Chapter Eleven: Getaway
"Then I felt a hand over my mouth and something sticking in my back. He told me to be quiet and drop the box and I did. Then he pushed me on the ground and started rifling through my boxes. When he didn't find anything he went through my purse. I only had a little cash in my wallet and he got angry." Olivia gripped Fitz's hand tighter as she retold her story to the two officers standing in front of her. "I tried to run away, but I wasn't quick enough and he grabbed my ankle and I fell. Then he pulled me back and slammed me against the car. After that he just took my necklace and my bracelet and then that's when Fitz scared him off."
"Did he take anything else?"
"Just my iPod, some cash, and my jewelry."
"Did you happen to get a look at him?"
Olivia shook her head. "He was wearing a mask. All I saw was his mouth and his eyes."
"Can you describe what you saw?"
"He was tall, and skinny but surprisingly strong. He had green eyes and a silver lip ring."
"Did you notice anything else about him? Anything peculiar?"
"He smells."
"Smells?"
"Yeah like he's been bathing in the sewer."
"Anything else you can think of?"
"He apologized to me. Right before Fitz showed up, he stood over me and apologized. And he actually sounded… sincere."
The two officers wrote down Olivia's answers in their notepads, and put them back into their jackets. "Well we have just about everything we need. Mr. Grant has provided us with the security tape from the parking garage, and we'll be reviewing that just as soon as we get to the station. We collected DNA samples from under your fingernails, and they are being sent to the lab now to run through the database and hope that he's in the system."
"And if he's not, how will you find him then?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." One of the officers took his card out and put it on the tray next to the bed. "I'm Officer Henry and this is Officer Goodman. If you can think of anything else give us a call."
"Oh, well thank you. We'll all sleep better tonight knowing we have you're card." Fitz said.
"I'm sorry we can't do more at this time, but we'll be in touch." The two officers left the room, and Fitz got up to follow after them.
"Where are you going?" Olivia gripped his hand tighter, if it was possible.
"I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead, and hand to peel her hand off his, before he went out to the hall after the officers.
"You know who he is don't you." Fitz said. The officers turned around, but didn't answer him. "I saw the look you two made, when Olivia was describing him, you know who he is don't you."
Officer Goodman sighed, "The description Ms. Pope gave matches the statements from three victims who were mugged at knife point. They described him the same; white, tall but skinny, green eyes and a distinct smell about him."
"So this guy has done this three other times, not including the three of my employees? Why is it taking you so long to catch this guy?"
"Mr. Grant we're doing everything we can at this point."
"At this point? What are you going to do wait until he kills someone to finally take your thumbs out of your ass? Is this really my tax paying dollars at work?"
"Mr. Grant you need to calm down."
"No you need to get off your lazy fat ass and do your damn jobs!" Fitz saw Olivia's doctor going into her room, and walked away. The doctor was already speaking with Olivia when he walked in the room.
"So good news, you're nose wasn't broken or even a hairline fracture like we suspected. It's just badly bruised, and it's going to be quite tender for a few days. Your injuries were luckily just minor, you've got quite a goose egg on the back your head and a mild concussion. And because of the concussion, I want to keep you overnight for observation. If all goes well tonight, you should be able to go home tomorrow."
"Thank you doctor."
"No problem. The nurse will be back in to check on you shortly, and I'll have her bring in some more warm blankets for you."
X
"Did you get in touch with my parents and Alex yet?" Olivia asked, as she and Fitz were cuddled up on the small hospital bed. She was practically lying on top of him, because it was such a tight fit. She had to almost force him to get in the bed with her, because he didn't want to hurt her. She had to keep reminding him that she wasn't broken, and as long as he didn't touch her nose, she was fine.
She also just wanted him to stop starring at her like she was about to die. She was already feeling a little self-conscious with the white bandage covering her nose. She didn't understand why she had to have a bandage, if her nose wasn't broken. But the doctor told her it was to help with the swelling. She didn't know which was worse, the bandage or the red and slightly purple bruises it was covering. Then add her busted lip and the golf ball sticking out her head, she was damn sure not looking her best the afternoon.
"I called them all, but I got their voicemail. Though I didn't want to have to tell them over voicemail."
"Momma is probably in court, and the judges hate cellphones in their courtroom. And daddy either puts his phone on vibrate or silent when he's in classes. And Alex is probably rehearsing. Momma will probably see her message first, and I'm sure she'll call the others." Olivia squeezed Fitz tighter, making sure to not bump her nose.
"He took my bracelet." She whispered.
Fitz wrapped his arms tighter around her, kissing the top of her head. "I'll buy you another one."
"He took my necklace." She said next, and Fitz didn't know what to say. He couldn't just buy her another necklace, well he could, but it wouldn't have the same sentimental value. He knew how much that necklace meant to Olivia, and he wished he could promise her that he would get it back, but he couldn't. All he could promise was that he would try to get it back.
About after another ten minutes of the two just lying in the bed, the hospital room burst opened and a hysterical Dianna rushed in with Olivia's dad and Alex following behind her.
"Olivia! Baby are you alright?" Fitz barely had enough time to move out of the way, before Dianna came barreling towards the bed.
"I'm fine momma."
