Hey Guys, still absolutely loving the reviews, I love the theories you all have they're so fun to read!
Olivia tried to breathe through the pain, however the stress was getting to her. She tried to recall anything from her baby book that could explain what was happening , but her mind was a blank. A tear dampened her cheek, she was terrified. It was too early to have the baby, if this was early labour she knew the chances of survival weren't great. Nothing was happening the way it was meant to. She had a plan. The plan was good. The plan was going to work. This was not a part of the plan. But neither was having a fight with Fitz.
Ten minutes ago things were good. Things were the way they were meant to be. They were lying on the couch together, he was rubbing her belly, and she couldn't remember a time recently that she had been that blissfully happy. And then she brought it up. A seemingly harmless topic of conversation, that didn't have anything like the reaction she had expected. She expected a little disagreement. That was to be a given. The image of the two of them picking out baby names and laughing the other off had been in her mind since she was up in Vermont. She wanted happy. She wanted joyful. She wanted normal. She didn't want this.
Fitz continued to slide his hand up and down her back. He was trying to do whatever he could to comfort her. He regretted not just having the conversation. It was a little price to pay, if this could have been avoided. And why was he so anti the baby name conversation. Was his reasons really that well thought out?
"I'm. Sorry. I. Shouldn't. Have. Brought. It. Up." Liv said in-between breaths. She wanted to make up before anything happened. Because no matter the outcome they needed to be a team. And their track record showed they didn't work all that well together when they were in the middle of a fight.
"Don't apologise," Fitz tried to soothe. He didn't want Olivia to feel like she had any of the blame. She needed to calm down, and if she felt that this was her fault, she wouldn't stop stressing out. "I was being irrational. It's all my fault," he couldn't believe he had forgotten the first rule-Don't fight with a pregnant woman.
Liv began to breathe to the rhythm of Fitz's hand stroke. It was still a little faster than she normally breathed, but anything would be a major improvement compared to how she had just been. "Can we talk about something else?" Liv asked, she wanted to be distracted. She needed it.
"Okay, um," Fitz thought of a topic changer, but nothing really was coming to mind. How could he talk about something else when he was this panicked. He knew he needed to say something, for Liv and for the baby. "We, ah, should have the numbers to get the 'Brighter Futures For All' bill passed through the Senate," Fitz said as the first thing came to his mind. He wasn't sure if this was what Liv meant by talk about something else, but he hoped it was.
"Good, that's good. What about the House?" She asked, and Fitz knew he had picked a good distraction topic. Political talk to Olivia was what sports talk was to most men.
"Nothing to worry about there, we control the House. Anyone who voted against this bill, won't have a leg to stand on when it comes to the constituents," Fitz explained, though he knew Olivia already knew this.
"By the next election, this will be old news, they could hope it will be swept under the rug and forgotten about by then," Liv replied. She just wanted to make sure he had all his bases covered. This was an important bill. She didn't wanted it to be taken to the trash by cockiness and an overestimation.
"Doesn't matter. Republicans will go for it, because they don't want to go against the party, and Democrats eat this stuff for breakfast. I'm not worried. Cyrus isn't worried. The Whips aren't worried. So neither should you," Fitz said, he knew Liv was just trying to help, but it wasn't necessary. When they won the election, they ultimately passed the bill. "Now East Sudan, that's something we should be worried about. The meeting today showed some troubling drone shots. Nothing for alarm yet, but the Generals and State are working together to control the situation, and they're going to keep me updated on all the goings on," he continued.
"Just what we need, another country trying to make its mark on the world stage," Liv said sarcastically. If she was anyone else she would have worried over the thought of this, but Olivia was just happy for how much this topic was calming her. It gave her something to think about, something other than the terrible thoughts of what could be happening to her baby.
"We've known for a while that-" Fitz began but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," he called, silently hoping it was the doctor he had requested. It might have only been a few minutes since they had called for help, but time felt as if it had stopped.
The doctor, or really the Marine with the most medical training rushed to Fitz and Liv's side. "Mr President, what seems to be the problem?" He asked not really sure who to direct the question at. Protocol meant addressing the President first, however he could tell by the pain splashed across the pregnant woman's face, that the President was not the one requiring his help.
