Meeting the parents - Part I
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"Livvie..wake up." Fitz mumbled, his voice groggy from sleep.
The incessant knocking on Liv's front door rang through the house and woke him up.
"Baby.." He shook her lightly.
Olivia responded in incoherent noises but didn't actually wake up.
Fitz forced his eyes open. Deciding to get up he threw on his clothes from the day before and left the room barefoot.
He didn't bother to fix his bed hair as he opened the front door to put an end to the persistent knocking.
"Oh! Well hello there."
Fitz blink a few times, looking at the vibrant redhead standing in the doorway.
"Abby, right?" He replied.
"Right. We've met before." Abby said with a friendly smile, "..at Olivia's parents house. It's good to see you again. Is Liv here?"
"Yes. Would you like to come inside?"
"If she's still asleep then it's okay, I'll just call her later during the day."
Fitz ran his fingers through his disheveled hair, about to answer Abby when Liv's voice could be heard behind him.
"Who's at the door?"
"Abby."
Fitz let Abby inside and the redhead met Liv halfway as they made their way to the living room.
"Hey bestie!"
"Abigail Whelan what do want?" Olivia asked as she stood on the tip of her toes to stretch.
"You look like you had quite the night." The redhead smirked.
"Uh, I'm gonna make coffee." Fitz excused himself.
Olivia gave him a sweet smile as he turned to leave.
"Soo, what's up?"
"What's up? What's up is that you have the world's sexiest man alive parading here in your home. When were you planning on revealing your mistery man to me? I'm your best friend Liv."
"I just wanted to keep him to myself for a little while before we announced our relationship to everyone." Olivia answered rather sheepishly.
"I knew I wasn't imagining things when I saw his face light up that night at dinner when he laid eyes on you."
"Now that's a lie."
"Not even! I'm serious Liv, he looked genuinely happy to see you. And just so you know, I get it. Hell, I'd drop just about anything for a fine ass man like himself." Abby joked.
"Abby.."
"Too soon?" She laughed.
"No but c'mon, I didn't just fall for him because of his looks."
"And I know that, I was just kidding Liv. He is fine though."
"I know." Liv replied covering her face in her hands.
"And he's got you all mushy. Look at you."
"I'm happy."
"So how long are you planning on keeping him all to yourself? What happened, happened. You've made your decision to be with him and you're happy. Don't keep your relationship in the dark because of what other people might say. Fuck them."
"Gosh I love you." Liv giggled.
Fitz came back with two cups of coffee for the ladies.
"Abby, I wasn't sure if you preferred milk in your coffee so I left it out but I could get you some if..?" He said handing her the cup.
"Oh no this is just fine, thank you."
"You're welcome." Fitz smiled and went to sit down next to Olivia.
"I like a little milk in my coffee..actually a lot of milk." She winked then laughed heartily after hearing Abby's gasp.
"Hey we should hang out, if you two aren't too busy that is." Abby said casually.
"Maybe not this week. With work and organising separate dates to meet the parents, I think we have a busy week ahead of us."
"Meeting the parents?"
"Yeah I mean we've been together for almost three months now, it's about time we do thw whole formal introduction."
"I've been dying to introduce her to my mom by the way." Fitz chimed.
Abby smiled adoringly at the couple. "That's cute and I gotta say, I'm impressed that you don't even look nervous about meeting her dad. He's a former policeman, so you know he can be pretty strict." She laughed.
"That might be true about my dad but it totally helps that he has met both my parents before." Liv replied.
Fitz listened then glanced at Olivia. "That was different Livvie. I was Fitz, their landscaper.. Now I'm Fitz, your boyfriend. I'm a little nervous."
Abby just about melted at the sweetness in Fitz's voice when he called her 'Livvie'. And Olivia grinned like a smitten teenager when he mentioned the word 'boyfriend'.
"Maybe so but they're familiar with you. They already like you, especially my mom. So don't worry, you're good mister. I should be scared since I'll be meeting your parents for the very first time."
"You have no reason to be scared." He replied with a reassuring smile.
