Chapter 13

"Hey baby," Fitz said as he answered the phone. He'd stepped into an empty side office when he'd looked down and recognized Liv's number on the screen. It had only been a few hours since he'd left her house and he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened that morning.

Fitz had opened his eyes to Liv watching him. He smiled and asked, "Were you watching me slee—"

"I love you," Olivia interrupted. She wanted him to know that he meant everything to her and as she woke up to the feel of being in his arms, Liv didn't want another moment to pass where she didn't tell him that she loved him. If there was a person who meant her harm and she was somehow killed, Liv knew that the only regret she'd have would be not telling this wonderful man that she loved him.

She traced his features when his eyes widened and ended with her palm against his cheek. She said again, "I. Love. You." Fitz kissed her and demanded that she say it again, over and over as he pulled her beneath him, under the blankets.

Fitz was jerked out of his thoughts by Liv's voice when she said into the phone, "I think my sight must be failing me," she said seriously.

Fitz smiled and asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Because I just opened my apartment door and there are four gentlemen in suits flanking my doorway. Ergo, the whole sight-failing conclusion," she said. Liv had to admit to herself that she was touched that Fitz would assign her a protection detail against her wishes. It showed that he was willing to risk her wrath or an argument with her if it meant she would be safe, and it was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with him.

"There are men outside your door?" Fitz asked innocently. "That's strange. Perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you," he said.

"Well, I'm poking one of them and he seems real enough," Liv said, her earlier anger fading.

"Don't poke the secret service agents," Fitz warned. The guys he'd assigned to Liv seemed tough as nails and probably wouldn't take kindly to being poked at by the very person they were supposed to be protecting.

"Fitz, I'll be fine," she said, closing her door.

"Until this bastard is found, they'll follow you everywhere you go when you're not at the White House with me," he said firmly. "I love you too much to let anyone hurt you," he said softly.

Conscientious of the agents walking with her, she said, "Ditto." If their positions were reversed, she'd use every resource available to her to protect him too. "See you in ten," she said.

Jonas Greer hung up the phone that he'd cloned onto Olivia Pope's signal. He'd heard the entire conversation she had shared with the President of the United States and came to several conclusions:

a) Olivia Pope was not just a normal target,

b) It was now very clear why his client wanted her dead, and

c) His assignment just went from mission-doable to mission-impossible.

Above all else, Greer prized his privacy. For many years, he'd done his job with enough discretion to never get caught, but if he did this job, he'd be killing the mistress of the POTUS, a woman who obviously meant a great deal to the president. Laying aside the fact that because of her protection crew, the only method of elimination left available to him was a sniper rifle, he would always have to look over his shoulder.

Fitz Grant seemed like the kind of man who wouldn't stop until he'd caught the person that hurt his lover, and Jonas had no intention of being on the run for the rest of his life.

He dialed a number on his phone and said, "No."

"No?!" Janice Statham said, outraged. She had only expected to hear from Mr. Greer when the job was completed, so the fact that he'd given that one-worded response when she picked up the phone, it meant that he wasn't going to finish the job. "What do you mean, no?" she asked.

"The job is not worth the cost to me personally, and it's definitely not worth what you're paying me. I'm out," Jonas said, moving his finger to hang up the phone.

"Wait!" Janice said. She wondered why, all of a sudden, he'd call and cancel the job when he'd been so sure that it would only take a couple weeks to get it done. What could he possibly have learned that made an assassin for goodness' sake, turn tail and run? "At least tell me why."

Jonas thought of the only woman he'd ever loved and how he wished more than anything that she was still alive and whole. He also thought of the way he heard the president speak to his target, Ms. Pope, and he couldn't take her away from President Grant the way someone had taken his Lauren away from him. I guess my heart isn't dead after all, Jonas thought.

"It's not your concern," he finally said. Hanging up the phone, Greer made one last phone call before he planned to leave the country.

"Who is this?" the voice on the other end answered.

"Mr. President? My name is Jonas Greer. There is something that you need to know…"

Mellie walked into the Oval Office a few minutes after Fitz had her paged. She didn't know why he wanted to see her, but he hoped that it didn't have anything to do with her mother. She was still staying at the White House with them and, frankly, she was overstaying her welcome.

"Yes, honey?" Mellie asked sarcastically.

"Where is your mother?" Fitz asked. He'd just had a very interesting conversation with the man who was hired to both hurt Olivia in the car accident and, more recently, to kill her.

"Why?" Mellie asked. If he wanted her to leave, he would have to tell her to leave himself. Mellie had had enough of Mrs. Statham and didn't want to see her again until the holidays when she had no choice.

"I wanted to have lunch with her. I've been so busy that I haven't gotten a chance to see her properly," Fitz said, fighting to keep a pleasant expression on his face. He wanted to ring her botox-filled neck, but it would not be proper for the POTUS to kill his mother-in-law.

"I don't have to come to this little lunch, do I?" Mellie asked. If she had to be in the same room with her mother through an entire meal and pretend to be a good daughter in front of Fitz, she thought she'd hurl.

"No," Fitz said, relieved. He'd wondered how he was going to get Janice alone without raising suspicions, but Mellie's dislike for her mother made it easy for him.