"You are not fine, you're in a hospital bed. Look at your face." Dianna gripped Olivia's chin, turning her face side to side. "I'll kill that little fucker if I find him." Dianna said, shocking everyone in the room. Olivia had never really heard her mother curse like that, she couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm fine momma really. It's not broken, just badly bruised. The doctor said it's gonna be tender for a few days, but then I'm fine."
"Then why are they holding you overnight?"
"I have a little concussion, but I'm fine."
"I knew I shouldn't have let you two live in the city by yourself."
"This is the first time something like this has happened."
"Alex's purse was snatched right from her hands on the subway." Dianna pointed out.
"Yeah, and now we don't take the subway anymore."
"And what happens if the next time is worse huh? You couldn't been seriously hurt Olivia." Eli said, sitting on the edge of her bed, squeezing her foot.
"I'm fine daddy, really." She was getting tired of repeating herself, but she knew they were only being overbearing, because they were scared and worried.
"Did they catch they guy?" Alex asked.
Olivia sadly shook her head. "No. He got scared and ran off when he heard Fitz coming."
It was then, that the three of them finally noticed Fitz was in the room. It didn't matter, that Olivia was wrapped in his arms when they burst in, they had tunnel vision and could only see their bandaged daughter and sister sitting on the bed. Simultaneously all three of their heads turned in Fitz's direction. Use to being the center of attention, Fitz gave them all a smile and nodded in their direction.
Eli was the first to speak. "I'm sorry for being rude, I didn't see you there." Eli walked around the bed to shake Fitz's hand. "Elijah Pope, Olivia's father. This is my wife Dianna, and our daughter Alex."
"We've met." Alex said, smirking at Olivia as she sat on the edge of her bed.
Fitz returned Eli's string handshake, "Fitzgerald Grant."
"Oliva's boyfriend." Alex said, earning a glare form Olivia, and a subtly kick.
"You're Olivia's boss right?" Dianna asked.
"Former boss." Fitz answered, still shaking Eli's hand, because the man wouldn't let go. Ever since Alex said 'boyfriend' he had been glaring at Fitz, and the hold on his hand was becoming tighter and tighter.
"Olivia you didn't mention a boyfriend to me."
"It's fairly new daddy."
"How long s 'fairly new'?" Eli asked, speaking to Olivia, but still glaring at Fitz.
Olivia shrugged, "Three months."
Eli finally released Fitz's hand, and glared at Olivia now. "You call that fairly new?" Olivia shrugged again.
"Daddy we're twenty-three years old, you still expect us to tell you when we're dating someone?" Alex said.
"Alex has a boyfriend." Olivia yelled out, before he father could answer. Now we're even She thought, when Alex glared at her.
"Excuse me?" Eli said.
"His name is Fitzpatrick and he's Fitz's brother."
"Olivia?!" Alex shouted then and Olivia only stuck her tongue out at her.
Dianna was standing next to the bed, shaking her head at her two adult daughters reverting back to their teenage bickering days. Fitz however thought it was funny, he hadn't seen this side of Olivia before. He was glad her family was here to take her mind off of why she was in the hospital in the first place.
Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang with a message. He looked, and saw it was from Huck, and he knew he had to take it. A little while after they got to the hospital, and Olivia was knocked out form her pain medicine, Fitz had called Huck. Before Huck came to work for him, he was working in an Apple IT store, and was very good with computers and all things technology and could hack into just about anything. Fitz asked him to look at the security tapes from the parking garage, and any video cameras he could fine surrounding the parking garage, to see if they could at least figure out which way the man ran off to. This was the third time an employee of his was mugged, and now he learned of three more women. The cops were dragging their asses, and Fitz was tired of it. If they weren't going to do their job, he would do it for them.
"Something wrong?" Olivia asked, noticing Fitz was distracted by whatever was on his phone.
"Uh no." He put his phone back in his pocket. "Just an emergency at work that I need to go check on."
"You're leaving?"
"Just for a while, I'll be back. I promise." He kissed the top of her head, since her lip was still a little sore. Plus they had an audience. "It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Pope, although on unfortunate circumstances. Hopefully the next time we meet will be a more joyous occasion." Fitz grabbed his jacket, said another quick goodbye to Olivia and Alex, and left.
"He's handsome Livia." Dianna said, and Olivia smiled up at her. Her way of thanking her for not making a big deal out of this. He dad was being dramatic for the both of them.
X
"So I did like you asked, and checked the security cameras from the garage. The cameras caught him coming in with a ball cap on, and apparently the guards were on break when he came in on the first level. The cameras got him hiding out in the stairwell, where he changed his cap for the mask and hid just waiting for someone to come."
"Did any of the cameras catch his face while he had on the ball cap?"
"No. He was good, and I'm guessing eh knows where all the cameras are, since he's been here at least three other times. The hat was tilted just enough to cover most of his face, and he kept his head down the entire time." Huck pushed a few buttons on his computer in the security booth in the parking garage.
"Around one thirty, is when Olivia came down for the last time. He left the stairwell, and started following behind her then cornered her at the car." Huck let the video of Oliva's attack play. He could hear Fitz's breathing changing, he could feel the heat radiating of Fitz. His arms were crossed, to keep him from throwing something. Fitz balled so tight his fingers were hurting.
