Olivia's POV

These past few days have been some of the craziest of my life, I realize, walking down Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There are so many things I should be doing right now but it's been so long since I actually just took some time to be by myself, so that's what I am currently doing.

It was just two days ago when Fitz met his daughter for the first time. And everything went as well as can be expected, I guess. It would be unrealistic of me to think that he would be all one hundred percent okay with the situation. He was happy that Savannah was his daughter - he was fine with that. But I could tell he was pretty pissed off at me, even though he tried to hide it.

I already did most of the things on my itinerary for today. I went to Savannah's school and told them she would be taking an extended vacation. She's smart and already ahead of her work. By work I mean handwriting packets and alphabet memorization shit that she's already perfected. I'm confident she can stay out of school for a little while longer and she could use the time off.

As for me? I don't know. I have been thinking a lot lately, having had all morning and of the afternoon to myself. I have been wondering about what I want in life. Because I used to have it all - a husband, a house, a job and my kid. And now I only have the latter two. That's fine, you know? I love Savannah above everything. And I am happier than I have been in a while without Jake. But something isn't right still. I just want my life to be complete.

X

"Hello?" I knock on the door of the sitting room and enter, where the butler said everyone was.

The Blair house is absolutely beautiful. It's the official guest house for the President but in my opinion, it's better looking than the White House. Especially the room which I just entered, with yellow walls with white piping, yellow Arabian carpets and floral white couches propped up against a huge window, allowing in sunshine.

Fitz is sitting on the floor, against a coffee table, balancing Savannah on his lap along with a bag of animal crackers. Karen is on the floor too, laying on her back on her iPhone. Savannah is showing little plastic colorful My Little Ponies to Fitz, who nods seriously in interest.

I clear my throat and everyone looks up at me.

"Mommy!" Savannah drops her ponies and runs up to me, hugging my legs. Her light brown hair is in a different braid - not the French braid from two days ago, but a fishtail one. I pick her up and smile at her. "Fitz bought me ponies."

"I see," I grin at turn to Fitz, who is getting on his feet. "You didn't have to do that, Fitz."

I dropped Savannah off early this morning. Fitz called yesterday and said he wanted to see Savannah again. He missed out four years of his life and at this point, whenever he wants to see her, he should consider it done. I thought she would be really hesitant about spending the whole day with him but when I dropped her off this morning, she gave both him and Karen a big hug and forgot about me. So I guess she had a good day.

Fitz puts the animal crackers on the table after popping one in his mouth. He wipes his hands on his dark blue jeans and walks up to me and Savannah. "It's fine. We had lunch around Lafayette Park and did some light shopping. She picked up a few toys and things. She ate McDonalds. I hope that's okay. I wanted to buy her something a little more filling, but all she really wanted was a Happy Meal."

I nod at him. I'm glad he's not acting like a dominant parent. He's not even acting like a parent - he's asking my approval for everything. Everything except buying her whatever she wants, which kind of annoys me, but I know I won't be able to stop him. "That's fine." I turn to Savannah. She looks content but very sleepy. "Did you have fun, sweetheart?"

She nods happily and so does Fitz. He adds, "I know I did. We watched a couple of movies and played Barbies."

I grin at him. "Somehow I am having a hard time imagining you playing with Barbies."

"I wasn't Barbie," he assures me with a fake sigh. "I wanted to be Barbie but Savannah made me Skipper."

I raise my eyebrow. "Skipper?"

"Barbie's best friend and partner in crime," Fitz rolls his eyes at me, as if I should have known that. "Duh."

Savannah laughs and wraps her arms around my neck. "You play with us, Mommy?"

I set her down and push back the curly baby hairs on her forehead. "Not today, baby. Go get your backpack, okay? Uncle David is gonna make us dinner."

Savannah looks up at me, frowning a little bit. "We haf to go home? I don't wanna, Mommy...I wanna shtay."

"Savannah, we're going home," I look back at her. "Maybe we'll come back another day. Go get your things, sweetheart."

