A/N Hello my friends. Thanks a lot for your kind words of encouragement in your messages and reviews. I know this story seems like a bit of a stretch, but bare with me, please. For those of you who have a problem with Olivia being a potential adulteress, what can I say...It's not gonna be an easy path and Olitz won't happen fast and without any sense. It's gonna be painful, devastating, difficult...This was a difficult chapter to write, because I had about four directions in which it could go, but I decided on this one. I hope I'm not gonna bore you to death, but some things needed to be clarified. Enjoy!
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Last time Olivia checked the watch on a night stand in Seth's room it was 5AM. She had slept for about two hours and then Seth shoved her in his sleep to the edge of the bed. She had to fight her way back for the reasonable percentage of the bed space. Now she was watching her husband's face on a pillow next to hers, caressing his dark blond hair. Seth Grant was a classically beautiful man. Tall, masculine, in her opinion he could've used a few extra pounds on his body, but she didn't complain. She smiled remembering how he almost convinced her he was a model, when they first met last year in London.
FLASHBACK 2013
"How come you don't remember taking my pictures for Men's Health March issue?" he smiled confidently, leaning closer to her in a crowded London club.
"Unless you were in Madrid/Spain in March posing as a toreador for me and escaping an angry bull, I never met you before." Olivia sipped on her margarita.
"Is that what I need to do in order for you to dance with me? Stand up to an angry bull?" he was whispering in her ear. Before she could speak, he took her hand, put her glass on the table and pushed her towards the dance floor. "It's a deal!"
PRESENT 2014
Here she was a year later, married to him. She never met anyone so fun, carefree and lovable as Seth Grant. That's what she needed in her life right now. No more pain, horror and sadness. She was thankful to her friend and teacher Cyrus Beene for reminding her last week in Capri of what her life had looked like before Seth came along.
Olivia Pope lived a life of a perfect daughter for most of her life. Her mother died giving birth to her brother Harrison when Olivia was five. Her father Eli worked for the United Nations and spend most of her childhood traveling the world on various missions. Olivia was brought up by nannies and Harrison was in her care for all her life. She finished Yale School of Fine Arts with summa cum laude and became TA of Cyrus Beene. Then 9/11 happened, her brother Harrison was deployed for Afghanistan and she was crying herself to sleep every night. She couldn't sleep, think or work because of how much she missed her brother.
When Reuters agency searched for war photographers, she was on the phone with their director in London immediately, begging him to take her. Cyrus thought she was crazy for going to Afghanistan, but he knew how stubborn she was. Olivia Pope didn't fear anything, not even war. She wanted to feel useful to her country and to be as close as she could to her baby brother.
She spent two years in a war zone taking pictures of dying soldiers and innocent babies and those two years changed her forever. Then a grenade hit her vehicle while they were in Kandahar. Cameraman and a reporter died on the spot and Olivia luckily survived, but with a wound on her left tie, a broken arm and a concussion. She was in a hospital for a week before her father came to get her and took her back to New York.
It took a couple of years for Cyrus to get war photography out of her system. In a deal with her dad, he took her on trips around the Europe from time to time and Olivia fell in love with taking pictures of random people on the streets and landscape photography. At the age of 27 she already won all the awards she could get in her line of work and worked at Yale as a guest teacher. Her love life was practically non existing and that's what worried both her father and Cyrus. She dated a few guys, but nothing serious. And with a single phone call one morning her whole world was upside down...
Her baby brother's unit was attacked in Kabul and nobody knew if he was dead or alive. It took her all the power in the world not to break down and she used hers and her fathers resources to find out about Harrison's whereabouts and condition. He was alive, but he lost both of his legs at the age of 22.
She immediately took him to her house and rearranged her work schedule to his needs. Harrison was grateful to his sister, but at the same time felt guilty for her not living the life young people her age were living. Olivia never complained. She was happy to be there for her brother and make his life easier as possible.
She remembered how he caught her one time talking via Skype with Seth, after they've met in London in 2013.
FLASHBACK 2013
"You're breaking my heart, Liv!"
"Shut up! I'm not showing you my ass on the camera, you idiot!" Olivia giggled talking to Seth on her laptop.
"Just a glance! I'll sleep better!" Seth was persistent, but Olivia wouldn't budge.
"Good night, you perv! Go get laid, you need it!"
"Nope. I'm in celibacy! Waiting for you." Seth winked.
"Good luck with that, Mr blue balls!"
"I'll get you, sooner or later, Pope!"
"Later! Bye!"
She clicked to end call and heard Harrison clearing his throat behind her near the door.
"Classy conversation, sis!" he was grinning and Olivia blushed.
"Oh my God! How long have you've been standing there?!"
"Long enough to hear a gruesome story about blue balls."