"After you scared him off, the cameras caught him leaving, and heading south but the cameras don't go that far out." huck pushed some more buttons on his computer, and a street camera came up. "So I hacked into the security camera from the jewelry store form across the street. He was still heading south, until I lost him on this camera. So I hacked into another."
"How did you keep hacking into security feeds?"
"I could explain it to you, but I'd get no pleasure from it. And you wouldn't understand any of it anyway. Anyway, luckily for us there are a lot of shops around here that need outside security cameras. So I was able to follow him with the cameras until he stop. And the little smug bastard didn't even go far."
"Well where did he stop?"
Huck tore a piece of paper out of a notebook, and wrote as he spoke. "About three blocks from here, at a pawn shop called Eddy's." huck gave Fitz the paper. "This video feed is at least an hour old, so obviously the guy is long gone. But he might be able to tell you more about what the guy looked like or where he went. And since it's only been an hour, more than likely Olivia's things haven't been sold yet."
"Thank you Huck."
"No problem. How's Olivia, she gonna be alright."
"She's fine, just bruised and sore and the worst of it is her concussion. But she was mostly just shaken up. She'll be fine in a few days."
X
Fitz arrived the pawn shop less than five minutes later. It was a small shop wedged between a bodega and a bakery. The bell on the door chimed, as he walked in. It smelled of body funk and incents trying to mask the funk. There was trinkets, electronics musical instruments and just about anything else a person would pawn. The jewelry however was in a display case at the counter.
A man came out from the back, when he heard the bell ringing. A balding man with a bad comb over and cheap Hawaiian shirt, stretching over his potbelly and unbuttoned to show some of his chest hair smiled at Fitz with an unlit cigar hanging from his mouth.
"Hi and welcome to Eddy's, I'm eddy." The man spoke with the cigar still in his mouth, as he brushed his comb over. "Anything in particular you looking for?"
"Yes. This man." Fitz pulled a photo from his pocket. It was a screenshot from the security cameras of the mugger in his ball cap. You couldn't really see his face, but it gave him the idea.
Eddy frowned. "You a cop?"
"No. Does it matter?"
"Well you come in here with pictures of people asking all these questions. I don't know what you're into, but I'm just a simple pawn shop owner and I don't think you need to be in here right now."
"All I need to know is if this man was in here, and if he was, where is the jewelry he pawned to you?"
"Look buddy, I don't know anything about this guy or any jewelry. So I suggest you-" Before he could finish talking, Fitz had grabbed hold of the gaudy and most likely fake gold chain the man had around his neck. Fitz pulled the man down, slammed his chest and face into the display case. "Hey man what the fuck?!"
Fitz pressed his forearm on the man's back, keeping him in place. "I am not the police, but I'm pretty sure they would love to know all about you and the stolen jewelry you buy from the people who come in here."
Eddy chuckled nervously. "Her, hey let's just calm down alright. I don't know where these people get this stuff from. How am I supposed to know it's stolen? Look you let me up and I'll tell you anything."
Fitz didn't let the man back up, and he put the security picture back in his face. "Was he in here or not?"
"Alright he was in here, about- bout an hour ago. I remember him, because he was a little jumpy and shifty. Kept looking over his shoulder like someone was following him. And he had that ball cap pulled down over his face."
"What'd he want?"
"He had some jewelry he wanted to pawn. A- A bracelet and a silver necklace. I gave him 250 for both."
Fitz let him go, and pushed him back up to his feet. He scrolled the pictures on his phone, until he came across one Olivia took of the two of them on his phone. "Is this the bracelet?"
"Yeah." Eddy replied, rubbing his now sore neck.
"Show me."
Eddy pulled a chain of keys from his belt, and opened the display case. He gave Fitz the bracelet.
"Necklace." Fitz demanded, after making sure it was the right bracelet. Eddy was not pleased to be given up the necklace. He knew if he had the chance, he could make some pretty good money off it.
"Look man, I didn't know this stuff was hot." Eddy said, as he handed Fitz the necklace.
"Sure you didn't." Fitz snatched the necklace, opening it, Eddy hadn't even bothered to take the picture out. "Did he look anything like the two little girls in this picture? That wasn't a fuckin indication to you?" Eddy just shrugged. Fitz put the necklace and bracelet back in the jewelry pouch and put it in his pocket and walked away.
"Hey I paid 250 for that!"
"Next time don't buy stolen jewelry you piece of shit."
X
"Why did you tell my business to daddy like that?"
"Because you told mine!"
"Uh excuse you, but Fitz was in the room, Patrick was nowhere around here. They wouldn't have found out anyway."
"Yeah well maybe next time you should keep that big mouth of your closed and let someone else tell their own business." Olivia poked her tongue out at Alex.
"You're a brat."
"You're the brat, brat."
"Ooh nice comeback." Alex elbowed Olivia in the arm. They were both lying on the bed, Alex with her head on Olivia's shoulders and Olivia had her head resting on top of hers. Alex's right hand was intertwined with Olivia's left one, playing with her fingers.
"I'm glad you're okay sissy." Olivia smiled, she loved when Alex called her that. They use to call each other sissy when they were little. "You had me worried the entire drive over here. Don't do this to me again."
"I'll try not to." Olivia snorted, and a stinging pain shot through her nose. These few days were gonna be rough. "Did momma call and say they got home safe?" Olivia had to force her parents to leave, ensuring she would be just fine with Alex here. Besides, there was no room for all of them to sleep at the hospital that night.
