Didn't get really any feedback and/or reviews last chapter so uncertain if I'm going to continue, I have a few chapters written so I'll post them up. I know it's a bit slow and steady but I want it to be realistic, they don't know each other, they aren't going to jump straight into bed with each other but they are growing closer together each chapter. Anyway, enjoy and let me know if you like it I suppose. X
Olivia Pope had dealt with a few obstacles in the past 6 weeks of working at the White House but nothing would quite prepare her for dealing with the drunk leader of the free world. It had been a quiet and easy day for her which meant something bad was going to happen, it's how the world of politics worked so when she walked into the Oval to leave some files on Fitz's desk, she had only been slightly surprised to find The President slumped at his desk, an almost empty canister of scotch beside him.
"Fitz?" She pressed softly as she closed the door behind her, she had finally started calling him by his first name when Cyrus asked her why she wasn't, she couldn't exactly say that she find the leader of the free world extremely attractive and that their seemed to be some sort of sexual energy between them whenever they were alone.
"Liv?" Fitz mumbled out as he lifted his head from his chest, his feet resting comfortably on the desk, his tie thrown on the chair next to him, his sleeves rolled up revealing his very tan and muscular forearms.
"It's almost midnight Sir, is everything alright?" She asked as she moved towards him, placing the file she had been holding on the desk, giving herself a chance to really look at the man.
"Define everything Olivia. My life? My job? My wife?" Fitz replied, his free hand waving dismissively in the air. Yep. The President of the United States was definitely drunk.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked softly as she sat down in the chair next to the desk, not sure if she should let him be or call for Tom, his lead secret service agent, to take him to the residence.
"Have a drink with me Liv." Fitz said as he moved his feet off the table, handing her the class he had been drinking out of her.
She hesitated, only for a second, but it was there. Did she accept his offer and have a drink with him as she knew Cyrus often did or did she reject him and keep it 100% professional? They had been growing closer the past few weeks once they had gotten to know each other, they didn't quite flirt but there was something there that was above just work colleagues and friends. She silently took the glass from him, lifting it to her lips before taking a small sip, the alcohol instantly burning her throat.
"Not a scotch drinker Liv?" Fitz asked smiling as she passed the glass back to him.
"More of a red wine drinker." Olivia said and Fitz took the knowledge in, wanting to remember everything this woman told him. "So are you going to tell me why you're drinking or are we ignoring it today?" She asked, tilting her head to observe him.
It wasn't uncommon for Fitz to have scotch at the end of the day, it also wasn't uncommon for him to have a glass during a hard day but getting almost completely drunk and still being in the oval at midnight, especially considering that meant he most likely hadn't tucked his children in, was a different story.
"You wanted to keep President Grant away from Fitzgerald Grant didn't you Olivia?" Fitz asked before taking a sip of his drink, his shoulders relaxing into the back of his chair. Olivia silently cursed realising he had picked up on that.
"What happened Fitz?" She asked, showing him she did want to listen, she knew she was crossing so many lines right now and she wasn't sure if it was Olivia Pope, Communications Director asking or just Liv.
"We've been here six weeks, I've been President for six weeks and it hasn't gone away." Olivia's mind immediately went a million miles an hour wondering what the hell he could be talking about before he continued. "I thought, I thought this was the missing part of me."
Olivia Pope had never felt her heart break before but she was pretty sure this is what it felt like. Looking at the man she was slowly becoming to see as just Fitz, his eyes soft, but in pain, his face free of worry and stress but filled with sadness.
"I've always had something missing, Mellie didn't fill in, the kids didn't fill it, my career as a lawyer never filled it. I've never really known what it was that was missing you know? I always kind of guessed it was because I wasn't happy? My kids are my heart, but me as a man? I've never been happy." He said, his fingers tapping the edge of the glass steadily, almost like he was matching the beats of his heart.
She didn't know what to say, Olivia Pope was speechless, well she had words to say but none that didn't involve crossing extreme lines.
"I've always been lonely you know? I've never had that one person who has had my back one hundred percent, I'm President, I mean sure I can count on people but that one person who would support me no matter what? Nope." He continued, almost like he was detached from the words he was saying, like he had resigned himself to the fact that he was always going to feel like this, "It just hit me today, six weeks as President and really, I still feel like the kid who walked in on his dad banging his secretary."
Olivia's eyes almost burst out of the sockets, she knew of Big Jerry, but not that he had affected Fitz so deeply.
"What about Mellie?" She asked, finally finding her voice.
