7 MONTHS LATER.
"Stretch up and breathe...1-2-3-4-5 and exhale. You ladies all look like you're ready to pop," the birthing instructor said, "remember the key to a fast delivery is good breathing."
Olivia got up from her yoga mat and walked over to the window to take a sip from her bottle of water.
Whenever she got a moment to herself, she went down the rabbit hole of memories. The event she was stuck on happened 6 months ago but she remembered as if it were yesterday.
She'd just left her doctor's office in midtown when she stopped at a little Parisian cafe' on her way home. Her entire walk to the cafe' was drowned out by the sound of sirens from police and ambulance vehicles and buzz of several helicopters in the air, all of them going in the same direction. She didn't think twice about it, as it was New York, it was a busy city, but when she stepped into the cafe' and saw the news footage on the tv her mouth went dry. Fitz was in the middle of the street in downtown Manhattan, surrounded by New York City S.W.A.T. team, he was being arrested. He was fully dressed in black military armor with the word 'SEAL' printed across his chest in large yellow letters but his mask he usually wore was off. The screen flashed back to footage of a group of 20 soldiers dressed in black armor with 'SEAL' across their chest, faces fully covered, they were chasing some men who were dressed in plain clothes with bullet proof vest and were carrying huge machine guns through the streets. Olivia knew the threat level must've been high for the deltas to be out in public, though their faces were covered and they wore SEAL uniforms, it was still uncommon for them.
Olivia walked closer to the tv screen and watched Fitz dragging some man down the street by a fist full of his hair. In that shot he had a mask on but she could tell by his walk that it was him.
"Breaking news: Terror attack on New York City thwarted by U.S. elite force led by late Senator Grant's son General Fitzgerald Grant III."
"Moments ago: General Fitz Grant III released from custody."
"Breaking news: 38 suspects dead, 15 in custody after city wide bomb plot thwarted by U.S. elite force."
Footage flashed across the screen on Fitz leaving the precinct escorted by guards into a black suv. He wasn't under arrest, she figured they must've confirmed his identity and released him.
"Olivia?" her instructor Nadia called, snapping her out of her memory, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm alright, just getting a sip of water, I'll be right over."
She hated her birthing classes. All the other woman came thrice a week with the fathers of their child with them, offering support, but mostly to show off. The class had basically turned into a competition of who was the best couple, it was pretentious and annoying but she stayed because it was the closest and most convenient class in the vicinity.
She walked back to her exercise ball and sat down, following the instructions her instructor called out. After another 20 minutes, the class was over and she was the first to leave.
The last she'd heard of Fitz was two months ago, when his company announced that he would finally be taking on the mantle of CEO. After 8 months of pregnancy, he never reached out to her once, not to find out how the baby was doing, or if it was a boy or girl. It was complete radio since from him and so she accepted the fact that he didn't want to have anything to do with her or the baby, not that that was a surprise after everything that happened.
She was still reeling from the events; of Scott's death and her father's. In the weeks and months after, she was mostly consumed with paranoia, so much so that it caused severe depression, leaving her doctor no choice but to put her on antidepressants while pregnant. Most of her paranoia, came from fear that the deltas would find out Fitz let her go and come after her but that never happened and it was clear to her that maybe Fitz was the reason why they never came for her, either out of respect for his decision or fear of going against his wishes. Her other fear was that people she'd wronged in the past would find out about her father's death and come after her, because of that she hired two bodyguards but that hardly helped her feel any safer, not for herself or her child, because she'd had bodyguards before and that never stopped her from getting attacked.
After class was dismissed, she walked outside and met her guard Chris in the hallway, without a word, she walked past him and he followed. She walked to the elevator and stopped, her guard Chris pressed the button calling the elevator, she rubbed her stomach slowly as they waited, the baby was always active after her birthing classes.
Pregnancy was nothing like she expected, she never expected to feel so much love for a person she'd never met, it was the best feeling in the world but it was also a heavy weight to carry because of her constant worry that someone might harm her child because of something she'd done in the past, either way she felt ready to be a mother and raise her child the right way, the way that her mother raise her until she died. She wanted to make sure her daughter had the best life but most importantly she wanted her child to feel loved, more than anything. Her fears aside, her life was finally her own to do what she pleased with it.
The elevator ding, breaking her from trance of thoughts. As the metal doors opened she stepped inside and pressed the ground floor button. Once down in the lobby of building, she walked -more like waddled- down the street. Her apartment was only a block away, in between her apartment and yoga class was a whole foods market, which she stopped by to buy some snacks before she headed back to her apartment.