"Keep talking." Olivia said. "It's distracting me."
"Well rehearsal went horrible today. Jordan was pitchy and since I kicked Quinn out I have to find someone else so sing the low harmony otherwise the song is thrown off."
"How is Quinn?"
"She's fine. We talk on the phone and text each other, you know still trying to be friends. She started her own band, I forget the name of it. But anyway she also got a job, she's an assistant to some bigshot photographer. But he's like wicked mean for no reason and he's batshit crazy. He made her stand like a half hour in a parking spot, just so he could get it. I told her to quit, but she loves photography, but hell no. Ain't no way I'd stand outside like a freaking human traffic cone just so someone else can get a spot." Olivia let Alex ramble on for another twenty minutes, grateful that she was taking her mind off her own problems.
X
Early the next morning, Fitz walked back into Olivia's hospital room, with his arms full with food. He knew Olivia wasn't going to eat all of it. But knowing how picky she was with her food, he knew she wasn't eating the hospital food, and he wanted to give her options. He had come back last night, and she and Alex were sleeping. Alex woke up when he walked in, but Olivia hadn't, thanks to the pain meds she was on. After they chatted for a little bit, Alex left to get Olivia's boxes from the office, and then she headed home. Leaving Fitz and Olivia alone for the night.
But Fitz mind as well had been by himself, because Olivia didn't wake up, didn't even stir in the night until the nurses came in to check on her. Every hour or so, a nurse would come in wake her and ask was she resting well. Olivia would sleepily nod yes, and close her eyes back. She didn't even notice Fitz was in the room. He was glad though, she needed her rest.
Fitz quietly took all the food out the brown bags, and spread them on the tray by her bed.
"Livvie." Fitz spoke softly, to not startle her. He smoothed her hair from her face, and she stirred. "Liv, time to get up."
"I'm not dead yet." Olivia mumbled in her sleep.
"What?"
Olivia cracked one, then two eyes open. "Oh, I thought you were that pesky nurse who keeps waking me up."
"Sorry to disappoint. But I do come baring gifts. I figured you'd be hungry."
"I am. I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday." She grabbed the first thing she saw, which was a breakfast croissant sandwich. It was ham and cheese, her favorite from her favorite deli. "Are you inviting someone to join us?" Olivia joked, when she saw all the food he had gotten.
"Well I didn't know what you'd want, so I got a little of a lot."
"I see that." Olivia stuffed another bite into her mouth, and grabbed one of the apple juices. Fitz sat beside her, sipping his coffee and picking off the tray as well. He was eating a piece of cantaloupe, he saw a news story on the TV.
"…Incident at Grant Art Inc. a woman was robbed at gunpoint early yesterday afternoon. The name of the victim has not been released at this time. There has been two reported muggings in the same parking lot, no word if the three incidents are related. We spoke to a detective on scene and we are told that there are no suspects at this time with this ongoing investigation. Detectives do ask that the city take extra precautions to protect yourself while this suspect is still at large…"
Olivia turned the TV off. They weren't saying anything she didn't already know.
"You okay?"
"Mhm, fine."
"Liv you know it's okay if you're not fine right. You're allowed to not be okay."
"I'm okay. I'm just… I'm ready to put it behind me already." Fitz only starred at her, and she knew he was waiting for her to continue. "And I might be a little frightened. I just need for him to be caught, I need to feel safe and secure again. He stole that from me, and I need it back to be normal again." Olivia reached to play with her necklace, but got upset all over again when she remembered it wasn't there anymore.
"I have something for you."
"What, more food? Because I don't think I can eat anymore."
"Livvie you had one croissant sandwich, how can you be that full?"
"It was a big one. Now what are you giving me if not food?" Fitz reached in his pocket, and gave Olivia a little bag. "You bought me another bracelet?! It looks just like my old one."
"That's because it is." Olivia looked confused. "I found it at the pawn shop it was sold at."
"How did you find the pawn shop?"
"It was only three blocks away. I had huck hack into some security feeds."
"Huck can do that?"
"He could do a lot more if I let him. And that's not all." He pulled her necklace out of his pocket.
Olivia gasped at the sight of her locket in Fitz's hand. A tear already building up in her eye, "My locket." She opened it, and there was the picture of her, Alex and their grandmother. "You found it."
Fitz shrugged like it was no big deal. "Technically Huck found them, I just went and got them. I know how much that necklace meant to you, so of course I had to try."
"Thank you so much." Olivia pulled him close for a kiss, but quickly pulled back laughing as he lip stung from the impact. "Ow, I forgot about that." Olivia was glad she could laugh at this instead of cry.
"Can you put it on?" Fitz nodded, and took the necklace from Olivia. She lifted her hair, and Fitz had to stop himself from kissing her exposed neck.
"There, perfect." Now if only the police could find the mugger, everything would be back to normal. Wishful thinking.
X
Days Later…
It had been a few days since the incident, and almost everything was returning back to normal. Olivia was feeling much better, and her swelling had stopped. And her bruising was getting better as well, she was now at the point where she could hide it with makeup. Before, it was just too dark and she'd end having to use just about all her makeup just to cover the bruising on her nose.
