Olivia awoke with Fitz's name on her lips. She stretched against her dark grey satin sheets, thinking of his hand on hers the day before. He had large, strong hands. Olivia tended to become shy around men, and truth be told, she didn't have many women friends either, but there was something about Fitz that put her at ease. It wasn't that Olivia hadn't dated or been with men before – she had – but for some reason, the effect Fitz was having on her was different than anything she had experienced before.
Although he did seem to love the children at the school, she knew he'd been reluctant to get into the classrooms with them, and she was glad he was now doing so with her. He definitely had something she could work with.
On the other hand, Olivia was nervous about working with the teachers in the high school wing of the school. She knew that the longer a child had been through what these kids had gone through, the harder they were to work with. While she could bond easily with younger kids like Kayla by empathizing and understanding, a high school student was a lot less likely to respond to her similarly. And because the teachers had been working with these students day in and day out, she expected them to be burnt out and therefore less willing to follow her advice than perhaps the teachers of the elementary students would be.
For similar reasons, Olivia was also nervous about her staff training which she and Fitz had scheduled for the following week's staff meeting. She hoped that by then the teachers would have more trust in her and would be open to listening to her, but at this point she was still an outsider and therefore unsure. She got out of bed and showered and dressed quickly, as she wanted to look over a few of her sources on working with adolescents before she left for The Center.
Sitting with her tea and muffin, she remembered her conversation with Fitz, and something he had said popped out at her. Hobbies. Of course! She recalled working with a teenaged girl when she was just out of grad school. Week after week, Olivia had sat with her at her foster mother's dining room table in silence. As many times as she tried to get her to open up, there was just drawn out silence. Until Olivia had brought along some fashion magazines. Instead of sitting in silence, they both poured over the magazines. And slowly the talking began.
Olivia was sure she could get the teachers interacting with the students by sharing hobbies, whether it was running, or basketball, or a book club, or even planning a talent show. With better teacher-student bonding, it was likely that better behavior would follow. Olivia had a strong feeling that this kind of thing was not happening at the group homes either, and she was excited to speak to the staff at both school and the homes about her ideas. She also planned to meet with Abby Whelan, the school counselor who also covered for the teachers and helped out in the classrooms. Olivia hoped Abby would have additional insight and would be able to help Olivia get started on fixing some of the problems in the school.
Harrison Wright and Jake Ballard were standing in front of The Center waiting for the busses from the group homes to arrive when Harrison spotted Olivia coming from her car in the parking lot.
"Hey man, she's checking me out," Harrison laughed, nudging Jake and gesturing towards Olivia.
"No she's not, she's checking me out!" Jake replied, when in reality, neither could tell where Olivia's eyes were because they were hidden by her sunglasses. As they watched, they saw Abby exiting her car. Abby had parked a few spots ahead of Olivia, and Olivia had been looking at her.
"Damn it," Harrison said, "Abby's probably offering to make her cupcakes."
"I gotta learn how to bake, man," Jake said, laughing.
"Gentlemen," said another voice from behind the two teachers. They turned to see Fitz.
"Dr. Grant!" Harrison greeted. "Good morning."
Jake also offered a good morning as the three men watched Olivia and Abby approach. "Hello Ladies," Jake greeted them.
"Basketball!" Olivia said.
"Basketball?" Fitz replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. You have a basketball court out back, right?" Olivia asked.
"Of course, the kids run straight for it at recess time," Fitz answered.
"Ever play with them?" Olivia asked.
"We do," Harrison answered, motioning between himself and Jake.
"Great!" Olivia said with excitement in her voice. "That's a great way to bond with your students outside of the classroom."
"You playing too?" asked Jake.
Olivia laughed. "I'd probably get trampled!" she said, motioning to how much shorter she was than the men. "But we'll see you out there, right Abby?" she added, then turned and headed into school, with Abby following.
Harrison looked at Jake with a smirk on his face. "She wants to watch us play, man," he said.
Jake could only nod in agreement as Fitz cleared his throat and all three turned as the first bus from one of the group homes pulled up in front of them. "Let me," Fitz said, approaching the bus and greeting the children as they climbed down the steps and headed into the school. Some of the group home staff came to school with the children while others left after doing the overnight shift. The bus's arrival at school was like the nurses' shift change in a hospital. Harrison handed Fitz the clipboard they used to take notes on how the children had behaved overnight and whether anyone was having problems that morning, and smiled to himself as he watched the principal complete his morning job.
Olivia was in the grass with some of the 15 and 16 year old girls who were discussing whether they wanted to sing or dance if they were to put on a talent show, when one of the girls let out a loud whoop.
