Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Scandal, ABC, or Shonda Rhimes and the characters are not mine. In addition, I have no ownership of or affiliation with the NFL.
Olivia left the production studio as soon as her segment finished filming. She'd received a text from Gabe letting her know that they'd been released from practice earlier. He informed her that his friend had given him a ride home and that he had exciting news to tell her when she got home. In addition to the text, Olivia had gotten an email from Cordero letting her know that she'd have to speak with the head coach and that he'd be in his office until five in the evening.
It was a short drive from the studio to the school, leaving Olivia with plenty of time to sit and talk with the new coach before five rolled around. She stepped out of her car and was thankful that she'd worn a skirt that day because the sun was beating down. Tossing her blazer back into the car, she turned on her heels and started toward the front door. Luckily, there were signs on the wall pointing to the location of the different departments and offices.
"Can I help you find something, Miss?" A voice came from behind Olivia. A tall, olive skinned man approached her. He had thick black hair and dangerously sexy smile. As he got closer, he removed his sunglasses and Olivia got a better look at him. His creme fitted button down was tucked into a pair of skinny olive green pants, both complimenting his hazel eyes.
"I'm here to see the head football coach. Is that you?" She questioned, earning a charming smile and a chuckle from the man.
"No, but I am here for the same reason. You must be new to the team." He told her extending his hand toward her. "Rafael Sola."
"Oh, I actually think our sons are friends." Olivia said back, shaking his hand. "I'm Olivia. My son Gabriel tells me that he and RJ are getting along."
"Gabe!" He exclaimed, the name clicking in his head. "Yeah, he gave him a ride home today. Why don't we walk and talk? I don't want to hold you up."
The two began down a gold and black corridor, chatting along the way. The reached the few offices that were designated for the football staff and Rafael stopped outside of the first one. "I don't know if I'm being too forward, Olivia, but I don't see a ring on your finger and you're very beautiful. Would it be possible for you to agree to a date with me?"
He looked at her hopefully, as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "I don't know how Gabe would feel about me dating his friend's father…"
"Well, why don't you give me your number now. You can run it by Gabe and I'll do the same with RJ and we can see where it goes from there. If they're fine with it, I'll wine and dine you. If not, I'll be your go-to guy for anything Walsingham related." He persuaded, raising an eyebrow at her.
She reached into her large black purse and pulled out a notepad. Quickly, before she changed her mind, Olivia scribbled her number onto it. Rafael graciously accepted the sheet and held out his hand toward the door. "Ladies go first."
She knocked lightly on the door, before pushing it open. The coach was sitting with his head down, giving her a full view of a head of brunette curls. Olivia didn't know whether she should start speaking or wait for him to look up, but he hadn't seemed to budge i the slightest; so she just began to talk.
"Coach Cordero told me I needed to speak with you about this mandatory meeting. I'm not able to make it tom-"
The coach started to lift his head and Olivia thought that she was hallucinating. As his eyes came into view, she knew that she wasn't mistaken or hallucinating. She was, however, left speechless. She closed her mouth, searching her brain for what to say. It'd been so long, maybe he didn't recognize her. Looking at the expression on his face, Olivia knew that he did. Neither of them spoke; they were too scared to and didn't know what to say.
Olivia forced an awkward smile onto her face, fiddling with her hands. "I'm guessing you're the new coach…" Fitz stared back her blankly, not opening his mouth to respond. "I know it's been a long time and we're both obviously pretty shocked to see each other but-"
"Is that my son, Olivia?" He cut her off, it'd been the only thing on his mind and he needed to know. He knew her. He knew that she'd dance around the issue and he wanted to cut to the chase and avoid the bull.
Her lips were still parted, her mouth hanging open at the blunt nature of his question. When she finally registered that he'd met Gabriel and was putting the pieces together, she quickly closed her mouth trying to figure a way out of answering the question. He was looking at her expectantly. "Fitzgerald, it really doesn't matter wh-"
Fitz slammed his hand on the desk standing up and walking around the desk. She took a step back, holding her purse. "Dammit Olivia! Answer the question, is he or is he not my child."
She didn't respond verbally, but Fitz knew by the look in her eyes. She took a seat in one of the cushioned chairs that faced his desk. He could tell she was fighting back tears, but he honestly didn't give a damn. His mind was going a mile a minute, so many thoughts entering and just as quickly they were being replaced. He didn't know how to feel or how to think straight. He was drawing a blank on what he should say.
He sighed, walking back to his chair and plopping down. A son. He had a son- a teenaged son. "How old is he?" He choked out, not making eye contact with Olivia. Not that he could if he wanted to,because she was staring at the floor.
"He'll be sixteen later this year."
"Sixteen." He scoffed, growing more and more disgusted with Olivia by the minute. She'd kept a secret this big for sixteen years. "Is that all you're going to do? Give me short answers?"
