A/N: I told you one day I wouldn't be able to update daily and I meant it. Sorry! I had a paper due.

No content warning, though please don't throw too much stuff at me when you get the to end.

Thanks to Mari, aka ThePaperFrames for her story cover and for looking this stuff over for me. If you have a spare moment and want something lighter than the horror I'm cooking up, I'd recommend her story Metanoia or Sleep on the Floor. They're both adorable (just make sure you read her latest A/N please).

If you're still here with me, thank you.

If you've had to hop off, understandable.

"Son-of-a-bitch."

Fitz paused his forward stride and turned on his heel at the sound of the outburst. He'd been on his way up to his room in hopes of finding a clean shirt when the expletives had caused him to pause.

"Cock-sucking-son-of-a-damn!" The outburst continued and Fitz followed the voice to his father's study. In front of the large bay window that overlooked the backyard stood Leo Bergman, pacing like a madman. He looked absolutely incensed, ears red with rage.

"She's a goddamn law student, she worked this campaign for pennies. How did she even get Gloria Bloom to return her phone call? I bet it was that boyfriend. Wasn't it? Throwing around his congressional credentials."

At Gloria's name, Fitz paused. A grin threatened to tug at his cheeks at watching Leo flounder; game, set, match.

"My sources are never wrong. Never. How the hell did she get to Bloom without me knowing? Damn it." He turned quickly, banging his hand on the solid oak desk. "We've gotta get out in front of this now. I know Bloom. If we don't leak the story, she'll make sure Olivia is on the cover of every newspaper in Virginia by tomorrow. Then the story will get picked up by just about every online rag there is and in days we'll have Olivia Pope crying to the public in a scheduled TV interview with Diane Sawyer."

Leo looked as if he was about to explode, the possibilities of what Glora Bloom was up to driving her up one wall and down the next.

"We've got to leak the story. Put this out there as an affair. Paint her as a disgruntled intern not given a position on staff and is now striking back."

"That's disgusting." Fitz huffed.

"It's necessary. You want your dad out of this unscathed or not." Leo asked, turning toward Fitz. "She's about to shoot his reputation to hell with the help of that shrew and you're worried about what? Her reputation? She's a nobody in this, a non-factor. The big hit here will be your father. His work? All of it down the drain."

"Do you have a hard-on for my father or something?" Fitz couldn't help but ask. The way Leo jumped to his father's defense would've almost been amusing had it not been for the woman hanging in the balance.

"Excuse me?"

"You're falling over your own two feet to what, get down on your knees for my dad? I don't think you're his type, Leo."

"I'm in here busting my ass to keep your old man intact and you're what...making light of this? Joking? Do you know who Gloria Bloom even is?"

Fitz had to force the smile threatening to tug his lips upward down. Did he know who Gloria was? Ha, if Leo only knew. But he couldn't know. Fitz still needed an upper hand.

"A thorn in your side?" Fitz asked, feigning ignorance with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, Junior, just keep laughing it up. Real funny. She's an attorney; Gloria Steinem with a law degree. She probably just made it her life goal to destroy your father."

"Interesting life goal. I hope you're worth the money my father's paying you, then." Fitz shrugged and left the room, heading for her bedroom.

Once up the stairs Fitz busied himself with a change of clothes, his thoughts immediately turning to his run in with Olivia. She was a lot smaller than he remembered, or perhaps it was the sweatshirt clearly several sizes too big that hung from her petite frame. He briefly wondered if it was property of Representative Davis, but those thoughts were quickly chased from his head as the look on her face rang through his memory. Fear, clear as dead colored her large brown eyes. The look would permanently haunt him. All he'd done was reached out to steady a falling woman and instead he'd scared her; he'd shaken her to her core. And now he needed to know if she was okay. The selfish part of him needed to clear his name. Seeing him had done something to her and he wanted to apologize, separate himself from his father and show her that the apple fell into the next yard and not just below the tree.

But he had no right to seek her out. Not after what his father…The thought alone inspired a bout of anger within Fitz. His father could have any woman he wanted - Gerry Grant had Fitz's mother - why would he want to take it from someone? Especially someone so petite, so… small. He closed his eyes as he pulled on a fresh tank top and then a crisp white shirt. Olivia Pope was petite, she was small, but the fire with which she'd approached him earlier didn't go missed either. She seemed to be a spitfire underneath it all. The woman he'd read about on paper, the one he'd ran into that day months ago didn't seem like the type to curl and hide. He only hoped Gloria Bloom could put the fight back into the sunken woman he'd seen mere moments ago.

Disbelief lit Olivia's eyes as she stared at Gloria Bloom. The woman had been had been throughout all her law books, crowned the Women's Champion by Ms. Magazine several times over the last decade, daughter of the Lisa Allred stood in front of her. But she hadn't called Gloria - hadn't contacted her and couldn't figure out why Ms. Bloom was here.