"Right there daddy, right there!"
Fitz continued pumping into her, his random woman for the night, he didn't know her name or any facet of detail about her life and that was just the way he'd liked it.
"Ooo you're gonna make me cum daddy. I'm gonna cum, I'm gonna cum."
He had her bent over on all fours on the bed, doggystyle and pressed her head against the pillow. Her makeup smothered beige foundation, shimmery eyeshadow and red lipstick against the white pillowcase.
"You know how I like it," she screamed.
He wished she'd stop talking.
"I'm cuming daddy-" Fitz felt her orgasm as he orgasmed. He pumped into slowing as his orgasm came and went and then he pulled out.
"Oh god, it's so good...so good," she said panting as she stretched out of the bed, stretching her toes and enjoying her after orgasm bliss.
Fitz stood up and walked to the bathroom to dispose of the condom and then turned on the faucet. He gauged the water and when it was warm enough, he stepped in the shower and bathed. After 20 minutes he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist then walked over to the bathroom sink to brush his teeth and once he was done he walked back to the bedroom.
"I can call you an uber, if you need," he said as he laid on the bed.
"Uhm," she said hesitating, "I was just going to stay the night."
"Okay but I leave pretty early tomorrow so just a heads up."
"Okay," she responded.
"Where do you live?" he asked.
"Downtown L.A, arts district."
"My office is downtown, I'll give you a ride tomorrow when I'm heading to work."
He fluffed his pillow and turned to his side, away from her and went to bed.
The next morning, he woke up early and made himself a pot of coffee and then showered as it brewed. His date from the night was still asleep as he drank his coffee and dressed himself.
It was 6:30 in the morning and already Cyrus, his father's longtime assistant at the company was calling him to give him an brief on the day. He didn't answer, instead he grabbed Zeus from his doggy bed in the living room and took him for a quick walk to kill a little time and then he went back up to his room to see if he date had woken up, luckily she had and was dressed and ready in her clothes from last night.
"You're ready?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Okay , well my car's downstair so let's go."
She nodded and followed him downstairs to his Bentley and they took off. On the drive down the hill, she gave him her address and he punched it into his gps and followed the directions to her apartment.
He stopped right in front of the building and waited for her to get out. Before she opened the door, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.
"Do you-maybe wanna take my number, we can do this again sometime?"
"No."
She cleared her throat awkwardly, "no?"
"Yeah, you're great, but it's just a one time thing."
She opened the door and hopped out of the car.
"You know I heard great things about you-"
"That's weird...cause I'm a dick."
"At least we agree on something," she said as she slammed the door and walked off.
Fitz shook his head and drove off, for the past couple of months most of his morning usually started that way, he was used to it.
He arrived at his office a little after 7:30, which was later than he wanted but he was the boss, it's not like anyone could reprimand him.
He was still getting used to the job, he'd mostly been in training for the past couple months. Cyrus, who knew as much, if not more about the inner workings of the company than even his father, had been a great mentor of sorts, helping him get accustomed to all the big industry players, lobbyist and political allies.
He walked into his office on the 32 floor, there was a glass panel window on one side of the room and mahogany wood lined walls on the other, making it both modern and rustic. The glass wall allowed him a great view of the city which was a plus for him. He threw his briefcase on his desk, made of pure mahogany wood, originally owned by his great-grandfather, and sat on his huge leather chair and pulled out his laptop to start responding to emails.
About an hour later, Cyrus sauntered in.
"The Truman Jacob people are gonna be here in a half hour, just a friendly little meeting, nothing too serious, they just wanna feel you out."
"The meeting's been on the schedule for weeks now Cyrus, I know."
"Okay and I have Megan preparing for your meeting tomorrow in New York, she has all your hotel info and your plane leaves at 6 tonight."
"I know."
Cyrus squinted his eyes, slightly in frustration. "You don't talk much which is a minus"
He'd been trying to figure out Fitz's personality for months, so he could play to it but no matter how much he analyzed him, he got nothing.
Fitz shrugged, "is this really what you want to be talking about?"
"No but we've been working together for two months now and I've known you since you were 12, I didn't know you were such a recluse."
"Oh."
Cyrus sighed, "I'll come back when our guests arrive."
"Okay."
Cyrus about face and walked out.
