Somewhere over northern Russia.
It had been minutes since they had been in the air. As Olivia sat in the aircraft with her back against the cushioned leather seat, sobbing and trying to absorb everything that had just taken place, she realized she'd been feeling something poking her in the pocket of the jacket Fitz gave her. She reached inside and pulled out a cellphone.
She almost dropped it in elation as she opened the screen.
It required an 8- character password.
"What was it?" She asked herself.
"L-I-L-Y R-O-S-E," she typed into the keypad.
It didn't work.
She tried the day-month birth dates for both her and Lily. It worked.
"Thank god."
She knew there was a reason Fitz would leave his phone in his jacket and give it to her. The first place she went was into his contacts. Akio, she thought maybe she would have to go to California and search through their security safe to find info to contact the deltas but if it was in the phone, it would save her a lot of time. It would save Fitz a lot of time.
She scrolled through all the contacts under "A" in the list. She didn't see Akio's name, nor did she see Anton, Abby or anyone else she could recall from the deltas.
"No," she mumbled to herself.
"What is she doing?" One guard asked the other.
"I don't know." The other guard asked.
She noticed something else though, Diablo, she remembered that was Huck's code name. She pressed it immediately and pulled up his info.
Who should she call? Who wouldn't hang up on her instantly?
She scrolled down further.
"Crimson."
That was Abby, she was going to stay far from Abby, she couldn't handle the drama, not now.
She looked for Akio's code name. He'd always seemed indifferent to her and he loved Fitz, he could look past his hate for her and get everyone together to help Fitz. He was their leader after all.
"Ronin."
That was his code name and she found his number under the contact.
She took a breath and called the number.
What time was it in Antarctica, she didn't calculate, it didn't matter, she couldn't wait.
As she sat waiting for the line to pick up, she felt a wave a nausea take her, maybe it was the blood loss or hunger or pain from her medicine wearing off, she didn't know.
She swayed slightly and then held unto the seat beside her.
The line picked up but no one said a word.
"Akio?" she said softly, clearing her dry throat.
"Olivia?" Akio recognized the voice, "why are you calling me?" he said, though it sounded somewhat expectantly.
"Fitz...I need-he needs your help?"
"What happened to Fitz?"
"He," she coughed, "he came for me….and...and..umm...he got," she coughed again, "he was shot...um…umm…."
"What are you saying, speak clearly," Akio said.
"Um.."
She felt her grip loosen around the phone and everything became fuzzy and then it was all black.
Sudranian Ice desert, Antarctica.
Akio took a breath and then looked around at the deltas all working out in the gym.
"Team 1, come over."
They all looked over to him in the middle of their various activities, stopped and then made their way over to him.
"What's going on?"
"Suit up, were going out." He turned to Huck. "I need you to go to tech and get them to track this call, it's still live, I haven't hung up."
Huck took the phone and quickly walked off.
"Where are we going?" Abby asked.
"We're going to see our favorite person in the world?"
"Who?" Abby asked.
"Who do you think?"
"I don't know," Abby responded, "that's why I'm asking."
"Your favorite person," Akio said.
"Olivia? That fucking bitch?" Abby asked.
"She says that Fitz is in trouble, he needs our help. Something's going on, she could barely form a sentence."
"What kind of trouble?" Anton asked.
"That's what we have to find out," Akio said, "you all have 30 minutes, get to it."
"Okay, first of all, are we actually helping her? You trust her?" Abby asked.
"No, but if Fitz is really hurt then we're helping him, if he's not and this is some scheme from her then we'll deal with that too but I don't see her doing that while Fitz is alive so the only reasonable conclusion I can make is that he really does need our help," Akio responded.
"What if he is hurt, what if she did all of this and now she's dragging us into it again, you remember what happened last time. You remember how bad things got."
"We all remember, no one trusts her...except Fitz-"
"And gods knows what's happened to him, probably because of her."
Akio sighed, "look, we'll figure out what's really going on, right now we have half hour to prepare so we'll try to get as much info as possible before we leave."
Abby shook her head furiously, "fine but if this bitch is lying-"
"-like I said, we'll deal with that." Akio responded.
