#olitz au

"I know." You would repeat back. It was just what you did to get her off your back.

Your college life was your favorite. Secret service wasn't allowed on campus for risk of other students. As soon as you stepped away from campus, you were back to your old life. This was your sanctuary, the people there could care less about your status. You all came for the same thing, whatever your parents signed you up for and party. It was the way life went on campus.

You aced exams so your parents wouldn't get suspicious. You even kept going to those after school sports they signed you up for. All this to make room for a cold beer after losing beer pong at the end of the night. Your day to day changed when you met Tyriq, the president's son. He was adored by many around him, it was just who he was.

His birth shocked the country since his mother was the president's mistress. That's what many on the outside saw anyway. The insiders knew that he loved that woman like no other. He showed it time and time again how he felt for his wife but Miss. Pope? Oh how he adored the powerful woman.

When you learned the story, you wanted a love like that but not in that way. It was silly but you believed in right person wrong time. Things happened and sometimes you could fix it and sometimes you couldn't. Fitzgerald and Pope showed that clearly. They didn't care how it looked as long as they were together.

Tyriq spent much of his time doing sports or hanging out with his friends but when he saw you? He liked to have died. You both were at another infamous campus party. This one was ran by a fraternity who decided to celebrate their founding day. When you pulled up with your homegirls, people were already passed out on the lawn from drinking. You didn't want to be them especially since the sprinklers automatically turn on in the middle of the night.

"They gon' be mad because there's an assignment due tonight." Leona stated with a shake of her head.

"They'll just cry to the professor like they always do and then get an 'A'." Verity said as she rolled her eyes at the mere thought of it.

"That's true because that's the senates son." Leona laughed as you followed with laughter of your own.

"Girl his daddy got him, trust." You assured them as you all walked along the grass. The party was bumping as per usual.

Verity froze before searching around like she was missing something. You and Leona started looking around too hoping to pick up on what she was doing. She stood up with narrowed eyes as her gaze scanned the area. Leona sucked her teeth before putting a hand on her hip. She knew Verity was on some bull.

"Alright now, I'm not bout to play with you." Leona stated, clearly becoming irritable.

"Y'all hear that?" Verity whispered as she ducked low. You both followed now concerned with what she was hearing.

"No? What's going on?" You asked just as worried.

"It's a shot." She laughed loudly as she practically galloped to the entrance. Her purse swinging on her arm.

Leona let out an annoyed noise. "Remind me to smack her 'fo we leave." You agreed as you both made it inside.

You walked up on her with a glare. "You make me sick, you know that?"

"Girl we here to relax before we have to go back to our mundane lives." She rolled her eyes at you before waving you off.

Verity was all about finding a way to take a load off. It was just how she was. What was the point of hard work if you couldn't enjoy life afterwards? She made sure it paid off and in this case it did because she got through the week. Today was about letting go.

"Verity, you make it sound like we living paycheck to paycheck." Leona said rolling her eyes. Verity glared at her.

"Girl we might as well be, hell. They just threw us in this mothafucka." She sassed as you snorted.

"Girl we are kids of powerful people." Leona reminded her but verity just waved her off. "Same thing."

The party was loud and as usual for a fraternity, packed. You could hear the constant hooting and hollering from all for corners of the house. You looked over to your left and saw some people leaned on walls trying to look cool. This wasn't the place, this wasn't high school anymore. The young adults were free to be themselves without their parents judgment.

"I don't know about y'all but I'm getting me a drink!" Verity squealed before shimmying to the kitchen.

You and Leona laughed at her before Leona dragged you along. "Alright now, I don't want nothing strong. We still gotta get home." You told Leona which she nodded.

"Live a little! It's Friday too. Besides Benny gonna come get us!" Verity smiled mischievously.

Your eyebrow raised as you eyed her. "Benny? Who would rather shit in his hands and clap before getting out his bed in the middle of the night?"

"He said he's cool with it since he'll be out tonight." She stuck her tongue out at you.

