Quinn:
It was a rainy day, we were in his car watching the apartment above. The assignment was simply to watch for any activity but the party we were to watch was already asleep.
"You know I used to kill Kings, KINGS! Now I'm stuck watching a man whose only significant fact is that he's on the radar of B613 and he enjoys pizza with pineapple on it! I would ask you if you wanted to get out of here but you know how command would react," Said Charlie, then he continued, "Robin, to be a B613 agent you need to be patient and I've learned to be that, but it just seems like my jobs have slowed down, does that mean I'm not trustworthy anymore? Some questions will never be answered, but I'm ok with that, I guess I'm just glad that I'm not alone right now."
I cupped his face and traced his cheekbone with my thumb. "Don't worry, Char, you'll get better jobs in due time we just have to prove ourselves by doing our jobs. For now we can enjoy the quiet moments."
I leaned in to kiss him. He returned the kiss eagerly and leaned in towards me. His hands reached to hold my face as my arms went around his neck. Passionate kisses became ravenous as we held each other with our mouths.
He pushed his chest against mine as he reached over to lean my seat back.
He successfully managed to lay me flat in the car seat, it was one of those weird cars that was easy to sleep in if it's an overnight journey you're taking. For now it would be a helpful tool in Charlie and I's adventure of the night.
I pulled him on top of me as he kissed my neck and sucked on the skin of my cleavage, leaving me a hickey. He came back to my lips, kissing me as if it were the only thing he wanted.
It was so passionate we hadn't noticed the man we were supposed to be watching walk out of his room, and into the living room, picking up the phone.
I saw him moving out of the corner of my eye as soon as Charlie decided to journey north. I pushed him off. He got a confused look on his face as he went in for another kiss.
I simply pushed his head away so that he was facing the man's window.
He shrugged his shoulder in disappointment of the turn of events. "And right as things got interesting, damn."
He went back to his seat then leaned over and kissed me on my cheek.
I brought my seat back up from being reclined and reached for his hand. He grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly.
He reached toward my thigh and rested his hand there as he fumbled about with his laptop.
I saw a voice reading being recorded as the man talked on the phone. He hung up after receiving and giving one sentence each. "The hawk has been terminated?" "Affirmative". The guy went back to his room and laid back in bed.
Charlie smirked and turned towards me. "I'll report this to command and... yeah we need to stay here, but we can make this moment way more interesting than his night will be."
I bit my lip as he leaned in for another kiss. Our lips met and we started making out again. Our tongues fought for dominance as he once again leaned my seat back and got on top.
"Now where were we?" He asked anxiously.
"About here," I said as I started to unbuckle his belt.
He smiled as he kissed me deeply and then kissed my neck as he started to unbutton his shirt. He took off my shirt over my head and I put my arms around his neck as he grabbed my waist. He discarded his shirt to the back seat.
This man was like a sculpture, sharp jawline and defined muscles. I couldn't get enough of him. Our kisses became deeper and I felt him becoming hard.
He slid off his pants all the way and they laid in a pile by his feet. He grinned as I pulled his waist closer so that our waists were together. He sucked on the skin of my neck and lifted me up to unhook my bra. He reached down and started slipping off my pants. He got on his knees as I pushed my seat back for more room. He started on my neck and kissed me all over going down, further and further until he was at my thighs.
I ran my hands through his sandy brown hair as he kissed me in places that made my legs shake.
He smiled as he heard my moan. He slid off my thong and started spreading my legs more.
I lightly grabbed the nape of his neck to bring his face up to my face and kissed him deeply, tasting myself as his tongue was an exhibition of his passion.
As soon as he pulled down his boxer briefs I wrapped my legs around his waist. It started to rain really hard, but we were too caught up in the moment to care about our surroundings.
Our kisses got deeper as our bodies came closer together.
He cupped my face and kissed me with such passion I couldn't imagine a better moment.
These moments had become more and more regular, but not so much that we got tired of them, we were far from that. Our stake outs had gotten more or less obsolete. We never got bored necessarily, well not since we teamed up on missions. Since the first night I met him I knew we'd be more than coworkers, quite a lot more indeed.
I snapped back into the moment as Charlie waited for my approval.
I nodded my head and kissed his lips ferociously and he welcomed it with groans of pleasure. I threw my head back in delight and smiled as he came back to my mouth and the passion fled through our lips. We climaxed at the same time and just stayed there for a moment. We sighed and started making out again. It was endless kissing all night, we couldn't get enough of each other.
We picked up all our clothes from around the car, some we threw to the back seat to get out of the way and some were by my feet where we discarded our boundaries.
I threw him his boxer briefs as I picked up my thong which were underneath his discarded pants.
He smiled as he caught his underwear in his hand and looked me up and down shamelessly.
Then he looked down, yet again he was hard, then he looked at me, "Too bad it's morning,"
"I don't know if you count 5 am as morning quite yet," I said as I climbed over the middle console and sat on top of him. "But this will be the last time tonight, I'm expected at OPA at 8:30, it is later than usual but at least that gives me more time with you," I said as I ran my hand through his hair and then down to his jawline.
I pushed his chin up so that I could kiss his lips again.
Our mouths hovered over each other's as we took in the moment.
We had gotten closer and closer and we were already inseparable, although not even the gladiators knew about us.
I had told them I was seeing some people when in fact it was just Charlie.
