The next morning Fitz sat in this office. It was almost 9am, he was replying to emails that he'd been largely ignoring during his trip to New York.
"Mr. Fitzgerald Grant?" a man asked.
Fitz looked up and saw a delivery man standing in his office.
"I'm looking for Mr. Grant."
"He's out, I'm his assistant, what do you need?"
"I wanted to deliver this bottle of Scotch to him," the man looked at the card on the gift bag, "...from senator Parrish."
Senator Parrish was a long time friend of his father.
"I'm Fitz Grant, how old is that scotch?"
The pulled out a tucked envelope from his jacket and walked over to Fitz.
"You've been served."
"Son of a bitch," Fitz cursed.
The man smirked, "enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Grant."
"Is there even any scotch in that bag?" Fitz asked.
The man turned around to Fitz as he walked out, "no."
"Damn it."
He opened the manilla envelope and read through the documents fully and then dialed his lawyer's number on his office line.
"Hello?"
"Bob, I've just been subpoenaed by the senate intelligence committee."
"What? They agreed to hold off on the subpoena."
"Obviously not, I'm guessing senator Mendez got tired of the run around, he's summoning me to a public hearing about New York next monday."
"Shit-shit- shit- I'm gonna fix this-just let me get in touch with the committee staff, can I call you back."
"Yes."
Fitz hung up the phone and threw the documents on his desk. He and his lawyer had been going back and forth with the senate intelligence committee for months. They claimed to be doing an investigation into the events of New York and since he was a huge part of that they'd been trying to interview him but he refused, now he was subpoenaed.
"Megan?" he called loudly.
His assistant Megan walked into the room seconds later, confused as to why he yelled her name instead of paging her like he usually did.
"Mr. Grant?"
"I need you to schedule a flight for D.C, I need to get there by Monday 9:00 am, I'll also need a car, have a hearing at 10 at the capitol building."
"Okay sir, I'll get on it right away."
Fitz stood up and walked over to the window just to think. He'd really been trying to avoid the limelight since New York and furthermore he already knew that he couldn't answer most of the questions the senators had for him in an open setting because they were classified.
He'd been standing at the window for all of 5 minutes before Megan walked into his office once again.
"Sir, Ms. Ponor is here."
"Can you get rid of her?"
"I tried, she's not leaving," Megan responded.
"Alright fine, send her in."
Megan nodded and walked out, moments later, Ms. Ponor, a military therapist walked into the room.
"General Grant," the woman said as she entered the room.
Fitz turned around, "Ms. Ponor, today is really not a good day for me."
"Me either but here I am. I wanted to work with my most difficult client first."
Fitz walked over to the sofa, the therapist followed him and sat at the other end of the sofa. She pulled her notebook from her bag and then turned towards him.
"So, how has this week been?"
"Good."
"Nothing eventful happened?"
"Nope."
"Do you want to talk about the circumstances under which you left the military?" she asked.
"Nope."
"Do you...want to talk about your brother?"
"Nope."
"Father?"
"Nope."
"Any ptsd symptoms?"
"Nope."
She sighed and shook her head, "I've been visiting you for two months and the only time you answered a question I asked was when I asked you about the weather outside."
"It was really good weather."
She rolled her eyes, "you know, this is mandatory post military therapy, if you continue to stonewall I'll go back to my superiors and tell them-"
"And tell them what exactly?"
His office phone rang, cutting her off. Fitz got up quickly to answer it.
"Bob?"
"Yeah, they're serious about this subpoena, they won't rescind it, chairman Mendez said they'll hold you in contempt if you don't show up," his lawyer answered.
"I guess I'm going to Washington then."
He hung up and walked back to his desk.
"I have a meeting Ms. Ponor, can we finish another day."
She stood up and walked out, she was used to being kicked out minutes after she'd arrived.
It had been two days since Fitz left and Olivia was trying to figure out the logistics of moving to California. She didn't want to tell her employees or clients about the move until she had a plan. She'd been trying to look at the move as a positive thing, she could open another showroom in Los Angeles and operate a showroom on both coasts of the country, she'd have to travel from New York to California often but if Fitz had the baby for half the week, then that would be a positive, she could keep herself busy when she didn't have the baby.
