Open Your Heart, a scandal fanfic

This little one shot is for my friend and sister from another mother Da Princes and Me's who sent a text out of the blue as if on cue when I really needed it. It was a rough day back at the ranch and I was about to clear my desk a'la Fitz style but a couple words in a simple text message made me smile. Amazing how a few words from a friend can tilt your world back into proper orbit. Enjoy!

Open Your Heart

"Give me ten minutes then we'll head out."

"Yes sir. Do you want me to call ahead and inform her of your arrival time?"

"No, that won't be necessary Mark. Arrangements have already been made, thank you."

"Very well sir. Ten minutes Mr. President?"

"Yes, ten minutes."

Fitz races around his bedroom tossing various articles of clothing into his overnight bag. His conversation with Abby is fresh on his mind. Long story short, Olivia is not doing well and is refusing to accept the fact that she is suffering from PTSD. He has no idea if their plan will work he's only certain they have to try something. If it backfires so be it, at least they made the effort.

Before grabbing his garment bag, he scans the room one more time to make sure he hasn't forgotten anything. He doesn't want to be presumptuous and assume she kept any of his things after she returned from god-knows-where with Jake. Glancing over at his neatly made bed, he sees one of his t-shirts laying at the foot of it. Even if she rejects him, maybe she'll take his cologne infused t-shirt for comfort; that is if a reminder of his presence still evokes the same emotion in her. He grabs the t-shirt, puts it in his overnight bag and zips the bag up.

Fitz opens the door bags in-hand. Mark is right outside the door standing at the ready to take his luggage and escort him to an awaiting unmarked SUV. "Eagle is on the move, Mark whispers into his cuff radio.

"Huck, really, I'm fine. You don't need to stay or check up on me every night. You should be with Kim and your son." Olivia is almost pleading with Huck to leave. She wants to be alone. She wants to drown herself in a good bottle red wine. Maybe if she gets drunk enough the memories will fade or disappear all together. It hasn't worked so far but maybe this time will be different.

"Liv, you are not fine. Don't forget I know what it is like to be trapped and confined against your will; to lie on a cold damp concrete floor desperate for the tiniest bit of sunlight; craving any inkling that relief or rescue is imminent. The hard thing is once you are free your still feel trapped; trapped by your memories, the smells, and the sounds of your cage. And it was a cage not a prison cell. Prisoners have rights, they get fresh air and exercise but caged animals are at the mercy of their captors. You were in a cage Olivia and whether you want to acknowledge it or not you still feel like you are a caged animal and one day, if you don't get help soon, you are going to go berserk just like one of those chained elephants or caged tigers in a circus." He walks toward her and grabs her hand.

"When you close your eyes at night your mind travels to the pain, to the anguish, to the lonely days and nights, to the feeling of helplessness, not to the joy of the rescue, not to the days you've lived since your release. Every day you relive the moments you begged god to send someone to save you or to end your suffering. You sit days on looking into space, frozen in your thoughts. You are alive Olivia, but in name only. You are miserable and uncertain about how you can go on. Each day you get up and remind yourself to breath, terrified that one morning your will forget. I know what you are going through Liv. No one can understand the mental torture that comes along with surviving captivity; no one except someone who has gone through it. Right now you are not ready to share Liv and I can't be here in the way you need. I'm not the person you want to unload your burden and share you pain. I am not your soulmate."

Olivia's eyes water but she refuses to let one tear drop, if she does they win. They will have accomplished breaking "the Olivia Pope." She stares at Huck shaking her head in denial. Huck lets go of her hand and checks his watch. He walks over to the front door and opens it. Fitz is standing there waiting, garment bag hanging over his shoulder and overnight bag in his hand. He looks past Huck to Olivia. His eyes are filled with love and compassion. Huck steps aside so Fitz can enter the apartment. They share a nod and Fitz drops his baggage at the front door. He thinks to himself, leaving his baggage at the door would have a subtle metaphorical aspect to it if the circumstances were different. He slowly walks over to Olivia who is matching his every step in reverse and shaking her head.

"Why are you here? You can't be here? Fitz you should go. Whatever Abby and Huck have told you is…is…is exaggerated. I'm fine. No need for you to be concerned. I don't want you here. Leave me alone! Why can't everyone just leave me alone!"

Failing to pay attention to her withdrawing movements Olivia backs herself into a wall. "I don't want to talk. I don't want you here. I don't want to talk to you Fitz. Leave! If you want to help someone go back to White House and call the families of the men and women who lost their lives for nothing in West Angola!" Surely that last jab will send him packing she thinks; but it doesn't, his purposeful gait never falters. She starts clawing at the wall, trying to scale it and escape. It's no use he reaches in seconds and wastes no time in wrapping her in his strong embrace.

