Enjoy ….

Fitz walked down the hall to Olivia's apartment and knocked the door and waited for Abby to open the door. He spoke with the agents that were guarding her and he knew she was going to be home soon.

He waited as he heard footsteps approach the other side of the door and then the door opened.

"Mr. President," Abby said with her mouth hung open in shock.

"Hello Abigail, can I come in?"

"Um sure, of course."

Abby jumped to the side, allowing Fitz to enter and then she closed the door behind him.

"Does she know?"

"I'm sorry sir I don't know what you mean?"

"Yes you do."

Abby sighed.

"No, she doesn't know."

"I called her yesterday, she didn't answer."

"I had her phone, she doesn't know you called," Abby admitted.

Fitz cleared his throat in an attempt to make his voice less angry.

"Do you really think that was your place?"

"Yes, I do. I know why you're here, you want her to operate on him. I'm really sorry about what happened to your son but you can't put this type of pressure on her."

"That's for her to decide."

"She's gonna say yes, even if she feels like she can't do it and what if she fails, what if she freaks out in the middle of surgery and your son gets worse, that will destroy her."

"Abby you don't have a child so you don't understand and I don't expect you to but I'm must admit that I'm pretty disappointed that you would go out of your way to keep this from her especially considering that it's my son on the line."

At that moment Olivia was right outside and she opened her door and saw Fitz standing in the foyer.

His back was turned to her at first but once realized she was behind him, he turned and faced her.

When Fitz turned around and saw her, she momentarily took his breath away, it was like the first time seeing her all over again, that was how much he missed her but he composed himself, his trip was about Gerry.

"Uhm hi."

She was so nervous she felt as if her heart was going explode in her chest.

"Hi," Fitz returned.

She noticed he was staring between her and Sahara.

"This is Sahara, she's my goddaughter."

At that same moment Sahara wiggled out of Olivia arms and Olivia gently let her down to the floor. Sahara walked over to Fitz and stretched for him to pick her up.

"Up, up," she commanded for Fitz to lift her up.

Olivia ran over and picked her before Fitz could.

"I'm sorry," she said to Fitz, "Abby can you watch her for a second."

Abby walked over and took Sahara.

"Sure."

Olivia turned back to Fitz.

"Is everything okay, I mean- did something happen to Gerry, one of the reporters asked me if I was going to operate on him?"

"Yes, that's why I came here, I need your help."

Fitz's tone was still very formal.

"Gerry had an accident, he broke his back and he's paralyzed from his waist down."

He could see her panicking beneath the surface because she was anticipating having to operate.

"Oh my god, when did this happen?"

"Yesterday. "

"Yesterday? Why didn't you call me, I would have came to you."

"I did call you, last night?"

"Last night? Abby had my phone last night,"

Upon saying the words Olivia realized what Abby did.

"I understand that you might not be able to help him but Gerry doesn't, I need you talk to him. He seems to think only you can fix this, I tried to tell him but he won't listen, if you can talk to him and let him understand then maybe he can try to accept this and try to adjust."

Olivia stared at him for what seemed forever before she spoke.

"I'm so sorry that this happened Fitz, I really am. I can take a look at him and see if I can help him."

"Are you sure? I know it's a lot to just pop up and throw this at you."

"No, it's okay, I swear."

She hated seeing him hurt so she trying to be as reassuring as possible.

Fitz nodded.

"Let me just say bye to Sahara?"

"No of course, take your time."

By now Sahara was playing in her little corner, minding her own business.

"Hara?" Olivia called and Sahara came running over with her fluffy pigtails hanging off her head.

The one thing Olivia loved most about her was how happy she always was, her joy was infectious and whenever Olivia was around her, she couldn't be sad so for that reason, Olivia kept her around as much as possible.

"Hey sweetie, Liv has to go somewhere with her friend for a little bit okay. Can I get you something before I go?"

"Fuff fuff."

Olivia smiled.