It was almost 12pm, she was on her way to her showroom in Soho, she had a fitting with her client at 1. She was accompanied by her new bodyguard, Trevor, who Fitz had sent to her the morning after he left.
When the car pulled up infront of her showroom, Trevor stepped out and held the door open for her.
"Thank you," she said to Trevor, who didn't respond.
He walked in front and opened the door for her. She didn't bother thanking him again.
"Liv," Simone said.
"Hello Simone," Olivia looked around, "it looks beautiful in here, I can't get used to it."
The walls were painted white with gold panels and a large glass chandelier in the center of the room, there was a navy velvet tufted sofa and chairs placed all around with dress form mannequins wearing sample pieces. The room gave off a aura of opulence which was exactly what Olivia was aiming for. She helped the interior decorator with the vision but because of her pregnancy, she'd been unable to help out physically although she did visit a few times, this was her first time bringing a client.
"This is Trevor," Olivia said, motioning to Trevor.
"Hello Trevor," Simone said.
"Did you order the pastries for our client?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, I ordered macaroon, cupcakes and fruits and iced tea."
"Did you get the white chocolate vanilla macarons?"
"Yes, I know those are your favorites," Simone replied.
Olivia walked to the fitting room to make sure it was ready for the her client and then spent the rest of her time checking her emails. She'd been corresponding with both Fitz's lawyer and realtor for the past two days.
After almost 20 minutes, the food was delivered and then a half hour later, Olivia's client arrived. Liz, a wealthy socialite married to a hedge fund manager who had been referred to Olivia through one of Olivia's old fashion school contacts.
"Liv, how are you, it's so good to see you?" Liz said as she kissed Olivia on the cheek, as if they were old friends, rather than two people who'd only been meeting for the second time.
"I'm well, Liz and it's lovely to see you."
Liz looked around at the showroom, "it's gorgeous in here, you have such great taste."
"Thank you," Olivia replied with a polite smile.
Liz grabbed Olivia's hands in hers, "your glowing by the way how's the baby?"
"She's..well, very active."
"Gosh, babies, they're such a blessing."
Liz turned as Simone brought her dress from the back of the showroom into her fitting room.
"Wow, okay, I can't wait to try it on."
"Well, go try it," Olivia said, "Simone will help if you need aid."
Liz walked over to the fitting room, accompanied by Simone. Olivia waited on the couch, while Trevor stood guard by the door.
After 5 minutes, both Liz and Simone emerged from the fitting room. Liz walked onto the platform in front of a large mirror. Olivia walked over to her.
"How do you like it?" Olivia asked.
"I don't like it."
Olivia was confused, she'd sent her pictures up until that point and she'd only heard good things.
"You don't like it?"
It was a cream mini length tassel flapper dress Olivia specially designed for a Great Gatsby themed charity function that Liz was attending.
"No, I LOVE IT!"
Liz twirled in front of the mirror, "it's exactly how I wanted it."
Olivia exhaled, she was really conscious about criticism of her dresses and often took it to heart so she was glad that that wasn't the case.
"You gave me a fright."
"No, no, no, I love it, I mean it's exactly how I imagined it, the fit is perfect."
"I'm glad you like it," Olivia said with a smile.
Liz turned around, "you're really talented, I went to all the designers, Marchesa, Reem Acra, Greta Constantine, I even tried vintage but nothing worked, this though, is perfect, can I take it today?"
"Yes, as long as you have no complaints about the fit then it's ready."
"Perfect, because I need to find some shoes to go with it so I'd rather have it with me to make sure everything goes well as I buy the accessories and stuff."
Liz walked over to the coffee table and attempted to take a strawberry but then she stopped herself.
"Oh god no, let me get out of this dress first before I ruin it."
She walked to the fitting room and disrobed with the help of Simone and then she emerged moments later. Simone took her dress and wrapped it in a garment bag carefully as Liz went back to speak with Olivia.
"So, have you thought about maybe starting your own line or something, like on a bigger scale, you know with fashion shows and maybe get some boutiques to pick up your clothes."
"I thought about it but it's a long stretch."
"Maybe not, my husband knows a lot of people on the CFDA and he knows the New York fashion week director, it wouldn't be hard for him to pull a few strings and get you a spot. It'll take a lot of work, you'd have to hire tons more people and get funding and probably find a firm to help with the business side of things because fashions shows are very expensive but somehow I think you can do it, it'd be a sin to keep these clothes hidden, they need to be in Barney's."
