"Mind if I join you?" Olivia slid the door shut behind her before slowly edging toward the hot tub. She pulled her towel tighter around her body, shivering at the cold, winter breeze that blew across the deck.
"Sure." Fitz lifted his head, slowly popping one eye open and glancing in Olivia's direction. When she moved her hands to the knot of her towel, he lowered his head back to its resting place against the ledge of the hot tub and closed his eyes.
Olivia pulled at the knot of her towel, unravelling the material before throwing it over the railing of the deck. Padding across the chilled wood, she placed her foot on the steps by the hot tub and slowly walked up them. Lifting her leg, she gingerly dipped her toes into the warm water before swinging her other leg in and gently lowering herself into a seat.
"It's a beautiful night." Fitz broke the silence, opening his eyes and staring up at the night sky.
"It sure is," Olivia agreed. Her eyes travelled over the twinkling stars dotting the dark sky. Other than the breeze blowing through the trees, it was a quiet night. Peaceful.
"Lio has basketball camp next week and Seph and Ath have cheer camp."
"I thought Athena's cheer camp was during the summer?" Olivia slid lower in her seat until the water was lapping at her chin. The top jet hit the base of her neck, rolling over the perpetual knot there.
"Hers is. The junior high squad is helping with pee-wee this year. I can take Lio, but I don't know if I'll be able to take the girls. It's almost the same time every night."
"It won't be better if you take Athena?" Olivia turned her head, barely able to see Fitz through the darkness.
"I think we need to stop giving her an out, Liv. You two need to fix things between you."
"I can't connect with her. Every time I try to explain things to her, she changes the subject."
"Maybe you should try connecting with her over something other than your situation or the past, Liv. Leave that to therapy. Take her with you if you want, but do it on a neutral ground."
"I'm not even sure I know her, Fitz." Olivia sighed, resting her check against the hard side of the hot tub.
"She loves animals and music. She prefers poetry when she reads and she wants to be a doctor. I would say that might change but she's been saying that since she was five. She and McKenna just had a big blowout. You might get her to talk to you about that."
"It always amazes me how close you two are."
"It's not just her, Liv. Lio loves basketball and wrestling. Michael Jordan, Lebron James, John Cena, and the Rock are his heroes. He says one day he'll be playing the NBA. Seph is like Ath in a way. She loves animals too. And painting. She'll paint all day if you let her." Fitz had a smile on his face as he finished and his eyes drifted toward the closed glass door that led into the family room. He could just barely glimpse Athena and Seph asleep on the sofa - curled under a thick blanket as the television cast a puddle of light over them. They'd fallen asleep watching Christmas movies - even though it was well past Christmas.
"You're a great dad, Fitz."
"We're their parents, Liv. We should know these things."
"Yeah…" Olivia glanced downward, frowning.
"Shit happens."
"I heard your conversation with Tiffani earlier. I -"
"Shit happens, Liv," Fitz repeated, turning his head to look at Olivia.
"I wasn't eavesdropping intentionally, Fitz. But if me moving out will help -"
"Liv, what happened - happened. I'm not going to make a special concession for her. The kids like having you here. I like seeing them all the time again."
"I don't want to be the reason you're not -"
"You aren't."
"Guess who tried getting a job with some small town in Iowa?" Eddie slammed the door to Fitz's office behind him, having invited himself into the room.
"You're shitting me?" Fitz turned his paperwork over, face-down.
"He put me as a reference." Eddie shook his head.
"This is why you should have fired that asshole instead of letting him resign."
Eddie shrugged, sitting at the chair in front of Fitz's desk. He propped his boot-clad feet on the edge of the desk and reclined back in the chair, placing his linked hands behind his head.
"I can't believe Veerman let him walk."
"Veerman didn't want the publicity that placing a cop on trial would have brought." Fitz hit the spacebar on his keyboard a tad too hard. Jake's easy off was a sore topic.
"You think he'll ever be dumb enough to show his face around here again?"
"I would have said no, but then he put you as a reference…"
"He's not getting a chance at court if he shows his face again." Fitz's admission, some minutes later, brought a stunned reaction from Eddie.
"You'd really risk everything because -"
"Because of the way he treated my daughter, Eddie. Athena told me what was happening there. Luckily, he never did anything, but I don't believe for a minute that that creep wouldn't have tried something if he had had anymore time."
Finally, Fitz quit typing and peeked out from behind the monitor. The skin around his mouth tightened and his nostrils flared.
"Is that really it, Fitz?" Eddie raised a brow.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that Olivia was the one who was physically and emotionally and financially hurt. I'm not saying he didn't say shit to Athena because it's Jake - of course it's possible. But you're threatening to kill the man if he ever shows his face here again when Olivia is the one he hurt."
