A/N:
Guest reviewer: My portrayal of Sawyer in chapter 22 does not in any way reflect my own beliefs and opinions. My apologies. I recently went back to that chapter and included a note.
VOTING RESULTS: thanks to all that voted: it was so much fun, my inbox was bursting! OK, here it goes: Option 1 & 2 were tied. Option 3 got 5 votes and option 4 (the No Mellie option) got the most votes: 8 votes out of 19.
Chapter 28
Ten minutes after the initial peppering of questions pertaining to survival on the island, the Grants and Mellie gathered in the living room.
With impeccable timing, Maria graciously served coffee and a platter of warm croissants and set them on the coffee table which brought a big smile to Karen's face.
"He belongs to my girlfriend. Her name is Olivia, we met on the plane," Fitz explained, mindful of Karen snuggled up to him on the couch and of Aaron in his car seat on the floor next to him. Judging by the way that his daughter was clinging to his arm, he had the presence of mind to assume that she was not ready to share her daddy with anyone else. He could only imagine that his absence had been a traumatic event. Indeed, it must have been hard for Karen to cope with his disappearance and then later as time went by, facing the real possibility that perhaps a reunion might never happen.
and the hope of becoming reunited with him growing dimmer as time went by.
Karen eyed the baby wearily. "But why are you babysitting him, Daddy?"
Mellie, sitting across from them, summoned a practiced smile. Then, she clasped her hands to her knees and leaned slightly forward as if she had just noticed Aaron. "So, when do we get to meet Olivia?" She mumbled.
Fitz did not dignify Mellie with a response. Out of the corner of his eye he noted that she was holding a large manilla envelope which she seemed to be guarding.
Aaron chose that moment to start fussing.
In an attempt to quiet him, Fitz gave the baby his pinky to suckle. Then, he turned to his young daughter with a smile. "I bet you'll be a great helper," appealing to her sense of helpfulness, hoping to offset Karen's egocentric view of the world, which was often associated with only children.
Karen gave Fitz a look of uncertainty, as though she was not quite sure what to make of this.
Right then, Maria materialized from the kitchen as though she'd been summoned. Then, following a nod from Fitz, she approached Karen in a cheerful tone. "Karen, come and help me feed Aaron his bottle...I'm warming up more croissants in the oven," she added in her heavily accented English, reaching for the car seat handle.
Karen's eyes lit up at the prospect of having more croissants and followed Maria into the kitchen.
Fitz regarded his guests intently for a moment before speaking, "Well... I would love to stay and chat...but I gotta go. I was actually out the door when you all decided to show up," Fitz said.
"Don't worry about me, son," Jerry was quick to reply, implying that he didn't expect Fitz to play host while he was in town while retrieving his phone from his pocket and checking for messages. "See you again for say, dinner?" he inquired more an expectation than a question. The slightly irritated look on his face on that exact moment reminded Fitz of the very thing that had defined him for most of his life...the look that clearly said he'd rather be back in his natural habitat (namely his office). "Now if you excuse me, I got some calls to make," he added without waiting for a response, heading straight towards the nearest outdoor patio.
The moment Jerry and Grant were out of sight, Mellie turned to Fitz and asked to have a word with him.
"Mom, can I have my iPad?" Karen suddenly dashed back into the room.
Mellie dug in her purse for the requested item. She looked and looked.
"Mom! Don't tell me you forgot it at the clinic!" Karen screeched, folding her arms across her chest. With each passing second she grew more impatient, "Oh, Mom!," she huffed with a particular rolling of the eyes which indicated a clear sense of entitlement.
Mellie continued to dig in her purse.
Karen saw the questioning look on her father's face and decided to explain. "We went to this spa in Beverly Hills and her usual doctor wasn't there...but she, " she turned to give her mother a markedly disapproving look, "she went ahead and had this new guy do the Botox anyway!" she took a breath before continuing, "Anyway, she was supposed to put my i-pad in her purse, but she obviously forgot!"
Mellie gasped. Mellie's facial expression changed from a frozen in time look (ultra ironed forehead, no eye crinkles) to that of dismay, with one side of the face looking markedly different than the other.
Fitz thought for a moment that perhaps the woman was on the verge of a stroke.
Eight year old Karen made a face, apparently oblivious to the awkward silence that followed.
"Karen!" Mellie exclaimed, her tone mortified. In vain, she tried to sit up straighter and keep her body language in check, yet she couldn't keep from wringing her hands as though she was anxious about something. "I'll get you another iPad...now, can you please go? I need to talk to your father," her voice, pleading and pathetic.
"Out of the mouths of babes," Fitz mumbled, the corner of his mouth twitching a bit as Karen exited the room. He thought about telling Mellie a thing or two about Botox, but then he decided it wasn't worth the trouble. He had more important things to think about...such as Olivia and their baby.
"Fitz...I" Mellie started to say a bit flustered.
"I gotta go, I need to go to the hospital and see Olivia" he said mostly to himself, heading to his study to retrieve his phone and car keys.
Mellie followed him. "Oh, is she all right?" she asked and he knew she really could care less and had moved beyond pretense. Then, without waiting for a response, she produced the letter sized manilla envelope, "Before you go, you need to take a look at this."