Olivia smiled, she wasn't worried about funding, she had hundreds of millions of dollars that her father stole stashed away, it's how she'd funded everything so far.
"Think about it Liv."
"I will," Olivia responded.
"And by the way, I have wedding in September I have to attend and I'll need a dress, you know I'm coming to you, I also have a gala and like two other events coming up, I'll email you."
"Absolutely," Olivia replied.
Liz kissed her on the cheek once again and then took a macaron, grabbed her bag from Simone and headed out.
"Thanks again Liv," she said as she walked through the door Trevor held open for her.
Olivia turned to Simone, "that went well."
"Yes."
Olivia walked over to the couch and sat.
"Simone, could you come sit with me, I wanted to speak to you about a few things."
"Uhm..sure." Simone walked over to her and sat on the couch.
"How has it been, not having Joyce here anymore?" Olivia asked.
"Different, it's more work but you know I'm up to the task."
"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have any friends or classmates that you think would be a good fit here, I want to hire at least two more girls."
Simone was just 21 years old, she was in school part-time and worked with Olivia full-time.
Simone perked up, "I know a bunch of people," she said as she pulled her curly hair from her face, she always wore her hair in a wild afro, "I can have them email you their resumes."
"That'll be perfect, and the sooner they can start the better."
"Is it okay if guys apply, I know this one guy, he's a really great sewer, I think you'd like him."
"Yeah absolutely, girls and guys are welcome."
"Okay perfect, I'll let them know."
Olivia stood up.
"Wait Liv- can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"-You know what, never mind, it's stupid, never mind."
"No, it's okay, you can ask."
"Urm-okay, why did you fire Joyce."
"Have you spoken to her?" Olivia asked.
"No."
Olivia shrugged, "it was sort of an uncomfortable situation and I'm not sure I want to talk about it and I also don't think Joyce would want me to talk about it."
"Okay, I understand."
Olivia nodded and took a cupcake, "let's take this food and head back to the apartment, I have birthing class at 3."
Simone proceeded to pack up at the food while Olivia helped her to close the showroom and then called a driver to drop them back to her apartment.
The following Monday.
Fitz stepped out of the black sedan, followed by his lawyer in front of the capitol building. He was immediately swarmed by reporters and capitol police who escorted him into the building.
He blocked out the obnoxious questions as he walked swiftly and checked into the building and was greeted by committee staffers. There was only 10 minutes to his scheduled hearing so they scurried him to the hearing room where all the press, staffers and most of the senators were gathered.
As he walked into the room, the sound of the shutters from the cameras went off as the photographer took thousands of pictures of him in the few seconds it took him to walk to his chair and sit down. The photographers kneeled in front of him and continued taking photographs until a few staffers stopped them just minutes before the hearing was set to begin.
All the senators took their seats and the room quieted down as the chairman and ranking member entered the chamber and took their seats as well.
"I call this hearing to order," the chairman of the committee, senator Mendez said, "General Fitzgerald Grant III, though you were unwilling to appear before this committee today, I appreciate that you are here. I first want to thank you for your dedicated service and leadership in the U. Corp and I also would like to send my condolences, your father was a fine man and a fine senator and we still miss him everyday in these chambers. You appear here today because of a duty, placed upon the senate to hold the armed services accountable and to provide oversight and maintain transparency, I hope you will be forthcoming in your responses today so we can have an open candid discussion and truly understand the events of December 12. With that, again, I welcome you and turn over to the vice chairwoman for any comments she might have."
The ranking member senator Leaf spoke, "thank you Mr. chairman. General Grant, I want to express how disappointed I am that you were unwilling to appear voluntarily before the committee today, nevertheless you are here. It is the job of congress to provide oversight of the military and in keeping with that duty, our job to investigate the events of December 12. I hope you will be forthcoming in your answers today so we can understand as a country the attack on U.S. soil and together develop ways to prevent that from happening again. I yield the rest of my time Mr. chairman."
"Thank you, vice chairman. General as discussed when you agreed to appear before the committee it would be under oath. I'd ask you to please stand. Raise your right hand," said Senator Mendez.