"Please", she whimpers on the verge of tears, trying to pull away from his arms of love. Fitz resists her weak tugging and is unyielding in his grasp of her body.

"No Olivia, I will not let you go. I am not going to leave you like this; not now not ever. I'm not here to talk. I here for you", he whispers softly, his head gently resting above hers. "I love you Livvie. I'm here for you, only you. We're in this together. Let me love you Livvie. Let me be your strength." He starts to sway back and forth with her.

"Fitz…I…I…I can't. Let me go, please. Please let me go." She tries again to flee his embrace but he remains resolute, undeterred by her childlike pleas.

"I know you're scared Olivia. You doubt yourself. You find you are no longer the person you believed yourself to be. Unfortunately, that's one of the pitfalls of being good at your job and believing your own press. You have a reputation for fearlessly facing down Russian mobsters, formidable political opponents and even me, and you've convinced yourself that you are invincible; or at least that you should be invincible. Your cloak of invincibility protects the core of your identity. It keeps you in control and allows you control others but now your impenetrable fortress has been breached and you have made no provision for initiating a counter-offensive and you feel lost and out of control for maybe the first time in your life. When you look in the mirror each morning and wipe away the fog from the shower steam, you don't recognize the person staring back at you. You see a shell of a person, a copy of your former self, not the indomitable Olivia Pope." Fitz's words cut deep and her tears begin to flow unabated.

"Liv, I'm not here asking you to relive your nightmare in all its' gory detail. I'm not here to offer trite adages or platitudes. I'm here for you, to support you, to love you through this. I'm not here to tell you everything is going to be alright because you and I both know that's a lie. Things will never be the same. You will never be the same. Although Olivia, that doesn't mean you can't come through this stronger with a realistic outlook of who you truly are." Fitz removes his arms from around her body so he can caress her face.

"Look at me Olivia." She turns her face to avert his sophic gaze for if she looks him in the eyes she will collapse under the weight of her present vulnerability; something she can ill-afford at this point because she is barely hanging on by a thread. She attempts to hide behind her hair but Fitz brushes the pilus camouflage away and returns to caressing her face, gently holding it place, and forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"Dance with me Livvie, Fitz says." Huck, who has been standing at the door listening and observing the couple, moves over to the étagère and places his Ipod on the docking station.

Olivia's crinkles her face. Is he serious? Did I hear him right?

"What?" she asks, her tear flow ceasing for a moment.

"Dance with me", he repeats. I'm not interested in talking and you've made it clear you're not in a talking mood either. I just want to hold you and I want you to listen to something." Huck hits play and makes his way out of the apartment.

The front door closes and Fitz and Olivia are alone. The silence of room is first broken by the pounding sound of a familiar piano introduction, then the moving accompanying lyrics fill air.

I know you're scared, I can feel it
It's in the air, I know you feel that too
But take a chance on me
You won't regret it, no

That's it, the words of the song shatter her resolve and she begins to sob uncontrollably.

One more "No" and I'll believe you
I'll walk away and I will leave you be
And that's the last time you'll say no, say no to me

It won't take me long to find another lover, but I want you
I can't spend another minute getting over loving you

If you don't ever say yeah
Let me hear you say yeah
Wanna hear you say yeah yeah yeah
Till my heart is open
Now you're gonna say yeah
Let me hear you say yeah
Wanna hear you say yeah yeah yeah
Wanna hear you say
Wanna hear you say
Wanna hear you say
Yes yes yes yes yes yes
Yes yes yes yes yes

It's just a moment going see-saw
Don't be afraid to give your heart to me
And if you do, I know that I won't let you down, no
Yeah, so hand it over, trust me with your love
I'll do anything you want me to
'Cause I can't breathe until I can see your face

Fitz draws their brow together.

Oh and I don't need time to find another lover, but I want you
I can't spend another minute getting over loving you

"My heart is open to you Livvie. Say yours is to me. Say yes Livvie. Please let me love you, let me help you get through this. Say yes", he kisses her brow. She clings to him, she sobs louder and her body shakes.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes" she whimpers. Fitz picks her up, carries her to the bedroom and holds her in his arms all night long.

The End

My Heart is Open by Maroon 5 (featuring Gwen Stefani)- of course!

Songwriters
FURLER, SIA / JERKINS, RODNEY / LINDAL, ANDRE / BLANCO, BENNY / LEVINE, ADAM

You can check out Adam and Gwen's live performance on Youtube.

It's late and this is my first one day one shot so please excuse any typos.