"Okay, I'll get you some fuff fuff, I'll be right back."

She walked to the kitchen and grabbed Sahara one of the chocolate muffins she was so obsessed with and then headed back to the living room.

"Here you go pumpkin."

Olivia stooped down and handed Sahara the muffin.

"Gimme kiss?"

Sahara stretched and gave her a slobbery kiss on the nose and ran off with her muffin.

"Abby I'm gonna call Simone and have her come pick her up in a little while okay."

"Sure."

Olivia knew she needed to talk to Abby about her reason for not telling her Fitz called but that moment wasn't the right time.

She turned to Fitz.

"Ready?" He asked.

She grabbed her purse that she had dropped to floor when she walked in earlier and then they both headed out.

By the time they got to lobby, the press pool outside had gotten substantially more chaotic but unlike before, there was a clear path to the cars, no doubt the doing of the secret service.

Fitz walked ahead and held the door open for her and waited for her to enter. Just like before, the reporters shouted the most uncomfortable questions at her.

"Does this mean you agreed to help the president?"

"Do you think you can help the president after the incident?"

She walked as quickly as she could to the car and once she was inside and the motorcade pulled off, she let out a breath she felt like she'd been holding forever.

She was sure Fitz heard the questions they were throwing at her but he said nothing. It was a very awkward but quick drive to the downtown Manhattan heliport; from the heliport they flew to the military gate at JFK and boarded Air Force one.

If it had been three months ago, she would have freaked out at the idea of getting in a plane but now it wasn't so bad. The plane was huge and she wondered where to sit but then she saw Fitz sit at a table by the window so she sat opposite to him.

Tom approached them moments later.

"Sir, we're preparing for take off momentarily."

"Okay thank you Tom."

There were some aides and workers on the plane, Olivia had no idea what they were doing until a woman with a stack of papers walked over and sat beside Fitz. She looked to be in her late thirties, she had short, dirty blonde hair and green eyes, she was attractive but not jaw droppingly beautiful. She briefly glanced at Olivia and then averted her eyes back to Fitz.

"Mr. President I had a few things that Mr. Beene asked that I go over with you."

Fitz leaned back and crossed his legs.

"Sure."

"In regards to the group of senators you were suppose to dine with tonight-"

"Have Sally meet with the senators."

"Okay sir and also your phone call with president Pineda?"

"Get ambassador Hayes to sit in on the call for me."

She took notes as Fitz spoke.

"Your hunting trip with NRA?"

"Cancel it."

"Your appearance at the fundraising dinner-"

"Send Sally."

"Okay everything else Mr. Beene said he's taking care."

"Thank you Lena."

It was quite obvious to Olivia that Lena was attracted to Fitz; based on her body language.

"Can I get you something to eat?" She asked Fitz.

"No, I'm fine. Are you hungry Olivia?"

"No thank you, I'm fine."

Fitz turned his attention back the Lena.

"I think we're good here Lena but thank you."

She nodded.

"Yes, Mr. President."

She stood up and walked off.

Shortly after the plane took off and they were in the air.

Olivia had a lot to think about, she knew she couldn't commit to helping Gerry until she knew exactly what type of injury he had sustained but she was also a little afraid because she knew that if it was something that she could operate on theoretically then she was pretty sure she was going to do it. She didn't doubt that she knew what she was doing, she doubted her ability to perform a 10-13 hour surgery without some sort of major anxiety attack or meltdown. There was no tolerance for mistakes in her line of work and she couldn't afford to make one, especially not with Gerry.

She was so caught up that she didn't notice Fitz staring at her arm. She looked down and notice that her sleeve slipped down leaving her wrist exposed and revealing her scars. She pulled down her sleeve quickly and she thought he would say something but he didn't he just turned away, which made the 1 hour flight so much more awkward and uncomfortable.

