Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoy!
Continuance of the last chapter.
After they finish eating dinner, they spend some more time together. At around 7 pm, Fitz decides to say his goodbyes. He attempts to leave, but Arielle makes his pending departure very difficult. Her arms and legs cling tightly around Fitz' neck and torso as she cries into his neck. Olivia tries to peel Arielle from him, but it's no use. She has a death grip on him and she doesn't plan on letting go anytime soon.
Olivia and Fitz exchange a look. Fitz silently requests to take Arielle with him for the night. To his surprise Olivia nods her head, giving him permission to take their daughter for the night. To be honest Fitz wants Olivia to come home with him too, but he promised to give her time and space to get her thoughts sorted out.
"Shhh baby stop crying." Fitz says gently in Arielle's ear.
"I want you to stay." Arielle whimpers.
"I can't baby. I have to go back our house but guess what."
Arielle picks her head up, calming down some. "What?" She asks.
"You have to come home with me or else I'll be really sad and lonely. You're my little cuddle buddy. You also need to protect me from the big scary monsters under my bed." Fitz makes animated faces and noises causing Arielle to laugh.
"I'm too little to beat up the monsters, that's your job silly." Arielle says.
Fitz smacks his forehead, "Oh that's right but I need my sidekick by my side."
"Alright nanas let's go get your bag so you can go with your daddy." Maya says taking Arielle from Fitz.
"Thank you for letting me take her tonight. It's a bitch trying to sleep without either of you." Fitz says to Olivia.
"Fitz I know we're in a not so great place right now but I would never keep our daughter from you. She's as much of yours as she is mine."
"Still thanks Liv. She's my everything, you both are." Fitz reaches out and grasps Olivia's waist. He then pulls her body to his.
"I know." Olivia says, wrapping her arms around his neck. She plays with the hair on the back of his neck.
Fitz leans down and kisses her nose before moving to her lips where he places a chaste kiss on them. The sound of a clearing of a throat breaks their brief lip lock. Olivia groans when they are forced to pull away a lot sooner than she would have liked.
Eli smirks at them, "You two can't keep your hands off of each other for a second. You're worse now then you were when you were teenagers. That's exactly the reason why I'm going to be a grandfather again." He chuckles. Olivia and Fitz both blush sheepishly.
"Oh my god dad!" Olivia exclaims and buries her face in her hands from embarrassment. Fitz only laughs, which earns him an elbow to his side.
"Relax sweetheart I'm just kidding even though it's true. I'm happy for the both of you and the fact that I'm having a grandson."
"Grandson? Dad I'm only six weeks pregnant, it's still too early to know the sex of the baby." Olivia states the obvious.
"I know that Liv but I have a feeling that you and Fitz are having a baby boy. Don't you agree you Fitz?" Eli asks turning his attention to Fitz whom he catches off guard with his question.
"Uh I'm not too sure. Liv and I want one of each so a boy would be nice but regardless of the gender, I just want a healthy baby whether they be a boy or girl." Fitz answers truthfully.
Olivia smiles up at her man and Eli shakes his head jokingly at Fitz. "Believe me you are having a baby boy who we can eventually get to play football, preferable a quarterback like his dad and the-" Olivia cuts him off.
"Okay dad you're getting way ahead of us right now. We will talk about this after we learn what we're having and when he is old enough to play football, if our baby even is a he."
Eli lifts both his hands up in surrender, "Okay okay I'm sorry. I'm just so excited though at the thought of possibly having a grandson although I will love this baby if he turns out to be a she. Fitz and I could really use another guy around here, there is way too much estrogen surrounding us men." He says just as Maya and Arielle are coming down the stairs. "Isn't that right Fitz?"
"Yeah isn't that right Fitzgerald?" Olivia mocks in a condescending tone.
"Well I-" Fitz starts to say, but is interrupted by the sound of Maya's voice.
"Isn't what right?" She asks curiously.
"Uh nothing." Eli says quickly.
"Mmhmm sure." Maya says unconvinced, side-eyeing him. She then walks over to Fitz so he can take a sleepy looking Arielle from her and her bag. Arielle's head immediately lays on her daddy's broad shoulder while her eyes remain open.
"I guess someone's worn out for the day." Olivia rubs Arielle's back. Fitz pulls back a little to look at his daughter who is seconds away from falling asleep in his arms.
"Yeah I should probably get her home now." Fitz says.
"I'll walk you out."
"Okay. Arielle say bye bye to grandma and grandpa and tell them you'll see them tomorrow."
Arielle manages to pick her head up with the little energy her body has left and says. "Bye bye grandma and grandpa, see you tomorrow."
"Bye nanas. Have a goodnight with your daddy, love you." Maya and Eli both kiss their granddaughter goodbye before she leaves out of the house in Fitz' arms with Olivia following close behind them.
Once Fitz straps Arielle in her carseat, he steps aside and Olivia takes his former place.
"Alright baby I'll see you tomorrow morning bright and early when daddy drops you off here okay."
"Okay mommy."
"Okay, be a good girl for daddy. I love you."
"I love you too mommy." Arielle says followed by a yawn.
"Gimme a huggy and kissy goodbye." Arielle obliges to her mommy's request. She kisses Olivia's puckered lips and wraps her little arms around her neck for a hug.
"Night baby girl." Olivia says before closing the car door.
She looks up at Fitz who moved to stand by the driver's door. "Goodnight Fitz."
"Goodnight Liv. I love you." He says back to her.
"I love you too." Olivia takes a step forward, so she's standing right in front of him. Fitz leans down and captures her lips with his for a brief kiss.
"You should come with us." He offers in hopes that she will actually take him up on his offer.
