A/N: Back by popular demand. Enjoy! Pick up right where we left off.
"Fitz?" The sight of him with the unopened bottle of pills over his head perturbed her.
Fitz immediately tilted his head forward and spat the pills he had yet to swallow back into the bottle save one, which he swallowed. In one quick move he returned the bottle to the medicine cabinet without bothering to cover it.
Olivia continued to stare at him like he'd grown a second pair of head. She was shell-shocked by what had transpired a few seconds ago. Was he going to overdose on the pills? She questioned.
Fitz saw her standing at the entranceway but refused to acknowledge her as he moved towards the door.
Without hesitation she moved to the side and he stepped passed her. Olivia allowed him to walk pass her because she had much pressing issues to deal with such as emptying her overfilled bladder. She closed the door to the bathroom and went about her business.
Five minutes later she went downstairs to see an upset Fitz banging pots and pans as he tried to make breakfast with one hand.
"What were you doing with so many pills?" She asked, not put off by his attitude.
He ignored her and continued his search for the skillet he made omelets in.
Olivia walked right up to him, undeterred by his stubbornness. With a firm hand on his right bicep she stopped his movement and silently pleaded that he looked at her. It took him a few seconds to finally meet her gaze, and when he did she saw the raging storm in his eyes.
They stared at each other for a few seconds neither one speaking.
"Why did you lie to me last night about who you were talking with on the phone?"
Olivia paused for a second confused by where all of this was coming from, but then it dawned on her that he probably overheard her on the phone. But she knew she didn't mention Mario's name, so the only thing she could think of that he did was search through her phone. Now she was pissed. "Wait. What! Did you go searching through my phone?"
"That's not the point!"
"It is the point! I am not your child for you to invade my privacy! That's low!"
"I know you're not my child, and I wouldn't have done it if you didn't lie to me! Why did you lie about who you were speaking to? You looked me in the eyes and lied to me. Now that's low! Why did you lie, Olivia? You could have spoken the truth. Would I have been upset? Hell yes! But not as upset as I am right now. How am I suppose to trust you?"
Olivia opened and closed her mouth several times unable to answer his question, he had a point but that still didn't mean he had the right to search through her phone.
"That's just it, Fitz, you do not trust me! If you trusted me you wouldn't have searched through my phone and you would've told me that you're addicted to painkillers. You don't trust me!"
"You lying to me don't help with me trusting you. Why did you lie for such a trivial reason? It makes no sense that you would lie about him? Are you still in love with him or something?" He asked the last part with flashes of emotional pain marred on his face.
"NO! I'm not in love with him! I'm sorry I lied, ok. I didn't want to upset you anymore than you were, that's why I lied."
"That's no excuse for lying. Now I'm going to second guess everything you say or do. Is that how you want us to be in this relationship?"
"I'm sorry I was wrong, I apologize for lying. In the moment I thought it was no big deal but I'm wrong. I'm sorry, Fitz. I don't care for Mario like that anymore."
"Then delete his number out your phone." Fitz told her evenly.
Olivia was shocked by his request. Is he serious? He looked serious. "Fitz, even if I did that he could still call me."
"Then block his number from your phone."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm very serious," Fitz stated evenly.
"You're being ridiculous and unfair right now!"
"You're the one being unfair! If I ever lied to you about speaking with one of my exes you would have my balls on a platter. If he doesn't mean anything to you block his number right now and delete it from your phone."
Olivia was furious by his request, it's not like she would miss Mario if she did but she didn't like him ordering her. Who the hell did he really think he was?
"And if I don't?" She challenged, staring him in his face. She may be petite but she didn't back down from the biggest giant.
"Then it'll tell me everything I need to know about our relationship."
Ughhhhhhhhh. Olivia internally groaned he was frustrating her beyond sensible boundaries. She couldn't remember the last time she was this livid.
Walking away momentarily from him Olivia went to retrieve her phone from the countertop that it was lying on. She returned to stand in front of him with her screen displayed for him to see.
She opened her settings menu and then selected phone before add new where she furiously scrolled for Mario's number. When she got to it she clicked on his name to select it and added it to the blocked list. She exited the settings menu and went to her contacts app where she scrolled for his name to delete it. When she was finished she threw her phone dramatically down on the nearby countertop.
