Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal
AN: I am so sorry for the delay. My fiancee was in a really bad car accident when he was traveling for work and things have just been out of control. Also, we're in the countdown for the wedding! I can't believe it's already July! Anyhow, here's chapter 21. A little Olitz fluff! ~ XOXO MAS
The stakes are high, the water's rough
Three Months Later
"I hate him." David slammed the door to Fitz's office shut. "He's a pompous, arrogant ass who thinks that three months here gives him some sort of special seniority." He picked up a large book and slammed it down on the small conference table just to let out some of the pent up frustration he was feeling. "He's our age. We have the same amount of experience and we've been in the public sector longer. He just started. The stupid private practice little piece of shit."
Fitz tipped his chair back, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "Are you quite finished?" He asked teasingly.
"Don't tell me you like Davis? You hate him just as much as I do." David accused.
"Actually," Fitz dropped his chair down to four legs, "I hate him more. He keeps reminding me that he dated my wife."
"What would happen if we punched him?" David asked, pulling out a chair across from Fitz's desk.
"We?" Fitz asked.
"We as in I hold his arms back and you beat the shit out of him." David clarified.
Shaking his head, Fitz laughed, "You're out of your mind. Come on, let's go get lunch." Fitz stood and picked up his coat, slipping into it. "It'll be a Davis free lunch. Let's go."
SCANDAL
Olivia grimaced and shut her office door with a small thud. "Gross." She muttered, hoping the thick wood would help snuff out the smell of whatever was being consumed for lunch in the break room down the hall.
"Liv?" Olivia looked up when there was a tap at the door and it opened, letting in a fresh wave of cooked fish.
"Please close the door, the fish smells disgusting." She moaned, dropping her head to her desk.
Huck frowned and shut the door quickly, "You okay, Olivia?" He asked quietly, taking his normal seat across from her. His own bagged lunch resting on her desk, "You look a little gray."
She moaned dramatically, vaguely reminding herself of the last time Abby was sick. "I think I'm getting the stomach flu." She swallowed back bile, "Or maybe I already have it."
"Why don't you just go home?" He asked. Her response was to push the stack of paperwork across her desk at him.
"I hate this job." She muttered.
"So do something else." Huck answered.
Olivia raised her head, "Like what?" She snorted, "I put in too much effort to be here. What the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Something that makes you happy." Standing, Huck shook his head, "Just go home, Olivia. No one here wants to get sick and there's nothing in that pile that can't wait until tomorrow." He advised.
SCANDAL
Fitz bumped the door open with his hip. He'd managed to get out of work early and was planning on surprising Olivia with one of her favorite dinners. She'd been a little under the weather. She thought she was getting sick, but he thought she was just supremely unhappy in corporate America. Her favorite dinner may help clear her mind.
Reaching down, he scooped up the grocery bags in the doorway and was going to let the door slam shut when he noted Olivia's tiny form curled up in a ball on the sofa, a plastic garbage can by her head. "Oh, baby." He whispered under his breath. Instead he shut the door softly, moving as quietly as he could through the apartment.
Olivia woke up an hour later to the smell of her favorite fish dish floating through the apartment. "Oh my god." She moaned, leaning over the side of the sofa to puke in the garbage can.
"Livie?" Fitz flew out of the kitchen and into the living room, "Oh, Livie." He knelt down beside her, pulling her hair that was falling out of it's sloppy ponytail back. "Maybe a doctor's visit is in order."
She shook her head and reached blindly for the small wash cloth on the coffee table, wiping her mouth, "It's just the stomach flu. It'll pass after I lose like fifty pounds. God, are you seriously cooking fish?" She snapped, swiping away the tears from the corner of her eyes, "You have to not do that. Get rid of it now." She ordered, feeling the bile rise up in her throat again, "Right this instant."
"It's gone." Fitz was moving before he could even fully process her words, throwing open the balcony sliding glass door on his way to the kitchen. Within two minutes he was taking the garbage with dinner out of the apartment. He cringed as she let out a groan as he passed by her with the fish.
Thirty minutes later he was placing a mug of plain soup in her hands, "I should've known this was a better idea." He admitted.