Olivia reaches up, cupping his cheek and lightly brushes it with the pad of her thumb. "I want to but I need some time to myself."
Fitz nods understandingly, "I know, I had to ask though." Olivia smiles softly at him. "I should get going now. Bye babe I'll see you in the morning." He kisses her one more time before getting into his car. He waits until Olivia is securely in the house before carefully backing out of the driveway and making his journey home with his sleeping toddler in the backseat.
When Fitz arrives to his house, he collects Arielle and her bag from the backseat. He is immediately greeted by an overly excited Squishy at the door. Fitz loves that dog, but at the moment he wants to wring his neck for his continuous barking, which startles Arielle and causes her to whimper.
"Down boy." Fitz whispers and shakes the pug off of his pant leg. Squishy ignores him, he has one mission and that's getting to his favorite person, who is currently nodding in and out of consciousness.
Fitz steps over Squishy and makes his way up to Arielle's bedroom. There, he places her bag on the floor by the door and lays her on her bed. He stands over her trying to figure out if he should bathe her tonight or tomorrow morning. Either way she will make it difficult for him to bathe her because she's tired. Fitz decides to go with the first option because he knows in the morning he won't have time to deal with the struggle he is sure she will give him. He goes into the bathroom where he starts her bath. While the bathtub is getting filled, Fitz gets Arielle undressed. He grabs her towel and makes his way over to the bathroom. When the tub is filled high enough, Fitz stops the water. He places Arielle in it much to her dismay. He apologizes and promises to make bath time quick. He keeps his promise and before Arielle knows it she is sleeping like an angel in her parent's bed. Fitz takes a quick shower before changing into a blue pair of pajama pants and a black t-shirt. He then crawls into bed next to Arielle. Within minutes he is fast asleep.
XXX The next morning Fitz wakes up to the sound of the alarm on his phone going off. He squints his eyes as he checks the time on his bright screen. He groans as he sits up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. It takes a moment for Fitz to move because he's not used to waking up so early in the morning. Fitz yawns and stretches his stiff muscles. Standing up, he walks out of his room and across the hall to the bathroom where he takes care of his morning business. He then goes back into his room and gets ready for work. Once he has himself taken care of, he works on getting Arielle ready to go. Fitz replaces the clothes in her bag with fresher ones. After all her stuff is packed, Fitz picks Arielle up and brings her to his car. Since it is still so early, he figures she more than likely wants to go back to sleep when she gets to her grandparents' house, so he doesn't bother changing her. On his way to the Olivia's parents' house, Fitz calls Olivia to let her know he will be arriving soon.
When he gets there, Olivia is already patiently waiting. He takes Arielle out of her carseat and brings her over to where Olivia is standing in the open doorway. Fitz hands Arielle and her bag with the fresh clothes in it over to Olivia, but not before kissing her goodbye and telling her he loved her.
"I gave Ari a bath last night, so that's taken care of unless you want to give her another one when she wakes up later on. I also packed some fresh clothes in her bag." Fitz informs her.
"Okay thanks." Olivia responds.
"I'll see you later I guess."
"Okay. Hey, how about Ari and I meet you for lunch at that diner midway between here and the police station, that way we both don't have to travel too far."
"Sounds good to me." Fitz agrees.
"Great see you then."
"See you then. Bye Livvie. Bye princess." FItz gives them both kisses before heading off to work.
Fitz spends his entire morning filling out paperwork. He is relieved when it's finally time for him to go on his lunch break because his left hand is aching from writing so much.
"Hey Fitz it's your day to pick where we're going for lunch today." Stephen says.
"Shit I forgot to tell you man, I'm actually meeting Olivia and Arielle for lunch today." Fitz says, giving his friend an apologetic look.
"It's all good man, I'll just go by myself." Stephen says reassuringly.
"You sure?" Fitz asks feeling bad for leaving his boy hanging.
"I'm positive. Go spend time with your family."
Fitz smiles, "Thanks." He says before leaving the building. By the time Fitz arrives at the semi-crowded diner, Olivia and Arielle are already there, sitting in a booth waiting for him.
"Hi daddy." Arielle says when Fitz slides in the booth, sitting across from her.
"Hi beautiful girl." Fitz responds and leans across the table to give his little girl a kiss. Arielle lifts her head up briefly to give her daddy a kiss before she focuses her attention back on coloring an uncolored picture of an ocean and the sea creatures that live in it.
"Hi Livvie."
"Hey babe." Olivia says. She leans in to kiss Fitz' awaiting lips. As soon as they break apart, a waitress named Casey comes to take their orders. Olivia orders a sweet tea and a chicken salad and Fitz orders a coke and a cheeseburger with fries.
"What do you want to eat Ari?" Fitz asks his toddler who is absorbed in her coloring.
Arielle taps her tiny finger on her chin, while she thinks about what she wants. The waitress can't help but smile at how adorable she is.
"I want chicken nuggies." Arielle states when she finally figures out what she wants.
"Please." Olivia adds.
"Please." Arielle repeats.
"Of course and what would you like to drink sweetheart?" The waitress asks.
"Um milky please."
"She likes plain milk." Olivia informs the waitress kindly.
"Okay your drinks will be out momentarily and your food shouldn't take long either." The waitress says and collects their menus.
"Thank you." Olivia and Fitz say in unison.
"So how's your day going so far?" Olivia asks Fitz when the waitress walks away from the table.
Fitz lets out an exasperated sigh, "It's fine I guess. I spent the entire morning doing paperwork. I thought my hand was going to fall off. How about yours? What did my girls do today?"
"We went back to sleep for a few hours after you left, then we snuggled in bed and watched disney junior until it was time to get ready to come here."