I didn't know how Huck would hold up if I told him that I was dating one of his ex-coworkers, actually, Charlie was once a mission of Huck's and Charlie had a deep circle on his thigh from where Huck had drilled a hole into him. It was healed now but the skin that covered it was a deep purple color almost like a permanent bruise.
I had a feeling Huck knew about us, but it was kind of a rule in B613 that you can't date another agent but we weren't really rule followers after all.
I came back in the moment to feel him nibbling on my ear lobe and then coming back to kiss me on my lips again.
Charlie was breathing heavily and then I realized so was I.
I climbed off him and put my clothes on piece by piece.
Charlie was still admiring my body as I finally put my shirt back on and sat back in my seat. He grinned and finally sighed as he reached down to get his boxers. He buckled his belt and zipped up the zipper.
As he buttoned his shirt back up again I admired his toned muscles in his arms and his abs.
He ran his hands through his hair and fixed it because it had been messed up in the action of the night.
He held my hand as we watched the man wake up and get changed.
I looked away because his skin had been deformed in a skin grafting.
I was not one to lose my grip but it covered his whole body and also in fact he was not a small man so his extra jiggly fat brought distaste to my mouth.
Charlie laughed and then looked at me.
"Im proud to say that that was not me, I work with other methods. By the way, Always let me know when our next mission together is. I don't know why you wouldn't or why command wouldn't tell us, but if all else fails, I'll just make you my next mission," He smiled as he once again leaned in for a kiss.
I welcomed it but then pushed him away, "I have to go to work now, you know how Olivia and them feel when I'm late. I would ask you to drive me there but i don't know how Huck would react."
He groaned, "Maybe it's time to stop keeping this secret, we both know we belong together so why not make it official?"
I raised my eyebrows "... Charlie what do you.."
I stopped talking as he reached over and opened the glove department.
He pulled out a small jewelry box and I covered my mouth with one hand.
"I was going to wait until tonight, I have dinner reservations, but... we've been dating for a while now, I can't wait... and I feel as if I can't live without you, I'm not one who's known to be sentimental, but with you everything is different, so, Robin, I was wondering if you want to take that first step into the sunlight with me, I've gotten Rowan's permission, surprisingly, but I think he knew how much you mean to Olivia and I asked Olivia too, and I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love you, and I don't want to spend a moment not by your side and I need a forever partner in B613. Will you please marry me, Quinn Perkins?"
That was one of the few times he had ever called me by my actual name he usually called me Robin, we had code names for each other because we agreed that names were overrated as neither Charlie or Quinn were our given names.
Before I answered I took his hand, tears forming in my eyes.
"It's about damn time, Charlie, of course I will." I said, then pulled his face towards mine into a deep kiss.
"We can still go out to eat right?"
He asked as he slid the ring on my finger. "Of course, I'm not one to turn down food."
We laughed together then he brought my finger up to his mouth to kiss.
"Oh man do I love you," I said, smiling as he kissed me. We could feel each other's smile against our lips as we tried to let go but couldn't.
Finally we parted lips. "Now I have to go to work, and you can take me. I was going to have you drive my home so I could drive myself, but this will be easier. I'm glad I changed before we came to the stakeout or else I'd be going back to work with the same clothes."
I laughed and he smiled at me, I continued. "I had no idea Olivia knew, maybe that's why she would smile when I said I was going out with someone else, you little tease aren't you."
He grinned and moved a piece of my hair back behind my ear, "You know it." He chuckled. Then continued, "I just figured since her approval is big to you, I'd be a good boyfriend and make sure you'd have assurance and not have a reason to actually say no, so for awhile now, your answer will be playing in my head and then, the anticipation of our marriage will be harsh."
I remembered something he said earlier, "But how did Command approve of this, I can't imagine why Rowan would agree just for the happiness of his agents, maybe he's planning something."
"Or... maybe he already knew and decided there were bigger matters to worry about, we're still getting all our jobs done and actually we've been more efficient since we've been working together," He replied, with a huge smile on his face. "Now to get you to work, you can show off the ring that nobody except Liv had a heads up on."
We laughed simultaneously and leaned over the middle console into another embracing kiss.
This was the most kissing we'd ever done in one night, and it was nice, I'd keep this in my mind all day.
He started up the car and as soon as he got onto the main road he rested his hand in between my legs and drove like that the whole way to the Olivia Pope Associates building.
"Now I'm guessing Huck knows about my plans too, and I can't promise he'll be approving, but I think he's in a good place with his family right now so he should be fine in the area of other people's happiness," he said, getting out of his side of the car from behind the wheel.
He walked over to my side of the car and opened the door for me.
He gave me a hand to help me get out, it was almost as if he knew I'd be sore from the last night's fun.
As soon as I got out of the car and closed the door, he pushed me against the car and brought me in for another kiss.
"I guess it's time for us both to go to work now, goodbye, I'll see you later tonight. Call me." He said while gazing into my eyes.
I smiled and kissed his cheek, "Couldn't have imagined a better night... anyways, I'll call you later or I'll meet you at home."
He winked at me, "All right, catch you later." He leaned in for another kiss and I could feel a smile against my own lips.
We released each other and he walked back to the driver's side.
"Bye, Robin."
"Bye, Charlie."
We waved to each other as he drove off to go work at his full time job with B613 which was a secret organization under the pretense of Acme Unlimited, which was a paper company.