"That's it! I'm getting you some squeaky wheelchair instead of this!" she threw a pillow at him, but he catch it.
"You like that guy, admit it, Livvie!"
Olivia sat on her bed shrugging her shoulders.
"I do, Harr...But he's a bit of a slut. I've heard rumors about him even from my students."
Harrison rolled his wheelchair closer to her and took her hand in his.
"That doesn't mean a thing. Was there a bigger slut than me, before..."
A dark shadow crossed his face and Olivia felt her eyes water at the thought of his condition. She kissed his forehead.
"I know...But you are a wonderful human being, Harr...I don't know about Seth. He's persistent, that's for sure."
"And he makes you laugh, which is a rare thing." he added. "Don't let the opportunity pass you by, sis."
PRESENT 2014
Fitz hadn't had a minute of sleep all night. He tossed and turned in his bed, angry with his little brother, but what upset him even more were two beautiful brown eyes that gazed into his with such passion and hurt that evening in the kitchen. He didn't know a thing about her, but her eyes hunted him like no other before.
He got out of bed and headed towards the kitchen to poor himself some water, but a silhouette that was coming up the stairs froze him at his door. It was Olivia Pope apparently sleepless like him, holding what he assumed was a glass of milk. She came up to the third floor of the house where Seth's and Fitz's room were, but on the opposite end of the hall and she stood by a big window watching snowflakes dance outside.
The moonlight gave him a most extraordinary view he saw in his life. She was wearing a silk white nightgown that came up to her knees, showing her perfectly toned legs. He saw her profile glow and a mess of curls that weren't there when he met her. Fitz felt some magnetic pull towards this woman. He wanted to come up behind her and put his hands around her waist. The desire was so strong that he felt his stomach ache for her. Am I going insane?! he wondered, clenching his fists to prevent this unexplainable longing to touch her bare skin.
Olivia was sipping her milk feeling a sudden shift in the hallway's energy. She felt like someone was watching her. But it wasn't scary or unpleasant. She felt like she needed to be there at that exact place in this house. She turned around, but saw nothing. The hallway was empty. She held her cup of milk tighter and got back to Seth's room. Maybe this mansion is hunted?! She almost giggled at her silly thought, getting under the sheets next to her sleeping husband.
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Five days have gone by and the Grant family clan was out of the mansion. Cousins have all gone to their homes across the States to prepare themselves for a New Year celebration, while Olivia, Seth and aunt Angela were falling into their pleasant routine at home. They've enjoyed eating meals together, Olivia was a pretty good cook which made Angela even more enchanted with her.
The only thing that was out of it's place was Fitz. He was nowhere to be found at the mansion. They all assumed he was spending his days with Mellie. It was the day before New Years Eve and Olivia was making some last minute decorations for the house with Angela when Fitz stormed in. Seth was at work.
"Hi auntie!" he came up to Angela kissing her cheek and she frowned at him.
"Do you see anyone else in here besides me?! Show some manners, Fitzgerald!"
He sighed trying to look anywhere but in Olivia's direction. She made him nervous.
"Hi Olivia."
"Hi." she almost whispered. Where are we, in middle-school?!
He took an envelope from his pocket and tossed it on the table.
"If you don't have any plans for tomorrow night, Mellie's family is inviting you all to their New Years ball."
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Olivia mumbled sarcastically at his hostile demeanor, but he herd her alright.
"Do you have some kind of a problem with me, Ms Pope?! Or is it Mrs Grant now?!" he growled at her
and startled his aunt.
"Fitz! Stop it, this instant!" Angela stood up, shocked by her nephews behavior. Fitz was never mean, especially not to women. Olivia stood up and started a staring contest getting up in his face.
"It's-OLIVIA! Is that so difficult to fathom?! We are a family after all! And it seems that you've got some anger issues that I can't help you with, Fitz!"
Fitz just stood there, looking at her juicy lips and wondering what would happen if his aunt wasn't in the room. This tiny woman was able to push his buttons like no one before. He felt like he was suffocating and he just strolled to the door mumbling his apology.
"I don't know what's gotten into him lately?" Angela shook her head sitting back to the sofa. "I think he's afraid of this whole moving out and starting his job in New York-thing. Plus there's Mellie..."
"What about Mellie?" Olivia sipped on her tea trying to calm down the beating of her heart from a previous encounter. "Doesn't he love her?"
Angela sighed deeply.
"That's the thing, dear. I don't think he does...I think he isn't ready yet, after..." she suddenly stopped. She knew Fitz didn't like anyone talking about his past and she respected that.
"After what?" Olivia was confused. It appeared to be some logical explanation for this man's awful behavior and Seth's constant worry about him. Olivia loved that about Seth, he reminded her so much of hero wn love for Harrison. But Harrison was a lovable human being, which she couldn't say about Fitzgerald Grant.