Fitz was a little annoyed Cyrus brought up the New York trip, he had been dreading it. He'd planned to finally see Olivia after 7 months and he just wasn't emotionally prepared for what he'd feel when he saw her. There was just still so much anger that he thought it best to wait but now she was soon due to give birth and if he wasn't over it now, he never would be so he decided to suck it up and see her, there was a lot in the way of logistics they needed to work out before the baby came. He was in California and she was in New York, that couldn't work.
By no stretch of the imagination was he excited for the baby, in fact, it was the opposite. He considered just abandoning her and the child and at one point he was sure that was what he wanted because he couldn't stand the idea of Olivia mothering his child, he couldn't bare having to see her and talk to her, even if it was for the sake of the child but he also knew that the baby was his and had his blood and if he abandoned it, his son or daughter would grow up thinking their father didn't love them enough to stay, he saw first-hand how that affected Scott, he didn't want that for his child so decided to swallow his pride and anger and hurt and be there for his child.
During the 25 minutes he waited for the meeting, a couple of workers from the kitchen came in his office to set up a breakfast spread by the conference table for his guests.
At 9:30, Cyrus knocked on his door briefly before opening it and entering with a group of five men and women.
Fitz stood up to greet his guests.
"Welcome to Grant Enterprise," he said as he shook their hand one by one and escorted them to the large conference table on the far side of the room.
It was a friendly introductory meeting, which is what he'd been doing to most of his father's allies since he started on the job two months earlier. The meeting lasted 45 minutes, they seemed to want it to last longer but once he stood up and walked to his desk,
"Thank you all for coming and I look forward to you next meeting," he said.
They got the message.
Cyrus, however seemed to not want the meeting to end.
"Fitz, why don't you give them a tour, we just had 5 floors redone?"
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," Fitz said as he walked over to them, "right this way," he motioned to the door, "is the exit."
In the most polite way possible, Fitz showed them out then closed his door and walked back to his desk. Cyrus was still standing staring at him.
"Seriously Fitz?"
"What?"
"You need to be more amiable."
"It wasn't a play date, it was a business meeting-by the way- don't ever offer me up for anything without speaking to me first and also make sure you close the door when you leave."
Cyrus rolled his eyes and walked out.
Fitz left the office at 4 and went straight home. When he pulled into his driveway, Lucky was there waiting for him, sitting on the hood of his car. It was the third time Lucky stopped by this month.
Fitz parked just outside his garage and hopped out of his car with his briefcase.
"Hey man, can we talk?"
"I'm busy," Fitz said, walking to his front door. Lucky followed him.
"Come on man, you've been back two months, you still won't talk to me."
"Because there's nothing to talk about."
Fitz opened his door and stepped inside then attempted to close it but Lucky stuck his foot in the crease, stopping it from closing.
"Your brother died, your dad died and then I see you on tv in the middle of fucking New York city having a fucking up a bunch of fucking terrorist and jumping on top of cars and shit and everytime I try to talk to you you're busy you don't answer my text or calls, what's going on?."
Fitz turned around and faced him.
"Look, I have a flight I have to catch so you should go."
"You said that two times this month, at least let me in, we can talk while you pack or I can drop you to the airport, come on man, throw me a bone," Lucky said, pleading almost.
"I'm busy, come back another time," Fitz said again as he closed the door.
"Asshole," Lucky yelled from outside.
Fitz heard his comment but he didn't care, he'd made it clear to Lucky that he just wanted to be left alone but he wouldn't stop texting and calling or just showing up.
He went up to his bedroom, he'd already texted his maid to have her pack up a few of his things for his business trip. He was only going to be in New York for a day, for most of the morning he'd be on Wall Street, he had a business lunch at noon and another few meetings in the afternoon in midtown then he was going to see Olivia and it wasn't exactly going to be happy reunion.
By 5, he was out of the house and on his way to Lax.
He took his family's private jet, which now belonged to him, to JFK airport. A chauffeur was already waiting to drop him to the Plaza hotel where he had a penthouse suite booked for him.
After he arrived at the hotel, he had the bellhop drop his bag to his room and then he went to the hotel bar to pick up someone to bring back to his room for the night. As he entered to bar, he observed the room, it was almost midnight but it was still very lively, filled with men in suits and women in expensive dresses. He sauntered over to the bar counter and sat on a stool and within moments the bartender came over to him.
"Can I get you anything, sir?" the young woman said.
"Whiskey, neat, thanks," Fitz replied.