"For what it's worth I think you'll be just fine, both of you. No matter how it plays out, at the end of the day this relationship is between the two of you and no one else. I know having your family's support would mean the world to you and I bet they'll fall in love with your love because anyone can see how much you guys adore each other." Abby said.
Fitz nodded, agreeing with her. "Thanks Abby, that means a lot. I kinda like you."
"I'm gonna have to work on that and make you like me a lot."
"Heyy, watch it." Liv shot her best friend a playful scowl. "Why did you stop by anyway?"
"Oh, I went to fetch some files at work and on my way back I decided to stop here."
"You're working from home today?"
"Yeah. I also thought we could go for a little retail therapy later but we can make it another time."
"Sure I'll let you know then we can set something up."
"Great. Hey I'm gonna get going. Fitz thanks again for the coffee, it was really nice." Abby said getting up.
"Liv never complements my coffee, so thank you Abby." Fitz replied and got smacked on the arm by his girlfriend.
"Come on Abs, let me walk you out before this one turns into a comedian."
The two women laughed heartily as they headed for the door.
xxx
"Are you having second thoughts?" Fitz asked as they sat in his car outside of his parents home.
"No.."
"Livvie come on, they will love you. I promise."
"You don't know that." She replied, looking straight ahead.
"Hey, look at me. Livvie.."
Slowly her head turned and their eyes connected.
"They have no reason to hate you, not when you're the one responsible for the permanent smile on my face. It'll be okay. They want to see me happy and well, you're my happiness."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Fitz smiled at her and leaned over to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Ready?"
"Yes. Let me meet the two people responsible for raising such an exceptional man."
Walking through the big wooden front door Fitz called out for his mom and dad.
"In the kitchen!" His mother's voice rang down the hallway.
Fitz kept ahold of Olivia's hand and guided her through to where the kitchen was.
"Hey mom, dad. Whoa he's actually helping you cook?"
"Son if you wanna eat tonight you better shut up right now." Michael Grant scoffed.
"Okay firstly, I don't trust you in the kitchen so not eating would actually be a blessing in disguise and also, my momma would never let me starve so you're just making empty threats."
His father was about to retort when Helen immediately cut him off.
"Can you two not act like children in front of our guest?"
"He started it!" Both men accused each other.
"Lord help me." Helen mumbled then made her way towards Olivia who was almost hiding behind Fitz.
"Sorry dear, it seems I'm the only adult in this family. Hi, I'm Helen."
"Olivia. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Grant."
The two shared a smile as they shook hands.
"Please, call me Helen. And that is my husband, Michael."
Michael stepped up to greet Olivia. "Hello dear, you can call me Michael. I'm only Mr. Grant at work."
"Well dinner is just about finished and the table is already set. Why don't you go and sit down." Helen told Olivia and Fitz.
"Um, are you sure you don't need any help getting everything to the table?" Liv asked.
Fitz nodded. "Yeah mom, come on let us help. More hands means we'll be eating a lot sooner."
Dinner started off with casual conversation; Olivia told them about her job and her first impressions of Fitz while Helen and Michael told her a few embarrassing stories about their son.
"Can I just say something really quickly?"
"Go ahead mom."
"Thanks. Olivia, honey I can see that you're being a little reserved. If you think that we're judging you, that's not the case. Fitz came to me before anything even happened between the two of you. He explained to me that he an attraction to this beautiful and amazing woman but that she was already in a relationship. Now I know my Fitz. Michael and I raised him well. He grew up to be a very respectful man with good morals. I didn't have to tell him that pursuing this woman would be wrong but I did anyway because I could see that this was different. It might've been love at first sight. And now I can see that that's exactly what it was. Look, I'm not saying what you two did at first was right and I'm not justifying it because he's my son. No, not at all. But I will say that from my years of experience I've learned that the timing, location or even circumstances becomes irrelevant when two people are meant to be together. And I know you tried to fight it. You wanted to avoid what would happen if you allowed your souls to connect but the attraction was too strong and you both slipped. I've never seen my son so happy and that's all thanks to you Olivia. Again, I'm not judging you--"
"Neither am I." Michael added.