Fitz stood and raised his right hand.
"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god?" senator Mendez asked.
"I do," Fitz replied.
Chairman Mendez, "thank you, you may be seated."
Fitz sat down.
"With that General Grant, you are recognized, you have the floor for as long as you may need."
Fitz fixed his mic on the table, pulling it a little closer to him, "I have no comments, Mr. chairman."
"Very well, for the record, can you describe the morning of the events leading up to what took place in New York city?" the chairman asked.
"I would need a more specific question than that senator," Fitz replied.
"Okay, how did you learn of the terror plot?"
"That's classified information, I can't discuss that in an open setting."
The senator cocked his eyebrow, "okay, well, can you tell me why your unit was involved."
"We were asked to intervene."
"By who?"
"I can't answer."
"What is your unit?"
"I can't answer that in an open setting."
"Why not, is it classified?"
"Based on the fact that I can't answer, I'd hope you would deduce that."
"I asked the department of defense what your unit was and they said it was classified above top secret, if that's the case then why did you and your team were navy seal uniforms."
"I can't answer that."
"General, do you plan on answering any questions today?"
"If you ask a question I can answer in a open setting without revealing classified or sensitive information then I will do just that until then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."
"I think you should remember that the United State senate has oversight over the military, and as a general of the military it is you duty to prov-"
"I'm afraid I have to stop you right there, I'm no longer serving in the military, so you may have oversight over the military but you don't have oversight over me, I'm a private citizen who had to take a day off from work to come here today and so as I've said before, I will answer the questions I can and the ones I can't I would suggest you contact the department of defense. After the events of December 12, I wrote a full and detailed report, I would refer you to that document, it would be a much more productive source of information."
"I yield the rest of my time," the senator said, annoyed.
Fitz spent almost 3 hours, in a heated back and forth with each of the 14 other senators on the committee. By 1pm, the chairman dismissed the hearing.
Fitz got up and made a beeline out of the hearing room, followed by his lawyer.
"That couldn't have gone worse," his lawyer Bob said as they walked down the halls.
"Please, they just wanted to parade me around like some dog and pony show," Fitz quipped.
"Yeah but-"
"But, but, but, it's over now okay, I just wanna get outta here."
They emerged from the capitol building to fresh swarm of journalist which Fitz ignored and walked to the suv waiting on the curb.
Olivia sat on her couch eating popcorn and watching the hearing, it was after midnight and she couldn't sleep.
As she watched the hearing, she thought it was fascinating to see him spar with the senators. He was so rude and dismissive and curt, it was as if everything that was bad about him became worse since she'd last seen him 7 months earlier.
As she sat listening to the hearing, her cell rang. She searched under her blanket until she found her phone and checked the caller id, it was Fitz.
She hesitated before answering, he'd left almost a week ago and hadn't called since but he was calling now.
"Hello?" she answered.
She waited for a response but he didn't say a word even though she could hear him breathing.
"Fitz, you know, it doesn't have to be like this between us, you can talk to me."
After a few silent seconds, he spoke, "how's the baby?"
"She's okay, still very active, I'm pretty sure she kicked me right in the bladder earlier and I almost whizzed myself," she said.
He was silent again, "well if anything happens with the baby let me know."
He hung up and placed the phone on the his bathroom counter and then gazed at his reflection in the mirror and before long, he found himself so inexplicably angry that he threw his fist into the mirror, punching it.
He punched it twice before blood he saw blood dripping from her slashed finger onto the marble counter.
There was a knock on the door, "are you okay?" his random woman for the night asked.
"Go home," he said loud enough for her to hear.
When he didn't hear a response, he turned on the faucet and ran his hand under the water until blood flowing from his laceration was significantly less and then he got gauze from his medicine cabinet and wrapped it around his knuckles and then took a towel and cleaned up the blood from the sink and counter. By the time he emerged from the bathroom, the woman was gone, for which, he was thankful.
He walked across the room to his closet to find a pair of underpants and once he found it, he slipped it on and then walked back to his bed and laid down to try to get some sleep. It was after 10 pm and he'd been up for almost 24 hours, he spent 14 of those 24 hours travelling so he was exhausted but even so he couldn't sleep. It was until 3 in the morning, after a joint and a glass of scotch that he finally drifted off to sleep.
