Downfall

Forgive Me

"Nice to see you, too." Fitz rubbed his jaw, stepping into the apartment. She had a mean right hook.

"You're wasting your time. Olivia isn't here."

"Where is she?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"Look, Chloe. I know I fucked up –"

"Well that's the fucking understatement of the century."

"Can we be civil?"

"I don't know, can you? You sure weren't civil with Liv." Rolling his eyes, Fitz raked his hand through his hair. He knew he had screwed up and he felt bad about it. He'd been stewing for the past two days, trying to think of something to say to Olivia. A way to apologize for what he had done. In all honesty, he didn't believe there was a decent way of doing that. Not after what he had done.

"Will you fucking listen? I thought she released that file. I thought she was turning into Cyrus and Mellie. My entire political career, I have watched what politics does to my friends and family. It turns them into these unrecognizable, power driven monsters and I didn't want Olivia to be like them. When I first heard that news report, I tried to rationalize why Olivia would have done that. The only half-assed decent excuse I could come up with was that she wanted me to win – would do anything for that to happen. That terrified me. I don't want Olivia to do the things that Mellie and Cyrus...hell, that I have done. She's better than that and, I refused to be the reason she became that person. So I did the cowardly thing and fired her." He stopped pacing, looking at Chloe for some reaction. She stood by the door, her arms crossed, and her face emotionless. She almost looked bored.

"Well, you're right about one thing. You are a fucking coward."

"For the love of..." Taking a deep breath, Fitz reminded himself to remain calm. He shouldn't let Chloe get under his skin – she wasn't the one he had to convince, anyway. "Why are you even here if Olivia is gone?"

"I'm apartment setting and I'm pretty sure that keeping assholes out was part of the deal so..."

"Exactly what are you doing here, then?"

"That's not fair. You aren't supposed to have any funny comments. I'm pissed at you. I can't laugh."

"When will she be back?" Sighing and dropping her arms, Chloe gave up on her defensive stance. It wasn't getting her anywhere, anyway. She had to admit – Fitz was a bit tenacious. He wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted and, deep down, she had to admit that his reasoning did make sense. Even if his actions had been premature and definitely were the wrong move.

"This weekend. Not sure if four days is enough time for you to drown in guilt or not, but..."

"Me either, Chloe."

"Hm...remorse. Well that's a start."

~*~

"Seriously? It's like no one has ever lived here," Chloe complained, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up on the sofa. Fitz stood in the living room, running a vacuum cleaner over the soft carpet. She yawned; he was loud in the morning. Glancing at the clock, she narrowed her eyes. So what if it was almost noon?

"It looks like you've gone on a three day rager."

"I was going to clean up." She stood from the sofa, tossing her blanket on the floor and stretching. Fitz sighed when she headed toward the kitchen, bending to pick her blanket off the floor and fold it.

"For some reason, I doubt that."

"Why does she never have any food?" Chloe chose to ignore his comment, complaining about the empty shelves that greeted her gaze when she opened the refrigerator doors.