Chapter 35
"Olivia tell me that you have not been foolish enough to be walking around this city with someone threatening you like this and you didn't tell me until ten days later? Tell me that you have not put yourself and our baby in danger like this? I know you are a fixer Olivia, but this is us. Me and you, we made promises to each other. We are supposed to share everything. I don't fucking believe this. I don't believe you would do this to me! If anything happened to you and this baby it would kill me. For the love of God Olivia what were you thinking?"
"Fitz I am sorry. I honestly thought I could handle it. I thought Huck and I could ferret out the people doing this and I wouldn't have to bother you, I..."
"Don't say it Olivia. I am a husband to you before I am a goddamned President and you know it! You and children Olivia, nothing comes before that. I promised to protect you. I have the ability to protect you and you won't let me? What do I have to do to get you to see we are in this together? This is how we maneuver this thing as man and wife. You trust me to love you and protect you. You don't keep this type of filth from your husband. YOU. DON'T. KEEP. IT. FROM. ME!"
He stopped talking to take a calming breath. He was being too harsh with her, he was practically screaming at her. He had been looking up at the heavens as he spoke not facing her directly because he knew he shouldn't be screaming at her like this no matter what she had done. She was his wife and mother to his children and she was pregnant. She was young and independent. She was accustomed to solving her own problems. But she wasn't alone anymore, she had him to be her white knight. She didn't have to solve problems on her own anymore. Even she had realized she had made a mistake and ten days later she thought to correct it.
He now looked directly at her and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. She looked so vulnerable and small. She looked like some college student with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, just a hint of color on her lips, dressed in jeans, and an oversized tee. She was so beautiful his wife. He loved her more than anything and he simply couldn't lose her again.
"I am sorry Fitz. Please don't be so mad at me. I wanted to fix it because I felt I had caused it. I brought all of this down on us. You chose me over Mellie and people hate me for it. They hate me because I am Black. They hate me because you love me. Sometimes I feel so responsible for all the bad things that have happened to you since I chose you. I want to protect you too from the evil around us. But you are right, this I should never have kept from you. Huck begged me to tell you the very first day I received that first letter. I should have listened to him. I am so sorry." The tears started to fall.
It hurt him to see her cry, it unmanned him. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. "Livvie baby don't cry. You were wrong, but I was wrong too. You are pregnant; no pregnant woman deserves to be screamed at no matter what she had done. Especially not my pregnant woman, I am sorry for going off like that. Some things needed to be said, but not like that, not laced with profanity, loud, and obnoxious."
"I love you so much Olivia. Please share with me. Trust me to always do right by you, by us. Let me take care of you and protect you, not just now because you are pregnant with my child, but because it is my job, it signed on for it. We are one, Olivia, we are one. He kissed away her tears. He tilted her face up for a kiss. "Forgive me Mrs. Grant for my behavior, I was too harsh. There were better ways to say what had to be said."
"You don't have to ask Fitz, I would forgive you anything, anything at all. I love you Mr. Grant."
He kissed her then with such bent-up passion. And she had kissed him back as if she were starved for it. He broke off the kiss because he knew where it would lead. And he couldn't go there right now. Someone had threatened his wife. They had dared to say such things to his wife. He was the most powerful man on the planet and someone had made a drastic mistake, they had threatened his wife and they were going to pay. He had hunted down the faction that had killed his son and they no longer inhabited this earth.
"Olivia I have to put people on this right away. And quite frankly I can do what has to be done more quickly in the Oval. You are upset Livvie, don't be. I understand what you were trying to do, but you don't have to do those types of things Olivia. I am old fashioned let me take care of you at least most of the time. Humor me Olivia. Place your millennial instincts on the shelf when it is about me and you. Let me love you, honor you, and protect you. Please? I will be back as soon as I can. Don't stay awake worrying, let me take care of this one okay?"
"I can't come with you? I won't say anything. I will just sit there quietly."