Delta Base, Antarctica.
Olivia woke in a hospital bed. Everything was coming back to her as she blinked away the fog she saw Akio standing by her bed, Abby was across the room on the couch and Huck and Anton were both talking as they worked on a laptop.
"You're up," Akio said.
"What happened?" She said hoarsely.
"You fell unconscious on the plane according to your guards."
"Whe-"
"-Where are you? You're in Germany, we intercepted the plane, we took you to the hospital, it has to be about 10 hours since we last spoke."
She sat up and felt a brace around her rib cage and a bandage at the back of her neck where Igor took out her tracker. She began pulling the IV drops from her arm.
"10 hours, we've wasted too much time already. We have to get Fitz-"
"We? We're not a team, we-as in me and team 1 will get Fitz but first we need you to answer some questions."
Olivia stopped and looked around the room.
"Where is my phone and where are my guards?"
Akio handed her the phone.
"This is how we found you." He said. "And as for your guards, they've been dealt with."
She took the phone and eased herself off the hospital bed slowly and stood.
"Why were you taken by Igor?" Akio asked.
She held her stomach and looked up to Akio, with every breath, she felt a stab in her chest.
"How do you know that?"
"What do you think we've been doing for the past 10 hours? He's still in Russia, by all indications, we just don't know if he's dead or alive."
"He's alive."
"How do you know that?" Abby asked, speaking for the first time since Olivia woke up.
"I know." Was all Olivia said.
"How do we know this isn't one of your schemes… for all we know he could be dead in a ditch like Scott while you stand here, pretending to be sorry and clueless."
Olivia took a deep breath, she didn't have time to argue with Abby while Fitz was still out there."
"He's my daughter's father-"
"The daughter you had just because you knew if you weren't pregnant Fitz would've kill your ass, that daughter?"
Olivia turned to Akio and then back to Abby.
"I hurt your feelings? Is that it? I pretended to be your friend and then I betrayed you." Olivia mocked. "Boo-hoo. People get betrayed everyday, I never cared what you thought of me, not now, not then. The only thing I care about right now is getting Fitz back to me safely and you're either going to help me or not and if you're not then stop wasting my time because as we're here fighting, he's out there and we don't know if he's alive or dead or being tortured, we need to go."
Her words stung. Abby swallowed the bitter lump down her throat and tried to respond but no words came out.
"Fine but just so you know Fitz comes back with us, when we bring him back, you'll convince him that that's what's best, he'll listen to you," Akio said.
Olivia had hoped they wouldn't ask that.
"He has a daughter, she needs her father-"
"Her father will be dead without our help, you can choose, he'll rejoin us, where he can visit and come back as often as he pleases or he can stay in Russia….he'll die and she'll never see him again, nor will you." Akio let his words hang in the air. "Choose."
Olivia shook her head exhaustively, it really wasn't a choice. "If it were you that needed help, Fitz would've helped you without asking for anything in return."
"Choose Olivia, he can stay in Russia or he can come back with us."
She had no choice and so she nodded slowly, she would tell them anything to get him back. "I'm coming with you."
"You're not, look at you, you can barely stand," Akio said.
She stiffened her posture.
"Nothing would stop Fitz from helping me, what kind of person am I if I'm not willing to do the same."
"The exact kind of person you know you are," Abby said, "an evil, selfish, bitch. Don't pretend to be different."
Abby walked out before Olivia could respond.
"Sit tight," Akio said, "we'll get him back."
He turned and walked out the door and then stopped, with Huck right behind him.
"If I were you Olivia, I'd keep tight to my word." he stared at her for a second, long enough for her to feel the heat of his stare and then he walked out, leaving the ominous threat in the room with her.
"Do you think she'll keep her word?" Huck asked, once they were outside.
"She's not stupid Huck, that's the only thing I admire about her, self preservation is coded in her blood."
Huck nodded in agreement. "I just don't want everything we've done to be for nothing."
"It won't," Akio whispered as he leaned closer to Huck, "we did what we had to do, he was wasting his life away, he needs to be here, he belongs here, we all agreed to this…"
"Yes," Huck nodded, "100%. I don't have any doubts, I just don't want her to mess it up, he only listens to her."