I smiled to myself as I watched his steel black Ferrari with tinted windows fade out of view. I walked into the office with a grin on my face and Huck gave me a weird look.
"What's up with you?" He asked with a suspicious tone.
I lifted my hand to show off my ring finger which held the very expensive diamond ring.
"Where the hell did you get that from?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Can you at least pretend to be happy for me, Huck, I can't bear you not approving of Charlie, me and him have a different relationship than you and him obviously."
His eyes got wide. "YOU AND CHARLIE? I thought I made it clear that I didn't want you to have anything to do with a B613 agent!"
"And yet here I am talking to you... He's different, Huck, he loves me, he asked Olivia for her blessing, and he got permission from command, now that's hard to do and he did it for me, so you can either mope around about it or we can actually do our job."
Huck shrugged and went back to work.
"I'm not an agent anymore, you know this," he said.
"But you still operate under command, you may not want to be but you can't just quit B613, that's impossible, you're still being controlled by command, therefore you're still part of B613."
"I have a family now, you now have somebody they can take from you, that's called a weakness, command doesn't tolerate weakness, therefore they won't tolerate you."
I scoffed at the remark, "It's a weakness until you make it your strength, as I said, Command approved so either they will sabotage it or they will let it be since Rowan only cared about his flesh and blood, I rather not think about a bad outcome. I had a good night just let me work off that so I'm not in a shitty mood."
Huck scoffed in a disdainful tone.
"Hey! Don't be moody, I'm engaged to Charlie and there's nothing you can do about that, so just chill out, I'm not any different, I'm just in a little better mood. So please if you're going to be like this I'd rather not have to deal with you today."
He rolled his eyes.
I heard someone enter the room.
"WAIT YOU AND CHARLIE ARE ENGAGED?!"
It was Abby, she entered the room with wide eyes and a wide smile.
I smiled back at her and said, "Yeah it actually just happened this morning, he was going to do it at dinner tonight, but he said he didn't want to wait any longer, but of course we're still going to the dinner because we both really love food."
I laughed at my own remark then checked Abby's face, she ran towards me and hugged me.
"Why didn't you tell me about Charlie, I'm not like Huck, you know, so what did he propose to you in bed or something? Sorry that sounds creepy, how did he propose? Tell me everything!" She said excitedly.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Sit down we might as well have a meeting about it, I'll bet Olivia will want to know too, I highly doubt Huck or Harrison want to, though."
Harrison walked in. "What will I not want to hear?" He glanced at my ring finger. "Who's the lucky fellow?"
"Charlie, I believe you know him, maybe."
His eyes got big. "OH, yeah I know him, seems a little... I don't know B613-ish,"
I laughed, "Aren't we all," I said simply.
Harrison chuckled. "Ain't that the truth," he said as Olivia walked in.
"Hey, Liv, sleep alright?" Asked Huck.
"Yes I did, Thank you. is everything all right? You seem on edge," she pointed out.
He shrugged and looked at me.
"Oh you heard," Liv said.
"If she wants to affiliate herself with that... thing," he said disdainfully.
"Hey!" I yelled, picking up a close book and throwing it at him.
"I could say the same about you to your wife, but I respect you too much to judge you. You've changed, and Charlie has too so back off," the words spit out of my mouth.
Huck laughed like those psychopaths in horror movies, throwing his head back in a flurry of anger and scoffing at the idea of change that he then proved he knew nothing about.
Then Olivia intervened, saying, "Guys, guys, let's congratulate Quinn on her engagement and get to work, I have a client who's coming soon and do you really think she's going to hire an office where the people can't even work together and disagree on EVERYTHING? I think not, Huck, chill out and Quinn, I'm happy for you, as soon as Charlie asked me, I knew he was a great guy, he cares about you."
Abby dropped her jaw. "He asked Olivia? That's so cute! Ok who is the client, Liv?" She asked quickly, changing the pace of the conversation.
I was glad she changed the subject because I was not about to say that we spent the night in the car at a stake out for B613 watching a strange overweight man who had grafted skin. Then after we occupied our time doing things together, he popped the question.
It's not necessarily the most romantic way to do it but for me it meant the world.
I couldn't stop thinking about Charlie, his kisses, his eyes, his face, and goddamn, his body.
I snapped out of my daze as Olivia muttered the name of our new client.
"The First Lady," She said calmly.
I heard the mumbles around the room. "What now?" Someone asked.
We laughed as we remembered the last time she came to our office in need of help.
It was a case with her daughter, she had gotten into some drugs in school and then the First Lady found them and also used them, unluckily for her a White House assistant person had seen her and had freaked out and accidentally leaked it to the press.
That was a hard case, the way we handled it was by saying it was medicine for her blood pressure.
I don't know how they had believed us, it was obviously not, but the White House staff member agreed to drop the case and admit that she had only looked for a second and didn't take enough time to analyze the situation for the small price of keeping her job, and keeping the dirt under the surface from which we found it.
That was the way we worked, we threatened to resurface some of their past indiscretions in return for them spreading rumors, so that took care of that.
A phone started ringing, I realized it was mine and that it was indeed, Charlie.
I became giddy whenever I thought about him, how unprofessional of me, I managed to hide it while I was with him, well to the best of my ability anyways.
"Hey. I decided to call you instead of anticipating when you'd call me... so... how's your day? What you got going on at the office?" He said through the phone.
I walked out of the room and sat down at my desk.
