Disclaimer: Shondaland/ABC owns these characters. But #WhoDatWomanOfTheYear
It was late morning when Olivia made her way downstairs; showered, her hair unpressed; wearing jeans, a thick sweater and ugg boots.
She glanced through the windows to see a few agents chatting in front of their parked vehicles. Then smiled a greeting at the agents setting the table for breakfast before making her way to the kitchen to find it a hive of activity – Tom making eggs and bacon on the stove; Karen popping bread into the toaster; Jerry flipping pancakes from an electric skillet while Peter and another agent were cutting fruit. Lastly her gaze rested on Fitz, sitting at the kitchen table feeding Teddy.
"Hey, beautiful, you're awake," Fitz grinned, giving her a sexy smile that made her toes curl.
The kids turned, then swarmed around Olivia for a hug before dispersing just as quickly back to their tasks.
"You let me sleep in," Olivia grumbled moving across to Fitz, sliding a hand across his shoulders as she dropped a kiss on Teddy's head, then leaned against the man who had made her scream in the early hours of that morning.
"You needed it, after our busy night," he chuckled softly, slyly nuzzling his face into the side of her breast.
Blushing, she eased away and slid into a chair, not close to Fitz, propping her elbows on the table so she could cover her hot cheeks with her hands. "What can I do?"
"Distract Teddy while I feed him his cereal."
"Where's Cyrus?"
"He left about an hour ago."
"Did my guys leave with him?"
"No, Tom said they left soon after we went to bed."
Olivia, who'd started to drop her hands from her cheeks, hastily used them as a coverup again.
He grinned, unrepentant.
"Behave," she muttered
"Make me."
"Do you want me to smack him, Aunt Liv?" Jerry paused on his way to the dining room with a fruit platter.
"Uh, no," Olivia got to her feet, pretending to ignore Fitz's wicked little smirk, even while her hand trailed over his arm on her way past him. "Do you want me to take that, Jer?"
"No, I've got it. But Abby left you a note on the oven, saying there's leftover pumpernickel bread in the pantry. You can get that if you want."
"Aww, don't leave," Fitz mocked softly in the background.
Not looking at him, she patted her ass and walked away, smiling as his snicker of laughter reached her.
Distracted by the laughter and chatter at breakfast, Olivia made an effort to forget about the waiting game that was worrying her.
That was easily done on their day trip to the ski slopes where the men and boys showed off their skill, while she, Karen and baby Teddy built snowmen and tobogganed on snow powder drifts.
Exhausted but happy at the end of the day, she hugged an arm around Fitz who was carrying Teddy. "That was fun."
His soft gaze drifted over her face, lingering on her smile. "We can do it again tomorrow—"
"Daddy, who is that man?" Karen jerked to a halt, holding Olivia's hand, making them all stop and stare towards the house.
Despite the early evening shadows, Olivia recognised the defensive stance of David Rosen standing on the front porch with two agents on either side.
"Can you tell these goons that I'm a friend," David said drily as they approached.
"It's okay, Ari and Youssef, we know him." Still holding Karen's hand, Olivia walked towards David and directed him indoors.
"Nice," said David, his gaze wandering over the stone and wood interior before settling on the bright flames crackling in the handcrafted fieldstone fireplace.
"Mind if I?" Not waiting for consent, David went closer to warm his hands by the fire.
"You can pull up a chair." Olivia told him.
"Oh, great. Can I take off my coat?"
Olivia took the coat, asking, "So what did Mellie want?"
David paused, half way to being seated. "Oh you know about that?"
"We know about that."
Changing his mind about sitting, David straightened and looked beyond Olivia to their audience of Fitz, the children and agents, including the two who had been 'guarding' him outside.
"Can I have a word alone with Olivia?"
"No," Fitz and Jerry said at once.
David glanced from Fitz to his son, then back again. "What I have to say involves your wife, and I don't think you want your kids to hear the unedited version."
Fitz glanced at Olivia, then handed Teddy over to Jerry and led the way to the study.
"What did Mellie want?" Olivia asked as soon as they were seated, with Fitz close beside her on the sofa and David facing them in an armchair.
"I'm guessing she hasn't come onboard this great Titanic love story of yours that's grabbed everyone's attention. She's really gunning for you, Liv."
"I know. But how has she involved you?"
"She wanted to know her options. She had some idea that she could sue her husband for a breach of contract – a breach of the marriage contract."
