The Belly Tales: Adventures of Liv and Fitz
Chapter 12 – Cupid, You Fickle Bitch!
My fellow Americans, it has been my most sacred honor to serve as your president over the last 3 years.
Fitz placed his pen and pad on the cushion beside him whilst sighing in frustration and rolling his head from side to side. He'd picked up the same pad and pen for last three days and each time it seemed he could not formulate a thought worthy of the occasion. The weight of each word that would eventually grace the page sat heavily on his heart and shoulders. There were no regrets. No, as sure as he was that the sun would rise and set, he was sure that he was making the right decision; yet the implication of the speech was not lost on him.
Fitz mentally shook himself out of his sobering thoughts and began to smile as he thought of all that had happened over the last week. He chuckled softly to himself and thought, what a week!
Triplets. He and Liv were having triplets. He knew she was shocked and overwhelmed – truth be told, so was he. But he also knew that he needed to be strong, confident and sure for the both of them, at least until she was able to wrap her head around these life altering changes. He had no doubt she was up for the task and that happily ever after was finally theirs for the taking. He'd teased her mercilessly with silly baby names, to which she had provided with a few suggestions of her own.
'Never…Ever…Again' Oilvia responded dryly.
'Livie, those are hardly appropriate names," was his cheeky reply.
'If I were you,' she whispered sweetly. 'I'd reacquaint myself with my left hand.'
'Livie," he gasped dramatically. 'Not in front of the children.'
He was having more fun than he could remember. There was a noticeable pep in his step as he went about his daily business. His jovial mood was in direct contrast to the frantic atmosphere surrounding the media, the simmering frustration and disdain that accompanied Cyrus, and the dazed and resigned expression that marred Mellie's normally stoic face. He smile grew ten fold as he thought of Mellie. An eventful week indeed, he mused.
Earlier in the week, Hampton had returned to Washington to play the role of the concerned brother and in-law in the face of increased media scrutiny. It would seem that the more the media speculated about the state of the Grant marriage, the more people there were willing to come out of the woodwork and go on record with what they'd seen and heard. Details about the couple and their tumultuous relationship surfaced from disgruntle people who once worked in the Governor's mansion and those who worked on the presidential campaign.
'I once heard her threaten to cut off his dick – 'cuse me, can I say dick on tv…' An unnamed member of the gubernatorial housekeeping staff recalled.
'…'wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole' is what I heard him say.' Another unnamed source supplied.
As time went on, however, much to Cyrus' chagrin, and Fitz's delight, the stories were becoming almost commonplace. It seems that the American people had other issues on their minds like the economy, jobs, and the state of their own relationships. Fitz hoped that by putting it all out there, the announcement of their divorce wouldn't come as too much of a shock to the country. There was still, however, the issue of Olivia, his presidency, and their children.
Four nights ago Liv and Fitz had decided that her firm would work on her behalf to try and mitigate the fallout that was to come when their relationship became public. He chuckled to himself as he recalled Liv's recount of "The Reveal" as she called it.
'So Abby knows.' Liv stated by way of a greeting.
'That woman scares the shit out of me.'
'Me too.' She chuckled softly. 'Actually, they all know. I figured I might as well break it to them now so that they could formulate a plan. I am the client now after all.'
'Did Huck weep tears of joy?' he teased.
'You know Huck, he stared at me for a second and, uh…he said 'I'll protect them with my life'…I almost started crying.' She tried to conceal a sniffle but to no avail.
'You turning into a softy, huh?'
'What can I say, you and your babies broke my tear ducts.' She responded matter-of-factly.
'Right' he mocked. 'They have a plan?'
'Well aside from Abby who's threatening to kick your ass…Not yet, but they will. I taught them well.'
With Pope & Associates conflicted out, Fitz, Mellie, and the White House found themselves in need of a fixer. Although Fitz offered, Mellie had refused to hire a fixer to mitigate the damages to her personally. Fitz suspected that she wanted the fallout to be nasty so that from the wreckage she would rise as America's newest sweetheart and woman scorned.
At Olivia's suggestion, Fitz hired Sam Bosely, or "Sammie" as Olivia called him. Over the course of two days, Fitz and his new fixer spoke numerous times over the phone and floated scenarios in terms of breaking the news of Fitz's presidential bid to the public. Fitz had to admit, while he was certainly no Liv, Sam Boslely was smart in his own right and possibly equal to the task. Fitz found himself looking forward to meeting Sam in person and getting the ball rolling; because as far as Fitz was concerned, the sooner this was over the sooner Liv would stop gushing over the man.