"Hey, I'm... fine," I said. "A little hyper and energetic but fine," I paused, then continued, "We're starting off the work day with a client who is our best paying customer, can you take a guess?"
He chuckled, "Best paying customer as in most repeated customer or the richest?"
I smiled even though he couldn't see it. "How about both," I said simply.
"Hmm... I see... Oh, so that must make it the First Lady, the lady is a mess," He said with a quick laugh.
"Well to boost your confidence, yes, you're right," I said, beaming. Then I continued, "Seeing as she is one of the few repeating customers to come over 5 times."
We shared a laugh and I heard a gunshot.
"Everything going ok?" I asked listening to the background sounds through the phone.
"Oh yeah, finally got a real mission, it was too easy though," he paused and I heard the sweet sound of a snapping of bone. "By the way," He continued casually. "Hopefully you can save some of that energy for at home haha."
"Wouldn't you like that, huh," I said with a grin on my face.
I could tell he smirked from the silence that came afterwards.
"Of course I would, and I think you'd benefit from it too," he said in a more seductive tone. It sent chills down my back.
We both laughed lightly and at that moment I couldn't wait to get home.
"Oh by the way, you were sort of right about Huck, he did not seem to like the idea of me and you," I stopped as I heard a muffled scream.
I continued as if nothing had happened, "But me and Olivia both gave him a piece of our mind, but I did it respectfully. Can't have a mad Huck am I right?"
"Yeah definitely. Its a shame he's being such a pain in the ass, I owe him my life for saving you from Hollis Doyle.."
My fist clenched at the mention of his name. I stretched my hand out then relaxed the muscles. I needed to let go.
He continued, not knowing my reaction, "...If I could kill Hollis Doyle I would. No one hurts the woman I love..."
I smiled, it was rare that he admitted anything he get for me, he clinged to his upbringing, refusing to give up his position of authority. It had taken him quite awhile to admit to being in love.
He continued again, Huck gets the credit for saving your life and he gets my gratitude I have nothing major against him, I just want your technical brother to be there on your wedding day, which I hope will be your happiest day..."
He started to sound disgusted at his voice and said, "This is all cheesy shit isn't it."
I grinned. "No, no it's ok, you can continue if you like, sensitive Charlie is one of my favorites."
He fake coughed and said, "Excuse me? Are you saying that me showing emotion is a... turn.. on?"
"What if I... was?" I said, changing the tone in my voice.
"Then I'd be running to your office right now without a care about being judged by Huck," he said in quick response.
"I didn't think you cared about his thoughts," I teased.
"I don't, but you do so I respect that," he paused. "I'll just keep it in my pants til I get home, anticipation is one hell of a thing. Makes sense why I couldn't wait til tonight to ask," he finished.
"Ok well I'll let you continue with your job because I can tell when you're enjoying one. I love you, call me when you're done if you want to," I said, leaning my head in my hand on the desk.
"Of course I will," he started, "well, go beat the shit out of your case, Robin, I know you'll breeze through it. I love you too, I don't know how late I'll be out, take care of yourself, and tell Huck that he can suck my ass if he has something to say as to why I shouldn't be with you, because quite frankly, I would risk getting assassinated by a B613 agent if you decided you didn't want to be with someone who kills people and invades people's privacy for a living," he said with a strong finish.
I laughed and smiled to myself. "Oh, Char, you know how to make work miserable don't you, now I have to wait til I get home to show you how I really feel about all this flattery. I guess you're lucky we're both agents and command even gave us his blessing so, screw off Huck!" I laughed again then said finally, "Ok I have to go, the First Lady is here."
"Ok, see you later," he said simply, as I was about to hang up he started talking again.
"By the way, from now on let's not talk about Huck because he's irrelevant to us now, I know he's your mentor and everything but I still don't trust his authority. Goodbye, Robin, I gotta finish this job."
"Bye."
He hung up right after I heard another sound coming from his target. It was a muffled scream, probably muffled by duct tape over the person's mouth, by the pitch it was most likely a man.
I set my phone on my desk and went back to the main area where Mellie and the OPA staff were all sitting at the conference table.
"Who was that?" Asked Abby.
"Nosy as always are we?"
"Well it is part of the job."
I shrugged "It's sad how true that is. It was just Charlie, checking up and seeing what people thought of the ring."
I sat down at the conference table, facing the fellow gladiators.
Yeah that was a lie, my thoughts continued. We weren't talking about the ring, we were talking about our jobs and our anticipation of getting home, but they didn't need to know that.
"Oh how great! Congratulations, Quinn!" It was Mellie's turn to admire the ring that was now on my left ring finger.
Huck rolled his eyes and I glared at him. He looked away and looked at Liv.
"What can we do for you, Mrs. Grant?" Asked Liv.
"First of all, stay away from my husband, we may be going through a divorce right now but we don't need the press pressuring us to come clean as to the real reason we're separating, it's smart for all of our careers now, do you understand?"
Liv crossed her arms. "You know damn well it's your husband who has been coming to my apartment so you might want to give him this lecture instead."
Mellie clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and said, "I have, but you know how stubborn he is, it's a great pair, two stubborn people who refuse to stop seeing each other isn't it."
"I mean there are two different ways you could interpret that. I'm sure the press would love to hear about Andrew," said Liv in her defense.
They both laughed and then they met each other in a hug.
"How have you been, Mellie? How are things with Andrew?"
The atmosphere changed in the snap of a finger, their sarcasm overriding all proper procedure dealing with clients.
