AN: I'm glad you are enjoying my niece and nephew's antics. They're 4 & 7. Two tiny handfuls of chaos.
Fitz watched as Olivia walked away. A long tear slipped down his cheeks. Her last words rang loud in his head. She thought he'd drugged her. She thought he could do something like that. She thought he could let something like that happen to her let alone anyone.
"No mean!" Karen continued to yell. The finite 'click' of a lock in place bounced through the apartment. He didn't know what to say. He was never at a loss for words and now here he was, unable to take his eyes off the doorway Olivia just walked through.
"I think you and Karen should go," Abby whispered. For the first time in the last several moments, Fitz realized he and Karen weren't alone in the kitchen. Abby stood, hands on what little hip she had, next to Curtis who looked ready to kill.
"She's right. Leave," Curtis hissed.
Again, Karen helped up a finger. "No mean!"
Fitz grabbed her finger and held onto her hand. "I came to talk to Olivia. I'm going to talk to her."
"The fuck you will. You've already upset her. You're not going to again." Curtis said. "Leave before I make you."
"I'm not afraid of you," Fitz responded. It was true. He wasn't intimidated by the man in front of him at all, but rather more worried about what a fight would do to Karen's psyche. "I don't care who you are or how you're mad at me. I literally will not think of you passed this day. I am here for Olivia." He stood, Karen on his hip.
Curtis looked ready to spit bullets, but Fitz paid it no mid. He understood. If Curtis really was Olivia's boyfriend, then Fitz was in utter shock that Curtis had yet to deck him. In the end though, it didn't matter. He didn't care about what Curtis had to say to him. All that mattered was Olivia.
"Kare Bear, can I get you to sit with Abby for a minute. Can you be a big girl and sit with her so daddy can go talk to Olivia?" he asked his daughter.
"No mean!" Karen again repeated. Fitz couldn't help but to smile at the protective surge his daughter had for him.
"She isn't mean, baby. She's got a boo boo."
"Boo boo?" Karen repeated. She lifted her t-shirt to reveal a small, inch wide scar and touched it with her hand. "Boo boo?"
"Yeah. Yup. Like that. Olivia has one and I'm the only person who can help her."
Karen kissed her dad's right cheek. "Better?"
"I'm gonna try to make it better. I just need you to sit with Abby. Is that okay?" He pointed at Abby who looked eager to do anything but take care of a two year.
"You're not getting Olivia alone," Curtis argued.
"I'm here. This place can't be any bigger than a petri dish –"
"Hey!" Abby scoffed.
"Sorry, but it's fact. You can hear Olivia and you can hear me from just about anywhere here. I need to talk to her alone, though. I'm not asking."
Without thinking, he climbed to his feet and headed to the entry way. He made it halfway there when one of Curtis's hands landed on his right shoulder.
"I said no."
"And I said I'm not asking. Take your hand off me before I do something, I don't want to in front of my daughter. Fitz's voice was level. Flat. He could feel the tear drying on his cheek.
"No one's fighting in my petri dish," Abby barked. She moved Curtis's hand before turning her attention to Karen. With arms outstretched, Abby spoke directly to the toddler. "Hey Miss Grant, care to dance with me. If not, I think I have a couple of old stuffed animals in my closet. I also have TV – cartoons?"
"Caroons?" Karen craned her head up and then shot her dad a quizzical look.
"Just a couple," Fitz said. He looked over to Abby. "She doesn't watch a lot of TV."
Karen easily slid from Fitz's hold into Abby's arms.
"If I even hear Olivia sigh too loud, I'll hurt you," Curtis promised, though Fitz paid him no mind. As Karen slid into Abby's arms, Fitz walked down the hall, to the bathroom. He lifted his hand to knock but stopped short. He could hear soft, muted sobbing on the other end. He dropped down to the floor and leaned against the wood. He couldn't quite stretch his legs out in front of them and sitting on the floor cramped him up like an accordion. He knocked twice.
"Go away, Abby. I'll be back out in a minute," Olivia shouted.
"It's not Abby, Olivia. It's me."
"Go to hell!" she screamed.
Fitz sighed, letting his head fall against the wood. He could feel a cool breeze coming from beneath the door. She probably had a bathroom window opened. "I can't do that. Something terrible happened to you. I didn't know then, but I know now. I don't even care about clearing my name anymore, I just care about you."
"I don't care about you!" Olivia yelled. She sounded like a hurt puppy.
