Here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!
Olivia smiled as she read the card that came with the flowers Darren had sent her. It simple read "Just because it's Wednesday. D." It had been two months since he'd came back in DC and Olivia was really glad. He'd been a great distraction from Fitz. He was affectionate, caring and he respected her. Picking up her office phone, she dialed his number and he picked up on the second ring.
"I assume you got my little surprise." Darren said smiling.
"Yes, and they are beautiful." Olivia slightly blushed. Calla lilies were her favorite flower. "Thank you."
"Not nearly as beautiful as you are. And there is no need to thank me. I like doing things for you just because. I mean that's what boyfriends do for their girlfriend." Darren stated. He and Olivia hadn't really talked about being a couple. But that's what he thought they were.
"So, I'm your girlfriend?" Olivia asked.
"Yes. I mean we've been dating for two months. We spend a lot of time together and I don't want to be with anyone else. Do you?"
Olivia immediately thought about Fitz. But too much had been done and said for them to go back. Shaking her thoughts of her former lover, Olivia answered "No. I don't want anyone else. You're it." Olivia said trying to convince herself more so than Darren. They talked a few more minutes and made plans to have lunch later that day.
"Mellie, I need you to sign the damn papers! I'm sick of you dragging your ass about this. Why do you want to stay where you're not wanted? Just let it go." Fitz ran his hands over his face and plopped down his side of the bed. A month ago he discreetly filed for divorce with the help of Cyrus. And ever since he gave the papers to Mellie she'd been on the warpath.
"Fitzgerald, I will do no such thing. We are married and will remain so. If you try to pull a stunt like this again I swear I will kill you!" Mellie hissed. "You think that if we divorce then your precious Olivia will come running back into your arms?" She walked over to her nightstand and pulled out a large envelope and threw it in Fitz's direction. "I think what's in that envelope says otherwise." Mellie sat down on the couch across the room with a victorious smile on her face.
Fitz slowly picked up the envelope, looking at Mellie cautiously. Opening the package and pulling out the contents he saw that they were pictures. Pictures of Olivia and some unidentified man, all time stamped. They were smiling at the Lincoln Memorial in one. Others had them holding hands as they walked down the street. Them out to dinner. Them kissing. And the one that got to Fitz the most, them entering Olivia's apartment building and the man leaving the next morning. "What the fuck is this?!" Fitz's voice boomed throughout the room.
"I felt you needed to know that your mistress had finally moved on." Mellie said in a joyous tone. She was taking great pleasure in her husband's heartache.
"You had her followed? How low can you stoop Mel?!" Fitz was reeling. Olivia was with someone else. His head began to pound and his stomach began flipping. "Why did you do this? Why show me these pictures? You must really hate me!"
"I told you we are not divorcing, especially since you now have no to reason to want a divorce. Now you better buck up and get back in line Fitzgerald. I'm done with this nonsense." Mellie sashayed out of the room triumphantly.
Fitz hung his head, fresh tears stinging his eyes. She looked happy. In every single picture, Olivia looked happy. It made Fitz literally sick that Olivia was with another man. Jumping up quickly, he ran to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach.
"Tom!" Fitz yelled from the Oval. It had been less than 24 hours since Mellie gave him the pictures of Olivia and he wanted to know who the hell this man was that she had been seeing.
"Sir?" Tom asked as he entered the room.
"I need something to be handled. And it needs to be discreet Tom." Fitz sighed. "Olivia Pope is dating a man. I don't know who he is but I want surveillance on them both. I want his name, age, where he works, where he lives, what kind of car he drives. I want to know how often he's out with Olivia. I want to know everything. Do I make myself clear Tom?" Fitz handed a picture to Tom. "This is the man. I want an update within the hour."
Tom nodded his head and exited the room. Fitz walked over to the decanter of scotch that he hadn't touched in two months. Picking up a glass, he filled it and emptied it's contents in two gulps. He repeated that three times. And with each glass, his anger and heartache intensified. In that moment he hated Mellie. Literally hated the bitch. She showed him the pictures knowing it would crush him. And Olivia…she had moved on. Fitz walked over to his desk and sat down. He unlocked the bottom drawer and pulled out a framed picture. It was of him and Liv from the trail. They both were smiling. That picture had got him through many dark days. But it couldn't get him through this. This was just too much pain to overcome. He threw the photo across the room, it shattering as it made contact with the wall, just like his heart.
"Sir I think you need some time away. You're ticking." Cyrus said as they entered the Oval.
