Hiya! I have been MIA on this story for soooooo long. Thank y'all for the love and hatred oddly enough for the story. This is just a little update to tide you guys over. It's not super long like y'all are used to but it gets my feet wet and my muse back into the juices that is this storyline. We have a few things to tie up with Mellie's parents and that will usher in the final Payback storyline. Maybe ten more chapters? I hope to update every week as I cycle through my unfinished stories. Sorry for any typos, let me know if they are there. I won't mention what I thought of the scandal finale... all I will say is

It's a beautiful day to save lives.

-Lonnii

Three Months After The Last Chapter

"Alright!" Cyrus said entering the oval. "I know you both don't care about optics but my husband cares about my weak heart and my weak heart cares about optics so let's try and be adult about the conversation we are about to have."

Fitz looked up from his security briefings at a ranting Cyrus. The old man was going to leave this Earth a little too soon if he kept up the way has been running around.

"Olivia" Cyrus said attempting to get her attention.

"Optics, yea." She responses distracted. She was laying on her back, her eyes closed, meditating and practicing her breathing techniques. If she was going to do this, she was going to be prepared. And Cyrus ranting was not helping her concentration.

"Olivia." Cyrus said a little more forceful. "Look, you're sad or mad or depressed or angry or maybe you're just really tired. But whatever is wrong with you, I need you to snap out of it for the next two minutes so Olivia, the student I came to know and love, can listen to me and agree when I say this."

"Say what?" Fitz asked.

"The Olitz marriage train, needs to arrive at the station. It needs to pull up in grand fashion, with all of its bells and whistle and lights loudly announcing the love of Olivia and Fitz."

"Olitz?" Fitz asked.

"It's a thing that twitter is calling your relationship. Ethan!" Cyrus screams for his assistant.

Ethan knocks quickly on the door, then enters. He's here so quickly, it's obvious Cyrus had him waiting.

"Explain what this Olitz thing is." Cyrus says.

"Okay, in the world of mostly tv shows, there is this thing called a fandom. They are the ones who are the true supports and lovers of the show. You can find them anywhere. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, 4chan, Pinterest, fan fiction and just about any other social media website. They have several little acronyms for different levels of fandom membership. But even at its most basic level, almost everyone has an OTP. " Ethan rushes out in a few breaths. He wrings his fingers together in a nervously.

"OTP?" Olivia ask finally aware and invested in the conversation.

"OTP. One True Pairing. It's like the ultimate couple of all couples that ever coupled. People are so invested in these couples that they ship them. A Ship is another name for OTP like relationSHIP or it could be a fictional ship that the agreeing members of a certain OTP in the fandom will ride on."

"What?" Fitz asked completely lost.

"The point Ethan, get to the point." Cyrus says annoyed.

"Sometimes, OTP's and ships will exist outside of the fiction world. Like with real people. Say a certain President and his girlfriend. A girlfriend who everyone knows is his girlfriend but wasn't announced and every time someone raises the question, they hear no comment."

"Land you plane Ethan!" Cyrus says frustrated.

"You are now a ship. You're a thing. You have a fandom. You are a lot of people's OTP." Ethan answers wiping the sweat from his face. He rubs his damp palms against his pants leg repeatedly.

"Which will totally work when you guys get married next month, here at the White House." Cyrus rushes out. "And I know, I know you guys are the real deal and the solution shouldn't be a quickie wedding but optics."

"Optics would be better if we just randomly announced a wedding? We would have skipped actual dating and engagement news." Fitz countered. Olivia hummed in agreement while reaching for her phone. It dinged and she was waiting on a call.

"Olivia. This is important. We have to get ahead of this." Cyrus begs.

"Ahead of what? People that ship us so much we have a name? That is good Cyrus. We need people on our side." Olivia counteracts.

"On our side for what? When the base attacks? Because that is surely going to happen soon. This Olitz couple name is making enough noise that it came up during the morning briefing with the press." Cyrus reveals.

"It's only a matter of time." Ethan added.

"Livvie…" Fitz begged without saying what he wanted. She knew what the right thing to do was. She was only so against it because it was her own life and not someone else. He thought she would want to fix this so they wouldn't have future problems to fix and fires to put out."

Olivia reread the text message as she hastily grabbed all her belongings. "My answer is no and that is final. I will not agree to outing my personal business just so some make believe problem can be fixed. Goodbye."

"Olivia get back here!" Cyrus yelled as the door slammed. He turns around to face Fitz with an angry presence in his expressions. "What the hell is wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure. I wish I had an idea. She still isn't quite right after everything…. Well anyway, let's wait one more day. If the name thing comes up tomorrow morning, we will confirm. Just hold off for today until I can talk some sense into Liv. Either she or I will get back to you with a statement Cy."

Cyrus nods his head while pulling Ethan out the oval. "Find out where Olivia is going and when you get back, find out what she has been doing the last couple months."

"And where should I meet you to debrief when I get back Sir?" Ethan asks shifting from foot to foot in a nervous manner.

"Meet me in my office. If I'm not there, meet me in the residence. I'm going speak to Jerry and Karen." Cyrus walks away, stomping down the hallway towards the residence.

Ethan hurries down the hallway and into the back parking lot. He pulls a cigarette out and takes a drag while straightening his posture. The White House and all of their problems was really starting to get on his nerves. He was going to have to find another job if things continued this way. He didn't go through hell just to end up with babysitting duty.

He walks to his car and just so happen watches Olivia as she hurries to out the side door. The back parking lot is where the dummy car she uses is also parked. The car and woman in question pulls out of the spot and speeds away. He follows her for 45 minutes only to end up 15 minutes away from the White House at an abandoned building. He watches as she crosses the street and enter a side door.

Ethan looks around for a few moments before getting out the car also. He walks discreetly over to the building while simultaneously looking at the info he found about the building. Used to be a factory that was family owned. It shut down in the late 1980's and it has just sat around since then. It was passed to a non-family member, Olivia Pope, after its last known surviving family member died two years prior, Verna Thornton.

"Oh shit." Ethan whispers.

He sends a quick text message to his boss. He waits and waits but no answer is given. He glances around again, not sure on how he should proceed. Surely his boss would want him to stay on her. He throws caution to the wind and sneaks into the building. He creeps down a short hall before the room opens to an open warehouse. There are random machines and tools laying about. Machines and tools that do not appear to have just been laying around for the last 30 years.

It happens all to quickly for Ethan to combat. Something long and hard hits him across the chest before his feet is swept from under him. The swiftness of the falls whips his head back against the concrete floor. Just before he loses consciousness he hears a male voice, "Looks like we have our first body for you to work on, Alex."

"Look as though we do" Alex answers.

But Ethan is sure. He is sure that the second voice belongs to Olivia.