Happy 2020 Everyone! Here is another chapter and this one is on the long side. Do not own Scandal or its characters. Please excuse any typos. Happy Reading, and as always reviews are appreciated.

Night of Election Day. . .

Fitz has his politician smile on his face but his mind is elsewhere, as he sat in a hotel suite for his election night viewing party. The room was filled with his top White House staff, election campaign team, his children, and a handful of reporters.

The reporters were constantly taking pictures of him, capturing the moments leading up to whether Fitz would be re-elected or the moment he would be a one-term president.

Fitz scanned the room for the one person he needed to see at that moment, but he couldn't seem to find Olivia. He saw Karen and Gerry being typical teenagers, both distracted by their phones. Lily was sitting with Ella, giggling and enjoying cookies, Fitz suspect was from his special table of desserts.

He sighed as he stood and walked over to Abby, who had a phone to her ear in one hand and an iPad in the other. "Abby, have you seen Liv?"

Abby looked around and noticed Olivia was not in the suite. She found this odd that Olivia would not be present for such an important moment in the campaign but she did not want to worry the President either. "No . . . but I'm sure she is on her way here . . . the map is quickly filling up . . . it's going to come down to the wire and there is no way Olivia would miss this . . . I'm sure she will be here any moment now."

Fitz looked at the large flat-screen television in the room. Edison blue only covered 2 states in the northeast, he was ruled out of winning before the votes were in for the Midwest part of the country. The rest of the map was covered in red for Fitz and yellow for Sally. It seemed like they were going back and forth winning states, as the votes began to be called for states in the West. At that moment he felt anxiety build in his body and he found it hard to breathe. "I need to find Olivia." He whispered to Abby.

Despite all the eyes on him, he began to walk through the large suite and out the door in search of Olivia.

As Fitz began to move, so did his detail of secret service agents. This set off a chain reaction where the reporters began to follow, then his staffers, and his children.

Fitz smiled when he heard Olivia's voice coming from a room down the hall. Tom stepped forward and opened the door, having keys for all the doors on this floor, since Fitz brought out the penthouse top floor and the one below it.

Fitz saw Oliva pacing the living room of the suite. A map of the United States was spread across a blank wall with red, blue, and yellow pins on it. Fitz chuckled. "please don't tell me you created a temporary strategy room in the hotel?"

Olivia smirked ."I might have . . . I just needed a better view of some states . . . I was on my way to the viewing suite . . . but Arizona . . . Arizona should not be this close based on the polls of these counties." She stood there in a navy blue sheath dress that hugged her curvy body, with her shoes sitting near the couch as she paced barefoot around the sizable suite.

Fitz shook his head "we agreed . . . no strategy rooms in the hotel . . . we would let the chips fall where they fall . . . at this point, we have done all we can to convince the American people I am the best person for the job and if they disagree then I'm a one-term President." Fitz wanted to win, having so much more he wanted to accomplish, but he had made peace with losing this election, he was a long shot the first time around and an even longer shot this time around being an admitted adulterer divorcee who fathered a child outside his marriage while a sitting President.

Olivia nodded her head. "I know . . . it's just Fitz we are so close . . . a handful of counties hold the faith of this election . . . just a handful." Olivia shook her head breaking her own fixer rules, she went against rational numbers and invested in hope. Fitz had gained a lot of ground the last few weeks of the election cycle, but he still consistently ran behind Sally. Mathematically there were few paths for Fitz to win, but Olivia could not let herself accept defeat when she believed with all her fiber that Fitz was meant to have 8 years to show he is one of the greatest presidents of all times.

Fitz nodded his head. "I know win or lose . . . I love you." He whispered to Olivia as the CNN announcer announced another state for Sally Langston. Fitz's heart began to beat fast. Fitz and Olivia had discussed plan B, if he was not re-elected, they would start their lives together in Vermont, sell award-winning jam, and live happily ever after. He was excited about the prospect of finally loving Olivia publicly, away from the press and outside the fishbowl of politics. However, a big part of him felt like his work was unfinished in Washington D.C. and he yearn for more time as President.

Unbeknownst to either Fitz and Olivia the entire viewing party had filed into the suite they were currently in and were watching the two of them interact. Their private moment was no longer private as reporters were clicking photos of them without flash and broadcasting video.

The CNN announcer announced California was going for Grant.

