Fitz was still smiling when he entered the Oval a few hours later. He glanced at his desk clock as he took his seat behind the Resolute desk; it was still early, the sun had barely crept over the horizon but you couldn't tell it by the lightness in his heart. Even the stacks of folders and memos waiting for him didn't faze him in the least - he looked to the coffee service that had been wheeled in and been waiting for him. Neither Olivia or Karen would approve, but what they didn't know, wouldn't hurt them…
He couldn't help the mischievous grin that came to him as Fitz poured himself a cup, adding cream and sugar and taking a deep sip, savoring the taste. He reached for one of the folders, trying to keep his mind from the time, but he couldn't help himself from wondering if it was too early to call his daughter. She'd told Olivia that she was fine, but still…
Hi desk phone rang and a glance told him that it was his private line. Knowing that it had to be Karen, relief flooded through him.
"Hi, baby girl." he said as soon as he picked up.
"Hi Dad, I didn't interrupt anything too important, did I?"
"No - and I've told you a million times before - and I'll tell you a million times again if I need to - there is nothing in this world that's more important than hearing from my favorite daughter."
"Your only daughter -" and Fitz could hear the smile in her voice as she corrected him. "- but thanks, Dad - that's what every girl wants to hear, that she's more important than the threat of thermonuclear war and the possible collapse of western civilization as we know it."
"Don't let your head get too big about it - I might have to draw the line at invading aliens. Then you might just have to get in line like everybody else."
"Good to know."
The sound of her laughter was just what he needed. "So, how's school - and why did you call the White House last night?"
"School is fine. I have one last essay to turn in and then I'm free for the holiday."
"But why did you call?" he prodded gently.
"Can't it just be me checking in on you? I do watch the news - and maybe I was just a little worried."
"It could be that, but something tells me it's something more."
"Why? I see you on TV and it's easy for someone who knows you to see the stress that you're under and when you haven't been eating the way you should …" and here Karen tried to hide her concern, but a voice dropped - just a little. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Eating right and stuff like that. Stress isn't good for you, you know."
"It goes with the job, sweetheart." Fitz said. As much as he was enjoying his daughter fussing over him, he knew that there was something more behind her words - he could feel it. "Honey, is that really the only reason that you called last night?"
The little silence that followed told Fitz more than he wanted to know and his heart fell a little. "Karen?" he prodded her again. He heard her take a breath and something inside of him clenched.
"I- I don't know, Dad…"
"What don't you know, honey? Whatever it is, talk to me and lets see if we can figure it out together."
She was quiet again. And then the words seemed to just burst out of her. "It's Mom - I think that she has a plan for Thanksgiving - and not the one you two agreed to."
Fitz's heart sank even as his mind begin to spin with the possibilities. "Your mother and I agreed that you all would spend the holiday with her, but then you and your brothers would fly out and spend the weekend with me here in DC."
He shouldn't be surprised, Fitz told himself - and he wasn't going to get angry. This was neither the time or place for his feelings.
"You know this and I know this - but she's being way too nice about this." Karen kept going. "There's been a lot of phone calls going on. It seems like every time she and I talk, she's having to end her calls because someone is on the other line."
"Your mother is trying to find a new path for her life, and that can't be easy..." Fitz tried to sound reasonable, for Karen's sake more than for himself.
"There's more." Karen interrupted him. "All before this week, Mom had been after me to fly out to the ranch earlier. I finally got her off of my back by telling her that I had another extracurricular project to work on -"
"Like your Habitat project?" Fitz asked.
"I wish!" Karen said. "But now, all of a sudden, she's stopped the push-back. Mom doesn't give in easily - and that was enough to send off 'danger, Will Robinson, danger!' vibes. The straw that broke the camel's back was her last phone call telling me that my staying at school was fine and that maybe I should be ready for a surprise."
And they both knew what surprises meant coming from her mother - nothing good.
"Something is up, Dad. I know it."
Fitz doesn't press her any further; he doesn't need to - it's enough to hear the certainty in her words and more importantly it's what he hears in her voice. It's true.
Something very Mellie this way comes.
"Hold on, sweetheart." He tells her. He switches phone lines; by now, Lauren is at her desk and he gives her instructions that for at least the next thirty minutes nothing short of thermonuclear war is to interrupt him and his daughter.
Switching back to Karen, first he reassures her that nothing is going to change their plans for the weekend, then he deliberately changes the subject, prompting her with questions that turn the conversation away from him and more onto her before sliding into his worst dad jokes, the ones that he knows will guarantee his putting a smile on Karen's face. He spent the next little while concentrating on nothing but that.