"Here's what I remember about Halloween, Livvie. I never saw a note. I remember waiting for you to get to the party. We'd been flirting on and off forever and I was determined to ask you out. Finally. Penelope told me that she didn't know if you were coming, but then there you were. You had a set of cat ears on and you were dressed and wore this cute polka dotted red skirt that reminded me more of Minnie Mouse than a cat." He heard shuffling on the other side. "We talked for a little bit when you came in, but I got cornered by Mellie. She wanted to know why I wouldn't speak to her. I spent all night chasing you and trying to brush her off. I remember talking to Jake about Mellie and he said he'd keep her distracted. We had one dance together. To Your favorite singer. Max?" He couldn't remember the singer's last name.
"Well." Olivia said through the door.
He smiled. "Yeah, Max Well."
"It's one word, just Maxwell."
"It was after that that poured us both a couple of drinks. I think I set them down after spiling a little on me. I walked away to get a napkin and when I came back, you were yelling something over the music at me. I couldn't hear you, but I gave you your drink. You disappeared after that. I remember Mellie asking me to go upstairs to talk about us in private. I think I told her no the first time. She didn't take it so finally I gave in. When we got upstairs, I tried to open a door, but it was locked. I tried another and that's when I saw you with … then when I saw…"
"Say it."
"I saw you with Jake. You were saying please don't stop. I assumed it was consensual and you were encouraging him." Fitz's voice grew heavy and his throat tightened.
"Please don't. Stop. I was begging him to stop!" Olivia's voice was sagged beneath her words.
Fitz heard a hard thud against the door. It caused the wood to vibrate beneath his head. His stomach quivered. A few straw tears tumbled down his face. How had he gotten it so wrong? She'd needed him and his jealousy got in the way.
"I wanted to be with you that night. I wanted to make love to you, and you shared me with…"
"I didn't. I never would've. I was in love with you, Olivia. The idea of you being with anyone else drove me crazy, but I thought – Jake said. We've known each other since we were kids. I didn't think –"
"But you thought I could sleep with him? Go to hell! Just get out. Leave!" Again, another hard thud.
Approaching footsteps sounded along the carpeting floor. Fitz turned to find Curtis. Again, he paid no mind. "I believe you. This happened to you. He hurt you." Fitz tried. "But I didn't help him, Olivia. I need you to know that. I didn't. After I walked away from the room that night, I don't really remember anything else. Even walking away is spotty. I woke up next to Mellie."
"Jake said you were with her, but that doesn't explain why you were laughing and high-fiving him. You knew what he did, and it didn't matter."
"Laughing and high-fiving?" Fitz asked.
"Yeah. When I left."
He thought back to the week that would become the last time he'd see her again until walking into that conference room two weeks ago. He could remember seeing her only in glimpses after thinking she'd slept with Jake. The more he thought about it now, the more he realized she'd stopped showing up to class. Stopped coming around. He'd chosen to believe Jake and it'd been eating Olivia alive for years.
"I can't remember high-fiving. I wish I could, but I believe you. I would've never done anything like this to you. Ever. I don't know why he…I don't know why Jake would."
"Because he can. Because you both can. You get away with everything and it doesn't matter in the end. It's just people like me who get stepped on in the process." Olivia's voice cracked.
Fitz's eyes closed and he touched the door with his fingertips. He could hear her rustling in the bathroom beyond him. It broke his heart to see her so broken. And by his own doing.
"Why didn't you confront me sooner?" He asked.
"What was the point? I'd already been told I'd lose my scholarship. Jake is perfect on paper, just like you. I'm just collateral."
He sat up, eyes running over the wood. He couldn't stop himself from tearing up once more. She wasn't collateral. His lack of care made her feel insignificant. It made her feel discarded. Used. Why had he accepted Jake's explanation without challenge? And for so long?
He looked at the space where the door didn't quite reach the floor. He slid his fingers underneath.
"He's not going to get away with this, Liv. I won't let him. I can't. Please. Just believe me. Just … touch my fingers if you believe me. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I need to right this wrong. I shouldn't ask you to forgive me for not challenging him sooner. For believing everything he had to say. I betrayed your trust in the worst way possible, but I did not help him do this. Just…just touch my fingers please. Tell me you believe me."
There were several long moments of lingering silence. All Fitz could hear was Olivia shuffling. The sound of drawers opening and closing. He waited. Prayed. Wondered. How was he ever going to make this right? This was a landslide and he'd never find solid ground again. And he didn't deserve to know it either.
She wasn't going to return his touch. She didn't believe him and had every right not to.
He should just give up and he was ready to.
Then he felt it.
Her fingers over his.