Yes, things where getting back to normal for everyone, except for Olivia. Ever since that night, Olivia had barely left the apartment and absolutely refused to go out after dark. She was scared. She barely slept, and when she did it was from falling asleep watching TV. And even then, she would only sleep for an hour, hour and a half tops. Every time she closed her eyes, she thought about that day, it never failed. And in her dream, it was ten times worse than what really happened. Half the time in her dreams, she ends up in the hospital in a coma. But of course she hadn't shared this with anyone else.
Alex tried to get her out the house, and she was successful once or twice, but Olivia wasn't budging on not going out at night. She was mugged in broad daylight, who's to say what can happen in the cover of night. She didn't what to be out there to find out. She hadn't even been to work in days. But the center understood, and she had more than enough vacation time saved up. And she sent Marcus some paintings to keep him happy for a few days while she got herself together.
And Fitz. Well Fitz was sort of getting neglected. Before the incident, Oliva spent almost every day at Fitz's penthouse or just with Fitz in some way or another. But now, Olivia hadn't been back to his penthouse since she left the hospital. They hadn't been out together either, no more lunch dates, no dinner dates, no walks in the park, nada. Fitz was a patient man, and good for him too. He would come be the apartment and sit with Olivia for a while, but all she would want to do was watch TV. He didn't mind though, he just wanted to make sure she was fine. Which she wasn't. Safe? Yes. But fine? No. She was becoming a hermit. Too afraid to leave her shell, and that was no way to live or enjoy life.
X
"Hang on." Fitz heard Alex yell behind the door, after he'd knocked. She opened the door a moment late, in sweats and a tank with bowl of captain crunch in her hand. "Oh hey Fitz."
"Hello Alex. How are you this afternoon?"
"I'm great. Shouldn't you be at work?"
"I should yes. But I'm the boss, which means I can pretty much do anything I want."
"Guess it does." Alex smiled. "She's in her art room, banging on something." Just then, Fitz heard some clanking noises coming form the back room. He recognized it, and knew she must've been working on her sculptures today. "She's been in there all afternoon, getting on my nerves."
"She still not sleeping?" Fitz asked, knowing lately Olivia was only in her art room all day and night, because she couldn't sleep.
"No she isn't. She fell asleep watching TV late last night for like an hour, but she startled awake and couldn't get back to sleep. She thinks I don't know she's been having nightmares, but when she starts yelling in her sleep, it's a little hard not to notice." Alex pat Fitz's arm in good luck, as she walked back up the stairs with her cereal.
As Fitz got closer to the door, he could hear the clinking of her chisel hitting the stone repeatedly and the faint sound of music. He knocked on the door, but received no answer so he just walked in. Olivia was sitting on a black paint spattered stool, in front of a chunk of stone. The bottom portion was still just raw stone, but the top portion was what looked to be a well sculpted male body. He saw her looking back to a picture next to her, and figured she was making this for a client. She still got a few request from Val's customers ever so often.
She couldn't see Fitz in the room nor could she hear him, because her back was facing him and she had headphone in her ear. Fitz took a moment to take her in. Just like Alex, she was dressed comfortably in black leggings that came to her knees, and a tight baby blue tank top. Her hair was up in a curly messy bun, and she was dusted in white powder all over. He was glad she had both windows open in the room, otherwise she would've chocked from the marble dust.
Fitz finally walked into the room, and taped Olivia on the shoulder. "Cheese and sprinkles!" Olivia yelled, when she felt someone touching her shoulder. She had her music blasting so loud in her headphones, that she hadn't heard anyone come in.
"Jesus Christ Fitz! You scared the crap out of me." Olivia clutched her chest, her words muffled the white mask she had covering her mouth.
"I knocked, but of course you didn't hear me because you have the volume turned on a hundred."
"I'm sorry. I was just in the zone."
Fitz reached over and pulled her mask down, and kissed her softly on the lips. "It's okay." He kissed her once more, before pulling away. "What made you start carving again?"
Olivia shrugged. "I just couldn't get inspired to paint anything. And Val got a request from one of her customers in the store. Apparently he'd seen a bust I did in his friend's office, and he referred me to him. This guy is so full of himself. He sent me like thirty pictures of him half naked and flexing, and some of him in his birthday suit. He told me to make him look like the statue of David but and I quote 'Make my Johnson five times as bigger'."
Fitz couldn't stop laughing, which in turn made Olivia start laughing as well. It felt good after days of feeling down.
"So that's what I'm doing, it's just going to be a much smaller version of course." Olivia took off her mask, and dusted her hands off on a towel. She watched as Fitz ran his fingers over the smooth edge of the sculpted body. She still had a long way to go, but so far it was going fine. "I'm trying to make it look as realistic as possible, but I'm having a hard time. It's why I like working with clay better. I can mold a vein from a little piece of clay, then add it to an arm or something. But it's much harder with stone."
"What are you talking about, it looks great. I hope you're charging top dollar for this."
Olivia rolled her eyes, but blushed at the compliment. "It's not that good." Olivia turned to get the bottled water off her work table.
"What's this?" She turned around to find Fitz pulled the tarp of one of her works. It was the perfect imperfect man sculpture. She could tell he was confused, because a lot of the parts didn't match up measurement wise. The arms matched perfectly, but the legs were not proportioned right. The left leg was bent at the knee and was propped up on a chunk of stone, while the right leg was straight. So you really couldn't really tell unless you were looking hard. Fitz, however, was an experienced sculptor so of course he noticed.