"If she doesn't then we'll just have to try again, there are no shortage of people who want her dead, we'll get behind another one of them and this time, she won't make it and then he would have no choice but to come back his family."
"He's unpredictable, you know that-"
"That's why we tried this way first."
Huck nodded. The tightly kept secret between Huck, Akio and Anton was coming to fruition. They'd tried convincing him themselves, when they had showed up to his house so many months ago, it was after they'd let Igor onto Olivia, since that didn't work, they had to try something else.
"Good." Akio stepped back, "let's go get him, I bet that asshole is probably freezing."
Olivia stood by herself in the room after they left. It made sense now. Fitz was okay, she was sure enough. They seemed to calm, almost smug, as if they'd won, not all but some. Huck pretended to type on his laptop and failed at trying to seem worried, Akio couldn't hide his glee. There was no way Igor could have dragged such a multi pronged assault against them, he had helped. If they wanted Fitz back so badly, she was sure he was okay.
"Please, be okay," she whispered to herself, just for reassurance.
She leaned against the bed, just to give herself some support, she felt just a numb as she did uncomfortable.
She flicked the phone open. It wasn't Fitz's usual phone, it almost seemed like a burner phone but it couldn't have been if Akio used it to track her or maybe they didn't track her, maybe they knew where she was all along. Then she realized that she wasn't in Germany, she had to be at the base.
She looked through the phone, she wondered where Lily was, Fitz said she was safe but where exactly was safe and who was with her. She was so young and she'd been away from her for days now, almost a week….
Lucky was he only person she could think of, that Fitz would trust with Lily.
She couldn't find him under 'L' or 'b' for his birth name Bonifacio. Under 'K' she found 'ky' she called the number and hoped that was him.
"Fitz, you took forever to call, is Olivia okay?" Lucky said.
"Lucky," Olivia said, "it's Olivia, is Lily with you, is she okay? Where are you?"
"Liv, you're okay? Where's Fitz?"
"He's…" she wasn't sure what to respond, "he's going to be okay, Where's my baby?"
"She's sleeping...she ate and then fell asleep for the night, she's okay but she's been crying alot and being fussy, she misses you guys, I'm sure. We're in Brazil."
Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "she's sad?"
"No, no, not really...I...forget I said that, she's fine for most of the day, just fussy sometimes..but um..how are you?"
"I..just want to see her, I miss her."
"She's sleeping...I can wake her up?'
"No, no, don't wake her," Olivia said. She took a deep breath, "what happened?"
"I mean after the attack, we saw what they did to your twin sister..by the way..I didn't even know you had a twin-"
"I don't have a twin. What are you talking about?"
"Yes, you do, she looks exactly like you, it's like a mirror."
"Lucky…" Olivia said confused.
"Yeah, her name is Erin, you didn't know."
"-no..I.." she sighed in frustration, "...just please call me when Lily wakes up, I want to speak to her and send me a picture if you can. I don't know if this phone can receive pictures but try please."
"Okay, I'll call as soon as she wakes up….when are you guys coming back?"
"I don't know...soon...as soon as we can."
"Okay."
"Thank you lucky, for everything."
"No problem."
Olivia hung up. She leaned back against the pillow slightly. Feeling shitty, knowing that Lily was being affected by her parents absence.
Beverly Hills hospital, Los Angeles.
Erin had been at Beverly hills hospital for almost a week. She felt better everyday and now it was time for her to be discharged from the hospital. She didn't have anywhere to go. She lived in New York, at a shelter that probably had moved her things from her bed by now, seeing as she hadn't been back in over a month. She had only $20 to her name when she was picked up in New York, that $20 had long been lost.
Fitz hadn't come back in days. Neither did the other lady named Sonia. The only people who stuck around were 2 men outside who alternated shifts, they always watched her and she wondered why but now even they were nowhere to be found.
The nurse brought her out to the front of the hospital in a wheelchair, in the clothes she'd been dropped her off in, clothes that she'd remembered they changed her into before she was attacked.
She stood slowly out of wheelchair with the help of the nurse.
"Would you like for me to wait with you until you're picked up by your friend?"