"I want wine." Olivia grumbled.
"You have the flu, the last thing you need is wine." He shook his head at her, "You're a terrible patient, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered, "Huck found one of the partners and Neils had to all but force me home." She admitted.
Pulling her legs up onto his lap, Fitz took a sip of his own soup, "How is work? Are things better?" He asked. She'd been struggling the past few months, maybe even nearly a year, with her job. He knew she wasn't happy there. He wasn't sure if it was the corporate nature of her job or the environment of that particular office that was frustrating her.
"It's work." She mumbled, taking another sip of her soup.
"Have you considered looking into other options? What about the public sector?" He suggested lightly.
She set her mug down on the coffee table and picked up her ginger ale, taking a healthy sip of it before capping the bottle and turning to face her husband again, "What about opening up my own firm?" She asked softly, her eyes wide as she studied him. He blinked back at her and she immediately shook her head. "Never mind, it's stupid and"
"It's brilliant." Fitz interrupted her. "It's absolutely amazing. I love it. Olivia Grant & Associates." He spitballed.
"Olivia Grant & Associates." Olivia repeated, liking the way the words fell off her tongue. "I like it. It's fitting." She paused again.
"What?" Fitz asked, "You're thinking about something more."
"What if it wasn't a law firm?" She asked quietly, "What if it was a consulting firm?"
"A consulting firm? Like a fixer firm?" He asked, "Liv, I love you and you're brilliant, but you've been in tax law for years, what makes you want to do this?"
She shrugged absently, "I don't know. It's just, Abby's not happy, Stephen's not happy, Harrison's not happy, Quinn's not happy, Huck's not happy. . ." her voice trailed off, "If we pooled all of our strengths we could do anything we wanted to do. We could help people and fix problems and"
"Wear the white hat." Fitz interrupted.
"Wear the white hat." Olivia confirmed.
Fitz pretended to consider her idea for a moment, although it was just for show. He liked watching the slight flush creep up into her cheeks as he did so, "I like it." He agreed, "Olivia Grant & Associates, fixing everyone's problems from Russia to the US."
Snorting, Olivia yawned, "I doubt that very much. I think I'll bring it up on girls' night and see what Quinn and Abby say."
"Okay, sweet baby, I think it's time for you to go to bed." He tapped her ankle lightly, "Go on, I'll clean up dinner."
SCANDAL
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Olivia asked, stretching out in bed. Fitz had called in sick for her before the alarm even went off that morning. She was taking the morning to talk with her parents about her potential idea for a company of her own.
"Olivia, you are a Pope. You can do whatever you set your mind to." Her father's deep voice rumbled through the phone, "You have our full support." He promised.
"Your father is right, Livia, when we get back from London the four of us will sit down and discuss a business model." Her mother informed her sharply.
"The four of us?" Olivia echoed.
"Well I'm sure Fitz will want to discuss it, too," Maya Pope scoffed, "Honestly, honey, this stomach bug has gotten to your head. Are you sure you don't have pregnancy brain?" She teased.
Olivia's mouth popped open, "What?"
"Pregnancy brain." Maya Pope chuckled, "I was teasing you, Livia. When women are in the early stages of their pregnancies they tend to be a big forgetful."
"Pregnancy brain." Olivia repeated slowly.
"Olivia," Eli Pope's voice was wavering as he drew her name out, "you do have the stomach flu, right? You're not pregnant?"
Straightening, Olivia started ticking off numbers on her fingers, "Um, I may need to go down to the drug store."
"Oh this is so exciting! As soon as you know, call us back!" Maya Pope demanded, "Come on, Eli, let's let her go get that test. Go right now." She ordered before hanging up.
Olivia let her cell phone drop to her lap. "Well, shit."
SCANDAL
"Olivia?" Fitz opened the door to their apartment to find Olivia standing in the middle of the living room in one of his Navy t-shirts and two champagne glasses. "What's going on?" He asked.
Holding out a glass she waited until he'd set his briefcase down and took it, "I'm pregnant."
SCANDAL
XOXO
MAS