Fitz was so happy to have his oldest two home for Thanksgiving. He knew that the older they got the more they limited their exposure to Mellie and her manipulations. They opted to meet him wherever it was when he travelled or when she was away for one thing or another. It wasn't at all lost on him that Olivia would have had a hand in their decision to come home for Thanksgiving. The last couple of years they had opted for Thanksgiving with Olivia, Bellie and the rest of the gladiators, coming home for Christmas and New Year. He suspected that Gerry would more than likely stay in Europe for the holidays now that he was seeing a girl he seemed to be extremely smitten about. Fitz mourned for another holiday he wasn't able to spend with Olivia and Bellie. Six years and he had yet to spend Christmas morning with Bellie.
Just before they say down to dinner Gerry and Karen had said they had a surprise for him and led him to his office in the residence. His face lit up to see Bellie sitting on his chair, looking up from her colouring book as they entered.
"Happy Thanksgiving Daddy!"
"Come here you little monkey," he said opening his arms out for her. Bellie grinned and hopped off his chair to run into his embrace.
"I've missed you Daddy." She murmured as she buried her face into his chest.
"I've missed you little one. So much." Fitz stood to his feet not letting her go while she wrapped her legs around his middle resting her head on his shoulder.
"How did you get here?"
"Hucky brought me, he's going to come and get me later."
"Where's Mommy?"
"She's with Uncle Harrison, Aunt Abby, Aunt Quinn and Hucky having thanksgiving with Uncle Stephen and Aunt Georgia." Fitz looked to Gerry and Karen,
"She's here?"
"She thought you could use having all your kids in one place for Thanksgiving so she spoke to Uncle Cyrus to make sure they were going to be here as they are every year and he agreed that you could use it and promised to look out for Bellie." He understood only too well what that meant. She wanted to make sure that Mellie didn't do any damage to their child. He knew what Olivia had risked to make sure he had his daughter for the day and it meant the world to him.
The official First Family portrait was taken that morning therefore the rest of the day was press free day giving him the opportunity to spend time with all four kids without watchful eyes. It had been awhile since Teddy and Bellie were in the same room and Fitz was a little weary of how they would take to each other. Understandably Bellie was a little hesitant especially around Mellie, but confident in the love of her older brother and sister, as well as Fitz she held herself remarkably well despite Mellie's intimidating gaze.
Cyrus having only met her a few times was in awe of her. Fascinated at the fact that she literally was a mini Olivia in almost every sense. He understood why Fitz was so incredibly enamored with his youngest daughter.
"I'm a political Uncle Cyrus," she answered seriously when he asked her about her political affiliation earning an amused chuckle from almost all the adults at the table,
"Cy, she's six." James reminded him.
"She's also Olivia Pope's daughter," Cyrus said somewhat proudly.
"I'd like to think she's my daughter too Cy," Fitz said amused as everyone laughed heartily.
"Of course Mr President," Cyrus replied somewhat apologetically.
After dinner all four Grant kids were engaged in a healthy competition of Cranium against Cyrus, James and Fitz. Mellie had long since retired for the night not up for an evening playing board games. Fitz loved seeing his kids work together. He watched as Bellie looked out for Teddy as if she were the older one. She was always putting his needs before her own. When she saw him watching their Dad drape and arm around her she subtly moved next to Cyrus not wanting to make him jealous. Distinctly making it clear that it wasn't a competition between them. She made the effort to follow him around and let him show her the ropes of the White House Residence. When Cyrus and James got up to leave so did Bellie.
"Daddy Uncle Cyrus and Uncle James are going to drop me off to mommy so they can see her too." Fitz looked at Cyrus who nodded.
"I called her just after dinner and offered," Fitz nodded and picked her up and hugged her.
"Bye Baby, I'm so glad you were here for Thanksgiving. Best thanksgiving ever."
"Bye Daddy." She said giving him a squeeze before placing a kiss on his cheek. He reluctantly released her so she could give her siblings a hug goodbye. Without any reservation she hugged Teddy tightly,
"Bye Teddy. I hope I see you soon." Taken aback by her uninhabited affection he hugged her back. He was used to hugs from his Dad, and his other siblings, but that was it, anyone outside that seemed surprising to him.
Karen drew her little sister into a hug,
"Bye munchkin. I will no doubt see you soon. Love you!"
"Love you too Kare Kare." Gerry scooped her up into his arms and over his shoulder as she squealed,
"I'll walk them out and set up he car seat." Fitz nodded,
"Thanks Ger."
Olivia opened the door to Harrison's place where they were all gathered for Thanksgiving. Bellie greeted her by flinging her arms around her middle hugging her tightly. Unprepared for impact Olivia almost lost balance,
"I've missed you too." She said with a laugh hugging her daughter tightly. Olivia cupped her chin with her palm and kissed her forehead.
"Did you have fun at Daddy's?" She asked while Bellie nodded.
"Uncle Stephen and Aunt Georgia still here?" She asked hopefully.
"Of course. They didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to you." Bellie turned to Cyrus and James,
"Thank you for taking me home Uncle Cyrus and Uncle James." She said politely giving them a brief hug before running inside in search of her beloved godparents.