"She's seeking damages? That's what I'm expecting our lawyers to negotiate, once she signs an acknowledgement of the petition."
"She isn't seeking damages. She wants Specific Performance."
"What?" Fitz frowned. "Is that a joke?"
"Wait, she wants Fitz to complete the marriage contract by staying with her?" Olivia asked sat forward.
"Until Death. I'm assuming a natural death, not the other kind."
"But that's ridiculous; no judge or jury in this country is going to demand that I stay married to that woman! The case will get thrown out of court if she tries to make that claim under contract law!"
"That's what I told her – that it's beyond the powers of my office, with its meagre resources to manage current caseloads, to even consider putting in the kind of work a case like this needs. A case that would attempt to set legal precedent by considering a marriage contract in a business context, rather than a social one. You need a lot of time and money to run a case like that, time and money that we at the public defender's office in the District of Columbia do not have."
He looked expectantly at Fitz, who ignored the dig. Eventually David continued, "I wasn't expecting Mrs Grant to ask about Specific Performance. Is she an aficionado of Contract Law?"
"She studied law at college."
"Huh, I did hear that she went to one of the Ivy League schools – Yale or Harvard?"
"Yeah," Fitz muttered absently, then focused his narrowed gaze on the other man. "So this is dead in the water? Mellie has decided to drop this and leave us alone?"
"I can't say for sure but as she was throwing me out of your lovely beach house with ocean views, she got a call from someone in North Carolina."
"North Carolina? She interned at a law firm there after she graduated. Got the job through a family connection - her maternal grandparents. They even left her some property in that state."
"Does she still own the land?"
"I believe so."
"Huh, well if that's the only connection and you feel there's nothing more you should worry about..."
But he never got to finish as Karen interrupted with a knock on the door. "Aunt Liv, Harrison is on the phone. He wants to talk to you," she said, handing Olivia her cell phone.
"Harrison, David is here in Vermont."
"We know, Liv. Abby's GPS."
"Right, of course," Olivia moved farther away from David. Then hearing flights details being called in the background , she asked, "Are you guys at the airport? Are you on your way back here?"
"No, we're on our way to North Carolina and I think you really need to get your ass over there too."
"What's the problem?"
"I got word from a guy I know at the Charlotte Observer. There's a rumour flying around about the First Lady filing a lawsuit." Harrison paused, before continuing in a lowered tone, "It's against you, Liv. She's making a claim of Alienation of Affection and seeking compensation of a billion dollars."
A/N: Oh how I wish I had paid more intention to Mellie's background - she grew up in NORTH CAROLINA, people! The Numero Uno state for Alienation of Affection cases and I went and put her in Virginia. Writing Regret #9356778986054321122.
Never mind, I'll just use my heat-stroke suffering imagination to make a dubious link between Mellie and NC. When I didn't have to ! #!%^! (BTW, it's 40-degrees outside and combustible inside).
Anyway, I never thought I'd ever be grateful that Britain invaded half the world - but in writing this story I appreciated that the basics of contract law I learned here in Australia applies more or less to the US, thanks to English Common Law (except in the state of Louisiana - which inherited French and Spanish law, as per Wikipedia).
BTW, who knew I'd paid enough attention to this stuff in class (part of an ongoing accounting course); or that I would actually find a use for it - in the revival of my Right Brain! I'm sure my tutors would be gratified :))) Seriously tho': not gratified at how far I've stretched the limits of Specific Performance.
Other offences committed in the telling of this story: jurisdiction when both plaintiff and defendant are non-residents; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (in the upcoming chapters) Please find factual info in the links below. Info which I have crudely hashed/mashed and trashed ... Right about now, I wish I'd paid more attention to David E Kelly's legal dramas and every episode of Law & Order.
FYI snuck in a bit of Australiana - ugg boots (fleece-lined sheep-skin boots) as they sounded better than thick socks or house shoes - Olivia is way too Q-ule for house shoes, fleece-lined or not.
Legal links (and yes, there is a RealLife ROSEN reference, which is why I just had to use alienation of affection stuff after seeing that URL): Insert www.
rosen divorce/divorcearticles / alienation-of-affection-and-criminal-conversation/
divorcesupport. about od/ statedivorcelaws/a/Comparing-No-Fault-Divorce-Law-And-Contract-Law
quickmba law/ sys/
hg article. asp ? id =19936
www. justanswer. 1k0q8-alienation-affection-law-used-someone-north