Just another night's worth of procrastination. Enjoy!
"What are you doing home so early?" Fitz asks as he closes the front door behind himself, dropping his briefcase and making his way over to Olivia. She's sitting on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, a glass of ginger ale on the coffee table in front of her next to an empty bowl of chicken noodle soup.
"I think I may have picked up a bug from that school field trip with Teddy or something," she replies with a small pout as she picks up the ginger ale and takes a sip. "I'm sure it's just a forty eight hour thing and I'll be back to dismantling crises in no time."
He gives her a small smile and leans in to kiss her forehead. "You do feel a little warm. Can I get you anything?"
She hands him the empty bowl of soup, "Maybe just a refill?" And he nods in agreement and turns toward the direction of the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a fresh bowl of soup.
"Do you need anything else?" He asks as he hands her the bowl, watching as she takes a small bite, scrunching up her face when she realizes how hot it actually is. He chuckles and kisses her temple again.
"I could use a proper hello actually," she says with a devilish grin, placing the soup on the table again. He kneels down, pressing one his knees on the couch—effectively straddling her. And he slowly leans forward, keeping eye contact with her the entire time, and right as his lips were to contact hers, he pulls back and smiles. "If you're sick maybe I should stay away. It's not very becoming of a former president to catch the flu, even if it is from his beautiful wife."
She lets his words sink in for a few seconds before grabbing his tie and pulling him back down to her—capturing his lips with her own. She pulls back after a few seconds—still tightly grasping his tie, holding him in place—and gives him a cheeky smile. "If I have to suffer through this, you do too, mister. Presidency be damned."
"Well," he says in a drawn out fashion, "I guess being sick isn't so bad if we do it together. And I like doing this," he leans in and kisses her again, baiting her to open her mouth with his tongue after a few seconds. He finally pulls back, not overlooking the matching smiles on their faces. "I like doing that too much to let anything stand in my way anymore." And he drops his weight and pins her to the couch, stifling her surprised laughter with another all-consuming kiss. He eventually flips them over, holding her close in his arms, never breaking the kiss—and they only do pulls away when they hear familiar giggles and the creaking of steps.
They both look over to the teenage girl, playfully covering her little bother's eyes with her hands as they stand on the outskirts of the living room together. Teddy tries to wrangle himself free, but Karen is too agile and familiar with his usual squirming habits. "Daddy stop kissing mom! I wanna be able to see again!" The little boy yells through another round of giggles.
Karen pulls her hands away from Teddy's face and gives Olivia and Fitz a disapproving look. "Why can't this be a normal family where I'm the one caught making out on the couch with my boyfriend by you two?"
Teddy looks up at Karen, innocently pointing out, "You don't even have a boyfriend anymore, Karen!"
She gives her brother a faux angry glare. "That is beside the point, Theodore."
Fitz and Olivia both laugh—Liv quickly looking over at Teddy and whispering, "You better run, little man; you just got the full name." And the little boy's eyes grow wide for a few seconds before he runs over and launches himself on top of his father and stepmother. Fitz picks up the little boy and throws him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry as he parades in circles around the living room, Teddy laughing and shrieking the entire time. Karen moves to sit on the couch next to Olivia and takes a sip of her ginger ale.
"You probably shouldn't have done that, Karen. I think I'm getting sick," Olivia points out as Karen returns the now half empty glass to the table.
"Eh, that's ok. Any excuse not to have to go to school is a welcomed one."
Olivia turns her body on the couch to look at Karen and gives her a questioning look, watching as the girl's face suddenly falls, and tears well up in her eyes. Olivia quickly turns to Fitz—who's still parading around with Teddy—and gives him a serious look. "Boys out, it's girl time."
Fitz stops moving and looks over at the way Karen's face is buried into Olivia's shoulder, giving her a worried look. She rubs a hand up and down Karen's back and shoos Fitz away with a single nod of the head.
He reluctantly turns to leave, Teddy still hanging securely over his shoulder. "Homework time Ted, c'mon." And they walk into the kitchen, Teddy groaning at the mention of homework.
"Karen, what happened?" Olivia coaxes when she sees that the boys are finally gone.
Karen keeps her head on Olivia's shoulder for a few more minutes, continuing to cry. She finally picks her head up and looks at Olivia, a few tears still running down her cheeks. "Alex only pretended to like me because of dad."
Olivia brushes the girl's hair out of her face, giving her a sympathetic smile. "What do you mean?"