"Coming right up."
"You don't look like a whiskey guy." A small Asian woman who was sitting on the stool next him, turned to face him and smiled as she spoke.
"I'm not," Fitz replied, "but I like to try it out every so often."
"Are you from New York?" she asked.
"No, L.A., you?"
"Born and raised in the Greenwich Village. Why are you in New York city?"
"Business-"
The bartender placed the drink in front of Fitz, "whiskey neat," she said with a smile.
"Thanks," Fitz replied before turning his attention back to the woman beside him.
"Business? What kind?" she asked.
"The boring kind," he said.
"You have a nice smile, great teeth-" she blushed and bowed her head a little embarrassed, "sorry, my dad's a dentist, teeth are the first thing I notice."
"Thank you, they are genetic and unattainable," he said sarcastically.
She laughed, "you're funny."
Fitz took a sip of his whiskey and stood up.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Back to my suite," he took another sip, "you're free to join me."
He reached into his wallet and dropped a $20 bill on the counter for his drink.
"What room?" she asked.
"Penthouse."
He headed off back to the lobby and took the elevator up to his suite. Once in his suite, he showered and as he dried of and threw on his towel robe, his doorbell chimed.
He checked his watch as he walked over, it had only been 25 minutes.
Fitz opened the door and stepped aside.
"Wow, ready already?" she asked.
"Ready for what, I invited you up here to tell me about the city, why did you come up here?"
She chuckled, "really?"
"No, I invited you up here because I wanted to have sex with you."
"Wow."
"Why beat around the bush," he said with a shrug.
She walked in the door, Fitz closed it behind her and walked over to the bed.
"Can we order some champagne and maybe strawberries or something?" she asked.
"You can order whatever you'd like."
She took off her shoes and walked over to the night table by the bed, picked up the phone and proceeded to order room service.
"Hi, I'd like to order champagne, sliced strawberries and whipped cream...thank you." she hung up the phone.
"I'm going to go freshen up," she said as she walked to the bathroom. After about 5 minutes, she emerged from the bathroom and sat beside him.
"So, what do you do?"
"Let's just say I work in management. What do you do?"
"I'm an assistant for a local designer, her clothes are gorgeous, she's just starting out though. What company do you work for? I can't imagine they'd let you book the penthouse suite for any old business trip?" she asked.
"I don't work for the company, I own it."
"Wow, that explains a lot, what company?"
Fitz shrugged, "do you really care?" he asked skeptically. They were branching on too much conversation for him, he wanted it to end.
"Yes, I do, you seem like an interesting person."
"Really, I try so hard not to be interesting, so hard," he joked.
She chuckled, "you see, you're funny but in a very arrogant sort of way."
The doorbell chimed, the woman jumped up and answered the door, taking the tray of treats and placing it by the night table. Fitz gave her a $20 bill to tip the server and then she closed the door and walked back to him and climbed on the bed, this time she pulled up her dress and straddled him.
"Since you don't want to talk..." she said slowly.
She slowly pulled her dress over her head, and then her unclasped bra.
"Nipple piercings, that's a fun surprised," Fitz quipped.
She chuckled, "I had strict Asian parents, there might have been a rebellious phase or two when I was a teenager."
"You weren't worse than me, trust me."
She smiled and untied his robe, taking her time to slowly pull it off and then kissed him, on the lips then neck and then down his body and before long, she was giving him a very generous blowjob. She stopped short of bringing him to an orgasm and as she slipped off her underwear, Fitz slid on the condom.
After an hour, a few orgasms and very loud queefing, they were both fast asleep.
The next morning, as Fitz slept, he heard his doorbell chime and quickly got up, threw his robe on and went to the answer the door. It was a breakfast delivery, a server walked into the room with a cart filled with breakfast food, pastries, coffee, tea and orange juice.
"You can just place it on the table," Fitz said as he walked to his nightstand for a tip for his server. He checked his watch as he pulled out the $20 bill, it was after 6, he had plenty of time to get ready. He tipped the server and quickly went to the bathroom to shower, he felt sticky from all the whipped cream and champagne his nameless woman licked off his body. After his shower, he pulled his suit from his garment bag and got dressed as he checked his emails on his laptop.
Around 7, he decided to wake his guest. He nudged her on the shoulder softly until she sat up.
"Sorry to wake you but I'm leaving soon-"
"I'll get going-"
"No, you can take your time, I'm just letting you know."
"Okay."
