Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal
In honor of Scandal Thursday (eek!) and being home sick with the flu day #2, here is another scandalous chapter! Things are just starting to heat up! Let the fun times roll!
Chapter Nine: Find Me
So many nights trying to hide it
But now I stay awake just pleading for more
To think this heart was divided
I'm losing sleep cause I can't ignore
Feeling your touch all around
Peacefully hearing the sound
Of silence around us I'm so glad we found us this way
Find me, here in your arms
Now I'm wondering where you've always been
And blindly I came to you
Knowing you'd breathe new life from within
I can't get enough of you
- "Find Me" Boyce Avenue
"Well we're off to New York." Mellie stood in the lobby of the Marriott in New Hampshire. "Have fun with the veterans." She gave Fitz a kiss on the cheek.
"Good luck Mel." Fitz called out as she exited the lobby with her two aides following her.
Governor Grant turned back to face Olivia and Cyrus. Olivia was rapidly typing a text on her phone. "Did James get everything he needed for the article?" Fitz stuck his hands in his pockets.
Olivia looked up, "Yeah he got everything. Let's start to pack it up. There's no point in us spending the evening here. We should try to get into our hotel in DC at a semi-reasonable hour. Maybe I'll even have a chance to check on my apartment." She glanced at her watch, "Probably not though."
SCANDAL
Cyrus stood at the front of the bus, the microphone in his hand, "Can I have everyone's attention please? I need all eyes and ears up here." Olivia chuckled at the phrase that so many elementary school teachers used, "I have the results from the New Hampshire primary." He waved the phone in the air. Olivia instinctively clutched Stephen's hand from across the aisle as she closed her eyes. "Governor Grant has taken New Hampshire in a landslide."
The bus erupted in cheers and Mark pushed his way through the aisle to grab the microphone, "Let's hear it for our fixer Olivia Pope."
Olivia blushed and looked away. She raised her hands and said, "Everyone gets credit for this one. It was all hands on deck." She waved around the bus, "Let's just be happy that we are now pulling nicely ahead of Langston in the primaries." That brought another round of applause.
SCANDAL
Olivia stared out the window into the black night. Of the ten hours they had in the bus, they'd driven nine and a half of those hours. They were so close to the hotel. It was nearly one in the morning at this point, but unlike the rest of the bus, Olivia couldn't sleep. The seats shifting in her row drew her eyes away from the black night and to Governor Grant's.
"You're still awake?" She asked him.
He nodded and looked over at her, "So are you."
She smiled at him briefly before turning to face the window, "Too many thoughts."
"I understand, want to tell me what you're thinking about?" He asked her.
Olivia's head spun to face him. Her eyes said it all. She was thinking about him. She shook her head, "No." She mumbled.
He nodded, "I was thinking too. I was thinking about how lucky I am to have you working here."
"Lucky." She mumbled the one word.
"But you know that's not all I was thinking." He glanced down at her. She was staring at her hands, trying not to make eye contact. When she did finally look up he said, "I'm running for president. I'm married. I can't." He murmured.
She nodded and diverted her gaze again, "I know."
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Why didn't I meet you sooner? What kind of coward was I to marry her and not wait for you to show up?" Olivia closed her eyes at his words. He couldn't think those thoughts. He couldn't believe that. Those were bad thoughts. He was going to be the leader of the free world, he had to be a better man. And she had to be a better woman. A stronger woman. She didn't need a man. She never needed a man. She never needed what others thought of as normal.
Olivia shook her head, "You can't say things like that. It's not appropriate Governor." She whispered as she looked up.
"Say my name." He held eye contact.
He could see the wariness in her brown eyes and then hear it in her voice when she said, "That's inappropriate."
"Let's be inappropriate." He realized in that moment he was pleading with her to let down her guard. To break down the carefully constructed barriers they'd built so they could work together. So they could see each other. She shook her head, "Say my name." He requested again.
She looked down at her lap, breaking eye contact as she whispered, "Fitz."
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back at the sound of his name coming off her lips. Carefully, so as not to startle her, he rested his hand on the seat in between them where her own hand rested.
She started to jerk her hand back, so he requested quickly, "One minute. Just one minute."
Her hand stilled and she repeated, "One minute," she paused, "Fitz." Olivia found she liked the way his name sounded. She liked the way it felt to say it. It felt right. Like she should say his name all the time. Like she should whisper it, say it, scream it. Like it was her name to say. Like he belonged to her.
As her mind continued to ponder those thoughts, her hand took on a life of its own. It turned ever so slightly to curve around his, so their fingers could intertwine. "Livie." He murmured as their fingers fit together like two puzzle pieces.
She looked down at their hands and then up at him, "They fit." She whispered. She found herself relieved that they fit. Like this wasn't just imagined chemistry, but something real between them. Like maybe, in some world, they belonged together.
"They do. Perfectly." He whispered in reply. He glanced over at her, "I didn't think you would notice something like that."
