Happy TGIT, yall! This is a birthday gift for one of my readers as well as a little treat before the return of Scandal! Happy reading

Mama's Baby & Daddy's Moment

Olivia hadn't been overly bothered when her ultrasound appointment had to be rescheduled for two weeks later. She had a lot going on with finishing up the unpacking and setting up all of their belongings into the new house as well as tying up loose ends at work to ensure that her transition to working only three days a week went smoothly. There was a lot more to it than just telling the partners and cutting her work schedule immediately and had taken Olivia a while to get things in order. So, it had barely registered that she and Fitz wouldn't find out the gender of their unborn baby for fourteen more days. She had plenty to keep herself occupied in the meantime.

Telling Fitz would be another matter altogether though. He had been counting down the days on the calendar until the ultrasound appointment. He was going to be upset.

She met him at the door when he came home from work with a big smile on her face. His face registered shock when he saw her and he put his hands on her shoulders and asked, "What's the matter? Who died?"

She jerked her head back and shot him a questioning look. "What? No one died. Can't I just greet you at the door like a good wife?"

Fitz looked around the living before returning his gaze to the short confused woman standing in front of him. "Quick, what was the shape of the business card I gave you the day we met?"

"A...cupcake?" Olivia said, suddenly questioning her answer. "Why are you asking me that?"

"Because you never meet me at the door all smiles. I thought you had been subjected to an alien abduction and been duplicated and replaced. Or had a lobotomy today in your free time?" Now that she had a look of pure confusion on her face, he grinned at her and pecked her lips. "How was your day, babe?" He asked as he rubbed her growing belly.

"Apparently a lot saner than yours? Alien abduction? Really, Fitz?" Lincoln's babbling could be heard from the baby monitor that was sitting on one of the end tables and she sighed heavily. "I was hoping to get this last living room box emptied before he woke up."

Fitz pulled his little exasperated wife into his arms and held her for a moment. He kissed her temple and said, "I'll go get him while you finish that box. Then we'll make dinner together. And if you're good later, I'll run a bath for both of us." His hand went back to rubbing her belly. "How are you feeling today?"

"Big. I don't know why, but I'm bigger and more tired with this pregnancy than the last one. All the books say it's normal but look at this!" She pointed to her belly.

Fitz bent down and planted a kiss on it. "I think you look beautiful. And if the books all say it's normal, then it's probably fine."

"At least this one seems to be going quicker than with Lincoln." As if on cue, Lincoln could be heard saying "dadadada" on repeat.

Olivia watched Fitz's face split into a huge proud grin and she couldn't help but smile with him. "I'll never get sick of hearing him say that."

"He'd better learn to say 'momma' soon. Or better yet, I'm going to teach this baby how to say the right word first and make you wait for it."

"Pffff. Liv, this baby will say dada first because it is the right word." Fitz said confidently.

The babbling was beginning to turn to whining and Olivia shot him a look. "I guess dada gets boring after a while, huh?"

"Smartass."

Fitz started for the stairs to get his mini me talking genius when Olivia called out, "We need to talk later though."

He immediately stopped, turned around, and came back to the same spot he had just been. "I knew there was something! What's up?" He kept his eyes on the stairs, knowing Lincoln was waiting for someone to come and get him.

"You're such a conspiracy theorist all of a sudden. It's nothing major. Honest. We'll talk about it later. Go get my baby before he thinks we have left him home alone."

He slapped his hands on his cheeks with his mouth in an o. Olivia rolled her eyes at him and gently shoved him back towards the stairs. "You're the best." She called out before grabbing the box and pulling items out of it.

Upstairs, Fitz picked up a stinky Lincoln, who was happy to see his daddy. He handed his son a clean diaper from the stacker and laid him down on the changing table. "You stink, dude. I thought we talked about this? You save the yucky diapers for your momma. What gives this time?"

Lincoln looked up at his father, listening intently, as he turned the diaper over in his hand.

Fitz opened Lincoln's onesie, not excited to open the diaper. "Your momma thinks your brother or sister is going to say momma first. I'm counting on you to teach him or her to say dada. It's important, Link. Almost vital. Dada is much funner to say than momma."

Lincoln stared at his dad as he talked and blinked his blue eyes.

"I mean, momma is amazing, but she's not as amazing as me. Don't tell her I said that. I'll deny it if you do. Us guys gotta stick together." Fitz peeled back the tabs of the diaper and looked inside. "Lincoln! Come on man!"

