Author's Note: Like I said before in Shattering and Loose's most recent A/Ns, I've been ill lately but now I'm all right and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things with my SCANDAL-ous and non SCANDAL-ous scribbles. With writing and other things in life, sometimes you just have to chuck everything in the "fuck it" bucket, stop overthinking, and do, or in this case, write what feels right. I'm very glad that you all enjoyed last chapter's flashback and the present day restart of the Creeper's rightful and badly needed stint in The Hole, not to mention the Olitz domestic bliss filled, implied naughty awesomeness at the end. Soon, I'll be putting some more extended, citrusy Olitz Porn in this Porn with Plot fic (and in the brand new D.D. that's simmering in my mind) but for now, let us continue onwards into the breach. It's Sunday Dinner time, folks. Bon appétit.
Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"
Sunday Evening (6 PM EST)
The house was nice.
It was on a quiet residential street, made of brick and with what appeared to be a brand new roof. The house was two main floors with a basement and an attic. The lawn was cut with military precision and the stairs leading to the porch were clean enough to eat off of. Standing on the sidewalk, Fitz saw a nice home but he knew that his Livvie was seeing more. She was seeing memories of her parents, memories of coming back for breaks between school terms, memories of ugly arguments with her father, memories of being relieved when it was time for her to go back to school. She was standing stock still, nearly at attention and her right hand rested on top of her left hand, a gesture that he recognized as a nervous one…
"Do you want to leave?"
Olivia shook her head negatively but other than to hold his hand, she made no other move. She had chosen a lavender cap sleeved top, a gray maxi skirt, and black boots to wear. Since it was mild out, she had put on a snow white cashmere hip length cardigan instead of a coat. She had put her hair in a low ponytail. Her diamond studs had been replaced with white gold ones and she had removed her Collar to polish it. She had a custom kit for caring for the leather, a kit that she kept in the same oak box that contained her mother's jewelry.
Fitz had witnessed the silent debate with herself as to if she'd wear it to the Dinner. He wasn't ashamed of the Elements in their relationship nor was she but the Collar could be used as a conversation piece, a conversation piece that could lead to an ugly confrontation.
From what he surmised and from she had told him, Fitz know that Eli Pope was a man who was unafraid to speak his mind. Olivia also credited her eye for detail and her observation skills to her father. Plus, he had contacts everywhere and Olivia's art had put her into their conversational pool. Someone could've seen her purchasing the Collar and reported back to the man or he may just read his daughter's body language and figure it out. While Olivia herself was open minded, especially when it came to sexuality (sans the…Incident…with Millicent and Davis), Eli Pope seemed to be a traditional man with traditional values. Knowing that his daughter was in an interracial relationship with a white man, a Grant man, knowing that she was in an interracial D/s relationship, with her being the willing 's' in the D/s…things really could get ugly.
He would've understood if she had left her Collar off and at home.
But, she hadn't. In fact, she had draped it over her neck and beckoned for him to come and fasten it. Once it was secure, Olivia had taken his hands and kissed his fingertips, looking at him with trust and devotion that still staggered him.
After witnessing the disaster that had been his parents' marriage, Fitz had ached to be a better Grant man than the ones that had come before him. That ache had become a Mission in the last days of his mother's life. Felicity Giametta-Grant had used the last vestiges of her strength to ask him to be a better man than his father. It had been a soft, sweet request and she told him that the reason she was asking came not out of a place of malice against Big Jerry but out of a mother's love. She wouldn't be around to see him grow up but she knew that wherever she ended up, she would be at peace as long as her son, her 'angelo del suo cuore' (angel of her heart), was truly happy. His greatest shot at fulfilling her wish would to be Big Jerry's polar opposite.
It had taken a lot of time, a lot of trial and error but Fitz could honestly say that he was happy…
"Sweetheart?"
Olivia squeezed his hand and looked up at him.
"I'm ready."
They walked forward together.
/
"Dad, this is Fitzgerald Grant III. Fitz, this is my father, Eli Pope."
The Grant boy's handshake was firm and there was no visible fear in the blue eyes that met his, which was actually a welcome change of pace. Olivia moved away from them and placed a bottle of Merlot on the set table, expertly opening it to let it breathe.