"It's nice, but the legs are a little off. And they're a little big, it makes the arms look scrawny even though they're not." Olivia smirked, and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. "You're measurements are a little off."
"They're supposed to be."
Fitz frowned "Why?"
"Each body part is perfectly proportioned to the man it belongs to." Olivia explained to him what the sculptor was, and why the limbs didn't match the other. "The arms belong to Lance Reddick. The right leg is Mitchel Limerick and the left is Johnny Ruth, he was a little scrawny, hence the smaller left leg. And the chest and abs are those of David Needleman."
"And these men are who?"
"Ex-boyfriends."
Fitz turned around in her arms, "Excuse me?
"Easy tiger." Olivia placated him, by patting his chest. "I'm sculpting the perfect imperfect man. So I chose my favorite part from all my ex-boyfriends, but also something that had a flaw. Some bad and some just funny. Like Lance, I loved his arms. They were just so-" Fitz cleared his throat, and glared at Olivia, "But he had this horrible tattoo of a dragon on his right arm. I hated it so much. I was thinking about painting it on the sculpture, but I don't want to ruin it. And David, well he was a bit conceded. He was a real health nut, and he loved to show off his body, he always flirted too much and eventually cheated on me but whatever."
Olivia shrugged, "I don't know like six year now, something like that." Olivia spoke her last words in the between a yawn. Only then did Fitz take notice of small bags under her eyes. And how she just looked like she hadn't slept in a week.
"Livvie why haven't you been sleeping?"
Olivia sighed and pulled out of his arms. She had already gotten a lecture from Alex, she didn't need one form him. "I'm fine."
"I didn't ask you if you were fine, because you are clearly lying to me." Fitz said a little more firmly then he meant to, but he kept going. "I know you haven't been sleeping Olivia. I also know you barely have let this house. And that you either stay locked up in your room r down here."
"Well what else have you and my sister been talking about behind my back besides me?"
"Olivia I'm not trying to argue with you, I worried and so is your sister. And rightfully so. And I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong."
Olivia started playing with the charms on her bracelet. "I can't sleep." She whispered, still looking down. Fitz didn't interrupt her with a follow up question, so she continued. "Every time I close my eyes, I dream about that night. And in my head, it's a lot worse than what really happened. In my head, I always in up dead or in a coma. Every time, just like clockwork it never fails to pay on a loop in my head and I can't stop it. It only stop when I'm awake. So I don't sleep, so I don't have to see it." A tear fell from her eye, followed by a slow steady stream of tears.
"And I don't go out because I'm scared to. I was mugged in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, he didn't care. Just imagine what someone could do in the dark. I'm scared of the answer to that, so I stay inside where I never have to figure out the answer."
"Livvie you can't stay inside this house forever." Fitz said, as she slowly walked towards her.
"I know but…" her crying was becoming harder, and she could barely get her words out. "I'm just scared."
"Livvie." Fitz wrapped his arms around her, trapping her small body in his. She clung helplessly to his shirt, burying her face in his shirt, soaking it with her tears. She just needed the man who mugged her to be caught. If the police could finally find him, she would feel a little safer. She would maybe be able to go to sleep without waking up in sweats from a nightmare. If he was caught, then maybe she wouldn't be so scared to go outside.
She didn't know how long they'd stood in that same spot, whit Fitz holding her while she hiccupped into his chest, her cries long since stopped. Fitz was the first one to speak. She hadn't heard what he said though.
"What?"
"I said come away with me." He repeated, "I have a work trip this weekend in Aspen. Come with me."
"You- you want me to go away with you?"
"Yes. This would be good for you, a chance to relax and get out of the city. Take your mind off things for a couple of days." Fitz did have a point, maybe getting out of the city would be good for her. She could relax in some swanky, fancy hotel room, because she would expect nothing less from Fitz.
"This is a business trip, I don't want to get in your way."
"You won't be. The most work I have to do is a meeting with some investors, and a couple of parties to be seen."
"You sure?"
"Of course I am. I didn't want to leave you anyhow, now I know you'll be okay, because you'll be with me." Well if that didn't sell her, the childlike hope glee in his eyes did. "You'll have fun I promise."
"Okay."
"Wait what?"
"I said okay."
"Really? Oh."
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"To be honest, I thought it was going to take a little more convincing." Fitz put his head on her shoulder, his mouth pressing against her neck. "I was fully prepared to pull out all the cards."
Olivia squirmed, as Fitz kissed her neck, lightly nipping at her skin. He had become a little more aggressive as the weeks passed. She could tell he was fighting his restraint, every time they got a little carried away with their make outs. It would take everything in Fitz to pull himself off of Olivia. He would wait until she was ready, but damn was it hard waiting. And if Olivia was being honest, she was finding it harder to restrain herself as well. She had often asked herself why she was restraining herself in the first place.
X
"What about this?" Chance held up a gigantic white fur coat.
"What are you kidding?" Olivia asked in disgust. "I'm going to Aspen, not the north freaking pole. How many animals had to die to make that anyway?"
"Relax PETA its fake fur."