"Satisfied now?" She snarled.
Fitz stared at her for a full ten seconds without answering her; eventually he turned his back and resumed looking for his skillet. He was so consumed with anger that he didn't see that said skillet was on top the stove.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" Olivia screamed at his back. She was mad he was ignoring her. "I did what you wanted me to do and you're going to ignore me?" She didn't know what was overcoming her but she was very angry – angry enough to punch him in the back.
"What do you want? A fucking gold medal for deleting his number? You're the one who lied!"
"And I'm sorry! I told you I'm sorry! And by the way, I'm not the only one here hiding shit! Why were you chugging pills, Fitz?" Olivia almost scoffed at his attempt to look embarrass. She wasn't going to let him off the hook after he went off the handle about Mario. No, she was going to get to the bottom of this.
"It doesn't matter," he told her with downcast eyes.
"It does matter!" Olivia shouted passionately, she didn't care that the neighbors could potentially hear her.
"Why do you care?" He asked, stubbornly.
Olivia was getting more aggravated by his attitude. What in the hell was wrong with him? She'd never seen him act like such a mule before. Did he really think I don't care about him? She thought he would know better than that by now.
"Because I love you! I think that's good enough reason to care about you! So answer my damn question, Fitzgerald! Why were you chugging pills?"
Fitz sighed momentarily before continuing to grind his teeth. Five seconds later and he said nothing. Finally he was able to lift his eyes to hers. He couldn't believe that he was about to divulge this dark part of him.
"I used to use prescription painkillers."
Olivia's eyebrows shot up in surprise, now it made sense that he refused the painkillers.
"Now you get why I didn't want to take it. I don't want to fall back into the habit, but this morning when I found out you lied to me I couldn't handle it so that's why you found me in the bathroom…" He trailed, ashamed of his behavior.
Olivia stood shock she didn't know what to say because this was very serious.
Seeing her shell-shocked state Fitz thought to properly explain why he was moved to do what he did in the bathroom.
"Olivia, I'm in this with you for the long haul. You know more about my past than anyone else. I was never a relationship guy but I'm trying here. I'm trying my best to be the man that is right for you, but I refuse to put my heart on the line for you to step carelessly on it. I can't handle it if you did that to me. So I'm pleading with you to consider my feelings before you lie to me again. I'm also sorry that I didn't tell you about my addiction problem and I understand if it's too much of a burden for you right now."
Olivia didn't realize that tears were now streaming down her face; all of the anger was being expelled through tears.
"If you want to go I'm not going to hold you back," he further offered, even though his heart would break if she took him up on it.
She saw the pain in his eyes as he tried to give her an out but she didn't want an out. She wasn't going to run away from him because of a hurdle in their way. As a couple she was adamant that they jumped over it together.
With that realization she addressed him. "I'm not going anywhere," she stated simply but confidently through her tears.
Fitz felt his heart skipping a beat by her words. He was so anxious and worried that she would leave him. Moving his legs in two quick strides he came directly in front of her, he leaned his forehead against hers and with his uninjured arm he pulled her against his sturdy chest.
"I'm so sorry baby. I'm sorry for looking through your phone behind your back. I do trust you." He whispered against her ears. Fitz would do anything in his power to make sure that the woman in his arms stay exactly there, and if he was wrong he would put aside pride and apologize. "I'm so sorry, I love you so much," he continued.
"I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry for lying," Olivia whispered. "We'll get through this," she said, referring to his history of painkiller addiction. "I love you, baby."
They stayed wrapped up tightly in each other's arms for many minutes before the sound of their hungry stomachs pulled them apart laughing.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Olivia asked.
"I was going to make breakfast," Fitz whined, playfully.
"We can do it together," she returned.
And together they made vegetable omelets and a small side of buttermilk pancakes. Their movements were synchronized as they chopped vegetables and stirred the pancake batter. They didn't talk much but that was ok with them. They simply basked in the fact that they had their first major fight and survived it. The morning could have gone a completely different way, Olivia could have left and this shared moment wouldn't have happened.
When they were finished polishing off their breakfast Olivia wiped her mouth before saying, "we have to talk about what we'll do about the painkillers."
