Chapter 26
The debacle with Mellie had left her cold. Olivia didn't like scenes and she had been a part of a big one. She had let Mellie gloat her into going to a place she shouldn't have gone. It was just all so senseless. To forge the signature of the President of the United States, it was the epitome of White female privilege. She believed she could do anything and just flitter along as if it were nothing. How in the hell was she going to fix this mess?
She had gone back to OPA and locked herself in her office. She needed to focus on her options, which were not many to thwart Sally. She was coming for the Fitz' Presidency hard. Mellie had given her the ammo she needed to rally the cabinet and the Congressional whips around her, if she chose to use it. And there was no doubt she would. She had already gotten herself sworn in as acting-President; it would be just a formality to change the title once she proved Mellie's letter was a forgery. Fitzgerald Grant was not awake and Sally knew it. That little phone call was just the beginning!
Sally would come for them all. She would want Mellie, Cyrus, and herself to suffer. Even though she had jumped back in as Communication Director, Sally had hinted as soon as she became President she would choose her own Director. She would always be part of the Grant team in Sally's eyes. She would see them all charged with high crimes and misdemeanors! Cyrus had sucker-punched Sally the night was Fitz was shot, shaming her in front of everyone. He had thrown her ass right out of the Oval declaring there was only one President and she wasn't it. It was classic Cyrus; he considered the office his and he wasn't in the mood for a usurper that night!
Back to the Mellie fiasco, it had felt good though to finally tell her what she thought of her and to defend her right to love Fitz. No he hadn't been free when their affair started, he still wasn't. But the marriage was shattered beyond repair. She saw it from day one and yet Mellie had tried to blame her solely for the demise. Mellie and Fitz destroyed their loveless marriage themselves. You can't build a marriage on a scaffolding of lies. For his part Fitz should have walked away years ago and maybe he would have been free when they met. So in the meantime she had become a mistress. She had thrown down the gauntlet though; she wouldn't take anymore of the name-calling from Mellie. Fitz had been defending her for years, now she would defend herself.
How long could she reasonably keep Sally from the truth? She could keep her out of the room. Dr. Harper to his credit had agreed to have anyone at all in the room with President, it wasn't his first inclination. But he had agreed to allow immediate family, his Chief of Staff, and his closest advisor aka his mistress in from day one. He would keep Sally out if asked until she got the courts involved. Once that happened the vultures would start circling the hospital more than they were already. God, Mellie was so fucking stupid! Olivia had come up with what she thought were two viable scenarios to fend Sally off for now. One of the two just might work.
She closed her eyes and sighed. She had left her apartment with her heart in a flutter when Edison had told her Fitz was awake. She didn't even try to hide her feelings about it. The President was awake she had to go. Edison could make whatever he wanted to out of it, and he had. He had accused her of sleeping with the President. She denied it. Who she was screwing was none of his business.
He had sensed the truth she could tell. Well guess what, she didn't give a shit. She was done with Edison and his one trick pony. She didn't love him and he made her feel absolutely nothing between the sheets. That was the fault of Fitzgerald Grant; he had ruined her for other men. Once he had showed her what sexual love was supposed to be, how could she settle for anything less? Edison had taken his stuff and his grandmother's ring and vacated her place. She had her key back and she was sleeping well on the nights she spent at home.
Most nights since the assassination attempt she had gone to the hospital and would spent two or three more hours with Fitz in the wee hours of the morning. She would just climb into bed and lie beside him. Sometimes it was all just talking to him. Other times she would just watch him until she would fall asleep. She would set her clock for six o'clock and start her day all over. Speaking of the hospital, she was going over there tonight it was where she wanted to be.
Fitz wasn't awake as she had prayed he would be. She would have to set her Plan A into motion. A diversionary tactic would buy them a little more time. The Prince of Tasmar, Telief Omar Dasneer, better known as "Leif" to his friends was a very good friend of hers. His country played a very big role in the preservation peace in the Middle East. He had agreed to call the acting President and discuss a "clear and present danger" to that peace. He would advise the acting President that he needed to come to America right away and discuss some very disturbing news with her. There was nothing Sally wanted more right now other than Fitz not to wake up, than an international crisis that placed her in the spotlight.
On arrival at the hospital she started talking to Fitz right away. She could reach him, she knew she could. "Fitz it is me Livvie. I am so flustered right now. You are not going to believe what Mellie has done. She has written a letter to Sally Langston asking for your job back, she forged your signature Fitz. She is incredible. I can't take her any more Fitz. I realize now that the hate Mellie has in her heart supersedes any reality. If she will not let you go, then she had better get accustomed to me and my scent too. I told her that Fitz, I basically told her I was your woman and I don't feel even a little ashamed. She doesn't deserve the civility I afforded her as your wife. So I am done with all that. But I need you to wake up so we can stop this madness. Sally Langston has to go back to being #SecondHandSally, you are the President, you have to wake up and help me!"
She climbed into the bed with the President and just stared at him. She was going to try to reach him through their telepathy again. Dr. Harper said he was weaning him off of the meds that had been keeping him comatose. She wondered if she would make a breakthrough tonight. "Fitz wake up. I need you. Fitz can you hear me? It's Saturday and it is supposed to be a beautiful day. I wish I could share it with you. Open your eyes Fitz look at me!"