"Then I'll send her down around 1:00," Mellie said, turning and leaving. Mellie hoped that Fitz would simply command her mother to leave the White House, but if he didn't do it, she would just have to ask her to leave. The kids loved being able to see their grandmother every day, but it was past time for her to go.

"Hello Fitzgerald," Janice said, smiling too wide to be genuine.

"Hello Janice," Fitz said. "Please sit," he directed her to a chair in the dining room.

Janice looked around after sitting and asked, "Where is the food?"

"Why do you want Olivia dead?" Fitz asked, cutting to the chase. Jonas Greer had told him everything and he wanted to get to the bottom of it now.

Janice caught her breath and her hands started to shake. "I don't know what you mean—"

"Cut the crap, Janice, Greer told me what you've done," Fitz interrupted as he slammed his hand on the table. The woman who was living under his own roof was trying to hurt him in the most elemental of ways and he wanted to know why.

"If you don't tell me what I want to know, I will dedicate my immediate future to ending yours," he said seriously.

Janice had been so sure of her success but she was seeing a side of Grant that she had not anticipated, since she had never even entertained the thought that he'd find out the truth. But Janice was secure in the knowledge that Fitzgerald would not hurt her since she was the mother of his wife. She dropped the act.

Sneering, she said, "You're in love with that girl, I know you are. I see how you look at her. So, I did what I had to do to protect my daughter's position as the First Lady of the United States. She has put in the time and dedication to you, Fitzgerald. Mellie has given too much to you just to have it thrown away by some young, exotic woman who has caught your eye for the moment. Do I regret what I've done?

Not at all.

"Would I do it again? Absolutely," Janice said with relish. There was nothing that he could do to her.

Fitz had just gotten confirmation to what he suspected, but it was strange to hear such hatred and poison coming out of the mouth of a woman that seemed so outwardly poised and calm. But Fitz didn't care who she was or what position she held in his family. No one, absolutely no one threatened the woman he loved above all others.

"I've seized all the money from your bank accounts," Fitz said.

Janice's left eye twitched as she said angrily, "You can't do this—"

"And I've stripped you of your memberships to all of your country clubs. I also have, standing by, a man who is willing to admit publicly, that he is and has been in love with you for the past thirty years. He has sordid photos of the two of you that will pass any forgery test and he is also willing to admit that there were many others, over the years, that shared your bed." Fitz finished. The one thing Janice Statham cared about more than anything else was public opinion, and he was threatening to ruin her in the worst way.

Janice grabbed her chest and felt like her world was crashing around her. She'd misjudged her son-in-law and she had misjudged the lengths to which he would go to keep the woman safe.

"You must really love her, don't you?" she asked him.

Fitz ignored her question and said, "If anything ever happens to her, I will hold you personally responsible, Janice. And there isn't a thing in the world that can save you from me," Fitz said, standing up. "You have one hour to pack your things, say your goodbyes, and get out of my house. Don't ever return," Fitz said as he buttoned his jacket and walked out the door.

"Why did all my guards leave?" Liv asked Fitz as he walked with her down the hallway, away from his office. It had been a long day but Fitz had looked more relieved and relaxed than he had since the night before.

"I handled it," Fitz said, glancing her way.

Liv stopped. "Handled it? How?" she asked.

Fitz stopped with her and looked down at her, saying, "Can you just trust me to take care of you for once," he said softly.

Liv looked around discreetly and realized that, while people were still hanging around, no one was really paying any attention to them.

"I do trust you," Olivia said simply. She added, "But stop looking at me like that." He was looking at her as if he was about to do something really reckless, like kiss her in public.

"Why?" he asked her, knowing the answer, but wanting her reply anyway. They were out in the open and Fitz knew that he wasn't good at hiding his emotions when it came to Liv. Anyone looking too closely could clearly see how much he cared for the woman.

"Because it calls out a response in me, one which I feel compelled to answer. So stop looking at me," she answered. He always did this whenever he got too close to her. He made her feel jittery and flustered and nervous, like the first time he'd cornered her in that elevator all those months ago.

Fitz paused for a moment. "What sort of response?" he asked, genuinely smiling for the first time since his conversation with Jonas earlier that day.

"The sort that ends with people staring at us, shocked, because I yanked the President of the United States down into a kiss that he didn't even try to object to. So, stop. Looking. At. Me." She glanced at him quickly. "Please," she said.

Fitz smiled widely and decided to have mercy on her. He looked away and continued walking with her down the hall. Spotting the elevator, Fitz remembered that he'd ordered security to disable the cameras inside. Grabbing her elbow, Fitz steered her towards the golden doors and pressed the 'up' button.

Before the doors opened, Fitz thought of how blessed he was to have found her. To have found love at a time in his life when he thought that road had been closed to him. And to have found such an amazing woman that he didn't deserve but would dedicate the rest of his life to trying to deserve her.

And as the elevator doors closed, Fitz thought, 'Finally!'

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing my story! Sorry I couldn't write more, I really wanted to, but I'd promised that I would finish this story by tonight and I have to get up early for work tomorrow. So, unfortunately, anything that I didn't finish as far as the storyline goes, I will edit at another time.

I'll let your imaginations help you think of what might have happened in that elevator between Fitz and Liv in the last scene, lol. I thought it fitting to end AES in an elevator since that was where this all began! Tune in tomorrow for the season premiere and happy reading everybody!

Amaryllis214