Olivia bit her lip nervously, as Fitz reached out and slid his hand into hers. Olivia turned to him and whispered so he could only hear. "win or lose . . . I love you too."

The CNN announcer called the last few states and announced. "President Fitzgerald Grant III is the presumptive winner of this election with Arizona and Nevada going for the president."

Everyone in the suite cheered and began to hug each other. Even the reporters present cheered wanting Fitz to win despite having to be impartial.

Caught up in his emotions. Fitz leaned in and passionately kissed Olivia on the lips.

Olivia did not pull away, embracing the kiss fully as it seemed like everyone in the room disappeared and it was just the two of them sharing this moment.

Reporters flashed their cameras and took video capturing this moment and several began to shout for comment about this kiss.

Secret service agents pushed the reporters out of the room, but they continued to bang on the door of the suite once pushed outside of the room.

Despite all this happening, Fitz and Olivia were so lock in their kissing neither of them realized anything was happening around them. Olivia snapped out of the making out session when she felt the small hand of a child on her leg and the distress sound of Lily's voice muttering "Mommy." As a mother, you could tell something was wrong by just the tone of a child saying mommy. She immediately pulled away from Fitz's lips and turned to her daughter to see what was wrong. She lifted Lily into her arms and rubbed her back "Aww sweetie what's wrong."

Lily looked at her with big eyes as her lips and cheeks looked slightly swollen. "mommy . . . my tummy hurts." she held up a cookie in her hand.

Olivia's eyes narrowed as she looked at the half-eaten giant cookie in her daughter's hand. It oddly appeared to have two different colored chocolate chips inside, one a normal brown coloring and the other almost looked pink. "Sweetie will you bring that cookie to mommy's nose."

Lily looked confused but does as she requested, bring the cookie to Olivia's nose.

Fitz looked on confused by this entire interaction involving this cookie as he loosens his tie feeling his throat closing up a little. His face began to turn red and he was finding it hard to breathe for some odd reason.

Olivia's eyes widen as she smelled the cookie. "Back up Fitz . . . . Tom took the president to the other side of the room."

Fitz looked even more confused and does not move at first, as his agents push him to the side of the room. "What is it Livvie?" He said as he looked at her from the other side of the room.

Olivia muttered. "Strawberries . . .. this cookie has strawberries in it." Lily was allergic to strawberries but Fitz was extremely allergic, an allergy only a handful of people knew about.

Huck immediately came over and pulled out a plastic sanitary bag out his back pocket.

Quinn shook her head. "why am I not surprise you walk around with plastic bags."

Huck smirked. "never hurts to be prepared for all situations." He took out plastic gloves and place them on, before grabbing the cookie and smelling it too. "Yup definitely strawberries . . . I'll go to the viewing room, and gather all the cookies near Fitz's table, where I saw her take cookies from." With the help of several secret service agents, Huck managed to make it past the crowd of reporters, several more members of the press now present in the hall outside the suite after the photos and video leak of Fitz and Olivia kissing.

Olivia softly rubbed Lily's back. "its ok my sweet girl . . . it's going to be okay." Oliva tried her hardest to keep her little one calm, despite everything that was going on in her head about this attempt on Fitz's life. "I need to get her back to the family suite . . . call the White House doctor to meet us there."

Abby nodded her head. "On the phone with him now, he will be waiting for you in the room when you arrive."

Fitz tried to walk forward but is stopped by his agents for his safety.

Olivia shook her head. "No, Fitz . . . you need to go address the American people . . . I got this handled."

Fitz shook his head. "No I'm coming with you to make sure our daughter is okay . . . she is more important than a speech . . . I'm coming with you."

Olivia shook her head. "Outside the fact that standing near her right now is probably causing that red rash on your neck and your shortness of breath . . . you need to address the American people . . . you have people who stood in the pouring rain to vote for you today . . . you had people in Michigan that trucked through several feet of snow to vote for you . . . you aren't leaving those people hanging . . . you need to thank those people . . . Lily will be fine and waiting for you when you have done what you have to do as President."

Lily lifted her head off Olivia's shoulder. "It's okay Daddy . . . . the American people need to hear your speech and remember to say hello to me . . . okay." she smiled slightly even though her tummy was burning.

Fitz sighed knowing he was not going win this battle. "Ok, Tom make sure they get to the family suite with no problem, and quickly so she can get medical attention."

