Fitz sat in the Oval Office reminiscing about last night. It was perfect. Olivia shared so much with him and it was like the more he got to know her the deeper he fell in love with her. He found himself not wanting to be away from her, it was new for him. It was 10 in the morning and already he felt the need to know what she was doing. He pulled out his cell and called her. She picked up on the third ring.
"What's up handsome."
He smiled.
"Did I wake you?"
"No, not at all. I've been up for hours."
"Oh okay, what are you going to be doing today?"
"I have a conference call about an operation that I might do. I also have to get paperwork in order so I can start working at James Madison again to keep myself busy."
"You're leaving again?"
"I don't know as yet, I'm gonna decide that when I hear the condition of the patient and whether or not I'm the only one that can help her."
"Would you be gone for another week again?"
"No, not every case is as serious as that one."
"Oh yeah, how did it go? I forgot to ask last night."
"She's recovering. The surgery took 14 hours and 34 minutes but it was a success."
"How do you manage to perform surgery for that long, do you get a break?"
"No, I didn't get a break."
"Don't you get low blood sugar from not eating for so long or tired."
"No, in a situation like that, your body supplies you with a steady flow of adrenaline and steroids that keep you functioning without the need to eat. Once the high stakes portion of the surgery is over and you get to the technical phase, it catches up with you."
"Wow, that's interesting to know."
"So what's going on with your day?"
"Nothing much, making a visit to capitol hill in a half hour and then I have a few back to back meetings."
"Sounds like fun," she teased.
Cyrus walked in.
"Sir we need to talk."
"Not now Cy I'm in the middle of a very important phone call."
"What is this about a divorce I'm hearing, you're kidding me right?" Cyrus said incredulously.
"Can you give me one moment," Fitz said into the phone.
"Sure," Olivia replied.
Fitz turned his attention back to Cyrus.
"I'm only gonna tell you this once Cyrus, whether I am or am not getting a divorce is none of your business. You are my assistant, why don't you act like."
"So you are getting a divorce? Have you lost your mind?"
"Cyrus I'm done talking to you."
"Fitz! You need to think this through. Do you want to alienate the evangelicals when elections are so close."
"Elections are two years away," Fitz didn't bother to raise his voice. He spoke calmly and evenly.
"All I'm saying is wait till you get out of office, I hate mellie just as much as the next guy but you need to be a united front. A president has never had a divorce in office before."
"There is a first time for everything."
"Fitz."
"Cyrus I said I'm done talking."
"Fitz you need to think about the consequ-"
"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE! I SAID I'M DONE TALKING!" Fitz screamed.
Cyrus sighed and walked out.
"Liv? You there?"
"God! Your temper tantrums are so sexy."
Fitz laughed.
"You see what I have to deal with. They all want one thing or another from me. It's frustrating."
"Don't let them force you to do anything you don't want to. You don't live for them and you don't owe them anything. Live for yourself and your son, those are the only two people you owe anything."
"You don't think your important to me too. Do you not understand my affections for you at all?"
Olivia didn't know what to say. She was speechless, which was unusual for her.
"I'll talk to you later Olivia."
Fitz hung up.
She was confused as to why he got upset, she couldn't just insert into his life and make assumptions. In her heart she knew how much he meant to her but she wasn't sure how much she meant to him.
She sat on the couch deep in thought until Harrison called to prep her for the conference call. After half hour speaking with Harrison, he added the doctor from Florida to the call.
"Hello Dr. Pope, thank you for taking my call."
"My pleasure Dr. Wen, what can I do for you?"
"I have a top gymnast who was in training for the 2012 olympics. She is 15 years old and a real contender to get a gold medal in the London olympics all around title and she's the current national champion. She fell from the uneven bars, I believe it's called and she completely ruptured the occipital lobe which as you know is the part of the brain that deals with vision, she has lost 100% of her vision. She's devastated and the procedure is inoperable, there is no way we can fix it but you might."
"That's quite interesting, is there any pain or discomfort?"
"No, just loss of sight."
"This will definitely be a challenge for me, restoring vision, there is no guarantee it would work."
"But if it does and you give this girl her sight back that puts you in some interesting company, don't you think?"
Olivia chuckled.
"I'll be there in tomorrow to examine the patient, please fax all the brain scans you've completed to my assistant."
"I like look forward to seeing you Dr. Pope and once again, thank you for taking my call."
