‘Scandal’ season 5 episode 12 recap: Cyrus is gunning for the Oval (again)

He’s decided on Francisco Vargas, the Pennsylvania governor who seems to be controversy-free. Vargas, the first Hispanic governor of the state, is well liked by both liberals and conservatives and seems to be the perfect candidate for Cyrus to prep for a presidential run.

There’s just one problem. No one outside of Pennsylvania knows who he is.

That’s nothing a little gun violence can’t fix, though.

Cyrus sends former Secret Service agent Tom and a gunman that they blackmailed into participating to Harrisburg to shoot Francisco and create national attention for the politician. After being shot, Francisco tackles the gunman and prevents him from hurting anyone else in the Pennsylvania Capitol. The incident is broadcast on national television, turning the politician into a hero overnight and securing an invite to the White House.

Meanwhile, Quinn helps Charlie babysit his friend’s son. What seems like a fun weekend ends up being just another job for Charlie, however. It turns out he is watching the son of the gunman as a favor for Tom until the job is finished. “Uncle Charlie,” unsurprisingly, is a kidnapper. He eventually drops the kid off at a police precinct, probably leaving many viewers happy that he didn’t resort to killing an innocent child.

This is the only violent struggle that occurs during the episode, but there are plenty of powerful struggles going on in bedrooms throughout the episode.

Fitz is still dating and having sex with journalist Lillian Forrester and it's causing a rift between him and Abby.

Abby tells the president that he needs to set up a security plan for his sex life. The Secret Service needs to be involved in every detail, including removing all bodily fluid from his partner’s home once he leaves.

Fitz is appalled by Abby’s prying and threatens to fire her.

“Unfortunately your personal life is my professional life,” Abby tells Fitz.

She notes that his relationship with Olivia wasn’t problematic because she was already a part of the team. They could trust her. They don’t even know Lillian.

Abby calls Olivia to get advice on what to do, but can’t bear to tell her best friend that her ex has moved on.

Luckily, Fitz finally comes to his senses and agrees to let Abby do her job, even if that means he has to disclose details about his sex live to his press secretary.

Olivia may not be Fitz’s mistress anymore, but, apparently, she’s still someone’s side chick.

Rowan informs his daughter that her sex partner Jake is getting serious with another woman and Olivia confronts Jake about it.

“You don’t need to worry about anything. She and I are very safe,” Jake tells her.

Despite the fact that Rowan says he is "retired," Olivia seems to believe her father and Jake are up to something. (Perhaps, she was paying attention to Huck's rant after all).

She believes Rowan told her that Jake is seeing someone in order to ensure that she stops seeing him. The more they’re together, the closer Olivia may get to figuring out what her father is up to.

Olivia discovers that Jake’s love interest is a woman named Vanessa Moss and asks Quinn and Huck to find out more about her.

Elsewhere, David Rosen is continuing his twisted love triangle with Susan Ross and Elizabeth North.

When he tells Elizabeth he doesn’t feel comfortable sleeping with both her and Susan on the same day, she tells him to “man up.”

Thanks to David’s sudden interest in her, presidential hopeful Susan Ross is polling well and that’s all Elizabeth cares about. That seems to change, however, when Elizabeth calls David and discovers that he is still in bed with Susan. Could she be jealous of her boss and David’s relationship?

This love triangle probably won’t end well.

Scandal” airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on ABC.