Chapter 9: Late Night at the Office

Olivia is on cloud nine as she heads off to work the next morning. She is tired and oh so sore, but she is happy. The happiest she has ever felt in her young life. Who knew that she would find the love of her life right next door?! She knows they have things to talk about, but right now, she doesn't think about it. Right now all she can think about is how she can't wait to get home to Fitz at the end of the day.

She fairly floats to her desk and boots up her computer. She pulls her phone out of her purse to make sure the ringer is off when she hears a voice behind her that makes her jump.

"I guess our little chat yesterday about personal phone calls didn't make much of an impression on you Ms. Pope."

"Edison, you scared me," she squeaked, placing her hand over her heart.

Oh now it's Edison, he says to himself.

"Well you were obliviously distracted with your personal matters to notice that I called your name twice as I walked over to you."

She can't figure this guy out. One minute he is all but undressing her with his eyes and pawing at her with his sweating hands and now he is being a complete jackass about her cell phone.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you. But to clarify, I was not making or receiving a personal call. I was actually making sure that my phone was on silent so that I would not be distracted by it during work hours. I am a firm believer in following the rules. You don't have to worry about me making any calls," she says with a smile.

"Whatever Ms. Pope. Just make sure your report is on my desk before you leave today," he turns to walk away.

"But isn't the deadline Monday? I still have a lot of research to do. I am not sure if I can get it to you before 5:00pm."

His eyes narrow as he speaks to her, "If you want to keep this position, I advise you to have that completed report on my desk before you leave this office today. Otherwise, don't bother reporting to work in the morning." He stalks off to his office and slams his door.

She flops in her chair, flabbergasted at Edison's attitude this morning. Is this guy schizophrenic? She thought she had figured Edison out, he was the office pervert. Now he's acting like such an asshole. It doesn't make sense. Did he really just threaten to fire her if she didn't get the report out today? She needed this job to help pay for the rest of her college tuition. If she lost this job she would have to go back home and get her job back at the restaurant. But worse than that, she would have to leave Fitz! Going home was not an option.

"Who pissed in his Wheaties this morning?" Hope asks as she peeks over the cubicle wall breaking Olivia out of the whirlwind of thoughts in her head.

"I have no idea. He's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Forget about him, how are you? You seem better today than yesterday."

"I'm okay," she says softly. "The next two days should be pretty easy, Mr. Stalhbridge is out of the office until Monday."

"Let's plan to have lunch tomorrow. I want to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, sure. Well I'll let you get to work."

"Talk to you later."

Olivia turns to her computer and begins to review her notes. She focuses all of her energy on completing her report on time. It seems like only moments have passed when Quinn stops by her desk.

"Hey Olivia, want to grab lunch?"

Olivia looks up from the computer screen and blinks hard several times. She has no idea it was already lunch time. It is 1:00pm, she had spent the entire morning hunched over her computer working feverishly to get the task done.

"Sorry Quinn, I can't. Mr. Davis wants this report by the end of the day. I need every second of this day to get it done by then."

"I thought your report was due on Monday, like everyone else?"

"So did I, but he told me this morning that it needed to be on his desk before I left for the day or not to bother coming in tomorrow. So, since I need this job, I have got to get this report done today. You could do me a huge favor though."

"Name it," Quinn offers with a smile.

"Could you grab a Cobb Salad for me from the cafeteria?" She reaches over and lifts her purse out of the drawer. She rummages through the oversized bag to find her wallet. She pulls out her brush, phone, a pack of tissues and her makeup bag, placing them on her desk, before she finds her wallet.

"I think ten dollars should cover it," she hands Quinn the money. "Would you mind bringing back a bottled water for me too?"

"No problem. See you in a little while." Quinn walks off toward the elevators.

Olivia quickly returns the items to her purse. She is just about to drop the phone back into her bag when she notices a text message from Fitz.

FG: Can't wait to see you tonight. Love you and miss you.

She wants to reply, but just then Edison's door opens. She quickly puts the phone away and retrieves a tissue from her bag. When Edison walks up, she appears to be wiping her nose. Her phone is nowhere in sight.

"How's the report coming Ms. Pope," he asks coolly.

"Just fine Mr. Davis. It will be on your desk before I leave tonight."

"That's good to hear." He turns and walks a couple of steps away before he stops and turns back toward her. "Oh, by the way, be sure your report includes the data on pollution effects on the wind turbines for all of the power stations in North America," he says casually.