Tom nodded his head assigning several of his most trusted agents to go with Olivia and Lily. He removed his suit jacket, came over to Olivia and Lily, and placed it over Lily's head so those noisy reporters would not get any photos of her swollen face.

Lily smiled. "Thanks, Uncle T."

The corners of Tom's mouth turned up slightly as he rubbed the little one's back.

Olivia and Lily walked out of the room surrounded by agents that kept the reporters off the pair. They quickly made it to the family suite where the doctor was waiting for them.

Once they left Fitz turned to Tom. "How in the hell did someone get strawberry laced chocolate chip cookies in my private platter of food . . . who was on detail?"

Tom sighed as he pulled out his phone and immediately pulled up the names of the guys who were responsible for securing the room and he went through the entire chain of people before coming to Ryan, an agent with over 20 years of experience, who has served 2 presidents, and who had a spotless record.

Ryan nervously admitted he left his post only for a few minutes to take a phone call about his aligning wife, it turned out to be a false alarm.

Tom sighed. "I'm sorry Ryan but your lapse of judgment put the President at risk and caused harmed to the first daughter, I'm relieving you of your duties . . . give me your White House credentials."

Ryan looked shocked. "Tom . . . come on man . . . it was a mistake . . . in all the years I have worked for you . . . you know I need this job . . . my wife is going through cancer . . . you cannot do this to me."

Tom shook his head. "I'm sorry for the issues in your personal life but the procedure is the procedure . . . one mistake is one too many in this line of work." He held out his hand for Ryan's White House credentials.

Ryan hung his head and handed it to Tom as he turned to leave the room.

Fitz felt bad for Ryan but his firing was required and he would never go against Tom's decision when it came to staffing. He sighed. "We need to pull another guy up to take his place, so I can go out there, make this speech, and get back to my daughter."

Tom nodded and pulled out his phone. "The next ranking agent to be pulled up in Hal . . . I know you had your issues with him but for tonight he will have to be pulled up so we have enough agents to secure you while on stage."

Fitz nodded his head. "Hal . . . is fine with me . . . I had no problem with him really . . . it was just his loyalty to my ex-wife . . . but since his demotion and her exile from the White House . . . has he been a problem or caused concern with his work?"

Tom shook his head. "No he took his new position with no problem and his duties have been performed with the highest of standards."

Fitz redid his tie feeling like he could breathe again without a struggle. "Then he can be placed back on my detail . . . for now at least."

Tom radioed for Hal to make his way to the suite from the secondary detail of White House Staff.

About 30 minutes later back in the viewing suite . . .

Fitz settled in his black professional looking chair in the viewing room suite, as reporters repeated shouted questions about the kiss that just happen between Fitz and Olivia and took several photos of Fitz sitting in the chair. Several agents ushered them a distance away from Fitz, so he could have his "private" conversations with the candidates that just lost. He took out his phone out and it began to ring during the prescheduled time for Edison Davis.

Fitz kept an emotionless face as he went through the process of having these inauthentic calls with people who just lost an election. It was customary for the other candidate in the race to call the winner, concede that they lost and offer their congratulations. Fitz always found this process to be cruel in some respect because you are dealing with losing an election you put your blood, sweat, tears in and now you have to essentially kiss the ring of the winner. He often kept these phones calls short to spare the other person's feelings.

Fitz put on his political smiles. "Hello Edison . . . it's so nice to hear from you." Fitz tried to keep his tone light.

Edison, on the other hand, was not in the mood to seem cheerful about losing. He was destroyed today only winning two small states in the New England region of the country and has spent the last 20 minutes watching his ex-girlfriend make out with the president on loop on every major news channel. He muttered. "Looks let's not pretend you are happy to hear from me nor am I happy to have to be making this phone call."

Fitz dropped his smile and was slightly threw by Edison's tone. He and Edson were not incredibility close given their shared romantic connection to the same woman, but Edison has always exercised the highest level of professional demeanor. His tone at this moment was the opposite of that. Fitz gathered himself and muttered. "ok we can make this short than, you campaigned hard and was a strong candidate for this position, I look forward to working with you as a member of Congress."

Edison let out a laugh. "who wrote that . . . Olivia . . . no, she is more sophisticated with her wordplay . . . campaigned hard . . . strong candidate . . . I won less than a handful of electoral votes . . . I had no chance of winning today but it's fine . . . I lost this race long before November . . . so let's skip the pleasantries . . . I concede I lost to an entitled womanizer who only won this race because he had Olivia Pope in his corner."