I guess Mellie was more like part of the team, since she was here so much.
Mellie replies to Liv, saying, "Yeah we've been fine, I hope this all blows over, you know I'm going to miss you hanging around in the White House, it's like my purpose for being on fire is burning out."
"Ah well, I'm sure we'll see plenty of each other on the tv. To what do I owe this pleasure today?" Liv switched hips she was supporting herself with. A hand went on her hip.
Mellie sighed and said, "Teddy isn't doing very well in preschool, he's been behind in the languages and I want to hire a tutor but I feel as if they will call him underdeveloped and I can't help but feel guilty since I induced the pregnancy..."
She paused as she had a flashback of when she had to induce her pregnancy to help her fake husband win his presidency.
"Can you help me by hiring a tutor and keeping him here sometimes to help him catch up, I know it's a lot to ask, but Andrew can come here and help sometimes even if it raises suspicions I think it's the best idea instead of risking someone like a journalist seeing," she finished as she came back into the moment.
I cut in, "I... I've had some experience with young kids, and I've worked with some underdeveloped kids before, I'd be honored if I'd be the one to help Teddy, he really is a sweet boy."
Mellie smiled, "Great, great, you guys can take shifts, if you want, I'm paying generously, my son's education is very important if I'm going to be the next president. The family is always inspected and we already have been, but with Teddy being older he'll be more susceptible to bullying if he's not as bright as the rest of his age group."
I smiled as she only glanced between Abby, Liv, and I. Even though Harrison and Huck were both fathers, the women of this office were more trustworthy to keep their temper when they were upset. Stephen still hadn't come in and I was starting to wonder why.
"Where's Stephen? Isn't he usually the first person here?" I asked.
Liv spoke up, "He and his wife went out on a small vacation for the weekend, he just told me this morning, he didn't ask for absent pay, so he's just using up his vacation days."
I nodded, "Makes sense, it's only been what, 3 months since they went on their honeymoon to France and they were gone 4 days, why do they need so much time alone in expensive places?"
"It's something about luxury, you'll understand on your honeymoon with Charlie, have you talked about a date yet?" Asked Abby, she and her husband David got married a year ago and they had gone to the Bahamas for their honeymoon.
"No we haven't, it's so new, I can work it into the conversation tonight at dinner though, I'll let you know if we decide, or you can wait for the invitation," I answered.
My mind wandered to the memories from hours earlier while I was still in the car with Char.
The thought of us getting married seemed unreal. The way I talked about setting the date I was practically daydreaming and Abby had to snap me back into focus. The OPA members were all looking at me and smiling.
I looked around at everyone's face. "Guys, what are you doing just standing around gawking don't you have some fixing to do or something?"
They shrugged and turned towards Mellie.
"Is there anything else we can do for you?" Asked Olivia.
"Yeah actually, Liv, I need you to stop by the Oval Office, Fitz has been a little on edge with his hopeful reelection and I know you're also the head of the campaign, I need you to calm his nerves. We may never have been in love but he is my best friend. Oh lord help that nobody finds out all of "our" kids are actually Andrew's and mine, that would end in hell fire, that marriage agreement was hard on both of us especially when we were both in love with other people, but I did what I had to do to help my best friend."
Her request wasn't a surprise, the president has had a tight schedule with the civil war which was happening in an allied country.
We all had heard about how they did it as a business arrangement and since they had both agreed to it for the business opportunity.
Mellie would get to the top by proving her worth in office by doing the best she could with the people of America.
They had only recently filed for divorce as soon as people realized their passion was long gone, little did they know it was never there.
They would have to wait at least a year for the long awaited couples could be officially together. Liv and Fitz could be together after America accepts their president as an eligible bachelor. Liv would be his girlfriend, not just his mistress and Mellie and Andrew would finally get married.
She always wore a ring that Andrew gave her on her wedding day, it was her so called Marriage band and nobody knew besides a few select people, also it was unknown that Fitz and Olivia shared promise rings. Liv wore Fitz's Great grandmother's "Doux Bebé" ring on her left hand's pointer finger.
It was all a complex love square, by day Mellie and Fitz used to pretend to be the most passionate couple in politics then at night they each slept in another person's bed.
I was all of a sudden so glad that Charlie was not a highly well known man, I don't know if I could deal with that spotlight.
I on occasion had been on a talk show when dealing with certain high profiled clients. One of them being Olivia Pope of OPA, aka one of my best friends.
It truly was an honor getting to work here, I had been acquired after being framed for a bombing. I didn't remember it all, I had been in the vicinity of the explosion and had been rendered unconscious. I was brought to D.C. in Olivia's hope that I would work for her in her Olivia Pope's and Associates business. I had been hired by Harrison, and have worked here ever since.
I was hired four years ago, and in fact it will be a week until it's officially 4 years. I didn't expect anybody to realize it, but me and Charlie would celebrate me being saved and us being together.
We were star-crossed lovers even if we didn't want to admit because we weren't very sentimental people, well at least we're usually not, but today it was a little different because now everyone knows, and we finally had to officially acknowledge the fact that we weren't invulnerable to feeling.
My train of thought went back to Charlie and I wondered what he was doing.
I noticed the rest of the gladiators were conversing with Mellie so I went back to my office.
I picked up my phone then put it back down, it had only been 3 hours since he called and I didn't want to seem clingy.
