A/N: So, this fic has been floating around in my head since the finale. Every time I try to write anything else, I have writers' block, so this is my attempt to get it out of my system. As of right now, this is just a one shot but that could change! This is my first Scandal fic so I tried my best to get their voices down right. It's not perfect, but I hope you like it!

Bring me to your house
And tell me 'sorry for the mess'
Hey, I don't mind
You're talking in your sleep, all the time
Well, you still make sense to me
Your mess is mine

- Vance Joy, "Mess Is Mine"

Fitz blinks several times- his eyes bleary with sleep- trying to focus on the numbers of the clock: 4:13. As he wakes up more fully, everything from last night comes rushing back. Kicking out Mellie, firing Cyrus, Olivia coming to him at the White House. Olivia.

He glances next to him and it only takes a couple seconds to figure out why he woke up in the first place. Liv is curled up in the fetal position, a frown on her face, and whimpering softly every so often. Instantly, he moves into action wanting to soothe her.

He runs a hand down her arm gently, which only tenses her body more. He tries to calm down, tries not to blame himself for what's happening to her right now.

"Liv, hey," he speaks loudly, hoping to break her out of whatever hell her subconscious has sent her to. "Livvie, wake up." He says a little louder this time, shaking her gently.

She bolts up with a start, breathing heavily.

"Hey, you're okay. I'm here. It was just a dream." Fitz runs his hand up and down her back as Liv's breathing slows and she leans into him. He sits back, letting the headboard prop him up and dragging Olivia with him so she's resting against his chest.

Olivia presses her nose against Fitz's chest and takes a deep breath, a sense of calm falling over her body. She snuggles closer to him. She knows they need to talk, to air all of their dirty laundry. She needs to talk to him about her kidnapping and her anger and what made her show up at the White House last night. And she wants Fitz to tell her about Mellie and Cyrus, why exactly he finally decided he had enough with the two of them.

It's up to her to start the conversation, she realizes after they lay in silence for a few moments. She assumes that Fitz doesn't want to push her, probably out of fear that she would run or shut down completely, and she can't say she blames him. Liv sighs quietly and tightens her hold around his waist. Feeling completely safe and secure, despite the nightmare she just had.

"I missed you." She admits, face still pressed into his chest, not looking up at him.

"I missed you too." She can feel Fitz looking down at her, so she glances up at him. He gives her a small smile, brushing some loose hair out her face. She sits up separating herself from Fitz but keeps eye contact, so he knows that she's not running again. She's in this for real this time.

"So, we need to talk."

Fitz chuckles at her choice of words and shakes his head.

"Breaking up with me already?" He jokes. Liv rolls her eyes, but there's a small smirk on her face, which allows him to breathe a sigh of relief. She looks away and starts to nervously fidget with the corner of the comforter on his bed. Fitz knows it's never easy for her to talk about anything, much less the heavy stuff they're about to get into, so he's going to make this as easy for her as possible. He sits up and reaches forward giving Liv's hand a brief squeeze.

"Okay, let's talk." He agrees, anxious to hash out their relationship and what exactly the events of the past few days mean for them. He watches as Liv gets her thoughts together, chewing on her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry," she finally says quietly, so quiet that Fitz almost misses it.

"You're sorry?" He asks confused, he hadn't been expecting that.

"For the past couple of months…pushing you away." He shakes his head and then watches Liv, waiting for her to make eye contact with him.

"Look at me," he requests gently and when she does he begins to speak. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You went through something traumatic-" he pauses for a second and closes his eyes. "Something that happened because of me and I can't fault you for how you chose to deal with it."

"It was not your-" She immediately protests, but he cuts her off.

"It was!" He exclaims, all the guilt he's been burying since her kidnapping suddenly rising to the surface. "I should have done something more to protect you." He lets out a humorless chuckle. "I should have listened to you when you told me Andrew was wrong."

"Fitz, you couldn't have known." She touches his thigh gently, but he ignores it and gets out of the bed. He paces back and forth, running a hand through his hair.

"But I should have known, Liv! I am the President and you are one of the most important people in my life…enough people know that. You had a target on your back and I didn't even think about it." He's such an idiot. Why wouldn't he put more protection on her than Jake? She should have agents with her, or at the very least more security on her building.

"Okay, how would you have stopped it?" He's broken from his thoughts by Liv's question and he stops moving. He glances over at her.

"What?"

"Let's say you can go back in time, what would you have done to prevent the kidnapping?" She crosses her arms and stares at him. He's not quite sure what she's getting at, but she's clearly determined to get her point across. He shrugs.

"I don't know…put extra security on your building, given you a detail, cameras." He mentions, running through options in his head.

"We both know I wouldn't have agreed to any of those things." Fitz huffs and sits back down on the bed. He knows she's right, but that won't stop the guilt. It was his job to keep her safe and he failed.

"I should've-" He sighs. "I should've divorced Mellie as soon as I met you. I could've protected you."

Olivia can already tell that this is a conversation to be saved for another day. She runs her hand down Fitz's leg one last time and then sits back again. She thinks about what he said, I should've divorced Mellie as soon as I met you.

Her mind instantly goes back to that night in the campaign bus…what kind of a coward was I to marry her and not wait for you to show up? She remembers the flush she felt when he said that, how her heartbeat picked up at his confession, the warmth that settled in her chest.

She shakes the past out of her mind and focuses on the present.

"If it would've been as easy as divorcing Mellie, then I would agree. But, Fitz, it's not that simple." He scoffs.

"But it can be, I already kicked her out." He reminds her and she tenses slightly, thinking of the implications of it all.

"You're the President, you can't kick the First Lady out without repercussions." Olivia sighs trying to figure out how to deal with Mellie. "And we haven't even talked about Cyrus, who will definitely be back." Fitz shakes his head.