"Nah, I'm good..but thank you though."
"Are you sure?" The nurse asked.
"Yeah, I'm good, thanks."
Erin walked slowly towards the bench that stood a several feet from the entrance of the hospital. The nurse followed behind her, she'd been a nurse long enough to know warning signs when she saw them.
"Do you have somewhere to go, if not we have representatives from a local shelter that can help you."
Erin smiled, "no, I'm not homeless, I told you, I have someone coming to pick me up, I already told y'all, I'm good."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you're alright once you leave. That's our job here and like we said earlier, we have options for patients who have nowhere to go."
"Like I told you earlier when we discussed my discharge, I'm fine, I'm fully capable of taking care of myself."
The nurse nodded with a kind smile and turned with the wheelchair back to the hospital.
Erin sighed, she had nowhere to go, she couldn't afford to buy a plane ticket back to New York and even if she could there was nothing in New York for her, except for some old clothes at the shelter that she was sure they'd gotten rid of by now.
"What are you gonna do Erin?" she said to herself.
She'd been sitting for almost an hour, because it was too uncomfortable to move and even more so because she didn't know where to go.
She had been going on hour two sitting outside when the nurse came back.
"Miss...um..are you sure I can't do anything-"
A black suv pulled up in front of the bench where Erin sat. The man who hopped out of the driver's seat, she remembered he had been one of the guards watching her.
"Ms. Pope, sorry I'm late we were just preparing your suite."
The nurse smiled, "I can see you're in good hands, I'll leave you alone now."
She turned and left.
Erin slowly eased herself up from the bench.
"What suite?"
"Mr. Grant secured stay for you at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the time being."
"Why?" Erin asked.
"I don't ask questions, I just do what I'm told."
Erin walked slowly to the van. The guard helped her inside and drove her to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Akio and the team had been in the air for almost 4 hours and now they were in Russian airspace, in stealth mode as to be undetectable by radars.
"Two minutes out," the co-pilot announced.
"Everyone knows our plan, we're gonna be in and out, let's make this as clean as possible," Akio said to the group of 10 delta solidiers.
He looked to Anton and Huck, all three privy to the truth that could never get out, while everyone else was clueless.
90 seconds later, they were all up and preparing to disembark the plane in a rush.
They dropped in the middle of the cold forest in northern Russia and raced through the forest as swift as foxes.
Northern Russia.
Fitz sat on the cold metal chair in the basement where Olivia once was. He would take her place any day, he didn't regret that.
He'd been sitting there for more than half of a day. If he were any colder, he'd be in hypothermic shock. He felt weak but not so weak he couldn't fight if he needed to, he'd been sitting still for hours, saving his energy for when he needed it and he knew he would need it when it was time to escape. They'd tied his hands to the back of the chair but he'd freed his hands from the rope for some time now, and sat with his hands behind his back just incase they were watching him. The fact that no one came down to him for all those hours, meant to him that they were watching him on video.
"Why?" was the question he kept asking.
Why did they tie him to a chair and leave him in the basement, why would they risk him escaping. There was no torture, no threats, to beating, all things he would've done if he held someone like himself captive.
He'd killed about 6 of them as they came down on him in the woods and even then, they didn't seem to want to hurt him. It was the most unusual thing and he was confused and intrigued although he didn't want to count his chickens as yet, it had still only been just over 12 hours. He couldn't escape, he couldn't even leave from the chair until they came for him, he'd planned his escape...he just needed their help to set it in motion.
He had nothing but time, to wait, to plan and to reflect on the two people he loved most; Lily and Olivia. He remember when he first saw her, walking beside Big gerry, he was jealous even then, even though he didn't know her. He was instantly attracted, the feeling felt as real as the bullet that tore through the flesh of his left arm.
He chuckled to himself in the middle of the cold dark basement.
His life was so different. He had a baby and a fiance, he was at home now, working at the office, his office, and coming home every night to eat diner with his family, put his daughter to bed and make love to his woman. It felt like enough. He was satisfied. The bloodlust from all the years of fighting and killing would rear its ugly head every so often but everytime he thought about choosing between his old life and the new, he'd pick the latter.