Once they landed at the airstrip, they transferred to marine one and flew to the White House where they were greeted by the press corp but this time, they weren't close enough to yell questions. From the White House, they drove to James Madison hospital.

She called Stephen on her way to the hospital just to make sure he was on duty and by the time they arrived, Stephen was waiting for them outside of Gerry's room.

"Liv?"

Stephen said as he stretched his arms out and hugged her.

"Hey Stephen."

"I half want to kill you but I also realize now is not a good time so I'll wait."

Olivia smiled nervously but didn't respond.

Fitz cleared his throat.

"Mr. President," Stephen greeted.

"Where are Gerry's doctors?" asked Olivia, "I was hoping to speak with them."

"I told them you were coming and that you'd want to see all the tests and information on Gerry, they went to gather it all."

"Where's Gerry?" Olivia asked Fitz.

"Right in here," he said as he led the way to Gerry room door and Olivia followed.

Fitz could see that she was nervous so before he opened the door, he stopped and faced her.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"It's just, you seem a little frazzled and- I don't want you to feel pressured, I tried telling him no but I didn't want to disappoint him."

"No, Fitz seriously, this is your son were talking about, I'll do anything I can to help him."

"Thank you."

She nodded and smiled.

Fitz opened the door for her and then walked in behind her.

The first thing Olivia noticed was that Gerry was asleep.

"He's asleep?" She asked rhetorically.

Mellie who was standing by the window turned around and she was slightly taken aback by Olivia's appearance but she tried not to show it.

"Olivia," Mellie said as she walked closer, "Gerry fell asleep about 10 minutes ago, I don't think he'll be out for long though."

"Okay, well, there's no rush."

Olivia placed her purse on the chair beside Gerry's bed and unbelted her silk coat and threw it over the back of the chair.

Mellie gave Olivia a venomous once over, she looked great and as annoyed as Mellie was about that she contained herself because if Olivia really could help Gerry, she didn't want to get in the way of that. She then looked over to Fitz and saw him looking at Olivia, not in the hornball way she expected but the same way he looked at her when she found them in the oval together; he looked at her with so much love and want that it hurt her feelings because he seemed to not even try to hide it or maybe he couldn't hide it, she wasn't sure.

"How's he doing?" Olivia asked breaking Mellie out of her train of thought.

"Good, he's been positive, I don't think it sunk as yet and I'm not looking forward to when he realizes that this actually happened especially if you can't help him-"

Stephen and Gerry's doctors walked in the room, interrupting their conversation.

"Dr. Pope, it's an honor to meet you, I'm Dr. Stewart and this is Dr. Smith."

Mellie rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Dr. Smith, Dr. Stewart, I was hoping to go over Gerry's diagnosis as well as review his tests results."

"Of course, we brought all the lab results."

Dr. Smith said as she handed her a folder of paperwork and lab images.

Olivia opened the folder and began inspecting the results.

"The impact of the hit severed the lumbosacral region of his spine, the nerve damage is irreparable- well - that's up to you to decide."

Olivia looked over the images.

"There are fissures going up his thoracic and cervical vertebra," Olivia said, mostly to herself.

She held up one of the lab images towards the window for better light and then began again.

"C1 to C4 are fine but C5-C7 have fissures, also T4 to T11 and L4 to S2, L4 is completely out of alignment and the nerve roots completely detached at L5."

"Yeah, that's why we deemed it inoperable, I know you've worked on cases like this before but I wasn't sure you were still practicing," said Dr. Stewart.

"No of course, I understand, thank you doctors," Olivia said with a smile.

She was telling them to leave and they knew it, so they politely excused themselves and left. Fitz and Mellie were confused as to what was going on, they didn't understand the medical references Olivia was using.

"So how would you do it?" Stephen asked Olivia.

"Huh?"

"Come on, I can practically see the wheels in your head turning."

"I was thinking - have you ever heard of the flexi-metal called amalgamum, it's mostly based from titanium?"