"He just wanted to say that he hooked up with the president's kid. That's why he was so nice to me. It was all a joke to him—I'm a joke now."
"Karen Grant, you listen to me. You are not a joke. You're sweet, and intelligent, and funny, and beautiful. I know you really liked him, but you can't let Alex's immaturity affect you. He missed out on a spectacular girl, honey; and that's his own doing. He'll see it eventually, and by the time he does, you'll have moved on and hopefully found someone who loves you for you. Someone who loves absolutely everything about you—including the fact that you lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for eight years."
"I should have known. But he just—I just—I thought he was different."
"I know you did, baby girl. But you live and learn, that's what life is all about—learning from your mistakes. And Alex definitely falls into that category now," Olivia says with a small smile, running her fingers through Karen's long brown hair.
"I should have listened to dad. He knew."
"He didn't know, Kare. He's going to feel the way he felt about Alex about every single guy you bring home. And until a guy proves himself, your father won't like him. You're his only baby girl and he doesn't want to see you all grown up just yet."
She gives Olivia a smile. "He wants me to be five years old and still need him to scare away the monster from under my bed."
Olivia nods with a laugh, "That's exactly what he wants. But you need to spread your wings and fly a little on your own to find out that nest will always be your safe place."
Karen smiles at her and rests her head back against Olivia's shoulder. "I know Teddy's the only one who calls you mom sometimes, but Gerry and I—you're the closest thing we have to a mom, or at least a real mom. So maybe sometimes—could I maybe call you that too?"
Olivia closes her eyes, trying to fight the tears from escaping. "You want to call me mom?" she asks after a few seconds, her voice half cracking at the end.
"I mean, if that's ok. We all live with you, well not Gerry anymore—but when he talks about home, he means here and this is where he comes for breaks and holidays—, and you treat us more like sons and a daughter than our mom ever did. So yeah, you're my mom—and I think I'd like to call you that."
Olivia leans down and kisses Karen's forehead, the tears finally starting to roll down her cheeks. "I'd really like that, Kare. I love you and your brothers so much, I don't think it'd be possible to love you guys anymore."
"I love you too, mom. I'm so happy you're here forever now."
Olivia chuckles through her tears. "I'm not going anywhere anymore, I promise."
"Good, cause it's not just dad who would be lost without you anymore. Gerry, Teddy, and I would be too."
"You need to stop saying all of these heartwarming things that are making me cry," Olivia says with a wide smile as she presses another kiss to Karen's temple.
"Oh you mean like this? Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom!"
"Stop or you're grounded for a week!" Olivia says, not able to stifle a small laugh.
"Mom! I love you, mom!"
"I'm sick, you have to be nice to me."
"You're sick because you went on Teddy's fieldtrip—like a true mom would."
"You're a brat Karen Melody Grant. Do you know that?"
"Mother-daughter bickering is my new favorite thing, mom."
"Go to your room. You're grounded!"
Karen wraps her arms around Olivia's neck, giving her a tight hug. "I will go up to my room, but I'm definitely not grounded, and I still love you mom," Karen says as she stands up and walks towards the spiral staircase. She gets halfway up the stairs before she turns back and smiles at Olivia, "Thanks for the talk."
Olivia smiles at her, wiping away the last stray tear from her cheek with the sleeve of her sweater. "Anytime baby girl. And for the record, I love being called your mom."
Karen smiles and nods her head slightly as she continues her way up the stairs. Olivia picks up her glass and soup bowl and brings them into the kitchen, smiling as she sees Fitz and Teddy working on writing his five sentence short story. She places her dishes in the sink and walks over behind Teddy, looking over his shoulder as she rests a hand on Fitz's shoulder. "And how are two of my three favorite Grant boys doing?"
Teddy quickly jerks his head up and flips over his paper before he turns to look back at her. "You can't look yet. It's not finished!"
She throws her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. But can I read it when it's all finished?"
"Duh! It's for you anyway, momma." And he looks down for a few seconds before looking back up at her with red cheeks. "I wasn't supposed to say that," and he looks over to Fitz, "right daddy?"
Fitz shrugs his shoulders, "I think it's okay that you said that. It'll keep her guessing now." And he winks at Teddy before looking up to Liv and giving her a small smile. "Is everything okay with Karen?"
"Yep, crisis averted and daughter comforted," she says with a laugh. "Just don't go mentioning Alex around her anymore."
"Noted." And he stands and wraps her in a hug as Teddy kneels on his chair facing them.