He walked back over to the coffee table by the couch and ate more bacon and a croissant.
"Last night was fun," she said as she stood up.
"Yup," Fitz agreed.
She stood up and stretched, "by the way, my name is Joyce, not Olivia."
"What?"
She chuckled, "you called me Olivia last night."
"What?"
"Don't you remember, it was super awkward because...nevermind, you don't remember or maybe I misheard, it doesn't matter, I just thought it was funny."
"Oh."
"I have to get to work, it's cool if I just grab a quick shower right?"
"Knock yourself out."
"Okay cool, when are you leaving?"
"Soon."
"Is it cool if I get a ride?" she asked.
"It depends, where are you going?"
"Upper east side."
"I'm not going that way but just have the hotel get you a chauffeur and charge it to my bill."
"I'll need you name for that," she said with a smile.
"Just tell them the penthouse."
"Okay."
She walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her and about 25 minutes later, Fitz headed down to the lobby where his driver was waiting. Back in his room, once Joyce finished showering, she grabbed food from the breakfast spread and begin searching around for any clue as to who Fitz was as she got dressed, she needed a name, a number, anything and when her search bore no fruit, she gave up and wrote her number on a piece of paper and left it by the night table, hoping he'd give her a call then headed down to the front desk at the lobby.
"Hi, I was wondering if you had a driver available to drop me to work."
"We do have concierge service that includes a chauffeur, what room are you staying, we can just charge it to your bill or if you'd like to pay separate, that's fine as well," the receptionist said.
"I'm in the penthouse suite."
The receptionist typed something on the keypad and then looked up.
"You're staying with Mr. Grant, of course, I'll have Cedric take you anywhere you'd like to go."
Joyce wanted to ask Fitz's name but she thought it would be weird if she did, all she knew was that his last name was Grant and that he was a c.e.o, hopefully a google search would help her fill in the blanks.
The receptionist quickly radioed a man on her earpiece and within moments, a short, african american man in a suit walked over.
"I'm Cedric, I can take you wherever you need to go," he said politely.
"I'm Joyce, nice to meet you," she said.
"Nice to meet you too," Cedric replied.
Cedric walked her to the town car in front of the hotel, held the door open for her and once she got in, he walked around to the driver's door and got in as well. She gave him her address and 35 minutes later, he pulled up in front of her apartment.
"Wait here, I just need to change quickly, is that okay?" she asked.
"Yes, that's fine," Cedric replied.
She ran up to her apartment to change out of her clothes from last night and brushed her teeth then she quickly ran back down to the car and took off again. When they came to a stop this time, it was in front of a large upper east side apartment building on 5th Avenue. She ran out quickly and was greeted by the doorman in front of the building. She waved as she walked to the elevator and came off at the 20th floor. She walked to the apartment at the end of the hallway and knocked, seconds later, Olivia opened the door.
"Hello Joyce, good morning," she stepped aside and allowed her to enter and then closed the door behind her.
"Morning Liv," she said as she kicked off her flats in the entrance hallway.
"You look a little winded, it's only 9 in the morning?"
"I had a crazy night," Joyce said.
"Oh, you know how much I fancy your "crazy night" stories."
Olivia walked to the living room, which she had converted into a studio space. Her new studio was located in Soho store space she'd just leased and had renovated and turned into a showroom.
It took her a few weeks to recuperate after Fitz let her go, and while she hadn't fully recovered, even still, she was determined to move forward with her life. She'd paid her way through part-time fashion design school for years without her father's knowledge and so once she got back to New York, she reached out to all her old professors and contacts and began networking. She had hundreds of designs she'd created over the years that she never materialized until now. She hired two assistants (Joyce and Simone) with a background in fashion and she also hired two seamstresses (Marita and Margaret) to help her create her designs. She paid a web creator to build her a website and upload content and advertise her sample dresses online and within weeks, she had orders coming in. Each dress was couture, designed by her, handmade by her with the help of her team, she knew she couldn't sustain her new business by herself for long because it was growing and because the baby would be arriving soon so she was in the process of hiring more seamstresses and she thought about getting interns as well and in addition to all of that on the business side, she still hadn't hired a nanny.
She had about 10 dress form mannequins, all fitted into pieces she'd sketched weeks earlier and was now bringing to life scattered all over the living room.
Joyce walked over to a pearl beaded half complete mini dress.
"Wow, you finished a lot since I left yesterday."
"I couldn't sleep last night, being 8 months pregnant and all."
