'Scandal' recap: Who can you trust?

If time flies when you're in love, then the days are excruciating long when you're nursing a broken heart.

It's been 10 months since Verna's funeral and Olivia and Fitz haven't spoken or seen each other since then. But when they do … well, let's just say you might need a cold shower because their reunion is HOT.

It's also short-lived. Fitz still doesn't trust her or Cyrus, is trying to drink his problems away, and even relies on Mellie for advice. Seriously, if he's asking Mellie for help, you know Fitz is in trouble.

As for Olivia, she might be ready to move on with a new guy -- who turns out to have his own agenda.

Body of proof

Olivia is getting her morning cup of coffee when she meets a handsome stranger at the shop. They exchange some cute banter, and it's nice to see Olivia smile for once.

Elsewhere in D.C., David Rosen wakes up … clutching a bloody knife … next to a dead woman! He has gone on a huge downward spiral in the last 10 months; he got fired, is teaching U.S. government, and needs his grandma to pay the rent. But a dead body is infinitely worse, so even though they kinda sorta ruined his life, David calls Olivia Pope and Associates.

At David's apartment, the gladiators gather to figure out what happened and what to do. Turns out David was roofied by the woman, whose name is Wendy. Huck suggests moving the body, but warns that doing so will mean they might not find the killer. David doesn't want to go to prison, so he gives the go-ahead to move Wendy back to her apartment.

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There, Huck does a little reverse clean-up, but he needs to splatter some of Wendy's blood on the walls. He lets Quinn stab the body, and she does so with gusto. "You're a natural," Huck says with new respect. Only on "Scandal" can people bond over stabbing a corpse.

The gladiators find photos of naked men on Wendy's phone. She was hooking up with a lot of guys -- to dig up dirt and use it as blackmail. Uh oh, did David tell her anything about Defiance? David then accuses Olivia of setting him up, which makes Olivia realize perhaps someone else did set him up … a ruthless someone else who's the chief of staff.

She goes to see Cyrus, who denies setting up David. They chat about the christening for his and James's baby girl; apparently, Olivia and Fitz are the godparents. Really great idea there, Cy. She thinks Fitz knows about Defiance and that's why he's shutting them out. "Defiance is over," Cyrus says. "Defiance will never be over," Olivia replies sadly.

All by myself

At the White House, Fitz is in the shower when Mellie brings him the whiskey he requested -- at 7 AM! Then the first lady tries to seduce him, to which Fitz just sort of shrugs. Luckily, they're both saved by Cyrus knocking at the door, with the news that four Americans have been kidnapped abroad.

In the Situation Room, the president's advisers say the kidnappers want one of their own released from custody. But getting them back won't be so simple, because the hostages are CIA agents. Fitz blows up, demanding answers on how this happened.

Later, he meets with the ambassador of the country where the hostage is taking place. When Cyrus walks in on the tail end of it, he questions Fitz about why the president is shutting him out but gets brushed off.

Cyrus confers with Mellie about the Fitz problem: If he does know about Defiance, then he doesn't trust any of them. After a while, he'll start trusting someone else instead of them -- and they can't let that happen.

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At another Sit Room briefing, Fitz wants to order a SEAL team to rescue the hostages, but Cyrus advises caution. After a private word together, Fitz finally agrees to delay for a little while.

Elsewhere, Wendy's body is discovered and David is arrested. Harrison preps him for the interrogation, but this is a brilliant former prosecutor we're talking about. He tears apart his replacement, daring him to take on a losing case and turning out like David.

Over at Olivia's office, Huck pores over Wendy's cell phone records and finds a number that traces back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff office. And when Olivia goes to find out whom Wendy had been talking to, she runs into the guy from the coffee shop!

He's Capt. Jacob Ballard, an intel officer. Seems Wendy wanted to sell him something big. They ask each other questions but don't give each other many answers. Why not continue their conversation over dinner? "I can be very unhelpful," Jacob says with that winning smile. Olivia turns him down (but why?).

She heads to David's apartment and tells him whatever dirt Wendy wanted to sell Ballard was huge. But David doesn't care; he's firing her. He's done with her and her people, so how much money does he owe her? "You can't afford me," Olivia snarls.

Something new

On the way to the christening, Mellie confronts Fitz about Defiance. He doesn't want to talk about it, but she tells him he's right to shut out Cyrus. Then she totally blames Cyrus for the whole election rigging idea. She, Olivia, and Verna just went along with his scheme. "You can trust me," the snake first lady says.

He reveals his indecision over the SEAL team strike, and she tells him whatever he decides is the right call. And if it ends up being a mistake, they can figure out how to fix it together, He grabs her hand and kisses her palm. Mellie turns away so he doesn't see the gleeful expression on her face.

At the christening, Fitz tells Cyrus to order the SEAL team mission. Then Olivia arrives, and neither she nor Fitz can take their eyes off each other. After a White House reception, Olivia turns to leave, stalking down the corridor. Fitz follows her, and then pulls her into a server room where they go at it. It's hot, it's sexy … and it's completely emotionless.

After, Olivia tries to apologize for Defiance, but Fitz tells her nothing's changed. "We are done," he says.

Cyrus pulls him away to watch the SEAL team in action. But when the soldiers reach the compound, there are no hostages there! It was a trap. How could this happen? Apparently, there's a mole in his administration.

Mellie joins a distraught Fitz in the shower and again tries to seduce him, but he's drunk and yells at her. She's shaken, so he apologizes, but it's clear that Mellie isn't so sure she wants to be the new Cyrus.

Over at Olivia's office, a repentant David brings her a memory card he found that belonged to Wendy. It contains a ton of highly sensitive documents, like the locations of the president's bunkers. Just how did Wendy get her hands on this stuff?

Later, Olivia calls up Jacob to take him up on his dinner offer. Maybe a quiet little dinner at this French place? But he doesn't like quiet -- he's got a lot of siblings. They exchange some more cute banter, and we're smiling along with Olivia -- until we see that Jacob's watching her on TV. He's got cameras inside her apartment, and he's watching as she talks on the phone to him. And with that, Jacob goes from cute to creepy.

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"Scandal" airs Thursdays at 10 PM on ABC.