AN: Hi all. This has been inspired by Beyoncé. It was originally a one shot,but now I'm breaking it into three installments. Enjoy

Chapter 1: Like a Shark

The laws of the world never stopped us once

Cause together we got plenty super power

- Beyoncé feat. Frank Ocean: Superpower

After threatening to go public about Mellie's own affair, she granted Fitz a divorce. Everything the couple earned during their marriage was split 50/50. It was done quietly,but the moment Mellie announced her run for senate, she was out for blood. Unfortunately, the children suffer the most as their mother plays martyr.

With the kids home for the beginning of summer, Fitz has tried his best to balance campaigning, governing, playing a more active role in his children's lives, and introducing them to Olivia as someone besides "Aunt Liv". To do the latter, he invites her to join them for dinner once a week. This particular week, they barbecue out, talking and getting to know each other like a family.

Later on, while Karen and Jerry are moaning about who gets to have Teddy on their team, Olivia and Fitz sit back on a blanket and laugh at them.

Fitz drops his head onto her lap with a deep sigh, and he can feel her playing with his hair. His children's laughter carries in the air while a cool breeze brushes his skin. He closes his eyes, relaxing into pretty much perfection.

"What are you humming?"

He opens his eyes back up. Olivia looks carefree, uninhibited by all the crazy going on just beyond the gates to the house.

"I hadn't even realized I was humming."

"Well you were," she smiles, "for about the past fifteen minutes."

"It's a song I haven't heard since I was a kid growing up in this house. Something my mom used to sing."

She nods, her dark eyes sparkling, her hand running back and forth along the nape of his neck, gripping and grabbing his hair with each pass. He lets out groan in pleasure.

He isn't guess it's the open, relaxed expression on her face, the peacefulness of the moment, that gives him the balls to ask the next question.

"Livvie…"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you don't to want to sleep in my room tonight?"

She laughs at him, but there's a glint in her eyes. It makes him hopeful despite her apparent amusement.

"Why, Mr. President?" She quirks a brow. "What did you have in mind for my sleeping arrangements?"

One corner of her mouth lifts up lazily. "Well, there are many rooms in the Residence."

"Are there?" She gazes at him mischievously, tugging harder at his hair. He closes his eyes and hiss through my teeth. "Is there one room in particular you have in mind for me, or are we just speaking in general terms?"

He can't help it; his heart jumps at the way she's looking at him, at the playfulness in her voice, at the fact that she hasn't totally shot him down yet, at the feel of her fingers pulling at her hair even harder.

"There may be one in particular."

She bites her lip, and there's no longer amusement in her eyes. They're dark and intent. Her chest rises and falls more rapidly than it did just a few moments ago. Fitz reaches up and traces the outline of her soft mouth with two fingers, waiting for her answer; in all honesty, he's praying to the high heavens.

She holds him locked in her smoldering gaze and then wraps her hand around the one he has moving over her lips, and places a soft, wet kiss over his fingers, and he inhales unevenly.

"I don't think the kids would like that idea, Fitz. It's one thing to have me here for dinner. It's another to have me here for sleep overs, regardless of how excited they are. Besides…" her eyes bore into mine, dark and intense, "…regardless of how easily they seem to be taking to us , it's a big leap from there to seeing her father wake up in bed with a woman who isn't there mother. How would we explain it to her if things didn't work out between us?"

Fitz snorts, his mind and heart warring with disappointment and understanding. He certainly understands everything she's saying. He even agrees, but he's having a hard time explaining that to nether reigns .

Fitz reached up and cradles her face in his hands. "I'll be honest with you, Liv. You and I not working out , that's not really an option for me."

She laughs, searching his eyes. "Just give me a little more time to catch up to where you are, Fitz. Physically, I'm there. I've always been there physically when it comes to you, and I think you know that very well."

He can't repress a smirk.

She rolls her eyes.

"But emotionally…I am a bit overwhelmed by everything that's going on. You're right about that. I don't want to jump into bed with you and then play catch up later. I don't have my head screwed on just right now, who'll be there if I mess up?"

"Livvie, you won't mess up, and I'll be there," Fitz reminds her.

She smiles tenderly and then takes one of his hands and places it over her heart.

"I know that. I do know that here." She moves his hand up to the side of her head. "Just give me a little more time to completely know it here, okay?"

He nods, understanding what she's saying.

Fitz picks up his head a bit and guides hers down and soon she's sucking so intently on his lips that each pull goes straight to his groin, and he understands what she means when she says she's always been there physically. Their physical response to each other has always been instant, from the first moment their eyes met, from that very first touch. And while he'd spent the past five years craving not only those physical reactions she elicited in him, but the emotional reactions as well, she'd spent that time repressing hers.

The truth was, if hE just pushed a bit harder, he could probably convince Olivia to sleep with him soon; tonight. If he touched her the way he touched her then, if he keeps kissing her this way and letting her kiss him this way.

But he won't play those games with Olivia. He has more respect for her than that. The first time he took her to bed he damned the consequences and they came back to bite them in the ass afterwards. He loved her then.