The waitress brings them their drinks as they continue talking about whatever comes to mind.
"Are you coming home tonight?" Fitz asks.
"Uh yeah we need to talk and Kayla texted me earlier asking if she could spend the weekend with us. I called your mom and she said it was fine as long as we're okay with it."
"I'm fine with whatever you want." Fitz responds taking a sip of his drink.
"Okay I'm picking her up after school. She has to stay after for a little bit to finish her makeup test so I'm going to take Arielle to the playground across the street while we wait."
"I'll be off of work by that time so I'll meet you there." Fitz suggests.
"I would like that." Olivia says and grabs a hold of Fitz' hands.
"Me too." He brings her hands to his lips and kisses them softly.
Their food arrives moments later. As they eat, they continue to talk about everything and nothing. Their conversation is light and flows with ease. Arielle is too busy stuffing her face with chicken nuggets coated with ketchup, to pay attention to her parents.
"I'll be right back." Fitz says as he slides out of the booth and stands up.
"Where are you going?" Olivia asks.
"To the bathroom." Fitz replies before heading to the bathroom.
In there, he relieves himself and washes his hands when he's done. As he exits the bathroom, he and another man accidentally bump shoulders in passing.
"I'm sorr-." Fitz starts to apologize to the man before he stops midway in his sentence.
The man standing before him is none other than Big Jerry Grant.
"Well well well look who it is." Jerry says. He looks down and notices Fitz is in his uniform. "I didn't know it was Halloween. That's a nice costume you got on, very realistic. Oh wait, my apologies that's not a costume at all it's a legit uniform."
Fitz doesn't say anything. He turns to walk away, but Big Jerry grabs his arm, keeping him in place. Fitz smacks Jerry's hand off of his arm, causing the older man to laugh.
"You know I should find it funny that you would give up your entire football career to be a cop. But it's not funny at all, it's quite sad actually, that you would give up football and the fortune and fame that came with it for some black girl and her half breed baby." Jerry says with disgust.
Fitz is fine with his father talking down on him. He's used to it, it hurts like hell, but he has learn to take the older man's words with a grain of salt. He was planning on remaining silent, while Jerry, like so many times before, told him how much of a mistake he was. However, Jerry talking about his fiance and daughter sets him off.
"I don't have a problem with you talking to me any kind of way but I do have a problem with you talking about Olivia and my daughter like they're dirt on the ground. You will watch how you speak about my fiance and daughter or else. I could care less what you say about me but you will not call them out of their names." Fitz says in a low and warning tone.
Jerry shakes his head, "I see that girl still has you pussy whipped. Even after four years nothing's change. If I would've known this is how you would turn out, I would have had your mom get an abortion."
His last sentence feels as if someone had hit Fitz with a car, knocking the wind out of him. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I do that was so bad that made you hate me?" Fitz asks with a shaky voice.
Jerry doesn't respond because he truly cannot answer that question.
"Do you hate me because I knocked Olivia up when I was 18? If that is the reason, you need to get over it because I don't regret it and if I could go back I would do it all over again. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. My daughter, your granddaughter, carries my DNA, the same DNA that was given to me by you. As much as you may not like or accept it, she is somewhat a part of you too. Look at her." Fitz points to his table. Arielle has a wide smile on her face as she shows Olivia the picture she finished coloring.
"That is your granddaughter, Arielle." Fitz states turning his attention back to his dad.
"No, that's the product of your interracial relationship, that I disapproved of and still do."
"How can you call yourself a man, talking to and treating your only son the way you do?
"You are not my son, you are a mistake." Jerry corrects him.
Fitz nods his head acceptingly, "I did everything I could to please you and this is how I get treated. You were the one that made me turn my back on football. Believe me when I say this, remember the words you spoke to me today because I guarantee you you'll regret them and the others before. This I promise you." And with that, Fitz turns his back to his so called dad and makes his way back to his table where the loves of his life are waiting for him.
"You okay?" Olivia asks him when he reaches their table.
She notices a change in his mood, which is probably due to his run in with his dad. She watched almost the entire exchange between father and son. She couldn't see the expression on Fitz' face because his back was to her, but by the smug look on Jerry's face, she knew he was most likely being berated by the older man.
"Yeah." Fitz says unconvincingly as he pulls out his wallet and throws a few dollar bills on the table. "You guys ready to go?" He asks refusing to make eye contact with her.
Olivia sits and stares at Fitz briefly. She feels as if she is looking at the younger version of him back when they were in high school.
"Yeah." Olivia replies and helps Arielle put her light jacket on, while Fitz pays for their lunch at the front counter.
"You're meeting us at Kayla's school later right?"
Fitz nods his confirmation. Olivia hated seeing him like that again. She thought she would never see that side of him again, but boy was she wrong.
"Alright bye babe." Olivia leans up to kiss his lips, but Fitz turns his head and her lips end up making contact with his cheek.
"Bye." Fitz says failing to meet her gaze. "Bye Ari." He says to the little girl standing in between he and Olivia. He bends down and kisses the top of her head before walking away to his car.
Olivia hurtfully watches him walk away, secretly hoping he will turn around and walk back over to her to apologize. That thought is shut down when Fitz gets in his car and drives away. Olivia buckles Arielle in her carseat and gets in her own car before leaving the diner.
XXX
Fitz collapses, face first on his side of the bed, when he arrives home from meeting Olivia and Arielle at Kayla's school. Although his bad mood didn't go away, he still played with Arielle on the playground. Fitz chased her around, while her little legs ran as fast as they could away from him, he slid down the slide with her, and pushed her on the swing. When Olivia took over, she noticed him staring across the street at the current varsity football team for their old school, practicing. For the second time that day she felt guilty for denying him permission to play again. Just as Fitz' eyes closed, he felt his body being weighed down and a pair of hands massaging his shoulders. He lifts his head and looks over his shoulder to see Olivia is the one on his back. He pushes himself up, turning his body in the process, causing Olivia to slip off his back and land on the bed.