"What do you want me to say, Fitzgerald?"
"I want you to own up to what you did." He state like it was obvious. "You were always selfish, Olivia, but I still loved you. I just thought it was because we were young that you only cared about yourself; but I never expected this. How could you?"
Olivia looked up from the ground for the first time since she say down, glaring at Fitz. He saw the look on her face and couldn't figure out how she could actually be mad at him. "Selfish?" She questioned, lowly.
"Yes, selfish. You always only looked out for yourse-"
"I did this for you!" She shouted, standing up from her chair. "I moved my life for you! You had the world in front of you. All of it was right in your hands and I gave you that; the prestige, the fame, the fortune. If you would have left school and gone into the Navy, you would have been miserable. You would have resented me and him."
"You don't know that. You didn't even give it a chance."
Olivia rolled her eyes, wiping away a few stray tears that had slipped. "You would have never been in the NFL and that was your dream, Fitz." She'd used his nickname and not his full name, but that didn't matter because Fitz was still livid.
"You were my dream, Olivia. I would have picked you. I would have picked our son and a life together." He told her, honestly. Fitz had always wondered what made her leave and why he wasn't good enough for her. It had haunted him for the longest time, before he pushed the thoughts and her memory into the furthest corner of his brain.
Olivia scoffed at him. Even after all of the years, he was still just as naive as he was back then. "It was have been the wrong choice." She mumbled, looking back at the ground.
"You took the choice away!" He told her, raising his voice once again. She was still so dense and stubborn; nothing had changed. "It wasn't your choice to make. It shouldn't have even been a choice. He's my kid!"
Olivia straightened her shirt and stood a little straighter, looking at Fitz once again. He was visibly upset and she didn't want to carry on the conversation any longer. "Listen, Fitzgerald- Coach Grant, I didn't come here to discuss my child. I came here to talk about the meeting. The short notice was inconsiderate and I'm unable to get off from work."
Fitz reclined in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk. He looked up at Olivia, resting his hands on his stomach. "Mandatory. You don't come, he doesn't play. End of story."
"That's not fair…" She said, pleading with her eyes.
"Neither is keeping a child away from their father, but you didn't seem to have a problem with that." He said slyly, quickly cutting his eyes toward her to see her reaction. "Any other questions or problems you have can be addressed at the meeting tomorrow. Goodbye Ms. Pope."
/
Olivia put her car in park and pulled down the overhead mirror. She quickly wiped away streaks of black eyeliner and mascara that had escaped her eyes. She checked her eyes to make sure that Gabe wouldn't be able to tell that she'd been crying and dusted her face with a light layer of powder. Olivia grabbed her blazer and her purse and hopped out of her car, making her way toward the front door.
Inside the house, she saw Gabriel sitting on the couch in the living room. She sat her bag and her keys on the entrance table and walked over to join him. "Hey ma." He said, keeping his eyes glued to ESPN on the television.
"How was practice?" She questioned, taking a seat next to him on the couch. Olivia knew that he'd be excited about Fitz taking over and that he'd only want to talk about that.
"It wasn't too bad today. We only did weight room and you know I'm a beast, so it was a piece of cake." Olivia swatted his arm and rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but laugh at him. "But the exciting part was our new coach. You'll never guess who it is, Mom!"
Olivia smirked at him. Her run-in with Fitz had been less than ideal and she didn't know how him being around Gabriel would play out. She was happy because of the sparkle in Gabe's eyes. He hadn't been this happy or excited since the move and she was glad to see him literally bouncing with excitement. "I have no idea. Who?"
"Fitzgerald Grant!" He nearly jumped off of the coach. His eyes were glittering and all Olivia could think about was the fact that they looked just like Fitz'. "Two time Super Bowl MVP Fitzgerald Grant. One of the best quarterbacks the leagues ever seen is our coach, mom!"
"He won the Super Bowl and now he's coaching you guys? Sheesh, talk about a downgrade." Olivia said jokingly, earning a glare from Gabriel. "But I'm very happy for you, sweetie." She said, standing up and placing a kiss in the center of his head of curls.
"What do you want for dinner?" She called behind her as she made her way into the kitchen. She went to the sink to wash her hands and hadn't even noticed that Gabriel had followed her into the kitchen.
"Yes?" She questioned, eyeing his lanky figure that stood in the doorway. He stepped into the kitchen and leaned onto the counter as she stepped toward the fridge. "I asked you what you wanted for dinner. Is this you giving up your opportunity to choose and saying you'll be happy with what I make?"
"Yeah, whatever's fine. Just no cauliflower."