Fitz shook his head but keep his face calm and emotionless with the on-looking of a dozen reporters. "Look, Senator Davis . . . I know today is hard and this loss is fresh for you . . . but I don't think you need to throw personal jabs at me . . . you worked hard, Sally worked hard, and I worked hard . . . but at the end of the day, only one person could win this election . . . and the American people have chosen me to represent this country for the next four years . . . there is no shame in losing when you put your all into a campaign . . . and you should use this experience as a learning experience for maybe a future run. "

Edison cleared his throat. "The American People did not choose you because you are the best person for the position . . . You won today because Olivia Pope ran your campaign and she is the best in the business ."

Edison paused for a minute before he began to speak again. "Let's be honest the American people were not going to election me, a black man, or Sally, a woman, to the highest position in this country without being absolutely perfect . . . Yes, I'm well educated with degrees from some of the best universities in this country, Yes I'm experienced . . . serving as a member of the Senate for years . . . but I don't check the picture-perfect family box . . . I don't have a black woman on my arms who is equally educated and likable . . . and I don't have adorable children who the youth of the American can relate too and parents can marvel at . . . nor the cute dog to run around the rose garden for photo opts . . . if a black man is to ever be elected in this country to be president, he has to check all the box with perfection, that is the sad reality."

Edison took another pause before he really began to speak his mind. "You as a white man don't have to be perfect . . . you can be flawed . . . you can openly cheat on your wife . . . you get a pass . . . you can and still apparently engage in a public affair with Olivia . . . you get a pass . . . you can have a bi-racial child outside your marriage . . . you get a pass . . . a nasty public divorce . . . and still, get a pass . . . but as a black man and Sally, as a woman, we don't get such deference . . . that is just the reality we have in this country, different people are held to different standards . . . I have to be twice good to be on par with you and four times better to surpass you."

Fitz listened intently to what Edison was saying and did not disagree. He had accepted a long time ago that as a wealthy white man in this country he was given certain privileges and allowances. He was committed to use this privilege to make tangible and meaningful changes in this world, that is why he wanted to be President. His father pushed him into politics but that did not change his great desire to contribute to society. "I cannot pretend to understand what it is like to be a black man or a woman in this country . . . nor will I pretend I am not given certain privileges as a white man . . . but that does not take away from the fact . .. I have a vision for this country and hope you will continue to strive to work alongside me as a member of Congress to bring that vision to fruition . . . yes, you lost today but this should not deter you from future aspirations in politics . . . you are a great politician Senator Davis."

Edison clapped his hands. "For a moment there, I thought you actually got it, but then you switch right into good politician rehearsed statements . . . deterred future aspirations . . . I'm not deterred . . . but I have accepted reality . . . a black man will be president one day in this country . . . it's just will not going to be me . . . the black man to make it to the mountain top will check all the boxes and be as perfect as one can be and he will render a campaign that is equally perfect with a catchy catchphrase . . . heck and Olivia will probably be working her magic in the background . . . I concede I have lost this election and I congratulate you, President Fitzgerald Grant III on your re-election ."

The line goes died as Edison hung up on his end.

Fitz put on his politician smiles as he waved at the reporters, who clicked photos of him on the other side of the room. He thought his call with Sally would be the tough one, he didn't realize he would get a tongue lashing from Edison. Fitz was not looking forward to his call with Sally if it was even a tenth of the call he just experienced.

A Hour later . . .

Fitz looked down at his watch and noticed it was a full 30 minutes after the prearranged call he was supposed to have with Sally. He shook his head as he walked over to Abby, Cyrus, and Leo. "Guys . . . what's going on here . . . Sally was supposed to call over 30 minutes ago . . . heck Edison had already given his concession speech on television and she had not called me . . . this is unacceptable, she is preventing me from getting this over so I can be with Lily."

Cyrus sighed "I know Mr. President . . . its frustration but let's just give her a little more time . . . we don't want to make this into an unnecessary scandal."

Fitz looked at the three of them and he could tell they are holding something back from him. "No . . . what on earth is going on . . . tell me right now . . . Abby?" He turned to his red-haired Press Secretary, knowing of the three she was the one who would not hold back information from him.

Abby shook her head. "Fitz she is refusing to do the call, we have been going back and forth with her team for the last 30 minutes with no progress ."

