For a week Fitz was distant. Theo wanted to talk to his dad about Olivia but it was obvious that he was in no mood to chat. He kept making excused to avoid going to bed with Cassie, but by the end of the week she decided to approach him about it.
She found him in his office late at night. "Fitz." She said as she knocked before she entered.
"What's up?" Fitz asked as she entered.
"Come to bed." Was all she said. "You need sleep. I can see the bags under your eyes, when was the last time you slept." She said as she approached and walked around his desk resting on it.
"About a week." He said avoiding eye contact.
"Since Theo visited Olivia Pope." Cassie stated. Fitz slowly made eye contact.
"I'm not silly. I have given you a week to come to me, so now I'm coming to you."
"I'm sorry Cass." Fitz said grabbing both her hands in his.
"You don't have to be sorry, just talk to me." She said. He smiled at her weekly.
"I can't stop thinking about her, and I don't feel right coming and laying next to you in bed when I can't stop thinking about her. I'm sorry." He said genuinely.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
"How things ended mostly. Where it went so wrong. What she is doing now."
"Theo might know the answer to the last one. I think he wants to talk to you about it, I mean, he had questions for Olivia, I'm sure he has questions for you too."
"Why didn't he come to me first, is another thing I have been wondering."
"He probably didn't want to upset you."
"Then why tell me?" He asked.
"Because you're his Dad and he wants to know your side of the story." She said. He didn't respond. "Come to bed please. You need sleep." She pulled on his arm and he slowly rose from his chair and followed her to bed.
XXXX
"Did you get any sleep?" Cassie said as she rolled over in the morning. Although what she saw gave her an answer. He hadn't. She placed her hands on the side of his face.
"I think you should talk to Theo." Cassie said.
"I'll try." Fitz said with a weak smile.
"Ok Good." She kissed his lips gently. "Now, I have to get up for work. You still up for the dinner on Saturday?" She said as she moved out of bed.
"Yeah." He said trying to muster as much enthusiasm as possible.
"I am excited to get a chance to dance with you. We havn't danced in a while." Cassie said looking back at Fitz with a broad smile before moving into the bathroom. Fitz lay on his back and looked at the roof a little while longer, until he heard the shower turn off and knew Cassie would be out shortly. He went downstairs to make some coffee and breakfast.
Cassie came down twenty minutes later dressed for work. Fitz had her toast ready and her coffee in her favourite travel mug. She smiled on approach and kissed Fitz once again before she headed out the door. She stopped just before the door and turned around.
"Talk to Theo." She said and left without waiting for a response.
Fitz retrieved his ipad from his office to read the newspapers at the breakfast bar. It was maybe 40 minutes later that Theo came down.
"Morning." Fitz said as Theo walked in.
"Hey Dad." Theo said as he opened the fridge to retrieve the orange juice. He opened the bottle and went to raise it to his mouth.
"Glass please." Fitz said and Theo lowered the juice from his mouth. He smirked at his Dad before retrieving a glass and pouring the juice.
"What are your plans for today?" Fitz asked Theo.
"I as going to go for a run up the hill, then brunch with Michelle, then to the library to study."
"Would you consider making that run a hike, and making that brunch with me instead of Michelle?" Fitz asked.
"Ummm, sure. Everything ok?" Theo asked.
"Yeah, I just think we are way overdue for a chat." Fitz said.
"Okaaaay." Theo dragged out.
"Great, so I'll meet you out the front in 20 minutes. That enough time?" Fitz asked.
"Make it 30." Theo countered.
XXXX
Theo met his Dad at the front door 30 minutes later.
"Ready?" Fitz asked Theo. With his confirmation they headed out.
They made idle chit chat as they walked up the bush track that lead up the hill to their favourite lookout. Fitz was trying to figure out how to bring up the topic that he really wanted to discuss.
When they reached the summit Fitz decided to bite the bullet.
"So I wanted to talk to you about Olivia Pope." Theo began.
"Me too." Fitz said with a small smile. "So lets start with, why did you go see her?"
"I had some questions." Theo said.
"That you didn't feel you could ask me?" Fitz said trying to remove any hurt from his voice.