Savannah marches grumpily to get her backpack from the couch, but not before hugging Fitz's legs. He smiles when he does that. He told me the other day that he loves her and I truly believe that.

"Speaking of things," Fitz clears his throat awkwardly when Savannah is out of earshot. He shoves his hands in his pockets. There is definitely some tension between us, even if Savannah isn't affected by it. "I wanted to know if maybe Savannah can leave some of her's here."

I look at him.

He's not crossing any lines by asking if Savannah can come over more often, absolutely not. But it just makes me think. I want the best for her. She doesn't know Fitz is her father and from the looks of it, Karen doesn't either. I don't want to further confuse either one of them, even though I know the truth has to come out. Savannah is a very smart girl but as far as I can tell, she literally only thinks Fitz and Karen are friends, maybe even babysitters. I didn't explain anything to her - I didn't have to. She was enthusiastic to come here and I know she will be in the future. Fitz and her have such a good relationship. She is usually uber shy, but not with him or Karen. But there are going to be questions soon. And God only knows what Karen is thinking.

"I want you to spend more time with her," I admit quietly. I look over at Karen. She is helping Savannah zip up her little pink backpack. She hasn't said hi to me. She isn't even looking at me. Does she know? Is she mad? "Fitz, I know she wants to spend more time with you too. But you have your job coming up...and I don't know how Karen feels about this-"

"Don't worry about Karen," he interrupts softly, shaking his head. "And don't worry about my job. Don't worry about anything. Just know this - being the best dad to Savannah is my top priority right now."

I nod. I completely believe him, as he is the most selfless person I know. Like I said, I trust him with her life. "I'll think about it, Fitz. I promise. But...can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

I shift my weight to my other leg. I'm so nervous to ask this, but the guilt has been eating at me these past few days. "Are you mad at me?"

He swallows and inhales sharply. He lowers his voice and speaks up after a minute of consideration. "I'm not mad. Confused, yes. Upset? Maybe a little. But I am more happy to have Savannah in my life. That's...that's what matters to me now, okay?"

I nod, swallowing a lump in my throat. I really want to get out of here, because I don't want to cry in front of him. I don't want to cry in front of Savannah either, but I feel like that's going to happen anyway. I don't know why, but every time I am around Fitz, it's an emotional experience. He means...a lot to me. I love him. I really think I love him. In what way, I don't know. He's the father of my child. And I love him. And I do not love a lot of people. "Okay...because Fitz? I don't...I don't know what I would do do if you were mad at me. If you hated me."

"Olivia," his voice is low, but serious. He is looking me in the eye for the first time. "I could never hate you. Don't you ever say something like that again."

I inhale sharply. "Fitz-"

"I am not asking you," Fitz whispers. "I am telling you. Don't ever say anything like that again. Do you understand?"

I look down and nod my head. He sounds so incredibly serious. He says he doesn't hate me but in his position, I'd hate me. I would never want to have anything to do with me ever again. Why he's not mad is beyond me. And I don't know why, but if Fitz really did hate me, I don't think I could live with myself. "Thank you, Fitz."

"Look at me," he says softly. I do, already aware that my eyes are full of tears that are threatening to spill. "Livvy. You brought a beautiful little girl to this world who I love so much that it hurts. Don't ever apologize for that. No matter where we stand, no matter how we feel, I will always care about you."

I nod again.

I'm always gonna care about him too.

Fitz's POV

I sigh, bending down I pick up the small plastic ponies I bought for Savannah. Livvy saw them and didn't tell Anna to pick them up, so that's a good sign, I guess. Maybe it means she's going to let her come back sometime soon.

I'm not stupid - I know I have a tremendous amount of work to do. I got nothing accomplished career wise today. I was supposed to go over eighty pages of notes but I didn't even open a binder. I didn't even go into the Blair House office. I took Savannah to breakfast, played some games and watched movies with her, took her to Karen's school and picked up Karen, then we all went to the park and the Lincoln memorial and came back. I had the most unproductive today ever.

And I wouldn't take back a second of it.