He woke at 7; brushed his teeth, showered and re-bandaged his hand before he dressed for work. As usual, he walked Zeus for a few minutes before he headed out to work.
He arrived at the office a little after 9am; checked his emails, read up on new articles pertaining to his industry and then waited for his assistant to announce that Ms. Ponor, the military therapist had arrived.
An hour later, she did just that.
"Mr. Grant, Ms. Ponor is here," Megan said before she even walked into the room.
"Send her in-and Megan, I need to speak with you afterwards."
"Uhm-okay," she said nervously. She walked out and moments later, Ms. Ponor emerged.
"General Grant," she said with a nod as she walked up to his desk, as she sat in the chair in front of his desk she noticed his hand.
"What happened to your hand?"
"Nothing interesting."
"It looks very interesting, it looks like-"
"-You know, I can bar you from entering the building but I don't do that, I let you come in here so you can pretend to do your job and then leave in an hour."
"I don't have to pretend to do my job, I can actually do my job if you just let me. I could have stopped coming here but I don't do that because I think you could really talk to someone, I've read your file, you lost your brother and father within days of each other, you have no other family, no known associates."
"I'm a recluse, did it say that?"
"No, it said you have extreme psychopathic/sociopathic tendencies, it says your only conduit to vent your frustration is through violence and the government didn't think you'd have a smooth transition back to civilian life so they sent me to babysit you and after what your team did to you, I can't imagine you're in a good place."
"Have I harmed anyone since I've left the military?"
"Maybe not, but have you harmed yourself," she said as she gazed on his hand, "did you punch a wall, I imagine you were very frustrated after your hearing, is that what happened?"
Fitz stood up, "I have a business meeting in a couple minutes so we're gonna have cut this short and by the way, I'll be in New York for about a month so just make sure you touch base with Megan or Cyrus before you come back, I might not be here."
"Of course, deflect, deflect, deflect, something makes you uncomfortable you push it away, that's fine, I'll be here when you get back."
She stood up and threw her purse over her shoulder and then walked out, minutes later, Megan walked in.
"You wanted to speak to me?" she said.
"Yeah, have a seat,"
She walked over slowly, she hadn't had a bad experience with Fitz since he took over the company but she remembered his father all too well, even though he was a senator and didn't run day to day operations while she worked at the company, he would visit the headquarters often and whenever that happened he'd always find away to get young female employees alone under the guise of a professional meeting and then somehow his hands would find its way to the small of their back or their ass, a kiss on the cheek that turned into a kiss on the lips. Fitz wasn't like that, which was refreshing, he practically ignored everyone whether they were male or female, she hoped that wasn't changing even though she did find him attractive but if anything happened, she wanted it to be on her terms.
She sat on the chair in front of him with her notepad in hand.
"Okay so my hotel is booked right?"
"Yes sir, one month in the plaza penthouse."
"And a chauffeur, I need to get around."
"Done."
"Okay, do you have anyone who would object you spending a month in another state? A child or family members who you need to support?"
"Uhm...no."
"I need an assistant to accompany me on the New York trip, if you're available to do it then I'd appreciate that, if not I can find another assistant-"
"-No, I can do it, it's be nice to get away for awhile, even if it's for work," she said quickly.
"Okay great, book yourself a room and since I know your coming, I should just tell you that I'm not really going to New York for work and so I'll need you to pick up the slack for me."
"Okay."
"I'm gonna need you to find me a nanny."
"A nanny?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes, she needs to be able to start in a month, she should be cpr certified, she should be able to take care of a newborn and infant and make sure she passes a background check as well."
"Okay," she said as she jotted notes down on her pad.
"I'd prefer an older lady, sort of like a grandmother, get me a few candidates by the end of the week so I can interview them."
"Got it."
"Also if you can get me a list of baby stores in the area, I just need the address."
"Okay."
"Alright I think that's it."
She nodded and stood up, leaving more confused than when she arrived.
A week later.
Fitz parked his car in the lot and walked to the Buy Buy Baby store on the other end of the plaza. It was almost 5pm, he'd just left work and headed straight there because he would need to fly to New York for good in less than a week, he wanted everything to be prepared for the baby when he got back. He was clueless as to what exactly he'd need for the baby so he was counting on one of the workers to help him.
