Mellie wanted Olivia Pope.
She got Olivia Pope.
More of this, just, Shondaland Powers That Be!
Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC
Mellies caught off guard, but is also impressed.
You really can compartmentalize like nobodys business, she says.
You asked for Olivia Pope; you got Olivia Pope, Liv replies.
You dont know why you stayed.
Do you know why you left?
I dont need to answer that one, Olivia responds.
Im not the one writing a book.
Im not the one running for president.
You dont know either, do you?
She gets the assignment, and we get a scene that made my head explode.
She tells him, I am a respected journalist.
I have a Pulitzer.
I spent a week with Putin and yet I cannot focus I have an enormous crush on you.
That actually just happened.
Fitzs face goes through approximately seven different stages ofwhhhhhat?
Sure, why not?
NEXT: How do you get a VP to run for president?
By going on a date with David Rosen apparently.
So she takes another route: David Rosen.
So she wants David to manipulate her into doing it.
That Muppet is in love with you!
So he shows up at Susans office and asks her on a date.
She lets out a giddy WHERE??
Picnic by the Tidal Basin?
Top of the Washington Monument?
Yup, a trip to Gettysburger is in order, and they get Union Rings with those Freedom Fries.
(Whichever writers get to make up the names for the Gettysburger menu items, I salute you.)
Youre not a bug.
You could win this, I really mean that.
Come on, Rosen, she says, before kissing him.
Lets make a president together.
Olivia and Mellie are still at work on the Why Mellie Stayed portion of her book.
You never had what we had, Mellie tells her.
As far as actual, real relationships go, you were just a blip on his radar.
Fitz + Olivia + Mellie worked.
So, she stayed.
An honest answer, and also an unprintable one, which they both acknowledge.
But maybe now, without him in the middle, they can be.
I was your husbands mistress; I was in the wrong, Olivia admits.
Truth is, I was glad you were there, Mellie responds.
You were a good mistress.
Probably a great one.
Well, I am an overachiever once I put my mind to something I commit, Olivia says.
When I was with Fitz, I was happy you were around, too.
With you around I didnt have to … [she takes a breath] …
I had an out.
You were my out, Mellie.
You kept him unavailable.
Mellie:Okay…
Olivia:And so, I left for the same reason you stayed.
Because I was scared.
Mellie:[More breathless this time] Okay…
Olivia:Thats what you write.
That is what you write.
And write they do.
And who needs bookstores for that?