"Momma, can we have cheesy chicken for dinner tonight?" Teddy asks as Olivia walks over to him and lifts him onto her hip.
"Cheesy chicken is a definite possibility, but I think we should add a nice large side of broccoli to it," Olivia says with a smile as she adjusts Teddy on her hip and he throws up his hands in victory. "You're getting so big buddy. How old are you again? Like thirty?"
He laughs. "I'm six and one quarter! Duh."
"Do you know how old I am?" She asks with a smile as she puts him back down.
"I'm not supposed to ask cause you don't ask old people how old they are cause you're usually wrong and you hurt their feelings," Teddy says all in one breath before climbing back up onto his chair.
Both Fitz and Olivia laugh, nodding in agreement. And Fitz gives Olivia another kiss before sitting back down at the kitchen table to help Teddy finish his story. "Good man."
Teddy turns back around to look at Olivia. "So, cheesy chicken night?"
She nods in confirmation. "Cheesy chicken night." And she walks into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator to start getting everything out and ready.
"Hey Livvie, I'll make dinner if you want to go take a quick nap," Fitz offers after he whispers a few words for the story in Teddy's ear.
"Why do you need a nap?" Teddy asks Olivia as he turns around once again.
"She got sick on your fieldtrip a few days ago, bud."
"But no one's sick. Why are you sick?"
She shrugs her shoulders as she puts a glass pan onto the counter. "Maybe you all just have a better immune system than me."
"Maybe it's cause I don't kiss people all the time," Teddy says as he turns back around and faces the table, continuing his work.
Olivia laughs and Fitz turns back to look at her. "Nope, I definitely don't think that's the problem here. The kissing should always continue."
Olivia rounds the kitchen island and presses a kiss to the tops of Teddy's and Fitz's heads, impressed by their matching curls. "Ok, well on that note, I'm going upstairs. I laid everything out, Fitz. Put the oven on three seventy five and bake the chicken for thirty minutes, and then add the extra cheese to the top and put it in for five more minutes."
"I've got it under control. Go take your nap," he says with a smile.
"Okay, I'm going, I'm going," she says as she exits the kitchen and walks up the stairs.
She's awoken about an hour later by Teddy, his face lying in close proximity to her own on the pillow. She moves in and playfully kisses his nose before reaching around and tickling his small body. He shrieks and laughs and kicks until she finally stops, noticing that he's out of breath.
"Is dinner ready?" She asks as he settles into her lap, wrapping his arms around her neck.
He nods and tightens his hold around her, laughing as he wraps his legs around her waist when she stands, still clinging to her small frame. They walk into Karen's room and find her on the computer skyping Gerry from college. Teddy's face lights up and he jumps into Karen's lap so he can be closer to the computer and see his brother better.
Karen wraps her arms around Teddy and presses a kiss to the top of his head. "Hey Ted, Gerry has a surprise for you."
The little boy's face lights up. "What is it? What is it!"
"Do you really want to know?" Gerry asks, laughing as Teddy enthusiastically nods his head. "Well, it has to do with me and with you and with dad and Liv and Karen. And it especially has to do with our house…"
Teddy looks around the room with a wide smile before looking back at the computer. "You're coming home!" He almost shouts, his excitement not able to be contained in his little body.
Gerry nods in confirmation and laughs as he chucks a pillow across his dorm at his roommate who had made a witty comment. Fitz walks into the room a few seconds later, an apron tied around his waist. Olivia and Karen both laugh at him and Teddy jumps off of Karen's lap and into Fitz's arms.
"Daddy! Daddy! Guess what! Gerry's coming home tomorrow! He's gonna be here tomorrow!"
Fitz smiles at his youngest son, "I know bud. Isn't that great?" And he watches as Teddy once again enthusiastically nods his head. "Ok, why don't you say goodbye to Gerry for tonight and go wash your hands for dinner," Fitz says as he places Teddy back to the ground.
"Cheesy chicken is ready?" Teddy asks excitedly and Fitz nods.
"Bye Gerry! See you tomorrow! I love you!" And he runs out of the room and into his bathroom before he can hear Gerry return the message.
"You're having cheesy chicken without me? That's been my favorite since the first time Liv made it on the trail."
Olivia smiles. "I'll save you a nice big plate for when you get home."
"Thanks, Ma. Ok well if dinner's ready then I guess I should let you guys go. I'll probably be home in time tomorrow to surprise the little guy and pick him up from school."
"That sounds great, Gerry. I'm glad you're coming home," Fitz says as he makes his way over to Olivia and wraps his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to himself.