"It's nice to meet you, sir. Thank you for inviting me."
"You're important to Olivia. Of course I would invite to join us. I hope I didn't take you away from anything at work."
"No, sir. Sunday is always an off day for me."
Of course, he already knew that. Brown was assigned to all things Grant and had passed the DC Job onto Becky. She had been injured during an Op in Saudi Arabia and was stateside until she was cleared by the Medical ward to be sound in body and mind. Well, as sound as her mind could be without her going rogue and slaughtering people for fun. Since she and Brown had what one clever operative dubbed 'a Physical Understanding', Eli would make sure that for one week out of the month, the pair could meet up to…communicate. While there was a distinct danger of the two of them using arm bars and chokeholds as foreplay, it was best to keep them happy and sated so that they would do their jobs correctly and with the correct loyalties.
While he had no intentions of turning B613 into a kindergarten or a dating service, the situation with Jake Ballard exposed some inherent flaws within the codes of conduct for Operatives. It truly was best for them to have as few connections and attachments as possible to the outside world. There was just no way to explain their World to a civilian and the attempts to do so would drive anyone mad with guilt and confusion. A loss of focus and loyalty could lead to an Operative's demise and the loss of valuable Intel. The main rule of 'no families-children' would remain but he would encourage in-house relationships to a point.
Perhaps if Ballard had someone other than his left hand for company at night, then his fixation on his daughter would have never happened. Of course, the fixation had given Eli a carte blanche excuse to deal with the faltering, lukewarm operative as he saw fit so it had turned out to be a good thing in the end…
"Dinner smells really good, Dad. What did you make?"
"A full lasagna dinner…I wasn't sure if either of you were vegetarians so I made two."
Thanks to Brown, he also knew what the lightning quick glance between the lovers, the pink tinting Fitzgerald III's cheeks and the minute movement of Olivia's lips upwards truly meant and that was…disconcerting, to say the least. There hadn't been any surveillance equipment in the house proper but Brown was good with a long distance camera lens and concealing himself in an outdoor environment. Other than "Chuck" and "Upchuck" (the latter was exclusively used by Becky), a common nickname for the Mulder-esque madman was "Chameleon".
The good news was that Olivia and Fitzgerald III had been none the wiser about the surveillance and Brown had been able to collect his photos without interference or fakery from the subjects.
The bad news was that Olivia and Fitzgerald III had been none the wiser about the surveillance and had used the uninterrupted time together to be very blatant and very feral with their intimacy, with and without what Olivia called their "Elements".
Like when he had found Olivia's copy of Miller and Devon's BDSM manual, Eli had spent the rest of the day in the bottom of a large bottle of brandy, chased by a shot of NyQuil later to help him sleep without the images searing his subconscious.
He took comfort in the fact that Olivia had chosen her Dom well and that she was visibly content in each image and although, there were nerves, she was content now in her childhood home, something that hadn't happened since before her mother passed away.
"Lasagna sounds great. Fitz, will you come help me bring it out? Despite my eating my weight in Thai food earlier, I'm starving."
Eli couldn't help but share a fondly amused smile with Fitzgerald at that.
His Livvie's…their Livvie's appetite could be compared to a flip top head.
/
7:15 PM EST
"Now, I see where she gets her love of Stevie from…you've had a lot of these records for years, haven't you?"
"Just about every cent I made growing up went to the record store and my collection traveled with me to college."
"…I'm not using your daughter, sir. I know that I'm a Grant man and you have little reason to take my word for it but it's true. I'm not using her. She's not a conquest to me or an item on some sort of stupid fetish bucket list to check off. I love her. Olivia is the love of my life and I'm not leaving her behind unless she wants me to so if you have a problem with us being together, please let me know now so I can have dynamics to operate within when dealing with you. Even if you want to come between me and Olivia, I really don't want to come between you and Olivia. You're the only parent she has left and if either of us is going to have a decent relationship with a father, I'd love for it to be her because it's definitely not going to happen between me and Jerry. He's in town right now and after the stunt he tried to pull with her earlier, my foot has a romantic candlelit date with the inside of his ass before he goes back to Santa Barbara."
"Did he touch her?"
