Chapter 14 - Dirty Tactics

"Liv? What are you doing? What time is it?"

"Ssshh..." She said reaching towards him, holding out her hand. "C'mon."

Fitz sat up in bed and looked at her. Was she going crazy? Why was she so happy... and awake?

"Liv, what are you doing?"

"It's time for our tour. Our proper tour." She said trying to pull him off the bed.

She was just about there, with getting him out of the bed when he pulled her to him. She squealed and fell into him. Giggling as he held onto to her.

"I was just about to sleep when I remembered that we hadn't done the proper tour."

"I was, asleep Livvie. I was having this really nice dream where I got to sleep until it was actually daylight."

She chuckled at that which caused him to smile at her. He stood up taking her with him, and he let her lead them out of the room.

"And this is where they do the press briefings." She said as she went and stood behind the podium. "Ask me a question Fitz."

Fitz smiled at her enthusiasm, he thought for a minute, thinking of a question her could ask her.

"Miss Pope, what can you tell us about that God-like man you were seen with around the White House yesterday?"

"God-like... Hmm, I'm sure he just goes by Mr. President and sometimes Dad." She laughed when she saw the look on his face. "Next question?"

"Has anyone ever told you how funny you are?" He asked sarcastically walking towards her, standing next to her behind the podium.

"Hmm," she pretended to think about it for a minute. "Your turn," She said moving past him and standing where he was stood.

"Okay," Fitz cleared his throat, and pretended to straighten out his shorts and t-shirt. Since she gave him no chance to get changed. "I'm ready Miss Pope."

"Mr. Grant are you currently in a relationship with Miss Pope?"

"Yes, I am." He said flashing a smile at her.

"How does it feel to be going out with the Presidential Wild child? What's it like?"

"Honestly? I wouldn't know, that not who she really is. Deep down, that's not her and she doesn't have to pretend with me. There's no act, I know that and she knows that too."

He looked across at Olivia and could see her gazing back at him. He was sure he could see her crying.

"Does that answer your question?" He carried on with the role play.

Once he saw that she still hadn't moved, he stepped down and walked towards her.

"Livvie?"

She looked at him, she wanted to say something but nothing would come. That was a shock; she couldn't get over how lucky she was to have Fitz. He was so attentive, so caring and she didn't know what to say about it. She felt like words wouldn't be enough.

He saw the struggle written all over her face, so he decided to change the subject.

"So wheres next on our afterhours White House tour?"

That seemed to snap her out of her haze.

"I'll show you."

They made their way through the White House hand in hand, turning quickly down corridors and through doors. Fitz didn't really have a clue where he was going but he didn't worry too much as Olivia did. She finally stopped outside a door and turned to face Fitz.

"Where are we Liv?"

"You'll see... Just, close your eyes first."

"Liv..."

"Please Fitz..."

She waited until Fitz closed his eyes then took his both of his hands; she walked backwards taking him with her until they were stood in the centre of the room.

"Okay... You can open your eyes now."

Fitz slowly opened his eyes, spinning round he took in his surroundings.

"Wow..."

"It's cool isn't it?"

"Are we allowed to be in here?"

"Erm... I'm not entirely sure." She hesitated to answer.

"Livvie? Are you trying to get me arrested?"

"Well... But just look where you are; think about the people that have been in here."

"That's what I mean. We've broken into the Oval Office. It's just, I'm speechless. "

They only spent a little bit of time wondering around before making their way back to the residence, getting back just before 1.30am.

As they were creeping back through the residence, they didn't notice that Eli was awake. He had woken up with a headache and went to find something to take. As he sat in the kitchen drinking some water, he heard the soft sounds of Olivia giggling. Wondering why Olivia would be awake so early, he decided to see what was happening.

"Livvie... shh." Fitz tried to quiet her.

"Sorry..." She said still laughing slightly.

Eli heard them get closer and watched them walked past the open door not realising he was there. She was walking forwards whilst Fitz was walking backwards, holding hands. She seemed so carefree... So happy and he was glad.

"Fitz!" Olivia said loudly, trying to warn him.

"Ouch!" Fitz said, trying to keep quiet, as he collided with the door frame. "That's it, were swapping."