"Wait, are you wearing an apron dad? What the hell has Liv done to you these last two years?"
Olivia laughs, "It's not me. It's all your father and his post presidency midlife crisis."
Fitz laughs and kisses Olivia's temple. "I most certainly do not think of my life as a crisis thank you very much. And for your information, your brother asked me to put it on and since I'm a man of the people, I obliged."
Karen smiles, "Our old man is getting soft in his old age."
"I'm not going to stand around and listen to my good name be tarnished," Fitz says with mock seriousness. "I'll see you tomorrow, son. Have a good night and drive safely."
"Alright everyone, see you tomorrow! Oh and hey Kare, you can text me about you-know-what if you want."
Fitz takes a step forward and looks back at Gerry. "Oh no no, there's none of that. What are you two talking about?"
"Don't worry about it dad," Gerry says with a laugh before he ends the call and the screen goes blank.
Fitz looks over to Karen as she stands and starts to exit the room. "What did he mean, Karen?"
She smiles and raises her eyebrows. "Don't worry about it."
"I used to command the best military in the history of the world. I'm sure someone somewhere owes me a favor."
"Are you threatening me with military action if I don't tell you what we were talking about?"
Fitz nods as he starts placing food onto the table. "That is exactly what I'm doing."
Karen moves and places her hands over Teddy's ears, "We were referring to s-e-x," she says, adding exaggeration to each letter.
His face falls. "Wha—what?"
She laughs and walks over to him, "I'm just kidding."
"Don't you ever scare me like that. That is a situation in which I would most certainly call in that favor."
"You would kill a random guy if I told you that I slept with him?" Karen asks as she carries two glasses of water to the table for herself and Teddy.
"Oh no, I would personally show up and kill him. And then I would have my buddies force him to enlist to get him the hell away from you."
"What your father means is, that he loves you and wants you to be safe in everything you do, with everyone you do it with, every time you do it. But you can always talk to us. And he also doesn't want or need any details. Ever." Olivia says with a smile as they all sit down for dinner.
"What does Karen do that's not safe?" Teddy asks innocently as he licks the cheese off of his fingers.
Olivia smiles at him as she helps him cut up his chicken. "Sometimes Karen will drive her car without a seatbelt or won't use safety scissors."
Teddy smiles brightly at Karen. "I always use my safe scissors!" And he stabs a piece of chicken with his fork and brings it to his mouth, giving Fitz a thumbs up.
The conversation lulls out for a few moments until Olivia asks about each child's day. Karen skims over her day, hitting the high points and informing her parents that she got an A on her research paper; but Teddy relays every part of his day, from what color his behavior stick stayed on all day to what food he had for lunch and what games he played at recess.
They finish dinner and Fitz does all of the dishes and cleans up the kitchen as Olivia supervises Teddy's bath and helps him get ready for bed. Teddy does his usual nighttime ritual—saying goodnight to each member of the family and reading a book to Olivia to help improve his reading skills. He finishes the book, but much to her surprise he jumps up out of bed and runs downstairs to his backpack by the front door, extracting the paper he had written his short story on. He runs back upstairs and crawls into bed, settling in against Olivia's chest as he starts to read.
My Special Person by Teddy Grant
I got a new mom last year.
She is very nice and pretty.
She makes our whole family happy.
She loves me and I love her.
I am very happy that she is my momma now.
Teddy puts the paper down on the bed and looks up at her with a weary smile, awaiting her response. Olivia smiles down at him after a few seconds with a few tears in her eyes. She presses a kiss to Teddy's forehead, "That was beautiful, buddy. Thank you."
"Did you like it?"
She shakes her head no and smiles. "I loved it. And I love you Teddy bear." And she moves off of the bed and pulls the American flag blanket up over the little boy.
She sits back down on the edge of the bed and kisses his forehead again, reaching over to turn on the night light next to his bed.
"Thank you for being my momma."
She brushes the few curls from around his forehead. "Thank you for making me a momma."
He smiles. "You're welcome." And he claps to turn off his light, closing his eyes once it turns off.
She walks out of the room and finds Karen sitting on the ground in the hallway outside of Teddy's door, smiling up at Olivia when she finally notices her presence. "I'm glad Teddy's going to grow up with you around. Having nannies all the time really sucked."
Olivia helps Karen up to her feet and gives her a hug. "Now don't get me wrong, I love it, I really do—but what's with all the mom stuff today?" Olivia asks as they walk down the hall together, arm in arm.