"You a very welcome, I'll see you tomorrow, my assistant will hammer out my travel arrangements with you."
"Thank you."
Olivia hung up. Harrison would plan the trip and hammer out the details. She still had to go to James Madison hospital to sort out document to work the trauma room with Stephen who hadn't stopped begging her since she came to D.C. She showered quickly and dressed in her favorite pair of vintage high rise skinny Levi's with a rip at the knee and a white t shirt. She pulled her hair into a high bun and put her mascara on and headed out. It was a quick drive to the hospital, Stephen waited for her in the lobby.
"Liv? I haven't seen you in forever."
Stephen greeted her with a big hug.
"You look annoyed," he said as he stepped back and observed her body language.
"No I'm fine, I just came to drop off a copy of my medical license and ID."
She handed him the legal size envelope.
"Yay so I can annoy you for the next few weeks until you leave for Doctors Without Borders."
"I'm looking forward to that," she said sarcastically.
"DR. FINCH TO THE ER PLEASE. DR. FINCH TO THE ER."
Stephen smiled.
"Gotta go," he said a he waved goodbye and rushed to the er.
"Later Stephanie," she teased.
"Come on Liv, I hate it when you call me that," he called down the hallway.
She chuckled.
"Just go."
Stephen turned and disappeared behind the double doors.
She turned and walked through the automatic doors back the garage to get her car.
She drove to a Mexican restaurant by the waterfront near her apartment. She ordered herself a chicken ensalada and sat on the park bench by the marina and watched the waves ripple back and forth. She had been sitting for all of 5 minutes when Abby called.
"What's up Abby?"
"Paul returned the necklace."
Olivia almost choked on her salad.
"He did? How?"
"He dropped it off in a bag in front of the apartment."
"Did you tell the detective?"
"I did, I'm headed there now with the necklace, they wanted to speak to you but I told them you were out of town."
"Great, I'm glad he brought it back, it would've been a shame to lose a necklace that beautiful."
"It would be and I'm sorry about this whole thing."
"Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong and even if I did lose the necklace, it's replaceable but you aren't."
"God I don't know how thank you, you paid for my college and you've been putting me up for years now."
"Shut up, you'd do the same for me."
Abby chuckled.
"I sure would. What are you doing?"
"I'm eating a delicious chicken salad."
"What's in it."
"Grilled chicken, avocado, cotija cheese, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, radish and sour cream."
"Oh my god, that's making me wet."
"Abby you are so weird, get off my phone."
"What, food gets me horny, you're a neurologist, you know it's normal."
Olivia changed the subject.
"Are you ready for Doctors Without Borders. I think this year will be extra exciting."
"I'm so freaking ready, I just want to get away. Once I finish my residency next month I'm free. It just sucks that I won't be a licensed doctor and I'll still have to be your sidekick but pretty soon I'll be a doctor too."
"And I'll be extremely proud of you once you are."
"Thanks Liv."
"You're welcome Abby."
"I'm walking into the precinct right now so I'll call you later."
"Okay, keep me posted."
Olivia hung up.
She finished her salad and then headed home.
Fitz sat in the oval having just returned from Capitol Hill. He was waiting for the joint chiefs to arrive so he could get his meetings over with. He knew he needed to talk with Olivia but he wanted to do it in person. He didn't know why he got so angry at their conversation, she didn't say anything wrong he just didn't like the fact that she didn't include herself in the bubble of people he should care about. He was gonna make sure he found he way over to her apartment, first thing after his meeting were adjourned so he could apologize.
The meetings lasted for hours, much to Fitz's chagrin but once they were over, he didn't bother going to the residence he just had Tom take him straight to the car. He arrived at Olivia's apartment just after 9pm. He knocked for a few minutes but there was no reply. He pulled out his cell and dialed Olivia's number.
She picked up on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"I'm in front of your door why aren't you answering?"
"I'm not at my apartment I am at the pool."
He was glad that she didn't seem upset.
"Where is it?"
"It's on the roof."
"I'm coming."
"No, there are other people here, give me three minutes. I'm coming down now."
"Okay."
Olivia got out of the pool quickly and grabbed her towel then headed down. She was there within minutes. She swiped her key card quickly and let him in and immediately began scolding him.
"Are you crazy? What if someone saw you? You're being reckless."
"You went swimming?" He said with a smile, ignoring her questions.