When he walked into the store he was immediately greeted by a sales associate.
"Welcome to buy buy baby, are you looking for anything in particular?"
"Well, I'm looking for everything that a newborn baby would need but I'm also not sure what exactly that is, so can you help me?"
"Actually, we have a personal shopping office, the shopper can walk the store with you."
"Perfect, can you point me in that direction?"
"It's by the layette section," she said with a smile.
Fitz cleared his throat, "what exactly is a layette?"
The woman chuckled, "baby clothes, there's a big sign, it's straight back, you won't miss it."
"Thank you," Fitz said as he stepped off to find the layette section.
The woman turned to her friend, "he's cute."
"I know right."
They shared a chuckle and got back to work.
Fitz walked until he found the layette section and then he saw a small office with a sign that read 'personal shopping' on front.
He opened the door and walked in, he was greeted by a receptionist.
"Hi sir, how can I help you?"
"I just need a little help getting a few things for my daughter."
It felt good to say daughter, he had to admit he was excited.
"Oh sure, what were you looking for?"
"Well, I need everything, I need kid furniture and clothes and food."
"How old is your daughter?" the young woman asked.
"She's hasn't been born yet, although she should be here in about two weeks."
"Oh wow, so-okay, I'll get one of our shopper to work with you, I'm Sally by the way."
Fitz nodded.
Sally walked off to the back of the office and moments later she appeared with a woman.
"Hi, I'm Kayla, I'm a shopper here, Sally told me you needed some help."
"Yes, I do."
"Okay so I was thinking we could take a walk around the store and grab what we need and then come back were and sort what we have."
"Sounds good to me," Fitz replied.
"Sally can you send Christopher with a cart please," Kayla said.
"Sure."
Kayla walked to Fitz, "come on, let's look around."
He followed her outside the office. She first went to the layette section.
"So tell me what you need?" she said.
"I just need everything a newborn baby would need, she'll be like a month old by the time she comes to California so I need products for a baby that is one month old."
"Okay, you said girl right?"
"Yes," Fitz responded.
"Okay so you'll need some blankets, towels, onesies, bibs, socks, hats, we can get all that here."
Fitz watched as Kayla walked around grabbing clothes and placing them in the trolley, they were mostly pink but he didn't care, as long as she had clothes to wear.
After the finished getting clothes she took him over to the furniture section, where they picked out a crib, a chest of drawers and a dresser with a changing table on top along with a high-chair."
Fitz saw a bassinet and thought it would be good for a baby.
"What about this?" he asked.
"Ehh- you already have a crib, you can get both but if you're on a budget it's not necessary."
"I want it."
"Okay," she wrote down the upc code on the tag so she could have the salesperson bring it to the office a little later.
After they finished shopping for furniture, they went to the food section and picked up cases of formula and baby water, bottles, bottle warmers, formula dispenser, bottle sterilizers, pacifiers and several boxes of diapers in multiple sizes.
"What else?" Fitz asked as they took the last of the feeding products.
"Stroller, car seat, toys."
"Okay, by the way, this can all be shipped right?"
"Yes, we can have it all delivered to your house tomorrow."
"Perfect."
"Where do you live?"
"Beverly Hills, like 10 minute drive up the hill."
"Okay so you should get it before noon."
She took him to the travel section where they picked out a stroller and car seat and then she took him to the toy section.
"What kinds of toys can a newborn play with?" Fitz asked.
"None, really, however we can get her toys for when she's a little older she can start playing in a baby gym, she can play with a rattle and she can have a little stuffed animal."
"Oh okay, that makes sense."
He walked around a picked up a few toys in the infant section and dropped them in the cart, Kayla did the same and when they were finished, they went back to the office to checkout.
It took almost an hour to check out all the items.
"Alright Mr. Grant, your total is $16,065.32."
Fitz pulled out his credit card from his wallet and handed it to her.
"Credit?" she asked.
"Yep."
She swiped his card and waited for his very long receipt to print then handed the card and receipt back to him.
"Everything will be delivered by the truck tomorrow, I'll just need you to write your address right here," she said as she handed him a pen and paper.
Fitz wrote his address and telephone number and then handed her the paper. "Just have them call me when they're on their way."
"Okay."