"Come on in you guys. It's good to see you." Olivia said ushering them in.
"You look good Kid. Europe truly agrees with you." Cy commented kissing her cheek hello.
"Funny, peace and quiet does bring that natural glow," she answered jokingly. Cyrus and James stayed only long enough for a cup of coffee and headed home. Olivia let Bellie stay up later than her bedtime so she could spend a portion of Thanksgiving with the rest of their family. When Olivia saw that she was beginning to fade she picked her up to get her ready for bed. After giving her a quick bath and changing her into her pj's Olivia set her up in the guest room they were sharing.
"Mommy,"
"Yes sweetheart."
"I'm glad you're my Mommy,"
"We'll I'm glad I'm your Mommy too. You know why?"
"Why?" She asked genuinely curious,
"Because I love you to the moon and back again."
"I love you too. Mommy?"
"Yeah baby,"
"Don't all Mommies love their babies up to the moon and back like you do?" She asked. Olivia's heart dropped, in only a few short hours her daughter learned the sad lesson that not all Mommies were the same, that they didn't all love the same way.
"Not all Mommies love the same way, but it doesn't mean they don't love just as much." Was the best answer she could come up with.
"I'm glad Ger and Kare Kare have you." Bellie said solemnly,
"Why sweetheart?"
"Because you love them like you love me."
"I do love them very much." Olivia agreed,
"I don't know if their Mommy loves them as much as you do?" Bellie confessed as her eyes began to fill with tears.
"Hey, hey come here sweet girl." Olivia said gathering her in her arms and holding her close,
"She just loves them differently baby, I'm sure Miss Mellie loves them too." Olivia said trying to reassure her daughter.
"Mommy she doesn't hug Teddy at all, and she doesn't talk to him nice, or to Ger or Kare Kare or even Daddy." Bellie was so upset by what she witnessed that she clung to her mother as she told her about her evening only justifying Olivia's decision to not expose her daughter to the White House but most of all to Mellie.
Bellie may have grown up without the luxuries that the other Grant children did, nor did she grow up with her Dad within easy reach but the one thing she was always surrounded with, was love and she never ever had to question whether she was loved. Olivia poured her whole heart and soul to her daughter and surrounded her with a family who would do anything for her. Huck was her best friend in the whole wide world and funnily enough she was his. While Huck looked scary to the blind eye, all Bellie saw was his love for her and for her mother, that he would do anything for either of them. She had grown up with Abby as a second Mom who took care of her. Up until they moved to Paris and even after she saw Harrison and Quinn often and when they weren't physically around she spoke to them daily. They were still a part of her every day life. Isobel Grace Pope lacked for nothing least of all Love. At six years old, in a span of a few hours she learned how lucky she was and realised that not everyone had what she did.
When Bellie finally fell asleep she joined the others back at dinner table while they worked on another bottle of wine. Judging by the row of empty bottles that they were accumulating, everyone was staying the night. She and Bellie had a car coming for them in the morning to take them to the airport as she had to return the work the day after. Huck and Abby were going to stick around for a couple of more days before flying back to Paris.
Her talk with Bellie upset her more than she cared to admit and she was still processing just which part upset her the most. She knew Fitz would call her and had switched her phone off after putting Bellie to bed knowing that she couldn't talk to him till she cleared her head. For now she was going to feign ignorance and deal with him later.
"Hey Ger I'm trying to call Liv and it goes straight to her voicemail." Fitz said as he stood by his son's door.
"Her battery might have died for the night, or it's in the other room. Chances are they're all still sitting around the dinner table up to their however many bottles of wine talking. Those things last all night sometimes." Gerry answered knowingly being privy to many of such gatherings.
"She's normally not attached to her phone if she knows where Bellie is and we're all accounted for. She knows we're with you and those closest to her would be at dinner."
"Makes sense. I'll try her tomorrow. Thanks Ger."
"No worries Dad."
"Hey Ger, how do you think Bellie went today?"
"I think she did pretty well for her first time in the presence of she who must not be named."
"Fitzgerald Aidan Grant" Fitz admonished,
"Sorry! Just kidding, you have to admit she's pretty scary Dad."
"She's still your mother."
"Fine! Bellie's okay. I think she learned today that not every Mom is like Liv,"
"Why do you say that?"
"Because when she hugged me goodbye she whispered that she was glad that I was her brother and Karen was her sister so that we had Liv as our Mom too. That's she wished she saw Teddy more so that he would have Liv too. Kid has a heart of gold."
"Just like she mother," Fitz replied dropping a quick kiss on top of his son's head before checking in on the rest of his children.
Liv didn't turn her phone back on till she and Bellie were back in Paris. She predicted that by the time she turned it on there's be multiple messages waiting for her and she was right.
"Hey Baby, go call your Dad and let him know you got home okay. Mommy's just going to jump in the shower." Bellie nodded
"Hi Daddy we're home." She heard her daughter greet him from the other side of her bathroom door.
"Already?" He asked surprised thinking they would be around for at least a couple of days and that he would be able to see them before they flew back.
"Mommy has to work tomorrow."