Leo sighed. "Abby . . . he didn't need to know this . . . we have this handled . . . Olivia left me in charge, in her absence and I will get her to call you Mr. President . . . I promise."

Fitz shook his head. "No, you have had the last hour to do that . . . I will handle this . . . I am sick and tired of playing these minds games with Sally Langston . . . she attacked my oldest daughter a few weeks ago and now she is preventing me from being with my youngest daughter while she is dealing with an allergic reaction . . . gloves are coming off . . . get me a phone number for Sally Langston."

Cyrus shook his head "Sir . . . it's against custom for the winner to call the losing candidate in a presidential election . . . let's just give her a little more time."

Fitz closed his eyes for a second and shook his head. "No, I have given her enough of my time and energy . . . . screw tradition . . . no one thought a divorced dad of three would be re-elected . . . but I was . . . I stop being a 'traditional' president a long time ago . . . get me that number."

All three of three them got on their respective phones and within minutes Leo was handing Fitz Sally'cell phone number.

Fitz took a deep breath and began to dial it. His first attempted call, it rung six times before it went to voicemail. The second attempted call, a couple of minutes later, it only rang twice before it was sent to voicemail.

Fitz shook his head. "Abby give me your phone . . . she really thinks ignoring my phone call will stop me." This time however instead of standing with Abby, Cyrus, and Leo in the corner of the suite, Fitz walked over closer to the herd of reporters. He intentionally spoke out loud. "Oh, it's time to have my call with former Vice President Sally Langston." He smiled as he saw he was now being videotaped and this was being broadcasted on several major networks simultaneously. Fitz knew Sally would ignore his private call, but she wouldn't dare allow him to make her look bad to the public.

He called her for the third time and she picks up seeing it was not a White House cellphone number. "Sally . . . it's so nice to hear from you, I'm here with several members of the press in my election suite . . . you can probably see me on your television right now." He shined his boyish smile and waved at the several cameras. He pressed a button on his phone and made the call go on speaker.

Sally huffed silently knowing she could not hang up on him or say what she wanted to say to him with the millions of American people watching him and listening to their conversation at this moment. "Well Fitzgerald . . . It has just been such a crazy and amazing night . . . I would like to apologize for my tardiness in making this call . . . we should really have this call in private as its custom to do."

Fitz smiled. "Oh, Sally . . . I would love to have a private conversation with you . . . I have been waiting for what seems like hours to do so." He jokingly said as he chuckled. "I am a man of tradition and great customs . . . we can indeed have a private conversation." Fitz turned to members of the press and kept Sally on speaker so she could hear him saying "Guy I must take this in private out respect for my fellow candidate and her hard work . . . but I will be just over there within view of you guys." He intentioned said that so Sally would know If she tried to hang up on him or employ any other delay technique he would make sure she is destroyed in the press.

Fitz took the phone off speaker and sat back in the black chair he sat in earlier for his Edison Davis's call. "Now Sally why was it so hard to have a simple concession and congratulation phone call with you . . . we are both well educated . . . professional . . . experienced politicians . . . I should not have to engage in his horse and pony show to get this done . . . I had hope you had more respect for me."

Sally let out a huff. "Well, Fitzgerald I have no problem being the professional experience educated politician I am and would have offered a concession phone call a long time ago if I was conceding . . . You see President Grant . . . if you won this election fairly, I would have no problem stepping aside and accepting defeat . . . I did four years ago . . . but this time is different . . . there is no way you could have won this election legitimately . . . which leads me to believe that there was so trickery involved . . . so as we speak I have my team raising every claim I have at my deposal including ballet tampering, voter suppression, election fraud, deceptive election campaigning, bribery . . . so I conceded nothing and we will turn over every stone to show, I should be the next President of the United States."

Fitz began to chuckle. "Sally why don't you throw in first-degree murder too . . . you have thrown out every other criminal act I could do, why not add that one in . . . Sally this phone call is a courtesy . . . me doing the charitable thing and offering my congrats to a hard-fought race . . . please don't confuse my charitable heart with an obligation . . . I don't owe you anything . . . I fought hard to come out a horrible marriage, rebuild my life and to create a campaign that I am proud of . . . the American people have chosen me to represent them for the next 4 years . . . I don't need your concession or congratulation . . . I just wanted to put you on notice I will be giving my victory speech at midnight . . . not 12:01 or 12:15 . . . midnight . . . I will be on that stage . . . whether you give your concession speech or not."

