Author's Note: I got all of the drama out of the way in one chapter, guys (and it was immediately after the chapter I set it all up in). Jake is fine (like I'd kill him off, guys, you don't even want to know how I reacted when rewatching the episodes where he was hurt after becoming an Olake shipper. Long story short: it wasn't pretty), but Rowan fans might want to stay away. We do find out the gender of future Baby Ballard, so that's fun. And I know that the end of this contradicts a previous chapter, but it'll be explained by the last sentence. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
In the week following her wedding, Olivia was the happiest that she had ever been. It felt wrong, somehow, being so happy when her father was out there on the loose and families were mourning because of his actions, but she had learned enough during her life to know to embrace the happiness when she encountered it. And so she woke up every morning with Jake, laughed until her stomach hurt, went to work, did her job, came home, and did it all over again. They spent most of their evenings talking about the future, and her father was rarely brought up unless Jake had an update on how Fitz was handling the situation. Fitz had pulled Jake onto the team hunting for her father, which meant that he spent most of his days at the White House, but the smile very rarely left his face once he was within the four walls of her apartment. They were both deliriously happy. They should have known better than to expect the happiness to stick around for long, though. Rowan was always going to Rowan whether they were married or not.
One of Olivia's worst days began with a completely typical Thursday morning. She and Jake were scheduled to go into the doctor later that day to learn the gender of their baby, so they would both be ducking out of work a little early. Jake had called her while she was on her way to work to inform her that something had jumped off, but he couldn't go into detail. Still, he had assured her that he would be fine and declared his love for her as he always did before ending the call with a 'see you later'. Because of who her husband was, Olivia didn't develop an immediate pit in her stomach. Jake knew how to handle himself; he was a trained assassin with the ability to destroy someone with a single punch. Still, her workload was taken a little less seriously than was typical for Olivia Pope and Associates.
Everything had begun to go downhill when her cell phone began to ring just fifteen minutes after her arrival. None of her current clients had her personal phone number, and the number listed was that of the firm. She stood from her desk and approached the device where it was charging by the wall, her fingers shaking as she unplugged it. The call ended before she even had time to accept it. She almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then she heard the office phone ringing. If she was receiving two phone calls within such a brief period, nothing good could have happened.
Quinn walked into her office a moment later, a serious expression on her face. "Liv, Abby just called," she stated evenly. "They went after your father. He was in Washington, and they took the chance the moment they saw it." Her friend paused for a moment. "She wouldn't tell me anything about the outcome, but Jake was injured. They're taking him to George Washington now." She immediately shook her head when Olivia began to search for her keys. "Oh, no. I'll take you. I really don't want your husband to kick my ass for letting you drive in this condition, and we both know that he would. Now come on, let's go."
The drive to the hospital was mostly silent, the only sound that of the crooning performers on the radio, and Olivia almost jumped out of the car when they pulled into the hospital's parking lot. It didn't take her long to rush inside and make her way towards the front desk to demand information about her husband. After being informed that he was in one of the emergency room bays and that his injuries weren't life-threatening, she headed in the direction that the nurse had pointed, Quinn only two steps behind her as they hurried towards the closed curtain hiding her husband from the view of the public.
Jake did look fine, for all that that was worth. He had a split lip and a bandaged shoulder, but he smiled the moment that he caught sight of her, his eyes expressing everything he wasn't willing to say in front of the young surgeon blotting blood away from his remaining wounds. Quinn whispered that she would give them a moment before ducking out of the room. The surgeon quickly followed, and Olivia was left alone with her husband for the first time since Quinn had walked into her office an hour before.
"I'm fine," Jake assured her before she could even speak. "It's just a flesh wound." He winced as he shifted on the narrow bed. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you what was happening; we barely walked through the door before we got a lead." His eyes widened when he caught sight of the tears in hers. "Liv, I promise that I'm okay. Everything is just fine."