She looks at him, willing herself not to scream at him or burst into tears in front of him. What is this man's mental malfunction?

"Not a problem Mr. Davis."

"Well," he says clapping his hands together once, "I will let you get back to work. I am off to lunch." He gives her a broad smile and begins to whistle as he walks away. He knows his request will require her to be at the office all night.

Guess there will be no Pope pussy for Mr. Random Guy tonight, he says to himself.

Once he is out of sight, Olivia quickly retrieves her phone from her purse and tucks it into her pocket. She heads to the ladies room. Once inside, she goes into the last stall and locks the door. She gets her phone and sends a message to Fitz.

OP: Hey babe. Work is cray, cray. Have no idea what time I will be home tonight.

FG: That's sucks. Sorry you are having a bad day. Call me when you are on the way home.

OP: I will. Luv you.

FG: Luv you too!

She stashes the phone back in her pocket, flushes the toilet and exits the stall. After washing her hands, she returns to her desk. She feels better now that she has "spoken" with Fitz, but seeing the task set before her makes her want to cry. She is not afraid of hard work, but Edison's request is nearly impossible.

"All I can do is my best," she says out loud to herself. She is determined not to let this get the best of her.

Quinn returns a few minutes later with her lunch. "Here you go."

"Thanks Quinn. You are truly an angel," Olivia says as she takes the bag from Quinn.

"Not a problem." Quinn quickly glances over her shoulder to see if Edison is in his office. He is not there. "Olivia can I give you a little advice about Edison?"

"Sure,"" she says as she puts a forkful of salad in her mouth.

"Go along to get along. I know he asked you to join him for lunch and you turned him down."

"I had an appointment. I couldn't make it to lunch," she explains.

"Well don't turn him down again. He doesn't like for anyone to tell him no."

Just then, Edison rounds the corner. Quinn quickly changes the subject of their conversation, "No problem getting you lunch, here's your change," she says brightly. "I'll let you get back to work." She quickly walks away.

"Lunch at your desk today Ms. Pope?" his voice is laced with sarcasm. "I hope I am not working you too hard." He doesn't even let her respond, he just chuckles as he walks away.

Asshole, she thinks to herself.

She is not going to let him beat her. Come hell or high water she is going to complete this report tonight. He may think he can break her with this little stunt, but what he actually did is awaken the fighter in Olivia, her inner gladiator. She rolls her neck from side to side, cracks her knuckles and returns to her research.

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Edison sits behind his desk, pleased by his antics with Olivia today. He is confident she will not be able to complete the report today. He is waiting for her to come to him begging him to give her an extension on her deadline. He ponders how he will make her pay for spurning him and for allowing someone else to touch her in ways that he longs to touch her. He visualizes her one her knees under his desk while attending his weekly conference call.

He spends the rest of the afternoon anticipating Olivia's knock at his door. He is barely listening to the conference call blaring from his speaker phone when there is a knock at his door. He quickly mutes the call. His pants tighten a little at the thought of the fun he is about to have with Miss Pope.

"Come in," he calls out.

The sly smile that graces his face quickly falls away when Quinn steps in his office.

"What is it Quinn, I am on a conference call."

"I just wanted to give you the latest field reports and check to see if you needed anything before I leave for the day."

He looks at his watch it was 5:30pm. So late in the day and still no sign of Ms. Pope.

"Just put the reports in the box over there," he motions to the circular conference table in the corner of his office "I don't need anything else from you today Quinn. Good night," his tone is dismissive.

Quinn puts the reports away and turns to leave.

"Oh Quinn, has Ms. Pope gone home for the day?" He assumes since she hasn't come begging at his door by now, that she must have slipped out and gone home defeated by his impossible request.

"No, Olivia is still working at her desk."

"Ok, thanks. Please close the door on your way out."

He is happy to find out that she is still in the office. It works in his favor that most of the office will be empty when she finally comes to beg for more time. He unmutes his conference call and tries to focus on the conversation. Two hours later the call comes to an end. Edison stretches his legs and stands up behind his desk. Surely, she will be knocking on his door any minute. He paces around his office for another thirty minutes. Still no Olivia. He exits his office and storms over to her desk. She is not there. Her computer and desk light are still on. He quickly searches the common areas of the floor: copy room, research library, file room, break room. Olivia is nowhere to be found.