"No Olivia, you are not coming. Go to bed and get some sleep. I don't know how long it will take me to get things going. I don't want to sound cliché but don't you worry your pretty little head about this, I have this. This is our issue but mine to solve. I hope I am being clear Olivia. Any and all information concerning this garbage comes to me. I won't relent on this Olivia, I can't."
"Okay with your caveman acting self. This is the twenty-first century you know. You shouldn't be able to just send me off to my bed. It sounds archaic, I'm not sure I like it."
"Olivia please don't. DO. NOT. PUSH. ME. on this! I don't play fair when it comes you. I will protect you if I have to tie you up and lock you in the house. I mean it."
"I know you do, I love it when you exert your power. Okay I'm going to bed. If you are still feeling cavemanish when you finish what you have to do awaken your damsel in distress. I will reward you."
"Mrs. Grant go to bed!"
He couldn't stay mad with his wife, he loved her too much. He had the letters in his hand and he headed to the Oval office. Once there the first thing he did was pull out one of his auxiliary phones. He punched in the word Huck. Huck answered on the first ring.
"Mr. President, she finally told you. She asked me for two weeks I was giving it to her, she is the boss."
"Huck I like you because you are special to Olivia. But this type of shit isn't supposed to happen and you know that! I don't care who Olivia tells you she is, the boss, the head honcho, it doesn't matter, she is my wife! She doesn't get this type of garbage in the mail, show it to you and you don't tell me the fucking day it happens."
"I am the President of the United States of America. I will personally shut all this shit down to keep Olivia safe. I am an easy man to get along with generally but not when it comes to her. I need you to get your ass over here with all the information you two have been working on. All my people should be here in one hour. I want to see what you and Olivia have been working on before they arrive. I will have an agent meet you at the back gate in let's say fifteen minutes. And Huck, I don't like to be kept waiting."
He put that phone down and reached for a different one. He pushed a number and the line was answered immediately. "General Pasteur, I need you to assemble a team and have them here in the White House in the next forty-five minutes. There is a security issue, some asshole or group of assholes have threatened my wife. I want to know who is behind it like yesterday. You are aware my wife is currently working outside of the home. See to it that mail going to her place of business receives the same scrutiny as mail that comes into the White House starting tomorrow. Not one piece of mail is to be delivered to that office on K Street until it is screened. No threats of any kind are to come into my wife's vision. There is no need for elaborate deception. Screen the mail, every last piece of it, and then send it to the office. This is a necessity to keep my wife safe. There is no need to sugar coat it. I will meet you in the ANNEX in one hour.
Huck arrived at the back gate as ordered. The President could be a really hard man when he wanted to be. Huck had known him before. When he had realized that Olivia's secret lover was Fitzgerald Grant President of the United States he could only say to himself, "Oh shit."
He was promptly escorted to the Oval Office. It would be his first ever visit to such a prestigious place. It was impressive. Fitzgerald Grant was at his desk. So "Huck" have you lost your touch or what? Whatever the problem is don't ever let my wife, my pregnant wife try to handle craziness like this again on her own"
"I understand what you are saying Mr. President let me show what I have. Something or someone had blocked my access after I had determined where the paper used to write the letters had been purchased. There was a partial print on the first letter the second one was clean. Olivia and I have solved a lot of cases Mr. President. No doubt we could have solved this one too. I love her too you know and no one had better touch a hair on her head. I was working on the case when you called. I know I can crack it. But I am glad she finally told you."
"Perhaps you could have solved it. However I am turning it over to other professionals in about twenty minutes. And I can assure you they will produce the culprits or heads will be removed. Right now I am talking about jobs on the line. But skulls and craniums are not out of the question. Olivia Pope is the most precious thing in the world to me. I protect what is mine. Anyone thinking to harm a hair on her head has a death wish as far as I am concerned."