Fitz pushed away his plate and exhaled loudly. "Maybe I shouldn't take it," he suggested.
"But you'll be in a lot of pain if you don't. Maybe you can only use it when the pain is really unbearable?" Olivia proposed.
"Yea that sounds good. But I don't want it around me. Can you keep it?"
Olivia thought about it for a minute before she eventually agreed to hold onto them for him. "I can do that."
After that, they cleared the table and returned upstairs.
"Can we have a minute?" Fitz asked from his position lying on the bed. He had worked up energy arguing with her and was feeling tired, and the drug was also making him sleepy. Olivia was walking around the room putting things back in order. She was busily moving because that was what she did when she felt apprehension. This new revelation about Fitz worried her tremendously.
She finally stopped at his request and joined him on the bed. When she did, she immediately snuggled into his uninjured side. He held onto her with his right arm as if she would disappear into thin air. They lay for more than a minute like this without talking. Olivia listened to his breathing and felt his heartbeat against the side of her face. It was thumping in the same rhythm as her.
"You're worried," Fitz said softly. He wasn't sure that she had heard him because she didn't say anything for a long time.
"I am," she eventually said. "I need you to fight the urge, Fitz. You can't go back there even when you're upset at me or someone else. You got to fight the urge, baby."
"I'll fight it," he said defeated, lacking confidence.
"No, you have to say it like you believe it. I'm here to help you; and you will fight and win this."
"We'll get through this," he said more convincingly, thanks to the belief she had in him.
"Yes we will," she stated as a matter of fact.
They fell back into silence basking in the serene feeling of being in each other's arm. Eventually, Fitz succumbed to sleep. Olivia spent a few minutes looking at his sleeping form before gently climbing out of bed. She still needed to do her final brush up for the test she had later that day.
When she was finish reading the last cue card that she made for studying her phone rang. Luckily for her it wasn't Mario this time, but Tina.
"Hey girl," she greeted; this was their first time talking on the phone.
"Hey Liv, how are you?"
Olivia exhaled loudly before she answered, "I'm good. Just finished studying. Are you ready for the test?"
It was Tina's turn to exhale, "that's what I was actually calling you about. I'm so not prepared right now. My son was really sick so most of the time I was taking care of him and I barely got to study for the test. Do you think we can meet up earlier and go over some questions? That would help me a whole lot better than reading from the book," Tina sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
"Hey hey it's ok. I would love to meet up with you. Where do you want us to meet up?" Olivia asked, climbing out of the couch.
"We can go to the Starbucks that's a block away from the academy."
"Ok, sounds good."
"What's your address? I'll come get you, that's the least I can do," Tina offered.
"That'll be great if you could. The address is…" Olivia rattled off Fitz' address to her. Tina thanked her and promised to see her in the next hour or so.
Olivia climbed upstairs to get ready for the day. She entered Fitz' bedroom and stealthily moved to the bathroom where she stripped down of her clothing while the water heated up. In the meantime she grabbed her face scrub and squeezed a dim size into her hands before smoothing it over her face. When the bathroom began to fog from the hot water she climbed in. She smirked at how many of her belongings were splayed all over his house. Her bath gel was next to his, her lavender bath poufy sponge next to his navy blue one. A part of her felt like she was already living with him because she spent so much time there. The thought made her both happy and scared. She didn't think she was ready for such a step. Olivia shook her head to clear her thoughts from running away from her. It's not like he'd asked her to move in or anything like that. Get it together girl! She chided herself.
When she was finished dressing in her fire academy uniform she moved onto her hair. She undid the chunky twists they were in before brushing it up into one and securing it with a huge hair tie. When it was in a puff she carelessly tuck the ends in with some bobby pins. She applied a little lip balm to her lips and she was ready for the day.
Olivia moved over to the bed where Fitz was and took a seat by his head. He was still sound asleep, she ran her fingers through his thick wavy hair to wake him up. She did this for a few seconds and it wasn't working. It seemed to have made him sleep deeper. She then started cooing his name, "Fitz, Fitz, baby wake up. Fitz, Fitz, wake up."