"I don't." And that simply statement, those two words, made Fitz smile. They were comforting. In her normal world, in how she treated other people, those little things, the tiny gestures, didn't matter, but he was special. They mattered when it was between the two of them.
"The hotel!" They heard Scott's voice ring out from the back of the bus, waking the sleeping staff and disturbing their moment. Olivia withdrew her hand and looked over at him and then out the window at the bright lights of DC as the bus pulled up to the hotel.
SCANDAL
Fitz, Olivia and Cyrus exited the elevator at the sixteenth floor together, "What's the schedule for tomorrow?" Cyrus asked.
"Morning prayer and breakfast at 7:30." Olivia replied, "With Langston's team. Then we have to set up for the veterans event. That doesn't start until noon." The three stood in the hallway in a small circle with their luggage pulled tightly against them.
Cyrus laughed, "I can already feel the holy water burning my skin." Cyrus muttered as he walked away, leaving Olivia and Fitz to laugh as they made their way further down the hallway to their own rooms.
SCANDAL
Billy Chambers jumped at the knocking on his hotel room door. He threw the covers of his bed back and sprinted to open it. He pulled the black hooded man in his room. The man put his hood down, "It's done Mr. Chambers."
"You planted it?" Billy asked.
"If anything happens in that room, you'll know about it. I'll get you a copy of the tape."
Billy nodded, "I need solid proof Mellie Grant is having an affair."
"I know sir."
Walking over to his suitcase, Billy pulled out a wad of cash, "Half now, half when I have the tape."
"With or without something on it." The man clarified, "It's not my problem if nothing incriminating happens in that room."
Billy waved the thought away, "Of course something incriminating will happen. Don't you worry about that. Now here's $1,000."
The man counted out the one hundred dollar bills and gave Billy a salute before leaving the room.
SCANDAL
Olivia and Fitz watched as Cyrus's door shut before slowly turning and heading down the hallway. He stopped at his door, "This is me." He murmured looking down at her.
"I'm down the hall." She pointed in the general direction away from Governor Grant's room.
Fitz put his hand on the gold doorknob, "Just go down the hall, shut your door and we can pretend like this never happened."
He closed his eyes for a moment only to open them when Olivia responded, "This is me too." And he found her standing there, her suitcase leaning against the wall as she patiently waited for him to open the door.
He slid the keycard in the lock and the door clicked open. In an instant they were inside and she was pinned against the dresser with his mouth pressed hard against her. He pulled back and stared at her.
She was breathing hard, the few bobby pins she had to pull her hair half back were hanging loosely around her face. "Take off your clothes." He murmured the order to her. And her heart rate jumped a notch. This was it. This was the turning point in their relationship.
Olivia nodded and slowly, almost tauntingly, began to unbutton her cream colored silk blouse. She watched his eyes as they trailed down her body as she slipped her arms out of the shirt. She took a step forward and whispered, "Your turn." She grinned as he let out a small groan as she nibbled her way down his chest after slipping each button out of its hole. When she pushed his light blue button down off his shoulders she stepped back to admire his toned physique, one she'd imagined, but never seen. The thought that it would be great fun to try to touch him everywhere at once, no matter how impossible, crossed her mind until he pulled her body flush against his.
"I want you Olivia." He whispered into her hair.
"And I want you Fitz." She whispered back into his chest, placing a lingering kiss over his heart.
He picked her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist as his lips attacked hers. When his knees found the bed he dropped them down. He pulled back just long enough to pull down her pants. He stilled her hands as they reached for his. "Not yet." He intertwined their fingers and rose their arms above her head as his lips found the crook of her neck, slowly trailing kisses down to her shoulders.
When her hands were freed of his she tugged at his khaki slacks, "Fitz," she murmured, "now." She let out a moan as his hands slipped around her back and unclasped her bra so his mouth could find her breast. She struggled to control her breathing and focus on making sure his boxers went with his pants as she repeated, "I want you now."
He pulled back and rested his weight on his elbows, "Persistent and impatient as ever." he lifted and hand and trailed it down her cheek.
She leaned up and pulled his face down to hers, nipping at his lip as she replied, "I get what I want."
His hands slipped beneath her panties and he pulled them down, "Yes you do." He agreed.
SCANDAL
Olivia groaned and rolled over. Her face hit something warm and solid. Instinctively, she wrapped her arm and one of her legs over it, in an attempt to pull it closer to her. She sighed contentedly as part of it wrapped itself around her, like a solid blanket protecting her from the world. When she felt something tickle her forehead she opened her eyes. She looked over and realized she was wrapped up in Fitz. Her immediate thought was to run. To replace her body with a pillow, get dressed, take her suitcase and run.
It was as if even in his sleep Fitz knew that would be her reaction. His arm tightened around her body and his head dipped down so it was resting in the crook of her neck. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. This was wrong and she knew it. No matter how good it felt, no matter how right it felt, he was married. And he was running for president.
Yet she felt like she belonged.
SCANDAL
XOXO
MAS