"Where is Mommy sweetheart?" He asked,
"She's in the shower Daddy."
"Will you get Mommy to call me as soon as she's done little one."
"Okay. Daddy can I say hi to Teddy?"
"Oh sweetheart it's still pretty early here so he's still sleeping but how about we call you again after breakfast in a couple of hours?"
"Sure Daddy," Bellie spoke to her Dad for a little while longer but was done by the time Olivia emerged from her bathroom.
"Daddy said you have to call him as soon as you're out," Bellie said with a yawn.
"Why don't you jump in and have a quick shower and you can nap for a bit when you're done."
"Okay," she answered handing her phone to her mother before heading straight to the bathroom. Olivia waited till Bellie was asleep next to her on her bed before she turned her phone on.
"Since when does the great Olivia Pope turn her phone off?" He greeted playfully.
"It's one of life's little miracles what can I say? Like the Grand Canyon." Fitz laughed sounding happier than she had heard him sound in weeks.
"You sound better,"
"I am, thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, they're your kids."
"I am more than a little upset you came and went without my seeing you."
"There honestly wasn't any time. We literally flew in the night before Thanksgiving and flew out this morning. I just wanted you to see her. I figured you needed a day to have all your kids under the one roof, if only for a few hours."
"My personal fixer." He murmured.
"How're your eldest kids fairing?" She asked,
"Like you haven't been inundated with text updates." Olivia laughed,
"My phone has been off," she reminded him amused
"And how many messages did you receive when you finally turned it on?" When his question was met with silence he chuckled,
"My point exactly. To answer what may as well be a rhetorical question, they're doing the best they can. They've mostly been showering Teddy with all their love and attention. I think they feel a little guilty they've always had each other and Teddy only really has me."
"You're no chopped liver."
"Thank you Livvie."
"Teddy woke up this morning looking for Bellie,"
"That's cute. She said you were going to call back later so she could say hi to him. She took a real shine to him. If she and Gerry didn't have their own language I'd say he had some heavy hitting competition."
"I don't think she's grasped the concept that she's the smaller one. She was on mother mode with him the whole night. Like mother like daughter."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Before she came along I wasn't exactly the most maternal person."
"No but you always cared too much about everyone else. Such compassion has been passed on to our daughter. She's lucky."
"You've passed that on to your own kids Fitz." She assured him.
"I can't speak for Teddy, but I know Gerry and Karen are who they are because of you. Bellie too."
"Was Bellie okay? After last night?" He finally asked. Olivia closed her eyes and took a moment,
"You know I was bound to ask, even if we have spent the last twenty minutes talking around it." He paused,
"I know you remember."
"She was okay. She liked meeting Teddy and spending time with all her siblings,"
"But..."
"She noticed that Mellie and I love our kids differently. It upset her a little. She didn't understand why Mellie didn't love her beloved Gerry and Karen the way I did. And that she wasn't very affectionate to Teddy. That she didn't speak to them or to you very nicely." Fitz's heart ached a little knowing that the few hours Belle spent with them managed to shed some of her innocence.
"I'm sorry Liv."
"What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault. The kid wears hear heart on her sleeve. She hates to see people she loves get hurt and Mellie without meaning to managed to exude intolerance for her own children who happened to be the people she loves most in the world."
"Gerry said when she hugged him goodbye she told him that she was glad that she was their sister because that meant they had you too, because you loved them the way you love her."
"My sweet sweet little girl," Olivia said softly as she ran her fingers through Bellie's hair as she slept peacefully beside her.
"Liv," Fitz said trying to get her attention realising that she had grown incredibly quiet.
"She finally asked the questions," Fitz swallowed the lump in his throat,
"How she came about, why if you loved her so much did no one know she existed. Was that the reason why we lived so far away from everyone else? If Daddy loved Mommy why he was with the mean lady. Did that mean Daddy didn't love us as much as and I quote 'real family'."
"Oh Liv, I'm so sorry you had to answer all that on your own, that you had the answer it at all. What did you say?"
"That Mommy and Daddy fell in love without meaning to and out of that love we created her. That we always knew it was wrong because Daddy already had a wife. That because you were the president we had to be careful about who knew about her because not everyone would understand, but it had nothing to do with just how much you loved her. I told her we moved because I wanted her to have a quiet life. That you loved her every bit as much as Teddy, Karen sand Gerry."
"And..." He pressed wanting to know how she answered the question about Daddy loving her Mommy.
"That Daddy loved Mommy the best way he can but his love for her as his daughter was beyond measure and that she never has to worry about how much he truly loves her because its just as much as Mommy does." Fitz choked back a sob,
"Thank you Livvie,"
"You might touch on it with her the next time you talk."
"I will. Liv," he promised.
"I don't want to talk about it right now Fitz. Please." She begged knowing that it would be her undoing. Bellie's questions had ripped the bandaid off the wound she knew she had been dancing around for years.
"Fine Liv, but we will talk about this. Once and for all."
"Give me a couple of days."
"Okay," he relented
"Despite what you've convinced yourself I do love you Liv. Heart and Soul."
"We'll talk later, I promise."