"No... I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." She attempted, but the laughing didn't help her to seem sincere.

"Nope. That's twice now. You need to have a hazard sign. 'Warning, chance of personal injury.'" He said smiling at her. Before turning them both round.

Olivia had wanted to see if they could make it back to her room walking backwards. He had no idea why he'd agreed to it.

"My turn," he said grinning wickedly at her.

"Be gentle... Please."

Eli waited until he could no longer hear them before moving back to his room. He wanted to know what they had been doing so early in the morning but, he wasn't sure whether he should ask. He would leave it until the morning anyhow.

He wanted this weekend to go well. He wanted his daughter back, back to how she used to be. So kind and caring, easy going. They used to have the best times together. He didn't want to miss her anymore. And, if that meant having Fitz here too, he could deal with that, it was the perfect opportunity to get to know such an important person in her life right now. He never really knew any of her friends, her Mother did, but that was going to change.

Fitz was woken by a knocking sound on the door. He didn't know how long whoever it was had been knocking but her had only just heard it. After the late night they had he really didn't want to be up again so soon. He made his way to the door and opened it slowly, still rubbing his eyes.

"Fitzgerald, good morning."

Fitz was stunned. "Mr. President... Sir. Good morning, I can explain," he added quickly.

After playing around last night they ended up in Olivia's room, they cuddled up on the bed and whilst Fitz said he needed to go back to his own room, obviously that didn't happen. So here they were. They or more so he, had been caught by her Father.

"Fitz..." They both heard a sleepy voice. "Who are you talking to?"

Fitz and Eli just stared at each other, not really sure what the best thing to say was.

"Ermm... Your Dad." Fitz said still looking at Eli. He couldn't figure out his facial expression. He seemed emotionless.

Olivia shot up in bed, that was unexpected. She barely had time to process before she heard her Father again.

"Fitzgerald, Olivia... I think we should have breakfast together. I'll wait for you in the dining room."

Fitz closed the door after Eli left, turning round to find Olivia out of bed but she wasn't stood next to him. She was stood on the opposite side of the room.

"Liv, what are we going to..."

He was cut off by her walking to him and kissing him.

"Don't worry Fitz."

That was a surprise. Usually it was him attempting to soothe her but it was the other way round now.

"We didn't do anything wrong, we're adults."

"You're not Livvie. You're only 17."

"Relax Fitz, it's only my Dad. He'll be fine."

Fitz hugged her tightly, hoping she would be right. He found it odd that she referred to her Dad as 'just Dad' when he is the President. But to her he was just her Dad. Either way, he didn't want Eli to think badly of him.

"Fitz, stop. Just, look... We can hold hands."

They were making their way through to breakfast and Fitz insisted that he walked away from Olivia. It's not that he didn't want to hold her hand, it's just, he didn't know what her Fathers reaction would be.

"Fitz," she said again, stopping to reach out to him.

As he stopped he took in her face then, wordlessly he moved towards her. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead then took her hand in his. He needed to calm himself down, panicking wasn't helping anyone. They quietly and slowly walked hand in hand the remainder of the way through the residence.

"Good morning," they heard as they walked into the kitchen.

Eli studied the pair of them before continuing to move around the kitchen.

"You're cooking? What's the occasion?" Olivia asked confused, her Father, whilst good at cooking rarely did.

"I just thought as we haven't had breakfast together for a while, it would make a nice treat."

"Oh,"

"Good morning Fitz." Eli said looking directly at him.

"Good morning, Sir." He replied, looking straight back at him, the earlier nervousness pushed to the back of his mind.

Olivia looked between Fitz and her Father, they were still staring at each other, as if neither was going to back down. She gently tugged on Fitz' arm, which caused him to look at her.

"Let's go sit down,"

They made their way over to the breakfast counter and sat down next to each other. Shortly after they say down, Eli joined them bringing the plated food with him. They were eating in silence that was until it was broken.

"Did you two have fun last night?" Eli asked, not looking up from him breakfast.

Fitz and Olivia turned their heads slightly to look at each other.

"Umm, yeah I guess." Olivia responded.

"What did you do?"

"I gave Fitz and quick tour and then we went swimming."

"No I mean after that," Eli said now looking directly at Olivia, after a few seconds he turned his gaze to Fitz.