"Broccoli it is!" Olivia exclaimed, pulling a head of the vegetable from the bottom drawer of the fridge. Gabriel groaned and dropped his head to the counter. She couldn't help but laugh as she preheated the oven to roast the broccoli and some chicken.
"Mom!" Gabe pulled her attention away from seasoning the chicken. "I told you that a former NFL player is coaching my team. I stood face to face with him today." Olivia had been much closer than just face to face with Fitz. "That's crazy, Mom, and you didn't really say much about it…"
Olivia held her breath, continuing to cook with her back away from him. The conversation was way too reminiscent on the one she'd had with Fitz. "Gabriel, I don't know how you want me to react. I can try to remember one of my cheers from high school, if you want me to, though."
Gabriel shrugged, he didn't know he wanted her to react. He'd just expected the conversation to last longer than thirty seconds. "I guess what you said was fine , but what kind of cheers were you doing in high school. You were pregnant…" He trailed off laughing.
Olivia tossed a glare over her shoulder as she lined up the chicken onto a pan. "You think I was pregnant for four years? There was life before you, Gabriel Pope." She told him, putting the pan in the oven. "Now go clean up. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes."
/
Gabriel dragged his fork across his plate, pushing the remnants of his dinner around. He and Olivia were sitting on the couch eating, as they still hadn't fully unpacked and the dining room was a mess of boxes. "Hey mom?"
Olivia put another forkful of food into her mouth, looking away from the movie on the television and toward Gabe at the sign of his voice. "Hmm?"
"Why don't you ever talk about high school?" He questioned, putting his plate down on the middle cushion of the couch. "I never knew you cheered. I've never even seen pictures from then, ma."
Olivia's motions slowed, thinking over Gabriel's words. He'd asked a lot of questions when he was younger, but once he reached around third grade, they seemed to stop. Olivia had never thought that he would start to wonder again, but now that seemed unreasonable of her.
"Gabe, that was so long ago." She started slowly, still thinking up what to say. "I just don't think about it much anymore and all of the pictures of me are at my parents house. Since we don't speak, I don't have any of them."
"It just couldn't have been all bad, mom. Y'know you can talk about it if you want. It doesn't have to be a secret." He told her standing up and taking her plate to walk into the kitchen. You don't even have to talk about him if you don't want to."
"About who?"
"My dad, whoever he is. When I was younger, I could tell that that my questions made you sad and gran always told me not to ask about him. She said you'd tell me everything when the time was right. So, I just want to tell you that I'm older and if you ever want to talk, I'm all ears." He said nonchalantly, sitting back onto the couch and grabbing his phone. He quickly glanced her way again. "And I'm cool with you dating, too. I don't want you to be lonely, so don't let me be the reason you don't go out with anyone."
Olivia simply stared straight ahead. She was worried that if she looked at Gabe she would break and tell him everything, so she didn't dare move. For the first time since finding out she was pregnant, Olivia Pope was in way over her head.
/
Sitting outside of the school, Olivia's nerves began to pick up. She was nauseous at the thought of being in the same room as Fitz and Gabriel, but it was inevitable. The meeting was starting in a matter of minutes. Gabe opened his car door, hopping out and waiting for Olivia.
"RJ said he saved us seats. They're in the front." Gabriel told her, leading the way toward the auditorium. They found RJ and his father and saw that the two seats they'd saved them were on the end of the aisle with the older Rafael sitting next to the empty seat. Olivia stopped once she reached the row and waited for Gabe to walk in. She already had anxiety over Fitz and didn't need Rafael hitting on her in front of her son to make it worse.
"Can I sit on the outside? More leg space." Gabe questioned, motioning to his mile long legs. Olivia nodded, rolling her eyes internally and took her place next to Rafael. She'd only just sat down when Fitz walked out in front of the group of parents and players. The room erupted in applause for him as he walked down toward the center of the room.
"Geez, they act like it's the president or something." Rafael whispered in Liv's direction, earning a small giggle from her.
From his place in the front of the room, Fitz immediately spotted Olivia and Gabriel. He felt left out and unimportant looking at the two sitting next to each other. Fitz also caught sight of Olivia giggling with the parent sitting next to her. He was livid, but he had to shake it off and get on with the meeting. He read the first line of his notes and began with the agenda for that morning.
It was a relatively short meeting, only lasting around forty-five minutes. Fitz flipped to the last page of his notes, quickly reading over what he had. "Alright, that's all I have for you guys. In the attached conference room we have some refreshments and sign up sheets. We're asking that parents sign up to volunteer. We have different committees including fundraising, team building, and many others. I strongly encourage everyone to sign up, but first time parents would benefit the most from volunteering." He said into his microphone, looking directly at Olivia as the words left his mouth. "Alright, I hope y'all are ready for a winning season. Now you can all eat, mingle, and sign up. I'll be in shortly to answer any other questions."