Fitz picked up his son's chubby little legs and noticed that the diaper was full and the contents inside had run up to the middle of his back. Fitz let out a frustrated sigh, making Lincoln laugh. "It's really not funny, Link. This is gross." But he kept making the noise just to hear his son laugh over and over.

Once he had Lincoln cleaned up, Fitz looked down at him and said, "I think you need a bath, stinky boy. Do you want dada to give you one? Or momma?" Fitz smirked openly, knowing what the answer would be.

Lincoln looked up at his dad and was quiet for a minute. He smiled at him, knowing he was about to mess with his head. "Dadamamamamamamama."

Lincoln noticed that his father wasn't quite as confident all of a sudden. His daddy had a shocked expression on his face as he looked down at him. He heard footsteps and turned his head sharply towards the door. Man, she was fast! There she was. Standing there listening to him say her name. Of course she was crying. She'd call them happy tears to daddy but I don't know what that means. I stopped talking.

Olivia picked a naked grinning Lincoln up from the changing table as his legs kicked her belly excitedly. "What did you just say, little man?" She asked through her tears. Lincoln laid his head on his mother's shoulder, completely content now that she was holding him.

She rubbed his bare back and gently swayed him back and forth in her arms. "What did my cute little man just say?"

Lincoln picked up his head and looked at her. He grinned, showing off his tooth proudly and said, "mamamamamama" on repeat.

Olivia held him closer, putting her hand on the back of his head of curls. "That's what I thought you said sweet boy. What do you want for dinner tonight? Whatever it is, you can have it."

That seemed to snap Fitz out of his daze. "I offered to buy him a car and you're gonna let him pick out dinner?" He reached his arms out in his son's direction and encouraged him to come to his father. But Lincoln was in his happy place, in his mother's arms. "Link! You're killing me son!"

"Fitz? Would you go grab momma's baby a warm face cloth please?" She was gloating some and it felt good. She turned her attention back to Lincoln and said, "After you are clean your daddy is going to make us some spaghetti. And after dinner, you're going to need a bath. I'm going to let you stay up a little longer tonight since you've been extra good." She kissed his temple and cleaned him up when Fitz came back with the face cloth.

When his diaper had been changed and a clean onesie was back on, Fitz took Lincoln and put his arm around his wife. "It's the best feeling in the world, isn't it? Our big boy has two words in his vocabulary now! I wonder what the third one will be?"

Olivia looked up at Fitz with sad eyes and laid her head on his chest. "He's growing up too fast. He's practically a toddler now."

Fitz chuckled. "Liv, he's not even a year old yet. He's still a baby. Besides," Fitz pulled his arm from her waist and rubbed her belly again. "We still have another baby on the way. My plan is to keep babies in this house."

"That's an adorable thought, but I'm not a baby machine, nor do I want to be. This one right here might be the last, even if it's a boy." Olivia had no idea where that had come from, but she felt peace about it once she had said the words out loud.

Fitz was a bit shocked but covered it well. She said might, so that meant the subject was open for discussion. He planned to do just that another day. "Hey, the ultrasound is tomorrow. I'm pretty excited to find out what our rapidly growing bundle of joy is."

"That was what I wanted to talk to you about. The appointment was pushed back two weeks." She was tickling Lincoln while Fitz held him and enjoying him giggle at her. "What?!" He asked sharply, startling Lincoln.

She took Lincoln from his father's arms and gave him a smile, while she talked to her husband in an animated voice. "Calm down! There was a scheduling conflict and I got pushed back a few weeks. It's no big..."

"It's a very big deal, Liv! We were supposed to find out what we're having tomorrow! I had my heart set on it! I planned on us finally picking out furniture and paint colors for the nursery. And names. We haven't even tossed out the first baby name yet! We had a list of them by this point in your pregnancy with Lincoln. We have a lot to do and not a whole lot of time to get it done!"

Olivia chuckled and rubbed her husband's arm. "I know you're disappointed. I'm sorry, babe. But we can do all of those things in two weeks. Life in this house flies by, so two weeks will be here before you know it! Besides, we can start making a list of names tonight if you want?"

Fitz knew she was right, and he really wasn't intentionally having a meltdown like a toddler, but he really did have his heart set on finding out if they were having a boy or a girl tomorrow. Why were doctors such pains in the ass, he wondered to himself? At least they could pick out names tonight. That was something. He kissed the top of his wife's head. "Starting a name list will be fun. We can make one for a boy and one for a girl. It could get interesting?" Olivia nodded and he added, "I'll go start the spaghetti. I'll see you two downstairs in a bit."