"I don't care about Mellie, and I definitely don't care about Cyrus." He reaches out for Liv's hand, interlocking their fingers. "I want to talk about us." She gives him a small smile, but before talk about 'them' can go any further she needs to know something else.

"Are you going to tell me why you kicked Mellie out?" Fitz raises an eyebrow at her, clearly not interested in this topic of conversation.

"You know why." He says offhandedly, not even looking at her. Liv shakes her head and shifts closer to him on the bed.

"I know what happened, but I don't know why." It's true. She knows all about Mellie giving the names of the jurors to her father and the ensuing cover up, but she's still trying to understand why this was the final straw for Fitz. In order for them, her and Fitz, to move forward, she needs to understand the end of his marriage. She needs to know that he's divorcing Mellie because it's what he wants and not just because Olivia went back to him. He reaches for her hand and Liv allows him to lace their fingers together. He leans back, looking up at the ceiling.

"We were doing a lot better, Mellie and I. I was helping with her senate race, being the supportive husband, making up for all the years that I failed her." She watches as his face twists up in a grimace, she runs her thumb lightly across the back of his hand and he musters up a smile for her. "We were getting along, we were friends. I thought that we were a team. But she didn't tell me about any of it. Not the blackmail or the jurors or asking Cyrus for help." He shakes his head. "Here I am telling Mellie every time me and you are in the same room and she doesn't even have the common courtesy to let me know she was being blackmailed."

"They just wanted to keep you out of it, Fitz."

"I don't care." He retorts angrily and she shrinks back slightly, unsure whether he's angry at her for pushing the issue or angry at the situation. Liv gets her answer when he immediately reaches out for her, linking their fingers back together and squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just- I'm so sick of everyone else dictating my life. Deciding what information I should know or what I should be able to do. This is MY life!" His voice booms across the room, but Olivia stays calm.

Truthfully, she feels bad because she knows she's one of those people who kept things from Fitz, one of the people who decided things about his life, their life, without him. But she's not going to do that this time. She's not running. She's going to stay and they'll figure out what happens next, together.

"Well, I said whatever we want," she grins at him, her tone playful. "So, what do you want?"

He can't help but smile at her attempt to lighten his mood, and it works.

"I just had about four hours of what I wanted…" He trails off with a smirk, leaning over to place soft kisses down her neck. Olivia giggles and the sound makes him so inexplicably happy.

"Fitz, I'm serious."

"Okay," he concedes, pulling away slightly so he can look into her eyes. "Liv, you already know what I want." She raises an eyebrow and he knows she's not going to let this go. He sits back up against the headboard and sighs. "I want to go see Mellie later this morning and give her the divorce papers that I've had drawn up for quite a while," he admits giving Liv a bashful smile, knowing she's going to chastise him for doing something as dangerous as drawing up divorce papers. He leans in, capturing her lips with his briefly in an effort to soften her up.

"Then this afternoon I'll announce my divorce to the press," he suggests with his face still inches from hers. He places a kiss on her jaw. "And then I'll need a date to the state dinner tonight…" Fitz moves away from Liv enough to look at her. She shakes her head quickly and pushes at his chest.

"You can't announce your divorce before Mellie even signs the papers." She tells him matter of factly.

"I have to, it's the only way she'll ever agree." Fitz makes sure there's no room for argument in his tone. He's thought about this a lot and he knows he has to back Mellie into a corner to get her to agree. At this point, he'll do whatever it takes.

"Fitz-"

"No, Liv, this is non negotiable. I'm announcing my divorce today." It must be the resoluteness in his voice, because she backs down immediately.

"Okay, but I absolutely cannot go to the State Dinner with you. It's too soon. Once your divorce is finalized, then we can discuss going public." He wants to push the issue but he knows it's a lot that Liv is even thinking about going public, so he decides to let it be for now.

"Fine, you don't have to be my date." She breathes a sigh of relief and he moves closer to her, pushing his face into the crook of her neck. "But will you come to the dinner?"

"What? No. I just said 'no.'" He can hear the frustration in her voice, but he can't resist teasing her.

"You've been to tons of State Dinners, Liv. No one would bat an eye if you were there. Not to mention, you're the best at what you do and with me going through a very public divorce, I'm going to need the best, which you always say you are."

He sends her a panty-dropping grin that once again reminds her of the campaign bus so long ago…let's be inappropriate.

"You're really pushing your luck here, mister." She teases. And Olivia realizes this is what she missed most. Their friendship, their banter, the way he knows her, and she knows him. The moments when they could just be.

"Is it working?" She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, determined to stay immune to his charms. He trails kisses down her jaw and to her ear, gently tugging on the lobe. "Come to dinner, Livvie." He whispers huskily in her ear. She feels goosebumps rise on her arms and her heart starts beating faster and she's sure she'll agree to anything Fitz asks in that moment.

"Okay," she breathes out, arching her back and pulling him closer.

"Okay?" He pulls back just enough to look her in the eyes and she meets his gaze with certainty.

"Yeah, okay." She tries to keep the smile off her face and fails, biting her bottom lip as she breaks into a wide grin.

"Can I pick your dress?" He requests, a wandering hand trails up the inside of her thigh.

"Absolutely not, Mr. President." She tries to sound stern, but her voice comes out breathy and seductive. Fitz grins at her and her cheeks flush. She quickly recovers. "What fun is it if I can't surprise you?" Liv asks as she walks her fingers down his chest.

"Well, I am fond of surprises."

"I thought you'd see things my way," she says smugly, but it turns into a squeal when Fitz flips them over and positions her on top of him. He grabs onto the back of her head, pulling her in for a deep, bruising kiss. He pulls away several seconds later, her breathing ragged. He grins broadly at her breathlessness.

"Hi."

"Hi."