Olivia, Gabe, Rafael, and RJ all walked into the next room as a group, with the younger two splitting and joining some other teammates quickly.
"As a second year parent, I feel like it's my job to be a guide to you." Rafael said, handing her a steaming cup of coffee.
"Oh really?" Olivia graciously accepted the cup, smirking at him suspiciously. "And what exactly should I know, Mr. Tour Guide?"
The two made their way towards the table of sign up sheets. It was pretty empty at the moment, with a few parents hovering around it. "Well, first, you want to sign up first and socialize second. Otherwise you'll be in charge of feeding fifty two-hundred pound one wants to do that."
Olivia raised her brows, nodding at what he'd told her and surveying all of the sheets. "Then what would you suggest, wise one?"
"None of them. I go to the games and I support my son. I didn't sign up last year and I'm doing the same this year." He chuckled, sipping his coffee and Olivia couldn't help to laugh along with him.
He turned to face her as she still looked at all of the sheets. "I think I'm just going to do carpool and fundraising." She mumbled, thinking those two were the best options.
"Two? You're an ambitious one, aren't you?"
"I just like to do my part." She smirked, leaning over and adding her name to the top of the lists. "Now give me the scoop on the parents. Who do I need to avoid? Whose good side do I need to get on?"
Across the room, Gabe and RJ watched their parents as discreetly as possible. Both young boys had plates filled high with pastries and other breakfast foods that they were using as a cover to their spying. "I think they're into each other, G." RJ told him, stuffing a mini-powdered donut into his mouth.
"Really, Raf?" Gabriel questioned, trying not to be obvious in looking over his shoulder. "My mom's never dated anyone for as long as I can remember. I don't think she knows how to anymore..."
"Well she just nudged him and he's laughing. She's gotta be doing something right, man. Oh, wait Grant's walking over there now. He's being a fucking cockblock, bro."
"Don't use cockblock when you're talking about my mom." Gabe mumbled, turning and seeing his mom, Rafael and Coach Grant conversing. He took note that his usually confident mother wasn't making eye contact with Grant.
Fitz had seen Olivia talking with the man who'd come to visit him yesterday and decided to put himself into the conversation. The two were looking too cozy for his liking. While he'd smothered his feeling for Olivia years ago, he needed to make her feel some kind of uncomfort. He knew it was childish, but she'd kept his son from him for fifteen years and she deserved it.
"Can I look forward to seeing you both at some committee meetings, Ms. Polk and Mr.-?"
"It's Pope." Olivia said through gritted teeth, staring down into her coffee cup.
"Oh, yes I'm sorry. Pope, I'll try to remember next time." He said, patting her shoulder and turning to Rafael. "And please do forgive me, I can't seem to remember your name either."
"Sola. Rafael Sola." He said, scoffing at Fitz, clearly unimpressed with his behavior. "If you'll excuse me, I was just going to talk to the other parents." He said, leaving Olivia alone in the lion's den.
Olivia was not in the mood to be alone with Fitz, so she too was ready to excuse herself. "And I was just leaving." She told him, walking over to where Gabe sat at a table. Even though she thought her speed was sufficient in getting away from him, he was right on her heels and wasn't ready to let her get away that easily. She reached the table and opened her mouth to speak, but the voice that filled the air was much deeper and didn't belong to her.
"Gabriel, right?" Gabe shook his head, in awe that the Fitzgerald Grant had remembered his name. "I was just telling your mom that it's good that she got off of work to be here. I was really worried yesterday after she came to see me that she wouldn't be able to make it and you wouldn't be able to play this year. I read your record and stats. You seem very promising."
Olivia was nauseous listening to Fitz talk to Gabriel. She hadn't told him that she'd gone to see him. She hadn't told him that he wouldn't have been able to play if she hadn't come. She'd never imagine that the first time she was standing in the same place as Fitz and Gabe, Fitz would be tormenting her. She was on the verge of throwing up.
Before she knew it, Fitz was gone as quickly as he had appeared and Gabe was looking at her with a quizzical look. "You ready to go?" She asked him, pulling the car keys from her purse.
"Why didn't you tell me you saw him yesterday. That's why you weren't excited when I told you?" He questioned, standing and following her out of the room. "I know you really don't owe me anything but I told you last night that you could talk to me because I feel like you keep secrets from me, mom. I guess I was right." Gabe mumbled, walking in front of her and leaving her standing in the hall.
A/N: Alright, the only reason this update was so fast was because of the damn snow cancelling classes and work. lol I've been stranded since tuesday. But since there was no Scandal, I thought I could at least give you guys a new chapter. A lot happened in this chapter and I realllly hope everyone liked it! By the way, the amount of love for the last chapter was fucking crazy. Y'all make me feel so good and I'm soo appreciative of the reviews!