Sally was shocked by Fitz tone and his take-charge energy. She has always seen him as the guy that was led by others . . . his father, Cyrus, Mellie, Olivia . . . she never took him as the guy who was in the driver seat. "Well I will not be conceding anything and you would not dare give your speech without me giving mines first . . . even someone like you with little morals . . . has some respect for tradition."

Fitz did not offer a rebuttal and just muttered. "Midnight Sally." He hung up the phone and looked content. He was not allowing anyone to keep him from his daughter any longer.

Sally's Campaign Suite A Hour Later around 11:45 pm . . .

Sally had her staff raise the claims she listed to Fitz and even tweet out her opinion that the election result are not legitimate. She began to get desperate as the time inched closer to midnight and she had no indication Fitz was backing down from his threats. She ran and locked herself in the bathroom of the suite.

Lizzy North began to bang on the door. "Come on Sally . . . we have tried everything possible, we have to accept the results for now."

Sally downed a swallow of whiskey straight from the bottle. "I will not accept these results . . . I did everything . . . everything . . . and he still won . . . it is not possible the American people choose that overgrown man-child over me."

Lizzy's hands were raw from banging on the door, so she had a sit on the floor near the door. "Look Sally life isn't fair sometimes . . . sometimes the most qualified person doesn't win . . . but you have an opportunity to save your political reputation . . . who knows maybe you can turn this speech into an opportunity to create a shift in your career . . . you always said you wanted a talk show like Oprah . . . a political version of Oprah that is . . . maybe something like "the Federal Reports."

Sally drunkenly muttered. "No . . . not the Federal Reports . . . that sounds dumb . . . something like . . . 'the Liberty Report' . . . that is more classy . . . and dignified ." She shook her head. "dreams of a talk show does not take away the pain of not winning today . . . what more did I need to do to become President Lizzy . . . what more." Sally began to become undone as she thought about all the lost time and energy she spent trying to obtain her ultimate goal of becoming present. The embarrassment of losing yet again to Fitzgerald Grant III was too much for Sally to handle at this moment.

Lizzy is about to offer words of comfort when an election staffer came running towards her. The staffer ran so fast, she was out of breath and muttered barely audible. "The . . . The . . . President . . . is heading . . . . to . . . to . . . the stage . . . he is going to give his speech."

Sally opened the door with her massacre running down her face from shedding a few tears. "What do you mean he is going to the stage . . . son of a bit . . . "

Elizabeth cut her off and muttered. "Sally . . . we have to get you to a stage . . . if he delivers his speech before you . . . on one will care what you say."

Sally nodded. "You are right . . . he may have stolen the presidency from me . . . but he will not steal my moment to address the American people." Sally removed her shoes and made a dash for an area not fully setup by her team to give her speech.

Meanwhile on the side of the Fitzgerald Grant's victory stage at 11:57 pm . . .

A makeup artist was patting Fitz's face with powder getting him stage-ready.

Cyrus stood next to him. "Fitz . . . we should give her 15 more minutes . . . my sources say Sally is making her way to the stage as we speak . . . throw the old gal a bone."

Fitz didn't move his face since the makeup artist was working on it but he did move his eyes in Cyrus direction. "No . . . she had the entire night to give her speech . . . I will be on stage by midnight . . . no exception."

Abby walked over "Sally is addressing the American public . . . of course she is not conceding anything, just talking around it."

Cyrus threw his hand up "See . . . we should hold off and allow her to deliver her speech . . . I'm sure Olivia would agree with me if she was here."

Fitz smirked. "I think you would be wrong on that accord." He held up his phone as he was Facetiming with Olivia for the last 30 minutes.

Olivia's face is on the screen. "Fitz should deliver his speech at the time he said he would . . . he needs to show he is a man of his word."

Cyrus shook his head. "Why do I even try" He walked away.

Fitz began to make his way to the stage.

CNN studio at 12:01pm . . . .

Anderson Cooper came on the screen and muttered. "I'm sorry folk but I need to interrupt our coverage of former Vice President Sally Langston's address to bring you coverage of President Fitzgerald Grant's victory speech."

Fitz stood at the podium wearing a tailored dark grey suit with a striped red and grey tie. Karen and Gerry and his top campaign staff were on the side of the stage to show support.

