of B613 existing as much as I did last night, and selfishly, I hate the idea of you running it even more, even though professionally there's nobody I'd trust more to do it right. If I were still president, I'd shut the whole thing down with the stroke of a pen. But I'm not the president anymore. I don't get to make that decision."

Liv sighs. "I started typing up an executive order to shut it down last night," she admits. "I must have typed and deleted the same sentence at least 50 times. It would be so easy...I could just wait until the Defense budget gets passed and then tell Mellie she's rescinding her first order because it's no longer necessary. But it just...doesn't feel like the right decision. I know it should, but it doesn't."

"I know. It feels wrong because you'd be doing it for the wrong reasons," Fitz says to her surprise. She looks at him quizzically.

"Look, if you decide on your own that you don't want to be Command anymore, I'd be thrilled. I'd breathe an enormous sigh of relief. But I don't want you to make that decision because of me. I'm not giving you an ultimatum, not only because I think I'd lose but because that wouldn't be fair to you. You're right where you need to be, running the world, and I want that for you. And I want to be by your side and support you every step of the way like you supported me when I ran the world. But I do have a few ground rules if we're going to try to make this work."

"What are they?" Liv asks cautiously.

"One, you tell Huck that you're rescinding the order to kill you effective immediately. That one's non-negotiable."

"Done. What else?"

"Two, you keep being honest with me like you were last night. I need you to tell me the truth even when you know I'm not going to like it and trust that I'm going to love you no matter what. I'm not going to interfere or get in your way, but I am going to push you to be the best version of yourself and I'm not going to apologize for it. When I was in charge, you weren't shy about telling me if you thought I was making a mistake, and I'm not going to be shy either."

Liv smiles. "I guess that's fair."

"And for what it's worth, I think you're making a big mistake by keeping this from Mellie. I know you think you're protecting her, giving her plausible deniability, but you're not, because her signature is on the order and don't tell me you don't know how it would play out if she had to admit that she signed her first order without even knowing what it does. Meanwhile, you're jeopardizing all of the trust she has in you by continuing to keep it from her. I strongly suggest that you tell her the truth and let her decide if she wants it to keep going, because she's the president now, and this should be her call, not yours."

Liv opens her mouth to argue with him, but he stops her. "You can tell me why it's a terrible idea later. Just think about it, okay? That's all I ask."

"Fine. I'll take it under advisement," she agrees. From the way she responds, he can't tell if she's being sincere or just telling him what he wants to hear, but he knows it's not the time to push. "Anything else?"

"One more thing. After the State of the Union, you come look at this with me," he says, handing her an envelope. She looks stunned when she opens it. "What is this?" she asks. Inside are pictures of a little cottage in upper Georgetown. "I tried to find a townhouse in Georgetown like the one you told me about in your dream, but unfortunately Secret Service wasn't on board with an anything that wasn't at least semi-detached. You don't have to move in with me now but I'm not going to buy it unless you like it."

She looks at him misty-eyed as she begins to process. "You want to move back to DC?" she asks incredulously.

"I never should have left, Liv," Fitz admits. "When you asked me to stay, I should have said yes. Is that still what you want?"

She takes a moment to consider. She hadn't really expected him to let up so easily about B613 or to agree to move back to Washington, and now that the prospect of being together is real she feels the fears she's had all these years start to come back. For a brief moment she even wonders if he was right about her trying to scare him away by telling him the truth, even if subconsciously. But she looks at him again, looking at her with nothing but love, waiting patiently for her to answer, and her fears start to subside.

"That depends," she says slyly after a minute. "Is beef stew part of the deal?"

"It can be," Fitz says with a chuckle. "Come here," he says as he pulls her into an embrace. When he kisses her, it starts off slow and tender, her eyes still filled with tears, but it quickly grows more passionate. "Along with some other perks," he whispers seductively, pressing up against her and making her moan. Unfortunately, just as he slips his hand under her pajama top, they hear church bells outside her apartment, which causes her to look at the clock and realize it's already 8 am.