"We can always call a taxi." Leona whispered to you before handing you the drink.

The night was as good as a Friday night at a fraternity party could get. Verity was drunk and having a dance off in the main room. Leona went to go cheer her on while you sat by the pool with your feet in the water. The night air was cool and the stars were out—a perfect night. You took a deep breath in as you took in the sounds of the night.

"You usually alone?" A voice spoke through the quiet.

You opened your eyes and looked towards the direction of the voice. Tyriq emerged from around the sliding door. You snorted before resuming your relaxation. "You usually sneak up on folk?"

He put his hands up in defense. "Alright, I earned that one."

He sat next to you causing you to peek one eye open. He got nice and comfortable in the lawn chair before turning to you. You couldn't help but to laugh at him. He was not serious, he couldn't be. He laughed along with you but mostly with confusion etched on his face.

Your laughter quieted down before you eye him again. "What do you want, Tyriq?"

"I can't just talk to you?" He asked with a small laugh to follow.

"Typical one liner from a frat boy." You snorted as he rolled his eyes.

"But I'm on top of my classes and I'm not goofing around." He spoke in a matter of fact tone. You eye him once more not believing him at all.

"Okay I do goof off from time to time but overall I'm focused." You just scoffed and shook your head at him.

"Yeah okay." You teased before laying back on the lawn chair. His jaw dropped before he started going back and forth with you jokingly.

That night went on and on until you both couldn't go on anymore. What was an innocent conversation turned into his hands all over your curves. His deep voice whispering sweet nothings into your ear while your nails dug into his back. His hips snapping into yours repeatedly until you both came undone. However, it was an honest mistake.

The next morning you woke up in his dorm room, sun beaming into your skin. You blinked away the pain from the harsh rays only to find yourself tangled up in the president's son's arms. You couldn't believe you did something like that. It was the one thing you promised yourself you would never do. You lifted his arms off of you and rushed to find something of his to wear. You would be damned if you wore the same outfit out of here. You dressed yourself, snuck past the many passed out bodies in the house and out the door.

You got numerous calls and texts from your friends asking about you. Your roommate was worried about you and called even more than they did. When you finally made it home, you put the chain on the door and went to your room. Your body shivered at the thought of last night. His teeth sinking into you occasionally made you want to scream. You couldn't believe you let yourself fall into him like that. All you could do was try to forget him.

Which you did, you couldn't try hard enough with all the questions you were getting asked either. "Girl we tried to call you because Benny came through and he was ready to go." Leona explained, a hand on her left hip.

"Yeah he would not let us leave without you." Verity said with an eye roll.

"He was quick to leave me at a party." Leona sassed with a roll of her eyes.

Verity sucked her teeth at Leona. "That's because you adamant about leaving with your older cousin who had just came into town."

Leona shrugged her off, not wanting to hear the story. "So? Who was he?"

You could have nearly choked by how taken back you were. "Excuse me?"

"Girl please don't act prude with me right now." Leona sighed softly. Verity snorted before turning away from the group.

"There was no guy. I poured too heavy as usual and just took whatever empty room there was to lie down. I didn't realize I slept til the morning." You shrugged off the lie that slid out your mouth so easily.

Verity knew how you got when you were drunk, sleepy. You'd be hype one minute and drowsy the next. It was just how you were especially when you mixed the drinks yourself. "You taking a grown man's room and leaving him to sleep in the elements is killing me." Verity laughed through her hand.

"They were all sleeping everywhere. On the pool table, lawn chairs, hell even the steps had people on 'em." You rambled making Verity laugh harder.

"You should've took some pictures." Verity wheezed making Leona grimace.

"Alright now it's not that funny." Leona said scooting closer to you.

Your lie was one you had no choice but to keep. You didn't want anyone to know what happened that night. You just wanted to pretend it didn't happen but that was easier said than done. Tyriq isn't the type to just let things be when there's a signal they should be. That's what made him more like his father. That's what made him cling to you like no one's business.