"Really Cyrus? You think I don't know that?" Fitz said as he poured a glass of scotch. He'd been drinking like a fish for the past two weeks.
"You went months without looking at a drink, now two weeks ago you start drinking harder than ever. And you only tick about one thing and that is Olivia Pope."
Fitz rolled his eyes and sat at his desk, glass in hand. Tom had been giving him daily updates on Olivia and Darren Miles. He hated that man almost as much as he hated Mellie and he'd never even met him. "I'm fine Cy! Just let it go!"
"No you are not fine and no I will not let it go sir!" Cyrus was fed up. "You're going to Camp David alone this weekend. No Mellie, no staff. Just you and the Secret Service. You need to get away before you implode."
"There is only one way I'll go." Fitz looked at Cyrus and Cyrus groaned. He already knew what Fitz was asking.
"I can't make her come. What do you want me to do? Kidnap he and drag her to Camp David? Fitz she's moved on." Cyrus said sympathetically.
"Cy I just need 10 minutes to talk to her. She hasn't spoken to me in months. I just need to see her and hear her voice. I'm dying inside more and more everyday that passes and she's not here."
"I'll see what I can do. But sir, you will be going to Camp David this weekend whether you like it or not. That's not up for debate." Cyrus exited the room. Those two were going to be the death of him.
"Cyrus this better be important. I had to break a lunch date to meet with you." Olivia said as she kissed Cyrus on the cheek and sat in the chair across from him. He insisted on taking her out to lunch.
"I need you to come to Camp David this weekend. There is a problem with the new Attorney General appointment. Since Malloy's health declined so rapidly, we're scrambling and we need you on this. Please?" Cyrus knew this was a long shot. But Fitz drinking himself to death had to stop.
"Oh no! I'm not going there!" Olivia whispered harshly. She knew Fitz would be there and that was just too much to deal with.
"Liv, you're the best person to handle this. Everyone falls in line when you're running the show. Just do this please. Whatever you normally charge, we'll triple it."
"It's not about the money Cy, you know that. I…I can send Harrison in my place." Olivia tried to reason.
"Nobody is going to want to listen to that baby lawyer. He's not the great Olivia Pope. We need you in on this."
Olivia sighed and closed her eyes. Cyrus could always talk her into doing things she really felt she shouldn't. "I can come Saturday morning. And I will not be spending the night. By 8 I plan on being back home."
As soon as he walked through the doors to his cabin at Camp David that Friday evening, Fitz hit the bar. Cyrus had made sure all of his favorite foods were there but all Fitz cared about was the scotch. The more he drank the more his thoughts fell to Olivia and all the time they'd spent here. Working on speeches by day and making love in her cabin by night. God he missed her. He didn't think it would physically hurt to be away from someone until he met and fell in love with her.
10 am. That's what time it was when Olivia stopped at the gates of Camp David. After being cleared to enter, Olivia drove up to the main cabin and noticed no other vehicles. And she knew Cyrus had lied to her to get her to come.
"Ms. Pope." Tom said as he opens her door. He gives her a small smile as an apology. For what, he doesn't know.
"It's alright Tom. Where is he?" They both know the 'he' she's asking about. Tom motioned for Olivia to follow him and what she sees breaks her heart. Fitz is sitting on the couch with three glasses lined up, filling each with scotch and downing them like water then repeating the process. He's still in his dress pants and dress shirt. His tie and jacket are haphazardly draped over the back of the leather chair facing the French doors leading to the patio.
"So are you trying to drink yourself to death?" Olivia ask. She looks at Tom, silently telling him that she can handle it from now on. He nods and leaves the room.
"Why the fuck do you care?!" Fitz slurs angrily, never looking up from the table where he's pouring his drink. "You have a new boyfriend so worry about him!" Fitz downs all three glasses and reaches to refill them when Olivia snatches the bottle out of his hands and walks outside to pour out the contents of the decanter.
"Why do you care Olivia?! In your apartment I was on my knees begging you to give us a chance and you basically spit on me! You told me you hated me! You left me broken then you moved on!" Fitz said in what sounded like one breath. "So go be with Darren. You met him at Georgetown. He's 36 and works at Williams, Thornton and Sullivan. Moved from New York a couple months ago. He drives a silver Range Rover. And in the past two weeks you've spent four nights at his Georgetown townhouse." Fitz spat out angrily and slurring. Venom and heartbreak dripping with each word he said.