"Yes," Stephen answered,

"His bone structure is too damaged, stem cells alone wouldn't do it at least not permanently, it would make him too vulnerable to future injuries, his spine would need to be reinforced. They make these very thin, amalgamum rods, it has a very fluid like behavior, which is why it would be ideal to serve as a reinforcement for his spine. If I could retrofit it from the cervical vertebra to the coccyx then that would fix his back. In regards to the nerve damage, I'll have to remove the part of the nerve root that was detached but the stem cells will be to repair it as if it was new."

"That makes it sound simple," said Mellie.

"Trust me, it's not," Stephen said.

"But it can be done?" Mellie asked.

Olivia was hesitant to answer.

"It can but I don't know if I'll be able to do it."

"Why not, you just mapped out a perfectly simple way to fix his back."

"It's not simple, it's very complex, a surgery of that scope would last at least 14 hours, I'm not confident that I-"

"Liv, you're here," Gerry said groggily from his bed

Everyone had been so involved in the conversation, they didn't realize that he'd woken up.

"Hey Gerr," Fitz said.

Olivia walked over to the side of his bed, she could feel Fitz close behind her while Mellie stayed on the opposite side of the bed.

"Dad, you're back."

"Yes, I'm back with Olivia."

"Hey sleepyhead," Olivia teased.

Gerry smiled so wide, Fitz couldn't help but smile too.

Stephen took that as his cue to leave and so he did.

"Hey Liv, I knew you would come."

"Of course, by the way, who did this to you because I will seriously fight them, I might get beat up but I'd still fight them."

Gerry laughed.

"He's huge, he weighs like 250 and I'm not even kidding, he would beat you up so bad."

Olivia smiled.

"So how are you feeling."

"Good, I feel good, there's a little pain in my shoulders though."

"Pain is good, well at least in this case," she paused, "I don't suppose you wanted to see me so I could explain you the fundamentals of interstellar travel and the distance of a parsec, did you?" She said jokingly.

"No, I need your help Liv, I'm desperate. I know you've work on people like me before. I know you can do it again, I can't stay like this."

Olivia held onto his hand.

"Gerry, I want nothing more than to help you but honestly, I'm scared, I haven't done a major surgery in 7 and a half months, if I make a mistake- "

Gerry got teary eyed.

"You won't and even if you do, at least you tried."

Olivia smiled.

"How is it that you have more faith in me that I have in myself."

"Because if I don't have faith in you and you don't do it then I'll be stuck like this forever."

Olivia paused and closed her eyes and gave in.

"I'll do it, as long as you promise not to harass me like your father did when he was my patient okay."

"Hey," Fitz said with a smile.

Gerry looked at Fitz then Olivia.

"I promise," he said as he smiled.

Mellie was seething, she felt like a complete outsider in the moment Olivia, Fitz and Gerry had shared. She didn't even know that Olivia and Gerry knew each other so well, she had assumed they only met once in the oval which they did but Olivia and Gerry had a silent understanding, Olivia understood the Gerry was the son the man she loved and Gerry understood that Olivia was the woman his father was in love with, in that way, they understood each other's place.

She felt like Olivia was stealing her life, first her husband then her son and if Fitz had his way, he'd move her into the White House, she was sure of it.

Mellie cleared her throat loudly to break up the moment.

"So Olivia, how would this process work," Mellie asked.

Olivia leaned up from Gerry's bed.

"Well, first, I'd examine Gerry myself and based on what I conclude, I'd have a pretty clear picture of how to plan his surgery. It would take a few days to prep him, during which time we'd have to extract his marrow and send it off to France to be accelerated and also we would need to get the tools for the surgery, mainly the amalgamum. Once we have to sample we can proceed with the operation. It doesn't usually take very long, the sooner the better."

"So that means I'll be up and about in no time?" Gerry asked.

"No. Surgery is one thing, recovery is another. It will take a lot of therapy to get you back to where you were."