"Considering your reaction to me going to see her, no." He paused. "Years ago, I remember asking you questions and you would avoid them, so I stopped asking. I asked Karen and Mum, but they both told me it wasn't their story to tell." Theo said.
"I'm sorry that I made you feel like you couldn't talk to me. What was it that you wanted to know?" Fitz asked.
"I just wanted to know what happened between you two. You divorced Mum, then only a few months later Olivia leaves too. Not to mention that she is now living in the house we pretty much ran away to."
"What did Olivia say?" Fitz asked.
"Oh no, no, no. I want your side, then I will tell you hers." Theo said crossing his arms.
Fitz sighed before he began "Liv and I met on my campaign, she embarrassed me in front of the whole crew, but I couldn't help but falling in love with her. We tried so hard to stay away from each other, but the pull was too strong."
"So what happened?" Theo asked confused when Fitz didn't continue.
"She was scared and I was weak." Fitz shrugged.
"I don't understand." Theo pressed not receiving the responses he was hoping for.
"Olivia wasn't very good at communicating and sometimes I think I overcompensated. I wanted her to be my first lady and told her as much. I built her that house, I moved her in to the White House without even asking."
"Which house?" Theo asked.
"The house in Vermont. I built that for us, it is in both our names. I wanted us to have a family."
"Wow. I didn't realise. That would explain why she was there." Theo paused.
"What did she say happened?" Fitz asked curiously.
"Actually, your stories were very similar. For two people who couldn't communicate well, it seems you communicated enough to understand what was going wrong, but not to stop it." Theo said emotion coming up in his voice. Fitz was a little supraised by that emotion.
"I didn't realise this was so important to you."
"I just…feel like I don't know you at all." Theo said. "I have watched video's of the two of you, I have heard you both talk about each other, and I can't believe that you would just give up like that." Theo said.
"It wasn't easy I assure you. We fought all the time, we fought and made up all the time and it was exhausting. Eventually we were just to exhausted to fight anymore. It wasn't what I wanted, I don't think it was really what either of us wanted, but it is how it turned out."
"So you just stopped loving her?" Theo said raising his voice slightly.
"No, I never stopped loving her. I will never stop loving her." Fitz started strongly before hesitating.
"Then what about Cassie?"
"I love Cassie."
"But…"
"Olivia is my soul mate."
"Then why are we here. Why are you here in Florida, when you should be in Vermont, in the house you built for your life together."
"She…" He said loudly before reconsidering what to say "didn't want that life."
"How do you know that? She is in the house you built right now. What else do you need?"
"Theo, I don't understand. You want me to break up with Cassie and get back with Olivia?" Fitz asked extremely confused.
"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know." Theo ran his hand through his hair, just like his dad does. "I just am trying to understand. When I saw the videos and the photos I could not believe how happy you looked."
Fitz said nothing. He felt he had nothing additional to say.
"I'm sorry Theo. I didn't realise how much this affected you."
"It affects you, therefore it affects me. And I didn't know just how much it affected you until right now."
"It has been 15 years. I have moved on Theo."
"I might have believed you if you didn't spend the last week shut out from the rest of the world, unable to sleep."
"I don't know what you want me to say."
"Neither do I. I wanted answers, but all I got was more questions."
And the pair were silent for about five minutes before Fitz spoke. "Why don't you call Michelle and re-instate your plans for brunch."
"Dad."
"We can discuss this more when you are ready. I am happy to answer any questions you have." Fitz said before he turned and headed towards the path that lead back down the hill. Theo followed.
Later that afternoon when Cassie arrived home the first things she asked was "Did you speak to Theo?"
"Yes." Fitz replied.
"Well?" She pressed.
"Honestly, I think it made things worse." Fitz said running a hand through his hair.
"How?" Cassie asked confused.
"He said he doesn't feel like he knows me at all because I kept it from him." Fitz said, which was only part true. "I don't think I should talk to him about it again."
"Why not?" Cassie asked.
"We both got angry."
"Which is exactly the reason you need to talk about it again, because clearly it is important to both of you. Now, what's for dinner?" Cassie asked changing the topic, for which Fitz was grateful.