Dinner had been great and it was obvious by his sauce covered face, hands, and high chair tray that Lincoln was a huge fan too. He enjoyed picking up the limp noodles and stuffing them into his mouth and his parents enjoyed watching his brows furrow every time he accidentally dropped one. When he did get the pasta into his mouth, Lincoln would happily clap his messy hands together, causing his parents to laugh.

He made it known that he was done when Lincoln started throwing the few pieces he hadn't eaten on the floor one at a time and leaning over the side to watch them land. Olivia and Fitz took turns telling him to stop, and eventually he began whining and rubbed his dirty hands in his hair. Olivia stood up. "I'll go put him in the tub."

Fitz went to his wife and pecked her lips. "I'll put him in the tub. You finish eating your dinner in peace." When she started to protest, Fitz put his index finger on her lips and added, "I'll let you be the good guy and give him after bath cuddles and put on his pajamas."

Lincoln continued to whine while his parents talked, until his daddy removed the filthy tray, unbuckled him, and lifted him high into the air. "Link. Chill out dirty boy. Dada is going to take you for a bath." Lincoln kicked his legs anxiously, looked down at his father and said, "dadadada."

Fitz brought Lincoln down in front of him, but at arms length, and chuckled at him. "You really are the best male Grant. But right now, you are the dirtiest male Grant and daddy's boy need a bath. Tell momma bye."

Lincoln looked at his mother and grinned as drool fell from his lips. "Mamamama" he chirped happily. Olivia waved to the small Fitz replica.

"Bye, baby." She said waving at him. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Come on, Link. I'm going to have to bleach the tub before I give your mother her bath later on." He sent Olivia a lusty wink and headed off to the bathroom with the messy boy in tow.

"And then, the little frog juuuuuumped onto the lily pad. His mommy was very proud of him." Olivia was reading a bedtime story to Lincoln and he was looking at the brightly colored pictures in the hard paged book. "See the frog, Lincoln? He is so brave!"

She had eaten the rest of her dinner and carried the dirty dishes to the sink afterwards. She had just finished wiping down the table when Fitz carried a wet and wiggly Lincoln wrapped up in a towel. "I've got a little package for mama." Fitz had announced, and handed the clean grinning curly headed angel over. Fitz leaned toward her ear and added, "I have a big package for you later." As he passed their son to his mother, Fitz grazed her breast purposefully. He enjoyed watching the shocked expression cross her face.

Olivia had taken Lincoln up to his room and found a pair of pajamas that had frogs on them. She dried him off and put a diaper on his tiny hiney, followed by his pjs. "Momma loves a clean Lincoln. You smell so good I could gobble you up." She got in his neck and made funny noises, causing him to laugh and bring his shoulder up to his ear to prevent her from doing it again.

She brought him into her bed and grabbed a few books from the bedside table and read them to him while Fitz cleaned up the kitchen. He eventually joined them, and pulled Lincoln onto his lap as Olivia continued reading the short book. "All done." Olivia sang to him.

"Link? What does the froggy say?" Fitz asked him.

Olivia brought up her fingers and wiggled them in front of Lincoln's face. "The froggy says ribbit ribbit." And then she tickled him and Lincoln cackled loudly.

"Whaaaat does a cow say?" Fitz asked.

Lincoln cut his eyes to his mother, who was ready with the tickle fingers. He burrowed into his father's chest, hoping she wouldn't get him.

"The cow says mooooooo." Olivia said and tickled him again. His infectious giggle had both of his parents laughing along with him.

"What does a duck say, Link?"

Lincoln looked at his mother's wiggling fingers and even though they weren't even touching him, he started to giggle and squirm closer to his father. Watching his reaction and attempts to hide from Olivia made Fitz laugh.

"The duck says quack quack." Olivia tickled. Curls flied everywhere as he laughed in his father's arms.

"What does Lincoln say?" Fitz asked.

Instead of squirming and preparing for the inevitable, Lincoln shyly picked his head up off his daddy's chest and looked over at his mother. There was only one answer that would surely keep him from getting tickled. So, he said it. "Mamamamama."

Olivia scooped him up off of his father's chest and held him close in a warm hug. "That's right, my sweet boy. Mama looooooves Lincoln."