"How long?"

"A month, more or less, it defers based on the patient. I'll be able to tell you more accurately when I begin to track your progress."

"So when will you start?"

"As soon possible but there are a couple things I have to get in order first."

"Like?" Gerry asked excitedly.

"Like get my assistant down here, I'll need him to help me."

"Okay," Gerry said with a smile.

Olivia stepped back from his bed.

"Well, I suppose I should get going, I have a few things I have to do."

"You'll be back tomorrow right?"

"Yes I will."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, again, thank you so much, I'd try to hug you but I'm a cripple."

"Gerry don't say that," Fitz scolded.

"Sorry dad."

Olivia chuckled.

"Just stay positive and get some rest alright."

Gerry nodded.

Olivia grabbed her bag and coat and turned to Fitz.

"I'm gonna go chat with Stephen for a little bit," she said to Fitz.

"Yea sure I'll be there in a sec."

"Okay, bye Gerry, Mellie."

"Goodbye Olivia," Mellie said icily.

Olivia then left to go speak with Stephen.

Fitz made a mental note to speak with Mellie about her attitude towards Olivia, the last thing he needed was Mellie antagonizing her while she was going out on a limb for Gerry.

"Gerr, I'm gonna go drop Liv to the airstrip, are you gonna be okay?"

"You're leaving?" Mellie said incredulously.

"It's okay dad, I'm cool here, Kenna coming later anyways."

Fitz was still worried that Gerry was too happy even with everything that happened and he was preparing himself for a breakdown from Gerry.

"You can't leave," Mellie said again.

Fitz ignored her, he didn't want to bicker with her in front of Gerry.

"I'll be back soon."

"Okay dad."

"Fitzgerald-"

Fitz eyed her whilst still not responding to her before leaving. He headed straight to Tom first, to discuss Olivia's travel arrangements and then he met Olivia and Stephen further down the hallway.

"Liv?"

She stopped mid sentence in her conversation with Stephen to answer Fitz.

"Yeah."

"Are you ready or do you need some time."

"No, I'm ready, Stephen and I were just catching up."

"Okay, Tom is getting the car ready out back so we can avoid the press."

She was delighted to hear they wouldn't have another awkward run in with the press.

"Great," she turned back to Stephen, "so I'll see you tomorrow Steph."

"No, I'm off tomorrow."

"Please Steph, come in, for me."

"I'm tired Liv."

"Okay I understand Stephan."

Stephen chuckled.

"You only call me Stephan when your trying to annoy me, it's nice to know you're still the same."

"Whatever, goodbye Stephan."

He gave her a hug.

"Goodbye Liv."

Shortly after Tom came and led them down to the car. Once again, there was complete and utter silence as they drove to the airstrip. Once the car came to a stop, Tom walked up and opened the door.

"Sir, the crew needs more time to finish prepping the plane you chartered."

"Okay, how much more?"

"Not much more."

Fitz nodded and with that Tom closed the door, leaving them alone.

Fitz leaned back in his seat.

"Abby said that you'd say yes even if you felt like you couldn't do it," he began.

"I don't doubt that I can, I'm uncertain as to whether or not I will be able to. Maybe the fear is all in my head, maybe there's no reason to think that I can't."

"There is no reason to think you can't, you been flawless so far."

"What if the first time I mess up, it's with Gerry, could you forgive me for that?" She said with tears threatening to spill over, she didn't knew where the sudden emotion came from.

"Is that what you're afraid of Livie?" He asked softly as he held on to her hands,

"you shouldn't be, there's a risk and there always is but I trust you and Gerry trusts you, so you just need to trust yourself."

Olivia wiped her eyes.

"What about me leaving, can you forgive me for that too?"

Fitz let go of her hands.

"There's nothing to forgive."

"You have every right to be angry with me-"

He turned and faced her again so she could understand how serious he was as he spoke.