3 Days Later...

"I'll take care of him. Consider it Handled."

"Huck."

"He shouldn't have broken into your place. You're trying so hard to get better. You are getting better every day. You're learning how to be happy again and he wants to ruin it. He wants to drag you back down into the Dark because that's the only way that you let him be with you. Even if B613 and Rowan aren't a part of his life anymore, he won't ever leave you alone so someone needs to make him go away for good. I can do it. I'll be okay after, I promise."

"You're getting better, too and I don't want Jake to ruin your progress. He's not worth it."

"But you are. Besides, if I don't take him down, Quinn will after I tell her what happened. Charlie will help her get rid of him because he wants her to be happy and he really likes you. Marcus will run interference if anyone asks where he is and Abby still has her gun so..."

"Huck, don't do it. Please?"

"Ballard hurt you before. He put his hands on you and made you feel scared. He made you feel dirty and wrong. We all let him hurt you before and it wasn't right. It wasn't fair to you. We're supposed to be Gladiators. We're supposed to be a family. Family protects family. Always."

"I didn't protect my family when it counted most. I ran away."

"We forgave you and if Harrison was still here, he would've, too. He loved you. We love you."

"...I know."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. Try not to do it. You all can go talk to him but just...try. For me?"

"...okay."

Olivia sighed softly and tossed her phone into the duffel bag next to her. The breeze was refreshing against her skin and she closed her eyes, already feeling tears sliding down her face. After what happened with Jake, she had booked an emergency session with her therapist. Linda Marbury had seen her first thing and she had taken the rest of the day off afterwards. During that off day, she had given her apartment a deep clean, both to calm down and to check for surveillance equipment. Jake said that he had left nothing behind but she would be a fool to take him at his word. She had found nothing but it didn't mean that she wasn't being watched.

Local news had brought up the fact that she was in counseling but she had been prepared. There was no shame in admitting that one needed help. With how stressful life could be, especially in Washington, getting help and support was crucial. Mental health was just as important as physical health, if not more important. After all, if one's mind wasn't right, then the rest of the body wouldn't be either.

The statement, along with substantial donations to local outreach programs, had quickly turned the narrative around in her favor. Olivia was a Fixer. She was the best in the business for a reason and it was nice to remember that she deserved help, too.

Opening her eyes, she looked at the couch. It was waiting near the quarry's small lake, looking both huge and small. She had been meaning to get rid of it since her abduction but she hadn't the time or the strength. But now that she was healing, truly healing, getting rid of it was just as important as taking her medicine on time and removing the toxic people from her life.

She had blocked Mellie's numbers. She had also put a strict policy in place for keeping her or her representatives out of OPA. True to Fitz's warning, a series of voicemails had been left by the embittered woman, dripping with alcohol laced venom. She had Huck save each one of them, added them to the black Kill Folder, and moved on with her life. Mellie losing her Election wasn't Olivia's fault. It wasn't Fitz's fault. It wasn't Cyrus' fault or the American People's. The loss was no one's fault but Mellie's. She didn't want to wait and build her brand. She didn't want to put the work in that her opponent had. She had felt entitled to Power and rightfully got a wake-up call.

Olivia had taken to letting Cyrus go to voicemail, too. Unless it was about Ella's wellbeing, she wouldn't take his calls. He was looking for her to get back into Kingmaking. He was looking for her to be The White House's personal Fixer again and Olivia wasn't interested. She wasn't interested in being called 'The Help' ever again. If Fitz needed her, then he could and would call her himself so Cyrus couldn't use that avenue to get her anymore. She wouldn't let him.

Just because he wasn't actively interfering with her life anymore didn't mean that he was trusted. Trusting Cyrus Beene would be just as foolish as trusting Jake. She was a lot of things but foolish? Not anymore. If she was really going to heal, she had to be firm. She had to be brave. Having support from her friends and Fitz was excellent but at the end of the day, it was up to her.