As more hours passed he was beginning to feel the effects off all the blood loss from his arm but he'd been in more dire situation before. This was nothing.
He tried not to worry about Olivia. She was smart, she was a survivor, she would be alright.
Everything had become deadly quiet, he realized. Earlier he'd heard them moving around in the complex, now it was radio silent. Something was wrong.
He was done waiting. He stood up from the chair and flexed his numb arm.
There was still the dead bodies off all the men he shot, and Igor, who's throat he'd sliced open.
He searched Igor's pockets, and was surprised when the first thing he came across was Olivia's engagement ring. As he pulled the ring from her pocket, he heard machine guns blazing upstairs.
When they stormed the compound, it was with minimal effort that they massacred the dozen soldiers left. That wasn't what Akio had promised them, he promised them they'd make it out alive but that was too big a risk for him.
After they'd finished with the men, they made their way down to the basement, based on what the men told him, that's where they knew Fitz would be.
"He's down here," Akio said.
Fitz had his back against the wall near the entrance, ready to fight but then he recognised Akio voice and stepped out from his position just in time to meet them
"What in the ass…" Fitz said.
Akio patted his head, "You okay buddy?"
"Don't fucking son me." Fitz said, swatting Akio's hand away, "what the fuck are you doing here?"
Akio chuckled, "even when we come to your rescue, you can still be an asshole."
"Where's Olivia?" Fitz asked.
"At the base, she's fine." Akio responded. He motioned to everyone. "We have to get out of here." He turned to Fitz, "your okay man? You're arm?"
"They fucking shot me, it fine...let's go."
Once they were outside.
"Oh fuck it's cold," he mumbled again. He'd given his jacket to Olivia and only had on a long sleeve shirt, they'd removed his bullet proof vest.
When they got to the jet, two of the doctor's they'd had onboard rushed over to treat him.
They wrapped a blanket around him. He might have been in worse condition if there wasn't a heater 15 feet away from him in the basement, it didn't keep him warm, not really, but it prevented him from freezing.
The jet lifted off into the air.
After a few minutes, as the doctors sewing up the wound, Fitz felt stable enough to speak and function he sat up as they treated him.
"How do you feel?" Akio asked.
"Fine." Fitz responded as he flexed his arm. It was painful but that was in his because he refused to take any painkillers. The wound itself wasn't detrimental, the bullet tore straight through so it was more of a flesh wound, albeit a painful one.
"What happened?" Anton asked. "How did they get you?"
Fitz shrugged and then chuckled humorlessly, "I'd managed to kill half dozen before the sons of bitches knocked me out in the woods, I'm actually surprised they didn't do more damage, they just left me in the basement."
"You're ex-military, they knew that, they probably thought you were more valuable alive."
"I doubt that…"
"This is why you need to come back, this would've never happen if you were still with us." Huck said.
"Really? Because if I remember correctly we've all had our time in the barrel when were were captured or lost or tortured….it's an occupational hazard, calm down."
Akio chuckled, "true but still at least you would've had proper back up."
Fitz didn't respond.
It was hours later when Olivia heard her phone ping and looked down at the screen and saw lucky calling her. She answered immediately.
"Lucky, she's awake?"
"Yep, and cranky, maybe you can calm her down."
She waited as Lucky placed the phone on speaker.
"Hi Lily," Olivia said happily, "it's mama."
Olivia didn't hear a reply.
"Lucky what is she doing?" She asked.
"She's smiling and drooling."
Olivia smiled, "Lily, mummy misses you so much, I'm going to see you as soon as I can."
Still Olivia heard nothing.
"Is she still smiling?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah and she also trying to chew the phone...one sec."
Lucky took the phone from Lily and Olivia immediately heard fussing.
"Lily?" Olivia called.
"Mmmm…" Lily cooed.
It sounded as if she was attempting to say mama, to complain on Lucky and it made Olivia smile.
"Lucky give her the phone."
Lucky gave Lily the phone and she calm down instantly.
"Owww," Lucky choked out.
"What happened?" Olivia asked.
"She just smacked the shit outta me with the phone."
Olivia chuckled softly. "I love you my Lily flower, I'll see you soon."
