"Hi."
Fitz nodded toward the two teens straggling behind the rest of their peers. He rested his hands on his belt, watching the two students stuff their books in their backpacks before zipping the large bags. Both teens nodded toward Fitz as they left the room.
"Fitz, right? Or would you prefer I call you sheriff?" Eli Pope stood at the front of the classroom, his back to his desk and hands in his pockets. Facts about the Holy Roman Empire covered the dry-erase board - written in a surprisingly neat hand. Fitz smiled at the sight - if Eli really was Olivia's dad, he knew where she got her love of history from.
"Fitz is fine."
"So, what can I do for you today?"
"Just thought I'd stop by. I heard you had gotten the position."
"A welcome back to the community?" Eli chuckled. "You're a lot different from old Sheriff Bingham when I was younger."
"Oh yeah?" Fitz laughed, leaning against the doorframe.
"I can't tell you how many times me and my friends got into trouble with him. Always something stupid, too."
"Kids do some pretty stupid things."
"I think the dumbest thing we ever did was climb to the top of the old water tower the night of my senior prom. Just so I could paint my girlfriend's name up there. In my favourite shade of green - that way Maya knew I had done it."
Fitz snorted, shaking his head. There was the mention of Maya he had thought he would have to fish for.
"Is that why they tore that tower down when I was a kid?"
"They repainted it that summer," Eli laughed. "Good riddance, too. We broke up almost a week after graduation I think."
"You think?" Fitz tilted his head, raising his eyebrows.
"She refused to see me. I believe kids these days would call it 'ghosting'," Eli used air quotes around the word.
"You never found out why?"
Eli shook his head. "Never. You're awfully invested in this story. She a friend of yours?"
"I've never met Maya," Fitz admitted. "But Shelby was like a grandma to me."
"Shelby was a good woman. I hated to hear that she had passed."
"It was pretty bad at the end. She was diagnosed shortly before my wedding and passed before my oldest was born. It about killed my ex."
"They were close?"
"Shelby was the only family Liv had after Maya disappeared." Fitz watched Eli for a reaction. The older man tilted his head, frowning as his eyes widened.
"So Maya moved on? She had a kid?"
"She had a kid," Fitz nodded, using his shoulder to shove away from the doorframe. "It was nice talking to you, Eli. I've gotta go catch my kiddos."
"Why did you really stop by?" Eli called just as Fitz was taking a step out of the room. Fitz paused for a moment, shrugging his shoulders.
"Just to welcome you to the community, man."
And he kept going down the now empty hallway, whistling to himself. On his way out the door, he waved at the receptionist sitting behind thick glass in the main office. The same receptionist that had been there when he was in high school.
Outside, he pulled his coat tighter around his broad shoulders. The winter air was chilly. Waving to a couple kids tossing a football, Fitz walked across the parking lot and slid into his cruiser, turning the heat on full blast.
Back on the main road, he turned his radio up - nodding his head along to the rock station that was playing. He hadn't told Eli the truth when he had said that he needed to pick up his kids - Olivia had done that earlier. It was an excuse to talk to the man and learn the truth. Unfortunately, Fitz wasn't so sure that he liked the truth.
"Dr. Grant. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Dr. Freeland." Jerry extended his hand, shaking the other doctor's hand before following her through the locked door that led past the lobby.
In the spacious office the doctor led him to, Jerry sat at the chair in front of the metal desk. The other doctor took a seat behind her computer screen, her fingers going to her keyboard and typing away until she seemed to have found what she was looking for.
"Olivia has been doing well. I've started her on Depakote and Clozaril. Low doses thus far."
"Clozaril?" Jerry lifted a brow, extending his hand to take the printout that Dr. Freeland was holding toward him. "Why is she on Clozaril?"
"Based on what she has told Nathan in therapy -"
"Bipolar Disorder I with psychotic features," Jerry read, shaking his head as he scanned the front page of the thick packet he had been handed.
"Typically, I would not share everything in a patient's file so readily, but I feel comfortable that as a fellow psychiatrist, you are in a position to accurately read that file."
"You ruled out schizoaffective?" Jerry reached for a pen from the desk and began scribbling notes on the papers he held.
"I -Should I have?" The younger doctor tilted her head, frowning.
"Whenever psychosis is present in a patient with Bipolar Disorder, schizoaffective should always be ruled out." Jerry continued to flip through the pages in his hands, skimming the notes Dr. Freeland had made.
"I've never encountered a schizoaffective case."
"They're not as common. I will read the file more in depth later, but did she mention what form her symptoms took?"
"She has experienced some auditory and visual hallucinations. With the hallucinations, she was able to decipher that they were hallucinations. She only experienced this during her extensive period of mania a few years ago. I am more concerned with her lack of awareness and the delusions she experienced during that same period. Now, she understands that she was experiencing delusions at that time, but when I first started seeing her, she was convinced that all of these things had happened that had never happened."
Jerry tapped his finger against the papers, scanning one of the first notes Dr. Freeland had made. Furrowing his brows, he asked:
"You have access to my granddaughter's file?"
"Both Olivia and your son signed the ROI."
Jerry sighed, his shoulders sinking as he laid the papers across his lap and rubbed his eyes.
"Olivia never mentioned her psychotic symptoms."