Olivia cut her eyes to Edison, wondering if the man next to her had done this. They'd talked lawyers, but locally; nothing of Gloria Bloom stature. Olivia couldn't believe Edison had hired her.

Blinking hard, Olivia pulled herself back into the present, closing her mouth that'd fallen open ever so slightly. Her brows furrowed as she zeroed in on the conversation.

"Now, let's start from the beginning. Where were we? He-said-she-said? Yes, she, Miss Pope, said no. He, Senator Grant forced her. Now that I'm caught up, let's move on." Gloria smiled, but there was nothing inviting about the expression on her face. Her tone was icy, clipped and blunt. "Elizabeth, if you're about to do what I think you are, I suggest you re-think this very carefully. I can have Olivia schedule with the Associated Press in hours. I have Robin Roberts on speed dial as we speak. And she owes me a favor." Gloria tilted her head, a smirk playing on her features. "I'd hate to get the wrong idea here, too, and have to file a prosecutorial misconduct complaint. Things could get ugly and fallout is inevitable. I'd hate to see you become a casualty in all of this - an inevitable scapegoat."

Olivia's eyes widened as she watched the exchange. She found the whole thing exhilarating and even though they were discussing her, the entire scene was a breath of fresh air. It felt like trial prep from advance litigation, it felt like normal.

"That won't be necessary, Gloria. I just called Miss Pope down here to let her know the detectives weren't done investigating yet and once they are, I'll be calling her."

"That's what I thought. Olivia, Representative Davis, if you'll follow me. Ms. North will get back with us tomorrow to start building a strategy."

"Tomorrow." ADA North agreed, a tight lip smile on her face, though flames danced in her eyes.

Olivia and Edison rose to their feet, Edison guided her towards the office door. His hand fell to the small of Olivia's back and she flinched out of his touch.

Gloria was hot on their heels, but paused as she reached the door, turning back to ADA North. "And I expect Senator Grant to be arrested today for rape along with the announcement of a formal investigation."

The sun had set below the horizon and Fitz found himself in the kitchen once more, sifting through the fridge. Magda, the house hand, had offered to fix Fitz dinner, but he'd opted out. At the news that Gloria Bloom had been spotted this side of the country, panic had set in at the Grant estate. The leaks inside of the station that Leo had bragged about seemed to be holding shut and the ADA wasn't returning phone calls. York was in overdrive building a defense, bringing in interns and legal wingmen, while Bergman was eerily quiet. Fitz had removed himself from the equation, opting out to tend to some business in California via phone.

He'd missed several calls from Mellie, his on-again-off-again girlfriend back on the west coast in the process, and had only emerged from self-seclusion when the hubbub had seemed to die down. His stomach had lead him to picking through the refrigerator now, in search of something filling and quick; his mind was still all over the place. He'd hoped shop talk with Alyssa would've given him tunnel vision, but it'd done nothing of the sorts. His mind still wandered to that afternoon, to Olivia Pope, and the battle at hand. Only now had he considered Gloria's warning about war with his family; Fitz didn't hate his family, but his relationship with both of his parents had always been tense, at best.

Victoria Grant was distant and aloof, more worried about social echelons than her son, leaving Fitz to search out warmth from his various nannies. Big Gerry, on the other hand, was a bully. He ruled his son with an iron fist, pushing the boy relentlessly and without mercy leading Fitz to break away at eighteen. He'd gone to school away, lived abroad, and eventually settled across country, learning to live on his own. Every year, though, he went through the motions of pretending to be a close-knit family; Thanksgivings together, Christmases.

"La policía está aquí." Magda called to Fitz, entering the kitchen.

Fitz paused his perusal and turned, understanding Magda with somewhat ease; he spoke three languages: English, French, and Spanish (though his Spanish was conversational at its best).

"Por tú padre, Senator Grant."

"Fitz! Fitz!"

Before Fitz could form a response to Magda, his mother's voice pierced the air. He followed the sound of her screaming to find his father being put in handcuffs by two younger cops.

"Senator Grant, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the -"

"I know my damn rights, I've got a law degree, goddamnit." Gerry hissed as the cuffs closed around his wrists.

The scene in front of him was like something out of a film. Fitz hadn't expected this, but he wasn't sad to see it happen either.

"Honestly, are cuffs really necessary? He's a Senator, for crying out loud." Leo growled, phone to his ear, his attention split between Gerry and his phone. "Do it now." he shouted into his phone before his attention fell back onto the scene at hand.

"To an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you." The cop continued.

"He has an attorney!" John York rounded the corner behind Leo and Victoria stalked towards Fitz.

"Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?" The cop finally finished, leading Gerry towards the door.

Victoria frantically yanked on her son's shirt, "Fitz, you need to go with your father to pay his bail."

This one give us a price yet?

Fitz pulled out of his mother touch and ran a hand through his curls. "I think it'd look better if his wife did it."