"Mellie would throw me under a bus in a second if she thought it was going to help her." Fitz said chuckling, apparently his wife had managed to fool Olivia Pope into thinking she was anything but the manipulative bitch she was.
"You're not alone. Cyrus is here and I'm here." She said softly, Fitz raising his head so that their eyes connected across the desk.
"You're beautiful and you're smart, you'll be here for a year tops." Fitz said honestly, shocking Olivia with his words, they were rarely this honest with one another and she could feel their relationship changing by the second.
"Fitz. I'm here for you." Olivia said shocking herself with her honesty, she needed him to know she wasn't going anywhere, she didn't know why but she needed him to know that.
"You promise?" Fitz said, his words slightly slurring as he finished the glass he had been sipping out of.
"I don't make promises to anybody Fitz, you know that." Olivia said trying to pull back from the intensity of the conversation, shifting backwards in her seat.
"Even to me Liv?" Fitz asked as he leant forward, grabbing the canister and pouring the rest of the remaining scotch into his glass.
"Fitz, you don't need any more scotch." She said as she leant across, holding her hand out for him to pass her the glass.
"Liv." He warned, he didn't need her to baby him, he just wanted to drink and resign to the fact that he was utterly alone in this world. But her begging eyes staring at him convinced him. He was worrying her, he could tell and for some reason, that worried him. "I'm not an alcoholic." He said as she passed the glass over to her, well aware that he did use alcohol as an escape but he wasn't an alcoholic.
"I know you're not." Olivia said as she took the glass and put it over near the couches, away from Fitz. Turning with crossed arms to look at him. "I'm not going anywhere." She said again firmly, hoping to get her point across to him, she knew what it was like to have no one to depend on.
"You're the light in all of this Liv. Cy and Mellie, they're ruthless and they're great but don't think for a second they won't cut me out to get themselves ahead. You're different." Fitz said as he looked at her, the woman who had brought so much into his life in such a short time period.
"You give me too much credit." She said smiling, it comforted her to hear him speak so highly of him but she couldn't dwell on it because dwelling on it would bring up the feelings she was fighting so desperately to hold down.
"You don't give yourself enough credit." Fitz replied, pushing his chair back as he attempted to stand, clearly underestimating how drunk he was.
"Hey, careful." Liv said as she rushed over to him, a hand going to his forearm quickly to help steady him, the last thing she needed was a drunk passed out President. Olivia had however underestimated how being so close to him would feel. Their eyes connecting as she steadied him with another hand on his back.
It was like the rest of the world didn't exist in this split second, their eyes and thoughts only connected to each other as the world paused.
"You're beautiful." It would have been romantic if he wasn't slurring his words and she half smiled at the attempt.
"You're drunk." Olivia replied before breaking the eye contact. "And you need to go to sleep, the press comes in at 6." She said as she quickly went through options in her head of what to do. "You're going to bed." Was the plan of action she decided on.
"Olivia Pope, are you propositioning me?" He asked with a glint of humour in his eye, spinning a little so that their chests were almost pressed together.
"In your dreams." Olivia said laughing a little at his drunken movement, "Tom." She yelled and she could have laughed again at the disappointment in Fitz's eyes as the agent opened the door.
"Yes Ma'am?" The agent asked taking in but not commenting on the close position of the two.
"Tell Lauren that the 23 people still here because The President is can go home, when they're gone, come back." Olivia said and the agent quickly left to follow out the orders she had said. "Now you, are coming with me." Olivia said looking at Fitz.
"And where are you taking me Ms Pope?" Fitz asked with what he thought was seduction in his voice but in reality was just a mixture of slurred words together.
"To bed." Olivia replied and Fitz thought to himself that she had never been more beautiful than right now in this moment.
It had taken almost 20 minutes to get Fitz from the Oval Office to the door of his bedroom inside the residence, the man wasn't exactly light but the problem more so being that he had spent the whole trip refusing Tom's help and exclaiming he wasn't drunk.
"I got it Liv." Said man slurred out as he moved her hand away from the door knob, replacing it with his own. Olivia barely suppressed a giggle at his drunken attempts to twist it open.
"Ok." She said laughing softly. "Thank you Tom." She said as Tom backed away, taking his post at the end of the hallway. "You got it?" She asked directing her attention back to Fitz.
"Yeah." He said as he finally opened the door, swinging it open. "This is where the magic happens Liv." Fitz said and Olivia laughed deeply.
"Yeah we'll see how magic you are at 6am Mr President." She replied and before Fitz could make a witty remark, a small voice interrupted them from the end of the hall.