Reaching down to the large speaker, she turned the volume all the way up. Fighting back bile, Olivia lowered the needle to the record player and waited.

After a couple scratches, the music began.

Yeah, everybody's got a thing But some don't know how to handle it Always reaching out in vain Just taking the things not worth having but

Don't you worry 'bout a thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama 'Cause I'll be standing on the side When you check it out, oh

They say your style of life's a drag And that you must go other places Just don't you feel too bad When you get fooled by smiling faces

Don't you worry bout a thing...

It needed to go.

The couch needed to go.

It was a constant reminder of what had happened to her, now. It was poison.

Yes, she and Fitz had their good moments on it. After hearing their first time on tape, he had held her for One Minute, comforting her and saying goodbye. When he came to her to run out the clock, the couch had been where he sat, looking at her with all the love in the world, all the trust in the world. She had fallen into his arms on the couch, letting herself be loved and letting go...

...but now? The couch had to go. The couch and the whole apartment, for that matter! Why was she still living there? Even before her abduction, there were so many bad times in the place, more than good. It had been a point of pride to stay put. Olivia had seen it as a sign of strength to stay but had it really been? It was something to think about. It was something to talk about, both with her therapist and her family. She had money. She had contacts. Finding a new place in or close to DC would be simple, even with the inherent hassle of moving.

She would have one less piece of furniture to deal with in the process.

Come on, everybody needs a change A chance to check out the new But you're the only one to sees The changes you take yourself through Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Don't you worry 'bout a thing, thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, thing...

After renting the truck and putting the couch inside, Olivia had driven to a small hardware store about 90 minutes away from DC. She had looked it up online, not wanting to deal with a large crowd. Not to mention that the sight of The Olivia Pope in a Home Depot or Lowe's would be instant Beltway gossip fuel. She didn't need that. She didn't deserve that. Over the years, she had become so protective of everyone else's privacy, everyone else's Reputation, that she had neglected herself. She had seen herself as a burden, as a Scandal, and it had led to some of the worst decisions she had ever made. That needed to change. Olivia needed to take control.

It was her life to live. It was her life to Fix so she could enjoy it again.

Don't you worry 'bout a thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama 'Cause I'll be standing on the side When you check it out When you get it off your trip Don't you worry 'bout a thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama...

The muscles in her body burned. Tears were falling and her body was shaking but with each blow of the sledgehammer, Olivia could feel more of the heaviness lift. The couch was going to be gone. She would never have to look at it again. She would still have the memories. She would still have the flashbacks and terrors but things would be better. Huck was right. She was trying. She wanted to be better. She wanted to be happy again. No one was going to stop her from being happy again.

Not Jake.

Not Mellie.

Not Rowan.

Not Cyrus.

And especially not herself.

Once she could lift the hammer no more, she let it fall to the ground and took in the sight in front of her. The couch was now a jumble of metal, fabric, and wood. There were cuts on her hands, small but stinging. She would take care of them soon enough. She wasn't done just yet.

Returning to the truck, Olivia got the red gas can and the engraved silver lighter. It had been a gift from Rowan. She couldn't remember exactly when he had given it to her but it was before she had realized the truth about him. She had found it during the deep clean of her apartment and it was only fitting to use it.

The remains of the couch ignited immediately and she threw the lighter into the flames, letting it all burn. Olivia knew that she still had a lot of work to do. She knew that her fight for joy was far from over but at the moment, she felt victorious. She felt vindicated and empowered.

She had taken back another piece of her soul.

She would never get them all back but that was fine.

She would always be more than a little broken inside but that didn't mean that she was unworthy.

It didn't mean that she was ruined.

There was hope.

As long as there was breath in her body, there was hope.

Don't you worry 'bout a thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama 'Cause I'll be standing on the side When you check it out Oh don't you worry 'bout a thing Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama 'Cause I'll be standing, I'll be standing by you