AN: First of all, I want to thank you all for your patience. You guys were so supportive and so kind during my hiatus. I'm finally starting to feel better. It's a slow process. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and settling in with writing. Second of all, I apologize for the long wait. It's been a crazy few months of traveling down to Florida to go to Mayo. And we got stuck down there during Irma. Thankfully, my family made it through Irma just fine. Tim's family out in Texas did not do well during Harvey. Life has just been a bit upside down lately, but that's what makes it life. I hope everyone else in the South has faired well during the hurricanes. I hope everyone out west has stayed safe during the fires. It's been a trying couple of months, that's for sure. I know this is woefully short, but I am very excited to be getting back into writing. I hope to have Chapter Twenty-Five out by the end of the week. ~ XOXO MAF
Chapter Twenty-Four
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
When Maya, Eli and Huck left to follow up with Jake, the tired group crowded in Abby's room as she struggled through nursing for the first time with Olivia's help. "Alright, David and I clearly missed something big. What's going on?"
Olivia's eyes shot over to Jerry. Handing Karen off to Tom, she suggested, "Why don't you two go get something to eat with Mr. Tom?"
Tom nodded, hustling Jer out of the hospital room, a sleeping Karen cradled against his shoulder. "My father planned to have me assassinated and Olivia's parents are spies." Fitz answered bluntly.
He was met with a group of blank stares at the news of the assassination. "So I just went through labor and may be delirious." Abby admitted. "Let's back up and walk through all of this very slowly." She requested. "Because, huh?"
Olivia sat heavily in a chair. "That was my reaction as well." She admitted. "We've all been trying so hard to put this all together since my kidnapping and we finally have. It's exactly what we thought and then some."
David slipped his glasses off his nose and draped his arm over Abby's shoulders. "We're all prepared for the spy thing." He admitted. At the incredulous looks from Olivia, Abby and Quinn, he nodded. "I'm finally on board with everything. It's the plan to kill Fitz that has me more than a little confused right now. I can buy into a super-secret spy organization. I can't buy into a father wanting to murder his son like that. Even if said father is Big Jerry."
Grinning down at her little girl, Abby murmured. "Why are you so surprised? Big Jerry is a giant fucker who wants everyone to be miserable. Plus he's evil.'
Shaking his head, Stephen nodded towards Addie. "This child doesn't stand a chance."
Frowning, Abby stuck out her tongue. "You're evil."
"And you get to have a baby." Stephen shook his head, "What was the universe thinking putting you in charge of a child?" He needled her.
"Enough!" Kim snapped, stopping the bickering. "I think we should be glad Olivia's parents are super spies or whatever and focus on the who Fitz being murdered thing, because I'm so not down with that."
"No." Fitz cut in. "We're not focusing on the assassination plot or any of the rest of it. Right now we need to get back to normal. We'll increase security on everyone and then trust Maya, Eli and Huck to take care of things in regards to Doyle and Big Jerry." Olivia opened her mouth to protest, but Fitz held up a hand to stop her. "Whatever happens we can't send the American people into a premature panic. We need to keep things quiet and let the work happen behind the scenes. So on our ends it's business as usual." He repeated.
SCANDAL
The next day Olivia tiredly opened up OGA for business. She had Karen and Jerry in tow. It had been a long day at the hospital with Abby, followed by a night of incessant worrying on her part regarding Doyle and Big Jerry. Fitz was behind on work, so they likely wouldn't see him for dinner tonight. It was the perfect day to find a potential client for OGA. Setting Karen and Jerry up in the break room while she put on a kettle of tea, Olivia tried to move forward with business as usual. Fitz was right, they all needed to put on a brave face for the American people, but it was more than just that. They didn't want to tip Doyle and Jerry off that they knew what was being planned. They didn't want any unexpected surprises.
Business as usual, then.
SCANDAL
An hour later, Quinn, Harrison, Stephen and Olivia were flipping through potential files in the conference room while Karen napped and Jerry colored when there was a tap at the door. The group collectively looked up.
"You've got to be kidding me." Olivia grumbled.
Before Olivia could react any further to their unexpected visitor, Harries stood up, blocking the doorway to the conference room and Olivia. "I suggest you leave."
"How did you even get past the SSAs without us knowing?" Stephen snapped.
Pushing past Harrison, Quinn threatened. "I'm going to beat some sense into them. And then have them bodily escort you from our office.'
"Everyone, wait!" Olivia stood up. "Before we go beating up federal agents, I'm curious," she crossed her arms and set her face in a determined and unwelcoming expression, "what do you want, Edison?"
SCANDAL
Olivia paced her office, cell phone pressed to her ear as she listened to Fitz rant about Edison being a potential client. The moment she'd heard Edison's reason for being at her office, she'd called Fitz to let him know she was going to take the case. So far, though, Olivia had only mentioned Edison's name and Fitz had gone off on a tangent regarding all the ways in which Edison was the source of all evil.
Fitz wasn't entirely wrong there.
When he finally stopped to take a breath, Olivia jumped in. "Fitz, I hate him too, but he's here with an actual problem."
"And what is that? A muscle cramp in his pants only you can fix?"
Olivia snorted and rolled her eyes. "I swear you can be worse than a teenage boy sometimes. Jealousy is only hot when you punch someone. And no that is not an invitation to come down here and lay Edison out. You'd be in so much trouble and I don't want you to rat me out as your accomplice. I'd prefer to stay out of trouble with Cyrus and Abby right now, thank you very much."
"Fine." Fitz grumbled. "What's his problem?"
"A missing girl." Olivia answered.
SCANDAL
After hanging up with Fitz, Olivia joined her team in the hallway outside of the small conference room where they had Edison waiting for them. "What did Fitz say?" Quinn asked. "Can we beat him up?"
"No, we can't beat him up." Olivia answered with a sigh, "But we are going to help him. I've seen this girl's picture on the news. The police have no leads. If we don't step in and Jenny Nystrom is still alive, she doesn't stand a chance. If she isn't, well, then we need to bring her home to her parents." She looked over at her team, "Stephen, let's see what Edison knows, Quinn and Harrison, start digging."
Shifting from foot-to-foot, Harrison asked, "Should we call Huck in?"
Olivia shook her head, "He's still working on tracking Doyle down. That's more important. If it's an emergency we'll call him. For now it's just us, though."
When Harrison and Quinn scurried away to start digging into the Nystrom family, Olivia turned to face Stephen. "We're not helping him, Liv, we're helping Jenny."
Olivia nodded. "I know, I just can't say I've missed him." She admitted. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly. "Let's find out what he knows.
SCANDAL
XOXO
MAF