"Why are you acting like that?" Olivia asks, having enough of his attitude.
"Like what?" Fitz counters, avoiding the question with one of his own, without looking at her.
"Like you don't want to be bothered." She says sitting up right on the bed, leaning against the headboard.
"Because I don't." He answers simply.
"Why because you got your feelings hurt by your dad?"
Fitz turns around and glares at her, a look that she used to be familiar with when they were teenagers.
"Fitz I-"
"You have some nerve. I don't care what he says about me and I was defending you and our daughter from being disrespected for your information." Fitz says angrily.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that." Olivia moves off of the bed and stands directly in front of Fitz. He can see that she is genuine with her apology, but the stubborn voice inside of him is telling him something different."
"Yes you did." He shoves her, not too hard, but with enough force to make her get out of his way and leaves their bedroom.
He grabs his keys and phone before leaving the house. He doesn't know where he is going, but he knows he needs some time to clear his head. He needs time and space to himself. As he drives around to nowhere in particular, he rethinks about his day. He feels like his old self again, carrying both anger and guilt. He is angry with his dad for being an asshole and feels guilty for treating Olivia like he did. He managed to hide his dark side for a few years, but now it's finding a way to reappear in his life and cause problems just like it had 4 years ago.
4 years ago…
"You fucking idiot!" Jerry bellowed, slamming Fitz into the wall.
The side of his face was the first thing to make contact with wall. As a result, he received a swollen black eye and a cut going through the end of his left eyebrow. Blood started trickling down the side of his face. Fitz was bent over, holding his throbbing eye. He tried to wipe the blood away, but it was no use when Big Jerry grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall for the second time. Jerry then punched him in the gut with two powerful punches. When he was released, Fitz slid down the wall until he was sitting slumped over on the floor. He struggled to catch his breath as Big Jerry kicked him in his side.
"You had one job and that was to get the ball to your receiver. You couldn't even do that you fucking disgrace." Big Jerry spat angrily and kicked Fitz again.
"It wasn't my fault he didn't catch it." Fitz groaned breathlessly in pain.
"I don't want to hear it. You're the quarterback, it's your responsibility." Jerry kicked him again in again until he tired himself out.
"You're a pathetic loser." He said before walking away leaving a beaten up Fitz on the floor.
When Fitz was finally able to regulate his breathing back to a steady pace, he used the little energy he had left to push himself up off the floor. He limped his way up to the kitchen to get some ice and then upstairs to the bathroom where he took a few painkillers. Afterwards he went to his room. He was extremely angry as he looked at his eye in his mirror. He alternated between icing his eye and his bruised side. While doing that, he tried to call Olivia. When she didn't answer, he called her again and again with no success. He then sent her texts that went unanswered. He was pissed and he needed someone to be there for him. That someone was supposed to be Olivia, but she wasn't answering his calls or texts. The painkillers were starting to kick in and Fitz eventually drifted off to sleep taking his pent up anger with him.
The next evening Abby dropped Olivia off at Fitz' house since he wasn't answering his phone.
"Hi Mrs. Grant." Olivia greeted the older woman when she opened the door.
"Hey Liv." Susan said sweetly giving her a hug.
"Is Fitz here. I tried calling him but he's not picking up his phone." She explains.
"Yeah, he's in his room. Can you tell him that dinner is almost ready?"
"Of course." Olivia replied before making her way up to his room. "Babe?" She knocked on his door and received no answer.
Olivia checked the knob to make sure it was unlocked before turning it and slowly opening and closing his door. She looked at Fitz lying on his bed wearing his football hoodie with the hood pulled over his eyes. She could hear music blaring from his earbuds. Olivia slipped off her shoes before crawling onto his bed and straddling his torso, causing Fitz to jump.
"What the hell!" Fitz yelled and picked his hood up just enough to peak out of it.
"I'm sorry babe, I didn't mean to scare you." Olivia chuckled.
"Olivia? What are you doing here?" Fitz asked pulling his hood back over his eyes.
"I came to see you. I tried calling you but you weren't answering so I thought I'd stop by and see if you're here." Olivia explained.
"Look right now is not really a good time, I'm not in the mood to be bothered with anyone." Fitz moved her off of his body and sat up.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No I want to relax." Fitz said with irritation in his voice. He grabbed the remote at the end of his bed and turned on the flat screen TV on the dresser across from his bed.
"Okay then." Olivia responded awkwardly.
They sat quietly watching TV for a couple of minutes before Olivia crawled to end the bed where Fitz was sitting. She wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and kissed the back of his hood covered head. She then began massaging his tense shoulders.
"Babe what's going on with you?" Olivia asked as she worked out the kinks in his muscles.
"Nothing I'm just not feeling well."
"Why is your hood covering your face?"
"Because I want it to."
"Well take it off so I can see your handsome face." Olivia commanded without giving him a chance to respond before she pulled his hood off of his head. Olivia gasped when she saw his black eye and the cut going through his eyebrow. "Fitz what the hell happened your eye?" She asked grabbing his face to get a better look.
Fitz moved his head from her grasp, "The padding in my helmet peeled off and when I got hit, my head hit against the helmet." He lied.
"Fitz you did not have a black eye after your game last night. When did this happen?" Olivia asked.
"If you would've answered your phone last night maybe you would've known." Fitz spat angrily.