Lucky took the phone from Lily, who was smiling again.
"Is she smiling?" Olivia asked.
"Yep, drooling and smiling," Lucky said with a chuckle.
"I can't thank you enough for taking care of her until we get back, you don't understand how grateful we are."
"Ehh," Lucky said with a shrug, "Fitz has done a lot for me, it's not problem and she is my goddaughter, I just want you both to get back soon and safe."
"We will," Olivia responded.
Lucky hung up.
She felt exponentially better, hearing Lily and knowing she was smiling. All she needed now was to know that Fitz was back to her, in one piece.
It had been almost 8 hours since they were gone. She couldn't sleep so all she could think about was Lily and Fitz and everything that had taken place in the last week including the fact that not one but two people have referenced her so called 'twin'. She didn't know she had a twin, and even though Lucky mentioned it, she still had a hard time believing that or even fathoming it. She thought about the fact that all the work she'd done in the past several months preparing for her first fashion week had gone down the drain. She'd looked at her appearance when she walked to the bathroom in her room and she seen worse on herself but that didn't mean it wasn't bad, her bruised cheek and neck weren't things she was proud to show off.
Missing a fashion show seemed superficial and stupid compared to everything that was going on but it still made her sad, she'd waited so long and just weeks away, she saw her dreams dashed and divided into a thousand pieces like shattered glass.
There was a knock on the door and then a doctor entered.
About an hour after Akio left, the first time a doctor came to check on her, she realized that it wasn't a normal doctor but a delta doctor, she'd remembered their very specific uniform which was a black lab coat instead of white. She'd surmise instantly that she wasn't in Germany, like Akio had said but she was in the delta base and while that raised concerns, she could only focus on so many things at a time so she decided to push that worry to the back of her mind.
"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.
"Well," was all Olivia answered.
"Pain is under control?"
"Yes."
"Okay, just checking in, remember to buzz if there's any issues."
Olivia nodded, "thank you."
He left moments later, leaving Olivia alone again.
She took a deep breath, "come on Fitz, where are you?" She said to herself. If he was hurt or dead, they would've let her know. Right? Their planes were fast, they should've been back by now. After knowing what they'd done, why did she still trust them to bring him back in one piece? Because she had no choice.
She was still trying to figure out a way to get out of her promise to Akio. She couldn't let them take him but she worried that if she broke her promise, they might reliate and if they were willing to go as far as they had, next time would be worse.
Fitz stepped down the ramp leading from the jet. He didn't look around, to get nostalgic, he remained focused on finding Olivia.
"What room?"
"220 in the medbay," Akio responded.
"Don't even turn that jet off, I'm just gonna go grab her, I've got to get back to my kid."
Akio nodded and instructed the mechanics.
Fitz walked quickly towards them medbay, down hall 'B' where he knew her room was the first door down. He remembered the place like his own name.
He opened the door and saw Olivia sitting up on the bed, supported by her pillows. Now that she was in good light, he could see the bruises all over her.
He stepped in and closed the door behind him and watched as her eyes lit up and she smiled even though it looked like she'd been crying moments earlier.
"Fitz!"
He smiled and walked over to her bed. Olivia pulled the sheet from her legs and attempted to get up so quickly that she forgot about her fractured ribs and as soon as she lean up she left the pain in her torso and winced as she held onto her ribs.
"Hey, hey, take it easy baby. Careful."
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tight, only to feel Fitz pull her up slowly from the bed and hug her gently against his chest.
"I'm so happy you're alright, I was so worried," she mumbled, as she saw his bandaged arm.
Fitz noticed her looking at his arm. "It's nothing, a flesh wound. I'm fine, I promise."
"You always say that…" she responded, as she inhaled his scent. Her body felt whole again, her heart felt whole. That was her burden. Loving him so much that she felt incomplete when he was gone. How could she let them take him from her. That wasn't fair.
They held each other in silence for a few moments, breathing insync once again. Minutes went by and neither moved until
Fitz lifted her face by the chin and leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips and attempted to ease back but Olivia pulled him in.