"What?" Olivia asked, confused as to how he knew about last night.

"Don't lie to me Olivia... I heard you early this morning."

He may have sounded a bit off with them, that wasn't his intention; he just wanted to know why Fitz was waking up in his daughter's room this morning. Was he being overly protective? Possibly, but he didn't know Fitz that well. Not yet anyway.

"I'm sorry Sir, that was,"

"My fault," Olivia interrupted. She didn't want Fitz to get the blame for this. After all, she was the one that begged him not to leave.

"Liv..." Fitz said looking at her.

Not looking at Fitz she continued. "I showed him some more of the Whitehouse, places we couldn't go to earlier, it was late when we got back and I, I didn't want..."

"You didn't want what?" Her Father questioned.

"I didn't want him to leave," she murmured just loud enough for him to hear.

Fitz reached for her hand under the table, he knew why and guessing by the look on Eli's face, her Father did not. He was trying to reassure her but he couldn't tell if it was working or not.

"Why not?" He questioned completely oblivious to what was going on.

Olivia grabbed Fitz' hand, probably more forcefully than she intended to. She was looking at their connected hands, so focussed on them, that she didn't seem to hear her Father.

Seeing that Olivia wasn't going to respond Fitz took it upon himself to.

"We were going to watch a film together, we must have fallen asleep without realising."

"Oh,"

Based on Eli's response, Fitz couldn't be sure that he believed them completely. Yeah, he may have just lied to her Father, the President, but what was he supposed to do. She obviously hadn't told her Father about her sleeping issues and she wasn't ready to tell him just yet. It seemed like the best thing to do.

After a few moments, Olivia lifted her gaze from their connected hands. She offered her Father a small smile before turning her head towards Fitz. She was met by his blue eyes. What was she supposed to do... or even say to him? She had heard what he said. To be honest, she didn't really know how she was feeling. On the one hand, she wanted to thank him but on the other, well... On the other, she was mad. Not so much at him, perhaps more at herself. He had lied to her Father. For her... And she let him. She didn't want him to have to do that.

"Livvie?"

She was drawn from her thoughts by his voice. The soft tone brought her round.

"Are you alright?" Fitz asked quietly, leaning into her as he spoke.

They were broken from their bubble when Eli excused himself from the table. Olivia watched her Dad walk away, making sure he wouldn't overhear them.

"Why Fitz?" She asked turning to face him.

"Why what?" He asked back genuinely confused.

"Why did you lie to him about last night?"

"It wasn't a complete lie..."

"Fitz..."

"What did you want me to say? The truth?" He said, lowering his voice.

"I don't know..." She replied quickly, conscious of her Dad coming back. "I just, thank you. I think. I don't like it though." She said turning away from him.

"What?" He asked as he turned her back in his direction.

"You having to lie for me."

"Hey..." He said lifting her chin and smiling at her. "It really is fine." He didn't give her a chance to respond, instead he quickly lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently.

"Ahem..."

They were broken apart by the sound of Eli clearing his throat.

"Well, I'd say we are just about finished with breakfast." He said before walking out of the room.

Olivia was mortified to say the least. That was the second time her Father had caught her kissing Fitz. It was becoming a habit. One that she partly didn't like. At the soft chuckle coming from beside her, she turned to face Fitz.

"I don't know who was more shocked. You, or your Dad." He said unable to control his laughter.

"Oh, shush..." She said playfully also unable to not smile at him. He had seemed to relax a little in her Fathers presence.

Her Father was due to visit a local sports centre that afternoon and knowing her love for sports, Eli had asked if she wanted to go with him. Of course Fitz was welcome too. For about an hour after he asked her, she panicked.

"Liv... You don't have to say yes. He won't mind, I'm sure."

"But then won't he want to know why I don't want to go?"

"Maybe, maybe not though. Look if you go, I'll be there if things become too overwhelming. "Fitz said pulling her in for a hug.

This had to be hard for her. It was like her Father hadn't thought about it. It wasn't an attempt to be mean; it was probably just an oversight. But, this would be the first time for Olivia back in the public eye with him, since her Mother's death. It was a lot for her to process.

