A/N:

The idea for this story came to me while trying to write a chapter for my other fics. So I just started typing thinking that writing something was better than nothing. This is the result. For those of you that are reading my other stories, I will be back, I promise!

Also, I realize that there are probably (okay, okay, most likely then) other stories out there with the same plot/theme. It's hard to be completely original when there are so many OLITZ stories out there. Just know that I have NOT read any fics that start out with them already married and on the brink of divorce. The last thing I would want would be to a copycat. So if you know of a similar fic, let me know ;)

Olivia Pope: It's all in the rear view for me. I need to move forward. I am moving forward.
Cyrus: Moving forward...towards what?

Scandal Season 4, episode 16

Olivia sighed in exasperation; she needed to keep moving forward.

It was 7:55 am, barely enough time for her daughter Jessica to walk to her classroom and be seated at her desk by the time the school bell rang. The school policy was that children must be seated otherwise they would be marked tardy no exceptions allowed such as: waving at the teacher 30 feet away or even stepping foot into the classroom were to be given special consideration.

Rules were rules and they had to be followed to the T.

"I can't fucking believe this!" Olivia fumed as another driver came in out of nowhere and stole her parking spot, the spot she'd been eyeing for the last 5 minutes. A second later she chastised herself for using the "F" word around Jessica. She was always yapping at Fitz whenever he slipped and used that kind of language.

"Mom! Just drop me off at the line!" her daughter urged, leaning forward in the backseat of the Lexus.

The drop off line seemed to be moving fast, kids exiting and vehicles moving forward. But Olivia didn't want to do that. She didn't want to be one of those parents that dropped off and picked up their kids at the line, those parents that had the reputation of 'not caring enough to get involved' in the school community much less their own children's education.

Olivia was the closest thing to parent of the year at Fallbrook Elementary. Among other things, she was an active member of the PTA, room mom, helicopter parent and volunteered in her daughter's classroom twice a week. Oh, yes she did all that, and to top it off, she also volunteered at the school office in her spare time. Not to mention that she was one of the main organizer of school events. Thus, all these activities meant that she seldom went home during school hours.

In other words, Olivia Grant was a pillar of the school community, she couldn't be caught dead dropping off her child like the rest of the parents whose faces were not associated with a particular child by the school staff.

Just at the last possible moment, she found a parking spot at a curb, definitely not a great spot but beggars can't be choosers. In one quick motion, she parked, turned off the engine and went to her daughter to help her with her backpack and the diorama she was carrying to class.

"Hurry up, Jess! We have three minutes to make it to class!" Olivia handled the diorama and keys with her left hand and clasped her daughter's hand with her free hand. With a quick flip, she managed to lock the car by pressing the key chain button while precariously holding on to the diorama.

"Oh, mom," Jessica whined at having to move faster than she would have liked. "I'm gonna be late no matter what…I'm never late, I'm sure Mrs. Dunn will understand this one time," she said while trying to slow down the pace.

"Oh, no, little Missy. No excuses, we're gonna make it!" Olivia exclaimed weaving in and out of the way of parents that were already walking back to their vehicles, her eyes scanning straight ahead focused on the hallway that lead to her daughter's classroom.

"I'm not feeling well, mommy…" Jessica whined managing to slow down their pace even more. "My stomach hurts!"

At this point, the classroom was in their full line of vision which meant that Mrs. Dunn could certainly see them from inside the classroom.

Olivia stopped moving and turned toward her child. "You're just nervous, that's all," Olivia tried her best to sound reassuring, even though deep down she was thinking that they didn't have time for this right now. But this would be Jessica's first time giving an oral presentation and she had to make allowances for that. "It's gonna be okay, we've practiced, you know every line by heart," she squeezed her daughter's hand hoping to give her some confidence and courage.

But Jessica was a gentle spirit, the opposite of her mother's type A personality. She gazed at her mother with sadness and apprehension, and then looked down at her shoes.

Part of Olivia wanted to shake some sense into the girl, this world did not belong to the meek who are often thought of as wimps.

Jessica's skin color turned pale and when she finally met her mother's eyes again she looked as if she was about to throw up.

The school bell rang at that precise moment.

Seeing that she would have to think of something fast she huffed, "Jess, go in the restroom, " Olivia motioned behind her. "I'll tell Mrs. Dunn you're sick."

Relieved, Jessica practically ran into the restroom.

Olivia wasted no time poking her head through the classroom door and telling Mrs. Dunn that her daughter was ill this morning and that she would come to class as soon as she felt better.

Right then, her phone rang with the tune to a rap song. Mortified, Olivia quickly reached into the low pocket of her trench coat to silence the darn thing. Then, she gave the teacher with an apologetic look and scurried out the door.

Later, as she walked back towards the restroom, she checked her phone for the missed call. It had been Fitz. Olivia swallowed hard. In a fraction of a second, she re-lived last night's miserable argument.

The words 'divorce', 'lawyer' and 'separation' had been tossed around amidst heated words that stung to the core, and yet they had both managed to hide their anguish fairly well from each other. ..

Presently, she became so distraught that when she came into the restroom looking for her daughter, she had completely forgotten her intention to scold her for messing with the ringtones on her phone.

She was still lost in her own thoughts when Jessica came out of the bathroom stall, her eyes red and puffy, her backpack still on firmly planted her back.