"I missed you so much," she mumbled in between kisses, "I can't wait to sit on your face." She said as she squeezed his cheeks gently and pressed her forehead against his. She was so nurturing, so loving, and he resented the fact that she was almost taken from him but it only made him more grateful.
Fitz laughed and shook his head after a moment of deep thought. "How are you feeling?" he said as he stared down at her, looking her directly in her brown eyes.
"I'm okay, I'm just glad your'e safe, Lily's safe," she said as she blushed and then her eyes filled with tears again, "how are you?"
Fitz smiled, "I love you."
Olivia chuckled and felt pain in her rib, "I love you too but you didn't answer."
"I'm fine."
He kiss her against her wild curly hair and then stepped back so he could see her, all of her and inspect her injuries.
"Umm…" Olivia began as a smile crept across her lips again, "I called Lucky and he put Lily on the phone, she was chewing it- the phone- and Lucky took it from her and she started to cry and so I told him to give her back and guess what she did?"
Fitz smiled, "What? She smacked the shit out of him with it, didn't she?"
Olivia nodded amusingly, "she did." Her smile shifted from amusing to sad as if she was going to cry again.
"I know," he said sadly as he caressed her cheek. Her bruises had faded to a range of colors, "I'm sorry."
"No, don't be, we're both alive, we get to go to back to our daughter…." she began crying again.
"Livie-"
She wiped her eyes, "no, it's not sad tears, not really….it's just...we almost lost so much."
"I know, you don't think I know," he said softly, wiping tears from her cheeks.
She shook her head, "we have to get out of here, I miss my baby."
There was a knock on the door almost instantly.
"What?" Fitz asked, annoyed.
Akio walked in.
"We have the jet ready but take your time."
Olivia got the surreptitous message and realized he'd been listening to their conversation and was waiting for her to tell Fitz to stay.
"Thanks for that totally unnecessary update Ak, can you give us a sec," Fitz said
Akio nodded and left.
Fitz turned back to Olivia.
"How do you feel? Physically?"
"I'm okay."
Fitz gently helped her to sit on the bed.
"What hurts?" he asked.
"Just my ribs, but everything else feels fine."
Fitz looked down at her bare hands and remembered he had her engagement ring so he reached into his pocket and pulled it out.
Olivia smiled, "you got it back?"
"Yep."
He slipped the ring on her finger again.
"What happened?" Olivia asked, "after you rescued me?"
"I'll tell you all about it...we have a lot to talk about."
"I know."
"No...you don't, you have a twin."
"Lucky told me, I don't kno-"
"No, that's your twin Olivia, she's like your mirror reflection, that's why it took so long for me find you, because I thought she was you. It wasn't until she woke up and she had a different accent and she had tattoos and track marks that I realized."
Olivia was quiet for a moment, it wasn't possible.
"How is that possible?"
"Eli kept her and your mom kept you, that was the agreement, I'm guessing. She didn't know about you either, she didn't even know Eli was dead, it was a lot going on, once we get away and we have Lily back, we can talk about all of this."
Olivia nodded, feeling overwhelmed. "Where is she now?"
"I put her up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she was beaten pretty badly."
"Um...what was she like?"
Fitz shrugged, "I didn't speak to her long enough to really know, she seemed like she had a pretty hard go at it though, I think she said something like she had been in jail or just came out of jail, she was living at the homeless shelter when Igor kidnapped her. She actually thought it was Eli that had done it, so I'm guessing you and her will have a conversation pretty soon about how horrible your father was because apparently he'd been pretty shitty to her too."
Olivia nodded. "It's just a lot to process, Lucky mentioned it and so did Igor but I still didn't believe."
"I know, I think that with everything that's going on, we need to get away, Lily is with Lucky on the island, I was thinking we would stay there for a few weeks, give you time to heal and just get away from everything."
"That sounds good, it's not like I can show my face at fashion week, I've lost too much time and...well...look at me."
"Well, I told your assistants to still go ahead with everything, whatever they didn't know they should just to what they thought you'd want. I know how hard you worked, I know how much you wanted this, I'm sorry all of this happened before your big debut."
"Thanks but I can't go, too much has happened, I just want to hunker down with you and Lily and get away from everything...maybe we can just put the show on later, I don't know."