"I was visiting my family in Pennsylvania. I left my phone in the car so I could spend time with family without distractions."
"So I'm a distraction?"
"No that's not what I meant and you know that. Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me what happened to your eye." Olivia said angrily.
"I already told you." Fitz sighed with a roll of his eyes. "It didn't happen during the game. It happened earlier this morning at practice." He lied again.
"Why would you wear a helmet with no padding? Better yet why would the coach actually allow you to get hit? You're the quarterback. You could've gotten severely injured. I can't believe this happened."
"Liv chill out it's just a black eye. It's no big deal." Fitz said with a shrug of his shoulders as Olivia stood in front of him examining his eye.
"It is a big deal!" She exclaimed.
"Olivia stop! I'm fine, it's part of the game now let it go."
"Fine." Olivia reluctantly relented.
Fitz was satisfied with her answer. Olivia saw his body relax and took the opportunity to walk into his embrace. As soon as she wrapped her arms around Fitz torso, he winced which didn't go unnoticed by Olivia.
"Babe?" She questioned and pulled back to look him in the eye.
"It's nothing, I'm fine." Fitz tried to reassure her, but Olivia wasn't having it. She knew he was lying.
"Lift up your shirt."
"Liv…"
"Lift it up Fitz." Olivia firmly demanded.
Fitz sighed deeply, which was a mistake because he felt a sharp pain pierce his side. He grabbed onto the hem of his hoodie and t-shirt underneath it, slowly lifting both articles of clothing.
"Oh my god!" Olivia gasped and her hands flew to cover her mouth. Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at a large purple bruise on her boyfriend's side. "Fitz how did this happened?"
"I already told you, I got hit a little too hard in practice." He responded, pulling his shirt and hoodie back down.
"That's not a little too hard. That bruise looks like you got hit by a bus."
"Stop over exaggerating, you're starting to piss me off."
"What is your problem Fitz? I came here to see my boyfriend and the guy standing in front of me right now is not my boyfriend." Olivia folded her arms across her chest.
"I told you I didn't feel like being bothered, especially by you." Fitz said harshly.
Olivia threw her hands up in the air in defeat and rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't have come tonight if I knew you were going act like such a jerk. All I did was waste my time coming here."
"Yeah you did and now I think you should leave." Fitz suggested.
"What? How am I supposed to get home? Abby was my ride here."
"Figure it out." Fitz walked passed her and laid back down on his bed, pulling his hood back over his eyes and putting his earbuds back in.
Olivia stood at the foot of his bed glaring at him. She was pissed off by Fitz' shitty attitude. Fitz could feel her presence still in his room and could feel her practically burning a hole in his hood. He frustrating sighed and sat up, removing one of the earbuds out of his ear.
"What are you still doing here? Leave."
"I don't have ride home."
"That's not my problem, now get out."
"No." Olivia said defiantly with her hands on her hips.
"No?" Fitz asked. He was losing his patience with her. When he needed her, she wasn't there for him. Now that he wanted to be alone, she wanted to be with him.
"No." She repeated.
Fitz scooted off his bed, "Get out of my room." He grabbed Olivia by the arm and pushed her out of his bedroom door when he opened it.
Fitz tried to close his door, but Olivia pushed on the other side to keep it halfway open. Fitz was not in the mood and lost all his control. He was angry, not at her, but he needed someone to take his anger out on. He swung the door open and again grabbed her by the same arm and roughly pulled her toward the stairs. Olivia started slapping his arm that was closest to her with her free hand. Fitz stopped walking, releasing Olivia's arm, only to turn around and lift her up, throwing her body over his left shoulder. Her small fists pounded his back as hard as she could.
"Fitz put me down now!" She demanded.
Fitz ignored her request until he reached the bottom of the staircase. He then put Olivia down only to receive a slap to cheek on the same side where his black eye was. Olivia instantly felt bad.
"Oh my god, Fitz I'm so sorry." She apologized and tried to reach out to touch him.
Fitz moved away from her, ignoring her apology and said, "Get out of my house before I throw you out."
"Fitz please."
"Get out." Fitz' voice started to get louder, which obviously traveled because seconds later Susan walked into the living room.
"What's going on in here?" She asked.
"Get. Out." Fitz spat ignoring his mom.
"Fitzgerald." Susan called out to her son.
Olivia shook her head no as tears gushed down her face.
"No? You know what I don't have the fucking patience for this shit. Get the fuck out of my house! Leave!" Fitz shouted as he gripped her arm and dragged her to the front door of his house.
"Let me go!" Olivia cried as she tried to free her arm from his the tight hold he had on it.
"Fitzgerald stop it! Let go of her right now!"
Olivia tried to put up a fight, but it was no use, Fitz was too strong. Once they reached the door, Fitz opened it and shoved Olivia out of it before slamming the door in her face. Fitz went to head back to his room, but Susan stood in front of him, blocking the stairway.
"Mom, move."
"Excuse me. I know you're not talking to me like that. You must have lost your mind if you're talking to me."
"I'm sorry."
"You're apologizing to the wrong person. You need to be apologizing to Olivia. The way you treated her was so disrespectful and you know I raised you better than that. I raised you to treat women with respect."
"I know, I was just angry."
"I don't care how angry you are, you never manhandle or put your hands on a woman. Now go after Olivia and apologize like your life depends on it. I'm warning you Fitz, if you keep this up, you're going to lose her." Susan said seriously.
Fitz gazed lowered to the floor, ashamed to look his mom in the eye after his behavior. "I know that." He said defeatedly.
"Then go after her. Besides it's getting dark and I don't feel comfortable with Olivia walking home by herself at this time of night and you shouldn't either."