Yesterday Sam had been slated to arrive at the White House at 10am; by 9:15am, Fitz already hated him. Liv spent the better part of the morning raving about Sam and about how the White House was in excellent hands. Watching her eyes light up as she spoke of another man, Fitz found it hard to keep his jealously at bay. He knew he was being irrational; she was carrying his children for Christ's sake. Yet, in spite of reason, he thought of ways to get rid of Sam and how best to hide the body. As for Mellie, she'd sat silently in the corner watching Liv and Fitz and would occasionally sigh and roll her eyes at Fitz's antics.
'If he's so great, why doesn't he work for us instead of Pope&Associates?' Fitz questioned testily.
'Because I'm better.' Olivia shot Fitz heated glance, clearly not amused by his attitude.
His mood shot from bad to worse in less than sixty seconds as the door to the Residence's sitting room opened, announcing Sam's arrival. His mood soured and hit critical levels as he watched Sam, who had singular focus, head straight for Liv and pull her into a suffocating hug.
Yes, yesterday had proven to be very enlightening – and admittedly, highly entertaining – for Fitz. Despite wanting to rip Liv from Sam's arms, Fitz had found his eyes inexplicably drawn to Mellie. He'd expected to find her staring at him with a mocking smirk or taunting snare. Instead, he found her watching Sam with confused curiosity. As Sam greeted each person, Fitz's eye never left Mellie. She appeared disinterested in her surroundings; yet, her eyes discretely followed Sam around the room.
Fitz's eyes widen in recognition as he watched Mellie's whole demeanor change. As Sam turn to face her she looked as though she'd been hit by a truck. She began to frown as she regarded the man approaching her with a smile and outstretched hand. Her blue eyes stared up into Sam's green ones as he walked closer. When she finally accepted his hand, she quickly snatched hers back as though she'd been burned. Fitz began to smile as he watched the scene unfold. It was a train wreck, one he couldn't look away from even if he tried. Upon hearing Fitz's muffled cough, she'd shot him a glare and leveled another one on Sam before moving past Sam and taking a seat closest to the door on the other side of the room.
As Fitz rested his head against the sofa cushion he laughed at how uncomfortable Mellie had seemed throughout yesterday's meeting. When it was over, she had been the first to jump out of her chair and leave the room. Fitz knew what had caused her to leave. Hell, he'd experienced it himself; and if he knew Mel, which he did, he knew what was coming next.
All these years he hadn't wanted Mellie's acceptance of his feelings for Liv. No, he'd wanted, needed her understanding. He needed her to understand that he wasn't trying to ruin all that they'd worked for. He wasn't trying to make a fool of her. He needed her to understand that this was about more than him…more than her…more than them. This was about something they'd arrogantly thought they could live without. This was the embodiment of complicated; and yet, it was simplistically human. Fitz needed Mellie to understand that he was human and by virtue of that, susceptible to all that ailed humanity. If Fitz was a betting man, he'd bet the house that Mellie had just been hit in the face with her own humanity.
The knock on the door pulled Fitz out of his revere. Mellie walked into the Oval Office with a pained expression on her face.
"Hey Mel"
"Fitz"
"You didn't come to bed last ni—"
"Fire him." Mellie interrupted.
"What? Who?" Fitz feigned ignorance, finding it hard to keep his face passive.
"Mr. Bosely," her eyes darted across the room. "I don't like him…"
As Mellie rattled off excuse after excuse as to why Sam was not the man for the job, Fitz watched her. She seemed unnerved and on edge.
"Mel"
"Look Fitz, I'm going along with this aren't I?" She paused and tried to appear unaffected. "Just get rid of him."
Fitz smiled knowingly as he watched her turn on her heels and storm out of the room. I can't wait to tell Liv, he thought giddily.
A/N: Don't worry, I don't have any intentions to dig any deeper into Mellie/Sam in this story (perhaps a spin off from Mellie's perspective or maybe not lol)...But I wanted to add something light to Fitz and the speech he will have to give at some point and also try to move the story along a bit. Pregger stuff and Liv/Fitz coming in the next chapter promise. And I'll try to get it out sooner rather than later. :)