"Okay, whatever you want."
Fitz stared down at her for a moment, without a word, and Olivia realized it was time to bring up the inevitable.
"Fitz?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking…Do you think that maybe it would be for the best if you came back here."
Fitz cocked him head to the side in both confusion and astonishment.
"What?"
"I don't know, I just feel so terrible that when I called them for help, they didn't hesitate to come and help you and I know they wanted you to come back so I-"
"Olivia, who's gonna father my daughter when I live in Antarctica, I thought we agreed on this."
"We do-we did...I just I think I would feel safer, for all three of us if you had the deltas by your side again."
Fitz continued shaking his head.
"What?" Olivia asked. "Tell me what you're thinking?"
"Nothing...I'm just kind of shocked...did Akio put you up to this? Did anyone say anything to you?"
"No, they were actually really nice to me, which was weird because I'm pretty sure they all hate me so it had to be for you."
"-you said you wouldn't feel safe having deltas guard you, since you know they didn't like you."
"With you in charge, do you think anyone would try anything?"
"I don't trust anyone with you, you know that." Fitz sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm just...I didn't expect this."
Olivia didn't know what to say but she couldn't tell him what Akio'd done, she didn't trust him to be able to handle news of that kind of betrayal from Akio, with Fitz reaction and the odds of the deltas against him, nothing good would come of it. The deltas would have to win, for now.
"Don't get worked up, we'll talk about it once we get Lily and we're alone, okay."
Fitz nodded. She didn't expect him to look so sad, as if he was dreading it.
"Is your arm okay?"
"It's fine."
"Are you sure? Did you take anything for the pain?"
"You know I don't like painkillers."
"No one likes pain killers but we all take it."
Olivia smiled halfheartedly and tried easing herself off the bed, Fitz helped.
"Where's your clothes?" Fitz asked.
"I didn't really have any," she mumbled. "I'll just wear this," she said looking down at her gown. When she first woke seeing herself in a hospital gown had convinced her that she was in an actual hospital but that was just the deltas messing with her head.
Fitz held her close to his side as he helped her to the door. He had the urge to carry her but that might only hurt her rib even more. Olivia walked beside him slowly in her socks and gown, gripping his waist. When they reached the door, Fitz opened it and helped her out.
Akio, Huck and Anton were standing outside the in the hallway, conversing.
"We're gonna get out of here," Fitz said.
"Fitz, we wanted to talk to you," Akio said.
"You had an entire plane ride for that, didn't you?"
Fitz kept walking.
"Walk and talk," Fitz said.
Akio, Huck and Anton, followed beside them.
"So, you're just gonna leave?" Akio asked.
"Yep."
Fitz stopped walking.
"I'm not stupid, I know you guys put her up to this. What was the deal? You help me and she convince me to come back?"
Olivia looked up to Fitz, happy that he was had surmised that, but sad that it might make him not consider it. She didn't know what the deltas would try if he decided not to come back.
"You are stupid if you don't see that right-fucking-here is the best place for you. She sees that, I see that, everyone sees that. I didn't have to convince her of anything, she's not blind, she sees it." Akio said. "You can protect you family better when you have a fucking fleet at your back, and all of us."
Fitz sighed in frustration and then turned and began walking again.
They all walked in silence until they reached the parked jet.
"Thanks for taking care of her. I'll think about it and even if I do decide to come back, I'm not coming back until she's better so it's still gonna be a few weeks at best."
Akio, Huck and Anton smiled widely.
"That's all we asked, just think about it," Akio said.
A/n - Finally finished. I'm so sorry it took so long. I've seen all your messages and reviews and enjoyed reading them. I had a few questions of whether or not I'm giving up on the story, trust me, I have no plans of doing that, I'm just super busy with work and also trying to expand my business.
Let me know your thoughts as always.
Lastly, I've been looking into funding to expand my business since I see that it has so much potential. I created a go fund me page a few hours ago. I'm going to link it below so if you can donate, I'd really appreciate the support, If not then I still love you! Any amount is appreciated.
Search: 'Asia Gouldbourne' on gofundme . com
SB- FANFICTION doesn't allow us to post links.