The voice it was back. It was calm and it was soothing. He loved that voice, he was sure of it. Every day he listened for it. Who was it? Was it the girl in his dreams the one he remembered kissing? He remembered his mouth on her, all over her licking and sucking at her like she was candy, what and who was she? He couldn't understand her words they were warbled and distorted like they were in a form of slow motion.
There it was that touch, he knew he that touch, he craved it very much. God he wanted to see her. What in the hell was her name, he had to know her? Open your eyes, open your goddamned eyes! He was trying with everything he had. His hands would do nothing. Was he paralyzed? What had happened to him?
Olivia was no longer talking she was just lightly touching his chest running her fingers through the hair on his chest. She touched his precious jaw line and she just held onto his hand and rubbed. "I love you Fitz more than anything."
He put all the effort he had into moving his hand within her hand, he needed to touch her. It seemed imperative, he had to do it. And he did. Olivia was rubbing his hand when suddenly she felt it, his hand moved within her own. She looked down at his hand. His fingers were outstretched, they were moving and she could see it! She took that hand and held it up and then she put her fingers through his and she waited.
Her eyes were fixed on their two hands. She was waiting for something else; she needed to know he was there with her. "Fitz can you hear me. Fitz can hear me please open your mind to me. Speak to me, please; I need you to speak me." The President didn't speak out loud nor did he send her a message through telepathy. But something happened that made Olivia Pope fixer extraordinaire and slayer of dragons weep. The President's extended fingers closed around hers and squeezed. It wasn't a gentle squeeze it was grippingly tight. Olivia closed her fingers around his and she squeezed back.
This was reminiscent of the first night they held hands on a bus in rural Georgia. He was coming back to her she knew that as sure as her name was Olivia Pope. Fitz knew she was here. She started to cry then in big heaping sobs. She couldn't help herself. She had been so strong through all of this. Her moments of grief had been silent and personal. Tears were often streaming down her face but never had she wept and wept aloud for anyone to hear. She knew right at this moment that the doctors may be watching her and without a doubt the Secret Service right beyond the door they all would hear her sobs. She didn't care she cried on.
She was right. Tom was right outside that door and he heard the weeping. It broke his heart. He knew how much Ms. Pope loved the President. He had been expecting her breakdown long before this. She would call if she needed him. He stood steady at his post. Dr. Harper had risen from his seat in the back to see what was going on. Every vital sign on his patient had risen. There was a spike in EEG numbers, a good spike, an encouraging spike. He went to the observation window. She was there still. She was on the bed. He could see she was sobbing. The volume was not on. It didn't have to be. He knew the sobs would be heart-wrenching.
She was holding his hand and he, the President seemed to have a grasp on hers. Their hands were entwined. The optic was a sight to behold. She was kissing the entwined hand so reverently as she sobbed. It wasn't lost on him the symbolism that he saw. The President's hand white and larger swamped the small brown one. He turned from the sight, her shoulders racking and the pitiful sobbing should be private. The President was returning to this world. It would be sooner rather than later he surmised. He was pleased with his work. Now if and when the President awaken would be anywhere near the man he was? He hoped so!
Olivia couldn't take her eyes from their joined hands. She was watching hoping he would squeeze her hand again. He hadn't but he was still holding hers tightly. He hadn't responded to her pleas, the oral emotional one or the telepathic one. But he knew she was there and he didn't want her to let go, she knew this. She had cried her heart out. She didn't like to cry but these were tears she had held in for too long. She took a calming breath and finally took her eyes off of their hands that were still tightly wound. She looked at his face. It was pale, it was bruised, there was stubble on his perfect jaw, and his eyes were still closed in sleep. He was in there, Fitzgerald Grant, the man she had chosen to love. She would bring him back to her, she had to. "I am here Fitz. I am here!"
The pain in his head had come back with a vengeance as he tried to respond to the woman calling out to him. His name was obviously Fitz and he was special to this woman and she was special to him he could feel that. She had wanted him to speak to her and he had wanted to. He need to. He needed to because he loved her. He knew that now. He belonged to her and he hoped like hell she belonged to him.
She was beautiful. And her smile it was everything. When she came to him in his dreams it was heaven. Open your eyes Fitz and speak to her. He was trying so hard. His hand it had moved so he had reached out to her and he moved his fingers. At least he thought he had. And then she grasped his hand and meshed her fingers with his. He closed his hand around hers instinctively and squeezed with all he had.
He couldn't let go because Livvie needed him. "Livvie." "Livvie, was her name was Livvie. Olivia. Oh my god what has happened? "Olivia!" "Olivia!" "Livvie!" He wasn't speaking out loud but he was calling her name because he remembered. He remembered his life. This revelation came as Olivia Pope was crying her heart out and for some mysterious reason she didn't hear the President as he called out to her. And then the pain came and he swirled into oblivion again.
Dr. Harper seeing the President's agitation decided to reduce the President's obvious stress by medicating him and putting him back to sleep. Tomorrow he had plans to bring the President out of his comatose state completely. He had informed Mrs. Grant, Olivia Pope, and Cyrus not to visit the President today because he would be doing testing and evaluations today starting just before noon. The battery of test would go on for about four to six hours. The earliest he suggested anyone come by would be probably around seven or eight tonight.
The effect of the medication was quick and to the point. The President's grip on Olivia's hand slackened and then it was no more. It devastated Olivia for a moment and then she smiled. He had held her hand, no he had squeezed her hand and he had not let go until he had to. She got up from the bed and looked loving at him. He was coming back to her. Soon he would be back and maybe she wouldn't have to use Plan A or B!