It seemed like a case of being thrown in at the deep end. Then standing and watching to see if she could swim. Was it intentional? Who was to know?

"Okay then..." She responded, quietly making up her mind. "Let's find my Dad."

3 hours later and Fitz and Olivia were engrossed in a highly competitive game of touch rugby.

They had arrived at the sports centre and after being given a tour, they had been approached by some of the younger members and asked to play with them. Of course Olivia agreed for both herself and Fitz almost instantly. They had been put on different teams and that was when the fun started.

"Just you watch it..." Olivia whispered as she stood next to Fitz, deep into the game.

His team had a hefty lead in the game which infuriated Olivia. She didn't like to lose, especially if it was going to be against Fitz.

"Why?" Fitz replied smiling at her.

"You're going down."

"Oh yeah... Look at the scores Livvie. Look. At. The. Scores." He said laughing as he took off running.

Olivia had been playing in a forward position but she swapped to defensive so she could mark Fitz.

"Yeah!" She heard Fitz calling for the ball and that's when she saw her opportunity. There was under a minute left on the clock.

As she took off after him, she knew what she needed to do. The original plan was to just grab his tag but that plan soon changed as she lost her footing and ended up bundling into him. It resembled an actual rugby tackle. The pair of them hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Ouch... What the... Livvie?" Fitz said as he picked himself up off the floor, reaching down to help Olivia up too.

"Oops..." She laughed as the whistle for full time went.

"I think that may have been a foul, you know..."

"I know." She replied as if it was perfectly normal.

"What's that? Dirty tactics from Little Livvie Pope?"

Olivia laughed at him then tapped his chest before walking towards the young children. She went over there to both congratulate and thank them for letting them join in on their game. Fitz soon followed her over and they were both greeted by her Father, who was already talking to the kids.

After a few minutes of talking and some quick photos, they were making their way back outside to the cars.

As they made it outside, they noticed the ever present cameras. As they were making their way across the street, Fitz felt Olivia move closer to him, he took her hand in his in an effort to comfort her somewhat.

When they arrived back to the residence, Fitz wanted to have a shower, which left Olivia and her Father alone for the time being. She knew that she needed to ask him if he had made a decision about Christmas but she was hesitant to. What about if he said no? Then what would she do? Slowly she was building herself up to it. It was now or never.

"Dad..."

"Yeah..." He replied as he sat down in the couch, taking off his tie.

"Erm," She said as she began to pace forwards and backwards. "I just wanted to, I mean... Have you thought about Christmas yet?"

"Christmas?" He questioned, as he watched his daughter pacing.

"You know... About me spending it with Fitz' family. You said you would think about it."

"Oh, yes. I did didn't I? I have given it some thought, and I'm not sure Olivia." He looked up to see the sad expression on her face. He needed to explain before she took off. "I think, that this would be our first Christmas without your Mother. I was hoping that we would spend some time together. Just us, we don't need anything spectacular and just do things that we used to do. That we would usually do."

"Dad... I,"

"I know you want to go, I do, and Fitz seems like a nice young man but I still have some concerns."

"Like what?" She would entertain her Fathers questions, if it meant that there may be a chance of her going to Switzerland.

"Well... Don't take this the wrong way but, how long have you known him."

She thought for a little while before she answered.

"Since Abby's birthday I guess."

"And how much do you know about him?"

"Dad...Why? What are you...? You can't be serious?" That stumped her, what was he getting at?

"I'm very serious Olivia,"

"Why don't you just look into him, if you're so concerned?" She snapped at him. Why was he being like this? Fitz was a nice, decent person and he was making him out to be some kind of monster. That wasn't him. She knew him.

Olivia stormed off, running out of the living area straight back to her room. That may have been a move of a petulant child but she didn't care. She barged through her door and before she knew it she collided with something solid. She felt herself falling but before she hit the floor she felt herself being caught.

"Liv?" Fitz questioned, wondering why she was in such as rush. That was before he noticed the tears streaming down her face.

She tried to move past him but he wouldn't allow her to, his arms tightening around her.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"He said no, Fitz."

AN

Sorry it's been a while. I've been so so busy recently, I haven't had a weekend to myself in god knows how long and I'm not going to have for a while. So sorry in advance... Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, and as always let me know what you think.