Huck peeked in and it was my turn to roll me eyes. "Listen... Quinn, I know how much Charlie means to you, I'm sorry. Me and him just don't see eye to eye on most things and we've become, well, I wouldn't say enemies, but we're on different teams now. I respect your decision, and you're right. Me and him aren't much different, we were both trained the same and we've had practically the same treatment, you're the first woman he's been with since I've known him. Sure he's had relationships to get information, but you and him, you brought a good out of him that I didn't know existed. I truly am happy for you, I'll leave you alone now, I'm sorry for acting wrongfully." He turned to leave.
"Wait, Huck," I said almost reaching out and grabbing his arm, I refrained from it and got his attention with my voice.
"This means a lot, I didn't like the fact that you didn't approve of something I did, you're my mentor, but you're also like the big brother I never had, everything I've done I've looked to you for approval and I was scared that the biggest moment of my life would be our downfall. I couldn't imagine my wedding day without you there," I said sympathetically.
He smiled slightly in response. "I couldn't imagine being on your bad side, you're incredible Quinn, Charlie is a lucky man."
I smiled genuinely, "Thank you, Huck, let's get back to work."
He waved and walked back to his office.
I smiled to myself, wait until Charlie heard about this. I looked at my phone debating whether to call Charlie or not. I decided to leave it until I got home, we would have plenty of time to talk at dinner. I looked at the clock, the day had gone by slow.
I had gotten to work around 8:20 am and it was now 12:57 pm. For how long other days felt this one was feeling as if it went by fairly slow, with no major client problem, it was not as exciting around the office. Also with the anticipation of seeing Charlie again made me want time to go faster. I guess waiting for something makes time go slower, I hate how time works.
I looked down at my hand. The sight of the ring brought a smile to my face.
It hadn't always been smooth riding for me and Charlie, some bumps in the road set us apart but we always came back to each other. There was one part where I thought we were done for. It's a long story, we both made some dumb mistakes and we both misinterpreted each other's actions. It was 2 months of misery and then we finally listened to each other, that's our problem, we're stubborn. When we got back together we were all over each other while apologizing in between. Since then there have been a few hiccups but no one has ever made me feel like Charlie does and he's said the same about me. We were happy now and that's important in a relationship. We cherished the unblemished moments as few as they are. We are both busy people so we take what we can get.
I heard a knock on my office door. I turned around to face Olivia.
"Teddy will be over in about 45 minutes, you need me to stay and keep you company?" She said politely.
I smiled. "Only if you want to, but Mellie has a specific job for you to do today, I'll be ok by myself, but thank you."
Liv smiled back, "I was just making sure, you're not obligated to go solo on this one."
"Maybe I'll ask Charlie to come over, that way we can spend some more time together."
"That's a great idea, and... while he's here don't get too... close, a young child can't have a compromised moral at such a young age." She said, grinning widely.
We laughed heartily and someone entered behind Olivia through the main office doors.
"Wow so this is what it's like at OPA... disappointing." I knew that voice anywhere.
"Speaking of the devil." I said to Olivia.
"Yeah no kidding, well good luck I'll leave you to it." She turned around and walked out passing Charlie as she walked out of the office to go to the White House.
As she passed Charlie she barely skimmed his shoulder as he jumped out of the way.
"Now that is a girl on a mission," he said as he looked at me. We smiled at each other.
"Now what did she say 'good luck' for? And you said 'Speaking of the devil' so I'm assuming you were talking about me."
I chuckled. "Yes we were, and you really are the devil, no heads up on stopping by? No matter I was about the call you anyways, you're right, anticipation is one hell of a thing." I smiled as he grinned at me and stepped forward grabbing me by the waist and kissing my cheek.
"Well I was going to call again but then I figured I'd let you be the one to call since I called first, I didn't want to seem... anxious. Anyways, what did she say 'good luck' for?"
He was still holding my waist so I placed my hand on his chest. "Teddy is coming over to the office and I'm going to tutor him since he's falling behind in preschool."
Charlie laughed. "You're helping Mellie? I thought you had a mutual dislike for each other, and Teddy is in preschool I didn't know you liked kids."
"I don't necessarily, I just have some experience with falling behind children, my little brother was one and then he grew up to be a professor so I think I'm good to go."
Charlie looked in my eyes and smiled. "Your brother's name is Bryan, right?"
"Yeah..."
"When's the last time you've seen him?"
"It's been a couple months I spotted him in a coffee shop, he still thinks I'm dead you know," I said. I could feel a tear forming, by sucked it back in.
Charlie's eyes were filled with compassion as he saw the hint of pain and regret form in my eyes. His eyes gave me comfort as I thought of all the memories of me and my brother, but I could never see him face to face again without dire consequences.
"At least we also know you're good with kids, that's why I was about to call you, to ask you if you could come to the office," I said.
He looked around the office. "You know...This is the first time I've actually been inside this office, the only other time I've been here I was being interrogated for the murder of Mellie's son, and I was blindfolded the whole time besides being in Liv's office with black sheets all over the windows so I couldn't look around and find information. It's nice to be here without being accused and scorned. Olivia doesn't seem to care much, but that's ok, I don't expect her to since I'm not a very good person." He paused as he thought about what he's done in his life.
I set my hand on his chest, reassuring him, we were in the same line of work, if he felt bad I would too. He shook his head and tightened his posture, I could tell he had no regrets.