"My father tried to kill you today," she murmured, sinking into the hard plastic chair next to the bed and reaching for his unbruised hand. "My father, the man who is supposed to protect me, tried to kill the father of his own grandchild today. Nothing is fine."
"That's a fair point, but he didn't succeed, and that's what matters." Jake sighed when she continued to shake her head. "Olivia, he's not going to hurt anyone ever again."
"Did you capture him?" she asked hollowly, running her thumb over his knuckles.
"No. One of the snipers had a shot," Jake admitted softly. "He's not dead, but the doctors…" He trailed off with a sigh. "It's bad, Liv. They're not hopeful."
Olivia felt her eyes fill with tears once again. She blinked rapidly, cursing under her breath. "Dammit! Why am I crying over him? He's a monster who has tried to kill both of us more than once. He's a monster. He doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy. That doesn't change because I'm his daughter."
"That shouldn't change because you're his daughter," Jake corrected gently. "But you care about people, Liv. You care about people no matter how many times they've hurt you. It's one of the reasons that I fell in love with you. You don't have to be happy about this, all right? I'm not asking that of you. Be sad. You have earned the right to be sad about all of this more than anyone else involved."
Olivia nodded, tears dripping down her cheeks and onto their joined hands. Jake sighed, lifting their hands to kiss the fingers of hers before holding them against his chest to allow her to feel his heartbeat. "We're going to be okay," he murmured. "Okay? We are going to be fine." He kissed her fingers again. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she whimpered, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. She sighed as she looked up at him. "How badly are you hurt?" she questioned. "Did the doctor check you other than the bullet wound?"
"She did," Jake assured her. "I have a few bruised ribs, and this lip is going to take a few days to heal, but I'm perfectly fine. All my scans came back normal. She left to get my discharge papers. We can leave as soon as she gets back and I sign them."
"I have a better idea," Olivia murmured, pulling her phone from her pocket and dialing quickly. "Yes, is this Dr. Reilly's office?" she questioned when someone accepted the call. "This is Olivia Pope. I have an appointment with her this afternoon, but my husband was injured during a work exercise today, and we're at the hospital where she does her morning rounds. I was wondering if there was a chance that she could squeeze me in for an ultrasound this morning instead?" She listened for a moment before nodded. "Great. Thank you so much. Yes, we will see you in about an hour." She ended the call and immediately began to dial again.
"Who are you calling now, social butterfly?" Jake asked amusedly as he leaned back against the cushions behind him.
"Your mother. I'm assuming that you forgot to," she replied, pausing for a moment before smiling. "Hi, Philippa. No, everything is fine," she reassured the concerned woman on the other end of the line. "Well, it is now. Jake was injured during a work exercise today, but the doctors say he just has a few bruised ribs and a split lip. Well, yes, but it was a flesh wound-yes, the doctor confirmed it. No, he didn't diagnose himself, don't worry," she said with a smile that turned into a smirk when she glanced at Jake and caught sight of him rolling his eyes. "I just wanted to tell you. Oh, he usually forgets? Well, I'll make sure he works on that." She paused for a moment to listen. "We are finding out what we're having today. I moved up the appointment, so we'll call you as soon as we know…yes, we should go shopping as soon as possible. That's a great idea. Oh, okay. No, go ahead and go to your knitting class. Yes, I'll call you if we need anything. Yes, I promise. Okay. All right, I'll tell him. It was nice to talk to you, too. Bye."
Jake chuckled when she ended the call. "My mother just roped you into going shopping for baby clothes, didn't she?"
"Yes, she did, but she was so sweet about it that I don't even care," Olivia replied. She glanced down at her phone when it vibrated. "Fitz apparently told Naomi what happened. She wants to know if you're all right and if there's anything she can do."
"Tell her that I'm fine and we'll call her if we think of anything," Jake sighed. Olivia nodded and began to type out the message. "I need to get in touch with the people in charge of watching your father, see if anything's changed. I don't want to make that call while we're waiting to find out the gender of our child."