Being with Karen and Savannah together...it was unreal. I was so...content. Even though Karen didn't speak to me all day, she was an angel to Savannah. Like I predicted, Savannah didn't annoy Karen in any way. They just tagged along like sisters. It made me so happy.

I keep thinking about Livvy too. Savannah is a lot like her, I noticed today. She has a great sense of humor but sometimes, she gets so serious and stubborn. She brought out the Barbies and their accessories and threw Skipper at me. There was a little necklace for Skipper and I thought it was a hair clip so I put it in the cheap Barbie hair and when Savannah saw that, she got so frustrated. I thought she wanted to cry for a second. She's sensitive and emotional but strong minded.

And Livvy was right - she is super smart. After she got her Happy Meal, I was trying to buy pizza for me and Karen from Sbarros. Karen and I were filling our sodas and gave Savannah my wallet and asked her to take out my credit card because I didn't think I had change. But Savannah looked through my wallet, looked at the total and gave the cashier lady the exact amount with a twenty and a five, down to the pennies. It took her a minute and she looked kind of unsure but she got it right.

Then we were at the lake and while Karen was feeding the ducks, Savannah was running around us and going on about the types of animals that were habituated around lakes - fishes, ducks, crabs, eels and I even heard her say platypus. Her lisp made it all the more cute.

Then, on the ride back to the Blair house, she asked me what my job was. I told her I was going to be in the government and she was like 'what bwanch?'

I was surprised and told her executive and she nodded. I don't think she knows exactly what the branches do but the fact that she knows that were three branches is impressive in itself. That, and she was really loud and jumpy and really happy in general. She was shy when I met her and this morning, Livvy warned me that she could be very timid. But that wasn't the case.

Anyway, she's really smart. But I would expect nothing less from Livvy's daughter.

I got really offended when Livvy asked if I hated her. I love her. I am in love with her. After all these years, I have never stopped loving her. I can't tell her that because she most likely doesn't feel the same way. I was pretty pissed at her but I had some time to think yesterday and I realized that the past was the past and in the end, I am so happy she brought Savannah in my life. But it doesn't matter. She's probably going to be back with Jake by the end of this month and there's nothing I can do about it. I'll just get hurt again.

I sit on a couch and pull the animal crackers on my lap, picking one up and popping it into my mouth. I look down at Karen who is on the opposite couch, on her phone. She's still mad at me. In a way, I am still pretty angry too, but I forgive her. I was mainly just worried. She's a kid. She makes mistakes. God knows I have. I just wish she would talk to me.

"Karen," I clear my throat. "Lena is coming by tonight with the rest of your things. Since things aren't even unpacked at home, she's just gonna bring you some basic things."

Karen nods, still staring at her screen.

"Karen," I sigh. "Can you please talk to me? Contrary to your belief, I still love you and care about you deeply. And I am sorry for a couple of wrong choices I made in the past. So please...talk to me."

"I am talking to you," she says absently. "But there's not really anything to talk about, Daddy."

I raise my eyebrow. "Really? Because I think there's a whole lot to talk about."

She finally drops her phone, but keeps her eyes glued to her lap. Eventually, she speaks up. "Who is Savannah?"

"She's..." I close my eyes. Karen isn't an idiot. I knew this was coming. But I haven't prepared for it. I haven't even thought about it. "She's my friend's daughter. I thought you liked hanging out with her."

Karen shrugs, still not looking at me. "She's really cute and sweet and everything. But, like, why is she staying with us? You have enough to do with your stupid job."

I inhale, letting the stupid comment slide. There's a lot worse Karen would say if she knew the truth. But she's going to have to find out anyway. As if I don't have enough to deal with. "Karen. Sweetheart. We have to talk."

X

AN: hope you liked this chapter! By the way, you guys ask a LOT of questions in the reviews, which I appreciate, but it's gonna take some time for me to incorporate them into the story, since sometimes I write more than one chapter at a time...but just be patient! But I will answer them, especially the one about how Olivia is certain that it's Fitz's baby, because I hadn't even thought of that myself, to be honest. Also, because I'm curious, what has been your favorite chapter so far? :)