He started again. "Anyways, I wouldn't necessarily say I'm good with kids, I just have a very active inner child, so I can relate to them more, I'll try my best, for you, Robin."
I placed my hand on the side of his face. "Thank you, Char. It means a lot, and as long as I'm here you'll always be welcome to stop by and see your fiancé." I winked as his eyes lit up at my newly obtained title.
He brought me closer to his body as our lips met in a brief kiss. We separated and looked into each other's eyes again.
"I need to tell you something about Huck.."
Char interrupted, "I thought we weren't going to talk about him.."
"Yeah we weren't but Huck came in here and apologized and.."
Huck walked into my office where he found Charlie still holding me by my waist.
"Hey, Charlie."
Charlie turned around ever so slowly and said, "Huck.."
I turned Charlie's face back towards mine with my finger. "Did you not hear me? Huck is ok with us we don't have to worry anymore."
Charlie turned once again to Huck with an apologetic look on his face. Huck stuck his hand out as a gesture of a truce between the two. Charlie took his hand and shook it hard. They released their hands and they both looked back at me.
Huck spoke, "I just came in here to let you know that Teddy is here now so might want to stop.." He pointed and waved his hand between Charlie and I. "This," He finished.
We laughed with each other while Huck stood there with a straight face.
"Teddy is waiting." Huck finally said.
"Oh yeah, right. Come on, Robin," Charlie said taking my hand and leading me out the door to the office.
We came to face Mellie and Andrew standing in the doorway both with one hand of Teddy's in their own.
I smiled as I looked down into the adorable chubby face that was now looking back at me.
"Hey, Teddy." I heard coming from behind me. It was Charlie. He crouched down so that he was almost face to face with the small child.
A high pitched voice came from the little boy. "Hello, mister." I smiled at the small voice and Charlie's tender face comforting Teddy so that he knew he wasn't in danger.
"Are you ready to have fun?"
Teddy's face lit up with a big grin. "Yeah!"
"Come on!" Said Charlie reaching out his hand so that the child could take it.
Teddy eagerly took it and followed him into the other room.
"That's Charlie? I never did apologize for falsely accusing him. I bet he doesn't like me..." she paused and watched him walk into the other room, she continued, "Anyways, this means a lot to me, I don't care how long it takes, as long as in the next 4 years he's good in all areas of school."
I nodded my head. "My younger brother, Bryan, was falling behind too, I helped him because we couldn't hire a tutor, he's now a professor so I like to believe I had some part in that."
Mellie looked impressed. "I'm not saying Teddy needs to be a professor, but as much as you can help him will be a miracle. I can't thank you enough."
"Oh it's no problem, Charlie is great with kids, he doesn't like them all that much but he claims to have a very active inner child so he relates to them." Mellie and I laughed.
"Sounds great, Andrew, do you want to stay for a while or.."
"Yeah, yeah I'll stay here for an hour maybe just spend time with my son." He leaned towards Mellie and kissed her on her cheek. "I'll see you later." He said then walked towards where Charlie had taken Teddy.
"Bye, Mellie, have a good day." I said smiling.
"Thank you again, I'll come by at 5 to get him, Andrew should only be here for at most half an hour."
"Don't worry we'll take good care of him, Andrew will help Teddy get used to coming here, and make him see that he's in no danger here."
"Yeah that's fine, I don't want a pupil that doesn't trust me." Mellie turned to leave.
"Bye." I said as she walked out the door and into the elevator. I turned to go follow where the two men were.
Huck walked out of his office. "I better be going, Javi has a soccer game today. See you tomorrow." He walked to the elevator without waiting for me to say bye to him.
I shrugged it off since he still was kind of mad at me for being with Charlie, but he'd get over that soon, hopefully. I found Charlie and Andrew both crouching by Teddy talking in sweet voices to the little boy. I leaned against the doorframe and admired the man with the sandy brown hair.
Charlie saw me looking and stood up. He smirked as he walked towards me. He stood beside me and put his arm around my waist.
Andrew got up from the floor and walked towards us. "I'll leave you too it." He shook Charlie's hand. "Either me or Mellie will pick him up around 6.."
"We've got this, see you later." I said ushering him out the door.
"Now we might as well start right away." Charlie looked at me and brought his body close to mine. "Or..."
I put my hand on his chest. "We...can't.. Teddy."
He lingered his lips over mine and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile.
I pushed him away and looked at Teddy who was playing with a ball Andrew left with him.
Abby then came out of her office and saw Charlie standing by me. She was startled to see Charlie. "Oh, I hadn't realized... you're... Charlie."
Charlie looked at me. "Yep I'm Charlie, the mysterious, never mentioned boyfriend and now fiancée to Quinn, is that how relationships work?"
I punched him in the arm. "You know I couldn't have," I mumbled.
"Yeah I know I just like giving you a hard time," he said chuckling. He stuck out his hand for Abby to shake.
Abby dodged the hand and brought him into a hug.
Charlie grunted and looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "Um..."
Abby started rambling about something but I only heard a few words, "I'm sorry." And "We were wrong" and then finally, "Hopefully we can put our differences in the past."
The whole time she was rambling on and apologizing, Charlie just stared at me as if he had never been hugged before by anyone but me. His arms were elevated by his sides, afraid to hug Abby back. I peeled Abby off of him, I didn't know how much longer he could take it.
When Abby finally let go she stood and recomposed herself. "I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have.."