Hearing his name being called eventually roused him from his sleep. Fitz opened his eyes to Liv massaging his scalp it felt so heavenly that he didn't want to answer her.
"Hey," he croaked.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked.
"Achy and groggy but good." He answered.
"Ok, you can go back to sleep just now. I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving early for school. Tina and I are going to go study at the Starbucks. She's actually on her way to pick me up."
"Oh, oh."
"Is there anything you need me to do before I leave?"
"No no, I'll be good."
"Sure?"
"Yea, I'm sure. Are you coming back tonight?" Fitz asked, for some reason he was feeling needy. He didn't want her to leave.
"Yea after I get out of class," she assured with a small smile.
"Ok. Love you." He said, relieved.
"Love you too, baby," Olivia returned, planting a soft kiss on his forehead.
Twenty minutes later Olivia received a text stating that Tina was outside. Olivia relayed that message to a half sleeping Fitz. He somehow became alert and offered to walk her to the door, which she accepted.
She had everything she needed in her backpack including her cue cards that she was going to use with Tina. Fitz walked her to the door in his pajamas bottom and a white T-shirt, his sleepy head was disheveled and morning stubble graced his face.
"Do you want to meet her?" Olivia asked, nodding her head to the Honda Accord that was sitting in the driveway.
He smiled weakly at her as he said, "probably another time when I'm not looking like crap."
Olivia give him a light chuckle before she replied teasingly, '"you can never look like crap when you're sex on legs."
Fitz grinned before leaning his face forward and fusing their lips together. This was the first time they had shared a kiss for the day. He kissed her tenderly without tongue, not wanting to put on a show. When he was somewhat sated he pulled apart from her.
"Go kick butt baby! Good luck on your test."
She tiptoed and pecked his lips before saying, "thanks." She then walked towards the car and waved at him before she entered inside of it.
"Well damn, girl! You need to tell me where I can find one of him!" Tina exclaimed, as greeting.
Olivia laughed at her outburst before countering, "I'm afraid there's only one of him. "
Tina gave her a chuckle before putting the car in reverse and backing out of the driveway.
"Thanks so much for agreeing to help me, Liv. You have no idea how appreciative I am."
"No problem, Teens, I'm happy to help."
"Teens? HA!" Haven't heard that one in awhile.
"What, you don't like it?" Olivia asked, she didn't meant to nicknamed her but it somehow sounded nice to call her Teens instead of Tina.
"No it's fine, it just brought back some memories. Good memories," she clarified.
"Oh good then." Olivia smiled.
The ladies caught up about what they did the previous day and both laughed at the fact that they were stuck caring for their sick loved ones.
When they got to Starbucks they ordered their preferred beverage and found an empty seat in the corner of the room and began to study the material.
An hour into studying Tina decided to give them an icebreaker.
"Don't look now but at 1 O' clock there's a creep staring at us," Tina said, quietly.
"Where?" Olivia looked around abruptly without paying heed to Tina's subtle warning.
Tina burst into laughter at Olivia's frank obviousness.
"Oh my gosh, Liv! Never again will I show you anything. You just looked when I told you not to as yet." Tina was laughing so hard that tears sprang to her eyes.
Olivia also chuckled because when it came to subtlety she was never good at it; at least that was what she was told.
The ringing of Olivia's phone alerted her to an incoming call, she checked it and saw that it was Abby. She excused herself and answered it; she talked to her for a few minutes before hanging up. Abby had called to check in on Fitz.
"Sorry about that, it was one of my friends."
"Oh it's no problem," Tina said, and they recommenced their studying.
Olivia was feeling fairly confident in her abilities as she finished up her written test. All of the extra studying she did with Tina kept the information afresh in her head. She was one of the first to turn in their papers, and since Tina had promised to give her a ride home she decided to hang around in the cafeteria area.
Since she had some waiting time Olivia decided to call Fitz.
"Hi," she greeted.
"Hi, baby," he answered. "How was the test?"
"It was good. Not going to toot my own horn but I think I nailed it," she boosted with a laugh.
"Good, that's what I want to hear."
"What you doing?" She asked: she could hear him shuffling around the room.