Fitz still had his wallet in his hand when he pulled out two crisp $100 bills and handed one to Kayla and one to Sally.
Sally's mouth dropped open, Kayla tried to give him the money back.
"I'm sorry, we're not allowed to take any tips, no money, no gifts."
"What money, I didn't give you anything."
She chuckled, "I didn't receive anything, we didn't receive anything." she shoved the money in her pocket and then gave Fitz her card.
"If there's anything else your daughter needs, give me a call."
Fitz took it, "I will, thank you."
Fitz walked back to his car and then drove straight home. He didn't bother calling anyone of the women in his phone for company for the night, instead he showered and spent the night clearing out one of his spare rooms for the baby.
The next morning, he woke up early and went jogging up the hill with Zeus. After his jog he spent an hour lifting weights in his gym and then he showered and made himself coffee for breakfast.
He received a call from the delivery team at 10am, notifying him that they were on their way. Half hour later, they were at his gate. He opened the gate and cleared the way for them to bring everything to the bedroom. They were gone after an hour, leaving Fitz to set everything up.
He first brought all the bottles, bottle warmer, cleaners and formula down to the kitchen and then he unboxed all the big furniture so he could assemble them but he took one look at the instruction and immediately got frustrated, he just didn't have the patience.
"Son of a bitch!"
He threw the papers down as he tried to figure out who he could call to help him, he had no one he could readily call and ask for help, he'd have to hire someone, which he could have done initially but he really wanted to do it himself.
After huffing angrily for a few minutes he decided to give it a second try then his doorbell chimed.
"One sec," he yelled even though he didn't really think the person could hear him.
He walked to the front door and opened it, only to see Lucky.
"Told you I'd be back."
"Lucky, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see my friend."
Fitz sighed, even though he was happy to see him, "the only reason I'm letting you in is because I actually need help setting something up, do not ask me about Scott or Gerry or just anything okay or I will flip out."
"Alright, alright, god, you know I thought you were an asshole before but now-"
Lucky stopped when he noticed Fitz's glared.
"Alright-calm down."
Fitz turned around and started walking, "we're going upstairs." Lucky followed Fitz as he headed to the room. When Lucky walked in, he was surprised.
"Wait what?" Lucky said.
Fitz shrugged but didn't reply.
"What is this?" Lucky said again.
"I need help setting up this stuff."
"What the hell is this?"
"It's just-" he lowered his voice to a mumble, "stuff for my daughter."
"What? wh-WHAT?"
"Calm down please, Lucky."
"No! Fuck you, don't tell me to be calm, are you having a baby or did you already have one?"
"I'm having one," he mumbled.
"I should punch in your damn perfect face," Lucky said angrily.
Fitz pursed his lips together and tried not to laugh but he couldn't hold out, he burst into a hearty laughter.
"What the fuck is so funny?"
"Nothing-I just didn't forgot how funny you were."
"Don't try to kiss ass now, I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a kid coming, it's like I don't know you at all," Lucky insisted.
"Can you help me to set this up?" Fitz asked.
"No but I'll watch you set it up."
"Come on, you know I get impatient, just read me the instructions."
"If I help you with this, you have to tell me about this whole thing."
"Fine."
Fitz didn't realistically think he could get out of telling Lucky about the baby once he saw the room. He handed Lucky the handbook for the crib and laid all the pieces out.
"Okay, what do I do?" Fitz asked.
"Grab that big piece, that's where you start," Lucky said as he read the book.
Fitz grabbed the piece of wood.
"Okay so when did you find out you were having a kid?" Lucky asked.
"I don't know, almost 8 months ago, she was probably three weeks pregnant when I found out."
"She as in?"
Fitz cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "Olivia."
"I fucking knew it."
"Just-no- okay-she's off limits, I don't want to talk about her."
"What did she do?"
"That's talking about?"
"You don't want to talk about Scott, you don't want to talk about your dad, you don't want to talk about Olivia, what do you want to talk about: the weather?"
"It's pretty nice out actually."
"Stop fucking around."
"I'm serious, I'm not talking about her."
Lucky sighed, "alright so tell me about your daughter, you said she's still pregnant?"
"Yep, she's due to give birth in a week and a half."
"Where is she?"
"In New York."
"So wait, I'm confused, why is she in New York and you here?"