"Daddy?" It was Gerry. Olivia and Fitz's eyes locked immediately and it was like someone had dropped a cold bucket of water on them. It was only a seven year old, but what if it had been someone else? What if Mellie had seen them? She was a fool, she couldn't believe she had walked The President to his goddam bedroom.
"Hey Ger." Fitz said, unaware of the battle going on in Olivia's mind. "Couldn't sleep?" He managed to tighten his words up a little but the slur was still there.
"Nope. Miss Olivia couldn't sleep either?" He asked the adults as he walked down to them, his blanket dragging with him, his hair wild from tossing and turning.
"No buddy." Fitz said as he leant against the door, the room starting to spin, he needed to sit down fast. "I'm about to go to sleep Ger, do you wanna sleep in here?" Fitz prayed the boy didn't want to go back to his bedroom.
"Can you come tuck me in Daddy, you missed it tonight." And by god, if Fitz's heart didn't break in that moment, Olivia's sure did.
"Hey honey, your dad has an early meeting so how about we let him sleep and I'll put you back to bed huh?" Olivia asked, bending down to meet his eye level but keeping an eye on Fitz. She had spent time with the kids over the past few weeks, she wasn't a total stranger and she was the only option Gerry had right now.
"Ok." He said instantly, happy with the answer. "Night Daddy." He said hugging his Dad's legs before turning and walking back to where Tom was.
Fitz took in the woman before him, he may have been drunk but he was grateful for what she was doing, he knew she was freaking out about being caught near his bedroom when there was absolutely nothing going on and he was so appreciative that she was willing to put his son back to bed for her.
"Liv, I'm drunk. I'm sorry." He said, a hand grazing her forearm softly.
"It's okay, we'll talk tomorrow." She knew something had changed tonight but right now she couldn't deal with that. "Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning." And just like that she was heading down the hallway to catch up to Gerry, placing her hand in his as she walked him back to his bedroom.
Fitz's eyes watched her the whole time, until she was out of his vision, rubbing a hand over his face as he realised the shit he was in, he was feeling something for Olivia Pope that he definitely shouldn't be and he hoped that by morning it would just be a drunken feeling.
She had been avoiding him, not on purpose and not too obviously to anyone else but he knew. She sent an aide in her place to their morning meeting, the first time she had sent anyone but herself and he knew he had pushed it too far with her last night. He wasn't sure what he was feeling for Olivia Pope but he knew it wasn't something good. He was attracted to her of course but it ran deeper than that, he had spilled his cards last night and now he had to deal with the outcome of that. A knock on the Oval door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in." He said, attempting to think of who could be at his door in the middle of the day, he was pretty sure that he was supposed to have the next hour free.
"Hi." Upon hearing the voice and what it had said, his day was instantly made. Hi was their thing, he wasn't sure how it had started but when Olivia said something other than that he knew something was up. Hi was there was way of telling each other that things were okay. He looked up taking her in and nope, the feelings he had thought would be gone by morning were still definitely there. She was beautiful.
"Hi." He replied, shutting the file he was reading as she shut the door behind herself. "How are you?" He asked standing, she looked stunning, she very rarely wore dresses and the black one she was wearing now proved why. Her legs were flawless; peeking out from underneath the knee length dress, flowing until they met the black red souled shoes he knew she loved.
"Fine." He stopped, fine was not good. Fine was the opposite of good when it came to Olivia Pope and now he was confused.
"Liv?" He said softly. She pointed to the cameras before she walked over to the window, the area that wasn't covered by the cameras.
"You can't. You're married." Olivia said in one breath, saying the words that she had been practicing all morning. She took him in, he didn't look too hung over but he wasn't 100% his normal self either, naturally he still looked like he had walked off the cover of a GQ magazine.
"I know." He said, they were having the conversation without having it. They weren't saying anything, they were stopping it before anything could happen. "I'm not going to."
"Good." She was stopping this, whatever it was, before the flirtation became more, before it became a thing at all. "I have a meeting at 1. Your conference is at 2." She said, cutting the moment before it could even really happen, turning and walking back to the door.
"Liv." She turned at his voice, their eyes connecting across the room like they always did, "Thank you for last night." He said, if friendship was all he got from Olivia Pope, he would be grateful for it.
"You're welcome Mr President." And just like that, they were back to square one like nothing had changed, except everything had changed and they both knew that there was no way this was the end of the conversation.
It isn't going to be all back and forth, they're both just really struggling with their feelings right now but next chapter they cross a huge line that changes everything, wonder what it'll be? And yes, Olivia is the thing that Fitz has been missing. :)