"You and I are thinking alike in that regard Mr. President. No one had better mess with Olivia. She deserves to be happy and this type of ugliness shouldn't happen to her. I am an expert at many things Sir, you have but to ask if you need me to help you, I am sure you know that. Look here Mr. President at the stamps on both letters, they weren't made by the government, they are forgeries. I just determined that tonight. These people are not professionals Sir. I believe it is pure racial animus behind this and so does Olivia."
"She loves you Mr. President and she thought she was doing the right thing. She blames herself for a lot of stuff that has happened to you. She sometimes doesn't think clearly when it comes to you. I hope you won't punish her because of it. I can see you are very angry."
"Huck I have had some missteps in my relationship with Olivia but you have to know how much she means to me. I can't lose her again. I won't lose her again. We are having a baby for christsake! She shouldn't be dealing with shit like this. I don't punish Olivia Huck, I love her. I am her husband it is my duty to protect her. You know that, so why would you not come to me? That is why I am so angry. I have the power to have squashed this days ago. Olivia shouldn't have to worry with this."
"You are right of course. But as I said I love her too, not the same way you love her, but I have a deep affection for her. She saved me Sir, she brought me back from the brink. There is not one thing she could ask of me that I wouldn't try to do for her. She asked and I complied."
"I think we are in agreement again then. I want Olivia to be happy too Huck. OPA is a company she started from the ground and she has made it into a DC powerhouse. She still wants to be a part of that. I want her to be able to a part of it. But I can't have her in danger because of it. That is what I meant when I said I would shut it down. And I will, not to hurt her, but to keep her safe."
"I understand Mr. President. Let me show you some other interesting things about this case."
The two of them had meticulously gone over everything that Huck had found and that he felt was important to identifying the person or persons responsible for this affront to a woman they both loved. Huck had given the President a detailed summary. He left the White House and asked the President to keep him informed. Fitz had thanked him. The President had gone into the ANNEX armed with information and still very dangerous and angry.
He turned the information over to the General and his team. They were all from different branches of intelligence. They had been assembled solely to solve this case. He wanted not one stone left unturned. There was not one person that was involved in this crime that would not be punished. He wanted not just the hydra or the head of this operation; he wanted every tentacle extending from it cut off!
General Pasteur knew the President was angry. In fact he had never seen the President so incensed. As he had told the General in his initial phone call, he wanted this solved yesterday. The initial investigation on the case was very thorough and impressive. The President had said his wife's firm had been working on the case but they shouldn't have been per the President. He expected immediate action. For the President that meant he expected the team in this room to come back to him with the case solved if not tomorrow, then the next day.
So the President had left the ANNEX and returned to the Oval. He sat at his desk just staring straight ahead. He was still angry. Someone out there had threatened his wife ten days ago. For ten days she had been worrying about this and keeping it from him. He had lost his temper with her and he was ashamed of the way he had spoken to her. So many thoughts had run through his head when she had told him. She was his to cherish and protect and he had let her down again. Huck had called him out on his treatment of Olivia. No doubt he referred to the time he had walked away from Olivia and nearly destroyed them both in the process. He had been wrong then but they had weathered that storm.
Huck was right about this one though, she should have come to him first. That was the thing that had thrown him in such a rage. She had not come to him her husband to protect her. He knew Olivia had been on her own since she was twelve and she didn't let many people inside her orbit but he was her husband now. She was accustomed to slaying her own dragons or should he say riding in on her own dragons. He thought of Game of Thrones and Queen Daenerys. Olivia was his Queen, he had said vows and promised he would protect her.
He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. His wife was probably dead asleep. It was now almost three-thirty in the morning. He had left her almost six hours ago. He had caused her to cry again with his raging temper. Of course he had apologized before he left her, but was it enough. He was a man, the man that loved her more than anything but he was also a hardened soldier, a man of war and violence. It was long ago and many years past, but for a brief time tonight the hardened soldier had returned. He shook his head to dispel some images that intruded in his head. It was then he heard her.