"He hurt my kids, Eddie. Having to watch that shit, hurt them. And I don't want them thinking that you can be that way and get away with it." Fitz frowned, his cheeks reddening.
"I'm not saying that it didn't, man. I do question why you aren't also pissed at Liv for letting it happen. At one point, you would have found her just as guilty."
"We've both seen what it's like when women are abused, Eddie. We see it all the damn time. I can't blame Liv or anyone in that situation for being in it. It's -"
Eddie snorted, dropping his feet off the edge of Fitz's desk and standing from his chair. Walking around the chair, he placed his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder at Fitz.
"Just admit it, Fitz. It's going to take a hell of a lot of work, but you still have feelings for her."
Eddie opened the door and all but fled the office before Fitz had a chance to respond.
"Hey dad." Fitz had both hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat as he trudged over the frozen ground leading to the big, red barn on his father's property. The hard ground crunched beneath his boot-clad feet.
Jerry stood just inside the barn, a power drill in his hand. Perfectly measured and meticulously cut boards lay scattered around the workbenches that lined the far wall.
"What are you doing here?" Jerry laid the drill down, wiping his hands on his jeans. He had taken up woodwork shortly after retiring.
"Just came to check on you." Fitz came closer, taking his hand from his pocket and running it across the smooth wood of the rocker his father was making.
"You never just stop by," Jerry chuckled, reaching for a rag and running it over the rocker on the table - swatting Fitz's hand out of the way in the process.
"I need advice, dad." Fitz pocketed his hands once more, dragging his feet across the concrete floor as he gave his father more space.
"Advice?"
"Ath's game just before Christmas...I think I met Olivia's dad."
Jerry slowly came to a halt, wrapping his hand around the rocking chair's frame and staring straight ahead. Knitting his brows together, he asked: "What makes you think that?"
"He was coaching the other team. Talked about how he left right after high school because of a bad relationship. He's the right age, dad and Pope isn't a very common last name."
"Did you mention Olivia's mom to him?"
"It hardly seemed appropriate. We were talking about the game. Bunch of kids around."
"Have you told Liv?" Jerry waited for Fitz to shake his head before sighing. "Don't you think you should?"
"She's got a lot going on right now -"
"And she should know about this. She should be the one deciding if this is something she wants to pursue or forget, son. You can't make that decision for her."
"What if he doesn't want anything to do with her?"
"You can't protect her forever. I know you want to because that's who you are. You're like your mom. You've got a big heart. But Liv's tough, Fitz. She'll be okay."
Letting go of the rocking chair, Jerry turned his back to the table and met Fitz's gaze. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, Jerry leaned back against the table and waited for Fitz to speak.
"So you think I should tell her?"
"She has a right to know. Did he mention having a kid?"
"I don't think he knows." Fitz shook his head.
"He might surprise you, then. If I had a kid I didn't know about, I'd want to be part of their life. She needs more family - more people in her corner."
"I've -"
"No, Fitz. You have not been in her corner. You still blame her for what happened, which is understandable. But you won't allow her to talk with you. You won't hear her side of the story and you have not moved toward making amends with what happened."
Fitz swallowed, frowning at his father's words.
"She ruined -"
"It takes two, Fitz. Is she guilty? Yes, she is. Everyone has to take responsibility for their actions. The difference, though, is that she understands what she did is wrong. She understands why it happened and she is taking measures to ensure that it does not happen again. She has reconciled with her past actions and while she carries a tremendous amount of guilt surrounding said actions, she is also working toward trying to make amends. But now the ball's in your court. Are you going to allow her to make those amends? Are you going to make amends for your actions?"
Shaking his head, Fitz snorted and clapped his dad on the shoulder.
"God I hate when you go all psychiatrist on me."
A/N - This is a short chapter to get me back into the swing of things. Hopefully I can have a longer one up sometime this weekend. We'll delve more into what happened between Fitz and Tiffani and what Jerry meant by Fitz making amends for his actions. More than anything, this chapter was to show how Fitz is slowly having his eyes opened to the need for him to be more open during this process and quit running from his own feelings.
If there is a delay in updates, as I've mentioned on FB, it is because I have transitioned to a new role in my company supervising our ACT team. Monday through Friday, I am with patients who are schizophrenic, Bipolar I, or both and cannot function well within society because of their symptoms. Every other week, I am on call 24/7 in case a crisis occurs - typically due to some form of suicidal ideation. On top of that, I also have to review and sign-off on every unlicensed team member's client notes. So while I will still try to maintain a fairly regular update schedule, it may not always happen and on occasion, such as now, chapters may be shorter.
Until next time,
G.