Fitz nodded his head in agreement, "You're right. I'm going. Thanks mom for talking some sense into me." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before sprinting to his room, grabbing his keys.
It didn't take Fitz long to find Olivia walking on a sidewalk while her arms were wrapped around each other to shield them from the night's cold air. Fitz pulled next to the sidewalk and drove at an incredibly slow speed to keep up with the pace Olivia was walking. Olivia looked over at his car and rolled her eyes, turning her head to look in the other direction.
"Livvie I know you're mad at me and I'm the last person you want to see right now but can you please get in the car?"
"Leave me alone. You made it more than clear that you don't want to be around me." Olivia responded stubbornly.
"I don't deserve to have you and I am so sorry for the way I acted tonight. I have a lot of shit going on right now and it's stressing me out."
"So instead of telling me that, you shut me out and put your hands on me."
"Baby I am so sorry. Please just get in the car. It's cold outside and I don't want you walking out there by yourself."
"Leave me alone Fitz." "You know if you don't get in this car, I'll still follow you until I make sure you are home safely, so make it easy on the both of us and get in."
Olivia stopped walking, which caused Fitz to stop driving, if you want to call what he was doing driving. She audibly sighed heavily followed by a dramatic eyeroll. Fitz thought that if she rolled her eyes any harder, they would get stuck. Olivia got into the car on the front passenger side and put her seatbelt on before crossing her arms. Fitz just sat back in the driver's seat and looked over at his upset girlfriend. He tried to rest his hand on her thigh like he always did when he was driving, but she moved her leg away from his hand.
"Either you can start driving me home or I can get out and walk home, your choice."
Fitz knew that Olivia was not bluffing, so he gave in and drove her home. The ride to her house was silent except for the radio with the volume turned on low. As soon as Fitz pulled into her driveway, Olivia barely waited for his car to come to a complete stop before hopping out of it, slamming the door behind her. Everything in Fitz wanted to chase after Olivia and make things right with her, but instead he sat in his car and waited until she got in her house safely before he heading back home.
The next day, Olivia spent the entire day avoiding Fitz at school. Fitz waited for her after every one of her classes, but somehow she got out of each one early. At one point in the day he gave up trying to find her because she made it more than clear that she didn't want to see him or be seen by him. When his practice was over, he took the quickest shower he probably ever had and made his way over to Olivia's.
"Hey Fitz." Maya said when he stepped in the house. "How are you?" She asked giving him a hug.
"Hi Mrs. Pope, I'm okay. Thanks for asking and how about yourself?"
"I'm fine, thank you. Are you looking for Olivia?"
"Uh yeah, is she here?"
"Yeah she's in her room with Abby. Would you like me to get her?"
Fitz shook his head, "Actually I was wondering if I could go up. I'm not going to lie to you, I was a complete jerk to your daughter last night and I really need to apologize to her for my rude behavior."
"Well I appreciate your honesty. You're a good guy Fitz, so whatever you did, you better get up there now and start kissing my daughter's butt because she is the most stubborn thing." Maya replied, playfully shoving Fitz toward the stairs. He laughed and walked up the stairs two by two.
When he reached her bedroom door, he gently knocked on it. Seconds later the door opened to reveal Abby standing on the other side of it. Olivia was sitting on her bed looking down at her notebook.
"Fitz." Abby said causing Olivia to pick her head up from the sound of her boyfriend's name.
"Abby, are you going to move aside so I can come in?" Fitz asked while he looked at Olivia, who now had her head back down, writing something in her notebook.
Abby turned to look at Olivia for her permission. "Liv?" Olivia didn't respond, but nodded her head.
Abby stepped to the left to give Fitz some space to enter the room. He stood at the edge of her bed awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. He wanted to say something, but felt weird having Abby in the room with them while he apologized for last night.
"Liv I-"
"You're sorry? Yeah I know, I got your texts and voicemails." Olivia said.
"I- Abby can we have the room please?"
Abby again looked to Olivia to make sure she was okay. When Olivia nodded, Abby nodded to Fitz.
"Liv I'll call you later." Abby said before leaving the room.
"Baby I know I was an asshole last night and I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that. I was just angry not at you but I was angry and needed to take out my anger."
"Why me? I just wanted to make sure you were okay and that's how you treat me."
Fitz walked over to her bed and sat down on the end. "Olivia I am very sorry. I don't know what got into me but I promise you it will never happen again. I will never hurt you like I did last night again."
Olivia didn't respond verbally, instead she silently nodded.
"Do you forgive me? Please." Fitz needed to hear her say she forgave him.
"I forgive you."
"Come here." Fitz opened his arms, waiting for Olivia to crawl into them.
She hesitated before moving to where Fitz was sitting on her bed. She snuggled into his arms. Fitz held her for what seemed like forever before they pulled apart. He leaned down and kissed her lips, only releasing them to catch his breath. Olivia smiled up at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear that was somewhat blocking the view of her boyfriend. When Olivia raised her arm, Fitz saw a bruise in the form of fingerprints, his fingerprints to be exact.
"Shit. Did I do this to you Livvie?" Fitz asked, examining her arm.
"Yeah but it's fine. I bruise easily." Olivia said with a shrug.
"No it's not fine. It is never okay for me to put my hands on you. Livvie I really am so sorry for grabbing you like that. Please forgive me baby. I promise you that I will never do it again." Fitz sincerely apologized.
"It's okay babe really. I'm not mad anymore, I forgive you." Olivia said reassuringly, cupping his cheek and stroking it lightly.
Fitz pulled Olivia backed in his arms and held her. "I'm so sorry Livvie. I love you."
Olivia looked up at him, "I love you too."
"Fitz."
Present Day...