Joyce chuckled, "I couldn't sleep last night but for entire different reasons."
"Okay, tell me but first I need you to grab crepe silk de chine fabric upstair, the taupe color."
"Okay," Joyce said as she quickly jogged up the grand living room staircase to retrieve what Olivia requested.
Moments later, she came back and handed it to Olivia.
"Why don't you sit here and tell me all about your night while you check the order forms online and make sure the fitting schedule for our clientele doesn't have any discrepancies."
Joyce grabbed the laptop and then sat beside Olivia on a stool.
"Okay, so what happened last night that's so exciting?" Olivia asked as she hand sewed some beading to the dress.
"Okay, you know how me and my friends always sit at bars in the fanciest places, hoping a rich guy will pick us up right?"
"I don't approve but I'm not judging either."
"I was hanging at the bar at The Plaza last night, me and a few girlfriends were there and they'd left just a little while before I was going to leave but then the guy sits beside me. At first I was going to leave but then I got a whiff of his cologne, he smelled great and first of all, he's freaking gorgeous, he was probably in his early or mid thirties, his eyes were so blue and then I looked at his wrist and he's wearing a $20,000 watch, so immediately I hit on him."
"And what he he do?" Olivia asked.
"He flirted back and we talked for a couple minutes."
"Was he funny?"
"Yes but in an arrogant sort of way, like, I complimented him on his teeth, which I know, I know, is really awkward but he was really cute, I got nervous, I was like, 'you have nice teeth,' and he said, 'I know, they're genetic and unattainable,' but in the most arrogant way."
Olivia shook her head, "he was being sarcastic."
"He was? I thought it was funny. We only talked for a few minutes before he got up to leave and told me if I wanted to come to his room I could, he was staying at the penthouse so of course I went."
"Of course."
Joyce chuckled, "when I got to his room, he was in a bathroom, he'd just showered-"
"Coincidence?"
"I know right but anywho he let me in, I ordered room service, I tried to talk to him but he wasn't having it-"
"What do you mean he wasn't having it?"
"I mean, he just didn't want to talk, he was really quiet."
'Oh."
"Yeah but once they delivered the champagne and stuff you we...got to it."
"Was it good?"
"Oh god, I was literally drooling on him, It was amazing."
Olivia loved the stories Joyce would tell her, as inappropriate as they were, it had been as if she was living vicariously through her. She tried to have a friendly relationship with all her employees, Joyce more so because Joyce was her first hire and really helped her start her business from the ground up and while it was still a very new and there was still a lot of work to be done in the way of logistics, Joyce was a big part of her success.
"Really?
"Yes, by the way, his thing: huge, I was surprised."
"Is that so."
"I can still feel his kisses in my neck," Joyce said, blushing.
"I take it your smitten?"
"Yeah and his body was ripped, he had a sleeve tattoo."
"A sleeve tattoo?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah which was nice and different because you'd never expect from a guy like him, with like a perfectly shaved face and perfect hair but yeah."
"What kind of tattoo?"
"I don't know, it was like viking sort of pattern thing, it looked really nice."
"What's his name?"
"He wouldn't tell me, didn't give me his number or anything, I was hoping he would but he didn't. He told me to charge my cab ride to his bill and when I went to the front desk, they said Mr. Grant but they didn't tell me the first name. I'm gonna try to google him later, type Grant c.e.o and see what comes up."
Olivia cleared her throat and stood up.
"I think you should probably go."
"What?"
"Yeah, just uhm," Olivia sighed, slightly shaking, "just go to the showroom, there's still a lot to be done there."
"Are you sure?" Joyce asked.
"Just go."
Joyce stood up, wondering why Olivia suddenly became so hostile.
"Um-okay, I'm gonna go."
Joyce walked to the foyer and grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes, she was going to leave but she still didn't feel right so she walked back to the living room to Olivia.
"Did I say anything to upset you or-"
"It's not her fault," Olivia said to herself, "she didn't know." She took a deep breath before she turned around, "I'm not angry at you Joyce, just go to the showroom. Simone is already there."
"Okay," Joyce finally headed out and closed the door behind her.
Olivia took deep breaths to calm herself as she paced and rubbed her stomach.
He was in New York and didn't care enough to see how the baby was doing, he'd rather have sex with her assistant out of spite, just thought was enough to bring her to tears, but how could she truly be upset, after everything she'd done.