Fitz is sure that she sees through him; she's too old not to, but she plays along anyway - she's just as determined as he is to make him smile, to chase away the sadness and the storm that they both knew was coming.
And there is sadness there, underneath the banter and the smiles, reality lurking in the corners. But they both manage to ignore it for these few and precious moments.
Because of that - and not for the first time - Fitz is reminded that his little girl is growing up and with that comes clarity and understanding about exactly who and what her mother is - and there's nothing that he can do about that.
But he can set aside all the cares of his office, if only for a little while that's never long enough. He can listen to his daughter, listen to her speak her truth and that has to be enough right now and so he does. He allows her to make him laugh and for this little space in time, all is right in their world.
Eventually they slide out of this space; it's a slow and reluctant thing, one that ends almost the way that they began, with Karen fussing about him and his health.
And then, in a gesture that pierced Fitz's heart, Karen tried apologizing for monopolizing so much of his time. "I know that you must be busy, Dad - I really should hang up now…."
Fitz knew that maybe he should care about that, but he doesn't. It isn't often that he can put the world on hold, but today, for his daughter, he can. "I know it and you know; I'm always busy - it comes with the job. But this morning, I've got time. I'm making time and we can talk as long as you need. I'm not going anywhere until I know that you're good."
Even as he says the words and makes his promises, Fitz hopes that she knows how very much a priority that she is - that she and her brothers are. He hasn't always been able to show it -the burden of his life of public service, up to and including his presidency keeps him from it - has kept him from so many things - but that's something else that Fitz has promised to change as they go into the new year.
He doesn't want to waste empty words saying so - his actions will speak for him. Hopefully, this conversation will go a long way in showing that.
"I'm good, Dad - I promise. I just wish that I didn't have the feeling that Mom is about to land like Rodan on DC."
Rodan? His mind blanked for a moment and then he was remembering Karen's addiction to monster movies just a few years ago. Where had the time gone, he wondered.
"Have you been watching Godzilla movies again?" he asked. Time may have passed, but those were good memories; Gerry used to pretend not to care, but he'd always find an excuse to end up in the same room with them, with giant bowls of hot, buttered popcorn and roasted peanuts. Fitz's heart ached just a little at the memories - but it just made him all the more determined to find his way back to recreating that with all of his kids.
"So that means you haven't seen the newest Godzilla?" Karen's laugh pulled him out of his thoughts of the past and back into the now.
"If it hasn't been filed in the mountain of reports I was looking over when you called, then that's a great big no." Fitz chuckled. "I'm sorry if I've been too busy to keep the world safe from thermonuclear war - and alien invaders - to worry much about your kajin. Is Mothra still your favorite?"
"Queen of the Monsters?" the enthusiasm in her voice brightened Fitz's heart. "Dad, she's better than ever!"
As grown as Karen might be getting to be, when her enthusiasm took over all Fitz hears is the voice of his little girl again.
"Promise me that we'll have a Godzilla night this weekend." Karen was saying. "Teddy and Ella will have such a blast."
"Teddy and Ella?" Fitz couldn't help but tease her. "Is that the story that we're going with now?"
"Whatever works, Dad." Karen was happy to share her laughter with him. "Am I not my father's child?"
"Always. But what are you referring to this time?"
She was quick with her answer. "I see what I want and I state my case while building a coalition as for why I'm going after it. Popcorn and peanuts and getting to stay up late? Teddy and Ella are so going to be on my side."
"Setting me up so that I can't argue with an overwhelming majority?"
"I'd rather frame it as a well thought out campaign ending in a landslide victory for me."
"I can accept that." Fitz said. "I'll see what I can do."
"Dad, do I really need to remind you that you live on top of your very own movie theater? I'm sure it won't take an executive order to make it happen - but you do have that option."
This was an argument Fitz didn't mind losing. "What kind of essay project did you tell your mother that you were working on? I hope it's on political science -"
Karen giggled again. "At least I don't have a pushy dad behind me - I hear that can be painful."
"I may not be pushy -but your mother on the other hand..." Fitz was still in a joking mood, but as soon as the words left his mouth he realized that he'd spoken without thinking. He rushed to apologize. "Karen, I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Dad, we both know that you're right. Sometimes it can be a good thing, but then there's other times and well… then we're here. It is the reason why I called, after all."
"I wish that it wasn't."
"I'll try to call more often." Karen promised him. "But as far as Mom goes, well - she is who she is." She paused. "I hate to say it, Dad, but just watch your back."
Fitz didn't know what to say to that. "I will, sweetheart - and I hate that I have to say it, but you do the same."