"It's better that Seth tells you about that, dear. I need to go to the marketplace." Angela took their tea cups and went to the kitchen, avoiding the subject.
Olivia had nothing else to do but go to the 3rd floor where Seth and she now lived. As she was approaching the 2nd floor, she heard the music coming from one room. She smiled recognizing one of her favorite singers, Norah Jones. Not really knowing how, but she ended up peeking through the open door of what appeared to be Fitz's working studio.
Standing in front of his drawing board, in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves, and washed out jeans, he looked so engrossed in his work and devilishly handsome while drawing and humming. Handsome?!That thought never crossed Olivia's mind before. Couple of minutes ago, if someone would give her million dollars to find anything appealing about that grumpy man, she would've failed. It must have been her love for art in general in a combination with Norah's words:
"Come away with me and we'll kiss
on a mountaintop
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you
And I want you to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me"
Fitz's brown curly hair was messy and unlike before he had glasses on, which made him even more sexy. Olivia unconsciously sang the last line of the song and he turned around watching this tiny woman make his blood boil again with just one glance at her figure. She was a vision, even in dark jeans and her old gray sweater that hung loosely on her left shoulder.
"I'm sorry..." she stammered completely embarrassed that she got caught looking at him while he worked.
"Are you lost?!" his piercing blue eyes turned into gray when he spoke. "It's a big house, I'm sure you're not used to that kind of luxury. Your room is on the next floor." He smirked, then calmly turned around and continued to draw a building of some sort, as if she didn't exist.
Olivia was so gobsmacked by his unpleasant behavior, his assumptions of her poor background and stupidity. She approached a near by table, took a bottle of ink from it and sprinkled it all across his sketch that was in a finishing faze from what she knew about architecture. Now was Fitz's turn to be shocked. He turned around and grabbed her by her shoulders so hard that she started to whimper in pain.
"Are you out of your mind, woman?! You have destroyed TWO MONTHS of work!" he yelled.
"Let me go, you big...BEAR!" she yelled at him trying to wiggle herself out of his firm grip, but Fitz wouldn't have it. He took her by her thighs and lifted her up against him until she had nothing to do but wrap her legs around his waist or else she would fall down. He stormed to the door, closing them and pushing her back to them, breathing heavily. His stormy eyes were eating her up hungrily and he felt his initial anger turning into something else...something dangerous.
"If you were a man, I swear I could kill you!" he said through his teeth.
She was panting, on the verge of tears, holding her hands against his firm chest. She could feel his heart beating fast. Hers wasn't any slower either.
"Let me go, Fitz..."
The way she said his name send shivers down his spine and he felt he could die if he let her go.
"Why did you have to come here, Olivia? Why now?" he whispered sounding like he's in pain, brushing a tear that came rolling down her cheek. He leaned his forehead against hers, their breaths were mingling and she felt the same haunting sensation she felt last night in that hallway. Now she was sure Fitz was watching her. This is so wrong! The alarms in her head were starting to go off.
"Professor Grant, let me go." she tried her best card.
As soon as she said that, he almost dropped her in a shock. She pulled away, trying to gain some composure.
"How do you know I was a professor once?" Fitz had to sit on the edge of the table, so he wouldn't faint.
"Because I was in your class for a semester, long time ago in Yale. And I'm still a guest professor there, when I want to be... When I get some time off from picking trash and running around with my peeps from Harlem Mafia Crips!" she crossed her arms in a defence.
He knew he crossed the line in every single way that he could. He basically called her a nobody, then pinned her against the door wanting to devour her and she was his brothers wife!
"Olivia, I'm so sorry! This won't happen again."
"This CAN'T happen EVER again!" she opened the door, fixed her sweater, then turned around.
"And you are NOT forgiven!"
The second she was out of his sight, she ran into her room and started sobbing. What the hell are you doing, idiot?! You love Seth! He doesn't deserve this!
She cried for a good hour or so and then went to take a shower, promising herself that she'll avoid Fitzgerald Grant as much as possible, without raising a doubt that something happened between them. NOTHING HAPPENED! she assured herself, relaxing under the water.
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A/N Soooo, what's the verdict?! Don't shoot, please! :P These idiots of ours have a long way to go. Hang in there, friends! I'll try to make it worth your while. So, Olivia actually "kind of" knew Fitz from her Yale days. Did you expected that? It's not that important in a sense that there will be flashbacks (cos they've never spoken to each other before), but it is important from her perspective and her impressions about the younger Fitz. Will they be able to push their feelings aside for the sake of Seth they both love? Write me your thoughts, I love to read them. Happy Thanksgiving from your European Gladiator! XO