After driving around for about 20 minutes, Fitz decides to head back home. He just needed time to clear his head and calm down. He didn't know how to handle seeing his father face to face again. The old Fitz would have kept to himself with pent up anger waiting to explode on someone if pushed to his limit. This new Fitz is no longer a teenager, but an adult with many responsibilities. However, he still has some of his old bad habits that never left just hid for a while.
When Fitz walks through the front door, he hears loud laughter coming from the living room. He goes to see who are the sources behind the laughter. He already knows Arielle is one. He can tell his daughter's laugh from miles away. Entering the living room, he sees Arielle sitting on the floor next to her Aunt Kayla, both laughing extremely hard with red faces. Fitz notices Olivia sitting on the couch laughing as well, while clapping her hands.
"I see you ladies are having a good time. What are you doing?" Fitz asks leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Nothing just being silly." Kayla says to her other brother once she calms down.
Fitz smiles at his little sister and baby girl bonding. He is happy she's staying with them tonight because he needs to talk to Olivia and Kayla is the perfect company for Arielle. He takes in the sight of Arielle sitting in Kayla's lap while they take selfies on her phone. His heart swells at how well they get along.
Fitz' eyes drift from his sister and daughter to Olivia, who is watching them too. She feels his gaze shift to her and looks up to make eye contact with him. He nods in the direction out of the living room. Olivia nods understanding and follows Fitz out of the living room.
"I'm sorry for walking out on our discussion earlier. I got upset when you left when things got rough for us only to do the same thing, so I apologize for that. I honestly just wanted some time to figure all of this out." Fitz says, standing in the hallway.
"Don't apologize. I completely understand. You wanted space and instead of giving you it, I pushed you further away. I get it." Olivia says understandingly.
"Can we talk now? No more arguing, just talking. You hear what I have to say and I hear what you have to say. Can we do that?"
"Yeah."
Fitz goes back into the living room to tell Kayla that he and Olivia are going upstairs to talk and to call them if she or Arielle need anything. He then heads up to his and Olivia's bedroom where she is sitting on their bed already waiting for him.
"So where do you want to start?" Fitz asks her leaning against their closed bedroom door with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
Olivia shrugs, "I guess we could start with how you're feeling after seeing your father today."
"Well for starters, he is not my father. He made that very clear. As hard as I try to fight them, his words still get to me. It's like he still has this hold over me and I hate that I can't break free from it. I hate that I'm weak when it comes to him."
"Fitz I know you don't consider him a father and that's completely understandable after the way he treated you, but he is still biologically your father. It's in your nature to want to please him and love him."
"I hate him. He's done nothing but make my life a living hell. He almost ruined me, he almost ruined us. I almost died because him. I hate that man with everything in me. I hate him Liv. I hate him." Fitz says. His voice cracks with emotion as tears start to form in his eyes. Fitz tried for years to hold back his feelings, but admitting his disdain for Jerry breaks the brick wall he put up. Fitz is finally getting everything off of his chest.
"I hate him so much. He used to find every reason to beat me and I don't mean with a belt, I mean full on bare knuckles punching and kicking. I never cried because I didn't want him to know how bad he hurt me. I was also in too much pain to be caught up in my feelings. The only feeling I could really focus on was anger. I can't even count the number of times I thought about taking that bastard's life. He is the only man I have ever wished bad things on. Being a cop, I have seen a lot of men that disgusted me, rapists, women and child abusers, etcetera. And even them I didn't wish death on. You know today I asked him why he hated me so much, why he despised my very existence." He pauses briefly.
"Do you know what he said?" Olivia shakes her head no. "He said nothing. That motherfucker said absolutely nothing. He had no response for me. But I think I know why."
"Why?" Olivia asks quietly, but interested in his answer.
"Because he's jealous of me. I mean think about, why would he want to see me in so much pain? Because I had a successful future ahead of me, one that he unfortunately will never have himself. A part of him wanted to see me fail. The thing is, he also wanted the riches that came with professional football and the only way he could do that was through me, so he pushed me to be great for his own selfish reasons."
"Fitz, I'm sorry for what he put you through. " Olivia says honestly. She really does feel bad for him. If only she knew about his 'situation' back when something could've been done. "Why didn't your mother leave him if she knew about his abusive side?" She asks out of curiosity.
"She loved him. Not every woman can easily leave the man they love like you did." Fitz says without thinking, immediately regretting the words that just left his mouth. "I'm sorry Liv, that was uncalled for and immature of me. I didn't mean what I said."
Olivia dismissively waves off his apology, "Fitz stop apologizing for everything. I didn't take offense to what you said. I figured you would be a little upset that I tried to give you back the ring. It was wrong and childish of me to do."
Fitz shakes his head, "No, I took a cheap shot at you when I'm the one that said we should have a civil conversation without all the animosity."
Olivia doesn't responds, but nods for Fitz to continue.
"Anyway don't be sorry about the whole Jerry situation. That was then. I'm focusing on now. The chances of me running into that piece of shit again are very slim and if he does see me again hopefully I'll be playing for the Giants. Living the dream that he said I would never reach."
"Fi-" Olivia can't get his name out before Fitz holds up a hand, cutting her off.
"Olivia before you say anything, let me just say that if you're afraid that playing football will turn me into some kind of monster then don't because it wasn't football that made me that way, it was playing football with Big Jerry beating my ass for everything under the sun. I promise you that I will never be that guy again. If any guy did what I did to you to Arielle, I would break his goddamn arms. But I need to play again. God didn't give me this unbelievable talent to let it go to waste. He had a plan when I was created and now it's my job to make sure that plan is carried out. I worked too hard to walk away as easily as I did. I need this, even if I don't make the team, I have to try out to satisfy my wonder."