"You've had me followed?!" Olivia yells, fuming. "How dare you follow us?! What I am or am not doing, who I am or am not screwing isn't any of your fucking business since all we were doing was 'screwing'." Olivia threw his words back at him.
"So, is he everything you're ever wanted in a man? Is he everything you've dreamed of?"
Olivia walks over and lifts Fitz's head up so their eyes can meet. Looking deep into his grey orbs, she answers. "Yes." Olivia steps away and continues. "He cares about me. He's never degraded or disrespected me. He respects me and he's never made me feel like I'm his mistress. He just sees me as Liv, the woman he loves."
Fitz winces at the word love. Putting his head in his hands and tugging his hair. "No man will ever love you the way I love you Livvie.
Olivia looks down at Fitz and begin to laugh, but it quickly turns into tears. "If the way you love me is what Darren should aspire to, then I'd rather be single. Because the disrespectful, hateful, cruel shit you've said to me is so far from love, I just can't.." Olivia began to pace back and forth.
After watching her pace silently for 20 minutes, wearing out the soles of undoubtedly a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes, Fitz finally speak. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Liv. Baby, I'm begging you to please give me one last chance. I promise I'll make this all better for us. I know it'll take time and I'll wait, but please just say you'll give me one more chance. I need you to let me try. Try to fix what I've broken. Let me fix your heart."
"We can't go backwards and we can't go forward. Too much has been said and done Fitz." Olivia says tearfully. "The trust we once had is gone and I just don't have it in me to do this again with you. Just please finally let me go."
"I can't. I did it once but I can't do it again. I won't survive it baby. I need you like I need my next breath. I can't let go. I'll fight for you, for us. I can't give you up. You're imprinted in my heart."
Tired of pacing, Olivia sits on the opposite end of the couch from Fitz and looks at him. "I'm with Darren now. He makes me happy."
"This is just like with Edison. You're trying to get over me but what we feel for each other is so rare that you can't just not try again." Fitz scoots closer to Olivia and covers her left hand with his right.
"See that's where you're wrong. It's not like with Edison. Because with Edison there was no love. And I think I'm falling in love with Darren." Olivia admitted. She quickly withdrew her had from Fitz's.
Tears immediately prick Fitz's eyes and he goes into the kitchen. He has to put space between himself and Olivia. He knocks everything off the counter, canisters and food go lying to the floor. His mind is racing and his heart is pounding in his chest so fast it feels as if it's about to burst. Fitz slides down the wall and sits on the floor, the never ending stream of tears streaking his face.
"Ms. Pope?" Tom says as he enters the room. He came as soon as he heard things crash to the floor.
Olivia puts her hand up to stop Tom from further entering the kitchen. He gives her a puzzling look but follows her directive. Olivia walks over to Fitz and her heart breaks all over again. He's sobbing, his body shaking.
"Get out Olivia! Go home!" Fitz chokes out through his sobs.
Olivia gently sits on the floor beside Fitz and wraps her arms around his middle, her own tears streaking her cheeks.
"Please don't leave me. I need you." Fitz sobs. "I don't think I can do this thing called life without you in it."
The heartbreak was too much for Olivia. She couldn't hold back any longer and began to sob with Fitz. "Ok." She says simply. "Ok."
Fitz looks at Olivia to make sure he didn't hear her wrong. She gives him a slight smile. It's not much but it's enough to let Fitz know it's a start. He puts his head in Liv's lap and she rubs his head, running her fingers through his hair. Closing his eyes, with his breath regulated and his sobs reduced to a steady stream of tears, Fitz finally speaks. "I love you so much. I love you more than anything in this world. You and my children are all that matter to me. All that I have left, the only things I truly treasure."
Olivia bends down and kissed the side of his head, her tears still streaking her face. "I love you too." She whispers in his ear.
They're sitting in the sea of their truth. It isn't pretty, but then again, the truth usually never is. Not when it comes to emotions and love like they share. And they sit in silence for what feels like hours, just listening to each other breathe. And like clockwork, they fall into sync. Olivia can feel the rise and fall of Fitz's body fall in line with her own. As if they were one heart. One heartbeat.
A/N: Liv and Fitz have finally let everything out. Their hearts can't break anymore that it has right now. The truth wasn't pretty but it was necessary to begin to heal. It won't be all sunshine and roses because while Liv is in love with Fitz, her growing feelings for Darren are real. And you know Mellie won't give up her FLOTUS title without causing hell.