In the wake of Sally telling the world about their affair, Fitz asks Liv to wait in the room while he goes to speak with Abby and Liz. He tells them he wants to make a statement with Liv, but in true Liv fashion...Liv has left the building! He calls her, and she instructs him not to call her and says she will call him. So Fitz refuses to make any statements without Liv by his side and instructs Abby not to make any, despite her pleading that they should make some type of statement.
Liv runs off to Quinn to take on a case, her form of running away from the situation, and ends up on the hunt for a 35 year old heir apparent who has jumped bail after being indicted for the murder of his own father. It doesn't take long for Liv to find him. And when Jake shows up he's able to help her get him to leave with him and Liv. They buy his story about his stepmother wanting to off his father, because she was cheating on him and would therefore stand to get nothing under their prenup, after confirming she was indeed cheating and that the day before he died his father had gone to his attorney to change his will. However, after further digging, it was discovered that he went to take his son out of the will after discovering he had been forging his father's check to build a house.
Meanwhile, Jake left Huck with Quinn to work on the case, and Quinn was absolutely mean to Huck from the moment he walked in. She wasn't over what he did last season and sees him as an unfixable monster, even if Huck thinks Jake fixed him. He eventually leaves after trying a breathing coping mechanism, to get through Quinn's non-stop picking at him, didn't work; as she then turned to picking at him thinking the coping mechanism would work. Quinn might be right though, b/c earlier in the episode, when a reporter got in, it sure looked like Huck was about to kill him...where were his breathing exercises then? But towards the end of the episode Quinn finds him at a bar and tells him she's no "All-American" girl either and has issues too. He replied by saying he missed her, and I suppose that's their way of making up. The team's back together?
Back at the White House, Mellie showed up at the Oval Office accusing Fitz of leaking the photos and miscalculating what Liv's response would be. She then requested an apology for meanly giving her divorce papers, and said she would then be willing to step in as First Lady, move back in and put the rumors to rest. Fitz countered by telling her he wouldn't apologize, that she leaked the photos to Sally and would be going to prison (where he wouldn't take the kids to see her), and told her to get out. Then he sent David to look into finding evidence of Mellie capturing the photos and sending them to Sally. And poor Vice President Ross was convinced the photos were fake, but she soon learns they were authentic. At one point she questions the President on whether he ever thinks about her and the others who voted for him when he's cheating in "our house." His response...no one's perfect and he is in love. To which she told him his title means he has to be better than others. Cheers to that VP! Humans aren't perfect, but perhaps we should be able to hold POTUS to a higher level of accountability. I especially liked when she referred to the White House as "our house." Go VP! Tell Him! Ok...I digress...
Meanwhile, Cy convinces Abby that she has to be the adult and treat Fitz like a child. When she lies and announces at the next press conference that Mellie was living in the White House and the two were together, Fitz is upset that she made a statement against his wishes. Liz tells Abby if it wouldn't fuel the story Abby would have been fired and reminded her only Liz and Fitz are in charge of strategy. Abby goes to see Cy in person to tell him how his advice backfired and nearly cost her her job, but he stuck to his advice, noting Fitz would get over it. He told Abby no one knows Liv as well as Abby does and she should explain to Fitz that Liv doesn't want to be in this type of a situation. So when the bail jumper escapes from Liv and Jake by putting others in the diner they were eating at on notice that it was Olivia Pope (the President's mistress) sitting at the table, Abby took the press' coverage of the photos from the diner as an opportunity to tell Fitz what Liv's intentions are. She pointed out that she's with Jake, and that the real storm hasn't even begun yet (that'll be when she returns home and has to face the press). Abby tells Fitz Liv doesn't want this life he's picturing with them making a statement together and admitting they are in love with each other while he's married and in the White House. Fitz takes this revelation and makes two phone calls...one to Liv telling her he knows this isn't what she wants and the second to Mellie giving her the apology she requested.
David goes to tell Fitz what he found, but Fitz says it doesn't matter. So David then goes to tell Abby. He gives her his report on Mellie's emails, and then tells her though the photos were leaked from Mellie's network and with her keypad there was no conclusive evidence she did it. He had more to share but noted Abby's desire for plausible deniability. When he leaves, Abby begins to read the report and then immediately goes to see Liz. Matching up with what Cy said to Abby about him hating no one more than Liz and Liz only hating one person more than she hates him...Mellie...Abby tells Liz she knows she had Mellie's keypad and was the one who gave the photos to Sally. Liz asked Abby who she told, and Abby said she told no one. She then asked Abby what she wanted. All Abby wants is to be equals. I just knew it was going to be used to bring Cy back in, but I guess Cy is going to remain on the outside a little bit longer.
And while this is going on, Mellie is in the Oval Office with Fitz about to sit down for an interview where they are going to completely deny the affair. Jake and Liv are able to find the bail jumper and turn him in to the authorities, and Liv returns home. She pushes through the press to get to her apartment building, but she stops at the door when they ask if she's the President's mistress. She turns around...pauses... and says...YES!!!
WHAT THE WHAT...