"Fitz are you alright? You have been gone so long. Please where are you?"
Dammit she was still awake worrying about this mess. "Livvie it is alright, I am on my way." The telepathy thing between them was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. It wasn't always there but it seems when they are in some of their darkest hours it would appear. He had come out of the Oval almost running. The agents outside the Oval door had jumped up gathering at his side. "It is nothing guys. I just need to get back to the residence." He did make extreme haste in getting back there.
Olivia was sitting up in the middle of the huge bed that she had chosen herself and she was waiting. Her husband had left her hours ago and he had still been on a tear. Initially he had been so angry at her. She knew he would never hurt her physically but he had been terribly angry. Her husband could be ruthless she knew that, she had seen it up close and personal. But she had known through it all that he loved her, even when he denied that love, even when he denied her. The memory of him abandoning her inside a church flashed before her eyes. It was such a painful memory.
She had handled this badly; she should have gone to her husband. He is from another generation where men were taught to protect their wives, sisters, and daughters because no one else would. Women were commodities to be used and worn as an appendage on the arm of a man. She was glad she hadn't been around then. It was funny, as independent as she is that she has chosen to love a man who believes so deeply in the codes of chivalry and honor. She had to come to grips with that and do better.
Fitz had asked her to sleep but she couldn't. This was an important juncture for them. She would never not be who she was. She had known too much freedom in her life for that. But she could share what she was with her husband. He could pull his caveman act some of the time but not always, they were a team and they made team decisions. She heard him come into the residence. What would the rest of the night bring?
He stood at the door of their bedroom anxious about what awaited him on the other side. She had called to him, wide awake and still brewing over this mess, when she should be sleeping. She was having a baby, their baby for christsake! He didn't want her to have to go through this type of shit. And he had no business screaming and yelling at her like that. He didn't want her afraid of him for even a minute. She didn't deserve as she called it "that caveman act" from him. He could tell she wanted it all behind them even before he left the room, but his anger was still driving him when had left her. Hell he had even wanted to whip Huck's ass behind this shit.
His love for the woman behind that door affected his entire being and he knew that. He had promised himself if she ever got her back he would worship at her feet and never let her go. In her entire life there would be nothing she should ever want for. There should be nothing from the day she said she yes that should be on her plate that is not on his. That was the point of his anger the reason he had basically lost it. Olivia herself had declared her his and she was. She was his to love and protect against everything bad in this world.
It was 2017. When would the United States of America put race aside and realize that love had no color, that love is blind? He knew that for a fact. It didn't even occur to him that Olivia was Black until she had come into Cyrus' office and overheard him trying to fire her. That is how badly she had affected him when he had first laid eyes on her. He had run from the room in haste to get Cy to fire her. Cyrus had told him he wouldn't fire her and he had better get her back on board. So he had run after her calling out her name, "Miss Pope!" She had turned to face him and he was floored. The woman he was running from was Black.
That first encounter where she had peeled back the decaying layers of his marriage had startled him. His heart beat had soared, his breathing had accelerated, and a part of him that had lay dormant for too many years to count, had reared to attention. There was no doubt he lusted after Olivia that day, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. An arrow had flown through his heart that day. He knew that because he had felt the impact of Cupid's arrow as if it were real.
He had come undone with a need so compelling he didn't know what to do. For one crazy moment he had thought of just scooping her up in his arms and taking her where, to his lair? The impulse just to touch her it had been overwhelming. He had known in that moment that she was his mate. She was the woman he should have waited for. When he had closed his eyes briefly he had envisioned them locked in embrace after embrace. Some of them were highly sexual others were just because he loved her. The visions he had seen had been quick but he had known they were real. So he had run to Cy to try and stop it, this future he had seen with the woman behind that door. But in the end he faltered and he had failed, he a married man with children, he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it because he wanted Olivia Pope and that future more than he had ever wanted anything in this world, he still did. He opened the door.