"I'll ask Naomi to pass on the message, see if Fitz can get it done," Olivia offered. "Or I could go and see for myself. He's here, isn't he?"
"He is," Jake replied hesitantly. "But Liv, despite all that he's done, he's still your father. The shot that the sniper took wasn't to anything cosmetic. It was gruesome. I don't even know if they'd allow you in there right now. And even if they did…" He trailed off. "He's your dad, Liv. No matter what he did, you don't want to see him like this."
She nodded reluctantly. "I know. I just…it's strange, you know? As long as we've been together, he's tried to hurt us. He tried to kill you for protecting me months after we first met, and he hasn't gotten better. How awful does it make me if I need to see him like that just to accept that he's actually gone?"
"I went to my father's funeral for that reason, Liv. I don't know what kind of person that makes either of us. I do know that you are not a bad person, and he is." Jake smiled at her slightly. "If you need to say goodbye, then do. Just know that I'm behind you no matter what, all right?"
Olivia's response was interrupted by the doctor reentering the small space. "Hello," she greeted with a small smile. "I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Mrs. Ballard. I'm Dr. Manning. Your husband will be mighty sore for the next few days, but there's no permanent damage. That gunshot wound will leave an impressive scar, though." She extended a file in Jake's direction. "Take your pain medication every six hours on the hour, Captain Ballard. That's my only advice. Oh, and try not to get shot next time."
"I like her," Olivia said the moment that the doctor was gone, causing Jake to laugh. "And you really should take that advice about not getting shot."
"Yeah, I won't stand still next time," Jake replied sarcastically. "Maybe I'll wear a different shade of camouflage. I heard that pink's apparently in." He winced as he shrugged into the fresh shirt that Olivia had grabbed from the random closet full of things that they had left at OPA over the years. He glanced at the blood-stained tee next to him with thinly-veiled irritation before moving his hands aside to allow Olivia to button up the shirt. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and smoothed a hand down his chest after she was done, backing away slowly enough that he was able to pull her into his arms for a moment to hold her. "I'm really glad I got to come home to you," he murmured.
"Yeah," Olivia sighed into his shoulder. "Me, too."
They gathered the rest of their things and made their way towards the elevators to ride up to the floor housing the maternity ward. It didn't take them long to find themselves in one of the examination rooms, and it took even less time for Dr. Reilly to walk in and do a double-take when she caught sight of Jake's face.
"Well, Dell wasn't kidding when he said that you had an accident at work. I know who you work for, so I'm not even going to question it. I'm glad you're all right, though." She smiled slightly as she turned her attention to Olivia. "I heard that you wanted to find out whether you've got a little guy or a little girl in there. Let's see if we can figure that out for you." She gestured for Olivia to roll up her shirt as she prepared the sonogram machine. She placed some of the gel on Olivia's stomach and apologized quietly when the other woman flinched. Within moments, the screen showcased the baby growing inside of Olivia.
Dr. Reilly concentrated on the image before her, moving the wand around before catching sight of whatever she was looking for and smiling. "Well, it looks like you've got one healthy little girl hanging out in there. She's completely on target for her growth and development. And she was not shy, so I wish you luck in her teenage years." She glanced over at the captivated parents and smiled. "I will leave you with this while I go grab your pictures. Congratulations to both of you," she added as she stood from her stool and headed for the door.
"A little girl," Olivia murmured, her eyes widening and filling with tears as a smile took over her face. "We're having a little girl, Jake."
"I know," Jake murmured back, clearing his throat. "It's pretty awesome, isn't it?"
"It is. It's really awesome," Olivia replied, doing her best to speak around the lump in her throat. "I want to name her Eliana," she spoke suddenly, causing him to glance at her in confusion. "I know we talked about Eleanor, but I found Eliana on some name website one night when I couldn't sleep, and it just… it feels like her name, Jake. Eliana Rose, for us and for Emily."
"Eliana Rose," Jake murmured, nodding. "What does Eliana mean?"
"It means 'daughter of the sun'."