I put my hand up, "Abby it's fine, he's tougher than you think he is." I took his hand and he squeezed it.
"Honestly I'm fine, consider it forgotten, I'm glad you got the real culprit. I'm really glad I wasn't put up to the job though. I feel bad for poor Tom."
I smacked his chest with the back of my hand. "Charlieee." I said trying to get him to stop talking. "People are more sensitive about this issue, you can't freely speak about it like this." I whispered into his ear.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders apologetically.
Abby ignored his little comment about being sorry for Tom. "David and I have a date so I'm going to leave now." She said walking to the elevator.
"5 o'clock," I said kissing Charlie's cheek.
He watched me from behind as I sat on the floor with Teddy and began my lesson, simple words were the foundation of being able to speak clearly and fluently. Charlie sat in the office chair watching us as the hours ticked away.
Around 4:30 Charlie went to make a call, I knew he wasn't just going to the bathroom, but I decided not to eavesdrop, I trusted him. He came back in the room and sat in the floor with me and Teddy, he proved himself to be a great fatherly figure even if his imagination liked to run free, he was a grown child, full of adventure and curiosity, with the perfect amount of manliness and maturity mixed in.
Soon it was 5:00 and I heard the elevator door open. Charlie was holding Teddy and they were pretending Teddy could fly. Teddy had a huge grin on his face as Charlie put him down once he saw Mellie.
"Again Again!"Teddy pleaded.
"It's time for you to go home now!" Charlie said in a tender voice, pointing towards Mellie walking towards the office. Teddy's face lit up as he ran towards his mom.
Charlie watched him go out the door with Mellie as I came to his side. Charlie has such a gentle way with kids, he will be a great father one day.
Mellie didn't say anything, she just waved as they entered the elevator, Teddy waved with his small hand and I saw Charlie wave back with the slight movement in his hand.
As soon as the elevator door closed and the bell finger signaling them going down a floor, Charlie turned slowly towards me and slid his hand down my side then to my back. This touch gave me a chill. I reached my hand towards his face and traced my finger from his ear to his jawline then cupped his face in my palm.
We looked deeply into each other's eyes, "You'd make a great dad." I whispered so that he could barely hear.
He smiled as he pushed my hair behind my ear with his free hand.
"I'd like to be a good husband to you first," he said, as his thumb rested on my cheek and his fingers behind the nape of my neck.
The thought of him being my husband made my heart sing.
"And I your wife." I said holding the collar of his shirt.
He pulled my face closer to his and tenderly pushed our lips together so there was no space between us anymore. Our lips separated as I remembered we were still not the last people in the office.
Harrison would be working in his office, but he usually left around 6:30 and it was 5:15.
"Wait.." I said turning towards Harrison's office. "We're still not completely alone."
Charlie turned my face toward him with his pointer finger. "We can go to dinner now, in celebration," he said with a smile, I could never tell if he unintentionally smiles around me or if he makes sure there's a smile on his face. Right now it seemed genuine. He was looking in my eyes waiting for an answer.
"Of course, I haven't eaten all day. I was saving my appetite. Let me gather my things and then we can go."
"Ok," he said releasing his hand that was holding my face and the other which was around my waist. He stepped back and ran his hand through his hair.
I walked into my office and leaned on the desk for a moment. I touched my lip as the kiss still lingered on them. I grabbed my purse and stuffed my phone inside it. I tidied up my desk and put the files back in the filing cabinet. I turned back around to see Charlie leaning against the doorpost.
His eyes were tenderly watching me, he fake coughed as he noticed me looking back at him.
"Almost ready?" He asked as I started walking towards him.
"Yep. Let's go," I said kissing his cheek.
He followed me to the elevator as I led him hand-in-hand. We got in the elevator and he held me with one arm around my waist. "I had to kill a government guy again." He said calmly.
"Anyone I know?" I asked looking up at his calm face.
"Maybe. Vincent Belmont," he said meeting my gaze.
The name was familiar, "Oh so pretty young then, wasn't he like 24?" I asked.
"Yeah that's the one. Damn shame he held intel about where he got his fortune. It's ours now. Got it from CIA because he was stalking one of our agents, I tried to get him to tell me who his sponsor was, I got a name but he didn't get anything out of it obviously."
I chuckled, "People think they're secure but B613 is always one step ahead."
He nodded as the elevator door opened again to the main floor.
I followed him to his car, the black paint was shimmering in the moonlight. We walked while holding hands until we approached his car.
He let go and opened the cars door for me. I got in.
"Thank you." I said.
"Chivalry is never dead with me."
I smiled, "What a gent."
He laughed, "Anything for you."
He closed the door and walked to the other side of the car. He opened the door and got inside. He revved up the loud engine and every time he did so he smiled at the sound.
Men and their muscle cars. I can't say much because I like the sound too.
He looked at me, "I'll never get tired of that", he had just gotten this car a week ago, after he took a job that paid extremely well, this was only a small fraction of what he could get.
He also used some of that for the diamond ring that I looked down at and smiled again. He saw me looking at it.
"The ring looks better with you wearing it, that's for sure, he said. With one hand on the wheel he extended his free hand and held my left hand. Our hands rested on my thigh as we drove towards the restaurant. He rubbed my thumb with his.
I looked over to see him still smiling. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"You'll see. You'll see."
I rolled my eyes. "Ok then."
He smirked.
A million different scenarios went through my head as we approached the restaurant.