"PETA doesn't like fake fur either." Chance rolled his eyes, and searched for something else.
"You are so getting laid this weekend." Alex said, changing the subject.
Olivia rolled her eyes for the third time in thirty minutes. She was flipping through the rack at a cute little boutique Olivia had never even heard of before. She, Alex and Chance were shopping for Olivia's upcoming trip to Aspen with Fitz this weekend. Fitz had tried to give Olivia one of his cards, to shop for clothes, but Olivia refused. She had made a good amount from her paintings, and she could afford some new clothes.
To be honest, Olivia was just proud that she made herself get out the house to go shopping. Though Chance and Alex, however, refused to let Olivia shop at a department store like she was planning to. And since Alex was driving, Olivia didn't really have a choice.
"Would you please stop saying that?"
"Why it's exciting. You and Fitz are finally gonna have sex."
"I just can't believe she made him wait this long." Chance held up a sweater for Olivia to look, and she nodded her had in approval, so he started searching for bottoms to pair with it.
"I never said I was having sex with Fitz." Olivia whispered, not wanting any of the other shoppers to overhear her. Although there was only about four other women, and they were too engrossed in their shopping to pay any attention to them.
"Oh please, the man is taking you on a romantic trip."
"He is definitely expecting to get something baby." Chance once again finished Alex's thought.
"He is not. He just thinks a few days put of the city will be good for me." Olivia defended, "And this is a business trip. He will be working, and I will be relaxing."
"Whatever, you're still getting laid this weekend. You're gonna come back to me all lazy eyed and dickmatized."
"Alex!" Olivia couldn't help but laugh at her crazy sister, and it seemed the older woman next to them had to laugh as well. "You are so embarrassing."
"Yeah yeah whatever. Let's just focus on getting you some cute winter clothes."
"And you'll need skiing clothes too. And new boots, because the one you have now are way overdue." Chance said, glancing down at Olivia's feet. "And you need new pajamas. Something silk, soft and sexy, because you are not going to seduce a man in those frumpy old man pajamas you have."
"I'm not trying to seduce anyone, I don't even know how to seduce a man. And do you really think I need all of that stuff?"
"Yes, I do. And while we are on the subject, you need new lingerie."
Olivia frowned, "What's wrong with my underwear?"
"You need lingerie honey, not underwear. Lingerie is for women and underwear are for girls. You need less penguins and duckling on your booty, and more lace and push up bras."
Olivia's eyes shot to her sister, who was laughing and flipping through clothes. "You told him about my underwear?!"
"What? He needed to know the full layout. Honestly Liv, you underwear could belong to a twelve year old."
"Oh excuse me, but I'm not the one with the 'I love NYC' panties."
"Uh excuse me, but did you not buy the sports bra?"
"Ladies cool it please. There's a lingerie shop about two doors down, we'll head there when we're done here. Now, Liv go try these clothes on." Olivia snatched the clothes, and walked towards the dressing room.
"And for the love of god Olivia we are getting you new luggage!" Alex yelled. "They stopped making that brand in the sixties."
X
"Yes that's correct… No just the one passenger will be accompanying me. That's right, no departure time will remain the same. Thank you sir, you as well." Fitz hung up his phone, just as Patrick walked in.
"Patrick please do come in."
"Thank you big brother."
"Why are you never at your own home?"
"Because you have the bigger TV. Although you only watch it if there's a game on or Liv is here." Patrick kicked his feet up on Fitz's des, but quickly put them down when Fitz shot him a look. "Speaking of Liv, I hear you're taking her to Aspen with you."
"Yeah so?" Fitz looked up from his papers. "You got a problem?"
"No, it's just weird."
"She's my girlfriend Pat, and she'd been down lately. I'm just trying to make her feel better."
"You see that whole sentence was even weirder. You speaking the word girlfriend is just unheard of. And you never took any of your lady friends on a trip. Even Tatiana was limited to only the gala parties and business luncheons."
"That's because they were nothing but a piece of ass to me, all of them. They got to go to expensive dinner, be seen, and spend my money shopping until they dropped. And I got to get laid whenever I wanted, it was glorified prostitution. They were Liv, and they weren't my girlfriend. But Liv doesn't know everything about my man whoring past, and I would like to keep it that way."
"She seems like a sweet girl. A little naïve, but sweet."
"She's not really naive, she just… innocent. She's been sheltered most her life, and she really hasn't lived much."
"She and her sister are complete opposites in that aspect. Her sister can be a little devil when she wants to be."
"You two fighting again already?"
"Not really fighting, it's just bickering small stuff you know. All the shit I went through with the past bitches."
"Well maybe your problem is you keep calling women bitches Patrick."
"I'm not necessarily calling Alex a bitch, she can just be bitchy sometimes. She keeps complaining that I flirt too much, or I don't pay her enough attention lately, nagging shit. When I hooked up with her, I thought I finally found a woman who didn't nag, but she's changing and I fucking hate it." Patrick groaned, sinking in his seat.
"And just the other day, we were having lunch on my break and I swear she was flirting with the waitress, and the waitress was flirting back. And every time she would leave, Alex was checking her out. And no lie, when she brought us the check she gave Alex her number right in front of me! She said it was to audition for her band, but that was a load of bull. She accuses me of flirting too much, and then she takes another number right in my face? I didn't even know Alex was into girls."