"I'm sorry," she says sheepishly as she pulls away. "I have to get ready for work."

"Work? It's 8 am on a Saturday."

"I know. I called a 9 am staff meeting to discuss adding the military rape initiative back into the State of the Union."

"Really?"

"You were right. There's no point in having all of this power if I'm afraid to use it for the things I care about. But there's a lot of prep work that has to be done and we only have three days to do it."

Fitz smiles, feeling very reassured by her decision and more confident that he made the right decision not to give her an ultimatum or try to force her hand.

"That's great, Liv," he says encouragingly. "I'm proud of you."

"Don't be proud of me yet. Let's see if I can actually pull this off first."

"Tell me what I can do to help," he offers, snaking his arms around her waist as she turns to start getting ready.

"Don't make me late!" she says with a giggle as he kisses her neck. "My staff is already going to hate me for making them come in so early on a Saturday. If I make them come in early and I'm not even there..."

"I get it, I get it," he says begrudgingly. As disappointed as he is that she has to go he's really happy to see her fight for something she believes in.

"Fitz, what are you doing?" she asks with a giggle as he resumes unbuttoning her pajamas.

"I'm helping you get ready. Unless you're planning on wearing your pajamas to the White House, I assume these need to come off, right?"

"Seriously?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll behave myself. Scout's honor. I'll help you get ready faster."

"Fine. But I am not responsible if you get yourself worked up and I don't have time to do anything about it."

45 MINUTES LATER

"Oh, that is just not fair," Fitz whines as he sees the lingerie set Liv is wearing. She shrugs as she pulls a camisole over her red lace bra, trying to act oblivious to the fact that he's sitting on her bed wearing nothing but a towel as he watches her get ready.

"I warned you, mister..." Liv says mischievously. "Plus, consider it payback."

"Payback? For what?"

"Being a tease in the shower."

"Oh, I'm the tease? I just did what you asked...refused to slow you down. You should have listened to your own advice - don't get worked up when we don't have time to do anything about it," he whispers seductively as he creeps up behind her and kisses her neck.

"Ugh...you're impossible!" she whines, wiggling herself out of his embrace to continue getting ready before she loses control and can't. Fitz grins triumphantly. He can tell she's not any happier about having to wait to reunite properly than he is. "Get dressed!" she orders.

A few minutes later, Fitz has her pressed up against the wall in her doorway making out for one last minute before they have to say goodbye. After a minute, he reluctantly steps back to let her go.

"Go, you're going to be late," he urges when she doesn't move.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she says reluctantly. She kisses him goodbye and heads toward the elevator but doesn't push the button, still reluctant to go. Suddenly he realizes that her hesitance to go is not just about him getting her hot and bothered. It's about fear. Whether it's fear about him changing his mind or fear that she won't be able to pull off her mission, he's not sure, but either way, he can tell she needs a little encouragement. So he walks over to her, pushes the elevator button, and then lifts her chin so she has to look at him.

"Go. I'm not going anywhere," he promises, kissing the top of her head. "Go be the woman I voted for."

At this last line she smiles, remembering when she said the same thing to him all those years ago. It's all the encouragement she needs, and she gives him a quick kiss and gets in the elevator. The both stand there smiling as the doors close. They haven't resolved everything, but in this moment they both know that they're going to be okay.

I've been wanting to write "go be the woman I voted for" in one of my stories since I had the idea three years ago, and I was really hoping he would actually say it to her at some point in season 7. I was hoping season 7 would be a bit of a role reversal, with Liv in the White House and Fitz on the outside, and they did a bit of that in 7x04, but I would have liked to see a lot more of it. I resumed this story so I could tell it the way I wanted season 7 to go, because I was happy with how it turned out in the end but thought they missed a lot of opportunities along the way.

If this were the real show, this would be the end of the first episode. I have more ideas for this story, but I'm not sure yet if I am going to do my 702 as part of this or a new story. I really appreciate all of the support and feedback I have received. Please keep it coming and feel free to be brutally honest.