B They were absolutely valid, he was being reckless but he couldn't help it.
She took the towel from around her body and wrapped it around her hair that was dripping water all over the floor.
"Duh," she said with a roll of her eyes.
Fitz smiled so widely at her cheekiness that she burst out laughing.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"I'm sorry about earlier, I want to be with you freely and openly but I'm married and everywhere I turn the people around me are shoving this marriage down my throat."
She caressed his cheek.
"You're frustrated I know but give it time, it'll work itself out plus I'm not going anywhere…"
He smiled and then he took a quick peek at her body. He immediately felt the blood rush down the a particularly sensitive part of his body.
"Did you just sneak a peek?"
"Yes."
She had on a tiny white string bikini that left little to the imagination.
"Do you have any idea how sexy you look right now."
"I am very aware of my sexuality and guess what, I love that."
She looked down.
"Oh my god, are you erect right now?" she covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable? You mean horny? I just wanna jump on right now."
Fitz laughed.
"I need a cold bath Fitz."
She turned around and headed to the bathroom but then stopped and walked back to Fitz and took the towel from off of her head and wrapped it around his waist to hide the stiffness in his pants.
"Great, I can't see it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind."
Fitz loved that she wanted him as bad as he wanted her. He sat on the couch and took a few deep breath and tried to clear his mind. Unfortunately her being out of his sight didn't get her out of his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about her perfect curves and caramel skin. He took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve. He still felt bothered so he loosened his tie and leaned back on the couch.
He couldn't get her out of his mind, all the different ways he wanted to bend her over and make her scream his name was in a constant loop in his head.
"Liv?"
He thought maybe conversing with her would take his mind off of her body, she had a special way of making him focus on her and her only.
"Liv?" He called again but he didn't get a reply.
He got up and went to find her.
He didn't hear the shower running so he knocked on the bathroom door.
"Liv?"
"Yes, come in, I'm decent, sort of."
He opened the door and let himself in. She was in the bathtub covered in bubbles. She had one leg hanging over the side of the tub.
"I'm losing my mind out there."
She laughed.
"Step into my office Mr. president."
Fitz sat on the rug beside the tub.
"How was your day Livie?"
"I have to go to Miami tomorrow for a patient."
"Oh come on?"
"What? I'll be back in the evening, I'm only going to examine her. She's an elite gymnast and she fell on one of the apparatus' and ruptured her occipital lobe and went blind, I'm hoping to fix that so she can go to the olympics. Based on her CT scans, I think I might be able to pull it off."
"If you managed to bring her sight back that would be amazing."
She smiled.
"I know right?"
"But you'll be back here tomorrow night? Right?"
"I promise I will."
"Okay, I'm gonna hold you to that ."
He leaned over the tub and puckered his lips and Olivia raise herself up and met him with a soft kiss on the lips.
"You truly are beautiful, you know that right?"
She smiled.
"Of course I do Fitz, you only tell me that once or twice everyday."
"I can't help it," he said with a sly smile.
His smile always sent her heart racing.
"Oh come here you big dummy."
She grabbed him by his tie and pulled him into the tub on top of her.
"You are a strong little thing aren't you?"
She grabbed his face and kissed him hungrily. She wrapped her legs tightly around him. Fitz's wet clothes clung to his body. She closed her eyes as they explored every inch, every corner, every crevice of each other's mouths. It was euphoric, even after they broke the kiss so they could catch their breath, Olivia found herself not wanting to let go of him. Fitz was leaning over her in the tub, his body was over hers but not quite touch her. They foreheads touched as they stared deeply into each other eyes. The eye contact made her skin feel like it was on fire.
Fitz stood up and stepped out of the tub and stared at Olivia.
"Wow," was all he could say.
Olivia sat up. There was so much soapy suds all over her that he couldn't see her breasts and he thanked god because he was holding on by a thread. She loved the fact that no matter how much he wanted her, he always maintained some degree of self control. It turned her on.
"Come on Liv, you're killing me."
She smiled.
"I'm sorry, I'm gonna wash this soap off my body."
"Okay but your entire apartment is gonna be wet…"
Fitz walked out to give her a minute.
After 5 minutes Olivia emerged from the bathroom in a towel robe.
"Strip."
Fitz raised his eyebrow.
"We have to dry your clothes. Don't worry, I'll be a good girl, I won't sneak a peek."