"She started having shooting pains in her stomach about five minutes ago," Fitz answered, since the question was directed at him, though he my no means wanted to speak for Olivia.
"Alright, can you show me where the pain is?" The Marine requested turning his attention to Olivia, and she pointed to the lower part of her stomach.
"Okay, now how far along are you?" he asked.
"A little over seven months," she answered. For seven months she had held this child inside her, she wanted this baby. She had become attached, and she couldn't bare the thought of losing it.
"I'm just going to do a little examination, try to find the cause," he said and took Olivia's arm to feel her heartrate at her wrist. "I know this is concerning, but I need you to slow your breathing," he said as he immediately noticed how fast her pulse was. Olivia wanted to roll her eyes, that was what she had been trying to do. Olivia took a large and deep breath, followed by another, and then another. The room sat in silence as Olivia breathed slowly for a over a minute. "That's great, a few more and you'll be feeling a little better," he said.
"What is going on?" Fitz asked, he need reassurance that everything was going to be okay. And if he couldn't have that, then he wanted to know as soon as possible what was happening.
"it's too early to tell, sir. There is a chance this could be premature labour. Or Braxton-Hicks contractions, they aren't uncommon in your third trimester. Or it could be stress induced pain. Sometimes when too much stress hits at once unexpectedly it can cause this sort of pain. Unfortunately I don't have any of the machines that could help indicate what it is. I would suggest a hospital. But that won't be necessary if it is one of the last two options. Is the pain dying down?" The Marine asked Olivia.
She thought for a moment about the sharp pain that had been shooting through her, and how it was now down to a dull stab. There seemed to be no real cause for concern anymore, although she did still want to be completely sure before being completely comfortable. "It is," she nodded.
"Good, I'm going to stay with you a little while longer to make sure everything is all fine, but I think if you continue breathing like you are, and drink a glass of water, you'll be feeling much better," he said. He could gather by how just a few deep breaths had helped the reason for the pain was due to stress, but he didn't want to pry any further into their relationship than he already had. "I think you should make an appointment with your doctor as soon as you get back home, just for a second opinion. It's better to be safe than sorry," he said, and both Olivia and Fitz nodded along in agreement. "I'll be right outside, if anything doesn't feel right, call me in immediately. I'll come in in twenty minutes to do another check up.
Olivia and Fitz watched was the Marine left the room. Fitz took Olivia's hand in his, he wanted to comfort her, but also needed the sense of relief that holding on to Oliva usually brought him. "I am so-" Fitz began but Olivia cut him off.
"Do not apologise. This was no more your fault than mine," Olivia said, turning to face him, to show that she held no resentment towards him.
"I shouldn't have said what I did," Fitz replied. No matter how happy he was about the outcome, he still couldn't believe that all this was his fault. He shouldn't have yelled at Olivia, what was he thinking?
"You had a right to tell me how you were feeling. And I agree you didn't tell me in the best way, but I needed to know. I just wish you told me earlier. I will forever be sorry for the way I handled things, and for the lies I told. And I know we might never see eye to eye on that, but we need to tell each other how we're feeling and what is bothering us. We have a hard enough time as is, we don't need to be making it harder," Olivia said.
"I want to trust you, I really do. I don't want to have to think of everything you're saying as lie, but its hard not to, when you can lie to me so easily. I don't want to think of you manipulating me, but it has happened multiple times. I really did think I had moved passed this, but I was wrong," he said calmly. Liv said she wanted to know, and he did not want to repeat what just happened.
"Do you think you will ever be able to truly accept this?" Olivia asked.
"We've fought before, and we've always forgiven each other. I assume this time will be no different," Fitz replied. "I just want to say. It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I know you sometimes have ulterior motives," he confessed. There was no one in the world he trusted more than Olivia, he needed her to understand that. This wouldn't work if she didn't.
"Seems we both have things to work on," Olivia smiled softly.
"But we'll work on them together," Fitz said as he placed a peck on Olivia's cheek.
What do you think?
So if you guys want to throw some baby names out, for either a boy or a girl (Fitz doesn't know, and neither will you ahah- I like Olivia do know, however if I hear a super awesome name for which every one it isn't I might consider switching)
Please Review :D