"Damn this woman, where is she?" Edison grumbles out loud.

He sticks around the office for another hour. When Olivia doesn't return to her desk, he shuts down his computer and leaves the office for the day. Disappointment washes over him as he climbs into the back of his Town Car. He broke her and never got the benefit of tasting her.

"What a waste," he says to himself.

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Once again it was Quinn who broke Olivia out of her work trance.

"Still at it Olivia? It's 5:30 already."

"Really, it seems like just a few minutes ago you dropped off my salad," she said with a sigh. Rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the ache that was building up in them.

"Are you really trying to get that report finished tonight?"

"My choices are either finish this report or go back home. I can't go home now, I have too much here to stay for. I will finish this report before I leave here tonight."

Quinn is impressed by Olivia's determination and fiery spirit. She is more than a little envious of Olivia for those qualities. She wishes she could be more like Olivia. Looking over her shoulder at Edison's office, Quinn decides in that moment to show some fiery spirit herself.

"He's waiting for you to come and ask for an extension on your report. If you do, he will own you for the rest of the time you are here," Quinn says quietly.

"So he's waiting for me to come in there and beg him for more time and his response will be what …."

"Olivia, you are young but come on you know what he wants."

"How can you work here knowing what you know about him?"

"Hey don't judge me," Quinn replies sharply. "I have my reasons for staying here. But meeting you gives me hope that things can change around here. Not everyone is like Edison and his cronies."

"What's so special about me? I mean, Edison has it out for me. That's perfectly clear by his unrealistic expectations around this damn report. I could be gone tomorrow."

"But you won't be. You are still here, working away at it. I believe that you will get it done, just to spite him. I have wanted an ally in this place for so long to right the wrongs that have been going on unchecked. I think you could be that person." Her heart beats furiously at this admission.

"Promise me that if I am still here tomorrow, you and I will talk more about what actually goes on around here. Maybe between the two of us we can come up with a plan to make things right."

"It's a deal," she says as she extends her hand to Olivia to shake.

"Great. Now as much as I would like to keep talking to you, I still have a lot to do. I was about to head to the research library."

"Here, take my key card. It will give you access to any floor in the building. Don't use the research library on this floor. Edison will be off of his call in about two hours. When you don't come to him, he is going to come looking for you. You don't want to be cornered by him, especially in a place like the research library. Just try to be away from your desk when he gets off the call."

Olivia takes the card from Quinn and tucks it in her pocket.

"Thanks Quinn. Don't worry, I will be here tomorrow."

"You know, I don't doubt it one bit Olivia. Good night."

Olivia watches as Quinn gets on the elevator. The entire floor is empty except for her and Edison. She waits until 7:15 before she heads off to the research library on the 10th floor. She spends the next three hours gathering the final information she needs for her report. She then spends another two hours writing the report out long hand so that all she has to do it type it once she gets back to her desk.

It is 12:30am when she takes the elevator to the 24th floor and then uses the stairs to get to the 25th floor. If Edison is still in the office, she doesn't want him to hear her coming. She quietly approaches his office door and notices that the lights are off. She peeks in the window and gives a sigh of relief when she sees his empty chair. After a quick run to the break room for a much needed caffeine and sugar infusion and an even quicker stop in the ladies room, Olivia sits at her desk and begins typing out her report. Two hours later, after emailing her completed report to Edison with a copy to Quinn, she shuts down her computer, gathers her things and leaves the office.

After a short cab ride home, she enters her apartment at 3:00am. She realizes it is too late to text Fitz, so she takes a quick shower and unceremoniously flops into bed. She feels bone tired, but she also feels victorious. By her count the score is Edison "the bully" zero and Olivia "the gladiator" one. She falls asleep with a smile on her face.

A/N: So here is the next chapter. Quinn is willing to help Olivia. Yay! How will Edison react when Olivia shows up at work the next day? How will Fitz react because Olivia didn't call/text him when she got home?

To everyone who comments – thank you so much. Your comments fuel me. I want to especially thank KWsGladiator and Misschievous. It humbles me that you both follow my story and commented on how much you like it. I follow both of you and love your writing. I can only hope to carry the Olitz torch alongside you both.

Hopefully I will be able to update this story again soon, if not please don't give up on me. I am enjoying writing this story very much.

Until next time!