Helen chuckled before continuing. "We are not judging you for what you did. Neither one of us were in your shoes to be even the slightest bit judgmental. We didn't go through the emotional rollercoaster that you went through. You fell in love with a man that wasn't your husband, that couldn't have been easy to come to terms with."
"It wasn't. Fitz never pushed me though. From the start we were in it together. He didn't ask or expect me to just drop everything for him. He was never forcing me into making a decision. Throughout our..affair if I have to call it that, he was amazing." Olivia glanced at Fitz then added, "I wanted to fix things.. I was going to get married until a few hours before the ceremony that I came to realise..I couldn't. I couldn't not have Fitz in my life. I finally admitted to myself that I loved him. I was in love with him. So I did what I had to do.. I did what was best for me. I didn't choose between Fitz or my ex fiancee, I chose me. I wanted to experience this extraordinary love. I wanted more than just contentment. I wanted him. So I chose me and what was best for me. That's not to say that I wasn't happy with my ex. He was a very nice guy and he never treated me badly. I felt horrible for putting him through that but like you said Mrs Gr-- Helen, when two souls are meant to connect, everything else fades away. I'm happy with my decision. I'm happy with Fitz." Olivia said earnestly.
Fitz could hardly contain the broad smile on his face. He leaned over to Olivia and pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek.
"I love you." Fitz whispered in her ear as he pulled back.
In that moment their eyes met and for the time being they forgot about the two other people at the table.
Helen and Michael watched in awe.
"Fitzgerald I will literally disown you if you mess things up with her."
"Way to ruin the moment dad."
"I'm serious. Olivia dear, you are an incredible woman. I can tell that you're strong and independent but also loving and kind. I like you already." Michael said, smiling as he continued to cut his sirloin steak.
"I'm not gonna mess anything up. I plan on keeping her." Fitz replied and shared an affectionate smile with his girlfriend.
"You better. So Olivia, tell us about your family."
"Well, it's just me and my parents. All other family are in Boston. Both my parents are originally from there."
Helen looked up smiling, "Oh that's nice."
"My dad is an ex cop turned businessman. And my mom is a retired teacher. They're both really down to earth people. Throughout my life they've been an amazing support system. I can talk to my mom about anything. We have a very open and honest relationship I'd say, which is nice."
"That's sweet. If they raised a lovely woman like yourself then they must be really great people." Helen said in a warm tone before asking, "So have they met Fitz yet?"
"Technically yes but under different circumstances." Fitz piped up.
"How's that?" Michael asked curiously.
"Her mother was a client."
"Wow really?"
"Uh-huh, she's super nice. She also bakes mom and she's freaking good at it."
"Even better than me? Your own mother?" Helen asked jokingly.
"You're both pretty great." He laughed along with his father and Olivia.
"We're having lunch with my parents tomorrow." Olivia announced after the laughter had settled down. "Fitz is being all nervous like they don't already know him."
"You mean a lot to him that's why. Isn't it son?"
"Yeah.. I mean I don't want them to think that I was taking being disrespectful towards their family or taking chances or anything. I came into their home and they welcomed me not just as their landscaper but they made me feel comfortable and at home. I guess I just want them to see that what we have is legit. That I'm serious about their daughter."
"Don't stress too much over it. Besides, it's impossible to not feel the love between you two. But enough about that, does anyone have space for dessert?"
"You made dessert?" Fitz sounded way too excited which caused Olivia and Helen to look at each other and laugh heartily at his reaction.
"He's worse than our eight year old granddaughters."
"Heyy!" Fitz protested with a laugh.
The rest of their evening couldn't have gone better.
Helen and Michael both gave Olivia a warm hug when her and Fitz said their goodbyes.
Fitz was beyond happy to see how much his mother seemed to adore Liv.
"You had a good time." Fitz stated as they drove off.
"I did."
"I told you it was going to be just fine."
"I know. They are such lovely people."
"Yeah they're alright." He laughed.
"I loved how honest your mother was."
"That's just the kind of person she is."
They sat in the comfortable silence until Olivia leaned over to the drivers side and pressed her lips just behind his ear. "I love you."
Fitz took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to give her a quick peck on the lips. "I love you too baby."