Marcus raised his glass of champagne for a toast. Olivia insisted on celebrating the first day of Harrison going to daycare.
"Are you happy now?"
"Yes!"
"Harrison is not that bad."
"He broke my vase. I bought that when I vacationed in Bali. I can't buy that at Ikea."
"You're never going to be a mom are you?"
"No. I don't want kids. They're sticky and dirty."
"You were a kid. I'm sure you broke a few things."
"No, I was shipped off to boarding school after my mom became a gypsy."
"I try not to laugh when you say that."
"I can laugh about it now. She is one flew over the cuckoo's nest insane."
"I thought you were joking when you told me your mom is a fortune teller."
"No, I am very serious about her travels to East Sudan, London and now her gypsy stand next to Gypsy Kitchen. She came back from a French vacation and decided to be a gypsy when I was a young teen. I was shipped off to Switzerland for boarding school."
Their celebration was interrupted when Fitz walked in the office. Olivia almost spit out her champagne. He looked different when he didn't smell like a skunk.
"Can we help you with something?" Marcus asked.
"Can I speak to Olivia alone?"
"If she's okay with that you can."
"It's fine Marcus."
"We can talk in the conference room," Olivia said to Fitz.
Olivia waited for Fitz to speak. There was a long pause between them until Fitz broke the silence.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"I know I said I would bring you proof when I came back here, but I don't have any. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't want you to be afraid of me. I want you to find a way to get me home. The woman I love, you in another universe, she needs me."
"What's she like?"
"Excuse me?"
"The other me."
"So you do believe me?"
"Maybe I do."
"She's the love of my life. Tenacious at work, and a friend when I need her to be that for me."
"Is she divorced?"
"No, she came close to getting married, but she gave him the ring back."
"What ring...who was she going to marry?"
"Edison Davis."
"She made a good choice. He looks great on paper, but he is not the man for me...or your Olivia. She would not be happily married to Edison Davis. I never loved him. I've never really loved anyone."
Olivia changed the subject, not wanting to start complaining about Edison.
"Does she sit in her apartment and eat popcorn while drinking wine every day after work?"
"Yes."
"Your story is so fantastical, but I believe you. My friend, Huck, told me a similar story."
"I know him."
"So, he does exist in your world. He was saying something about a government experiment where realities are combining and breaking apart. He said that there might be two or more people in a universe because of the experiment."
"Is that what this is?"
"I don't know. He was pulled away by two men before he could give me any more information. I haven't been able to find him."
"Is he B6-13?"
"What's that?"
"An organization run by Rowan Pope."
"Who is Rowan?"
"I guess you know him as Eli."
"Eli Pope, dad? He works for the Smithsonian as a paleontologist. All he has ever cared about is dinosaurs, so much so that when my mother left us, he shipped me off to boarding school."
"Maya, the world's most wanted."
"Sure, she's wanted for her fortune teller services."
"What?"
"She's a gypsy."
Fitz laughed out loud, and Olivia looked slightly hurt, "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting that. Maya is really different here."
"I don't usually invite anyone I'm still getting to know to my apartment, but I don't really want to talk about this with Marcus here. I know he won't believe any of this. Wait for me outside."
A few minutes later, Olivia let Marcus know that she was going home for the rest of the day, and that she would be back in the office tomorrow. Fitz and Olivia rode in silence to her apartment. He didn't know how he should be with this Olivia. He had to keep this professional. He was surprised when Olivia offered him her hand at a red light. He intertwined their fingers.
"Maybe I should have waited for you instead of marrying Edison."
Fitz didn't know what to say to that...this wasn't his Olivia. He couldn't stay with this Olivia Pope. Maybe in his next lifetime they could be together, but not while he still had his Livvie.
"I'm sure you will get your own Vermont one day...or the sun...whatever you choose."
"What?"
"Right, you have no idea what I'm talking about."
"No, I don't," Olivia said, sadly.
XXXX
"Somebody took Olivia."
Huck was trying to figure out why Jake was trying to get him out of his house so late at night. They weren't the type of friends who hung out together after work. Everything was business.
"Who took Olivia?"
"I don't know. She was snatched from her apartment when I left for a second."
Huck slumped his shoulders. He was so close to getting his family together, and now he was going to be inattentive until he found Olivia, "Let's go find her."
"Where should we start looking?"
"Her apartment. Maybe she left some breadcrumbs."
Huck searched her apartment and then the apartment next door when he noticed the resident wasn't there, "I found something."
"What?"
"Her ring. She wears it for him. She would never leave this anywhere."
"Fitz gave her that ring?"
"Yes, we need to get to OPA. Hurry up. We might not have much time to find Liv."