"Check that out!" Amanda Tanner said, standing up and swinging her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
Olivia followed her gaze and knew immediately what had attracted the girls' interest – Dr. Grant had just joined the group playing basketball. He wore his work clothes – khaki chino pants and a white button down shirt – but he had removed his tie and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular forearms. Even being a good 50 yards away, Olivia could see how toned he was.
"Who you looking at, girl? Tommy? You know Billy wouldn't be happy," commented Kaitlyn, Amanda's best friend.
"No way!" Amanda laughed. "I'm looking at Fi— Dr. Grant! He's hot!" The girls burst into giggles and Olivia regarded them, ultimately deciding not to give them a lecture on talking about the principal in that way. "Come on, let's go watch!" Amanda shouted, heading off across the grass to the side of the basketball court. Olivia and the other girls followed behind.
The basketball game seemed to be going well, Olivia noted, as Jake and Harrison had teamed up with some of their students for a class versus class match. Fitz had joined onto Harrison's team. The sound of male voices shouting to one another and sneakers scraping on the pavement filled the air. The girls seemed to be enjoying cheering on their friends and Olivia smiled, happy to see the students happy.
She definitely noticed the boys checking out the girls on the sidelines and trying to show off their moves for their audience but she was a little unnerved to see the teachers glancing at the girls as well. However, she realized that Harrison and Jake were making eye contact with her, not with the students, and she relaxed, before she realized she didn't quite like that either. Fitz was doing a better job of keeping his eyes on the game, although Olivia was staring at him and his gorgeously curly hair, now even more curly due to sweat, when he finally met her eyes. She felt the thrill go through her that came from looking at his eyes or being in his proximity or thinking of him and at that moment Jake slammed into Fitz, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground. There was a collective gasp from the players and the onlookers and Olivia jumped to her feet, trying to decide if she should run to Fitz and make sure he was okay.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Fitz was saying, as he shook off Jake's attempt to help him up and pulled himself to his feet. He glanced in Olivia's direction quickly before turning and walking back into the school.
Fitz walked through the main office, passing Mellie at her desk, avoiding Cyrus's office to his left, and entering his own office, all the while ignoring the ache coming from where he'd hit the ground. He was more embarrassed than hurt, but he was sure he had a scraped up lower back. He untucked his shirt, twisting his body to get a glimpse at himself. He dropped his shirt back down at the sound of a quiet knock at the door.
"Come in," he said gruffly. The door opened and he was surprised to see Olivia, as he had been expecting Jake with more apologies. He just stared at her as she entered and closed the door behind her.
Her smile was gentle and he could see the concern in her eyes as she regarded him. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
"Yeah. I was just trying to see how badly scraped I am." He pointed helplessly at his back. In the next second she had approached him and moved behind him, lifting his shirt and laying gentle fingers on his back. He forgot to breathe.
"It looks okay," she said from behind him. "Does it hurt?"
"It stings a bit," he said softly, looking over his shoulder into her beautiful brown eyes. "Livvie…" he trailed off, realizing he'd used a nickname he'd created for her in his head.
As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, she removed her fingers from his back. He turned to fully face her and caught her hand in his. They stared at each other in silence for a moment. "Fitz," she whispered. "I can't…we can't…" she stuttered.
"We can't what?" he questioned.
"It's just, I'm working for you. I can't be involved with you while I'm working here. It wouldn't be appropriate."
"And you're never inappropriate?" he asked, letting go of her hand and bringing his hand to the side of her face. Her eyelids fluttered and he almost groaned from the feeling of her skin. But then she shook her head and took a step backwards.
"I'm only here until things are going better for you and the rest of the staff," she said. "After that…" She moved backwards again, her eyes looking like a promise, and he sighed.
"You're right," he said, trying not to choke on the words. "I know you're right. I just…I really want to get to know you. Outside of work, I mean." In his head, he'd said more. He'd told her how much he wanted her.
Olivia didn't answer, but he could feel something between them. Something was there, and he hoped beyond hope that she could feel it too.
At that moment, the door opened and Jake poked his head in. "Excuse me, Dr. Grant," he said. Fitz looked at him, wondering why he hadn't bothered to knock. He was suddenly relieved about the few steps Olivia had taken from him. He resisted the urge to quickly tuck in his shirt, knowing this would only draw attention to the fact that he and Olivia had been having a moment.
"Yes, Mr. Ballard?" Fitz acknowledged him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Jake said, glancing at Olivia, "but there's a situation."
"What situation?" Fitz sighed. Wasn't there always a situation?
"It's Abby, Sir. Kaitlyn just punched her in the face."