"Well how do you know, it could've been just for her band. Besides what are you complaining about, I would've thought that'd be a wet dream for you." Fitz chuckled, finding his brothers anguish funny.
"In a normal scenario yes it would. But not with those bit- females. With them, I'd be sitting in the dugout while they slid to home base together."
"Well I don't know what you want me to say."
"Nothing, I don't want you to say anything."
"Fair enough. Now do you want to get out of my office and maybe my home so I can do some work."
"Well I'll get out of the office, but I'm gonna crash in one of your guest rooms tonight. I just don't feel like driving back home."
X
"I'm telling you, they made me buy just about the entire store." Olivia plopped down on her bed, tired from her day of shopping with Chance and Alex. She did realize how much of a shopaholic the both of them were. She would never make the mistake of going shopping with the both of them together.
"It couldn't've been that bad."
"Oh it was absolutely that bad Fitz. My feet are killing me, and I'm sure I have some kind of arthritis from taking of and putting on shirt after shirt today."
"Well you could always get a message from the hotel, when we get to Aspen."
"Mmm, I might have to take you up on that."
"Livvie if you're tired I can hang up and let you sleep." Fitz said, after Olivia yawned in his ear for the third time.
"No, no I'm good. I'm not even really sleepy, I'm just tired."
"Olivia you can't force yourself to stay up night after night." He knew she was only forcing herself to stay up, because she didn't want to have another nightmare.
"I just can't sleep right now."
"You want me to come over?"
"Really?"
"Yes really. Would it make you feel better?"
"Yes." Olivia answered without hesitation.
"I'll be there in thirty minutes." Fitz hung up the phone, without waiting for a response. And Olivia panicked at the sight of her room. It wasn't necessarily a wreck, it was organized chaos because she could tell you exactly where something was. But she had shopping bags spread all over her room. Dirty clothes that she had taken off early that morning. And as much as Olivia hated to admit, she was a bit of a hoarder. She had trinkets and miscellaneous things lying around, and she had no idea where they came from. They were just the many things that she had collected over the years, that now served no purpose but to collect dust on her dresser and nightstand.
Fitz had never been in her room before, they mostly spent their days at his house. But on the occasion that they did spend a day at Olivia's it was mostly spent in the living room. And since she didn't want the first time he saw her room, to be messy like it was, she spent about ten minutes sprucing up her room. She picked up her clothed from the floor and put them in the hamper. She tidied up her dresser and vanity, and put her shopping bags on the bench at her windowsill. It wasn't exactly a deep cleaning, but it did the trick.
And while she was at it, she changed out of father's shirt she was wearing. It was one of his old band shirts and it came to her mid-thigh and had a hole in the neckline. Instead she changed into a cotton white tank top and a pair of light blue silk pajama pants, which Alex insisted she buy. Alex had also insisted that she buy the silk nightgown, although it could hardly be called a gown since it stopped well above her knees.
She was in the middle of making some tea, when the doorbell rang. Knowing it had to be Fitz, she opened the door without checking. "Hi."
Fitz didn't answer her. And how could he answer her when his eyes were focused in on her unbound breast in her tight, white tank top. He could tell she didn't know how visible her breast were in her shirt, nor did she know he was staring at her breast.
"Fitz?"
"Tea." He said, pointing to the steaming mug in her hand. He had to say something, to distract himself. "Tea, that uh, will help you sleep. Chamomile." He was stuttering, Fitz Grant never stuttered.
"Oh, well we only have regular."
"That's great too."
"You wanna come in or do you wanna freeze on the porch all night?" Olivia took his hand, and led him up the stairs and to her room. And although Fitz had never been inside her room, it was just as he imagined it would be.
Her walls were an ivory color instead of white, although you could barely see the walls because they were covered by pictures. Framed pictures, some big some small, of nature shots, sunsets, flowers, the buildings in the city. Even pictures of complete strangers she'd seen in the park. Most of them were in black and white, and they were all beautiful. She had a refurbished wrought iron bed, painted in a teal color, the same color as her vanity. Olivia loved bright colors, teal being her favorite. Her nightstand and dresser were ivory with a bright, almost neon orange colored drawers that matched the color pillows on her bed. She had several shelves on her walls, some lined up with pictures of her family. Others lined up with books and mason jars filled with pencils, ink pens, buttons, safety pins and really anything else that was small enough to fit. Her room had a real rustic vibe, and well lived in. Fitz's was the complete opposite.
"You like it?" Olivia asked, sitting on her side of the bed.
"Yes." Fitz took off his sweatshirt and tossed it on the chair to Olivia's vanity. "It's very you." Fitz slid under the sheets next to Olivia and pulled her into him with her head resting on his chest. He inhaled the coconut scent of her shampoo. "You smells good. I like your hair like this." He pulled one of Olivia's springy curls.
"Well maybe I'll wear it like this more often." Olivia snuggled closer to Fitz, she was already getting sleepy. And it was no credit to the tea she had. As soon as Fitz wrapped her in his arms, and she inhaled his strong masculine scent, she became drowsy. She also felt safe and protected in his arms, like nothing and no one could get to her as long as she was wrapped in his arms. She didn't know if she was going to get a full nights rest without any nightmares. But she was already feeling better than she had before.
X
Catch You Later…