"Oh nothing much, looking for something to eat." He technically didn't lie but he was in the middle of doing something to surprise her, it was kind of a make up for this morning less than happy start. All day he lay around the house feeling miserable because of his injury, but then he realized that even though he was going through this he had a beautiful woman by his side that was taking care of him. And when he had gotten that epiphany he decided to do something special to let her know he appreciated her putting up with his crap.
"Ok, don't overwork yourself too much," she warned.
"I promise I won't baby. I'll see you soon."
"See you soon, love you."
"Love you too," and with that he hung up the phone.
The phone call had barely ended when Olivia heard.
"Miss Pope."
She fought against rolling her eyes at Lt. Eric Ward who basically came out of nowhere.
"Lt. Ward," she greeted evenly.
"How are you this evening?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"Oh good. Do you need –?"
His sentence was interrupted by Tina's question. "Ready to go Liv?" She had just finished her test and followed the instructions to come get Olivia in the cafeteria per her text.
Olivia thanked the heavens for small mercies as she said, "yes."
"Good night, Lt. Ward," she muttered before making her way to Tina without waiting for him to reply.
"How was it?" Olivia asked Tina, in reference to the test.
"It was fine, it could've been a whole lot worst. Thank you again."
"Stop thanking me so much," Liv chuckled.
"I'm sorry I was taught to be grateful to the people who helped you, and unfortunately for me there aren't many people who has ever helped."
Olivia nodded her head in acknowledgement. Some statements didn't need a reply so she said nothing.
"So what's up with Lt. McCreepy?" Tina asked when they were outside in the parking lot.
"I don't know, and I don't want to either. Keeping my distance."
"Smart thing to do. He looks like nothing but trouble." Tina said, unlocking the car.
"I concur." Olivia returned, opening the passenger side door.
Olivia used Fitz' key to unlock the front door. She was surprised that the living room was so dark. She had spoken to him half an hour ago so she would've thought he was awake.
"Fitz?" She called out as she made her way inside.
"In the kitchen." She heard him called. Olivia dropped her backpack onto the nearby couch before making her way to see about her man. When she got to the kitchen her breath caught in her throat at the sight of several candles splayed on the small dining table and some on the countertop. The candles were the only light illuminating the darkness.
"What's all of this, baby?" She asked, surprised.
Fitz standing off to the side of the table in a pair of black sweatpants and black T-shirt said, "a happy end to a bad start."
Olivia laughed, cried and gasped all in one breath. He was so perfect to her, she didn't think that her heart could have falling more for him but it did.
Still having trouble taking in everything, Olivia spoke his name softly as if to question if this was real. "Fitz…"
Fitz smiled at her, he watched as the flames from the nearby candles cast a glow on her mocha skin. She looked radiant in the candlelight. Free from makeup or fancy clothes. He loved her, simply and purely.
He began softly, "Livvie, I know we both did some questionable things in the past 24 hours, so let's make a truce tonight that going forward they will be no more lying and no more snooping behind each other's back. Deal?"
Olivia walked up to him and said, "deal," before planting a soft kiss onto his lips.
Pulling apart, she asked, "So what's on the menu tonight?"
"Some takeout Chinese food, compliments of a disgruntled Stephen. Being injured has its perks if I get to boss him around all the time," Fitz joked and Olivia laughed aloud.
He led her to the table and pulled out her chair with his right hand, she accepted it with a loving smile and a warm thank you. When he had finished serving her the pork Lo mein he knew that she loved, he sat across from her and together they ended their day on a positive note. Not only did they have their first couple's quarrel today, but they also came out stronger and for that they had grown closer.
A/N: The END! Hope you liked this chapter and I hoped I did some justice to their heated argument. If you were Liv would you have deleted the number out of your phone? Even if it was for peace sake? Let me know what you thought of that. Also, they didn't run but stayed and fought it out. TBH I always hated that part of their relationship especially re Olivia – the always-running part. Would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter. Your reviews motivate me so please don't just read the chapter. Thank you.
BTW did they make the right decision regarding the pills?
Also, Tina and Liv's friendship is growing and Eric won't quit. Smh. And finally, how did you like Fitz surprising her with a candlelight dinner at the end? He's really trying to get this BF thing right.
Until next time,
XOXO