Fitz's baritone voice came streaming through the microphone. "I want to thank every American who participated in this election cycle . . . from the people who came out in the pouring rain . . . to the people who made the trip through several feet of snow . . . to the first time voters who registered and wanted their voices to be heard . . . I am humbled and thankful for the support across the 50 states.

There was applause from the over 100,000 people that were present in the crowd.

Fitz smiled slightly. "I have spoken with Senator Davis and Former Vice President Sally Langston earlier tonight. We all worked hard to bring our visions of the future to the American people. I plan to continue to champion many of the policies and causes raised in their respective campaigns. I may have not gotten their supporters votes today, but I hope to win their supporters' confidence that I will not turn my back on their needs and the needs of all Americans . . . there are no Blue States . . . . or Red States . . . or Yellow States . . . there is just the United States of America"

The crowd again began to cheer loudly.

Fitz looked over to the side of the stage. "I would like to thank my new Vice President Manny Rodriguez who has been a huge support during this election cycle, you have campaign from your heart and with great conviction and you will show that members of the Latinx community, they too can achieve anything they want with hard work and dedication. I look forward to working alongside you in the White House. "

Fitz smiled showing teeth. "To the loves of my life . . . my children . . . we have been through quite the journey together but you three are the reason I strive to create a better America . . . you constantly inspire me . . . you challenge me to be a better father . . . I thank you, Gerry, Karen, and Lily. My youngest had a tummy ache and is probably watching me on television right now . . . hey Lily . . . I love you and will be there soon to hold you in my arms." He chuckled ."if she was here . . . I'm quite certain she would be telling me she could give a better speech."

The crowd erupted in laughter.

Fitz nodded his head. "To my campaign staff and the many volunteers across the country . . . you guys are the best and have become family to me . . . I would not be standing here or in the White House another 4 years without your hard work, skills, heart, and sacrifices. Special thanks to my campaign managers Leo Bergan and Olivia Pope. " He intentionally did not give much fan-fare to his mention of Olivia, in their brief facetime conversation she made it clear she did not want a public decoration of love and they needed to figure out the implication of their kiss seen around the world together.

I'm going to keep this short because I want to get back to my Lily and fight that mean tummy ache monster . . . I want to thank every single American around this amazing country . . . I look forward to making health care more affordable . . . I look forward to ensuring every child in this country is afforded a quality education . . . I look forward to being a champ against the environmental crisis we have in this country . . . I have cut the national debt by a third, I'm looking forward to cutting it more . . . I look forward to bring more of our troops home safe . . . most of all I look forward to being your President another 4 years with God's grace. God bless these America.

Fitz waved and took some photos with his children on stage before they were ushered away. He was with Olivia and Lily within an hour and held asleep Lily in his arm. Olivia and Fitz decided to have the hard talk about their relationship another night, tonight they wanted to cuddle in silence reflecting of his win.

Empty parking lot of a Pentagon area mall . . .

Hal dropped his half-smoked cigarette into the ground and stepped his foot on it. His phone began to ring. "I know . . . I know he is still alive . . . let's not look at this as a screw-up . . . strawberry lace cookies would not have taken him down anyway . . . they would have just pumped his stomach immediately . . . this hiccup is working to our advantage . . . I'm back on his primary detail, which will give me close contact with the President and will strike when the time is right."

Recaps:

- Fitz cannot find Olivia anywhere and the result were about to be read.

- He found her pacing in another room and despite both of them not confident he would win, they promise to be together regardless of the results

- Fitz wins, Fitz win in a narrow victory!

- Fitz and Olivia share a kiss seen by many (I wonder how the public would react to this?)

- Lily eats a strawberry lace cookie meant for Fitz and got sick (Poor baby)

- A good secret service agent get fired and a bad one get promoted

- Edison has a talk about the reality of being black in politics with Fitz (haha I was channel Papa Pope from the show for this call)

- Sally was a sour loser and refuse to concede or give her speech

- Fitz was done with her mind games, he had a sick little girl to get to, so he gave his speech at midnight

- Hal has a mysterious call (I wonder who he was talking too?)

Preview:

In the next chapter it will be the lead up to the inauguration and the inauguration. Our favorite couple will have a fight (you were warn, so don't hate me), there will be a Lily and Fitz moment, I will introduce bloggers called (the Olitzers), and someone unexpected will show up.

As always reviews are appreciated, suggestions are welcomed, but overly negative comments meant to be mean will be deleted. I'm not a professional writer and I try my best with each chapter I produce of this story.