Karen shrugs her shoulders as she moves to sit on her bed. "I don't know. It's just starting to feel like we're one of those normal families, like we're a real family—because of you."
Olivia smiles at her, "I'm glad you feel that way Kare." And she takes a seat on the bed next to Karen. "And about earlier with Gerry, I understand that your father and I and your mother are probably the last three you would bring any problems to, but I just want you to know that you can always come to us with anything. We're always here for you, and nothing is too large or too trivial. Okay?"
Karen nods her head slightly in understanding, and after a few seconds she finally whispers out, "It's just, she hasn't called in almost a month. And when she did, all she wanted to say was that her campaign had a stop up here and she wanted me to go to some tea with her. And I know it's just for the pictures and the press. She doesn't care about me, and she doesn't care about Gerry or Teddy."
"Kare, your mother cares about all three of you and she loves each of you. She just doesn't really know how to show it sometimes, and sometimes she doesn't really get her priorities straight."
"I know. But she just really sucks sometimes. Sometimes I like to imagine that you were always my mom, and when I was little you would have princess tea with me and play with my hair and come to my dance recitals. I wish you were her—and I've wished that since I was like eight and you were on the campaign with dad. Everything was fun back then."
Olivia smiles wistfully. "Well, we're here now. And if you ever want to have princess tea or want me to play with your hair or want to throw an impromptu dance recital in the living room, I'm right here."
Karen smiles. "Thanks."
"And by the way, if you really don't want to go to the tea with your mom then I don't blame you. But I think you should go, I don't want you living with any regrets later in life—especially when it comes to your relationship with your mother."
"I'll think about it," Karen says with a small smile as she crawls across her bed to answer her ringing phone.
Olivia gets up and walks to the door, "Don't stay up too late, please. You've got school in the morning."
Karen nods as she brings the phone up to her ear and answers the call. But she quickly runs over to the door and puts the phone down by her side, hugging Olivia with her free arm before returning to her bed and phone call.
A sudden unexplained wave of nausea runs through Liv's body, and she runs into the master bathroom, barely making it to the toilet. She sits there on her knees for a few minutes, taking deep breaths, trying to settle her stomach; but as soon as she stands, another wave hits her, and she's back hunched over the toilet.
She comes out of the bathroom a while later, finally confident that she's done throwing up, and she walks into Fitz's office—standing at the door, watching him focus on grading papers.
He eventually finishes the one he's working on and looks up at her, instantly noticing the expression on her face. "What are you smiling about?"
She walks into the room further and leans back against his desk, running her fingers through his hair. "So I take it you're feeling a little better?"
She nods with a smile. "I feel much, much, much better. Perfect even."
"And are you going to tell me why?" He asks as he tosses his red pen onto the desk and pulls her into his lap.
"I'll give you a hint," she says seductively as she leans in and brings her lips to his.
"Teddy isn't sick," she says with a small smile once she's pulled away. "And neither are Karen or you. Or apparently anyone in Teddy's class for that matter."
"Okay?" he says as he leans in to steal another kiss.
"I'm the only one who's sick…" she says leaving it opened for him to catch on, but he still doesn't.
"For a Rhode's scholar, a Harvard educated lawyer, a man with his PhD, and a former leader of the free world, sometimes you're such a typical oblivious man," she says with a laugh as she pecks his lips. She brings both of her hands up to cup his cheeks and looks him in the eye, "I don't have the flu. Teddy's class didn't get me sick—you got me sick. I'm pregnant."
His face lights up and wide smile spreads across it. "Really?"
She nods. "Really." And she removes a hand from his cheek to bring one of his hands up to her flat abdomen, snaking it under her shirt and pressing it against her warm skin. "There's a baby in there. We're having a baby."
He smiles. "When did you find out?"
"About five minutes ago. I was sprawled out across the bathroom floor and saw a few stray pills behind the vanity, and it got me thinking, so I took a test. And here we are."
He leans in and captures her lips with his own, pulling her closer to himself with one arm as he leaves his other hand pressed up against her abdomen. They finally break apart, and he looks up at her—joy and surprise and elation all playing across his facial features, but the only emotion she sees in his eyes is love.
"We're having a baby," he says slowly after a few seconds, trying to let the realization sink it.
"We're having a baby," she repeats with a wide smile.
"I love you so much, Livvie."
"I love you too, so very much."
And the both look back down at her stomach, both unconsciously smiling, both excited beyond their wildest dreams.
"Hi baby, it's Mommy."
Well?