Fitz watched them for a moment and then plucked him out of his mother's arms and laid him on the bed. He leaned over Lincoln and, in a funny voice asked, "What did you say? Lincoln doesn't say mama. Lincoln says dada!" And he gently tickled his son, wishing he could bottle his laughter.

"I need to eat some piggies!" Fitz picked up Lincoln's foot and pretended to eat his toes, and Lincoln laughed so hard Fitz thought he stopped breathing.

Lincoln rolled over and started crawling towards his mother. She wasn't as crazy as daddy.

"Hey! Where are you going? Gimme those other piggies!" He picked up Link's other foot and pretended to eat them too. Lincoln started off laughing but then began to whine when he grew tired of the game. Fitz held Lincoln in his arms and cuddled him. "Dada loves Link." And he kissed his chubby cheek.

Olivia took Lincoln and stood up from their bed. "I'm going to go put him to bed."

"And I'm going to go clean the tub from Mr. Spaghetti's mess. Then I'm going to wash you up and get you dirty." Olivia chuckled at him and shook her head as she walked away from him.

Upstairs in the nursery, Olivia settled Lincoln in her arms but on top of her stomach, and began rocking him. He sat up and looked around for his bottle, causing his mother to smile proudly at her smart boy. "I didn't forget" she said as she showed him the bottle. He reached his pudgy hands for it and drew the end of it into his mouth.

He looked up at her and listened to her quietly sing 'You Are My Sunshine' to him. Every so often he would stop sucking and reach his right hand up to his mother's face. She would lean down so he could touch it and Olivia turned her face to kiss his palm. Then he would remember the task at hand and greedily drink some more.

Eventually, his eyes became heavy and slowly began closing. Then they would pop open as if he thought he was missing something. Olivia rubbed his curls and the process would start all over again. Until the beautiful blue eyes stayed closed and his breathing evened out.

Olivia put him on her shoulder and patted out a lone burp from him. Content with that, she stood up and laid him in his bed. When Lincoln began fidgeting in his bed, Olivia remembered Fitz's advice and patted his back. He stilled after a few moments and Olivia lifted the side rail, turned on the monitor, and left his room.

She went to the bedroom and saw no sign of her husband. Remembering his claim of going to wash out the tub, Olivia went into their bathroom. Not only had he cleaned out the tub, he was sitting in it. The tub was full of bubbles and Fitzgerald Grant was leaning back against the edge, eyes closed, wet hair, looking hotter than he had a right to. He was taking advantage of the second trimester. Big time!

As she openly eyed his long form folded up in the garden tub and enjoyed very specific dirty thoughts of him, Fitz's baritone voice broke the silence. "Are you going to stare at me all night or are you going to get in here with me?"

Her curious brown eyes flicked quickly up to his. They were still closed. "I like staring at you. Bubble bath Fitz is very sexy."

That made his eyes open. He looked over at her and grinned. "Yea? How sexy?" She shrugged.

"Maybe sexy enough for me to give you a strip tease before I get in there with you?"

Fitz quickly sat straight up in the tub, sloshing water over the side. "Do it." He ordered.

Olivia grinned at him and pulled her black leggings down and stepped out of them. She picked them up between her index finger and thumb, held them out away from her body, and dropped them to the floor. She brought her index finger to her lips and traced them with it before pushing it into her mouth and sucking on it. Fitz's eyes grew wide and he leaned on the side of the tub, mesmerized by his tiny temptress.

She dragged her wet finger down her chin, between her breasts and landed on the hem of her t-shirt. She grabbed the edge and slowly pulled it up over her head and dropped it on the floor. Olivia's gaze went back to her husband's and she licked her lips as she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra. When it fell to the floor, she ran her hands down her sides and hooked her fingertips into the sides of her panties. She covered her mouth shyly and turned around. About the time she started to drag them down, she stood up abruptly and her hands went to her stomach.

Fitz jumped out of the tub in an instant. "What's the matter, Liv?" Olivia stood there with her hands still on her belly and waited. "Liv?" Fitz asked impatiently. "What is it?"

"I think the baby just kicked." She whispered with a smile on her face.

"Really? Already? That's my gifted child in the..."

"Shhhh! Put your hand on my belly and see if you can feel it. If the little thing will do it...OH! Did you feel that?" She asked excitedly.

Fitz squatted down in front of her and started talking to her stomach. "Hello in there. This is your daddy. I know you are female now without a doubt, because you have the most terrible timing ever! But we can't wait to meet you. Even if you somehow are a boy. We love you." He kissed her belly and then stood up, grinning at his wife. "Our daughter just made herself known, Liv."