He can't help but to love her infinitely more now.

With one final peck, he pulls away from her mouth and grins up at her.

Her lips are swollen, her eyes confused, but she grins back. "Soon..."

He drops his head to her lap again, and keep humming his mother's song.

Fitz is standing before a podium, appearing well rested despite the fact that Karen had called, waking him at 3 a.m. He's dressed impeccably in one of his dark suits, a blue tie round his neck. An American flag rests just to the side of him. Voices murmur in the background. Cameras click insistently while their flashes illuminate Fitz's serene face. When he clears his throat, the room goes quiet as his eyes look unwaveringly into the cameras. This was not how he envisioned his Monday morning

"Good afternoon. This morning, a statement was issued, supposedly on my behalf, stating that I am in a relationship." He pauses. "That is about the only thing that was true of that statement."

Bewildered murmurs fill the air.

"Five years ago, while on I was on the campaign trail, I met and fell deeply in love with an incredible woman."

The murmurs grow louder.

"At the time, I was married, running for highest office in nation,but I selfishly chose to give my heart to another."

He looks down at the podium for a few seconds while the murmurs continue, but when he looks up again, the entire room goes silent once more.

His mask is gone and he's fucking furious.

"Olivia Pope is an innocent party in this equation. I chose to put my ambitions and my job before my heart. And when outside forces intervened and I was presented with a choice…I made the wrong one." More bewildered murmurs. "I allowed myself to be convinced that a legacy could be built on lies and betrayals. I will regret that decision for the rest of my life," he hisses. "I have made many mistakes over the past fives years, and I owe many apologies, and they're all to Olivia and my children."

"Nevertheless," Fitz continues, his voice sure and strong, "despite all my mistakes, something beautiful and powerful resulted this chaos: my friendship with Olivia." For one second, he smiles so genuinely that "awwws" are murmured in the background, but then the smile fades, and he glares at the camera. "But because of more interference from those same outside forces, I am only just beginning to know her as more than a friend. How and when I chose I move forward is between Olivia and me and no one else, but Olivia was not the cause of my divorce. I know this for a fact." His voice booms with indignation. "It came from two people, wanting different life paths. It came from people desperately trying to hold onto the only normal they'd known for more than 20 years," he growls, "to perpetuate a lie and continue to hide truths that can no longer be suppressed. Olivia has been innocent throughout this entire ordeal. She is not looking to destroy my career or my family. In fact, she has been victimized in the name of a legacy, the Grant Administration and the legacy of my marriage to Mellie," he sneers, "more than once, and I will not allow it to happen again! I've called this press conference this afternoon to announce that I am still in the Presidential race and Olivia will my First Lady-"

Bewildered cries erupt in the background; furious questions are hurled Fitz's way, all which he ignores.

" I am still in the Presidential race and Olivia will my First Lady.I am not ashamed of her or our relationship. My only hope is for this country to see in her what my children and I have seen. I want this country to truly see the man I am. The kind of man isn't afraid to make his happiness and that of his family a priority." He pauses.

" So, I stand before you this afternoon and make a plea not from the President, but from a father, a man who is in love. I ask that you please give my children and Olivia time space to get to know each other. It has never been my belief that one person's private matters should overshadow those issues which affect us as a country or as a global community. There are so many urgent issues facing all of us who inhabit this planet as one at the moment, and I truly hope that we can continue to focus on ways to find resolutions to those."

He glances down again, and when he looks up, his eyes are burning.

"Yet, I will not allow an innocent woman's reputation to be besmirched with slander and half truths perpetuated by forces which believe that they have a stake in our lives. I want to keep our matters private, but to those who will continue their interference, I stand before you to let you know in front of the entire American public that I have taken steps to secure the future safety and privacy of Olivia ,and I will take more steps, all and any necessary, to ensure that she lives the safe, private and prosperous life that she deserves. I underestimated those forces in the past and their blind desire to perpetuate a legacy at all costs, but I will not underestimate them, or stand for their interference any longer. Thank you. May God bless you all. May God bless America."

Questions explode maddeningly, but Fitz walks off steadily and confidently, without so much as a glance backwards.

"Oh my God, Liv," Abby says after a few seconds, while the picture switches back to a CNN newsroom and reporters scrambling to explain to the public what has just occurred while Olivia stands with a small smile on her lips. He stepped on stage like shark, admitting his everlasting love for her to the entire nation. She touches her lips , remembering the kiss they had shared the previous week before she trip to France for work.

As if on cue,the phone rings.

"Liv?"

"Fitz," Olivia breathes. "Hi…"

"Hi,don't be mad at me, baby. Don't be mad, Livvie."

Out of her periphery, Olivia sees her team leave the room, heading quietly into the conference room.

The enormity of what he's just said, what he's done, hits her. She see his face in her mind.

"I'm not mad, Fitz," she assures "I'm scared,not mad,but scared."