Olivia sighed as she held onto the coffee cup in hand, nursing a bit of wine. She knew she wasn't supposed to be drinking, but after the day she'd had, it was the only thing to take the edge off. Once Gloria Bloom had shown up out of the blue, everything seemed to simultaneously slow down and speed up. ADA North had yet to call her back to let her know how and when they'd be proceeding, but from the threat Ms. Bloom had dealt her, Olivia had no doubt Ms. North would call by morning. The – Olivia, Ms. Bloom, Edison, and Abby – had only talked for a bit, saving the rest of their conversation for the next day to give Olivia some time to regroup.

It was all becoming real. This had happened, and it'd happened to her. She couldn't keep pretending like it was some distant memory of a time passed; soon – as both Ms. Bloom and Abby had explained to her that day – she'd be confronted by her very real present. Abby had explained to Olivia that she didn't have to do this, to go through with trial and just try to find a way to heal, but Olivia refused. Pandora's box had already been opened.

She took another sip of wine and stared out the window that overlooked the busy D.C streets. How was she supposed to do this? A woman who'd grown up learning to keep her hurt and pain inside so it couldn't be used against her now having to go in front of a jury to tell them she hadn't been able to protect herself. She'd let Big Gerry blitz her – had ignored her gut and let her guard down and now she paid the price. God, what was she going to tell her parents when this thing spiraled because she was certain it would. Eventually her name would get out there – she was David and Goliath wouldn't go down with rock to the head – and she was worried what that meant for her family and for Davis. Would her family get out wholly unscathed? In two short weeks, she was set to be in New York City with her parents for Thanksgiving. She'd have to tell them before someone else did even though the mere thought of uttering the words once more burned her from the inside out.

An errant tear slipped down her cheek and Olivia bit her bottom lip to stop the sob that crawled up her throat in its tracks.

"Liv."

She turned her head at the sound of her name to find Edison, half smile on his face, starring at her. Best she could, she dabbed at her eyes and yawned, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "Yeah?"

"This afternoon was a lot to take in, baby. You want to talk about any of it?"

She shook her head no. "Why didn't you tell me you'd hired Gloria Bloom, though? I wouldn't have been so…quiet. I would've tried to pull myself together a bit better. I know we talked lawyers, but she's…"

"I didn't hire her."

"She said friend and I assumed it was you. It couldn't have been Harrison, except for today he's been with me. And you two are the only two who know."

"You didn't ask her?"

"No. I think she could tell she'd caught me off guard. I'm just thankful she agreed to hold off on any big conversations until tomorrow. I can only take so much in one day right now." Olivia revealed, hating to admit that she felt overwhelmed right now, but unable to hold it in.

"What about Abigail?"

"No, she wouldn't have until speaking with me. Besides, I don't think she could've pulled in Bloom's attention either. Gloria Bloom is –"

"A big damn deal. She's testified before congress in the past. This…this is big, Liv. Are you sure you're ready for what's about to happen?"

Olivia shrugged her shoulders, her words dying on the tip of her tongue. Was she ready? No. Did she have a choice? It felt like she hadn't had a choice since the night she was attacked.

"I -" Olivia started, but was interrupted by the sound of a frantic knock on the apartment front door. Her phone began to buzz at the same time. She and Edison exchanged glances as he moved to answer the door and Olivia reached for her phone; it was Abigail. Olivia rolled her eyes, annoyance creeping up her spine as she set her phone back down, refusing to answer the call.

"Turn on the damn TV!" she heard Harrison's voice shout.

The sound of his voice lead her to her feet and into the living room where Edison abided by Harrison's demands.

"FOX5, put it on FOX5"

Again, Edison did as Harrison instructed as the TMZ logo to pop up. Olivia joined the two just in time to catch the beginning of Harvey Levin addressing his group.

It looks like we've got another John Edwards on our hands, ladies and gents. Rumors swirling around DC that Senator Grant, the sixty-three-year-old Virginia Senator has been stepping outside of his marriage with a twenty-four-year-old campaign intern.

A picture of Olivia on the campaign speaking with Big Gerry popped up on screen. Olivia felt her knees buckle and she almost hit the floor, but managed to grab the arm of her recliner just in time.

"What the fuck?" Edison yelled at the TV.

So, you're telling me that, that guy pulled her? You expect me to believe that?

Oh, come on, she doesn't look like a dumb girl. Hump and dump that a few times and she's set with law school loans.

Isn't this guy the grand wizard of the Klan or something? How'd he manage to pull Black Barbie?

Olivia gripped the chair tighter, the air slipping out of her lungs. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. She was going to be sick.

In seconds both Harrison and Edison were helping her to the couch with Harrison reaching for the remote to turn off the TV. Olivia's phone buzzed hard against the kitchen table and as soon as she hit the couch, she curled into a ball, unable to stop the tears.

"Olive."

"Olivia."

"I didn't – he made me. I didn't. I'm not – we're not." She couldn't breathe, all she could do was close her eyes and cry.

The narrative had been set and now her uphill battle had turned into a mountain climb.