"Actually Olivia I have no right to be angry with you but I am and it kills me because you're perfect-"

"I'm not perfect."

"You are, you're compassionate and kind and strong. You're the most selfless and the most beautiful person I've ever met and you went through the toughest time in your life and you completely shut me out, I found out that you tried to kill yourself because an agent called me in the middle of the night and that infuriates me beyond measure," Fitz paused to try and calm down. He wasn't exactly yelling but he wasn't whispering either, "you could have killed yourself, who am I kidding, that's what you wanted right? You wanted to kill yourself and if Abby hadn't found you then you would have succeeded and I would've been left here without you."

Just then, Tom knocked the door on Olivia's side.

"Ms. Pope, they're ready for you."

She wiped her face which at this point was drenched in tears and then she opened the door.

"Goodbye Fitz."

Tom helped her out of the car and then led her to the small private plane that was waiting for her on the runway.

About a minute after Olivia left the car Fitz began to chastise himself for his behavior.

"I'm such a idiot," he said to himself as he rushed to let himself out of the car.

As he exited the car, he saw Tom descending the plane and walked quickly to Tom.

"Give me a few minutes Tom."

Tom nodded and planted himself with the other agents, between the plane and the army of cars in Fitz's motorcade.

Fitz walked quickly up the stairway to the plane. As soon as he entered the cabin, he saw her standing in the aisle.

Her eyes wet and puffy, she had slight pout but she was still beautiful as ever.

"Liv I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I had a bad night and because of that I did something that I regret, everyone has a bad night Fitz. I know you're angry at me for shutting you out, if the tables were turned I'd be angry too but at the time, I felt like it was something I had to do. I felt ashamed and embarrassed and sad and afraid and I wanted to wallow in it and I didn't want you to see me like that."

Fitz was silent for what seemed like forever but then he spoke.

"I thought you left because you were angry with me, because I didn't find you sooner."

Olivia was silent for a moment then she stretched her arms out to him.

"Fitz come here."

He stepped slowly towards her but then he hesitated.

"Come here."

Seconds later, Fitz was inches away from her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and almost instinctively he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her so they were in the same level.

She held onto him tighter and buried her face in his neck so she could take in his smell and warmth, Fitz did the same; holding onto her for dear life as he let her intoxicating smell fill him up.

"I've never felt anger towards you, or hate, only love and I'm sorry I never thanked you for saving me, if you hadn't I wouldn't be here right now so - thank you, for saving my -"

She didn't get to finished her sentence because she felt Fitz's lips crash into hers, kissing her wholeheartedly and tenderly. It was just like the first time all over again. Olivia heart was racing so fast that she had to break the kiss to catch her breath.

Fitz still hadn't let her down, he still held in to her as tightly as ever as she peppered him with small kisses in between breaths.

"I love you so much," he breathed out, "and thank you for everything, for coming down here and agreeing to help Gerry. I'll never be able to thank you enough for this."

Olivia kissed him lightly on the lips again.

"I love you too."

Fitz held onto to her for a while until they were interrupted by the sound on Tom clearing his throat. Fitz finally let her down and turned around to face Tom.

"Sir, the control tower says they need to take off soon."

Fitz nodded and Tom exited quickly.

"Can I call you later so we can discuss how this would work, where you're gonna stay and all that?"

"Now would be a great time to have my old apartment."

"You still do, I kept it."

Olivia smiled.

"You did."

"Yeah, of course, I told you I would."

"Well that takes care of room and board, I guess."

Olivia stepped back and scratched her ear nervously.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow and I'll call you when I get to New York."

"You promise." Fitz said with a small smile.

"Scouts honor."

"Okay bye Livie?"

He kissed her one last time, softly on the lips and hugged her tightly. The void he felt from being without her for the past 6 months was still there but it didn't hurt so much anymore and he knew there was still a lot to talk about and a lot to work through but at least she was speaking with him again and he could hold her and touch her and and kiss her and that was a start.