"Fitz, what I was going to say before you cut me off was that I think that you should go to the tryouts for the Giants."
"Liv please I-" Fitz pauses mid sentence and processes what she just said. "Wait.. did you just say that I should go to the tryouts?" He asks in utter surprise as a smile begins to appear on his face.
The smile Olivia has on her face matches the one on Fitz' and she nods, "I thought about what you said and the everything else having to deal with this matter and I agree, this opportunity is a once and a lifetime thing. Playing professional football is your dream and I want you to follow your dream. I want to support and most importantly, I want you to be happy."
Olivia gets up from their bed as she notices Fitz slowly approaching her with the biggest smile on his face. She feels like the greatest person in the world for being the cause of his happiness. She would say yes a hundred times if it meant seeing him smiling like that.
When they are within arms reach, Fitz excitedly pulls Olivia into a hug, lifting her up and twirling her around while she laughs. When he sets her down, Fitz immediately presses his lips firmly against Olivia's.
"I love you so much Livvie. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Fitz repeats like a boy on Christmas Day after getting the toy he was dying to have.
"Babe, I know I was against these tryouts in the beginning because I was scared but know that at the end of the day I will always choose you just like you had chosen me. You and our kids are everything to me and I can't bare to tolerate the thought of losing you over something like this."
"You're the best." Fitz says and goes in for another passionate kiss.
He deepens the kiss and slips one of his hands underneath Olivia's shirt, only for her to stop his movements.
"Fitz, babe we can't. At least not right now, your sister and daughter are downstairs and will hear us." Olivia says, attempting to sound stern, but Fitz kissing that spot behind her ear, almost makes her knees buckle.
"Then try to stay quiet. It's been days since I've been inside you and I miss you. Plus it's only right that we have some hot makeup sex." Fitz says as he bites her earlobe.
Olivia somehow finds enough strength to push him away far enough where he can't distract her with body contact.
"Once Arielle and Kayla go to sleep, I promise we can have sex as many times as you want." Olivia compromises.
"Livvie..." Fitz groans. "I want you now."
"No later. Be patient babe."
Fitz sighs, rolling his eyes, "Can we at least do a little foreplay to hold me over until later?" He asks with a smirk.
"What do you have in my mind?" Olivia asks in a seductive voice.
Fitz rubs his chin, pretending to think, "Hmm. I'll eat your pussy if you suck me off." He says bluntly.
"Fitz! Can you be any more blunt?"
Fitz shrugs his shoulders, "What? I'm horny and in dire need of a release."
"You're shameless." Olivia laughs.
"That I am. Now let's get down to business." Fitz says with a devilish smirk on his face as he unzips his pants.
After their mini sexual reunion, Olivia and Fitz go back downstairs and spend some time with their daughter and Kayla before they all retire for bed. Fitz tucks Arielle in, while Olivia gets Kayla situated and makes sure she's comfortable. Olivia and Fitz then meet in their bedroom where they go two rounds of passionate love making. Fitz pulls out of Olivia and rolls over, so that he is lying on the bed beside her.
"Fitz."
"Hmm."
"The other day when we were talking to my dad about the sex of our baby... What do you want to have?"
"Well I meant what I said when I told you I just wanted a healthy baby whether it's a boy or girl. But I guess I do want a boy. It would be nice to have one of each."
"I want a boy too."
"Oh yeah? That's good to hear I even thought of the perfect name for him."
"What?"
"Ulysses Grant." He says with a straight face.
"Really Fitzgerald." Olivia smacks his chest.
"Ow what? Ulysses Grant is a great strong name to name our son and after a great man. He was a general during the civil war that fought on the union side to free African Americans and essentially having a hand in making our relationship possible. He was also the18th President of the United States." Fitz argues.
"You have a good point but we are not naming our son Ulysses. That name's worse than Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald is an awful name." Olivia says without thinking.
"Wow gee thanks babe." Fitz says sarcastically with a playful eye roll.
"I'm sorry. I love you."
"Uh huh the feelings mutual." Fitz stubbornly pouts and turns away from her, so that his back is to her.
"You're such a big baby." Olivia states while sitting up, so she can see over Fitz' shoulder.
"Takes one to know one." He counters in a childlike voice with the same pout on his face.
"You know what, good night Fitz." She pecks his cheek before getting herself comfortable next to him.
Fitz turns around and just stares at her with a weird look on his face.
"What?" She asks.
"You said goodnight Fitz." He responds simply.
Olivia furrows her eyebrows confused, wondering what the big deal is with her choice of wording.
"And your point is..."
"My name is Fitzgerald. You said Fitz, only my friends get to call me Fitz." Fitz tries to keep a straight face, but the look Olivia has on her face causes him to start laughing.
"I hate you so much." Olivia states, hitting him in the face with her pillow. "Goodnight Fitzgerald." This time she is the one to turn away from him.
Fitz snuggles into her from behind and places a loving kiss to her temple, resting his hands on her still flat stomach, "Night Livviebear."
"Fitz you got one more time before I make you sleep on the couch." Olivia says in faux seriousness as she snuggles into Fitz' warm embrace.
Author's Note: Olivia finally agreed to Fitz trying out! They got passed their problems like adults. I was going to go down the emotional, heated argument road, but I didn't have it in me to do that. Big Jerry was the unexpected guest, unfortunately. I hate that bastard but he'll be back. Next chapter Fitz' tryouts will FINALLY come, so that should be interesting! For you basketball fans, the Golden State Warriors did it! They won the finals and are now the 2015 NBA champs! I apologize for rubbing it in any Cav fans out there. Anyway I hope you enjoyed!