The doorbell rang and she quickly wiped her eyes to answer it quickly. It was her seamstresses Margaret and Marita showing up for the day's work. She checked her face in the mirror in the foyer before opening the door.
"Good morning Olivia."
"Hi Marita, Margaret, how are you guys?"
"I'm well, and you?" Marita said.
"Good," Margaret said, in her thick Italian accent.
"Not so great, feeling a little nauseous."
"Oh no, the baby?" Marita asked.
"Yes," Olivia lied.
They stepped in and took off their shoes and placed them in the closet along with their purses and then headed to the living room.
"Okay, you go rest, we'll finish up here," Marita said, as if she were the boss.
"Yeah, uhm, the dress is the most important thing right now, our client wants to have her fitting next week so try to finish as much of the the beading as you can."
"Got it," Margaret said.
They pulled up their stools and got to work. Olivia went to her room to try to clear her head which usually meant she laid in bed and tried to sketch something new on her pad. After a few hours she fell asleep mostly from being so tired, having not slept during the night, and woke up a little before 2 in the afternoon to get ready for her birthing class. She washed her face to get some of the sleep out of her eyes and then threw on a pair of black yoga legging and a sweater and headed to class.
Fitz's driver pulled up in front of Olivia's building at 3pm exactly. He took a deep breath before stepping out of the car and heading into the building. He flashed his key as he passed the doorman who was slightly confused because he'd never seen him before but he stayed silent because after all, he did have a key, the same one he used to get into her apartment with the deltas almost a year ago. He took the elevator up to her floor and when he got to her door, he tried opening it with the key and as he suspected, she changed the locks but it was a shifting key, it molded to open any lock that used a metal key and within seconds of trying, he was in.
The apartment was quiet so it was clear to him that no one was home. He walked through the foyer to the living room and saw that it had been completely converted to some kind clothing design studio. There were racks of half made clothing by the window as well as dress forms clothed in half made dresses. There was streams of silks and tulles, furs and leather, beads and pearls all neatly organized on a shelf. He thought maybe she'd moved and it was someone else's apartment but then he remembered how she told him that her mother used to be a designer and how much she wanted to follow in her footsteps, he'd thought it was a lie but based on what he was seeing, apparently she'd told the truth.
He walked over to the dresses, one stood out in particular because it was almost finished. It was made of mostly cream tulle with iridescent pearl beading, it was beautiful. He walked over to the kitchen and looked at the rack of fine wine on the marble counter, none of them had been touched. The first floor of her apartment composed of a large open living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, laundry room, den and a patio. Her walls her painted white with gold boiserie detailed carving that seemed to come straight from the french renaissance with gold carved french furniture to match.
The second floor had three bedrooms, a bathroom and closet, knowing that, Fitz headed upstairs. The first room he came upon was her bedroom, it looked more or less the same as it did the last time he'd been there. He walked over to her bed, and memories of the last night the spent flashed through his mind, how they spent hours in bed-he wished he could say they were making love but they weren't, they spent hours in bed; fucking. The memory was short lived because he immediately remember the big fight they had after. He turned and walked out of the room, not wanting to reminisce.
He walked down the hallway, pass her bathroom and closet and then he came upon the second bedroom and his mouth fell open, not in shock but in awe. He slid off his shoes and stepped on the fluffy white rug that covered the entire room floor. The nursery was gorgeous, with eggshell colored walls, a cream wooden baby crib and chest of drawers with a changing table on top. There was a blush pink tufted rocking armchair and tufted ottoman, a cream bookshelf with nursery rhymes, poetry and song books. She had a large life size brown teddy bear in one corner with a 4 foot plush giraffe beside it.
He walked over to the changing table, it had little diapers smaller than the palm of his hand stacked up neatly in several even piles. He took one of the diaper in his hand just to feel it, he couldn't remember the last time he was even close to a baby and he'd certainly never changed a diaper before. He got curious and sniffed the diaper, it smelled like baby powder. He placed it neatly back in the pile and opened the first drawer and saw all the little onesies folded neatly, mostly plain white, lavender and pink. He pulled out a pink onesie and held it out, it was so small it made him smile, now that he could see everything in front of him, having a child now longer felt abstract, it felt real. He was actually going to have a child, a daughter, his daughter.
A/N- Sorry it took so long. I had to cut about 2,000 words because the chapter was getting so long and also because I kept second guessing and editing that last few pages so ultimately I decided to move it to the next chapter so I wouldn't have to keep postponing the upload.