"Fitz!" Olivia warned. "Don't go getting your hopes up. You had your heart set on having a girl the last time and we ended up with a son. Don't do this to yourself. It's still fifty-fifty."

Fitz pecked her lips and removed her underwear and led her into the tub. "This one IS a girl, Liv. I just know it."

"Here we go." She mumbled. She stilled when the movement inside her body happened again. "Whoever is in there, he or she sure is active already."

Fitz pulled his wife into the tub and settled her back against his chest and so she could stretch out in the bath. "Okay. Names. We need boy and girl names. Just to cover our bases. Let's start with boy names. I say we make a list of ten names for each gender and whittle them down as we go along in the pregnancy. What do you think?"

"I think you're crazy for getting your heart set on a girl again. I think you need to be open minded. Ten names each is a good idea though. "She breathed deeply and enjoyed the feeling of the warm water on her skin. "Boy names, huh? What did you have in mind?"

"The names I like are Connor, Lucas, Jaxon, Christopher, Mason."

"Those are cute. I like those. The ones I have been thinking about are Rory, Aiden, Carter, Zachary, and for obvious reasons, Hamilton."

"That's not a bad list either. Hamilton is interesting." Fitz began rubbing circles on Olivia's belly and asked, "What about girl names? Have you thought of any? Because I have."

"Remember when we were going for our ultrasound for Lincoln to find out if he was a boy or girl?"

"Of course. Like it was yesterday."

"And do you remember me telling you that if he was a girl the name had already been decided on?"

"Yea. What the hell was that all about? I never did find out what the name was? And then...we got caught up in having a son and it was never mentioned again."

"Are you telling me that you don't have any idea what the only girl's name could possibly be?"

"Are you telling me that I should know what it is?"

"Yes."

"Same answer. Yes."

Olivia got on her knees between his legs and turned around to look at him. "If and when we have a daughter, there is only one name that will be mentioned. There will be no need for a list of names, because her name is already decided."

"But I don't know what that name is and I feel like, as the father, I should know." Fitz was feeling confused and a tad bit frustrated by his wife's riddles.

Olivia smiled and put her wet bubbly hands on his cheeks. "Her name will be Katherine."

Fitz stilled and looked into his wife's eyes. Tears started to form in his stormy blues but he wasn't concerned about that. Nor did he care. His perfect wife had been holding onto the name of his favorite person from childhood. Saving it for the moment when they had a daughter of their own. She hadn't forgotten about the person who mattered most in his life when he was a boy. And wasn't that remarkable really? His cousin and best friend Katherine who had died from leukemia at the age of eleven. She wanted to give their possible daughter her name. Olivia was a wonder.

"We still don't know what we're having, but if it is a girl, we could call her Katie. If it's not too painful for you? If it is, I understand completely."

Tears were falling down his cheeks and his bottom lip trembled, but Fitz silently nodded. He pulled Olivia close to his chest and held onto her. "I can't believe you remembered her name. I think that would be perfect. And I think Katie would have loved knowing someone was named after her. Someone that I love."

"I wanted to name our first daughter, if we ever had one, after Katie ever since you told me the story about her. I wanted to honor her somehow and let the name bring joy back to you. To not have you think of sadness and sickness every time you heard the name. I hope you are okay with that, because I pretty much made my mind up on it already." She chuckled.

"Thank you, Liv. To know that you want to name our daughter after such a remarkably strong and fun girl means the absolute world to me." He rubbed her belly again. "Katherine Grant. I know she'll live up to the name. I love you both so much."

"I love you too." She pulled away from him and smiled. "But seriously, stop getting your heart set on a..."

Fitz kissed her softly, with his hand still on her stomach. When he pulled back he looked into her eyes and said, "This baby is a girl. I know it is. Don't be a smartass and remind me of how I knew Lincoln was a girl too. Let me have my moment, Liv however short lived it is."

Olivia shook her head back and forth, but was grinning at him. "Okay. I've only got to deal with this for two weeks and then we'll know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Until then, you can have your moment."

"Thank you, Counselor. Compromise is a beautiful thing in marriage." Fitz said with a smile as he kissed the top of her head. "I think we should paint our daughter's room pink. In fact, there should be pink everywhere! Pink toys, pink clothes, pink bedding. It should look like pink cotton candy exploded in her room."

"Oh my god." She muttered.