"She's still processing," Dr. Freeland drummed her fingers against the desktop. "She has an immense amount of guilt. The failure of her marriage, choosing to stay with an abusive boyfriend, not being present for her children - she carries a lot of blame for herself. She still hasn't processed that mental illness is no one's fault. She didn't ask to be this way or give this to herself anymore than someone with a physical ailment."
"Have you discussed family sessions?"
"Olivia is open. From my brief interactions, I do not believe that Fitz or Athena are ready for that step just yet."
"Well, thank you for your time, Dr. Freeland." Jerry stood from his seat, clutching his ream of papers in one hand and extending the other to shake the doctor's hand.
"Hey."
Fitz turned at the sound of Tiffani's voice. He shifted the box of cereal in his hands, glancing at his feet. It had been a few weeks since he had actually spoken to her. She looked like she was doing just fine.
"Hey."
"It's been a while. You've been avoiding my texs. And my calls." She narrowed her eyes, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder.
"I've been busy."
"Katie asked how I've been handling our break-up."
Fitz chewed on his bottom lip, trying to picture Katie. She was one of Tiffani's friends, he knew, but he hadn't had much interaction with her.
"That's what you've been telling people? That we broke up?" Tiffani's eyes flashed as Fitz kept quiet. "You disappear. You don't answer my texts or calls and then you tell everyone that we broke up. Don't you think you should have at least tole me?"
Fitz sighed, tucking the cereal box beneath his arm and running a hand through his curls - messing the thick strands.
"We both knew this was going to happen. You wanted kids. The whole nine yards -"
"And you already had that," Tiffani snorted. "So that's it? You disappear because you're still in love with her?"
"I'm not -" Fitz began to protest, shaking his head.
"Yes you are. You move her in. You give her a car. You make sure she takes her medicine and goes to work. You are still in love with Olivia. You're just too bull-headed to see it."
"I'm not having this conversation with you." Grasping the box of cereal in his hand, Fitz began taking long strides down the aisle - trying to place as much distance between himself and Tiffani as possible.
"You're an ass. You two deserve each other."
Lifting his hand, Fitz raised his middle finger before turning to his left and leaving the aisle. He found Olivia and Seph by the produce.
"This what you wanted?" He held the Lucky Charms up, laughing at Seph's excited look. Placing the box in the cart, he took the metal cart from Olivia.
"I still have to grab some celery and we need fruit."
"Divide and conquer?"
"Divide and conquer," Olivia laughed, holding her hand and out and taking Seph's before disappering toward the vegetables.
"I mean, it was a dick move." The tall skinny blonde shrugged her shoulders, placing one foot in front of the other as she slowly edged across the floating log on the pond.
"Are you really giving me break-up advice?" Fitz scoffed at the younger woman, crossing his arms over his chest. "One of these days, you're going to fall in."
"I've never ghosted someone." She shrugged, holding her arms out - the gold bracelet on her wrist catching the unusually bright sun's rays. "I guess if I do, good thing I have my big brother here to save me."
"Maybe I should have done it differently, Mercedes." Fitz edged ever closer to the rippling water, eyeing it warily. Having fallen into the frigid waters when he was a kid, he took extra precaution to avoid another frozen dip. His sister on the other hand…
"Ya think?" Mercedes spun around, quickly, to face her older brother. Her blue eyes sparkled and her curls tumbled down her back. "Only assholes ghost someone."
"Okay, Tiffani."
"Ha! You're just mad that she called you on your bullshit." Gingerly, Mercedes stepped off the log and onto dry ground. Her knee-high, purple Muck boots crunched over the frozen ground as she took the few short steps toward Fitz.
"Because it's just me."
"The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."
"Where have I -? You and Athena kill me."
"It's a legitimate scientific study, dumbass," Mercedes shook her head, patting her brother on the back, "But yes it's in a song, too."
"Okay, Ms. Smarty-pants."
"Oh, brother." Mercedes rolled her eyes, wrapping her arm around her brother's shoulders. Both were naturally tall and Fitz was only a couple inches taller than her.
"What do I do, Sadie?" Fitz rested his head against his sister's, eyes travelling to the other side of the pond where a doe stood, taking a drink.
"What about therapy?"
"Sadie -"
"No, no. Hear me out. You've all been through absolute, total hell. It isn't your fault. It isn't Liv's fault. You both made questionable choices - look what you did when you found Jake with Liv! You practically beat the man to death right then. And Athena was in the house! He deserved it, don't get me wrong, but...holy fuck, bro. You guys have to move on though. Heal. Talk it through. You need to see a therapist first, though. You have some unresolved issues, too, Fitz. Neither one of you can fix anything or move on if you don't work on yourself first."
"So that's it. You're not doing the whole neurosurgeon thing anymore?"
"What?"
"You sounded like dad for a minute."
"Yeah well, I actually listened when he talked."
"Hm," Fitz drummed his fingers against Mercedes's arm, turning them around and starting the trek through the woods to their parents' home. "You might be right."
"Of course I am."
A/N - It's fascinating to see how many are team Olivia or team Fitz.
I've had a few people mention about taking sides: I am not taking either character's side in this story. We are not even close to the halfway point - there's still a lot that hasn't been said. Neither character was even close to being a saint on the show and they aren't in this story, either. Some chapters will make you hate one or the other or both. This isn't a black and white story - there is plenty of grey.
If you have time, listen to Forever by halsey. It's a pretty big clue to where we're at in the story.
Until next time,
Gabi
P.S. Mercedes is one of my favourite characters in this story xxx