"No, he didn't touch her but he was very disrespectful to her and he made her cry. She also slapped the hell out of him, which is fine by me because I know he deserved it."
"How do you know that?"
"I know Jerry and I know Olivia. She doesn't get violent in words or actions unless somebody really deserves it. He deserved it."
Eli looked at him for a long beat and then nodded in agreement, rising to up to the mini bar in his home office/den to refill his glass of cognac.
Fitz knew that the man was taken aback by his rhino in a china shop approach but he figured that it would be the best policy in dealing with Eli Pope. Being subtle would leave openings for the man to get in his head and mess around. Dealing with Big Jerry taught him that letting an opponent get in your head was disastrous. They could manipulate you much more easily that way. Honesty with no chasers was the way to go. He wanted to lay his cards out on the table and face whatever challenges the man would bring head on. Olivia deserved to have that. Not to say that she wasn't capable of standing her ground against her father because she certainly was but to do so was an emotional flaying. It left her raw and sad in the aftermath and the last thing Fitz wanted was for his Livvie to be sad. The more that he could divert Eli's negative attention and opinions to himself, the better…
A glass of brandy was extended to him and Fitz accepted it, relishing the smooth burn of the drink. Eli nodded approvingly at the gesture and looked him dead in the eye, just as Olivia always did when she wanted him to listen closely to her.
"I believe you."
"Sir?"
"I believe you when you say that you love my daughter. You've given me no reason to be concerned about you being in her life as a friend, a romantic partner…and her Dom."
Fitz felt his cheeks go ablaze before draining in wide eyed mortification and Eli actually chuckled, raising a hand to cut off his stammering.
"It's all right, Fitzgerald. I've known about Olivia's…proclivities…for years. While I don't understand why she wants to be involved in the lifestyle as a Submissive, I'm not going to stop her from partaking in it, especially since she's found someone worthy of her trust. She's an adult and she can take care of herself. Was the Collar her idea or yours?"
"It was her idea. She's the one who introduced the Elements into our relationship and she wanted to take it a step further."
"You understand the full implications of it?"
"To me, the Collar is as good as a wedding band. She…I'll take care of her, sir. She's…she's everything to me. I won't hurt her. I won't leave her. I can't."
"Then, you and I will not have any problems."
/
7:52PM EST
As soon as he came out the bathroom, Olivia made her move.
Grabbing him by the sleeve of his emerald sweater, she tugged him through the door and shut it quietly behind him. Before he could react, she was on him, kissing him like she was dying of thirst.
Her childhood bedroom was clean but free of any personal items that would make it look like more than a guest room. She had come back to the house during lunch hour and while Eli was at work to pack her belongings. She had spent her senior year of high school quietly preparing to leave, half expecting to be kicked out, despite Eli's acceptance of her artistic path. Abby had gotten her own place at the end of junior year and had invited her to live as roommates, along with Quinn and Jamaica. By the time graduation had come, she was firmly established in the small boarding house and the room they were in was showroom clean…
Breaking the kiss, she pulled the sweater over his head and started unbuttoning the crisp white Oxford underneath it, exposing his bare skin to her hungry gaze. Walking them backwards, she smiled as he landed on his back and nimbly climbed onto his lap to straddle him. She had removed her skirt and boots when she came in, leaving her covered by bubblegum pink briefs and white ankle socks from the waist down. Crossing her arms at the hem, she pulled her top off, revealing candy apple red bra underneath it.
"Are you sure, Livvie?" he inquired, even as he helpfully lifted his hips to get his black slacks and boxer briefs out of the way. She thought about taking them off completely but this was supposed to be quick and quiet.
Her panties were untied and added to the pile of clothing on the floor. Later, they would take their time and play but for now, quick and dirty would have to do and it would be done well.
Fitz always did her well.
"I'm sure. This has always been a fantasy of mine but I never had anyone to do it with before and it's not like Eli doesn't know we have sex. He even knows that we have Elements."
"God, that was so fucking mortifying! I thought he'd kill me for a second…"
"Why would he? Everything's consensual and I'm the one who introduced the Elements into the equation to begin with. He won't ever put his hands on you. He knows that I'd never forgive him and I'd make his life hell. Now, stop talking and let me ride you."
"Yes, ma'am."