He leaned his head back against the seat and shut his eyes. He couldn't feel anymore alone if he tried. In his mind he played over his last meeting with Liv. He wishes he could go back and erase those words. He remembers practicing the speech over and over so that he wouldn't stumble or falter, so that he wouldn't change his mind once he was in front of her. He needed to be strong. He knew he needed to let her go. He didn't want to keep causing her pain. He didn't want to keep hurting her. He didn't want to see that look in her eye every time he was in her presence. He knew he would hurt like hell once he said it.

He admits that he hoped she would have stopped him, cut him off and professed that she did not want things to end, but she had sat there speechless in front of him. He didn't have it in him to find out what she was feeling. He just knew he had needed to leave that place as soon as possible, as soon as he got the words out. He wanted to bury the anguish that threatened to choke him.

Once again he was all alone. How it was before Liv had come into his life, but not. It was different from before, because now he knew what it truly meant to feel love for someone, an all-consuming passion that could not be put out. Not only was he alone again, but he would have to suppress that love, try to hide it away as if it never existed and it pained him. He moved restlessly in his seat as he could feel the tears gather in his eyes as he thought about not being able to be with her. He knew he had done the right thing by giving her her freedom. He knew he couldn't continue to be selfish, but it hurt so bad to be without her. He could already feel the empty space her absence was creating and it had only been hours since he'd left her.

He'd done it before and he could do it again. Put on the mask that he showed the world, pretend that he wasn't in pain, that he felt whole. Play his part in this masquerade he called his life and push through it as he always did. Mellie had said it during one of her rants that life wasn't fair and boy did he know it. He's known it all his life, because he always had to be the guy that did the right thing for the greater good and look what it had cost him. He sighed as a single tear slipped down his cheek. He wiped it away as he kept his eyes closed.

He wasn't in a place where he could breakdown. He needed to prepare himself mentally for the G8 Summit. He could feel the tears threaten to spill over, but he couldn't allow that. Once he gave over to the emotion he may not be able to stop. He was the leader of the free world, he had to keep it together. Wasn't that what everyone wanted? For him to be this magnificent leader, almost inhuman that put everything else before his own wants and desires, his own needs.

Yes, just like he would now have to suppress his love for Liv, he now had to put his emotions in a box and choose to feel nothing, to be numb to the heartache that could invariably bring him to his knees. To finally just accept this life that had been forced on him and to carry on. He willed himself to fall asleep, praying that he wouldn't dream of her, his sweet baby, and torment himself even further.

Oh my God! What had she done. She lay in bed still reeling from her meeting with Fitz. It had taken everything in her to hold it together through everything she still had to do after her meeting with Fitz. Once she had finally reached the sanctity of her apartment the dam had broken and all the pent up emotion and grief had poured out of her.

Verna had been right. She had never really expected him to let her go. Not that she ever thought of any of this as a game. It had just been their way for so long, to be in this tug-of-war that was their relationship. With him uttering those words it was as if the cord that had once connected them had been cut and it hurt her heart to think about. She could see it in his eyes the resignation there as he said,

"We're done. I'm letting you go."

He'd grown tired of fighting for her and could she really blame him. She had pushed him away so many times despite what she knew was in her heart. She also knew he had given her an out when he had said,

"Right."

She had hesitated before responding because she knew, she could be selfish and tell him no, that they could still be together, still have their one minute, but the other half of her knew that she had to do what was right for the country. She had a moral obligation to see him be great. See him be one of the greatest presidents in history, even if it meant her happiness. He had given her what she wanted, what she asked him for. She just had never expected to get it.

She buried her face in her pillow as the loud sob threatened to choke her. Her throat was raw from crying and she could feel that her eyes were swollen and puffy. She had cried because of him before, but it had never been like this. Was he really gone, was it really over? It couldn't be. They had become such a part of each other. She was bereft at the thought of what she had lost: the feel of his body on hers, the way he looked at her, the way he said her name, but mostly that connection, that love that she couldn't even describe, but could feel every time he had looked into her eyes, but had been looking into her soul. He understood her better than anyone and she had just let him, no, made him finally walk away.

She was miserable and felt wretched. She knew Edison was slowly trying to creep back into her life and make them an us again, but she knew it would be a pale imitation of what she had shared with Fitz. No one would ever fill the void that he had left. She would never feel for someone what she felt for him. She would always be settling. Always looking into this other person's eyes and see him, see what their life could have been. She didn't want to go through life alone, but she didn't want to spend her life trapped like Fitz was in his marriage to Mellie. Suddenly, she began to laugh as the thought came into her mind of both her and Fitz trapped in loveless marriages pining for the other one. The absurdity of the whole situation was comical and then as she thought about how tragic it really was that that would more than likely become her life she began to cry in earnest. The laughter died away to be replaced by a wail that erupted from her throat once more. She was doomed to spend the rest of her life in love with a man that she could never have. Something broke in her even further realizing that she may never be the same again.