"Shh, shh," he comforts her while he allows her just one minute of silence. "This won't break us down."

"I know. I just…." she pauses briefly. "I'm being completely honest with you."

"I know you are."

"I have to go, the phones are ringing off the hook," she says as she hears at least different phones ringing. "Are you okay?" She asks quickly.

"I am now that I've heard your voice," he admits and she can almost see the smile he's giving her through the phone.

"Fitz I…."

"I love you too,Liv. I love you too. Go be a gladiator. I have a country."

She laughs lightly as his ability to shift the mood.

"I'll talk to you later?" Olivia's words pour at as question more than a statement.

"Of course."

"Bye."

"Bye."

She makes her way to the conference room and all eyes are on her. One by one they give her subtle nods which she returns.

"Ok. All cylinders people!"

When Olivia opens the door, his eyes find hers immediately. For a split second, they simply hold each other's gazes. Fitz makes his way inside, shrugging on his suit jacket, flinging in onto her sofa after a long day of work. Finally they're left alone. Other than the conversation after the press conference, they haven't spoken

He makes his way to her liquor cabinet and pours himself a glass of whiskey. Tonight was a night for a stiff watches his back, the stiff set of his shoulders, the way he runs his hand through his hair continuously.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I'm so sorry you have to deal with all my baggage."

This media's headlines were all over the place. Olivia was the focal point of what has in less than 24 hours hours become one of two stories:

A. She's the modern day version of Sally Hemmings with a dash of Monica Lewinsky. In addition to having traits of the late Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, forcing who many have considered the future leader of the free world to abdicate his thrown, figuratively, and bringing down what was considered the best hope America had for the future - despite Fitz's public assurances to the contrary.

B. She was the saving grace Fitz needed to win the election. She was providing him a youthfulness and light he had lacked during his first term as leader of the free world.

They both know how it works; the public will always choose to believe the most sensational story, and the press will always deliver the story that garners the most sales. It's a complicated, vicious cycle. Now it's simply a waiting game, to see in what direction all the chips fall.

Olivia stands and moves towards Fitz , hesitantly at first because though she knows he longs for her touch, he's still tense. However,she forces her feet to keep going. She watches his shoulders rise and fall with each troubled breath.

She brings her hands to his biceps. They harden as he tenses, startled, but he doesn't turn round.

"Fitz, please don't apologize. We both know how Mellie operates. She's played her cards brilliantly. We just have to make the public believe the best of us."

He turns around, and she drops her hands when he cradles her face in that way he has of doing, that way that melts all her defenses; she allows it, swallowing as he holds her locked in his gaze.

"You've become trusting in us." His thumbs caress her cheeks. She finds comfort in the small gesture, causing her entire body to hum.

"Fitz…I love you. I appreciate what you did during that press conference." She inhales deeply before letting it go quickly. "But I wish you wouldn't have for all intents and purposes, asked Mellie to kiss your ass."

He chuckles and dips his head down to her eye level.

"Livvie…I swear to God, you never cease to amaze me. But…. I need you to trust me me on this. I'm not trying to be your superhero. You don't need one. I just want to keep you safe, Livvie..."

When his mouth finally finds hers, she snakes her arms around his neck and she's home once again.

He fills her with soft, tender brushes against her full lips, gently sucking first one, then the other; soft, aching promises as if he really does know.As if he knows that though her body may want more as soon as she feels his mouth on her, as it always did at his touch, her heart can't take it right now, not yet. For now, this is right. This is enough.

"Livvie…" he groans quietly against her mouth, tasting; savoring.

"Fitz…"

His fingers caress the nape of her neck while his mouth ghosts kisses all over her face, on her lips, just to the side of them, back and forth across her cheeks, her nose, her eyes, and she feels that all consuming love. The one she's been learning to let thrive fully with an open heart.

"Fitz…Fitz…"she pushes against his chest needing air.

Slowly, he pulls back. When she drops her arms from around his neck, he unwinds his arms from her waist.

"So, what do we do now?" he finally asks, sticking his hands in his pockets, pulling them back out before putting them back in.

Olivia smiles softly. "We go out on dates publicly. We've never do that before. We've already give ourselves time to learn each other. Now we have to take it one day at a time. We learn to handle the media. We continue to build trust with your kids. We continue what we've been doing all these months in secret. And we take you and I slowly. We trust our love and each other."Olivia draws in a deep breath.

He nods, swallowing thickly. "Liv, things might get worse before they get better."

"I know that," she breathes. "I suppose it'll be a test."

He simply holds her gaze, but after a few seconds says, "I meant it when I said I wasn't giving up this time."

"So did I."

He pulls her into his arms so abruptly and just holds her and it's everything she needs; being in his arms, feeling safe despite everything going on around them. The palm his hand slips into hers and she trends her fingers with his.

"I've missed just holding you," he breathes into her hair, his voice thick with sincerity as if he can read her mind. Maybe, in a way, he can.

"I've missed it too. I've missed you too. "

They know they can't live without each other. For now, that's enough.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading

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