Olivia set down the diorama on a long table next to the sink. "Jessica? What's going on, are you sick?" Olivia held her daughter's chin and the girl reluctantly met her eyes. "Jessica?" she shook her head. It became obvious that whatever was troubling her daughter was not physical. She knew her daughter all too well, she could recognize any signs of a possible illness at the earliest stages with just her powers of observation with 100% accuracy...every single time.

Jessica knew this as well, she knew there was no way in the world she could ever fool her mom. "Ah...mom...I can't do this...please take me home!" she pleaded with a desperate look in her eyes.

"Well, honey. I can see your nervous. But you're gonna be okay, you hear?" she gave her daughter a pointed look. "Everyone gets nervous the first time they speak in front their classmates, in fact I remember when..."

"Mom, please!" Jessica wailed. "I can't...the girls, they'll make fun of me, they make fun of everything I do!"

Olivia froze, it was as if someone had splashed her face with cold water. "Girls? Which girls?" She asked between clenched teeth. Her heart pounding, she couldn't believe that anyone had dared to bully her child. How could such a thing happen under her very own nose? For heaven's sake, she practically lived at this darn school, how could she have not known?

Jessica peered at her mother, her beautiful caramel eyes looking sad and dejected. She had perfectly radiant skin, just like her mother's, except that her skin tone was light olive . By the same token, her hair, two shades lighter than her mother's cascaded along her shoulders in soft waves. In all, Jessica was like a miniature version of Olivia, although you could still see a light resemblance to Fitz especially when it came to gestures and his signature pensive look.

"Which girls, Jessica?"

Jessica swallowed hard. "Hmm...Ginger...and the others."

Olivia rolled her eyes. She still couldn't believe that her precious daughter was being bullied by someone by the name of Ginger, by someone named after an indigenous spice.

Right then, the phone rang again. It was Fitz.

This time Olivia answered the phone on the second ring. "Yes. I'm here at school. Is there something you need?" she spoke leaving long pauses in between sentences, wanting to say more but Jessica was listening. Oh, God, she only hoped that Jessica had not heard any part of their conversation last night. She gave her child a mortified look. "Of course I'm staying here most of the day. This is Tuesday, I volunteer every Tuesday, remember? And Jessica will be presenting her diorama to the class today. Yes, her diorama...we've been working on this for weeks," She rolled her eyes impatiently. Why couldn't he ever take an interest in their 9 year old daughter? Why did she always have to feel like a single parent? she wondered. Usually this line of thinking lead to all the things that reminded her of what was wrong in their marriage.

"I cleared my schedule so I can have lunch with you, " she heard him say in that deep baritone tone of his. She felt a tug in her heart. Deep down, she still loved him and try as she might she couldn't deny it. Maybe this was their chance? Maybe they didn't have to get a divorce?.

Divorce. She had been thinking about it for months, looking at the situation from every angle, thinking of ways to minimize any trauma to their child. And now that she had finally crossed that bridge, she couldn't go back to square one, could she?

She stole a look at their daughter who was watching her, listening intently. She was torn. The last thing she wanted to do was cause her baby any emotional distress.

"Liv? Are you still there?"

Olivia took a deep breath. Part of her felt flattered; in all their 10 years of marriage this was the first time that he'd made her and their marriage a top priority...at least as far as she could remember...

But then that other voice inside rose in protest. "I can't, Fitz, I can't have lunch with you today. I need to be here...Jessica is going to be presenting her diorama, remember? Yes, the thing she and I have been working on day and night for the last week and a half, " she went on, resenting the fact that Fitz had not considered any of this at all. Apparently, he either forgot all about the presentation or he had not considered it important enough to log it in his long term memory. "The diorama was based on a Nancy Drew story, we made a long staircase out of cardboard strips, we made three models, the last one was the best." she added this last part because it was important that he know how painstaking it had been building and re-building the model as many times as necessary so that the steps were perfectly balanced.

"How about later in the day? We could go out to dinner, my mom can stay with Jessie. You gotta give me a chance here..."

As usual, Fitz had failed to show an interest in anything she did involving their child, Olivia thought.

It, was over between them, this time it was for real.

She'd been on the same merry go round many times before...he would promise that he would spend more time with her and Jessie as a family and things never changed. He never had time for them. She had to show him that she was serious, something's gotta give. In fact, she'd already made an appointment with her lawyer later in the afternoon to sign the papers and file for divorce once and for all.

"Gotta go," she said, noting that her daughter was starting to look green around the gills.

"Mom..." Jessica pleaded, "Can we go home, please?" she asked right before a wave of nausea hit her hard.

"Bye, Fitz. Can't do this right now," she murmured, feeling overwhelmed and hung up the phone without waiting for an answer.

Olivia just stood there in shock as Jessica emptied the contents of her stomach in the nearest toilet. She didn't see this coming... how could she have missed the signs?

The girl rinsed her mouth and splashed cold water on her face. After a few minutes, she started looking a little better.

"You're gonna be just fine, Jessie," Olivia reassured her, peering intently into her daughter's eyes, thinking about her own situation with Fitz as well. She had to believe that in the end whatever happened would turn out for the best.

A/N:

Hmm... it sound like their marriage is in dire straights. What could have happened between Olivia and Fitz to get them to this point in their relationship? We might explore this a bit in the form of flashbacks.

Most couples even those in great relationships hit bad patches at one time or another. In this chapter we explored mostly Olivia's POV. Net time, We'll explore Fitz's POV.

This story can go many different ways. Any suggestions or ideas of where you would like this story to go are very much welcomed. In fact, this fic can be just a few chapters or possibly longer depending on the response I get.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Review and follow, if you're interested :)