Fitz smiled. She handed him a robe and went to get dressed, while Fitz undressed down to this boxers.
She came back dressed in her pajamas. She took his wet clothes and left to the building laundry room and dried them. When she came back, she couldn't help but smile at what she saw. Fitz sat in the couch watching basketball, drinking a beer. He looked so normal.
"Is this low calorie beer?"
"Yeah."
"It's disgusting."
"But you're drinking it so shut up."
Fitz laughed.
She plopped down on the couch and laid in his lap.
"Who do you want to win?" She asked.
"Lakers of course,"
"Well I hope they lose," she teased.
The next morning Olivia had to catch a flight for 9am. It was a 3 hour flight and she managed to get to the hospital by 2pm. She met Dr. Wen by the front desk and she escorted her up to her patient's room.
Olivia walked into the room and Dr. Wen introduced her to everyone in the room.
"Hello everyone, this is Olivia Pope, the specialist I was telling you about. She agreed to examine you to see if she can help you."
"Hi, Dr. Pope, I'm Leila, Marisa's mom."
Olivia shook Leila's hand.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to see her."
"You are welcome Leila and please call me Olivia."
Olivia looked over to the bed and saw Marisa. Her eyes were blank and unfocused, not looking at anything in particular.
"Hi Marisa, I'm Olivia."
"Hi, Olivia, thank you for seeing me."
"Well, I couldn't help it, I heard your a gymnast and I love gymnastics, I'm a total fan."
Marisa smiled.
Olivia sat by her bed.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Well, I was working my uneven bar routine that I was perfecting for the world team trials and I fell. I was doing a pac salto into a full in, back out dismount and I lost my grip on the bar and fell and hit my head and immediately, I couldn't see anything."
"What do you see, black or white?"
"Everything is black."
Olivia took the mini flashlight from the table and turned it on. She flash it into her eyes.
"Your eyes still react to light, that's a great sign."
"Really?" Marisa asked excitedly.
"Yes, based on all the information Dr. Wen sent me, I could conclude that your eyes are still perfectly functional. The problem is your occipital lobe, it's so damaged that it isn't transmitting signals to your optical nerve, that is why you can't see. Your eyes are working but they just aren't receiving any information. Thus causing the blindness."
"So that means you can fix it?"
"That means that, I'll do the procedure."
"Yay. Thank you so much."
Olivia smiled.
"Well, I'm going to speak with Dr. Wen, and I just want you to know that this procedure works in stages. We need to harvest you stems cells, Dr. Wen will perform that surgery. Once that is done, we'll give you a few days rest then I will perform the transplant surgery. After the surgery, once we gauge the success, you might need a few laser eye treatments to get your vision back 100%."
"So how soon do you think I'll be able to start training again?" Marisa asked.
"With brain injuries, fatigue is sometimes one of the biggest symptoms, once the procedure is over, you will need a few weeks rest, fortunately I won't need to cut into your brain, I'll inject the accelerated cell into your occipital lobe, so recovery time will be significantly less. I would say, two weeks recovery then you can begin building your endurance."
"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited, thank you so much."
"Your welcome just promise me, I'll see you in London in 2012 okay."
"I promise and when I win, I'll dedicate my gold medal to you."
Olivia smiled and patted her on the leg.
She excused herself and went to discuss the details of the injury and procedure with Dr. Wen.
She left the hospital at 6pm and was back in D.C at 11pm. She called Fitz from the airport since he's been so busy earlier she barely got to speak with him.
"Sorry, I couldn't speak earlier, some international conflict I had to resolve."
"So basically a regular day," she teased.
"Yep. How did it go?"
"Her eyes are working, it's just her brain that's damaged, brains I can fix so I'm confident the procedure will work. She's the current national gymnastics champion you know."
"Really, her name is Marisa Huntington right? I met her after nationals earlier this year. They came to the White House to take pictures with me."
"Really? She's a sweet girl."
"Yes, I'm really glad you can help her."
Olivia smiled.
"So what are you doing?"
"I'm in the Oval Office, reading briefings."
"Ew."
He laughed.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm parked my car for the day at the airport, I'm walking to it right now then I'm heading home and I'm sleeping like there's no tomorrow."
"Okay call me when you get home sweetie."
"I will."
"Oh and Livie"
"Yes."
"You mean the world to me, don't forget that."
She smiled and was about to say something but he hung up.