"What is it?" he gave her sidelong glance as she handed him the envelope.
Mellie stared at him impassively, clearly limiting her response to another one of her practiced smiles. "Your welcome to look it over if you want...but I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow so it would be best if you signed it now."
Fitz glanced at the first page of the document and then furrowed his brow. " A new marital settlement agreement? What happened to the one you were supposed to sign months ago?" He was outraged. Before he left for Sydney the family law attorney he'd hired had re-assured him that he would file the final paperwork. All those months of endless back and forth negotiations had resulted in this? Had he known it could come to this, he might as well have gone ahead and represented himself.
"The papers were never filed...and then you went missing. So what was the point then?" Mellie replied in a calculated manner which made Fitz suspect she was holding something back. "Anyhow...things...have changed." She attempted a cheerful smile but which came across as unnatural. She tried to compensate with a proud tone although it was still weird how her facial expression did not match her intonation. "While you were gone, Andrew got appointed as ambassador to France... we're leaving tomorrow... "
"W-what?" Fitz snapped. "You can't just take Karen and..."
"I'm not! I'm not taking her...she's not coming with us."
Fitz eyed her dubiously.
"Page eight of the agreement gives you primary physical custody, " she stated in a businesslike manner, "although we will continue to share legal custody, " she clarified.
Fitz leafed through the pages, taking a closer look at said page eight, sinking down into the swiveling office chair behind his desk . Indeed the document detailed that Karen was to visit her mother every summer vacation and for one week during winter break every year. He studied it for a minute or so, leaning back into the armrests, rubbing his temples with his thumb and pressing on the forehead with two other fingers.
Eventually, when he met her gaze again he realized that she had been standing in the same exact spot like a stalking tiger.
"Your leaving tomorrow...?" he mumbled, his gaze intense, the wheels in his head turning. Although he had no argument against Mellie deciding to not take Karen out of the country, part of him hated the fact that good old Mellie was indeed playing a wild card he had not seen coming, obviously banking on the fact that he would not object to having sole custody of his daughter.
"She doesn't want to come with us. She'll be fine. Her life will change very little...she didn't want to leave her friends at school," she stated matter of factly, cocking her head, her medium length hair loose around her shoulders, not a strand out of place.
For a moment, Fitz imagined Karen coming home from boarding school every weekend instead of every other weekend.
But then, he was outraged that Mellie was springing this on him with no warning whatsoever at the worst possible moment, all while Olivia was in the hospital.
"What kind of mother are you?" he fumed. The woman was hopelessly vain and didn't have a single maternal bone in her body. Furthermore, she certainly had wasted no time..."Is this the first thing you did once you found out I was alive...have a lawyer draft a new custody agreement?" he shook his head in utter disbelief. He couldn't imagine Karen letting out a whoop of delight at the prospect of being left behind. . "If you insist on doing this, I will have another agreement drafted, no international visitations allowed !" he threatened slapping the stack of papers on his desk, the words rolling off his tongue before he had a chance to censor them.
Almost immediately, he realized this was the wrong way to go. He should be dancing at the prospect of being spared the burden of having to deal with Mellie on a regular basis as it would inevitably occur with a shared custody arrangement.
Fitz was about to speak again to express his change of heart when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Karen peeking around the doorway.
"Karen! Honey," Mellie tried a soothing voice but the girl bolted out the door. Mellie then turned to Fitz flinging him an accusatory look. "Now look what you've done!" Mellie shot back, struggling to project her voice to a higher decibel. "If something... if you ruin this for me, Fitzgerald Grant I will personally make sure to make you're life as miserable as can be!" she threatened, yet the muffled quality to her voice due to her restricted facial movements nullified any intimidating effects to the point of making her sound like a mere caricature of herself.
Fitz rose, leaning forward, towering over her. "I would be very careful if I were you, don't underestimate me." He held her gaze until she backed down her combative stance and looked away. "I will look over the damn papers,"he went on with clenched teeth while collecting the documents from his desk and placing them back in the manilla envelope. His movements were slow and calculated in a deliberate attempt to gain control of his anger. "I will give you an answer no sooner than tomorrow..." he paused for effect. Even though now he was thinking that it was in his best interests (and certainly Karen's as well) for him to sign the documents, he needed time to go over every clause and perhaps get Olivia's opinion. "I will call you...and don't come back here again, " he concluded dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
He turned to window to gather his bearings. He needed time to think. But most importantly, he needed to shift his priorities back to where they belonged. Foremost on his mind was whether the new custody arrangements would put undue pressure on his relationship with Olivia.
A/N:
Ok, so that's all I've got planned for Mellie...She's moving out the country without Karen... YAY! Bon Voyage!
***Special thanks to reneeharris49 for the botched Botox idea!***
Stay tuned, next chapter will have some interesting reveals :) which I've been planning for a while, so don't miss it!
The holidays are just around the corner which for me usually means taking a break from writing...however, do keep my inbox bursting with your reviews and I will have no choice but to start typing the next chapter rather than roaming overcrowded malls...
Happy thanksgiving!