"I'm leaving for New York in two days, I'm going to stay there until the baby is a month old and then they're both coming back with me."
"Is Olivia going to live with you?"
"No. Can you read me the next step."
"Oh shit, my bad, take the bag of screws and sort them by size."
Fitz took the screws.
"So, how do you feel about having a kid?" Lucky asked.
"Honestly, it doesn't really matter, I just have to suck it up and do what I have to do."
Lucky smiled, "really? Is that why your sitting here hand-building all this shit when you could just hire someone to do it. I can't, for the life of me understand why you bullshit so much, on the little things."
"Fine, I'm excited, it's gonna be nice to have a family member again," Fitz admitted.
"Wow, you're having a kid, never thought I'd see the day."
"Yes, well-"
"Am I the godfather?"
"I wasn't really gonna do the whole godfather thing, I think it's superficial."
"Dick."
Fitz chuckled.
They spent a while working on the crib and then Fitz was done they moved on to the chest of drawers. Fitz was wondering why Lucky had gotten so quiet.
"You're quiet."
"Just thinking," Lucky replied.
"About?"
"What happened."
"What?"
Lucky sighed, "what happened to you man?"
It took Fitz a while to answer.
"It's been a rough year, that's all I can say, hopefully this baby comes and she can take my mind off how shitty my life is and remind me why it's worth living."
"That bad huh?"
Fitz nodded.
"What's even worse is that I think this whole thing-" he sighed, "I keep thinking maybe if I was better to her then she wouldn't have done that to me."
"She wouldn't have done what?" Lucky asked.
"What?" Fitz asked.
"You said, 'maybe if I was better to her then she wouldn't have done that to me.' done what?"
"Nothing, forget I said anything." he sighed.
"Come on, let's talk about her, what happened?"
Fitz hesitated, "she did something that was horrible but the only problem is I'm not much better, I was so horrible to her and I just keep wondering-you know- did she know and didn't tell me because she thought I deserved it or did she know and didn't tell me because she was afraid of what I'd do or did she really not know at all."
"Why don't you ask her?"
"She says she didn't know but I don't believe her. I want to, but I just feel like I'd be an idiot if I did."
"So where does that leave you?"
"Exactly where I am right now."
Lucky decided not to push him further but was surprised when Fitz kept talking.
"It's not like I want to hate her, I wish I could be on good terms with her, you know, she's my daughter's mother but I just feel like I'd be betraying Scott if me and her were good."
"Okay, what did she do?"
"I can' talk about it-I'm sorry I'm venting like this-"
"It's cool what are friends for, by the way...what happened to your hand?" Lucky asked.
"Accident."
"Okay. Use the a-c screws to attach those two pieces," Lucky said, reading from the instruction manual.
"Okay."
"So, are we cool now?" Lucky asked.
"We were always fine," Fitz said, knowing it was total bullshit.
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that but um...how it's being a big shot ceo now?"
"It keeps me busy by the way, if you want a job, just say the word."
"THE WORD!"
Fitz chuckled"...okay."
"It's about time, I don't understand why I need a big shot friend if I don't get perks and don't even think your gonna just give it to me either, I want to do an interview and I'm not gonna be your assistant."
"Okay, assistant to the ceo is pretty nice and secondly, I can have someone from hr interview you if that's what you want but you didn't go to college-did you even graduate high school?"
"Maybe," Lucky quipped.
"Yeah so you're definitely gonna have to bypass the whole interview thing."
"I'm not gonna be a janitor, you better hook me up with something nice."
"How about vice president of local outreach?"
"What is that?"
"I just made it up, but I'm guessing we can give you a few thousand dollars, you can use it to help out low income communities in the area, you'll get a nice office in the headquarters with me and you'll get a nice 6 figure paycheck."
Lucky smiled and stretched his hand for a shake. Fitz took his hand and shook it.
"I'll be happy to join the team," Lucky said excitedly.
Lucky stood up, "I'm gonna call my mom, give her the good news and I'm also gonna call my ex-girlfriend and rub it in her face."
"How old are you?" Fitz asked.
"First of all, you're talking to the vice president of local outreach so watch your mouth, secondly, I also have to call my job, hold on."
Fitz chuckled and continued trying to assemble the furniture, he was glad to have Lucky at his side again.